Welcome to Day 2499 of Wisdom-Trek. Thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Day 2499 – The Big Deal About 'Little' Things – Daily Wisdom – Colossians 4:2-6

Putnam Church Message – 11/03/2024 Jesus Christ, Our Leader – The Big Deal About “Little” Things- Colossians 4:2-6 Last week, our focus was having Christ as the center and source of our lives. Today, we move on to the third and final section of the letter to the Colossians. If you remember when we started this series, the theme is: Jesus Christ is sufficient as our Lord, our Life, and our Leader. For baby Christians under attack from false teachers who were rejecting Christ’s person and reducing His power, this message was the perfect defense. In the first section of Colossians, Paul underscored the sufficiency of Christ as our Lord (1:1–2:23). In the second section, he highlighted the sufficiency of Christ as our Life (3:1–4:1). Now, in the remainder of the final chapter of this short but formidable book, Paul emphasizes the sufficiency of Christ as our Leader (4:2–18). Paul ended the previous section by pointing out that we all have a “Master in heaven” (4:1). Now, he wraps up this letter by outlining several practical and personal ways that Christ’s leadership is to manifest itself in our lives.| Christ directs our paths, navigating us through ministry opportunities and obstacles (4:2–6).| Next week, we will learn that when we serve Him as bond-servants, we must depend on our fellow laborers, acknowledging that we all serve one Leader and have one goal: the widespread proclamation of His message, which is to build God’s Kingdom on earth (4:7–18). Only when we depend on Christ as our sufficient Leader will we be able to fulfill this goal. Today’s passage is Colossians 4:2-6 on page 1835 of your Pew Bibles. We will explore The Big Deal About “Little” Things. I am reading from the NLT. ²Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart. ³Pray for us, too, that God will give us many opportunities to speak about his mysterious plan concerning Christ. That is why I am here in chains. ⁴Pray that I will proclaim this message as clearly as I should. ⁵Live wisely among those who are not believers, and make the most of every opportunity. ⁶Let your conversation be gracious and attractive^[^a^] so that you will have the right response for everyone. In our world of information overload, where tweets, posts, pins, and texts are thrown around like empty disposable wrappers, it’s easy to believe that words are unimportant, weak, meaningless, vaporous, and hollow. This notion is completely false! Contrary to the familiar expression, ‘talk is cheap,’| talk is not cheap. Words do matter —especially spiritual words. As we’ll see in these five insightful verses from Paul’s letter to the Colossians, our speech has two dimensions: the vertical and the horizontal. Both dimensions represent powerful lines of communication—not worthless chatter or squandered syllables, but living, active, productive articulations. Our vertical speech is directed to God. Believers are to be committed to prayer. Rather than using prayer as a casual and relaxed type of communication, we are challenged to be devoted to practicing it. And our horizontal speech (our interpersonal communication) is equally significant because it occurs amid those who don’t have a relationship with God. We’ll discover in examining this passage that the words we speak and the actions we take—even the seemingly little things—mean a lot and can accomplish far more than we imagine. Our words and actions may not seem all that significant in the moment, but we often later realize that lives have been changed by them. The apostle Paul certainly finds these things necessary. He underscores the importance of prayer for “insiders” (4:2–4) and the significance of our actions and words toward “outsiders” (4:5–6). —4:2–4— In these three verses, Paul addresses the vertical dimension by writing about words directed to God in prayer. He offers three pieces of sound advice that we can apply to our prayer lives. (Bulletin Insert) First, be devoted in prayer (4:2). Prayer is to be active, not passive;| bold, not weak; |specific, not general; |attentive, not lazy;| continuous, not sporadic.| Hebrews 4:16 says, So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. We don’t come groveling, pleading, begging, or bargaining. Entering God’s presence boldly| but with proper humility, we acknowledge that He has the power to give us what we ask but the right to answer however He pleases. We can know that, however, He answers—“Yes,” “No,” “Wait,” or “Here’s something better”—He’s going to work everything out for our good, not for our harm (Rom. 8:28). And we know that God causes everything to work together^[^a^] for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. So with an attitude of thanksgiving—even for prayers God has not yet answered—we’re to exercise diligence and vigilance. We’re to pray with an alert mind and a thankful heart. Second, be visionary in prayer (Col. 4:3–4). Paul doesn’t hesitate to ask the Colossians to pray for him and his fellow workers, giving some specifics unique to his particular circumstances and directly related to his eager desire to fulfill his calling to preach Christ with clarity. I find it interesting that Paul doesn’t ask them to pray for his physical release from prison. He doesn’t ask that they conduct an hour-by-hour prayer vigil until he’s released from his house arrest. Instead, he asks that doors of opportunity might be opened right where he has found himself. Though he was experiencing very limiting circumstances, Paul had a massive ministry vision. As I read the closing lines of the book of Acts, I have every reason to believe the Colossians did pray for this and that God granted it. Acts 28:30–31 says of Paul: For the next two years, Paul lived in Rome at his own expense.^[^a^] He welcomed all who visited him, ³¹boldly proclaiming the Kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ. And no one tried to stop him. It seems that their prayers were answered! Third, be specific in prayer (Col. 4:3–4). Note how specific Paul was in his request for the Colossians’ prayers. |He didn’t ask them to pray for missionaries in general,| but for himself and his co-workers specifically. |He didn’t ask them to pray for God to make Himself known across the globe |but to grant Paul open doors to proclaim the gospel in his particular circumstance.| He didn’t ask them to pray that God would open the hearts and minds of unbelievers worldwide to respond to His revelation| but to give Paul clarity of expression when he preached the word to those around him. These few statements concerning the vertical words that can be expressed on behalf of insiders provide a pattern for us to follow when we pray for others who are engaged in the frontline battle for souls. Name the people for whom you’re praying. Ask for open doors. Pray for their specific situations, challenges, and opportunities. Ask that God would help them make the most of their limited resources and overcome setbacks. We need to pray continually, pray passionately, and pray specifically. —4:5–6— In Colossians 4:2–4, Paul reminded us that our words matter in our vertical orientation in prayer toward God on behalf of insiders. Now, in 4:5–6, he turns to how our words and actions make a difference on behalf of outsiders. In discussing...