(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

All right, we're here in the book of Philemon, we're in the book of Philemon, and so we just finished our memorization of the book of Philemon, and you know, or maybe you're still going to do that later today, I'm not sure, but we're going to go through the book of Philemon, the entire chapter, and we're going to cover four different points, and we're going to kind of hit some highlights along the way, and this is a book that was written by Paul, and notice what it says here in verse number one. Titus chapter one, or not Titus, Philemon chapter one verse one, it says, Paul a prisoner of Jesus Christ in Timothy our brother, on to Philemon our dearly beloved in fellow labor. And so what you notice here right off the bat is that Paul at this time is literally a prisoner, okay? This was written when he was in prison, you know, they talk about the prison epistles of Paul, and he is in prison when he's writing this book. In fact, many of the books in the Bible were written while he was in jail. Now I'm sure at the time he didn't like being persecuted for the cause of Christ, but we get to benefit from all of his wisdom that he's written down here, and he is a prisoner when he's writing this book, and what he's doing is writing to this man Philemon on behalf of someone he won to the Lord named Onesimus, who used to be a servant of Philemon, and we're going to look at that later on here in the chapter, but I want you to see here at the end of verse number one what it says. It says in fellow laborer, fellow laborer, go to verse number 24, verse number 24, and it says in verse number 24, Marcus, Aristarchus, Demas, Lucas, my fellow laborers. See, what you see throughout the entire Bible is Paul's closest friends are laborers. They do the work. They do the soul winning. That's what it's referring to. The people that Paul the Apostle was close to are those that went soul winning that loved the Lord. Fellow laborers. Now labor is what's known as hard work. Not just work, but very hard work, okay? Why? Because soul winning is very hard work. When you go soul winning for hours, you're exhausted. It's very tiring. It takes a lot of effort, and the numbers in our bulletin didn't just happen because we were on some TV show, and then like 10,000 people got to say no. It happened through hours and hundreds of hours and thousands of hours of work. A lot of work. Why? Soul winning requires a lot of work, but before we get into that, I want to highlight where it says here in verse number 24. It mentions Demas. It mentions Demas, and Demas is more famous for another verse in the Bible. Turn to 2 Timothy chapter 4. 2 Timothy chapter 4. Now in the book of Philemon, it refers to Demas as a fellow laborer of Paul the Apostle. This is a man who was a soul winner, and you got to think about that Paul the Apostle probably knew a lot of soul winners, and when he's highlighting specific people, this was probably one of the best. Demas was probably one of the great soul winners that's ever existed, but I want you to notice what it says in 2 Timothy chapter 4 verse 10. It says, For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and has departed unto Thessalonica, Cretans to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me. Take Mark and bring him with thee, for he is profitable to me for the ministry. Now in verse number 10, what he says about Demas is, Demas forsook him, and the reason why is because of worldliness. He loved the present world. Now I don't want you to get confused from verse 10, because even though Cretans departs from Paul, it doesn't say that Cretans loved the present world. It doesn't say that Cretans was backsliding. He just went to serve God in another location. It doesn't say he backslid. It doesn't say that Titus backslid. Titus just went to serve God in another location. So those two people left Paul, and only Luke is with Paul, but it doesn't just say that Demas left Paul. It says he backslid. It says he loved the present world. That's the reason why he departed. Now we don't know how much he backslid. We don't know if that just means that he was just kind of a from time to time soul winner. He completely got out of church, but we know he backslid on Paul the Apostle and left. That's the reason why he left. Now if you notice, 2 Timothy is written before Philemon in your Bible. When you're going through the orders, right? You went backwards to the book of 2 Timothy and Philemon's later. So I've heard people ask the question, did Demas forsake Paul and then come back to the ministry in the book of Philemon? Which of these happened later on in time, chronologically? Well you have to understand the New Testament is not written chronologically. The last thing Demas ever did that we know about is he forsook Paul and backslid. Philemon was written before 2 Timothy chapter 4. You say, how do you know that? You compare spiritual things with spiritual. What does it say in 2 Timothy chapter 4 verse 6? 2 Timothy chapter 4 verse 6, for I am now ready to be offered and the time of my departure is at hand. At hand means it's about to take place. It could happen at any moment. Just like, you know, in 2 Thessalonians it talks about, don't think that the return of Jesus Christ is at hand. Why? Because it can't happen at any moment. Why? Things must take place first. And he's saying the time of my departure. I'm gonna physically die soon is what he's saying. It's at hand. It could happen at any moment. I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith. And what Paul is saying is I could depart or pass away at any moment. What does that tell you? That means that was the last book Paul ever wrote. That's towards the end of his life. God's trying to tell you that because this is the last chapter. 2 Timothy chapter 4. He's saying the time of my departure is at hand. I fought a good fight. What does that mean about Demas? That means that Demas forsook Paul and that was the last thing he ever did. Philemon, in the book of Philemon, he's a fellow laborer. And then somewhere along that time period before 2 Timothy chapter 4, Demas forsook Paul because he loved the present world. Now I could be wrong, but I personally believe that if Demas got right with God again it would have mentioned that. And it doesn't because the book of Philemon is before 2 Timothy and you can tell that due to the wording of 2 Timothy chapter 4. Now look, I believe Demas was probably one of the great soul winners in the world at the time because he gets a special mention from Paul the Apostle. You say, Brother Stuckey, what does that mean to me in this room? It means any one of us could quit soul winning one day. Any one of us in this room. Look, I don't think that I'm as zealous as Demas was in the Bible. I think Demas was probably a better soul winner and more zealous than me. And yet he forsook Paul and the reason why is he loved the present world. Now that is what the scripture is telling you and that is true. But if we heard Demas' side of the story, he'd probably have an excuse. He'd probably say, well, I didn't get worldly. I didn't forsake Paul. This thing came up in my life and I kind of had to quit church, blah blah blah. I'm sure he had an excuse that he would say, but what the narrator is telling you is this is actually what took place that he did backslide. He forsook Paul and wouldn't it be sad if the last thing that was ever written about you was that you basically quit soul winning and quit living for God? You say, Brother Stuckey, you know I'm a soul winner in this room. I'm never going to quit. Well, the reality is that most of us have a long time ahead of ourselves in life. Look, I started going soul winning probably around 15 years ago. I got saved at 18, started soul winning at the age of 19. I'm in my mid 30s, by no means am I extremely old. And if you remember in the Bible, the Bible talks about a tree bringing forth its fruit in its season. And so basically every year you go to that tree and you have your apples, your avocados, or whatever the fruit is. So basically year after year after year after year, that tree is bringing forth fruit. Now look, 15 years of soul winning is a long time, but quite honestly, if you have a fruit tree and it stops producing fruit after 15 years, you'll be disappointed. You want it to produce fruit every single year. And see, most soul winners will go soul winning for a couple years and they kind of fade out. That's a pretty unsuccessful fruit tree to be honest. You say, Brother Stuckey, I get more people saved than just about anybody here. I go soul winning and very few churches do. We're not comparing ourselves to other people. You're unwise, the Bible says, if you compare yourself to other people, because quite honestly the standard is pretty low that people are setting out there. Most same people are setting a pretty low standard. And if you compare yourself to those people, I'm sure you are higher than them. That doesn't mean anything. The reality is God expects you to be a soul winner every single year until the day you die, especially as you're a young person. When you're young, you have the energy to go and do a lot of soul winning. As you start to get older, it will become more difficult. It won't be as easy. Don't waste your time now. We don't know how old Demas is, but we know he did forsake Paul, and that's the last thing we ever find out about. And so if someone like Demas could forsake Paul, any one of us could. Now when it comes to living for God, you pretty much have to do well at everything in order to really be a zealous person living for God. There are so many different ways you can slip up along the way. You only need to slip up in one area. For Demas, it's worldliness. But for other people, it's persecution. For other people, it's some besetting sin. I mean, there's so many different things that can cause you to backslide on God, but you have to ask yourself this question of what do you want the last words written about your life to be? That basically you just kind of quit on God. Yeah, you know, 20 years ago, brother so-and-so was a great soul winner. I don't want that to be said of me. I want it to be said of me that I'm a soul winner until the day I die. And if Demas could backslide, and that's the last thing he ever did, you know what? That could happen to any single one of us. Now turn to 1st Corinthians, chapter 3. 1st Corinthians 3. Now I do think it's significant that the Bible tells us the reason why he departed from Paul was he loved the present world. That would be basically what we mean as worldliness, okay? And what the Bible is trying to share with you is a big thing that could cause you to quit on God could be worldliness. Quite honestly, none of us have all of our ducks in a row. We all have at least some worldliness that we're trying to get rid of. All of us are working, trying to become better. You have to realize that if you don't work on that, that could destroy your life. It could get worse and worse, and before you know it, you never have time for soul winning, you never have time for Bible reading, you never have any time for living for God, but you do have time for the movies and the music and the entertainment that's out there. Notice what it says in 1st Corinthians 3, verse 8. Going back to what he was talking about, about being a laborer, notice what it says in verse 8. Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one, and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. So you're rewarded based on your own labor, not the labor of other people. You say, Brother Stuckey, I'm at a church that gets a lot of people saved, but if you're not part of that soul winning ministry, you don't get rewarded for what other people do. You say, but I'm part of a church that goes so many so much, but if you want rewards, you're rewarded for your own labor. You're not rewarded for someone else's labor, you're rewarded for your own labor. Notice what it says in verse 9. For we are laborers together with God, year of God's husbandry, year of God's building. So we see here in 1st Corinthians 3, we get rewards up in heaven based on the work we do, based on the labor we do, and that's always what Paul is highlighting, because what his life was about was soul winning, getting churches started, that's what his life was about. Now I want you to realize we're rewarded based on the labor we do. Here's the thing, we live in a country that is very receptive to the gospel, okay? If you were going soul winning in the United States of America in Sacramento, California, you would not get as many people saved with the same amount of soul winning time. See, if somebody goes soul winning for five hours in Sacramento, there's a possibility they're not winning anybody to the Lord. You go soul winning five hours out here, you're probably going to win several people to the Lord, but you get the same amount of rewards. You say, why? It's the same amount of labor, that's what the Bible is saying. Look, we live in a very receptive country, but don't think that we automatically get more rewards than everybody in any other country. You're rewarded based on the work that you personally do, and if somebody who's a bona fide soul winner lives in an unreceptive area and they go soul winning four hours every week of the year, 208 hours soul winning, and they only win 12 people to the Lord, they will get more rewards than someone who goes for 50 hours and gets 50 saved. Why? You're rewarded for the work that you do. That's what the Bible is saying, the labor that you do. Now, don't misunderstand me. If you don't put in the time and effort to learn how to go soul winning and you're just spinning your wheels out there, I don't really think God's going to reward you if you don't even know what you're doing. You have to actually learn how to go soul winning, because that takes some time as well, but if you actually know how to go soul winning, you're a bona fide soul winner, and you're just in an unreceptive country, if you're putting in more work, you'll get more rewards, even though you don't get as many people saved. Now, turn in your Bible to 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Chapter 5, 2 Corinthians, Chapter 5. And in 2 Corinthians, Chapter 5, 2 Corinthians, Chapter 5, the Bible reads in verse number 9, Wherefore we labor that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. And so if we want to be accepted of God, the Bible says we're going to labor. Present or absent, this is what we do. We labor, we work, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. Now in verse 10, when it talks about the things done good or bad, this is not saying good or sinful, okay? He's writing to a church of believers, saved people. He's not writing to a Catholic church, okay? He's writing to save people, okay? And he's saying that you're going to appear before the judgment seat of Christ, and whether you've done good or bad, that's what you're going to get rewarded based on. And if you link this with 1 Corinthians 3, it talks about gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble. You throw wood into a fire, it burns up. You throw hay into a fire, it burns up. Gold, silver, precious stones will last through the fire. So when it says good or bad, it's talking about you do something that has eternal value versus things that have no eternal value. So basically if you spend your whole life just trying to get in the best shape you possibly can, you will not get rewards for that. It's not sinful, but there's no rewards for that. There's many things we do in life that are not sinful, but it doesn't mean you get rewarded for those things. And so when he's saying good or bad, he is not saying, you know, good or sinful because there's a weird teaching out there that when you end up going to heaven one day, you'll stand before the judgment and every sin you ever committed as a believer, God's going to pull that out. And if you were six years old and you stole that cookie from the cookie jar, it's like, I'm gonna bring that to light. You're gonna be so embarrassed. And preachers preach that way, but the Bible speaks about a great white throne judgment for unbelievers, and the judgment seat of Christ where basically you can get rewarded, but you can't be shown any sins because when you're saved, your soul is perfect. God won't see any sins. He will reward you based on good things you've done, but he will not basically bring up all your sins because your soul is perfect. Your punishment happens here on earth, okay. You'll lose rewards in heaven, and then you'll be punished on earth, but he's not gonna bring your sins before you. You are 19 years old and you told this lie. How dare you? Do you feel bad about this? That's ridiculous. That's not what the Bible says, and you need to compare spiritual things with spiritual. And the judgment seat of Christ, this is for believers because it's written to believers. So good or bad does not mean good or sinful. It's just talking about some things you do have eternal value, and some things you do have no eternal value. Now don't misunderstand me though. Many things in life, in fact most things in life we do have no eternal value, but there's a lot of things we have to do, okay. You don't get rewards in heaven for sleeping, but you have to sleep for your survival, okay. You don't get rewarded in heaven for eating breakfast, okay, but you need to eat breakfast to survive. It's not a sin to eat breakfast. Most things in life are not sinful, but I want you to realize is you don't want to fill your life full of things with no eternal value because you will not get rewards in heaven if you're not doing the labor, you're not doing the work. Now turn to 1 Timothy 3, 1 Timothy 3. First Timothy chapter 3, and let's look at verse number one where the Bible says, this is a true saying, if a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. When it says the office of a bishop, a bishop, a pastor, an elder, these terms are basically interchangeable, but they represent different roles of that position, and it says that you desire a good work, okay. What is it saying? That when you're someone who's running a church, it's a lot of work that's involved if you're doing a good job. You desire a good work. Now the Bible speaks about your first works being soul winning, okay. Now there's a lot of great works that we can do and a lot of things we need to do, and you're preaching sermons, you got to spend time on that. You can never forsake the soul winning though, because when Paul the Apostle is highlighting laborers, he's highlighting people that are going soul winning. But there's a lot of churches where pastors will say, hey you need to be out there bringing people to church. God bless you, but I'm never gonna be out there. Now they don't say that, but that's the reality. They're never there for any of the soul winning times. Now look, I understand you're preaching sermons, that takes time to work on those things. There's a lot of work to do, but if you're never out soul winning, there's a problem there. If you guys never saw me going soul winning, if I never win on Sundays, if I never win on Wednesdays, if I never win on Saturdays, there would be a problem if you never saw me out soul winning. But all of you have seen me out soul winning, because I do go soul winning, because that's the first works. And look, if I did forsake soul winning to be a pastor, I would forsake being a pastor. Say why? Because I like soul winning. Because that's the first works, that's the most exciting thing you can possibly do, and anyone can be involved in that. And look, there's a lot of churches where the pastors do no soul winning, it shouldn't be a surprise that the members don't go soul winning. Because they're gonna follow the person who's leading, and if the leader is doing no soul winning and not doing the work, they're not gonna do the work either. Now turn back to Philemon. Now obviously this is gonna depend on how big your church is, how many hours you work, and things such as that. If somebody runs a church that has 500 members, you know, honestly, they're probably not gonna go soul winning as much as someone who runs a church of five members. Because a small church, you're really trying to bring up the attendance, you're trying to get people saved and bring them to church. And as the church gets bigger, there's gonna be other responsibilities and things such as that. But if there's no soul winning involved, there's a big problem there, okay? Notice what it says in Philemon 1 verse 2. Philemon 1 verse 2. And to our beloved Apphia and our Kippus, our fellow soldier, and to the church in thy house. Now notice how it says, the church in thy house. And this is something that you're gonna see pop up in the Bible a lot. And a lot of churches, they start in houses, okay? Now this is kind of appropriate timing because next week we're starting a church, and it will start in a house, okay? You say, what are the benefits of starting in a house? Well look, if your church is small and you can fit in the house, it will save you a lot of money if you don't buy a building. And look, a lot of churches, they say, we're gonna start this ministry, we're praying God will bless us with a building. And it's like, you got three members. You have three members and you're looking for a big expensive building? And so I'm just gonna pray and trust in God. Look, I remember one summer I was out in Utah because after I got saved, I had a good friend who was Mormon, so I wanted to learn about Mormonism. And I stayed at a Baptist pastor's house out in, right near Salt Lake City, Utah. I think it was West Jordan, Utah. It's like 15 minutes from Salt Lake City, Utah. It's like right in the heart of Mormonism in America, like the big Mormon capital of the world. And I remember they were building a building. He was part of a denomination, so they have all these funds coming in, but his church had like 10 members. And this building was like, you know, like the building right over there. I mean it was massive, but it's just like lots of money being spent on this thing, and there's very few members. And it's just like, you know, hey, you know, if we can just get like one rich person to come to this church, literally that's what they said, one rich person or a few people with a lot of money to come to this church, and we can get them to tithe, we'll be able to pay for this building. And I remember I was staying out there, and basically I was staying for free, and he paid for my food. And I basically, I went soul winning like all day and helped on the construction of the building. And I remember, you know, he'd ask how it went and everything like that, and I would tell him about my conversations. And he even told me, he's like, you know, I don't want you to spend too much time, you know, with those people basically that aren't going to be able to contribute financially, is what he was saying, without literally saying it. You say, why? Because he basically was in a contract for a building that they couldn't afford. It doesn't make any logical sense. Look, you've got to be smart when you do these things. You know, you wait until you can actually afford that. There's nothing wrong with a church meeting in a house. And look, if this church started with less members, that's what would have taken place. We started with a decent amount of people so we could afford to rent out a place, you know, as we did at Bayview, and then we bought, got a building, didn't buy it, but we're renting here. But look, if we couldn't do that, we would meet in a house. You say, why? Because you have to be able to afford to pay the bills. And look, I don't believe in churches just throwing on to some denomination and just say, well, they'll pay for it. No, it's like, you need to be able to pay for your bills. And the church meets in the house because of the fact it's a smaller church, and someone's opened up their home. And quite honestly, I believe the model to reach here in the Philippines is really going to be a lot of churches that start in the house until they can afford a bigger area. You say, why? Because commercial real estate is very expensive in the Philippines. It shocked me when I came here. It's kind of depressing because trying to look at prices, I'm like, good night. I was like, that's the same prices in America. And it's like, you know, honestly, this building is, it's very good deal for us in this area, but the buildings around there, they're not cheap. And it's just like, you know, the salaries are a lot higher in the US, but the prices of the buildings are not that much higher. And it's like, you know, the reality is, if you want to reach the Philippines, you can't just trust and we're going to have enough money for these buildings, you're gonna have to start in something in a small location in a house. And as that grows, and you're stable financially, and you know you have enough money, you can outgrow that into something big. You don't have to jump into a fancy building from day one. And look, this building, it's kind of modest, right? I mean, we don't have 200 people on a Sunday morning. If we had 200 people on a Sunday morning, we would have a bigger building. But we don't, so we're in a place that we can afford. And if we couldn't afford this place, we'd have to look at something smaller and maybe not quite as nice. Why? Because of the fact you have to go with what you can afford. And this is in the Bible because it says the church in thy house. And throughout the Bible you see many churches that start in the house. Verity Baptist Church in Sacramento, California started in the house. You say, why? They had less than 10 people at that church. They weren't going to be able to afford a building. Faithful Word Baptist Church in Phoenix, Arizona or Tempe, Arizona, it started in a house. You say, why? They couldn't afford a building at the time. It was a small church. There is nothing wrong with this model. And one thing you see coming out of America, and I believe it's in most countries, are like, you gotta have a building from day one. Show me the verse in the Bible that says that. You don't see that in the Bible. You don't have to have a building from day one. If you can't afford it, then you don't start in the building. You start in a house, you start in something modest, you start meeting in a park, you start meeting in whatever for a cheap price. You say, why? Because you're not going to be able to afford a building from day one. In most cases, we were blessed to have a decent amount of people at this church. So we were able to afford this church after a couple months meeting in a hotel. We were able to afford to rent out this place. But look, as we start other church plants in the future, they're not going to start in a building from day one. You say, why? They're not going to have the money for that. And that church needs to be self supporting by itself. Because you're never going to be able to replicate yourself unless your church can be financially stable. And then as you start a new one, it becomes financially stable, and it branches off. If every single church is not financially stable on its own, you're just going to end up reaching a point where you run out of money. That's just the way it works. It's like a business that expands too quickly. It won't work. It's just not a logical method. And so we're seeing here the church meets in the house. And that is the model we're going to start next week as we start in Pampanga. And honestly, that was the big reason why we have the ability to start a church there. Because we don't really have expenses. We're meeting in a house. Other than giving invitations and guys going down to preach, very few expenses. But if we had to start paying, you know, I don't know, 25,000 pesos monthly, we wouldn't start it because we just wouldn't be able to afford it or it'd be a very unwise decision when you have a small church. Okay. Now notice what it says here in verse number three. You have to realize this is even more so in the Philippines because commercial real estate is expensive here. If you were to compare it to America, the commercial real estate is only a little bit higher in the U.S. for the same amount of space. But the salaries are a lot higher in the U.S. So if you have 30 people at a church in the U.S. or 20 people, it's really not hard to find something you can rent out at a small, you know, a small building, small location. But quite honestly, that's not necessarily going to be the case here in the Philippines. Okay. Verse number three. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God, making mention of thee always in my prayers, hearing of thy love and faith which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus and toward all saints, that the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus. Now, if you look up the word communication throughout the Bible, it does not just mean what you say. It means your entire lifestyle. Okay, what is it? Pabumuhay, right? Your lifestyle. Basically everything you do, not just the words you say, how you live your life, how you act, your attitude. It's all of these things. Your communication is only a small part of what you're saying verbally. And quite honestly, it really doesn't have anything to do with here because he's saying, I've heard of basically how good of a person you are. I don't believe that Philemon was just bragging about, I've read the Bible 25 times. And Paul's like, man, I've heard. You've read the Bible a lot. I've gotten 50 people saved this month. I've heard you get a lot of people saved. No, I think it's just the way that Philemon lived his life. People saw it and they told about it. The Bible says, let another man praise you. Not your own self or not your own lips. You shouldn't be praising yourself. Let somebody else lift you up. And look, if nobody lifts you up, then either God doesn't want you lifted up or maybe you haven't done anything to be lifted up. But let somebody else praise you. Don't praise your own self. Philemon did not praise his own self. And notice what it says in verse 6, that the communication of thy faith may become effectual. Think of cause and effect. Basically, because of how Philemon lived his life, it had an effect on other people. Philemon went soul winning a lot. What's the reaction? Other people go soul winning a lot. They'd always see Philemon at the start of church reading his Bible. What's the result? Everyone's like, man, I need to read my Bible too. Philemon was someone who was, you know, spending time in prayer and devoted to the things of God. He had a good attitude. The result is other people see that. And the reality is at a church, the way you act and the way you live your life spiritually, it will have an effect on other people for good or for bad. Either way. See, if you're living a godly and holy life, it has a positive effect on other people. If you're living a worldly and wicked life, it's going to have a negative effect. Look, if you're always watching movies and then coming to church saying, hey, I saw the new Avengers movie, the new Star Wars movie. Look, you're going to cause people to live a worldly life. That's what's going to take place. And so, look, I understand we can all struggle with worldliness, but don't go around and try to spread it to other people. You're in church. I mean, you can talk about families. How's your life going? How's your job going? Things such as that. Don't spread worldliness in church, though. It's just going to have a negative effect on other people. Philemon, the way he lived his life, it had a positive effect. Notice what it says in verse seven. For we have great joy and consolation in thy love, because the bowels of the saints are refreshed by thee, brother. And so basically what he's saying is Philemon lives his life in such a way that knowing about it and hearing about it kind of refreshes you and motivates you. You know, think of somebody who's new that goes soul winning. I know of people I've met in my life that just started going soul winning. They're kind of new at it. And they were so zealous that it kind of refreshed you. It kind of reminds you back to when you first started going soul winning or you first started reading the Bible. And they're just so zealous, it refreshes you. Okay. And that is what he's saying there in verse number seven, that Paul the Apostle is refreshed by someone. Now, look, I would presume Paul the Apostle outside of maybe John the Baptist in the New Testament probably got more rewards than anybody. I could be wrong. But he's refreshed by somebody else. Okay. It doesn't matter who you are. We need each other in order to be effective. Think about before this church started, I would presume that most of you didn't go soul winning as much a year ago as you do now. You say, why? Because we have a positive effect on one another. You hear that so-and-so got their brother saved. You're thinking, man, I need to try to get my brother saved. I need to try to get my sister saved. You know that other people are reading the Bible. It motivates you to read the Bible. Look, nobody's that effective by their, by themselves. It's like this in anything in life. If you lift weights and you want to become stronger, find somebody to lift with you because it's hard to be self motivated by yourself. Oftentimes you'll do it for a little while and be like, man, I'm really feeling like McDonald's today. But if you have somebody else who's going with you, you're like, oh man, I can't go to McDonald's because I told someone I'm going to be there at 4 p.m. at the gym. Right? And I'm not trying to recommend that to you. I'm just using that as an example to say when you have other people doing the same things, when you're down on one day or not feeling like it, they will motivate you. Every single one of us, we have certain weeks where we walk into church and we feel defeated. We don't feel like soul winning. We don't feel like reading the Bible. Things are going wrong with our finances, our jobs or whatever. Our lives are a mess. But when you're around other people, doesn't it refresh you? So that's the importance of church. That's what he's saying in verse number seven, verse eight. Wherefore, that I might be much bold in Christ to enjoin in that which is convenient. Yet for love's sake, I rather beseech thee, being such a one as Paul the aged and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ. Now, Paul the apostle is beseeching Philemon for Onesimus, okay, who he got saved. Okay, Paul got Onesimus saved. He mentions here that he's the aged and a prisoner. What I think he's trying to do is trying to get some brownie points, as they would say. Basically saying, hey, I'm a little bit older. Can you do me this favor? You know, I'm in prison. Like he kind of mentions this and he mentioned some other things later on. He's kind of subtly saying this and he's trying to motivate Philemon basically to forgive Onesimus. Okay, now look at verse number 10 where it says, I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds. What Paul is saying is, when I was in prison, I won Onesimus to the Lord. He says, I've begotten. Okay, that's a term in the Bible, so and so begat, so and so begat, so and so begat, so and so. So there's that physical birth. But when we receive, you know, everlasting life, buhay nawalang hangan, that's the spiritual birth, okay? And you can say that I've begotten somebody. That's what Paul's saying. He's saying, I want him to the Lord. And so our second point here today is this, not only do we labor, but we win souls. That's what the Bible says. We win. What I'm saying is we win them. We save them according to the Bible. You say, but Brother Stuckey, I think it's arrogant to say that you save souls. Well, I guess Paul the Apostle was arrogant because in Philemon 1 verse 10, he says, I have begotten. Paul often says this. Turn actually to Romans chapter 11, Romans chapter 11. See, there's something you need to understand when it comes to God that we cannot win anybody to the Lord without God. God cannot win anyone to the Lord without us. You say, how dare you make that statement? This is what the Bible teaches. See, yes, the Lord Jesus Christ is a Savior. But look, last I checked, God's not going to come down from heaven and preach the gospel to your brother or sister. Last I checked, God's not going to come down from heaven and start knocking the doors of the unsaved people or talking to them in caisson memorial circle. That's not going to happen. No, He left us with that job. And so what it says here in Romans 11 verse 14 is this, if by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh and might save some of them. Notice what Paul says. I might save some of them. What is he saying? He's saying I might win them to the Lord. Not God, but me. Yes, Jesus is our Savior, but that alone will not lead people to heaven. They need to hear the gospel. And the way they hear the gospel is through people, through believers, saved people. We preach the gospel to them. Turn to First Corinthians nine, First Corinthians nine. And as you're turning to First Corinthians nine, let me just read you in Proverbs 11 in the Old Testament where it says, He that winneth souls is wise. And so as a brother Chris preached last week, soul winning is something that was in the Old Testament and is in the New Testament. This is not just a New Testament thing. Wow, Jesus rose again. Now everything's different. Now we're going soul winning. But in the Old Testament, God was a Calvinist. That's not the way it works. In the Old Testament, to win someone to the Lord, he needed soul winners to preach the gospel. Okay. Old Testament, New Testament, nothing's changed. The nature of God has not changed. Okay. God is the same. And the method He has always used is people preach the gospel. Okay. Notice what it says in First Corinthians nine, verse 22 says to the weak became I as weak that I might gain the weak. I made all things to all men that I might try that I might by all means save some. And he says, I'll become all things to all people in hopes of winning some people to the Lord. He says, I will save some. That's what he's saying. So throughout Paul's writing, he's saying that he wins souls to the Lord. He saved brother Stuckey. You know, I don't think we do the same. I don't think that we should save someone to the Lord. We don't save anybody. Well, maybe you don't save anybody. I do save people. Say why? Because I go soul winning and God's word does not return void, especially in this country. Look, if you're doing the work, you're going to get some people saved. And that's the terminology mentioned in the Bible. And look, a pastor or man of God who doesn't go soul winning is not a man of God. And quit calling them a pastor too. If they're not going soul winning, not doing the work, they're not a great man of God. See, the Bible says I might by all means save some. Okay? And we do the saving. Why? God has left that with us. You say, how do you know that? Turn to second Corinthians five. I'm glad you asked. Second Corinthians chapter five. Now I want you to understand something. There has never been a single person who's ever existed that got saved on their own. Every single person had to hear the gospel from someone else. You might say brother Stuckey, you know, what about Adam? You know, Adam heard the gospel from the Lord Jesus Christ. You say, how do you know that? Because he was heard walking in the garden in the cool of the day. He wasn't just hanging out, like walking around. No, he had to hear the gospel from somebody else. And he heard it. In the Old Testament, you do see the Lord Jesus Christ appearing at various times. Okay? When Jesus was here on earth, he won people to the Lord. And in the Old Testament, in the book of Genesis, you heard him walking in the garden in the midst of the day or in the cool of the day. I might be misquoting that. But you hear him walking. He's actually there. It wasn't just a voice up in heaven. No, Adam actually heard the gospel and he knew how to be saved. Okay? That is what the Bible teaches because every single person to get saved, they need to hear the gospel from somebody else. But you have to understand, the Lord Jesus Christ is not making any appearances in today's world. He's not going to knock. And look, if your story of conversion, like some famous Pentecostals in this country are, I heard this angel came and talked to me. I'm sorry, but that's not the gospel. And the gospel is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, not change your lifestyle and quit drinking and quit fornicating and cheating on your wife. No, the gospel is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what the Bible teaches. Okay? God has left this with us. And what it says in second Corinthians five verse 18, second Corinthians five verse 18, and all things are of God who have reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and have given to us the ministry of reconciliation. Okay? Now, yes, God has reconciled us to himself. We're not saving them on our own. Whenever you look at those soul winning passages at the end of Mark 16 and Matthew 28, you're always seeing that the Lord is with them. And lo, I am with you always, even onto the end of the world. Amen. You say, why? Because God doesn't leave us alone out there. Now, look, generally when we go soul winning, we go in groups, but no matter how many people are there or if it's just one person, God is with you when you're doing the work. Now, if you're standing on a street corner, screaming at people, then he's probably not going to be with you. But if you're doing what he told you to do and preaching the gospel and getting people saved, he's going to be with you. You say, why? He doesn't leave us by ourselves. And yes, we're saved. We're indwelled with the Holy Ghost, but he's actually out there helping us. Now, we don't see the spiritual battle. And honestly, I don't really think it's something we can fully perceive. So maybe that's why we don't see what's going on out there. But that's why we pray before we go soul winning and that God will give us boldness and clarity to preach the gospel. And when we go soul winning, there are times you know that things are happening and the devil's trying to prevent someone from getting saved. And there's some sort of battle out there. Look, we're not on our own out there soul winning. Okay. But what it said in verse 18 was he's given to us the ministry of reconciliation. And so he left and what he told them was, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. And in Acts 1, he basically says, hey, get churches started, reach this area, then the next, then the next, then the next. What he's saying is go out there and go soul winning. And that job was left to us. And quite honestly, I'm glad that job was left to us. You say, why? Because it makes your life have a purpose. Imagine if the ministry of reconciling was to the angels. What's the purpose of doing anything? Look, you say Brother Stuckey, what made you come here to the Philippines? You know, what happened in your life back when you got saved and things such as that. It all started with soul winning. That's what started. Look, when I was 18 and I got saved in the back of my mind, I wondered, man, what about my family? What about my friends? Do they understand salvation? And I remember telling my roommate in college, hey, you got to talk to this guy. He's going to tell you about how to get to heaven. And you know, I had my roommate hear the gospel the next day from the person who led me to the Lord because I didn't know how to preach the gospel. But I had a fear of hell, of people going to hell. Before I was saved, I had a fear I was going to hell. After I was saved, I was afraid of everybody else might be going to hell. And look, you walk down the street, if you just look around, go to Rizal Park sometime, go to Kaysom Memorial Circle, just look out at hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people. And it's rare any of them are saved. It's very rare. Now it's becoming less rare around our church building. We go down to the park and it's like, man, we've already won this person in the Lord, which it's great. But quite honestly, in general here in the Philippines, you look at people, very few are saved. You hop into a jipney with 12 other people, there's a good chance nobody's saving that jipney except you. That's the reality. And it does as much sowing as we do. Look, 5,000 salvations is a very small percentage of this country. It's a very small percentage. He's left us the ministry of reconciliation. The angels aren't going out preaching the gospel and we ought to be thankful for that. But when I realized this, when I realized people were going to hell and I was afraid of them going to hell, I started going soul winning. What I realized was I needed to change my life to be more effective. That's what I realized. And I'd hear that preached in sermons from time to time, but it's just kind of something I think the spirit kind of teaches you or you see it in the Bible and you know, man, maybe I should quit listening to rock music. Why? Because people are going to hell. Maybe I should start reading the Bible because people are going to hell. Maybe I should start praying more because people are going to hell. Every single thing you do in your life matters because of the fact it is our job to reconcile people onto the savior. And look, Demas forsook Paul at a moment in his life. And you have to realize you're going to be a much more effective soul winner if you get rid of your worldliness and decide to serve God 100%. Or you could be like Jehu, who is like the coolest character in the Bible for a very short time. But he didn't set his whole heart to seek the Lord. You say, brother Stuckey, who is Jehu? See, that's my point. Most, a lot of people don't know Jehu. Why? Because he was very good for like half a chapter. It's like he was really cool. I mean, I remember the first time reading about him, I'm like, this guy's the greatest character in the Bible. Why haven't I heard sermons about this guy? Then all of a sudden, like the next chapter answers a question. It's like, Oh, he's like really good for like a really short time. Look, you have to go all in for God if you want to really be successful in life. Now turn back to Philemon. Turn back to Philemon. Now, when it comes to reaching the world, because obviously we want to reach the world with the gospel, but that's a really generic statement to make. You have to be practical of what does that mean to us as a church in Manila. I don't really think it's our job specifically to reach, you know, some other country. Like we're going to do a mission trip to South Korea and get all these people saved. Look, there's nothing wrong with doing that. You know, praise the Lord for anyone to get saved. But quite honestly, you can only do like one mission trip a year to another country. Okay. It'd be kind of a pretty big effort to put in. And honestly, the way you end up doing this is you get new churches started. Now, my personal, just belief or personal, my desire, I guess, so to speak, is quite honestly, I kind of look at the Philippines as three countries. And I kind of looked at Luzon as like kind of our country because there's so many people here in Luzon. And so I kind of think of our job is to get churches started all throughout Luzon. Okay. Now, I'm not saying we can't get a church started in another location, but it's kind of like you can only do so much in life. You know, we're not going to start a church plant, you know, in some other country unless someone's doing the work and there's already a group of people. We're going to try to reach this area. And we're starting in Pampanga, right? We're not going to, you know, South Korea or North Korea. Now, look, I'm not saying that can't take place though, because when Verity Baptist Church did their first church plant in Vancouver, that really wasn't planned out as something that Pastor Mendez was desiring. Kind of the need presented itself and Verity Baptist Church stepped in to fill that need. Because Vancouver is not that close to Sacramento. It's a nine hour drive. Now, yes, there's a lot of flights that you can go on. It's like an hour and a half flight, but quite honestly, going to the airport, it takes energy. It takes effort. It's not as easy as just being able to drive like an hour and a half. See Pampanga is like an hour and a half away on Sundays, but just you hop in a car, you're there. Okay. Flying to another place. You got to have a rental car and all these things. It wasn't really the original plans, but there was already a group of people doing the work and doing soul winning. And honestly, what I believe is if people want church starting their area, they need to start the soul winning by themselves. Be self motivated to start the soul winning, get something going. And I believe God's going to bless that area. So that is something we would definitely try to fill in if there was a need and there was an opportunity. But I kind of look at the main area we're trying to reach as lose on. It's like 50 million people. Okay. More than 50 million. And it's growing very rapidly. Okay. Over half the population of the Philippines is in Luzon. That's a huge area to reach. Okay. Now notice what it said in verse number 10, where it says, Philemon chapter one, verse 10. Philemon one, verse 10. It says, I beseech thee for my son, Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds. And so we're going to talk about this guy named Onesimus. And this is someone that Paul the apostle led to the Lord. Okay. Honestly, we don't really know a lot about what happened to Onesimus. And why he ends up leaving Philemon. Obviously, some sort of problem took place. And the Bible doesn't really give us a lot of insight, but it tells us enough to know that we know Onesimus is basically to blame. He's the one who seems to be at fault for this situation of what took place. And he was a servant, the Bible speaks of, you know, of Philemon. It doesn't really tell us. And I think the reason why is because it's a very foolish thing and it's the wrong thing to bring up past sins or mistakes of people from years ago. That's a foolish thing to do. And if Onesimus did something really foolish and wrong like two years ago, that was two years ago. Who cares what happened two years ago? And look, that would be a very wicked thing for anybody to do. You say, wow, you know, back in, you know, 2010, you did this. Okay. It's like, look, that was a long time ago. And that might seem kind of, you know, facetious or humorous, but no people actually do that. And honestly, that's a large part of when fights are happening in marriage. People bring up, well, you did this and then you did this. Well, let's go to January of 2015. Let's go to February of 2015. Let's go to March. I mean, that's ridiculous. It's like the past is the past and whatever happened is done. Okay. And this is actually encouraging to us because quite honestly, people can really screw up their lives and then end up serving God. And look, I'll be honest with you. I don't want to know what people have done wrong in their past. I don't care. It's the past. If you're in this church and then back in 2005, you have some dark secret. I don't want to know that secret. We're not a Catholic church here. I'm not a priest. Do I look like a priest to you today? I know every once in a while, kids come in and say, father, but look, I'm not a priest. I don't want to know about your sins, especially from years ago. Okay. Now I'm not saying I can't help you out if you have a problem in life that's going on, but don't tell me something somebody did five years ago. I was at a church in West Virginia and I've been there for about six months. There's this guy at the church who was basically teaching junior church before I ever taught junior church and somebody at the church just told me, well, so and so cheated on his wife. And this was something that happened like over a decade ago. This was a guy who was like an assistant pastor, I think. And he basically had to quit the ministry because he committed adultery. Okay. And somebody's telling this to me and it happened over 10 years in the past. I was like, I literally said, why are you telling me that? And she's like, I was like, I didn't know that. I don't want to know that. I was like, I like so-and-so. I was like, why did you tell me that? And I was like, and I don't even know if what you're saying is true. She's like, Oh, it's true. And I'm just like, I was like, I didn't want to know that. And she's like, well, everyone already knows it anyway. I was like, well, I didn't. I didn't want to know that. I was, I was really angry that this person would tell me that. It's like, why are you telling me that so-and-so when they were in their early twenties, this guy was like 40 years old. It was like when he was in his twenties, he cheated on his wife. It's like, you know, why don't you just let the past be the past? Because all you're going to do is make that marriage harder for them. If that always comes up into the mind of the wife, if you want her to be able to forget, then nobody should talk about it. And it's like, I didn't know that. And to this day, I can't prove that's a fact. I don't know it's a fact. So why? Because somebody randomly says something you don't know for sure that's true. And look, if it is true, I don't want to know about it. Why would I want to know about that? Why would I want to know that somebody cheated on their wife like 15 years in the past? And look, I don't know what happened in the life of Onesimus, but it's in the past. And so the book of Philemon doesn't say, well, he got drunk and did this. It doesn't say that. We don't know what happened because God's trying to allow the past be the past. And so is Paul because he cares about someone who wanted the Lord Onesimus. And he says in verse number 11, which in time past was to be unprofitable, but now profitable to the end to me. Basically, he was an unprofitable servant, as it says in verse 16, not now as a servant, but above a servant. I believe he was literally a servant of Philemon. Okay. Now, throughout the Bible, you see that people can be in servitude because of various things. They can't pay off debts and various things like this. This is not the same thing as slavery. Okay. That's not what's taking place. Obviously, if you have someone who works for you, if you want them to be a good employee, you're going to be nice to them. You're not going to be a jerk. Okay. But he was a servant, but he was an unprofitable servant. Okay. He wasn't doing what he was supposed to do. Now turn to Genesis 47, Genesis 47. I'll have to hurry up. You know, I try to make short sermons and it just doesn't happen. So that's, that's the secret of looking at the clock. You know, I'm not going to name any names, but that way you don't preach two hour sermons. But, um, Genesis chapter 47, Genesis 47. And in Genesis chapter 47, notice what it says in verse six. It says, the land of Egypt is before thee, and the best of the land make thy father and brethren to dwell. And the land of Goshen let them dwell. And if thou knowest any men of activity among them, then make them rulers over my cattle. And the, what he says here is if you know anybody who works hard, he's a man of activity. And the reason why he says if you know anyone is because the average person doesn't work hard. He's like, if there's anybody who's a man of activity, make them a ruler. Why? Because there's not a lot of candidates for that job. That's what he's saying. Because look, the average, unsafe person, or even the average safe person is a bit lazy. That's the reality. Look, I'll be honest with you. When I started listening to this kind of preaching, I was a little bit lazy in my life. I didn't really take my job and my secular life as seriously as I should have. Why? Because, you know, I don't know, just the world we live in, other people are lazy and it's effectual. In a good way or bad way, it rubs off on you. And most people are kind of lazy. And so if there's anyone who's a man of activity, make him a ruler. And so when you look at Onesimus, he was probably a bad servant, but part of it was probably because most people are probably bad servants. Most people are probably bad workers. Now turn to Titus chapter two. Now here's the thing about this though. This was before Onesimus was saved. You say, how do you know that? Because Paul begot Onesimus to the Lord in prison. Okay. So when he was a servant, he was not spiritually a child of God. Okay. Now I don't know for sure because the Bible doesn't tell us, but I presume Philemon had been saved for a long time. And I presume he's a very good soul winner. I mean, I think we know enough about the Bible to know he's a soul winner. And it's very possible he preached the gospel to Onesimus quite a bit. And Onesimus might have rejected it. Even though Onesimus is not literally his son, if you're working for them and living with them, in a way, you're almost part of that family. Kind of like if somebody works as a nanny, you know, as an OFW in another country and they live with a family and work there, they're kind of part of that family. Okay. Even though they have a job to get done. And quite honestly, sometimes people don't respond to the gospel as well when it's a family member. Sometimes it's more difficult for you to win someone to the Lord than it would be a random stranger. And that is why one thing that, you know, I did in the U.S. and I think it's a great thing here is sometimes if there's someone you're trying to reach, a brother or a sister and you can't get them saved, send a soul winner to knock on their door and try to preach the gospel to them. They might respond better to that. And look, I do know of success stories that have taken place. You know, a couple of times in America with people that are friends and people that you would know in terms of being in the movement where somebody knocked their door and eventually somebody ended up getting saved as a result of it. And it didn't happen immediately. But quite honestly, there's kind of a barrier with family of certain things that how dare I'm your father. How dare you tell me I'm going to hell. I raised you. I changed your diapers and you're going to tell me what to do. And look, my son's young, but if my son grew up and was trying to convert me to some other religion, I could see how I'd be like, how dare you? I raised you in an IFB church. How dare you try to take me to the Catholic church? It's like you could see how a Catholic family member could be really offended when they took you to Catholic church and they taught you how to pray to Mary. They taught you how to do the rosary. They gave for your birthday, your 16th birthday, they gave you gold beads, you know, really nice. They gave you a nice idol. They have a presence. You open up your door. There's this big idol of Mary that you can bow down and worship every day. Look, just on the way here, my wife and I were behind a gypney and I made a joke to my wife because in the back of that gypney, there was Jesus and there was Mary. And I told my wife, I asked her, I was like, which one's Jesus? Because they both had long hair. They're both really effeminate. I was like, they literally looked the same. Okay. That's another point. But anyways, let's go back to Philemon. Actually, notice in Titus 2, verse number seven, quickly, it says, in all things showing thyself a pattern of good works, a pattern of good works. Now turn to Philemon. See, the reality is when it comes to serving God in all areas, we need to hear these things preached. When it comes to working hard, we need to hear this preached. That makes changes in your life. When it comes to going soul winning, you hear preach. When it comes to starting to read the Bible, you hear it preached. When it comes to getting rid of movies, you have to hear it preached. That has a big effect. When it comes to being a hard worker, we need to preach from the rooftops. We live in a very lazy world. There are many times when this building was being finished, where we would show up here at the building and, you know, brother Jay and I sometimes would come here and it's just like, oh, just lunch break. It's like, like a two hour lunch break. Or it's like, oh, you know, we get started at like noon. And it's just like, man, it's like work hard. But the reality is very few people work hard in this world. And we as Christians ought to be different than the world. Okay. This world is lazy. We should not be lazy as Christians. Now notice what it says in Philemon 1 verse 12. He says, whom I have sinned again, thou therefore receive that is mine own bowels, whom I would have retained with me, with me that in thy steady might administered unto me in the bonds of the gospel. But without thy mind would I do nothing. Thy benefit should not be as it were of necessity, but willingly. And Paul says, I would love to have Lonesmus with me because he's a great soul winner and he does the work. He's a fellow laborer. Okay. Verse 15 for perhaps he therefore departed for a season that thou should us receive him forever. And notice what it says in verse 15. He's like, maybe this situation happened that he departed from you so you could receive him forever. What is he saying? That he left in order for things to happen in his life where he ends up getting saved. You receive him forever. Not now as a servant, but above a servant, a brother in Christ is what he's saying. Basically, maybe circumstances happened. And I know, and from what I read, what I think happened is basically Lonesmus was probably in servitude and he just like left, which is illegal. That's what I believe took place. Basically, he had a certain amount of years. He had a job he had to do. And look, you would hire people to do a job. You expect them to do it. And he, and you pay all the money and he just leaves the job midway. And he just runs out on what he's required to do. That would make you mad even if you're saved because you spent the money on it. I believe that's what's taking place with Onesimus. But perhaps, you know, this happened to Onesimus and things happened in his life where he wasn't ready to receive the gospel back when he lived with Philemon. But now maybe you hit rock bottom when you backslide and when you're lazy, which probably happened to him. And then all of a sudden he finds himself getting saved by Paul. Was he in prison when he heard the gospel himself as a prisoner? That would be my guess. It doesn't tell us, but maybe that's why he heard the gospel in prison. Maybe he was in prison with Paul and he heard the gospel. That would be my guess. I'm not a hundred percent sure. I'm not going to go above what the Bible says. That would be my best guess though. But then, you know what, honestly, people in life, sometimes they hit rock bottom and they get saved and they end up fixing their lives. And look, I don't know everybody's story at this church, but I'll be honest with you that, you know, I know a lot of people at Verity pretty well. I was around them for a long time. And you know, a lot of them have a lot of mistakes they made in the past. And you would never guess it because they come to church and you know, things they did three years ago, they come dressed in a shirt and tie. They go soul winning. They talk about the Bible. You never know that three years ago they did such and such. And look, it would be a wicked thing for any of us to spread what somebody did years ago. If they choose to open up about it, that's their choice. We don't open up that can of worms though when they don't do that. Look, none of us in our, in this room want everyone to know all the sins you committed five years ago. Everything you've done wrong six years ago. Let's just make a list. Like, you know, God in heaven is going to make that list. You know, look, that's ridiculous. Okay. And we, as people, we shouldn't do that either. God doesn't do it. And we should, because when you get saved, your sins are cast as far as the East is from the West. Basically, they're gone past, present, future, big and small. They're all gone. Okay. They're all into the blood, whether they're in the past or the future. And so I'm not going to turn there for sake of time, but you know, the Bible talks about things working together for good to them that love God. And quite honestly, I know of a lot of stories of people getting saved where basically God allowed things to happen to them in order for them to get saved. And I think we all know some of those stories. That's probably what took place with Onesimus. Now notice what it says in verse 16, where it says, not now as a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved, especially to me, but how much more unto thee, both in the flesh and in the Lord. If thou count me therefore a partner, receive him as myself. If he hath wronged me, or oweeth the ought, put that on mine account. And Paul says to him, if there's something he owes you, basically, you know, he had two more years of work, you know, put that on my account. Let me make up the difference. Okay. And I believe he is speaking financially in that term or in however way he could pay off that debt. Okay. Now verse number 19, notice what it says. I, Paul, have written it with my own hand. I will repay it. Albeit, I do not say to thee how thou oweest on me, even thine own self besides. And so Paul says, I will repay the debt of this man Onesimus that is my person I've won to the Lord. Now, look, maybe you know of someone you've led to the Lord. And when you lead someone to the Lord and they come to church, there's kind of this kinship between you and them where you're kind of responsible of teaching them and training them. I remember in Sacramento, there was someone I led to the Lord. And this is someone who lived on the streets. He was homeless. And in America, homeless people are drug addicts. There's very few exceptions to this. Now it's different than in the Philippines, but in America, they're basically usually drug addicts. And this was a kid who was in his twenties and he had really destroyed his life. And look, we let him stay in our backyard in a tent for a week. Okay. And I was after the services, I take him to church and he was coming out sowing with me. I gave him a Bible reading plan. He's reading his Bible, but he still doesn't have a job. He still has a fleshly desire to do drugs and things like that. And he stayed in our tent for a week. And then, you know, before he was in our backyard after service, I would drive him down to this park where we had him staying in a tent. As I got to know a little bit more, I let him stay in our backyard and everything. And, you know, quite honestly, I probably went way overboard because quite honestly, he went back to his old ways. But you just care about people you lead to the Lord. Now I wouldn't do this with a random stranger, I don't know, but it's somebody that I led to the Lord and he started coming sowing with me and I really wanted to see him change his life. And unfortunately it didn't happen, but you feel that sort of kinship to someone you led to the Lord. I would love to hear one day that he's going to Verity Baptist Church again because he got baptized at Verity Baptist Church and he was going soul winning and he was making changes. And then this happened a couple of times, then all of a sudden you just wouldn't see him anymore. And just by chance circumstance, I ran into him on the streets and he was down to the same problems. And I remember seeing him and he was just like started crying when he saw me and gave me a hug and everything. And sadly, you know, you make a lot of choices in your life. And sadly, you usually go back to those things if you have a really dark history. But, you know, quite honestly, there are people that are living for God that they did things in the past and it's the past. And you want to see those people just be a church member who loves the Lord and is serving God. And I hope to hear one day that he is serving God. And honestly, that's probably the way Paul felt with this man, Onesimus. Okay. What you see is that Paul wants to take care financially of his own, just as you would take care of your own kids financially if they can't support themselves. And honestly, it's the same thing even with a church that a church is designed to help people that are members of the church. That's what the Bible teaches. And look, from time to time, we have people that will visit our church that aren't members and they'll ask us for money. And look, it is something that here in the Philippines is going to be kind of an issue because of the fact I'm an American. And so people come here asking for money. And the reality is a church is meant to help out those that are members. Okay. That's what the Bible teaches. Okay. Now notice what it says here in verse number 20. It says, Ye brother, let me have joy of thee in the Lord. Refresh my bowels in the Lord. Having confidence in thy obedience, I wrote unto thee, knowing that thou wilt also do more than I say. Now, before I go on, go back to verse number 19. There is something that's very funny here in verse 19 because he says, Albeit I do not say to thee how thou oweest unto me, even I know in self besides. Kind of like he made me led by Leman to the Lord or taught him the things of God. He's like, I'm not going to tell you how you owe me. You just did. You just said, I'm not going to tell you how you you owe me, but you kind of do owe me. Okay. So it's kind of funny how I say that's what I'm saying, how Paul is really trying to push him. Like I'm the aged. I'm an old man in prison. I led you to the Lord. I taught you the things of God. Maybe he baptized him. I'm not really sure, but you know, I'm not going to tell you about this, but you do kind of owe me. And so in verse number 22, the Bible reads, but with all, prepare me also lodging for I trust that through your prayers, I shall be given on you. There salute the 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. And so this is a great short book in the Bible. The thing I'd like to highlight for you to kind of take away from this though, is going back toward the beginning about Demas because Demas is a fellow laborer at one point in his life, but he ends up quitting. The vast majority of people at our church go soul winning and love the Lord. The vast majority of people. That is not a guarantee you're going to go soul winning forever. The reality is that you're gonna have a lot of choices you need to make in life. And if you want to stay dedicated, living for God, you might have to make some tough choices because many people fall along, fall along the way. But the reality is your number one goal should be to be stay dedicated to God your entire life. I don't want to be a Demas. I don't want any of you to be a Demas, but the reality is in a church this size, there will be Demases that are good people that fade out on the things of God. And he faded out due to loving this present world. Let's close in a word of prayer. Dear heavenly father, thank you for allowing us to be here in your house today. And I ask you to just bless this sermon to our lives. Help us apply this to our life and help us to just to learn the Bible even more and deeper every, every single passing week. God help us to be like Paul who not only was he an avid soul winner God, but he also really cared about those that he won to the Lord. God help us to have that same care and compassion for those who went to the Lord, help us train them and bring them to church and teaching the things of God and change their lives. God, we pray these things in Jesus name. Amen.