Hello, hello. All right. So it is 7 o'clock. I know you guys are having end of the year party. Each individual is at the table. What we'll do is just give a minute for people to get situated, especially if you're in the rooms, please come on out. And then we'll pray to get started with some worship, OK?

OK. Well, please join with me in a word of prayer. Lord God, from our hearts, we do want to lift up our heart of gratitude and thankfulness to you. God, we are so grateful that truly beyond what we deserve, you grant to us much of your attention, care, instruction, and love.

And God, also, we are grateful that we're able to come together to join our hearts in the fellowship around your word, and then also to worship together. And we know that this is a true privilege for us. And so we're grateful also that you cause it to be fruitful.

Lord, I do pray that in the midweek, in the busyness of our schedules, in the busyness of our workplaces and schools, we want to take time to devote to you. And so Lord, with the devotion of this time and singing, giving you our attention from your word, all be glorifying and exalting to you.

We thank you God in Christ's name. Amen. (soft guitar music) From the ends of the earth... ♪ From the ends of the earth, from the ends of the earth ♪ ♪ From the depths of the sea, ♪ ♪ From the depths of the sea ♪ ♪ From the heights of the heavens, ♪ ♪ From the heights of the heavens ♪ ♪ Your name be praised ♪ ♪ From the hearts of the weak, ♪ ♪ The hearts of the weak ♪ ♪ From the shouts of the strong, ♪ ♪ From the shouts of the strong ♪ ♪ From the lips of all people, ♪ ♪ From the lips of all people ♪ ♪ This song will raise, Lord ♪ ♪ Throughout the endless ages ♪ ♪ You will be crowned with praises, Lord ♪ ♪ Most high ♪ ♪ Exalted in every nation ♪ ♪ Sovereign of all creation, Lord ♪ ♪ Oh, God, be magnified ♪ From the ends, ♪ From the ends of the earth ♪ ♪ From the depths of the sea ♪ ♪ From the heights of the heavens ♪ ♪ Your name be praised ♪ ♪ From the hearts of the weak ♪ ♪ From the shouts of the strong ♪ ♪ From the lips of all people ♪ ♪ This song we raise, Lord ♪ ♪ Throughout the endless ages ♪ ♪ You will be crowned with praises, Lord ♪ ♪ Host High ♪ ♪ Exalted in every nation ♪ ♪ Sovereign of all creation, Lord ♪ ♪ Host High ♪ ♪ Throughout the endless ages ♪ ♪ You will be crowned with praises, Lord ♪ ♪ Host High ♪ ♪ Exalted in every nation ♪ ♪ Sovereign of all creation, Lord ♪ ♪ Host High ♪ ♪ Be magnified ♪ ♪ Be magnified ♪ The mystery of the cross.

♪ The mystery of the cross I cannot comprehend ♪ ♪ The agonies of Calvary ♪ ♪ You, the perfect Holy One, crushed your son ♪ ♪ Who drank the bitter cup reserved for me ♪ ♪ Your blood has washed away my sin ♪ ♪ Jesus, thank you ♪ ♪ The Father's wrath completely satisfied ♪ ♪ Jesus, thank you ♪ ♪ Once your enemy, now seated at your table ♪ ♪ Jesus, thank you ♪ ♪ Thank you ♪ By your perfect sacrifice.

♪ By your perfect sacrifice I've been brought near ♪ ♪ Your enemy, you've made your friends ♪ ♪ Pouring out the riches of your glorious grace ♪ ♪ Your mercy and your kindness, no, no ♪ ♪ And your blood ♪ ♪ Your blood has washed away my sin ♪ ♪ Jesus, thank you ♪ ♪ The Father's wrath completely satisfied ♪ ♪ Jesus, thank you ♪ ♪ Once your enemy, now seated at your table ♪ ♪ Jesus, thank you ♪ Lover of my soul.

♪ Lover of my soul ♪ ♪ I want to live for you ♪ ♪ Lover of my soul ♪ ♪ I want to live for you ♪ ♪ Lover of my soul ♪ ♪ I want to live for you ♪ ♪ Lover of my soul ♪ ♪ I want to live for you ♪ ♪ Your blood has washed away my sin ♪ ♪ Jesus, thank you ♪ ♪ The Father's wrath completely satisfied ♪ ♪ Jesus, thank you ♪ ♪ Your blood has washed away my sin ♪ ♪ Jesus, thank you ♪ ♪ The Father's wrath completely satisfied ♪ ♪ Jesus, thank you ♪ ♪ Once your enemy, now seated at your table ♪ ♪ Jesus, thank you ♪ - Amen.

For a few announcements for all of us, this weekend on Sunday, for those of you who have missed the child safety training, there's gonna be a second session. It's gonna happen 1 p.m. at the upstairs Sprouts Room. And so if you're able, please make sure you sign up for that first.

As you guys know, the mandatory training is for anybody who desires to volunteer with children in either VBS or in any kind of extended context. We want people to be trained. So if you have never gotten trained before, please make sure you sign up for that. The second thing I wanna push is, today will be the last sign up for the BAM ministry.

We're trying to do what's called Summertime Koinonia Groups, where the main goal really is to be able to connect with each other, share prayer requests, talk about important topics, and then in that way, get connected. So it's gonna be three different meetings, and we're gonna divide people up into different homes.

And so for the summertime, it'll just be once a month. If you're interested in participating in that, please make sure to sign up today, okay? All right, well, please go ahead and enjoy your lovely snacks that you guys brought for today and then have great discussion and we'll be back here at eight.

Thanks. 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chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) All right, for those of you guys in the rooms, if you guys would make your way on out, I'm gonna go ahead and start our review of the passage and do our final review of the Book of Philemon.

Just, I'm starting about five minutes earlier. But take a moment to get situated. For those of you guys in the room, if you would make your way out, we'll go ahead and start the review. (audience chattering) Okay. Today we're gonna do some review time, and then I'm also gonna be awarding some points for those of you guys who raise your hand and answer some questions.

I'll throw up an easy one while people get situated. Who can guess what this photo is or make out what this photo is? You all have the look of confused, bewilderment on your face. It's actually, I looked up a band of brothers, and then it's actually a bunch of people hugging each other, okay?

And the reason why is because as the book is ending, there is actually a lot of just love, a lot of encouragement, confidence, and almost you could say even a host of witnesses, host of fellow workers, fellow brothers. And that's the feeling that I got, you know? And so there you go.

It's an awesome photo. Let me read us the passage for this evening. Verses 21 through 25, you guys have been discussing all night already. And it says, "Having confidence in your obedience, I write to you, since I know that you will do even more than what I say. At the same time, also prepare me a lodging, for I hope that through your prayers, I will be given to you.

Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, greets you, as do Mark, Aristocras, Demas, Luke, my fellow workers. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit." Okay, as we take a look at this passage, we have outline. As you guys well know, I really, really enjoy seeing things in outlines to break up various portions of the text.

Here, we clearly have Apostle Paul saying, "I'm writing to you primarily because I know, I know you're going to be able to do it." What confidence Apostle Paul has, you know, over Philemon's character, over his ability, and ultimately though, what confidence he has in the spirit that's moving in Philemon.

Verse 22, "At the same time, also prepare me a lodging." So, you have this portion here, Apostle Paul is intent on, but also is predicting, I'm going to visit you in person, okay? I'm going to check in on you. Verse 23 and 24 has this long list of fellow workers, co-labors in the kingdom, okay?

These men, and then I hope you guys have just the time to look up a few of them, 'cause I think it was really interesting. And then finally, closing grace, and is it just maybe familiar pattern as any other letter, but also always encouragement that the grace of our Lord will be with you, okay, no matter what.

So, as way of quick overview, what we have are four verses that you can summarize in this fashion, just using the text that's existent there. Having confidence, having hope to visit, greetings from fellow workers, and closing grace. But, another way to see it is not just good wishes, or earlier when I started, I said, it's ending with just so much love and care, right?

That I have this trust, I have this faith in you, but also the greetings of the brothers are with you. Another way to look at it is, that each one of those things are even further added weight and motive and encouragement to do what he needs to do. To do and carry out this gospel motivated desire to forgive.

And one is, yes, there is great trust, right? If I'm looking at someone like a coach saying, you know, I need you to take this last shot, to trust you, because already he's been trusted with much. Already he's involved with ministry in so many ways. And what's more, what motive, right?

If let's say, you just imagine that you're a parent and you tell your children, you two, I need you to work this out. I need you to talk to each other and get done. I'm gonna check on you by the end of the day, okay? It's another form of motive.

The witnesses around us, the fellow laborers and workers, isn't that another form of motive? And Christ's empowerment being the ultimate one, that Christ is the one working in your soul, producing the fruit. Even if you feel like, I don't know if I can do it, right? There's too much anger and bitterness.

I don't know if I can reconcile with such and such person. Ultimately, our true motive is gonna come from Christ being with us, right? How can I abide in the Lord when I don't do this, okay? So this is quick overview. First portion, verse 21, let's talk about this idea of having confidence.

And I just mentioned again that, you know, one can imagine Apostle Paul talking like a coach, you know? Are we to imagine this portion just the same way we would imagine these epic movies? You know, it's the underdog, it's unlikely scenario, but there's this true belief that you can do it, you know?

If we are we allowed to say those kinds of things, sometimes I wonder and think about that. Or conversely, I think on a flip side of that, not just simply believing in somebody, but conversely, we sometimes, a lot of us are pessimists. That when we look at the natural way that people react to hard situations, I think about instances where people have been at odds, think about instances where there's relationship strife.

Do we have a lot of pessimism that this could all work? And I think a lot about actually when people share about their families, especially if they're long held traditions in their family, deeply held cultural differences in the family, and then they'll tell me, yeah, that would never work, right?

Because in your mind, you've already said, there's no hope for that. Now, I don't wanna discount the things we know, the things we've experienced, and the things that, you know, that have been like the typical circumstances within our family, et cetera. But what I'm talking about is, here, Apostle Paul is challenging Philemon to do something so that we don't forget, the chasm is huge.

The kind of chasm that you and I can't fully experience or empathize with if an individual is a master over somebody, and the person who has disrespected, offended, and then transgressed you is your slave, right? And so we began, actually, in the early portion of the overview of this book, this is truly, actually, an unlikely scenario.

In some sense, from a human standpoint, we would say an impossible scenario. But rather than being pessimistic, Apostle Paul here is being not just optimistic, but hopeful, truly hopeful. And what's more, something to observe within this passage is I find it strange that he's saying, I am writing to you this lengthy letter, primarily because I have this confidence and hope in you.

Yes? Since I know that you will do even more. Naturally, someone should be asking the question, wait a minute, if you have such confidence, such a heavy, like, dude, you're gonna be able to do this, and beyond even what I say, you're gonna be able to do it, then why would you even write this long, exhaustive, like, you know, 15-point letter, you know?

What's really interesting about it, I think, is there is this operating principle within Scripture where even Jesus says to he who has already, more will be given. But to him who doesn't have, even what he has will be taken away, right? And that strange principle is this idea, when an individual, their heart's already open to the blessings of God, not the earth's blessings, not his own plans, but the glories and the blessings of God, God tends to give more, more of his will, more of his good pleasure, more of the opportunities to experience his blessing.

Philemon, by taking these steps that Apostle Paul is going to say, is going to experience a kind of redemptive relationship, he's going to experience a different kind of fruitfulness in his life, and he's gonna be an inspiration to the brothers and sisters around him. And God's gonna use him in ways that far exceed his expectation, because he's gonna be used as a case example for all of us through time, right?

And in that way, there's this idea of possibly, because of Philemon's already open heart and obedient heart, Apostle Paul is just laying more and more of his heart's wish and desire and wisdom. A passage similar to that comes from 2 Corinthians chapter two, where Apostle Paul is talking to the church and says, "But I determined this for my own sake, "that I would not come to you in sorrow again, "for if I cause you sorrow, who then makes me glad "but the one whom I made sorrowful?

"This is the very thing I wrote to you, "so that when I come, oh sorry, when I came, "I would not have sorrow from those "who ought to make me rejoice, "having confidence in you all, "that my joy would be the joy of you all. "For out of much affliction and anguish of heart, "I wrote to you with many tears, "not so that you would be made sorrowful, "but that you might know the love "which I have especially for you." So, as I think and meditate about this very first verse that we looked at, I again wanna say, what I hear here when Apostle Paul is saying, I have such confidence in you, and then he lays on this thick instruction, lays on multiple reasons and argumentation, I realize, man, this book is all, not all, but has so much love and intentionality to it from all the different perspectives.

And that's what I'm gonna ask you later on to meditate on, is we have different perspectives of, and directions in which love should go, okay? All right, and then so, next we have, verse 22, he says here, "At the same time, also prepare me a lodging, "for I hope that through your prayers, "I will be given to you." One, as an extension of verse 21, think about how much just love and care, as a theme that I mentioned throughout the study, I said, man, as an individual that kinda has struggled to retain relationships since I was young, I don't know about some of you guys, but if, when I went from high school to college, a lot of those relationships were lost.

Now, I had become Christian at the end of that high school season. When I went from college to young adult life, just because of change of stage of life, a lot of those relationships were lost, right? And then, when life gets really busy, and then you start having children, and more things gets added to your plate, actually your pool of friends just start to shrink, yeah?

Apostle Paul, I keep telling myself, the guy is human. He's not a machine, and he's not like the Holy Spirit that's everywhere, right? But clearly, because of the burden of love on his heart, even while he's in prison, he's writing, he's thinking, he's considering, and even to this very precise, I guess you can say, not just precise, but intimate level of two individuals within the church, he still has that kinda care.

So that's an extension of that. But the other part is, his longing and desire to see people face to face, in an age and generation when that kind of travel is difficult, that's inspiring. Why? For us, in an age and generation where we can hop in our car, drive to someone's house in 15 minutes, a lot of us prefer to be distant.

We prefer, you just text me what you need, right? Just email me, let's get on a phone call, et cetera, et cetera. It's funny how that works, right? Kind of ironic that we have now such an ability to connect, but then nowadays when people say, oh yeah, we have great, great privileges to connect with one another, and the way that we're thinking about it is online, right?

To him, the letter was not enough. Messages from friends was not enough. Reports from his fellow workers was not enough. He had his heart to visit, okay? Next. In verse 23 to 24, here we have this interesting passage with the various individuals, right? So, in my mind I was thinking, part of the reason why I highlighted the people hugging each other in the first thing was, as you guys know, our hope and prayer at our church is that you, primarily, signed off on a membership covenant that you would be the carrier of the gospel and that you would be the light to the world, yes?

You are going to be the carrier of the gospel to your coworkers and you're going to be the carrier of the gospel to your family, your classmates, et cetera. You as individuals, we are all individual members doing the work of ministry, okay? And then by doing that, you're the inspiration that shows other members it can be done, yes?

Our church, a lot of times, will have our leadership meeting and will say, guys, how many times have we actually done prayer seminars, evangelism seminars, and teaching sessions? A lot. Do we need another one to motivate people to move? And the answer is, sometimes, no. We need to just take people with us.

We need to just show you how it's done, what to do in certain scenarios, and just simply getting over the hump that it can be done is the biggest part of the game, right? But likewise in this, where Apostle Paul is challenging Philemon to forgive, to reconcile, and more specifically in the book, to accept, yeah?

What's really interesting is, number one, Epaphras, as you guys, if you search him up, his name comes up several times in the book of Colossians. So Philemon and Epaphras probably know each other quite well, right? Because they're laboring in the same arena, they're both faithful servants of the kingdom, and so for Philemon, what a big weight of accountability.

It's like, okay, Apostle Paul mentioned the guy that I work with. That is that kind of feeling almost, right? But what's more, you see this name, Mark. The individual Mark has a strange and interesting relationship with the Apostle Paul. As a matter of fact, actually, the person Mark has both kind of comedic and funny instances throughout the Gospels even.

It may not be the exact same individual, but in the Gospel of Mark, it records an individual who, at the face of persecution, ran away naked. A lot of people think it was Mark. Why? Because there were other instances when in the face of persecution, when time got hard, Mark ran away.

I just pick a bad name, okay? The story goes that Apostle Paul, on his missionary journey, had Mark follow when Apostle Paul took Barnabas because Mark was Barnabas' cousin. When times got tough, Mark actually abandoned the two and went back to Jerusalem. The second missionary journey, Apostle Paul says, "We're not taking Mark." Barnabas is like, "No, we should.

"He can be helpful." And the two actually fight over Mark so much so, Barnabas and Paul had to go separate ways. Mark was a source of contention, yeah? So then what's really interesting about this story is, Apostle Paul is challenging Philemon, but Paul himself experienced being separated for some time, but later to have Mark come back and become useful.

Thankfully, later in the letter of 2 Timothy, Apostle Paul actually requests Mark to come. Why? Because Mark proved himself to be useful. Yes, okay? Redemption, right? Mark proved himself to be useful. So, you think about this then, all of these guys, they've actually either been imprisoned with Apostle Paul, right?

You look at the book of Acts and these individuals, when there was a riot in Ephesus, they got arrested with Apostle Paul. These individuals all went through the various lumps and bruises of ministry. And through that, even, yes, betrayal, yes, abandonment, Apostle Paul is gonna say persevere, and then this cloud of witnesses, I believe, is a huge indirect source of an encouragement to Philemon.

We're all in this doing God's work together. And so, finally, there is the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, be with your spirit as the encouragement to do all things, which is, I remember this idea that in order, obviously, to abide with Christ and to dwell with him in such a way, there can never be this quieting of the conscience, right?

And so this I wanna give as an encouragement and also challenge to say, for us, intimacy with Christ and the ability to walk with him daily is the precious price, right? Nothing else is supposed to be as rewarding, fulfilling, and secure and hopeful as abiding in Christ, yes? However, if we ever, and if any of you guys are struggling with reconciling with someone in the church, someone who's a fellow believer, if you ever quiet the conviction and say, I'm just gonna not talk to this person, I'm just gonna cross different sides of the road, et cetera, et cetera, there is no way that kind of intimacy and daily walking with Christ is going to happen.

Treasure that so much that you will not let that temptation reside, amen? Okay, so then I wanna do review with you guys that in this last portion, then potentially, Apostle Paul added several various layers of persuasion as to why Philemon needed to accept and forgive and reconcile with Onesimus.

As a summary and review of the letter, okay? Verses one through two was Apostle Paul, you know, greetings with Timothy and then addressing various people in the church, and then verse three through seven was the first major significant section highlighting encouragement, appreciation, and prayer for Philemon, okay? So, bum-ba-da-bum, 10 points for whoever can fill in the blank, okay?

I pray that the fellowship of your faith may become, okay, I see a person, Danielle, why don't you say it out loud? Okay, sorry. What? Effective, good job, 10 points. (laughing) Oh, nice, nice, okay. And the reason why we say this is because if you're thinking of like kinda key verse, that was the first way when I did my overview study through the book of Philemon.

Apostle Paul desires, Jesus Christ desires, God desires our faith to be effective, and what more empowerment than for us who has received forgiveness, right, to put into effect the kind of mercy that we received? So if you actually think about it, one of the ways that I was thinking about this book was Onesimus, his faith needs to have an effect in his repentance and walk, right?

Philemon, he has to exercise his faith in the acceptance of a repentant sinner. Apostle Paul is exercising his faith essentially being a Christ-like figure of one who is, remember, an advocate, remember, a payer, a person who carries the burden of somebody else's sin on his back. This book is about actually effective faith, and that was the prayer that Philemon gave, I mean, sorry, Apostle Paul gave for Philemon, okay?

And so in the encouragement, in the encouragement and affirmation of Philemon, he was saying, you are actually already effective. You're giving me joy, your love for all the saints, and Jesus Christ is already told. And then it says, the hearts of the saints have been, blank, through you, brother.

Refreshed, excellent, okay, 10 points for you guys, right? That the people were refreshed already by the faith, and one of the things I highlighted and challenged to you, that is a different mentality. As a point of challenge to you guys and for me, it's one thing to ask, what does the Lord require of me?

It's another thing to ask, what is the Lord refreshed by? And it is okay for us, even when we think about people in our lives, people who are our bosses, your parents, your friends, people who rely on you. It is a different question to ask, wait, what's fair of you to expect of me?

Is that too much pressure? Versus you thinking, how can I refresh you, yes? All right, refreshed, next. So in this first half, what you have is there's greeting, there's encouragement, and then Apostle Paul explaining why this appeal is coming to Philemon in this way. And so, in verses eight through 10, he starts to describe, you know, I do have confidence in Christ, just to order you to do what's right, but for blank blank, I rather appeal to you.

Two words, for 20 points. Someone in the back, raise your hand. Yes. Marta. Excellent, for love's sake, I rather appeal to you, okay? And so in this way, if you were to do like a summary of this book, I do think, yeah, you know, this book actually is one of the more lovely, it's not necessarily correcting like, oh, you've got the sin of lust and the flesh and the worldliness, right?

This is actually like, I want you to go above and beyond to really know what it means to love deeply. And Apostle Paul's love for both parties shines, doesn't it? I almost keep thinking like, this is not a normal person, right? The kind of love that a person has for another individual to just, like in such endearing fashion, one person who's a grown adult to love another person who's a grown adult in that way, okay?

And then there was the theme that this love is not going to be of compulsion, but it's gonna be consenting, it's gonna be of its own goodness and free will. Next, in the second half, now it goes boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, and the persuasions get listed off, and he starts talking about just the weight of his character that he's now the age, the prisoner of Christ, and then he highlights Onesimus, bum, ba-da-bum, for 40 points, 'cause there's four blanks.

It says, "I appeal to you for my blank, Onesimus, "whom I have begotten in my imprisonment, "who formerly was blank." Okay, wait, wait, who wants to raise their hand and do it? Yes, go for it. - My son, useless to you, now he's useful, and very hard. - And very hard, excellent.

I'm gonna give you 3.5, 'cause the NASB translation says child. (laughing) Good job, good job. Okay, so when we think about this passage, and he starts talking about his child, I just really feel like, again, I think I mentioned in the lesson that it's not commonplace for us to talk about other people as useful, and then for that to sound really encouraging.

But remember, the way that Apostle Paul was loving on Onesimus was to say, not just like, oh, yeah, yeah, before he was just this useless, just dead weight, but now we can use him for something. Remember, Apostle Paul's saying that was to say, actually, I want to keep him, right?

That his heart was to have him with him, and that was his heart, and in that way, his heart was pure in what he was doing. It's not as though he's sending him off, like, it's not my problem, it's your problem, right? He was saying, no, I want you to keep Onesimus.

Okay, so then, he started to talk about Onesimus in this way, and then he talked about, in verse 14, again, that this has to be of your own free will, so I don't want to do anything without your consent, and then he pointed Philemon's eyes and says, why you need to accept him is because you see there are greater results at hand, primarily, because you need to understand how God is working, right?

One of the primary things that needs to happen in our mind to overcome our flesh and to overcome our calculating, our predictive and self-defensive ways is to always look out and see, how is God working? That as much as this is gonna cost me, burden me, and be an inconvenience to me, my God's sovereign in this.

And it's gonna empower us to do things like accepting a whole individual, right? So then, he says, in verse 16, no longer a slave, but more than a slave, eh, blank, blank, and everybody said? Beloved brother, amen. Okay, so when we think about that, I thought that was so beautiful, the contrast, when he said, you know, he was separated, but now you have him back forever.

And the contrast is, he was a slave, but now he's a beloved brother. You have a connection that you did not have before, and it's not just minor. It makes entirety, the entirety of difference. We believe that when, let's say right now, there's a whole lot of like cultural divide, there's a whole lot of political divide, ideological divide, divide on agenda, all this stuff, right?

We believe as Christians, yes, we can talk it out, hash it out, and we can talk about which system is better, which ideology is proven to be more effective, all that stuff, but that will never produce what we're hoping for, because what we're hoping for is true unity, and that can only come in Christ, in Christ's redemption, amen?

So, in wrapping things up, from this, Apostle Paul just goes boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, and he starts talking about, I want you to see him like you see me, right? Accept him as you would me, and then he starts saying, I'll pay for it, you know, I'll, if he has, owes you anything, I'll pay, and he looks it over at Philemon and says, but remember also, I'm not gonna say it, but I'm saying now, you owe me your life, right?

It's crazy, and then, in verse 20, he says, refresh my heart, let me benefit from you, and then, with what we studied today, I have confidence that you could do even more, and I'll be visiting, just to check. I'm just kidding, I don't think that he said it that way, but he said, I'm coming, right?

He said, I'm gonna be coming to you, and I really wanna be with you, and he points to, look at all the fellow workers, suffering alongside you, right? Bearing the burdens of loving the flock, and Philemon was already entrusted, he has a flock in his house, and it was so necessary, it was so necessary for Philemon to exercise this case point, you know?

Object lesson of the gospel, to receive a repentant sinner, who humbly came with a letter, right? If Philemon could embrace and accept him, what a beautiful show of the redemptive work that Christ can do, amen? Okay, so, by way of conclusion, one of the things I do want you to meditate on is think about the effectiveness of faith in this.

It all comes from faith. It doesn't come from Philemon's, just like, know-how, ingenuity, and the fact that he happens to be a wealthy individual. No, we know it comes from his faith, and it's been evident because he's a loving man. He loves everyone. And so, a couple things I have asked, or I want you to meditate on is, think about the fruit and effectiveness of faith that's required of the sinning party, an example that Anissa showed.

I think, sometimes, we don't seek repentance enough to have the kind of reconciliation the Bible talks about. God is not okay with, "I'm sorry, it's okay." God's not satisfied with that. God wants people to be washed with repentance. I see my sins, I see how it hurts you, I see how it offends God, I see how there's a better way.

There should be thorough repentance, why? Because godly sorrow brings washing. It leads us to a repentant heart, and then change. And then, so this person is not saying, "It's all right." I mean, what's all right? What Anissa did is not okay. Why do we say that? What they should be saying, "I forgive and accept you in Christ." Come here, and then, you know, there should be a lot more hugging, and all that stuff.

The fruit of faith for the offended party for Philemon, and then the fruit of faith as the peacemaker, Apostle Paul. Look at what he did, really risked it. Risked a lot, actually. He could have ended up losing two friends, right? Ended up losing both Anissamus and Philemon in some sense.

But he took the risk to put his name on there to be an advocate and a sacrificial party in this mediation. That's pretty inspiring, okay? So, I hope that for Philemon, you guys have some good verses to think through. And then, a theme as one book that's short, but chock full of the love of Christ.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much, God. We recognize, God, Lord, that by the inspiration of your grace, you have written this out for us to all see. Lord, we recognize that some of the most painful things that happen to us, actually, is not just physical, but it is when there is broken relationships because of sin.

We pray, Father God, that we would see this as a microcosm, that the Lord of the universe desire to reconcile mankind to himself and pay the ultimate sacrifice. I pray, Father God, that as we are a people who have seen this glory, this beauty, help us, Lord, to be empowered by the gospel, to exercise a kind of love that truly is beyond just human capacity and out of this world.

We wanna thank you. It's in Christ's name, amen. Okay, the final thing I just wanna say is, just so that the small group leaders, the discussion facilitators don't forget, next week, 6.30 is facilitators meeting here in the cafe. Once again, for the BAM members, today is the last day to sign up because we have to make groups and there's limited house locations to meet at, so sign up for that.

And then, sign up for Galatians, okay? This QR code we have on a stand sign there at the entrance and at the entrance of the cry room as well. But right now, you can take a look, tap on that, and sign up. We are also gonna send an email reminder and then post it up on Facebook just momentarily.

Okay? Okay, then, just for post-discussion, you know, what perspective or motive helps us seek reconciliation in the church? Maybe another way to ask it is, what's the stop block in our mind and what perspective has to change in order for us, right, to seek reconciliation? Number two, it's the one I asked earlier, what are some takeaway convictions from the vantage point of the key figures?

Okay, so I'm not gonna read that all again. And then number three, review what are the key verses and the specific themes that stand out and convict you now that we've done, finished the study of the book, okay? And then, if you finish early, please just share prayer requests and pray for each other.

All right, thanks everyone. (audience applauding)