Grapevine Ministries
Messages from the bible to uplift and encourage those that need a word from the Lord, to strengthen their faith. Ps Phillip Barker is an itinerant pastor in Perth, Western Australia.
Grapevine Ministries
Power of Prayer: Lessons from Paul's Letter to the Colossians
Can a deep commitment to prayer truly transform a faith community, even amidst adversity? Join us as we explore the powerful implications of prayer through Paul's letter to the Colossians. We promise you'll gain insight into Paul's relentless dedication to prayer—so fervent he prayed himself to exhaustion—even while imprisoned in Rome. By dissecting his heartfelt correspondence with the Colossian church, we uncover how he tackled rising heresies and reaffirmed the core tenets of the Christian faith: the deity and sufficiency of Christ. This episode highlights Paul's aspirations for believers to be imbued with divine wisdom and understanding, a message as relevant today as it was then.
Good morning, good afternoon, wherever you are in the world - Welcome to Grapevine Ministries.
If everybody would like to turn their Bibles to the book of Colossians, we're going to start reading from Colossians 1 through to 12. Now, colossians is just after the Philippians. I've got Galatians, philippians, colossians, so here we go. So here we go, paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, and Timothy, our brother, to the saints and the faithful brethren of Christ who are in Colossus. Grace to you and peace to our God, our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks to the God, our Father and Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of you faith in Jesus Christ and of the love of all your saints, because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word and the truth of the gospel, which has come to you, as it has also in all the world, and is bringing forth fruit, as it also among you, and since the day you heard of it, know that the grace of God is truth and you are learning or learned from Epaphras probably getting that wrong our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on the behalf, who has also declared us to you love in spirit. For this reason, we also, since the day we have heard of it done, do not cease to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might according to his glorious power. Now, the reason I'm going through this is primarily due to our subject matter today. This is about prayers. For Christians, see, praying is very, very vitally important. So I pray, lord, that I would not cease to pray for my fellow believers. Fill us, lord, with the knowledge of your will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, understanding empowering us to walk worthy of you, fully pleasing you, being fruitful in every good work and growing in knowledge.
Speaker 1:Now, this particular passage here it's actually talking about how Paul was so much different to some of the other letters that he wrote to some of the other churches because they were not committed committed to their faith as clearly as the church of Colossus was. And this is why Paul, as an intercessor, his expression, which described his prayer, was striving in prayer. Now, if you also look in Romans 15.30, and then you go a little bit further in Colossians 2.1 and 2, and Colossians 4.12, which literally means to the point of exhaustion. Now this is where Paul is praying to the point of exhaustion. It's not only women, men, boys and girls to the Lord Jesus Christ. He provided prayer support for them. As he wrote letters to the church, he let them know not only that he was praying for them, but to the content of his prayer. I just wonder how many people have actually been done that they're so desperate to hear from God that they pray to the level of exhaustion. Now we don't want to get this mixed up with your praying over and over and over again the same thing and you're basically knocking on heaven's door trying to get an answer and you're pleading with God, because that means you're in works, okay, not in grace. You're in works, okay, not in grace. You need to make sure that the way you pray and how you pray has merit. So when you're praying to the level of exhaustion, it's basically saying that you continually pray for this church until you're totally worn out. Now in the text we find that Paul's prayer to the members of the church the significance in relation to this was Paul was in prison in Rome and on that occasion of his writing to the Church of Colossus was a visit to him by Ipegrius, and I'm probably still getting that.
Speaker 1:He seemed to have. He was the. I'm not 100% sure of the accuracy of this, but probably he was the founder of the church. Probably he was the founder of the church. He wanted Paul's advice. From him. Paul learnt all about the condition of the Colossian church, their faith in Jesus Christ, their love to all the saints as well, and that a dangerous heresy was making headway to the church. Christ was demoted to the same category of the number of the other deities that were in there. Subsequently, the theme of the epistle was designated to counter that heresy. The theme was the deity and all sufficiency of the church.
Speaker 1:Now I'm probably not going to get through all of this today, so I've decided to do this message in two parts, so the time schedule will change slightly, but I want you to make a note of listening to two parts of this message, alright, because in verses 9, 10 and 11, we find that Paul's prayer for the members of the church, paul's prayer for the members of the church. Paul's prayers are marvelous and outstanding. No part of his letters are so illustrated to not be able to convey the message that he's trying to get across. So no part of that letter was in that category that we sometimes see in scripture, that you're not quite understanding what it means. But this was very clear of the message that he was giving to the Church of Colossus. We find that he was anxious for all of the saved ones, all ages, all degrees of Christian maturity. So in his prayer he has a mind very definite. He is focusing on this in particular, focusing on this in particular. So let us note that the three major petitions which indicate he has a mind very definite, covering all the needs for which he was praying Now. So let's break these down a little bit.
Speaker 1:All right, to be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. Now, this is Colossians 1.9, right, it says For this cause, we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you. Do not cease to pray for you and to desire that you may all be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. This is a prayer for deeper spiritual knowledge, the deeper spiritual insight and understanding of God's will. This knowledge, insight and understanding of God's will. This knowledge, insight and understanding comes by knowing God better. Was this not what Moses desired? God was calling him to a special task of service and Moses said I do not even know your name. Be sure, god will reveal himself more fully to the one who desires better understanding. This is as true today as it was in Exodus 3.13. God is going to reveal himself to you in such a way that you know that. You know that. You know that you're hearing from him.
Speaker 1:Knowing God better is the antidote for all problems and faults facing the church, and I'm talking about not only Colossus but the church of today. Problems aren't solved by having greater numbers in attendance, having buildings, getting a new pastor or sometimes that can help, but increasing the budget. When believers learn more about God and gain greater spiritual insight, all other things will follow. If you are being spiritually fed, irrespective of the type, shape or size of your church, you are probably in the right place. I say this a lot to a lot of people that you know. They ask, in particular, how they should be living their life, and I always say that the best way to express yourself as a Christian is to show people you're a Christian through your faith and through your actions.
Speaker 1:Telling someone that you're a Christian gives them a false or misleading understanding of Christianity based on you and you alone. See, knowing God's will will bring spiritual insight. His will is revealed in the written word of God. The knowledge needed is not hidden, but it is laid out in the Bible. Without a knowledge of the Bible, we can never know God's thoughts. Bible, we can never know God's thoughts, his intentions and his will. Christian convictions must be based on the word of God and inspired by God's breath. Matthew 24.35 says this God breathed. Jesus said Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. In his Sermon on the Mount, he said that not one title of his word will pass away. Not one of his word will pass away, not one. How little we know the Bible, which has produced confusion and ignorance throughout the Christian world. Our starting place in learning about God will come from the Bible. Our marching orders are from the Bible, not from any other source.
Speaker 1:I remember you know some people were saying oh, I need to know more about the Word of God, I need to do this, I need to do that, apart from actually undertaking biblical studies. The best place for you is in the written Word of God, the actual Bible. Bible, basically, I've heard, is basic instructions before leaving earth, b-i-b-l-e-s Basic instructions before leaving earth. And the reason I say that is because so many pastors and people running programs are putting books out there and, yes, it may have some scripture in it, but all in all, they're telling a story based around circumstances that they've either seen or experienced from their perspective, and so those scriptures are very prevalent to them. But if you need a greater understanding and you need to actually get greater insight into the word of God, the best thing to do is spend time in prayer and reading the word of God. Time in prayer and reading the word of God Now.
Speaker 1:In June 1896, two fast passenger trains met on the same track near New York City. Twenty-eight were killed in this terrible wreck. Amid the cries and groans of the wounded and dying, someone saw the engineer from one of the trains laying pinned under his burning engine, waving a yellow piece of paper With his last strength. As he was dying, he said someone gave me the wrong orders. He said someone gave me the wrong orders, so someone had given him the wrong written instruction.
Speaker 1:We need more Christian convictions and understanding about the great truths revealed in the word, and it's all about being born again as well. All are lost without Christ. Men by nature are sinners. In Genesis 3, god told Adam that he would die if he ate from the forbidden fruit. He did not die physically, he did not die as a person, but he did die. His spirit died to God when he sinned. Everyone born since Adam has been born dead to God. Because of Adam's sin, man is separated by God. Because of sin, he is a spiritual rebel against God. I'll give you another example.
Speaker 1:In a news article several years back, there was a story. From America came this story from California of three young boys aged six, seven and nine killing their father and laying in wait for the mother to return from the grocery store, and they were going to kill her. Her screams upon seeing her husband and their father frightened them and they ran away and hid. When apprehended and asked why did they do this deed, they said Dad was punishing us for breaking in a garage down the street. So we decided to kill our parents and run this house to suit ourselves. This is what has happened in our own hearts to a certain degree. We want to run our own lives to suit ourselves, instead of running our lives in line with the one who created us.
Speaker 1:Now Jesus said to Nicodemus created us Now. Jesus said to Nicodemus you must be born again. Except the man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. That's in John 3.3. Jesus explains the two births, physical and spiritual. The new birth occurs when a person trusts Jesus Christ as his personal saviour. That which was dead to God becomes alive to God. The Holy Spirit moves into the person's spirit and he is born again. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Romans 6.23. Also in Ephesians 2.8-9. For by grace we are saved through faith, and that not ourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. And finally in Acts 20.21,.
Speaker 1:The Bible's short formula for salvation is very, very simple. Formula for salvation is very, very simple testifying both to the Jew and also to the Greek, repentance towards God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. No one enters the kingdom of God without the second birth. No one is a candidate for the membership in a local church until he is saved. Faith does not save a person. Rather, faith gets the person to Christ, and he is saved when that person trusts him. If you have yet to do this, my prayer today is that you would, because it's all about a lordship with Jesus Christ. It's all about conversion. Jesus is to be the Lord of one's life and not just our Saviour. The Lord of one's life and not just our Saviour. The plain truth is Jesus is Lord became the basic faith for the early church.
Speaker 1:Three names were uppermost on their lips, seemingly singularly, sometimes together. He was Jesus, a name that identified him as man. He is also Christ, a name that expresses faith in him, as the fulfillment of the Old Testament promises. And he is Lord, a name which proclaims faith in his divine nature. Lord, a name which proclaims faith in his divine nature. Lord means owner and ruler with the rights to command.
Speaker 1:I think that it's as Christians. As Christians, we need to make sure that we can do the will of God, and the will of God they need to recognize, and that's recognizing Jesus. He must become their Lord, and our Bible tells us of two gardens. So let's look at those. See. This is, if you get nothing else out of this message, I think, the main thing that I want to get through to you is that everything that you need to know about the life that you need to live, and also how you live your life, is based on the word of God.
Speaker 1:Now we know that Jesus came and he did away. He didn't do away with the Old Testament. He fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies, but the Old Testament there is a type and shadow of the New Testament. It is there for a basic understanding of how we live our lives and what we do. See the Garden of Eden in Genesis 2.8 says and the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there he put the man who he had formed. In the garden of Eden, man prayed, not with his lips, but with his life. Father, your will be done, not mine. God has made very clear his wish for the behavior of Adam and Eve. The time came, however, in which the desire of man and woman in Eden was at cross-purposes with the will of God, and in that conflict of wills, the created chaos in their own way and the creator's way, and it came to a place of separation, suffering, sorrow and heartbreak, and lifebreak and life break. Do you see what happens when we are disobedient to the will of God.
Speaker 1:Now, if you look at that right, just hypothetically, let's say that Eden was the size of Australia, right, and we could do anything we wanted to and we could have access to anything in Australia, but we could not climb Mount Uluru. I mean, you know, like Ayers Rock for those that don't know about it, big rock, and Ayers Rock is very well known for its history in Australia and everything, and so many hundreds of thousands of people go there every year to look at the Ayers Rock. But if God had said you can climb any mountain, do anything you like in the whole of Australia, but do not climb Ayers Rock. And there are so many things that we could do, climb Ayers Rock. And there are so many things that we could do.
Speaker 1:But the inert nature of man is to push the barriers. It's like walking past a park bench and it's got a sign that says don't touch wet paint. How many people that walk past that bench are going to touch that bench? For two reasons. The first one is they're thinking, well, maybe it's dry now and so the sign could be removed. And the other one is they said, well, it says we can't touch it, so we have to touch it Right and to a certain degree, this is what happened with Adam and Eve.
Speaker 1:They said you can't have, you know, the fruit from the tree in the center of the garden. So, because they were not allowed to have it, I know the devil was there and the serpent I know what everybody's going to say but they were tempted, you know. I don't know what everybody's going to say, but they were tempted, you know, because, basically, the serpent alerted them to the fact that it was there. But the primary thing that I'm trying to get here is that, out of all the things that we are allowed to do and be able to have contact with, and everything through our faith as a born-again believer, the small things that we shouldn't do or should keep away from are so, so small and insignificant that they really shouldn't worry the everyday person. Now, remember, I said there was two gardens. Right, now you're all sort of trying to say, on a minute, there was only one garden of eden, but no, there was two gardens. Okay, and both those gardens said not my will, but your will be done. That's right for all of those that think they're you know very. And they said the garden of Gethsemane. Go get yourself a cookie, you're entitled to it.
Speaker 1:When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the brook, and when it was in the garden into which he entered this is, the disciples went in with him. In John 18.1,. And in the garden, in Luke 22.42,. Jesus literally prayed Father, not my will, but your will be done, if you'll be willing, remove this cup from me nevertheless. So, and all of a sudden Jesus is getting there and he's showing his human nature, and even with all the prayer that he was putting in and everything else, he still, you know, was hoping that there was a way out of it. But he knew what his destiny was, and so that's when he spoke those words. You know, but not my will, but your will be done. When personal preference and God's will were in conflict, christ chose God's will were in conflict, christ chose God's will. On the heels of the prayer came salvation for men's souls, reconciliation to God and transformation of life, infinite good of all areas of human life. You see what I'm talking about here.
Speaker 1:Whenever we pray, we need to make sure that it lines up with the word of God, and I've probably said this a dozen times in previous sermons, and so some of you may be out there and you say well, how do I pray? The disciples did it with Jesus, right, and everybody knows the Lord's Prayer, even non-Christians know the Lord's Prayer. The disciples asked Jesus how they should pray and it says, okay. He then started the Lord's Prayer. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those that trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation, but the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Speaker 1:Now, there will be different versions of that and I know, in particular, the Catholics have a particular version, but the prayer, primarily, is exactly the same, and this is why I get there and I say that when you're praying, okay, you need to make sure that your prayer lines up with the word of God. So you pray to the Father. There's five basic steps, right. You pray to the Father through the Son. You make sure it lines up with scripture, okay, and then you ask for what you want and then you thank him for what you want. So remember, if you haven't heard it before, those those are the five basic principles required for a fervent, effectual prayer. You pray to the Father number one. You pray through the Son, which is number two, because he stands in the gap, because we're all sinners and we fall short of the glory of God. So Jesus needs to be in that place. And then you make sure that it lines up with Scripture. And this is what I was saying before. If you can't make your request line up with Scripture, then you need to be reading the Word of God to get a better understanding of it. You need the Word. Reading the word of God to get a better understanding of it. You need the word Okay. So you make sure it lines up with scripture.
Speaker 1:And then one thing a lot of people forget when they're spending so much time in prayer, they forget to specifically ask the Lord for something. They do all sorts of things like say oh well, you know what I need and you know what my problems are right now, and you know this. Of course, he knows everything about you. He numbered every hair on your head. But the thing is that he wants to make sure that you know what you want, because there may be wants or needs in your life and you've got so many of them. What are you specifically praying for at that particular time? What is it that you believe that you need in your life right now? And remember a need and a want are two entirely different things. So you've got to make sure that you ask. And even though he said in Scripture I can't remember the exact passage of Scripture, but it says it goes like this I should look it up, but it's something for you to do you try and look it up it says if you believe that you receive when you pray, okay, then it will be given unto you.
Speaker 1:So that means that the fifth element that you need to remember is you've got to thank him for the fulfillment of your prayer. And you're thinking hang on a minute, why am I thanking someone for something that I haven't yet received? Well, you find yourself doing that every day. Day. You might ask someone to do something for you and they say, oh, can you go and pick this up from Scarborough Beach Road and bring it back to me because I can't leave the house at the moment. And they say, yeah, okay, no worries. And you say, oh, thanks very much for that. Really appreciate it. Have you not thanked the person for doing something that they have yet to do for you.
Speaker 1:Same principle applies with our Lord and Savior. We know that a fervent prayer avails much. We know that the word of God is the same yesterday, today and forever. We know that it says give, and it should be given unto you. Pressed down, shaken together and running over, man will give into your bosom. We know that faith is the substance of things hoped for, evidence of things not seen. Now, every one of them was the scripture right. So we know that. We know that. We know that when we pray, it opens up the floodgates of heaven and he pours out his blessings upon you.
Speaker 1:But you need to make sure that your prayer lines up with the word of god, and you ask him for that specifically, and then, on top of that, what you do is that you also thank him for it. Luke 6.46 says and why call me Lord Lord and do nothing? The things that I would, which would I say? When we make the absolute Lord of our lives, we will seek to do things he commands us to do, and we need to walk in the spirit. Now I need to stop here, because I've just got so much more to say. I will finish it off next week. But I want you to focus on the things that I've been talking about today.
Speaker 1:Prayer is one of the most important things that you can do, with the exception of breathing, and you do that automatically. So why can't you make prayer a priority for your life? And if you haven't got it as a priority of your life, then start by allocating yourself just 10 minutes in the morning and 10 minutes before you go to bed. That's not much of a sacrifice and you can pray to the Lord and even if it's just a simple thing, you thank him for the day. Do you know? I converted a? I just want a little thing before I go.
Speaker 1:I converted a prayer for my granddaughter and it says you know, the original prayer is now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take. If I should live another day, I pray the Lord to guide my way. Now, talking about death for a four-year-old is probably not a good idea. So you can say now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep, keep If I wake. For the following day I pray the Lord to guide my way, and so the thing is in the morning, you thank him for the day that you're about to have, whether it's good, bad or ugly, right. And in the evening time, you thank him for the day that you've had, because you got through that day, irrespective of whether it was good, bad or ugly. We'll go further into this next week, but prayer and breathing are the two most important things that should be in your life. God bless you. Talk to you soon. Bye for now.
