Latest / Reformed Thinking / Steadfast, Watchful, Thankful: Strengthens the Church for Mission (Colossians 4:2)

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Steadfast, Watchful, Thankful: Strengthens the Church for Mission (Colossians 4:2) · Reformed Thinking

• 0:00
  Welcome to reform thinking. It's good to be here.
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  We're jumping right into a deep dive today when we've put
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  together Just for You, and it's all about what happens when you
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  know the big grand theology of the gospel runs head first into
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  your daily life. Right into the chaos of the
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  schedule. We're going to be looking at a
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  single verse, Colossians 4.2, which we think is basically the
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  engine room for depending Christian living.
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  It really is a critical piece of Scripture.
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  I mean, Paul spends the first half of this letter building
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  this huge, majestic picture of Christ, his supremacy, his role
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  as Creator, his complete sufficiency as Redeemer.
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  And then this one verse comes along.
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  And it pulls all of that glorious truth down into the
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  nitty gritty of a believer's daily routine.
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  So our mission today is to really get into Paul's threefold
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  command about prayer. We want to understand how it's
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  completely grounded in who Christ is and how it functions
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  in practice. Yes, how?
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  It's the necessary posture for genuine Christian obedience and
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  mission. OK, so let's get into it.
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  The place to start, I think, and the source material really
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  highlights this, is with the reality.
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  That's a bit surprising, the quiet, often unconfessed sin of
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  prayerlessness. We tend to see it as, you know,
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  a minor failing, maybe just a lack of discipline.
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  A time management issue. Right, but the argument here is
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  that it's the clear symptom of a heart that's sort of drifting
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  back towards self-reliance. That's the hard truth, isn't it?
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  We're all so prone to what you could call a practical deism.
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  What do you mean by that? Well, with our mouths maybe in
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  church on Sunday, we affirm God's total sovereignty.
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  We affirm that Christ has provided everything.
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  But then Monday morning comes, we're looking at our work, our
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  finances, maybe a conflict with a family member, and we operate
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  as if God is just a distant observer.
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  Like he set it all in motion and now he's just watching to see
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  how we handle. It we rely on our own problem
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  solving, our own striving, we act as if success depends on our
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  cleverness, not on God's grace or His hand in our lives.
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  And what makes that tendency so, so difficult to fight right now
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  is the world we live in. It's basically a machine built
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  for distraction. Oh.
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  Absolutely everything, from our phones to our social media feeds
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  is geared toward constant noise, endless notifications, a feeling
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  of restlessness. It trains us.
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  It catechizes us into activism. We end up substituting raw
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  activity for real communion with God.
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  So we feel productive because we're checking things off a
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  list. But it's not spiritual vitality.
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  Instead of going to prayer to say I can't do this, I depend on
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  you, we just try to manage the chaos ourselves.
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  We think if we were just a bit more efficient or a bit smarter,
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  we'd get on top of it. And that's driving is the
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  absolute opposite of the dependence Paul is calling us
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  to. It is, and that's why Colossians
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  4.2 lands like such a direct spirit breathe intervention.
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  Let's read it, continue steadfastly in prayer, being
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  watchful in it with Thanksgiving.
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  The first thing you notice is this isn't a gentle suggestion.
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  It's not for a special class of super spiritual people.
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  No, the verb is plural. It's an urgent command for the
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  whole church, for every single St. in Colisea.
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  Paul is calling them away from these, you know, intense bursts
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  of prayer only when there's a crisis.
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  And then forgetting about it when things are calm.
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  He's calling them toward a sustained, settled habit of
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  dependence. It's meant to be the constant
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  underlying reality of the Christian's life.
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  So he's really defining the posture where we have to
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  maintain before God, and that's where those three parts come in.
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  That's right, steadfastness is the first one.
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  It's a kind of perseverance that just refuses to give up when
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  prayer feels dry or like nothing's happening.
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  Then watchfulness. That's the clear headedness, the
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  vigilance that keeps our prayer from getting sleepy or sloppy,
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  that keeps us awake to temptation and also to
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  opportunity. And finally, Thanksgiving.
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  Which is the atmosphere of the whole thing.
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  It grounds the entire practice in the bedrock certainty of the
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  gospel. So are asking doesn't turn into
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  some kind of sour entitlement. So let's talk about why Paul
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  puts this command right here. It's not just a nice thought at
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  the end of the letter. The placement is really
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  strategic. It is.
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  We have to remember the context. The Colossian Church was feeling
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  the pressure from some very deceptive teachings.
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  Paul calls them spiritual add-ons.
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  Right, things that sound super spiritual on the surface.
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  Very attractive things. Asceticism, you know, harsh
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  treatment of the body, strict regulations about food or
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  festivals, even a fascination with mystical visions.
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  Things that promise a deeper walk.
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  But they all had one fatal flaw. They all shifted a person's
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  reliance away from the total exclusive sufficiency of Christ.
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  There were attempts to supplement what Christ had
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  already done. With human performance.
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  With human performance. So in chapters one and two, Paul
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  has to work so hard to put Christ back in the absolute
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  center. He is the image of the invisible
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  God, the Creator, the head of the Church, the one in whom all
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  of God's fullness dwells. After laying that massive
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  theological foundation. Then he moves to how we live, if
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  Christ is totally sufficient for our salvation, if we are
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  complete in Him, as He says in chapter 2.
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  Then our life isn't built by adding more rules or rituals.
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  No. If Christ is our sufficiency,
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  then we by definition must be dependent.
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  And that brings us right back to prayer.
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  Prayer is the lived out confession of that need.
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  It has to be. Prayer is the very posture that
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  keeps a believer from sliding back into those self salvation
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  projects I see. If we depend on Christ for our
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  justification, we must also depend on Him for our
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  sanctification, for our wisdom, for our mission.
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  Prayer is that constant admission.
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  I can't produce holiness. I can't generate spiritual
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  fruit. I can't be an effective witness
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  apart from Him. The placement of the command is
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  also so striking because it comes right after some
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  incredibly demanding ethical instructions.
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  Oh, it's intense. He's just told them to put sin
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  to death, to put on love, kindness, humility.
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  He's gone through duties in that the household, how husbands and
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  wives and children and masters and servants are to relate.
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  The list is huge. It's staggering.
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  And when a church hears a list of commands that high that
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  comprehensive, you face 2 very large spiritual dangers.
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  What are they? The first is legalism.
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  You hear the list and you think, OK, if I can just perform all
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  these duties perfectly, if I can manage my anger and speak
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  graciously, then God will accept me more.
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  He'll bless me more. The performance mindset it.
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  Creeps right in. But the second danger is the
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  opposite, despair. You hear that high standard and
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  you realize how completely inadequate you are, and you're
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  tempted to just give up. Who is sufficient for these
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  things? I fail at this every single day.
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  Yes. So how does Paul resolve that
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  tension between legalism and despair?
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  He says now keep praying. He does.
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  He anchors the entire life of obedience and active dependence.
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  Prayer is the release valve. It's where you take those
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  overwhelming commands to God and admit that the strength to obey
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  them has to come from Him. And it's where our failures.
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  Are met with repentance and renewed faith, not with shame
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  and hiding. It pushes back against an
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  outward religiosity that doesn't have a real inward active
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  communion with God. So Colossians 4.2 functions like
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  a hinge in the letter. A perfect way to put it.
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  It closes the section on how we live faithfully inside the
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  church and home. And then it immediately opens
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  the final section on how we witness to the world outside.
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  It's the connective tissue. A holy life lived inside the
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  church is what gives our testimony outside the church any
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  credibility, and prayer is the means God uses to keep Christ
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  central in all of it, keeping us from trusting ourselves and
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  helping us carry the gospel out into the world.
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  A church that doesn't pray just can't sustain its life or its
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  mission. It will run out of fuel.
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  OK, let's zoom in on that central command, then.
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  Steadfastness continues steadfastly in prayer.
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  That's a direct, demanding instruction.
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  The Greek word Paul picks here, proscarterite, is a strong one.
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  It's not just about starting to pray, it's about adhering to it.
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  It means perseverance, devotion, a kind of stubborn constancy.
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  So it's about refusing to quit. Refusing to abandon prayer when
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  it feels boring, or when the answers seem delayed, or when
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  we're just too tired and distracted to feel like it.
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  Paul sees this as a settled holy habit for a Christian's life.
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  It's such a challenge to how we often live with this sort of
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  burst and burn cycle. What?
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  Do you mean by that? You know, we pray with
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  incredible intensity during a crisis, a health scare, a job
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  loss. We're on our knees, desperate.
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  And then once things level out, we slide back into managing
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  things on our own for months at a time.
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  That cycle of desperation followed by self-sufficiency is
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  the very thing Paul is trying to break.
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  The Christian life isn't fueled by panic, it's fueled by
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  continual abundance. The command itself seems to
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  assume that prayer is, well, the normal way a child approaches a
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  willing father. It does.
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  It's not a last ditch effort to try and squeeze a blessing out
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  of a reluctant God. Which brings us to a big
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  theological question a lot of our listeners wrestle with.
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  If we hold to a Reformed view of God's absolute sovereignty that
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  He works all things according to His own will, then why the
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  command to persevere so intensely in asking?
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  If God has already ordained the outcome, why pray?
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  Right, it feels like a contradiction to some.
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  And this is where we have to think very carefully.
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  The Bible commands prayer precisely because God is
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  sovereign. He has established a world that
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  works through means and ends. So prayer confesses 2 things at
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  once. Yes, it confesses God's total
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  sufficiency and power, and at the same time it confesses our
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  total creaturely weakness and dependence.
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  God ordains the ends. His purposes will be
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  accomplished. And he also ordains the means.
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  He also ordains the means to get to those ends, and one of the
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  primary means he has ordained is the petitions of his people.
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  So asking is part of how his sovereign will gets done.
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  It's part of the machinery. God is pleased to bring about
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  His purposes through the prayers of His Saints.
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  To stop praying because God's going to do what he's going to
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  do anyway is actually a failure to embrace the very means He's
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  given us. You look at Paul himself.
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  The same man who wrote Romans 9 with its high doctrine of
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  election in Providence is the same man who is constantly
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  commanding people to pray without ceasing for him.
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  Persisting in prayer isn't a denial of sovereignty.
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  It's an act of submission to it. It's submitting to the way God
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  has chosen to run his world. So what are some of the
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  practical reasons we need to be told to stick with it?
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  Why is it so hard? Well, the opposition is
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  relentless. The world is constantly training
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  us for distraction. Our own flesh fights against the
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  humility of dependence, and of course the enemy fears a praying
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  Christian. Prayer is where our illusion of
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  competence goes to die it. Really is you come as a beggar,
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  a supplicant, not as a consultant giving God advice.
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  And the Bible often links this kind of steadfastness with
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  enduring suffering. It does in Romans 12.
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  Be constant in prayer is right there next to rejoicing in hope
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  and being patient in tribulation.
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  Prayer is the fuel for spiritual stamina.
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  When you're suffering, prayer is often the hardest thing to do.
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  It can feel dry, pointless, like you're speaking into a void, but
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  persisting through that is how God trains us to trust His
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  character over our immediate circumstances.
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  Like Jesus of the persistent widow.
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  He's not saying God is a reluctant judge who needs to be
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  worn down. He's saying God trains his
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  children through continued asking.
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  Because we are the ones who are so quick to lose heart and give
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  up. Steadfastness is faith being
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  exercised and strengthened. Now, in our theological world,
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  we have to be careful about the dangers that can come with a
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  high call like this. How do we keep steadfastness
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  from becoming a trap? The biggest danger, the most
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  common one, is legalism. OK, if we hear continue
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  steadfastly and we start keeping a scorecard, how many minutes
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  did I pray? How many days in a row we can
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  start to think that our performance is earning us favor
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  with God? That our consistency makes us
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  more righteous. And that's a disaster.
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  We pray from a position of acceptance that is already
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  secured for us by Christ's blood.
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  We don't pray for acceptance. Our access is based on the
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  cross, not the quality of our prayer life.
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  And then there's the opposite error.
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  Antinomianism, which is just a fancy word for excusing
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  prayerlessness by appealing to grace.
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  The argument being well, God is sovereign, grace is free, so the
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  actual discipline doesn't matter that much.
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  And Scripture just gives us no room for that.
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  The same grace that saves us also trains us in diligence and
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  dependence. The call to persevere in prayer
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  exposes the real sin underneath our prayerlessness.
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  It's not usually a lack of time. It's a lack of faith.
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  It's practical unbelief. It's that quiet thought in the
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  back of our minds that says, I've got this.
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  I can handle this one on my own. It's self trust masquerading as
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  busyness. And Paul's command just cuts
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  right through that. It insists that the strength for
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  holiness, the wisdom for our jobs, the effectiveness of our
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  witness, it all has to come down from God.
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  And it's maintained through that ongoing stubborn connection.
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  OK, so steadfastness is about the duration of our prayer.
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  The next part of the command being watchful is about the
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  quality. Yes, this is about vigilance.
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  It's about fighting against spiritual drowsiness.
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  The posture of a century on a wall.
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  That's a great image. A century can't afford to drift
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  off, and the classic example of this is Jesus in Gethsemane
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  telling his disciples, watch and pray that you may not enter into
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  temptation. And they fell asleep.
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  They were physically and spiritually asleep at the most
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  critical moment. So steadfastness gets us to show
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  up for prayer, but watchfulness make sure our eyes are open when
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  we get there. That our spiritual senses are
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  sharp. Paul assumes the Christian life
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  isn't a safe, casual walk in the park.
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  It's a journey through hostile territory.
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  There are real spiritual forces at work, and there's the pull of
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  our own sinful nature. Watchful prayer faces that
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  reality head on. So in the specific context of
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  the Colossian Church, what did they need to be watchful for?
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  They were being threatened by teachings that diminish Christ,
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  that empty deceit, the focus on ascetic rules, the fascination
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  with visions. So for them, watchfulness meant
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  doctrinal vigilance. Yeah, you can be a very busy,
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  very emotional church and still be spiritually asleep.
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  If your attention has drifted from the supremacy of Christ and
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  the authority of the Word, watchful prayer is always
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  testing things against Scripture.
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  It guards against being manipulated by novelty.
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  Or spiritual fads. It guards against superstition,
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  the idea that prayer is about saying the right magic words to
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  get God to do something. Or mysticism.
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  Chasing after subjective experiences or private feelings
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  that aren't tied to the objective truth of the gospel.
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  Watchfulness pulls prayer back to a clear minded, Christ
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  centered dependence. It recognizes that the enemy's
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  attacks are often very sophisticated.
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  Not just obvious sin, but subtle doctrinal shifts.
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  Yes, shifts that quietly replace Christ with some human system.
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  The sources you pointed to outline 3 specific areas for
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  watchfulness. Watching the heart, watching the
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  church, and watching Providence. Let's start with the heart.
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  Watching the Heart is about brutal honesty before God.
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  It means naming sins the moment they start to stir.
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  Not waiting for them to grow. No, the watchful believer brings
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  those first flickers of anger, those little rationalizations
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  for pride, those quiet temptations of lust, right into
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  the light of God's presence. This is where we plead for the
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  Spirit to put sin to death, just like Paul commanded in chapter
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  3. It's active warfare.
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  Not passive observation. And then watching the church.
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  This is about being and alert to the needs of others.
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  This is loving intercession. It's staying awake to the
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  burdens of our brothers and sisters.
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  The person who's sick, the one who's discouraged, the one who
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  is wavering in their faith. It's moving beyond a generic
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  self focused prayer list. To real, specific, concrete
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  prayer for the body of Christ. It's recognizing that we're all
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  connected to each other because we're connected to Christ.
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  And the third one watching Providence connects directly to
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  mission. A watchful church is awake to
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  the open doors that God provides.
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  That's what Paul immediately asks them to pray for in the
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  very next verse. A sleepy church misses those
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  opportunities. A church that's consumed with
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  its own internal programs or debates will walk right past the
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  chances God puts in front of it. A Co worker in crisis?
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  A neighbor who's asking questions.
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  Watchful prayer trains us to see those moments for what they are
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  and to act on them. This idea of watchfulness just
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  feels so countercultural right now.
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  Our whole age seems designed to produce spiritual drowsiness.
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  It's desperately needed. The constant stimulation from
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  our devices doesn't just steal our time, it numbs our spiritual
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  senses. The modern mind is being rewired
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  for shallow, quick hit information.
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  Which makes the deep stillness needed for prayer feel almost
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  foreign. And so people drift.
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  Repentance becomes shallow. The fear of God just sort of
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  fades away without anyone noticing.
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  Paul is calling us to repent of that drift.
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  To be unwatchful isn't a personality quirk, it's a
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  spiritual danger. It's living as if temptation
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  isn't real. Or as if false teaching isn't
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  deceptive. Or as if the soul can just coast
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  its way into heaven. So we have the constant rhythm
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  of steadfastness and the alert quality of watchfulness.
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  The final piece is the atmosphere with Thanksgiving.
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  And this is non negotiable. It's not a polite thank you, you
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  add at the end of your list of demands.
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  A spiritual PS. Right.
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  Thanksgiving is the air that all Christian prayer has to breathe
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  before you even ask for anything.
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  Thanksgiving declares that God has already acted decisively.
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  The gospel is true. Your biggest need,
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  reconciliation with God, has already been met.
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  So gratitude is a confession of faith.
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  It anchors the whole prayer in what Christ has already done.
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  It has to When gratitude is missing, prayer can so easily
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  become anxious pleading or cynical, complaining about what
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  we don't have. But when gratitude is the
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  foundation. It steadies the heart.
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  It reminds you I am coming to a good Father who has already
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  given me His Son. Whatever I'm lacking right now
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  is temporary. What I have in Christ is
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  eternal. And this focus on gratitude is
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  all over the letter to the Colossians.
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  Paul models it from the very beginning.
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  He thanks God for their faith. He prays that they would be
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  strengthened so they can give thanks to the Father.
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  And crucially, the reason for the gratitude is always tied
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  back to redemption. It's not just thanks for the
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  nice weather. No, it's thanks for being
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  delivered from the dominion of darkness.
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  Thanks for the forgiveness of sins.
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  Thanks for the promise of an inheritance.
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  It's thankfulness for the permanent reality of the gospel,
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  not just for comfortable circumstances.
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  It's the evidence that the word of Christ is really dwelling in
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  us. That's the result.
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  And Thanksgiving acts as a guardrail.
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  It protects us from some very common sins.
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  First, it guards against anxiety.
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  Like in Philippians 4. Do not be anxious about
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  anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with
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  Thanksgiving. Let your requests be made known
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  to God. Thanksgiving pushes back against
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  panic by affirming God's proven love.
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  He's already given the ultimate gift, so I can trust him with
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  the smaller things. And second, it guards against
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  entitlement. Which is a huge cultural force
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  our. Culture is all about demanding
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  your rights, getting what you deserve.
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  Thanksgiving reminds us we are debtors to mercy.
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  We are not claimants of rights. Without it, prayer becomes a
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  list of grievances. God, you need to fix this
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  because I deserve better. Thanksgiving completely
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  recenters the conversation on grace.
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  But what about in times of real sorrow?
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  Does Thanksgiving mean we have to pretend we're not hurting?
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  Not at all. That would be dishonest.
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  Watchfulness means we see our trials clearly.
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  Thanksgiving doesn't mean putting on a fake smile.
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  So what does it do? It anchors our lament in a
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  bigger reality. It allows a Christian to grieve
• 19:45
  honestly and still say this pain is real and I don't understand
• 19:49
  it, but I know I've been forgiven.
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  I know Christ is Lord and I know nothing can separate me from His
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  love. Gratitude keeps pain from
• 19:58
  becoming the only story. It gives you that future
• 20:00
  perspective. That eschatological hope, we
• 20:03
  thank God not just for what he's done at the cross, but for what
• 20:06
  he has promised to finish when Christ returns.
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  And this takes discipline. It means training yourself to
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  convert that initial grumble into a petition and then to
• 20:17
  crown that petition with gratitude.
• 20:19
  Lord, please help me with this. And thank you that you hear me.
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  Thank you that in Christ you've already given me everything I
• 20:24
  truly need that changes the whole tone of our inner life.
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  This is such a critical pivot in the text, this whole command,
• 20:31
  steadfast, watchful, thankful, yeah, isn't just for our own
• 20:34
  private spiritual benefit. No, Paul immediately directs it
• 20:37
  outward. The internal work of prayer is
• 20:39
  the engine for mission. The outward turn is
• 20:41
  instantaneous. The moment, he says.
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  Continue steadfastly in prayer, he adds.
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  At the same time, pray also for us.
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  The church's prayer life is supposed to be corporate and
• 20:52
  missional, supporting those who are on the front lines.
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  Prayer isn't the prelude to the mission, it is the mission.
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  It's the strategic center of it. Let's look at what Paul
• 21:00
  specifically asks for in verse 3.
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  He's in prison. He doesn't ask for better food
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  or for his release. No, He asks that God may open to
• 21:09
  us a door for the Word. That is a stunning rebuke to a
• 21:13
  ministry culture that's obsessed with human technique.
• 21:16
  It is the greatest apostle. Whoever lived doesn't ask ask
• 21:19
  for a new strategy or a better communication plan.
• 21:22
  He asks for God to act. Evangelistic opportunity is a
• 21:26
  matter of Providence, not human cleverness.
• 21:29
  God is the one who opens the door.
• 21:31
  So prayer is the most practical thing a church can do for its
• 21:34
  mission. The most strategic thing and
• 21:36
  think about the situation. Paul is literally behind locked
• 21:38
  physical doors and his main prayer request is for spiritual
• 21:42
  doors to be opened. His chains didn't chain his
• 21:44
  reliance on God. And he asks for two things, an
• 21:48
  open door and clarity. He wants to declare the mystery
• 21:52
  of Christ, which is the gospel. He's not praying to be more
• 21:55
  eloquent or persuasive in a human sense.
• 21:58
  He's praying to be clear. To be faithful in his
• 22:00
  communication, this tells us that even for the Apostle Paul,
• 22:03
  proclaiming the gospel clearly required divine help.
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  The cross is so easily obscured by moralism or legalism or
• 22:11
  sentimentality. Now this prayer filled life is
• 22:14
  expected to shape the church's public behavior.
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  That's verse 5. Walk in wisdom support outsiders
• 22:19
  making the best use of the time so internal dependence leads
• 22:23
  directly to external conduct. The world is watching.
• 22:26
  Outsiders are watching, so believers have to live wisely,
• 22:29
  not copying the world's patterns but also not causing needless
• 22:32
  offense through hypocrisy or foolishness.
• 22:35
  Making the best use of the time sounds like seizing
• 22:37
  opportunities. That's the idea.
• 22:39
  Redeeming the time. Careless living, a sloppy work
• 22:42
  ethic, Unkind speech online foolishness.
• 22:45
  It can slam shut the very doors God is opening.
• 22:47
  Prayer helps a believer notice those providential moments and
• 22:50
  act with alertness. And it all comes down to the
• 22:53
  level of individual conversations.
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  Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt.
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  This is the fruit of a watchful, thankful heart.
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  Gracious speech is speech that's governed by grace.
• 23:05
  It's free from harshness or pride.
• 23:07
  It remembers that we're forgiven sinners talking to other sinners
• 23:10
  about a holy God. And seasoned with salt.
• 23:12
  Salt preserves and it adds flavor.
• 23:15
  Our speech should be wholesome, fitting, and have a certain
• 23:18
  truthfulness to it. Not crude, not aggressive, but
• 23:21
  pointed in a helpful way. And the goal is very personal,
• 23:25
  knowing how to answer each person.
• 23:27
  Which requires discernment. You can't use a script.
• 23:29
  It takes patience and love, which are things supplied by
• 23:32
  ongoing communion with God, not by sheer willpower or memorizing
• 23:36
  arguments. So before we wrap up, we need to
• 23:38
  make sure we anchor all of this. The steadfastness, the
• 23:41
  watchfulness, the Thanksgiving in its proper theological
• 23:44
  foundation. Why can we even dare to approach
• 23:47
  God with this kind of confidence?
• 23:49
  Because our access was bought with blood.
• 23:51
  That's the only reason. If prayer was just us trying to
• 23:54
  get the attention of a holy God based on our own merit or
• 23:57
  sincerity, it would be the height of presumption.
• 24:00
  But Colossians has already made it clear.
• 24:02
  We were reconciled to God by the blood of His cross.
• 24:05
  Our prayer life rests entirely on the finished work of Christ,
• 24:08
  not on the quality of our feelings or the rigor of our
• 24:11
  discipline. We pray as people who have
• 24:13
  already been welcomed in. That's it.
• 24:15
  Our confidence is tied completely to our status in
• 24:18
  Christ. We can draw near, not because we
• 24:20
  are worthy, but because He is. This huge command to be
• 24:25
  steadfast in prayer would crush us if the Gospel hadn't first
• 24:28
  opened up a permanent, secure throne of grace.
• 24:31
  And our confidence is specifically Christ's
• 24:33
  confidence. He's our mediator.
• 24:36
  Our great High Priest we pray through the sun, asking in his
• 24:39
  name, which means on the basis of his merit and authority.
• 24:42
  The book of Hebrews is so key here.
• 24:45
  We can draw near with confidence because we have a high priest
• 24:47
  who gets our weakness. He was tempted in every way we
• 24:50
  are, yet he was without sin. That is a huge comfort for
• 24:53
  anyone whose prayer life feels weak or distracted.
• 24:56
  It's the essence of our comfort, the writer of Hebrews says.
• 24:59
  Christ always lives to make intercession for us.
• 25:02
  He is at the Father's right hand right now, advocating for his
• 25:05
  people. So even our messy prayers.
• 25:07
  Our weak, halting, distracted prayers, which are often mixed
• 25:12
  with sin and self-interest. We're not heard because they're
• 25:15
  perfect. We're heard because our Savior
• 25:18
  is perfect, and He takes our flawed prayers and presents them
• 25:22
  faultlessly to the Father. So our confidence is a
• 25:25
  Trinitarian reality. It is we pray to the Father who
• 25:28
  showed He is for us by giving His Son.
• 25:31
  We come through the Son our only access, and the Holy Spirit
• 25:34
  helps us in our weakness even when we don't know what to pray
• 25:37
  for. It's a humble boldness, the
• 25:39
  confidence of a child whose older brother has secured the
• 25:42
  welcome. So finally, let's hold this
• 25:44
  command from Colossians 4.2 up against our current culture.
• 25:47
  It really feels like a protest against the idols of our age.
• 25:50
  It is first, it stands against the idol of self-sufficiency.
• 25:53
  Our culture is constantly telling us to optimize
• 25:56
  ourselves, to manage our lives better, to be more productive
• 25:59
  to. Rely on ourselves.
• 26:00
  And Paul commands the opposite. Dependence.
• 26:03
  Steadfast prayer is a constant declaration that we are not
• 26:06
  self-sustaining beings. It attacks the idol of control.
• 26:10
  It argues that real trust begins where our illusion of mastery
• 26:13
  ends. What about the cultural
• 26:15
  obsession with pragmatism, the idea that what matters is what
• 26:18
  works, what gets quick results? Pragmatism can't stand the
• 26:22
  quiet, slow, unmeasurable nature of prayer, so we're tempted to
• 26:26
  replace it with things that look more effective.
• 26:29
  Slick programs, big strategies, But Paul links mission directly
• 26:33
  to prayer, asking God to open the door.
• 26:36
  He treats Gospel Advance as a supernatural event, not a
• 26:39
  marketing campaign. The world says scale up.
• 26:41
  Paul says pray. Prayer is the work.
• 26:43
  Then there's the pull towards sensationalism.
• 26:45
  A distortion that turns prayer into a hunt for intense
• 26:48
  emotional experiences or private inner voices that can even
• 26:51
  compete with Scripture. Paul's command is be watchful.
• 26:55
  He calls for sobriety and discernment, not chasing
• 26:58
  spiritual highs. The world says follow your
• 27:00
  heart. Paul says be alert for error and
• 27:02
  follow Christ. And the last big one is the idol
• 27:05
  of entitlement. The prosperity instinct.
• 27:07
  This mindset sees God as a cosmic resource obligated to
• 27:11
  make our lives comfortable and easy, and gratitude in that
• 27:14
  system only happens when you get what you wanted.
• 27:17
  But Paul's vision is totally different.
• 27:19
  It begins with Thanksgiving rooted in the cross.
• 27:22
  And make sure that even when we are asking God to change our
• 27:25
  circumstances, our fundamental posture remains 1 of humility.
• 27:29
  We are debtors to mercy, not claimants of rights.
• 27:32
  The culture trains us in grievance.
• 27:34
  The Gospel trains us in gratitude.
• 27:36
  So it's clear Paul's simple three-part command,
• 27:39
  steadfastness, watchfulness, Thanksgiving.
• 27:42
  It's the whole operating manual for a resilient Christian life
• 27:46
  because it centers us completely on God.
• 27:48
  And where that triad is actually being practiced, the church
• 27:51
  becomes resilient. It becomes less impressed with
• 27:53
  itself and more reliant on God, less distracted by the noise of
• 27:56
  the age and more elute to Christ, less defined by
• 27:59
  complaint and more by worship. A church doesn't run on good
• 28:02
  programs or charismatic leaders. It lives by daily, moment by
• 28:06
  moment dependence. This ordinary, persistent,
• 28:08
  watchful, grateful prayer is what strengthens God's people
• 28:12
  and advances His Word. The main take away is simple,
• 28:15
  but it asks everything of us. The Lord moves His mission
• 28:19
  forward through a people who know deep in their bones that
• 28:22
  they can't do anything without Him.
• 28:24
  So we'll leave you with this to think about this week.
• 28:27
  Where in your schedule can you find one ordinary rhythm?
• 28:30
  A commute? A coffee break?
• 28:32
  The 1st 5 minutes of your morning where you can tether
• 28:34
  prayer so that steadfastness starts to become a real habit.
• 28:38
  And then think about 1 common complaint or frustration in your
• 28:41
  life right now. What would it look like this
• 28:43
  week to intentionally convert that into a petition, and then
• 28:46
  to crown that petition with Thanksgiving, actively affirming
• 28:49
  God's goodness even while you're asking for his help?
• 28:52
  That's where this deep dive meets your daily routine.