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We've all been hurt. We all have scars. And through a relationship with Jesus Christ,

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we can all overcome and we can all be healed. Welcome to Healing Scars with Pastor Burton.

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Hey everybody and welcome back. So this week we had to adjust fire a little bit. What was

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going to happen was we were supposed to have our event out in Rancho. Unfortunately, due to the

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weather, you know, we had winds over 75 miles an hour. We had everything from rain in one area to

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wet out conditions in the next. Power lines were down, you know, corresponding power outages,

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light signals were out. It was just, it was a rough, rough day. So we had to, we had to cancel

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that, you know, for safety. Plus, you know, nobody really wants to go out in that kind of weather.

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And totally understandable. Okay. So, you know, the word that I had prepared, I've actually taken

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it and I stuck it in my back pocket. We're going to save it from when we actually do get to go out

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there because we are rescheduling and we are going to be out there, which is good. It's exciting. So

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with that said, because I was unprepared, I was really looking forward to going out there recording

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that. And that was going to be this week's podcast entry. Exciting there, right? I'm actually having

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to adjust fire here and we're actually going to go in a different direction for this week's entry,

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which is cool because I already actually had something in mind. I was already starting, you

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know, to, to, you know, cause I like to prepare a head and everything. So we're just a little change.

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Now, a couple of weeks ago, you know, we went through, you know, we spent a couple of weeks

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going through the book of Haggai. And as I told you in that study, there's several books in the Bible

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that are just very, very short. Some of them get skimmed over, some skipped over, but not all of

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them. And today we're actually going to be looking at the book of Philemon. If you want to go ahead

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and open to that, go ahead, go for it. Now, this is an extremely short book. It's actually shorter

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than Haggai. It's not the shortest of a book in the Bible, but it's, it's pretty short. It's right

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up there. You know, depending on what kind of text you're using, it very well may only be one page.

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It's likely going to be less. It really just depends on the text that you're using. Now, you

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know, Philemon, it was written by Paul during his first imprisonment around 60 AD. And, you know,

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and it corresponds, it's written at the same time as Ephesians and Colossians were being written.

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And there's three big themes that you're going to see as we go through this book together. And

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those are forgiveness, barriers, and respect. Now, as much as we like to refer to this as a book,

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and as you're going to see very quickly here, it's actually a very, very personal letter from Paul

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to Philemon. All right. And so how's this going to relate? Well, it's going to relate very easy. You

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see, there's different things in life that create barriers, and you have to get through those

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barriers. It's just like remodeling a building. You know, sometimes you need to take a sledgehammer

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and take out a wall. Other times you need to just demolish the whole building and start from scratch

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and build it up. You know, you think of mining. They have to blast certain areas to get through,

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you know, certain barriers that are in their way, and certain rock, you know. And really,

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it's no different for us today and in life. We build up a lot of our own walls, and we see our

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own fences that divide and separate us from others, and unfortunately, sometimes from God.

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You know, things aren't made out of wood and brick and mortar. You know, they're personal

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constructions that block us from others, you know, from each other. But you know, you see Jesus,

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Jesus is the great wrecking ball, if you will. Jesus is the one. He tears down those walls

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and allows us to come together and unite as a family, as we should be. You know, it's just

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like that old song, Signs. You know, it says, Signs, Signs, everywhere's signs. Messing up the

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scenery, breaking my mind. Do this, don't, you know, don't do that. Can't you read the sign? And,

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you know, the song is talking about the exact same thing that we are here. All about those

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barriers and the things that we put up to keep others away. And not even, not even just from

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each other, you know, but often, you know, you know, keep others in, you know, from, you know,

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separation, you know, from God and so on. So we're going to dive in here now, and we're going to go

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ahead and we're going to pick up here, and you know, I'd say chapter one, but it's just, you know,

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one chapter, it's one quick read. So we're going to dive in here at verse one,

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and we're going to go through here a little bit. So just the first couple of verses to start. So,

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Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy, our brother, to Philomon, our dear friend and

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fellow worker, also to Afia, our sister, and Acropos, our fellow soldier, and to the church

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that meets in your home. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

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Okay, so as I said, you know, Paul wrote this, he was, you know, around 80, 60, he was in prison in

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Rome. You know, it's really more of a house arrest, but still, I mean, house arrest at that time versus

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being, there's not a whole lot of difference. In prison, it's imprisonment. And, you know, you

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could read more about that in Acts chapter 28, if you look at verses 30 through 31. All right.

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Now, Philomon was a Greek landowner living in Colossus, and he converted, you know, to following

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Christ under Paul and his ministry, and at that time, his home is what was being used for the

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Colossian church to meet up. So it actually tells you a little bit about, you know, his status

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as well. You know, I said he's a wealthy man, and as we're going to see here, Onesmith was a

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slave who belonged to Philomon and had run away and made his way to Rome where he met Paul,

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you know, who apparently had, you know, led him to Christ. And we'll see a little bit more about

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that a little bit later on here. Okay, so that's just kind of laying that groundwork. Now, when

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we're looking through here at like verse 2, and, you know, we're seeing other people named, you

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know, Appiah may have been Philomon's wife, Acropis may have been Philomon's son or perhaps an elder

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in the church. Now, either way, Paul included him as a recipient in the letter, and he was

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a recipient in the letter, possibly so that Acropis could, you know, read the letter, and,

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you know, they could encourage Philomon to take Paul's advice. You know, Paul also mentions that

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Timothy was also sending the letter, perhaps so that, you know, he would know that Paul wasn't

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alone in making the request that we're going to see laid out here, you know, going back here to,

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you know, church that meets in your home there at the end of verse 2. You know, often in those days,

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churches met in people's homes, you know, even today, some of the best churches still meet in

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people's homes, you know, as it should be. You know, you get that little bit of fellowship,

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it's a little bit, you know, it's a different intimacy there. But especially in those days,

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because of the sporadic persecution that was there and the great expense involved with, you know,

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especially church building, you know, church buildings typically weren't even constructed

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back then, you know, but we even see that today, that the expenses can go through the roof very

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rapidly. It's actually where a lot of churches and all the places run into trouble. So picking

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back up here in verse 4, I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, because I hear

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about your love for all His holy people and your faith in the Lord Jesus. I pray that your partnership

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with us in the faith may be effective in deepening your understanding of every good thing we share

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for the sake of Christ. Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother,

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have refreshed the hearts of the Lord's people. Okay, so we're gonna kind of pause right there.

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So that was verses 4 through 7, obviously. Now, you know, Paul's prayer for Philamon here,

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it was setting the stage for the request that he's about to make. Philamon was active in his faith,

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he was generous and shared. He gained a better understanding of everything that Christ had done

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in his life, and that knowledge would likely have caused him to respond appropriately to Paul's

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request regarding oneness. So you need to ask yourself, are you active and effective,

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effectively sharing your faith and your blessings, and your love with others?

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One of those things that we're called to do is to share our blessings and everything.

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You've all experienced generosity of the Holy Spirit in our life, and that part of that is

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what gives us our testimony itself. So the good things that you've experienced, how are you

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returning those things to others? How are you sharing it? How are you putting your faith in

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yourself into action through your words, your actions, your resources, and your time?

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Another thing I'd like to point out here is when you're reading here, it talks about

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encouragement and being refreshed. Refreshment, what is that? You think about it, what's refreshing?

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What's refreshing? A great example, you go to the gym, you're getting hot, you get that little bit

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of water, or even if you're not in the gym, you're exercising. You're going for a hike in the

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mountains or something, or it was like here in Albuquerque, here in the Sandias, you're starting

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to warm up and you happen to have that nice canteen that has that nice cold water, one of those fancy

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ones that keeps things cold up to 12 hours or whatever. You crack that thing open and you just

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chug it down, maybe pour some over your head, and it's like, oh, that's nice. Or a nice hot day in

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the summer and you go swimming somewhere and you hit that water and it's just like, oh, that's nice.

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That's an example of refreshing. What Paul's talking about here is how refreshing it was to

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be around Philomon and see how he is able to restore his brothers and sisters in Christ and

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other faith and see his love and his generosity and how that in itself had replenished him and

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encouraged him and motivated him. It's a form of empowerment, if you would, as well for all those

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around them. Philomon is also encouraged, Paul, by his love and loyalty. How are you doing? Are you

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refreshing to others in the things that you say you do and the way you act? Are you refreshing

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others in the things that you say you do and the way you act? Are you a burden? Are you bringing

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people down with a lot of negative news, seeing a lot of complaining, gossip, that sort of stuff?

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You think about it, we go to work and we all know those people. All they do all day long is they get

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a free chance and they're complaining about something. I can't believe I'm still here.

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Why can't we leave? I'm complaining about the pay. Oh, and this person and that person

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or these circumstances. They have to complain about everything or they're gossiping.

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We see a lot of that today. Heck, TV shows are made out of it.

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Continuing on, we're going to pick back up here in verse 8. This is where we're going to start

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seeing the appeal coming from Paul. In verse 8, the Bible says,

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Therefore, although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do,

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yet I prefer to appeal to you on the basis of love. It is as none other than Paul,

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an old man and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus, that I appeal to you for my son

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Onesimus, who became my son while I was in chains. Formally he was useless to you, but now

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he has become useful to both you and to me.

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I am sending him, who is my very heart, back to you. I would have liked to keep him with me

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so that he could take your place in helping me while I am in chains for the gospel, but I did

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not want to do anything without your consent. So that any favor you do would not seem forced,

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but would be voluntary. Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that

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you might have him back forever. No longer as a slave, but better than a slave. As a dear brother,

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he is very dear to me, but even dearer to you, both as a fellow man and as a brother in the Lord.

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So if you consider me a partner, welcome him as you would welcome me. If he has done you any wrong

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or owes you anything, charge it to me. I am writing this with my own hand. I will pay it back,

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not to mention that you owe me your very self. I do not wish, brother, that I may have some benefit

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from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in Christ. Confident of your obedience, I write to you,

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knowing that you will do even more than I ask. There's a lot there. So I'm going to unpack it

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here. So, excuse me, a little bit of a cough here. All right, so I'm going to go ahead and

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read it. Excuse me, a little bit of a cough here. All right, so because Paul was an elder and an

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apostle, as we're seeing here in verses eight and nine, he very well could have used the authority

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that he had. He had authority just by the virtue of being an elder and then also by being an apostle.

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So he could have used that and he could have commanded Philomon to be kind and to be gentle

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in dealing with this runaway slave. However, Paul based his request not on his authority,

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but rather he based it on Philomon's Christian commitment. Because we all make a certain

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commitment as followers of Christ. A big part of that is to love and to forgive.

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All right, so Paul wanted his heartfelt ungrudging obedience. It's just like when we give. We need

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to do so with a joyful heart. We need to be willing to do it. We have to want to do it.

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We need to have that choice. And when faced with the fact, even the idea of confronting someone,

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about a specific issue, you need to look at it. Do you need to use your authority,

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your command, embark orders at people? Or should you be looking at their commitment

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and where they're coming from and how they're looking at things? What could leaders do?

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Do they lead from the front or from the back of the pack? So like Paul,

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we need to assume that anybody that we're dealing with when we're having to confront them

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and there's issues, we need to assume that they have good intentions. Not any kind of ill will

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in the heart, but good intentions. You think of it from the perspective, hey, I like what you're

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thinking, but no, that was a bad choice. Good motivation or a good initiative, but poor judgment

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is really kind of the perspective that we have to look at it from. Not slandering a person or

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degrading them and putting them down. And Paul, he provides a good example here of how to deal

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with conflict, not only between Christians, but between everybody, especially as Christians.

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Because sometimes we need to step back and remind each other, hey, you're not looking at that and

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what would they deal with? You're not dealing with that very Christianly. So when reconciling

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difference, separation, or dealing with the disputes, trust has to be rebuilt between the

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parties. And what you'll see here is Paul took several steps really at dealing with this conflict.

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So he actually took five specific here that I'm going to point out here. So one,

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in trying to rebuild that trust, so the first thing he did is he identified with the people who

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were involved in this specific issue. First, he called Philomond brother, we see that in verse 7,

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and then on is my son, we see that in verse 10. Secondly, he requested, he didn't order

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Philomond to do what was right. He just requested that he do what was right. He didn't bark at him.

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He didn't command or like, hey, you will do this, kneel before his God, or any of that craziness.

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He was gentle. He was very gentle. So third, he looked for Philomond's voluntary consent,

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not his submission to authority or to rules or policies or anything like that. He was encouraging

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him to do this voluntarily, to give of himself freely and just be like, you know what, okay,

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and let those walls down to breach that barrier. Fourth, he appealed to Corbett,

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he appealed to Christian love, again, not to power, not to authority, but to love.

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Again, we're called to love our neighbor. Jesus, when he was asked, what's the greatest

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commandment? He said, love God with your heart, your mind, and then the second of these is to

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love your neighbor. So very important there that we never, ever forget that.

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Fifth, he agreed to pay whatever restoration was needed. He didn't look to use power or position,

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again, instead, in trying to rebuild this, he's like, you know what, you are wronged. This may

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have cost you something. Let me deal with that. I'll take care of it for you. You tell me what

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you need and it's yours. He even went so far as to point out that he was writing that letter

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by hand, so there was no question. Did this come from somebody else? It's like, hey, you're in

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court, is that your writing? Well, yes, it is. We all have very distinctive handwriting styles,

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penmanship, especially in those days because everything was handwritten when it was sent out.

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So Paul's approach, he was looking to rebuild that trust and to rebuild that relationship.

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And something I'd like to point out here is when you're looking at this, back then, a master had

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the legal right to kill a slave if they ran away. So, Wandsmith was rightfully fearing for his life.

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He didn't know, he just knew what the customs and what the culture was at that time when he ran away

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because he hadn't been saved yet. It wasn't until he ran into Paul after the fact. So, he was

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terrified. So, Paul wrote this letter, it was to help him understand that he was a slave.

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It was to help him understand that there's a new relationship involved here with Wandsmith.

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He's not just property, he's not a possession any longer. Rather, he's a brother in Christ.

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He even goes so far as to say, when we're looking at verse 10, who became my son,

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identifying that he'd become a Christian. And not only that, when it says my son,

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he was referring to the fact that he found his conversion to Christ under Paul.

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So, from his prison, Paul had led him to the Lord and he urged Philomene to do,

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really, especially at that time, something that was just utterly unimaginable.

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He's telling him, don't just forgive this runaway slave,

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but recognize that he's become a Christian and move beyond just forgiving him and accept him as

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such. You need to accept him as a brother in Christ. As Christians, we should forgive just

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as we've been forgiven. Matthew 6 verse 12 and Ephesians 4 verses 31 and 32. Forgiveness means

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that we treat the people that we've forgiven as we'd want to be treated. What's the golden rule?

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Treat others as you want to be treated. Plain and simple. We want people to forgive us

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of our transgressions and our sins. We need to forgive them as well.

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That's what real forgiveness is. Not asking necessarily for anything in return.

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It's just like, you know what? Okay, you messed up. Let's fix this and let's move forward.

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If a person is a believer, then it's not even a fact that they're not

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a believer. It's not even a fact that you need to do this just for yourself.

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Yeah, you're forgiving people for yourself, but you're also forgiving them for God. You're

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forgiving them for Jesus. You're following that example and you're extending God's love. You're

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showing God's light in you. If you need to forgive somebody, that means they're guilty.

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They've done something and what you're doing is being like, you know what? I love you.

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Period. Plain and simple. There's people out there that are holding on to those grudges right now.

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Is there someone out there you still need to forgive? For a lot of people, there's a lot of

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grudges out there. Very angry, very hateful and discontented. You need to forgive. When asked,

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Jesus said 70 times seven. Don't even count it. As many times as somebody says,

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hey, I'm sorry. Please forgive me. Just do it. Just do it.

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All right. Even if someone's not a believer, all the more reason to forgive them and to show them

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that kindness and that generosity and that mercy. Just as Jesus showed it for us, we need to show it

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for others. Remember what you do, what you say, what you do. Every time you're doing something,

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everything that a non-believer is ever going to see about God, what a lot of people are going to

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see about God, they're never going to see in a Bible. They're going to see it in you. Through

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your inaction or your actions, you can lead someone to the Lord or you can push them away.

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A big part of that is forgiveness. Be like, oh yeah. It's like, yeah, this guy is a big Christian,

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a fool of love or whatever, but then he's dropping the hammer on me for this and pushing people away

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and you know as Christians sometimes we're our own worst enemies. We're jumping straight to judgment

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instead of passing the sentence of, you know what, forgiven, not guilty, moving on. Right?

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So we need to demonstrate because Christ's people, I'm sorry, Christ's love extends to all people.

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Even though we don't deserve it, none of us, every single one of us has fallen short.

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Every single one of us. So we need to extend that love. Now,

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there's something here that's, there's a play on words here that we see

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when we go on through the next section when we're looking through verses 11 through 15.

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Ones and Misses name is a wonderful play on words that Paul uses here because his name translated,

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it means useful. So he's saying that Ones and Misses hadn't been of much use previously

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or in the past, but now, especially now that he's a Christian and a brother in Christ,

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that he's going to be extremely useful. And so much so that even though Paul wanted to

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to keep him from, keep him there with him because he could use him and

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you know, use his assistance and his help, instead, you know, he was sending him back

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and accepting Philomon to accept him and forgive him as that brother. So it's a very interesting

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play on words here. Now, another thing I'd like to point out is slavery in those days was rampant.

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It was rampant. It was so widespread, you know, going throughout the entire Roman Empire.

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And in those early days, you know, Christians, they didn't have the clout. They didn't have that

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political power to affect any kind of change, you know, let alone do anything about the slavery

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system. Now, Paul, he didn't condemn or condone slavery, you know, but he did, you know, work to

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transform the, you know, the relationships, you know, and that's the beautiful thing about the

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word. You know, the gospel, it creates social change by changing people, you know, it starts

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that change within us, the way we look at things, the way we respond to things, and in doing so,

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it spreads out and into the world, you know, it's like you like that candle. What happens first,

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you know, that wick is what catches flame, but then that light goes out and starts to illuminate the

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room. All right, so continuing in through here, we're still looking at verse, you know, verse 16.

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You know, the difference in Onesimus's status as a Christian, you know, it changed the relationship

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that he was about to have with Philomon as well, you know, like I said, he wasn't property anymore.

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He was a brother, you know, and you have to think, you know, how were slaves looked at at that time,

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property, they're cattle, and, you know, Paul's reminding him, hey, he's not cattle, he's brother,

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you know, that meant that both of them are members of the same family, God's family, you know,

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they're equals now, equals in Christ, you know, as one thing, you know, some people still get hung

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up in their status, you know, like, oh, I've been at this longer, you know, I've got this position

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within the church or whatever, and, you know, so they look down their nose at people, and that

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should never happen because as being members of God's family, we're all on the same playing field,

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we're all equals, you know, at that point, you know, and that status, that Christian status as

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a member of God's family, that transcends any other distinctions that may be out there amongst,

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you know, fellow believers, and today, I mean, that includes, you know, it doesn't matter if you're

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male or female, what race you are, if you're a natural born citizen or, you know, a foreigner or

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refugee, you know, it doesn't matter what your education level is, or if you even have one,

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you know, whether you're rich or you're poor, you know, any of that kind of stuff, you know,

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those distinctions, they don't separate us in Christ, we're equals, you know.

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So, again, you know, some Christians, they look down on their fellow believers because they feel

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superior in some way, but, you know, before Christ, we're all equals, and, you know,

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you can refer to that in Galatians chapter 3 verse 28, you know, how we treat, you know,

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our brothers and sisters, you know, our family in Christ, it reflects our true understanding,

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you know, of what Jesus has done for us, you know, His grace and His mercy and His forgiveness.

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So, you know, that's definitely something to reflect on, to meditate on, you know, as we

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continue on here, and we're going into, you know, verses 17 through 19 now, you know,

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Paul genuinely loved Onesimus, and he showed that love by personally guaranteeing payment,

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you know, for, you know, any property or damage or wrongs that, you know, he may have been

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responsible for. So, he basically, he invested heavily in the life of this new believer,

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which, you know, certainly empowered Onesimus in itself, you know.

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We need to remember that. I mean, you think of it, do we just loan money to anybody? No, you know,

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some stranger comes up to you on the street and says, you know, hey, can I borrow five bucks? Are

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you going to give it to him? No, probably not, you know, but Paul, I mean, that's how much he

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loves. He's like, hey, brother in Christ, yeah, okay, you know, here it is, right up, no questions,

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here it is, there you go, you know, no expectation for anything else. Okay, you need it, here you

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go, you know, and in the church, you know, as a church family, you know, we have a lot of young

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believers and we need to be able to demonstrate that, you know, self-sacrifice to them, you know,

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just as Jesus did for us and did for the disciples by his own demonstration, his own example,

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you know, we need to happily invest in the lives of people, you know, especially that are new in

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their walk, you know, through Bible study, through prayer, through encouragement and support and

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friendship, you know, we need to extend that love, you know, so often people come in, they're brand

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new, they don't know what to expect and they're like, yeah, hey, blah, blah, blah, here's this,

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welcome, welcome, welcome to the family, and then that's it, you know, you look at a lot of churches,

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especially big churches, you know, people, they go in the door and, you know, you're greeted door high,

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welcome, good morning, and, you know, or good evening, depending on the time of day,

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you know, and they go in, it's like, okay, a couple of niceties, maybe shake hands, a couple smiles,

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and then they sit down, they listen to whatever the message is that's being shared by the pastor,

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on the way out the door, they might shake a few other hands, but then that's it, they're gone,

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there's no real fellowship there, and that itself, you know, it's like we're telling young people,

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you know, people who are new in their walks, like, hey, welcome, but then we don't spend any time with

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them, you know, that's how we lose them, and we lose them quickly, you know, or, you know,

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unfortunately, you have churches, you know, somebody new comes in the door and they're like,

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oh, they look kind of young, let's get one of our kind of younger people to go over there and,

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you know, and hit them up, and that's not really what's needed at all, you know, I saw this at a

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church that I used to serve at, this guy comes in, you know, mid upper 20s, has his wife and his kids

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in tow, and everything, and right away, you know, the senior pastor leans over and is like, hey,

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you know, hey, go and greet that guy, you know, he's about your age to one of the other guys,

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no idea who this person is, or the background, you know, really, what should have happened,

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he should have gone over himself, introduced himself, learned a little bit about him,

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and if he had done that, he'd have learned very quickly that this was a, you know, active duty

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Marine, and his family who were new to the town, and everything, and be like, you know what, hey,

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I got someone I want you to meet, and, you know, grabbed, you know, another person from the military

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community, you know, to welcome him in, because sometimes, you know, you need to kind of match

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things up and see who matches with who to get them the information, instead, they sent over

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this person that had absolutely no connection, no idea, you know, how to talk to this guy,

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and what happened, he came with his family for a couple weeks, and was never seen again,

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you know, a fellow veteran probably could have gone over and be like, hey, welcome,

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and talk to him a bit, and things might have been different, because obviously, he was interested,

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you know, so, you know, continuing on, you know, Paul, he called Philamon his partner,

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you see that in verse 17, you know, but he didn't mean it in a business sense of the word,

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not like, you know, hey, you know, shake hands, oh, that's quite the grip you have there,

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you know, any of that kind of stuff, no, he's a partner in grace and mercy, he's a partner in Christ,

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you know, Paul and Philamon, they shared the same experience in Jesus being saved,

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you know, or being saved by Jesus, I should say, you know, and that sense, you know, just like you

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and I, you know, we're all equals, it goes back to being equals, like I was just talking about,

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you know, and too often, you know, our relationships in the church, they don't possess,

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you know, or show any true partnership, but really just tolerance, you know, goes back to that,

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you know, this little niceties, that little meet and greet, and then goodbye, you know,

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we need to move beyond that, asking God to help us, you know, truly care about other believers the

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same way he does, and treat them, you know, as partners in, you know, his love and his mercy,

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you know, not like someone you just have to deal with at work, you know, we all have some common

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ground, obviously, you know, that's Christ, and if nothing else, let's, you know, pray and have God

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help us in using that to form a relationship. Now, looking at verse 19, Philemon owed himself to Paul,

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again, you know, the reference here, the meaning behind that is just the fact that Paul had led

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Philemon to Christ, to help him to, you know, form that relationship with him, you know, so Paul was

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basically, you know, Philemon's spiritual father in that respect, you know, he's hoping to, you know,

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basically appeal to a debt of gratitude that Philemon might have, and, you know, in doing so,

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would repay by accepting oneness with that spirit of forgiveness and that same, you know, spirit of

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love, you know, that he was shown, you know, so going through here to that, right where we left off

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there in verse 22, you know, Paul was released from prison very soon, you know, not that long

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after writing this letter, but the Bible doesn't say whether or not he ever even returned to Colossus,

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you know, and that's the kind of way he's talking about, you know, prepare a guest room for me,

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because, you know, he knew he was going to be released fairly soon, so let's take a look here

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at these last couple of verses, you know, Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends you

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greetings, and so do Mark, Astarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers. The grace of the Lord,

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Jesus Christ, be with your spirit. So Epaphras was really well known in Colossus, because as,

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you know, we can read about in Colossians chapter 1, you know, he had founded the church there,

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so, you know, he figured, I mean, a bit of a hometown hero, if you would,

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because he was there to help hold it together and, you know, keep things running smoothly,

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well, as smooth as possible, despite the ongoing persecution and the struggles with false doctrines

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and all sorts of other issues that were going on at the time, you know, and his report to Paul

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about the problems there in Colossus had prompted Paul to write his letter to the Colossians as well.

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So, you know, Epaphras's greetings to the Colossian Christians, it reveals his love for them as well.

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So, you know, again, it's an ongoing theme here of love, you know, and it could be a little bit

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more here in Colossians chapter 4, especially if you look at verses 12 through 13, you know,

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he may have been, very well may have been, imprisoned with Paul for preaching the gospel,

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you know, it's not too specific here, you know, Mark, Estarchus, Demas, and Luke are also mentioned

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in Colossians chapter 4 as well in verses 10 through 14, you know, Mark had accompanied Paul

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and Barnabas on their first mission, if you would, or their missionary journey, you know, Acts 12

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verses 25 through 13 verse 5, and also, you know, of course, we know Mark as the author of the

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gospel of Mark, you know, one of the four gospels there. Luke had accompanied Paul on his third

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mission or, you know, his third missionary journey, and of course, we know him as the author of the gospel of Luke,

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and also the book of Acts, which of course, you know, we've referenced here a few times today.

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Now, Demas, he was faithful to Paul for a little while, but ultimately, he ended up deserting him,

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you know, and see, you can see a little bit more on that, look at 2 Timothy chapter 4.

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Now, Paul urged Philomon to be reconciled, you know, and to receive one's miss, you know,

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as a brother and a fellow family member now, you know, just like us, you know, adopted into the family of God,

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you know, and reconciliation, it means to reestablish that relationship, you know,

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the work's already here to reestablish the trust, now it's reestablishing the relationship,

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and really, you know, now being a fellow, you know, brother, you know, in Christ,

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it's really a new relationship, because, you know, of course, you know, we, you know, the old us dies,

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you know, when we come into that relationship with Jesus.

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Now, you know, Christ is, you know, he's reconciled all of us to God, and to each other, you know,

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there's a lot of barriers out there that come between people, you know, as I mentioned before,

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you know, race, and you know, sex, and finances, social status, and social status is huge today,

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you don't have to look any further than social media to see that, you know, there's a lot of

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barriers out there, but again, you know, Christ, he's that wrecking ball, you know, he's the one

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who takes down those barriers, he's the chain breaker, right, you know, and in Christ, you know,

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he changed one's and Mrs. relationship to fill them on from slave to brother, and he can,

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he can change our worst relationships into deep loving relationships without a doubt,

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without a doubt, you know, it's just we have to give ourselves over to that, to allow that change

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to happen, you know, my father, you know, he's very estranged for a long time, and fortunately,

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before, you know, he passed away, we're able to mend those bridges and, you know, have a solid

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relationship, I know plenty of people out there as well, you know, friends, some friends who were

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adopted, and they're able to reconnect with their real parents, you know, there's the there's

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relationships like this all the time, all over the place that you can hear about, it's really,

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really common, you know, as a, it's just, you have to get out of our own heads and away from ourselves,

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and break down those walls, you know, as the memes like to say, you know, breaks the wall and walk

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through it like a boss, you know, so, you know, we're not really told why once Miss ran away from

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the month house in the first place, you know, eventually, you know, after doing so we cross

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paths with Paul, he was saved, you know, would we like to have more details? Absolutely. But, you know,

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the fact is, he became a follower of Jesus, so that's really what we needed to know, that was the

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most important part, and his spiritual growth, you know, that itself caused Paul to call him a faithful

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and dear brother, you know, a very loving relationship. So, eventually, they decided,

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you know, for him to go home, that's the right thing, for him to go home, it wasn't just a single

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person deciding, they decided together, and the whole point of that is the fact that we can't just

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run away from things, we can't just run from our past as much as we'd like to, and it's because we

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can't run from God, we can't, we can't run and hope to escape because we won't. See, we have two

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choices, we have two choices, we can accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, and we can run towards Him,

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or we can reject Him and be damned to hell, but the choice is ours,

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and we have to make it, and when you accept Jesus, love is the biggest part of it,

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doesn't matter who the person is or what they've done, we need to love and we need to forgive,

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we need to pray. All right, guys, that's all I got for this week, and I'll be talking to you again soon.

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God bless. Thank you for tuning in to Healing Scars with Pastor Burton. If you'd like to know more

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about the healing scars, go to www.healingscars.org. Thank you so much for listening. We'll catch you next time. God bless.