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We've all been hurt.

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We all carry scars.

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We can all overcome these things and be healed through a relationship with Jesus Christ.

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Let's build that relationship together right here.

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Welcome to Healing Scars with Pastor Burton.

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Welcome to the church.

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Stop dropping everything around me.

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It's okay.

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I'll get that later.

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We have our slides.

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Thank you for everyone who's here.

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Welcome and welcome to everybody who's following us online.

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I'm trying to find my bookmark here.

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We have this cool little thing from my Bible sticking in the spine here.

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It gives you like five bookmarks.

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Let me see that now because I'm grabbing the wrong one.

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There we go.

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There it went.

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It's okay.

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Well Darren's getting that going.

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So we're watching this video and this guy is standing up on a cliff.

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It's like, God, I can't make this.

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I need help.

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Right?

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It comes down to a faith issue.

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But more so than that, it's because he has this barrier that creates doubt.

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You know, in trying to protect himself, his faith is hindered.

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Right?

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It's not going to go away.

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So instead of doing what God tells them, God's really having to push them off the side of

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that cliff.

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Right?

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It's going to see, hey, it's going to be okay.

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Look, you've got a soft landing.

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You're okay.

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You've got stairs.

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You're good.

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You know, in life though, we put up our own barriers.

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I want you to think about some of the barriers that we come across.

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Some of the things from our history.

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Some things that are still here.

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Some things don't exist anymore.

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Things like the Great Wall of China.

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Right?

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The Berlin Wall.

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The Western Wall in Jerusalem.

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Wall of Troy.

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Hadrian's Wall.

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US border.

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Right?

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We have a wall there.

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You know, trying to deal with border issues.

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Right?

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You can hear it at home.

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It doesn't matter where you live.

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We all have walls.

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Right?

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Even if you don't have a yard, typically you have something else with some kind of a fence

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or some kind of a barrier, even if it's just along a walkway.

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Right?

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And these are physical walls that we're talking about here.

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Right?

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What about the walls that aren't physical?

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The barriers that we put up in our own lives.

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Right?

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Veterans come home.

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They have a hard time talking to people about certain things.

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You know, we'll open up to other veterans, but someone who hasn't been there, hasn't

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done that, forget about it.

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You know, same with healthcare workers and other first responders.

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You know, teachers and the stuff that they have to deal with with kids.

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Right?

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There's certain things.

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They'll talk with their coworkers, you know, and veterans try to find solutions.

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But when it comes to other people, they'll shut down on a lot of that stuff too.

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We all have barriers.

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We all have walls in our lives.

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There we go.

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We're going to be looking at that today in the book of Philomond.

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All right.

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Barriers, obstacles, call them what you will.

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They're there.

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We put them up.

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We create the vibes.

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Some of them come down easily.

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Some of them don't.

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The Berlin Wall stood for 28 years before it finally came down.

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And to this day, all these decades later, one of the most famous quotes that are out

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there about bringing down barriers, right, is Ronald Reagan, two years before it came

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down in 1987, saying, Mr. Kovachov, take down this wall.

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Right?

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I might be paraphrasing there, but along those lines, you know, our own biases create walls,

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our upbringing, the communities that we're in.

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Right?

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I went to boot camp with a guy.

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He came from a rural Mississippi town where if you weren't white, you best keep driving

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through.

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Unfortunately, places like this still exist even here in the U.S.

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Places where if you don't look a certain way, you don't talk a certain way, right, you're

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not of a certain ethnicity, stay out.

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You know, and unfortunately, even the way we talk to people, because of frustrations

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that we have going on in our own lives, right, things that we have going on internally that

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we're dealing with, and we don't even necessarily realize that the way that we're talking to

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people, we're creating a divide.

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We're putting a barrier up between us and them.

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And it happens.

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Right?

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We see this in friendships.

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We see this at work.

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We see this in relationships.

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Boyfriends and girlfriends, husbands and wives.

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Right?

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We don't always see eye to eye to things, but sometimes the way we react puts a wall

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up, an invisible wall, but a wall nonetheless.

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People in there can feel it.

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The tension can be cut.

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Right?

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However, you know, there's still hope.

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These walls can still be overcome.

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These walls can be taken down.

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Right?

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Kind of like the Kool-Aid band.

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Busting through the wall.

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Remember those ads in the 80s?

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You think the 90s?

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Oh, yeah!

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Boom!

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That guy like me.

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Right?

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Coming right through that wall.

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He'll smile out of space.

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Oh, he's probably prettier.

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He's got that red color.

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Kind of got the blues today.

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Right?

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But still, you know, think of other things that are taken down.

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And here's some good examples of barriers because people get so caught up into them

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with their own idolatry and their own sins.

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Right?

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Think of casinos or old theme parks.

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Right?

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Like these big spectacles of them being torn down.

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Even just here, I guess it's been more than a few years ago, here in Albuquerque when

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Windrock was torn down.

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Even in just pieces, people took notice.

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It's like, whoa, what's going on?

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I remember when this place was this place.

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Right?

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We got, what is it, Dave and Busters or whatever.

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It used to be a movie theater.

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Right?

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I think a lot of us in this room have memories of seeing movies and stuff there.

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But these walls are torn down and these are things that people get caught up in still.

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You know, it's like you see the cosplayers that are out there and they make a whole life

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of us and they put this wall up where they can't talk to the people or other people can't

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talk to them.

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Right?

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They want their own little community.

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You know?

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But it can be done.

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These barriers can be pulled down.

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We can be reunited.

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Our relationships can be reconciled.

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Right?

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That's why Jesus came.

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So that we could be reconciled not only with each other but with God.

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All right?

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So if you haven't already, let's go ahead and let's open our Bibles, your Bible app,

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whatever you're using to the book of Philomon.

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All right?

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If you're not sure where it's at, it's kind of towards the back.

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That's right, right?

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Before he does.

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You know, it's biblical if he brews the coffee.

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Right?

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So Philomon is one of the shortest books in the Bible.

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I believe it's the third shortest book in the Bible.

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As a matter of fact, much like many of the others, it was actually written as a letter.

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Hence, a part of why it's so short.

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Right?

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And the purpose of it, you know, Paul, he was writing to convince Philomon to forgive

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the ones in this and not just see him as a slave but to see him as a brother in Christ.

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Because his purpose had changed.

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He had come to know God.

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He had fellowship with Paul and had learned and had become a Christian himself.

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Right?

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He couldn't just be looking at him as property.

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You know, after all, you think about slavery, we're all slaves to sin, right?

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We all have somewhere where we fall short some sin that we have to deal with in our

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lives.

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We have to deal with sin until the day we're called home.

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That's just part of our being human.

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Right?

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So in this case, I was talking about little slave, of course.

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You know, and in this case, one of the things, we don't know why.

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It doesn't go into the detail, but he had actually run away.

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Right?

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We don't know a whole lot of what was there.

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But he had run away and in the course of this while he was running, he came to know Paul.

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And of course, what came of that was he came to know of Jesus and what Jesus had done for him.

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All right?

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And back in these days, slavery, it was running rampant.

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All right?

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Slavery was a big thing.

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Now, it wasn't slavery in the same context of the way that we think of it, where people

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were just kidnapped or uprooted from their land or sold by their own people.

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And yes, that kind of stuff did go on at that time.

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You know, some slaves came from conquered areas after battles and wars.

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Right?

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And so, they were a lot of slavery, which we don't see today, you know, in the same

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context, people actually volunteered and put themselves into slavery for a number of reasons.

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You know, debts that they couldn't pay, you know, or maybe they didn't make a lot of money.

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They were starving.

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There were deaths or two.

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They didn't want to starve to death.

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So they sold themselves as a slave so that they could be taken care of.

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They wanted to be fed, you know, and be able to make a life and pay the debts that they had.

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You know, there are a number of reasons why people would do this, taking care of their

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family, their friends, their loved ones, their obligations.

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Right?

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Sometimes it kind of feels like that when we go to work today.

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Now, it doesn't.

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It's like, yeah, we've got to go take care of the man.

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I don't want to, but I'm going.

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I've got to pay the bills.

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I've got to take care of that debt.

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Right?

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A little bit different today than it was back then.

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But, you know, that was the way of the world.

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You know, poverty, starvation, those are still very, very much big things today.

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Those are big issues that create a big wall and a big divide.

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Even just talking about slavery still causes a big divide here, doesn't it?

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It would be safe to say a canyon of sorts.

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Because people get passionate.

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My people, right, my ancestors, my grandpa, it's a big thing.

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So going into Phil-a-Pon, or Phil-a-Mon, when you look at it, you're going to see it's only one chapter.

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It was written as a letter.

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So for that, you know, because of that, I'm only going to be referring to the first numbers when we're in this specific book.

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You know, if we go to other places, I'll refer to the book, the chapter, everything I usually do.

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But Phil-a-Mon is so short, it doesn't really warrant that.

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Right?

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As a matter of fact, once we're done, you know, as always, I always encourage everybody, go back and read it.

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This is short enough, it won't take you very much time.

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Right?

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Even though we're going to go through verse by verse, it's always good to go sit down, pray, spend some time with the Lord,

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and go back to the Lord to see what else speaks to you.

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Because I'm only going over certain things in here.

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There's actually so much more that we can pull out of this.

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All right.

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So, Paul, let's go ahead and just dive into it here.

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Phil-a-Mon verses one through three.

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So, starting in verses one through three, Paul writes,

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Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus and Timothy our brother,

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to Phil-a-Mon, our beloved friend and fellow laborer,

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to the beloved air, Ephiah, our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house,

256
00:11:42,080 --> 00:11:49,080
grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

257
00:11:49,080 --> 00:11:52,080
So, it's a standard kind of greeting, right?

258
00:11:52,080 --> 00:11:55,080
Nice way to start off a letter.

259
00:11:55,080 --> 00:12:01,080
You know, most of us put like dear so-and-so or, you know, when it's a personal letter like this or, you know, hey, buddy.

260
00:12:01,080 --> 00:12:02,080
Right?

261
00:12:02,080 --> 00:12:03,080
That's kind of what we're seeing here.

262
00:12:03,080 --> 00:12:08,080
And Paul wrote this during his first imprisonment around 60 A.D.

263
00:12:08,080 --> 00:12:09,080
Okay?

264
00:12:09,080 --> 00:12:12,080
We see Timothy's name listed here.

265
00:12:12,080 --> 00:12:14,080
We see that in other places as well.

266
00:12:14,080 --> 00:12:19,080
Second Corinthians, first and second Thessalonians, Philippians, and Colossians.

267
00:12:19,080 --> 00:12:26,080
And likely in this case, with writing to Phil-a-Mon, it was so that he could see that Paul wasn't alone.

268
00:12:26,080 --> 00:12:31,080
And especially with the request he's getting ready to make as we go into this and it goes into the letter.

269
00:12:31,080 --> 00:12:32,080
Right?

270
00:12:32,080 --> 00:12:33,080
So, it's not just coming from one person.

271
00:12:33,080 --> 00:12:36,080
It's kind of backed up like a lot of things in the Bible, right?

272
00:12:36,080 --> 00:12:38,080
There's always things to support.

273
00:12:38,080 --> 00:12:40,080
There's always witnesses.

274
00:12:40,080 --> 00:12:48,080
You know, even in Scripture, there's other Scriptures that witness, you know, what you're reading and what you're seeing.

275
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All right.

276
00:12:49,080 --> 00:12:51,080
So, that was a big part of it.

277
00:12:51,080 --> 00:12:56,080
Phil-a-Mon, he was a Greek landowner in Colossus.

278
00:12:56,080 --> 00:13:01,080
He had come to know of Jesus in Paul's ministry.

279
00:13:01,080 --> 00:13:07,080
And with his conversion and everything, he actually opened up his house for the local church to meet him.

280
00:13:07,080 --> 00:13:09,080
Very common in those days.

281
00:13:09,080 --> 00:13:13,080
We still see it some of these days, people meeting their homes and other places, right?

282
00:13:13,080 --> 00:13:15,080
But especially as a big landowner.

283
00:13:15,080 --> 00:13:17,080
And this for a couple of reasons.

284
00:13:17,080 --> 00:13:21,080
You know, first, it cost a lot of money to build something, right?

285
00:13:21,080 --> 00:13:23,080
To build a building.

286
00:13:23,080 --> 00:13:26,080
Not many people have those kind of funds, even then, right?

287
00:13:26,080 --> 00:13:31,080
And you can own the land and not necessarily have the money to build up a building or some kind of structure.

288
00:13:31,080 --> 00:13:36,080
Secondly, which is really the more important part of it, Christians at this point, we're still being persecuted.

289
00:13:36,080 --> 00:13:39,080
We're persecuted widely, you know, and violently.

290
00:13:39,080 --> 00:13:45,080
So, this also offered a kind of sanctuary of safety, right?

291
00:13:45,080 --> 00:13:49,080
So, being able to go out and meet on this land, meeting this house.

292
00:13:49,080 --> 00:13:51,080
So, they were meeting in the home.

293
00:13:51,080 --> 00:13:55,080
So, you know, at this point, safe to say, Phil-a-Mon, he's a pretty generous guy, right?

294
00:13:55,080 --> 00:14:00,080
But with everything that he had, opening it up to other people.

295
00:14:00,080 --> 00:14:01,080
Excuse me.

296
00:14:01,080 --> 00:14:05,080
Sorry, I know I'm not the only one suffering with allergies from the smoke and everything that's been in the air lately, right?

297
00:14:05,080 --> 00:14:08,080
It kind of kept me up last night, too.

298
00:14:08,080 --> 00:14:12,080
So, I apologize for kind of snogging here.

299
00:14:12,080 --> 00:14:15,080
But yeah, no, the use of homes was very, very common.

300
00:14:15,080 --> 00:14:19,080
It was very widespread at that time.

301
00:14:19,080 --> 00:14:32,080
And one thing of note here as well before we move on, when we're looking at verse three, kind of toward the end, also towards the end of this, when we get to verses 22 and 25, the word you, right?

302
00:14:32,080 --> 00:14:35,080
As we know it, we know it as just you.

303
00:14:35,080 --> 00:14:40,080
In the Greek, though, and the Greek is what it's being written in, it's actually a plural word.

304
00:14:40,080 --> 00:14:45,080
So, I guess for those of us here in the Southwest, it'd be, you know, kind of using that y'all, right?

305
00:14:45,080 --> 00:14:49,080
It's a group word that pulls everybody in.

306
00:14:49,080 --> 00:14:56,080
So, you know, with writing this, he knows Phil-a-Mon's not going to be the only person reading it and the only person who's going to have access to it.

307
00:14:56,080 --> 00:15:02,080
So, it's saying to all of you out there, right?

308
00:15:02,080 --> 00:15:25,080
So, continuing on, verses four through seven, Paul writes, I thank my God, making mention of you always in my prayers, hearing of your love and faith, which you have toward Lord Jesus and toward all the saints, that the sharing of your faith may become effective in the acknowledgement of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.

309
00:15:25,080 --> 00:15:33,080
For we have great joy and consolation in your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed to you, brother.

310
00:15:33,080 --> 00:15:38,080
Excuse me, refreshed by you, brother.

311
00:15:38,080 --> 00:15:42,080
You know, we're coming to the end of summer, we're still seeing some hot days, right?

312
00:15:42,080 --> 00:15:51,080
Think about it, when you're outside, you spend a lot of time outside, especially in the heat, you know, for people, you know, go out and like to exercise out in the heat, running and jogging and that kind of stuff.

313
00:15:51,080 --> 00:16:05,080
Even if you just spend a lot of time out there, you know, drivers, for example, you know, a lot of our buses with APS don't have air conditioning, so we have drivers out there spending hours on the road, you know, AC, in tin boxes, right?

314
00:16:05,080 --> 00:16:12,080
The point is, you spend a lot of time out in that heat, and you're coming into a building with air conditioning, even just fans, right?

315
00:16:12,080 --> 00:16:14,080
It's very refreshing.

316
00:16:14,080 --> 00:16:23,080
Let me take this in, it's nice, right? You know, maybe, even if you don't get to go inside just yet, maybe somebody brings you a cold drink, right?

317
00:16:23,080 --> 00:16:33,080
Even holding it, you know, most of us look against our head, maybe against our neck or under our throat, right, before we drink it, you know, and even just having something to drink, it's refreshing.

318
00:16:33,080 --> 00:16:38,080
It's just instantly, it's like, ooh, yes, it feels good. I'm enjoying this, right?

319
00:16:38,080 --> 00:16:53,080
Well, in this case, it's the same thing. You know, Philomons faith, opening things up, the good thing that he's doing is sharing his faith, sharing the gospel, you know, and coming back, you know, even though, you know, Paul's been gone for a while, he's still hearing of these good works.

320
00:16:53,080 --> 00:17:03,080
Even for him, it's refreshing to hear, say, okay, the work is still going, it's good, it's strong. Praise Jesus, right?

321
00:17:03,080 --> 00:17:19,080
So, you know, it also comes down to a matter of our attitudes.

322
00:17:19,080 --> 00:17:35,080
Like I was saying earlier, you know, we only pause for a moment, we need to kind of do self-evaluation on our attitudes, right, and ask ourselves, you know, am I refreshing to others, right, or am I holding up a wall? Am I holding up a barrier that's keeping other people at bay?

323
00:17:35,080 --> 00:17:41,080
You know, what's my attitude? How do I talk to people? How do I go about influencing others, you know?

324
00:17:41,080 --> 00:17:52,080
Because we all have influence of some sort, you know, are we doing it in a positive, gentle, and loving way, or are we barking at big, you know, ugly, nasty people, like, you're going to do this, right?

325
00:17:52,080 --> 00:18:02,080
There's people that are out there that are like that, especially at work. They come in and, you know, they think it's just a place, they're not going to be heard if they're not just nasty, just, I'm going to be that person that everybody sees, I don't care.

326
00:18:02,080 --> 00:18:07,080
I'm going to get what I want one way or another, right, and they're just nasty, ugly people.

327
00:18:07,080 --> 00:18:13,080
Or you have other people that come in, they're mellow, they're loving, they're gentle, you know, you look forward to seeing them.

328
00:18:13,080 --> 00:18:18,080
You come in and you're going to take notice, you know, and the day that they're not all smiles, you're going to know something's wrong.

329
00:18:18,080 --> 00:18:24,080
So you can ask, hey, what's going on, right? Fellowship. Those are the people that you want to fellowship.

330
00:18:24,080 --> 00:18:33,080
Nobody wants to be in fellowship with people who are nasty to them, right, who are ugly to them, or only coming around when they want something, right?

331
00:18:33,080 --> 00:18:42,080
It's like when you come in, it's like you could, you know, you have someone there who's loving and caring and you're just having just a hard day, right?

332
00:18:42,080 --> 00:18:49,080
It's a tough day and you just kind of need to step away for a second. You come up and here's, you know, here's Ryan.

333
00:18:49,080 --> 00:18:54,080
He's sitting here. I haven't seen him for a while and I see him sitting there. He's smiling, right?

334
00:18:54,080 --> 00:19:01,080
He's like, hey, how you doing? It's going to feel good. Kind of takes your thought off of everything for a second, right?

335
00:19:01,080 --> 00:19:11,080
It brings that refreshment. Like Katie, how you doing, buddy? Right? Not to put you on the spotlight there, you know?

336
00:19:11,080 --> 00:19:18,080
But it is, you know, just walking in, you have that person who lights up a room and suddenly everything becomes OK.

337
00:19:18,080 --> 00:19:24,080
You know, it's like when you have kids and you have a tough day, you don't really have anyone talking to you, you come in and hear it.

338
00:19:24,080 --> 00:19:32,080
Mommy, daddy, whatever, and they give you a big old hug, right? OK. It's not that bad after all. It's pretty good.

339
00:19:32,080 --> 00:19:40,080
It's a good life, right? You know, so, you know, that's what we need to ask ourselves.

340
00:19:40,080 --> 00:19:47,080
Are we that refreshing person or are we holding up walls and barriers that keep people at bay?

341
00:19:47,080 --> 00:19:55,080
Or are we working that, you know, doing things that are bringing people down as opposed to lifting them up?

342
00:19:55,080 --> 00:20:01,080
You know, after all, we are supposed to be encouraging, right? We're supposed to lift each other up. That's biblical.

343
00:20:01,080 --> 00:20:07,080
You know, and sometimes, you know, it's hard when things are happening and people start talking to you a certain way.

344
00:20:07,080 --> 00:20:13,080
It is really hard to remember to act Christlike, right? Because nobody likes being yelled at.

345
00:20:13,080 --> 00:20:18,080
And when you have all this negativity coming in at you and someone's working at you all the time

346
00:20:18,080 --> 00:20:32,080
or just issuing commands and not having any leeway or being loving, you know, eventually we all get to a breaking point where we snap back at them, right?

347
00:20:32,080 --> 00:20:37,080
Like, what do you mean? No. And whatever reason it is, and all of a sudden we're not Christlike.

348
00:20:37,080 --> 00:20:51,080
We're saying mean, ugly, hateful things just like they are. You know, and even if we're not, maybe we're saying things in a way that comes across as anger, right?

349
00:20:51,080 --> 00:20:59,080
And that doesn't lift anybody up because now all of a sudden they're on the defense like, whoa, and it becomes a fight.

350
00:20:59,080 --> 00:21:08,080
So Paul's letter here, you know, he's not acting impulsively. And he's setting the stage for the request he's about to make.

351
00:21:08,080 --> 00:21:15,080
And what he's doing, what he's saying all this, you know, thank my God by making mention of you and that I'm hearing all this.

352
00:21:15,080 --> 00:21:24,080
You know, he's reinforcing the fact that, you know, Phil, he's learned of Christ. He's learned of what Christ has done, right?

353
00:21:24,080 --> 00:21:30,080
And done for him and all of us for that matter personally.

354
00:21:30,080 --> 00:21:40,080
Now, if we go to Ephesians chapter two verses 14 through 18, right? So Ephesians two, 14 through 18, the word says,

355
00:21:40,080 --> 00:22:01,080
For he himself is our peace, who has made both one and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished his flesh, the enmity that is the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in himself a new man from the two, thus making peace,

356
00:22:01,080 --> 00:22:17,080
and that he might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And he came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near.

357
00:22:17,080 --> 00:22:25,080
For through him, we both have access by one spirit to the Father.

358
00:22:25,080 --> 00:22:32,080
So in other words, Christ came down to take down the barriers between all of us and to take down the barriers between us and God, right?

359
00:22:32,080 --> 00:22:40,080
To reconnect us, to put us back in the proper fellowship with one another.

360
00:22:40,080 --> 00:22:49,080
You know, and you think of the outcome of that, to unify us as one family in his kingdom.

361
00:22:49,080 --> 00:23:01,080
He's taken away the divide, the barriers, all the nonsense that we put up that's helped people stay out of my bubble. He came to break all that down.

362
00:23:01,080 --> 00:23:24,080
Or as we see in Colossians, chapter three, verses 11 through 14, so that's Colossians three, verses 11 through 14. The word tells us, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.

363
00:23:24,080 --> 00:23:42,080
Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long suffering, bearing with one another and forgiving one another.

364
00:23:42,080 --> 00:24:03,080
If anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, you also must do, but above all those things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.

365
00:24:03,080 --> 00:24:05,080
Especially us as Christians, right?

366
00:24:05,080 --> 00:24:12,080
Where, you know, the saying, ambassadors for Christ, right? We have to set the example.

367
00:24:12,080 --> 00:24:17,080
We can't wait for the example to be set because the example was already set by Christ.

368
00:24:17,080 --> 00:24:26,080
We have to set the example, especially for those who don't know Christ. We have to show them the example that Christ set for us, right?

369
00:24:26,080 --> 00:24:41,080
Forgiving is hard, but it's not forgiving for the sake of another person. It's forgiving for your own sake because of what God's done for you, what God, what Jesus has sacrificed for you and for me, right?

370
00:24:41,080 --> 00:24:51,080
Taking our inequity and the suffering and the death that we deserved so that we don't have to.

371
00:24:51,080 --> 00:25:00,080
You know, it's easy to complain and, you know, moan and, you know, degrade each other, but we need to put that to the side.

372
00:25:00,080 --> 00:25:10,080
And we need to act in love. We need to show people what love is. Remember, love is an action, not just a word.

373
00:25:10,080 --> 00:25:29,080
You know, we need to stop looking at people on the basis of the color of their skin, their status in society, the cars they drive, the way that they dress, the makeup that they wear, you know, the homes that they live in or don't live in, right?

374
00:25:29,080 --> 00:25:38,080
The way that they talk, because let's face it, some people, they have a certain vernacular, depending on where they come from or a certain way of speaking, right?

375
00:25:38,080 --> 00:25:43,080
People back East speak way different from people back here in the Southwest, right? That dialect.

376
00:25:43,080 --> 00:25:50,080
And just hearing a certain dialect will put people on guard and all of a sudden that wall comes up, right?

377
00:25:50,080 --> 00:25:57,080
The stereotype that New Yorkers and people from Jersey are all just mean, nasty, despicable people.

378
00:25:57,080 --> 00:26:04,080
It's like, oh, I hear that accent, ah, not anybody, stay over there, uh-uh, right?

379
00:26:04,080 --> 00:26:10,080
We hear that just with dialects in our own town.

380
00:26:10,080 --> 00:26:17,080
So it comes up and, you know, maybe they have a Mexican or Hispanic accent, people go on guard, right?

381
00:26:17,080 --> 00:26:22,080
You know, or Native. We see a whole lot of that same stuff right here.

382
00:26:22,080 --> 00:26:29,080
You know, the, the racisms and the bias, you know, judging people based off of their politics.

383
00:26:29,080 --> 00:26:38,080
Politics is a huge one, right? You don't have to agree with them, but you still need to love them.

384
00:26:38,080 --> 00:26:46,080
You know, whereas we have people out there, professors, there are pastors in this city standing up in the pulpit

385
00:26:46,080 --> 00:26:53,080
in major churches in the city saying, if you're a Democrat, there's no way you're a Christian.

386
00:26:53,080 --> 00:26:57,080
That's not true, is it?

387
00:26:57,080 --> 00:27:01,080
I know Republicans are twice as nasty.

388
00:27:01,080 --> 00:27:09,080
It's not a matter of politics. You know, although our politics should reflect what's biblical,

389
00:27:09,080 --> 00:27:12,080
but that's where we have to discern, we have to go through the facts, you know,

390
00:27:12,080 --> 00:27:15,080
what their office, the way that they voted and all that to find out what's going on.

391
00:27:15,080 --> 00:27:20,080
Not this nonsense of vote blue down the line, vote red down the line.

392
00:27:20,080 --> 00:27:25,080
Because there's people there that have no business being there.

393
00:27:25,080 --> 00:27:30,080
Shouldn't be voting for them just because of what party they're affiliated with.

394
00:27:30,080 --> 00:27:33,080
I'm not telling you how to vote. Don't get me wrong.

395
00:27:33,080 --> 00:27:37,080
But the laws that people put up just on that stuff, right?

396
00:27:37,080 --> 00:27:41,080
Most everybody in here is on social media at some point.

397
00:27:41,080 --> 00:27:43,080
Log in, spend five minutes on there.

398
00:27:43,080 --> 00:27:46,080
I can almost guarantee you're going to find at least one person that has some rant

399
00:27:46,080 --> 00:27:52,080
or some other nasty meme or something up, right? Causing a divide.

400
00:27:52,080 --> 00:28:01,080
It's the same thing.

401
00:28:01,080 --> 00:28:05,080
Even when we think about the things that other people have done that we don't agree with,

402
00:28:05,080 --> 00:28:11,080
or maybe they did something that hurt us personally, maybe it was intentional, maybe it wasn't.

403
00:28:11,080 --> 00:28:13,080
But have we talked to them about it?

404
00:28:13,080 --> 00:28:18,080
Or did we just go straight into a tirade, you know, throwing our hate at them?

405
00:28:18,080 --> 00:28:23,080
Most of the time, we start barking, don't we?

406
00:28:23,080 --> 00:28:27,080
We start nipping at heels and biting, taking cheap shots.

407
00:28:27,080 --> 00:28:31,080
We don't really talk the way we're supposed to.

408
00:28:31,080 --> 00:28:36,080
So we have to let go of these garages. We need to stop talking down to people.

409
00:28:36,080 --> 00:28:42,080
You know, they deserve the same forgiveness that you and I have.

410
00:28:42,080 --> 00:28:44,080
So we need to forgive.

411
00:28:44,080 --> 00:28:49,080
Sometimes that's the only way to get them to forgive you for any trespasses that you've had against them as well, right?

412
00:28:49,080 --> 00:28:56,080
Like, hey, you know, I'm sorry. I know I messed up, too. I love you.

413
00:28:56,080 --> 00:28:59,080
Kind of like a marriage.

414
00:28:59,080 --> 00:29:02,080
Marriage is a big one. Those are kind of big words that we use, but it's not just there.

415
00:29:02,080 --> 00:29:06,080
We can use them in friendships. We can use them with acquaintances, coworkers,

416
00:29:06,080 --> 00:29:14,080
because everybody needs to hear this once in a while.

417
00:29:14,080 --> 00:29:19,080
Turning back to Philomon, we're looking at verses 8 through 11.

418
00:29:19,080 --> 00:29:32,080
Paul continues to write, Therefore, I might be very bold in Christ, command you what is fitting, yet for love's sake, I rather appeal to you.

419
00:29:32,080 --> 00:29:47,080
Then such, a one as Paul, the aged and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ, I appeal to you for my son, Linsimus, whom I had begotten while in my chains,

420
00:29:47,080 --> 00:29:55,080
who once was unprofitable to you, but now is profitable to you and me.

421
00:29:55,080 --> 00:29:58,080
Paul was a person of authority in the church, right?

422
00:29:58,080 --> 00:30:03,080
He carried some weight, some gravitas wherever he went.

423
00:30:03,080 --> 00:30:07,080
When he went somewhere, people gathered.

424
00:30:07,080 --> 00:30:16,080
Now, what he's saying here, he very well could have said, you know, hey, you're going to do this whether you like it or not.

425
00:30:16,080 --> 00:30:18,080
He could have issued a command, right?

426
00:30:18,080 --> 00:30:25,080
He had that ability. He had that position where people were looking up to him, where he could have exercised it.

427
00:30:25,080 --> 00:30:31,080
But instead, he put that to the side as he's saying in the interest of love.

428
00:30:31,080 --> 00:30:34,080
He's like, I know I can do this, but I'm not going to.

429
00:30:34,080 --> 00:30:37,080
I'm going to tell you what's up.

430
00:30:37,080 --> 00:30:40,080
And I'd like for you to think on it.

431
00:30:40,080 --> 00:30:45,080
Look into your heart, pray and make the right choice.

432
00:30:45,080 --> 00:30:54,080
Instead of coercing him to do it through a command, he was convincing him to do what he needed to do with a grateful heart,

433
00:30:54,080 --> 00:30:58,080
to do what needed to be done because it was the right thing to do.

434
00:30:58,080 --> 00:31:01,080
And he wanted to do it, right?

435
00:31:01,080 --> 00:31:04,080
Sometimes doing the right thing isn't always the easiest thing.

436
00:31:04,080 --> 00:31:10,080
But even once you go through and you do it, you're like, you're going to do that.

437
00:31:10,080 --> 00:31:14,080
That's really what he's going for here, right?

438
00:31:14,080 --> 00:31:18,080
It's not tail wagging. He's just reminding them, hey, Jesus forgave you.

439
00:31:18,080 --> 00:31:22,080
Why don't you do the same thing? Think about it.

440
00:31:22,080 --> 00:31:27,080
It's something all of us can do.

441
00:31:27,080 --> 00:31:32,080
He was reminding Philomonte of the commitment and the duty that he has at Christ,

442
00:31:32,080 --> 00:31:40,080
the same commitment and duty that we all have, searching in our hearts, living in a Christlike manner.

443
00:31:40,080 --> 00:31:43,080
Once a mess, he was a runaway slave.

444
00:31:43,080 --> 00:31:50,080
And under the law of the land, Philomonte could have just killed him.

445
00:31:50,080 --> 00:31:52,080
And we're not talking about a slave.

446
00:31:52,080 --> 00:31:59,080
And even by the standards of that day, slaves are still property.

447
00:31:59,080 --> 00:32:05,080
Even though people volunteered themselves, if they broke their word, they ran away, whatever,

448
00:32:05,080 --> 00:32:10,080
they were still property. And if they were seen as being disloyal,

449
00:32:10,080 --> 00:32:15,080
then the slave owner had that right to just, done, right?

450
00:32:15,080 --> 00:32:22,080
Take him out.

451
00:32:22,080 --> 00:32:28,080
So once a mess, understandably, for whatever reason he ended up on the lam,

452
00:32:28,080 --> 00:32:32,080
he was literally running for his life.

453
00:32:32,080 --> 00:32:38,080
That's scary. I can guarantee you this is a scared man.

454
00:32:38,080 --> 00:32:41,080
And all of us have been in scary situations. You're on the road, here comes somebody,

455
00:32:41,080 --> 00:32:46,080
you're having to swear to keep him getting hit.

456
00:32:46,080 --> 00:32:48,080
And here's someone who knows that there's a bullet coming after him.

457
00:32:48,080 --> 00:32:57,080
Well, in those days, not so much a bullet, but a spear or something else, a sword, knife, rope, slingshot,

458
00:32:57,080 --> 00:33:01,080
any number of things. But still, you get the point.

459
00:33:01,080 --> 00:33:07,080
Here's a dude, he goes, hey, if I go back there, I'm in big trouble, and they're going to off me.

460
00:33:07,080 --> 00:33:12,080
So he's scared. And Paul, he's demonstrating, there's been a change in status.

461
00:33:12,080 --> 00:33:17,080
When he left, he was a pagan, he was a nonbeliever, he did not know.

462
00:33:17,080 --> 00:33:23,080
But now he's come to me, and while I'm a certain bondage here in this cell,

463
00:33:23,080 --> 00:33:28,080
we've had fellowship, we've had time to talk, he's come to know Christ.

464
00:33:28,080 --> 00:33:34,080
He's no longer just a slave, but a brother in Christ.

465
00:33:34,080 --> 00:33:37,080
That's a big thing, right?

466
00:33:37,080 --> 00:33:42,080
Even the Bible tells us, for every soul that is saved, the angels in heaven rejoice.

467
00:33:42,080 --> 00:33:44,080
There's a party in heaven.

468
00:33:44,080 --> 00:33:50,080
And so he's saying, hey, this is not just a stranger doing work for you, this is now family.

469
00:33:50,080 --> 00:33:55,080
This is a family member.

470
00:33:55,080 --> 00:34:00,080
And you need to look at this, you need to respond to it at this situation as such.

471
00:34:00,080 --> 00:34:08,080
And we look at it, and there's specific steps that Paul used here and that we've seen going through.

472
00:34:08,080 --> 00:34:14,080
First, he's identified the people who are involved, ones in this and Philomar, right?

473
00:34:14,080 --> 00:34:21,080
And he's working to rebuild that trust by identifying them as fellow Christians.

474
00:34:21,080 --> 00:34:25,080
And you look at the verbiage that he uses, my son, right?

475
00:34:25,080 --> 00:34:31,080
He's showing that connection, that familial connection.

476
00:34:31,080 --> 00:34:33,080
Next, he's making a request.

477
00:34:33,080 --> 00:34:36,080
He's not making a demand.

478
00:34:36,080 --> 00:34:39,080
He's making that simple request.

479
00:34:39,080 --> 00:34:45,080
Hey, take a look at all these facts, search your heart, pray, do the right thing.

480
00:34:45,080 --> 00:34:54,080
Do what's in your heart to do, because when it's in our heart, we do things happily, we do things joyfully.

481
00:34:54,080 --> 00:35:00,080
He looked to get that voluntary consent, just do what you've got to do.

482
00:35:00,080 --> 00:35:06,080
It's like if you go the other way, so be it, but I'd rather you didn't.

483
00:35:06,080 --> 00:35:12,080
As opposed to the submission that would have come with the order, like you're going to do this, right?

484
00:35:12,080 --> 00:35:15,080
You get a bias, it's my way or the highway.

485
00:35:15,080 --> 00:35:19,080
He's saying, I'm not asking you to submit, I'm just asking you to do the right thing.

486
00:35:19,080 --> 00:35:20,080
That's a good thing.

487
00:35:20,080 --> 00:35:24,080
A lot of us, we respond well to that sort of thing, right?

488
00:35:24,080 --> 00:35:28,080
In the corporate world, they like to say people like options.

489
00:35:28,080 --> 00:35:30,080
He gave them an option.

490
00:35:30,080 --> 00:35:34,080
He appealed to Christian love.

491
00:35:34,080 --> 00:35:39,080
And let's face it, Christian love is not the same as any other love, right?

492
00:35:39,080 --> 00:35:42,080
Because outside of Christianity, a lot of time, love is very selfish.

493
00:35:42,080 --> 00:35:44,080
It's love of self, right?

494
00:35:44,080 --> 00:35:48,080
People turn themselves into an idol, what they want into an idol.

495
00:35:48,080 --> 00:35:52,080
You look at how people respond to athletics and musicians and everything.

496
00:35:52,080 --> 00:35:54,080
They put them up on this pedestal, right?

497
00:35:54,080 --> 00:35:56,080
They're like, oh, I got to go backstage.

498
00:35:56,080 --> 00:35:58,080
I had that VIP package.

499
00:35:58,080 --> 00:35:59,080
I got a picture with them.

500
00:35:59,080 --> 00:36:00,080
Look at this.

501
00:36:00,080 --> 00:36:02,080
Right here, look at it.

502
00:36:02,080 --> 00:36:03,080
Right?

503
00:36:03,080 --> 00:36:07,080
And they're big stuff.

504
00:36:07,080 --> 00:36:10,080
And they go over and over and over again, because it's where they put their value,

505
00:36:10,080 --> 00:36:15,080
as opposed to putting it in other people and putting it into Jesus, right?

506
00:36:15,080 --> 00:36:17,080
Responding the way that we should.

507
00:36:17,080 --> 00:36:19,080
Taking care of one another.

508
00:36:19,080 --> 00:36:20,080
Looking out for one another.

509
00:36:20,080 --> 00:36:23,080
Telling each other when we're messing up.

510
00:36:23,080 --> 00:36:24,080
That's a big one.

511
00:36:24,080 --> 00:36:30,080
People don't like to do that.

512
00:36:30,080 --> 00:36:33,080
Sorry, I thought I was going to sneeze there.

513
00:36:33,080 --> 00:36:35,080
But yeah, people don't like to hear it, right?

514
00:36:35,080 --> 00:36:36,080
It's hard.

515
00:36:36,080 --> 00:36:37,080
But sometimes the truth hurts.

516
00:36:37,080 --> 00:36:39,080
Sometimes truth is hard to hear.

517
00:36:39,080 --> 00:36:40,080
But we need to hear it.

518
00:36:40,080 --> 00:36:42,080
And that itself is love.

519
00:36:42,080 --> 00:36:48,080
And then he's agreed to deal, as we're going to see, with any restitution that's needed.

520
00:36:48,080 --> 00:36:54,080
What we're going to see here is that he's literally going to say, hey, you know what?

521
00:36:54,080 --> 00:36:59,080
Whatever money you're out, whatever damage is done, I'll pay for it.

522
00:36:59,080 --> 00:37:01,080
I'll take on that burden.

523
00:37:01,080 --> 00:37:05,080
Let's take that out so that you guys can actually focus on the relationship.

524
00:37:05,080 --> 00:37:08,080
Let's take the rest of the nonsense out, and I will foot the bill.

525
00:37:08,080 --> 00:37:10,080
Right?

526
00:37:10,080 --> 00:37:12,080
So these are good steps.

527
00:37:12,080 --> 00:37:15,080
These are steps that we can apply to a whole lot of conflict.

528
00:37:15,080 --> 00:37:18,080
Right?

529
00:37:18,080 --> 00:37:22,080
So moving on.

530
00:37:22,080 --> 00:37:24,080
Oh, a side note here.

531
00:37:24,080 --> 00:37:26,080
The nerd in me.

532
00:37:26,080 --> 00:37:30,080
So the name onesimus also means useful.

533
00:37:30,080 --> 00:37:33,080
So Paul actually kind of got a little play on words here.

534
00:37:33,080 --> 00:37:35,080
A little pun.

535
00:37:35,080 --> 00:37:37,080
Paul has a sense of humor.

536
00:37:37,080 --> 00:37:39,080
He's a punny guy.

537
00:37:39,080 --> 00:37:41,080
So just a little bit of a thing there.

538
00:37:41,080 --> 00:37:48,080
But picking back up verses 12 through 16, Paul continues to write, I'm sending him back.

539
00:37:48,080 --> 00:37:50,080
You therefore receive him.

540
00:37:50,080 --> 00:37:58,080
That is my own heart, whom I wish to keep with me, that on your behalf he might minister to me in my chains for the gospel.

541
00:37:58,080 --> 00:38:02,080
But without your consent, I wanted to do nothing.

542
00:38:02,080 --> 00:38:08,080
That your good deed might not be by compulsion, as it were, but voluntary.

543
00:38:08,080 --> 00:38:23,080
For perhaps he departed for a while, but this purpose that you might receive him forever, no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a beloved brother, especially to me.

544
00:38:23,080 --> 00:38:28,080
But how much more to you, both in flesh and in the Lord.

545
00:38:28,080 --> 00:38:30,080
So he's in fellowship.

546
00:38:30,080 --> 00:38:32,080
He's got his barriers.

547
00:38:32,080 --> 00:38:33,080
I love this guy.

548
00:38:33,080 --> 00:38:34,080
I'd really like to keep him with me.

549
00:38:34,080 --> 00:38:35,080
But you know what?

550
00:38:35,080 --> 00:38:38,080
I don't want to create a barrier between you and I.

551
00:38:38,080 --> 00:38:44,080
So I'm going to send him home so that we can squash this bug and get things back on track.

552
00:38:44,080 --> 00:38:47,080
So one of them is being sent home.

553
00:38:47,080 --> 00:38:50,080
And the request is being made that Thurman accepts him.

554
00:38:50,080 --> 00:38:58,080
Like I said, no longer as a slave, not as just a forgiven slave, because he had that option as well, right?

555
00:38:58,080 --> 00:38:59,080
I forgive you.

556
00:38:59,080 --> 00:39:03,080
But as a brother in Christ.

557
00:39:03,080 --> 00:39:08,080
And let's face it, when we know someone's a Christian, we respond to them differently, don't we?

558
00:39:08,080 --> 00:39:13,080
It's kind of like I know someone's a veteran when I first meet them.

559
00:39:13,080 --> 00:39:18,080
They went from a stranger to a brother like that, right?

560
00:39:18,080 --> 00:39:21,080
You're talking to someone, oh, you're a teacher.

561
00:39:21,080 --> 00:39:22,080
Cool.

562
00:39:22,080 --> 00:39:23,080
What do you teach?

563
00:39:23,080 --> 00:39:25,080
What do you teach?

564
00:39:25,080 --> 00:39:26,080
What grade?

565
00:39:26,080 --> 00:39:27,080
Right?

566
00:39:27,080 --> 00:39:28,080
All those questions.

567
00:39:28,080 --> 00:39:33,080
And it's the same thing in any other profession when you meet other people.

568
00:39:33,080 --> 00:39:37,080
That's the way.

569
00:39:37,080 --> 00:39:38,080
Yeah.

570
00:39:38,080 --> 00:39:39,080
I got green light.

571
00:39:39,080 --> 00:39:40,080
I can hear it.

572
00:39:40,080 --> 00:39:41,080
Can you guys hear it?

573
00:39:41,080 --> 00:39:42,080
Yeah.

574
00:39:42,080 --> 00:39:43,080
Yeah.

575
00:39:43,080 --> 00:39:45,080
Yeah, it's still green.

576
00:39:45,080 --> 00:39:47,080
We'll keep going.

577
00:39:47,080 --> 00:39:48,080
Oh, wow.

578
00:39:48,080 --> 00:39:51,080
My volume just jumped in there.

579
00:39:51,080 --> 00:39:52,080
Okay.

580
00:39:52,080 --> 00:39:58,080
Anyway, I got a guess.

581
00:39:58,080 --> 00:39:59,080
He's being sent home.

582
00:39:59,080 --> 00:40:01,080
He needs to be seen as a brother in Christ.

583
00:40:01,080 --> 00:40:03,080
He needs to be accepted that way.

584
00:40:03,080 --> 00:40:05,080
The request is that he responds that way.

585
00:40:05,080 --> 00:40:15,080
And the thing is, as a Christian, and as Paul is talking about here, he's not saying, he's taking the 30 out of the equation, right?

586
00:40:15,080 --> 00:40:17,080
He's saying, we're all Christians.

587
00:40:17,080 --> 00:40:19,080
We're all brothers in Christ.

588
00:40:19,080 --> 00:40:27,080
And he's fighting things from the chance of being seen where one person's down here, one person's up here, and bringing them both together.

589
00:40:27,080 --> 00:40:35,080
So everyone, all three of these men are on equal footing, because we're all equals in Christ.

590
00:40:35,080 --> 00:40:42,080
And it doesn't matter who's up here, or who's sitting out here, or who's listening online or any of that stuff.

591
00:40:42,080 --> 00:40:43,800
to what a lot of other people will say

592
00:40:43,800 --> 00:40:46,560
and a lot of other people will submit.

593
00:40:46,560 --> 00:40:49,600
You know, there's countless videos out there

594
00:40:49,600 --> 00:40:51,760
of people in the pulpit even having a meltdown.

595
00:40:51,760 --> 00:40:54,680
I'm up here and I'm talking, you don't.

596
00:40:56,160 --> 00:40:57,760
I'm the staff member, who are you?

597
00:40:57,760 --> 00:40:59,760
Get out of here, right?

598
00:40:59,760 --> 00:41:01,820
And they're having these meltdowns.

599
00:41:01,820 --> 00:41:03,820
That's not the way it's supposed to be.

600
00:41:05,360 --> 00:41:07,040
We're not just in the fellowship,

601
00:41:07,040 --> 00:41:09,360
but outside that's not how it's supposed to be.

602
00:41:09,360 --> 00:41:14,360
Because we're not meant to be superior to one another.

603
00:41:14,500 --> 00:41:17,860
We're meant to be on equal footing to have fellowship, right?

604
00:41:17,860 --> 00:41:20,640
It talks about the body of Christ.

605
00:41:22,620 --> 00:41:24,220
The left hand and the right hand are different,

606
00:41:24,220 --> 00:41:25,500
but they do the same thing.

607
00:41:25,500 --> 00:41:26,860
The left foot and the right foot are different,

608
00:41:26,860 --> 00:41:29,460
but they do the similar things, right?

609
00:41:30,360 --> 00:41:34,200
Different parts of the body, different organs, same thing.

610
00:41:34,200 --> 00:41:36,980
None of them is any more superior than the next.

611
00:41:36,980 --> 00:41:40,900
They're all needed to function together.

612
00:41:42,780 --> 00:41:44,940
You know, if one lung doesn't work, the other one does,

613
00:41:44,940 --> 00:41:46,340
okay, cool, there's a way to get

614
00:41:46,340 --> 00:41:49,300
that other lung working again, hopefully, right?

615
00:41:49,300 --> 00:41:50,300
Things have to work together

616
00:41:50,300 --> 00:41:52,140
because otherwise what happens, you die.

617
00:41:52,140 --> 00:41:53,900
And unfortunately in our relationships,

618
00:41:53,900 --> 00:41:56,100
we become dead to each other because of the walls

619
00:41:56,100 --> 00:41:57,020
and the barriers that we put up

620
00:41:57,020 --> 00:41:59,460
and how we treat each other and talk to each other.

621
00:42:01,380 --> 00:42:03,540
You know, being a member of God's family,

622
00:42:03,540 --> 00:42:07,740
that in itself transcends any other status

623
00:42:07,740 --> 00:42:10,500
that we have here on this earth,

624
00:42:10,500 --> 00:42:13,620
which is why Christians respond to Christians.

625
00:42:16,820 --> 00:42:21,220
You know, the word puts it this way in Galatians 3,

626
00:42:21,220 --> 00:42:23,420
verses 26 through 29.

627
00:42:24,980 --> 00:42:29,060
For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

628
00:42:29,060 --> 00:42:32,380
For as many of you, excuse me,

629
00:42:32,380 --> 00:42:35,460
for as many of you as were baptized into Christ

630
00:42:35,460 --> 00:42:39,260
have put on Christ, there is neither Jew nor Greek.

631
00:42:39,260 --> 00:42:40,660
There is neither slave nor free.

632
00:42:40,660 --> 00:42:42,700
There is neither male nor female.

633
00:42:42,700 --> 00:42:46,100
For you are all one in Christ Jesus.

634
00:42:46,100 --> 00:42:50,220
And if you are in Christ, then you are Abraham's seed

635
00:42:50,220 --> 00:42:53,140
and heirs according to the promise.

636
00:42:54,220 --> 00:42:55,940
And when you look at this, you realize

637
00:42:55,940 --> 00:42:57,740
there's something much more serious

638
00:42:57,740 --> 00:42:59,180
at play in the background.

639
00:42:59,180 --> 00:43:01,500
There's something happening in the background

640
00:43:01,500 --> 00:43:02,580
of all of this.

641
00:43:03,900 --> 00:43:05,860
Does anybody see what it is?

642
00:43:05,860 --> 00:43:07,740
Is anybody kind of picking up on what's happening

643
00:43:07,740 --> 00:43:09,420
in the background of all this?

644
00:43:09,420 --> 00:43:11,380
Like we like to say God is in the works?

645
00:43:12,700 --> 00:43:13,540
It's love.

646
00:43:14,740 --> 00:43:16,020
Love is what's at play,

647
00:43:16,020 --> 00:43:19,540
not only in the redeeming of this relationship,

648
00:43:19,540 --> 00:43:20,860
but building upon it.

649
00:43:22,980 --> 00:43:24,700
And the precedent that's being set up

650
00:43:24,700 --> 00:43:28,860
is an example that's on display for everyone to see.

651
00:43:28,860 --> 00:43:30,140
I mean, look at it here.

652
00:43:30,140 --> 00:43:32,140
How many centuries later?

653
00:43:32,140 --> 00:43:35,100
And it's still an example for us, right?

654
00:43:36,860 --> 00:43:38,460
Next in love, it's an action.

655
00:43:39,380 --> 00:43:41,540
You know, and it's not just the obvious of,

656
00:43:41,540 --> 00:43:43,220
you know, forget and love one another.

657
00:43:43,220 --> 00:43:48,220
It's, you know, things are being seen in play right here.

658
00:43:50,300 --> 00:43:52,780
You know, like I say, at that time,

659
00:43:52,780 --> 00:43:55,100
slavery was running rampant.

660
00:43:55,100 --> 00:43:55,940
You know, we like to say, you know,

661
00:43:55,940 --> 00:43:57,540
love breaks all bonds and everything.

662
00:43:57,540 --> 00:43:58,380
But you know what?

663
00:43:58,380 --> 00:44:03,100
Sometimes at that time, they did not have a political voice.

664
00:44:03,100 --> 00:44:04,140
They did not have a clock.

665
00:44:04,140 --> 00:44:09,140
They did not have a way to work towards slavery

666
00:44:09,420 --> 00:44:12,500
at this point and changing the way people were seen

667
00:44:12,500 --> 00:44:13,440
and treated.

668
00:44:14,860 --> 00:44:18,700
What power did they have to exercise love

669
00:44:18,700 --> 00:44:21,060
and to demonstrate it for others to see,

670
00:44:21,060 --> 00:44:28,980
to set an example for others to see, right?

671
00:44:28,980 --> 00:44:33,380
The example that we set as Christians is noticed by others.

672
00:44:33,380 --> 00:44:35,700
And it breaks down once through the gospel,

673
00:44:35,700 --> 00:44:38,220
through the relationships that we have,

674
00:44:38,220 --> 00:44:40,980
when other relationships are transformed.

675
00:44:40,980 --> 00:44:43,300
People's lives are transformed.

676
00:44:43,300 --> 00:44:44,820
And when this transformation happens,

677
00:44:44,820 --> 00:44:45,860
we start breaking through.

678
00:44:45,860 --> 00:44:49,100
And remember, I used that analogy of the Kool-Aid man earlier.

679
00:44:49,100 --> 00:44:53,260
That's Jesus working in our lives, right?

680
00:44:53,260 --> 00:44:56,140
He's destroying that wall so that we could talk

681
00:44:56,140 --> 00:44:57,340
to the person on the other side of it

682
00:44:57,340 --> 00:44:59,540
so that we could come back in the fellowship.

683
00:45:01,300 --> 00:45:06,300
And when this happens, has anybody in here been

684
00:45:07,340 --> 00:45:12,340
to like a Christmas service with the candles, right?

685
00:45:12,580 --> 00:45:13,860
You know what I'm talking about?

686
00:45:13,860 --> 00:45:16,740
And they have one person up and they turn off all the lights

687
00:45:16,740 --> 00:45:18,740
and they have one candle.

688
00:45:18,740 --> 00:45:20,420
It's dark, you can't really see.

689
00:45:21,500 --> 00:45:23,860
But then somebody comes up and they light another candle.

690
00:45:23,860 --> 00:45:26,540
And then those candles light some more and then some more.

691
00:45:26,540 --> 00:45:28,100
And everybody's turning to each other.

692
00:45:28,100 --> 00:45:30,380
And after a while, even though there's no lights,

693
00:45:30,380 --> 00:45:33,180
all this candlelight illuminates the room

694
00:45:33,180 --> 00:45:35,300
and it's absolutely gorgeous, right?

695
00:45:35,300 --> 00:45:36,140
You can see things.

696
00:45:36,140 --> 00:45:39,100
Yeah, it gets a little warm sometimes, but it's beautiful.

697
00:45:41,460 --> 00:45:44,980
Our example, our sharing of love for other people,

698
00:45:44,980 --> 00:45:48,060
our sharing of the gospel and people being transformed

699
00:45:48,060 --> 00:45:50,860
is the exact same thing.

700
00:45:50,860 --> 00:45:52,820
It is that fire on us from the Lord

701
00:45:52,820 --> 00:45:54,300
and it's lighting somebody else on fire,

702
00:45:54,300 --> 00:45:55,860
causing transformation, guess what?

703
00:45:55,860 --> 00:45:58,340
They go on to the next person and the next person

704
00:45:58,340 --> 00:45:59,380
and the next person.

705
00:45:59,380 --> 00:46:00,780
And that's how we reach the world

706
00:46:00,780 --> 00:46:03,060
and that's how we effect change.

707
00:46:04,380 --> 00:46:07,300
By sharing the gospel and what Jesus has done for us

708
00:46:07,300 --> 00:46:09,780
and is still doing in our lives.

709
00:46:12,260 --> 00:46:14,460
The cross is like this for a reason.

710
00:46:14,460 --> 00:46:17,820
You go to some places, they still show him on the cross.

711
00:46:17,820 --> 00:46:19,100
I don't know about you,

712
00:46:19,100 --> 00:46:22,540
but my Christ is no longer on the cross.

713
00:46:22,540 --> 00:46:24,060
He was buried and he's risen again.

714
00:46:24,060 --> 00:46:24,900
He's not there.

715
00:46:24,900 --> 00:46:26,740
That's just a symbol to remind me

716
00:46:26,740 --> 00:46:28,740
of what he has done for me and for you.

717
00:46:30,860 --> 00:46:32,820
And that is the passion and the love

718
00:46:32,820 --> 00:46:35,820
that we have to share with others to take down those walls.

719
00:46:38,380 --> 00:46:41,740
Turning back to Philomon, verses 17 through 22,

720
00:46:41,740 --> 00:46:42,980
Paul continues to write,

721
00:46:44,020 --> 00:46:45,980
if you then count on me as a partner,

722
00:46:45,980 --> 00:46:48,700
receive him as you would me.

723
00:46:48,700 --> 00:46:52,620
But if he has won you or owns anything,

724
00:46:52,620 --> 00:46:54,740
put that on my account.

725
00:46:54,740 --> 00:46:57,620
I, Paul, am writing with my own hand.

726
00:46:57,620 --> 00:47:02,620
I will repay, not to mention to you that you own me

727
00:47:03,180 --> 00:47:06,180
even in your own self besides.

728
00:47:06,180 --> 00:47:09,940
Yes, but let me have joy for you in the Lord.

729
00:47:09,940 --> 00:47:12,900
Refresh my heart in the Lord.

730
00:47:12,900 --> 00:47:15,500
Having confidence in your obedience,

731
00:47:15,500 --> 00:47:18,940
I write to you knowing that you will do

732
00:47:18,940 --> 00:47:20,540
even more than I say.

733
00:47:21,620 --> 00:47:25,500
But meanwhile, also prepare a guest room for me.

734
00:47:25,500 --> 00:47:27,980
For I trust that through your prayers,

735
00:47:27,980 --> 00:47:29,460
I shall be granted to you.

736
00:47:30,740 --> 00:47:32,860
Now, I'm addressing Philomon as a partner.

737
00:47:34,980 --> 00:47:38,940
Again, this comes down to speaking to him as an equal,

738
00:47:38,940 --> 00:47:40,260
not as a business partner,

739
00:47:41,180 --> 00:47:44,260
not as somebody in authority and a subordinate,

740
00:47:44,260 --> 00:47:47,180
but as equals, equals with Christ.

741
00:47:48,980 --> 00:47:50,900
This isn't the tolerance that we see

742
00:47:50,900 --> 00:47:52,140
in so many places today

743
00:47:52,140 --> 00:47:55,020
and so many fellowships today, unfortunately.

744
00:47:55,020 --> 00:47:57,220
I say, what I say earlier, it's not that litigious.

745
00:47:57,220 --> 00:47:58,500
Oh, I'm a staff member, you're not.

746
00:47:58,500 --> 00:48:00,260
What do you gotta say?

747
00:48:00,260 --> 00:48:01,580
Oh, I went to school for this and you didn't.

748
00:48:01,580 --> 00:48:02,700
What do you gotta say?

749
00:48:03,700 --> 00:48:05,220
There's a lot of intolerance

750
00:48:05,220 --> 00:48:07,620
when it comes to certain things.

751
00:48:07,620 --> 00:48:09,060
People, they wanna be untouchable.

752
00:48:09,060 --> 00:48:10,420
They surround themselves with yes-men

753
00:48:10,420 --> 00:48:12,300
so you can't get to them.

754
00:48:12,300 --> 00:48:14,180
There's pastors, like, oh yeah, send me an email.

755
00:48:14,180 --> 00:48:16,140
I will schedule time and call my secretary.

756
00:48:16,140 --> 00:48:19,380
And suddenly they're booked up for days on end,

757
00:48:19,380 --> 00:48:21,860
weeks on end, months on end, right?

758
00:48:21,860 --> 00:48:23,580
It's not supposed to be like that.

759
00:48:24,780 --> 00:48:26,260
I should be able to call you

760
00:48:26,260 --> 00:48:30,500
just the same as you should be able to call me, right?

761
00:48:30,500 --> 00:48:32,580
I should be able to say, hey, brother, hey, sister,

762
00:48:32,580 --> 00:48:37,140
mom, dad, and just like, you should be able to do the same.

763
00:48:37,140 --> 00:48:42,140
You know, this is not meant to be a business.

764
00:48:44,620 --> 00:48:46,540
The church is not a business.

765
00:48:47,740 --> 00:48:51,700
When we turn it into a business, we prostitute the church.

766
00:48:54,660 --> 00:48:58,980
And when that happens, we destroy it, brick by brick.

767
00:49:00,300 --> 00:49:03,660
We cannot do that, nor can we allow others to do that.

768
00:49:03,660 --> 00:49:05,740
Which is why we collect each other, right?

769
00:49:08,340 --> 00:49:12,020
You know, it's, with talking to them in this,

770
00:49:12,020 --> 00:49:15,100
you know, it's reminding, we'll put it this way.

771
00:49:15,100 --> 00:49:16,340
When somebody's in a pulpit

772
00:49:16,340 --> 00:49:18,700
and all they're talking about is give, give, give,

773
00:49:19,660 --> 00:49:22,300
it is a red flag that everybody should take note of.

774
00:49:22,300 --> 00:49:25,260
Because at that point, they're no longer acting as a pastor.

775
00:49:25,260 --> 00:49:27,540
They're working as a financier.

776
00:49:27,540 --> 00:49:29,140
They're working as a banker.

777
00:49:29,140 --> 00:49:31,260
They're working towards that bottom line.

778
00:49:31,260 --> 00:49:32,860
And it should never be a problem.

779
00:49:32,860 --> 00:49:34,140
And it should never be like that.

780
00:49:34,140 --> 00:49:36,460
Because God provides for us.

781
00:49:36,460 --> 00:49:38,860
Whatever we need, we pray.

782
00:49:40,700 --> 00:49:44,380
And what's in his will, he will provide.

783
00:49:45,340 --> 00:49:49,500
Because it is in his will and in his time, right?

784
00:49:50,460 --> 00:49:51,780
Not just because we want.

785
00:49:55,380 --> 00:49:58,540
You know, by agreeing to take on this financial burden,

786
00:49:58,540 --> 00:49:59,380
like I said earlier,

787
00:49:59,380 --> 00:50:02,860
he's taking this little part of the equation

788
00:50:02,860 --> 00:50:04,300
so two people can heal.

789
00:50:05,540 --> 00:50:06,380
And not only that,

790
00:50:06,380 --> 00:50:10,260
but he's also working towards strengthening the faith,

791
00:50:10,260 --> 00:50:12,100
especially the ones of us.

792
00:50:12,100 --> 00:50:13,420
Because, you know, when I said, here's a dude,

793
00:50:13,420 --> 00:50:14,980
he's in fear, he's scared.

794
00:50:14,980 --> 00:50:15,820
And rightfully so,

795
00:50:15,820 --> 00:50:18,300
because he doesn't know what he's going back to.

796
00:50:18,300 --> 00:50:20,700
He knows what he's hoping will happen,

797
00:50:20,700 --> 00:50:22,260
but he doesn't know for sure.

798
00:50:22,260 --> 00:50:23,700
So he's having to trust in Paul.

799
00:50:23,700 --> 00:50:25,140
He's having to trust in God.

800
00:50:25,140 --> 00:50:27,460
You know, so by doing this,

801
00:50:27,460 --> 00:50:30,980
and Paul taking on this burden himself,

802
00:50:30,980 --> 00:50:32,820
God himself is calling his strength in ones

803
00:50:32,820 --> 00:50:34,340
and it's just like, hey, you know what?

804
00:50:34,340 --> 00:50:35,420
You don't have to worry about that part.

805
00:50:35,420 --> 00:50:36,260
I got that.

806
00:50:36,260 --> 00:50:37,660
You just go focus on this.

807
00:50:38,740 --> 00:50:40,580
He's helping to build that bridge.

808
00:50:42,620 --> 00:50:47,060
You know, and he's also providing relief to Philamon.

809
00:50:47,060 --> 00:50:48,740
Okay, I'm not this,

810
00:50:48,740 --> 00:50:50,500
but it's gonna get replaced either way.

811
00:50:50,500 --> 00:50:51,340
We're good.

812
00:50:52,180 --> 00:50:53,020
We're good.

813
00:50:53,020 --> 00:50:55,380
We're good.

814
00:50:55,380 --> 00:50:57,660
So God's at work, right?

815
00:50:57,660 --> 00:50:59,020
Things are being taken care of.

816
00:50:59,020 --> 00:51:02,620
So instead of having to focus on the hurt and the loss,

817
00:51:02,620 --> 00:51:04,380
they could focus on the relationship.

818
00:51:04,380 --> 00:51:05,420
They can tear down that wall

819
00:51:05,420 --> 00:51:07,780
and those barriers that are between them.

820
00:51:07,780 --> 00:51:09,780
And sometimes that's what you and I need.

821
00:51:10,620 --> 00:51:12,140
You know, we need to be able to remember,

822
00:51:12,140 --> 00:51:16,220
take those burdens and push them to the side.

823
00:51:17,220 --> 00:51:18,540
When you look at marriages,

824
00:51:18,540 --> 00:51:20,980
one of the top reasons why divorce is out there

825
00:51:20,980 --> 00:51:24,460
is because of finances, money, right?

826
00:51:24,460 --> 00:51:25,780
How are we gonna pay for this?

827
00:51:25,780 --> 00:51:27,460
How are we gonna pay for that?

828
00:51:27,460 --> 00:51:29,260
The problem is, so many of these couples,

829
00:51:29,260 --> 00:51:30,620
they don't actually sit down together

830
00:51:30,620 --> 00:51:34,620
and discuss their finances,

831
00:51:34,620 --> 00:51:36,820
how much they're bringing in versus how much is going out,

832
00:51:36,820 --> 00:51:38,660
how they can adjust their budgets,

833
00:51:38,660 --> 00:51:39,820
what they could cut out of your life

834
00:51:39,820 --> 00:51:43,460
that's not actually needed, right?

835
00:51:45,300 --> 00:51:46,700
And that's just one example.

836
00:51:48,260 --> 00:51:50,860
There's so many other things that people fight about

837
00:51:50,860 --> 00:51:52,140
that can use the exact same thing,

838
00:51:52,140 --> 00:51:54,780
use the same steps that we're just looking at earlier.

839
00:51:56,820 --> 00:51:58,460
That's right, Twinkie, that's right.

840
00:52:00,580 --> 00:52:02,100
So, in doing this, Paul,

841
00:52:02,100 --> 00:52:05,500
he was making a sacrifice for both of his brothers.

842
00:52:05,500 --> 00:52:07,340
You know, in love is sacrifice.

843
00:52:07,340 --> 00:52:09,740
We sacrifice things for the people that we love.

844
00:52:12,420 --> 00:52:14,020
Sometimes it's painful, but you know,

845
00:52:14,020 --> 00:52:16,020
that is the cost of love.

846
00:52:16,020 --> 00:52:21,020
You know, and in demonstrating self-sacrifice,

847
00:52:21,020 --> 00:52:23,980
he was again, you know, demonstrating the love of Christ,

848
00:52:23,980 --> 00:52:24,980
right?

849
00:52:24,980 --> 00:52:28,100
Because Christ did make the ultimate sacrifice for us.

850
00:52:31,140 --> 00:52:33,220
So closing out on this book,

851
00:52:33,220 --> 00:52:36,180
let's look at the last few verses, 23 through 25.

852
00:52:36,180 --> 00:52:37,320
Paul writes,

853
00:52:38,220 --> 00:52:41,180
Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus greets you.

854
00:52:41,180 --> 00:52:45,220
As do Mark, as, I'm gonna butcher this name, I apologize.

855
00:52:45,220 --> 00:52:46,820
I always have trouble with this one.

856
00:52:47,700 --> 00:52:52,060
Aristarchus, Venus, Luke, my fellow laborers,

857
00:52:52,060 --> 00:52:54,380
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ

858
00:52:54,380 --> 00:52:56,340
be with you in your spirit, amen.

859
00:52:57,500 --> 00:53:00,500
So just as Paul was looking to reconcile this relationship,

860
00:53:00,500 --> 00:53:03,260
Jesus came to do the same for us, right?

861
00:53:03,260 --> 00:53:04,940
No, he took the cross, he rose again

862
00:53:04,940 --> 00:53:07,220
to reconcile us to the Father.

863
00:53:10,260 --> 00:53:13,180
We need to remember that in forgiving others

864
00:53:13,180 --> 00:53:15,180
and being graceful and merciful.

865
00:53:16,020 --> 00:53:17,460
We've already had this sacrifice for us,

866
00:53:17,460 --> 00:53:19,820
why can't we do it for others?

867
00:53:19,820 --> 00:53:20,980
And if you can't do it for others,

868
00:53:20,980 --> 00:53:23,220
you need to step back and evaluate, why?

869
00:53:24,140 --> 00:53:25,340
What do I need to change?

870
00:53:25,340 --> 00:53:28,940
Lord, help me find it and help me to change it.

871
00:53:28,940 --> 00:53:30,820
Now, take this burden from me.

872
00:53:32,980 --> 00:53:35,500
Because it's something that we all need to change.

873
00:53:35,500 --> 00:53:37,820
And at some point, we all have somebody

874
00:53:37,820 --> 00:53:42,500
that we have that barrier there, right?

875
00:53:42,500 --> 00:53:43,780
We're on that cliff.

876
00:53:46,020 --> 00:53:48,820
And God's saying, jump, it's gonna be okay.

877
00:53:48,820 --> 00:53:50,740
But we're so caught up in our own garbage,

878
00:53:50,740 --> 00:53:53,340
our own nonsense that we won't make the jump.

879
00:53:53,340 --> 00:53:54,820
We won't take the leap of faith

880
00:53:54,820 --> 00:53:56,980
and we keep that barrier in place.

881
00:53:56,980 --> 00:53:58,740
And who do we end up hurting?

882
00:53:58,740 --> 00:53:59,660
Ourselves.

883
00:54:01,300 --> 00:54:02,500
Because if we don't make the jump,

884
00:54:02,500 --> 00:54:05,620
we go down with the rebel, right?

885
00:54:05,620 --> 00:54:10,620
Each of us accepting the gift that Jesus gave us,

886
00:54:12,220 --> 00:54:14,220
we're able to reconcile with others.

887
00:54:16,540 --> 00:54:17,500
There's so much hurt out there,

888
00:54:17,500 --> 00:54:18,740
so many family relationships,

889
00:54:18,740 --> 00:54:21,860
so many estranged people.

890
00:54:22,740 --> 00:54:24,100
And the biggest part of it comes

891
00:54:24,100 --> 00:54:27,060
because they don't have that relationship with Jesus.

892
00:54:28,420 --> 00:54:31,700
And that's why we see these, especially addicts, right?

893
00:54:31,700 --> 00:54:33,540
Especially addicts and drunks,

894
00:54:33,540 --> 00:54:35,940
people are filling that void.

895
00:54:35,940 --> 00:54:37,980
Once they come and know Jesus, what happens?

896
00:54:37,980 --> 00:54:40,660
It becomes so much easier for them to reconcile

897
00:54:40,660 --> 00:54:43,340
and mend these bridges and come back into a relationship.

898
00:54:43,340 --> 00:54:44,180
Why?

899
00:54:44,180 --> 00:54:45,780
Because they now have a relationship with Jesus

900
00:54:45,780 --> 00:54:48,340
and they know the example to follow, the example to set,

901
00:54:48,340 --> 00:54:50,820
and they're able to accept the things that they've done wrong

902
00:54:50,820 --> 00:54:53,060
and ask for forgiveness themselves.

903
00:54:53,060 --> 00:54:55,060
They're able to forgive themselves.

904
00:54:56,340 --> 00:54:58,180
You know, if there's something that you feel guilty of,

905
00:54:58,180 --> 00:55:01,860
something that harbors you, you need to forgive yourself.

906
00:55:01,860 --> 00:55:03,540
You need to forgive yourself

907
00:55:05,940 --> 00:55:08,020
because Jesus already did it.

908
00:55:08,020 --> 00:55:10,220
And if he can do it, so can you.

909
00:55:13,300 --> 00:55:15,820
You know, it wasn't that long ago,

910
00:55:15,820 --> 00:55:17,820
somebody could kind of knock on the door

911
00:55:19,820 --> 00:55:21,700
and we would answer it.

912
00:55:21,700 --> 00:55:25,420
It wasn't that long ago, somebody could call

913
00:55:26,860 --> 00:55:28,220
and we'd pick up the phone.

914
00:55:28,220 --> 00:55:30,020
And now we're not doing either.

915
00:55:31,140 --> 00:55:32,420
It's unfortunate.

916
00:55:32,420 --> 00:55:35,740
We get so caught up with these barriers that we put in place.

917
00:55:35,740 --> 00:55:37,820
So I'm not expecting anybody, I'm gonna hide behind the door

918
00:55:37,820 --> 00:55:40,180
and I'm gonna go over here and hunker down

919
00:55:40,180 --> 00:55:42,260
at the time nobody's home, right?

920
00:55:44,060 --> 00:55:45,820
Somebody's calling on the phone.

921
00:55:47,900 --> 00:55:49,220
Right there.

922
00:55:49,220 --> 00:55:51,420
Oh, I don't know that number, I'm not gonna answer it.

923
00:55:55,020 --> 00:55:56,340
Now from the beginning,

924
00:55:56,340 --> 00:55:59,660
we were not expecting anybody to come or answer our phone.

925
00:56:01,980 --> 00:56:04,740
Unfortunately, when it comes to our lives,

926
00:56:04,740 --> 00:56:07,860
when it comes to hiding behind all these barriers,

927
00:56:07,860 --> 00:56:10,700
all the stuff that we've built up

928
00:56:10,700 --> 00:56:12,900
to keep other people at bay,

929
00:56:13,940 --> 00:56:16,460
we think we're protecting ourselves and we're not.

930
00:56:18,660 --> 00:56:22,380
Don't let the barriers that you have in place

931
00:56:22,380 --> 00:56:24,580
be the thing that keep you from Jesus

932
00:56:24,580 --> 00:56:28,180
because you're going to miss out on so much.

933
00:56:29,620 --> 00:56:31,620
If that's you today, you need to take that home,

934
00:56:31,620 --> 00:56:33,220
you need to pray, you need to meditate

935
00:56:33,220 --> 00:56:36,140
and figure out what you need to do to make that change

936
00:56:36,140 --> 00:56:37,740
so that you can open the door.

937
00:56:37,740 --> 00:56:38,780
Because when it comes to Jesus,

938
00:56:38,780 --> 00:56:41,300
not just a matter of opening the door,

939
00:56:41,300 --> 00:56:45,020
it's inviting him into your house, right?

940
00:56:46,620 --> 00:56:49,660
Because the Holy Spirit dwells in us.

941
00:56:49,660 --> 00:56:53,020
You can't miss out.

942
00:56:55,820 --> 00:56:57,300
Things are way too legalistic these days

943
00:56:57,300 --> 00:56:59,660
for allow that even at the slightest chance of that.

944
00:56:59,660 --> 00:57:01,780
So all these questions that we've gone through today,

945
00:57:01,780 --> 00:57:05,020
it is an opportunity for all of us to go home and reflect

946
00:57:05,980 --> 00:57:09,660
on how we treat others, how we respond to others,

947
00:57:09,660 --> 00:57:11,740
what barriers we have in our own lives,

948
00:57:13,140 --> 00:57:16,100
the things that are keeping us separated from Jesus,

949
00:57:16,100 --> 00:57:21,100
as opposed to being able to enjoy life fully with him.

950
00:57:22,380 --> 00:57:23,420
Right, let's pray.

951
00:57:25,500 --> 00:57:27,300
God, we thank you for being with us.

952
00:57:28,540 --> 00:57:30,100
We thank you for reminding us

953
00:57:30,100 --> 00:57:31,420
that our connection with each other

954
00:57:31,420 --> 00:57:33,780
is also dependent on our connection with you.

955
00:57:35,220 --> 00:57:37,900
We ask that you help us to overcome the various walls,

956
00:57:37,900 --> 00:57:41,180
barriers and obstacles that we've placed in our own lives,

957
00:57:42,260 --> 00:57:45,740
that you help us to get out of our own way

958
00:57:45,740 --> 00:57:49,260
and to reconcile with you and with one another

959
00:57:49,260 --> 00:57:50,580
before it's too late.

960
00:57:51,620 --> 00:57:54,020
We thank you for your love, your mercy, your grace

961
00:57:54,020 --> 00:57:57,100
as you lead us down the pathway standing before us.

962
00:57:58,540 --> 00:58:00,020
And we ask that you continue to do so

963
00:58:00,020 --> 00:58:02,540
and help us to see the changes

964
00:58:02,540 --> 00:58:04,340
that we need to make along the way,

965
00:58:05,220 --> 00:58:07,140
the processes that we need to adapt

966
00:58:08,940 --> 00:58:13,140
and how we can fully come into a better,

967
00:58:13,140 --> 00:58:16,780
more loving relationship with you and one another

968
00:58:16,780 --> 00:58:18,940
and to reflect that example for the world.

969
00:58:20,460 --> 00:58:23,780
And all these people say, amen.

970
00:58:23,780 --> 00:58:25,620
Remember you're loved and you are blessed.

971
00:58:25,620 --> 00:58:29,980
So when you leave here today, be the church, all right?

972
00:58:29,980 --> 00:58:31,220
Thank you for joining me today

973
00:58:31,220 --> 00:58:33,780
here at Healing Scars with Pastor Burton.

974
00:58:33,780 --> 00:58:36,060
If you'd like to know more about our ministry

975
00:58:36,060 --> 00:58:37,740
or how you can support us,

976
00:58:37,740 --> 00:58:40,140
you can do so by going to our website

977
00:58:40,140 --> 00:58:43,180
at bethelightsanctuary.org

978
00:58:43,180 --> 00:58:47,980
or you can visit us on Facebook at Be The Light Sanctuary.

979
00:58:47,980 --> 00:58:49,300
We'll catch you next time.

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00:58:49,300 --> 00:59:14,140
God bless.