Sunday, December 10, 2017

Brother's Keeper - Introduction

The book of Philemon is an epistle known to be written by Paul to Philemon. It is a New Testament epistle sand witched between the book of Titus and the book of Hebrews. It has one chapter and 25 verses. I will encourage you to do a study on this Epistle.

In summary, Philemon was a friend to Paul and a fellow laborer in the vine. Philemon was also known to be a legal slave owner. The name of the slave was Onesimus - a Greek name associated with meaning useful, profitable, beneficial. Philemon - a Greek name associated with meaning affectionate.

Philemon was a member of the church in Colosse at the time. Meanwhile, Paul (the writer of this epistle) was imprisoned in Rome. Onesimus escaped from his slave master Philemon-in order words, Onesimus was a runaway slave. Upon his escape, Onesimus made his way to Rome, where he eventually met with Paul who led him to Christ.

Before long, Paul encouraged Onesimus to return to his slave master Philemon. Slaves who ran away from their master were subject to death - for the fear of being killed, I want to believe that Onesimus was hesitant about returning to Philemon.

In this epistle, Paul pleads to Philemon on behalf of Onesimus, asking Philemon to receive Onesimus not as a slave, rather a fellow brother in the Lord. Paul in this epistle, called on Philemon to credit his account on any charges owed by Onesimus to Philemon and he (Paul) will pay on behalf of Onesimus.

Let’s delve deeper into the epistle Paul wrote to Philemon and together benefit from what the Father has prepared for us this season as we begin this series titled “Brother’s Keeper”.

In this series, we will be embracing a selfless journey; we’ll learn the significance of being one another’s keeper, how it is our responsibility to care about the welfare of our fellow brethren. This series will certainly cause us to re-examine how well or not we treat others; how far we will go for another and more. We trust that you will be blessed as we journey together. 

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