 Hello everyone, and welcome to class this morning. This will be our last class for the semester and the last class for all of you because you are the final year students. So let's begin, we'll begin with the word of prayer. Can one of you please lead us in prayer, please? Anyone? Elisha, can you lead us in prayer, please? Okay Ma, hello dear Master Jesus. We want to thank you and bless you for all that you have provided and all that you have done for us throughout the semester. For that we are committing the rest of our days into your hands, O God. We pray that you come into control, lead us, continue to guide us, continue to be our great teacher who will help us to understand whatever we are being taught. We pray you commit our faster into your hands, further continue to grant her, declare our trances that she will be able to make and transfer knowledge with domain understanding to us. We pray that Lord, O God, continue to let your Holy Spirit come and guide us, Holy Spirit come and teach us, and let your Holy Spirit comfort us in the mighty name of Jesus. For that we thank you and we bless you for answered prayer. Amen. Amen. Thank you Elisha. Last Monday we began studying the book of Philemon Paul's personal letter to Philemon and we looked at the introduction and we did a word study or a phrase study or word study till verse 4. We'll continue today so before we begin again one of you please read verses 4 to verse 7 please. Philemon is only one chapter so chapter 1 verses 4 to 7. Can one of you please read Philemon chapter 1 verses 4 to 7 please. Can you read it please? Yes. I thank my God always and I remember you Elisha because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ for I have been right in my sharing comfort from you my brother because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you. Amen. So we looked at studied verse 4 last Monday we look at verse 5 that Paul is writing to Philemon saying you know that he's heard of his love and faith which he has towards the Lord Jesus Christ and towards all the saints so in the epistle of Colossians Paul mentions that you know he has heard the faith of the church and their love for all the saints so that he's writing specifically to the church to the saints the believers at Colossians saying that he's heard of their faith how they're growing in their faith and also their love for the saints and there he's mentioning about the church in general but here when he's writing to Philemon he's personally saying that you know he's heard of how Philemon shares his love with you know with believers with the people around him and the faith that he has towards the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul was the one who led Philemon to Christ and we see that you know Philemon has grown in his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and his faith has demonstrated itself in a very deep love for his fellow human beings those who are part of the church the saints and believers those who are you know people living around him and but especially those who you know are in Christ he shares the love of God with them so the love of God you know in and through us is actually a proof of our conversion and also that you know we are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ so that is the characteristic the main characteristic of God God is love we read that in first John in many scripture passages in first John that God is love that you know his basic core structure of who he is is that he's a God of love and everything that he did you know right from creating the world to creating us to incarnation to his death on the cross everything that he did he did out of love so even as we you know when we become partakers of that divine grace that salvation that he has provided for us we become part of his family you know something that becomes a characteristic of each one of us is love you know because God's love transforms us his love you know motivates us to love others to forgive others and I think you know if that element is missing in each one of us then we can you know it's we can question that we're not question but we can think about if that person is really you know saved you know that person is really accepted Jesus maybe as their failure but not as their Lord because if there is no love that transcends or you know is transforming us or love that is translating in and through our lives in everything that we do you know it just shows that maybe we receive salvation we just accept it crisis are serious that we can go to heaven but we've not made him as our Lord of our lives of every area so the best proof of our conversion and the recommendation for the gospel is love but we know that you know we can't say that I have love love has to translate itself in action silent love is not enough it does not do good to anyone so you know even as we look into our own lives this morning we need to look at ourselves in various areas of our life if we are really showing the love of Christ in to people to our family to our spouse to our children people that we are relating to the also to the body of Christ the saints the people that we work along with the people who work for us you know are we showing them the love of God because that is the characteristic of who God is God is love and he wants us you know the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart soul mind and strength the second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as your self so here you know Paul is just you know even as he writes to various churches he you know he acknowledges their love that they have for Christ Jesus acknowledges their love that they have for the saints like he has written to the church at Colosse in Colosse in the letter of the book of Colossians but he also is writing personally here to Philemon and he's saying that you know he's heard of his love that means he's heard of you know the good reports that people have given about Philemon how he is a loving person generous you know because he has a church there in his house meeting at his house and how he's you know shows his love to people who are poor the poor saints the poor people and I think that should be also characteristic of us as believers should be love and faith love towards others and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ if we have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ it does translate or transcends into love towards others and towards other believers so he says that you know he's he's thanking God for Philemon because of his love and faith towards Jesus and also towards all the saints was six that the sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgement of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus now in in this whole letter to Philemon this one was you know the commentary writers find it very difficult to translate and so much is written about just this verse verse six you know because the phrase sharing of your faith which many commentary writers have found it very difficult to exegete to translate to explain it's because of the Greek word that is used there is Koinonia and Koinonia basically means three words it means sharing it means fellowship and participation so you know because of this Greek word Koinonia which means you know sharing of your faith the word Koinonia sharing is the Greek word which is used there is Koinonia and so they're trying to find out the best possible interpretation for this phrase the sharing of your faith so you know the commentary writers or theologians have come up with three possible meanings firstly because this word Koinonia means sharing so in that you know interpretation of the word sharing or the meaning of the word sharing it means that you know it could mean that you know that the sharing in the Christian faith that it might be a prayer that the faith which Philemon and Paul shared in basically will lead Philemon deeper and deeper into Christian truth so using this word sharing you know some commentary writers say it means that you know basically Paul is talking about sharing in the Christian faith so it might be a prayer that the faith which Philemon and Paul share in Christ Jesus their faith which they share in the gospel in the truth in Christ Jesus may lead Philemon deeper and deeper into the Christian truth okay so that is one interpretation because Koinonia means sharing another interpretation which commentary writers have come up with this phrase sharing of your faith because Koinonia also means fellowship some commentary writers say that it can mean you know that this may be a prayer that Christian fellowship may lead Philemon even more deeply into the truth so they're kind of finding you know what are the possibilities of interpreting this phrase sharing your faith in the best possible way so using the word fellowship they're saying it could mean that Paul is saying that you know it would be a prayer that the Christian fellowship may lead Philemon even more deeply into the truth and the third meaning because you know Koinonia also means sharing it can mean an act of sharing and in that case this verse will basically mean that it's my prayer Paul is basically saying it's my prayer that your way of generously sharing all that you have with the saints with the people around who live around you Philemon will lead you more and more deeply into the knowledge of the good things which lead to Christ and commentary writers say that you know the the best possible meaning of this phrase you know sharing your faith in verse 6 could mean this the act of sharing you know the third interpretation which I gave the third possible meaning which I gave the act of sharing because Paul is basically saying hey Philemon it's my prayer that the way you generously share all that you have with people around you with people in the church the saints and believers will leave you more and more deeply into the knowledge of the good things which leads to Christ so theologians and commentary writers say that the the correct meaning could be the third one the third interpretation which means an act of sharing so obviously you know Christian generosity was something that was characteristic of Philemon you know he not only had love towards people but he showed that in action and you know the way that he treated people who came to his house for fellowship the house church that met there and also many saints who were journeying you know traveling you know would come and stay in Philemon's home which means his home was open for the saints for the believers for those who were traveling even if he did not know who they were you know and they just found themselves very rested and refreshed in Philemon's house so the third possible meaning could be that you know what Paul basically meant by this phrase sharing of your faith is that he the way he generously shared his resources the the the way God has blessed him financially will lead Philemon more and more deeply into the knowledge of the good things in Christ Jesus again so you know it's possible that Paul means that the sharing of material things you know also could be prompted by faith you know it's when you have faith in Christ Jesus that you're also willing to share your personal belongings the material things that God has blessed you with your possessions your finances the money that you have you know sharing it with others and this is also prompted by faith so that is the best possible interpretation or the closest meaning to the phrase sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgement of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus verse seven for we have great joy and consolation in your love because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed by you brother so Paul has you know experience or derived much joy and encouragement from Philemon's love and he just takes time to affirm this fact just to acknowledge this fact and Paul remembered how wonderfully Philemon had just met the needs of other Christians by refreshing their hearts people who just came and stayed in his house people were journeying passing by Colossae you know Christian believers the way he just refreshed their hearts the way he just blesses people as well and this is not something that he that Philemon does once in a while but these are regular acts and they have lasting effects and that is why you know Paul has heard so much about the way Philemon just blesses others with what God has blessed him so because how do we know that this is something that is not something he does once in a while but is a regular acts and lasting effects because he says that you know because the hearts of the saints you know have been refreshed by you brother so the hearts means you know many people who and saints which means plural many people who have been blessed by him and have been refreshed and you know may have they would have met Paul and they would have you know shared their ministry experiences and shared how they went to Colossae and how they were blessed by Philemon you know so Paul is saying that Philemon has refreshed the inmost feelings and very self of the saints who visited him or stayed at his house so something that we can learn from Philemon here you know even as you know God has blessed us in various ways you know whatever it is whether it's small things big things you know we always constantly have to bless others refresh their hearts you know speak into their lives bless them and also you know gift financially or meet their needs times of their struggles you know just be there emotionally as well but also you know materially just blessing people even as God has blessed us because these are things that count for eternity you know these are things that have a lasting impact on people you know I just attended a funeral on on Thursday and the pastor was saying you know the person who is dead is already gone he's not able to see all the flowers that we bring the tributes that we give them the nice words that we speak to them about them you know because they're dead and gone but you know when they are living you know can we do things that would you know refresh their hearts that would bless them that would bring a smile on their face that would bless their heart you know just get flowers or you know have a meal with them say nice things to them encourage them by just you know speaking positive about who they are and what they have done how they have blessed others how they have been a blessing to you so sometimes we get into this whole whole rut of doing things for God you know we get so busy but we kind of miss out or just smiling at people just blessing people just speaking to the lives of people just thanking people for what they have done taking even people for granted even in our family our spouses or our parents or our children but just taking the time you know just to speak encouraging words just to do something nice you know which will have a lasting impact I think when we do that people will live a day more it brings so much of joy it brings so much of happiness you know just positive words just blesses people you know make their lives so much more fruitful and happy and you know just gives them the strength to move on so we can learn that from filaments as well okay we'll move on any questions so far before we look at verses 8 to 16 okay there are no questions then we will look at verses 8 to 16 can one of you please read verses 8 to 16 please 8 to 16 it reads therefore doing Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do yet I prefer to appeal to you on the basis of love it is as none other than Paul an old man and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus that I appeal to you for my son Onesmos who sorry who became my son while I was in chains formally he was useless to you but now he has become useful both to you and to me I'm sending him who is my very heart I'm sending him who is my very heart back to you I would have liked to keep him with me so that he could take your place in helping me while I'm in chains for the gospel but I did not want to do anything without your consent so that any favor you do would not seem forced but would be voluntary perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that you might have him back forever no longer as a slave but better than a slave as a dear brother he is very dear to me but even dear to you both as a fellow man and as a brother in the Lord so if you consider me a partner welcome him as you would welcome me if you if he has done you any wrong or owes you anything charge it to me Amen thank you say so Paul goes on here to request filaments to receive his runaway slave Onesmos back and in verse eight he says therefore though I might be very bold and tries to command you what is fitting so Paul is saying you know he could use authority that he has authority as an apostle as a leader and as the authority that he has over filaments because he was the one who led him to Christ you know so Paul is saying he could use his authority to command filaments to receive his runaway slave with kindness rather than vengeance but he says he prefers to make this appeal basis you know he he prefers to make this appeal on the basis of their Christian relationship their Christian love the love that they have as fellow believers in Christ Jesus as brothers in Christ and the love that binds them together as believers in Christ Jesus so he says you know he's playing aside his authority and he's not commanding filaments you know to receive his slave back on the basis of the authority that Paul can exert can use but here he's preferring to use you know appeal on the basis of the love that they share in Christ Jesus that they are brothers in Christ the Christian love the Christian fellowship the the relationship that they have in Christ Jesus because of their faith in Christ Jesus and the love that binds them together in in Christ and he he goes on later on to say why he's not commanding filaments but why he's making an appeal to him on the basis of love we look at that in a little while and then he says you know I might be very bold in Christ to command so the the word bold here basis basically means boldness confidence frankness or just being open and plain but Paul is saying you know I have much boldness and openness or he's saying I could be very bold to give an authoritative command but Paul is saying that you know he bases his boldness because of who he is in Christ or that Christ gives him the boldness to tell filaments what to do but he's saying you know rather than that you know he's saying that I basically would not use my command my authority but I would make an appeal on the basis of love so he says you know he will do what is fitting some versions say that it means you know some versions translate what is fitting as what is required or what should be done so Paul is telling filaments that with the boldness that Christ gives him he can command filaments to do what is required and fitting or what is proper for filaments as a Christian to do in the circumstances concerning Onesimus but you know he goes on in verse nine which says yet for love's sake I rather appeal to you being such as a one as Paul the aged and now also as a prisoner of Christ Jesus so he says yet which means rather rather than using my boldness my command which I have you know the authority the boldness the command in Christ Jesus because he has given me the authority and I can use that authority and I can command you in boldness a filament to do what is required and fitting what is proper for you to do as a Christian in the circumstances concerning Onesimus but yet which means rather Paul says I could you know I would rather do it in love I would make my appeal in love rather than using my authority and my boldness so the love he's basically talking here this is about the Christian love that they share in Christ Jesus or the brotherly love that they share and he says being such a one as Paul so he's reminding filaments and laying the ground for you know Paul's right to command but he's saying that you know I could do that because I am Paul the Apostle but I would rather not do it based on that authority I would do it rather on love and then he he you know talks about his age and that he's a prisoner of Christ Jesus which means he's just basically you know trying to bring about asking filament to be sympathetic towards him you know based on his circumstances so he's saying I'm not using any command I'm not using any boldness but I'm pleading to you of making this appeal in love based also on sympathy because I'm aged so Paul is saying that he doing this as an old man you know which means he's someone in some some of the versions it does not have the age but the translation there is old man so he says that you know I'm doing this because I'm an old man which means you know someone who's wise and experienced through the years you know who's carried authority through the years and also he's making an appeal not only as somebody who is an old man in terms of age wise and experienced but also as a prisoner who belongs to Christ Jesus so here he's the prisoner he's playing on the words basically Paul is writing from prison so he's saying that hey I'm a prisoner I'm in chains because of the gospel but also as a prisoner who belongs to Christ which means you know Paul is saying that I have made this choice to be that slave that born servant who has given myself completely to the will to the command to the obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ and in verse 10 he says I appeal to you for my son Onissimus whom I have be caught in while in chains so he's saying you know I appeal I urge and beseech so the focus being on Paul's appeared to find him in on behalf of his runaway slave Onissimus and an appeal that he makes on the on the basis of the ground of love you know how he writes about Onissimus just like how he writes about Timothy my son in the faith how he writes about Titus as also his son and also how he spoke about some of his converts like Titus and Timothy we read about this in 1 Corinthians 4 17 when he writes about Titus as his son in Titus chapter 1 verse 4 and not only does Paul refer to my son or you know two individuals but also he refers to the churches or the believers or the saints in churches he refers them to as his children he refers to the church at a current as his children he says he writes this in 1 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 14 he also refers to the church at that meets at Galatia when he's writing Galatians the book of Galatians the letter of Galatians Galatians chapter 4 verse 19 where he also refers to the church as children so here we see that you know it's basically Paul takes great joy great happiness you know in looking at the people that he has mentored the people that he has brought to the faith the people that he is looking after as his own children you know he he feels a great sense of the responsibility that spiritual ownership as a father of the house just taking care of the children so it just teaches us something here that you know some of us are fathers and mothers in the church and it's our responsibility to father mother those in the faith those in the church you know mentor them build them up in the faith strengthen them up as somebody who's mature somebody who's grown up you know just enabling them teaching them guiding them and helping them in their work in their journey of faith and that is what you know God calls us to do we see Jesus himself you know nurtured mentored the twelve disciples and they went on to you know nurture and mentor so many who carried on the work and so also Paul you know Paul it was not one man sure but he you know just invested into the lives of people even as he you know went around preaching teaching ministry but he took the time to you know mentor people to raise them up and we see that you know when Paul left the work did not die along with him but the work grew and multiplied because of you know how he as a father nurtured the children and you know the whole thing of him writing these letters two Titus two Timothy to the church at Corinth Galatia and other churches Ephesians and Colossians and other churches as well the church at Rome was because he had that father heart to father them to nurture them in that faith and I think that's very very important because that's what Christ wants us to do as well you know that is what he kept saying you know wait in Jerusalem you'll be endued or cloded with power from on high and go and preach and teach and baptize you know so that is what Christ has asked us and he wants us to continue and so even as Paul has done that we too need to be those fathers and mothers in the faith who are nurturing and building others up what a joy it must have been for Paul you know under those even miserable circumstances as a prison to lead this runaway slave onissimus to Christ so we see that you know even when Paul was physically in chains you know he did not limit himself from ministering from investing into people's life from writing to people encouraging them you know establishing order in the church but you know just see his focus he was not you know he was not taken up with the circumstances he did not yield with the difficult circumstances that he was going through he must have felt overwhelmed but he did not let that kill his passion his desire his love for Christ so you know even as we journey in our walk with Christ things are not going to be easy because we studied in second Timothy those you know who you know a part of the gospel they will suffer persecution that is part of what we receive part of the package of our salvation of the blessings that we receive along with that package comes persecution as well so we will face difficulties we will face challenges but that should not kind of stop us from you know doing or pursuing the call that God has placed on our life we need to continue running our race with perseverance and with endurance and no circumstances you know whether it's in season or out of season the speech teach minister you know just impart into the lives of people just like Paul did even when he was in chains so physical chains are no limitations to spiritual fruitfulness we can be fruitful even when we are going through challenges and difficulties even old age is not a restriction for us to you know be to extend God's kingdom to fulfill his plan and purpose for our life to build God's kingdom as well you know and you know Paul just called himself as an old man and now was a prisoner of Christ Jesus so look at his whole perspective of ministry that irrespective of you know whether he was beaten shipwreck whatever he went through persecution difficulties his age being in chains nothing could stop him from you know pursuing the call and doing what God has entrusted him to do portion him to do so we do not know how many people Paul led to Christ while in prison from Philippines we understand that you know the gods who were chained to him in prison were given the gospel without a chance to escape because Paul says this or writes this in Philippians chapter one verse 12 and 13 he says but I want you to know brethren that the things which happen to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospels that it has become evident to the whole palace guard and to all the rest that my chains are in Christ so we see that even when he was chained you know or in prison he even shared the gospel with the palace guards and even when he was testifying before them you know he basically gave a testimony not of what he has done or trying to defend himself but actually you know share the gospel share the truth about Jesus Christ and such a powerful testimony of this man Paul and something that we can learn and imbibe in our lives as well verse 11 who once was unprofitable to you but now is profitable to you and to me so Paul states that onissimus you know he's actually playing on words here the name onissimus basically means profitable or useless so his own name onissimus means profitable or useful so Paul is using the meaning of his name and playing on words here so he's saying that you know onissimus was once useless which means you know he when he was a slave maybe you know he was not heeding to you he was not doing his tasks he was being a difficult slave and also when he ran away it could have put so much of difficulty in filaments life you know but he's saying but you know he's now useful which means that you know now that he has accepted Christ now that he has come to know his identity of who he is in Christ you know that identity in Christ has made him a strong person and also strong enough to accept his own physical identity here in this world that he is a slave and that as a believer in Christ you know his identity has translated into him and who he is physically as a slave knowing his responsibilities now knowing that what he had done is wrong knowing that he has to go back to his master and ask for forgiveness and work for him and be a good slave so he's saying he was once useless but now he's become useful because of his identity in Christ that new identity has given him a sense of new purpose and identity of who he is in this physical realm as a slave as and his calling as a slave and he's willing to be useful both to you filaments and to me so he says but now which means but nowadays he has become useful both to you and which means both to filaments and to Paul so in some ways you know onesimus has become profitable to Paul perhaps you know he served as an assistant to Paul during his house arrest in Roman imprisonment you know maybe he was running errands for for Paul he was doing things for Paul and so filaments run away slave onesimus was now profitable you know to Paul because he was helping him so much maybe he was unprofitable to filament because he had escaped but he has become profitable to Paul and since filaments loved Paul if onesimus you know helped Paul actually he was helping filaments in one way so Paul is telling filaments look at it this way you know both of us are good brothers in Christ we love each other you know if your slave who was un is unprofitable to you now because he's run away but has been profitable to me you know in one way or the other he has been profitable to you as well because he has been of great use great profit and usefulness to me when I was in Roman imprisonment so by making this clear to filaments you know Paul is gently hinting that he would like to have on the miss sorry onesimus stay back you know so that he can be of great help to Paul though he could command filaments to do this and say hey filaments you know you're a runaway slave is of great use for me anyway you have many slaves so you know you don't need onesimus he's of great use for me and now I'm in chains I can't do anything much so he's doing everything for me so he could command a filament to you know that he would keep back onesimus but you know Paul chooses not to do that we see that he chooses to obey the law by sending onesimus back to filaments and also he's doing what is right in the eyes of God so we see that Paul not only writes to Titus and Timothy how young men old men young women older women slaves you know how they need to conduct themselves how as saints as believers we need to conduct ourselves with them so Paul is not just commanding others and writing to others and saying how different people have to conduct themselves in order in the church of Christ but we see that he himself or you know even writing to the people at Rome to Titus the Timothy that you know they have to obey the government obey the laws of the land obey the government and we see that Paul himself you know was to doing that he's obeying the law here by sending back onesimus because that is what the law required you know if you found a runaway slave you have to send them back to the master and you know that he's asking permission from filaments if you know he could send back onesimus because he's a great help so we see that Paul you know even though he's a great apostle he has great authority doesn't misuse his authority which is something that we all need to learn we can be in places of authority of position we can tell others what is the rules and the law but we can find ourselves sometimes not obeying it or doing it or we think that we are above the law or we are above what we have put in place because we are the boss but it's important that you know as we want others to adhere to the law we also need to follow it ourselves so you know he's saying that I'm going to send him back because that is the right thing to do so it was not until onesimus was found in Christ we see here in this verses that he has become useful or profitable but it's a general principle that you know we all become we find our usefulness our purpose when we accept Christ Jesus as our Lord and Savior because in Christ we find our purpose we find our identity we find our usefulness we find the purpose by God has created us and also it's only in Christ that we find our identity so here onesimus you know finds not only his identity in Christ he also knows that you know his calling and he can also be useful in Christ so some of us even as you know we might be in a place where we find our lives useless or unprofitable or you know we are kind of looking at our own self-worth our self-identity if we are born again Christians you know we need to get back into looking at our identity in Christ because that is who we are and you know the great price that price has paid for our identity and what he thinks of us and how he looks at us is how we need to see ourselves and look at ourselves and not believe the lies of the enemy and how what he tells us we are but look at ourselves in how Christ looks at us and identity that he has purchased or the identity that we have in Christ or if some of us are also in that place where we find ourselves useless you know Christ has taken us out of you know that mighty pit of sin and uselessness to become and put us on a rock you know the rock is Christ himself and you know he has brought us to a place where he sees us as people who are created in his image in his likeness with a plan with a purpose the plans that he has are so great so big because he's a great big god he has great big plans for us and he can use us mightily for his kingdom and it's important for us to turn our focus not on things that we look at you know ourselves as useless or you know that we don't have any sense of identity but look at us as Christ sees us and what he has purchased for us so here in these verses we see that Onissimus rediscovered that he was a slave of Philemon and he knew this even before but he actually lived in a denial mode you know and that is the reality of him running away because he did not want to be that slave but it's a fundamental truth you know that being in Christ means that we start of accepting what we are and where we are and where Christ is taking us to so you know we always look up up ahead and see where Christ is taking us where we belong and what he thinks of us and the great plans that he has for us so Onissimus is wanting you know not just because Paul wants to send him back but also Onissimus wants to return back to his master he's accepted his position that he is a slave and you know that he is a slave in reality but in Christ that he has been set free and he is using this newfound truth or this new freedom you know to go back to fulfill his responsibility so Paul sends Onissimus back to his place from which he ran away and we know that Onissimus accepts Paul's advice how do we know that because he did it willingly not just because Paul is sending him is because he could have run away again and the fact that you know he accepted Paul's proposal or he accepted this whole fact that hey you know yes I am a run away slave I've done something wrong but now in my new identity in Christ I need to go and ask for forgiveness I need to be that slave who you know works and is useful and profitable for my masters serve him like I'm serving Christ and the fact that he took it upon himself and he accepted this is a very fact that or the proof that we have this lecture or this episode in the Bible you know it's a proof that he did not go back or he did not run away but he went back to his master on his free will and in doing so he obeyed God and not just Paul because Paul asked him to do but he had you know obeying the will of God obeying what God has portioned for him in his life with this new sense of identity and purpose that he has okay we'll stop here we'll come back and look at verses 12 onwards after the break so we'll see you all after the break and we'll take any questions you'll have after the break thank you