Closing Reminders from the Apostle Paul

What this episode covers

04/19/2026 Blank Outline 04/19/2026 Completed Outline Colossians 4:2-6 Colossians 4:2-6 We’re going to read some scriptures. This is five verses from Colossians chapter 4 as we kind of head toward the finish line of the book of Colossians. So, here’s what Paul wrote to that church. Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful, and pray for us too that God may open a door for our message so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly as I should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders. Make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. Well, just a few personal notes before we jump into the Book of Colossians. Most of you know that Dinah have eight grandchildren. Six of them are in Grand Rapids. And so, between our six grand kids in Grand Rapids and our two sons and daughters-in-law, there’s 10 birthdays in Grand Rapids. So, we’re making frequent trips to birthdays. But three of our grandkids in Grand Rapids go to a wonderful Christian school called Dutton Christian School. And every year they have a Grandparents Day. And so, the last like three years, we’ve gone to Grandparents Day and spent part of a day in the kids’ classroom. So, this year, Grandparents Day number one is on Wednesday. I was hoping Grandparents Day number two would be Thursday. But Grandparents Day number two for, let’s see, who would that be for? Liam and Cameron is Friday. And then Aiden has a birthday on Saturday. And then there’s spring sports that they want us to watch on Saturday morning. All that to say we’re going to be gone for a couple days for the end of the week. But you can be in touch with me by texting or phone calls. And so, we’ll go watch some soccer. And by the way, Weston scored three goals yesterday. I know you want to know that, four-year-old Weston. So, congratulations to Weston. We’ve got a little tradition. They call us after their sports on Saturday morning and kind of give us a report on how they did. So, we thoroughly enjoy that. All right, we’re going to jump into Colossians chapter four. And we’re in the homestretch of the book of Colossians. So next Sunday we’ll finish Colossians. Interesting, Paul closes by giving greetings to 10 different people. And we’re going to briefly examine the close of the book next Sunday. But this morning, closing reminders from the Apostle Paul. So, as you know, the Apostle Paul is under house arrest in Rome. He’s awaiting trial from Caesar. And while he’s there, he’s able to receive guests. He was there for two years, didn’t know if he was going to live or die, depending on how his trial came out. While he’s there, a fellow by the name of Epaphras travels 1,200 miles from Colossae to Rome to visit him. And the reason he did that is because Epaphras was pastoring the church at Colossae, Paul had never been there. Paul had never been to the city of Colossae, but Epaphras established a church there. And he had some concerns. He was concerned about some false teachers that were trying to lead the church astray. And so, Paul writes the book of Colossians in response to that and corrects some false doctrine and then writes this book to encourage those believers. It’s amazing how we live in the age of technology and communication because that was a 1,200-mile journey to go to Rome from Colossae. And then Paul writes this letter and sends it back and they have to travel 1,200 miles back to Colossae to get this message to them. Today, we live in a day of instant communication and texting and emails. So, Paul gives some closing reminders and we’re going to look at four of them this morning from our text. And let’s look at the first one. i. Devote yourselves to prayer We just read it in our scripture reading. Here’s reminder number one. Paul says, devote yourself to pray

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