Now in the wee hours of the morning, Zechariah’s visions came to a close with the emperor sending his armies back into all the world to carry out his commands. They came thundering out from between two bronze mountains, icons of immovable might.
Philemon: Blood Brother
Now listen, before you start grumbling about the woodenness of this translation, what I want you to see is what I finally—after having read this letter many, many times, studied it, went through commentary after commentary, for a good forty years—finally saw tonight.
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Philemon: Only With Your Consent
Many, including myself, have complained the tone of Paul’s letter, even the wording, seems manipulative. How could Philemon make an honest decision, sprung from God at work in his heart, with Paul first complimenting him (ego strokes), then talking about Onesimus in such affectionate terms (pressure) and finally referring to himself as a mere elder asking permission (which seems to pluck the strings of guilt and shame)?
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Philemon: Every Good Thing
Paul wanted Philemon to mature in his faith, so rather than tell him what to do, Paul entreated him as a fellow elder.
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Philemon: Encouragement
did Onesimus lead the way, full of hope, confident both in Paul and Timothy’s letter, and in the Spirit at work in Philemon? Was it Onesimus who handed Philemon this personal note, and told him, “This is from our brother Paul,”?
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John 16, Jesus Promises Peace
And how were the disciples going to make any impact on the world plunged into deepest darkness, when even after following Jesus night and day for three years, struggled to really understand His teaching?
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Minor Prophets: Zechariah, Vision Seven
As Zechariah was gazing on the wreckage of what sin does in people’s lives, the vision changed to a woman in a basket, moving through the sky, over the land.
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Philemon: Beloved
I give thanks to my God every time I pray for you, when you are brought to mind, because I hear of your love and your faith to the Lord Jesus, and to all the believers. And when I pray, I ask that the fellowship of your faith (with Jesus, and with the saints) would be powerful and effectual in discerning every good thing in us from Jesus, and every good thing to Jesus as well (for he is in us, and we are in him).
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Philemon: An Introduction
So, Paul wrote a short, personal note to Philemon as a cover letter to accompany the open epistle for the Colossian churches, and to discuss their mutual acquaintance, Onesimus.
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3 John: Perceiving God
The elder said to Gaius, "Beloved one [agapete], do not imitate the bad." Any exclusion of members of the Body from fellowshipping with the whole Body of Christ is bad. It is not perceiving God.
