👨🏻‍🍳Let’s Getter Done👨‍🎓👩🏻‍🎓

On our knees we are the most

powerful force on earth

~ Billy Graham ~

As we come to the close of this book of Colossians after reading about the Apostles Pauls Telling them about The Lord Jesus Christ and Teaching them about the Lord, Paul now leaves final instruction. Paul closes his letter naming three men Tychicus, Onesimus who is one of you and Aristarchus. Then adds a fourth, Marcus if he comes, receive him. Too many times those who have come to know the Lord as their personal savior are left to themselves in hope that they learn. What a mistake that is. Peter say this 

1 Peter 2:2 (KJV) As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:

What do babies need? Milk!  And we don’t go off and leave them to defend for themselves; do you know what will happen if we do? They will not grow and mature. Many have come to know the Lord and have been left to themselves to find a good Church and to grow spiritually. Hey, they don’t know what a good Church looks like, how in the world will they be able to find one? We must first be told about the Lord and then we should be taught and then trained. The company you work for does that but we at the Church house fail to do just that. Know what the Bible says??

Luke 16:8 (KJV) And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.

This world does put a person on a 950 John Deere Dozer and tell them to clear this property. Neither should a Christian organization put a person in a position they know nothing about. Teach then Train then help them after they are in a position to become one that will be able to teach others.  

2 Timothy 2:2 (KJV) And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.

That is what Paul is doing; but Paul also incorporates Epaphras. Why? “who is one of you, a servant of Christ” I think Paul was wise to have placed another man that is one of them. To do such is like saying we need you to help grow the Church here in Colosse. Here is another reason, Onesimus and Epaphras know the culture and if there was any language barrier they know that too. One other thing that Paul said about Epaphras is that he had  a great zeal. Colossians 4:13 (KJV) For I bear him record, that he hath a great zeal for you, and them that are in Laodicea, and them in Hierapolis.  Know what great zeal does? It motivates others. Have you ever heard of a Motivational Speaker? What do they do? That’s right, they motivate others. Sometimes we need to be motivated and what is the best way to get motivated? Get around someone who has great zeal. The Apostle Paul closed his letter out to the Colossians by saying let’s getter done.

🦹‍♀️Somebody Needs You👩🏻‍💼

 My hope does not rest in the affairs of this world. It rests in Christ who is coming again.  

~ Billy Graham ~

Colossians 4:5 (KJV) Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time.

Paul just asked for prayer that doors would be opened up so he could speak about Christ Jesus. Then in verse 4 that he may know how to speak. In verse 5 his request was to “Walk in wisdom”. Wow if we could learn that it would be a great day. What am I saying? Well are you secure in what you believe?  If you said yes then what makes you so secure? To be secure means you will move forward “Walk” but the Apostle Paul didn’t want to just move forward he wanted to move forward in wisdom (knowledge.) You see moving forward is moving toward something. We don’t understand how everyone thinks, we don’t understand different cultures. Therefore we can’t have the attitude of it my way or the highway. Paul is going into different cities where he will meet and talk to people with different ideas. You know what? All those Paul will be talking too will think they are right in what they believe. Therefore Paul can’t just go up to them and start talking expecting them to throw away what they have been taught. So he says pray that God would work through me and give me the wisdom to tell everyone about the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Is that not what Paul is saying?  

Colossians 4:6 (KJV) Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.

Remember Steve? One night in Lawrenceville Georgia in a Kroger parking lot there were a bunch of college students hanging out. Steve goes up to where they were all just hanging around. He said these words “my pastor has sent me out to find some that would be able to sing in our choir.” Before anyone had an opportunity to say anything Steve said this “I know you all know this song Amazing Grace.” Without waiting for them to answer he just started singing. Know what they did? They started singing. Before Steve left there that night 4 of those college students had asked the Lord to come into their heart. Paul asked those to pray that God would give him wisdom and grace. So that his secure faith would help others become secure in what Jesus Christ has done for them. Don’t say I’m shy, you may very well be but instead of saying I’m shy do like the Apostle Paul ask for others to pray that God would give you wisdom and grace to speak with those around you. Everyone should be able to lead one person a year to the Lord. It’s not you, it's Christ within you. 

Colossians 1:27 (KJV) To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: Somebody out there needs you to tell them why you trusted Christ Jesus as your savior. 

👂Have You Heard?👂

There is nothing wrong with men possessing riches. The wrong comes when riches possess men.

                              ~ Billy Graham ~

Colossians 4:3 (KJV) Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds: Verse 2 The Apostle Paul said to continue in prayer. Here in verse 3 he is saying pray for us. What do you want us to pray for Paul? Have you ever heard someone ask others to pray for them? Yet they never say for what? I understand that maybe they don’t want the whole world to know. Yet on the other hand we all need a group of people that we can trust to pray for us. Paul didn’t just say pray for us, oh no he told them what he needed them to pray about. “that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ” Paul said we need doors opened that we may tell others about what Christ has already done for them. We should all want those kinds of doors opened up to us. Just a few days ago a good friend of mine went to heaven. I met him back in 1992. He was pastor of a church here in town. I quickly noticed something about him. When he talked to me about those he had talked to about their souls, tears filled his eyes to the point that they ran down his cheeks.  As time went on we became good friends. One day I asked him if I could go with him as he knocked on doors and talked to others about Jesus, he said yes. I had read book after book about talking to others about Christ but seeing him do it did more for me than any book I have ever read. Here is what I learned. I couldn’t be like my friend Steve but I could learn from him and I did. I have a pasión for souls and I want to be real in this world. So real that when others' lives are falling apart they will remember I told them about Jesus, who loves them more than they could ever imagine. Jesus really lived and died for our sin problem. Salvation is a gift from God to mankind and all you and I have to do is accept it. Death is real and we all will die! What do you think will happen afterwards? I wonder what she was seeing? My mother n law died  a few weeks ago but before she died she did something. She had quit talking the afternoon before she died, that afternoon she did this. She lifted out her arms as if she was reaching for someone to grab her hand as if to help her; no sounds just a reaching out. She did that about 2 times and then she put her arms down beside her and never moved again. The next morning a little after sunrise she took her last breath, no struggle no fighting she just quietly left this world. Wonder what she saw? She was looking into the next world, hands outreached ready to leave. Paul said “Pray for us that God would open doors so that we may tell others of this good news.” Have you Heard?

🙇‍♀️Continue In🙇

 No matter who you are or what your life has been like so far, the rest of your life’s journey can be different. With God’s help you can begin again.  ~Billy Graham~

Colossians 4:2 (KJV) Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving;

“Continue” To remain in a state, or place; to abide for any time indefinitely. I once again would like for us to think about the battle we are in. One of the greatest weapons as Christians we have is prayer. The enemy wants us not to pray. Have you ever decided to pray and set a time to do so? All goes well until you begin your prayer. Then you start remembering things that need to be done, remembering those you promised to call but didn’t. The things that flood our minds when we begin to pray. It’s the enemy bombarding our mind to get us to stop praying. The Apostle Paul says “Continue in prayer” but then he says “watch” for what? Remember the soldier that does watch puts himself in great danger of being overtaken. Remember that when you pray. Whatever comes to mind that you didn’t do can wait another few minutes. Remember Gideon? He has over 32,000 soldiers. Gideon asked are there any of you afraid? If so you can go home, and 22,000 left. Only 10,000 left and out of those only 300 men were ready for battle. What made the difference? The way they drink water. Yes they realized that even though they were thirsty they must still be alert and watch less the enemy overtake them. So it is with our prayer life we must understand how important it is to pray. Jesus did it and one night to the point of bleeding..that’s what the Doctor said.

Dr Luke said this about Jesus’s prayer before His crucifixion  Luke 22:44 (KJV) And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. What’s interesting was what Jesus told His disciples as they went with Him. Luke 22:40 (KJV) And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation.

Jesus was saying pray men and watch that you don’t fall into temptation. But we know they didn't. This should be a learning point for each of us. Pray and watch so we won’t fall into some type of temptation that will wreck our prayers. Then we will have something to be thankful about and we can rejoice with “thanksgiving.” 

🗣️How Were You Treated🗑️

God does not change - and neither does His love. He loved you before you were born... He loves you now...and He will love you forever.   ~ Billy Graham ~

Colossians 4:1 (KJV) Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal; knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven.

How do you want to be treated? Would we not all hold up our hand and say I would like to be treated with respect. So the question we must ask ourselves are we treating others with respect?  In Matthew 6:12 (KJV) we read this little phrase “And forgive us ” those words are in what is called the Lord’s Prayer. One day, one of Jesus' disciples asked Jesus to teach them something. They had been walking with Him and being around Him on a daily basis. As these men listened to Jesus they also noticed something else, that Jesus spent time talking to His Heavenly Father. They also wanted to learn how to pray, so they asked.

Luke 11:1 (KJV) And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. Lord teach us to pray! Notice how the verse reads. “as he was praying in a certain place” Jesus had a certain place He went to pray. One day  one of His disciples asked Him, “Lord, teach us to pray.” Now as we read on there are something’s to pick up on. Jesus never told His disciples they needed to have a special place or time for prayer. Read what Jesus did say”When ye pray” whatever time whatever place, whatever schedule you have to pray “When ye pray” Luke 11:2 (KJV) And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.

The first thing we must ask ourselves is, are we praying? If we aren’t praying, if we are not asking, Lord “forgive us” then how are we going to be able to forgive others? We are good at saying “that’s not what I meant, I should have used different words.” “Oh I’m sorry it was just a misunderstanding, that’s not at all what I was talking about.” 

I wrote all that to say this: If we are not willing to realize we ourselves need forgiveness then we may not be willing to forgive others. We are all leaders of others. No we may not be speaking about leadership abilities in front of 100’s or 1000’s but we are all leaders to someone. Maybe it’s just your husband or wife. Maybe your children or maybe you are the supervisor over others. What you do and say is very important because you are either building up or tearing down. What did you do when you let your temper speak this morning to your wife or husband? Your children may have heard, what are you going to do about that? What about that person that’s under your supervision? Yes problems need to be addressed but how they are addressed and handled is very important. We may need to ask ourselves’ have I ever made a mistake? How would I like to be spoken to? “Masters, give unto your servants” give, build, strengthen. Telling someone they are dumb and what in the world were you thinking? That may not be the correct way to address or handle the matter. Why shouldn’t we lead like that? ”knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven.” Is that the way we want our Heavenly Father to treat us? I wouldn’t think so. 

😳Including Joe👨‍💻

God proved His love on the Cross. When Christ hung, and bled, and died, it was God saying to the world, ‘I love you.'       ~ Billy Graham ~

Respect for instruction is what the rest of the chapter is teaching. 

Colossians 3:22 (KJV) Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God: Don’t get upset at the word “Servants” pride may jump up within us and say “I’m not anybody's servant. The truth be known we are! Webster says this about the word SERVANT “A person, male or female, that attends another for the purpose of performing menial offices for him,who is employed by another” Well I guess we can all fit into this meaning. If you are employed there is someone over you, your boss, supervisor someone telling you we have to get this done today. Like it or not you do it. We are told what type of attitude we should have. Attitude is everything, our attitude mirrors out toward others that work with us and look up to us. Colossians 3:23 (KJV) And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;

“And whatsoever ye do” doesn’t matter what we are doing or who we are doing it for “do it heartily” With zeal; actively; vigorously.  Eagerly; freely; largely; not for your boss nor your company but “as to the Lord” that type of attitude will change our perspective. If our supervisor were to say “we need to get this project done in the next 8 days and if we do there will be a nice bonus added to your check.” Wow, now we work harder to get it done, weekends, all the sudden didn’t matter, getting it done is what mattered. Well that's good but it’s doing it for men and that’s fine but it’s when we aren’t doing it for men that matters.  

Colossians 3:24 (KJV) Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ. Our attitude should be with zeal and eagerly that what we should be working toward. Yes it’s great to please men but our goal should be that we are doing things in a manner that will be pleasing unto the Lord. Why? Because  verse 25 closes with these words “there is no respect of persons.” The place you work for may have a nice meal after the project thanking everyone for their hard work. Most of the time the one thanking everyone will say something like this “I want to thank everyone for their hard work, for their sacrifice and long hours which without we could have never accomplished this project. Then that group of hard working employees may hear the speaker say “and I want to give a special thanks to Joe Miller for keeping this project on track for without his input we might have never completed it.” Now this is the time it will show who you were really doing it for. How that part of the speech affects you will determine who. If we are not careful we will let the respect of a special person affect our attitude. What’s the correct answer and how should you or I respond to that? Who we were doing it for in the first place. If we were doing it for men, respect toward another will affect our attitude; you might say something like this “Joe Miller is a nice guy but without us Joe i nothing.” On the other hand if you are doing it for the Lord your attitude shouldn’t change, bonus, dinner, and speech won’t matter. Why? Because God ”is no respect of persons.” Including Joe!

🤔Think Before Speaking🗣️

You can't control the length of your life. You can control the depth     ~ Billy Graham ~

Colossians 3:21 (KJV) Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.

“Fathers” Why not mothers? Don't mothers provoke their children? {to stimulate (especially to anger} You know they do from time to time. So why is only “Fathers” mentioned? Let me explain it this way. I was talking to my grandson this morning and he began to tell me about a superintendent over the job he was working at. I guess he thought I didn’t know what a superintendent was. Because he told me he was the one who made sure everything on the job ran smoothly. I said this because it doesn’t matter if it is a construction site, corporation, small business, candy store, our home or whatever someone has to be responsible or in charge. 

Ephesians 5:23 (KJV) For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. In the home it just so happens it’s the husband. I know that doesn’t sit well with all but God said the “husband is the head” there is always someone in charge. Fathers are the head of the home they are not to discourage their children. If the dad is not to discourage then he may be the one who is to encourage. Many children never hear words of encouragement from their dad. Well if they aren’t hearing words of encouragement then they are more than likely hearing words of discouragement. Oh what a difference it would make in our children’s lives if they  were hearing words of encouragement.  My business has taken me into many homes over the years. The man I worked for when I first started taught me a valuable lesson that has helped me tremendously. He said no matter what type of home you go into, always find something there that you can say encouraging words about. That is not hard: the baby, the child, the picture, the dog, the way the room is arranged and many more ways, just look. Myself as well as everyone else wants to hear kind encouraging words. I was in one of my accounts at a post office and I noticed that a lady had changed the way she was fixing her hair. I told her “I like the way you have your hair fixed now.” I was just being nice and giving words of encouragement and letting her know she wasn’t just another lady sorting mail that wasn’t  noticed. This was her response: “I wished my husband would notice.” Oh my I wasn’t expecting that. Fathers, husbands provoke not “lest they be discouraged.” I gave her words of encouragement being kind but what she really wanted was that her husband give her those words. It’s easy to notice the bad, it takes work to notice the good. What have you seen today?  The young boy cut the grass for his dad hoping to hear some type of words of encouragement from his dad. His dad arrives home from work. His son was looking out the window hoping his dad would notice that someone had taken time to cut the grass. His dad got out of the car, stood still, looked over the yard and then went straight to the tool shed. He then turned the lawn mower over and went into the house. He found his son who was hoping to hear words of encouragement; only to hear words of disengagement of how he had chipped the lawn mower blade. We as fathers must remember lawn mower blades and the likes can be replaced but children can’t. Think before you speak.