Sermon Tone Analysis

Living out your faith

May we live the kind of life that demonstrates our faith.

A faith that shows the supremacy and the sufficiency of Christ Jesus.

Some basic elements of our Christian faith is our Christian living (Col3:1-11)

We are to set our minds on things above

We are to put aside, put away the old ways

Some basics of our Christian apparel (3:12-17)

We are to put on the new after having put off the old

we are to let Christ rule our hearts

And then let God’s word richly dwell in us

Basics of Christian family relationships (Col3:18-4:1)

Our relationships build our character and help further the gospel

It develops obedience in the ordinary things

It is wives who respect husbands (v.18)

It is husbands loving their wives (v.19)

It is children honoring parents (v.20)

It is fathers loving children (v.21)

Then it is workers doing all things unto the Lord (v.23)

It is bosses being fair and reasonable (4:1)

All of this is to the glory of God who is our all in all!

Paul in these few short verses will address 3 short exhortations about Christ like living

Our prayer life

Our walk

Our speech

First let me give the passage in context

I. Our prayer life

To the Christian who is determined, committed to live a life that is different from the world has a prayer life that is faithful, watchful and is thankful

In NASB it says be devoted, in NKJ it says be vigilant , in both versions it says to continue.

So to the Christian who wants to have Christ like living they are to continue in prayer that is vigilant and is devoted (Rom12:12; 1The5:17)

Persevering, devoted, without ceasing, following the command of what Jesus said and taught (Lk18:1, 8) also example of David (Psm55:16-17) and if not enough then there is Daniel (Dan6:10)

Pray and not lose heart, so in other words be consistent, be persistent

Because one day Christ is coming back, will He find faith like that?

Faith like David had in his prayers

He is a good God, a just God, a caring and compassionate God who can handle your complaints, can handle your murmuring, He longs to hear the prayers of His people.

Make prayer a part of your daily life like Daniel, regardless of what man says, do what God says and what Jesus exampled for us as did David and Daniel, but they were not alone there is Paul too.

And someone we will expand on more next week

Can we improve our Christ like living by improving our continued prayer life to be prayer that is faithful?

For next is prayer that is watchful

Prayer that is watchful (v.2)

Jesus taught on that too (Mk13:32-33; Mt26:41)

So we need to be alert, be watchful for we do not know when the Lord will return, but we do know there is an appointed time!

So be ready, be watchful, be alert.

Apostles warned about it (Eph6:18; 1Pt4:7)

After understanding God’s armor to help you through the battles of this life, it is coupled with prayer that we need to be alert and will all perseverance not just for ourselves but for others too.

Notice some major items in this verse

End is near

So be of sound judgment

Be sober

Do it for the purpose of continued, faithful prayer that is watchful

We need to be prepared, we need to be alert, we need to be watchful for we know

Satan is ready and wants to tempt us to sin

Christ is going to return, He wants to find those who are looking for Him, and who are faithful.

Prayer that is thankful (v.2)

Always thankful (Col1:3, 2:7, 3:15, 17 and 4:2)

Be thankful in light of (Rom1:21-22)

Knew God, did not honor, did not give thanks and look at the results

they became futile, useless

They became foolish

Professing wisdom, but were fools

That is pretty scary isn’t it, so can we see why our prayers need to be continued, watchful and thankful?

That leads me to the next essential in prayer.

Prayer that is purposeful

Pray for us (v.3); notice it is specific

Paul asked for similar prayer other times (Rom15:30-32)

Look at the prayers he asks for

Opportunity (Col3:3; 2The3:1)

Wisdom (Col4:4)

Boldness (Eph6:19-20)

Can we pray for those who preach, those who teach, those who carry the message to others like this?

Essential to our Christ like life is prayer

that is continued, without ceasing

that is watchful

that is thankful

and that is purposeful

Remember we live in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation in which we need to be lights!

This leads us to next essential, so add to your prayer your walk!

II.

Our Walk

Want to admit it or not, man watches us to see what we do, see how we react to see if we are hypocrites or not.

We, as Christians, need to be concerned with our walk.

It’s easy to be a Christian, to act like a christian when around a bunch of Christians, but we need to be a light in the darkness of this world to the non-Christians making the most of our time by how we walk, our conduct around non-Christians matters.

Walking in wisdom

Can impact, influence others for good (1Pt3:1-2)

God’s Word leads to our words, our words impact our actions; our actions will be seen by others and be a draw for Christ or a repellent against Christ.

(Jn13:35, 17:20-21)

May our walk in wisdom be a walk of love for one another that is a display of our being a disciple of Jesus Christ

The words given by Jesus to the Apostles can be used, should be used so others may come to believe through their words who Jesus is, what Jesus did and what Jesus promises to those who believe.

Walk in wisdom knowing time is limited.

We need to make the most of the time we have (v.5;

Eph5:15-17)

(expand on the above, briefly)

Time is short because life is short, you cannot impact anyone after you are dead.

We cannot afford to waste time due to foolishness for we don’t know the number of days.

some people we may come in contact with may have less time than we do and we need to love them and teach them so they can come to believe.

The way we walk couples with the way we talk, look at the reaction to Jesus speaking at times

III.

Our Speech

The words out of our mouth are important, may they always be filled with grace, seasoned with salt.

Power of the tongue

It impacts the entire body (Jam3:2)