Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:00:02]: Hello. Hello. Thanks, Jasmine. Hey. Thanks, everybody. Thanks for team. It's it's such a honor to bring God's word this morning. It's such a different vantage point to be up here looking out at everybody. and and getting to stay up here a little longer than just the announcements. But, you know, I think we have a great word. I you know, the the difference is when we come here. I know I know the message that I'm gonna speak and I'm gonna share and it's it's so good. I wanna and I'm all excited to share, so I hope you guys can track along. This is a great little book, another short story with good news. That's the title of our series that we're going through. Short stories with good news last week we started Pastor Glenn started that off with the the book of Ruth in the old testament and now today we're gonna jump over to the new testament and look at a book called File Lehman. And and before I thought it was pronounced Filemon because in high school, I had a friend from the Philippines named, Filemon. And, you know, I thought let's read the book of Filemon. And, you know, we we figured it out. It was called philemon. k? So now you guys know. It's called philemon. It's between the book of books of Titus and Hebrews. If you can't find those, then just look at the context. If your bible, you'll find it. It's a little book. It's one chapter. So if you wanna say, hey. the chapter of the bible today, and, you you know, you could read Filemon, and you could read the whole chapter. It's 25 of 25 verses. But, you know, when when we said that we heard short stories, I thought to myself, toy story. You know? I thought Patrick Glenn said toy story. So No. Just kidding. We're gonna we're gonna look at the book of Filemon, but I want you guys to humor me and go along with this. I love this song. you've got a friend in me. That's the title of this message. You know how it goes? Judge, you finish this line. Ready? You got a friend -- He's ready. -- very simple. Right? Again, you got a friend in. Oh, though the road looks rough ahead, And your miles and miles from your, Jasmine, you can come on in. Nice warm bed. Nice warm bed. Right? Okay. And then at the end, it goes like this. And as the years go by, our friendship will never die. You love those friendships that no matter how much time has passed, that you know, soon as you get the call or you make a call, hey. What's happening? And you guys are you know, I'm twenty years old again. And what's happening? And we're talking story and stuff like that. I love good friends and good friendships. I'm so blessed to have friends from I think we go back to 7th grade. I've I've spoken to people who have friends, you know, from elementary school and they're still in touch. That's awesome. And it's good when you can reconnect and things like that. And that's kind of a little bit of a snapshot of our story today. We're gonna look at 3 friends who got to, you know well, I won't spoil it. They're we're gonna look at 3 friends in the bible, in the book of Filemon. One of them is named Filemon. That's his name. And then another person is named Onesimus and another person is Paul. Other no otherwise known as the apostle Paul or the you know, the the great apostle Paul, as we know today. But, yeah, thank you for humoring me with that song. You got a friend in me. I hope it sticks in your head today, and days with you Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:03:19]: in a good way. But let's pray let's open in prayer. Father God, which is so grateful for your word that you've given us the books of the bible and new testament and just your your presence that comes through the word of god and and shines in our hearts and guides our our lives in our in our minds and our thinking and thank you for your holy spirit to fill us today, and we just ask you that you open our minds in our hearts to hear your word today as you speak it in Jesus' name. Amen. Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:03:47]: So like I said, it's a little book called Fine Demon 25 chapters written by the Apostle Paul. They they speculate in the summer of AD62. So 62, you know, the like, this is 2023. This is 62. You know? And just think there was a year 1. 0 And a funny thing is we we mark time by Jesus Christ. Right? Before Jesus, BC, and AD, Ara and I, the year of our lord. And this is 6062, you know, roughly. And same time Apasopar wrote the book of colossians. Now this letter just give you the 10 thousand foot view real quick. It's a letter that the apostle Paul was writing to a man named Phyliemann. So apostle Paul was writing to Phyliemann, apostle Paul was in in house arrest in Rome. k? So if you can picture on your map, he's in Rome and he's writing these letters to all over ephesians, you know, quarantine, the people in corinth and Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:04:47]: ethicists, all of these peep places, and he's locked in in prison, and he's writing these letters. He wrote a letter to the the folks in colossi and which is modern day Turkey right now. So if you can picture where Turkey is along the Mediterranean in Rome, It's quite a distance. So he's writing a letter to his friend, Fai Lehman, apostle Paul's writing to Fai Lehman about a person named Onesimus. So these are the 3 friends here. And Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:05:15]: on SMS is a runaway slave. k? Now when I say the word slave, It's not the type of slave we know in America when we think back to Plantation. Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:05:25]: Back in the old days, slavery in ancient time, you know, Egyptians, Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:05:30]: they had slaves. They probably made the pyramids either them or the aliens, whatever you choose to believe. I don't know. But anyway, we had, you know, the the Egyptians had slaves, Romans had slaves all over in Mesopotamia back in the ancient days. China you know, had slaves. Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:05:46]: So some of them weren't even you know, it was a very different concept. Some chose to to work, you know, for their Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:05:55]: master, whatever, and to pay off debts. If they had a debt, they would work it off. And that's just the system that they worked out. Different people groups were out different systems. So just just keep that in context when we say, he's a runaway slave. We don't know what happened in the in the book, but we can read extra biblical texts and and and piece these things together. Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:06:14]: But, anyway, that's the big view of, you know, apostle Paul's writing to Filehmann. k? That's kinda the situation. And like I said, Paul was in house arrest, so he could have, you know, visitors come and go. Let's take a look. Chapter we'll start off in chapter 4. I always thank my god as I remember you in my prayers. the way Paul writes this because I hear about your love for all his holy people and your faith in the lord Jesus in the lord Jesus. I pray to your partnership with us in the faith may be effective in deepening your understanding of every good good thing we share for the sake of Christ. Your love has given me great joy and encouragement because you brother have refreshed the heart of god's people, of the lord's people. So Paul already knows Paul knows Philemon. He he probably discipled him. That's what they think. And, you know, over the course of time, they got separated. Paul's now in Rome, but he's right back to his friend his friend in in Kalasse. And so even in house arrest, that's that's the thing I wanted to point out. You know, he's writing this stuff and encouraging, and he's using his time. He's making use of his time even in house arrest to encourage encourage people. Yeah? So I I believe that's a good model for us to use our downtime. Sometimes we say downtime to encourage other people. Right? That's a such a good thing. In verse 8, this is, accordingly though, I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required. Yet for love's sake, I prefer to appeal to you. for love's sake, I prefer to appeal to you. So Paul is really writing Filemon to asking him if he wants can he can take back on Isomists. Now we'll get into this whole thing later, but he sees potential in On Isomists, apostle Paul, and he as he's visiting him in in prison, kinda ministers to him being his spiritual dad kind of thing. So he's saying, I I I could, you know, just command you to do what is required, but yet for love's sake, I prefer to appeal to you. Paul, an an ambassador, and now a prisoner, all of g of Christ Jesus. I appeal to you for my child, on isthmus, whose father I have become in my imprisonment. Formerly, he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me. I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart. Isn't that nice he's writing in Nepal is actually, you know, one of the fathers in the faith. And when he writes his letters. He usually writes he starts off with I, the apostle Paul, and he writes his letter. But in this one, he says Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:09:04]: apostle Paul when he starts his letter? Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:09:07]: a prisoner for Jesus Christ. That's, you know, showing humility, I think, and and showing that he wants he wants to appeal to the relationship that him and Filemon have. Not like a I'm gonna tell you how to do things even though he's he's Filemon's church father, so just be Very interesting. Yeah. So this is just a little part of the book. And Paul, like I said, he saw potential in this guy in Onesimus, and he spoke into his life, and he he discipled him. And he this is a model of what discipleship is. You know? Seeing potential with a young young folk young with the young folks, we can say, you know, and and speaking life into them and and helping them to grow. and probably hearing his story, winning him to Christ even though he was in house arrest. So way to go, Paul, that's the way to you know, be a example of a of a disciple. Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:10:01]: So as we hear in the in the story, you know, Onissimus hit the road running, and, you know, he ran like the wind. He he took off. We don't know what happened. We don't have all the details on that. But Onissimus Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:10:12]: and File Lehman, you know, they in that relationship, Olin Smith decided to take off. And he asked Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:10:21]: and impose asking Filemon to take him back. Right? And he didn't wanna pull rank. You know? Some people, they'll just quickly pull rank. It's because I'm your boss. You gotta do what I say. And and I understand with kids it's give and take. You know, sometimes you you kinda have to do that and you gotta let them know your authority, but appealing to love, love's sake. I like that. I think we all should try try love first. Right? Try to appeal in love. And, hey. Let's talk this out. rather than just going right into either pulling rank or trying to up somebody and, you know, then that that's where pride can, you know, Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:10:55]: rise its head. Right? And we can we can just seek to just be be right and hammer hammer the person down. So I love that. I I appeal to you for love's sake. Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:11:08]: So anissimus he this is funny that his name is useful. The name onissimus is useful. So if you those of you who have kids. You can think of a name. You wanna think of a name for your kid or name them unissimus. Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:11:19]: That's a good name. Useful. But but or or not or Jeff, whatever you prefer. Just kidding. But, anyway, his name is useful. Did did you notice apostle Paul said, he was once list to you. Now he's useful. Paul did a little play on words there because his name means useful. And you know, after he after ministering to Christ, he's no longer a runaway slave but very useful as a brother in the lord. So that's that's a good that's a good word. I love the the Greek names. Right? Onissimus, Philemon. Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:11:56]: Right? me of a story of this guy who's in ancient Greece. And he's he's looking for a specific tailor, you know, to have some alterations done on his garments. And he walks He walks into this one tailor shop, and he's looking for a specific guy. He says, Euripides, and the the owner says, no, I am a disease. It's a little thing. You know the the the name the name is because he's a tailor. He Hamides. Anyway, thought I'd share that with you. I've been waiting 40 years to share that joke with somebody. I'm glad you liked it. Kinda. You're laughing home? I hope so. Left is good medicine. I hope. Left is a good medicine. Let's go to verse 15. k? Verse 15 for for this perhaps is why Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:12:38]: he parted from you for a while that you may have him back forever no longer as a bond servant, but more more than a bond servant as a beloved brother, especially to me, but now Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:12:52]: how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the lord. So he what he means by in the flesh and in the lord, you know, he has them back. He can have him back physically, but he's also a spiritual brother now. In the Lord, in spirit spirit, they can get along now with, you know, they can identify Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:13:09]: together as brothers and sisters brothers in Christ. Right? Especially to me. It says in 17 so if you consider me your partner, Receive him as you would receive me. Now if he wronged you at all and owes you anything, charge it to my account. philemon 115 through 18. So did you did you notice that he says a couple of things if you consider me your partner. Okay? I believe we are all partners in in in the big sea church. We are New Hope Kapolei. We know brothers sisters in New Hope, Leeward, and New Hope in town, and in the different New Hope family in the force denomination, and that's just one denomination. And we have brothers and sisters in in all the world. And the big c church, we we we are now discipling each other in our church. Right? Disciplineing, encouraging, contributing, learning, doing life together. Right? as partners. So we're partners in this church, and then we we break that down into different ministries. We got the ushers. We we got the the husk fatality folks, the the musicians, you know, the the worship team and and many, many more. Right? the office, folks are working up at the office, the information, everything. All these all of us are working as the big sea church as partners. Right? For apostle is talking about, hey, if you consider me a partner, why don't you receive him? And if anything, if he's wrong, Diorra owes you anything. So this is where we speculate philemonismiss may have stolen something from philemon and ran away. You know? You never know. So we're kinda speculate a little bit on this, but it's good because we can we can identify with some of these characters. Maybe some traits that we we have, we can identify with more than others, and maybe we we we can speak life in the end. So on my account he says. So this is the doctrine of imputation we hear like what Christ does for us. Christ takes our sins. He asks us to give him his our sins, and what if he he gives us his righteousness? What a crazy exchange that is. Right? Who would do that? Who would ever do that. But Jesus Jesus does that. The king of the universe does that. Can he get a Amen for that? Yes. Well, our sins for his righteous That's that's what Paul's talking about, or that's what you know, when he says, charge it to my account. God charged sins to his account. And on the cross, he he said it is finished. It is paid in full. You know? Then and that's the good news. That's one of the good news for today. So let's look these 3 friends. Right? Just just take a little look at them and open it up, dissect it a little bit. Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:15:56]: So Filemon, you know, the the owner of Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:16:01]: on the on the isthmus. The he ran a house church. He had a little house church. His his wife was in there helping out and his son, they call him a warrior for Christ. Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:16:14]: You know, he had a little house church, but he was the victim here. He's like, man, I got things are working out good. You know? I got on SMS, and they probably had a good relationship. Or, I don't know, because on SMS decides to run away, to take off and, you know, leaves Filemon stuck now. It's like, oh, who's gonna do all the stuff that my, you know, onismus did, my my servant. Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:16:36]: So speculation has he could have stolen something. Maybe they had a disagreement. I don't know. He but he was a good man as we know, but he was wrong. and he he he could feel it. And he was like, man, I don't know. And I don't know if I should go turn them in or call call the officials on this guy because he could have. you know, according to Roman law, if you have a runaway slave, that's that's not good. They used to do brand if you are a slave, some of them, their brand, you know, Fidgetivo, whatever it was, fugitive f on on your head, whatever it is, let people know you're a fugitive runaway slave. the dangerous thing. And then we have, you know, it could have been could have wound up with bitterness or whatever, you know, and unforgiveness. And like I said, he had the legal right to to pursue it. That's Filemon. And then we have onesimus, you know, the the the former servant of Filemon who ran away. The runaway, we call him. He he's fed up with whatever it was maybe. Disagreements. Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:17:37]: Maybe what happens sometimes when we act like that, we come we come to that point where we start to feel guilty, you know, some of us. And so I don't know speculating he he might have felt some of that when dismissed Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:17:51]: and unworthy you know, after you have kinda run away. So that's our second character and then the Apostle Paul. Okay. The apostle Paul is kinda in the middle here as the as the great mediator. Right? He says he's he's bound to Christ in the word in Greek. It's bound to Christ, you know, a servant of Christ. And if if I want to bound be bound by any anyone, I wanna be bound by Christ. If I wanna have a master, I want Christ to be my master. Yeah. I don't mind to call him my master. He knows the best. Right? He he created me. He he knows me. He has my best interest in mind. So I would like to be bound to Christ just like Paul. Okay. This is a personal letter to File Lehman to do the right thing to take on SMS back. He's a apostle apostle. He's an advocate. Right? He's advocating for onissimus right now. He's he's saying, hey, onissimus, you know, you told me that story of, you know, your your old boss filing and I think I know him. This isn't it weird? So I'll get that to that later in a little bit. But, yeah, they were on opposite ends of the spectrum. Right? the the victim and then the the perpetrator, basically. Okay. So we'll look at these characters in similar situations, and they might have a, you know, what can they teach us, you know, looking at this? So there we go, Filehmann. onismiss and Paul. Okay? We got that. So as a victim, like I said, you know, now you're just speaking on that you've ever been wronged, if you've ever been cheated, you know, if you ever been had somebody taken something taken away from you, man. It's it's not a good feeling. I've I've had that. I've been ripped off my car. I came back one day. Oh, my car my my stereo was gone. This is back in the day. You know? And I'm like, you feel so violated. Right? And then you get mad and then you're like man, where are those guys, you know, I wanna go and get them, then you start to think this. Remember, the the Lord vengeance's mind says the Lord. Right? So, you know, but I wasn't Christian, so I still to go go find who and then get my stereo back. But, you know, stuff stuff that goes through our minds as a victim. And victim, you know, you can be very big heavy heavy things that we have to go deal with or very very small, very small incidents that can, you know, get us or set us off. You know? Offenses, Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:20:14]: we this brings up the the offenses. You know, I still remember talking to a guy and trying to share with him. Come to church, you know, with us. And he says, I'm like with church. you know, had a bad experience at church. Now, you know, you know, take God out of the equation. Yeah. And I and I had a bad experience. I don't wanna ever go back to church. I asked him, what happened at church? Well, I came to church one time, and and the guy in the front told me, hey, button up your shirt. and that was it. A small offense. He's a button up my shirt. I don't know. This was back in the seventies where he likes to wear his shirt open. And, hey. Well, you know, feel free. Whatever. But anyway, he took offense, never went to church again. And that's a pretty sad story if you think about it because I don't know what happened with his eternal thing. So we if we don't deal with offenses, Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:21:01]: you know, if we sweep them under the rug, guess what happens to the rug? There's a little pile of junk under the and when we walk, we trip over it because we've just kept, you know, brushing offenses under the rug. We don't wanna do that. Right? We wanna take care of things obiblically. Right? The bible calls it the root of bitterness can set in, especially if we don't talk about it. We just let it fester. Oh, man. That guy told me to butt in my shirt. Who is he thinking he is telling me to butt in my shirt? I'm not gonna go to church. Even though this this all is good stuff. Yeah. eternity and good life and everything. He he took offense to them. Root of bitterness just so if you have a root, it just grows into what? It's your plant. You know, you get a root and then it sprouts and then you just full of bitterness. And it's like, oh my gosh. And and of course, we understand, you know, big offenses have to be dealt with with a professional way. So hopefully, That's in Hebrews 12 15, by the way, the root of bitterness, if you wanna read about that. We don't want that. We wanna deal with with offenses. can cause unnecessary stress and burden and weigh us down. And it's just it's a scientific thing that it'll just, you know, even work on your body, your physical body gets all tensed up. So we gotta let that stuff go. Let offenses go. That kind of thing. Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:22:21]: And, by the way, we we deal We talk about this this topic in finding freedom. In our life group, finding freedom. We talk about this topic and then the words that we use, you know, can make a big difference in our lives and various other topics. So so Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:22:37]: good. such a good study. Encourage you if you ever want to join up with finding freedom. The next person we talk the runaway, the particle. Right? Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:22:48]: He, you know, he may he might have made some bad decisions in life we may may have made some bad decisions in life and decided to run away. You know? Everyone runs away at some time or another. Whether you run away in your mind or you physically get up and run away, you know, running away maybe our past problems, you know, running away from our mistakes. Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:23:12]: You know, the one thing you can't run away from is yourself. Yeah. So whenever wherever you end up physically, Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:23:19]: you're still there. It's still you. You know? You still mad at that guy to tell you too much and you're sure and you can be miles away, and you still, you know, you're still you. You can't run away from our problems. We have to deal with our problems. we're gonna talk about that a little bit. We can get stuck in a in a bad place in our in our mind. Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:23:37]: And then, you know, after, like I said, the repercussions Now when when when on on on Essimus I mean, when when yeah. On Essimus is is going to to Paul up to see Paul in Rome. That's, what, thirteen hundred miles? Gosh. That's a long way. k? That's a long way to to walk. If you think of modern day Turkey down here, and then, you know, the Italy boot over here, and Rome is in Italy. So that's far. And he's probably walking, kicking the rocks. I don't need that job over there with with Filemon, blah blah blah. What very mumbling to himself. Who knows? You know, getting getting working his way to Rome, but then meeting up with the apostle Paul. Now if you're gonna talk to anybody, Paul is a good guy. You know, he knows he knows a thing or 2 about ministry. So he probably, you know, made his way over to Paul and talk story with him. Hey. I had trouble with my my former and blah blah blah. And what was he's he was in Colosi. What was his name? Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:24:38]: Filemon. Filemon, he had a house church. Right? And El Paso Paul knew him. and then there was a weird this little triangle of friends. Like, I know that guy. I'll write a letter. And so after, you know, he he was ministering with Paul was me ministering with Onesimus. They got to be friends with each other and like Paul says, he's like a son. And Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:25:02]: this is the time where this is the time to reach out reach out to someone and get help. So if this is you, if you run away, and then there's gonna be the lies. Right? So get some help before the lies start creeping in. You know? Yeah. My name my name is useful, but it should be useless talking. That's the devil talking right there. You know? You know, he treated me bad or whatever. I'm glad I stole money from him. crazy thoughts start creeping in your mind as you go down this road. Right? Yeah. You're trying to run away from your problems and, you know, that that's the lies of the devil. will will come and and then you start to believe them and then you start acting out this way and we've seen people go on that trajectory and it's not good. And that's why we're here. We're the light of the Jesus said, the salt of the earth where the the lamps on a hill supposed to, you know, bring people to the saving knowledge of Christ who's going through these kind of things. Or if we're going through, please let us know. That's what we're here for. This is the church. We wanna we wanna past these kind of things. Right? Being a victim or or being the the one who got stuck and made some bad decisions in life isn't that all of our Hey, men? Still awake. Sorry. Praise God. Hey. So and then then guy, like I said, the next person here is the it's intercessor. We all need a intercessor, someone to stand in the gap for us. So that's in your notes. It says stand in the gap. Paul is the intercessor. Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:26:31]: You know what the gap is? I I love this illustration where had somebody did an illustration. What is, like, standing in the gap for someone? Well, if someone's back here and they have troubles and and they they really feel out of sorts man. I just don't know where to turn. I can't really fight for myself. I feel like I'm going down, Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:26:50]: you know, whatever troubles I'm going through. and the devil is kinda attacking from this way. This the person standing in the gap will come like this and pray, oh, lord Jesus rebuked this devil rebuke this and and kinda stand in the gap until we can get brother or sister here to, you know, get it together and minister with him. We're standing in the gap That's what it is. I love the fact that we're able to stand in the gap for each other. You know, what are you going through, brother or sister? Let me pray for you. Right? And that that's that's huge. So let's be willing to stand in the gap. Let's be a intercessor. Amen, Yes. Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:27:26]: And then b is we may underestimate our own influence on others. Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:27:33]: You you might not think it's it's a word Well, I I might have a word for Nino, but he's probably heard it already, so I'm not gonna share with him. You know? Share it. Say a word. If God gives you a word, share the word. with somebody for don't just let it go out, you know, stay in your mind because that person could likely And I've had that happen to me a few times, you know, whether sharing this or that somebody will come and say hey, you know what you spoke? That was that was for for me and I've heard you know, other people, you know, say, hey, that was a good word for me. And, you know, if we wouldn't wouldn't have shared it, they would have never heard So don't ever underestimate your influence. Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:28:11]: Stories of my dad's influence on me, you know, walk by telling me a good job with my art, you know, or, you know, actually constructive criticism like, hey, man. that eye is kinda crooked, this kinda big eye. You know? And I'm like, he's right. You know? He's right. Thanks, dad, for pointing that out and get the racer. And, you know, in a gentle way, he would he would help my my art in in in learning about, you know, drawing and stuff. And our influence can does have to be really big, but it can be in a life group. When you join life group, we can we can administer to each other. It can be like taking the time to listen to somebody. But anyway, going back to the influence, it can be like having a dinner with somebody That that's a that's a personal thing. Breaking bread with someone, having a meal, having a dinner, or having a coffee, or just even a texting, texting one another. Nowadays, it's so so good. And I have 3 good friends that are on a text loop, and I and I see one of them right now. You know who you are if you're watching? Hey, brother. So you know, it's, you know, it's the guy in guy text. Yeah. When we write something, how's it going? And then we write. Okay. And then we know each we're good, you know, just by doing that because it's a guiding. We don't need many words. That's why, like I said, I don't speak too much too often this long. So Pardon me if I cough, but you know what? Those kind of texts you never know. So we text each other and then I have other friends I'll text them, hit them. Hey. How are you doing? Here's a scripture that I read this morning, whatever. So I had I had the event the other day. I just texted a friend, hey, man. I haven't seen you in a while. How's it going? I get back. Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:29:48]: I'm with my mom at ICU right now in the ICU, Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:29:51]: and oh, okay. It's changes everything now. So I'm glad I I I touched and saw how how my friend was doing. If you're watching, I hope things are okay. Mong had had to get some kind of feeding tube going on. And I hadn't been in touch with him in a while, but this is where we never know. So I sent him the scripture. Basically, he wrote back. Hey. Thanks for the prayers. You know, I needed that. And sometimes people will write you back. Thanks for the prayer, and it's a cursory thing. But when when their mom is in the ICU, you know that the the thanks for the prayer had weight on it. Yeah. It has a little more weight. because they're going through stuff. And we never know who's going through stuff. So imagine the potential you have just like apostle Paul being in his little prison cell and and, you know, say, woe is me and just, you know, crying in his bread and water, whatever they gave him. I don't know. Most probably Italian bread though, because he was in Rome. But anyway, I don't know. You know, he instead of crying, he made use of his time. He was, you know, he was writing letters. You guys didn't do this. A Corinthians. And he wrote 2 letters to the Corinthians while he was in jail. Come on. And we're we're out here free roaming around doing what we gotta do, we can we can speak life into people. Amen? Amen. So let's do it. Let's stand in the gap and and let's not underestimate our influence on other people. k? Yeah. A friend of mine, he Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:31:14]: he was he was in a gas station, working in a gas station, and I had driven up in my dad's old Cadillac. Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:31:23]: He's like, woah. Nice car. Anyway, this is a a whole another long story, but he asked me, hey, man. How are you doing? And this is before was really in church. I mean, I had heard about God in church and stuff, but I was doing my own thing chasing Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:31:36]: chasing my own dreams, you know, doing art work and whatever. But I I had been going to this Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:31:44]: different kinda church, and then he says, hey, man. You're going to church. I go, yeah. We I'm going to this one church. He goes, hey. We gotta talk later. So we we talked, and he invited me this other church. It was a, you know, church that had good doctrine, solid doctrine. Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:32:01]: For the most part, and I learned a lot from that church So it was because he, you know, Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:32:07]: spoke to my life and invited me to church that started me on my walk, on my journey, my faith journey. And that's all it takes. It's chance meeting at a at a gas station or whatever it is. and you just build a conversation. You never know you're gonna affect the course of someone's trajectory if I hadn't have driven into that Asian, I don't know what would happen. Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:32:27]: Now and then c, it says, be a good listener we have in our nose. Be a good listener term as a part as we partner together in a work of the lord. Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:32:36]: You know? And I'm guilty of this sometimes, you know, listening to the person and just talking, and and it's an interesting topic. And you think, what am I gonna say after them? I was like, hurry up and finish what you're saying so I can say something. Just be a good ener, just just chill and listen. k? And ask questions. You know, ask some good questions. Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:32:57]: You know, no need to to say a lot of stuff. Be a good listener. And, you know, we've talk we've talked about this before with Pastor Glenn and and us in the meetings. Sometimes you'll go into a situation kinda like, you know, my my friend's mom who's in the ICU or whatever It's a it's a hard situation. And you don't have to have all the words. You know, pastor Glenn confessed. I don't I didn't know really what to but the fact that you're there, the fact that you sit with somebody in their time. That that's huge. That's that's big because your presence is something. You know? It's presence and stuff. So be a good listener and that doesn't only mean with your ears. Yeah? It means, you know, just be there for for folks. If they wanna cry, you know, Bible says, we we we cry with those who cry. We mourn with those who mourn. We rejoice with those who rejoice. And and Indeed, it says, you know, practice. The this is a what in a nutshell, what we just about. The Hawaiian practice, it's called. It's basically doing the right thing at the right time for the right reason. So when apostle Paul is writing to a a Filemon to to take on instruments back He's trying to, you know, Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:34:17]: make make restitution, make right this situation. The whole phone on phone is like, hey. Come on, guys. Can we get together, and he he saw something in in Onesimus. Right? And he wanted to Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:34:28]: he actually wanted on Onesimus to stay on with him and be servant to him. He confessed in his letter. But he says, no. I think I wanna send him back to you so he can benefit you and me. So this is the all in this little book. And this is the great thing. It's a short short stories, you know, with the good news. We can find good news. It it doesn't have to be a big major book. We can find it all over. Okay? So the last one is, you know, just apostle Paul, we can be the the person. So if we've been a victim or if you've, you know, done something bad decisions. But now let's at now how we can be like apostle Paul. Right? And those are some of the things. The good news is that we can go through things on either side of the spectrum, but we have an advocate too. We can be the advocate. We can speak, but in the bigger scheme, we have advocate with the father, right, with Jesus Christ. And and he's the one in the big picture. Now let's read this from first John it says, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have advocate with the father, Jesus Christ the righteous. So he's assuring us in first John, two one from the NIV that, hey, You know what? If you do sin and guess what? You know, I think we're gonna sin like it or not, we're human. But if we do sin, we have an advocate of father. And that's that's why I so important for confession, daily confession. Like they say, keep this slate clean, keep short accounts with God. Hey. You know that that one time lord God yesterday or today when I was working out this situation, it didn't feel too good. Can you forgive me and give me them for the next time and keep a a a short account with God and then Amen. And then, you know, you're you you know, and God says, he'll forgive us. What is the lord's prayers say, forgive our trespasses as we what? Forgive those who trespass against us. So keep keep those short accounts with God and Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:36:33]: and I love this one. It's from 2nd Corinthians Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:36:37]: 517. It says, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come and the old has gone. The new is here. Amen. The if anyone is in Christ, the new the new has come and the old has gone. The new is here. And I I I think I had a key chain with the imprinted on it. You know, you have those key chains. And then the other one I had was whatever whatever you do work, whatever kind of work you do, work as unto the Lord. I still remember these key chains, and it's really good to just have a little scripture to to look at it, to remind yourself. But anyway, I I still remember on this one, it's always that image of a a butterfly. And and we know that butterfly when it talks about the you know, and if anyone is in Christ, new creation has come. The old is gone. So the caterpillar used to be caterpillar is gone because he he went through a a metamorphosis, a change, and he turned into a beautiful butterfly. And that's why we named this the meta center because it's meta amorphosis, we should we should come in here and be changed. Okay? So when you walk out there, don't be surprised if you sprout these wings out in there. No. Just kidding. If you do, let me know. Yeah. Call me call me up. I wanna see. Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:37:49]: But you gotta go into Cocoon first, I think. Right? for that stage. Anyway, I I hope we are changed. I hope every Sunday, we're a little better, little different, you know, walkout changed from God's word. Right? It's not about, you know, the person who's ever speaking, it's about Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:38:05]: god working in our hearts in our lives. So whatever god whatever life throws at us, you know, whether whether it's it's the good good good news or the bad news. You know, if we don't make the best choice is when we need some wise counsel. Remember, don't listen to the lies of the devil. Trust God's word and god's truth. And and and like the Bible said, truth will set you free when we focus on the truth and not the lies. k? And, yeah, we just wanna end this part in in a prayer. Lord, god, thank you for your word and that that story of how a also Paul saw that he needed to make some reconciliation with these 2 men, his 2 friends, Filemon and Onesimus. And I thank you, lord, that you have replace the boldness like like people like apostle Paul who just gave us a lot of the new testament and inspired us Lord from from where he was and to where he he was where he came to to just be a a serving of you, Lord, bound to you, Lord, to do your will and your work. Allow us, Lord, to use these examples in to speak life, to people, lord god, as we go out, and to be good listeners, and to use our influence and just not be shy to just give a give a praise. Give a some kind of uplifting word to a friend because we never know what they're going through. So we just ask this all in Jesus' name. Amen. Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:39:32]: Hey. Thanks, everybody. And, you know, I just have one last thing. You wanna know how that story ends with apostle Paul? Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:39:39]: And if I leave Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:39:41]: Well, in the in the, you know, other church church books, it doesn't say Infaylamin, Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:39:46]: but says that he he took him back. Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:39:49]: Filemon took Onesimus back. And guess what? Onesimus turned into turn out to be a a pastor at the local church at at at at at colossi, and that would never have happened had had all of this not transpired. So isn't that good news? That's really good news. You never know where people are gonna end up. So I just wanted to share that, you know, I didn't wanna leave you and like, what happened to that guy? Did he did he ever get back? But, yeah, that's the good news. And one last thing too, if you're here or if you're online and if you never made that commitment, but you decided, man, I I really wanna walk that walk with everybody and walk that faith journey. Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:40:29]: It it's if it's in your heart to really change your life, you wanna start now and start it starts with a prayer and then the us know, and then we can give you some bible and Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:40:42]: a yes packet it's called. So wherever you are, click on the I I choose Christ, I've decided Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:40:48]: on the link. And if you're in here, just say this prayer and then let us know. We'd love to pray with you again after. But the prayer goes like this. Lord God, I I acknowledge that I need you, lord. I'm sinner, and I'm in need of grace. So I just ask you, Lord, to come into my heart now and be my lord and be my guide and my savior and and continued to walk with me the rest of my days. I choose you, Lord. In Jesus' name, amen. if you prayed there, prayer, let us know. Otherwise, Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:41:20]: good good day. Have a great day. Thank you for joining us. God bless you all.