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Pastor Lud Golz
Pastor Lud Golz

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  Home | Transcript Archive | October | October 07, 2015

Wednesday, October 07, 2015

We have been looking at the book of Philemon in the New Testament and doing a focus and amplify study of it. We identified the focus as being, Forgiveness is a test and testimony of Christian love and faith. After the introductory comments in verses 1-3 which indicate this letter and its message is a Christian family affair needing God’s grace and peace, Paul presents his first point: his confining approach in verses 4-7. He points out how thankful he is for the faith and love which Philemon is known for. This becomes the basis for presenting his expectations of him in responding to the specific issue at hand. Sometimes we present the negative elements of a proposition first and that almost always casts a shadow over a project or person before anything is even initiated. Having affirmed Philemon’s faith and love Paul prays that he might exercise his faith even more. In other words, Paul was asking Philemon to apply his faith to this project and the person involved even though he knew this would not be easy. Then to make his point even more workable he affirms the positive impact Philemon’s love has already had. In other words, he expects Philemon to maintain his quality commitment to live by faith and love. What he had been and done in the past Paul was calling upon him to continue doing now, and even more. Likewise, God expects us to keep living up to what we have been and done in the past, and go beyond it in the present.

 

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