The Forgotten Letters: Philemon (North OC)

Marcel: My name is Marcel Hall and I'm going to have the honor and privilege

to be able to speak God's word.

Uh, this morning, uh, my wife and I, we help lead, uh,

here in Orange County Church, specifically our North OC ministry.

And, uh, we're grateful it, it is coming up on 10 years since we moved to Orange

County, which is pretty incredible.

Uh, many faces.

Remember when we came in, it does not feel like 10 years, but it has been.

That means you are getting old.

That's what that means.

I do wanna thank the AV team.

Uh, they get here really early and, uh, thank Seth and the guys as well

who work for the, uh, uh, uh, for, uh, for the school district here

for all your guys' support and help.

Thank you so much for all that you do.

Uh, I, I, looking in on my desk the other day, had to find some

paperwork, and I found a letter that I had written to someone.

It was, uh, he used to be a teenager who I used to, uh, mentor a little bit,

and, uh, he had went to the military.

And when I found out and talked to him in a while, and so I found

out, I wrote him a letter, but they didn't know where he was stationed.

So I filled out the letter, I wrote the letter, I put the stamp, and I said,

Hey, let me know where to send it.

And his mom said, yeah, we'll do that.

And, uh, she never did send it.

And I put it somewhere on my desk.

And if you see my desk, sometimes there's some other papers that, let's just say

someone put stuff on top of, I won't say who that someone is, but the, the,

the, the envelope stayed under them.

And then I, I, I called one day and I talked to the mom.

I said, Hey, I still don't have the address.

You know, it's been a long time.

I don't even know how long it's been, like, oh, he's already out of the service.

I said, man, it's been that long.

I said, how did that happen?

And, you know, there's some other stuff.

I think he got, you know, it was early, actually, uh, left early.

It wasn't like a full three years.

And, uh, and so I, I put it down and I said, well, I, I don't know.

I'll send it to him someday.

And so I'm looking the other day and, uh, and I look and I find this letter

and like, man, I never sent this letter.

It is the lost letter, the forgotten letter that I had, and, and, and we're

actually going to do something here with some, some forgotten letters that we're

gonna study out for the next four weeks here, what I call the forgotten letters.

And these aren't necessarily forgotten because they're in a Bible or they're

misplaced or something like that.

These are letters that don't get a lot of love on Sundays, and we're gonna study Y

Em in second, John, third John, and Jude.

Some of you're like, I never even heard of those.

That's why we call 'em the forgotten letters.

And so when was the last time you heard a sermon outta one of these books?

Been a long time.

Has it?

So I was like, I don't know if I ever have, we had a quote

earlier, uh, from Philemon.

Some of you're like, who?

And so we're gonna study these things out and that it's gonna be a fantastic time.

And you know, part of the reason that these are forgotten, if you

will, is that these are the shortest.

Letters are the shortest books in the New Testament, and they

all have just one chapter.

So if someone ever says, Hey, I was reading chapter three of Third

John, you know they are lying because there is no chapter three.

Okay?

And so these are short, these are one chapters.

And so we're gonna go through them and today we're gonna look

at the first one, Philemon.

And so let's go ahead and let's go to God in prayer.

God, thank you so much already for what we've been able

to experience this morning.

Experience you by singing out, being reminded of the powerful and the

wonderful name of Jesus, being able to be stirred and be able to commune with you.

God, and then also to hear your testimony through, uh, uh, or Carla's

testimony about how you have changed not only her life, but her family's life.

God, we've been able to be enriched by Travis and his sharing.

And now God, we are excited to hear from your word.

Please minister to us today.

We please remove any and every obstacle.

Father from that will prevent us from being able to connect with

you, grow in our faith, and be transformed as we receive your word.

We pray in the name of Jesus.

Amen.

Now to give some context.

The Bible is broken up, and I know most, most of us know this, but

I wanna help all of us out here into two pretty much divisions.

You have the Old Testament, which is prior to Jesus' life in ministry on earth.

And then you have the new, uh, testament, which is Jesus'

life on earth and afterwards.

And if you were to be really simple, there's three types of, uh,

written writing styles in the Bible.

And so you have a history book style, which is kind of

going, here's what happens.

And then you have poetry, and that's where you find the Psalms

and Proverbs and Ecclesiastes.

And then you have letters.

And these are letters written to either individuals or churches.

And most of the New Testament.

It is comprised of letters that were written to individuals or to the church.

And so we're gonna go ahead and look at the, uh, letter of Phil Philemon here.

And so we wanna give a little background here as we study this out.

And so the author is the Apostle Paul.

He's, uh, he's in prison.

He is on house arrest at this time, more than likely between 80, 60 to 62 in Rome.

And this is what, uh.

Scholars called the prison epistles, and so he wrote several

letters while he was imprisoned.

The main character, there's a, there's a number of people that

are gonna be mentioned, but the main characters in the letter are

Paul the Apostle, who intercedes on the behalf of a guy named OSUs.

And then there's Philemon, who is a Christian leader in the city of

Colossae, and he's actually the host of a church that meets in his home.

So he is more than likely a wealthy Christian because he is able

to house, uh, that many people.

Then there's a guy named Onesimus.

Who's actually the, uh, slave of Philemon, and so he ran away.

We don't know all the particulars, but he became a Christian actually with Paul.

And now Paul is sending Philemon back, or excuse me, sending one

on this miss back to Philemon.

So you guys get there.

Alright, so now here's the purpose.

Paul writes this letter to Urge Philemon to receive on this myth, not as a slave,

but as a beloved brother in Christ.

And the letter calls for forgiveness, mutual respect and

love within the Christian community.

And so this is going to, uh, set us up so we can have an understanding.

And what I also love about what we're gonna do over the next four

weeks, but in particular today.

Is we are going to be able to experience how you and I should go about reading

our Bibles and our devotionals.

And so I know a number of us, we can teach a class on how to

read a Bible and that's awesome.

Some of us, we don't know what to do.

When we read, we're like, I don't know what this says.

I don't know how this applies to me.

And so here's what we first need to do.

We first need to understand what is it that we're reading.

We didn't understand.

Is this a letter?

Is this a history book?

Is this poetry?

Because we will interpret and we will receive God's message in a different way.

You guys get what I'm saying here, and so we also need to understand, okay?

Okay.

When you are reading a letter, there's some things you have to

understand as you're reading a letter.

One is that you can never fully know all the context of the letter

because you weren't a part of it.

You get what I'm saying?

I'm looking at my boy Gene right here.

So if I wrote a letter to Gene and I read this letter to everybody, you would have

a good idea of what I'm talking about.

But what if I threw in some inside jokes in there?

Would you be able to capture all that?

No, you wouldn't.

Right?

And so as you read the letters, we can't fully get all of the context because

we don't know all the particulars.

But what God wants us to do is he wants us to take the principles.

That we see.

See how it applies to our lives, and then apply it to our lives going forward.

You guys get me here.

Yeah, and so this is important here as we read so we can speculate.

There's some things that seem to be more than likely or probable, but

some things we don't know what the a hundred percent certainty how it was.

You guys get what I'm saying?

But that's okay because the point is that we grab the P principles

and the lessons that God wants us to take from these letters.

Church, are you with me here?

Alright, let's go ahead and let's get into it.

Now, here's what I need for you to do.

I need for you to note and take note, what principles and what takeaways do you grab

from this letter from Paul to Philemon.

Okay.

So go ahead, pull out your phone.

I know most of us don't take physical notes anymore, but go ahead and get

ready here to write down what is it that stands out to you in this letter.

And so we're gonna read Philemon chapter one.

There's only one chapter.

See, y Okay, you, you gotta catch on that.

All right, here we go.

Philemon, chapter one.

You guys with me?

Church?

Let's go ahead.

Let's get into it here.

All right.

It says Paul, a prisoner of Christ, Jesus, and Timothy, our brother to Philemon,

our dear friend and fellow worker.

So we believe that Paul met Philemon, uh, probably maybe an Ephesus.

We're not sure.

And so scholars, we we're speculating here, but we know from this letter

that they had a great friendship and that they were workers in the gospel.

And this is also to Appian and believe it's probable that that was his, his

wife, our sister and octopus, and probably his son, our fellow soldier,

and to the church that meets in your home, grace and peace to you from God,

our father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I always think my God, as I remember you and my prayers, because I hear

about your love for all his holy people, and your faith in the Lord Jesus.

I pray that your partnership with us in the faith may be effective in deepening

your understanding of every good thing we share for the sake of Christ.

Your love has given me great joy and encouragement because you brother have

refreshed the hearts of the Lord's people.

Therefore, now whenever you see therefore in the scriptures, what does that mean?

You need to know what happened B before, right?

And so what he just say?

He says, Hey man, I, I pray that, that word, were united in things.

We're united in this faith that you'll, you'll grow in a gr deeper understanding.

And some call it being active in share in your faith that it,

it will produce something great.

And hey, I know how much you love God's people.

And so therefore, because of that, because of who you are, what my prayers

for you here is what I'm gonna ask or call you to and your attention.

Although in Christ, I could be bold in order you to do what you ought to do.

Yet I prefer to appeal to you on the basis of love.

It is none other than Paul, an old man, and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus

that I appeal to you from my son Onesimus.

And again, it's, it seems more than likely that that Onesimus became a disciple

of Jesus with Paul over in Rome, who became my son while I was in chains.

Formally, he was useless to you, but now he's become useful both to you and me.

The word, the name Onesimus means useful.

So Paul has a little play on words here.

Before he was useless.

Now he's living up to his name.

He's being useful.

We continue.

And he says, I'm sending him now.

This is big.

I am sending him.

So again, to give some context here, the scholars, uh, uh, uh, throughout

history have said probably at least a third of the Roman population

of the Roman Empire were slaves.

That's a pretty high number.

And so slavery and, and so when we read slaves sometimes in the Bible, we

tend to take our understanding of the Atlantic slave trade and we apply it.

To the slave situation of the old, of the New and Old

Testament, but it was different.

So a number of people actually sold themselves into slavery

because they were maybe in debt.

So I owe a lot of money to doca here, and I'm like, DOCA, I can't pay for it.

She's like, well, what you gonna do about it?

I was like, well, I'll become your slave.

She's like, okay.

And so someone even use this as a way to climb up the social ladder.

Because you could actually have some, some property you can actually grow,

grow up the social ladder, and many people would buy their freedom back

and now be in a different position.

So slavery is different.

Now, there was also many bad parts of slavery.

There's ownership and so we're, we're not saying that slavery was this great

option, but it's important that we don't insert what our understanding

is to the scriptures because then we can get things mixed up.

You guys get what I'm saying here?

Yeah.

And so, but here's the thing.

He says, I am sending him, here's the risk that's involved.

Paul's sending Onesimus back to Philemon.

We don't know if he's still a slave owner at this time or not.

We, we don't know.

But if he goes back what a slave owner can do with the runaway

slave, he can do a number of things.

And what he can do is he can flog him.

He can brand him.

Put him in chains or even kill him via crucifixion.

So being sent back, there's a lot to this.

It's a huge risk.

Would you agree?

I'm sending him, who is my hearts back to you.

I would've liked to keep him with me so that he could take your place in helping

me while I'm in chains for the gospel.

But I did not wanna do anything without your consent so that any

favor you would do would not seem forced, but would be voluntary.

Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that

you might have him back forever.

No longer as a slave, but better than a slave.

As a dear brother, he is very dear to me, but even dear to you both as a

fellow man and as a brother in the Lord.

So if you consider me a partner, welcome him as you would welcome me.

If he had done any wrong or owes you anything, charge it to me.

I Paul, in writing this with my own hand, I will pay it back.

Not to mention that you owe me your very self.

Yeah, that's what Travis was talking about.

I do wish, brother, that I may have some benefit from you in the Lord.

Refresh my heart in Christ.

Confident of your obedience.

I write to you knowing that you'll do even more than I ask.

And one thing more, prepare a guest room for him because I hope to be restored

to you and answer to your prayers.

So, so Philemon has been praying for Paul, a path Forus, my fellow prisoner

in Christ Jesus sends you greetings.

As so do Mark R Star, Deus and Luke, my fellow workers, the

grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Be with your spirits.

So we have this letter.

Paul writes to his pal, his friend, one of his, one of his good old road

dogs if Yian, and he says, Hey, I'm sending back your former slave to you.

He's a chance for man now.

And I'm sending him back that he won't be your slave, but he will be your brother.

Continue.

Pray for me that I'll get outta this situation.

I'll see you soon.

Oh, and everybody else sends their greetings as well.

And so here's the question, and I want you to go ahead and write this down

here, and I want you to take a minute or two with the people around you.

What principle, principles or lessons stand out to you in this letter?

What stood out to you?

What principles, what lessons stand out to you?

Go ahead and write it on down and then I want you to go ahead and, uh, give you a

couple minutes to share with each other.

What are the things that you wrote down that stood out to

you from the letter to Philemon?

You guys with me here?

Alright, and those are online.

Go ahead.

You can type it in the chat right there and you can get

some, discussion going that way.

All right.

If you didn't finish, that's okay.

Afterwards, you can go ahead and share.

Let's get a couple people, let's get a couple people.

What was it, something maybe you heard or, or stood out to you?

Uh, from this letter to Philemon, here we go.

Let's get a couple people to share.

Okay.

And so when Paul says, Hey, I could command you, but I appeal to you on

the basis of love, is there a persona?

Do we have an environment, an aura?

And do we express our love to those that we connect with?

Okay, cool.

Awesome.

All right, there you go.

Yes, over here.

Okay, so he said, he mentioned redemption, forgiveness, and, and even a, a, a,

a glimpse of Jesus and, and, and, and how this can, can, can lead us to

how Jesus does this for us as well.

Okay.

All right, Nick.

And so there's a lot of faith that you see in there.

Uh, Paul had to have faith in Christ that, uh, that that, that Philemon

will hear this correctly and that he can actually be persuaded or changed

in his thinking there as opposed to how we can think people can't change.

So there's a lot of good stuff right there.

Right.

I'm sure you maybe shared something that was slightly different or.

Whoa.

I didn't think about that.

But I see that now.

Again, as we read our Bibles, we read it, we understand what we're reading,

and then we go, oh, what are some of the principles that God's word has?

And this is how we should read our Bibles in our devotional times.

What is it here?

Because if we just read it, you said, I don't know, it's just a letter.

But know when we take a step back away.

No, there's some principles here that apply to mankind.

Now, let's continue here, here.

Here's something that stood out to me.

I wanted to share, uh, the things that stood out to me.

Can I do that?

It really doesn't matter what you said because I was still gonna do it anyway.

You know what I'm saying?

So, unless Seth cut the mic off on me.

But even then I'd be like, I'm gonna say it.

You know what I'm saying?

So, but here's something that stood out to me is this is the

kingdom of God versus the world.

There's a stark contrast.

To how the citizens in the kingdom of God are as opposed to the world

and how it thinks and behaves.

Now the kingdom of God, what does that mean?

That that's where God rules.

And so yes, that includes the church, but it's where God reigns.

And so as a citizen in the kingdom of God, there's a stark contrast

when you compare it to how the world thinks and how the world believes.

There's a difference in relationships and reconciliation, forgiveness,

and also just how we live.

And so I wanna talk about these real quickly here.

Number one, we see relationships.

We see love, we see mutual respect.

We see Paul's depth of love for his brothers in Christ.

On myth man, that's like my son.

Hey Philemon, may you, man, we've been together.

I pray for you all the time.

You see a depth of love.

That's communicated in the passage there and, and there's, there's not

this, Hey, you're just my Christian friend or somebody I went to church

with, but you are my brother in Christ.

And so Paul loves them so much.

He's like, I love you and I love him, but I need this to be reconciled.

I can't have my buddies like this.

The kingdom of God isn't like that.

There's not divisions in sides.

Yes.

And so I want you guys to be together.

You see the love, you see the respect, Hey, I could, I do

have a spiritual authority.

I do have that, but I don't wanna use that.

What I wanna do is I wanna pee on the basis of love.

Your love for all the saints that you already displayed, your

relationships you already have, the relationship you have with me.

I wanna appeal to that.

There's no manipulation.

He even offers to pay for an SMUs.

Hey, whatever he owes you, I'll pay for you.

And I'm in prison.

How much money this man got?

He's like, I'll pay for it.

And some believe that the way, because it says he is written off and he owes money.

Some believe that on this mess might have actually stole from Philemon.

So just imagine that.

Hey, look, I'll pay you back whatever he stole from you.

And you see this love in a truthful speech again, Hey, remember how

you do owe me your life Now?

Maybe he saved his life literally.

Maybe it's just he helped him find salvation, or maybe it's an inside

thing that we don't know about.

Maybe that's what they used to always joke about.

Like, Hey man, you, I owe you my life.

Hey, remember you used to say that you owe me your life?

And so there's truth.

And sharing her past, which is a stark contrast to way the world is the

way you and I used to be or the way we can be naturally, which includes

lies in our relationship, looking at relationships for selfish gain or

hierarchy in relationships when we're in the world, but the kingdom of God.

We relate to each other not as friend, but as brother and sister in Christ.

We also see in this area of reconciliation.

Again, it's possible that he, he, he robbed him.

We don't know.

Or, but, or he didn't pay off his debts to Philemon maybe, maybe on this

Miss Ode, and he didn't pay it off.

He didn't work enough and he left whatever the case is.

But we see, hey, Paul is thinking here.

We gotta have this be reconciled.

He can stay with me and we don't have to have a problem.

He's not probably gonna see me in Rome, but he is like, no, this isn't right.

We need to make sure that this is reconciled.

Not just forgiven, but reconciled where we can have peace and that we can have

a mutual affection for one another.

That's what the desire is.

That's what not only the ask is, but there's an expectation that Philemon,

what Philemon would, would be merciful forgive and will go even beyond that.

Did you catch that?

I know you'll do even more than I ask.

I'm asking you to take him back, but I know who you are and the way we are in the

kingdom of God, you'll do even more than that because that's who you are, Philemon.

And so we see this reconciliation to make sure it's right, but onesimus,

him being humble enough and going, I need to go and make this right.

So yes, there's a call for Philemon, but what about that call for animus?

Hey, you can go back and you can literally be killed for this move.

And it's more than likely that he's the one that actually gave the

letter to the church in Colossae.

'cause this is where they probably were in Colossae.

So they believe that Colossians was written and then either right

with it, or maybe right afterwards was this letter from Philemon.

And so it's possible, or maybe even probable that Onesimus is

right there handing it to Philemon.

Awkward.

You know, just imagine when Philemon sees it, like, hold up, is it?

Is that on missus right there?

Maybe he heard like, oh, you've been a Christian, but man, we gotta talk.

Or maybe he didn't even know.

He's like, man, this dude has the audacity to run up upon my church, into my home.

And then, you know, if I, I mean on this one, like, uh, read this

letter first and then let's talk.

You can just imagine how that was.

But this Ms knows, you know what, in the kingdom of God, we do things differently.

We're gonna be reconciled.

I'm gonna do what's right.

Yes, I've done it wrong, but I'm gonna make it right.

You see, reconciliation happens in the kingdom.

That's not what happens in the world in any era or any part of the world.

That's not normal, that's not natural.

But in the kingdom of God, it's the expectation.

You know, the world demands punishment, retaliation, or

distance, and that's my challenge.

I can forgive you, but I'm like, I'm cool on you.

From now on.

I forgive you, but man, I just don't wanna see you.

I just don't want to talk to you.

Really like that.

That's my challenge.

That's my sin that I have to battle, and that's how we are in the world.

The world says, you owe me, but the kingdom, God says, I forgive you.

There's a difference.

The kingdom God leads to forgiveness, restoration, healing, and unity.

We also see the effects of grace.

We see the effects of grace.

You know, all have received grace.

In this all have been transformed by grace and all respond to God's grace.

Paul has been transformed.

He received God's grace in his life, and now what's he doing?

He's trying to help Philemon and Onesimus find even more grace.

Hey, Onesimus, I, I, I, I, I want you to find more grace from

your brother, Philemon Philemon.

I want you to extend Grace to your brother in Christ right there.

I.

Onesimus, he's been transformed by grace.

He's no longer useless, but he's useful for God and God's people and because

of the grace that he's received, Hey, you need to go and make things right.

I'm gonna go and make things right.

Philemon's been transformed by grace.

He's saved, and now he's a servant to God's people and the

grace is now expected of him.

And for him to extend it to his brother in Christ.

And you know, Philemon, what do you think?

You think he did it?

Of course he did it.

We wouldn't have this letter if he didn't.

We hear a whole different story about this dude, Philemon.

Remember that dude, Philemon, he'd be one of the bad Examplers.

Don't be like Phil Lehman.

He'd be all over there.

But they wouldn't have had it.

And so again, what happened with the letters is that they would

receive 'em, they would share 'em, and then they started copying them

so they could be distributed to all the brothers and sisters in Christ.

And so, yes, Philemon did it.

Why did he do it?

Because of the grace he received.

Now, if he didn't,

if he didn't, and he stopped being a true Christian.

Yeah, he stopped being a citizen in the kingdom of God, and he has

reentered the empire of the world because he's holding on to bitterness.

He's holding onto what feels natural and what comes when we act as if

Jesus is not king of our lives.

But see, love reconciliation.

They aren't theories or suggestions.

But they're the reality in the kingdom of God, and they live differently because

of this grace that they experience.

They live abnormal to what the Roman and Jewish society would think at that time.

If somebody were to read that letter back then they say, are you crazy?

Why would you do such a thing?

Because I'm a child of God, because I submit to the

lordship of Jesus in my life.

That's right.

I mean, imagine this.

They had slaves and slave owners in the house worshiping God together.

They were having fellowship and there was no hierarchy.

There was mutual love and respect,

and you see this grace through Jesus generated a new way of living.

The way they thought about life was different.

The way they lived their lives were different.

It was now under the lordship of Jesus.

And so insist used to be useless.

Now he's useful, he's helping Paul, he's helping churches.

He's helping others.

It says that he delivered the church, uh, the letter to the

church, uh, the Colossians church.

So now he's a benefit.

And with him, we have the benefit of reading the book of Colossians.

We see Paul, he tried to stop the spread of the gospel to now becoming a

Christian and then dying for his faith, and also writing 13 letters of the New

Testament, which you and I get to enjoy, appreciate, and grow from, transformed

by Grace Philemon using his wealth in service and in love to God's people.

Let's use our house.

And he has a reputation for serving.

You know, disciples live differently and handle situations differently

than what, what's normal in society.

That's what we do.

In the kingdom of God, this is normal, but to everybody else, that's odd and strange.

That's not what we do.

That's what we do because we serve the king most high.

Amen.

So here's the question.

How does God want you to apply the principles of this letter?

Again, when we get into the word, we figure out what are we reading?

Hey, what is the message?

Well, how does that apply to me and my life today?

What do I take away from this and how do I insert into my life going forward?

And so does your life reflect these principles?

Does your life reflect the principles that stood out to you as you

were sharing with one another?

Maybe it's relationships.

Do you have them?

Are they of depth?

Are they spiritual?

Are they binding in a, in a never an ending conviction that

we will ride or die together?

Are they loving or are they withholding?

Are your relationships are where you are serving?

Are you waiting to be served?

Do you have a God-given respect?

Or judgmental hearts in your relationships.

Reconciliation, are you holding a grudge?

You know, you need to forgive, but the natural thing is to hold on to that

bitterness or is there a situation where you need to make things right?

You know what you did and, but you haven't gone and made things right.

Maybe it's yet your job, maybe it's your roommate, a sibling, a

parent, a child, or your spouse.

Does it reflect the kingdom of God or does it reflect the world?

What about the ways in which we're living?

Are you living different than you did before you knew Jesus or the same?

I appreciate Carla sharing.

Hey, our marriage was, was a train wreck.

We weren't even sure if it was gonna happen.

Continue.

What do we do with the child?

And now she stands before you and her son is in the second row and

she's talking about, it's transforms.

The family now sees this after many years, Hey, can we get some advice?

So there's a clear difference from before and after Christ.

And so let me ask you, is there a difference right now before

you knew Jesus and today?

Is there a difference?

You know, Jesus didn't die and raise so that we would live the same way and

have the same worldview as the world.

That wouldn't make any sense.

He didn't do that.

And it all comes down to this question.

Are we gonna be citizens in the kingdom of God or are we gonna

be natural citizens in the world?

Because it comes down to that.

You know, disciples of Jesus live like God is the king of our world.

Not our feelings, not our opinions, not a Reddit article, and, and for

sure not some TikTok influencer.

We think, and we live differently.

We deny ourselves of sin because of the forgiveness we have received.

We sacrifice convenience for the sake of love that we have received.

We extend grace to those who are undeserving because

Jesus extended grace to us.

We pour out ourselves to the church, to those who are lost

and to those who are needy.

Why?

Because God cares for all of those, and anything less is not Christian.

It's who we are and it's what we do.

Because We are citizens in the kingdom of God.

Some here you've never made that decision or you've never lived the life.

I'm gonna be honest with you.

I had to learn this myself 24 years ago.

You're not a real Christian.

If you never made a decision where Jesus was gonna be Lord,

you were gonna think differently.

You were gonna behave differently.

You're not a Christian.

I don't say this to shame, I say this to be honest, because God is

calling you to become a Christian.

God is calling you in grace to make that decision so that you can live as a child

and as a citizen in the kingdom of God.

Some of here, you're no longer living this out, you once were, and maybe you

completely abandoned it or, or you're just realizing, you know, my life doesn't

really reflect the kingdom of God.

It reflects the world.

But you're on dangerous ground of losing your connection to God.

The call for you today is to repent today, not tomorrow, not Tuesday, not Thursday.

This very hour.

And get the help that you need.

We all help each other out.

Some of us, hey, we've been faithful to God, and, and, and, and we know it.

We can say with conviction and we can stand confidently and God

would testify to and say yes.

And I wanna encourage you, stay faithful and keep going.

Don't say, well, let me just slow down a little bit, or let me pat myself on the

back note, you are responding to God's grace in your life, so keep moving forward

and then help others to connect with God's grace that's offered to them as well.

I wanna get real practical.

Church, are you still with me here?

I like to have action steps for the week here, so let's just do it this week here.

All right, ask yourself and answer this question this week.

And please make sure you do this.

What principle from Philemon applies to my life this week?

So maybe again, it was something you shared.

Maybe it was relationships, reconciliation, the effects of

grace, whatever the case may be.

Ask yourself that question.

What principle from Philemon applies to my life this week?

And then do this, answer this question.

What specific action will I take to live out that principle this week?

'cause again.

When you read God's Word, alright, let me understand.

What am I reading?

Okay, here's the message that we see that, that, that, that God

has here as it applies to my life.

Now here's what I'm gonna go do with that,

and that's how we take in God's word.

And so why do these things?

Well?

Because it'll align you with God's will for your life this week.

I heard this phrase many years ago, and I say it and I'm a full believer in this

phrase, being at the center of God's will is the safest place you can be.

Being right at the center of God's will, it's the best place you can be.

The blessings that come, the fruit of it, and, and the fruit that you're able to, or

the blessing you're able to be to others.

Also, God wants you to apply his word to your life, and this is where

the transformation takes place.

Not from just reading, not from just studying, not for just agreeing and

liking it, but you actually living it out will transform your life.

And so if we do this this week, God will take steps in the transformation

this week in our lives Forgotten letter.

It's for us today.

And in God's love and in God's grace, he has a message for your soul.

This hour.

May you receive it and may you apply it.

Philemon Philemon, there's at least one theme that we know of.

Do you see the Kingdom of God versus the world?

We see it in relationships, reconciliation, and the effects of grace.

We close out with this desire and this prayer as well.

I pray that your partnership with us in the faith may be effective

in deepening your understanding of every good thing we share.

For the sake of Christ.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

Amen.