I know nothing but the blood of Jesus. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. That's a short one, which makes me feel like I might just go back to Amazing Love for a while. The splendor of the King. The golden majesty. All the earth rejoice. Loud. Ah, ah. Ah, ah.

I can hear it a bit. I don't like it, but. I can barely hear it. I'd want more monitors, for sure. I'd want more monitors, for sure. But you can't. Is that mic working? A little bit. Oh, now it's on for sure. I think it's too much. It's on too much.

What? Good. The splendor of the King. Did I really come? No, not to sing. Oh, okay. The golden majesty. Let all the earth rejoice. All the earth rejoice. He wraps himself in light. And darkness tries to hide. And trembles at his voice. Oh, trembles at his voice. How great is our God.

And sing with me. How great is our God. Let us all sing how great. And how great is our God. You're the name above all names. Worthy of all praise. And my heart will sing how great is our God. And sing my soul, my Savior God. Maybe one more.

Then I'm going to go back to the fourth. How great is our God. But I'll feel it. So both straight vocals only? You're going to pluck a little? No, I'm going to pluck back into how great our God. Okay. All right. I hope I don't play wrong chords all over the place.

So I was really going to go off feel if I want to go back to -- yeah, sorry, dude. But I mean, but these songs are such like memorable -- yeah, yeah. People know the song. Choruses. Yeah, that's all. Yeah. You might sing here and there. Mic's on, right?

Yeah. It's playing loud. Go back one more time. Mic check. That's pretty loud. Okay. I'm feeling a lot -- I know I'm standing here, but I just get a lot more low end. Can you bring -- just wherever. A little more high end from what's coming out now. Cool.

Then I'll go higher too. I mean -- I'll find my way. As long as it doesn't sound bad. Yeah. It's just -- It's jamming away. It's jamming away. It's just jam time. I love it. All right, everybody. Let's get situated into our tables so that we can pray and begin with time of worship.

Okay. Please bow with me for a word of prayer. Lord, we truly are thankful for you. God, we're grateful for your word and truth that shines light into our lives. We're thankful for your very presence that comforts us and leads us. We do ask, God, that as each one of us, we're trying our best to walk with you daily, trying our best to abide with you.

Lord, would you grant to us genuine experiences where our minds are being renewed, where our affections are being touched, and conviction, Lord, God, is growing. More and more, each time we gather together, we pray for growth in faith. And God, particularly in the arena of just our own hearts, the depth of love, reconciliation, relationships, all these different things we're learning through the Bible study, I pray, God, that by your spirit, you bring remembrance of these things and you'll help us to bear fruit according to your word.

At this time, God, we want to lift up to you our gathered voices. We want to sing of your goodness. We want to sing of your love. And we pray that as we do so, you would be honored. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. Let's sing "I'm Forgiven." And I'm forgiven because you were forsaken.

And I'm accepted. You were condemned. And I'm alive and well. Your spirit is within me. Because you died and rose again. And I'm forgiven because you were forsaken. And I'm accepted. You were condemned. And I'm alive and well. Your spirit is within me. Because you died and rose again.

Amazing love. Amazing love, how can it be? You, my King, would die for me. Amazing love, though I know it's true. It's my joy to honor you. In all I do, I honor you. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again?

Nothing but the blood of Jesus. And, oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make us whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Just voices. Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. The splendor of the King. Clothed in majesty. Let all the earth rejoice. And all the earth rejoice.

He wraps himself in light. And darkness tries to hide. And trembles at His voice. And trembles at His voice. How great is our God. And sing with me. How great is our God. And all will see how great. How great is our God. And age to age He stands.

And time is in His hands. Beginning and the end. Beginning and the end. The Godhead three in one. A Father, Spirit, Son. The Lion and the Lamb. The Lion and the Lamb. How great is our God. And all will sing with me. How great is our God. And all will see how great.

How great is our God. Sing name above. Sing name above all names. You are worthy of all praise. And my heart will sing. How great is our God. You're the name above all names. You are worthy of all praise. Lord my heart will sing. How great is our God.

And sing my soul. My Savior God to Thee. How great Thou art. How great Thou art. And sing my soul. My Savior God to Thee. How great Thou art. How great Thou art. Okay. Well before we go into time of discussion, just one main announcement for this week is that as you know this Sunday we are going to be observing the communion table.

So just as an encouragement, please do set aside some extra time to spend in prayer, confession if needed, and just prepare your heart. Of course it's going to be happening in both services, so just make sure to keep that in your mind. Alright. Please go into your time of discussion.

We'll be back at 8 o'clock. Thank you. Okay, let's have those of you who are in the rooms, please come on out and we'll get started with the passage overview. Thank you God. I ask Lord for your spirit in helping us really glean all that we can. God, you have told us Lord that your scripture is so powerful, it can really even unsettle us down to the very bone.

And God, we want to be such students of your word that we cling to every single word. Would you allow us to see and to perceive just wonderful things from your truth. We thank you God, it's in Christ's name. Amen. Okay, doing that review again of reading, starting from verse 14.

I'll read for us and it says, "But without your consent, I did not want to do anything, so that your goodness would be in effect by compulsion, would not be in effect by compulsion, but of your own free will. Perhaps he was for this reason separated from you for a while, that you would have him back forever.

No longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a beloved brother, especially to me. But how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord." We take a look at our passage today and it says, "If then you regard me as a partner, accept him as you would me.

But if he has wronged you in any way or owes you anything, charge that to my account. I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand. I will repay it. Not to mention to you that you owe to me even your own self as well. Yes, brother, let me benefit from you in the Lord.

Refresh my heart in Christ." Okay, so by way of quick review, in the previous passage from verse 14 through 16, Apostle Paul started to have Philemon look at the sovereign context by which God is working. And just postulated and said, "You know, yes, Onesimus left. Yes, he might have actually taken your possessions or stolen from you, but look what God is doing.

You're separated, but for a temporary short time. But now, because of his salvation, you have him back forever. What's more, he was a slave. But now, he is so much more than a slave. He could very well still be of service to you. He could actually be incredibly useful to you.

But now he is beloved brother in the Lord." Right? So he had Philemon set his eyes upon God. So what's kind of interesting to me is here in our passage, actually, after all of this conversation, he's finally getting to the content of the appeal. If you think about it, Apostle Paul, this is the way I envisioned it.

He had Philemon just do, "Hey, look at this. Look at you and all that you've done. I'm so encouraged. Look at the blessings. Look at the fruit. Look at your reputation." He said, "Hey, look at this. Look at our relationship. Hey, look at this. Look at Onesimus. Hey, look at this." And then he's pointing to even his heart and saying, "I want this to come from your heart." And then in the last passage, he was saying, "Oh, look at this.

Look at what God is doing." And then finally, after 16 verses, he actually uses the word, "I want you to accept him." That's the appeal. Right? So we're here now in verse 17 through 20, and I want to break it down. This passage, in some sense, was difficult to outline in a nice way, because since it's his appeal, I saw four different elements of the appeal.

So what I saw was, in verse 17, is the appeal itself, but it comes with this idea of, "I want you to accept him, but the manner in which you accept him is as though you would accept me." Verse 18 through 19a, he says, "But also, if Onesimus has wronged you in any way, if he owes you anything, I want you to charge that to my account." Strange, right?

And then verse 19, he says, "I, Paul, am writing this with my own words," but then his emphatic point is, "I'm writing this to show you I'm willing to pay." And I almost pictured him like, you know, sometimes you write big, your name's like, "I will pay," and there's like big letters or something like that, to emphasize the fact that my word is good.

You know, I'm going to cover whatever losses you have. And then, what's strange is he says, not to mention, but for sure mentioning, right? "You owe me your whole self." And then verse 20, it's almost as he anticipates a response from Philemon, and he's like, "Yes, you do." He's like, "Yes, brother." And then he says, "Let me benefit from you in the Lord, refresh my heart in Christ." And so he has this encouragement to refresh him.

So if you think about the four different overview of this passage, verse 17 would be the simple statement, "Accept him as you would me," is the exhortation, the appeal. 18, 19 is the emphatic, "I will pay." Okay, verse 19b is, "Remember, you also owe me just about everything." And then verse 20 is, "More than anything, I want you to refresh me in Christ.

Be to me a blessing." That's the challenge and the encouragement that he is laying very heavily on Philemon. Going to point one, we take a look at the, "If then you regard me a partner, accept him as you would me." And it is kind of interesting to think, like, if you regard me a partner?

And that's kind of interesting. Oh, man. Sorry. I wanted to take great bene-- forget it. Okay, as you look through that, you regard me as a partner, right? Obviously, like, is Apostle Paul a partner in the gospel? 100%. Apostle Paul is a messenger of God. He's an apostle. But what's more, to Philemon, he's even much more than that, you know?

To Philemon, he's actually, in many ways, just like Apostle Paul is spiritual father to Onesimus, he is spiritual father to Philemon. So why would Apostle Paul be highlighting this idea of, like, if you regard me as a partner, though, right, of co-worker and labor in the kingdom? And obviously, it kind of points to the idea of what does Apostle Paul really expect of Philemon in the way that Philemon is viewing Onesimus, yes?

That if you truly will accept him, if you really will accept him, it's not going to be as just simply a restored slave, right? There's more than that, much more than that. And then he uses this idea of accept him and some of the other passages then really fulfill or I guess you elaborate on this idea of what does Apostle Paul really want Philemon to do?

It's not to be like, hey, you and me, we good, okay? Maybe how bros would do it nowadays. Like, hey, we good? It's like, we're good, we're good. That just means we buried the hatchet. That is not the kind of forgiveness or the reconciliation the passage is calling for.

Apostle Paul literally is telling him to take him, okay? For those of you guys who looked up the word, since it was the appealing imperative and it was the actual desire of Apostle Paul, we look it up. A lot of the definition entries talk about it more like take him in, take him as your company, take him to yourself, right?

And so what you're doing is you're taking an individual who is a repentant sinner and then potentially then if you're going to regard Apostle Paul as your partner in the gospel, then in many ways you're going far above and beyond saying, oh yeah, we're good. You're seeing this individual as also a partner within the kingdom, okay?

And obviously I want us to think about that because we are challenged all the time. When we see somebody hurt us, it's almost impossible to turn off your brain and be like, you know, I'm not going to judge that person's intent. I'm not going to judge that person's character.

I'm going to give him the benefit of doubt, even though you see that person scheming. Perhaps an individual lied to you. Perhaps an individual actually duped you, right? How do you not judge their character? And therefore our minds naturally run into, I don't have confidence in this person to be that kind of partner.

I don't have that kind of trust in this person to be that kind of co-laborer, right? And so I'm going to ask you to discuss that. How do you go from our natural tendency where we actually are, and some of you who are very quick, you're actually really keen on judging character.

How do we go from that to practicing this? Okay. What's more, I really think we should meditate on this idea of the accept him as you would me. Clearly the accepting is going to be a great challenge to us and whatever we're accustomed to. But taking it another step further, he says, as you would accept me.

And my initial reaction to that was, huh, can he do that? Can he just challenge Philemon to accept this runaway slave as though he would accept this great grand missionary, this great grand apostle? And then obviously there's the next question, can I do that? If I'm playing mediator, if I'm trying to counsel two people, husband and wife maybe, they're fighting each other.

And I say, hey, hey, just forgive your husband and accept him like you would me. And what effect would that have? The wife would just look at me as like, what are you trying to do? You're not all that anyway. Like what would that do really? It makes you wonder.

But I realize it's not so much because Apostle Paul thinks so great of himself, but just simply in his love for his spiritual son, he's just advocating for his son with everything he's got. That's what's happening, right? In our group, one of the things that interestingly we talked about is like, remember, Apostle Paul is not Jesus.

And recently on Sunday sermons, we've been reminded as a matter of fact, right, there are a lot of things wrong with the apostles because they make errors in judgment. They're not all knowing. They're not perfect like Christ. So what is Apostle Paul doing? You know, Apostle Paul has mistakes too, post conversion.

But in thinking about this then, what's happening here? Well, one of the things that we want to ask then is does Jesus do this? And the answer is absolutely. What's really interesting is this principle of as you would me, right, advocating for somebody. Jesus says in Matthew chapter 10, he who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives him who sent me.

He who receives a prophet in the name of the prophet shall receive a prophet's reward. And he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward. And whoever in the name of his disciples gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward.

What you have in this passage is not Jesus so much saying that like, I am the child, I am the little one. Rather what he's saying is you understand I have such a vested interest in my prophet that as you would honor me, same goes to the individual. You're treating this individual as my representative, right?

But what's more, he uses this idea of reward as I have such vested interest in this person. Don't you think that if you treat this little one well that I would be the one to reward you? That's the question. And I thought, dang. You know really there's a kind of love that supersedes just brotherhood to family.

To almost parent and child relationship like we mentioned before. And so Apostle Paul is sitting there thinking not so much that like, I am him, that kind of thing. But maybe in this way, don't you think that I have such vested interest, I'm advocating for him with everything I've got.

Well there's actually other elements of this in other passages. Matthew 18, it says whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea.

Again this idea of don't you think that if you mess with my little one, the one I love, then I would be also after you. Here's another passage. Matthew 25, then they themselves also will answer, Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked and sick or in prison and did not take care of you?

Then he will answer them, truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me. And so I think one of the ways that I want to think about this is give you the example of parent to child.

There was a time just people kind of messing around and talking and stuff like that. And you'll notice when parents start hanging out with each other and then they just share stories and they laugh, etc. about their kids. There may be a time when an individual is a bit careless and starts to criticize like, oh, this kid is such a brat.

And everybody laughs. And then there's more. More stories come out. It's like, oh, you know what that one kid did? Little Mark, little Marky Mark when he was this age, he did this. And then they start sharing stories and stories, etc., etc. Now, in a lot of times, that's just good fun, just sharing stories.

It's joking. Ha ha ha. But then you would realize if that's done in a senseless way, who's hurt the most? The child? The child, stuff like that will roll off his back. He doesn't care. But who does it hurt the most? The parent who hears. Right? If there's any criticism, any kind of mockery, any kind of like, yeah, such a bad boy, right, who's the one who hurts?

The parent. And so in that way, I think what Apostle Paul here is really talking about is both, yes, his advocacy, the incredible depth of his love, but then also in the previous passages, we did hear him talk about, I am sending you my very heart. Right? This is his son in the spirit.

And so those are just things to consider when we highlight this idea of accept him like you would me. Okay. So wrapping that portion up, I thought it was an important one. And I wanted to also then move towards the next important one, which is the previous to that, not the you owe me.

Huh. It's gone. Okay. So coming back to this, we'll just stay here. Verse 18 through 19. But if he has wronged you in any way or owes you anything, charge that to my account. And I, Paul, I'm writing this on my with my own hand and I will repay you.

Right. So when you take a look at this again, it's really kind of interesting. Like, wow, Apostle Paul is going to great lengths and clearly the length that he's going here is that he would make a sacrificial payment for Onesimus. Okay. And immediately when we think about that, I want to highlight a passage to you is we can't help but just immediately go to this is just like such a corollary to the gospel message of Christ does for us.

First and foremost, sorry about this, guys. In 1st John, chapter 2, verse 1 through 3, when we think about this whole like you would to me, we just highlighted the fact that what Christ has done for us is that very thing. He is our advocate. And so in 1st John 2, it says, "My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.

And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. And he himself is a propitiation for sins. And not ours only, but also those of the whole world. By this we know that we have come to know him if we keep his commandments." Okay.

Well, likewise, when we think about this idea of sacrificial payment that Apostle Paul is making, doesn't it just highlight the idea that Christ to us has become the one who has borne our wounds? The iniquity of us all has been upon him and a certificate of debt and all that we owe has been laid at the cross.

Okay. So when I think about this, I wanted to like highlight the fact that what's pretty incredible is Apostle Paul for some reason emphasizes the fact that most certainly you can count on me to pay this. Okay. And part of the reason why I say that's pretty interesting is because you can imagine the conversation between the two.

If Apostle Paul says, "Yes, you know, I am the one who brought you to faith, etc., etc., let me pay for this." I pictured essentially kind of seeing where you're at a restaurant and trying to fight over the bill. Right. There's no way if Apostle Paul says, "I'm going to get this." Right.

That Philemon being perhaps a wealthy person is like, "Yeah, you should." You know, like he's not going to sit there and be like, "Yeah, can you do it? Because I was really, really sore about that." No. Right. So we kind of wonder like why does Apostle Paul nevertheless push that and say, "You can count on me.

I write this in my own writing. My word is good. I will pay." Right. And one of the things I want to highlight is just to really appreciate our Savior Jesus Christ is whenever there's an offense or infraction, whenever there's some kind of hurt, it would be great if all that we needed was, "You know, my bad.

I'm sorry." But we know that's not the case. There is always an individual, a party that has to absorb the cost. Right. We think and remember this idea. It's like could we with all our tears and like, "Oh, my goodness. My eyes are open, God. I'm so sorry. You have no idea how sorry I am." Could that have stayed the hand of God in His judgment?

Right. In His righteous retribution? If all the people joined together in unison and said, "Please," could that have alone just caused God to say, "You know what? That was loud enough. That's what I wanted to see." No. There's still a cost. And so in that way, there's this reality that even within the two-party relationship, et cetera, part of the thing for us is because of Christ, we Christians, we are able to absorb.

Right. We're able to essentially pay the cost of the infraction because of Christ. And I want to highlight that to just deepen our appreciation. With the Lord, we remember this idea. It's like, yes, He is merciful. He is kind. He is patient. And then the absolute necessity of payment.

Okay. Moving forward. Look at that. Here it is. Okay. Let's see. We're going to go forward to the next one. You know, this is all messed up. But let's go to the whole idea of mentioning your debt. So this is the third one. Okay. Number three was mentioning the debt and saying not to mention to you that you owe me even for yourself as well.

I actually want you guys to take time discussing. And I'm guessing you guys probably asked it and just asked like, "Hey, is it okay for us to be motivated by a sense of debt?" Yes. You know, there have been a lot of great authors who have said, "Listen, we should be motivated by gospel truth.

When I see the loveliness of Christ, that should be inspiring me to do whatever I'm thinking I should do." However, if we have any kind of sentiment that's like, "Oh, man, like I really need to pay back," that could potentially be a debtor's ethic that's not good for you.

Okay. Well, here in this passage, though, it literally says, "But you owe me yourself." Right. So what is that? And in what scenarios and what context is that appropriate? And I want to highlight this fact that clearly there are situations where if you don't feel a level of "I ought to," then there could be actually something that is amiss with you.

Why? Because so many times throughout the scriptures, there are instances when God himself would say, "Look at these people." "I straight up nourished them when they were sick. I walked them by the hand. I washed them when they were dirty, and they're thankless." We owe such a debt of gratitude-based minimum.

Right. But from that, though, you guys can discuss amongst yourselves how to think of this idea of, "Should I in any way be motivated by a kind of 'I ought and I owe because of the grace I received?'" Definitely, I mean, we're challenged to think that every single one of us is actually indebted in some way or form.

Whether just simply to your parents, no matter how good or bad, that we owe this incredible debt of gratitude, bare minimum, incredible debt of honor. And actually, that's the passage that I had up here from Romans. Romans 13, where it says, "Render to all what is due them, tax to whom taxes due, custom to whom custom.

Fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor. Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another." When you think about that, though, it even highlights this idea of the intangible, not just taxes and money, but honor and respect. So, the last part of it was here with the encouragement to refresh.

And I want to just wrap this up by saying, Apostle Paul looks at Philemon and says, "With all of these things I'm laying on you, I want you most of all just to be a blessing." Right? "I want you to be of benefit and of refreshment to me." And I want us to take a moment to think about that because that will challenge the way that we're making our decisions.

There are going to be so many things in our lives where, by the law of Christ, we just better do. Otherwise, it's disobedience. There are things, by the wisdom of Christ, we better do. Otherwise, it's just utter foolishness. But there are also things that should be free-flowing grace and giving from our hearts.

And we talked about that. Because why? God delights in a cheerful giver. And so, sometimes when we're making decisions, the question shouldn't be, it should not be, "What does God specifically expect of me right now? What's his law? What's his instruction?" The question we should be asking is, "What option, what path, what decision refreshes the heart of my God?" Right?

Those are two very different questions. If you ask, "What do I have to do?" versus, "What brings pleasure and joy to my God?" And likewise, it would be the same. Apostle Paul is giving instruction clearly, and he's using so many different lines of argumentation to bring Philemon to a place of his own brokenness and forgiveness of Onesimus.

And Apostle Paul says, "I want you to think of this decision as how to refresh the saints and even me." So, by way of just summary, this appeal to accept Onesimus, it included a very Christ-like advocacy in Paul's love for Onesimus. It included a sacrificial payment in which Paul was willing to essentially put a guarantee down, right, for somebody else.

It included Apostle Paul talking about Philemon's debt of love and a goal and desire for Philemon to be more than somebody who just did the right thing, but to be somebody who is an absolute blessing to the saints. Let's pray. Lord, for us, God, we pray that all of the examples we see in Scripture would be inspirational to us.

God, I pray that we would go above and beyond what is simply required, so that, Lord, from our own volition, and yes, God, from our own heart and joy, God, you would be pleased by us going above and beyond just simply the call of duty. I do pray that in the way that we show grace, God, teach us to treat people far above what they deserve, because, God, you have lavished us with love far and above what we deserve.

So, God, we thank you and praise you. It's in Christ's name. Amen. Okay, so with next week being the very last week, we're going to be studying verses 21 through 25. Please make sure you try to review the entirety of the chapter, and then I'm going to, when we come back, try and do like an audience participation, like, this segment was this, this segment was that, and I may just randomly call on some people, okay?

Now, I'm kidding, I'm kidding. The next thing is, like I mentioned last week, just so that this group, our Wednesday group, we're going to be able to prepare for our next session well, I wanted to take sign-ups prior to it actually ending, so that you're here thinking about it.

You can go directly on your computers or phones to this link, or as you guys exit, we have some QR codes right by the entry, and you can just take a snapshot of that, go home, and sign up for it, okay? The sign-up link, for those of you guys who may be trying to transfer into a home group, use this sign-up link to do that.

We have to do a lot more filtering and placement for home groups, and so anybody who is doing home groups already, they're going to just recommit with their home group leader, but anybody who's new has to do the sign-up sheet, okay? All right, so then the discussion questions for tonight are, you know, do you think trust and confidence in someone's character is required to treat them well?

Let's meditate on how to treat someone much better than they deserve, and what's the key to doing that. Number two, please explain, is it okay to forgive somebody, but not want much to do with him afterwards? I mean, is it always the case, every time, it's like, no, you have to just embrace him with open arms, let them come into your home, eat your food, and become best friends, or are there contexts and situations where, you know, you can resolve, but go your separate way, et cetera?

Number three, how would our sacrifice and reconciliation be different if we were asking not, you know, like, what do I have to do, but instead we're asking what refreshes God? Number four, who do you feel personally a debt of love towards, you know? When were times that you felt so grateful you wanted to repay for somebody?

This is an opportunity to just thank your small group leader and show them-- I'm just kidding. I'm kidding, I'm kidding. All right, so that's it from slides for me. All right, guys, you guys can go to your discussion groups to wrap up.