# Sunday Setup – Colossians 4:2-6

Sermon transcript from Cross Church Surprise.
Series: Sunday Setup
Date: August 27, 2026
Watch: https://crosschurchcares.com/surprise/episodes/sunday-setup-colossians-42-6

## Summary

Are you ready to embrace the mission God has for you? What if the key to sharing the gospel lies in being alert and thankful? Join us as we explore Colossians 4:2-6 and discover how to pray for open doors in our lives. Let's dive in together!

## Transcript

Hey Cross Church, welcome to the Sunday 
 setup. This is our time where we 
 digitally gather together every week 
 Thursdays at 2:00 where we get to pray 
 through the piece pray through the piece 
 of scripture that will be preaching 
 through this Sunday. 
 And today we are continuing our series 
 and we're really making a turn in this 
 five-weeks um study of rooted and ready 
 going through the book of Colossians. 
 And we talked about being rooted in 
 three different ways of being rooted in 
 our worship, rooted in our community, 
 and rooted in discipleship and getting 
 closer to our God. Well, today we take 
 the turn and we move from rooted to 
 ready. 
 And as we look at this Sunday of being 
 ready for mission, 
 um what we the passage that this just 
 breeds out of is Colossians chapter 4 
 starting in verse two and we're going to 
 read five verses here today. And it says 
 this, 
 he's starting in verse two, he says, 
 "Devote yourselves to prayer. 
 Stay alert in it with Thanksgiving. 
 At the same time, pray also for us that 
 God may open a door to us for the word 
 to speak the mystery of Christ, for 
 which I am in chains, so that I may make 
 it known as I should. 
 Act wisely towards outsiders, making the 
 most of the time. 
 Let your speech always be gracious, 
 seasoned with salt, 
 so that you may know how you should 
 answer each person." 
 This is Paul just lays out an amazing 
 couple verses here that's all about 
 missions. It's all about sharing the 
 gospel. It's all about praying for 
 opportunities and acting on those 
 opportunities. 
 And I want us to start in verse two 
 as we think about preparing our hearts 
 for this time. 
 Is he says a couple things here when he 
 says devote yourselves to prayer and 
 stay alert with Thanksgiving is you 
 don't just get to tell people about 
 Jesus when there's not preparation put 
 into it. 
 When there's not seeking God for 
 opportunities and there's not being 
 thankful for God that he has done stuff 
 in your life and he wants you to do 
 stuff in the lives of those around you. 
 So, here's our first prayer prompt and 
 starting with a prayer as appropriately 
 here is a prayer of Thanksgiving. 
 And 
 here just taking these words straight 
 out of the passage is Lord, help me be 
 alert in my Thanksgiving by 
 Lord, help me be alert in my 
 Thanksgiving by 
 appreciating what you have put in my 
 life. 
 By stewarding the resources you have 
 given me and my family. 
 Oh, Lord, help me 
 appreciate be alert in my Thanksgiving 
 by finish that prayer prompt and just 
 take some time thanking God and being 
 alert of why we should be thankful to 
 him. 
 >> Lord, help us stay alert in our prayer 
 and our Thanksgiving. God, we have so 
 much to be thankful for, the families 
 you've given us, the churches you've 
 given us, the jobs you've given us, our 
 neighborhood. 
 And Lord, let us be alert 
 and and praying to you and and thanking 
 you for all that you've done. But Lord, 
 not 
 not just letting the time pass by, not 
 just taking the blessing without doing 
 the work, but Lord, it position 
 down your path and start putting into 
 practice what you have called us to. 
 And God, we see that's exactly where 
 this passage leads is as Paul saying 
 devote ourselves to prayer prayer is 
 staying alert with Thanksgiving and and 
 being thankful for all he's done. The 
 rest of it is praying about opening 
 doors and actually walking through those 
 doors. 
 And we're going to talk about how we 
 walk through those doors. We're going to 
 talk about how we share the gospel of 
 how are is our speech seasoned with salt 
 this week. 
 But today, I want us to stop on this 
 open door. 
 And are we praying for doors to be open 
 to share the gospel? Cuz if we're 
 honest, sometimes we're not inviting 
 people to church, we're not sharing 
 Jesus with people cuz we're not praying 
 for it and we don't know if we want it 
 to come cuz we don't know if we're ready 
 for it. 
 But before we're even ready, we need to 
 ask God to send the opportunities. He 
 will make us ready. He will equip us 
 with his word to make those happen. But 
 I want this to be our prayer prompt here 
 is God open doors and 
 God open doors maybe at my dinner table 
 with estranged family. God open doors 
 maybe in your neighborhood with with the 
 garages. God open the garage door a 
 little bit more often so I actually get 
 to see my neighbor. God, open doors in 
 my workplace, open doors in my kids 
 school, open door in my kids sports. Is 
 God open doors in 
 Pray that prayer 
 for opportunities to share the mystery 
 of Christ. 
 God, open doors in the West Valley. 
 God, in Surprise 
 and Sun City Festival 
 and Buckeye and Peoria 
 God, in Waddell and Sun City West and 
 Sun City Grand and Sun City proper. 
 Lord, just open doors 
 Open doors in Wickenburg and Wittmann 
 and Morristown. Lord, just open doors 
 that we can be faithful to walking 
 through 
 and to sharing the mystery of Christ. 
 God, we are so thankful that you have 
 entrusted us. We are thankful that you 
 decide to work through us. 
 And Lord, we just ask that you continue 
 to open doors. 
 And Lord, you lead us through them. 
 God, we thank you for this time. We 
 thank you for our church family. And 
 Lord, we just bless all this in In name. 
 Amen. 
 Hey, thank you for joining us today. 
 Come join us this weekend as we talk 
 about what it looks like to be ready for 
 mission. 
 We'll see you soon.