WEBVTT 00:00:00.057 --> 00:00:01.785 Well, I don't know how you convince 00:00:01.785 --> 00:00:03.645 a bunch of white boys 00:00:03.645 --> 00:00:06.055 and a bunch of black boys 00:00:06.055 --> 00:00:08.449 and a bunch of Latino boys 00:00:08.449 --> 00:00:09.906 to all gather together 00:00:09.906 --> 00:00:11.831 in a tiny little room 00:00:11.831 --> 00:00:18.062 on a miserable night in November 00:00:18.062 --> 00:00:20.947 to hear Bible preaching. 00:00:20.947 --> 00:00:22.117 That must be Jesus. 00:00:22.117 --> 00:00:26.822 So let's open the Bible together. 00:00:26.822 --> 00:00:30.148 So, last night for those of you that weren't here, 00:00:30.148 --> 00:00:33.393 we began looking at the book of Philemon. 00:00:33.393 --> 00:00:35.214 And we were talking about the fact 00:00:35.214 --> 00:00:37.884 that men are called to lead 00:00:37.884 --> 00:00:40.281 and they're called to lead well; 00:00:40.281 --> 00:00:42.515 they're called to lead biblically. 00:00:42.515 --> 00:00:44.307 They're called to lead themselves. 00:00:44.307 --> 00:00:46.009 They're called to lead their wives, 00:00:46.009 --> 00:00:47.312 their children. 00:00:47.312 --> 00:00:49.748 They're called to encourage their friends. 00:00:49.748 --> 00:00:52.616 And we saw that Paul is really the example 00:00:52.616 --> 00:00:55.197 of skill in leadership. 00:00:55.197 --> 00:00:57.836 And he led with his compelling character. 00:00:57.836 --> 00:00:59.968 He says, "I, Paul, an old man 00:00:59.968 --> 00:01:04.502 and a prisoner for the sake of Christ..." 00:01:04.502 --> 00:01:06.933 He led out of who he was 00:01:06.933 --> 00:01:09.356 and the weight of what God had done in his life. 00:01:09.356 --> 00:01:12.775 And then he led really by a compelling change 00:01:12.775 --> 00:01:15.210 that had happened in Philemon. 00:01:15.210 --> 00:01:17.147 He's trying to get, if you'll remember, 00:01:17.147 --> 00:01:19.244 he's trying to get Philemon 00:01:19.244 --> 00:01:23.476 to forgive Onesimus. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:23.476 --> 00:01:26.296 Onesimus was a runaway slave 00:01:26.296 --> 00:01:28.134 who had done Philemon dirty 00:01:28.134 --> 00:01:29.995 and then stolen his money. 00:01:29.995 --> 00:01:32.224 And had really stolen himself 00:01:32.224 --> 00:01:33.506 away from Philemon. 00:01:33.506 --> 00:01:35.734 And now Paul was trying to get Philemon 00:01:35.734 --> 00:01:39.400 to forgive this runaway slave. 00:01:39.400 --> 00:01:41.744 And so he first of all starts by saying 00:01:41.744 --> 00:01:42.745 you should do it; 00:01:42.745 --> 00:01:43.903 you should listen to me 00:01:43.903 --> 00:01:45.813 because I'm Paul, a prisoner, 00:01:45.813 --> 00:01:47.448 an old man for Christ. 00:01:47.448 --> 00:01:49.783 And then he goes, and then you should do it 00:01:49.783 --> 00:01:51.604 because this guy's now your brother. 00:01:51.604 --> 00:01:53.908 He's now my spiritual child. 00:01:53.908 --> 00:01:55.547 He's changed. 00:01:55.547 --> 00:01:57.792 He used to be - just like everyone in this room 00:01:57.792 --> 00:01:59.424 who is a Christian - 00:01:59.424 --> 00:02:01.634 he used to be useless. 00:02:01.634 --> 00:02:02.818 Now, he's useful. 00:02:02.818 --> 00:02:04.835 What a great way to think of yourself 00:02:04.835 --> 00:02:05.831 as a Christian. 00:02:05.831 --> 00:02:08.225 I used to be useless. 00:02:08.225 --> 00:02:10.963 Now, I'm useful. 00:02:10.963 --> 00:02:14.845 And then he did it by giving Philemon some space - 00:02:14.845 --> 00:02:16.552 the freedom of choice. 00:02:16.552 --> 00:02:18.579 He gave Philemon the liberty, 00:02:18.579 --> 00:02:20.677 and he said I don't want to constrain you. 00:02:20.677 --> 00:02:22.096 I don't want to force you. 00:02:22.096 --> 00:02:24.159 I wanted to send Onesimus back 00:02:24.159 --> 00:02:26.781 so you could think about doing the right thing 00:02:26.781 --> 00:02:29.680 and come to it for yourself. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:29.680 --> 00:02:32.261 And this evening, I want to focus 00:02:32.261 --> 00:02:36.535 on one verse in the book of Philemon, 00:02:36.535 --> 00:02:41.642 and it's verse 6. 00:02:41.642 --> 00:02:43.548 And it might sound like it at first, 00:02:43.548 --> 00:02:44.911 but I'll explain in a second 00:02:44.911 --> 00:02:47.276 why this is not an evangelism verse. 00:02:47.276 --> 00:02:51.378 Although, it certainly has some implications for evangelism. 00:02:51.378 --> 00:02:54.764 But in Philemon 1:6, it says, 00:02:54.764 --> 00:03:00.544 "And I pray that the sharing of your faith 00:03:00.544 --> 00:03:04.325 may become effective for the full knowledge 00:03:04.325 --> 00:03:06.478 of every good thing that is in us 00:03:06.478 --> 00:03:08.924 for the sake of Christ." 00:03:08.924 --> 00:03:14.195 "And I pray that the sharing of your faith 00:03:14.195 --> 00:03:16.776 may become effective 00:03:16.776 --> 00:03:19.342 for the full knowledge 00:03:19.342 --> 00:03:21.978 of every good thing that is in us 00:03:21.978 --> 00:03:23.520 for the sake of Christ." 00:03:23.520 --> 00:03:25.055 Can you imagine that? 00:03:25.055 --> 00:03:29.347 Having a fuller knowledge of everything that is in you? 00:03:29.347 --> 00:03:31.827 For the sake of Christ. 00:03:31.827 --> 00:03:35.800 Knowing more about all that's in you 00:03:35.800 --> 00:03:39.578 for the sake of Christ. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:39.578 --> 00:03:44.254 Above all, brothers, above all, 00:03:44.254 --> 00:03:46.252 all the earthly treasures, 00:03:46.252 --> 00:03:51.020 what the Christian wants is to know God. 00:03:51.020 --> 00:03:53.852 That's the main thing every Christian wants 00:03:53.852 --> 00:03:55.163 is to know God. 00:03:55.163 --> 00:03:57.531 If you're not in touch with that right now, 00:03:57.531 --> 00:03:59.408 you're not in touch with the main thing 00:03:59.408 --> 00:04:02.037 that God has made new about you. 00:04:02.037 --> 00:04:05.056 That's that you want to know God. 00:04:05.056 --> 00:04:08.281 That's why you're gathered in this little tiny room 00:04:08.281 --> 00:04:12.787 is because we want to know God. 00:04:12.787 --> 00:04:14.819 The cry of the Christian is the cry 00:04:14.819 --> 00:04:17.177 of the Apostle Paul in Philippians - 00:04:17.177 --> 00:04:20.939 "That I might know Him." 00:04:20.939 --> 00:04:24.152 The difference between being of the world 00:04:24.152 --> 00:04:26.205 and being of Christ is the world 00:04:26.205 --> 00:04:27.710 does not know Him 00:04:27.710 --> 00:04:29.754 and the Christian has tasted and seen 00:04:29.754 --> 00:04:32.644 that the Lord is good. 00:04:32.644 --> 00:04:35.267 The promise of the New Covenant 00:04:35.267 --> 00:04:37.816 is "they shall all know Me. 00:04:37.816 --> 00:04:40.114 No longer shall a brother say to his brother, 00:04:40.114 --> 00:04:42.771 'know the Lord,' but they shall all know Me." 00:04:42.771 --> 00:04:44.687 We look at each other around the fire, 00:04:44.687 --> 00:04:46.929 we begin to talk about the things of the Lord, 00:04:46.929 --> 00:04:48.867 if you're a Christian, and you're like, 00:04:48.867 --> 00:04:52.987 "Yes, brother, I know what you're talking about." 00:04:52.987 --> 00:04:55.953 Whatever background you come from 00:04:55.953 --> 00:04:57.999 racially, socioeconomically, 00:04:57.999 --> 00:05:00.403 all of a sudden, you find you have 00:05:00.403 --> 00:05:03.552 the most important things in common 00:05:03.552 --> 00:05:07.605 with the ones who know the Lord. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:07.605 --> 00:05:10.493 How does a Christian change? 00:05:10.493 --> 00:05:13.997 We're transformed from one degree of glory to another 00:05:13.997 --> 00:05:15.384 as we see Him. 00:05:15.384 --> 00:05:17.389 And we shall ultimately be like Him 00:05:17.389 --> 00:05:19.217 when we see Him as He is, 00:05:19.217 --> 00:05:20.857 because when we see Him as He is, 00:05:20.857 --> 00:05:22.053 we will be like Him. 00:05:22.053 --> 00:05:24.221 It's a transformative knowledge. 00:05:24.221 --> 00:05:25.955 The more you get to know Jesus, 00:05:25.955 --> 00:05:28.863 the more you become like Him. 00:05:28.863 --> 00:05:32.071 The main thing about being a Christian 00:05:32.071 --> 00:05:34.508 is knowing God. 00:05:34.508 --> 00:05:36.337 It's everything. 00:05:36.337 --> 00:05:39.137 It's everything to know God. 00:05:39.137 --> 00:05:41.135 If there's anything in your Christian life 00:05:41.135 --> 00:05:43.896 that isn't leading you to know God more, 00:05:43.896 --> 00:05:46.627 you are going down a rabbit trail at best, 00:05:46.627 --> 00:05:48.188 and you are going down 00:05:48.188 --> 00:05:51.057 a destructive path at worst. 00:05:51.057 --> 00:05:53.187 Because everything is meant 00:05:53.187 --> 00:05:55.153 to serve the Christian and to bring them 00:05:55.153 --> 00:05:56.327 to a knowledge of God. 00:05:56.327 --> 00:05:58.062 Have you ever thought about this? 00:05:58.062 --> 00:06:01.842 The reason we repent 00:06:01.842 --> 00:06:04.545 is because we want to know God. NOTE Paragraph 00:06:04.545 --> 00:06:07.249 What's the difference between worldly sorrow 00:06:07.249 --> 00:06:09.168 and godly sorrow? 00:06:09.168 --> 00:06:11.365 Worldly sorrow we're told leads to death. 00:06:11.365 --> 00:06:13.302 Worldly sorrow is the kind Judas had 00:06:13.302 --> 00:06:14.789 where it makes you depressed, 00:06:14.789 --> 00:06:16.150 it makes you suicidal, 00:06:16.150 --> 00:06:17.915 it makes you want to kill yourself, 00:06:17.915 --> 00:06:19.638 but there's nothing godly about it. 00:06:19.638 --> 00:06:22.578 Worldly sorrow is depressed because it lost the world. 00:06:22.578 --> 00:06:23.915 Do you know what Judas lost 00:06:23.915 --> 00:06:25.533 when he betrayed the Son of God? 00:06:25.533 --> 00:06:28.769 He was no longer going to be able to enjoy the rest of his life. 00:06:28.769 --> 00:06:30.876 He was going to have a defiled conscience 00:06:30.876 --> 00:06:34.271 as being the one who handed over 00:06:34.271 --> 00:06:36.575 the Son of God. 00:06:36.575 --> 00:06:40.337 But he had no remorse really about losing God. 00:06:40.337 --> 00:06:43.686 He had no love for God. NOTE Paragraph 00:06:43.686 --> 00:06:45.609 Why do preachers who get caught 00:06:45.609 --> 00:06:47.846 in sexual immorality 00:06:47.846 --> 00:06:49.493 shed a couple tears 00:06:49.493 --> 00:06:51.717 and then just try to get their way through it 00:06:51.717 --> 00:06:53.138 in the easiest way possible? 00:06:53.138 --> 00:06:54.790 Because they have worldly sorrow. 00:06:54.790 --> 00:06:57.701 They're sad that they can't be the preacher anymore. 00:06:57.701 --> 00:06:59.601 And they've lost the world. 00:06:59.601 --> 00:07:02.038 It's worldly sorrow. NOTE Paragraph 00:07:02.038 --> 00:07:05.924 Godly sorrow is sad that it's lost its grip on God. 00:07:05.924 --> 00:07:07.800 That's why the slightest sin 00:07:07.800 --> 00:07:10.293 can ultimately disturb a Christian, right? 00:07:10.293 --> 00:07:12.256 Just the smallest thing. 00:07:12.256 --> 00:07:14.100 Ugh! I can't enjoy my Lord! 00:07:14.100 --> 00:07:16.633 I'm not walking in fellowship with Him. 00:07:16.633 --> 00:07:19.848 It doesn't have to even be something heinous like pornography. 00:07:19.848 --> 00:07:22.076 It can be the slip of a tongue. 00:07:22.076 --> 00:07:24.696 It can be something that you knew 00:07:24.696 --> 00:07:26.163 the Lord didn't want you to do 00:07:26.163 --> 00:07:27.216 and you did it anyway, 00:07:27.216 --> 00:07:29.423 and then all of a sudden the day is ruined. 00:07:29.423 --> 00:07:30.670 It can be 75 degrees out. 00:07:30.670 --> 00:07:33.589 There can be no snow clouds in the sky. 00:07:33.589 --> 00:07:35.533 It can be all your friends around you, 00:07:35.533 --> 00:07:37.457 and it's all misery because you're not 00:07:37.457 --> 00:07:40.029 walking in fellowship with God. 00:07:40.029 --> 00:07:41.097 And so what do we do? 00:07:41.097 --> 00:07:43.543 We have godly sorrow and we repent. 00:07:43.543 --> 00:07:47.027 We've got to have God. We've got to have God. 00:07:47.027 --> 00:07:49.235 Christians can't keep going on 00:07:49.235 --> 00:07:50.972 with something on their conscience 00:07:50.972 --> 00:07:53.068 because they've got to have God. 00:07:53.068 --> 00:07:54.917 They've got to know God. 00:07:54.917 --> 00:07:59.174 The Christian life is all about knowing God, 00:07:59.174 --> 00:08:01.994 and it's about knowing Him better and better. 00:08:01.994 --> 00:08:05.928 It's not just about coming to know Him 00:08:05.928 --> 00:08:08.613 when we're converted. 00:08:08.613 --> 00:08:11.968 It's about getting to know Him better and better 00:08:11.968 --> 00:08:16.860 after we're converted. NOTE Paragraph 00:08:16.860 --> 00:08:19.666 And what I want to point out to you tonight 00:08:19.666 --> 00:08:21.695 is that Philemon - 00:08:21.695 --> 00:08:23.064 in the book of Philemon, 00:08:23.064 --> 00:08:24.596 we're watching Paul, 00:08:24.596 --> 00:08:26.441 but Paul is not just giving Philemon 00:08:26.441 --> 00:08:28.217 a rule to follow. 00:08:28.217 --> 00:08:30.398 Paul's not just trying to give us an example 00:08:30.398 --> 00:08:32.627 of what it looks like to be an amazing leader 00:08:32.627 --> 00:08:34.149 as important as that is. 00:08:34.149 --> 00:08:36.335 Paul's trying to lead Philemon 00:08:36.335 --> 00:08:39.495 to know God better. 00:08:39.495 --> 00:08:41.137 And what Paul is telling us 00:08:41.137 --> 00:08:43.815 is that the way you come to know God better 00:08:43.815 --> 00:08:46.075 is by obeying God. 00:08:46.075 --> 00:08:49.396 Obedience is God's means 00:08:49.396 --> 00:08:53.737 of further revelation to your soul. 00:08:53.737 --> 00:08:57.588 Obedience is not just something you do 00:08:57.588 --> 00:08:59.195 in response to God's revelation. 00:08:59.195 --> 00:09:00.107 It is that. 00:09:00.107 --> 00:09:01.474 Obedience is something we do 00:09:01.474 --> 00:09:03.086 in response to God's revelation. 00:09:03.086 --> 00:09:05.276 Therefore, in view of God's mercies, 00:09:05.276 --> 00:09:07.888 offer your bodies as living sacrifices, 00:09:07.888 --> 00:09:09.127 holy and pleasing to God. 00:09:09.127 --> 00:09:10.384 In view of what He's done; 00:09:10.384 --> 00:09:11.716 in view of what you've seen; 00:09:11.716 --> 00:09:13.128 in view of what you know, 00:09:13.128 --> 00:09:15.694 offer yourself as a living sacrifice to God. 00:09:15.694 --> 00:09:17.797 We obey because of what we know, 00:09:17.797 --> 00:09:22.496 but we also know more once we obey. 00:09:22.496 --> 00:09:25.817 And in that sense, obedience is God's means 00:09:25.817 --> 00:09:28.723 of further revelation of Himself 00:09:28.723 --> 00:09:30.487 to your soul. NOTE Paragraph 00:09:30.487 --> 00:09:32.047 Let me spell this out. 00:09:32.047 --> 00:09:35.158 Jesus said it clearer than I'm going to say it. 00:09:35.158 --> 00:09:37.247 So we'll just read Him. 00:09:37.247 --> 00:09:39.403 He said in John 14, 00:09:39.403 --> 00:09:42.309 "Whoever has My commandments 00:09:42.309 --> 00:09:44.326 and keeps them, 00:09:44.326 --> 00:09:46.456 he is it who loves Me. 00:09:46.456 --> 00:09:48.008 And he who loves Me, 00:09:48.008 --> 00:09:50.134 will be loved by My Father, 00:09:50.134 --> 00:09:52.298 and I will love him 00:09:52.298 --> 00:09:59.169 and manifest Myself to him." 00:09:59.169 --> 00:10:03.575 Who hasn't prayed for that? 00:10:03.575 --> 00:10:05.794 If that's not a regular cry of your heart, 00:10:05.794 --> 00:10:08.956 I wonder if you even know the Lord. 00:10:08.956 --> 00:10:11.655 I want to see more of You, Lord. 00:10:11.655 --> 00:10:14.812 Sir, we would see Jesus. 00:10:14.812 --> 00:10:17.677 That's the cry of the Christian. 00:10:17.677 --> 00:10:19.307 That's the irony of the Christian. 00:10:19.307 --> 00:10:21.069 We know the Lord, and what do we want 00:10:21.069 --> 00:10:22.299 more than anything else? 00:10:22.299 --> 00:10:24.495 We want to know the Lord. 00:10:24.495 --> 00:10:26.824 That I might know Him. 00:10:26.824 --> 00:10:28.011 That's our desire. 00:10:28.011 --> 00:10:29.706 And here's Jesus telling you, 00:10:29.706 --> 00:10:31.521 "I will manifest Myself. 00:10:31.521 --> 00:10:33.677 I will display Myself. 00:10:33.677 --> 00:10:41.976 I will show Myself to your soul." NOTE Paragraph 00:10:41.976 --> 00:10:45.760 The Apostle Paul prayed for the Ephesian Christians, 00:10:45.760 --> 00:10:48.558 in Ephesians 1. 00:10:48.558 --> 00:10:50.907 And he prayed for them and he said, 00:10:50.907 --> 00:10:53.392 he prayed that they "might have a spirit of wisdom 00:10:53.392 --> 00:10:56.986 and of revelation in the knowledge of Him." 00:10:56.986 --> 00:10:58.772 He wasn't praying that they would 00:10:58.772 --> 00:11:01.138 increase their Bible knowledge. 00:11:01.138 --> 00:11:02.595 The Ephesians were notorious 00:11:02.595 --> 00:11:04.748 for their Bible knowledge. 00:11:04.748 --> 00:11:08.358 You read chapter 1:3-14 of Ephesians 00:11:08.358 --> 00:11:09.951 and it's pretty clear Paul knew 00:11:09.951 --> 00:11:11.530 they had lots of Bible knowledge 00:11:11.530 --> 00:11:13.155 because he's just going off - 00:11:13.155 --> 00:11:14.986 praising God for God's election 00:11:14.986 --> 00:11:16.446 and adoption, and redemption, 00:11:16.446 --> 00:11:18.336 and Spirit-filling and sealing. 00:11:18.336 --> 00:11:20.016 He's praising God for all of that, 00:11:20.016 --> 00:11:21.664 and then he comes to the end of it 00:11:21.664 --> 00:11:25.749 and he goes I just wish this was lit up in your souls. 00:11:25.749 --> 00:11:27.523 Isn't that the greatest frustration 00:11:27.523 --> 00:11:30.329 of those Christians who have learned good theology? 00:11:30.329 --> 00:11:33.260 Lord, why isn't it on fire? 00:11:33.260 --> 00:11:34.715 Why isn't it lit up? 00:11:34.715 --> 00:11:37.287 I know more glorious truths 00:11:37.287 --> 00:11:39.459 than almost every other Christian I meet 00:11:39.459 --> 00:11:42.551 and yet, why isn't it on fire? 00:11:42.551 --> 00:11:43.677 Why isn't it lit up? 00:11:43.677 --> 00:11:45.106 Why isn't the spotlight 00:11:45.106 --> 00:11:46.417 burning in my soul? 00:11:46.417 --> 00:11:48.835 You know the difference between standing 00:11:48.835 --> 00:11:50.992 out in the middle of that patio 00:11:50.992 --> 00:11:53.270 and standing by the fire, right? 00:11:53.270 --> 00:11:55.416 There's a big difference. 00:11:55.416 --> 00:11:58.657 I want to be by the fire. 00:11:58.657 --> 00:12:00.155 And you want God's Word 00:12:00.155 --> 00:12:03.023 not to leave you out in the cold, 00:12:03.023 --> 00:12:05.455 but to be lighting a fire. 00:12:05.455 --> 00:12:07.760 And in Ephesians 1, the Apostle Paul 00:12:07.760 --> 00:12:09.647 says, "I pray that you'd have a spirit 00:12:09.647 --> 00:12:11.067 of wisdom and revelation 00:12:11.067 --> 00:12:12.815 in the knowledge of Him." 00:12:12.815 --> 00:12:15.172 And he prays that the Spirit would 00:12:15.172 --> 00:12:17.292 light up our hearts. 00:12:17.292 --> 00:12:20.002 Is your heart being lit up? 00:12:20.002 --> 00:12:24.403 What did the disciples say on the road back to Emmaus? 00:12:24.403 --> 00:12:26.022 Or the road from Emmaus? 00:12:26.022 --> 00:12:28.126 As Jesus opens up the Scriptures, 00:12:28.126 --> 00:12:30.823 they go, "did not our hearts 00:12:30.823 --> 00:12:35.120 burn within us?" 00:12:35.120 --> 00:12:36.551 Mormons aren't the only people 00:12:36.551 --> 00:12:39.628 who should be talking about the burning heart. 00:12:39.628 --> 00:12:41.545 Man oh man, we have the heart 00:12:41.545 --> 00:12:46.548 that should burn after God's truth. NOTE Paragraph 00:12:46.548 --> 00:12:49.006 You want that, beloved. 00:12:49.006 --> 00:12:51.172 You want more of that? 00:12:51.172 --> 00:12:53.109 I hate every day I go through life 00:12:53.109 --> 00:12:55.427 without the fullness of that. 00:12:55.427 --> 00:12:58.574 It's a sadness to the Christian 00:12:58.574 --> 00:13:01.057 not to see more of the Lord 00:13:01.057 --> 00:13:03.359 and to have - just listen to it - 00:13:03.359 --> 00:13:06.993 "I will manifest Myself to you." 00:13:06.993 --> 00:13:09.237 "I'm going to show you more of Me." 00:13:09.237 --> 00:13:12.129 "I'm going to make your soul quake with My holiness." 00:13:12.129 --> 00:13:14.757 "I'm going to make your heart melt with My love." 00:13:14.757 --> 00:13:18.029 "I'm going to make your heart thrill with My promises." 00:13:18.029 --> 00:13:19.859 "I'm going to show you more about Me." 00:13:19.859 --> 00:13:22.398 In Ephesians 1 it says, "That the eyes of your heart 00:13:22.398 --> 00:13:24.471 might be enlightened, that you might know 00:13:24.471 --> 00:13:26.267 the power that's at work in you." 00:13:26.267 --> 00:13:28.819 That you might know the inheritance that you have. 00:13:28.819 --> 00:13:30.922 That you might know the hope that you have. 00:13:30.922 --> 00:13:32.443 So that heaven is not something 00:13:32.443 --> 00:13:35.026 distant and abstract, but it's lit up in your heart. 00:13:35.026 --> 00:13:36.316 So that being God's people 00:13:36.316 --> 00:13:38.251 is not just like, yeah, I'm a Christian, 00:13:38.251 --> 00:13:39.759 but it's gripping your heart, 00:13:39.759 --> 00:13:41.248 so that resurrection power 00:13:41.248 --> 00:13:43.125 is not something distant and abstract, 00:13:43.125 --> 00:13:45.468 but it's something where you face a temptation 00:13:45.468 --> 00:13:49.119 and you're like, "I have resurrection power!" 00:13:49.119 --> 00:13:50.691 "I know it!" 00:13:50.691 --> 00:13:54.464 "I know it's at work in me." 00:13:54.464 --> 00:13:56.171 And the pathway into more and more 00:13:56.171 --> 00:13:57.753 knowledge of the Lord like that 00:13:57.753 --> 00:14:01.634 is greater and greater obedience. NOTE Paragraph 00:14:01.634 --> 00:14:05.951 This generation is so confused about obedience. 00:14:05.951 --> 00:14:08.337 Every single time you mention the word obedience 00:14:08.337 --> 00:14:10.378 in this generation, someone is going to 00:14:10.378 --> 00:14:12.708 start talking about legalism. 00:14:12.708 --> 00:14:17.317 Beloved, obedience is not legalism. 00:14:17.317 --> 00:14:20.030 Legalism is one of two things. 00:14:20.030 --> 00:14:21.543 Legalism is when someone says, 00:14:21.543 --> 00:14:23.303 "you need to obey this 00:14:23.303 --> 00:14:25.371 and then you'll be accepted by God." 00:14:25.371 --> 00:14:27.547 That's legalism. 00:14:27.547 --> 00:14:30.099 Legalism is when someone adds to the Bible 00:14:30.099 --> 00:14:31.329 what's not in the Bible 00:14:31.329 --> 00:14:32.969 and says, "Thus saith the Lord," 00:14:32.969 --> 00:14:34.748 when the Lord didn't say anything. 00:14:34.748 --> 00:14:37.415 That's legalism. NOTE Paragraph 00:14:37.415 --> 00:14:39.376 But the Lord Jesus, when He told us 00:14:39.376 --> 00:14:42.697 to go and teach people to obey everything He commanded 00:14:42.697 --> 00:14:44.528 was not the world's greatest legalist, 00:14:44.528 --> 00:14:47.599 He was the world's greatest Savior. 00:14:47.599 --> 00:14:51.117 He was leading His people to follow 00:14:51.117 --> 00:14:53.450 the One who had set their souls free 00:14:53.450 --> 00:14:56.606 with truth. 00:14:56.606 --> 00:14:59.815 And He knew that as He led them in obedience, 00:14:59.815 --> 00:15:02.421 they weren't just going to be His rule keepers, 00:15:02.421 --> 00:15:04.036 they were going to be increasing 00:15:04.036 --> 00:15:06.398 in the knowledge of Christ. 00:15:06.398 --> 00:15:08.589 Knowing Him more. 00:15:08.589 --> 00:15:10.078 And you ought to meet 00:15:10.078 --> 00:15:13.128 every command in the Scripture 00:15:13.128 --> 00:15:15.915 as a wide open door of possibility 00:15:15.915 --> 00:15:19.182 to know your God better. 00:15:19.182 --> 00:15:20.826 Isn't that amazing? 00:15:20.826 --> 00:15:22.416 We get a command and we're like, 00:15:22.416 --> 00:15:25.127 "that's going to cost me." 00:15:25.127 --> 00:15:27.602 "That's going to pinch me." 00:15:27.602 --> 00:15:30.228 "That's going to limit me." 00:15:30.228 --> 00:15:31.968 "That's going to hinder me." 00:15:31.968 --> 00:15:34.131 Rather than thinking, that's going to open me 00:15:34.131 --> 00:15:38.169 wide open to knowing Him better. NOTE Paragraph 00:15:38.169 --> 00:15:43.127 So here in Philemon 1:6, 00:15:43.127 --> 00:15:47.647 the Apostle Paul puts a big umbrella 00:15:47.647 --> 00:15:48.914 over the whole book - 00:15:48.914 --> 00:15:50.876 a big prayer covering 00:15:50.876 --> 00:15:52.258 over the whole book - 00:15:52.258 --> 00:15:54.857 and the prayer is that Philemon, 00:15:54.857 --> 00:15:56.366 by the sharing of his faith, 00:15:56.366 --> 00:15:59.786 would become effective for the full knowledge 00:15:59.786 --> 00:16:01.328 of every good thing that's in us 00:16:01.328 --> 00:16:04.462 for the sake of Christ. 00:16:04.462 --> 00:16:06.101 Now, in our English versions, 00:16:06.101 --> 00:16:08.477 this term "pray for the sharing of our faith," 00:16:08.477 --> 00:16:10.535 we can't help but think of evangelism. 00:16:10.535 --> 00:16:12.992 We call evangelism "sharing your faith." 00:16:12.992 --> 00:16:14.160 And that's good. 00:16:14.160 --> 00:16:15.805 Evangelism is sharing your faith, 00:16:15.805 --> 00:16:18.849 but evangelism is really not the main focus 00:16:18.849 --> 00:16:20.779 of the book of Philemon. 00:16:20.779 --> 00:16:23.161 And the whole idea here of sharing your faith 00:16:23.161 --> 00:16:25.930 is really "koinonia" your faith. 00:16:25.930 --> 00:16:28.329 Participation in your faith. 00:16:28.329 --> 00:16:30.185 A sharing of your faith. 00:16:30.185 --> 00:16:31.593 So it's really this idea of: 00:16:31.593 --> 00:16:33.997 I want you to live out your faith, Philemon. 00:16:33.997 --> 00:16:36.264 I want you to put into practice: 00:16:36.264 --> 00:16:37.767 Christ is a forgiving God. 00:16:37.767 --> 00:16:39.431 I want you to put into practice 00:16:39.431 --> 00:16:41.432 that forgiveness towards Onesimus. 00:16:41.432 --> 00:16:43.679 Christ is a God who makes people 00:16:43.679 --> 00:16:45.765 from different backgrounds brothers. 00:16:45.765 --> 00:16:48.346 I want you to put that into practice, Philemon. 00:16:48.346 --> 00:16:50.245 And as you put that in practice; 00:16:50.245 --> 00:16:51.946 as you share your faith 00:16:51.946 --> 00:16:54.116 and participate in your faith 00:16:54.116 --> 00:16:56.516 and have this koinonia with the truth, 00:16:56.516 --> 00:16:58.713 what is going to happen to you, Philemon, 00:16:58.713 --> 00:17:00.798 is that you are going to find 00:17:00.798 --> 00:17:03.863 that this becomes effective - 00:17:03.863 --> 00:17:06.293 not possible brothers - 00:17:06.293 --> 00:17:10.500 effective for the full knowledge 00:17:10.500 --> 00:17:13.869 of what we have in us 00:17:13.869 --> 00:17:17.289 through the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:17:17.289 --> 00:17:19.788 For the full knowledge of every good thing 00:17:19.788 --> 00:17:32.325 that is in us for the sake of Christ. NOTE Paragraph 00:17:32.325 --> 00:17:35.302 This principle that obedience leads 00:17:35.302 --> 00:17:38.161 to greater understanding of the truth, 00:17:38.161 --> 00:17:40.770 it's all over the Bible. 00:17:40.770 --> 00:17:43.729 It's an evangelistic principle. 00:17:43.729 --> 00:17:45.606 John 7:17, 00:17:45.606 --> 00:17:47.827 "If anyone's will is to do God's will, 00:17:47.827 --> 00:17:50.108 he will know whether the teaching is from God 00:17:50.108 --> 00:17:53.587 or whether I am speaking on My own authority." 00:17:53.587 --> 00:17:56.688 If there's anyone here who doesn't know 00:17:56.688 --> 00:17:59.488 that God's teaching comes through Christ, 00:17:59.488 --> 00:18:01.689 I'll tell you why you don't know. 00:18:01.689 --> 00:18:03.930 Because you're not willing to do it. 00:18:03.930 --> 00:18:05.895 You're not willing to do it. 00:18:05.895 --> 00:18:07.799 There is some magazine under your bed; 00:18:07.799 --> 00:18:09.617 there's something under your Internet; 00:18:09.617 --> 00:18:11.458 there's something in your family; 00:18:11.458 --> 00:18:14.358 there's some obedience you know you'd be called to 00:18:14.358 --> 00:18:16.057 and you don't want to do it. 00:18:16.057 --> 00:18:18.247 And there's some piece of pride in your heart 00:18:18.247 --> 00:18:19.869 that you don't want to let go of, 00:18:19.869 --> 00:18:22.079 and you do not want to let go of it because the minute that you do, 00:18:22.079 --> 00:18:26.976 I'll tell you what, you'll know that it's really from God. 00:18:26.976 --> 00:18:30.497 You're in a moral coverup. 00:18:30.497 --> 00:18:32.137 You're holding on to your own sin 00:18:32.137 --> 00:18:35.069 until you can't even see the truth. 00:18:35.069 --> 00:18:37.562 But the minute you're willing to obey, 00:18:37.562 --> 00:18:39.727 He'll show you it's all true. 00:18:39.727 --> 00:18:42.192 Isn't that amazing? NOTE Paragraph 00:18:42.192 --> 00:18:45.425 It goes on not just in our evangelism, 00:18:45.425 --> 00:18:47.220 but this principle that obedience 00:18:47.220 --> 00:18:48.795 leads to greater revelation 00:18:48.795 --> 00:18:52.158 can be found in Colossians 1:10. 00:18:52.158 --> 00:18:53.889 And when I say greater revelation, 00:18:53.889 --> 00:18:56.057 I don't mean you obey and you get something 00:18:56.057 --> 00:18:57.447 better than the Bible. 00:18:57.447 --> 00:18:59.230 I mean you obey and you get deeper, 00:18:59.230 --> 00:19:03.190 sweeter insight into the Bible. 00:19:03.190 --> 00:19:05.512 Colossians 1:10, 00:19:05.512 --> 00:19:07.662 the Apostle Paul - we'll start in v. 9 - 00:19:07.662 --> 00:19:08.925 starts praying here again. 00:19:08.925 --> 00:19:10.411 "And so from the day we heard, 00:19:10.411 --> 00:19:12.323 we have not ceased to pray for you 00:19:12.323 --> 00:19:14.638 asking that you may be filled 00:19:14.638 --> 00:19:16.557 with all the knowledge of His will 00:19:16.557 --> 00:19:18.858 in all spiritual wisdom and understanding." 00:19:18.858 --> 00:19:20.478 So I want you to know God's will 00:19:20.478 --> 00:19:22.014 and I don't want you to be fools about it. 00:19:22.014 --> 00:19:24.708 I want you to know it in spiritual wisdom and understanding. 00:19:24.708 --> 00:19:26.135 I want you to have some savvy 00:19:26.135 --> 00:19:28.658 and some spiritual insight. 00:19:28.658 --> 00:19:30.660 And so I want you to know God's will 00:19:30.660 --> 00:19:32.108 in all spiritual wisdom and understanding 00:19:32.108 --> 00:19:34.723 so that you can walk in a manner worthy of the Lord. 00:19:34.723 --> 00:19:37.317 So, you're obedient; walking in a manner worthy of the Lord. 00:19:37.317 --> 00:19:38.838 "Fully pleasing to Him, 00:19:38.838 --> 00:19:40.495 bearing fruit in every good work 00:19:40.495 --> 00:19:46.057 and increasing in the knowledge of God." 00:19:46.057 --> 00:19:48.727 I want you to have mature, 00:19:48.727 --> 00:19:51.675 balanced obedience 00:19:51.675 --> 00:19:53.553 so that you will increase 00:19:53.553 --> 00:19:57.306 in the knowledge of God. NOTE Paragraph 00:19:57.306 --> 00:20:03.639 The same principle's in Ephesians 3:14-21. 00:20:03.639 --> 00:20:07.093 Ephesians 3 - maybe my favorite passage 00:20:07.093 --> 00:20:09.679 in the New Testament. 00:20:09.679 --> 00:20:12.856 Ephesians 3:14-21. 00:20:12.856 --> 00:20:14.729 The Apostle Paul says, 00:20:14.729 --> 00:20:16.661 "For this reason, I bow my knees 00:20:16.661 --> 00:20:18.477 before the Father, 00:20:18.477 --> 00:20:20.229 from whom every family in heaven 00:20:20.229 --> 00:20:22.088 and on earth is named, 00:20:22.088 --> 00:20:24.135 that according to the riches of His glory, 00:20:24.135 --> 00:20:25.849 He may grant you to be strengthened 00:20:25.849 --> 00:20:28.273 with power through His Spirit in your inner being." 00:20:28.273 --> 00:20:29.811 So, the first thing Paul prays: 00:20:29.811 --> 00:20:32.242 I want you to have power. I want you to have spiritual power. 00:20:32.242 --> 00:20:33.815 That's what you need to obey. 00:20:33.815 --> 00:20:35.638 That's what you need to do with will of God. 00:20:35.638 --> 00:20:36.897 You need spiritual power. 00:20:36.897 --> 00:20:39.180 You don't just need it on the outside coercing you. 00:20:39.180 --> 00:20:40.865 You need it on the inside. 00:20:40.865 --> 00:20:42.867 And I want to ask that you get this power 00:20:42.867 --> 00:20:46.851 in your inner man, 00:20:46.851 --> 00:20:49.583 so that... 00:20:49.583 --> 00:20:53.098 Christ might dwell in your hearts 00:20:53.098 --> 00:20:55.418 through faith. 00:20:55.418 --> 00:20:58.709 Well, isn't Christ already dwelling in our hearts? 00:20:58.709 --> 00:21:00.367 Yes, He is. 00:21:00.367 --> 00:21:02.103 Yet the word here is oikodomia. 00:21:02.103 --> 00:21:05.634 It's this idea of settling down at home. 00:21:05.634 --> 00:21:08.072 Settling down at home. NOTE Paragraph 00:21:08.072 --> 00:21:09.848 One person has illustrated this 00:21:09.848 --> 00:21:11.464 that when you move into a house 00:21:11.464 --> 00:21:13.208 and decide you don't like the color 00:21:13.208 --> 00:21:14.239 of the living room, 00:21:14.239 --> 00:21:15.975 so you paint it the color you want. 00:21:15.975 --> 00:21:18.248 You don't really like that lima bean green 00:21:18.248 --> 00:21:19.288 in the bathroom, 00:21:19.288 --> 00:21:21.287 so you change that one up too. 00:21:21.287 --> 00:21:22.917 You wanted a patio in the back, 00:21:22.917 --> 00:21:24.410 so you build one of those. 00:21:24.410 --> 00:21:27.987 And after ten years, you're like, this place... 00:21:27.987 --> 00:21:29.966 this is home. 00:21:29.966 --> 00:21:31.630 Well, Christ moves in and He's like 00:21:31.630 --> 00:21:33.986 I'm not really sure I like what you're doing in the bedroom, 00:21:33.986 --> 00:21:35.636 so He rearranges things. 00:21:35.636 --> 00:21:38.033 I'm not sure I like what you're doing in the wallet. 00:21:38.033 --> 00:21:40.039 So He rearranges things. 00:21:40.039 --> 00:21:43.342 And then He settles down increasingly at home. 00:21:43.342 --> 00:21:45.001 And pretty soon, you open your wallet, 00:21:45.001 --> 00:21:46.828 and you know you've got His smile. 00:21:46.828 --> 00:21:49.628 You walk into the bedroom, you know you've got His smile. 00:21:49.628 --> 00:21:51.917 You turn on the TV or turn off the TV, 00:21:51.917 --> 00:21:56.450 whichever it is and you know you've got His smile. 00:21:56.450 --> 00:22:00.296 And you want that power in the inner man 00:22:00.296 --> 00:22:02.976 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts 00:22:02.976 --> 00:22:04.327 through faith. NOTE Paragraph 00:22:04.327 --> 00:22:06.027 And then he goes on, 00:22:06.027 --> 00:22:08.517 "...so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith 00:22:08.517 --> 00:22:11.700 that you being rooted and grounded in love." 00:22:11.700 --> 00:22:14.747 Your roots are just soaking up the love of Christ. 00:22:14.747 --> 00:22:16.468 "...May have strength to comprehend 00:22:16.468 --> 00:22:18.341 with all the saints what is the breadth 00:22:18.341 --> 00:22:20.097 and length and height and depth 00:22:20.097 --> 00:22:22.620 and to know the love of Christ 00:22:22.620 --> 00:22:26.868 that surpasses knowledge." NOTE Paragraph 00:22:26.868 --> 00:22:28.767 Man, it's important to have knowledge 00:22:28.767 --> 00:22:30.836 in the Christian life. 00:22:30.836 --> 00:22:37.534 Careful, clear, doctrinal knowledge. 00:22:37.534 --> 00:22:39.533 And once you've got it all right, 00:22:39.533 --> 00:22:42.499 God will blow it up with His love 00:22:42.499 --> 00:22:43.466 and go beyond it. 00:22:43.466 --> 00:22:45.503 He does not bypass knowledge. 00:22:45.503 --> 00:22:48.498 But He does surpass knowledge, doesn't He. 00:22:48.498 --> 00:22:53.515 He goes beyond knowledge, doesn't He. 00:22:53.515 --> 00:22:55.518 You want to know God like that? NOTE Paragraph 00:22:55.518 --> 00:22:57.849 I love the story of the preacher. 00:22:57.849 --> 00:22:59.978 He prayed that God would show Him to himself 00:22:59.978 --> 00:23:01.640 in more intimacy and power. 00:23:01.640 --> 00:23:03.993 And the Lord just descended on him one day 00:23:03.993 --> 00:23:06.995 and eventually he had to ask Him to stop. 00:23:06.995 --> 00:23:11.058 He was receiving such manifestations of Christ. 00:23:11.058 --> 00:23:13.187 I find in this generation, most of us 00:23:13.187 --> 00:23:17.070 are just walking around going, "start!" 00:23:17.070 --> 00:23:19.673 I want to live in a "stop" generation. 00:23:19.673 --> 00:23:21.737 Lord, it's too much. 00:23:21.737 --> 00:23:25.138 It's too much for me. 00:23:25.138 --> 00:23:26.652 C.H. Spurgeon said, 00:23:26.652 --> 00:23:28.511 "There is as much difference between 00:23:28.511 --> 00:23:30.761 a mature Christian and immature Christian 00:23:30.761 --> 00:23:34.599 as there is between a believer and an unbeliever." 00:23:34.599 --> 00:23:37.315 There's no end to the heights, brothers. 00:23:37.315 --> 00:23:38.760 There's no end of the heights 00:23:38.760 --> 00:23:39.974 of the knowledge of God 00:23:39.974 --> 00:23:41.425 that we can be brought into, 00:23:41.425 --> 00:23:43.354 and yet some people are apathetic 00:23:43.354 --> 00:23:44.520 in the Christian walk 00:23:44.520 --> 00:23:46.853 and they scoot back from obedience 00:23:46.853 --> 00:23:50.090 as if they're keeping some freedom for themselves. 00:23:50.090 --> 00:23:52.157 We're only cheating ourselves when we 00:23:52.157 --> 00:23:57.280 don't walk in obedience to the Lord. 00:23:57.280 --> 00:23:59.112 Obedience is the pathway 00:23:59.112 --> 00:24:01.231 to further manifestation; 00:24:01.231 --> 00:24:02.589 to further illumination; 00:24:02.589 --> 00:24:06.319 to further revelation from the Scriptures 00:24:06.319 --> 00:24:08.635 of what God is like and who He is for you, 00:24:08.635 --> 00:24:10.023 and not only that, 00:24:10.023 --> 00:24:13.666 but who you have been made in Him. NOTE Paragraph 00:24:13.666 --> 00:24:15.522 I don't know about you, but I find 00:24:15.522 --> 00:24:17.485 the greatest moments of being a Christian 00:24:17.485 --> 00:24:21.313 are when I just realize I am a Christian. 00:24:21.313 --> 00:24:23.780 Man, I'm a Christian! 00:24:23.780 --> 00:24:25.899 Saved before the world's foundation. 00:24:25.899 --> 00:24:28.605 Before there was a creation, I was on His mind. 00:24:28.605 --> 00:24:30.660 He knew I would see the revelation, 00:24:30.660 --> 00:24:32.255 Him in all His adoration, 00:24:32.255 --> 00:24:33.920 knowing I was His creation, 00:24:33.920 --> 00:24:36.217 He walked up Calvary's hill to save me, 00:24:36.217 --> 00:24:39.481 before the world's foundation, I was on His mind. 00:24:39.481 --> 00:24:42.536 I was with Him all the time. 00:24:42.536 --> 00:24:45.842 It's incredible! 00:24:45.842 --> 00:24:49.120 And now I'm a new creation. 00:24:49.120 --> 00:24:53.703 Now the third Person of the Trinity 00:24:53.703 --> 00:24:56.167 has decided to dwell in me, 00:24:56.167 --> 00:24:58.245 so that He can cause me to call out 00:24:58.245 --> 00:25:00.098 to the first Person of the Trinity, 00:25:00.098 --> 00:25:01.522 "Abba, Father," 00:25:01.522 --> 00:25:03.437 through the second Person of the Trinity 00:25:03.437 --> 00:25:06.743 who loved me and gave Himself for me. 00:25:06.743 --> 00:25:09.843 What a thing it is to be just a Christian! 00:25:09.843 --> 00:25:12.962 I just want to walk through life knowing I'm a Christian. 00:25:12.962 --> 00:25:15.530 I need the full knowledge 00:25:15.530 --> 00:25:17.792 of all that God's done in me. 00:25:17.792 --> 00:25:19.907 That's what I need. 00:25:19.907 --> 00:25:21.696 And all of a sudden when you get intimidated, 00:25:21.696 --> 00:25:23.231 I don't know if you've ever experienced this, 00:25:23.231 --> 00:25:25.462 but there's some people I'm intimidated to witness to, 00:25:25.462 --> 00:25:28.265 and there's some people I'm not intimidated to witness to. 00:25:28.265 --> 00:25:32.313 It's just my shameful pride that makes it that way. 00:25:32.313 --> 00:25:34.548 There are some people I feel a little better than, 00:25:34.548 --> 00:25:36.108 so I just head right in there 00:25:36.108 --> 00:25:37.963 and give the gospel to them. 00:25:37.963 --> 00:25:38.937 There's some people, 00:25:38.937 --> 00:25:41.097 I don't want them to think I'm a fool, 00:25:41.097 --> 00:25:43.606 so I'm a little bit more sophisticated 00:25:43.606 --> 00:25:45.650 I like to think. 00:25:45.650 --> 00:25:50.386 Cowardly is the real word. 00:25:50.386 --> 00:25:53.551 What would I need to overcome that? 00:25:53.551 --> 00:25:56.410 Just a full knowledge that I'm a child of the King! 00:25:56.410 --> 00:25:58.197 That all I would ever need to be bold 00:25:58.197 --> 00:25:59.844 is already in me, 00:25:59.844 --> 00:26:03.620 and He wants to help me. 00:26:03.620 --> 00:26:05.180 And that, brothers, comes 00:26:05.180 --> 00:26:07.991 through a life of obedience. 00:26:07.991 --> 00:26:11.694 It comes through a life of running from sin 00:26:11.694 --> 00:26:13.610 and running towards righteousness. NOTE Paragraph 00:26:13.610 --> 00:26:15.253 Now, I don't mean that now 00:26:15.253 --> 00:26:17.490 you can only trust God's going to help you 00:26:17.490 --> 00:26:19.120 when you've been perfect that day. 00:26:19.120 --> 00:26:21.203 That's not what I'm talking about at all. 00:26:21.203 --> 00:26:22.740 That's legalism. 00:26:22.740 --> 00:26:25.107 God's not helping you unless you're perfect. 00:26:25.107 --> 00:26:27.080 That's not what I'm talking about. 00:26:27.080 --> 00:26:29.738 We all stumble in many ways. 00:26:29.738 --> 00:26:31.634 But I am talking about a bent; 00:26:31.634 --> 00:26:33.234 I'm talking about an orientation; 00:26:33.234 --> 00:26:35.492 I'm talking about direction 00:26:35.492 --> 00:26:37.487 that says I'm going towards Christ 00:26:37.487 --> 00:26:39.156 all the time. 00:26:39.156 --> 00:26:41.319 And whenever I see myself fall from that, 00:26:41.319 --> 00:26:43.056 I'm asking Him to forgive me 00:26:43.056 --> 00:26:45.815 and I keep walking towards the light. 00:26:45.815 --> 00:26:49.632 Men like that keep getting more light. 00:26:49.632 --> 00:26:52.982 They keep getting more manifestation of Christ 00:26:52.982 --> 00:26:55.800 to their souls. NOTE Paragraph 00:26:55.800 --> 00:26:57.691 So Paul is saying here to Philemon, 00:26:57.691 --> 00:27:02.722 listen, there's a guy who's a slave. 00:27:02.722 --> 00:27:04.460 You're a slave owner. 00:27:04.460 --> 00:27:06.319 Slave owners and slaves - 00:27:06.319 --> 00:27:08.468 you're not really notorious 00:27:08.468 --> 00:27:12.600 for having warm, intimate fellowship, right? 00:27:12.600 --> 00:27:16.970 Not only that - that he is a slave, 00:27:16.970 --> 00:27:19.306 and that you are a slave holder, 00:27:19.306 --> 00:27:21.650 he's done you wrong 00:27:21.650 --> 00:27:24.149 and you've been wronged. 00:27:24.149 --> 00:27:26.236 And not only that, 00:27:26.236 --> 00:27:28.517 but he's ashamed 00:27:28.517 --> 00:27:31.542 and you know why he's ashamed. 00:27:31.542 --> 00:27:33.687 And I want you to extend forgiveness to him, 00:27:33.697 --> 00:27:35.477 and I want you to know what it's like 00:27:35.477 --> 00:27:37.436 to have him as a brother. 00:27:37.436 --> 00:27:39.167 I want you to know what it's like 00:27:39.167 --> 00:27:40.944 to see God be the glory 00:27:40.944 --> 00:27:42.313 and the lifter of his head 00:27:42.313 --> 00:27:44.192 and take his shame away. 00:27:44.192 --> 00:27:46.563 I want you to see that God forgave you 00:27:46.563 --> 00:27:48.187 and now you get to forgive him. 00:27:48.187 --> 00:27:52.147 And I want you to feel the pulsing love of Christ in your heart 00:27:52.147 --> 00:27:55.020 forgiving him. 00:27:55.020 --> 00:27:58.278 We've been called to walk as Christ walked, 00:27:58.278 --> 00:27:59.844 to fellowship in His sufferings, 00:27:59.844 --> 00:28:01.457 to fellowship in His forgiveness, 00:28:01.457 --> 00:28:06.670 to fellowship in His mercy. 00:28:06.670 --> 00:28:12.614 And that's what Paul is inviting Philemon into. NOTE Paragraph 00:28:12.614 --> 00:28:15.790 So let me just leave you with this, brothers. 00:28:15.790 --> 00:28:18.891 Speak this truth. 00:28:18.891 --> 00:28:20.542 We're called to lead. 00:28:20.542 --> 00:28:22.162 You speak this truth. 00:28:22.162 --> 00:28:23.749 Speak it everywhere you have 00:28:23.749 --> 00:28:25.415 even a grain of influence, 00:28:25.415 --> 00:28:26.886 and you speak it to each other 00:28:26.886 --> 00:28:29.440 over the course of the rest of this retreat. 00:28:29.440 --> 00:28:30.920 Speak this truth: 00:28:30.920 --> 00:28:33.401 "Oh brother, I hope that God 00:28:33.401 --> 00:28:35.216 will help you to walk in the faith 00:28:35.216 --> 00:28:37.493 so you'll know more about the faith. 00:28:37.493 --> 00:28:40.169 I hope that God will help you to walk in obedience 00:28:40.169 --> 00:28:44.170 so that you'll know more of Him." 00:28:44.170 --> 00:28:45.887 Don't just speak this truth. 00:28:45.887 --> 00:28:46.959 Pray this truth. 00:28:46.959 --> 00:28:49.028 Did you notice that I've read four texts 00:28:49.028 --> 00:28:51.264 that prove that obedience leads 00:28:51.264 --> 00:28:53.572 to greater manifestations of Christ, 00:28:53.572 --> 00:28:58.521 and three of them were prayers? 00:28:58.521 --> 00:29:02.464 Ephesians, Colossians, Philemon - 00:29:02.464 --> 00:29:06.164 those were all, "And I pray..." 00:29:06.164 --> 00:29:07.801 Brothers, leadership doesn't start 00:29:07.801 --> 00:29:11.081 with you talking to people. 00:29:11.081 --> 00:29:14.638 It doesn't start with you at the front of people. 00:29:14.638 --> 00:29:17.162 It starts where no one sees us 00:29:17.162 --> 00:29:19.654 except our Father. 00:29:19.654 --> 00:29:23.440 It starts with us talking about people to God. 00:29:23.440 --> 00:29:25.169 Lord, would You let them see? 00:29:25.169 --> 00:29:26.690 Lord, would You let them obey? 00:29:26.690 --> 00:29:28.724 Lord, would You let them grow in obedience 00:29:28.724 --> 00:29:31.420 so they can know more of You? 00:29:31.420 --> 00:29:32.812 You know what that does? 00:29:32.812 --> 00:29:34.826 That helps you trust the promises of God 00:29:34.826 --> 00:29:36.601 for other believers. NOTE Paragraph 00:29:36.601 --> 00:29:38.588 One of the biggest problems that happens 00:29:38.588 --> 00:29:39.933 when we try to lead people, 00:29:39.933 --> 00:29:42.341 is they get the impression that we don't think 00:29:42.341 --> 00:29:46.669 they're actually going to grow. 00:29:46.669 --> 00:29:50.901 "You really need to do this... 00:29:50.901 --> 00:29:53.802 Really need to." 00:29:53.802 --> 00:29:58.093 Listen to what Paul says in Philemon. 00:29:58.093 --> 00:30:01.600 He says that he's confident that Philemon 00:30:01.600 --> 00:30:04.182 will obey. 00:30:04.182 --> 00:30:06.654 Do people get that from you? 00:30:06.654 --> 00:30:09.265 "Man, I just know that God's at work in your life. 00:30:09.265 --> 00:30:12.228 I'm sure you're going to come around to the truth. 00:30:12.228 --> 00:30:15.691 I'm just confident that you're going to obey." 00:30:15.691 --> 00:30:16.898 Now, I'll admit to you, 00:30:16.898 --> 00:30:18.332 there are some Christians - 00:30:18.332 --> 00:30:19.703 their lives are dicey. 00:30:19.703 --> 00:30:23.706 There are harder moments to believe that isn't there? 00:30:23.706 --> 00:30:27.429 You know what Paul said to the Galatians? 00:30:27.429 --> 00:30:31.796 I'm confident you'll take no other view than mine. 00:30:31.796 --> 00:30:33.689 Even in this urgent moment, 00:30:33.689 --> 00:30:36.890 he's like: these are believers. 00:30:36.890 --> 00:30:39.692 They're going to turn around. 00:30:39.692 --> 00:30:42.538 And in Philemon, he does the exact same thing. 00:30:42.538 --> 00:30:45.513 In chapter 1:21, when he says, 00:30:45.513 --> 00:30:47.565 "I'm confident of your obedience. 00:30:47.565 --> 00:30:49.511 I write to you knowing that you will do 00:30:49.511 --> 00:30:51.703 even more than I say." 00:30:51.703 --> 00:30:53.661 Well, that's even more isn't it? 00:30:53.661 --> 00:30:56.931 I'm laying out to you what I hope Christ will do in your heart. 00:30:56.931 --> 00:31:04.729 I just know you're going to do more than that. 00:31:04.729 --> 00:31:09.467 Brothers, there's a power that comes 00:31:09.467 --> 00:31:14.207 when someone godly expresses 00:31:14.207 --> 00:31:17.039 the truth about God towards you. 00:31:17.039 --> 00:31:19.566 It's not the power of legalism. 00:31:19.566 --> 00:31:22.694 It's the power that John Paton spoke about 00:31:22.694 --> 00:31:24.214 when his father raised him 00:31:24.214 --> 00:31:25.960 and poured into him all those years, 00:31:25.960 --> 00:31:28.646 and then he left his father in the hills of Scotland, 00:31:28.646 --> 00:31:34.160 and he said, "I just never wanted to displease that man." 00:31:34.160 --> 00:31:36.197 When someone older and wiser 00:31:36.197 --> 00:31:37.418 looks at you and says, 00:31:37.418 --> 00:31:39.544 "Jesus is working in you, 00:31:39.544 --> 00:31:41.872 I just know you're going to go above and beyond 00:31:41.872 --> 00:31:43.159 and really walk with Him," 00:31:43.159 --> 00:31:44.489 you really walk away like, 00:31:44.489 --> 00:31:46.010 "Oh Lord, I hope that's true! 00:31:46.010 --> 00:31:48.724 I want to see that be real in my life. 00:31:48.724 --> 00:31:50.378 I want to see that. 00:31:50.378 --> 00:31:55.301 I don't want to make that hero of mine ashamed." 00:31:55.301 --> 00:31:57.954 Those are wonderful, wonderful motivations. 00:31:57.954 --> 00:32:04.305 Fear is not the only motivation. 00:32:04.305 --> 00:32:07.693 You need to speak this truth. 00:32:07.693 --> 00:32:10.510 You need to pray this truth. 00:32:10.510 --> 00:32:12.608 I don't know what you all do for these kinds of things. 00:32:12.608 --> 00:32:16.155 I keep a picture book of our church with me 00:32:16.155 --> 00:32:18.484 and pray for our people. 00:32:18.484 --> 00:32:20.961 This would be one of the things I'd want to pray. 00:32:20.961 --> 00:32:27.405 Lord, would You just help them to obey You so they'd know You. NOTE Paragraph 00:32:27.405 --> 00:32:29.294 The last thing I want to leave you with 00:32:29.294 --> 00:32:33.547 is would you trust this truth tonight? 00:32:33.547 --> 00:32:39.858 Would you take - or, I'm confident you will take 00:32:39.858 --> 00:32:43.584 a practical next step. 00:32:43.584 --> 00:32:46.058 What is it? 00:32:46.058 --> 00:32:48.596 What is it for you? 00:32:48.596 --> 00:32:50.707 I've been a Christian long enough to know 00:32:50.707 --> 00:32:52.230 there's almost always something 00:32:52.230 --> 00:32:55.975 gnawing at the conscience of a Christian. 00:32:55.975 --> 00:32:57.355 Right? 00:32:57.355 --> 00:33:00.997 I know I need to grow. 00:33:00.997 --> 00:33:03.286 Well, let the Holy Spirit fill in the blank. 00:33:03.286 --> 00:33:04.887 It's not the same for everyone. 00:33:04.887 --> 00:33:06.647 Some people - they can barely 00:33:06.647 --> 00:33:08.724 pull themselves away from pornography. 00:33:08.724 --> 00:33:12.078 Some people - they aren't even tempted to look. 00:33:12.078 --> 00:33:15.700 We face different struggles, don't we, brothers? 00:33:15.700 --> 00:33:17.699 Some people are just naturally frugal. 00:33:17.699 --> 00:33:22.742 Some people just naturally aren't. 00:33:22.742 --> 00:33:25.309 But we each stumble in many ways, 00:33:25.309 --> 00:33:27.424 and we each have areas the Holy Spirit 00:33:27.424 --> 00:33:29.438 puts His finger on 00:33:29.438 --> 00:33:32.989 and says, "That one's next." 00:33:32.989 --> 00:33:34.722 And when He says, "That one's next," 00:33:34.722 --> 00:33:40.055 our flesh screams. 00:33:40.055 --> 00:33:43.256 "Don't touch that one!" 00:33:43.256 --> 00:33:47.905 "I'll give You one of those things I'm good at obeying." 00:33:47.905 --> 00:33:50.905 I had a guy ask me one time, 00:33:50.905 --> 00:33:57.599 how does God help you to be bold? 00:33:57.599 --> 00:33:59.935 He was kind of a timid guy. 00:33:59.935 --> 00:34:01.625 How does God help you to be bold? 00:34:01.625 --> 00:34:03.570 I said I'm going to be honest with you. 00:34:03.570 --> 00:34:05.856 That's not really my problem. 00:34:05.856 --> 00:34:08.382 I don't have problems being bold in preaching. 00:34:08.382 --> 00:34:12.383 I've got problems in being compassionate in preaching. 00:34:12.383 --> 00:34:15.383 I've got problems being sweet. 00:34:15.383 --> 00:34:18.593 That's where the Holy Spirit might put His finger on me. 00:34:18.593 --> 00:34:22.243 Where does He put His finger on you? 00:34:22.243 --> 00:34:25.168 That very place is a precious invitation 00:34:25.168 --> 00:34:29.306 from the Lord to know Him more. 00:34:29.306 --> 00:34:33.699 He wants to reveal Himself increasingly to you. 00:34:33.699 --> 00:34:35.168 And this isn't tit-for-tat. 00:34:35.168 --> 00:34:37.622 Hey, I had a good day. Where was my revelation? 00:34:37.622 --> 00:34:39.418 That isn't how this works, okay. 00:34:39.418 --> 00:34:41.559 God is not your genie - 00:34:41.559 --> 00:34:43.350 if you do 24/7 of obedience, 00:34:43.350 --> 00:34:46.283 He'll give you a nice hour of inundation with His presence. 00:34:46.283 --> 00:34:47.785 That's not how this works. 00:34:47.785 --> 00:34:49.983 This is all of grace. 00:34:49.983 --> 00:34:52.303 It's all of His sovereign good hand. 00:34:52.303 --> 00:34:54.903 But I'll tell you one place He won't meet you: 00:34:54.903 --> 00:34:58.540 disobedience. 00:34:58.540 --> 00:35:00.937 He only has one thing He'll do if He meets you 00:35:00.937 --> 00:35:04.615 in disobedience and that is He'll reprove you, 00:35:04.615 --> 00:35:06.433 discipline you, 00:35:06.433 --> 00:35:08.211 bring you back 00:35:08.211 --> 00:35:10.655 even through showers of mercy. 00:35:10.655 --> 00:35:12.480 But He wants to reveal Himself to you. 00:35:12.480 --> 00:35:14.573 So you take that place, you hold it in your heart. 00:35:14.573 --> 00:35:16.353 Maybe you express it to a brother. 00:35:16.353 --> 00:35:20.828 And you recognize that place as holy ground 00:35:20.828 --> 00:35:23.162 where God wants to begin to keep 00:35:23.162 --> 00:35:24.328 walking you in obedience 00:35:24.328 --> 00:35:27.597 because He's going to reveal more of Himself to you. 00:35:27.597 --> 00:35:30.485 He'll give you more illumination. 00:35:30.485 --> 00:35:31.821 And when you speak to people 00:35:31.821 --> 00:35:33.672 about the problems in their life, 00:35:33.672 --> 00:35:35.368 you realize you're not just there 00:35:35.368 --> 00:35:37.578 applying leadership principles. 00:35:37.578 --> 00:35:39.294 That's not it. 00:35:39.294 --> 00:35:41.278 You're not just trying to get them to be 00:35:41.278 --> 00:35:42.947 more biblical or more conservative 00:35:42.947 --> 00:35:45.617 or more whatever. 00:35:45.617 --> 00:35:49.026 You're inviting them into the knowledge of God. 00:35:49.026 --> 00:35:50.824 You're eager to see them grow 00:35:50.824 --> 00:35:53.358 in the knowledge of God. 00:35:53.358 --> 00:35:55.793 And when that's there, brothers, 00:35:55.793 --> 00:35:57.099 when that's there, 00:35:57.099 --> 00:35:58.891 you get churches that can be 00:35:58.891 --> 00:36:01.788 insanely obedient, 00:36:01.788 --> 00:36:03.687 and they just get more gracious, 00:36:03.687 --> 00:36:06.577 not more legalistic. 00:36:06.577 --> 00:36:09.237 Because they're just all digging for treasure. 00:36:09.237 --> 00:36:12.072 Lord, give me more. NOTE Paragraph 00:36:12.072 --> 00:36:17.088 Let's pray. 00:36:17.088 --> 00:36:19.594 Father, we thank You - 00:36:19.594 --> 00:36:21.799 we thank You that You would choose us 00:36:21.799 --> 00:36:23.246 and make us Christian, 00:36:23.246 --> 00:36:25.190 but we pray that if there are any here 00:36:25.190 --> 00:36:26.494 who don't know You, 00:36:26.494 --> 00:36:28.358 that they would be willing to obey You 00:36:28.358 --> 00:36:32.092 and You would show them that Your teaching is from God. 00:36:32.092 --> 00:36:33.743 Lord God, we come before You 00:36:33.743 --> 00:36:36.326 and we ask You for those of us who are Christians 00:36:36.326 --> 00:36:38.725 that we would see those areas You're pinpointing - 00:36:38.725 --> 00:36:40.902 maybe an area of self-control, 00:36:40.902 --> 00:36:43.268 maybe an area with our finances, 00:36:43.268 --> 00:36:45.549 or an action towards our children, 00:36:45.549 --> 00:36:48.072 or our wives - maybe it's a lot of things. 00:36:48.072 --> 00:36:49.737 Maybe it's just one thing for now, 00:36:49.737 --> 00:36:51.240 but Lord, whatever You open up, 00:36:51.240 --> 00:36:52.894 we pray that we would just see it 00:36:52.894 --> 00:36:54.957 as the pathway to knowing You better. 00:36:54.957 --> 00:36:56.388 And we would just acknowledge 00:36:56.388 --> 00:36:58.288 that You have made us know You, 00:36:58.288 --> 00:37:00.058 and You've made us want nothing more 00:37:00.058 --> 00:37:01.927 than to know You more. 00:37:01.927 --> 00:37:04.258 So we would just follow that. 00:37:04.258 --> 00:37:05.901 Lord, we plead with You for this, 00:37:05.901 --> 00:37:09.172 in Christ's name, Amen.