Earn Money Online with Brandon Hopkins

Philemon was a believer in Jesus Christ, and a leader of the church in Colosse (or one of the surrounding areas) who was also a slave owner.

Philemon owned a slaved named Onesimus who had stolen from Philemon and then run away.

By God’s design, Onesimus met Paul and accepted Christ as his Lord and Savior. Onesimus knew that he had to go back to Philemon.

Onesimus’ problem was that under Roman law, if a slave stole from his master, that crime was punishable by death.

The book of Philemon is Paul’s plea to Philemon on behalf of Onesimus.

Paul starts his letter as was normal custom saying how the recipient was a fellow worker in the Lord, and also to Apphia who was most likely Philemon’s wife.

Paul then blesses them by saying, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

At this point, Paul uses his words to try to bring a smile to Philemon’s face. Gentle and uplifting words designed to appeal to Philemon.

Paul tells Philemon that he has heard of the great things Philemon has done for Christ and about Philemon’s love for all of the saints.

Paul then says something profound and theological deep in verse 6, “I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.”

Does this mean that if we are not sharing our faith that we will not have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ? Perplexing to say the least!

Paul continues on his lighthearted uplifting of Philemon saying that Philemon has brought Paul great joy in our Lord.

This is where Paul begins to get serious with Philemon and makes his reason for writing known.

Paul led Philemon to Christ, and is essentially the father of Philemon’s faith in Christ. Paul tells Philemon that he could “be bold” and “order” Philemon to do what’s right, he will actually appeal on the basis of love. He appeals to Philemon on the basis of his love not only for himself, but also for his new brother in the Lord Onesimus.

Onesimus means ‘useful’ and Paul writes a play on Onesimus’ name saying “Formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me.”

Paul says that this guy named ‘useful’ was actually useless, but now has fulfilled his name, and is useful to both of us as a Christian. He was once useless to Philemon as a thief and runaway slave, but has come to know Christ and on that alone, he is useful.

Paul now tells Philemon that Onesimus is coming back to him, and may have carried this letter himself back to his master, and possible death. God must have given him the strength and faith to go back to the man who could legally have him killed.

Paul says that he would have liked for Onesimus to stay with him because he is useful, but he didn’t want to keep Onesimus without Philemon’s consent. Paul implies in verse 14 that if Philemon wanted to send Onesimus back to Paul, it would be out of Philemon’s love, and not forced, and Paul would gladly take him and use him for the Kingdom of Christ.

In verse 15 Paul speculates as to why God would have Onesimus steal from his master then run away and meet Paul…Paul knows that this was in God’s plan.

Paul explains to Philemon that just maybe this was God’s will so that when Onesimus finally returned to Philemon, he would no longer be “useless” but become “useful” as him name implies.

Paul puts his neck on the chopping block in verse 17 saying welcome Onesimus like you would welcome me and that Paul would pay back any debts that are owed to Philemon from Onesimus.

Paul then takes a jab at Philemon in verse 18 saying that Philemon “owes” Paul his very self as Paul was responsible for leading Philemon to faith in Christ Jesus.

In verse 22 Paul ends this letter with another plea to Philemon that Philemon would not only do what Paul has asked him to do, release Onesimus from his debt, but do more.

Paul implies that Onesimus should be freed from his slavery! “Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I ask.”

Paul assumes the sale and tells Philemon that he is “confident” that Philemon will go above and beyond what he is “required” to do as a Christian, and to show his faith to a younger brother in the Lord.

How I wish to have the strength to forgive someone who offends me, and then to welcome them, disciple them, and see their love for our Lord grow day by day until the day He returns.

Lord, make me the man you desire of me. Help me to be like Paul, willing to put my reputation on the line for someone who has been changed by what your word, the Bible, says. Help me to show love to those who offend me. Help me to be forgiving like I think Philemon was in this case. Give me the desire to know you more like I was just converted like Onesimus. Give me the faith of Onesimus to go to places that your name is unwelcomed to share the love you have for humanity.

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Excuses For Sleeping At Work

10) ”They told me at the blood bank this might happen.”

9) ”This is just a 15 minute power-nap like they raved about in that time management course you sent me to.”

”Whew! Guess I left the top off the Wite-Out. You probably got here just in time!”

7) ”I wasn’t sleeping! I was thinking about the mission statement and envisioning a new paradigm.”

6) ”I was testing my keyboard for drool resistance.”

5) ”I was doing a highly specific Yoga exercise to relieve work-related stess. Do you discriminate toward people who practice Yoga?”

4) ”Dang! Why did you interrupt me? I had almost figured out a solution to our biggest problem.”

3) ”The coffee machine is broken…”

2) ”Someone must have put decaf in the wrong pot…”

1) ”…..in Jesus’ name, Amen.”

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General Motors announced the Employee Price for everyone deal. Everyone can buy at the employee price, no strings attached. On some vehicles there are still rebates!

However, for me this means long hours…two days ago 9 hours…yesterday 10 hours…today 12 hours…tomorrow I am off…and I plan to rest.

I can’t wait until July 5th when this special incentive is over.

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Removing the Barriers in Worship
-Finding True Worship

This message was geared toward my church congregation. They are a great group of people, but are very stoic. They don’t want to raise their hands in worship out of the fear that someone might see them. They would rather sit and be quiet instead of stand and sing.

How many people enjoy the movie theater? What about going to a sporting event like a baseball or football game? What about going to a concert?

What makes us like these things so much? Sitting in the movie theater while it is still dimly lit, answering silly trivia questions, and talking with my friends gives me a sense of excitement. Sitting in the stands at a baseball game before the opening pitch gives me the same excitement…Why do we get excited about these things?

We often feel like we are going to experience something truly amazing…something we don’t get to do very often, and something we will be talking about for days or weeks.

When was the last time you walked into church and felt excited as if you were going to experience something truly amazing that you would be telling your friends about? Probably not often.

Why doesn’t that happen in church like it does at a movie theater?

That is what we are going to be talking about tonight…Why don’t we get excited about worshipping God, like we get excited about doing something “fun�?? Why is there such a difference between going to church, and going to a sporting event?

We are going to be talking about removing barriers that stop us from worshiping in spirit and in truth as John 4:23 says.

I believe that Isaiah has the answer to removing barriers in general, then we will look at three specific barriers. Turn with me to Isaiah 29:13.

Isaiah is talking about half-hearted worship…We worship God with our mouths, but our hearts are truly somewhere else. Have you ever truly felt as if you were worshipping God? Like it was only you and him, and nobody else was around?

EXAMPLE: Sonicflood w/ Supertones @ Great America

Unfortunately too many times we disconnect our hearts from worship…Worship is the preview, not the feature presentation, and then we leave church feeling like something just isn’t right, or we missed something…and the truth is, we did. We missed a chance to commune with the one who holds eternity in his grasp.

Don’t let worship be the preview and leave lacking, make it your feature presentation.

Worship has been described as “being invaded by God�?. How many times do you feel invaded by God? I would bet that most times we feel more invaded by other people around us, or things we need to do. Do you view worship as a time to unite yourself with God, or as another religious duty that has to be done every week?

Back in Isaiah 29 God is talking about people who say one thing, but mean another…they worship with their words, but their worship is made up of rules and rituals.

How true is that…We tell God how good he is to us, we thank him for sending his son to die on the cross, and we sing all of these worship songs, while thinking about other things.

We say things like “Amazing love, how can it be? That you my king would die for me?�? But we are wondering if other people are watching us, or why doesn’t the band do this differently? I like the lights on, or the lights off, or the music louder, or softer, or more singers, less singers, more instruments, less instruments.

Then by that time our mind starts to become distracted, and that is the first barrier…Did I turn the curling iron off? Did I lock the door? There is John….I forgot to call him yesterday. What do I have to do tomorrow when I get back to work? Are we going to go to Taco Bell or McDonalds? Taco Bell or McDonalds?

Oh yeah, I forgot we are worshipping…�?that you my king would die for me?�?

How many of you are in school, or take classes periodically? I know I do. At work, we have classes that are set up through a satellite and 1500 people watch 1 guy give a lecture on something like Regulation Z and how it affects the Auto finance industry…or proposition 65 and guarding against lawsuits…sound boring? Try sitting through 2 hours of it! I find plenty to be distracted by, and when I am distracted, I am learning nothing.

If a man is driving his car, talking on his cell phone, with the radio on, in traffic, thinking about his job, what is his focus? Who knows…maybe his phone, maybe the traffic, maybe his job…It should be the car he is driving.

We live in a fast paced society, there are only a few places you can go that have no distractions, and even those are diminishing. Even walking around the mall we have distractions…Take my wife for example.

If you ever see her walking and looking down, be careful, don’t say I didn’t warn you. She will run you over, say sorry, and never look up. She is not mean, she is not trying to be rude, but she is distracted.

When we come to worship God, we need to remove our distractions. For each of us, they are different. What are your distractions? You need to find out what distracts you from worship, and do what you can to remove those distractions immediately.

God wants our worship to be pure between us and him. He wants our attention 100%, and you are the only one who can remove the distractions.

The second barrier that we often face is that of inexperience or forms. You might say “I’ve never worshipped like this, or with this music, or in this type of setting, but don’t let that stop you from uniting with God.

Have you ever been Ice Skating? Do you remember the first time? Ice skating isn’t as easy as Nancy Kerrigan makes it look. And it can be extremely difficult at first, but after you have done it a few times, and you are able to stand up a littler better, it can be a lot of fun. Once you get past the inexperience, you realize the happiness that it can bring.

EXAMPLE: Ice skating at Hume Lake.

In my experience, there are two ways to remove this barrier, and it is like getting into a cold pool. You can slowly climb in, or jump in completely. I’ve always preferred the slowly getting in way. If you are like me start gradually, listen to the words, hear the rhythm, and sing the parts you know and listen to the rest, walk into it slowly.

Some people prefer to just jump right into the deep end. You can do that in this situation too. Start singing, the words are on the screen, and if you miss a few, big deal. Either way you prefer, make sure you get wet! Nobody on dry ground.

The third barrier is that of embarrassment, and it is probably the most common.

Well, truth be told, I’m not much of a golfer. I enjoy the game, but I’m just not good at it. I remember going to the driving range once…that’s where everyone is in a line, and you just practice hitting the ball…for some reason, whenever I hit the ball, it doesn’t seem to go very straight.

You should stop golfing, I found out, when you hit the ball, and it goes farther to the right, than it does straight, and 3 or more people stop hitting their balls to find out where that one came from.

You don’t even have to be new to a church to experience embarrassment.

What will people think if I raise my hands, if I clap, if I sing out loud, if I miss a word? Being as gentle as I can…Who cares? God designed worship to between two people…you and Him. It doesn’t matter what I think, what your spouse thinks, what the person sitting beside you thinks, it is about what God thinks.

Turn with me to John 12:1-8.

Now I want to read out of a book by Dee Brestin and Kathy Troccoli titled Falling in Love with Jesus.

You see, when Mary poured her perfume on Jesus, and then wiped it with her hair, it wasn’t the same as we think of it. Mary was completely going against what society said was right, and completely disregarded the fact that other people around her could have thought she had gone crazy.

That is the way we need to be. In verse 7 Jesus says “Leave her alone,�? and he will back us as well.

Have you ever been on a cruise, or to an expensive restaurant? Normally you’ll get all dressed up, you usually have 4 forks, 3 spoons, 3 knives, and 3 glasses. The waiter pulls your chair out, and puts your cloth napkin on your lap. Someone different serves you bread and water, and a third guy makes sure everything is going well.

In this situation, I am very careful not to spill anything, or embarrass myself.

Now consider the opposite, having a meal at home. You have paper napkins, you’re in comfortable clothes, and you definitely have 1 fork. There is no fine china, you get your own drink, and if something falls on the floor, you wait to see if your dog is going to eat it…or cat for some of us.

God didn’t design worship to be an expensive meal at a fancy restaurant with rules and regulations, he designed worship to be a comfortable setting with our brothers and sisters.

If you truly want to worship, you must remove the barriers so that it can never be said of you, “you come to worship with your lips, but your heart is far from God�?.

We purposely divided worship tonight evenly, and we are going to have some extra songs right now as the band comes up. Use this time to focus on removing the obstacles that Satan has placed in your way to stop you from being able to worship Jesus Christ.

Lets stand as we worship today, feel free to raise you hands if you want, clap if you want, fall to your knees, use the steps as an altar. Worship is now between you and God!

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