{"id":10103,"date":"2022-03-30T05:37:21","date_gmt":"2022-03-30T10:37:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/devotional-on-colossians-4\/"},"modified":"2022-03-23T10:55:31","modified_gmt":"2022-03-23T15:55:31","slug":"devotional-on-colossians-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/devotional-on-colossians-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Devotional on Colossians"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_16175\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-16175\" style=\"width: 960px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/PHOTO_20140724_163453.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/PHOTO_20140724_163453-1024x578.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"960\" height=\"542\" class=\"size-large wp-image-16175\" srcset=\"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/PHOTO_20140724_163453-1024x578.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/PHOTO_20140724_163453-300x169.jpg 300w, http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/PHOTO_20140724_163453-768x433.jpg 768w, http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/PHOTO_20140724_163453-1536x866.jpg 1536w, http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/PHOTO_20140724_163453.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-16175\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">2014 &#8211; Florence, OR<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The secret to evangelism <\/p>\n<p>Colossians 4: Make the most of every opportunity.<\/p>\n<p>Believers aren\u2019t supposed to create closed communities of the faithful.  Rather, we\u2019re to live right out in the open, rubbing shoulders with those outside the faith, making friends, sharing in their lives.  I don\u2019t think this means that believers are never to \u201cretreat.\u201d  After all, Jesus at least attempted to get the disciples away from the crowds sometimes.  Still, he always went back to them, loving them, and, apparently, liking those who weren\u2019t his followers.  Paul urges the Colossian Christians to not only stay involved in their community but to make the most of that involvement.  Interestingly, his directions for them aren\u2019t as evangelistic as you might think.  He describes \u201cmaking the most\u201d as being \u201cgracious in your speech\u201d and tells them that their \u201cgoal is to bring out the best in others in a conversation.\u201d  Apparently, our influencing others for Christ doesn\u2019t necessarily start with a \u201cspiritual conversation\u201d at all.  Instead, it starts with friendship, respect, genuine interest.  In fact, Paul specifically warns them not to \u201cput them down\u201d or \u201ccut them out.\u201d  In light of these instructions, becoming a \u201cfriend\u201d to someone just so we can tell them about Jesus is off the table.  My seizing the moment starts, instead, with my making some genuine friends outside the body of believers.  Then, I make sure I\u2019m always gracious in my conversations with them, wanting the best for them.  Real friendships are the secret to evangelism.<\/p>\n<p>Take Away: For church people it\u2019s a big challenge to make good friends who are outside the church.  Still, it\u2019s a key component to evangelism.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The secret to evangelism Colossians 4: Make the most of every opportunity. Believers aren\u2019t supposed to create closed communities of the faithful. Rather, we\u2019re to live right out in the open, rubbing shoulders with those outside the faith, making friends, sharing in their lives. I don\u2019t think this means that believers are never to \u201cretreat.\u201d [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1487,1428],"tags":[1336,320,376,518,796],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10103"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10103"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10103\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16177,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10103\/revisions\/16177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}