In your Bibles to Colossians, Paul's letter to the Colossians and chapter number four, as we continue our series through this letter of the Colossians. Chapter number four, our text this evening is found in verses two down to verse number six. Colossians 4, verses 2 down to verse number 6. Let us hear God's holy word. Continue in prayer and watch in the same with thanksgiving, with all 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. that I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak, walk in wisdom toward them that are without redeeming the time. Let your speech be all way with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man. Amen. And may the Lord bless the reading of his holy word. Our title for this evening's message is this, How the Truth Advances. How the Truth Advances. Every church, no matter how healthy or not, seeks for church growth. Every church in some way, shape, or form, wishes to grow. But what type of growth is the question? Is it in number? Is it in terms of popularity? Is it in terms of name recognition of a certain brand? And of course, this is not a good thing. This is not what we're to seek. We're to seek the name, the reputation, and the honor of Almighty God. See, there is a danger, isn't there, in seeking growth, and we should all seek the right type of growth, that we seek perhaps even to set aside principles in order to have greater number or success in the eyes of the world, that we do not scare away people with certain biblical principles found in the Word of God. But friends, Christian faith is not ours to edit, but to proclaim. It is to make known. We want the truth to advance. Not necessarily our part in the advancement, but we wish the truth to advance, that Christ is exalted. It's not about us. It's about God. But there is a good church growth that we're all to pursue. They're all to seek. A church growth that involves the scriptures being published far and wide and being proclaimed, the truth being made known, Christ being made known, souls thereby being saved, and those who are saved are brought in and welcomed into the church and discipled and helped to grow within the bosom and the warmth and the blessing and help of the church. Something's wrong if we don't want that. There is an advancement of the truth that we're all to seek. That is the kind of church growth we should all want, not based on business models or worldly thinking, things that may work in other areas, in other parts of life, but we've been given the scriptures and how things are to be done in the church. Godly means and methods, heavenly thinking, heavenly wisdom, the advancement of the truth. Now, every single church on this planet, as in the first century, had problems. Whether it was Galatia, Colossians, Corinthians, name the church, they all had difficulties. You see the first seven churches mentioned in the book of Revelation. They got some things right, they got some things wrong. All churches have shortcomings, imperfection, and sin. The Colossians were one of them. In chapter two of this letter, Paul writes, there are doctrinal problems. There's heresies. There are dangers for the church there. To some, Christ was not seen as enough. And we needed Christ, yes, but a little bit of these other things, that something wasn't enough. There wasn't enough contentment in Christ. And what was the solution to that? We see this at the beginning of Colossians chapter three, heavenly thinking, heavenly wisdom, thinking about heavenly places where we are in Christ. And that brought us to our last sermon in this series, which looked at from verses 18 down to previous verse, verse number one of chapter four, which looked at our duties. And much of it's largely based upon the home, the ancient home, where you'd have servants and masters, but also, as we have today, children, husbands, and wives, and all sorts of other relationships, duties. In the midst of their duties, in the midst of their challenges, they were not to forsake their relationships. They were to follow and honor God, no matter our position or place. Which brings us now to our text for this evening, which is verses 2 to 6. And very suitably, you see how we do these things, how we carry out our duties. We cannot do these things in our own strength. We cannot do these things in our own power. How we present the truth matters. Yes, it all depends on God, but God uses means. He uses means. If we're planting seed and we're praying, the seed must leave the barn. It must be planted. But we pray for the increase from Almighty God. Friends, as we look at this text here this evening, let us examine how the truth advances, how the glory of the Lord shines forth. Heavenly methods, heaven's wisdom, not ours. not ours. We are to be salt and light in this world, and may we be salt and light in Stockton, may we be salt and light across England for the glory of Almighty God. We're going to look at how the truth advances, and we're going to look at it under three headings. Heading number one is this, through persistent prayer. Number two, through powerful preaching. And number three, through persuasive Prudence. Verse 2. And we're looking at through persistent prayer. Verse 2. Continue in prayer and watch in the same with thanksgiving. As we said, this verse, verse 2 in chapter 4, follows on from this section we dealt with last. It was dealing with a range of duties, relationships, You see it at the beginning of verse 18 in the previous chapter. Wives, submit yourselves unto your husbands. Verse 19, husbands, love your wives. Verse 20, children, obey your parents. A whole section dealing with our responsibilities, dealing with our relationships. This list is certainly not exhaustive. It's not every single thing that we are to do in our relationships. However, there is the principle there that we are not To set aside our relationships, we are to honor God in our relationships. But how? That's the key. Sometimes you say, well, we know what we need to do. So often we know what we need to do. But how do we do it in our own strength? Not at all. You see, we need to see our weakness. Our responsibilities, our duties before God, we realize we fall short. When it says husbands love your wives, all of us husbands who are close enough to the Lord, we realize we fall short in these things. Wives submit to your husbands. Wives realize and are probably convicted by various times that does not happen. Fathers, provoke not your children to anger. We who are children of our fathers, we realize how much we sometimes fail and often do fail in these areas. We can't do these things in our own strength. So it's very fitting that Paul goes on to say this at the beginning of verse two, continue in prayer. Continue in prayer. Because we can't do it in our own strength, can we? We need God. We need his strength. Friends, how are your home relationships? How are your commitments? Are they soaked in heavenly prayer? We can't do things as Christians unless they are prayed over. The most mundane things should be prayed over. The most basic of things should be prayed over, because we know that there's no part of life that's not under the sovereign control of Almighty God, whether that's one of the breadcrumbs that falls on our plate in the evening, or whether that is one of the tears of our children. It is all under the control of Almighty God, all these things. And we also know, as well, The longer we're Christians, what goes on behind the scenes is very important, isn't it? Sometimes when things are not going right in our relationships, it takes some time for it to show itself visibly out in the open. But it often does. Let us think of this picture. You can think of, perhaps, You follow sports and there may be a particular team that is always winning and maybe gets kind of boring after a while. The same team's always winning and there's ten teams and you know who's going to win it at the end of the year. But what can happen sometimes, that team stop trying. They just think, well they just turn up, they get the trophy, there's nothing really to do. We always win. So what can happen is They neglect to train, they neglect to work hard, they neglect to put that hard work in the background, the training sessions that nobody sees. But then when they stop doing it, a little bit later on, they realize that the performance levels drop off. In many ways, for the Christian, our prayer life can be like that. It's not about our endurance in prayer. It's about the God we depend upon in prayer. It's about the one who we cry out to in prayer, behind the scenes, when no one else can see. You see, what will happen is, when our prayer life suffers, our relationships will also suffer, eventually, to one degree or another. And notice how Paul deals with prayer. He says continue in prayer. He doesn't say begin to pray. He says continue. Every living person here this evening is breathing air. If you're a Christian, you pray. Now, you may not pray as much as you would like, But you are crying out to the Lord. You've called upon the name of the Lord that you may be saved. Romans 10, verse 13. That is a prayer that the Lord has answered. That has come from your heart. It's not mechanically saying the words and saying a prayer that saves you. It is faith alone and Christ alone. But you've cried out to him. And because he is your father, because he has changed your heart, you do pray. as much as any living body will breathe air in and out. But it says here, continue in prayer, continue in prayer. While this is true that the Christian does pray, do we struggle in prayer? Are there times when we pray far less than we would like? Are there times when we are distracted and discouraged from praying? Are there times when we neglect this great privilege of prayer? Are there times, bad times, when we are away from the blessed throne of grace? Sadly, these are true of all of us at various times in our lives. we can forget the source of blessing. Again, this is not the mechanical going through, okay, I've prayed for a certain amount of minutes, I'm done now. This is crying out to God. Some of the most heartfelt prayers can be the shortest, briefest ones. The question is, who are we depending on? Because prayer is all about who do you depend on? Who, in times of when you see I have no strength, who do I cry out to? Do you know you've got that good friend? You're in trouble. You pick up the phone to them. Well, friends, we can always speak to God. And when things go well, or well, seem to be going well, at least, in our own estimation, We can neglect to continue, to persist in prayer. And what does this word mean in the original language? It's the idea of persisting, to stay by, to attach oneself to, to be diligent, persistent, to be devoted, to hold fast, to cling, to persevere. It's not just, just continue in prayer. This is hard. Actually, the Greek word brings this out about persevering, clinging to, holding fast to, diligently. And there's various activities of the Bible that compares it to, but one especially, wrestling. The Bible compares prayer to wrestling with God. If we turn to Genesis 32. Genesis 32 and verse 24. Genesis 32. And verse number 24. Jacob was left alone and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. And we see later in the context, he's wrestling with God. Verses 25 and 26, and when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh. And the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint as he wrestled with him. And he said, let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. None of us have had to be competitive wrestlers or anything to know the fact that wrestling is exhausting. It saps your energy. It is draining. And in order to wrestle, you've got to persevere. There's suffering involved. Now, to be clear, we're not seeking that we're submitting God. That's impossible. He's all-powerful. But what Jacob is doing here in resting in prayer, he's wrestling with God that he would seek a blessing from him. That it is not just some casual going through a list. Okay, I would like this, and then I would like this, and then I would like this, and we're done. That we can go through there casually. The Bible makes it very clear that this is a challenge for the believer. It's difficult. And I suppose you know as well, if you pray for any length of time by yourself, what often happens? All the things that you've forgotten to do, up until that point, crowd into your mind. Oh, I forgot to bring in the clothes from outside. Or, oh, I left that on the kitchen, or whatever the job is. And all of a sudden, you can't focus any longer. Do we think that's a coincidence? everything crowds into our mind and so much so that it can we don't even think about God anymore and All of a sudden then we're thinking about something completely unrelated to anything we were praying about why Ephesians chapter 6 verse 12 we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities against powers you are in a fight on your knees a Difficult one And the most, that's why the most blessed times of prayer you'll have are in times of crisis. You've had that phone call that has put you in tears. And you cry out to God. And you're so, you're not distracted at that point. You are so focused, you are so concerned about the thing you are petitioning about. And those are often the most blessed moments of prayer you will ever have as a believer. It's also why the Lord often brings those things into your life. It's a fight. We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities. It says in our text, Paul writes, continue in prayer and watch in the same, or literally watch in it. There's a watching, there's a diligence, there's a guarding of our hearts because what can happen is things can crowd in and no matter the length or the mechanical or how Eloquent our words may be at the public prayer, whatever the case may be, we must guard our hearts. Watch in the same with Thanksgiving. But I want to think about this watch, this idea of watching. I want us to think about the disciples. They struggled with this. Matthew 26 and verses 40 and 41. Matthew 26 and verses 40 and 41. And he cometh unto the disciples and findeth them asleep and saith unto Peter and What, could ye not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, for ye enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. How did he find them? Asleep. Mark 13 and verse 13. Mark 13 and verse number 13 says this. Sorry, Mark 13 and verse 33. Verse 33 of Mark 13. Take ye heed, watch and pray, for ye know not when the time is. Watch and pray. And you'll notice as well, if you spend much time praying, what happens? Even after much sleep, you will feel tired. Friends, I want you to understand this, that this is difficult. Your prayer life will be one of the most difficult parts of your life. It is where we will often struggle the most. But the advance of the kingdom, the advance of the truth will not come in casual prayer. It won't. It will come in persistent prayer, it will come in watchful prayer, and it will come in prayer that is soaked and saturated with thanksgiving. Thanksgiving, this will help us. If we come to God and we've forgotten all the reasons, all the things he's given us, we will come casually. We will think, my hand has brought me these things. I have worked hard, so therefore I have all these good things around, this nice house that I have. Look how hard I worked. When we forget that it all has come from God, and the success or anything that we have all comes from the hand of God, when we come without gratitude, we will come casual and not focused. Let us think here even. Reasons for Thanksgiving, and these are just some, can mention many others. Salvation. You're a Christian. You want to come at all. Your eyes have been opened that you want to come to Christ. The fact that you even want to pray. The fact that you want to come to church and praise his name. The family that you have. The friends that you have. You have a Bible in your language. Many people around the world do not have that great and wonderful privilege. Relatively pain-free, and I say relatively because I know we all have all degrees of pain and health problems and other things, but you have the health that you could be here this evening. A car perhaps, parents, heating in your home, a roof over your head, food, water. We live in peacetime. Protection. We have books we can buy so easily off the internet. A church. And we could go on and on. I could spend the next few hours talking about all the things we could give thanks for as his people. Ought we not to do that as we pray? Because it's so easy that we come to God with a sense of, why didn't you give me this? I've been praying about this for 10 years. I thought by now, that you would answer my prayer, and bitterness can enter into our hearts toward God, and it could be something that is very dear. It may be a very good thing we're praying for, but what we must do is come with thanksgiving, and we must realize the reasons God has not yet answered that prayer, it's not that he won't answer in the future, it's for a good, righteous, and holy reason. Trust him. Proverbs 4, verse 23. Proverbs 4 and verse number 23. It says, keep thy heart or literally guard thy heart with all diligence for out of it are all the issues of life. And what can we pray for? Verse number three. We pray for things and needs of the wider church. With all prayer also for us, verse three, that God would open unto us a door of utterance to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds. That we would pray for the advancement of the kingdom, that we would pray for our wider denomination, our brothers and sisters in Christ in America and Canada. We pray for the students for the ministry. We pray for the new members they may have in their congregations. We pray for other denominations. We pray for other churches across England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Ireland, and yes, further afield. I don't know if you get those newsletters and you find out how various churches are getting on. That's our family. Those are our brothers and sisters. Our spiritual relatives who are currently in prison, in bonds, just like Paul. And you never get any sense of self-pity from Paul. He's all concerned about the advance of the truth. Our second point of three is this, through powerful preaching, through powerful preaching, Now preaching is not the only way people get saved, but it is the primary means that God uses to bring people to saving faith. Verses three and four, with all, or at the same time, 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, that I may make it manifest as I ought to speak It's not just preaching. I want to encourage you as well to seek prayerfully for opportunities to share the gospel. However, I feel in this day where for many years, for various different reasons, the role of preaching has been so lowered down that it's almost seen as just another class or any kind of other teaching. Many, many souls, if you go into the Bible, How many souls have come to trust in God through preaching? Yes, feeble instruments such as preachers are, but God has used such means in the past. Moses was a preacher. The prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, others were preachers. Noah was a preacher. John the Baptist was a preacher. And the greatest of all preachers, Jesus himself was a preacher of the truth. If you look how many came to faith at Pentecost, it was under the preaching of Peter. How many came and were saved? 3,000 souls, recorded in Acts chapter 2 and verse 41. professing faith in Jesus Christ, and the truth advances. A powerful utterance of the truth. God provided Peter, in Acts chapter two, an opportunity, a door of utterance to all these Jews that were around from various parts, from Media, Cappadocia, and all these different languages. They spoke with other tongues, and God provided that opportunity. God provided the power which Peter, Remember, Peter was the man who denied Christ. As weak as Peter was, God used Peter, and God advanced the truth powerfully. Now, why is preaching powerful? We also have to remember as well, Paul was a mighty preacher, but it was because God was with him. He once persecuted the church. He once tormented. the church. Is it about that person who's got the gift of the gab? I don't know if you have that expression over here in England. That person who can chastise and has all the stories and all. No. Not at all. Sometimes the shyest person, the quietest person who loves God is terrified of the pulpit, but he knows he has to go into them. He just, from praying about it for years, doesn't want to do it, and yet God uses that person far more often than the person with all the skills, with all the charisma, and all the other things. The difference is God. And this is soaked in prayer. Paul, even though he's in bonds, even though his freedom has been taken away, he doesn't just give up. Pray that there may be an opportunity for the gospel to go forth and that I may speak when such times come. As I ought to speak, verse four, that I may make it manifest as I ought to speak. And these are things that we pray for, don't we? Across England and further afield, that God would raise up qualified men, men sent by God. That's where the power is. Men not sending themselves, men not loving the sound of their own voice, but men whom God has lifted up to preach the truth. men who will seek advice from other men, who will not think that they are the fountain of all knowledge. The power is in the one who does the sending. And if we send ourselves, there is no power in that, is there? The difference is God. 1 Corinthians 2, 1 Corinthians 2, verses four and five. 1 Corinthians chapter 2 and verses 4 and 5. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. Not in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. But as we said earlier, May we not just limit that to opportunities for preaching? Yes, invite people to church and praise God when they come. But may God open up for you in your place of work with that dear loved one at home, whatever the case may be, an opportunity for you to tell them the gospel, to show them the gospel. And you show them as much as the door is open. Door opens and maybe shuts again. And maybe you stop at that point. I've learned over the years, many times, you can't kick the door down. When the opportunities present themselves, you take them. But when they close, go back to praying. Pray, pray, pray that the door will reopen once again. And that's hard. I'm not saying these things are easy. You're often about to say that one thing and say, trust in Jesus Christ. But they shut that door. And there's not much we can do. But God is more powerful. than their hearts." Zechariah 4 and verse 6. Zechariah 4 and verse number 6. Now, Zechariah is a very encouraging book in a time when they're coming back from exile and a day of small things. But how would these great things that they see, there's all these visions of the future glory of the church and other things, Zechariah 4, 6. Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit saith the Lord of hosts. Or even, it could be rendered, not by army, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. And the advancement of the kingdom is through the power of God unto salvation. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation. It is the word of the living God. That's what makes the difference. On our first point, we really emphasized prayer. But in the second point, I want to really emphasize the seed has to leave the barn. The seed can't remain in the barn. Could you imagine a farmer? He's lying down all day. He said, well, I prayed. I prayed that it would be a good harvest. I said, oh, that's good. You must have been working very hard. Nope. No, I've just prayed. The seed's all in the barn. But wouldn't you be planting it? No, no, I prayed. It should be fine. It's not normally how God works. Is it? If we have confidence in God answering prayer, the seed needs to leave the barn and needs to go into the fields. And if we wish for revival to come, seed must leave the barn, the gospel must go forth. Yes, we can pray that somebody else will tell them the same message, but we ourselves have to be about that spreading of the truth. We do what we're able for. We're not all the same. We're not to compare one person's role in this to another person's role, but whatever gifting God has given you, serve in that capacity in the body. Where is Paul now? We said he was in bonds, for which I speak also in bonds in verse three. Paul doesn't give up. It can look pretty grim when you're in chains. It can look pretty grim when we are potentially losing our freedoms. Whatever this current government in Westminster will try to do, I dare say God is in control. Whatever the wicked Caesars of Rome ever tried to do, God is in control, even if he brings persecution. I want us to think about this for a second. When Paul was persecuting the church, Saul of Tarsus, what happened? The gospel was spread. How? Because the people spread everywhere and the gospel went different parts. Then God saved him. What happened then? The gospel went forth. See what I'm saying? It's God's power. We're not to look at our circumstances. Speaking the mysteries of Christ where opportunities present themselves, we don't know what will happen with those seeds. But we know God is able. God is powerful. As it says in verse 5, redeeming the time. Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, that is outside, redeeming the time. Because we don't have much time, do we? This life is but a vapor that appeareth for a little time and then vanishes away. Romans 16 and verse 25. Romans 16 and verse 25. and 26 and 27. He speaks there of the mystery of Christ, and a mystery is something that was once hidden and is now revealed. I know we kind of say if something is confusing, we don't understand it, oh that's a mystery, but that's not the way the Bible uses the phrase. Verse 25 and 26 of Romans 16, now to him that is of power to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery which was kept secret since the world began. But now is made manifest and by the scriptures of the prophets according to the commandment of the everlasting God made known to all nations. for the obedience of faith. That mystery has been made known, and we're to make it known. Powerful preaching, you could say, powerful proclamation, because your witness, wherever God has placed you, can be powerful by the spirit of Almighty God wherever he has placed you. It brings us to our third and final point. Through persuasive prudence, through persuasive prudence, We may speak the truth. We may say to people, you must be born again. You must trust in Jesus Christ. You may tell them you're a Christian and read the Bible. But if our lives are a contradiction or deny these things, what does it do? What does it do to our testimony? Is it very persuasive? If we don't walk in wisdom, Paul says in verse five, Our behavior can be a stumbling block to the things we profess. Now, none of us profess to be perfect, do we? Our lives, though, often show and can declare what we truly believe. This is important, because what we do not want When people come to the church and they're sincerely seeking help, it may not necessarily be God at this point, but they want help that can help them. If we say, well, you know, I'm a sinner and the scandalous sin all around the church, that can be all sorts of things, drunkenness, sexual immorality. what would a person without or outside conclude? Oh yeah, they claim to be something. But let's be honest, what do most unbelievers think that we do when we come to church? We're putting on a face. The world thinks, as I'm guilty of thinking, I was like this, they're all a bunch of hypocrites. We all put on a face, that's what a hypocrite means, he wears a mask. We all pretend to be good Christians one day of the week, and the rest of the week doesn't matter. It's a performance. And if they see this when they come in amongst us, and they come with this conclusion, their gospel is powerless to transform their lives. And then what they did conclude. It cannot help me. But if you see the man who is the former drug addict, yes, not perfect, but radically changed, transformed by the gospel, a person who used to be addicted to drinking and whatever else, and gambling and other things, and now is given to the truth, clearly a changed person, humble, loving the Lord. That walking in wisdom to those who are without is very persuasive, it's very attractive, so much so that even the unbeliever, though he says, you know what, I don't believe what they believe, but it's attractive. You probably have people say to you, I wish I had what you had. They want the peaceful part of the Christian faith, they just don't yet want Christ. But what we don't want to do when we're sharing the truth is that our behavior, our lives, are a stumbling block to the proclamation of the truth. Verse 6, let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt. that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man. Your speech. The way we talk is to be different. And one of the ways, especially today, we are known very quickly is we're probably not using coarse language. I used to use a lot of coarse language until I got saved. It was one of the first things. I wasn't even in the church. I remember it felt horrible using the Lord's name in vain for the first time in my life. Felt terrible using certain words. didn't completely understand why at the time, but we are to speak differently. It says in Ephesians 4, 29, Ephesians 4 and verse 29, let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth. but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers." What we say matters. What we say needs to be seasoned with salt and characterized by heavenly light, because that can help someone who is not currently a believer to know the truth. seasoned with salt. Matthew 5 and verses 13 to 15. Matthew 5 and verses 13 to 15. Ye are the salt of the earth, but that the salt have lost its savor. Wherewith shall it be salted? It is therefore good for nothing but to be cast out and to be trodden underfoot of men. Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick. And it giveth light unto all that are in the house. This has nothing to do with showing off, This is that our light, which is Christ, that we point towards, may shine forth in our lives. And it speaks there about you're the salt of the earth. And the salt has a taste, a savor. Salt has a certain flavor. When we speak, it is to be of the flavor of heaven. There's something different. There's something of a certain flavor that we have. What does salt do? It does many things. It preserves from corruption and decay. Often they would put it in the food years ago, before there was fridges and other things. It heals. If you ever after dental work, sometimes you'll use salt water to help the healing in your mouth. Our speech is to bring people healing, but not the healing they necessarily think that they need. but the healing of heaven, the great physician of our souls. It's to bring them to Christ who can help them the most. The gospel. Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how to answer every man. I want to bring us back as well to our relationships. The previous part, our previous sermon, we looked at a lot of relationships. Wives, submit to your husbands. Husbands, love your wives. Children, obey your parents. Other things as well. What happens if we're sharing the truth? Yes, the seed is leaving the barn and we're praying and other things, but what do they see? The outside world sees a complete reversal in the home. That could be the wife dominating over the husband. That could be the children dominating over their parents. Other things like that. What kind of a testimony is that? I know we will not get things perfectly right. I know this. But will it be persuasive? If a husband who clearly does not love his wife is sharing the gospel, how much damage does it do to what he's proclaiming? When we oppress, if we're a boss, say you're a boss in a company, and you've got a lot of employees, but you treat them horribly. And this verse, verse number one, masters give unto your servants that which is just and equal, knowing that you also have a master in heaven. Will they want to listen to you? Think about it. But if they see wisdom in your life, That's attractive. I want us to think briefly about Solomon. Solomon. 1 Kings chapter 4 and verse 34. 1 Kings chapter 4. 1 Kings chapter 4 and verse number 34. It says, And there came of all people to hear the wisdom of Solomon for all the kings of the earth, which had heard of his wisdom. It was attractive, they saw, yet not coming to bow the knee to Christ, but yet that wisdom, that we make the truth as attractive as possible. No, we do not save people by our lives, not at all. But at the same time, let us not be stumbling blocks. Let us walk in wisdom to those that are without. Friends, as we conclude here this evening, do you love the truth? The truth. To love the truth is to love God. And to love the truth, anything we love, we speak about, we talk about, we chat about. We proclaim it in our own way. Other people need to know the truth. And whatever shortcomings, the Colossians Church had their shortcomings. You saw it in chapter number two. The solution, though, is heavenly prayer. The solution is proclamation. It is sharing that truth. The solution is this, walking in wisdom. persuasive, prudent, it persuades, it encourages. And it was probably someone who led you to the Lord. You saw that person. You knew there was something genuine about them. It may have been your own parents, whatever the case may be. But you saw an integrity in what they said. This is important. May our religion, may our Christian faith be about head, heart, and hands. May we not neglect any of these areas as we seek to advance the gospel. But friends, do you love the truth? You cannot advance the truth unless you love the truth. And Jesus Christ is the truth, the way, and the life. And no man cometh to the Father but through him. Amen.