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The Weekend Pulpit: It's Time to Carry the Letter! · Enjoying the Journey

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There is no substitute for the preaching and teaching of God's Word.
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Each weekday on Enjoying the Journey, Scott Pauley leads us
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in a brief study of Scripture. Today on The Weekend
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Pulpit, we are happy to share a full-length Bible
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message given through Scott's pulpit ministry. These messages were
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recorded live in a local church or gospel event in recent days.
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It is our prayer that the message will be a help to you today.
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I want you to turn with me to the book of Philemon. Would you do
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that, please? And we're coming now to the end of
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this amazing letter. I was sitting there thinking a moment
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ago, it's only one page of your Bible. Now look at this book just a
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minute. Look at this book. There's a whole lot of pages in this book.
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1,189 chapters in this book we
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call the Bible. But isn't it fascinating that one page can
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change your life? And that interestingly enough, one page could
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summarize the whole message of the Bible, which is
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the message of the marvelous grace of Jesus Christ.
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And may I just ask, how many of you have been reading through Philemon this
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week? I'm just curious. Ah, very good. I want to challenge you to do something.
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I want to challenge you to keep reading it, at least for the next 2
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or 3 days. Read it, and when you read it, if you've not done this
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already, read it on your knees. I think there's something special
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about reading the Word of God in a position or a posture of prayer that
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makes the Bible come alive. It makes it a conversation
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between you and the author of this book, which is the Lord Himself.
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And, oh, I hope God will continue to use it in your life long after
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this preacher's gone. Somebody says, well, you know, preacher, you've covered all the verses.
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We don't know what you're going to preach on tonight. Let me just tell you
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something. Even if we had covered all the verses, which we haven't,
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But even if we'd covered all the verses, the Word of God
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never runs out of truth. It's inexhaustible.
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And so I hope you'll go back to it again and again. Now before we
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read in Philemon, I want you to do something. I want you to turn back,
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hold your place here, and I want you to turn back and find Colossians chapter
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4. So you're going to hold in one hand Colossians 4 and in the
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other hand Philemon. I'm taking you
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to Colossians 4 for a reason. Every text has a context. And even
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Philemon has a context. And these 2 books of the Bible
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run on parallel tracks like a train track heading in the same
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direction. And they're parallel truths and I want you to see that in
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just a minute. And I want you to know that I can preach from some
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part of the Bible other than Philemon, all right? So if you found
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Colossians chapter 4, I want you to look with me, please, at verse number 7.
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Remember, Paul is writing— same author, same human penman— writing
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to believers in the same city, the city of Colossae. Look at Colossians
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chapter 4, verse number 7. All my state
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shall Tychicus declare unto you, who is a beloved brother
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and a faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord,
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whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that he might know your
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estate and comfort your hearts. Would you note,
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please, the first 2 words of verse number 9.
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With Onesimus, a faithful
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and beloved brother who is one of you. They,
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not he, they shall make known unto
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you all things which are done here.
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I want to tell you a story tonight. Come on, I want you to travel
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with me. We're going to go back in time 2,000 years,
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we're going to go halfway around the world, Come on,
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I want you to sit down in a Roman prison.
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There's an aged man there, he's about 60 about this time.
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He's— some people debate either in a hired house where he
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has some liberty or he's in a damp, dark prison cell,
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but either way, he's in bondage. He has no liberty to travel,
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Matter of fact, he's one of the greatest travelers that ever lived, but he can't
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travel. Think about that. I'm a traveler and, you know, travel does get in
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you. It's wearying, but it does get in you. And for a guy with a
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restless soul like Paul who wants to see everybody saved,
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he wants to travel. But his traveling days are over.
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And so what's he doing? He's sitting in a prison cell.
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He's allowed friends who are coming in to see him from time
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to time, but he's sitting over in the corner. With a pen in hand and
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paper in front of him and he's writing just as fast as he can write.
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May I just stop right here and say, you never know when God is
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going to use you to make your greatest contribution. If I ask
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you, when and where did God use Paul in the greatest way? Somebody says,
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oh, there's no doubt about that. Look at all those missionary journeys.
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Oh, there's no doubt about that. Look at him standing up on Mars Hill
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and preaching about the unknown God. Look at all these public things.
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I would submit to you that the greatest contribution Paul made,
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he did not make in public, he made in private.
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It was not his sermons. You tell me, what did he speak like? Did you
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ever hear him preach? I don't think so. Unless you're pretty old, you didn't hear
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him preach. And yet you're reading his writings tonight.
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You see, you never know when God is going to touch something in
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your life and through you make you a great blessing to other people.
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And so Paul is writing, he's writing, he's writing, and one day he
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sends for 2 friends, Tychicus and Onesimus.
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Now interestingly enough, Tychicus was a minister, he was
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a fellow laborer, but Onesimus was anything but a preacher.
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As a matter of fact, Onesimus was that runaway slave that we've talked about
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who thought he could get away from Philemon and more than that, maybe get away
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from that Christian household and get away from all this God talk. And he makes
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his way to Rome. Let me just tell you something tonight. You can't get away
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from God. God's not bound by geography and I don't care where
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you run to. The psalmist said, if I ascend up into heaven, Thou art there.
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If I make my bed in hell, behold, Thou art there. If I take the
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wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost part of the sea, even there
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shall Thy hand lead me. Look, God is everywhere and
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God's at work. These 2 men come walking in.
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They're smiling from ear to ear because they're not just friends of
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Paul, they're brothers in Christ. Onesimus has met Jesus by this time,
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has had his life changed. And Paul takes the paper that
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he's been writing on, perhaps parchment paper of some type, and he rolls it up.
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Permit me to use this just a moment. I'll try not to mess it up.
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He rolls it up and
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he says to Tychicus, Tychicus, this is yours. Hold that careful
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now. That's very important. That's very important. Take a guess.
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You're going to take this to the pastor at the church in Colossae.
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I've written a long letter, long, long letter to them.
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I want you to read every word of it when you get there. They're going
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to be interested. And not only are they going to be interested, when they get
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done, they're going to circulate that letter to the church at Laodicea
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and several other places. And Onesimus,
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here you are, my friend. Onesimus, look at me.
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That letter is very important. That letter is not going to a church.
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That letter is going to one man by the name of Philemon.
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Maybe you've heard of him. Can you imagine what went through Onesimus's mind at that
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moment? Philemon was his master,
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the guy he stole from, robbed, run away from,
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thought he could escape, and now Paul's sending him right back to
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Philemon. What do you think of that? And he's putting in his
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hand a letter. Would you watch those 2 fellas?
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They're making a long trek from Rome all the
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way back to the city of Colossae.
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Antiochus, he didn't have much to worry about, but how many of you know Onesimus
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probably had a few thoughts going through his mind? I wonder what I'm going to
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meet there. I wonder what Philemon's going to say. I wonder what they're going to
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do to me. I wonder, I really do wonder
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if Onesimus had even read the letter yet.
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Just using a little sanctified imagination, I hope it's sanctified at least.
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I wonder if Paul had sealed the letter and said, look now, you don't need
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to read this right now, you just deliver it. I wonder, don't you?
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I think if I'd been Onesimus, I'd have stopped somewhere to rest there and peeled
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it open and read it for myself just to see what I was walking into.
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And when they arrive, when they arrive, Tychicus delivers
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his letter and the pastor at the church at Colossae, whoever that happened to be,
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would stand up and of that local assembly and he would read the entire
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letter we call Colossians. See, you call it a book; it was
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a letter. That's what the word epistle means.
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And then somewhere, somewhere in that congregation of believers,
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there's a man by the name of Philemon. Can't you see old Onesimus?
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You kind of look like Onesimus. Can't you see old
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Onesimus come sneaking in and he's seeing his master, his former
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master for the first time. Finally, he looks at him for a moment and something
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different about him. Can't quite
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put your finger on it. He just looks different.
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Been gone a long time. Been running around Rome, you see.
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And imagine Onesimus saying, we got a mutual friend now.
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Actually, we have a mutual family member. Really? Who's that?
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The Apostle Paul. And he asked if
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I would deliver this letter to you, and so I'm delivering the letter
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and I'm standing now in the living room of Philemon's
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house. Are you there with me? Remember, the church met in his house,
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so maybe at the end of one of the church services. You know, when all
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the Baptists hang around and just talk to each other.
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And people around him are talking and suddenly Philemon opens up a letter.
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And begins to read the words that we've been studying
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this week. Only 333 words,
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25 little verses, and yet in that one letter it's
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the message of Christ. It's fascinating to me.
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Here are 2 men, 2 very different men. Here are 2 letters, very different
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letters. And yet, watch please, one message.
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And what is the one message? The one message is that there is hope,
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there is forgiveness, there is grace and there is peace in
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the person of Jesus Christ. And then if you ask me, well,
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who's the main character of Philemon? I would tell you it's not Philemon,
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it's not Onesimus, it's not Paul, it's not any of the guys mentioned in the
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first 2 verses or the last 3 verses. The main character of Philemon is
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the main character of the whole Bible and His name is Jesus Christ.
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It's interesting, the parallels between Colossians and
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Philemon because interestingly enough, the great message
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of Colossians is what? That Jesus Christ is preeminent, that He is greater
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than all. Does that sound vaguely familiar?
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Onesimus, Christ is greater than all your sin. He's greater
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than all your failure. He's greater than all your fears. He's greater
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than all of your past. Christ truly is preeminent.
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And what is explained in Colossians is illustrated
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in Philemon. And so with that in mind, I want you to go back with
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me to the little letter. Would you look at this note from a friend in
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Philemon? I'm not going to read the whole thing again with you, but I want
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you to look at something very interesting. In verse number 3, the first word— what's
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the first word, church? Circle that word in your Bible.
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Finally, in verse 3, Grace to you and peace from God our Father
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and the Lord Jesus Christ. And now we have come to the one verse we've
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not yet studied. It's the last verse,
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it's the sign-off, it's the salutation, it's the benediction,
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it's the end and conclusion of it all, it's the sum of
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the whole matter. It's verse 25. Would you read it out loud with me,
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church? Ready? The grace of our Lord Jesus
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Christ be with your spirit. And all God's people said,
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amen. And I want you to do something. In verse 25, I want
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you to circle the little word grace. Now watch it, please. The book begins
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with grace and ends with grace because the message of the whole book is grace.
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Christ is Alpha and Omega, beginning and end, first and last. And I want to
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say to you, from beginning to end, the message of Jesus Christ is about one
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thing, the one thing that everybody needs. And maybe you're a runaway like
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Onesimus trying to get as far away from God as you can, or maybe you're
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a religious sinner, but sinners are still sinners
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and everybody needs the grace of Jesus Christ.
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And whether you're Philemon or you're Onesimus, doesn't matter who you
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are, you need Jesus. And on the last
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night I want to ask you, have you seen yourself in this story?
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Because I have. Can I tell you who I am?
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I, my friends, am Onesimus in
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need of divine grace.
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May I tell you who you are tonight? You are Onesimus in need of divine
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grace. 36 years ago this year a lady
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sat me down with a Bible. I was searching, I was asking questions and
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I'll never forget it. She sat me down in the back of a room.
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She got me away from everybody else so I wouldn't be, you embarrassing. She sat
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me down. She opened a Bible and she told me that God loved me.
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That Jesus Christ had died for my sins and was buried and rose
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from the dead. Now look. I was a 5-year-old boy. That's it. I was 5
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years old. But at that moment, for the first time, I couldn't have defined
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grace for you. I couldn't have told you the story of Philemon and Onesimus.
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But for the first time I realized I needed something from someone
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I couldn't do on my own. And at that moment I put my faith in
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the Lord Jesus. And that day, for the first time in my life, I experienced
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for me personally the grace of God. Now my dad and mom were believers,
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but that didn't make me a believer. And I'd been in church a lot,
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but look, standing in a garage doesn't make you a car and sitting in a
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church doesn't make you a Christian. And that day I experienced the marvelous grace
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of Jesus Christ. But now watch me just a moment. Our need for grace is
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not just a need at one moment or at the last
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moment that you live when you're going into eternity. It's what you need from beginning
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to end. And this is amazing to me, but Paul is saying to Philemon,
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look, you needed the grace of God back before you got saved. You needed the
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grace of God as surely as Onesimus did, but you need the grace
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of God with your spirit tonight. And I'm going to tell you what everybody in
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this room needs. Every person. You say, you don't even know me. No, but God
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does and God said it. Every person in this room needs
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a fresh dose of the grace of God to be with your spirit.
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Wherever you are spiritually on this journey, whatever you're dealing with tonight,
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you need the grace of God. We are all Onesimus.
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Did you know in that day that it was actually illegal for a
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servant to travel without papers? That's right.
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If you were a servant, you had to have papers in hand
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stating that you were on official business for your master and why
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you were there and how long you were going to be there. It was against
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the law for you to travel without papers, which meant that Onesimus had traveled all
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the way to Rome without papers. But watch this, please. On his way home,
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guess what he had? He's traveling with papers. And guess what his papers
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said? His papers said he's been pardoned. He's been forgiven.
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His life has been changed. Listen to me, please. When you
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leave this world and go into eternity, you're going to be carrying papers.
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When you stand face to face with Almighty God someday and kneel at the nail-pierced
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feet of Jesus Christ, you're going to be carrying papers. And your paper is going
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to say one of two things. It's either going to say paid in full or
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payment required. Now I don't know about you, I'm glad mine says
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paid in full. And if tonight you don't know the Lord Jesus
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as your personal Savior, let me just tell you tonight, you don't want to pay
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for your own sin. That'd be foolish to pay for something that's already been paid
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for. Jesus Christ paid for your sin debt on Calvary. It's been paid
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in full. You come get your papers tonight. We're all Onesimus.
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But I would give you the second truth. And by the way, I'm not going
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to give you the title of my sermon tonight till I'm done,
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so don't get nervous. When I give you my title,
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you'll know I'm finished. It's the last thing I'm going to say to you.
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We're all Onesimus, but that's not all. We're all Paul.
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You say, I'm not Paul. I'm no apostle. Any apostles
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among us tonight? I don't think so. The truth of the matter is
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there's not one of us that can stand and measure up to the the Christian
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that Paul was who knew God, walked with God. And I just tell you,
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I get so absolutely,
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absolutely disappointed in myself sometimes.
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Any of you ever get disappointed in yourself? Now think about the
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Christian walk of a man like Paul. He called himself a wretched man. I want
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to say, if he's wretched, I'm in real trouble.
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I'm no Paul. Oh, but I am Paul.
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You know where Paul was in this story? Watch, please.
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Onesimus was in need of divine grace. Paul was in the place of divine
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appointment. Was Paul in Colossae?
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Yes or no? Let's try that again. Was Paul in Colossae?
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Yes or no? No. Where was he?
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He's in Rome. Excuse me. Was he standing in a pulpit preaching? Yes or no?
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Where was he? He's in prison.
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Was he leading thousands to faith in Christ?
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No. He's sitting in jail.
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Somebody says, well, why would God let His key man sit in jail
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and rot in prison? Oh, my friend, he was there by divine appointment.
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Do you understand if the Apostle Paul had not been in Rome, had not
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been in that prison, he would never have met Onesimus and
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had the opportunity to lead him to faith in Jesus Christ.
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And let me just tell you, a Christ that would go 40 miles out of
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His way and say, I must needs go through Samaria to win one woman at
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a well to Himself, is a God that takes interest in every sinner.
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Let me tell you what the Lord does. He orchestrates in His divine providence,
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in His amazing sovereignty, divine appointments so that those who
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know can tell those who do not know. And I want
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to say to you tonight, wherever you are right now geographically, God has you
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there. Wherever you are— are you listening with your heart? Wherever you are circumstantially,
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God has you right there. You ever wonder why that guy
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pulled in next to you at the gas pump? I thought about that woman today
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at the restaurant, that German lady. I'm praying for her.
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I know one of the people in our group gave her a piece of Gospel
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literature and I thought about her through the day today. I wonder if that woman
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will go to heaven or hell.
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I really wonder. She was kind. She was a kind woman.
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She's going to go somewhere forever? You ever wonder why
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God gave you that waitress? You ever wonder why
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you're living in that house in that subdivision? Somebody says, yeah, because I worked hard
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and bought that house. Friend, God gives you power to get wealth. God lets
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you have that house. You ever wonder why those neighbors moved in next door to
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you? You ever wonder why you got that job? Somebody said, well, I really worked
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for this job. God gave you that job. You ever wonder why you're in the
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school you're in? Do you understand that somewhere, even in difficult
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circumstances, God is making divine
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appointments for us and there is an Onesimus that needs the message of
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the grace of God? Now I want to tell you tonight, we're all Paul.
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And the sad reality is most of us are sleeping through our circumstances.
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Most of us are so consumed with our own struggles and stresses and
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strains in life, we're so centered on us that we forget that around
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us God has put runaway sinners in desperate need of the grace
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of Jesus Christ. And I wonder, did you meet any Onesimus
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today? And so it brings me to a 3rd truth that God
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has impressed on my heart, and it is this: we are all Onesimus, we are
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all Paul— watch please— We are all Philemon.
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Now stop just a minute, stop just a minute. You ever wonder
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how we got this book in our Bible?
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It was a private letter, you know.
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Like there weren't multiple copies of this letter. This was an
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individual letter. This letter wasn't
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sent to the whole church and to be read publicly. This letter was sent to
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one man. Now you hear me, please. There's only one way the book
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of Philemon could have found its way into the pages of Holy Scripture. Now you
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and I know it's the divine God working through inspiration and then through preservation to
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get it to us. We all understand that working behind the scenes. But you hear
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me, please. There's only one way we could still be talking about Philemon tonight and
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that is if Philemon did what he was supposed to do.
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Because I promise you, Philemon didn't share the letter with anybody if he
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wasn't going to forgive Onesimus, bring him back into the family and continue the ministry
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message of the grace of God in Colossae. As a matter of fact,
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let me just tell you what I believe. I believe Philemon not only restored
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Onesimus and released him from the idea of being a servant and said,
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you're part of the family now. I believe that Philemon used
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this very story to witness to others in Colossae of the amazing
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grace of God. And I'm going to tell you a church service I would like
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to have been in. I'd like to have been in the church service when Onesimus
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stood up and gave a testimony. I really would have. I'd like to have been
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there the night Philemon put his arm around Onesimus and says, I just want y'all
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to know Onesimus is back, but he's a different Onesimus now. Tell them about
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it. Wouldn't you love to have been in that service that night?
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Look, watch please. We're all Onesimus in need of divine grace.
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We're all Paul in a place of divine appointment, and we are all Philemon
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entrusted with a message of grace.
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Alright, can I tell you what came to Philemon's hands? Look please.
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What came to Philemon's hands was something bigger than him.
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Do you understand? 2,000 years later we're reading it. I'm preaching from it.
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Preached from it this entire meeting. It's inspired Holy Scripture that came directly
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from God to us. Do you understand that that was put in the hands of
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a man by the name of Philemon? And if he had not passed it on
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to somebody else, we wouldn't have it tonight.
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And so here's my message. You ready for the title? It's Time to
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Carry the Letter. It's time to
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carry the letter. Now we started with Tychicus and Onesimus
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carrying the letter for the very first time, the message of grace, the message
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of Jesus Christ to Colossae and to Philemon. But may I tell
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you, God never intended that His letter would stop in Colossae or that His letter
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would stop in Philemon. Watch, please. All of God's letters must be carried.
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And one of the great dangers is we sit in church buildings like this and
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we love to study the letter and we say, well, that's fascinating. I've never seen
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that before. Well, that was very interesting. And we get a head full of knowledge
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and a heart full of nothing.
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And we learn lots of facts about God and facts about Philemon and Onesimus
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and it's an interesting Bible story and now we know something better than somebody else
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does. But watch please, if you don't do something with it, you have failed.
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Do you understand that God's letters were first to be revealed
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and the Holy Spirit did that? Then they were to be recorded
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and these men led of the Holy Spirit did that.
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And then they were to be received and God worked through the centuries
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so that we could have it. How many of you are glad we have the
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Bible tonight? And then they were to be read. And I've
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had you reading this letter all week long and I hope you'll keep reading it.
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And read not just this, but read all of Scripture because All of Scripture is
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rich and full in the same way this letter is rich and full. But watch
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this, please. There's one final thing that every letter must have done to it.
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It must be relayed. It must be passed
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on to the next generation like a baton being handed off in a relay race.
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It's just as sinful for you to keep it to yourself as it would be
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for you to drop it on the ground. And many a Christian who's not throwing
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down the gospel or throwing down the truth is keeping it to
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themselves. And I want you to know we're sinning against God and an
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entire generation that needs the message of the grace of Jesus.
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Christ. In the last message that I gave to you— let's see
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if you've got a good memory. What did I ask you last night? Do you
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remember the question? Who do you owe? How many of you thought
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about that debt? Yes? You don't know this,
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but I actually stopped my message early last night. Holy Spirit just prompted
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me and said, that's enough. I had one more point, you know.
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The first thing On the list of who you owe is who?
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Jesus! We all owe Jesus. Amen? And then you
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owe those who came before you and then you owe those who come behind
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you. But there's one more. You owe all the people around you.
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You say, what do you mean, preacher? Owe all the people around me? Do you
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remember in Romans chapter 1? We love to quote verse number 16. I'm not ashamed
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of the gospel of Christ, for it's the power of God unto salvation to everyone
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that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. How many of you
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believe that? Then sometimes we get real carried away and we back
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up one verse. I'm now ready to preach the Gospel to those
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who are at Rome also. We talk about being ready and we talk about not
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being ashamed. Good! But that's not where it starts.
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Actually, Paul's testimony starts in the previous verse, in verse 14, and the first words
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out of his mouth are these words, I am debtor.
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To the Jew, to the Gentile, to the bond, to the free.
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He even writes in Galatians that in Christ Jesus there is neither male
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nor female, there is neither bond nor free,
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there is neither Jew nor Gentile. What's he talking about? Is he saying there's no
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distinction? No, he's saying there's no distinction for the grace of God.
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All men need it and all men can have it in the person of Jesus
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Christ. Can I tell you, the book of Philemon is one of the greatest illustrations
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of that truth. And the last point on my message last night was actually
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this: I owe everybody the gospel,
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and so do you. And don't miss this little
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point. Did you notice when Paul addressed Philemon what he referred to him as?
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Go back to the first of the book. We'll, we'll end where we started.
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Go back to the opening verse. Look at Philemon, verse number 1.
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Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and Timothy our brother.
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So Paul's the prisoner, Timothy's the brother. Unto Philemon
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our dearly beloved. And what's the next word, church? Fellow laborer.
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Mark that in your Bible. Fellow laborer. Notice it's repeated again in verse
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24. He talks about my fellow laborers. Don't miss this.
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Even before Paul wrote to Philemon, Philemon was already engaged
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in getting the Gospel to other people. Now watch this.
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I believe in my heart Paul knew exactly how Philemon
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would respond because he knew that Philemon wasn't bogged
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down in the pettiness of what was going on in business and in the world
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and what Onesimus had done him wrong. He was too much engaged in heaven's
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business and the work of the gospel. He saw the big picture.
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Let me ask you a question. Are you a spiritual person? I didn't
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ask, are you a Christian? I didn't ask, are you a church member? I didn't
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even ask, are you a faithful church attender? Because look, you're here on a weeknight.
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God bless you for that. I ask, are you a spiritual person? I mean by
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that, are you in tune with the Spirit of the living God? Are you consumed
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with what Jesus is consumed with? Or are you bogged down in pettiness?
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Are you more concerned with how Onesimus did you wrong and what didn't turn out
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your way and what somebody else should have done?
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Or are you consumed that you are a fellow laborer in
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the Gospel of the grace of God and time is short
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and souls are dying and there's only one thing that must be
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done and that is we've got to get the message of grace to them?
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And I say tonight, it's time to carry the letter. It's time
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to carry the letter to your family members who don't know Jesus. It's time.
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It's time. We've talked about it enough. It's time. It's time to
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carry the letter to the place of business where you serve. It's time to carry
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the letter to your school. It's time to carry the letter to this community.
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For the last 3 days they've been driving me around town and showing me your
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area. It's a beautiful area. It is beautiful. I've spent very
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little time in this particular part of this state. But it is beautiful,
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and yet it's marred by sin because
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all around this wonderful church and in this beautiful locale there are
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people dying. They're perishing without
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Jesus. And we all say we want them to be saved.
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If I say, do you want them to be saved? Everybody says, amen, preacher!
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Well, let's back up. What are you doing to
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reach people with the Gospel? When's the last time you
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led someone to Christ? Let's back up from that. When was the last time you
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tried? When was the last time you gave out Gospel literature?
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When was the last time you gave your personal testimony?
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Old Chinese proverb says, too much talky-talky, not enough walky-walky.
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I think they're right, don't you? We get in a building like this
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and we talk a good game and we like to hear preachers talk about it.
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And hey, this is a missions conference, so we're really supposed to be talking about
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it. And then we leave here and nothing changes. We do nothing
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about it. What are you going to do different out of this meeting?
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Now I got to tell you, week after week standing in meetings like this,
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when I come to the closing meeting, I'm always wondering, what will they do differently
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when we're done? Because if all that happened is I came and preached a handful
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of sermons, then I wasted my breath and you wasted your time. What's going to
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change? It is time to carry the letter.
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My friend, you have an entire letter to carry.
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May I borrow your letter just a moment? You have an entire letter to carry
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from start to finish, the message of grace,
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the message of Jesus. And most people have never read
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this letter. Most people don't know what's inside this book. I sat
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down next to a businessman on a plane the other day and we struck up
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a conversation and he was not a religious man at all. And when people
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ask you what you do and you say you're a preacher, you get one of
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two responses. They're either really glad to be sitting next to you or they
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really wish they weren't. He was an interesting man.
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He wanted to talk. And he said, I'm not really a religious man. I said,
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really? I'm not either. He kind of looked at me funny and he said,
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what do you mean? I said, it's not about religion for me. I'm not into
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all that. I said, for me
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it's about a relationship with Jesus. I said, He changed my life. Can I tell
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you about it? Sure. Somewhere in our
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conversation he said, well, I know the first 3 words of the Bible. He was
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real proud of it. I said, really? What are they? He said, in the beginning.
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I said, congratulations. Of course, the next word
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is pretty important too, don't you think? In the beginning God.
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And then I said to him, do you know the last 3 words of the
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Bible? He said, no, I've never read it. I said,
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why don't you go home and look it up? He said, what do you mean?
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I said, you don't just need the first words of the Bible, you need the
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rest of the Bible, all the Bible, all the way to the very end.
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Matter of fact, you ought to figure out how it's all going to end.
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Read the end of the Bible. May I tell you,
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from start to finish, the letter that we have to share with people is the
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letter of grace. Call it what you want to.
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It's grace. And what you and
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I have read hundreds of times and what you've heard thousands of sermons on and
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what you know so well, some have never read,
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they've never received, they've never understood. It is time
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to carry the letter. How many
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people live in this city? All right,
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so let's say in this immediate vicinity there's 30,000 people. Now there's hundreds
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of thousands of people around like ripples in a pond, but let's just take your
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area, your community. How many of you'd like to see 30,000
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people get saved? Sure.
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Wait now.
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Somebody says, I know how we're going to do it. We're going to have a
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big meeting. We're going to set up a tent or we're
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going to rent a big facility. We're going to bring them all in. We're going
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to bring in some dynamic preacher and let him preach to them and we're going
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to get a bunch of people saved. And for the record, I'm for that.
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I just preached in a tent meeting across the state last week and we
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saw a number of people saved and I love that kind of thing. But let
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me just tell you, and I'm not being I'm not being cynical in any way.
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You're not going to reach this town that way. It's not going
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to happen. See, everybody's waiting on a meeting.
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Everybody's waiting on a preacher. Everybody's waiting on an event. Maybe God's waiting
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on us.
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But let's just, for sake of argument, go with it for a minute. Let's imagine
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we had that meeting and we preached the first night, gave a gospel invitation,
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and the first night— I'm talking about first night out of the chute— 3,000 people
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get saved. How many of you would like to be there? 3,000 people?
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That's the day of Pentecost. Wait a minute now. Let's imagine we came back the
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second night. The second night, 3,000 people got saved. And the third night, 3,000 people
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got saved. And the fourth night, 3,000 people got saved. Do you understand what's going
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on here? I'm talking about like in 10 days, your whole community's getting saved.
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3,000 a night. Let me ask you a question. You think the national news would
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show up? Oh, at some point they would. It'd take
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a little while, but I promise you, at some point the national news media— it'd
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start with local, but national news media would show up and it'd be a big
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story on the front page that they're bringing in the kingdom in this part of
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the world. Lots of people are getting religion. They'd call it lots of
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things. They would criticize it, but they'd be talking about it and they would say,
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oh, they're going to turn the world upside down. Doesn't that sound like something they
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said about the apostles in the book of Acts? These that have turned the world
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upside down are come hither also. Somebody said, I tell you,
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preacher, if we could have that kind of meeting, that's what we're praying for.
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That would win the world. Did you know that the current world population,
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if nobody was born and nobody died, we had that kind of meeting and 3,000
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people got saved every day and it went on continuously without stopping,
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it would take 5,000 years to evangelize our planet.
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I don't know about you, I don't think we have 5,000 years. Matter of fact,
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let me tell you where I believe we're living. I think we're living right now
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on the edge of eternity and any moment a trumpet may sound and Christ is
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coming and we're going out of here. We don't have 5,000 years.
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So I got another idea. Now this is crazy, I know this is crazy,
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but let's just stay with me a minute, all right?
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What's your name? I live in Raleigh County.
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I can remember that. I go out and
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I meet Raleigh and I give Raleigh the gospel, tell him about Jesus, and Raleigh
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gets saved. Y'all excited about that? And I
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just tell Raleigh the things I've been taught. I just give him not just the
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gospel, but then I try to teach him about the Lord and following Christ and
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the church and all those things. That's what you're supposed to do, right?
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And let's imagine in the next 12 months that's all I get done. That's it,
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12 months. I'll win and disciple one man for the Lord.
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Now somebody's going to say, well, that's good, Brother Scott. God bless you. Appreciate your
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contribution. Small as it was, I mean, you reached somebody.
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Wait a minute. Let's imagine the second year that Raleigh and I get
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together and we get this idea, you know, there's more people like me and you
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out there that need Jesus. Would you agree with that? So let's imagine the next
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12 months you and I kind of covenant together and commit to each other.
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We're going to pray together and we're going to work together to try to reach
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2 more. That seems reasonable. I mean, in 12 months,
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surely every believer could reach one believer with the gospel. And so let's imagine
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the second year, the 2 that year becomes how many, church? Good.
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And let's imagine the next year that the 4 of us get together and decide
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we're going to do it again. And so this year, the 4 of us becomes
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what? 8. Very good. I know it's late,
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but try to stay with me, alright? And the next year,
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the 8 of us say we're going to do it again. And so the 8
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of us become 16. And the next year, 16 becomes 32. The next
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year, 32 becomes— and I'm gonna stop. I see some of you taking calculators out.
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That's not what I want you to do. Now watch.
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Here's what somebody's gonna say. Somebody's gonna say, well, that's a neat little system you
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got going there, Brother Paul. That's pretty novel. That's a good idea.
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Did you know at the current world population, if nobody was born and nobody died
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and we did it that way, you could evangelize our planet in 35 years?
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Do the math. Somebody says, man, you really came
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up with something. I didn't come up with that. Jesus came up with that.
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Watch, please. Jesus didn't say, go out and find all the lucky sinners
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and bring them into the church house and get them saved. That's not what he
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said. He said, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every
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creature. Let me tell you what we've done. We've created an event-centered Christianity
37:08
where we got to draw everybody to us. That's why you got to have a
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bigger building or you got to have a better band or you got to have
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something more exciting going on to attract the sinners in. When that was never Christ's
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means of evangelizing this world. His means was somebody left
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the church house carrying a letter and
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took it out where the sinners are. The Word became flesh
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and dwelt among us. Literally, He pitched His tent next door
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to sinners. What do you think He wants you to do?
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Get out where the lost people are. We come in, we talk to
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ourselves, and we enjoy the fellowship. We're glad we're going to heaven, and a whole
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world is going to hell outside of us. Do you know the difference
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in those 2 models? Watch, please. One is addition and one is multiplication.
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Addition says, we gotta get more people in the church building. Addition says,
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we gotta get more people in for our pastor to preach to, because I'm sure
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he can get them the gospel. That's addition. But that dead ends somewhere.
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That limits the work of the grace of God. Look, please.
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Multiplication is when many believe leave the church
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building and get out in the highways and hedges carrying the
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message of Jesus Christ. And you read the book of Acts, at some point
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in Acts they moved from addition to multiplication. And if we're going to win this
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world, we got to do the same thing. We don't need one letter carrier,
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we need many letter carriers. And I'm
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looking tonight at a bunch of postmen. That's what I'm looking at right now.
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Messengers of the grace of God. People whose lives have been changed. And I tell
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you, we are all Onesimus. We are all Paul. We are all Philemon.
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And church, it is time to
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carry the letter.
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If this Bible message has been used of God in your life or
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we can pray for you in some definite way, please contact
39:07
us at enjoyingthejourney.org. We hope you
39:10
will share the message with others who may also be encouraged by it.
39:14
For additional full-length Bible messages, please visit Dr. Scott Pauley's
39:18
YouTube channel. Tomorrow is the Lord's Day, and we want to
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encourage you to be faithful to attend a Bible-preaching church in your
39:25
area this Sunday. Thank you for listening to The
39:29
Weekend Pulpit, and don't miss Enjoying the Journey daily devotional
39:33
podcast each Monday through Friday.