We've all been hurt. We all have scars. And through a relationship with Jesus Christ,
we can all overcome and we can all be healed. Welcome to Healing Scars with Pastor Burton.
Hey everybody and welcome back. So this week we had to adjust fire a little bit. What was
going to happen was we were supposed to have our event out in Rancho. Unfortunately, due to the
weather, you know, we had winds over 75 miles an hour. We had everything from rain in one area to
wet out conditions in the next. Power lines were down, you know, corresponding power outages,
light signals were out. It was just, it was a rough, rough day. So we had to, we had to cancel
that, you know, for safety. Plus, you know, nobody really wants to go out in that kind of weather.
And totally understandable. Okay. So, you know, the word that I had prepared, I've actually taken
it and I stuck it in my back pocket. We're going to save it from when we actually do get to go out
there because we are rescheduling and we are going to be out there, which is good. It's exciting. So
with that said, because I was unprepared, I was really looking forward to going out there recording
that. And that was going to be this week's podcast entry. Exciting there, right? I'm actually having
to adjust fire here and we're actually going to go in a different direction for this week's entry,
which is cool because I already actually had something in mind. I was already starting, you
know, to, to, you know, cause I like to prepare a head and everything. So we're just a little change.
Now, a couple of weeks ago, you know, we went through, you know, we spent a couple of weeks
going through the book of Haggai. And as I told you in that study, there's several books in the Bible
that are just very, very short. Some of them get skimmed over, some skipped over, but not all of
them. And today we're actually going to be looking at the book of Philemon. If you want to go ahead
and open to that, go ahead, go for it. Now, this is an extremely short book. It's actually shorter
than Haggai. It's not the shortest of a book in the Bible, but it's, it's pretty short. It's right
up there. You know, depending on what kind of text you're using, it very well may only be one page.
It's likely going to be less. It really just depends on the text that you're using. Now, you
know, Philemon, it was written by Paul during his first imprisonment around 60 AD. And, you know,
and it corresponds, it's written at the same time as Ephesians and Colossians were being written.
And there's three big themes that you're going to see as we go through this book together. And
those are forgiveness, barriers, and respect. Now, as much as we like to refer to this as a book,
and as you're going to see very quickly here, it's actually a very, very personal letter from Paul
to Philemon. All right. And so how's this going to relate? Well, it's going to relate very easy. You
see, there's different things in life that create barriers, and you have to get through those
barriers. It's just like remodeling a building. You know, sometimes you need to take a sledgehammer
and take out a wall. Other times you need to just demolish the whole building and start from scratch
and build it up. You know, you think of mining. They have to blast certain areas to get through,
you know, certain barriers that are in their way, and certain rock, you know. And really,
it's no different for us today and in life. We build up a lot of our own walls, and we see our
own fences that divide and separate us from others, and unfortunately, sometimes from God.
You know, things aren't made out of wood and brick and mortar. You know, they're personal
constructions that block us from others, you know, from each other. But you know, you see Jesus,
Jesus is the great wrecking ball, if you will. Jesus is the one. He tears down those walls
and allows us to come together and unite as a family, as we should be. You know, it's just
like that old song, Signs. You know, it says, Signs, Signs, everywhere's signs. Messing up the
scenery, breaking my mind. Do this, don't, you know, don't do that. Can't you read the sign? And,
you know, the song is talking about the exact same thing that we are here. All about those
barriers and the things that we put up to keep others away. And not even, not even just from
each other, you know, but often, you know, you know, keep others in, you know, from, you know,
separation, you know, from God and so on. So we're going to dive in here now, and we're going to go
ahead and we're going to pick up here, and you know, I'd say chapter one, but it's just, you know,
one chapter, it's one quick read. So we're going to dive in here at verse one,
and we're going to go through here a little bit. So just the first couple of verses to start. So,
Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy, our brother, to Philomon, our dear friend and
fellow worker, also to Afia, our sister, and Acropos, our fellow soldier, and to the church
that meets in your home. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Okay, so as I said, you know, Paul wrote this, he was, you know, around 80, 60, he was in prison in
Rome. You know, it's really more of a house arrest, but still, I mean, house arrest at that time versus
being, there's not a whole lot of difference. In prison, it's imprisonment. And, you know, you
could read more about that in Acts chapter 28, if you look at verses 30 through 31. All right.
Now, Philomon was a Greek landowner living in Colossus, and he converted, you know, to following
Christ under Paul and his ministry, and at that time, his home is what was being used for the
Colossian church to meet up. So it actually tells you a little bit about, you know, his status
as well. You know, I said he's a wealthy man, and as we're going to see here, Onesmith was a
slave who belonged to Philomon and had run away and made his way to Rome where he met Paul,
you know, who apparently had, you know, led him to Christ. And we'll see a little bit more about
that a little bit later on here. Okay, so that's just kind of laying that groundwork. Now, when
we're looking through here at like verse 2, and, you know, we're seeing other people named, you
know, Appiah may have been Philomon's wife, Acropis may have been Philomon's son or perhaps an elder
in the church. Now, either way, Paul included him as a recipient in the letter, and he was
a recipient in the letter, possibly so that Acropis could, you know, read the letter, and,
you know, they could encourage Philomon to take Paul's advice. You know, Paul also mentions that
Timothy was also sending the letter, perhaps so that, you know, he would know that Paul wasn't
alone in making the request that we're going to see laid out here, you know, going back here to,
you know, church that meets in your home there at the end of verse 2. You know, often in those days,
churches met in people's homes, you know, even today, some of the best churches still meet in
people's homes, you know, as it should be. You know, you get that little bit of fellowship,
it's a little bit, you know, it's a different intimacy there. But especially in those days,
because of the sporadic persecution that was there and the great expense involved with, you know,
especially church building, you know, church buildings typically weren't even constructed
back then, you know, but we even see that today, that the expenses can go through the roof very
rapidly. It's actually where a lot of churches and all the places run into trouble. So picking
back up here in verse 4, I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, because I hear
about your love for all His holy people and your faith in the Lord Jesus. I pray that your partnership
with us in the faith may be effective in deepening your understanding of every good thing we share
for the sake of Christ. Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother,
have refreshed the hearts of the Lord's people. Okay, so we're gonna kind of pause right there.
So that was verses 4 through 7, obviously. Now, you know, Paul's prayer for Philamon here,
it was setting the stage for the request that he's about to make. Philamon was active in his faith,
he was generous and shared. He gained a better understanding of everything that Christ had done
in his life, and that knowledge would likely have caused him to respond appropriately to Paul's
request regarding oneness. So you need to ask yourself, are you active and effective,
effectively sharing your faith and your blessings, and your love with others?
One of those things that we're called to do is to share our blessings and everything.
You've all experienced generosity of the Holy Spirit in our life, and that part of that is
what gives us our testimony itself. So the good things that you've experienced, how are you
returning those things to others? How are you sharing it? How are you putting your faith in
yourself into action through your words, your actions, your resources, and your time?
Another thing I'd like to point out here is when you're reading here, it talks about
encouragement and being refreshed. Refreshment, what is that? You think about it, what's refreshing?
What's refreshing? A great example, you go to the gym, you're getting hot, you get that little bit
of water, or even if you're not in the gym, you're exercising. You're going for a hike in the
mountains or something, or it was like here in Albuquerque, here in the Sandias, you're starting
to warm up and you happen to have that nice canteen that has that nice cold water, one of those fancy
ones that keeps things cold up to 12 hours or whatever. You crack that thing open and you just
chug it down, maybe pour some over your head, and it's like, oh, that's nice. Or a nice hot day in
the summer and you go swimming somewhere and you hit that water and it's just like, oh, that's nice.
That's an example of refreshing. What Paul's talking about here is how refreshing it was to
be around Philomon and see how he is able to restore his brothers and sisters in Christ and
other faith and see his love and his generosity and how that in itself had replenished him and
encouraged him and motivated him. It's a form of empowerment, if you would, as well for all those
around them. Philomon is also encouraged, Paul, by his love and loyalty. How are you doing? Are you
refreshing to others in the things that you say you do and the way you act? Are you refreshing
others in the things that you say you do and the way you act? Are you a burden? Are you bringing
people down with a lot of negative news, seeing a lot of complaining, gossip, that sort of stuff?
You think about it, we go to work and we all know those people. All they do all day long is they get
a free chance and they're complaining about something. I can't believe I'm still here.
Why can't we leave? I'm complaining about the pay. Oh, and this person and that person
or these circumstances. They have to complain about everything or they're gossiping.
We see a lot of that today. Heck, TV shows are made out of it.
Continuing on, we're going to pick back up here in verse 8. This is where we're going to start
seeing the appeal coming from Paul. In verse 8, the Bible says,
Therefore, although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do,
yet I prefer to appeal to you on the basis of love. It is as none other than Paul,
an old man and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus, that I appeal to you for my son
Onesimus, who became my son while I was in chains. Formally he was useless to you, but now
he has become useful to both you and to me.
I am sending him, who is my very heart, back to you. I would have liked to keep him with me
so that he could take your place in helping me while I am in chains for the gospel, but I did
not want to do anything without your consent. So that any favor you do would not seem forced,
but would be voluntary. Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that
you might have him back forever. No longer as a slave, but better than a slave. As a dear brother,
he is very dear to me, but even dearer to you, both as a fellow man and as a brother in the Lord.
So if you consider me a partner, welcome him as you would welcome me. If he has done you any wrong
or owes you anything, charge it to me. I am writing this with my own hand. I will pay it back,
not to mention that you owe me your very self. I do not wish, brother, that I may have some benefit
from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in Christ. Confident of your obedience, I write to you,
knowing that you will do even more than I ask. There's a lot there. So I'm going to unpack it
here. So, excuse me, a little bit of a cough here. All right, so I'm going to go ahead and
read it. Excuse me, a little bit of a cough here. All right, so because Paul was an elder and an
apostle, as we're seeing here in verses eight and nine, he very well could have used the authority
that he had. He had authority just by the virtue of being an elder and then also by being an apostle.
So he could have used that and he could have commanded Philomon to be kind and to be gentle
in dealing with this runaway slave. However, Paul based his request not on his authority,
but rather he based it on Philomon's Christian commitment. Because we all make a certain
commitment as followers of Christ. A big part of that is to love and to forgive.
All right, so Paul wanted his heartfelt ungrudging obedience. It's just like when we give. We need
to do so with a joyful heart. We need to be willing to do it. We have to want to do it.
We need to have that choice. And when faced with the fact, even the idea of confronting someone,
about a specific issue, you need to look at it. Do you need to use your authority,
your command, embark orders at people? Or should you be looking at their commitment
and where they're coming from and how they're looking at things? What could leaders do?
Do they lead from the front or from the back of the pack? So like Paul,
we need to assume that anybody that we're dealing with when we're having to confront them
and there's issues, we need to assume that they have good intentions. Not any kind of ill will
in the heart, but good intentions. You think of it from the perspective, hey, I like what you're
thinking, but no, that was a bad choice. Good motivation or a good initiative, but poor judgment
is really kind of the perspective that we have to look at it from. Not slandering a person or
degrading them and putting them down. And Paul, he provides a good example here of how to deal
with conflict, not only between Christians, but between everybody, especially as Christians.
Because sometimes we need to step back and remind each other, hey, you're not looking at that and
what would they deal with? You're not dealing with that very Christianly. So when reconciling
difference, separation, or dealing with the disputes, trust has to be rebuilt between the
parties. And what you'll see here is Paul took several steps really at dealing with this conflict.
So he actually took five specific here that I'm going to point out here. So one,
in trying to rebuild that trust, so the first thing he did is he identified with the people who
were involved in this specific issue. First, he called Philomond brother, we see that in verse 7,
and then on is my son, we see that in verse 10. Secondly, he requested, he didn't order
Philomond to do what was right. He just requested that he do what was right. He didn't bark at him.
He didn't command or like, hey, you will do this, kneel before his God, or any of that craziness.
He was gentle. He was very gentle. So third, he looked for Philomond's voluntary consent,
not his submission to authority or to rules or policies or anything like that. He was encouraging
him to do this voluntarily, to give of himself freely and just be like, you know what, okay,
and let those walls down to breach that barrier. Fourth, he appealed to Corbett,
he appealed to Christian love, again, not to power, not to authority, but to love.
Again, we're called to love our neighbor. Jesus, when he was asked, what's the greatest
commandment? He said, love God with your heart, your mind, and then the second of these is to
love your neighbor. So very important there that we never, ever forget that.
Fifth, he agreed to pay whatever restoration was needed. He didn't look to use power or position,
again, instead, in trying to rebuild this, he's like, you know what, you are wronged. This may
have cost you something. Let me deal with that. I'll take care of it for you. You tell me what
you need and it's yours. He even went so far as to point out that he was writing that letter
by hand, so there was no question. Did this come from somebody else? It's like, hey, you're in
court, is that your writing? Well, yes, it is. We all have very distinctive handwriting styles,
penmanship, especially in those days because everything was handwritten when it was sent out.
So Paul's approach, he was looking to rebuild that trust and to rebuild that relationship.
And something I'd like to point out here is when you're looking at this, back then, a master had
the legal right to kill a slave if they ran away. So, Wandsmith was rightfully fearing for his life.
He didn't know, he just knew what the customs and what the culture was at that time when he ran away
because he hadn't been saved yet. It wasn't until he ran into Paul after the fact. So, he was
terrified. So, Paul wrote this letter, it was to help him understand that he was a slave.
It was to help him understand that there's a new relationship involved here with Wandsmith.
He's not just property, he's not a possession any longer. Rather, he's a brother in Christ.
He even goes so far as to say, when we're looking at verse 10, who became my son,
identifying that he'd become a Christian. And not only that, when it says my son,
he was referring to the fact that he found his conversion to Christ under Paul.
So, from his prison, Paul had led him to the Lord and he urged Philomene to do,
really, especially at that time, something that was just utterly unimaginable.
He's telling him, don't just forgive this runaway slave,
but recognize that he's become a Christian and move beyond just forgiving him and accept him as
such. You need to accept him as a brother in Christ. As Christians, we should forgive just
as we've been forgiven. Matthew 6 verse 12 and Ephesians 4 verses 31 and 32. Forgiveness means
that we treat the people that we've forgiven as we'd want to be treated. What's the golden rule?
Treat others as you want to be treated. Plain and simple. We want people to forgive us
of our transgressions and our sins. We need to forgive them as well.
That's what real forgiveness is. Not asking necessarily for anything in return.
It's just like, you know what? Okay, you messed up. Let's fix this and let's move forward.
If a person is a believer, then it's not even a fact that they're not
a believer. It's not even a fact that you need to do this just for yourself.
Yeah, you're forgiving people for yourself, but you're also forgiving them for God. You're
forgiving them for Jesus. You're following that example and you're extending God's love. You're
showing God's light in you. If you need to forgive somebody, that means they're guilty.
They've done something and what you're doing is being like, you know what? I love you.
Period. Plain and simple. There's people out there that are holding on to those grudges right now.
Is there someone out there you still need to forgive? For a lot of people, there's a lot of
grudges out there. Very angry, very hateful and discontented. You need to forgive. When asked,
Jesus said 70 times seven. Don't even count it. As many times as somebody says,
hey, I'm sorry. Please forgive me. Just do it. Just do it.
All right. Even if someone's not a believer, all the more reason to forgive them and to show them
that kindness and that generosity and that mercy. Just as Jesus showed it for us, we need to show it
for others. Remember what you do, what you say, what you do. Every time you're doing something,
everything that a non-believer is ever going to see about God, what a lot of people are going to
see about God, they're never going to see in a Bible. They're going to see it in you. Through
your inaction or your actions, you can lead someone to the Lord or you can push them away.
A big part of that is forgiveness. Be like, oh yeah. It's like, yeah, this guy is a big Christian,
a fool of love or whatever, but then he's dropping the hammer on me for this and pushing people away
and you know as Christians sometimes we're our own worst enemies. We're jumping straight to judgment
instead of passing the sentence of, you know what, forgiven, not guilty, moving on. Right?
So we need to demonstrate because Christ's people, I'm sorry, Christ's love extends to all people.
Even though we don't deserve it, none of us, every single one of us has fallen short.
Every single one of us. So we need to extend that love. Now,
there's something here that's, there's a play on words here that we see
when we go on through the next section when we're looking through verses 11 through 15.
Ones and Misses name is a wonderful play on words that Paul uses here because his name translated,
it means useful. So he's saying that Ones and Misses hadn't been of much use previously
or in the past, but now, especially now that he's a Christian and a brother in Christ,
that he's going to be extremely useful. And so much so that even though Paul wanted to
to keep him from, keep him there with him because he could use him and
you know, use his assistance and his help, instead, you know, he was sending him back
and accepting Philomon to accept him and forgive him as that brother. So it's a very interesting
play on words here. Now, another thing I'd like to point out is slavery in those days was rampant.
It was rampant. It was so widespread, you know, going throughout the entire Roman Empire.
And in those early days, you know, Christians, they didn't have the clout. They didn't have that
political power to affect any kind of change, you know, let alone do anything about the slavery
system. Now, Paul, he didn't condemn or condone slavery, you know, but he did, you know, work to
transform the, you know, the relationships, you know, and that's the beautiful thing about the
word. You know, the gospel, it creates social change by changing people, you know, it starts
that change within us, the way we look at things, the way we respond to things, and in doing so,
it spreads out and into the world, you know, it's like you like that candle. What happens first,
you know, that wick is what catches flame, but then that light goes out and starts to illuminate the
room. All right, so continuing in through here, we're still looking at verse, you know, verse 16.
You know, the difference in Onesimus's status as a Christian, you know, it changed the relationship
that he was about to have with Philomon as well, you know, like I said, he wasn't property anymore.
He was a brother, you know, and you have to think, you know, how were slaves looked at at that time,
property, they're cattle, and, you know, Paul's reminding him, hey, he's not cattle, he's brother,
you know, that meant that both of them are members of the same family, God's family, you know,
they're equals now, equals in Christ, you know, as one thing, you know, some people still get hung
up in their status, you know, like, oh, I've been at this longer, you know, I've got this position
within the church or whatever, and, you know, so they look down their nose at people, and that
should never happen because as being members of God's family, we're all on the same playing field,
we're all equals, you know, at that point, you know, and that status, that Christian status as
a member of God's family, that transcends any other distinctions that may be out there amongst,
you know, fellow believers, and today, I mean, that includes, you know, it doesn't matter if you're
male or female, what race you are, if you're a natural born citizen or, you know, a foreigner or
refugee, you know, it doesn't matter what your education level is, or if you even have one,
you know, whether you're rich or you're poor, you know, any of that kind of stuff, you know,
those distinctions, they don't separate us in Christ, we're equals, you know.
So, again, you know, some Christians, they look down on their fellow believers because they feel
superior in some way, but, you know, before Christ, we're all equals, and, you know,
you can refer to that in Galatians chapter 3 verse 28, you know, how we treat, you know,
our brothers and sisters, you know, our family in Christ, it reflects our true understanding,
you know, of what Jesus has done for us, you know, His grace and His mercy and His forgiveness.
So, you know, that's definitely something to reflect on, to meditate on, you know, as we
continue on here, and we're going into, you know, verses 17 through 19 now, you know,
Paul genuinely loved Onesimus, and he showed that love by personally guaranteeing payment,
you know, for, you know, any property or damage or wrongs that, you know, he may have been
responsible for. So, he basically, he invested heavily in the life of this new believer,
which, you know, certainly empowered Onesimus in itself, you know.
We need to remember that. I mean, you think of it, do we just loan money to anybody? No, you know,
some stranger comes up to you on the street and says, you know, hey, can I borrow five bucks? Are
you going to give it to him? No, probably not, you know, but Paul, I mean, that's how much he
loves. He's like, hey, brother in Christ, yeah, okay, you know, here it is, right up, no questions,
here it is, there you go, you know, no expectation for anything else. Okay, you need it, here you
go, you know, and in the church, you know, as a church family, you know, we have a lot of young
believers and we need to be able to demonstrate that, you know, self-sacrifice to them, you know,
just as Jesus did for us and did for the disciples by his own demonstration, his own example,
you know, we need to happily invest in the lives of people, you know, especially that are new in
their walk, you know, through Bible study, through prayer, through encouragement and support and
friendship, you know, we need to extend that love, you know, so often people come in, they're brand
new, they don't know what to expect and they're like, yeah, hey, blah, blah, blah, here's this,
welcome, welcome, welcome to the family, and then that's it, you know, you look at a lot of churches,
especially big churches, you know, people, they go in the door and, you know, you're greeted door high,
welcome, good morning, and, you know, or good evening, depending on the time of day,
you know, and they go in, it's like, okay, a couple of niceties, maybe shake hands, a couple smiles,
and then they sit down, they listen to whatever the message is that's being shared by the pastor,
on the way out the door, they might shake a few other hands, but then that's it, they're gone,
there's no real fellowship there, and that itself, you know, it's like we're telling young people,
you know, people who are new in their walks, like, hey, welcome, but then we don't spend any time with
them, you know, that's how we lose them, and we lose them quickly, you know, or, you know,
unfortunately, you have churches, you know, somebody new comes in the door and they're like,
oh, they look kind of young, let's get one of our kind of younger people to go over there and,
you know, and hit them up, and that's not really what's needed at all, you know, I saw this at a
church that I used to serve at, this guy comes in, you know, mid upper 20s, has his wife and his kids
in tow, and everything, and right away, you know, the senior pastor leans over and is like, hey,
you know, hey, go and greet that guy, you know, he's about your age to one of the other guys,
no idea who this person is, or the background, you know, really, what should have happened,
he should have gone over himself, introduced himself, learned a little bit about him,
and if he had done that, he'd have learned very quickly that this was a, you know, active duty
Marine, and his family who were new to the town, and everything, and be like, you know what, hey,
I got someone I want you to meet, and, you know, grabbed, you know, another person from the military
community, you know, to welcome him in, because sometimes, you know, you need to kind of match
things up and see who matches with who to get them the information, instead, they sent over
this person that had absolutely no connection, no idea, you know, how to talk to this guy,
and what happened, he came with his family for a couple weeks, and was never seen again,
you know, a fellow veteran probably could have gone over and be like, hey, welcome,
and talk to him a bit, and things might have been different, because obviously, he was interested,
you know, so, you know, continuing on, you know, Paul, he called Philamon his partner,
you see that in verse 17, you know, but he didn't mean it in a business sense of the word,
not like, you know, hey, you know, shake hands, oh, that's quite the grip you have there,
you know, any of that kind of stuff, no, he's a partner in grace and mercy, he's a partner in Christ,
you know, Paul and Philamon, they shared the same experience in Jesus being saved,
you know, or being saved by Jesus, I should say, you know, and that sense, you know, just like you
and I, you know, we're all equals, it goes back to being equals, like I was just talking about,
you know, and too often, you know, our relationships in the church, they don't possess,
you know, or show any true partnership, but really just tolerance, you know, goes back to that,
you know, this little niceties, that little meet and greet, and then goodbye, you know,
we need to move beyond that, asking God to help us, you know, truly care about other believers the
same way he does, and treat them, you know, as partners in, you know, his love and his mercy,
you know, not like someone you just have to deal with at work, you know, we all have some common
ground, obviously, you know, that's Christ, and if nothing else, let's, you know, pray and have God
help us in using that to form a relationship. Now, looking at verse 19, Philemon owed himself to Paul,
again, you know, the reference here, the meaning behind that is just the fact that Paul had led
Philemon to Christ, to help him to, you know, form that relationship with him, you know, so Paul was
basically, you know, Philemon's spiritual father in that respect, you know, he's hoping to, you know,
basically appeal to a debt of gratitude that Philemon might have, and, you know, in doing so,
would repay by accepting oneness with that spirit of forgiveness and that same, you know, spirit of
love, you know, that he was shown, you know, so going through here to that, right where we left off
there in verse 22, you know, Paul was released from prison very soon, you know, not that long
after writing this letter, but the Bible doesn't say whether or not he ever even returned to Colossus,
you know, and that's the kind of way he's talking about, you know, prepare a guest room for me,
because, you know, he knew he was going to be released fairly soon, so let's take a look here
at these last couple of verses, you know, Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends you
greetings, and so do Mark, Astarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers. The grace of the Lord,
Jesus Christ, be with your spirit. So Epaphras was really well known in Colossus, because as,
you know, we can read about in Colossians chapter 1, you know, he had founded the church there,
so, you know, he figured, I mean, a bit of a hometown hero, if you would,
because he was there to help hold it together and, you know, keep things running smoothly,
well, as smooth as possible, despite the ongoing persecution and the struggles with false doctrines
and all sorts of other issues that were going on at the time, you know, and his report to Paul
about the problems there in Colossus had prompted Paul to write his letter to the Colossians as well.
So, you know, Epaphras's greetings to the Colossian Christians, it reveals his love for them as well.
So, you know, again, it's an ongoing theme here of love, you know, and it could be a little bit
more here in Colossians chapter 4, especially if you look at verses 12 through 13, you know,
he may have been, very well may have been, imprisoned with Paul for preaching the gospel,
you know, it's not too specific here, you know, Mark, Estarchus, Demas, and Luke are also mentioned
in Colossians chapter 4 as well in verses 10 through 14, you know, Mark had accompanied Paul
and Barnabas on their first mission, if you would, or their missionary journey, you know, Acts 12
verses 25 through 13 verse 5, and also, you know, of course, we know Mark as the author of the
gospel of Mark, you know, one of the four gospels there. Luke had accompanied Paul on his third
mission or, you know, his third missionary journey, and of course, we know him as the author of the gospel of Luke,
and also the book of Acts, which of course, you know, we've referenced here a few times today.
Now, Demas, he was faithful to Paul for a little while, but ultimately, he ended up deserting him,
you know, and see, you can see a little bit more on that, look at 2 Timothy chapter 4.
Now, Paul urged Philomon to be reconciled, you know, and to receive one's miss, you know,
as a brother and a fellow family member now, you know, just like us, you know, adopted into the family of God,
you know, and reconciliation, it means to reestablish that relationship, you know,
the work's already here to reestablish the trust, now it's reestablishing the relationship,
and really, you know, now being a fellow, you know, brother, you know, in Christ,
it's really a new relationship, because, you know, of course, you know, we, you know, the old us dies,
you know, when we come into that relationship with Jesus.
Now, you know, Christ is, you know, he's reconciled all of us to God, and to each other, you know,
there's a lot of barriers out there that come between people, you know, as I mentioned before,
you know, race, and you know, sex, and finances, social status, and social status is huge today,
you don't have to look any further than social media to see that, you know, there's a lot of
barriers out there, but again, you know, Christ, he's that wrecking ball, you know, he's the one
who takes down those barriers, he's the chain breaker, right, you know, and in Christ, you know,
he changed one's and Mrs. relationship to fill them on from slave to brother, and he can,
he can change our worst relationships into deep loving relationships without a doubt,
without a doubt, you know, it's just we have to give ourselves over to that, to allow that change
to happen, you know, my father, you know, he's very estranged for a long time, and fortunately,
before, you know, he passed away, we're able to mend those bridges and, you know, have a solid
relationship, I know plenty of people out there as well, you know, friends, some friends who were
adopted, and they're able to reconnect with their real parents, you know, there's the there's
relationships like this all the time, all over the place that you can hear about, it's really,
really common, you know, as a, it's just, you have to get out of our own heads and away from ourselves,
and break down those walls, you know, as the memes like to say, you know, breaks the wall and walk
through it like a boss, you know, so, you know, we're not really told why once Miss ran away from
the month house in the first place, you know, eventually, you know, after doing so we cross
paths with Paul, he was saved, you know, would we like to have more details? Absolutely. But, you know,
the fact is, he became a follower of Jesus, so that's really what we needed to know, that was the
most important part, and his spiritual growth, you know, that itself caused Paul to call him a faithful
and dear brother, you know, a very loving relationship. So, eventually, they decided,
you know, for him to go home, that's the right thing, for him to go home, it wasn't just a single
person deciding, they decided together, and the whole point of that is the fact that we can't just
run away from things, we can't just run from our past as much as we'd like to, and it's because we
can't run from God, we can't, we can't run and hope to escape because we won't. See, we have two
choices, we have two choices, we can accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, and we can run towards Him,
or we can reject Him and be damned to hell, but the choice is ours,
and we have to make it, and when you accept Jesus, love is the biggest part of it,
doesn't matter who the person is or what they've done, we need to love and we need to forgive,
we need to pray. All right, guys, that's all I got for this week, and I'll be talking to you again soon.
God bless. Thank you for tuning in to Healing Scars with Pastor Burton. If you'd like to know more
about the healing scars, go to www.healingscars.org. Thank you so much for listening. We'll catch you next time. God bless.