General Session 6: Triumph through Prayer - HB Charles Jr.
00:00:00.000 | May grace and peace be multiplied to each of you this afternoon in the knowledge of
00:00:08.080 | God and of Jesus our Lord.
00:00:11.200 | Again, what a blessing, privilege, and joy it is for us to be together for this Shepherd's
00:00:18.320 | Conference.
00:00:21.680 | Let me publicly thank Dr. MacArthur for the invitation to open up God's Word with you.
00:00:25.680 | Let's begin with a word of prayer.
00:00:27.600 | God, thank you for the blessings of this day, for all that we have already experienced and
00:00:32.820 | encountered under the teaching of your Word and in the fellowship of the saints.
00:00:38.140 | We pray again that you would renew our strength, focus our attention, and ready our hearts
00:00:44.640 | to receive with gentleness the implanted Word that is able to save our souls.
00:00:49.040 | I pray that you would open our eyes that we may behold wonderful things from your Word.
00:00:57.840 | Give us understanding and we will keep your Word and observe it with our whole hearts.
00:01:06.200 | Grant me physical strength and spiritual energy to speak your Word with faithfulness and clarity
00:01:12.120 | and liberty, guide my thoughts, guard my heart, govern my words so that everything I say would
00:01:21.160 | be consistent with sound doctrine, and as the seed of the Word is planted and watered,
00:01:25.200 | we know that only you can give the increase.
00:01:27.920 | So we reserve for you the highest praise and full credit for the fruit that shall come
00:01:32.240 | from this time, in Jesus' name, amen.
00:01:38.360 | Would you take your copy of God's Word and be turning with me to Colossians chapter 4?
00:01:46.400 | My assignment this hour is to address the subject that truth triumphs through believing
00:01:56.160 | prayer.
00:02:00.280 | And I want to press that case by meditating with you on two verses in Colossians chapter
00:02:10.940 | 4.
00:02:13.340 | I want to spend our entire time there.
00:02:16.980 | Colossians 4 verses 12 and 13, "Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus
00:02:34.020 | greets you, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature
00:02:42.940 | and fully assured in all the will of God.
00:02:47.420 | For I bear him witness that he has worked hard for you and for those in Laodicea and
00:02:55.780 | in Herapolis."
00:02:56.780 | Amen.
00:03:02.420 | Before electricity, there were pump organs, where literally air would be pumped into the
00:03:17.100 | organ to bring forth the sound of music.
00:03:21.540 | One occasion, a famous musician performed a sold-out concert on one of these pump organs.
00:03:32.180 | Backstage after the concert, he bumped into the young man who had been pumping the organ
00:03:38.500 | from behind as he played, and the young man said, "We had a great show tonight, didn't
00:03:47.540 | we?
00:03:53.260 | We did not have anything," barked the offended maestro.
00:04:00.580 | "I had a great show tonight."
00:04:08.060 | The next night, the maestro strolled on stage, sat at the organ, and began to play.
00:04:20.940 | Nothing happened.
00:04:24.660 | He kept tickling the keys, expecting that at any moment the sound of music would spew
00:04:31.060 | forth to no avail.
00:04:34.340 | Angrily, he got up from the organ and walked around to the back and screamed, "What's going
00:04:44.220 | on back here?"
00:04:47.100 | The young man said, "It looks like you are not having a good show tonight."
00:04:59.220 | That musician's arrogant disposition was not the attitude of the Apostle Paul.
00:05:04.140 | It should not be the attitude of any man of God.
00:05:11.060 | The Apostle Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles, the gospel globetrotter, the writer of half
00:05:18.020 | of the New Testament, but Paul did not have a one-man show philosophy of ministry.
00:05:28.980 | Paul had many friends in the faith who partnered with him to proclaim the gospel, defend the
00:05:37.980 | truth, and build up the church.
00:05:40.940 | I've got to work hard not to get stuck there.
00:05:46.780 | Let me pause to double-click that for you as I move on.
00:05:52.460 | Brothers, you need friends in the faith.
00:05:58.340 | There are many pastors who are falling away, yes, unfortunately, because of moral failure
00:06:05.100 | and financial impropriety and doctrinal compromise, but there are a lot of pastors who are on
00:06:11.020 | the verge of giving up because they feel like they are all by themselves.
00:06:16.980 | One of the blessings of our times together this week, friends, is not just the great
00:06:21.460 | preaching and the wonderful singing and the free books, but it's to be gathered with kindred
00:06:31.020 | spirits who are pressing on in the truth.
00:06:35.780 | Friend, go home knowing you are not in this battle by yourself.
00:06:42.460 | You need to cultivate friends in the faith.
00:06:48.780 | Ecclesiastes says it well, verses 9 through 12, and I'll move on, "Two are better than
00:06:57.060 | one, because they have a good reward for their toil.
00:07:00.860 | For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow.
00:07:05.540 | But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up.
00:07:11.260 | Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone?
00:07:16.900 | And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him.
00:07:22.980 | A threefold cord is not quickly broken."
00:07:27.300 | Paul had friends in the faith, and on many occasions he ends his letters by giving a
00:07:35.860 | shout-out to these ministerial colleagues.
00:07:42.680 | This is what you find in these final greetings of Paul's letter to the Colossians.
00:07:49.100 | In verses 7 through 18, there are some 11 people that Paul mentions by name.
00:07:54.460 | This extended list falls into two categories.
00:07:57.580 | Verses 7 through 11 mention his Jewish partners, verses 12 through 17 mention his Gentile partners.
00:08:05.660 | And the list itself affirms for us Colossians chapter 3, verse 11, "Here there is not Greek
00:08:13.980 | and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, scythian, slave, or free, but Christ is all
00:08:24.060 | and in all."
00:08:29.940 | This list of diverse ministerial colleagues teaches us that Paul was not caught up in
00:08:40.700 | cliques and tribes and sects in the church.
00:08:46.060 | Jew or Gentile was all the same to Paul as long as Christ was exalted.
00:08:53.780 | And so we find here a reminder that what we have in Jesus is infinitely greater, brothers,
00:09:01.820 | than those secondary differences that would pull us apart.
00:09:06.100 | Paul here gives his list of ministerial colleagues a shout-out, and of all of the names he mentions,
00:09:12.300 | the one that stands out in this list is Epaphras.
00:09:18.980 | I am tempted to call Epaphras a major player in a minor role, but to describe him that
00:09:24.620 | way would be to dishonor his life and labor and legacy.
00:09:32.100 | Sure he may be a minor player in the sense that Epaphras is only mentioned three times
00:09:36.880 | in five verses in the New Testament.
00:09:42.220 | But what we find in those limited references is of great impact and import, and without
00:09:47.460 | trying to hold the suspense, what is featured here about Epaphras is simply that he was
00:09:54.980 | a man of prayer.
00:09:59.740 | The Edmund Hebert comments, "Epaphras holds the unique distinction among all the friends
00:10:05.220 | and co-workers of Paul of being the only one whom Paul explicitly commends for his intensive
00:10:15.540 | prayer ministry."
00:10:20.740 | This does not suggest that all Epaphras did was pray, and it did not suggest that Paul's
00:10:26.460 | other colleagues did not pray, but Epaphras stood out in his devotion to believing prayer.
00:10:38.200 | He was a warrior at prayer, a champion of prayer.
00:10:44.460 | Go up to Colossians chapter 4 verse 2, "And all of the saints are exhorted to continue
00:10:48.780 | steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it in all thanksgiving."
00:10:55.460 | Now in verses 12 and 13, we see that Epaphras exemplified and embodied this call to prayer.
00:11:07.420 | From what we can gather from the background, Epaphras traveled some 1,000 miles from Colossae
00:11:15.260 | to Rome to visit the Apostle Paul, who was under house arrest in Rome.
00:11:20.820 | And we do not know if Epaphras and the Colossians were ever reunited, but as Paul wrote this
00:11:29.620 | letter to the Colossians, he wanted the saints to know that Epaphras continued to minister
00:11:39.220 | on their behalf even in his absence.
00:11:44.660 | It was an exemplary ministry of intercessory prayer.
00:11:53.200 | And so, brothers, I want us to just consider this example of prayer.
00:11:57.980 | Yes, we have been hearing, and we will continue to hear over the course of this conference.
00:12:08.700 | Pastors who believe truth triumphs are fateful preachers.
00:12:16.660 | But I want to add to that conversation that pastors who believe truth triumphs are also
00:12:22.940 | to be prayer warriors.
00:12:28.180 | Refraining prayer, we cease to fight.
00:12:31.660 | Prayer keeps the Christian's armor bright, and Satan trembles when he sees the weakest
00:12:38.020 | saint upon his knees.
00:12:43.300 | Christian soldiers fight on their knees.
00:12:49.380 | And we see that here in the example of Epaphras.
00:12:58.620 | Herbert Lockyer asked, "Can we say that we are the true successors of this devoted servant
00:13:06.060 | of Christ?"
00:13:10.260 | That's the question I want to weigh on us as we consider what Epaphras teaches us about
00:13:18.580 | the triumph of truth through believing prayer.
00:13:22.740 | Let me walk you through these two verses under three headings.
00:13:28.980 | What does Epaphras teach us about intercessory prayer?
00:13:34.500 | I want to begin with the servanthood of Epaphras.
00:13:39.580 | Epaphras is a shortened form of the name Epaphroditus, but we are not to confuse this messenger from
00:13:50.260 | Colossae with that messenger from Philippi.
00:13:55.180 | Epaphras was, as Paul will say in a moment, one of you.
00:13:59.980 | He was a part of the Colossian congregation.
00:14:04.820 | He, as I mentioned, traveled to Rome to get Paul's counsel about doctrinal trouble that
00:14:13.880 | has arisen in the church at Colossae.
00:14:17.540 | And he is with Paul when Paul is writing this letter back to the church.
00:14:21.460 | And at some point, he says to Paul, "Please send the church my greetings," and that's
00:14:27.240 | basically what you have here in verse 12.
00:14:30.820 | Paul is extending greetings to the saints from Epaphras, but what we have here is much
00:14:36.260 | more than that.
00:14:40.020 | Beyond what Paul says to the church from Epaphras is what he says to the church here about Epaphras.
00:14:50.520 | He affirms Epaphras' devotion to the church and his devotion to Christ.
00:14:59.640 | Note both of them in this verse.
00:15:02.600 | On one hand, he says of Epaphras, "He is devoted to the church."
00:15:08.320 | Epaphras, he describes as "one of you."
00:15:14.740 | What a phrase.
00:15:15.740 | He also describes Onesimus that way in verse 9.
00:15:20.120 | He is "one of you."
00:15:24.920 | That is, he is either a native or a resident of Colossae, but he is saying more than that.
00:15:31.340 | He is saying more than the fact that Colossae was his hometown.
00:15:39.340 | This letter is not written, we must remember, to the city of Colossae.
00:15:45.880 | It is written, chapter 1, verse 2, "To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at
00:15:53.580 | Colossae."
00:15:54.580 | And by saying that he is "one of you," that is what he means.
00:15:58.880 | He is saying that Epaphras is a saint in Christ Jesus, and he is a faithful brother in Christ
00:16:07.340 | Jesus.
00:16:11.480 | What Paul says of the Colossians in chapter 1, verse 4, was also true of Epaphras, that
00:16:20.360 | his conversion was demonstrated by his faith in Christ Jesus and his love for all the saints.
00:16:30.480 | He is "one of you," says Paul.
00:16:35.520 | He is a part of you.
00:16:39.160 | And even though he is not present with you, his heart is with you.
00:16:46.560 | He's not there, but what you are facing, what you are enduring, what you are suffering,
00:16:54.360 | he is so joined in heart with you that what you are going through, he is going through,
00:17:02.120 | which makes it natural and necessary for him to pray for you.
00:17:14.720 | So let me just stop here and ask, brothers, what's your attitude toward the church God
00:17:19.480 | has called you to serve?
00:17:24.080 | Is there a bond of love and fellowship and faith?
00:17:29.080 | And you're not just over them in the Lord, you're one of them.
00:17:36.400 | Remember in Philippians chapter 1, we know Philippians chapter 1, verse 6, where Paul
00:17:40.480 | says, "I am sure of this, that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it
00:17:44.680 | at the day of Jesus Christ."
00:17:51.760 | But that highly doctrinal theological truth affected Paul's pastoral attitude toward the
00:18:00.720 | church.
00:18:01.720 | In Philippians chapter 1, verses 7 and 8, he goes on to say, "It is only right for me
00:18:07.480 | to think or feel this way about you, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers
00:18:15.480 | of grace with me, both in my imprisonment and my confirmation and defense of the gospel,
00:18:21.760 | for God is my witness, how I long for you with the affection of Christ Jesus."
00:18:33.960 | One of my favorite hymns was written by John Fawcett, who is considered one of the great
00:18:41.640 | preachers of his time, but pastor to a very small church, his entire ministry.
00:18:45.700 | He had an opportunity to go somewhere else, he endeavored to go somewhere else.
00:18:53.280 | He noted in his journal the reason why, he said, "Because my family is growing quicker
00:18:58.080 | than my salary."
00:18:59.080 | And he was invited to a major pulpit, but on his final Sunday, he walked down the aisle
00:19:14.280 | into a waiting carriage, the congregation followed him, and as they said their goodbyes,
00:19:20.120 | his wife tearfully said, "I can't leave them."
00:19:26.120 | And he said, "Neither can I."
00:19:28.720 | And instead of pulling off, they commanded that the wagons be unloaded, and he stayed
00:19:32.960 | there the rest of his ministry.
00:19:38.560 | Historians speculate about what he was thinking, but I think the big clue is that right after,
00:19:47.800 | I believe the next Sunday, he preached from Luke 12, 15, "Be on guard against all covetousness,
00:20:05.640 | for a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."
00:20:11.360 | And in that sermon, he read a poem that he had just written for the church, which was
00:20:15.160 | later set to music, "Blessed be the ties that bind our hearts in Christian love.
00:20:24.920 | The fellowship of kindred minds is likened to that above."
00:20:28.480 | Epaphras is described here as one of you, expressing his devotion to Christ, but not
00:20:35.960 | only is there here, Mark, devotion to the church that is, but also devotion to Christ.
00:20:42.640 | Most likely, Epaphras is the founding pastor of the church at Colossae.
00:20:47.320 | Chapter 1, verse 7 tells us that they heard the word of truth through Epaphras.
00:20:52.720 | But at some point, false teachers had infiltrated this young congregation, and their heretical
00:20:59.700 | claims rejected the sovereignty, supremacy, and sufficiency of the Lord Jesus Christ,
00:21:08.000 | whatever exactly this so-called Colossian heresy was.
00:21:12.740 | The danger of it was not that it was being presented to the saints in replacement of
00:21:21.000 | Christ, but that it was being presented alongside of Christ as if Christ was not enough.
00:21:27.800 | Colossians 2, 1, Paul says, "We've never met each other face to face, but this report from
00:21:36.280 | Epaphras so burdened his heart that he wrote this letter back to them."
00:21:44.920 | And it would be Tychicus who would deliver this letter to the Colossians, not Epaphras.
00:21:50.480 | Epaphras remained with Paul in Rome.
00:21:56.880 | Why did he remain with Paul in Rome?
00:22:00.080 | I don't know if he had a choice.
00:22:03.200 | Philemon 23 says he is a fellow prisoner of Christ.
00:22:11.760 | Very likely, he took this risk to come to Rome to get Paul's counsel.
00:22:17.480 | His association with Paul got him in trouble as well.
00:22:25.120 | And yet it apparently to him was a risk worth taking, because Paul says, "This Epaphras,
00:22:31.000 | who is one of you, is also a servant of Christ Jesus."
00:22:36.400 | He is a slave of the Lord Jesus Christ.
00:22:39.560 | He is a bond servant who belongs to his master and is compelled to obey his master.
00:22:52.920 | And here the term is used to describe Epaphras' willing submission, total commitment and joyful
00:23:01.800 | obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ.
00:23:07.240 | And so what Paul will say about Epaphras' incessant prayer was not a commitment to prayer,
00:23:13.480 | it was a commitment to Christ that expressed itself in a commitment to his church, which
00:23:25.780 | demonstrated itself to a commitment to prayer.
00:23:30.400 | Remember, brothers, you cannot have a high view of Christ and a low view of the church
00:23:39.060 | at the same time, and a high view of the church will be reflected not merely in our preaching,
00:23:48.680 | but also in our prayers.
00:23:57.340 | We should not just preach as faithful servants of Christ, we should pray as faithful servants
00:24:05.360 | of Christ.
00:24:08.080 | And after these notes about the servanthood of Epaphras, I think the meat of the matter
00:24:13.400 | is secondly the struggle of Epaphras.
00:24:21.040 | Epaphras says, verse 12, "Who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus?
00:24:26.880 | He greets you."
00:24:28.520 | Again, this is basically what you have in the text, but don't minimize what's going
00:24:35.780 | on here.
00:24:36.780 | It's more than, you know, "Yeah, before I close, I want y'all to know Epaphras said
00:24:41.440 | 'What's up?'"
00:24:45.080 | The word is a strong word, it means "to welcome, to receive, to embrace."
00:24:52.200 | But how could Epaphras embrace the church when he was not present?
00:25:11.180 | Verse 12 answers, "He's always struggling on your behalf in his prayers that you may
00:25:20.620 | stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God."
00:25:27.540 | What a statement.
00:25:33.180 | I want to lean into this statement.
00:25:38.460 | I want you to, on one hand, see the manner of pastoral intercession, and on the other
00:25:45.060 | hand, the motive of pastoral intercession.
00:25:50.580 | Note the manner of pastoral intercession being exemplified here.
00:25:59.540 | Paul first tells us how Epaphras prayed.
00:26:02.460 | He prayed continually, fervently, and selflessly.
00:26:06.740 | First, he prayed continually.
00:26:13.340 | He is always struggling on your behalf in his prayers.
00:26:21.340 | Always doesn't mean that his life was just one unbroken statement of formal prayers.
00:26:30.260 | It is a reference to the regular and repeated prayer life of Epaphras.
00:26:39.960 | It's very likely these two men, Paul and Epaphras, are imprisoned together.
00:26:47.420 | And from their time together, Paul says, "I can tell you.
00:26:53.660 | He's always praying for you."
00:26:59.020 | Brothers, are there people who are part of your regular day-to-day life who never hear
00:27:08.260 | you pray?
00:27:12.020 | I'm not talking about those assigned times in public worship where it is ours to offer
00:27:16.500 | pastoral prayer.
00:27:17.500 | I mean as a mark of your life as a man of God.
00:27:21.860 | Do the people in your life hear you in prayer?
00:27:29.980 | And do they hear you pray enough so that those who live with you could say, as Paul apparently
00:27:34.020 | was able to say here, "I can tell you, I live, I'm with this guy."
00:27:41.480 | And he is regularly, continuously, ceaselessly praying.
00:27:52.440 | He's struggling in his prayers.
00:27:54.940 | The language there reminds us that he was praying all kinds of prayers.
00:28:00.940 | Kinds of adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication, and intercession.
00:28:13.500 | There are many reasons, brothers, for us to be concerned about what's going on in the
00:28:16.660 | church today and what's going on in the world around us today, but we must not be anxious
00:28:27.220 | about those things.
00:28:31.660 | And Philippians chapter 4 verses 6 and 7 applies to us just as much as it applies to the saints
00:28:37.020 | to which we preach those verses to.
00:28:39.780 | The way to be anxious about nothing is to be prayerful about everything.
00:28:51.960 | He prayed continually, and then he prayed fervently.
00:28:56.900 | What a term here.
00:28:57.900 | He is always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, wrestling, conflicting, fighting
00:29:08.420 | for you in his prayers.
00:29:10.220 | It's the word from which we get our word "agony."
00:29:14.000 | It speaks of military combat or athletic competition.
00:29:17.980 | It's the word, a variation of it is used in Luke chapter 22 verse 44 to describe the agony
00:29:25.660 | of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane.
00:29:30.660 | Paul uses it in Colossians chapter 1 verse 29.
00:29:36.480 | We know verse 28, "Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone in all wisdom
00:29:42.660 | that we may present everyone mature in Christ."
00:29:45.620 | But then he says in verse 29, "For this reason, I toil, struggling with all his energy that
00:29:54.560 | he powerfully works in me."
00:29:59.540 | The language is used in chapter 2 verse 1 as well.
00:30:03.380 | It's used in Colossians 1 29 for his preaching.
00:30:07.180 | I believe it is used in chapter 2 verse 1 for his prayers, for I want you to know how
00:30:12.860 | great a struggle I have for you and for those that lay out to see you and for all who have
00:30:18.340 | not seen me face to face.
00:30:21.460 | And basically now he's affirming that he and Epaphras are kindred spirits.
00:30:27.940 | He says in verse 12, "He is always struggling on your behalf in his prayers."
00:30:38.780 | These men were struggling.
00:30:42.620 | It's a picture of stress and strain and struggle in prayer.
00:30:50.220 | This passage has been living with me these opening months of the year.
00:30:55.380 | There are those of us in this room who struggle at prayer.
00:31:05.380 | So who of us can be said, "They're always struggling in prayer for the saints."
00:31:09.540 | Laboring, wrestling, struggling in prayer on the behalf of the people of God to which
00:31:23.140 | we have been called.
00:31:27.540 | Mark it down, brothers.
00:31:29.820 | This is the proper spirit of prayer.
00:31:31.660 | Your prayers will mean nothing to God until they mean everything to you.
00:31:39.380 | James 5:16 says it this way, "The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth
00:31:44.420 | much."
00:31:47.580 | Prayer shouldn't be this take it or leave it thing.
00:31:50.580 | Prayer should not be approached as some burdensome duty, it should be approached as a wonderful
00:31:55.780 | privilege.
00:32:01.420 | We should labor in it, wrestle in it, for the sake of the truth.
00:32:07.140 | This prayer advertises our dependence upon God.
00:32:11.220 | He prayed continually, fervently.
00:32:13.100 | He also prayed selflessly.
00:32:14.780 | It's one thing to struggle for yourself in your prayers, but he is struggling for others
00:32:18.940 | in his prayers.
00:32:21.540 | He's struggling for the church in his prayers.
00:32:26.380 | Most likely he is in a difficult situation himself along with the Apostle Paul, but there
00:32:30.940 | is some holy sense of self-forgetfulness that allows him to concentrate his labors in prayer
00:32:38.220 | for the sake of the saints.
00:32:41.620 | There was a time when the farmers and their families would regularly pray, "Lord, hear
00:32:48.940 | not the prayers of a traveling man."
00:32:51.620 | Do you get it?
00:32:56.140 | Hear not the prayers of a traveling man.
00:33:00.420 | The farmers would pray that because a traveling man walking through the village, walking through
00:33:04.920 | the town, would pray for sunshine because he doesn't walk in the rain.
00:33:12.740 | And he would pray for sunshine with no concern that without the rain, the harvest wouldn't
00:33:19.620 | come that was needed for that community to survive.
00:33:29.220 | Local pastors are to pray like a family man, not a traveling man.
00:33:36.500 | Yes, James 4, 2, you have not because you do not ask, James 4, 3, but when you ask,
00:33:45.860 | you don't get it because you ask wrongly to spend it on your own passions.
00:33:56.660 | And so we see the manner of intercessory prayer, but the heart of this I want you to see is
00:34:02.620 | the motive of intercessory prayer.
00:34:10.300 | After telling us how he prays, he tells us what he prays.
00:34:13.740 | And by what he prays, this is not a prayer report like you find in chapter 1.
00:34:19.020 | This is not a statement of the content of his prayers as much as it is a statement of
00:34:24.060 | the concern of his prayers.
00:34:30.180 | And what you will see here is, again, what is modeled in chapter 1, that the consuming
00:34:36.520 | concern of Epaphras' prayer for the saints is not material or financial or circumstantial.
00:34:47.860 | He prays with spiritual priorities.
00:34:54.580 | Paul says as it were, "I'm listening to him pray," and I can tell you, he's always struggling
00:34:58.740 | on your behalf in his prayers, and the obvious concern of his prayers is that you may stand
00:35:07.140 | mature and fully assured in all the will of God.
00:35:17.420 | So he was praying for their stability, their maturity, and their certainty.
00:35:24.780 | First he was praying for their stability, that you stand, that you literally stand firm
00:35:33.440 | with all of the error and confusion and untruth of the false teachers that would lead them
00:35:41.620 | astray in their belief and in their behavior.
00:35:45.300 | He says that Epaphras is praying for you, that you stand firm, that you stand your ground,
00:35:57.540 | that you are unmoved from the foundation of the truth upon which you stand.
00:36:05.300 | Indeed, truth indeed triumphs through proclamation, saints, but here again we're reminded how truth
00:36:13.540 | triumphs through prayer, because we can't do the Lord's work in our own strength.
00:36:24.320 | Ephesians 6, "Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.
00:36:29.220 | Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the
00:36:33.860 | devil, for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against
00:36:38.980 | the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against spiritual
00:36:44.340 | forces of evil in the heavenly places.
00:36:48.740 | Therefore take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day
00:36:52.500 | and having done all to stand firm."
00:36:56.140 | So he prays for their stability, and then he prays for their maturity, that you stand
00:37:02.060 | perfect, that you stand complete, that you stand mature.
00:37:08.460 | Of course, this is not a reference to sinless perfection.
00:37:13.980 | It is a reference to spiritual maturity.
00:37:22.860 | Second Peter 3:18 commands, "But grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus
00:37:27.820 | Christ."
00:37:28.820 | Authentic Christians are growing Christians, and we should constantly be praying that our
00:37:38.500 | people would mature in the faith, mature in godliness, mature in Christlikeness.
00:37:54.260 | Colossians chapter 1 verse 28, as I already mentioned, Paul says, "Him we proclaim," warning
00:38:02.820 | everyone and teaching everyone that everyone is significant, unlike those false teachers.
00:38:10.480 | He does not believe that the truth is for a select few.
00:38:22.420 | But the goal is not just to get lost people saved, it is to get lost people saved, absolutely.
00:38:30.140 | But Paul did not want the church to be a nursery that caters to immature, carnal-minded babies
00:38:39.580 | who refuse to grow up.
00:38:47.220 | He doesn't say we want to present saved people.
00:38:49.900 | We want to present, he says, everyone mature in Christ, growing in Christ.
00:39:00.800 | My son H.B. III, that's his name, my daddy did it to me, I did it to him.
00:39:12.420 | I was gone on a trip, I was gone on a trip, I wasn't to be gone from Los Angeles to Atlanta
00:39:20.700 | for 24 hours.
00:39:24.820 | And he showed up two months premature.
00:39:35.580 | I found out when I sat down in the pulpit in Atlanta, I caught the first flight home,
00:39:39.980 | rushed to check on my wife and to see my baby boy.
00:39:52.500 | And my son, premature son, I was so happy he was mine, he was the most beautiful thing
00:39:59.820 | I'd ever seen.
00:40:00.820 | It was cords and all kinds of stuff, but he was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.
00:40:06.180 | And we took that baby home, pale white.
00:40:16.260 | And he stayed that way for a while.
00:40:21.180 | And I said, Miss Charles, I said, Miss Charles, Miss Charles, this cat better get some color
00:40:30.060 | on him real soon or we got something to talk about.
00:40:44.700 | I love him all the more now, not just because he's mine, but because he looks like me.
00:40:56.140 | He acts like me.
00:40:58.380 | He wants to be with me.
00:41:01.300 | He got his own job and money.
00:41:02.940 | He calls me now not to ask for anything, just to tell me he loves his old man.
00:41:10.740 | Saints, this is what God wants for the church.
00:41:15.380 | Yes, God loves those who are born again because they're his.
00:41:24.100 | But we must preach in such a way and we must pray in such a way that the church is growing,
00:41:33.540 | Ephesians 4, into the fullness of the measure of the stature of Christ.
00:41:40.800 | So he prays for their stability, their maturity, and their certainty.
00:41:46.220 | He prays that they would be fully assured, fully persuaded, fully convinced.
00:41:59.160 | Is this not what's desperately needed in these days for our local churches?
00:42:04.520 | Our people need to know what they believe and they need to know why they believe what
00:42:09.260 | they believe.
00:42:11.820 | Yes, we should preach to that end, but we should pray to that end, that they would be
00:42:20.060 | fully assured in all the will of God.
00:42:23.580 | I believe this phrase "all the will of God" is a synonym here for the gospel.
00:42:30.220 | All the will of God is a statement about the sufficiency of the Lord Jesus Christ.
00:42:38.980 | He is affirming that Colossians 2 verse 3, that in Christ are hidden all the treasures
00:42:46.480 | of wisdom and knowledge.
00:42:50.220 | You don't have to go looking around for the will of God.
00:42:53.060 | All you need to know about God's will is found in Jesus.
00:43:00.640 | We should pray like that.
00:43:03.020 | That's how Paul prays in chapter 1 verse 9, "And so from the day we heard, we have not
00:43:09.060 | ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in
00:43:14.560 | all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the
00:43:20.900 | Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge
00:43:26.980 | of God."
00:43:33.540 | Quickly let me note thoroughly for you verse 13.
00:43:36.700 | We've seen the servanthood of Epaphras, we've seen the struggle of Epaphras, may I show
00:43:41.100 | you the sacrifice of Epaphras.
00:43:45.760 | Verse 12 is a greeting from Epaphras to the Colossians.
00:43:50.200 | Verse 13 is a commendation of Epaphras from Paul.
00:43:59.820 | I bear him witness.
00:44:03.820 | This is a solemn declaration that Paul uses to introduce important things he says, but
00:44:08.860 | here he uses it to introduce the commendation of his brother pastor.
00:44:18.100 | Just in case you question what I said in verse 12, you could call me to the witness stand,
00:44:31.660 | and I can witness that he has worked hard for you and for those in Laodicea and in Herapolis.
00:44:40.700 | This is still a statement about his prayer.
00:44:46.660 | He sacrificed for the local church and for the global church.
00:44:49.460 | Let me show you that quickly.
00:44:52.460 | I can bear him witness, he says, how much he sacrificed for the local church that he
00:45:00.780 | is a part of and serves.
00:45:02.620 | He has worked hard for you.
00:45:05.660 | It's a reference to great toil and strenuous labor that results in severe pain.
00:45:14.900 | He may have been with Paul under house arrest in Rome, so this may not refer, however, to
00:45:23.020 | any physical pain, but no doubt I believe it refers to mental and emotional and spiritual
00:45:30.620 | toil in prayer for the sake of the saints.
00:45:38.460 | You've heard it said, "Give till it hurts."
00:45:40.220 | Have you ever heard it said, "Pray till it hurts."
00:45:49.180 | There are many people abandoning the church, claiming "church hurt."
00:45:54.580 | Paul here redefines "church hurt."
00:46:00.380 | He intentionally suffered severe pain and intercessory prayer on your behalf.
00:46:06.460 | He knelt long so that you may stand firm.
00:46:17.820 | I need to rush on.
00:46:18.820 | There's a lot to criticize in our churches, there's a lot to criticize in the culture
00:46:22.100 | around our church, but I just want to ask you, brothers, are you praying as much as
00:46:26.900 | you are criticizing?
00:46:35.940 | It's cheap work to criticize.
00:46:42.040 | It's hard work to pray.
00:46:55.060 | A dry city finally allowed liquor.
00:46:57.860 | A man quickly built a bar there, and the church couldn't do anything legally about it, but
00:47:03.700 | they decided to have an all-night prayer meeting, asking God to intervene about this bar that
00:47:10.020 | had opened up in their town.
00:47:12.260 | And after that all-night prayer meeting, a few days later, a storm occurred and lightning
00:47:19.940 | struck that bar and it burned down.
00:47:27.860 | The bar owner, hearing about the prayer meeting, sued the church.
00:47:39.140 | The church got a lawyer who diligently argued that there's no direct correlation between
00:47:46.460 | that prayer meeting and that fire.
00:47:52.540 | The judge said, "I'll give my verdict under advisement."
00:47:56.500 | After hearing both sides, he says, "But before I give the verdict, what is obvious is that
00:48:03.860 | apparently this bar owner believes in prayer more than this local church."
00:48:17.580 | Do you really believe, brothers, that God still hears and answers prayer?
00:48:26.600 | Then labor hard in believing prayer for your local church, and not just—I'm wrapping
00:48:30.740 | up now—He not only sacrificed for the local church, He also sacrificed—I love this—for
00:48:36.660 | the global church, if I may say it this way.
00:48:39.580 | He's worked hard not just for you, but for the other churches in the Licus Valley, for
00:48:47.780 | the church at Laodicea, and for the church at Hierapolis.
00:48:53.460 | Paul wrote this letter to the church at Colossae.
00:48:57.800 | Verse 16 tells us that he wrote a letter to the church at Laodicea that he wanted read
00:49:07.740 | in Colossae.
00:49:10.500 | Here is the only reference to the church at Hierapolis in the New Testament.
00:49:17.220 | We don't know what was in that letter of Paul to the Laodiceans, but we do know about another
00:49:22.500 | email they got in Revelation chapter 3, where they are rebuked and warned to repent of their
00:49:29.860 | lukewarmness.
00:49:33.100 | It is possible that Epaphras started all three of these churches.
00:49:39.880 | We can't say that for sure, but we can say with certainty that he labored in prayer for
00:49:47.180 | all of these churches.
00:49:51.660 | He was a part of the church at Colossae.
00:49:53.660 | He's one of you.
00:49:55.420 | Hear me, brothers.
00:49:59.460 | And he did not view his church to be in competition with other local churches.
00:50:11.620 | Like Paul, 2 Corinthians 11, 28, he had anxiety, concern for all the churches.
00:50:16.700 | I just want to close reminding us of that, brothers.
00:50:22.140 | We're not in competition with each other.
00:50:24.660 | We're on the same team.
00:50:27.740 | And as corrupt as our society is, we need every church to be as healthy as it can be.
00:50:41.260 | The world at its worst needs the church at its best.
00:50:48.820 | And so with confidence that truth triumphs, may we preach courageously and pray continually.
00:51:03.820 | May we preach mightily and pray militantly.
00:51:14.260 | May we preach steadfastly and pray strategically.
00:51:24.780 | What a friend we have in Jesus.
00:51:29.140 | All our sins and griefs to bear.
00:51:33.940 | What a privilege it is to carry everything to God in prayer.
00:51:40.580 | Oh, what peace we often forfeit.
00:51:45.940 | Oh, what needless pains we bear.
00:51:52.580 | All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.
00:52:05.020 | Thank you for your Word, Lord.
00:52:11.140 | I pray that as a result of our time together here this week, you will help us to go home
00:52:20.860 | and preach the Word.
00:52:24.460 | Being ready in season and out of season, rebuking, reproving, and exhorting with complete patience
00:52:29.900 | and teaching.
00:52:31.540 | But Lord, may we also go home to always be struggling on the behalf of the saints in
00:52:42.120 | our prayers that they may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God.
00:52:50.140 | To the praise of your glory, amen.
00:52:52.420 | Amen.
00:52:53.420 | Amen.
00:52:54.420 | Amen.
00:52:54.420 | [BLANK_AUDIO]