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The Weekend Pulpit: The Church in Your Heart · 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
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us in a brief study of Scripture. Today on
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The Weekend Pulpit, we are happy to share a full-length Bible
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message given through Scott's pulpit ministry. These messages
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were recorded live in a local church or gospel event in
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recent days. It is our prayer that the message will be a help to
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you today.
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And I want you to turn in your New Testament to the book of Philemon,
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if you will. It is one of the shortest books of your New
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Testament. If you go to the end and work your way backward, you'll find it.
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And I venture to say this is probably not a
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book that everyone is extremely familiar with. You may know something about it.
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I wonder if you have a favorite book of the Bible. How many of you
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have a favorite book of the Bible? Oh, that's good. On the count of 3,
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shout it out, would you? 1, 2, 3. Good.
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That's a good book, whatever you said. It comes from the Bible. It's the Word
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of God, right? Do you all believe that all Scripture is given by inspiration of
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God and is profitable? Jesus said, man shall not live by bread alone, but by
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what? Every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
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One of the great dangers is that there are certain portions of Scripture we love
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and we go to frequently and we know them well, and then there are other
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portions of Scripture that are sorely neglected.
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Sadly missed, and that's unfortunate. For example,
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I love the book of Philippians. I love Philippians. It's a book of Christian joy.
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It's my favorite book. And yet a book like Philemon
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doesn't get nearly the attention that a book like Philippians gets. And yet I
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would remind you that this little book of the Bible that only takes up one
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page— just it, one page— that is really more a note than
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it is a letter was just as much inspired by the Holy Spirit
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of God as every other book of the Bible was. And interestingly enough,
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God chose to include it on the pages of Holy Scripture because God has a
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definite message for us in this book of the Bible. Now I'm going to do
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something a little unusual. About a week ago I was flying to Florida,
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not to this meeting, but to another meeting across the state, a tent meeting interestingly
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enough. And the only place in America where you can have a tent meeting this
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time of the year, you know, is Florida. And on that flight going
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down I was thinking and I was praying about your church and about this meeting
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a week away. And on that flight, God led my
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attention to the book of Philemon, and I knew a week ago that
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I was to bring you messages from this book of the Bible. Now I've not
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done this before. I've never preached through this little book,
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but unless God leads me differently, I'm going to stay in this one book
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of the Bible in every meeting that we have. So I'm going to ask you
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to do something. Take your little Bible marker, your Bible ribbon or something. I want
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you to mark this book of the Bible. I hope by the time we're done,
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your Bible just naturally falls open here. That would be good. But if you'll
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mark it now, you'll already have your place marked for every meeting.
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And I'm going to ask you to do something different. Forgive me for using such
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a dirty word on Sunday. I'm going to give you a homework assignment, alright?
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I'm going to ask that you read the book of Philemon personally
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and in your home every day this week. Every day
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during this missions conference. Every day. And I'm going to ask you to
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pray that God will use this little letter, this little note to a friend
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to bring his message to your heart. Now, interestingly enough,
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if somebody said, well, we're going to have an emphasis on missions and evangelism,
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everybody said, oh, I know where the preacher's going to preach.
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He's got to preach from Jonah in the Old Testament, or he's got to
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preach from Acts in the New Testament. And while those are very distinctly
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missionary books, I have found— look please,
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church— this whole book is a missionary book.
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From start to finish, from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22,
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every page of the Word of God is about getting the message
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of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to those who desperately need it,
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which is everybody. And so when you come to the book of Philemon, I would
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say to you, this is an unlikely but an undeniable missionary book,
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and it's very rich with spiritual truth. And I'm
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praying God will use it to speak to your heart like he's using it to
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speak to mine. Are you in Philemon? Yes? Have you found it yet?
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Good. Philemon, verse 1: Paul,
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a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and Timothy our
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brother, and to Philemon our dearly beloved and fellow
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laborer, and to our beloved Apphia, and Archippus
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our fellow soldier, and to the church in thy house:
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Grace to you and peace.
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From God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
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May I just pause? Isn't that what everybody needs? Look at verse 3 again.
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Isn't that what the whole world needs?
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Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus
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Christ. I thank my God, making mention of thee
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always in my prayers, hearing of thy love
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and faith which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus and toward all saints,
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That the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the
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acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in
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Christ Jesus. For we have great joy and consolation
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in thy love, because the bowels of the saints are
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refreshed by thee, brother. I want to read on,
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frankly. I want to read all of it, but I'm going to stop there for
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this hour. And I'm going to ask you to come back in the evening meeting
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and the next evening and the next evening to get— well,
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the old radio commentator Paul Harvey, remember Paul Harvey? He would
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always say, and now for the rest of the story. You'll have to come back
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for the rest of the story, alright? But I want to begin with these
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first opening verses. You see, there's not a word in
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your Bible that's there by accident, not a word of it! Every word
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that is there is given from the very heart of God and every word that
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is there is meant to go directly to our heart. And the Bible is an
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amazing book because it's like a deep well. It's like a rich mine
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you can never exhaust. You're never going to exhaust an inexhaustible
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God. He is infinite in every way and His truth
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endureth through every generation. And so what is God's message to us in these
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opening words? This letter literally is a note
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to a friend. I don't know about you, but in our day of technology— and
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by the way, I'm glad for technology. It let me FaceTime my family yesterday
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and it does lots of good things. And I'm glad for text
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messages. I got one just before I came to the pulpit from a preacher that
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said, I just want you to know I'm praying for you today. That meant something
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to me. But maybe I'm just old-fashioned. Maybe I'm caught between
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generations. May I say, as much as I like to get a text message,
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I still love to get a personal note in the mail. There's something
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still about going to the mailbox and finding that someone has written a personal
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handwritten note. There's nothing quite like it. They took the
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time. They were interested enough to write, Dear Scott, and then to jot
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a few lines and to sign their name. It meant something! Can you
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imagine getting a note from the Apostle Paul?
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And then can you imagine that not only did Paul write it,
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but actually all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and these men
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were moved along by the Holy Spirit, that literally this is not just a note
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from one heart to another, it's a note from heaven to earth! It's a note
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from God Almighty to all of us, not just to Philemon. It's an amazing
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thing, you see. When you open the pages of Holy Scripture,
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God begins to reveal His heart.
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As I've been meditating on this little book of the Bible, though it's rich with
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so many truths and there's a story in it, an amazing story, and I'll tell
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you more about it when we come back tonight, there's a phrase that's captured
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my attention. I want to share it with you in this opening meeting. I want
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you to take a pen out, if you don't mind, because I'm going to have
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you mark some things in your Bible. Whether you normally do this or not,
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I'm going to ask you to write some things down. Not so you remember my
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sermon, but so you can go back and meditate again and again on the truths
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we're going to talk about from this little book of the Bible. And here's the
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phrase, it's found in verse number 2. He says, to our beloved Epheah,
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and Archippus our fellow soldier,
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and— notice the phrase— to the church in
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thy house. That's an amazing phrase,
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isn't it? Would you mark it in your Bible? The church in
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thy house. Let me ask you a personal question. What if the church had to
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meet at your house today? Some of you say, well, we'd have cleaned up better
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before we left home. I never cease to be amazed at
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making calls, making visits. When you knock on the door and you know somebody's home,
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every light in the place is on, TV's on, music's blaring, and people don't answer
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the door. They want you to think they're not there, you know, because something's not
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just exactly right usually. Imagine if the church had to meet at
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your house. What if Jesus came home with you today? And what if all the
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Lord's people met at your house today? Now, this is not a message
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about having house churches. Some people think we ought to go back to that.
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The reality is they were meeting in a house because they could not freely meet
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publicly and in other open places. And I'm grateful we have the
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liberty and freedom to gather like we're gathered today and meet with God's people.
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But in this Roman Empire at this particular time, that wasn't possible. And so they
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had no buildings. This is a beautiful building you have. But let me remind you,
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the church is not the building. The church is the believers that meet in the
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building. If the church building burned to the ground,
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praise God, this church still exists.
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And so this particular church, it was not about where they met.
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It was about who they were meeting to worship and what they were meeting to
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do. And so they meet in a house. Perhaps at this time in
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Colossae, they were meeting in several different houses.
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But we know that at least one of those church meetings was
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taking place in the house of Philemon, the man that
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this letter is named for, the man that this particular note is written to.
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It is a group meeting in his living room. That's an amazing thought
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to me. My mind goes back now. I'm 12 years old
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and I've just surrendered my life to be a preacher. I was— man,
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I was scared to death! I was scared! An old mountain
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preacher met me after the service that night out in the lobby of the church
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and put his arm around me and he said, so, son, God's called you to
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preach. I said, yes sir, he has. He said, wonderful, get your first sermon together.
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You're going to preach next week in a cottage prayer meeting. And I remember saying,
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wait a minute, let's talk about this thing for a minute. And he said to
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me, if you don't start serving God now, you probably never will. And he was
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right. And so I got my first sermon together. It was pitiful, let me just
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tell you, it was pitiful. Now the Word of God was wonderful, but I really
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didn't know how to prepare a message, and I borrowed an outline from somebody and
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The first sermon I ever gave, I gave in a house.
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And in my mind this morning, I'm still standing in that little house in
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front of the door in a little old living room. Mr. and Mrs. Logan,
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they were Jesus now. He was in a bed, hospital bed.
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He was dying of cancer. And Mrs. Logan, she was sitting
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there and the room was filled with people. It was packed!
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Any of you ever been to a cottage prayer meeting? Oh, we ought to go
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back to some of that. It does something when you open your home and God's
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people gather there. You pray together, worship the Lord together. I'm telling you,
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it does something. And let me just throw this in for good measure.
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Every family in this room ought to have family worship. You ought
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to be meeting together in your home. That shouldn't take the place of meeting together
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with God's people here, but you ought to meet together in God's home— in
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your house to worship the Lord. It is God's home if you're a believer.
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And there ought to be such a thing as family worship. And I remember standing
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there scared out of my mind giving that brief sermon. There were lots of
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grandmas and grandpas there and they all patted me on the back and told me
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what a wonderful sermon it was. The truth
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of the matter is, I remember that church meeting in that house that night.
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It affected me greatly. My dad grew up in a preacher's
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home. My grandpa was just an old raw-boned, leather-lunged,
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peel-the-paint-off-the-wall kind of preacher. Had an old tent he'd take
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around, set up and preach, get a bunch of people saved, start a church and
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move on and do it all over again. Up in the hills. Didn't have much
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of an education, but he had the Lord on him. He was a little rough
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around the edges, if you know what I mean. A little tough sometimes.
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He got up in church one night, got carried away preaching and said, bless God!
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That's what preachers say when they're about to say something they shouldn't say.
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He said, bless God! There's 2 things no church needs. That's a clock on the
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wall and a busy-bodied woman, and this church has got both of them! That wasn't
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a good thing to say at all. And he didn't stay in that church
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very long either, let me tell you. Aren't you glad I'm not preaching
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that sermon today, right? But I had a godly
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heritage. My grandpa often
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lived in parsonages, and my dad told me about one particular
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place where they went to pastor— to start a church. Grandpa bought an old house,
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just a great big old house. You know those big old houses? And he
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took the front 2 or 3 rooms and knocked all the walls out and made
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a church meeting place out of it. And then Dad and his
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family— there were 5 children— they all lived in the back
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few rooms in the house. And Dad said it was nice because you
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didn't have to go far to go to church, just walk up to the front
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of the house. But he said it was a little awkward, he said, because people
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used our bathroom when they came to church. And if they wanted something to eat,
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they came to our kitchen, opened the refrigerator, and got something to eat and just
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walked through the house like they owned it all, you know. But the church was
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meeting in their house. Somebody says, preacher, what does this all have to
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do with us? Wait a minute, wait a minute. I'm not preaching today on the
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church coming to your house and meeting in your house, but this little phrase reveals
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something about Philemon's heart. Let me tell you what it reveals. It reveals that the
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church was in his heart. It wasn't
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just that the church was in his house. You don't let somebody in your house
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that's not in your heart. It reveals that the church was in his heart.
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It reveals that his entire home was invested in the church,
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that his entire family was connected to the work of God,
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that that which was most precious to him on earth was connected
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to what God was doing on planet Earth for eternity.
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And I want to ask you a personal question this morning. How deeply is the
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work of God in your heart? Excuse me, how deeply
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is the work of God in your home? Now we clean
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up good for church, don't we? Look around. Would you look around just a moment?
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Don't we clean up good for Sunday school? We come in, we sing
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our hymns and we sing our choruses and we shake hands and we pat each
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other on the back and say, God bless you. And we sit for 30,
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40 minutes and we listen to somebody get up and preach a Bible message and
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we even nod our head and occasionally say amen. And then we leave
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and we've done God our duty for the week. And I
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want to tell you, that's the furthest thing from New Testament Christianity you're ever going
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to find. You see, God's work is not a spectator
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sport. It's not done inside the 4 walls of a beautiful church
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building like this. Now I'll ask you again, how deeply
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is the work of God in your heart? I didn't come this week to preach
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to you about money. I love what your pastor said. The truth of the matter
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is, if God has your heart, he'll have everything else too. And it doesn't
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start on the outside and work its way in. It has to start on the
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inside and work its way out. Philippians 2:13 says, it is God which worketh
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in you both to will and to do of
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his good pleasure. And I'm praying this week that God will put something so deeply
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in your heart your life will be forever changed because of it. And let me
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just warn you, when I finish preaching in just a minute, I intend to ask
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every person in this room to respond. Everybody.
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And you say, well, I'm not responding. Then you've already made your decision.
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I'm going to ask you to respond for this reason: because you cannot
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be neutral on the truth. It's impossible.
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And if this is truth, if God's way is truth,
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then it is impossible to be neutral on it. You either
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have to accept it or you have to reject it. You either have to say,
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I'm going to take that and make it my own, or you're going to have
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to distance yourself from it and say, that's not for me. And let me just
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say to you, if that's the decision you make, you're going to miss the
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blessing that Philemon discovered. Did it ever dawn on
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you that 2,000 years later we're talking about a guy named Philemon that we've never
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met before? Did it ever dawn on you that his name is not only written
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on the pages of Holy Scripture, but his name is written down in heaven and
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you're going to meet him someday? I'm looking forward to meeting Philemon.
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I'm looking forward to shaking his hand and saying, thank you for your faithfulness to
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Christ and to his church. Let me ask you a question.
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Will anyone say that about you? Anyone?
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And I'm convicted as I stand here this morning because the truth of the matter
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is I can preach sermons, but that doesn't mean I'm a Philemon.
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I can go through the motions of church and the mechanics of religious things,
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but that doesn't mean that I have the heart that Philemon had for
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the work of God. But I want that. What does it mean
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that the church was in his house? Well, let me show you 2 or 3
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things. Go back to verse number 1. The Bible says Paul, prisoner of
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Jesus Christ, and Timothy our brother, unto Philemon our dearly beloved
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and fellow laborer, and to our beloved Apphia and Archippus our fellow soldier.
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Come down to the last 2 verses of the book, would you? Look at verse
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23. There salute thee Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in
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Christ Jesus, Marcus, Aristarchus, Demas,
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Lucas, my fellow laborers. The grace of our Lord Jesus
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Christ be with your spirit. Amen. Here's the first thing that I've observed. Would you
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write this down somewhere in the margin of your Bible? The first thing that you
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find in a local church is this, that it gives you fellowship.
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Now let me just stop and tell you, fellowship is more than food.
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Amen? We Baptists, we're notorious for our fellowships,
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aren't we? And usually that means, well, everybody's going to bring food and we're going
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to sit around and talk. By the way, there's nothing wrong with that. I rather
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enjoy it. And as an evangelist, I get to do it a lot. I travel
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America by restaurant and love every minute of it. I enjoy eating. I eat
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as a hobby. You understand what I mean? It is a social thing. Well,
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the fellowship he talks about here is not the fellowship of simply sitting around a
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table. It's much more active than that. And by the way, there's a lot of
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people that enjoy coming to the church house and sitting around the table that have
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never learned to take their place in the wonderful work of God.
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May I say to you, God is not looking for more spectators. God is looking
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for more participants. And I'm afraid sometimes we're content
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to simply add people to the church roll and fill the church pews inside the
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building we've neglected this wonderful truth that God's work is not a
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work of addition. His work is a work of multiplication,
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and it doesn't happen inside a building like this. It happens when
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all of us find our place in the work of God. Have you
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found your place in God's wonderful plan? There are
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3 words I want you to mark in your Bible. In verse 1, would you
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underline the word fellow laborer? In verse 2, would you underline
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fellow soldier? And in verse 23,
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would you underline fellow prisoner?
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3 fellowships here: the fellow laborer, the fellow
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soldier, and the fellow laborer. What is
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this fellowship? Well, look at the words. Fellow laborer
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reminds us that we have a common work. Let me tell
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you what our work is. Our work is to get God's message to every man.
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Now you hear me with your heart, church. It doesn't matter how big
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this church gets and it doesn't matter how much God blesses you
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if you fail to get the Gospel to those for whom you are responsible.
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And let me just tell you, that sobers me.
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See, as an evangelist, I'm not just responsible to those I preach to on
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the Lord's Day, I'm responsible to those that I meet and cross paths with every
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day because that is the work of God Are you a fellow laborer?
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I did not ask, are you a member of this church? I did not even
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ask if you're a Christian. I asked, are you a fellow laborer? When was the
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last time you personally gave the gospel to someone? Because many a man and
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many a woman is content to give a dollar to somebody else to carry
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the gospel who've never carried the gospel themselves.
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And I want to tell you that your money is no substitute for your life.
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Are you a fellow laborer? And here's the second word. The Bible says fellow
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soldier. Fellow laborer reminds us we have a common work. Fellow soldier reminds us we
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got a common battle. How many of you know there's a real devil? There's a
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spiritual conflict going on in this world. And let me tell you something,
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you're right in the middle of it. If you wonder why there's trouble
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and struggle and stress and strain, let me tell you why. Because when you're
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a believer trying to do the work of God, you have just entered a war
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zone. And the more you seek to do for Christ, the nearer to
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the front lines you become. So get ready for it.
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Brace yourself. You're a fellow laborer. You're a fellow soldier.
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Wait a minute, look at the third one. You're a fellow prisoner. Somebody said,
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man, these words are deteriorating here.
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We have common trials and struggles, don't we?
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Paul was writing from a prison cell. Let me just say, for those of
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us who are American Christians, that we, we are pretty spoiled,
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and we know very little about real persecution and, and the tyranny of
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people trying to bring over a man's conscience. We, we know very little about
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resisting unto blood, striving against sin.
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We, we know almost nothing of real sacrifice.
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Ours is more an age of inconvenience. And yet the Apostle
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Paul says if you really get in the work of God, it'll cost you something.
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Excuse me, sir, it will cost you something.
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This American Christianity that we've concocted is a long ways from
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Acts Christianity. And I ask you again, are you a part of this fellowship?
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Oh yeah, preacher, my name's on the— it's not what I ask you. Are you
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in the work? Are you in the battle? Are you on the front
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line no matter what it costs you? Are you a part of this?
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As I meditated on these words this week, something wonderful came to my mind.
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It's very easy when you read these words fellow to keep
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the emphasis this way, but could I remind you that our fellowship is not— never
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first with each other. It's first with who? It's always first with God.
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Watch this, please. Being a fellow laborer doesn't just remind me
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we have a common work. It reminds me we have a common Master.
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And being a fellow soldier doesn't just remind me that we have a
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common battle. It reminds me, hallelujah, we have a common Captain, the Captain
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of our salvation. And being a fellow prisoner doesn't just remind me that we have
22:34
common persecution and struggle. It reminds me that
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we have a common Conqueror. The One who came out of the
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prison cell of all prison cells, who got up from that grave and came out
22:45
and conquered death, hell, and the grave. He's the one I'm serving this
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morning. And I want you to know that your fellowship— excuse me— the thing
22:53
that you have in common is Christ. Every week
22:57
of my life I'm in a different place. And somebody says, that must really be
23:00
weird. Somebody even said to me recently— I was going to a certain place to
23:03
preach— they said, do you know the pastor? I said, no. They said, do you
23:06
know the church? I said, no. They said, do you know anybody there? I said,
23:08
no. And they said, I can't imagine doing
23:12
that. That's strange. And I laughed and said to them, no, it's not strange.
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Because I walk into a place like this and see people I've never met
23:19
before. In a matter of just a few minutes, I feel right at home.
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Do you know why I feel right at home? Because we're part of the same
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family. How many of you know the Lord is your Savior? Would you raise your
23:29
hand? Well, you're my brother. You're my sister. See, if you got the same
23:33
Father, then you're members of the same family. Look, there is nothing
23:36
like being a part of the wonderful family of God.
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And by the way, if you're not in that family, you can get in that
23:43
family today. This is your day, my friend. As a
23:46
matter of fact, when you read the little letter of Philemon repeatedly, you have these
23:49
family words: father and son and brother.
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Why is that? Because there's nothing like being in the fellowship
23:58
of other believers! But that's not all you have in the church.
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Number 2, would you write this down? Not only does the church give you fellowship,
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but secondly, it affects your family. And I want you to look at
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verse number 2. He addresses not only this man Philemon,
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but he says something about a beloved Apphia and Archippus.
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This is interesting, but if you study Apphia and Archippus, most Bible teachers believe that
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Apphia was Philemon's wife and Archippus was his son.
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If you compare scripture with scripture and go back and study the book of Colossians,
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you find that Archippus most likely was actually a preacher of the gospel.
24:32
He may have even been the pastor of the church that met in his daddy's
24:35
house, or he may have pastored the church in Laodicea, which was very close to
24:39
Colossae. We don't know all the details of that, and I'm not going to speculate
24:42
or argue about it. But I know this for sure. If Philemon
24:46
let the church meet in his living room, how many of you know it affected
24:50
his family? Let me just stop
24:53
and testify for a moment. Let me tell you why I'm here this morning.
24:56
I'm here this morning not because my daddy was a preacher. Because Dad didn't start
25:00
preaching till he was in his 30s and I was near my teenage years.
25:03
I'm here this morning because when I was very young, I grew
25:06
up in a family where my daddy was a businessman and my mother who was
25:10
a stay-at-home mom, believed that the local church was the most
25:13
important thing in our lives. And we were there. I mean,
25:17
we were just there. When the doors opened, we were
25:20
there. They brainwashed us. That's what they did. They brainwashed us.
25:25
I mean, we actually grew up believing that going to church was
25:29
fun. How sick is that?
25:33
We got there early. We stayed late. Some of
25:36
my fondest memories revolve around the New Testament church. Now this is
25:40
very interesting. I never graduated from that.
25:46
I graduated from school. I left home. But as a
25:49
41-year-old man, can I tell you what my life revolves around
25:52
now? The wonderful work of God.
25:56
And you parents, you listen to me please, because I have 3 children still
25:59
at home. One's about to leave. And you know what I want for my children
26:03
more than anything else? I want the church to be in their heart.
26:08
I want the work of the Lord to be in their souls.
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I don't want to just be connected to it. It's not just something we do
26:15
on Sundays. I want it to get down deep in their spirit.
26:19
I want them to discover why Jesus died
26:24
and what He came to build. It's called the local New
26:28
Testament church. May I just ask you, how close is
26:32
your family to the family of God? How near is your household
26:37
to this church home? How close? See,
26:41
look, there are levels of this. I get it. I understand. There's some
26:45
people, they just kind of pop in and out and they're on the periphery and
26:48
they observe things and they give assent to things, but they're not really in
26:51
it. By the way, your children know if you're in it or not.
26:55
Your children know. And all this talk about giving— where a man's
26:59
treasure is, there will his heart be also. Certain things reveal it. Certain things
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tell on how dedicated you are and how really deep you are in it.
27:07
How close are you? See, it's not just about you. It's about
27:11
the next generation. What kind of home you want your son to have someday?
27:14
And your grandkids, what do you— where do you want them to grow up?
27:17
You want them to be in a church like this or you want them to
27:19
be out in the world? Do you want them to be a part of a
27:22
church where it's just like a social club on Sunday? Or do you want them
27:26
to actually be connected to something that's going to count for all eternity?
27:30
Because I tell you that your place in the church
27:33
and the church's place in your heart and in your home is going
27:37
to affect your family forever!
27:41
And I'm standing here this morning giving praise to Jesus but thanking my
27:46
dad and mom for handing my sister and I a goodly heritage.
27:50
And I wouldn't trade it for millions of dollars because,
27:53
look, it's something the world can't give you and praise God, the world can't
27:57
take it away. The church gives you
28:01
fellowship. The church affects your family.
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The church does something else. The church gives an outlet for your faith.
28:09
Now let me just pause before we read the scripture. How many of you would
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say that you are people of faith? Would you raise your hand? You've had faith
28:15
in God. You've put your trust in the Lord Jesus. Wonderful!
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What does that mean? Is that passive? Look please what
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the Bible says in verse number 5, hearing of thy love
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and faith. Don't miss that connection. Love and faith.
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Which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus and toward all saints,
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that— would you mark this phrase in your Bible? The communication
28:37
of thy faith. You see, faith is not something you hold.
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It's something you give. Let me
28:45
repeat that. Faith is not something you hold. It's something
28:49
you give. It's not something you simply received.
28:53
It's something you relay. It's never stagnant.
28:57
Oh no. Somebody say, well, I trusted Jesus as my Savior 20 years ago,
29:01
and that's the extent of their life of faith. Well, I want you to know
29:04
you missed it. God doesn't just save you from something.
29:08
He saves you for something. Look, if all there is to it is you getting
29:12
saved, then when people come to Jesus, we ought to hit them in the head
29:14
with a baseball bat, send them directly to glory, and get it over with.
29:19
I mean, look, if that's it, it's just about missing hell and going to heaven,
29:22
what could be better than going to heaven? Let's get it over with. That's not
29:24
why you get saved. You get saved so
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that you can know God and make God known to everybody
29:32
else. Your faith is to
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be communicated. Let me prove it to you. Look at this little word.
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Look please at verse number 3.
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When I stop, say the next word. Ready? Grace.
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Let's try that again. Ready? When I stop, you say the next word. Grace.
29:51
To. Would you circle the word to? See, I really believe every word is given
29:55
by inspiration of God. Grace to you and peace from
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God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The first thing he draws your attention
30:02
to is what has been given to you. What has been poured into you.
30:07
And in a word or two, let me tell you what God has given you.
30:09
He's given you grace and peace. By the way, there's a divine order there.
30:12
Lots of people want peace without grace. You don't get it in that order.
30:15
You got to have the grace of God to have the peace of God.
30:18
You want peace with God? You got to experience the grace of Jesus Christ in
30:22
your life. You want peace in your home? You got to have grace for every
30:25
day. This world wants to know peace? No peace without
30:28
the one who brings grace. Grace is the root Peace
30:33
is the fruit. Notice where it comes from. Grace to you and peace from
30:37
God our Father. The Bible says that it is every
30:41
good and perfect gift cometh down from above, from the Father of lights,
30:45
in whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Watch this, please. The Father
30:49
is the source of every good thing. How many of
30:53
you are blessed people? Would you raise your hand? Every hand should go up.
30:55
Are you breathing right now? You're blessed.
30:59
How many of you have eaten in the last 24 hours? Multiple times,
31:03
most of us, right? And most of us had to pick between at least 2
31:06
outfits what we were going to wear today. We are very blessed people.
31:10
And most of all, we're blessed with spiritual things like grace and peace.
31:13
And every bit of that came from the Father. Wait a minute. He doesn't just
31:17
give you the source. He gives you the sender. Look how you got it.
31:19
Look at the verse. From God our Father and the Lord Jesus
31:23
Christ. I love this. Let me tell you how the Father sent it into your
31:27
life. All blessings come through Jesus.
31:30
Every good thing in my life is because of Jesus Christ.
31:35
Let me tell you about Scott Paula. He's a black-hearted, hell-deserving, rotten, good-for-nothing sinner.
31:40
And if I got what I deserve, I'd be in hell today. But I'm not
31:42
in hell, and hallelujah, I'm never going to hell! Why?
31:46
Because Jesus Christ has brought grace and peace into
31:49
my life. Look down, please, to verse number 6.
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Look at the end of it. The acknowledging of every good thing which is in
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you— watch it— in Christ Jesus. Let me just stop and say this morning,
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there is nothing good in you unless it's Jesus Christ.
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In Romans, we find out that in me, that is, in my flesh,
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dwelleth what? No good thing. There's not one good thing in
32:13
any one of us unless it's Jesus.
32:17
When somebody says something good about you, it's not you, it's Jesus in you.
32:20
And if some good thing comes out of your marriage, it's not you, it's Jesus
32:25
in your marriage. And if your kids turn out right, it won't be because you
32:28
did it, it'll be because Jesus did something wonderful in the lives of your children.
32:32
Every good thing in you which is in Christ Jesus.
32:36
But now watch this. Some people are content to live there.
32:40
They take it in and take it in and take it in and isn't it
32:42
wonderful to be saved? I want you to
32:46
go back. I want you to go back to verse number 5.
32:49
When I stop, say the next word, please. Hearing of
32:53
thy love and faith which thou hast— circle that
32:56
word in your Bible— toward the Lord Jesus and toward
33:00
all saints. And I want you to do something. I want you to draw a
33:03
faint line from the word to in verse 3 to the word toward in
33:08
verse 5. Watch, please. To reminds me of all that has been poured into
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me, but toward reminds me of all that God wants to pour through me into
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the lives of other people.
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And by the way, notice the divine order in verse 5. It doesn't start with
33:21
what I do for others. It starts with being toward the Lord Jesus. And I'm
33:26
reminded now what the Apostle Paul wrote to one of the churches when he said,
33:28
you gave yourselves unto us, but you first gave your own selves to
33:32
the Lord. And I didn't come this morning to ask you to give me anything.
33:36
And I didn't come this morning to even ask you, would you give more to
33:39
the church? I came this morning to ask you, Would you give more of yourself
33:43
to the Lord Jesus? He's worthy of all.
33:47
He gave everything for me. And so,
33:51
Lord Jesus, I want you to have everything.
33:55
Watch this, please. When you give yourself to the Lord Jesus, it's easy to give
33:58
yourself to others. It's no sacrifice. It's no big deal because
34:03
you realize you've received everything. Everything came from God. Everything's going
34:07
back to God someday. And I'm gonna tell you why there's so many miserable
34:10
church members. Would you like to know?
34:14
'Cause I've been in churches every week of my life, hundreds of churches, hundreds of
34:18
churches. And may I just tell you, I meet a lot of miserable church members.
34:23
Oh, they're there, but they're not happy. It's on their countenance,
34:27
it's in their tone, it's in what they talk about. Why?
34:34
I mean, if Jesus is in us, if the joy of Jesus is real,
34:39
then pray tell me why there's so many miserable church members.
34:43
And by the way, some of them that are most miserable are the ones that
34:45
have been there the longest. Oh yeah.
34:49
Well, preacher, I've been in church for 50 years. Wonderful. Are you happy in Jesus
34:53
today? Look, I got saved
34:57
36 years ago, but that doesn't mean today I'm following Christ like I ought to.
35:03
Years ago, I was in Amman, Jordan. We were training a group of preachers
35:08
to go into Baghdad and start Baptist churches after the fall.
35:12
It was an amazing season. The last day I was there,
35:16
the Jordanian pastor that was hosting us said, I want to show you some things.
35:19
And he drove us through the wilderness where the children of Israel wandered, and he
35:22
took us up on Mount Nebo and showed us where Moses looked over the Promised
35:25
Land. Oh, we saw a lot of amazing things. We ended our day at sunset.
35:29
I'll never forget it. A beautiful body of water. He pulled up. It was a
35:32
nice resort area where he parked and we walked down to this body of water
35:35
and it was— the sun was just starting to set. It was glistening on the
35:37
water. It was one of the prettiest sights I've ever seen. And I bent over
35:40
and I cupped some water and put it up to my mouth and spit it
35:43
right back out. He started laughing. He said, welcome to the
35:46
Dead Sea.
35:50
And I said, that's nasty. He said, that's not
35:54
just salty, he said, it's bitter, isn't it? I said, it's terrible. Then he said
35:56
something I've never forgotten. It's been more than a decade ago.
36:00
He said, did you know upstream from where we're standing right now that the Jordan
36:04
River actually flows into the Dead Sea? He said, did you know that there are
36:07
living things that actually flow into the Dead Sea? He said, but out here right
36:11
now there's nothing living, it's all dead. And then he made
36:14
a statement that God used in my life. He said,
36:17
Scott, life becomes death when it's kept to itself.
36:22
I've never forgotten it. I'm going to tell you why there's so many miserable
36:26
church members. You ready? Because there's a whole environment in
36:30
our nation of people who go to church on Sunday, who take it in and
36:34
take it in and take it in and receive and receive and receive and receive.
36:38
You ever think about how many sermons you've listened to? Honestly, how many
36:41
Sunday school lessons, how many revival meetings you've been in? Think about how much you've
36:45
heard. But the problem is not that they weren't getting life.
36:50
They never learned to give it to anybody else.
36:54
And every now and then— this probably never happens in your church— but every now
36:57
and then in a church, somebody will get a little out of sorts about something
37:01
because it happens, and they'll decide they're going to leave and go somewhere else.
37:04
And on their way out the back door, they usually say something
37:08
that sounds like this: Oh, we just weren't getting fed.
37:16
And then here's what I've discovered. The problem was not they weren't getting fed.
37:20
The problem was they never learned to feed anybody else.
37:25
And pardon the expression, they sat around for years and took it in and
37:29
soaked it up and became more spiritually bloated all the time because
37:34
God never intended you simply to receive it. To, to,
37:37
to, to. That's the world's way. Into. The Lord's
37:41
way is out of. The Lord's way is toward,
37:45
toward, toward, toward the Lord,
37:48
toward all the saints, towards those who need the gospel,
37:52
toward the needy all around us. This is the Lord's way.
37:57
And I tell you, the church provides believers
38:01
the opportunity to express their faith.
38:04
How? Look at the verse. The Bible says faith and Love.
38:11
The way your faith is communicated is through your love. Interestingly enough, I read
38:15
John 13 just this morning devotionally, and I came to that verse where Jesus said
38:19
to his disciples— he's about to leave them— he says, by this shall all men
38:21
know you're my disciples, by your love one for another.
38:25
And I had to stop and say, Lord, does anybody see that in me?
38:29
Would anybody look at me? Would anybody look at this church and say, I don't
38:31
know what those people have, but whatever they have, I want that? I don't
38:36
know what that church down the street's doing, but it's not like all the other
38:39
churches. But I sense God is there. I sense the love of Jesus
38:43
is there. Look, that's the thing that sets churches
38:47
and believers apart. That's why Philemon
38:51
was referred to as a refresher. Oh God, give us some refreshers in our
38:55
church. There's enough drainers. We need some refreshers.
39:00
My dad told me when I was a kid, Son, there are 2 kinds of
39:03
people in this world, takers and givers. You be a giver. Man, I tell
39:07
you, there's 2 kinds of people in churches, takers and givers. And frankly, we all
39:10
need to take every now and then. We all need to be fed and we
39:13
all need to be ministered to. But there's also a point that you come to
39:16
in your Christian life where like the Lord Jesus, you didn't just come to be
39:19
ministered unto but to minister.
39:21
And I want to ask you, are you there?
39:27
Do you know a Philemon? Do you know one?
39:32
In my mind now, I'm thinking about Neely Mills. He's in heaven. I can't wait
39:35
to see him. When my dad took his first pastorate where he's been
39:39
now for 28 years, about 3 years in, he went through the hardest
39:43
season of his life. There was a devil, frankly, that popped his head up in
39:47
the church and tried to disrupt and divide. It was awful. It was really awful.
39:51
I was just a kid watching it all happen and trying to observe how my
39:54
dad handled it. And I watched his brokenheartedness and his patience
39:59
and prayer. Hmm, help me.
40:02
But there was a man in that church named Neely Mills, a World War II
40:06
veteran, part of the greatest generation. He would
40:10
stand at the back door every service and greet everybody coming in. And his job
40:14
was one thing. Nobody gave him the job. He took it.
40:17
His job was just to be an encouragement.
40:21
He made it his business to encourage my dad. I remember after every meeting,
40:24
no matter who would say anything, Neely Mills would come to my dad
40:29
and give him a hug and say, Preacher, God used you today.
40:32
Thank you for preaching the Bible to us today.
40:36
He was a tough kind of guy, you know, military man, but had such
40:39
a tender heart. He'd weep. He used that military term.
40:42
He'd talk about being at his post of duty. To the very end of his
40:46
life, barely able to get around. I'm at my post of duty.
40:51
I was home in West Virginia a few days ago and I took a run.
40:54
I ran by his house and the little woodshop he had out back where he
40:57
built some things with his hands and I thought about Neita Mills.
41:01
Now you don't know him. He wasn't famous. He wasn't a preacher.
41:05
But you're going to meet him in heaven.
41:08
He was our Philemon. He was a refresher.
41:14
Now be honest, how many of you can think of somebody like that? Their name
41:17
is different, circumstances are different. How many of you can think of at least one
41:19
person like that in a church somewhere that ministered to you?
41:23
Would you raise your hand please? And I want to ask you a more probing
41:26
question. Would anybody think of you?
41:32
Would anybody say that woman, that man,
41:35
that young adult, would anybody say that person was
41:40
used of God to refresh me?
41:45
It's a funny thing about this letter. He greets the church, but he speaks to
41:48
one man. Let me tell you this little truth. Would you look
41:53
at me, please? On one hand, there's this truth. It's bigger than you.
41:57
Have you learned that yet? It is bigger than you. It's bigger than any of
42:00
us. It's the family of God. It's the work of God. It's wonderful. You're a
42:03
part of the greatest thing going on in this town. It's not an organization.
42:04
It's not a club. It's not
42:08
something you have to join outside the church. It is the work of God in
42:11
this world in the local New Testament church. It's bigger than you. But wait a
42:15
minute. There's a sense, though it's big,
42:18
it's very personal. And there's something,
42:23
there's something only you can do. There's a place
42:27
only you can fill. There's a work only you can accomplish.
42:30
There's a contribution only you can make.
42:35
And see, God's not just speaking to this church collectively. God's speaking to you individually.
42:41
It's funny, Pastor, I come into meetings and people come in with this idea,
42:44
well, I'm glad we're having these special meetings because I know some people need to
42:47
get right. And the preacher starts
42:51
really plowing deep on sin. Somebody says, I'm glad she's here today. She really needed
42:54
to hear that sermon. Or they say, I wish he had been here. He needed
42:57
that. Wait a minute. Remember the old spiritual? It's not my
43:00
brother, not my sister, but it's me, O Lord,
43:03
standing in the need of prayer. And I wonder
43:07
in this first meeting if you'd be willing to say, Lord, speak to me.
43:11
O God, show me. O Lord, work in me. O God,
43:15
make me what I ought to be. You say
43:19
Christ is in your heart. Good. Is the church in your heart? Let me
43:23
tell you where the church is. It's in Christ's heart. He loved it so much
43:26
He gave Himself for it. If you say
43:30
you love Jesus, you'll love His church.
43:46
If this Bible message has been used of God in your life or we can
43:50
pray for you in some definite way, please contact us at
43:54
enjoyingthejourney.org. We hope you will share the message
43:58
with others who may also be encouraged by it. For additional full-length Bible
44:02
messages, please visit Dr. Scott Pauley's YouTube channel. Tomorrow is
44:06
the Lord's Day, and we want to encourage you to be faithful
44:10
to attend a Bible-preaching church in your area this Sunday.
44:13
Thank you for listening to The Weekend Pulpit, and don't miss Enjoying
44:18
the Journey daily devotional podcast each Monday through Friday.