by weareclctinley on Nov 05, 2023
In this sermon, I explored the significance of Apostle Paul's letters in the New Testament, focusing on the messages they convey and their relevance to our lives today. I emphasized the importance of fulfilling the ministry that each of us has received from the Lord, as stated in Colossians 4:17. I encouraged the congregation to personalize this message, understanding that each of us has a unique ministry to fulfill. I also highlighted my favorite verse, 1 Thessalonians 5:24, which assures us of God's faithfulness in fulfilling what He has called us to do. I further delved into the names of God, particularly Elohim, which means the strong faithful one, reinforcing the message of God's strength and faithfulness.
In the second part of the sermon, I discussed the book of Philemon, one of Paul's prison epistles. I narrated the story of Onesimus, a runaway slave who met Paul in Rome and became a believer. Paul's letter to Philemon, Onesimus's master, was a plea for mercy and forgiveness. I used this story to challenge the congregation to examine their own lives, asking if they have been wronged by a Christian and if they have forgiven that individual. The sermon concluded with a prayer for God's guidance in fulfilling His plan and purpose in our lives.
Key Takeaways:
- Each of us has a unique ministry to fulfill as received from the Lord. We should strive to fulfill this ministry in our lives. ([26:19])
- God, referred to as Elohim, is the strong faithful one. He is faithful in fulfilling what He has called us to do. ([27:56])
- The story of Onesimus and Philemon teaches us about mercy, forgiveness, and transformation. As Christians, we should be ready to forgive those who wrong us. ([32:24])
- Our faith should not only be evident in our worship but also in how we live our lives every day of the week. ([38:03])
- Apostle Paul's letters in the New Testament are not just historical documents but contain messages that are relevant and applicable to our lives today. ([28:38])
Bible Reading:
1. Philemon 1:1-25 [37:16]
2. Galatians 6:9 [17:54]
3. 1 Corinthians 14:18-19 [15:47]
Observation Questions:
1. In the book of Philemon, what was the main issue that Paul was addressing?
2. What does Galatians 6:9 say about perseverance and timing?
3. What does 1 Corinthians 14:18-19 reveal about the importance of prayer language?
Interpretation Questions:
1. How does Paul's letter to Philemon demonstrate the importance of forgiveness within the Christian community?
2. How does Galatians 6:9 encourage believers to continue doing good even when they are tired?
3. What does 1 Corinthians 14:18-19 suggest about the role of prayer language in a believer's spiritual growth?
Application Questions:
1. Can you recall a situation where you felt wronged by a fellow Christian? How did you handle it and what would you do differently now?
2. Have you ever felt tired of doing what is good? How does Galatians 6:9 speak to you in such situations?
3. Do you have a prayer language? If not, how can you seek this gift as suggested in 1 Corinthians 14:18-19?
4. How can you apply the principle of forgiveness from the book of Philemon in your relationships this week?
5. In what specific ways can you demonstrate perseverance in doing good this week, as encouraged in Galatians 6:9?
Day 1: The Gift of Prayer Language
Prayer language is a divine gift from God, one that He desires for us to have. It is a tool that allows us to communicate with Him on a deeper level, and it is a gift that is available to all believers. This gift is not just for the apostles or the early church, but for all who seek a deeper connection with God. [16:35]
1 Corinthians 14:2 - "For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people but to God. Indeed, no one understands them; they utter mysteries by the Spirit."
Reflection: How can you seek and cultivate the gift of prayer language in your daily life?
Day 2: The Right Timing of Blessings
God's timing is perfect, even when it doesn't align with our own. We may grow weary and feel like our prayers are going unanswered, but God promises that at just the right time, we will reap a harvest of blessings. We must hold on and not give up, trusting in His perfect timing. [17:54]
Galatians 6:9 - "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."
Reflection: How can you cultivate patience and trust in God's timing when waiting for your prayers to be answered?
Day 3: Forgiveness and Reconciliation
As Christians, we are called to forgive those who have wronged us, even when it's difficult. This is a key aspect of our faith and a reflection of the forgiveness we have received from God. We must strive to reconcile with those who have wronged us, just as God has reconciled us to Himself through Christ. [37:16]
Colossians 3:13 - "Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you."
Reflection: Is there someone in your life that you need to forgive? How can you take steps towards reconciliation?
Day 4: Fulfilling Your God-Given Ministry
Each of us has been given a unique ministry by God, a purpose that He has specifically designed for us. It is our responsibility to discover and fulfill this ministry, using the gifts and talents God has given us to serve Him and others. [23:30]
1 Peter 4:10 - "Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms."
Reflection: What is the ministry that God has given you? How can you fulfill it in your daily life?
Day 5: God's Faithfulness in His Calling
God is faithful in His calling. He who has called us will also equip us to fulfill the purpose He has for us. We can trust in His faithfulness, knowing that He will complete the good work He has started in us. [27:09]
1 Thessalonians 5:24 - "The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it."
Reflection: How have you experienced God's faithfulness in your calling? How can you lean on His faithfulness as you pursue your God-given purpose?
Well, good morning, CLC! Good morning! It's great to see every one of you who have joined us today. Are you enjoying this series, this walk through the New Testament?
If you've been here for all of it, you can give yourselves a hand! We started with an overview, and then our lead pastor brought us through all four of the gospels. Pastor Carlston helped us with the book of Acts, and today we are focusing on the Pauline Epistles.
For those of you who've been around for a while, you know that I'm from Arkansas, and in Arkansas, we thought the Epistles were Apostles' wives! Not really, I just thought I'd get your attention. Okay, the Epistles are letters that were written by the Apostle Paul; hence, we call them the Pauline Epistles.
Let me give you a little background on who he was and why he was qualified to give those teachings. His name in Hebrew is Saul, and you find it that way in scripture many times. Some people have asked, and I thought you might appreciate knowing, there is no case like Abram becoming Abraham because it had a significant change in his life. Saul was the Hebrew name, and Paul was the Roman name. There is no place in scripture that says why that happened or how it happened—just a little tidbit for you there.
He grew up at the feet of Gameliel, one of the leading rabbis in all of Israel, and studied under him. He said of himself that he was a Hebrew of the Hebrews and a Pharisee. If you've studied the New Testament, you know the Pharisees were about as legalistic as you could possibly be. They were a determined people, very zealous, and in this case, he was zealous to persecute Christians. He was actually arresting Christians and throwing them into jail. He was there for the martyrdom of the first martyr; people laid their cloaks at Paul's feet to say he was approving of this. He was the official witness of this.
That's what happened in Acts chapter number 8 when the Apostle Paul had a vision from the Lord. A strong light came upon him and knocked him to the ground. The voice that spoke to him said, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" He said, "Well, who are you, Lord?" And Jesus said, "I am Jesus whom you are persecuting." You know, when you mistreat God's people, God takes that personally. You're mistreating Him.
So that was the beginning of his conversion. He became known as the Apostle Paul, a missionary who made three different journeys in the book of Acts. All of that was his past, what qualified him, and what he said about himself. If you want to look at First Timothy chapter number one, we'll get it on the screen if you didn't bring your Bible today.
In First Timothy, he says, "Here is a true statement that should be accepted without question: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, and I am the worst of them. But I was given mercy so that in me Christ Jesus could show that he has patience without limit. Christ showed his patience with me, the worst of all sinners." He repeats again, "He wanted me to be an example for those who would believe in him and have eternal life."
So, he's telling us several times there, "I was the worst. There was nobody that was a bigger sinner than me." That was because Jesus wanted to make me an example. So, I became the pattern. He knew how big he had to make the door of salvation because if anybody could be saved, if I could be saved, anybody could be saved. That's basically what he was telling us there.
As you study the New Testament, it seems like you find that Paul was motivated, I guess you would say, to give everything that he was driven to give everything that he had to the Lord. That's probably a big part of his qualifications.
There's also a unique situation here because I don't know offhand if there's another place in scripture where one author or one writer of scripture had comment about another, but that's what happened in Paul's case with the Apostle Peter. If you would read with me in Second Peter chapter number three, verse 15, it says, "Peter says, remember our Lord's patience gives people time to be saved. This is what our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you with the wisdom God gave him."
So, Peter had been aware of Paul's writings, and he said he wrote to you about the Lord's patience, speaking of these things in all of his letters. He knew that Paul had written not just one or two; he had written several. All of his letters contain that history of how God would have patience on us to bring us to salvation.
He said, "Some of his comments are hard to understand." Have you ever read some part of the New Testament or maybe even Paul's Epistles and not understood? "What? I don't get that one." Well, you're in good company because the Apostle Peter said it's hard to understand him sometimes.
Here's the problem with that: he said those who are ignorant—and that's not an insult; ignorant simply means they've not been taught, they've not heard—so those who are ignorant and unstable have twisted his letters to mean something quite different, just as they do with other parts of scripture.
See, this wasn't just they didn't just do that for Paul; they did that for other parts of the scripture, and this will result in their destruction. That's pretty serious, folks. I would encourage you to look at that before we look at anything else so we understand that it's serious business when you twist scripture out of context.
Oh yes, you try to make it say what you want it to say. Hello! And he says when that happens, it will result in your destruction. It doesn't matter how intelligent people are; it doesn't matter how well-educated people are. There are folks even today who twist the word of God to try and make it say what they want.
It's important that we not do that. Don't twist the scripture out of context. Instead, I would encourage you to study daily like the Bereans. Berea was another town in Acts chapter 17, and Paul went to them to preach. The Bible says that they studied day after day to see if the things he was telling them were true.
That's why I encourage you to bring your Bible and take notes in our services. Check it out and make sure that what I'm telling you, or Pastor Bren is telling you, or whoever the speaker is, you need to know for sure that they're telling you the truth. Amen?
That's exactly what the folks in Berea did in Acts 17. So, don't twist the word, but instead study the word. Study it day by day because whatever Brother Wonderful says on TV doesn't necessarily mean it's right. Just because somebody with a big name says it doesn't make it right.
It can be very dangerous for you to twist the word of God, for sure. I will tell you this: the Apostle Paul is the most prolific of all the New Testament writers, and I want to be careful to say "writer" instead of "author" because he was very careful to explain that for us in 2 Timothy 3:16. He said, "All scripture is inspired by God."
Yes, you see, Paul was not the author; he was just an instrument that wrote what the Holy Spirit was breathing into him to say or to write. That's good! Amen?
With that introduction, let's dive into his—not his wife—his epistle. Let's dive into that today. There are, you know this already, 27 books of the New Testament, and Paul wrote 13 of them. I mean, that's as close to half as you can get!
So, half of your New Testament was written by this man, the Apostle Paul, and his writings fall into two categories. He wrote to local churches; that's the first thing. Nine of the 13 letters were to local churches where Paul was writing to them, usually in response to a problem that he had heard about that was going on in their congregation.
For instance, the book of First Corinthians. If you've ever read it, you may have noticed that in 1 Corinthians, I think it's around the 5th chapter, Paul finally gets to one report that he had received. He said, "I understand you have a member there who is sleeping with his own stepmother." He said, "You guys are sinning like heathens! Don't even sin; you've taken it beyond that."
He said, "That's not legal. Put him out! Excommunicate him!" He said, "If I was there, I would excommunicate him for you, but since I'm not there, I'm telling you to kick him out. He can't live like that and be a Christian."
We don't know this other than historically; it's not recorded for us. But when the elders and leaders of the church got that epistle from Paul, they took it seriously, and they did exactly what he said. They kicked that guy out. They said, "You cannot be a member of this church. We don't want anything to do with you. You're out of here!" Amen?
It worked exactly like it was supposed to work. When that guy realized that he had been excommunicated from the church, he became repentant. He asked God to forgive him, he quit sleeping with his stepmother, and he went back to the leaders of the church and said, "Please let me back in. I'm sorry for what I've done wrong."
They said, "Nothing doing! Paul said kick you out, and you're out!" So now he had to write Second Corinthians, and he said to them, "You did what I wanted you to do. You kicked him out, but the whole purpose was so he would come to his senses and turn back to God. So don't keep him out; forgive him! Let him back in, otherwise Satan will take advantage of him."
He wrote one book to solve the problem, and he had to write another book to correct their problem. Most of the letters were in response to problems or questions. Sometimes the churches had asked questions, and he wrote to give them answers.
Another thing that happens a few times is he would write doctrinal themes, such as the book of Romans. If you read the book of Romans, there weren't any problems he was addressing there, and I don't think he was answering questions at the time that he wrote the letter to the Romans. He had never even been to Rome, so he wasn't responding to something that he knew about.
But the book of Romans is probably the most beautiful book in the New Testament when it comes to doctrine. It's just absolutely amazing when he shares with us what God has done in our lives and the beauty of our Savior and all that He means to us.
So anyway, he wrote to local churches. I'll give them to you in order. By the way, I learned something in preparing for this. I already knew they weren't written in the order in which he appeared to them or in which he wrote them. These are not chronological, but I discovered that mankind, you know, when we put the Bible together, they just chose from the most characters, most words written.
Okay, Romans has more words written than any other book, so it comes first, and down the line until you get to the last one that was the smallest one, chapter-long, smallest book of the New Testament.
So in that order, we have Romans, we have First Corinthians, and in a few cases, I want to share with you a verse of scripture or a passage of scripture that seems significant to me. I can't pull one out of every one of them; that'd be 13 verses, and we'd be here until this afternoon. But I do want to share a few verses with you anyway.
First Corinthians, the passage that came to my mind is in chapter 14, verses 18 and 19, where Paul said, "I'm grateful to God for the gift of praying in tongues that he gives us for praising him, which leads to wonderful intimacies we enjoy with him."
Catch this, everybody in the room, catch this: "I enter into this as much or more than any of you." I love that! I love that Paul says, "I'm praying in the Spirit, praying in tongues more than the whole congregation in Corinth." You know why I love that? Because I believe that God wants every one of us to enjoy these wonderful intimacies that he described there.
I believe God wants all of us to have a prayer language that builds us up in our faith. So if you have not received your prayer language yet, my question would be, why not? Because it's obviously a gift. We're told that it's a gift from God, and it's obviously a gift that He wants us to have because the greatest of all the apostles, the man who wrote almost half of your New Testament, said, "I do this more than any of you."
So I want to encourage you. Just last week, or maybe two weeks ago, we baptized a young lady who received her prayer language while she was still in the baptistry. I love that! I would love to see any and all of you. In fact, my recommendation would be, if you don't have a prayer language yet, when we close all of our services with an opportunity for people to receive ministry, I would say just go to any one of our altar ministers and say, "Hey, I need to receive my prayer language," and I promise you they will love to pray for you to receive that experience, and you can go out of here praying in the Spirit. Amen? Is that good? I think it's really good!
All right, then we have Second Corinthians and then the book of Galatians. I really believe, as I was studying and praying over this message, that there's a verse in Galatians that is for someone here today or maybe someone that's watching us online.
This is what it says: Galatians 6:9, "So let's not get tired of doing what is good." Have you ever gotten tired of doing what is good? And I don't just mean, you know, I'm talking about you are tired of always doing what you know you're supposed to do. He said, "Let's not get tired of doing what's good. At just the right time," there's the part that you need to hear because you've been thinking it wasn't going to work for you. You've been thinking, "God doesn't answer my prayers." You've been thinking, "There must be something wrong with me."
No, there's something wrong with the time. He said, "At just the right time, we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up." I pray that you'll receive that. I believe that's for more than one somebody in the room today, and my encouragement for you is hold on! Don't give up! Don't turn your back! Don't walk away! But understand that He is doing a good work, and at just the right time, you're going to get the harvest that you've always believed for, that you've already waited for. Amen?
The next book that he wrote is Ephesians, and I put these in bold because there are three of the Epistles that we call prison Epistles. The reason that we call them prison Epistles is because Paul was in prison when he wrote them. Okay? That's the three books of Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians.
Those three books, while he was writing them, he was chained by the arm to a Roman soldier 24/7. The Roman soldiers were chained to him in four shifts, so it would take six guards a day that would take their turn being chained to Paul. Can you imagine that?
We can let the slightest little thing discourage us, and I'm not talking to you right now; I'm talking to me, and you just get to enjoy the splash. But I can let the slightest little thing discourage me or depress me or make me feel like, you know, it's just not working out. I don't know what to do.
Here's a man that never made an excuse, never complained, never looked for some other way. With a Roman soldier chained to his wrist—oh, and by the way, history says this. I didn't get this from the book of Ephesians, but history says that they only let Paul be chained for four hours to that soldier instead of the normal eight hours because they learned that if they left a soldier with Paul for four hours, he would convert them to Christianity.
I love that! But while he was chained to that guard, he wrote this in Ephesians 3:20: "Now to him who is able to do..." Let me, I'm not going to just read it in order; I want to read it in the way that makes sense: "To him who is able to do all that we ask." Yes, anything! All that you ask! In fact, not just he's not just able to do all that you ask; he's able to do all that you even think about asking but you don't verbalize it because you're thinking it's preposterous. Nobody could do that, but he can do that!
He can do above what you ask, even to what you think, but that's not all. He's not just able to do that; he's able to do that above all that you ask or even think. And that's not even it! He's able to do not just above all that you ask or think; he's able to do abundantly above all that you ask or think. And even that didn't say it!
So it's really that he's able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that you ask or think, and that's even not it because it's all according to the power that's already at work in us. Hallelujah! And he wrote that with a Roman guard on his wrist! Amen? That's a prison epistle worth reading! Ephesians is one of my favorite books of the New Testament.
All right, and then we have the book of Philippians, and the verse that jumps off the page at me for this one is Philippians 1:6, where Paul wrote, "I am sure that the good work God began in you will continue until he completes it on the day when Jesus Christ comes again."
Don't you think for a moment that you're not going to make it! Don't you think for a moment that God has forgotten you or overlooked you in some way? He says, "I'm confident that the good work that he started in you is going to continue until the day that Jesus comes again." I love that! I want you to believe that so you can receive that! Amen?
Then there is the book of Colossians. Those are the three: Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians are the three Epistles that were written while he was in prison.
In Colossians 4:17, Paul is closing this book out. He's written four chapters' worth of important information for us, and just before he brings it to a close, he said, "Oh, be sure that you tell Archippus," he calls him by name. By the way, this book that the Colossians were to read, if you read in that same chapter, he says, "Don't just read this one, but read the other letter that I wrote to another church."
He was encouraging them, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to read both of those. So they were reading this publicly; they were reading it aloud, and he calls this man by name. He said, "See that you fulfill the ministry that you have received in the Lord."
That's pretty powerful because the truth is there is a work, there is a ministry that every one of us who have received Jesus into our lives have received a ministry as well. Yes, Lord! You've been given a gift! That's part of what we do in Growth Track is help you discover your gift. When you find your gift, you can discover what it is—what's the assignment that God has for me? What's the ministry that he wants me to fulfill?
Paul says, "Say this to Archippus." You know, I think you ought to put your name there. Say to John, say to Jerry, say to Mary, say to Shakyra. You know, whatever the name is, you put your—why don't you put your name in that verse and say, "That's what he's saying to me. He's saying to me that I need to fulfill the ministry that I've received in the Lord." Amen?
You think I'm just saying that? I'm not just saying that! I think you need to put your name in there! Amen?
All right, then the next book is that of First Thessalonians. This may be—it's hard to say this when people start talking about their favorite verses, but this may be my favorite verse in all the Bible. It's a very short verse, but it's a very powerful verse: "He who calls you is faithful; he also will do it."
What he's calling you to do, he's going to fulfill! Amen? And you saw in the announcement video today about Life University. I want to tell you, I hadn't even thought about it at all in that context, but the class that I'm teaching starting not this Tuesday but the following Tuesday is the names of God.
1 Thessalonians 5:24 just explains to us the name Elohim because Elohim means the strong, faithful one. That's the meaning of the name. He says, "The God who calls you is faithful; he also will do it." He's strong enough to do it, but he's also faithful. He's the strong, faithful one.
If you want to be a part of that, we've got a whole lot of tidbits like that in that names of God class. If you want to sign up for it, we're going to have a good time. But that was First Thessalonians 5:24.
Then Second Thessalonians. So that's a total of nine different churches that he wrote to, including three that were the prison Epistles. But then the second category I told you about is that he also wrote to individuals.
Probably we could just say he wrote to pastors because all four of these men that he wrote to were pastors that led congregations. There's First Timothy, there's Second Timothy—two letters to the same man—and Titus. The fourth one is actually a hybrid; the book of Philemon is a man—he's an individual that Paul wrote to, but he's also the leader of a church. Paul said the church meets in your house.
I think that would probably make him the pastor of that church. Philemon is also a prison epistle; it's the fourth and final of the letters that he wrote while he was chained to that Roman soldier.
I'm going to close today with this book of Philemon because it's only 25 verses long. I'm not going to read all 25, but I'm going to read probably 18 or 19 or 20 of them. So follow along with the reason for it; you'll see as we get into this.
Paul writes, "Every time your name comes up in my prayers, I say, 'Oh, thank you, God! I keep hearing of the love and faith you have for the Master Jesus, which brims over to other believers.' And I keep praying that this faith we hold in common keeps showing up in the good things we do and that people recognize Christ in all of it."
Friend, you have no idea how good your love makes me feel, doubly so when I see your hospitality to fellow believers.
Now we're going to start getting into the nitty-gritty. In line with all this, I have a favor to ask of you. As Christ's ambassador and now a prisoner for him, I wouldn't hesitate to command this if I thought it necessary, but I'd rather make it a personal request.
Now, while here in jail, I've fathered a child, so to speak, and here he is, hand-carrying this letter: Onesimus.
Let me call timeout right there and explain what he's talking about. Onesimus, by the way, the name Onesimus in Greek means "useful." Okay? But Onesimus had not—there's going to be a play on words here because he turned out to not be very useful. He was a runaway slave.
Onesimus was a slave for Philemon, the man that Paul wrote the book to, and he ran away from Philemon, maybe stole some property and some money as well, it seems. He went to Rome, and when he got to Rome, we don't know how, but somehow or other, he met the Apostle Paul in Rome.
When he met Paul, he wasn't one of those four-hour Roman soldiers, but he was impacted. Paul preached and led Onesimus to the Lord. Onesimus now is a believer, and now Paul is sending this runaway slave back to Philemon, which could result in him being killed and certainly could result in him being punished.
But that's not what's going to happen here because Paul says, "He was useless to you before; now he's useful to both of us." Okay? That's that play on words.
"I'm sending him back to you, but it feels like I'm cutting off my right arm in doing so. I wanted in the worst way to keep him here as your stand-in to help out while I'm in jail for the message, but I didn't want to do anything behind your back. I wanted to make you do a good deed; I don't want to make you do a good deed that you hadn't willingly agreed to."
"Maybe it's all for the best that you lost him for a while. You're getting him back now for good, and no mere slave this time, but a true Christian brother. That's what he was to me; he'll be even more than that to you. So if you still consider me a comrade in arms, welcome him back as you would me."
You treat him like you would treat me if I showed up at your doorstep. Are you getting this? He said, "If he damaged anything, I think Paul just put an 'if' in there. I think he knew—I think he understood that Onesimus had stolen some property. He said, 'If he damaged anything or owes you anything, chalk it up to my account. I'll pay for it. This is my personal guarantee; this is my personal signature, Paul, and I stand behind it.'"
I love this next line: "I don't need to remind you, do I, that you owe your very life to me? Do me this big favor, friend. You'll be doing it for Christ, but it will also do my heart good. I know you well enough to know you will."
I almost think Paul was a manipulator! What do you think? I know you well enough to know that you'll do what I've asked; you'll probably go far beyond what I've written.
And by the way, get a room ready for me because of your prayers, I fully expect to be your guest again.
Wow! When I read those verses, it reminded me of a little ditty from my Arkansas days that I was teasing about the epistle being a wife, but I'm not teasing about this one. We really did say this: "Oh, to dwell up above with the saints that we love, my, that will be glory! But to live here below with the saints that we know, well, that's a different story."
Here's what I found through the years. I'm so glad you laughed at that because the truth is that's exactly how some of us live. Salvation should affect our relationships, our social lives. Amen?
In this chapter that we just read, we read about these two Christians—or maybe three if you want to count all three—Christians forgiving one another and deferring to one another. You see two brothers in Christ who are overcoming their differences. You're seeing how to put others' interests above your own.
You with me? We're learning how to see others in Christ. We see a church leader put to the test, and we see a cross-cultural church in practice.
So let me ask, I want you to think about this. We're almost done. Do you see yourself in Philemon? You don't have to raise your hands or even say anything, but can you think of a situation where maybe Paul would have needed to write a letter to you?
Has someone wronged you? Maybe stole some property? Maybe did something against you? Has somebody—somebody is a Christian? Have you been wronged by a Christian? Have you forgiven that individual?
Let's pray.
Lord, I thank you for everyone in the room today. I thank you that we're learning from the Apostle's letters, and specifically this one letter to Philemon, that you want us to have a changed life. You want to do a work in us that goes beyond just worship on Sunday morning but affects how we live Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday and Friday and Saturday and Sunday.
I pray, Lord, that if you speak to someone today, that they would recognize what your plan and purpose would be and that you would help us to fulfill that plan. In Jesus' name, before we close, before we do anything else, the first one of—if not first chronologically, but the first in appearance in your Bible of the books that Paul wrote is the Book of...
1. "It's serious business when you twist scripture out of context. You try to make it say what you want it to say. When that happens, it'll result in your destruction. It's important that we not do that. Don't twist the scripture out of context, instead, study it daily like the Bereans." - 07:02
2. "Let's not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time, we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up. My encouragement for you is hold on, don't give up, don't turn your back, don't walk away but understand that he is doing a good work and at just the right time you're going to get the Harvest that you've always believed for." - 16:33
3. "Every time your name comes up in my prayers, I say oh thank you God. I keep hearing of the love and faith you have for the master Jesus which brims over to other believers. I keep praying that this faith we hold in common keeps showing up in the good things we do and that people recognize Christ in all of it." - 29:38
4. "He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it. What he's calling you to do, he's going to fulfill. The God who calls you is faithful, he's strong enough to do it but he's also faithful, he's the strong faithful one." - 26:21
5. "Onesimus was a slave for Philemon, he ran away, maybe stole some property and some money as well. He went to Rome and when he got to Rome, he met the Apostle Paul. Paul preached and led Onesimus to the Lord. Onesimus now is a Believer and now Paul is sending this runaway slave back to Philemon which could result in him being killed and certainly could result in him being punished. But that's not what's going to happen here because Paul says he was useless to you before, now he's useful to both of us." - 29:38
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