You Have No Idea

Opening Framework:

Summer Mixtape Sermon Series Intro

Scripture: Philemon 1:4-16

Message Title: You Have No Idea

Prayer

Me: I’m here because I need this

My kids, the house, and the guy from flock

What if the thing I was looking at one way with frustration… or the thing I'm trying to escape is the very thing God is using to shape me?

We: Sometimes we think things are messy, so they must be wrong... but that's not true

Often the people we want to avoid are the people God’s using to work on us… and they are the very people we need.

What if the person in your life right now that frustrates you isnt there by accident? What if the person you are writing off is someone God wants you to take in? What if in the middle of things that look wrong, is freedom in disguise?

But we can’t go into the story without understanding this… ALL SCRIPTURE IS USEFUL 2 Timothy 3:16-17

We’re going to read a letter in which...A slave runs away from an owner to find freedom… yet God wanted them together for a greater purpose...

God:

Context: - Paul is in prison in Rome - Philemon is most likely wealthy & a slave owner - Everyone who studies the scriptures agree Paul lead Philemon to Christ. Philemon 1:19 - Colossians church… 1000 miles from Paul

Philemon is a man of God & even has a church - Philemon 1:1 / Philemon 1:4

Philemon is also loving and encouraging believers in the home church - Philemon 1:7

BUT THE QUESTION HAS TO BE ASKED…If Philemon was all of these things, why did his slave run away from him?

What if Onesimus served and heard of this God that was for others but not him? THIS SOUNDS FALSE BUT IT’S NOT… LOOK AT HISTORY!

Neeza on Tiktok - It sucks but sometimes people have to leave to find God

Onesimus came to Paul while he was in prison so it wasn’t a lengthy trip - Philemon 1:10 Paul wins Onesimus to Christ Philemon 1:11

Onesimus traveled 1000 miles I believe because he wanted to find Paul. Not a chance encounter. He left the place where the church was… to find God.

Philemon 1:17 - Look at people and welcome them the way God does. Ask God to give you his eyes to do this

Paul knows that they HAVE to make things right - Philemon 18-19

THIS IS A SERIOUS LETTER PAUL IS WRITING. HE KNOWS WHATS AT STAKE… YET HE KNOWS THEY HAVE TO MAKE THINGS RIGHT.

History tells us that all of these men made right choices here...

You: If you do what is right...

If you do what’s right, you have no idea what God might do in your life. Some of you are struggling emotionally, financially, spiritually, in your marriage, in the calling God has over your life. And I’m not saying that God will make you rich or make you happy all the time. But you have NO IDEA what God might do in your life.

Psalm 112 show’s us a picture of what’s possible...

We: We don’t know what God might do at this church… but if we obey, we know it’s going to be powerful.

It’s a collective effort

Not in our traditions but in the hard things God is asking of us

We won’t always get it right, but we’ll be on the right side of history

Alter Call: