Philemon - The Book of Philemon

Join Julia Jeffress Sadler as she takes us on an incredible adventure in Episode 218.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
For we have much joy and comfort in your love
because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you.
Brother Phileman's seven. Dear God, we know that you are
a God of forgiveness, and just like you forgive us
every day, you want us to forgive each other. Help

(00:20):
us to love others the way you love us. Thank
you for the encouragement we find from Paul in today's story.
Help us, like Phileman, to refresh the hearts of the
saints in Jesus' name, my prey, Amen.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
Thank you for praying with us today. The Kid's Bible
in a Year podcast is sponsored by Little Passports, delivering
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(01:01):
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Speaker 1 (01:11):
Fileiman.

Speaker 3 (01:12):
In our last story, after a harrowing journey, Paul finally
made it to Rome, where he remained under house arrest.
In this story, one of the many people he visited
with was Onisimus, a slave who had run away. Paul
will write a letter to his owner, Fileman, to accept
him back as a brother. This is a summary of

(01:35):
the letter Paul wrote, as inspired by Fileman.

Speaker 1 (01:42):
Hey everyone, it's Joyce Sadler here and we are back
again for the Kids Bible one Year podcast. Today we
get to look inside of Paul's prison in Rome and
look over his shoulder as he writes a very important letter.
It's too a man named Philemen and packed full of

(02:03):
truth and wisdom. Listen and see.

Speaker 3 (02:09):
Dear Filemen, I hope you are doing well. It has
been far too long since I have seen you. You
will have to tell me how the family is doing
in your reply. May God's peace find you and bless you,
as well as the church that meets in your home.
I pray for you all regularly, that you are in
good health, and that many new believers come from your ministry.

(02:31):
I thank God for the love you share, not only
for God or for me, but for all believers. You
know that I often do not hesitate in stating what
is right and what is wrong. My world tends to
be black and white, and I tell it like it is.
If someone is lacking in their commitment to Christ. I
quickly come around and help them to return to where

(02:51):
they should be. This letter is a little different. I
am here to beg you. As you know, I have
been imprisoned for my far and preaching, preaching that has
greatly influenced your own life. While I have been here,
I have been in a state of weakness, unable to
do what I once did. Yet I turned to God
and he provided this time in my life. He provided

(03:14):
me a man named Onisimus, the man that delivered this
letter to you, and the man that you have a
past with. I am sorry for the pain and grief
he brought upon you. When God brought him to me,
he was still a sinner, but in time he has
come to know Jesus Christ. Since the time that he
has come to know Christ, he has been extremely helpful.

(03:35):
As I am bound to stay in prison, having a
friend that can travel and deliver messages around the area
has been extremely helpful. I honestly could not have gotten
by without him. I will likely struggle without him, but nevertheless,
we believe it is time for him to return to you.
He has been helping me like none other. I have
yet to see any other brother jump to help like

(03:58):
he has not even you when I was with you.
I understand that he left you. But when he left you,
he was but a worthless slave. Yet through the grace
of God, he is no longer a worthless slave. But
he is a great and wonderful brother. That is how
he has been returned to you as a brother, and
I hope you see him as such brother, not slave.

(04:21):
He told me in due time that he stole from
you in his old life. He is a new person now,
But I understand the loss to those things. I ask
that you pass that debt on to me, charge it
to my person, my account, not his. I Paul will
repay it. It is written there with my own hand.

(04:42):
I will not bring up that you owe me your life.
I ask that you treat him as you would treat me,
for he has been a wonderful brother to me and
will be to you as well. Send some one with
a letter in response letting me know that you have
received him, and I will be able to rest easy
should this trial not go as planned. Of course, I

(05:03):
know you, I know your heart. You will do all
that I ask and more, and I should have no
fear that you will do anything less. Even more so,
I would ask that you prepare your guest room, for
I know you pray for this trial along with everyone else.
Should I be released, I will be visiting you, my
dear friend, Filimon. Greet the church there for me. I

(05:27):
miss them all. Grace and peace of Jesus Christ be
with you, Paul.

Speaker 1 (05:38):
Okay, before we dive in, we have to ask the
question who exactly is philing men? Who is this guy?
Philely Minn was a wealthy man who heard Paul preach
one day near his home in Colossee. He accepted Christ,
became a Christian, and started a church in his home

(06:00):
where many would meet regularly. Philemon had a servant named Onesimus,
who stole from him and ran away to Rome. Of course,
Phileman was not too happy about it. While in Rome,
as God would have it, Onesimus heard the message Paul
was preaching and became a Christian himself. As he grew

(06:21):
in his faith, he spent more and more time around Paul.
Since Paul was in prison, Onesimus became a big helper
to him, delivering letters, messages, and getting him anything he needed.
But there was just one thing Paul knew that because
of what Anesemus had done to find Lehman, he would

(06:42):
need to go back and make things right. He would
need to ask for forgiveness. As much as Paul loved
to help and love the companionship of Omnesmus, Paul knew
that these two men had a broken relationship, and he
also knew that because they both had the Holy Spirit
in them, God could heal it. Since Paul knew that

(07:05):
Philemen might still be angry and probably unwilling to take
back the slave who stole from him, he sent a
letter telling him what happened to Anesemus and how he
was a changed man. He asked him to receive Aesemus
and take him back. Really, he asked him for forgiveness.

(07:27):
And that letter is the book of Phileman in your Bible.
Did you notice something? Paul opens the letter calling himself
a prisoner of the Lord Jesus Christ. But wait, wasn't
he a prisoner of Rome?

Speaker 3 (07:44):
Not?

Speaker 1 (07:44):
According to Paul, he was chained to only one person,
and that was Jesus. But these weren't actual chains. In
other words, he was saying, I am here not because
of these chains and guards and prisons, but because this
is where God told me to go, and wherever God
tells me to go, I go because I am never

(08:08):
leaving him. I want to be chained to Jesus, just
like Paul. As we can tell from the beginning of
the letter, Paul thinks very highly of Fileman. He says
that he prays for him often and that Hileman refreshes
the hearts of the saints and his love gives Paul
much joy and comfort. We can tell they already had

(08:30):
a friendship because of the way Paul is talking to him.
And by the way, when you need to ask someone
for something big, it's best if you first have a friendship.
That way you know each other and trust each other.
You have a foundation underneath that's already built. Paul tells Philem,

(08:51):
and he is begging him for something. Philema must have
sat up in his chair a little straighter at that point.
What does Paul want from me? He reminds Phileman that
he is in prison because of his faith, and he's
feeling pretty weak and limited. He shares how God brought
him Anesseemus as a sinner, but how he came to

(09:14):
Christ and turned his life around. He shares all he's
done to help Paul a true servant and friend. He
then asks Philemon to accept Anesmus back into his life,
this time not as a dishonest slave, but as a
brother in Christ. Then Paul says something so important and wise.

(09:37):
He tells Philemen in verse fifteen and sixteen that perhaps
he had to lose Onesemus in this awful way so
that he could find him forever, not as a slave,
but as a beloved brother. In other words, maybe all
this happened so that Anesimus would go to Rome find Paul,

(10:00):
I meet Jesus. Wow. To top it off, Paul offers
to pay back everything Onesimus stole. He asks him to
write back and hopes to hear from him before he
goes to trial. Oh and he adds a ps, get
my bed ready, because I'm coming to visit and stay
with you after this mess is over. The Bible doesn't

(10:23):
tell us what phi Lehman did after receiving Paul's letter,
but since this letter was saved for so many years
and we read it in our Bibles today, many people
think that he did forgive Anesmus and take him back.
Some even think that he sent Aesmus back to Paul
to help him again. The Bible also doesn't tell us

(10:44):
what happened when Paul finally stood before Caesar. We're not
even sure how he died, although many believe he was
martyred for his faith like so many before. Can you
imagine the cheers in Heaven when Paul arrived. Speaking of Heaven,
we are diving into the Book of Revelation for our
final two episodes, so don't miss it. John is going

(11:08):
to give us a sneak peek into the end of
the world for real. The Bible's the best story ever told.
It's God's story to you, and it's all true love
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(11:53):
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