Skip to content Tear It Up: Being Committed to the Calling Apr 1 · 40 min ...more
Tear It Up: Being Committed to the Calling
April 1, 2025 · 40 min
Concluding the series on Colossians, John Mark reminds the listener of their collective potential to impact the world by being steadfast in their commitments to one another and to God.
Series "Men's Breakfast" with John Mark Caton April 1, 2025 · 40 min · "Men's Breakfast" with John Mark Caton
Concluding the series on Colossians, John Mark reminds the listener of their collective potential to impact the world by being steadfast in their commitments to one another and to God. ...more Show the full description Show less Concluding the series on Colossians, John Mark reminds the listener of their collective potential to impact the world by being steadfast in their commitments to one another and to God.
Series "Men's Breakfast" with John Mark Caton Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
Support this leader
Liking this video? Support this ministry.
Give
Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
101K followers
John Mark is the Senior Pastor of the thriving Cottonwood Creek Church in Allen, Texas, where he has served since 1995.
101K followers
Tearing It Up for God 0:02 Welcome to Men's Breakfast with John Mark Keaton. Join us as John Mark shares his insights with other men in his ministry rooted in the timeless truths of the gospel. Today's message will encourage you to0:14 inspire, inform, and invest in the lives of others. This is Men's Breakfast with your host, John Mark Caton.0:23 Let's get it going. We got to close-up the book of Colossians today. Colossians chapter 4. If y'all wanna go ahead and open your bible or your app or, Cottonwood Creek app, whatever it is, we're0:35 gonna be in Colossians chapter 4 today. We actually end our series today, that we've looked at the last couple of, months entitled tear it up, where we've been walking with Paul, through his letter to the Colossian0:46 believers. And we're gonna end it today with, some powerful words, some challenging words on, you know, where do we go from here? How do we continue to live up to our God given potential as a0:58 church and as men? And we're gonna see both of those in chapter 4 because what Paul does is he reminds them, alright, here are the basics. Here's how you minister. Here's how you reach out. Here's how you share1:10 the gospel. Here's how you be salt and light. Here's how you flavor, your conversations with outsiders, with grace and salt so that they are attracted to the gospel. Then1:22 he list a bunch of dudes. Alright? How many of you dude are dude in here? Alright. He he list a bunch of dudes. He says, I wanna thank this dude, this dude, this dude, this1:33 dude, this dude. As a matter of fact, not just in Colossians, we're gonna see a bunch of guys. And let me tell you, some of these guys, they're flat out studs. If you're a stud for Jesus, just raise your1:45 hand. Alright. You are the most arrogant guys I've ever met in my life. Alright. I cannot believe, man I I I think I would just come. How many of you are in that wanna1:57 be a stud for Jesus category? Alright. There's a more humble, honest, Jesus Jesus loving guys in the room. But he lists a bunch of guys. You know, we think about Paul. God, how2:09 many of you would like to be like Paul? I would. I'd love to be like Paul. But I think it's interesting when you look at the book of Colossians, he just starts listening. Thanks to this guy and this guy and this2:21 guy and this guy. And let me tell you what, when we look at these guys, if we get to these guys now Justin always picks on me because I always send the bible verses that y'all get up here every week. And every time I2:32 send a bunch of bible verses, he says, I wonder what the over under is. And that's basically there's a Vegas betting line, out there that if I send him 12 bible verses that because I talk too2:44 much, I only get to 8 of them or I get to 7 of them. So he's always got an over under that he's working. And pretty much I lose the bet every week. I don't get there. But, that just means he's a betting man. Alright?2:55 And, that he's not a Jesus lover. But anyway, you know, so there's always that. But I wanna get to that part today because when we begin to look at3:07 this list, we will see there are some dudes that Paul thinks, thinks along the way for all that they did. When you follow follow him back through, the book of Acts and these some of the other epistles, They apparently3:19 were just steadfast dudes for the Lord. Amen. The we are grateful for those guys. You'll look at some other guys in the in the list. You can look back over their life. They had a bad day.3:32 If you go look at where they were over in Corinth or or or in the book of Acts, they had a bad day. But Paul says, hey, this dude's all in right now. You'll look at some other guys that, man,3:44 if you were to just look through the epistles and you didn't see all the way to the end that they were in and eventually walked away. So we're gonna see all kinds of guys at all kinds of places in the spectrum that Paul3:55 list and thinks in here. And and, guys, I want you to know you're in the list. You're in the list. The only 1 you don't wanna be is the 1 that eventually walked away.4:07 You don't wanna be Demas, who at 1 point was faithful to the Lord and then just at some point walked away because Paul calls him out. And he goes, hey. This dude, he at 1 time was with us, but he's4:19 no longer with us. But as we look through the list of these guys, I want you to know you're in the list. As a matter of fact, if you go through the book of Acts and all the epistles, there are well over a hundred4:32 specific men called out that participated in the gospel. And if we're ever gonna be the kind of church that God wants us to be, if we're really, ever gonna4:43 tear it up as a church, it's gonna be because a bunch of men step up and say, I am all in for the gospel. And then ultimately, when we are all in for4:55 the gospel individually and we join together corporately, we can't help but impact culture in a very powerful and real way. And so, guys, I want you to know, if you say,5:07 can God use me? Absolutely. Can God use me in spite of my past? Absolutely. Can God use me in spite of what I did last week?5:19 Absolutely. Because when we look at this list of guys, you're in there. You're in there. Just have a different name. Maybe your past is a little different. Your,5:32 birthplace of origin is a little different. Maybe your family of origin is a little different. Maybe you got a late start on this, Jesus thing. You're in there. And God still got a plan for you. And so5:44 as we wrap it up today, let's go back and remind ourselves where did tear it up come from. If you're new, it goes back to Colossians chapter 2 verse 13, where before we ever tear it up for Christ or for the church,5:56 God tore it up for us. Colossians chapter 2 verse 13 says, when when you when you were dead in your trespasses and sin, in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive. God took the6:08 first step towards you. God made you alive together in Christ. He forgave us all of our sins. How did he do it? Having torn up the charges of our legal indebtedness. He he basically took care6:19 of it. God looked at all of your sins, all of my sins, all the sins of the world, and looked at his son Jesus, said, let's go fix that problem. You know, 1 of the things we need to be as men, guys that fix things. Right?6:32 We're better at breaking things. How many of you are better at breaking things? Things? I'm better at breaking things. But God also appointed us to fix some things because that's exactly what God did with your sin and my6:42 sin. He looked at us, created in his image, but marred by sin and led astray by Satan. God looked at us, said, I wanna go fix them up. I wanna go give them an opportunity to6:54 be more than they can ever be on their own. So he and Jesus and the Holy Spirit decided, here's what we're gonna do. God says, I'm gonna send you down because I love men so much.7:06 Jesus, I'm gonna send you down. You're gonna be born in Bethlehem. I can only imagine that conversation. I can only imagine that conversation. Okay. Now this conversation didn't happen. Don't don't go out of here and7:16 say, hey, you should heard this pastor. He told us about this conversation God had with Jesus. But can you imagine in all of eternity, Jesus is in the heavenly of heavenlies. He's got the angels around that they've7:25 created. And all of a sudden, God's God says, hey. You're gonna be born in Bethlehem. Can you imagine? Woah. Woah. Woah. Woah. Woah. Woah. Woah. Woah. Woah. Woah. Woah. Woah. Woah. Woah. Woah. Woah. Woah. Woah. Woah.7:32 Woah. Woah. Woah. Woah. Woah. Woah. Woah. Woah. Woah. Woah. Woah. Woah. Woah. Woah. Woah. Woah. Woah. Woah. Woah. Woah. Wo And he goes,7:43 you know, can can we do this maybe the family of Cleopatra or something like that? You know, can you imagine that conversation? God says, I'm all in, and you're all in. Jesus goes and he's born. And then the Holy Spirit7:54 says, here's what we're gonna do. After they're saved, the Holy Spirit's gonna live and dwell in each 1 of you. He's gonna lead you in the right path. Then when you take the wrong path and make a wrong decision, say8:06 something wrong, the Holy Spirit says, I'm gonna be right there to convict them. And then can you imagine? Someone says, well, what happens if they sin too much? Holy Spirit says, I'm never leaving8:18 them. I'm gonna seal them until the day of redemption. Through it all. And so when you think about what it means to tear it up for God, don't ever ever forget that God8:30 first tore it up for you. And so let's jump into, Colossians chapter 4. We're gonna go to verse 2 first. So what does it mean for us to tear it up as a church, as men, as we8:42 close this out? First thing he says is that you and I need to learn as men to tear the roof off. Alright? There needs to be an upward trajectory to some of our conversations and that's what Paul says.8:54 He says, devote yourselves to prayer being watchful and thankful. So it starts by, if we are gonna continue to be the kind of men God wants us to be, we gotta learn to tear the roof off. Alright? Couple years ago, we had9:05 a hailstorm tore the roof in. How many of you remember that? Alright. In your spiritual journey, in your spiritual life, we need to learn as men to pray more. And I'll be the first to tell you, and this is a common theme9:17 if you're sitting here going, don't talk too much about prayer because I'm not a not a great prayer. It is not uncommon for men to not be good prayers. I will go so far as to say, if9:29 there is a man in this room or listening to this podcast and you are truly a great prayer, you're the exception not the rule. Because most men are doers. Most men like to9:41 do things. But to sit there and pause and say, you know, I'm gonna spend 15 minutes just praying. Man, let me I can pray for the world in 15 minutes. How many of you know that? I mean, by name. Right?9:53 Because my natural thought is I gotta go do something. Right? But to Paul's Paul says, and devote yourselves to prayer. I'm gonna sit here and I'm gonna make this a moment, a season of prayer, God. I'm just10:04 gonna give you this time. But remember, if he says devote yourself to prayer, a lot of times we only think that means I have to go into my prayer closet, I have to get on my knees, I have to hang out there for hours.10:16 That's not what Paul is saying. Because a little later, what does Paul say? Pray without ceasing. Right? So that means all the way through the day. So we can devote ourselves with an attitude and heart of prayer that we10:27 wanna pray about everything. God, I wanna pray about this next conversation. I wanna pray about that last conversation. I wanna pray about, my relationship with my kids and my wife and this and that. So we wanna devote10:38 ourselves. He says, devote yourselves to prayer being watchful and thankful. Don't forget that word thankful before we go back to that word watchful. This is sixth time already10:50 in the book of Colossians that Paul has said that if we are gonna live a life that, brings joy to us and joy to those we connect with, this is sixth time Paul says in this this11:02 little book, you better be thankful. Guys, you gotta be thankful. We have to live as men to be thankful. Don't let bitterness overwhelm you. Don't11:13 let whatever your struggles overwhelm you. Focus on the good things, Paul says. But then he noticed he says be watchful. So I wanna become a man of prayer. Alright? Whatever your discipline is, whatever11:25 your habit is, you wanna start your day off praying. You wanna end your day praying, but you wanna pray all the way through your day. That there's always that attitude of God bring someone in my path that I can11:35 encourage, that I can share the gospel with, that I can lift up, that I can help out, that I can point in the right path. Bring me a bring a conversation along where all of a sudden, man, it just becomes easy for me to11:47 talk about my faith. Man, that's a prayer opportunity. But then he also says, don't forget to be thankful. But then he says, be watchful. So kind of the the latter part of this book says, what are we watching11:58 for? What are we looking out for? Certainly, we're watching out for temptation and Satan and a lot of negative things, but it's kinda interesting. Paul's gonna tell us that we're also watching for some other things. You12:09 say, well, what's that? Well, we're watching for open doors. Man, we as a church and you as individuals as men, you need to be on the lookout for open doors. You you ever been in 1 of12:21 those situations that all of a sudden something just good happens and you're like, good grief. I'm in. Right? That's what Paul says for the gospel as a church. We need to look for open doors. Look at it. Colossians12:33 chapter 4 verse 3 says, pray for us also. So Paul says, devote yourself, you, to prayer. But then he says, pray for us also. Part of your prayer life needs to be man, get to know the dudes at your12:44 table, some people in your life groups, some guys that you know. Pray some pray for some other dudes as well. Pray that they would come alongside you and they'd be the kind of friends that you need. But he says, listen,12:55 pray for us too that God may open a door for our message. Certainly, when we are being watchful, we wanna watch out for Satan, we wanna look for13:06 temptations, we wanna avoid difficulties and hardships, but we also want to be watchful for open doors. As a church, as a staff, as a leadership, we13:18 wanna be looking for open doors to share the gospel. What Dave Dave wants to always be looking for an open door to reach another kid because we know if we can reach the kid, we can probably get the mom and13:30 hopefully get the dad, all of that. Man, as we think about what Chase does, he's looking to reach another student. He's looking for an open door. Where is a door that we can open, that we can go through, that we can13:41 ultimately share our messages. So that's why he says Colossians chapter 4 verse 3, pray for us also or 2, that God may open a door for our message so that what? We may proclaim13:52 it, proclaim the mystery of Christ for which I am in change. He says, listen. Paul says, this is why I'm in change, but I'm I'm always praying for an open door. If he's in change right now, the first door open door he14:04 wants is he wants that prison open. Right? So he can get out. And maybe some of you right now, you're in chains to your own sin, your own bondage, some addiction. So maybe you just wanna have14:16 somebody. This where you wanna have other men praying for you. Man, pray for me that I can get over this over get through this open door, that I can get out of these chains so I can go share the message and proclaim the14:26 message. So we wanna tear the roof off, become men that start to pray for each other, with each other, for our families, for our church, but we not only want to tear the roof off, we wanna look for open14:38 doors. My guess is every guy in this room, you've got an open door that I can never walk through. Can I say that? You've got an open door that I can never walk through.14:51 And your job, in your neighborhood, with your friends, wherever the community is that you operate in, man, you need to walk in praying15:02 and looking for an open door that you can walk through so you can share the gospel, the message of the good news of Jesus Christ. So you can tell others that god's torn it up for them.15:15 It's time for them to tear it up for god. And so he says, listen, that we may find an open door to proclaim our message. Now listen, when we proclaim the message, Paul says, you do it very15:27 clearly. You do it very clearly. We don't beat around the bush. We don't, you know, kinda just, hem haw around it. He says what? Notice what he says. Verse 4,15:38 he says, pray that I may proclaim the gospel clearly, as clearly as I should. So Paul says, listen. When you go through the open door, when you15:50 pray, when you find the open door, when you walk through it and you proclaim the message, do it very clearly. Don't don't muddle the message up. Alright? Don't beat around the bush.16:02 Just be real clear. I think a lot of times what we can do is, if we aren't careful, especially if we've grown up in church, been in church all our life, man, the message gets muddled. How many of you know that?16:14 With traditions in the church and what we like to do, well, you need to do this or you don't do this or well, we get Baptist. We got rules upon rules upon rules. How many of you know that? And what we're doing? We're16:25 muddling the message. The message is just simply this clear, that God loved us so much that he sent his son to tear up the legal indebtedness of against all of us.16:37 That's the message. And any who receive that message receive the forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life. And so we just wanna be clear on that. So, guys, man, when you go through that16:49 open door, when you get the opportunity to share the gospel, make it very clear. Make it very clear. Don't muddle it up. Don't mess it up. Just make it17:01 so clear. Don't care what culture says about it. Just here's what the Bible says. Here's what the church says. I love what Paul said in first Corinthians chapter 16 verse 9. He says, because a great17:13 door of effective work has opened to me and there are many who oppose me. Now, so you have an open door. Don't ever doubt this, guys. Just because the door17:25 is open, there's always the enemy on the other side. Do we understand that? Alright. As a church, as an individual, as a man, if you pray for an open door, if you see an open door, if you go through the open door to17:36 share the message, Paul over there reminded the Corinthians that, listen, there was an open door for me. But not only were there people who needed the gospel on the other side, there were people who opposed the gospel on17:47 the other side. We're always gonna have those kind of people. There's always gonna be someone that says, hey, take that away. You know, take that back to church or keep it in church or do this or do that. And so I17:58 wanna encourage you, man, when you go through the open door, do not be shocked and do not be surprised if you find some opposition. We saw that all through the gospel. As a matter of fact,18:10 that's part of how the church grew so much in the early part of the book of Acts. You had Pentecost fall, you had the church explode, you have the gospel begin to spread, and you had persecution immediately start. And18:22 so what happened because of that persecution, then the church was scattered, which is ultimately what allowed the gospel and the those that traveled with the gospel to fulfill18:34 what Jesus had just said. You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth. It was the opposition that made that possible. So if you walk through an18:46 open door, if you pray and say, hey, I wanna share with my boss, or I wanna share with my employees, or I wanna talk to someone, at the gym, or whatever it is about the gospel, and you go through and you begin to share,18:56 don't be shocked when you experience some opposition. Don't ever be shocked shocked when there's an open door, but don't ever be shocked when there's opposition on the other side of that door. So Paul says, listen. Tear19:07 the roof off with some prayer. Look out for an open door. When you proclaim the message, do it clearly. Man, 1 of the things I see the most right now is19:19 that politics are all over the gospel. It's like if you vote for 1 side, you're a Christian nationalist. How many of you ever heard that? Right? That you're a Christian nationalist,19:32 and then the other side will say, well, if you don't vote for this guy, you're not even a Christian. Like, when did that become an issue? Right? When did that I love my nation, and I love Jesus. I know19:44 what the constitution says. I know where we get our rights from. So if you wanna call me a Christian nationalist, do it. If you wanna tell me, do I want this country to live more and more by the standards that are19:55 presented in God's word than the standards presented in some university somewhere? 100 percent. 100 percent. Because I see around our families and our cities and our20:06 states that when we don't live according to God's word, look at the mess that happens. Look at the mess that happens. Alright? And so I want you to know, Paul says proclaim it clearly. Don't tag20:18 politics to the gospel message. Politics, we get the opportunity. We are blessed in this country to vote. How many of you know it's a blessing to vote? You know, everybody says, well, you know, this or that. It's a20:28 blessing to be able to vote. We get a choice. Choices may not be that great. Alright? But we get a choice. Right? We get a choice. Go make a choice. But at20:40 the end of the day, when you proclaim the gospel, do it clearly and make the gospel the gospel. Don't tag a bunch of stuff onto it. And so notice as we drop down. He says, and then once you see an open20:52 door, even if you're opposed, make the most of every opportunity. Notice what it says. Here it is. Go back to verse 5. He says, be wise in the way you act towards outsiders.21:04 Make the most of every opportunity. So when you walk through a door and you're in the midst of outsiders, he says, be wise. And this is Colossians chapter 4 verse 5. Be wise in the way you act21:16 towards outsiders. Use some wisdom Outside the church. With lost people. Be wise in the way you share.21:28 What does that mean? Hey, if you're gonna roll into a spiritual conversation with somebody, think about it. Live wisely. Man, make sure, you know, you're a good21:40 worker at the office, or you've got a solid this or a solid that. Man, we want to be wise in the way we act towards outsiders. Kind of unique to a lot of people. There are times that people can,21:52 be so Christianized, so religious that they'll say, I don't care what they think. Well, Paul says you should. They can reject the message. But if we walk with wisdom, it ought22:04 we ought to walk in such a way that at the very least, we earn credibility with them. These are people who do what they say and say what they do. These are people of22:16 integrity. These are people when they say something to me, man, they mean it. And he says, be wise in the way you act towards outsiders. As a church, we've gotta be wise22:28 in how we reach out, how we move through open doors. We've gotta be smart. And so notice why. Because he says, you have to make the most of every opportunity. Boy, 1 of the very key definitions or thoughts of an22:39 opportunity is there are only so many. How many of you know that? Guys, you only have so many opportunities to walk through doors with your family. We celebrated how many of you were in22:51 the services this week where we celebrated, all of those seniors graduating? What an incredible thing. Guess what? We've all been down that path. Some of y'all haven't, but we've all been23:03 down that path. There's 18 missed 18 years of potentially missed opportunities parents had with those kids. Go back to week before. How many were at parent baby dedication? If you've23:15 been down this road, how many of you know it doesn't take long to get from dedication to graduation? Do we understand that? Let me tell you there. There's an old country song years ago that23:27 said, don't blink. How many of you remember that? And I remember when I when my kids were little that, I was like, I heard that song and, you know, I think Gina cried a little bit or something like that. And I'm like,23:36 What do you mean don't blink? I'm gonna see everything that happens. And then I blinked. Do you understand? Guys, part of the definition of an opportunity23:48 is you only have so many more. I only have so many more. I don't know how many more. I only have so many more opportunities to stand stand up on that platform and proclaim the message clearly,24:00 to walk through an open door. I only have so many more opportunities, to to speak to my kids. I only have so many opportunities to to speak with my buddies. I only have so many opport so many more opportunities to talk24:12 to people at Lifetime about what really makes me tick. I only have so many opportunities. And same in your life. You probably have fewer opportunities left than you24:24 think. And Paul says, listen. We wanna be wise in the way we act towards outsiders. We wanna make the most of every opportunity because24:36 once that opportunity is gone, it is gone. Now listen, when he says make the most of every opportunity, we should be effective when we roll through the door. Look at first Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 12.24:48 This is talking about you. First Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 12. Paul says, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders.25:00 How do you win the respect of outsiders? How you live? Put a smile on your face, be kind, look for an opportunity to help. Man, your lifestyle is what brings credibility to your message25:13 when you present the clear message. If if if your lifestyle is not 1 that is attractional to people or encouraging to people or consistent for people to see, it's25:24 gonna be hard for you to ever walk through that door and share the gospel with them. And so I love what Paul is saying. Listen, we need to be praying for open doors. We need to be looking for open doors, but our25:35 lifestyle needs to bring a credibility so that when I walk through that open door, even if I'm opposed by some people, I will share a clear gospel in such a way that they'll receive it. And Paul says, how does that25:46 happen? It starts with the fact that your daily life would win the respect of outsiders. I I don't mind telling you that, guys, part of how you live in such a way is25:58 that people would be attracted to you because of the God who lives in you. Right? That's how we wanna live. That's how we wanna operate. And he says, that's you. Now listen26:10 listen. I wanna tell you. Let me go ahead. I wanna bring this in. Let me preach it me. Let me tell you what you deserve out of your pastor. Alright? And your staff. Alright? And you get it from most26:22 people except for Hill House. But that was a joke. Just hope you listen to the podcast. Look at first Timothy chapter 3 verse 7. This is a list of pastors and26:33 teachers and elders. This is talking about me. He. Everybody say you. You. He, me, must have a good reputation with outsiders. First26:45 Thessalonians chapter 3 verse 7. You know what? My reputation needs to be good with those outside the church.26:57 You want your pastor to have a good reputation outside of this wall, outside of these walls. Why? Because I bring credibility to you. I bring credibility to the gospel. And so27:09 listen, that's how we want to live. So Paul says, your life brings respect of outsiders, and so should mine. So it matters for me27:21 how I live when I am outside the walls of this church. And you should celebrate that. You should want that. But not only should I be that way,27:33 you should be that way. That we all should have the respect of outsiders, not just lost people. There there's all there can be a time when we don't care what the outside world thinks about us. That is27:45 totally unbiblical. I don't care whether they accept I I don't care if they reject the message, but my lifestyle needs to be 1. Listen, I'm consistent with what I say.27:58 I I I may not care necessarily, if if they don't like our stance on marriage. I don't care. It's in the Bible. You're not arguing with me. You're arguing with God's word. You're arguing with nature. But at the same28:09 point, man, my lifestyle outside this church needs to be 1 of integrity, openness, and honesty. The people who meet me don't go, and you're a pastor?28:22 Now you could have gone back when I coached some of my kids in sports, and, you might have questioned that. Because I always knew who won. Go back to my kids28:34 and, this street, you can ask my wife. I refuse to go pick up participation trophies for our kids when they were little. I didn't pass them out. And, if the teen mom didn't go do it, they would say, what28:46 didn't everybody else said they got little medals or trophies or stuff like that. I go, I go, no. We know we won that league. We didn't lose a game. We didn't need a participation trophy. I'll drop and buy you a first28:55 place trophy. Right? But I want you to know, I got better over the years a little bit. But I do know if we play, we play to win. Alright. But I love this idea. It needs to be effective. If you go back to Julius Caesar, I29:07 know a lot of you are, literary class. Remember the remember in that moment, with Brutus and Julius Caesar, they're they're they're trying to trying to knock the guy off. I think it's like in the fourth phase or29:17 something like that. Remember these words? There is a tide in the affairs of men, which if taken at the flood leads to fortune and fame, but if omitted, all voyages of their29:29 lives are bound in the shallows and in misery. Remember that phrase? That he says, listen. There are moments when the tide rises in your life and in my life and our church's life. And29:41 when it rises, we better get on it. Do we understand? Because the gospel is moving. I will tell you right now as a pastor. The tide has risen for our church. Do you see29:53 it? Do you sense it? Man, I'll tell you, God is opening doors anywhere and everywhere for us. So I want you to know the best thing that I can do as your captain of your ship is say,30:05 let's go. Let's go. Let's head out to deep waters. Let's go through another open door. Let's reach another kid. Let's reach another student. Let's reach another college student. Let's reach another single. Let's reach30:16 another person. Does that make sense? Because there are those seasons and those moments that the tide rises and we get to march forward. You've seen it happen in your life individually. It happens in the corporate life,30:28 the church life as well. But I will tell you, when it rises, we've got to be willing to go through the door, tear off the roof, pray about it, win the respect of outsiders, present our message very30:40 clearly and then just continue to walk on. He says, let your message be shared wisely. Verse 6, Colossians chapter 4 verse 6. Let your conversation so your lifestyle has already30:52 paved the way. Your lifestyle wins the respect of outsiders. Now your words follow. See, it's not words first. It's life first. You get that? It's not words31:03 first. Before you ever receive the credibility or gain the credibility to use your words for the gospel, it starts with people seeing your life. And so I love that. He says your lifestyle wins the respect of31:15 outsiders. Pastor, your lifestyle wins the respect of outsiders. Now verse 6, he says, here's where your conversation comes in. Let your conversation always be full of grace, seasoned31:27 with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. I love those words. Let your conversation be full of grace. And more than anything, our conversation needs to be31:39 full of grace with lost people, with outsiders, those who win the gospel. Doesn't mean it's not full of truth. That's what Jesus was. All the fullness of deity dwelled in Jesus Christ,31:51 and fullness of grace and truth, it is both. But my words need to be filled with grace. I need to be encouraging along the way. I need to love along the way. And he says, full32:03 of grace, seasoned with salt. How many of you like salt? How many of you probably need to put less salt on your food than you put on your food? Yeah. Gina and I went out on a little date. She's got this little32:14 deal. She says, hey. Let's start trying some different we I love how many of you love Mexican food? I really don't I don't really don't like the Mexican food. I like the 18 bags of chips before the Mexican food. Right?32:25 By the time the food shows up, I'm done. So she says, hey. We kinda go to the same places over and over again. So she developed a list of places that we're gonna go. And so we went to our first 1 last night. And, man, I32:37 I saw the chips and the salsa. I do. I do. And she goes, you know, that's a lot. I go, I know. I know. But I didn't it's in the bible. Right? You know, it's right here in32:49 the Bible. I'm gonna I didn't even think about that last night, but I'm gonna go back and say, listen, honey. Time you get in step with Jesus and the Bible. You salt things more. But I knew I salt the chips and I salt32:59 the salsa before I ever tasted. You know, it could be so salty. I don't know. But he says your conversation so that everyone will have an so you'll have an answer to everyone. Now so33:11 how do we get this done? I told you I was gonna give you a list of dudes. I'm gonna roll through these fast. Just look down. Paul says, you know what? He says, I've gotten a lot done, but I didn't33:23 do it by myself. And so guys, I want you to think about you being in this list. To do what we God wants to do in our church, we need a bunch of dudes33:35 to step up and say yes. We're just gonna pick it up and I'm just gonna roll. I won't read the verses, but just put Colossians chapter 4 verse 17 7 through the end of the chapter up there, Justin. Notice he starts33:47 with a guy named Tychicus. First of all, that is a cool name. Alright? That is a cool name. What do we know about Tychicus? We don't have time to go over there. Go you can find him over in Corinthians in first, first33:58 Corinthians 16. You can see him mentioned here. Here's what we know. He's 1 of those steadfast dudes that just always show up. Know anybody at church like that? It's like every time you walk in the doors of the34:09 church, that dude is there. Right? He just shows up. Next guy he he mentions is a guy named Onesimus. I I prefer Tychicus if you're gonna name me something. Onesimus,34:21 that just doesn't seem to have their you know his story? He was a runaway slave who got saved, who went back, asked for34:33 forgiveness, ended up being used for the gospel. Jump down, there's a guy named Jesus Justice. That's kind of a cool name. Right? Jesus Justice. You wanna know what we know about him? Nothing.34:47 Doesn't get much attention at all. You don't see him in other places and other spaces. You just kinda have this guy thrown in there. And guys, there are some of you that you've been steadfast forever. They walk in the34:59 doors. They don't know everybody knows you and you're like, that's awesome. There are some of you, you're like an Onesimus. You've got a past. You failed. But God wants to use there are some of you guys that you do more35:11 than anybody will ever know. You're like a guy named Jesus Justice who just gets mentioned, who doesn't get a lot of attention, but he just keeps doing his thing. And so, guys, if you feel35:22 like you're out of the limelight, no 1 knows your name, that is okay because God knows your name. And I love the fact that Paul put him in the list. And we don't have these chapters about how awesome he is. Go down.35:34 There's Aristarchus. This dude was a stud. You can go find him over in Acts chapter 19. This dude was a man of great courage. It says they seized him, took him in into35:46 the Colosseum. He was going to be stoned. Here you have it. A number of years later, he is still fighting the fight. Apparently, they weren't good shots with the stones or he just said, listen, that doesn't that's not35:56 going to scare me. There are some of you. You're gonna have to fight. You're gonna have to battle. You're gonna be threatened. You're gonna find a struggle. There's another guy he lists in here. A guy named Mark. John36:06 Mark. How many of you remember that guy? Alright. The other John Mark, the better John Mark the better is what we'll call him. Alright. But remember, he had a bad day. How many of you remember that? Remember, he he went36:16 on a missionary journey. All of a sudden, he turned and went back to Jerusalem. Matter of fact, you go look in the book of Acts. The biggest fight, 1 of the biggest fights you see in the New Testament is between Paul and36:26 Barnabas. It's over this guy named John Mark who got out on a mission trip and apparently got homesick, turned and went home. Barnabas wanted to give him another shot. Paul said, I don't want to give him another shot.36:38 He won't hang in there. It says Paul and Barnabas, I love this, had no small dispute. As a matter of fact, that Greek word says they were screaming and hollering at each other. So there might36:50 be a time or 2 you see some screaming and hollering in the church. But notice what happened. They didn't stand there and fight about it all the time. What happened? Paul chose Silas. Barnabas chose John Mark. They got on37:00 about their business. Right. But I love the fact that John Mark's right in here, that he gets a second chance. We talk about Jonah, gets a second chance. I love if you fast forward when Paul's at the end of his37:12 days, and he says, I'm all alone. And he writes a letter. You wanna know who he says bring to me? He says, bring John Mark to me. Guys, there are some guys that37:24 perhaps you've written off that if you'll open your heart for them, they might be the John Mark you need in the days ahead. Do you got it? Do you get it? I37:35 mean, Paul apparently hated this dude. And all of a sudden, at the end of his life, Paul says, I could use me a little John Mark right now. So37:47 guys, look around this room and you might have some John Marks. You might see some Onesimus. Here here's a guy named Paphras. Just continue to read all the way down. You see it in verse 12. A man with strong commitment.37:59 Man, he's just in. He's all in. Here's another guy. Go down to verse 11 verse 14. There's a guy named Luke. How many of you heard Luke? If you haven't heard of Luke, you need to just read the Bible. You'll see you'll38:08 hear it. Alright. This dude was a stud. He was incredible. He was a doctor. He was a writer. He was a historian. He wrote it all down. Man, he's just 1. How many of you know 1 of38:20 those guys that they seem like God just all the gifts fell in their bucket. Right? And you're like, I could just use 1 solid gift. Luke was that guy. He was a doctor. He was a historian. He was a writer.38:32 He studier. He did every he was faithful. He was committed, and he was incredibly skilled guy. Then you get to the last part in verse 14 and Demas. Demas is theShow more In this video 0:00 Tearing It Up for God28:49
Blessed: Be a Peacemaker John Mark Caton
Comments No comments yet. Start the conversation.
Comments
Keep it kind. Comments are public.