Stewardship of Prayer

I trust you have been edified by the Stewardship Series: Stewardship of our Hope

And I hope the excellent testimonies have encouraged you and that they stimulate all of us to love and good deeds…

So far we have focused on the stewardship of our mission, the stewardship of discipline and the stewardship of the next generation…

I hope you have taken advantage of this time to meditate on the 4 principles of Stewardship.

1. God owns everything and you own nothing.
2. God entrusts you with everything you have.
3. You can increase or diminish what God has given. God wants you to increase it.
4. God can call you into account at any time and it might be today.

I love how stewardship focuses on our God given responsibility…it really challenges us to engage in what God is doing and apply God’s word… I love that challenge…My family will tell you I often like to find the most difficult and complicated way of doing something…but I love solving problems, and I really hate giving up.

When I was studying and working to be an engineer, that was a real asset…I love trying to figure out complicated things…and that can be a good thing…but it also can be a pride thing…

I remember vividly an object lesson about this when I was in college…Purdue, Engineering student…I was pretty new to Purdue Bible Fellowship…I leaned about this church after my mom let me know about a weekend conference here that was put on by the creation museum…I came listened, was encouraged about how thought the bible and science we discussed…and I got plugged in to the college ministry….pretty soon I was a part of a serving trip with Purdue Bible Fellowship down at the creation museum….

This was before the creation museum was fully built and we went down to help them do whatever they needed…so a lot of the time we swept…we swept dirt and dust and cleaned up the jobsite…We helped pack and ship different books or pack up displays from the warehouse to move to the new building…, and we even helped pack and transport the Tyrannosaurus rex, the body was on a flatbed trailer and the head was well not on the beast…it was a sight to behold watching a headless T-Rex be transported down the highway…and then to see it assembled inside and the massive scale was very cool.

Well one morning we were getting ready to drive over to work from where we were staying…there were a lot of people from this church in the college ministry….Josh Nelson, Sarah Pratt (now Sarah Harmeyer), and Keith Harmeyer and a bunch of others…Also college sponsors Bev and George Moore were the adults on the trip shepherding and guiding us….

Well one morning we locked the keys in the van…What do a bunch of Purdue students do when they lock the keys in the car…we all go into problem solving mode…Engineer time…we started to access the situation from each angle, each door, trying all the doors, then seeing if a window was cracked…and then we started thinking the best way to break in….do you go through the weather stripping around the door up toward the front…or do you go back closer to the actual lock…we started to fashion apparatuses out of hangers trying to see if it was best to go after the door handle or the lock….you would have thought we broke into teams with mission objectives like we were trying to plan a mission to mars…we did not make much progress but we were super active, trying all sorts of things as quickly as possible…

That is when George Moore recalibrated all of us…He was easily the smartest person there…He was an adult…He was a professor in the school of veterinary science…and an expert cheesecake maker…but that is besides the point…

He called us together…and he said that we ought to pray and ask God for help…I remember just wanting to focus on solving the problem…just wanting to keep working at it…and here is this incredibly accomplished, godly man,…leading us to Go to the Lord in humble, dependent prayer…He led us in prayer and then a few other people prayed…and it wasn’t but 5 minutes after we prayed we were in that van…I cant remember if someone found the spare key, or if we found a metal hanger and were able to get in and pull the handle, but we got in…

I still love solving problems, and I think it is important to not give up easily and to take responsibility for situations you are in….but I never forgot that lesson regarding the importance and power of prayer…and it is something I keep seeking to grow in and I hope with our time today…we can all do that as well as we consider…

Stewardship of Prayer

Please turn in your bibles to Colossians 4:2-4 that is on page ____ in the back section of the bible under the chair in front of you…

[explain context of Colossians and seeking Christ above and putting on Christ in all your relationships….and the reality that you can’t do that without dependence on the Lord who is at work…hence the focus on prayer…

READ Col 4:2-6

4 keys to growing in your prayer life

I. Devote yourself to prayer

Colossians 4:2 -² Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving;

Because it is a key part of the Christian life

Luke 18:1 -¹ Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart,

Prayer helps us to lament and go to God rather than simply despair and drift away from God…so it is to be a key part of the Christian life…as it is all about going to the Lord…it is so important we are called in 1 Thess….

1 Thessalonians 5:17 -¹⁷ pray without ceasing;

When you are devoted to something its importance is shown by how much time you spend engaging in that activity…Prayer is something we are to do consistently …not every second of every day…but we are to be devoted to it… it is to be a regular part of the Christian life…MacArthur in his commentary on Colossians indicates its importance by saying….

It is fitting that Paul begins with prayer, because it is the most important speech the new man can utter. Prayer is the strength of the believer’s fellowship with the Lord and the source of his power against Satan and his angels (cf. Eph. 6:18). Through prayer, believers confess their sin, offer praise to God, call on their sympathetic High Priest (Heb. 4:15–16), and intercede for each other. Prayer from a pure heart (Ps. 66:18) is to be directed to God (Matt. 6:9), consistent with the mind and will of the Holy Spirit (Eph. 6:18), in the name of Christ, and for the glory of the Father (John 14:13). ^[1] MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (1992). Colossians (pp. 179–187). Moody Press.

Prayer is a key part of the Christin life because it also follows Jesus example - Luke 5:16 -¹⁶ But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray. ..Jesus also prayed in the garden of Gethsemane asking the Lord for the cup f suffering to pass from him…but he concluded by saying nevertheless not my will but your will be done…

We see that we should be devoted to prayer…

Because it expresses a dependance on the Lord and aligns us to His will

Paul and his compatriots have heard about the Colossians trusting Jesus as their Lord and savior…and they pray for them…and this is what Paul prays….

Colossians 1:9–12 -⁹ For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, ¹⁰ so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; ¹¹ strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously ¹² giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light.

Paul prays that they would be filled with the knowledge of God’s will…that they would increase in the knowledge of God…that they would know what He wants, what He says…and that would impact how they live…

Prayer is to lead to action…it is a dependance on the Lord…and it aligns us to His will…so that we can take action in accordance with His will…prayer is to lead us to take action trusting that the Lord, that He will strengthen us with His power to do good works and produce fruit in our lives…

…so prayer is not a passive thing…it is a dependent posture before the Lord that is to lead to wise and focused action since we are focusing on what God wants, what God is doing and He is going to give us the resources, power, time, and energy to accomplish His will…if we ask in accordance with His will.

I would encourage you before you read the bible to pray that God would help you know Him better and apply the word to your life…then of course take action and read…, take an FCI class, get in an ABF…all the while praying and asking God to help you know Him better and live to please Him more.

Another great reason to be devoted to prayer is …

because it unites the body of Christ

Acts 1:14 - These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer

When we pray together…we focus together on who the Lord is and what He wants…a bunch of people…coming together with a focus on the Lord.

Romans 12:10–13 -¹⁰ Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; ¹¹ not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; ¹² rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, ¹³ contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.

Think about it this way….If I care enough about you to know what is going on in your life…and then to bring you before the Lord…and I have the mindset that my relationship with the Lord, that is of utmost importance…As I think about the Lord…I want to bring you before the Lord….that means we have a connection and a bond that is unlike any other…you are important to me and I show that by bringing you as a focal point in my most important relationship….when we pray for each other… we are connected in a special way with the Lord at the center of the relationship.

So how can we apply this…what does it look like to be devoted to prayer. Anything you are devoted to you focus on, seek to improve in, and you don’t let it become an afterthought.

In addition to having prayer be built in before a meal or before bed time…those are great…I think you want to maintain that so it is part of being devoted to prayer…but to be devoted to something means you will also seek out time where you are praying not just around a meal or bedtime but because you are devoting yourself to prayer…One of the things you could do is set an alarm each day to help you cultivate a heart of prayer. You could write out a weekly planner for prayer…sort of like a work out schedule…Monday is arms, wed is shoulders and Friday is leg day…

You could say Monday – I am going to pray that I will know more God this week and have opportunities to be amazed by who he is when I am reading his word…Monday Lord I want to get to know you this week better…help me to know you. You could even read a passage like Col 1:9-12 and then pray similar to what Paul prayed for the Colossians.

Tuesday – Lord, help me serve in your name today...help me be a bright light in a broken world where I see opportunities to serve others this week.

Wed – Lord bring people to me I can share the gospel with and help me be bold to walk through the open doors you give me.

Thursday – Maybe if you are married or have kids…Lord held me be a servants leader, Lord help me be a good example, Lord give me some opportunities for discipleship and encouragement with my family.

Friday – Leaders…in our community, our church, our world…People in your sphere of influence…

Saturday – For service on Sunday that you would be glorify the church would be building itself up in love and that new people would come and feel welcome and learn and grow…people might hear the gospel for the first time…

You can ask 1 person a day, what is something I can pray for you about. You can let someone know you prayed for them. That will help you be devoted to prayer and not just pray occasionally or around a meal…but be devoted to prayer where you do it frequently and purposefully.

II. Be alert when you pray

Colossians 4:2 -² Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving;

Prayer may take place when you close you eyes…but it is to be when you are most awake, most alert…when you see things the most clearly because you are focused on the Lord and what He is doing and what He wants…Prayer requires alertness.

Be alert to the needs of the moment

Matthew 26:40–41 -⁴⁰ And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour? ⁴¹ “Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

I think many people find it hard to pray…not just because they are tired in a garden, but often there are so many distractions in life that they are not always aware of needs around them to be praying for.

Also some folks ask what is the point of prayer, it doesn’t work….I have prayed for things and nothing happened.

In fact I was in Denver this past weekend and a young man came up to me as he was disciplining a college student who was an engineer…and the student he was discipling says he does not see the point to prayer because it feel like the words are just hitting the wall and not going anywhere.

I tried to explain to him that is a very engineering way to think about things as we love feedback systems where we get instant information if things are going well… we want to see things be effective, we want feedback that I am doing the right thing because I see something happen.

Well there are two important things to remember…God works with perfect timing, and often that involves patience and trusting Him as his ways are not our ways…His ways are better…and when I pray and I record what I pray for…often week, months maybe years later the Lord may answer that prayer…I just don’t see the results when I want…and the process of faithfully bringing something before the Lord over time refines me to trust Him and praise Him even when I don’t get the result I want in the timing I want.

Also the point of prayer is for me to focus on the Lord and not just myself…and when I judge if my prayer is hitting a wall, that is all about my subjective analysis…if I am praying in accordance with His will, revealed in the bible and based on my relationship with Christ…I must by faith trust that he hears me, and it is about me relying on Him, crying out to Him in faith and worshipping Him in humble dependance…not me saying just the right things to get a result I want.

So being alert means I am focused on the right things…we are called to

Be alert to what honors God

Notice another of Paul’s prayers and see how the focus is on the Holy Spirit who is at work in us…and the idea is to keep going because of the mission God has for us…

1. Ephesians 6:18–20 -¹⁸ With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, ¹⁹ and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, ²⁰ for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

We have such a great mission to share the truth about Christ as representatives of Christ…however it is hard…it requires perseverance and there may be suffering…and so we need to pray that we and others would continue. The world is trying to force us into its mold…but we are to be conformed to the image of Christ…and we are to proclaim the excellencies of Christ…and we need prayer to continue in that mission.

There are people all over that oppose the truth of the bible…and yet we do not battle against flesh and blood…but the spiritual forces of this world that would want to exalt mankind and simply put to live for oneself…We are to be alert that we are in a spirit battle each day…

alert prayer keeps us focused on the reality and danger of drifting away from Christ that is all around us…

One of the hardest responsibilities of a soldier is to stay awake when a conflict drags on…when there is down time, but they are not safe….my brother when he was deployed to Afghanistan would tell me that his commanding officer wanted to make sure they always had a cooler stocked full of Rip-It’s…which was a caffeinated energy drink…as when they went out on patrol one of the most important things was to be alert, ready…recognizing the danger they were on and not getting comfortable.

So too are followers of Christ to be alert to the batter against sin that is going on in their own heart and all around them…we are to be aware that this world system want to pull us away from the Lord…we are not to just go with the current, but to be alert to the threats that are all around us and especially inside the sinful heart of man.

What does this look like…it means you are away of your own sin, and instead of hiding it, or ignoring it…you are alert to it and you prayerfully address it and one of the first steps to addressing sin is going to the Lord confessing your sin and seeking help…

But with all that temptations and danger is opportunity to help people, to serve people…to give them a relief from the brokenness of this world through the gospel of Jesus Christ…

I think it is important that we pray for our partners in the gospel…Each month in ABF we pray for a different missionary…at the stewardship celebration we will be commissioning Naoto…it is a great time for us to pray like Paul and be alert to what honors God around the world.

We are to be alert and aware, but not disenfranchised, not jaded…in fact prayer requires that we…

III. Cultivate an attitude of thanksgiving

Colossians 4:2 -² Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving;

Thankfulness should permeate our walk with the Lord

Psalm 107:1 -¹ Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, For His lovingkindness is everlasting.

Colossians 3:15 -¹⁵ Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful.

Thanksgiving must be comprehensively applied because Christ is to be comprehensively applied to all of life…he is to be before all things…and in him all things hold together…the Lord is working through all things to conform believers to the image of Christ…and so how can we not put Christ first and not appropriately respond with Thanksgiving…

What could this look like…each day you could thank God for something about His character his attributes…at the end of the day…you could list out all the good and challenging things about your day and thank the Lord for all of them…the blessing that you really enjoyed but also the trials and challenges that you see God using to make you more like Christ…

Share what happened in your day and How you saw the Lord working…and then give thanks for that with other people…

Take a dry erase marker and write one word on your mirror each week…this word can be something you are learning about God in your bible study, from the sermon on Sunday…and area of life you want to grow…maybe the name of someone you are reaching out to…before, during or after you brush your teeth pray with a focus on what you wrote down..

Another way you can be a good steward of prayer is coming to the stewardship celebration tonight and being a part of thanking God for what he has done and is doing…tonight is a great opportunity for corporate thanksgiving and prayer…

Thankfulness for Christ work

Colossians 4:2 -² Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving;

Colossians 3:17 -¹⁷ Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.

1 Thessalonians 5:18 -¹⁸ in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

What could this look like…Reading the gospel primer devotional would allow you to think about different aspects of Christ work on the cross…

Reading what Christ went through for you in the Gospel…and imagining that you had to go through that…and thinking about how thankful you are that He did that in your place…Write out your salvation testimony and place that somewhere where you see it and read it on a regular basis and thank the Lord for saving you.

[Gospel presentation] – Maybe the most important prayer that you have not prayed yet is asking God to forgive you of your sins and forgiven you on the basis of Jesus dying on the cross and resurrecting. I would invite you to pray that prayer today and if you would like help working through that, please contact your service pastor as we would like nothing more than to help you know Christ so you have an eternal thankfulness.

The more thankful you are for Christ work in your life...the more alert you will be for opportunities to share that with others…

The 4^th way to grow in your prayer life is to…

IV. Focus regularly on gospel opportunities

This starts with…

Understanding that we need God to open doors

Paul invites the Colossians to pray for him…He is dependent on God to open doors…but Paul wants others to join with Him in asking God to use them…and open doors for them to be effective.

Colossians 4:3 -³ praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned;

Acts 14:27 -²⁷ When they had arrived and gathered the church together, they began to report all things that God had done with them and how He had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.

Pray that God would open up a door for you to share the word with others…and then be ready to walk through that door….

Pick one person in your life that you want God to open a door to minister to before the end of the year…Pray for that person regularly….

Paul is constantly talking about doors…in other words, Paul’s prayer life reveals a focused life…He is focused on praying in accordance to what God is doing and He wants to be a part of what God is doing…and God is opening doors for ministry all over the place.

Remember how prayer is to lead to action…we are dependent on the Lord…but that dependence is to lead to a boldness, to action…prayer strengthens and focus us to stay on mission….

We are to grow in prayer by focusing on gospel opportunities….

Knowing that God’s plan is for us to be actively engaged in the spread of the Gospel

Colossians 4:4 -⁴ that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak.

Paul is dependent on God, but he also knows he is going to have to speak…and so are you and I….

Recently we were in ABF, and it was really encouraging bc during our prayer time folks kept sharing about people they were reaching out to…asking their brothers and sisters to pray for them as they share the gospel with friends and family…people were talking about Taste of Christ and co-workers or neighbors they have invited that do not know the Lord…and it was just a sweet time of people focused together on the spread of the gospel one person at a time.

That is another aspect of Paul’s prayer for the Colossians…

Colossians 1:3–6 -³ We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, ⁴ since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints; ⁵ because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel ⁶ which has come to you, just as in all the world also it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing, even as it has been doing in you also since the day you heard of it and understood the grace of God in truth;

The reality is the gospel is spreading…God is at work…the question is will we pray that we will be a part of it, and then will we be a part of it…

I do pray that this helps you grow in your stewardship of prayer….God has called us to pray to Him and he wants us to increase in our dependence on Him and our knowledge of Him…and ultimately our desire to live for Him.

And so I think it would be fitting for me to close our time in prayer..

Lets pray that we would be devoted to prayer in our everyday live…we would be alert when we pray about needs around us and ultimately what honors God…

Lets ask God for help cultivating a thankful heart so that in our prayers we have an attitude of appreciation for who He is and all that he has done and is doing for us…

and lastly, lets pray that we would share the gospel with others and be a part of the gospel spreading all throughout our town, state and throughout the world.