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I'm going to speak a message today from
a little book near the end of the
New Testament called Philemon.
Now if you'll turn there, you're going to
find 1 and 2 Timothy, then Titus, Philemon,
then you'll find the book of Hebrews.
So if you've gone to Hebrews, you're too
far.
Go back one book.
I've been in this book all week, studying
it, reading it in every possible translation, reading
commentaries on it, praying about it.
I was arrested by the Holy Spirit literally
in this book on Monday and have been
in it ever since.
Only 25 verses of scripture, but there's incredible
truth in it and something that I feel
that the Holy Spirit wants us to understand
this morning.
Please pray with me now.
Father, I pray that you would anoint me.
I ask you, Holy Spirit, to enable me
to go so far beyond my own limitations.
All I bring to you, Lord, are just
a few loaves and a couple of fishes
and there are thousands to feed.
I'm incapable of touching every heart, every area,
understanding every culture, background, circumstance.
But Holy Spirit, there are no limitations to
you.
I'm asking you today to take every word
that is spoken and multiply it a thousandfold.
Speak to every heart, speak to every life,
speak to my heart anew and afresh.
Let us be deepened and furthered in the
things of Jesus Christ.
Lord, we want to be a church that
honors you in this last hour of time.
We want to honor your name on this
earth.
You have to teach us how.
You have to bring the liberty of truth
into our hearts and make it a reality
in our everyday practice.
Teach us from this little book of scripture.
God, there's incredible truth here.
I've only skimmed the surface, but what you've
shown may help me to relay it clearly.
Help us to hear it.
Help us to apply it.
Let your kingdom come.
Let there be a change.
Let your will be done today.
God, I'm asking for deliverance and freedom in
this house today for many.
And I thank you for it in Jesus'
mighty name.
Philemon.
Now, Paul said to Timothy in 2 Timothy
3, verses 16 and 17, all scripture is
given by inspiration of God.
Everything in this book is not just the
product of man's thought.
This is the Holy Spirit actually divinely inspiring
the authors to sit down and to write
the very thoughts of God on paper.
And God, of course, saw to it that
none of the scripture was lost.
It was compiled eventually and put into the
text that we now call, theologically speaking, we
call it the canon of scripture.
Those works that are recognized as inspired by
the Holy Ghost.
And as such, Paul says to Timothy, they're
profitable for doctrine.
That means for right Christian practice, for reproof,
for correction and for instruction in righteousness, that
the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly
furnished into all good works.
Now, the word perfect in the original text
means complete, whole or serving his intended purpose.
We have an intended purpose on this earth.
We are to represent the one who sits
at the right hand of all power and
all authority.
And I want to do that.
I don't want to suppose that I'm doing
it.
I want to actually be doing it.
I don't know how you feel about that
today, but we can make mistakes as Christians.
We can become entrenched in doing certain things,
certain ways and not even realize that we're
not fully representing Jesus Christ in some areas
of our interaction, in particular with other people.
Now, this letter is written almost 2000 years
ago, a personal letter by Paul.
And Paul is asking this man called Philemon
to receive and to restore a slave that
had run away from him.
And even though it's written in that context,
there's truth in it, which has as much
of an application to my life today as
it did for those who were written about
back then.
I want to speak to you about just
some of the things that the Holy Spirit
has been speaking to me personally from this
letter.
Now, first of all, when Paul wrote to
Philemon, he was in prison, and most commentators
agree that Paul was imprisoned at this time.
It was around the year 862, and Paul
was imprisoned in Rome.
It was not the most severe of his
imprisonments.
There was still some liberty at this time
for people to, as it were, come in
and go out into his presence.
And prior to this imprisonment, Paul had met
a man whose name was Philemon.
And most probably Philemon was a wealthy man.
We don't know this for a fact, but
we do know he had a house, because
the Bible tells us he had a church
in his house.
We also know he was a slave owner.
He was a person who was wealthy enough
to buy and sell servants, slaves, as they
were called in those days, in his house.
And all commentators agree that Paul led Philemon
to Christ.
In verse 19, when Paul is writing to
Philemon, he says, I, Paul, have written it
with my own hand.
I will repay it.
Albeit I do not say to thee how
thou owest to me even thine own self
besides.
Now, Paul says, I want you to receive
back this man, and if he has done
you harm.
There's absolutely no conclusive evidence that this runaway
slave had actually stolen.
Some theorize that, but there's no evidence of
that.
Basically, the owing, perhaps, would be the services
that he had lost because of his absence,
and such like.
And Paul says, if you feel that he
owes you anything, put it on my account.
I will pay for it.
But nevertheless, he said, I do remind you
that you yourself are indebted to me.
Now, most believe that Paul, of course, didn't
lend money to Philemon, but basically, Paul led
him to Christ.
Now, Philemon, at the time of this writing,
was part of the church, the Colossian church.
You know, you'll find Paul's letters, Galatians, Ephesians,
Philippians, Colossians.
Philemon was part of the Colossian church, and
this church was about 1,000 miles from
the location where Paul was imprisoned in Rome.
Now, this man, Philemon, we learn a little
bit about him in this text of Paul.
First of all, in verse 1, the scripture
says, Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and
Timothy, our brother, unto Philemon, our dearly beloved
and fellow laborer.
Now, first of all, he calls Philemon dearly
beloved.
And the context of that would mean a
man who knows and moves in the love
of God.
He has received the love of God.
He understands the love of God for him,
and he is now moving in that love.
It's the same word, actually, that God the
Father used when Christ was baptized.
He said, this is my beloved son.
Although, of course, the context is not quite
the same.
We're not talking about divinity here in Philemon.
But he understood the love of God for
him.
And he calls him not only dearly beloved,
but you are a fellow laborer.
You are a co-worker with me, Paul.
And in verse 5, he says, hearing of
thy love and faith which thou hast towards
the Lord Jesus and towards all saints.
Now, this man, Philemon, was a man of
love.
He was a man of faith.
And he was a man of reputation for
such things.
All the saints that came to his house.
He had a house church, as it is.
Verse 2 says, unto our beloved Appiah, who
most believe was his wife, and Archippus, our
fellow soldier, and to the church in thy
house.
Now, most of the churches in Paul's day,
you have to understand, were not buildings separate
from the home.
Most churches in the day of Paul were
in people's houses.
And quite often, when somebody with a large
or moderate to large house came to Christ,
they would open that house, and that house
would begin to be a meeting place for
the saints of God.
So, he knew the love of God.
He had a church in his house.
He was a man of love, a man
of faith.
And he was exhibiting this love and faith
towards all the saints.
Those that he considered co-heirs with him
in Christ.
Verse 7, he says, for we have great
joy and consolation in thy love, because the
bowels of the saints are refreshed by thee,
More up-to-date translation of that would
be, you are an encourager of the hearts
of all who come into your home.
That's incredible.
The man was an encourager.
We call it today an exhorter.
Perhaps a man who people came into his
house and were downcast, or perhaps seeing coming
times of difficulty and persecution, or experiencing difficulty
because of coming out of Judaism and into
the Christian church.
And this man, Philemon, would build them up
in the faith as it is, and encourage
them that God is able to hold you
and keep you, and God will use your
life for his glory.
And he was known in the church to
have this kind of a reputation.
And so, there's a question that we have
to ask ourselves.
We don't know the circumstances as to why
this man Onesimus, his slave, ran away from
him.
But it does beg that we ask a
question.
If a man is all of these things
that Paul said that he is, why would
his slave run away from him?
Now, I suppose it's conceivable that the slave
ran away before he came to Christ, but
I very much doubt that.
It's my own personal feeling.
And you take that for what it's worth.
But it's just my feeling as reading this
particular passage of scripture that the love of
God that was forming in Philemon still had
limitations.
And that's the way it is quite often
with many of us.
We receive God's love.
We become filled and increasing in faith as
we hear the word of God.
We become a refresher and an encourager of
others around us.
But still, because of our humanness, because that
love is not yet fully perfected in us,
there are limitations to that love.
There are boundary lines that we draw, places
we will not go.
We would not call it so, but there
are people perhaps that we'd not even consider
encouraging for various reasons.
Sometimes it's just simply cultural.
Sometimes we just it's just the way it's
been done for so long that we don't
even see wrong.
We see wrong as right and not even
understanding how wrong it really is.
Onesimus served the church, perhaps in his master's
house.
Now, it's only speculation on my part, but
I want you to follow this train of
thought with me.
If it were the case, I want you
to picture Onesimus in this house.
People are gathering.
This man has a reputation.
And Onesimus is hearing weekly, perhaps daily, of
the God which Paul had spoken of, who
loved and forgave everybody and had a wonderful
plan for everyone's life.
But yet still, perhaps, is it possible this
man had somehow still gone on?
He was on the outside.
He was still unloved, still unencouraged and still
unnoticed.
Did he have to run away to find
God?
Now, it seems almost some would say, Pastor,
this is an absurd thought.
No, it's not.
Look back in American history.
Look back in Canadian history.
When I look back in the history of
America, I'm dumbfounded.
I'm appalled at the fact that men and
women went to church and considered themselves Bible
-believing, born again, full of love, full of
faith, Christians, and had slaves in un-furnished,
uninsulated shacks in below-zero weather living in
their backyards.
Now, folks, we're not far from this story
of Philemon.
I wonder if anybody ever read it or
understood it in that generation.
It seems inconceivable that people could call themselves
Christians and yet have such an atrocity going
on in their own backyards.
Unbelievable, when you look at it.
Yet, it's not just American history.
It's not just Canadian history.
In Canada, the native Canadians were treated in
a similar fashion.
And we look back and we say, how
is it possible?
But I think we're wiser.
Yes, we learn from history.
We must learn and never repeat the same
terrible mistakes again.
And, folks, I say tragically today that churches
even today that are segregated along lines of
culture and race are at best incomplete in
the love of God and at worst an
absolute disgrace to the cause of Jesus Christ.
Onesimus is serving this church still outside, still
unloved, still unencouraged, still unnoticed.
And the question that came to my heart
is, did he have to run away to
find God?
It's incredible.
Is he everyday hearing of this God that
loves everybody while he himself is serving?
And he went to Paul.
And when Paul wrote to Philemon, Paul said,
Onesimus, I have begotten him in my bonds.
He came to me when I was in
prison.
So that gives me an impression that it
was not a lengthy running away.
That Onesimus had come to me while I
was in prison.
I wanted to Christ.
And he says in verse 11, which in
time past was to be unprofitable, but now
profitable to the and to me.
And, you know, I don't believe this is
a play on words with Onesimus' name because
the topic here is too serious.
This is a life and death issue that
Paul is writing about.
A runaway slave was to be punished by
the penalty of death.
And Paul knew that this is not a
time to be light.
This is not a time for word games.
This is a life and death letter that
Paul is sending back with this man Onesimus
to his master, his employer, as it is
Philemon.
I don't believe, I feel that Onesimus perhaps
came to Paul and said, Paul, everyone around
me is being encouraged.
And yet I'm coming in and I'm maybe
he wasn't very good at what he did.
Maybe at times where he stumbled and fell
or was not as punctual as he should
be.
We don't really know the issue, but he
had this sense and he had been told
perhaps that he was unprofitable.
Worthless.
I've invested all this in you and look
how you're turning out.
I had such hopes for you.
It's quite often those that are closest to
us that have to run away from us
to find God.
And it's the truth.
It's the truth.
It's the Holy Spirit is so burdened my
heart with this.
How far do people have to get away
from you and me to find God?
Those closest to us, we can quite often
go to church and shake everybody's hand and
bless you and God be with you.
We can join the counseling ministry and come
in twice a week and counsel everybody under
the sun and have all of the answers
for life's problems.
And then we go to our job as
employees and then treat those that are under
our authority as if they are unprofitable and
there's no hope for them.
We go home.
I think of families.
I think of the number of children that
have had to run from their Christian parents
to find God.
Going home, all this encouragement seemingly flowing from
our lives in the house of God and
let our own children do one wrong thing.
Let them show up wearing something we don't
like.
And all of a sudden or let them
say something that's an opinion that they're entitled
to.
We may not agree with it, but it's
an opinion.
Nevertheless, they're trying to find their identity and
who they are in God.
And then they share an opinion and we
treat them as if they're useless.
I've invested all this time in you and
look how you're turning out.
You'll never amount to anything.
You're stupid.
You're unprofitable.
And what a tragedy it is in our
generation that our own children have to run
from our homes to find God.
I think of churches today that have no
youth.
Pentecostal churches supposedly filled with the power of
God.
Seminar after seminar on the agape love of
Jesus Christ.
And you go into their churches and there's
no youth.
There are no young people.
The whole church is dying.
And I know because I used to travel
in these churches and speak in them as
a revivalist.
And you say, well, what happened to the
youth?
Did they have to run away from this
place to find God?
Churches that talk and testify of the love
of God.
Brothers so-and-so, sisters so-and-so
in the church.
I was saved from drugs.
I was saved from theft.
I was saved from immorality.
I was saved from this and that.
And then everybody gets in a knot because
a teenager shows up with an earring.
Come on.
And the same ones that have been the
recipients of such incredible grace chase those that
are coming to Christ out from their midst.
Not passing on the same grace.
I've been in these little country churches that
so nitpick their teenagers that they finally leave.
If they want God, they've got to virtually
get out to find him.
I spoke in Penn State University this week.
I spoke to a lot of young people.
And I was overwhelmed at the hunger in
these young people for God, the questions they
began to ask about Jesus Christ, the openness
to allowing me to share my testimony and
where I had come from, where my wife,
Teresa, and I had come to Christ and
how God had led us and kept us.
And the wonderful plan that God has for
our lives.
Then you begin to realize in some of
these questions that many of these young people,
some of them at least, have had Christian
backgrounds.
And I wonder why.
Why are they here today so far from
God?
Do they have to run away from the
churches to find God, to find a living
relationship with Jesus Christ?
How tragic it is that the recipients of
such grace, at times, are so unwilling to
give it to others.
Onesimus traveled a thousand miles to find Paul.
We have to ask ourselves, was it a
chance encounter?
Or was he so desperate for God that
he knew to find the man, that he
had to find the man in whom he
knew the true nature of God was?
Was he just so desperate for God?
Do you think it was a chance encounter,
leaving Philemon's house and traveling a thousand miles
to find Paul in a Roman jail?
I don't think so.
I think Onesimus was looking for Paul.
He said, I've got to find this man
that everybody talks about, that seems to unconditionally
love everybody, because I'm not getting it where
I am.
I'm unprofitable.
I'm looked upon as a servant, a slave.
I'm not a very good one at that.
I've got to find this man.
And Onesimus leaves, at the risk of his
life, and travels a thousand miles to find
the apostle Paul.
Now, I don't believe it was a chance
encounter.
I feel it was divine, absolutely divine.
He sought him out.
I've got to find this man that I'm
hearing so much about.
And Paul says to Philemon, he said, yet
for love's sake, in verse 9, I rather
beseech thee, being such a one as Paul
the aged, and now a prisoner of Jesus
Christ, I beseech thee for my son Onesimus,
whom I've begotten in my bonds, which was
in time past to the unprofitable, but now
profitable to thee and to me, whom I've
sent again, that thou therefore receive him, that
is, mine own vows.
Paul said, listen, Philemon, this man was unprofitable
to you.
You didn't see him the way God sees
him.
But I have brought him to Christ, and
I see now the potential of God in
him.
He's got a heart for God, Philemon, and
God's going to use him.
As a matter of fact, I'm so convinced,
Paul was saying, if you read a little
later on in this letter, Paul was saying
to Philemon, I'm so convinced that I would
rather have him stay with me.
I would like this man to be beside
me because there's something so valuable in him.
He was unprofitable to you, but Paul said
he's profitable to me.
And now also he's profitable to you, too,
as well.
And Paul says, if we are workers together,
if we are on the same side, if
we are traveling the same path, Paul says,
Philemon, receive him just as you would receive
me.
And this is the cry of Jesus Christ
to his church.
If we are doing the same work, if
you truly are my body on this earth,
I ask you to receive every person that
comes across your path just as you would
receive me.
Every race, every color, every background, every hang
up.
Don't look at the outward appearance nor what
the person is doing.
See the potential in God that is in
the heart of every person I bring across
your path.
Paul's gospel involved restitution.
Restitution means as far as is possible, make
past wrongs right.
In the gospel of Luke, chapter 19, there
was a man called Zacchaeus who was a
tax gatherer.
We draw an inference from it that he
was wealthy and he was also perhaps somewhat
corrupt.
And Jesus saw him in chapter 19 of
Luke in verse 5.
He said, Zacchaeus, make haste and come down
for today.
I must abide at your house.
And he made haste, verse 6, and came
down and received him joyfully.
And when they saw it, they all murmured,
saying that he was gone to be a
guest with a man that is a sinner.
And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord,
Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I
give to the poor.
And if I've taken anything from any man
by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.
Now, it's an incredible thing.
We don't know exactly what Jesus was preaching,
but we know how Zacchaeus heard it.
And Zacchaeus heard something.
And he said, Lord, I give half of
what I have to the poor.
And everything that I've taken from any man
by false accusation, I'm going to give him
back four times what I took from him.
And Jesus said to him, This day is
salvation.
Come to this house for as much as
he also is a son of Abraham.
Now, salvation didn't come because of Zacchaeus' works
or his good intention.
Salvation had already come to Zacchaeus' house.
And the evidence of that salvation was his
desire to make restitution for past wrongs.
I think today of people who come to
Christ and walk away from debts which are
possible to repay.
Walk away.
No thought.
I'm forgiven.
I'm cleansed.
I'm whole.
I'm happy.
I ripped off everybody in my neighborhood.
I went to the grocery store and charged
a thousand dollars worth of groceries.
But I'm now redeemed.
Everything is in the past.
Oh, yes, it's in the past.
And I'm redeemed.
But the gospel of Jesus Christ is a
gospel of restitution.
As much as is possible, we are to
make right past wrongs.
And we ask ourselves the question then, well,
how far are we to go in making
past wrongs right?
Was it Paul told Onesimus, go back a
thousand miles.
That's a long journey without a train or
plane or an automobile or any of those
things.
I want you to go back a thousand
miles at the risk of your life.
And I want you to make this wrong
that you've done right.
I want you to go back to this
man Philemon who is now a brother in
Christ.
I want you to humble yourself before him.
And I'm going to send a letter and
I'm believing God.
Paul saying that things are going to work
out to the glory of God.
People today seem to think we can come
to Christ and there's no restitution has to
be made for past wrongs.
Well, I absolutely disagree with that.
I believe that if we're open to the
Holy Ghost, God will begin to speak.
He spoke to me about things in my
past when I came to Christ, some very
humbling things.
Many of you know some of my stories.
I'm not going to tell them again, but
going back in pain where money was owed.
I even tried to find a member of
the Outlaws Motorcycle Gang, which is equivalent to
Hell's Angels here in America.
We had had a very, very difficult face
to face encounter.
And I felt that I had wronged this
man, even though obviously not a Christian.
But I sought him out and tried to
find him to tell him that I felt
that what I had done was excessive, it
was wrong, and to tell him that God
had saved me and changed my life and
could do the same for him.
I searched for him.
I didn't find him, unfortunately, but I searched
for him for quite a considerable amount of
time in an attempt to make restitution with
a member of a motorcycle gang, even though
I was a police officer.
There are so few today who go back
and say, I'm sorry, forgive me.
For all the wounding, all the people are
left by the wayside, all those who to
whom we are indebted in one way or
another.
And Paul was so concerned that things would
be made right that he said to Philemon,
it is so it is so important.
And Paul said, if I will repay you
in verse 19, he said, I've written it
with my own hand.
I will repay it.
Although I did not say to thee, thou
hast unto me even thine own self besides.
Yea, brother, he said, let me have joy
of being the Lord, refresh my bowels in
the Lord, having confidence in thy obedience.
I wrote him to thee, knowing that thou
would also do more than I say.
Now, Paul was so concerned that things be
made right that he said, put it on
my account.
Now, that's a true Christian.
Imagine leading somebody to Christ.
I want you to picture this for a
moment.
Leading a man to Christ and finding out
that he had an incredible debt that he
owed somewhere and being so concerned that this
man be reconciled not only to God, but
to his fellow man, sending a letter and
saying, whatever he owes you, put it on
my account.
I will repay it.
I've written it with my hand.
I want to venture guess there's not much
Christianity like that left in the world today.
And it's a sad thing.
Are we really open to obeying God?
I'm not saying every one of us has
to pay everybody else's debt.
But what I'm saying is that are we
really open to obey God in all these
issues?
Do we really, really want to go deep
in Christ?
Do we really want to represent him before
our generation?
It's going to take a little bit more
than songs and words.
This is a darkened generation we're living in
now.
These are people robbed of truth, and many
have run away from the church.
I personally believe, and it is my belief,
that the charismatic excesses, many of the things
that we've experienced in the last 10 years
or so, are simply people that are running
from the church looking for God.
They couldn't find him within the established order
as it is, which has become rigid and
sleepy and dull and hard.
So little life and testimony is all confined
to 10 and 15 years ago.
Songs that have no life, worship that doesn't
doesn't invoke as it is the presence of
the Holy Ghost or bring that closeness to
Christ.
And people are coming out, in a sense,
and running and traveling, looking for God like
Onesimus was.
Thank God he found a man of God.
And the question that you and I have
to ask ourselves honestly in the Holy Ghost
is when we encounter somebody that has that
deep search for Christ in their heart, when
we encounter them or they encounter us, will
they find the gospel of Jesus Christ in
us?
Will they find the truth of God?
Will they find a man or woman who
can honestly steer them in the pathway of
life, victorious life, abundant life, everlasting life?
Are we willing to pay the price that
is necessary to truly represent Jesus Christ in
our generation?
I prayed a prayer, my wife and I
prayed together last night, I prayed a simple
prayer that I've been praying and that prayer
is just as God, whatever it takes, whatever
you have to take me through, whatever pain
I have to endure.
In my physical body, God, whatever you have
to do to produce Christ in me for
this generation, do it, God.
Do it.
Wherever you've got to take me, give me
the grace to go.
There has to be that kind of a
cry, or we'll never reach this generation.
I saw a classroom of young people hungry
for God, hungry, such incredible potential, but never
having been introduced to the life giving one,
never knowing the great grace, the great plan
that God has for all who will come
to him, not understanding that the ground is
level at Calvary and you can come if
you're lame or maimed or blind or useless.
And God doesn't see mankind that way.
He will take every man, every person, every
young person and use them for his glory.
As I was preparing this this week, I
said, God, forgive me for all the time
I've judged people in your house.
As a young preacher, not knowing any better,
being incomplete in the grace and knowledge of
Jesus Christ, laying out standards and judging those
harshly that I felt didn't meet the standards
that I'd laid out before them, causing young
people to run from the house of God.
I believe in his grace, he'll give me
the opportunity to go back after them someday,
one by one, to go back and get
them.
I now understand the mercy and the grace
of God.
I now understand his glory.
I understand the wonderful pathway of obedience and
the fruit that it brings into a Christian's
life, the absolute glory of Christ.
There's nothing in the world that can compare
to it.
To wake up in the morning and the
presence of God is on your life.
To be led, to be walking with God,
you get to the point where you say,
God, I don't want anything to take away
that relationship.
I don't want to lose that presence of
Christ.
Don't let anything, don't let the praise of
man, don't let the treasure of this world.
God, don't let anything take that away from
me and begin to obstruct it and obscure
it from this generation.
And lastly, Paul says to Philemon, for perhaps
he therefore departed for a season that thou
shouldest receive him forever.
Not now, verse 16, as a servant, but
above a servant, a brother beloved, especially to
me.
But how much more unto thee, both in
the flesh and in the Lord.
And Paul is saying, Philemon, forgive him and
receive him back into your life and your
home, no longer as a servant, but as
a brother, a beloved brother.
Paul saying, Philemon, Christ loves him.
I love him.
And you love him, too.
You must forgive him.
And in verse 21, he says, having confidence
in my obedience, I wrote to thee, knowing
that that would also do more than I
say.
Do more than I say, Philemon.
Go beyond yourself.
Go beyond yourself, and the only way that
you can do it is in the power
of God.
Tap into that resource of almighty God that
is yours when you came to Christ on
Calvary.
When you came to the knowledge of your
salvation, a resource of heaven was opened to
you, Philemon.
Tap into that resource and let God now
make you everything that you were destined to
be.
Go beyond your natural ability.
Go beyond your natural love.
Go beyond your natural capability to forgive.
Go beyond.
Tap into heaven itself.
Now, historians tell us an incredible thing.
The Hendrickson commentary tells us that historians say
that Philemon set Onesimus free.
He came back to his house, was restored
to fellowship, and was released and set free.
But it didn't stop there.
One of the historians says that the Apostle
Paul made him the leader of the church
at Berea.
He became a church leader.
You know, the Berean church were the ones
who searched the scriptures to see whether or
not truth was truth.
And he became this unprofitable servant, became a
church leader, and was eventually martyred for the
Christ that he followed and walked with and
believed in.
The historian Theodoraeus states that the house of
Philemon was still spoken about and still pointed
out as an example as late as the
5th century.
Folks, that means 400 years later, Philemon's house
is still being spoken about, still being talked
about.
Folks, if you want to stop the devil
from devouring your house, obey God.
It's as simple as that.
Obey God.
Turn quickly to Psalm 112.
I have a desire in my heart.
I am the first to come to Christ
in my family lineage in the way that
I know him, and so is my wife,
Teresa, of many generations past.
And I have a desire that God so
bless my house that the anointing or the
presence of God would still be in my
house if the Lord tarries for another four
or five generations.
That great-grandchildren I will never see will
know the presence of the Lord and the
blessing of God.
And I believe this with all my heart.
If I make right choices, God says, I
will bless your house.
I'll bless your house.
Folks, your house might be in turmoil today.
Your marriage might be suffering difficulty.
Your children may be in rebellion.
You may be in poverty, spiritually and financially.
But I want to tell you something.
If you will make right choices, touch heaven
as it is, and ask God for the
grace that he freely offers to those who
come to him for strength, he says, I
will bless your house.
I will bless your house.
Psalm 112, the psalmist says, Praise ye the
Lord, and blessed is the man that fears
the Lord and delights greatly in his commandments.
His seed, that means his children, those after
him shall be mighty upon the earth.
I've shared this with my own children, and
I've told them it doesn't mean that you're
going to be kings or great rulers, but
it means the power of God will be
on you.
There's the true might in this earth.
You will not be mediocre people who live
your lives for yourself, living in self-consumption
and all that comes with that.
His seed shall be mighty upon the earth
and the generation of the upright.
That means the following generations of the upright
shall be blessed.
You want to stop the devil from demolishing
your house?
Obey God.
It's as simple as that.
When God speaks, do what he says.
When he starts speaking to your heart, trust
him for the power and reach out in
obedience and do everything he tells you to
do.
Wealth and riches shall be in his house
and his righteousness endures forever.
God says there will be a provision.
There will be an abundant provision on his
house and his subsequent generations will know where
this has come from, will know it's been
my hand.
I've made a choice and I've blessed him
and I've blessed his house.
Unto the upright, verse 4, it says there
rises light in darkness.
He is gracious, full of compassion and righteous.
And God says for this type of a
person in the midst of a darkened generation,
I will give you light.
You will know where you are going.
There will be a clear path set before
you.
You won't be caught in the confusion of
this generation.
A good man shows favor and lends and
he will guide his affairs with discretion.
Verse 5 means I will give you business
sense.
God says a righteous man, I will give
him an understanding of how to conduct his
business.
That's incredible.
I will give him a good reputation in
the community.
Surely he shall not be moved forever.
The righteous shall be an everlasting remembrance.
Verse 7 says he shall not be afraid
of evil tidings.
His heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord.
Now that's a blessing of God.
It's not something we can work ourselves into.
God says I'm going to do this.
I'm going to give you a fixed heart.
And come hell or high water, your heart
is not going to be moved.
You trust in me and I have placed
that trust in your heart.
It is a blessing because you have made
the choice to walk in obedience to me.
You made the choice to do it the
way that I have revealed to your heart
through the scriptures.
And because of it, I have fixed your
heart.
And no matter what comes into this world,
you are not moved by the adversity.
I love the story of the evangelist as
being powerfully used of God.
And one night he woke up.
Now, this man was winning in his generation
a great portion of the known world at
that time.
And he woke up in the middle of
the night and the devil himself, he said,
was standing at the foot of his bed.
And he looked at him and said, oh,
it's only you and rolled over and went
back to sleep.
He's not afraid of evil tidings.
His heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord.
His heart is established.
He shall not be afraid until he sees
desire upon his enemies.
He is dispersed.
He is given to the poor.
His righteousness endures forever.
His horn shall be exalted with honor.
The wicked, or that also means the wicked
one, will see it and be grieved.
And he shall gnash with his teeth and
melt away.
And the desire of the wicked shall perish.
God said, I will not let the wicked
one touch you.
He will circle you on every side.
But he will be no more powerful than
an ice cube on a hot July Manhattan
sidewalk.
He will melt away and not touch your
house.
Hallelujah.
Blessed be God.
The psalmist David says, who has not given
me as a prey to their teeth.
The wicked shall melt away.
You know, the Bible says that the Lord
breaks the teeth of the evil man.
I had a man one time started to
slander me.
I had actually been training him in ministry.
And he started slandering me all over the
neighborhood because he couldn't be disciplined.
And his dog chewed up his false teeth.
He only had one set.
And he couldn't afford another set of teeth.
And he basically could hardly talk without his
teeth.
So he just went around gumming words that
nobody understood.
The Lord breaks the teeth of the wicked
man.
Paul said to Philemon, this is my last
verse.
He said, but with all.
Prepare me also a lodging.
For I trust that through your prayers, I
shall be given to you.
Now, Paul never made it there.
But keep in mind that the Holy Spirit
was speaking these words.
This is Christ, the Spirit of Christ speaking
to you and me today.
If we look at this verse in that
context, it's as if Jesus would say, prepare
a place for me to dwell.
Open your heart to me.
Open your heart to the truth that you've
just heard.
And I trust that through your prayers, I
shall be given to you.
I will come to you.
I will make my bode with you.
Jesus said, my father and I will sit
down.
We will sup with you and you with
us.
We will open a banquet to you.
We will show you your source of supply.
We will make you everything that makes you
a representative of the risen Christ on earth.
You won't have to look within yourself because
there's nothing within you.
But if you will prepare a place for
me, I will come.
And through your prayers, I will be given
to you.
That's the promise of God to you today.
By the power of Christ, there are some
tongues that need to be brought under control.
Mothers, fathers, listen to me.
Don't ruin your own house.
Don't deny the grace of God to your
own children.
Let them grow.
Let them express themselves.
Let them come home with their weird looking
outfits and music that you don't like.
Let them grow.
But you be the channel of God to
them.
You be the Christ to the Zacchaeus for
a season who might be in your house.
Be the Christ to them.
And tell them about the wonderful plan of
God and tell them that it's not exclusive.
It's for everybody.
Incredible what will begin to happen when we
begin to overflow in love in our own
house to our own children.
It's a tragedy.
It's a tragedy that we're raising a generation
of young people who have never heard the
name of Jesus Christ other than the swear
word in the schoolyard.
It's an equal tragedy that many of their
parents attend church somewhere, but have no time
to extend the grace that they run to
receive every week into their own homes.
Put the pointing finger away.
I had a pastor's son come to me
one time and he said, If my father's
God is God, I want nothing to do
with him.
No time.
No time to embrace.
No time to sit down and talk.
No time for counsel.
No time to extend the love of Christ
in their own home.
Just finger pointing and hard words, bringing our
own sons and daughters to the place.
Now, I'm not speaking as a man who's
faultless in this.
Please understand me.
But bringing our own sons and daughters to
the place where they have to flee from
us to find God.
And don't be too proud to say, I'm
sorry, I was wrong.
What I did didn't represent Christ.
And forgive those who have wronged you and
let them go.
Let them go free.
And Paul says to Philemon, prepare me a
place and I will come.
I will come to you.
If you will call out to Jesus, he
will give you the power to become another
person.
He will take you beyond your limitations.
He will do the same for me, all
of us.
He will make us representatives of his heart
to our generation.
I know that the Holy Spirit has spoken
today because he has spoken to my heart
all week.
If coming to this altar means something to
you, if you feel today that's something you
want to do, I will in a moment
invite you to do that.
If you need to get out of your
seat and say, Lord, get my tongue under
control.
Get my pointing finger away.
There are employers here today or people in
positions of authority say, God, forgive me.
I've extended grace to everybody, but those under
my authority.
I bring in people for work assessments and
instead of telling them God has a plan
for their life, I tell them they're useless.
And I'm a Christian.
I'm Christ representative on this side of eternity.
Folks, there are ways to encourage people to
become more productive without hurting them.
There are others here today that you'd have
to say, I'm sorry, I've got to go
to somebody.
I have to make some wrongs right.
There's some old debts that need to be
repaid.
There's some old people along the path that
have been so wounded that until you go
to them, it's as if they're, especially if
they know you're a Christian.
I've heard it said in the church time
and again over the years.
How come I have to forgive?
Why doesn't that person who's been a Christian
longer than me ever come to me?
There are times that we have to go
and we have to forgive.
Let's pray together.
Lord Jesus, I have heard your word and
I know that your word is life.
It's the truth and it's the way.
God, there are issues in my heart that
need to be brought under control.
There are areas where I don't represent you.
I've not extended to others the grace that
you have given me.
I want to find you and know you
in the power and in the life that
you have for me and so that my
life can be a true extension of Jesus
Christ to my generation.
Holy Spirit, you've made great promises to my
heart.
I ask you to open my heart to
the word of God, to make a lodging
place in my heart for Jesus Christ.
Lord, I expect that because I ask that
you will come to me and make me
what I cannot be in my own strength
and take me where I cannot go in
my own power and give me what I
cannot possess by my own resources.
I believe that even now as I am
praying, your life and your strength is being
given to me.
Make me an ambassador for Jesus Christ and
the message of Christ in my home, in
my marriage, in my neighborhood, on my job,
in my city and everywhere else.
You called me to go.
I believe that from this day forward, I
will be a different person day to day,
growing in the grace and knowledge of my
Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Jesus, I am lofty one.
I give you all the praise.
I give you all the glory.
Your name, your love and your goodness from
this day forward will always be in my
heart and always on my lips.
For this, I am forever thankful in your
precious name.
Amen and amen.
Hallelujah.
Bless God.
From this day forward, folks, nobody should ever
have to run from you to find God.
Hallelujah.
You might want to get a sign printed
and put in your window.
Find God in my house.
Come to my house.
You will find God.
Hallelujah.
Father, I thank you for this hour.
I thank you for this time you've brought
us together.
I thank you for the wonderful presence of
the Holy Ghost.
Thank you for worship.
Thank you for the word.
But most of all, Lord, we thank you
for transformed lives, the presence and the incredible
grace of Jesus Christ.
Now keep us as we go throughout our
day, as we go throughout our journey.
And oh, Jesus, draw us so close that
we will be a visible expression of your
heart and love to our generation till the
day you come and take us home.
May we honor you.
God, when we fall, you will pick us
up and you will strengthen us and make
us anew.
We ask you for the grace to release
everyone who's indebted to us.
Lord, everyone who's wronged us to let it
all go.
Lord, to release every debt that we may
fully understand your heart.
We thank you for it.
We praise you for it.
In Jesus mighty name.
Amen and amen.
This is the conclusion of the message.