Every, every thing's a God in prayer.
Front, God.
Three, what?
308.
Song number 308.
I surrender all, song number 308.
Sing it out.
On the first.
All to Jesus I surrender, all to Him I freely give.
I will ever love and trust Him, in His presence may He live.
I surrender all, I surrender all, all to He my blessed Savior, I surrender all.
CC.
What was it?
24 on the last.
And can it be that I should gain?
Song number 24.
All my imprisoned spirit.
Song number 24.
Sing it out.
On the last.
Long my imprisoned spirit lay, fast bound in sin and nature's light.
Nein, nein diffuse the waning rain, I woke the dark and flamed with light.
My chains fell off, my heart was free, I rose and swore and followed Thee.
Amazing love, how can it be that Thou, my God,
Shouldst die for me?
Let's sing one more song.
Jocelyn Guide.
27.
Song number 27.
This will be the last song for our favorite great songs this evening.
So let's finish on the last song.
All right, song number 27.
Sing it out.
On the first.
On a hill far away, Stood an old rugged cross,
The emblem of suffering and shame, And I loved that old cross,
Where the dearest and best, For a world of lost sinners was slain.
So I cherish the old rugged cross, Till my trophies at Thy side lay down.
I will cling to the old rugged cross, And exchange it someday for a crown.
Amen.
All right, well, let's take our bulletins, we'll look at some announcements real quickly.
If you do not have a bulletin, just raise your hands and one of our ushers can get one
for you.
If you need a bulletin, just put your hand up, we'll get one for you.
2 Peter 3.18.
But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to Him be
glory both now and forever.
Amen.
And that's a good verse there.
We like that.
If you open up your bulletin, you'll see our service time.
Sunday morning service, 10 30 a.m.
We had a wonderful service this morning.
We're glad you're back out tonight for the evening service.
And we do invite you to be with us on Wednesday night for the Wednesday night Bible study
at 7 p.m.
If you look at our sowing times, our main sowing times on Saturday mornings at 10 a.m.
And then we have additional sowing times on Thursdays and Sundays at 2 p.m.
And if you look at the announcements and upcoming events, of course we have the Spirit World
Series, sermon series that we're going through.
And we've talked about heaven, we've talked about hell.
This morning we learned about angels.
Next week we're going to learn about demons.
And we encourage you, of course, to be here for that.
Also this coming Saturday, October 19th at 5 p.m. is our Spanish service and we'll have
a Spanish potluck.
So we want to invite you to that.
Thursday, October 31st at 6 p.m. is our harvest party.
And then we'll have the annual chili cook-off and games for all to play.
We've got sign-up sheets in the foyer, so make sure you sign up for the ladies basketball
game.
Ladies, if you'd like to be a part of that.
And also if you can help us with bringing cornbread or dessert, we would appreciate
your help with that.
Homeschool group, they've got PE class on Thursday, October 24th at 10 a.m.
Ladies weight loss accountability group, they meet at 615 p.m. on Wednesdays.
And my wife leads that group and they meet in her office.
Upcoming cleaning crew, you can check for your name there.
And we appreciate your help with that.
If you look at the back of the bulletin, birthdays and anniversaries for the month of October.
Today is Joe Maples, the third birthday on October 13th.
And then on the 15th is brother Matt and Miss Casey Taylor's anniversary.
On the 16th is Miss Julene's birthday.
On the 18th is brother Adam's birthday.
On the 19th is brother Edgar's birthday.
And also Miss Nicole Johnson Pettis has a birthday on the 19th.
And brother Keith Rivas has a birthday on the 19th this week.
Page report, money matters, all of those things are there for you to look at.
And I think that's it for all of the announcements.
I know that we didn't talk about it, but is it okay if we sing 356, page number 356.
And this is my wife's favorite hymn.
So let's go ahead and sing 356.
I must tell Jesus, and let's sing it out on the first, 356 on the first.
I must tell Jesus, all of my trials, I cannot bear these burdens alone.
In my distress, He kindly will help me, He ever loves, and
I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus, I cannot bear my burdens alone.
I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus, help me Jesus alone.
356, sing it out on the second.
I must tell Jesus, all of my troubles, He is a kind, compassionate friend.
If I but ask Him, He will deliver, make up my troubles quickly and end.
I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus, I cannot bear my burdens alone.
I must tell Jesus, Jesus can help me Jesus alone.
356, I'm going to ask Him, let's just slow it down on the third.
Let's sing it slow with purpose on passion, with passion on the third, 356.
Tempted and tried, I need a great Savior, One who can help my burdens to bear.
I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus, He all my cares and sorrows goes through.
Good, sing it out.
I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus, I cannot bear my burdens alone.
I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus, Jesus help me.
Good, we're just going to sing it out on the fourth.
Let's slow it down, sing it on purpose on the fourth.
Oh, how the world too, evil allures me.
Oh, how my heart is tempted to sin, I must tell Jesus and He will help me.
Over the world, a victory too, slow it on purpose.
I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus, I cannot bear my burdens alone.
I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus, Jesus can help me.
Amen.
Good singing.
We'll have the guys come up and help us with the offering at this time.
And let's go ahead and bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, Lord, we do love you.
And we thank you for allowing us to be able to gather together tonight.
Lord, we do thank you that we can tell Jesus and that we have access to the Lord Jesus Christ
and God the Father.
And Lord, I pray that you would bless the service, bless the offering,
bless the preaching of your word in Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Please open up to the book of Philemon.
Philemon chapter one.
If you do not have a Bible, please raise your hand and unless you can bring your Bible.
Philemon one, just keep your hand up unless you will come by.
Philemon one, we'll read verses 20 through 25.
Philemon one, verses 20 through 25.
Philemon one, we'll read verse number 20.
Yea, brother, let me have joy in the Lord.
Refresh my bowels in the Lord.
Having confidence in thy obedience, I wrote unto thee,
knowing that thou will also do more than I say.
But withal prepare me also a lodging, for I trust that through your prayers I shall be given unto you.
There salute thee, Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus.
Marcus, Aristarchus, Demas, Lucas, my fellow laborers.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, thank you for this evening.
God, I thank you for your word and for our church.
I ask that you please be with our hearts tonight and I ask that you be with our pastor.
Please strengthen him and be with us.
And fill him your spirit.
We love you and in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Amen.
All right, we're there in the book of Philemon.
And if you remember several weeks ago, we began a study in the book of Philemon.
It's only one chapter, but there are three main characters in the book of Philemon.
And what I told you when we started was that we were going to spend one week
focusing on each one of the main characters.
If you remember, in week one of this series, we focused on Philemon.
I preached a sermon entitled Philemon the Householder.
In week two, we focused on Onesimus the Runaway.
And then we took a two-week break.
In the last couple of Sunday nights, I've had someone else preach for me
and I appreciate them standing and preaching for me.
But we took a two-week break, which means that you probably don't remember anything
that we learned in Philemon, which is fine.
And but tonight we're going to look at, in week three, in the final week,
we're going to focus in on Paul.
And Paul is referred to here in a very unique way.
He refers himself as Paul the Agent.
And that's what I've entitled the sermon, Paul the Agent.
Now, just real quickly, to remind you about the book of Philemon,
because it's been several weeks, I just want to remind you a couple of things.
First of all, it is the shortest letter in the New Testament.
It's one of the prison epistles, which means that it was written from prison.
And Paul is writing from prison to Philemon.
The book of Philemon is a letter written by Paul to Philemon,
concerning a runaway servant of Philemon, Philemon's by the name of Onesimus.
And Philemon is a well-to-do householder and a convert of the Apostle Paul.
He's a dear friend of Paul.
And Philemon's lazy and dishonest servant,
which is what the letter tells us about his servant Onesimus,
had ran away and somehow, we don't know how,
but somehow he ended up coming across the pathway of the Apostle Paul.
And Onesimus ends up getting saved and discipled by Paul.
And now he is getting ready to ask forgiveness
and to be reconciled to his master Philemon.
But this letter is written by Paul, again sent to Philemon,
as an appeal for Philemon to receive and forgive Onesimus,
and not as a servant, but as a brother in Christ.
So that's what the letter is about.
That's what we've been talking about.
We've learned about Philemon.
We learned about Onesimus.
And what I want to do tonight is I want us to begin at Philemon chapter one,
of course, only one chapter, verse one.
And what I want to do is I want to go through the chapter
because we've already looked at most of the chapter
and we looked at these different characters.
What I want to do is look at the verses specifically about Paul.
And I want you to notice four things we can learn about Paul
from this short book of the Bible.
And hopefully this is a help to you.
So I want to give you these four thoughts,
and maybe you can write these down.
I would encourage you to write them down.
Of course, I always encourage you to take notes.
And on the back of your course, wait there's a place to do that.
In Philemon one and verse one, we see these words.
These are the opening words to the book.
This is Paul's introductory statement.
He says, Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ
and Timothy, our brother and Philemon, our dearly beloved and fellow laborer.
And there we find the first point that I'd like to make
or the first thing I'd like to point out for you.
And it is this Paul's imprisonment, Paul's imprisonment.
And we see that Paul here defines himself as a prisoner of Jesus Christ.
Now, if you look down at verse number 13, he says this,
whom I would have retained with me, this is Paul talking about Onesimus,
that in thy stead he might have ministered unto me,
notice these words, in the bonds of the gospel.
So here Paul is making a reference to his imprisonment
because he's literally in bonds and he calls it the bonds of the gospel.
And what I want to point out to you is that here Paul makes a statement.
Now, when you look at verse number one and you see these words,
Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ,
we understand that the reason he's saying that is because,
as we've already stated, this is a prison epistle.
This is a letter that was written by Paul while in prison.
But I want you to notice what Paul says and this might be semantics.
Maybe you could make the argument that it's semantics.
I think that there's a reason why he's saying it.
And I want you to notice this, that Paul says,
he writes these words about himself, the way that he introduces himself.
He says, Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ.
Now, what I think is interesting is that word of, of Jesus Christ.
Because if I was writing from prison, and one day I might, you know,
I'll write from prison, and if I was the apostle Paul,
a preacher of the gospel who'd been arrested and writing from prison,
I might say something like this, Paul, a prisoner for Jesus Christ.
I mean, isn't that kind of what you would say?
Say, why are you in prison, Paul?
Not for doing any criminal activity.
I'm in prison because I preach the gospel.
It is the bonds of the gospel.
I'm in prison for the preaching of the word of God.
But Paul doesn't say a prisoner for Jesus Christ.
Paul says a prisoner of Jesus Christ.
Now you say, well, what is, what is the big deal about that?
It's interesting because Paul makes statements like this.
And talks about this.
Now I'd like you to keep your place there in Philemon, that's our text for tonight.
But go with me if you would, just real quickly to the book of 2 Corinthians.
2 Corinthians chapter 5.
If you start at the beginning of the New Testament,
you of course have Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians.
2 Corinthians chapter 5.
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians.
And when you get to 2 Corinthians, put a ribbon or a bookmark there.
Because we're going to leave it and we're going to come back to it.
I'd like for you to get to it quickly.
2 Corinthians chapter number 5.
While you turn there, let me read to you from Ephesians chapter 3.
In Ephesians chapter 3 and verse 1, the Bible says this,
For this cause I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles.
And again, I want to be clear that I think that Paul is making a point here.
And he's not saying I am a, he's not saying I'm in prison.
Now they know he's in prison.
He's talked about the fact that he's in prison.
When he writes to the Philippians, he talks a lot about his imprisonment.
They understand that.
And I do think the reason he's saying that is because he's in prison.
But I think that Paul is maybe making a little play on words.
And again, you might disagree with me.
Maybe it's just semantics.
I don't think it is based off what we read in 2 Corinthians chapter 5.
Which I'm going to show you here in a minute.
But what I want you to understand is that Paul is not saying I'm in prison for Jesus.
He says I'm in prison.
I'm in the prison of Jesus.
He says I am a prisoner not because of Jesus, not for Jesus.
He says but I am a prisoner of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's saying yes, I'm in prison right now.
But before I was ever in this physical prison for Jesus,
he says I was a prisoner of Jesus.
He says Paul, an apostle, he says Paul a prisoner of Jesus Christ.
Now you say well I don't understand the point that you're making.
Look at 2nd Corinthians 5 and verse 14.
Maybe this will help you understand.
2nd Corinthians 5 and verse 14.
Here's what Paul says.
2nd Corinthians 5.14.
He says for the love of Christ, I want you to notice these words.
He says for the love of Christ constraineth us.
The word constrain means to bound.
Means to restrict.
Means to imprison.
And here he says for the love of Christ constraineth us.
Because we thus judge that if one died for all then we're all dead.
And that he died for all.
That they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves.
That's freedom.
That's liberty.
He says not live unto themselves but unto him which died for them and rose again.
See I believe what the apostle Paul is saying.
And when we consider Paul's imprisonment is this.
That he says well before I was ever in a physical prison for Jesus,
he said I was already constrained by Jesus.
I was already a prisoner of Jesus.
And here's what I'm trying to say and it is this.
Because Paul was a prisoner of Jesus Christ,
he was willing to be a prisoner for Jesus Christ.
See when you are a prisoner of Christ,
and when it can be said of you the love of Christ constraineth us.
And to you you might think well why would the love of Christ constrain us?
Well Paul says because we thus judge that if one died for all then we're all dead.
He said we were all in trouble.
And Jesus died for us.
And when he died for us he said and that he died for all
that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves.
He says the love of Christ constrains me because I realize that if Jesus died for me
then I should live for him.
And the point that I'm making to you is this.
I think it would be difficult for us to spend time in prison
as a result of our testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Spend time in prison for preaching the gospel, for living for God.
I think that that's not something that any of us would look forward to.
I can tell you right now I'm kind of claustrophobic.
So you know if they put me in prison it's not going to be good.
You know it's not going to be good for anybody.
But especially me.
But the point that that I think Paul is making is this.
Well before I was ever in prison for Christ I was a prisoner of Christ.
And when you are a prisoner of Jesus Christ then you're willing to do anything for him.
You're captured by him.
The love of Christ constraineth us.
And the question that I would ask you is this.
What are you captured by?
What are you bound by?
What is it that constrains you?
What is it that holds you?
What is it that imprisons you?
Maybe it's an addiction.
Maybe it's sin.
Maybe it's entertainment.
Maybe it's the things of this world.
Maybe it's the love of this world.
But Paul said the love of Christ constraineth us.
And I think that one of the reasons that we buck at persecution and we fight the idea
of suffering for Christ is because we're really not prisoners of Jesus.
And because Paul was a prisoner of Jesus Christ he was willing to be a prisoner for Jesus Christ.
Go to 2 Timothy real quickly chapter 1.
If you kept your place in Philemon if you go backwards you've got Titus and then 2 Timothy.
2 Timothy chapter 1.
And look at verse number 8.
Not only do we see that because Paul was a prisoner of Jesus Christ he was willing to
be a prisoner for Jesus Christ but we also see this.
In 2 Timothy 1 and verse 8 he says,
Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner,
but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God.
And what we see here is that we should not be ashamed of the cost of serving Jesus.
In fact we should embrace it.
And look the truth of the matter is this,
that if you're going to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ it's going to cost you something.
It's going to cost you something to serve Jesus.
It's going to cost you something to do right.
It's going to cost you something to live for God.
It's going to cost, there's a cost to discipleship.
This is why Jesus said,
If any will come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
And you say well I'm not willing, I'm not willing to go to prison for Jesus.
But if you were a prisoner of Jesus you'd be willing to do anything for Jesus.
You wouldn't be ashamed of it.
You would embrace the cost.
Paul says in the book of Philippians he says that I may know him
and the power of his resurrection and the afflictions of his suffering.
And the truth is this,
that if you want to know Jesus you're going to have to know Jesus in affliction as well.
Because he was a man that was afflicted.
So we see Paul's imprisonment.
I'd like you to go back to Philemon if you would,
Philemon chapter 1.
And let me give you the second thought here.
We see Paul's imprisonment.
He was a prisoner of Jesus Christ and that allowed him to be a prisoner for Jesus Christ.
But then I want you to notice secondly tonight,
not only do we see Paul's imprisonment,
but we see Paul's intercession.
In Philemon 1 and verse 4 we see something that Paul says that he says a lot.
And he says this, he says,
I thank my God making mention of thee always in my prayers.
Now I want you to notice that we see Paul here referring to the fact
and telling Philemon and telling his wife
and telling the church that is in their house,
he says that I thank my God making mention of thee always in my prayers.
Mention of thee always in my prayers.
And what this is referred to when we talk about prayer
and we talk a lot about prayer and teach on prayer and I believe in prayer,
there are different types of prayer.
There are requests that we make.
There are supplications where we're asking God to supply our needs.
But there's a specific type of prayer called intercessory prayer.
An intercessory prayer is not you and I praying for our daily bread
or for our needs to be met or anything like that.
Intercessory prayer is simply when we go and pray on behalf of someone else.
We see Moses do this a lot in the Old Testament
where he stands before God and the people and he intercedes on their behalf.
And here we see Paul's intercession
and this is something that is a theme of the Apostle Paul.
We see it here in Philemon 1 and 4 where he says,
I thank my God making mention of thee always in my prayer.
Let me highlight this for you.
Go back to Ephesians chapter one.
If you kept your place there or if you kept your place in 2 Corinthians,
after 2 Corinthians you have Galatians and Ephesians.
2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians.
I think you kept your place there in 2 Corinthians.
Galatians and Ephesians.
Notice what he says in Ephesians 1.
Ephesians 1 and verse 15.
He says,
Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus,
and love unto all the saints.
Look at what he says.
I want you to see this.
Ephesians 1 16.
Cease not to give thanks for you making mention of you in my prayers.
So he tells Philemon,
I thank my God making mention of thee always in my prayers.
He tells the Ephesian church that he ceases not.
He says,
I cease not to give thanks for you making mention of you in my prayers.
Look at Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 18.
Ephesians chapter 6.
The famous passage on spiritual warfare and on the armor of God.
And after he explains the helmet of salvation, the sword of the spirit,
the shield of faith and all these different things.
Then he gets to the real secret weapon.
I mean the weapons of mass destruction and spiritual warfare.
He says in Ephesians 6 18,
Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit
and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication.
Notice these words.
For all saints.
Paul says look,
I'm praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit
and watching thereunto.
Watching is not like watching like I'm watching TV.
Watching is that I'm staying up.
I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, it's a reference to a watch of the night.
He says I'm watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication.
You say Paul, you're staying up at night and you're praying.
What are you praying for?
What are you praying about?
He says for all saints.
I want you to notice that Paul was a man that believed in intercessory prayer.
I think he believed in other types of prayer as well.
I think that he made requests and even he asked the church at Ephesus.
He says for me that utterance may be given unto me
that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel.
He definitely believed in prayer requests for himself and praying for his own needs.
But prayer, but Paul was someone who believed in intercessory prayer.
He prayed for people making mention of the always in my prayers.
I cease not to give thanks for you making mention of you in my prayers.
Praying always with all prayer and supplication for all saints.
Let me give you another example.
Go to Philippians chapter one.
You're there in Ephesians.
Flip over to Philippians chapter one.
Philippians chapter one.
Look down at verse number four.
Philippians chapter one and verse four.
The Bible says this always in every prayer of mine.
Look at it.
Look at what he says.
Keep in mind he has said this multiple times in multiple letters
and he's not just a preacher who's using his spiritual talk here
because he's speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost.
So we know that this is true and he says in Philippians 1-4
always in every prayer of mine.
Look at it.
For you all making requests with joy.
We see the power of intercession.
You know I often think about the apostle Paul.
I'd like you to go with me if you would to the book of Job.
Job chapter one.
If you go from the center of your Bible you're more than likely following the book of Psalms.
Right after Psalms you have Job.
Find the book of Job if you would.
Job chapter one.
Let me say this.
I often think of the apostle Paul and I think of his success.
You know I think of Paul and I think of things like this.
That the Bible says that God is no respecter of persons.
And Paul was not any more special than you and I are.
But I think none of us would disagree that Paul had exaggerated success.
I mean my wife and I a little bit over 14 years ago started Verity Baptist Church in our living
room and the Lord over the years has blessed us.
We've had our ups and downs of course but the Lord has blessed us
and God has used us to start a church and I'm thankful for that.
I'm thankful where God has been able to use us in that sense.
But Paul started multiple churches.
I've had enough problems trying to start one.
You know and of course we've planted other churches with the help of other people and
I understand that but I'm saying Paul like literally like would go to a place,
get a group going, get them going.
Then he'd go somewhere else.
He started many churches.
He wrote most of the New Testament.
He was a leader.
I mean the apostle Paul is the reason if you're alive.
If you've been alive in the last 2,000 years you're a Gentile and you're saved.
You owe your salvation of course to the Lord Jesus Christ but to the apostle Paul.
Paul brought the gospel to the Gentiles.
Paul was the most successful preacher, evangelist, missionary, all of it.
Paul was just mightily and amazingly used of God and sometimes I wonder.
Sometimes I wonder what was the success with people?
What was the key to a success?
Because I think we can say well he was an intellectual and he was
and I think we can say that he had the power of God and he did
and I think we say that he was a great man of God and he was
but one thing that I see Paul mentioning over and over and over and over again
as I read the epistles of Paul it just becomes apparent
that this was a man that prayed for people.
Intercessory prayer.
And I wonder if Paul's constant prayer for others
might have been the secret to his success with others.
The fact that he prayed for others.
Just recently brother Matt Morello on a Saturday morning
was preaching about this exact same thing.
I already I haven't preached this.
I had this sermon written a couple of weeks ago.
I've had a couple guys preach for me on Sunday night so I haven't preached this.
I already had this sermon written when he was saying it
but he was talking about the power of intercessory prayer
in soul winning and I knew that it was something
I was going to bring up in my sermon.
I thought well this must be what God wants us to hear.
Praise God for that.
But I wonder if Paul if he had and here's the truth.
You say I'm struggling with relationships, with my marriage,
with my children, with my converts, with my employees,
with my co-workers, with church members
and I asked you the question how much time do you spend
praying for those individuals?
Brother Matt Morello brought up a quote,
a quote that I've used often by John R. Rice
where he said that all of our problems are prayer problems.
And I just wonder, I wonder if the Apostle Paul
because you've got to ask yourself
you know I'm trying to get 200 people, 250 people
to follow us here at Verity Baptist Church.
He's getting thousands of people
all over the Mediterranean in the first century
and I wonder if his success with people,
if the secret to his success with people
was that he prayed for people, that he prayed for people.
I think it's interesting we see this with Job.
I'd like you to see it Job chapter one.
Job chapter one and verse four.
Here's what the Bible says about Job.
And his sons went and feasted in their houses every one
his day and sent and called for their three sisters
to eat and to drink with them.
And it was so when the days of their feasting were gone about
that Job sent and sanctified them.
This is Job as a father talking about his children.
And he rose up, look at this,
he rose up early in the morning
and offered burnt offerings.
Of course this is in the Old Testament.
He's offering sacrifices according to the number of them all.
For Job said, it may be that my sons have sinned
and cursed God in their hearts.
And this should be I think convicting to all of us
especially fathers.
The Bible says, thus did Job continually.
And Job in the book of Job talks about his adult children.
He talks about he remembers when they were about him.
And here we see that his children are spending time together
and they're honoring him.
And I wonder, I wonder if all of our problems
are prayer problems.
And the application that I would make to you tonight is this.
You say, I'm having trouble in my marriage.
Pray about your spouse.
I'm having problems with my children.
Pray about your children.
Pastor, I'm thinking of quitting soul winning.
I'm just not getting any converts.
Well, why don't you pray about some converts
and pray for people?
You say, well, we barely even pray just in general.
We don't pray.
And when we do pray, it's all about us.
Lord, I need this and Lord, I need that.
And give me a raise and give me this.
And look, I'm not against us praying about the request that we have.
But what I'm saying to you is there are people in your life
that you need to pray for.
Or is there anyone in your life that you could look to
and honestly say, even under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost,
and say, I make mention of you in my prayer always.
You're constantly someone I'm praying about
and praying for and thinking about.
And I understand we can't pray for everybody
and you can't pray for every single person.
I understand that.
But there ought to be some people in your life
that just say, I'm going to pray for this person.
I'm going to intercede on their behalf.
And you say it's a lost cause.
Nothing can be done.
The relationship is dead.
They've gone away.
It won't work.
Let me tell you something.
There's power in prayer.
Oftentimes, as a pastor, I look at situations
and I think to myself, there's nothing I can do.
There's nothing I can do.
There's nothing I can do for this couple.
There's nothing I can do for this family.
There's nothing I can do for this individual.
But it's not true because I can pray.
And I can intercede on their behalf.
And you don't have to believe it and you don't have to like it.
I'm just telling you.
And I wonder if all of our failures are prayer failures.
And I wonder if the secret to Paul's success
was that he was constantly praying for people,
interceding on their behalf, saying,
I make mention of you in my prayer always.
And I think this is something that we should strive to do.
Go to 1 Timothy chapter 2 real quickly.
1 Timothy chapter 2.
And look down at verse 1.
If you find the T books are all clustered together,
1 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy Titus, 1 Timothy chapter 2.
I'm not saying that prayer is the only thing we can do,
but it's the first thing we should do.
There's lots that we can do after we've prayed,
but there's not much we should do before we prayed.
1 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 1, Paul said this,
I exhort therefore that first of all supplications,
here's all your different types of prayers.
Supplications, prayers, look at this,
intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men.
Intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men.
Intercessory prayer.
He says, for kings and for all that are in authority.
I talked about this this morning.
Say, why?
Why would I pray?
Why did I pray for my wife?
Why would I pray for my children?
Why would I pray for my husband?
Why would I pray for my boss?
Why would I pray for my employees?
Why would I pray for my fellow church members?
Why would I pray for my pastor?
Why would I do these things?
Why would I pray for kings and for all that are authority?
Here's why, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life
in all godliness and honesty.
I just wonder, I just wonder if all of our failures
and if all of our problems, our prayer problems,
go back to Philemon chapter 1.
So we see Paul's imprisonment and we see Paul's intercession.
Then I want you to notice, thirdly tonight,
we see Paul's influence.
Paul's influence.
I'm teaching on the subject of leadership.
We have a biblical leadership institute
and lately we've been doing these leadership live streams.
And it has often been said, and I believe it,
that leadership is influence.
John Maxwell famously says, leadership is influence.
Nothing more, nothing less.
And I believe it.
I believe that leadership is influence.
And here we see Paul's influence,
which is what made him a leader.
And we've already talked about this a little bit,
but I just want you to see it again,
because it was many weeks ago and you don't remember it.
Look at Philemon 1 and verse 8.
Paul says, wherefore, this is Paul speaking to Philemon.
Remember the context.
The context is this.
Onesimus has ran away from Philemon.
Onesimus is the servant of Philemon
and Philemon has every right to beat him,
get him in trouble, imprison him,
maybe even put him to death.
And Paul is trying to get Onesimus to return to Philemon
and he wants Philemon to forgive him
and to receive him as a brother in Christ.
And Paul says, and Philemon 1 and verse 8,
he says, though I might be much bold in Christ to enjoin thee.
When he says, I might be, though I might be,
what he's saying is, I could, if I wanted to,
Paul is saying, I could, I might be much bold in Christ to enjoin thee.
That word enjoin is an older word we don't use a lot today
and it means to direct you or to order you.
And Paul is telling Philemon, if I wanted to,
though I might be, though I could be much bold in Christ,
I could enjoin thee.
He said, I could order you to do this.
Paul, I want you to understand what Paul is saying.
Paul is speaking to Philemon who has a church in his house
and is probably some sort of a spiritual leader
and Paul is saying to Philemon,
I'm your spiritual authority, I'm your spiritual boss
and I could, if I wanted to, I could pull rank right now
and force you to do this based off my position, Paul says.
Because of who I am, because I'm Paul the agent,
I could enjoin thee that which is convenient.
And the word convenient there means to what's right.
He said because this is right,
because it falls within the authority that God has given me,
I could just make you do this.
I could pull rank and make you do it and you would, Paul says.
We talked about this a few weeks ago
but I just want you to see it real quickly.
Colossians chapter 3 and verse 18.
I'm not sure if you kept your place
in 1st and 2nd Timothy, we were just there
but if you have your place there or if you can find it,
you have 1st, 2nd Thessalonians, 1st, 2nd Timothy, Titus
but right before 1st Thessalonians,
you have Colossians chapter 3.
The word convenient there in Philemon 1a
is the same word that's translated in Colossians 3 18
as wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands
as it is fit in the Lord.
And the word fit there,
it's referring to wives are being told submit
within the scope of and the authority of your husband.
Obviously, if your husband asks you to do something sinful,
then you have to obey God rather than men
but as it is fit in the Lord, then you should submit.
This is what the Bible teaches about authority,
that we should obey our spiritual authority
as long as they're not asking us to sin.
And what Paul is saying when he's using the same terminology
when he tells wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands
as it is fit in the Lord.
In Philemon, I might enjoin thee that which is convenient.
He's using that same word.
And what Paul is saying, he's saying,
what I'm asking you to do is within my spiritual authority.
It's fit within the Lord.
I'm not asking you to do something that's wrong or sinful
and I would be right if I wanted to.
I could pull rank and force you to do it
simply based of my position
because of who I am and the position that I hold.
And Paul understood that.
Paul says in the New Testament, he said,
I magnify my office.
He had the office of an apostle
and therefore he outranked all the pastors
and all the deacons and all the other spiritual leadership
because he was an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And what Paul is saying, I could pull rank
and just force you to do this based off my position.
But here's what Paul says.
Paul says, I'm not gonna do that.
And here's why, look at verse nine.
Philemon 1 and verse nine.
He says, yet for love's sake.
He says, yet for love's sake, I rather beseech thee.
He says, yet for love's sake, I rather implore thee.
Yet for love's sake, I'd rather request thee.
Yet for love's sake, I'd rather ask you.
I'd rather petition you.
He says, I could pull rank.
I could make you do this.
Though I might be much bold in Christ to enjoin thee,
that which is convenient, I could just tell you,
Philemon, I don't care what you think about it.
This is what you're gonna do and you need to listen to me
because it's right in the Lord.
And Philemon would do it.
Paul says, I don't want to do that.
He said, what I'd rather do is get you to volunteer.
See, instead of using his position,
he uses his influence.
And in verse nine, he says, yet for love's sake,
I'd rather beseech thee, being such and one as Paul the agent.
See, when he says, yet for love's sake,
I believe that Paul,
you could apply it to lots of different things,
but I think that what Paul is saying,
yet because you love me, Philemon,
I could force you to do this.
But for love's sake, not because of my position,
but because of our relationship, he says,
for love's sake, I'd rather beseech thee.
He says, because here's who I am,
being such and one as Paul the agent,
and now also a prisoner.
And he says, and if that's not enough,
remember this, I'm in prison.
He said, that's got to count for something.
And now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ.
Now, when Paul says here,
I think it's interesting because it's one of the letters
where Paul refers to himself as an old man.
Paul is someone who we meet and we really see him
through his entire adult life.
The first time we meet Paul,
his name is still Saul of Tarsus.
If you remember, the Bible says at the stoning of Stephen,
that they laid their garments at the feet of a young man,
Saul.
So we meet Saul as a young man,
and then we see him on the road to Damascus,
and we see his conversion.
And then here in Philemon, we see Paul,
and now he's calling himself the agent.
And what he's saying is, I'm old.
Now, how old was Paul?
I don't know.
I'm not going to sit here and guess.
I will tell you this.
In 1 Timothy 5, 9, for those of you that care,
Paul refers to the elder widows.
He refers to women who are widows
and who are three score years old.
So that's 60 years old.
He refers to them as elder.
All right.
I know that hurts some of your feelings and I'm sorry.
I didn't say Paul said it,
but Paul refers to himself as the agent here.
So that probably means that he was at least probably 60
or over 60.
But what Paul is saying is this.
I could pull rank and force you.
I'm not going to do that.
He said, rather, because of love's sake,
I would rather you do this voluntarily by influence.
Look at verse 10.
Philemon 1 and verse 10.
He says, I beseech.
I want you to notice the word.
He said, I couldn't join you.
Remember, the word enjoin means to direct,
to order, to command.
He said, I could just tell you to do this,
but I'm not going to do that.
He says, yet for love's sake, I rather beseech thee.
Verse 10, he says, I beseech thee for my son Onesimus,
whom I have been gotten in my bonds.
Look at verse 14.
He says, but it's because of our relationship and who I am.
And here's what Paul is saying.
He's saying, I'm leveraging who I am and what I've done.
And I'm leveraging that influence as leadership.
Look at verse 17, Philemon 1 and 17.
He says, if thou count me therefore a partner.
Now, were Paul and Philemon partners?
Yeah, to an extent.
But he's also already made it clear that he's a superior.
And Paul said, I could speak to you
from a position of superiority.
I could speak to you from the fact that I outrank you,
but I'm not going to speak to you that way.
He says, if thou count me therefore a partner,
receive him as myself.
If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee odd,
put that on mine account.
He says, I, Paul, have written it with mine own hand.
I will repay, albeit.
Here's the influence that he's leveraging.
He says, look, if he owes you something, I'll pay for it.
If he owes you something, put it on my account.
I've written it with mine own hand.
I will repay it.
Look at the last part of verse 19.
He says, albeit, I do not say to thee
how thou owest unto me, even thine own self besides.
And here's what Paul's doing.
Paul is saying, I could make you do this,
but I'm not going to.
I'm going to beseech you because I'd rather leverage
who I am to you than the position that I hold over you.
And he reminds him, he says, you can do whatever you want,
but let me just remind you, I do not say to thee.
I always think it's interesting because he says,
I'm not going to say this.
And then he says it, he says, I do not say to thee,
how thou always unto me, even thine own self besides.
Paul is saying, I'm leveraging who I am and what I've done.
You say, what is this called?
What is this?
I think what we're seeing here is something
that is taught in scripture,
and it is often referred to as servant leadership.
And servant leadership, in my opinion,
is the purest form of leadership.
It is the type of leadership
that the Lord Jesus Christ taught.
And sometimes I teach this and people get all squirmy
and weird about it.
And servant leadership is not that the leader
is now the servant.
It doesn't mean that the leader has to do everything.
And look, practicing servant leadership in your marriage,
men, doesn't mean you have to go home
and wash all the dishes and do all the laundry.
Although it might not hurt you to wash dishes
every once in a while if your wife is sick
or just had a baby or whatever, just throwing that out there.
But servant leadership doesn't mean that we do
what those that are under our authority are supposed to do,
or we become their servants somehow,
mean that the parents are now subservient to the children
or the employer is now subservient to the employees.
That's not what servant leadership is.
What servant leadership is, is that I use my position
and I use my resources and I leverage the power
and the authority that God has given me to serve you.
That I lead not for my own benefit,
but for the benefit of others.
And this is the purest form of leadership.
And I think it's interesting because you get around
these fundamentalist, you know, new IFB,
even old IFB, fundamental type guys.
And whenever I preach this, I just notice, you know,
people get all squirmy and they get all weird about it.
Because they're like, well, isn't she just supposed
to obey me because the Bible has to submit?
And I would say, yeah, she is.
Aren't they just supposed to obey me
because the Bible says obey your parents and the Lord?
Yeah, you're right.
I'm not arguing that.
What I'm arguing is that if in your marriage,
every time you need your wife to listen to you
or every time you need your children to listen to you
or every time you need your employees to listen to you
or every time you need your church members to listen to you
is you pulling out some verse about,
well, the Bible says that you're supposed to listen to me.
You suck at leadership.
That's not leadership.
And people get all upset with me when I preach these things
because they're like, well, you know, that works for volunteers.
Like that works for volunteers in the church,
but not everybody else.
I mean, don't tell my wife that she should follow me
because I'm nice to her
or because, you know what, your wife should follow you
because she knows that you're leading for her best interest.
Your children should follow you
because they know they're leading for your best interest.
Now, as a pastor, are there times
when I have to just put my foot down and say,
I'm the pastor, I don't care.
I don't care what you think.
We're doing it my way because I'm the pastor.
Are there times that that needs to happen?
Yes, but listen to me.
It must be rare.
Because you know what I'd rather do
if I need you to do something
is walk up to you and say, hey, you know I love you
and you know I've been there for you
and I've married your children
and I've counseled
and I've been there in the middle of the night
when you've needed me.
And I don't want to mention it,
but you would be dying and going to hell
if it wasn't because of me just saying.
And I need you to help me with this
and I need you to help in this situation.
I need you to stand down here
and I could order you to do it
but I'm not going to order you to do it.
I'm just asking you for love's sake.
That is a purer form of leadership.
And what I'm saying to you is that yes,
sometimes we got to pull the rank card out.
But if you're living pulling that rank card out,
you're failing.
Because Paul said,
Paul said I could order you to do this.
I could force you to do this,
but I'm not going to do that.
I'm going to ask you
and beseech you for love's sake.
And though there is nothing wrong
with using your position from time to time,
please understand me,
because I say these things
and then people want to,
it's always interesting to me,
everybody wants to interpret
all the things that I say.
I have no need to interpret what anybody else says.
I've never needed to meme anything ever,
but people always want to make
comments about the things that I say.
Look, I am telling you there is nothing wrong
with using your position from time to time.
I understand that.
But the purest and best form of leadership
is simple influence for love's sake.
And when people know we love them,
and when people know that we lead for their benefit,
and when people know that we have used our resources
and used our influence
and used our energy in their best interests,
they will trust us and they will follow us.
And this is the feedback I always get.
Somebody's writing a comment right now,
sending an email right now.
So let me just go ahead and answer,
because I get this all the time.
And they're like, that works for volunteers,
but my employees are not volunteers.
That works for volunteers,
but my children, they're not volunteers.
That works for volunteers,
but my wife's not a volunteer.
Let me let you in on a little secret about leadership.
Everyone is a volunteer.
The Bible doesn't say that.
The Bible says my wife has to submit.
She could divorce you.
The Bible says my children have to submit.
They could move out.
The Bible says that church members
are supposed to submit to their pastor.
They could quit the church.
The Bible says that employees
are supposed to listen to their boss.
They could find another job.
Look, at the end of the day, everyone is a volunteer.
So instead of pulling out that rank card all the time,
you young husbands, I'm trying to help you here.
Well, why do I have to, you do that because I said,
because the Bible says, that's God.
Why don't you try leading for the benefit of others
and watch how they give their hearts to you.
And as you love them and they love you,
you come to points in your ministry,
and in your life, and in your leadership
where there's a disagreement,
but your wife says, okay, maybe I don't see it
the way you see it, but I trust you.
Your children say, okay, I don't see it
the way you see it, I do it different if I was you,
but you've never tried to hurt me.
You've led for the benefit.
You've led for my benefit.
You haven't led for your own benefit.
You haven't led for, look, in ministry,
what we've tried to do here for the last 14 years
is to lead for the benefit of others.
And Paul says, I could force you to do it,
but I'm not going to.
And I believe this is the purest form of leadership.
So you see Paul's influence.
And then I want you to notice lastly Paul's inference.
We'll talk about this quickly, what we've done.
Paul has confidence in his requests.
In fact, he's so confident, he infers some things.
The word inference means the process
of arriving to conclusions or deductions.
Philemon 1 verse 20 says,
yea, brother, let me have joy of thee in the Lord.
Refresh my vows in the Lord.
Verse 21, he says, having confidence in thy obedience,
I wrote unto thee, knowing that thou wilt also do more
than I say.
Look at verse 21, I wrote unto thee, knowing
that thou wilt also do more than I say.
That's influence.
That's leadership.
And we see the apostle Paul here not pulling rank,
but saying I've been here.
And look, again, I'm telling you, you do what you want.
I'm not here to tell you how to run whatever.
But what I am telling you is this,
that when I look at the greatest leader in the Bible,
the Lord Jesus Christ, I don't see him showing up
and pulling rank and saying, do you know who I am?
I'm the son of God.
I'm God in the flesh.
Was he the son of God?
Yes, he was.
Was he God in the flesh?
Yes, he was.
Was he the Lord of Lords, the King of Kings,
the leader of leaders?
Yes, he was.
What's interesting to me is that you see him asking
the question for leadership.
He never uses the terminology leader.
He never goes to a disciple and says, I'm your leader.
You know what he says?
He makes a request.
He says, follow me.
And they willingly put down their nets and follow him.
It's the purest form of leadership.
And it gives Paul this confidence.
He says, having confidence in thy obedience.
I wrote unto thee, knowing that that will also
do more than I say.
Wouldn't you rather, as a boss, be able to say that
to your employees?
I know I could make you do this right now.
I'm not going to do that.
But you know I've been there for you.
So I'm going to ask you to do this.
And I'm confident in thy obedience.
You know what's better to say to your teenage children is,
look, you're getting older.
And I can't force you.
And I'm not going to.
But you know it's at your mother.
And I love you.
You know we've been there for you.
And I'm asking you to do this.
And I have confidence in thy obedience.
I know that that will do more than I say.
You know, the best place for a pastor to be is not to say,
bless God, you got a tithe because the Bible says.
And you got to go soul winning because the Bible says.
And you got to go to church because the Bible says.
Yeah, that's in the Bible.
All that's good.
Nothing wrong with that.
You know what I'd rather say is we ought to go soul winning.
And I think like yesterday, we had 120 people here.
And I don't think any of them were manipulated or guilted into.
We just say, look, we love people.
We love the gospel.
We want to get people saved.
I'm thankful someone got me saved.
I think you're thankful someone got you saved.
I'm going to ask you to come out soul winning.
And I have confidence in thy obedience.
Knowing that that will also do more than I say.
The purest form of leadership.
And then Paul ends with a request from a friend.
Look at verse 22.
But with all.
Prepare me also a lodging.
For I trust that through your prayers I shall be given unto you.
And then he ends with a salutation and a blessing.
He says there saluteth thee,
Apophis, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus.
Marcus Aristarchus, Demas, Lucas, my fellow labors.
I want you to notice that Paul always had people around him.
Always had people helping.
Why?
Because he prayed for them.
Why?
Because he loved them.
And he ends with this conclusion.
Verse 25.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.
Amen.
And this concludes our study in the book of Philemon.
Let's bow our heads in that word of prayer.
Heavenly Father.
Lord we do love you.
And Lord I don't know about anybody else but I pray for myself.
In the areas where I've been given leadership.
Whether it's my wife or my children.
Whether it's the church or the employees that we have on staff here.
I pray Lord that you would help me to lead for their benefit.
That they would know.
I know no one's perfect but that they would know.
That there's a leader that loves them and cares for them.
And we're making decisions here to try to help them.
And Lord I pray that you'd help all of us in leadership.
To take this approach of servant leadership.
Not leading for our own benefit but leading for the benefit of others.
And Lord I pray you'd help us to learn these things.
In the matchless name of Jesus Christ we pray.
Amen.
All right we're gonna have brother RJ come up and lead us in a final song.
Just want to remind you that we've got the sign-up sheets in the foyer in the back.
So if you've not yet signed up.
If you'd like to sign up we'd appreciate your help with that.
You can sign up to bring cornbread or desserts.
Or you can sign up for the ladies basketball game.
Ladies if you'd like to sign up for the basketball game.
Please don't forget to do that.
We have church on Wednesday night.
And we have a Spanish service on Saturday October 19th.
So please don't forget about those things.
If there's anything we can do for you please let us know.
I'm going to ask you.
I could order you but I'm not going to do that.
I'm just going to ask you for love's sake.
If you would not mind putting your hymn books back.
And whatever mess your kids might have made during the service.
We would appreciate your help with that.
You don't have to do it.
But if you would like.
It would help us.
And I'm joking of course.
I'm not joking.
Please help us.
But I hope you know my wife and I love you all.
And we're praying for you.
And if there's anything we can do for you please let us know.
Wow brother RJ come up and lead us in a final song.
Let's go ahead and sing it out on the first.
Song number 306 on the second.
Oh
wash me just
Have thine own way, Lord, have thine own way.
Luna then hear me, help me I pray.
Power, oh power, surely is thine.
Touch me and heal me.
Save your deep eyes.
Song number 306, sing it out on the last.
Have thine own way, Lord, have thine own way.
Hold me, hold me, absolute sway.
Fill with thy spirit, till all shall see.
Rise, only your name's living in me.
Amen. Great singing. Before we dismiss, if anyone here has questions about salvation, baptism, or church membership, pastor would be at the door.
And we'd love to talk to you with a record of someone who's trained to do that as well.
I'm going to have to ask our brother George to dismiss with a word of prayer.
Amen. We'll see you on Wednesday.
Thank you.