1.  Be devoted to Prayer

He will ask the Church to pray specifically for opening doors in order that he may be able to preach the gospel even though he is in chains (v.3).  But first, he asks the Church to be watchful and thankful while praying.  When I think of Paul’s request to be watchful, I think of a lifeguard canning the ocean making sure that nothing is wrong or under attack.  Thankfulness stems from us experiencing His grace.

2.  Engage outsiders.

Paul encourages the Church to engage outsiders but gives us some ways to do so.  Be wise (v.5), Let our conversations be full of Grace and seasoned with salt(v.6) In other words, full of love and compassion (grace) but not to compromise the truth (salt).  In that time the people would have understood two things about salt.  Salt was used to preserve and to put in wounds to fight off infection.  In the same way our conversations with outsiders should be focused on God's unconditional love, fueled by our passion for Jesus and others, but making sure we are not compromising or watering down the message of the Gospel.  Jesus demonstrated this with his conversation with the women caught in adultery.  Jesus asked her, “Who has condemned you, I don’t condemn you” this is grace.  He then says, “Go and sin no more” this is the salt.

3.  Make Disciples

Our job is to make new disciples and teach them to become like Jesus.  Paul points out that we should all be ready to answer everyone (v.6)

I believe that takes learning the scripture and living out the scripture.  James tells us to not just be hearers but doers of the Word.