chapter 1 and I'm going to be reading verse from 1 through 7 this morning. Philemon chapter 1, actually it's only one chapter, Philemon 1 through 7. Okay. Philemon 1 through 7, "Paul prisoner for Christ Jesus and Timothy our brother to Philemon our beloved fellow worker and Aphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier in the church in your house.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints. And I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ.

For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love my brother because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you." Let's pray. Gracious and loving Father we thank you so much for this morning. We thank you for your provisions. We thank you for health. We thank you Lord God the freedom that we have to worship you in this country.

And we ask Lord that you would help us never to take any of these things for granted and we know that there are brothers and sisters all around the world who are being persecuted and it's such a privilege Lord God for them to even gather together. So we pray Father that as we wrestle not against flesh and blood that you would equip us, challenge us, renew us, and fill us with your spirit Lord God that your power may be evident in your church.

So we pray for your grace for the rest of this time in Jesus name we pray amen. All right so we're gonna be in the book of or the letter of Philemon for the next maybe about a month or so and I am I've been kind of wrestling with where to jump to after second Timothy and I am for the most part committed to the book of Romans for the most part and we've studied the book of Romans several times in different avenues and that was kind of like the book that we spent I think the first two three years of Bible study on Friday night.

So there's a few of you who was with us during that period and I really was wrestling should I jump to the Old Testament should I go through another book and and I before I jump to the Romans I wanted to spend some time in Philemon because it is a short letter and I the subject matter that we're gonna be talking about I think is will be beneficial for us and then once we get to Romans we're gonna be in there for a while but I really want to wrestle through the text and and see what we have how it's gonna affect our church as we go through it but Philemon on the surface may look like you know if you if you've ever read Philemon you may end at the end of it ask yourself why is this even in the Bible you know because there's no major doctrines exposited in this text there's not it's not an instruction for pastoral ministry it's there's no advice about how to run the church or you know any any of this stuff so we may just kind of read it and then say well okay it's a very personal letter it's almost like right reading a letter that was written from one person to another person just kind of a third person reading it but I really believe that Philemon is is a powerful letter because it gives us a glimpse of the early church we know a lot of issues and problems that the early church had and obviously Paul and the other Apostles were writing to address these issues but really this letter gives us the life of what at least one aspect of the life of the early church and you know I know that in the last maybe about five six years there's been a movement that kind of you know went across on it and I think we're still in the midst of it this gospel centered movement some of you guys may be aware of it some of you may not be but this gospel centered movement if you go to the bookstore almost every book new books is coming out is gospel centered parenting gospel centered church gospel centered prayer gospel centered marriage I mean everything is just gospel centered and I think core of it is fantastic because gospel ought to be the foundation gospel should be the reason why we worship and gospel should be the cornerstone in which we build any church but if we're not careful the gospel center movement can easily become just vocabulary now instead of saying Christ centered we say gospel centered instead of saying loving God we say we love the gospel right instead of saying we've been impacted by the cross we say impacted by the gospel so if we're not careful all it will become is just the way we express our faith is different well you know he says it the right way or he uses the right vocabulary if it is truly gospel centered it must be evident in the life of the people not just vocabulary not just how you feel in a room but the power not when Paul says I am NOT ashamed of gospel for it is the power of God unto salvation how has the gospel shaped your life does it brought you to your knees how has the gospel shaped your evangelism have you been more convicted or is it just a security blanket see the power of the gospel power of the cross I think the greatest evidence of that is in a changed life the Apostle Paul here's a man riding to a predominantly Gentile city the Colossae which is where our the recipient of this letter is from Philemon and here's a man who at one point hated the Gentile he was probably one of those people that would travel an extra day just to get around Samaritan Samaria because he thought that that land was tainted he was a Pharisee among Pharisees and here now he's sitting in prison and he's writing to a group of probably most likely a Gentile Church trying to restore this runaway slave to his former master see that the early church I think the greatest evidence to me of the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the impact that it made not on the individual but on the culture of the early church imagine Jews and Gentiles hated each other for hundreds maybe thousands of years they hated each other and all of a sudden you find them calling each other thousands of them brothers and sisters in the same church you see people who are former Pharisees sitting with former tax collectors and the tax collectors are instructing them about how to be right with God like what happened and it didn't happen in in a matter of three four five hundred years instantaneously these people were saying because Christ was resurrected that it changed them that powerfully a former slave and a runaway slave and former slave owner would be brothers and sisters in the church sharing and breaking bread together clearly something powerful happened this was not you know no matter how much you try to psychoanalyze this and say you know sociologically maybe because the poor were attracted to the gospel because of the promises that it made I mean no matter how much you try to dissect why the Christianity took off no amount of analyzing and dissecting really will explain this powerful change that took place all like instantaneously other than the cross itself you know a few years ago I was contacted by a friend of mine that I haven't seen since high school so it's you know on the first service I was in the calculation it was about almost 29 years I haven't I haven't seen him and so I got in contact he somehow found me through a mutual friend and he wanted to become a my Facebook buddy so I said man I haven't seen this guy in years so we finally got together and you have to you have to realize that the last time I saw this guy he got kicked out of Kennedy High School I think it's in Artesia for selling drugs and so obviously I had friends who were you know running in that same kind of crowd and so we met each other and the last time I remember him was getting drunk with with beer and whatever alcohol in the back of his trunk in some parking lot and I forgot why we drifted apart but that's the last memory I have of him and he has of me and so when we met together I was thinking like man I'm a pastor now you know and I was kind of curious what our conversation was gonna be like you know he's probably gonna say remember when we did this and we did that so I'm a pastor now you know I don't do that you know but we finally met together and found out that he had a huge conversion experience he actually had double cancer and he was beating that he just kind of came out of chemotherapy and and even prior to that how God radically changed him and he's a deacon at the church down the street here Bethel he's a he's a fop so he's in the Korean side right and so he was sharing with me about his testimony and about how he came to know the Lord and he goes to morning prayer every single day he's involved with the mission program there he's always you know flying over to Turkey and to Hong Kong and to China and to Korea and and to to help with the missions program and his life goal right now is to is to be able to support missionaries after they retire so that they can come home and retire and to take care of them because he realized so many missionaries have a hard time when they retire and he's a very successful businessman so so you know he actually has the means to be able to do that so you know I'm blown away because last time I remember him was again just getting drunk and then he would tell me a story he's like hey so what's going on with you so I'm a church down here in the street you know over here and he actually came visit a couple years ago and so every once in a while we still meet up and we have time of fellowship and every time I talk with him it's just I'm just blown away you know in the last 20 some years that I haven't seen this guy like what this guy became so every once in a while I get tempted to bring that bring up our old past but it's just kind of awkward now you know what I mean because he's we're talking about missions and all of a sudden a minute you got drunk you know I mean I think the power of the testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ has changed lives no matter how much we say you know this is what the gospel is this is what Jesus is and we share all of that if there isn't the testimony of how it affected our lives it becomes impotent it's powerless the true core of the gospel movement has to change the church it has to change our prayer life it has to change our fellowship it has to change the way we live what we pursue what we value it can't be just change of vocabulary see in the early church not only is do you see the effects of the gospel in an individual's life but you see it immediately in the book of Acts you know a positive Paul alpha so Peter preaches the gospel in front of the same people who crucified Jesus most likely at the end of it 3,000 people come to Christ and then right after that it describes what this community looked like in the early church now I want you to I want you to follow along with me you don't need to turn there but I want you to listen to how it's described they were asked to 42 to 47 they devoted themselves to the Apostles teaching and fellowship to the breaking of bread and the prayer and all came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were being done through the Apostles and all who believe were together and had all things in common and they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need and day by day attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes they received their food with glad and generous hearts praising God and having favor with all the people and the Lord added to their number day by day those who are being saved now I know you probably read this before and you look at this is like oh I mean you know this is nothing new do you know how much discipleship and work and labor would go into building a community that looks like this I can imagine like a church of maybe a hundred and twenty all of a sudden have three thousand people being baptized and part of that church like just just organizing like how are we gonna eat on Sunday you know I remember when our church was smaller and we had about a hundred people every Sunday you know we had lunch and we'd be together and after a while we realized like oh that's too much work let's go out and then we would go to you know some fast food joint and we would shut that down and then you know the UTC where the college students hang out we used to actually go there on Sundays and shut that whole place down you know then we grew a little bit after that it's like well we can't do that anymore so we'll do lunch at the church again but let's do it every other week and then every week every month and then now it's like man even once a month is it's too much of a headache right how we're gonna do Bible study we used to fit everybody in my house and then when that overflowed we had Wednesday and Friday and then we have to offer I mean it just I can't imagine a church going from 120 to 3,000 overnight in my mind it's like oh my gosh I mean that's just too much we're not gonna find enough leaders we're not gonna be able to disciple people fast enough but yet we have a community here instantaneously was devoted to the teaching breaking of bread fellowship they were actually very generous selling their possession giving it to one another they were enjoying the favor when I mean this is an ideal perfect church but it happened instantaneously it wasn't because of years of discipleship and years of modeling and years of systematic teaching it just happened now does a Bible teach about discipleship yes does the Bible teach us about modeling yes are all those things necessary part of building a healthy church yes but at the core of what makes a healthy church is people who have been affected by the cross people who have been deeply affected see the power of the cross isn't simply that you didn't go to church and then now you attend church it changes everything about what we value what we are entertained by how we find encouragement what we consider to be a blessing in a secular world if you get a good job and you make a lot of money you say well I've been blessed but as a Christian we know that that shouldn't be our perspective because there's many Christians who lose their jobs because they've been blessed by God many Christians can't meet together with their families because they've been blessed by God I think the greatest testimony of the power of the cross has changed lives not how well the church is organized not how awesome the praise that is but change lives the greatest testimony of our of our lives a greater witness is your radically changed lives because of the cross see Philemon on the surface seems like just a you know an average letter you know of an apostle the pastor is concerned about his disciple and he's writing a letter hey you know would you receive him but I believe that it is a powerful testimony of the effects of the cross in the early church Philemon was probably a leader in Church of Colossae it says that those churches meeting at his house his wife the FIA is probably his wife archipis is his son and his and he's actually mentioned in Colossians 417 as a fellow companion of Apostle Paul so here is a prominent member in the Colossian Church most likely a wealthy man because they probably had a large enough house and said well what we're gonna meet is that well his house is probably the best house to meet and he probably had more than one slave several slaves you have to understand in order to really appreciate the letter that immediately when you hear the term slave we we attach to it all the negative evils of slavery that we know of in the last hundred years but understand that the system of slavery during this period was not considered an evil institution it was actually a part of their economy when somebody would be indentured or somebody with old money and they couldn't pay it back they would actually become an indentured servant for a period and then once it's paid off they would earn their freedom and in some instances finding a godly or a gracious master would have been the best way for that family to be protected and provided they couldn't do this on their own they didn't have a lot of rights so it's not the institution in itself was evil it's you had evil slave masters and sometimes you had evil slaves but if the institution in and of itself wasn't evil but it's in that context where Philemon decided you know what I'm gonna I'm just gonna take off and he we don't know the background story we don't know what kind of harm that he did maybe he stole certain things when he left but Philemon or Onesimus this runaway slave by the grace of God as Paul's of Paul is sitting in prison runs into him and he shares the gospel you know you would think that you know if you're laboring hard that if you get captured and you're sitting in prison you say okay timeout you know you know I've been running hard but why did God put me in here but that never stopped the pause of Paul he wrote you know he wrote letters he sent disciples he was still evangelizing in fact he was even thanking God that as a result of him being in chains that it was affecting other brothers to share the gospel even more and even the people who he was chained to can you imagine those Roman guards how many times they must have heard the gospel from this guy you know I mean he's writing the gospel and he said hey do you know what I'm you know so he never stops so even as he is chained to the Roman guard he's concerned about this runaway slave that again apparently may in the eyes of the world is completely insignificant and you see the power of the effect of the cross on all three of these people on Paul again sitting in prison if anybody had any right to say timeout you know I'm gonna take a break kind of like what we do we may be working hard but you know maybe something happens at your work or maybe you get sick or maybe one of your kids that could get sick and say timeout timeout right Apostle Paul had any right any anybody had any right to say that was a possible and he's labored he was beaten right stone thinking that he's dead and you know he's stone he's with a Roman guard chained 24/7 and yet he's writing this intimate letter to his fellow worker to receive him not not as a former slave but as your brother here's this you know previous slave you have to understand for him to even go back to where he came from legally he could have been executed for what he did they could have just said you know what you ripped me off and you hurt me and they could have just dragged him and by by legally they would have been justified to simply get rid of him so for him to even go back you could clearly see there was there was a power behind him he was affected by the cross and then for Philemon himself after all the things that he may have lost I mean just financial loss a slave running away and how he maybe he was a good slave owner and say you know he was treated him well and all of a sudden he just takes off like that and for him to even receive him none of this is he is humanly even imaginable if it wasn't the effects of the cross if the power of the gospel was not affecting every single one of these people this letter would not be here see the reason why this letter is so important because it reveals to us not only the power of the cross but it reveals to us God's tender heart for sinners you know you've probably read again in Psalm 8 3 to 4 where David says who am I you know why are you so mindful of him he said this is what he says in Psalm 8 3 to 4 when I look at your heavens the work of your fingers the moon and the stars which you have set in place when I imagine who you are when I recognize that you are a all-powerful all-sovereign God and then he says considering who you are what is man that you are so mindful of him and the Son of Man that you care for him I think the reason why Christians sometimes get into this rut of why God why don't you do this and why didn't you answer my prayer is because we forget we forget who he is and we forget who we are considering who he is considering that he created the universe who are you and who am I to come before God and say why didn't you why don't you see what David says is the attitude that every Christian should have considering who you are considering what you have done why would you care why would you care why would you care about this runaway slave who's insignificant I mean you got the bigger world to worry about why disco why stop and give attention to this sinner see in Psalm 144 144 verse 4 it says man is like a breath his days are like passing shadow we're just a mist that comes and we disappear consider how insignificant we are in the light of the universe in light of eternity how much of our relationship is turned sour because we forget how insignificant we are how much of this church fellowship becomes tainted because we forget how insignificant we are we are a miss it's because we're we consider ourselves more important than we really are and we try so hard to elevate ourselves even just a little bit and it's that it's that process of wanting to be better than the next guy wanted to be elevated than the next person that is causing all this conflict he says who are we in light of who you are why would you even know my name why would you even know my name see every Christian the starting point in our relationship with God begins there and again in a culture where everybody's trying to all you know we weren't concerned about your self-esteem you know you're so low you're so great you're so awesome you know but the beginning point in our worst you know walk with God is you are nothing I said I got a jerk you know and come to be uplifted life is hard enough as it is but this that's what the scripture so I mean forget forgive the scripture just think logically have you seen how big this universe is how big this galaxy is we're smaller than a dust and we're trying so hard to be something you know he said knowing in light of who you are why would you even care why is this letter here why do you even think of us why do you even listen to us but the amazing thing about the gospel is he does I can't explain to you why because I don't know but he does in fact it's not even just a New Testament that is his nature that's who he is Deuteronomy 24 19 to 22 again if you just read it in passing like you're reading that you know like you're gonna read through the Bible and in in one year you just kind of read it it's one of those passages that you're not gonna really stop and think but I think one of the most amazing passages in the Old Testament is passages like this okay this is what it says Deuteronomy 24 19 22 it's about harvesting in the law of harvesting when you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field you shall not go back to get it it shall be for the sojourners the fatherless and the widows that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands I know on the surface it's like okay says drop it don't pick it up right but think about what he is saying is it as you are harvested you worked hard and you're harvesting if you drop something don't turn around to pick it up keep going leave that for the sojourners of foreigners who have no way to eat leave that for the fatherless leave that for the widows and if you really want to be blessed do that and then he continues on when you beat your olive trees you shall not go over them again it shall be for the sojourners the fatherless and the widows when you're harvesting the olive trees and you don't get all of it leave it it's for the people that can't get it on their own 21 when you gather the grapes of the vineyard you shall not strip it afterward it shall be for the sojourners the fatherless and the widows you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt therefore I command you to do this what is he saying don't forget that you were the fatherless don't forget at one point you were the widows don't forget at one point you were a foreigner and so as I've been gracious to you be gracious to them see God has always been this God and again we get caught up and when we when we come into church and worship with that mentality is that you're supposed to love me God so if you love me I want you to love me this way I want you to answer this prayer and I want you to answer it this way this is what I want this is what blessing to me means and then when it doesn't happen that way we spend the rest of our time saying why why don't you do this for me why didn't you answer my prayer why didn't you give me this why didn't you give me health but every Christian who genuinely believes that Jesus Christ died for you even if the rest of our lives looks like Job's at the end of our life every single person is obligated to say thank you for saving my soul every single person must be able to say and and should say and natural response should be when I look at the heavens when I look at the stars your fingers your power and all that you are who am I that you would even know my name why would you care for me see that it's not just the Old Testament that's not just a God of the Old Testament you look in the New Testament first Corinthians 12 21 26 he said this is the identity of the community in the New Testament the eye cannot say to the hand I have no need of you nor again the head to the feet I have no need of you on the contrary the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we'd be so greater honor and our armors that aren't presentable parts are treated with greater modesty which are more presentable parts do not require but God has so composed the body giving greater honor to the part that lacked it that there may be no division in the body but that the members may have the same care for one another if one member suffers all suffer if one member is honored all rejoice together is that the power of the gospel community is a community that's been affected by the cross so deeply that we don't honor people who are honorable in the world but it's the fatherless it's the widows it's the people who are in need to be gracious to them because God's been gracious to us that the greatest reflection of the power of the cross in us is not our ability to speak is not our ability to organize it's our ability to reflect that grace in us to people who don't deserve it that's that's the foundation in which God calls us to stand to preach the gospel is not how well it's organized and how much theology we have and how much knowledge we can disseminate is how deeply have we been affected by the cross that's why Jesus asked it's no it's not good enough to say this is what my church believes it's not good enough to say that this is what evangelical Christians believe this is what Calvin believed this is what Piper believes what do you believe sometimes we can get caught up that our relationship with God is always just piggybacking off of somebody else it's not enough to say that loving God is most important how about you are you convinced that God loves you because the scripture tells us and again the reason why I want to spend some time in this book in this letter is because it is a it is a testimony of how the cross affects even the lowliest person a former Pharisee and a former slave owner how they became brothers in Christ and how God brings them together to build a church how insignificant people do you know that that God loves you not the church not simply the world but you see you know when I when I was a younger Christian in college I remember doing Bible study with one of my former Bible study leaders and he I remember him saying the greatest commandment of the scripture is love the Lord your God with all your heart soul mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself these are the two greatest commandment and I was really wrestling with that because I can say I love the image of God like the idea of a God who gave his only begotten Son I love that you know I love the idea of a church built upon his sacrifice I love that I love the fact that the door has been opened that now I have I have access to God I love all of that but do you love God do you love God not the idea of God not the image of God not the theology of God but do you love God and I couldn't honestly say yes because I love everything about God but to love God I'm not sure and so I started asking if that's the greatest commandment that should be my greatest pursuit right right before like I want to share the gospel I'm gonna do all this like do I love God and I couldn't honestly say yes as committed as I was and so I started asking how do you do that what do you do to love God so you know I got all kinds of answers like say I love you God a hundred times and if you say it enough in the closet then you're gonna see your heart change and and even when I heard it it's like that doesn't sound right but I'll do it and you know so I tried it you know and I tried it a lot I wouldn't can I every time I get frustrated in prayer I was I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you God he said a hundred times so I gotta make sure it's a hundred times you know I love you guys I'm good and at the end of it's like this can't be it right this can't be it and I was really wrestling with that like how do I Lord I want to love you but I can't honestly say that right I don't know if I love you like I love my mom or my family and then you know it's just like to have that kind of affection for him that do I get offended when people offend his name like I would be offended by if somebody offended somebody I love and I don't know if I could say that well early on in college you know I had to I had to work and I got this job at Hughes Aircraft and I was working from from I think five to about two in the morning and I was completely isolated for about eight eight and a half hours a day and I would get a dinner break and I would deliberately go to Pioneer Chicken in that area just so that I can be around people because I was I was cleaning out bungalows you know it basically is everybody went home it's dark and I would pick up trash and all that and it was probably the most loneliest period of my life you know I'm a pretty social person but there was a long period of time probably about a year year and a half where I had very little interaction with people and when I say very little I mean I mean I'm almost none I wasn't living at home so my my you know I didn't even see my family and so I'll go to work from five to two and then you come home and then I'll get up and then go to school and I just had very little contact and I remember there was this one time I was thinking that if I died here or if I just disappeared if I just walked away I wonder how long it would take before somebody realizes that I'm gone it was I mean it was pretty depressing you know and right in the middle of that I remember having a birthday and I forgot how old I think I was about 18 or 19 and the whole day I knew that I wasn't gonna run into anybody you know eventually I would probably go home and then my family would celebrate it but you know but that particular day I was walking around and and I was like nobody knows I mean and I'm not a priest I'm not like a necessarily sentimental like what was me type of guy but that day it was pretty depressing you know it's like I wonder if anybody would know and I remember it right in the middle of all of that you know I was in the closet and I was doing my devotions and I was I was I was praying and I was going through scripture and it just kind of hit me again if I disappeared here I wonder how long it would take before somebody would recognize that I'm gone and so in my mind I'm thinking two months maybe you know two months and then my mom's gonna hey where's Peter you know I would think my mom would be the first one that would look for me and then the next he would probably send my older brother come look for me because that's usually the pattern you know and then I said I would talk about that's the pattern then it just hit me like a ton of bricks right he who did not spare his own son how will he not along with him give you everything if God knew you enough that to send his only begotten son do you not think that he knows you're here he counts every hair on your head he loves you more than you can possibly imagine it just broke me in the closet you know it's like and it was like what was me I'm so lonely you know nobody knows where I am and it's just like I know you I love you and I can honestly tell you it was probably the hardest period of my life because I was so isolated for such a long time during that period but God isolated me and he he became so real to me you know it says in first John we love because he first loved us and I realize when you're not convinced of his love for you we go through the mechanics because we think that's the right thing to do but it's not your joy it's not what brings life you do it because you're supposed to do it but when you're in love that's where the greatest joy comes from that's where you feel the most alive when you're the nearest to Christ when somebody who loves you that much and he's that powerful and is that that knowledgeable and is that caring and then he's for you what can possibly happen in this life that would cause us to say why God you see Paul writes this letter and he begins a letter by saying Paul a prisoner for Christ Jesus in almost every other letter he says Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ he he brings his authority because he needs to speak to them with authority I'm speaking on behalf of Christ here's wrong things here's wrong behavior that needs to be fixed but in this letter he humbles himself as a lowly prisoner and the reason why he does that is because he says he explains in finally even eight and nine says according accordingly though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what he is what is required yet for love's sake I prefer to appeal to you I Paul an old man and now a prisoner also for Christ Jesus I'm not gonna command you even though I have the authority I'm not gonna shake my fist and say how can you possibly do this is that I'm a prisoner I lost all things for the sake of Christ I'm sitting in prison because of Jesus and now you as Christ has called me now you I appeal to you as a humbled brother in prison would you forgive your brother would you receive him not as a slave but as your brother I appeal to you in the power of the cross that's an appeal to every single one of us in light of what he has done for us forgive your brother forgive your sister in light of what he has done for us that the greatest fruit of his power his cross in us is that we would also be gracious people so I pray that the time that we spend in the book of Philemon that we would not simply learn about well here's a possible here's what slavery looked like in the early church here's what Colossae looked like here's this man of God that behind all of this that you would see a tender loving God who cares for insignificant people that's you that's me and that we would not simply declare his love in our songs but that we can honestly say that we love Jesus that this is a God worth following this is a God worth sacrificing this is a God worth loving and worshiping so I pray that behind all of this that we would fall love fall in love with Christ let's pray I want to encourage you as our worship team comes up and again that we would take time that I know there's there's things that on your mind you have you know work you have paper you have responsibilities but in the midst of all of this that we would take a step back and say Lord I want to love you with all my heart I've drifted away and it's been a long time so I've been impacted by your grace I want to confess my love to you that it would not just be words to take some time to come before the Lord and just confess Lord help me help me to recognize your great love for me that I would have a reasonable response in loving you let's take some time to pray as our worship team leads us (music)