 Welcome back after break. Just before we went for our break, we were studying Titus chapter 3, verses 10 and 11, where Paul is writing about false teachers and what, how Titus has to deal with them. And so he says reject divisive man, you know, first and second time just admonish them, but then after that, you know, totally just shun, avoid them, don't formally excommunicate them, but have nothing to do with them. And then he says that in the same verse in verses 10 and verse 11, he says, you know, such, such a person is warped, which means warped or twisted. These false teachers basically, you know, turn the truth inside out, you know, and whatever they're teaching has a negative impact on other people's life. And they themselves begin to live in a life of sin. And basically, hence he says that they are warped or twisted warped means, you know, they turn the truth inside out. And then he says, you know, such a person is warped and sinning being self condemned. Now the Greek term for this word self condemned is self condemnation. It can also be understood to mean that, you know, these warped or twisted teachers, you know, are condemning whatever they're saying, you know, it's condemning their own behavior or whatever they're teaching is condemning their own behavior or they are condemned by their own behavior because they're teaching something, their lifestyle shows something else. They're teaching, you know, all of these genealogies and, you know, do all of these, you know, follow all of these dietary laws or these food laws and, you know, circumcision that will make you righteous. But actually, if you look at their lives, they are living a life of sin. So, you know, they're trying to achieve righteousness through keeping all of these strict laws and rituals and genealogies and all of that has no, has makes no sense because the life that they're living is not right. Okay, not right standing with God. It can be easily seen that they're living a sinful life. So, you know, these twisted teachers are condemned by their own behavior. So Paul is saying you don't have to discuss with them or argue with them or the sun because they'll just leave them to themselves. Why? Because at one point of time, their own behavior will condemn their own twisted teaching. And then he goes on to talk about providing for God's people in verses 12 to 14, where, you know, he ends almost this letter by talking about a few people that he mentions in verses 12 to 14 and tells Titus to provide for some people who he's writing here in these verses. So can one of you please read chapter 3 verses 12 to 14, please? 12 to 14, and he reads, As soon as I send Artemis and Titus to you, do your best to come to me to Nicopolis because I have decided to winter here, there. Do everything you can to help Zenas, the lawyer and Apollos on their way and see that they have everything they need. Our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good in order to provide for urgent needs and not leave unproductive lives. Amen. Thank you, Sayi. So here Paul, you know, as we know, you know, in all of his letters, he closes letters by sending greetings and wishing people and, you know, sending other people who are along with him, his co-workers, co-laborers, their greetings as well. So we know that it shows us very clearly that Paul did not labor alone. He worked along or labored along with a team of people who were committed to ministry just as he was, who labored with him for the cause of Christ. And so, you know, here he again mentions a few significant members of his team. He mentions a person called Artemis, and this is the only reference for this man, Artemis, is found here. From his name, we can guess that he was a Gentile. And the fact that Paul considered him a worthy replacement for Titus, we can, you know, we can just come to a conclusion that he was someone who was competent, knowledgeable, faithful, and a mature, committed, passionate man of God. And Titus met Paul in Nicopolis after he left Crete. He went to Nicopolis, met Paul, and then headed north to Dalmatia. And then, you know, probably it was Artemis who replaced Titus at Crete. The next person is Taikikis. He was another faithful Gentile believer who is part of a native of Asia, which is western part of Turkey today. He had traveled along with Paul and his, you know, other men during the third mystery journey. We read this in Acts chapter 20, verse 4. And then later on, when Paul was, you know, imprisoned during his first Roman imprisonment, this house arrest, he was with Paul during this time. And Paul sent the letters to the churches at Ephesius, Colosse, with Taikikis. So Taikikis took the letter of Ephesians and Colossians to the churches. And he also, when he took these letters, Taikikis, you know, he spoke to the churches at Ephesians, at Colosse, about Paul's circumstances. We read this in Ephesians chapter 6, verse 21 and 22. And Colossians chapter 4, verse 7 and 9. And later Paul, you know, sent him to Ephesians to relieve Timothy so that, you know, perhaps Timothy could join Paul in Rome before his execution, but really did not happen. And then we see that Paul calls Taikikis a beloved brother and faithful servant and, you know, a born servant in the Lord. We read this in Colossians chapter 4, verse 7. So, you know, he looked up to Taikikis as someone who's a beloved brother, a faithful servant and a fellow born servant, which means, you know, he was a very valuable member of the team or a very valuable team member. Next, he mentions a person called Zennis, who is a lawyer. And Zennis is the only reference here in the Bible in Titus chapter 3. His Greek name may mean that he was also a Gentile. He was a Gentile lawyer. But the fact that he was poor enough, you know, caused Paul to ask Titus to help supply his needs, you know, so that, you know, he can be helped in his journey forward. You know, so here was Zennis, you know, along with a Paulist, you know, Paul is saying, hey, you guys just help these men so that, you know, they could be helped and then they can journey on and continue on their missionary journey or wherever they had to go. So these two men probably, you know, carried the episode of Titus to lead. And then the last person mentioned there is a Paulist. He was a Jew from Alexandria, that is Northern Egypt today. He was an eloquent, very eloquent orator. You know, he knew the Old Testament told us to do very well. Acts 18 was 24 and 25 also said that he was had a very, you know, was very fervent in his spirit. And he came to Ephesus, where Paul's close friends or teammates, core laborers, Priscilla and Aquila, you know, they invested their time and imparted into a Paulist's life. They taught him more of the way of God, taught him more of the gospel, more accurately, because he was well worse in the Old Testament scripture, but you know, they taught him the gospel and taught him the way of God more accurately. And the fact that, you know, even though he was such a learned man and mighty in scriptures and fervent in spirit, like we read in Acts chapter 18 was 24-25. The very thing that he sat and listened and, you know, was willing to be taught by these, this couple, Aquila and Priscilla, you know, shows that he had a very humble and teachable heart. And also we read that he had a very powerful ministry at Corinth. And then here in these verses Paul also mentions, you know, and let our people also learn to maintain good work. So he's basically, our people here is referring to the Christians or the believers, the saints at Crete. All believers, even though they go unnamed, even those who are living in obscure villages in Crete, you know, Paul says they are still part of the team. They're considered part of the body of Christ and they are to learn to take a lead in good works, which means, you know, their salvation should translate in doing good works for society, for people around, so that people would know the true and living God. And then he says to maintain good work. So again, Paul repeats one last time, you know, that Christians must learn to take a lead in good deeds. And then he also, as he's just mentioned, you know, Zeniths and Apollos, they need help in their journey and their ministry. So, you know, it will, it will be an excellent way for an excellent occasion for the people at Crete to engage in good works by just, you know, blessing Zeniths and Apollos with all of their needs. And also, they have the privilege of, you know, just doing good works. So, the Apostle Paul is reminding them of the privilege and opportunity they have at hand to do good works to Zeniths and Apollos. And then he ends this letter with a farewell in verse 15. He says, all who are with me, greet you, greet those who love us in the faith. So, all those were Paul's and their greetings to Titus. And, you know, Paul says, grace be with you all, amen. So, he chooses to close with these words, grace be with you all, which expresses not only his affection, but his desire for all believers, since grace is so vital, you know, for our experience. And I'll walk with the Saviour. Grace is not only the source of our salvation that we studied about in the preceding verses, but it's also the basis of our sanctification, our fruitfulness and our reward. So, we looked at, you know, the verses last Monday, you know, where he spoke about what grace does for us, you know, in verses 12 to 14, grace trains us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires. Grace trains us to live sensibly, righteously and godly in this present generation. Grace also trains us to live in godliness by looking ahead and behind. And hence, he also says that, you know, it's the grace of God that brought us salvation, that Christ's righteousness has imputed upon us, not because of our righteousness, but his perfect righteousness. We receive that as a merit because of the grace of God. So he says grace is not only the source of our salvation, but also the basis of our sanctification, fruitfulness and reward. And thus he ends this letter with grace be with you all. Any questions on Titus chapter 3? No questions? Okay, if there are no questions, then we'll move on to the last book that we have to study. It's a very, you know, short and a small book just has one chapter that is Philemon. We'll look at the introduction to the book of Philemon and then we'll study the book of Philemon. Before that, anyone has any questions, any doubts, anything you want me to explain again in Titus? No? Okay. Let's all turn to the book of Philemon. I'll just give you an introduction to Philemon and then we'll study chapter 1. It just has one chapter. Okay. So the author of the book of Philemon is Paul himself because, you know, the book of Philemon, Paul refers to himself as the author thrice here in verse 1 in verse 9 and verse 19. So he is the author of this book of Philemon or the letter of two Philemon. Paul writes this book, you know, or writes this letter to Philemon during his first Roman imprisonment, even as he wrote the other letters to the church at Colossian Episcis. That is Colossians and Ephesians. Along with that, he writes the letter to Philemon and this is all during his first Roman imprisonment. So how do we know that Paul wrote this letter to Philemon during his first Roman imprisonment is because in this letter to Philemon, Paul clearly mentions himself as a prisoner. So in verses 1, verse 9, verse 10, verse 23, he writes and he says as a prisoner. So basically, we know that he was in Roman imprisonment, his first Roman imprisonment, and during that time he writes this letter. Paul's imprisonment also seems to be, you know, from the same location as, you know, he writes the book of a letter to the church at Colossian Ephesians, that is Ephesians and Colossians, because the names that are mentioned in Philemon in chapter 10 and verses, sorry, in verses 10 and verses 22 and 24, or in verses 10, 22, 23 and 24, the same names that are mentioned in the letter to the church at Colossians in Colossians chapter 4 verses 7 to 17. So it becomes very clear that they are written in the same location because the names Epiphorus, Mark, Artichus, Archipus, Demus, Luke, Onissimus, Paul and Timothy are all mentioned in Colossians chapter 4 verses 7 to 17 and also in Philemon in verses 10 and verses 22 to 24. In Colossians chapter 4 verses 7 to 10, Tychicus was entrusted to deliver the letter to Philemon and Colossians because Philemon lived at Colossae. So, you know, the letter to Philemon, which is a personal letter, and the church or the believers of the churches at Colossae, which was a ball had given Tychicus to entrusted him with this responsibility. And when he took these letters, he was accompanied with Onissimus, which is mentioned in Colossians chapter 4 verses 7 to 9. And it's the same, Onissimus was mentioned in the book of Philemon as well. Now Paul was, you know, under house arrest in Rome during his first Roman imprisonment, which allowed, you know, people to visit him, his co-workers, and also that is why they say that he wrote this from his first Roman imprisonment because it gave him the opportunity for someone like a runaway slave like Onissimus to come meet him, for Paul to meet him, for Paul to share the Gospel with him, lead him to Christ, and also to mentor him, which would not have been possible if it was, you know, like he was during his second Roman imprisonment. And Dr. Lou, who wrote the book of Acts, you know, was with Paul in Rome during his first Roman imprisonment, and we read the details that he mentions in the book of Acts. So that is why they say that based on all of these criteria, they say that he wrote the letter to Philemon during his first Roman imprisonment. Now some commentary writers say that, or understand that, you know, Paul might have written this from Theria, but, you know, it's unlikely because, you know, it's not possible for a slave to run away from Colossae, to a place like Cysterea, which is a small city where he could be easily noticed and caught. But it's possible that he could have run away to a huge populace place like Rome, which is so highly densely populated with so many people and it's difficult to, you know, to look out for one slave among these huge populace people. So it's possible that he would have gone to Rome where he would have met with Paul who was, when Paul was under house arrest. And also people say it's not possible that Paul had written it from Cysterea because Paul expects to be released in the near future. That's why, that's what he writes to Philemon. And he tells him, hey Philemon, I'm going to be coming to meet you soon. So prepare a lodge, a place for me to stay. And he writes this in verse 22 of this letter to Philemon. So this is probable because, you know, he knew that he was in house arrest. He would soon be released, but this would not have been the case if he was in Cysterea where Paul knew that his only hope was to appeal to Caesar. Now, some people or commentary writers theologians say that he, he wrote this letter to Philemon from Ephesus, which is also not the possibility and unlikely reason because there's no evidence to confirm or affirm that Paul was implicit. In Ephesus, and also it's unlikely that Onesimus could have run away to a place like Ephesus, you know, it was because it was more than 100 miles away from Colossus. It was very far off. It couldn't have possibly run away to Ephesus. And, you know, and he couldn't have been there long enough to know Paul, but it was most likely at home. So they're saying that it was at Rome that, you know, Paul wrote this letter during his first Roman house arrest or Roman imprisonment. Now, what is a date? This book was written in, you know, according to the epistles of Colossian and Ephesian, you know, according to those letters and Taiki case apparently taking Onesimus along with him going back to Colossae. You know, taking that letter to the church at Colossae and to the church at Ephesus and to Philemon, it's most probably they say that it was written around AD 61. Now, who is Onesimus? Onesimus is a runaway slave of this man called Philemon. And in Philemon chapter one was 18. We read that, you know, he must have stolen some money from his master so that he could run away. And he ran away to Rome, which was heavily and densely populated. And hence he felt that it would have been, it would be a safe place for him to hide there. And in Rome, you know, he somehow came into contact with Paul, who was in prison and, you know, come into writers suggest two possibilities as to how he met Paul. One is, they say that Epaphorus had come from Colossae to visit Paul. And we read about his visit in Colossians chapter one, verse seven and eight and verse four, chapter four, verses 12 to 13. So Epaphorus, who belonged to Colossae where Philemon lived where Onesimus was a slave of Philemon, also lived in Colossae. And hence, you know, because the church met at Philemon's house and Philemon was one of the leaders of the church so people know him. And so Epaphorus would have come there, he would have seen the slave Onesimus and he might have recognized Onesimus when he ran away and went to Rome. And it would have been Epaphorus who would have brought him to Paul in contact with Paul so that Paul can share the gospel and lead him to Christ. Or it could also be that Onesimus, you know, may have been exhausted with all of his funds and he was in a desperate need. And, you know, he would have been very familiar with his name Paul because, you know, the church at Colossae, everyone knew Paul, he was an apostle. Philemon was closely related to Paul. And so, you know, he would have looked at Paul as his last resort to find help. And with this, you know, Paul led him to Christ and later on we see that, you know, Onesimus became very useful to Paul in his ministry. So when Paul, when Onesimus met Paul, Paul took an interest in him, you know, he shared the gospel, Onesimus accepted Christ. He became very useful to Paul, he ministered to Paul when Paul was in prison. And Onesimus became so dear to Paul that Paul calls him his son in the faith. We read this in verse 10 in this letter. And so much so that Paul wanted to keep him in Rome and not send him back to Colossae, back to Philemon. We read this in verse 13. Back since Onesimus belonged to Philemon and it was in accordance with the Roman law and Christian fellowship, you know, and his moral duty. We see that Paul not only writes to people and say, hey, you know, you have to follow the law, even though you don't like the government, even though you don't like the rules of the land, we think that it is not righteous. It's not from God, it is human. But we see Paul himself, you know, even though he says, hey, you know, you have to follow the government, you have to submit to authorities, you have to follow the law of the land. He himself, you know, follows it. So he wants to keep Onesimus back with him because he's been very useful in the ministry, but he sends him back. You know, he does this accordance to the Roman law, which entitles him to send back or run away, stay back to his master. And also according to Christian fellowship. So, you know, Paul sent Onesimus back to Colosse with Padikius, who took the episode of Colossians along with him and the letter to Philemon. And we see that in this letter, Paul requests Philemon to receive Onesimus as a beloved brother in the Lord, you know, not as a slave, because now he's not that, you know, pagan slave, but he is a born again slave, part of family. So he says, hey, receive him back as a beloved brother in the Lord. We read this in verse 10 and 16. And also, you know, he sends him back with the hope that Philemon will send Onesimus back to Paul because he's useful to Paul in the ministry, verse 21. So we see that even as Paul writes, we studied this in First Timothy, we studied this in the book of Romans. We studied in Titus chapter 2 where Paul says how, you know, slaves ought to behave, how we need to treat slaves. And he's been that exactly, you know, treating them like brothers in Christ. So we see that Paul not only writes to people telling them what they should be doing and what they should not be doing, but he himself follows it in his own life. Now, you could ask this question, why is a personal letter like this that's talking about a runaway slave? A personal letter to a person called Philemon writes in the book of, writes one of the books in the Bible. Why should it even be there in the Bible? Because it's just a personal letter. Of course, First Timothy, Second Timothy and Titus were also letters to people, but it also had, you know, church administration, a whole lot of church administration and what needs to be done. And that letter will be read to the churches, but this is more a personal letter. And why is this personal letter to Philemon in our Bible? So, you know, that question can pop up in our minds. So what commentary writers say that is in 80, 110, the Bishop of Ephesus was named, was a person called Onesimus. And they're saying that this could be the same. Onesimus, the runaway slave, went to Rome, you know, who became a believer. And if Onesimus was in his late teens or his early 20s, when Paul wrote this letter or, you know, when he met Paul and all that happened and he wrote this letter to Philemon, he could have been about 70 years old when it was 80, 110. And that was not an unreasonable age for a bishop in those days. And there's also some historical evidences that, you know, the letters of Paul were first gathered together as a group in the city of Ephesus. And perhaps, you know, Philemon being the bishop compiled the letters and wanted to make sure that his letter, you know, or his contract of freedom was included in the canonical books or in the books of the Bible. And that's why they're saying that, you know, the letter to Philemon was also included in the Bible. So that's briefly introduction to the book of Philemon. Anyone has any questions? Any questions? Okay. Okay, if there are no questions, then we will look at chapter one. There's only one chapter in the book of Philemon. So we'll study chapter one of this letter to Philemon. Okay, and one of you please read verses one to three, please. Philemon chapter one verses one to three. Anyone can read that for us, please. Philemon chapter one, one to three. Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus said, Timothy, our brother, to Philemon, our beloved fellow worker, and Afiya, our sister, and Archipus, our fellow soldier, and a church in your house. Grace to you and peace from God, our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Thank you, Rupa. So here Paul begins by saying Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus. So the beginning of this letter is very unusual. Of the 13 letters that Paul has written to various churches or individuals. In nine of such letters he calls himself as an apostle in the opening verse. We saw this in 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Romans, and Titus as well. But in this letter, along with the letters to the church at the Thessalonica and Philippi, which is Philippians and 2 Thessalonians, Paul appealed to his leader more as a friend and less as an apostle. So along with this letter and along with Philippians and 1 Thessalonians, Paul is making an appeal more as a friend and less as an apostle. But, you know, we see that other letters Paul usually identifies himself as an apostle. But on this occasion, he's basically writing to a personal letter to a personal friend. So a friend writing to a friend and he drops his official title. He's not writing as Paul the apostle, you know, but Paul as a prisoner of Christ. And here at the very beginning of this letter, Paul lays aside all appeal to authority. And he's trying to tell Philemon, hey, I'm not writing to you, you know, with authority saying that hey, I'm an apostle. So you have to take back Onesimus as, you know, as a slave. He's a runaway slave. He's robbed your money. He's done wrong to you. I agree. But you have to forgive him, take him back, not as a slave, but as a brother. And, you know, because he's useful in the ministry, send him back to me. So Paul is not writing this on the terms of authority, which he could have used, but he's making an appeal as a friend to another friend. And he's making an appeal out of sympathy and on the basis of love alone. So when Paul calls himself a prisoner of Christ Jesus, he says more than he's in prison because of the gospel. He sees in his outward circumstances that that is his imprisonment and image of his spiritual condition, where he is basically identifying himself as a prisoner that is bound to Christ Jesus. So outwardly, he's a prisoner of the Roman government, but in reality, you know, he's bound and he's so dependent on Christ that he is a prisoner of Christ. And then he goes on to mention and Timothy, our brother. So Timothy was with Paul when this letter was written and probably Timothy knew Philemon well as new Timothy Philemon. And hence Paul mentions his greetings on behalf of Timothy as well. And then he says to Philemon. So this letter is addressed to Philemon who was Onesimus' master. Now his name is only found in the first verse of this letter or this epistle. And we know nothing much about this person Philemon except that what we learned from this letter. So what do we learn from this letter that Philemon lived at Colossae? And you know, there was a church that met at this house. We know this from verse one. And I said in those days they had, you know, all met in house churches. And he was also a convert of Paul, which means Paul led into Christ. We know this through verse 19 where it says, not to mention that you owe me your very self, which means that, hey, I am the one who led you to Christ. So he must have been converted by Paul either at Ephesus or elsewhere. But most probably in Ephesus, because we know that, you know, for three years Paul had a good ministry at Ephesus, specifically for two years where he taught continuously in the School of Tireneus. And we know that when we started the book of Timothy that, you know, many churches, many people were trained in this School of Tireneus and they went out toward surrounding regions of Ephesus and how, you know, they raised up those churches. The seven churches in and around Ephesus. So, you know, so it's most probably that, you know, Philemon was led to Christ and also built up in the faith, mentored by Paul, taught by Paul. It was two years when he was ministering the School of Tireneus. We also know that Philemon was a wealthy man because if he had to own slaves, we read this in verse 10, verse 11 and 16, that, you know, he should have been a wealthy man. Also, he was a wealthy man because he would have had a big house to accommodate a church to meet in his place. Verse two, we see that a church meeting in his place. Also, we know that he would have been a wealthy man because Paul speaks of his kindness and generosity towards Christians, which Paul writes about in verse five to verse seven. And also that Paul request him for a place to come and stay, which means he would have had a huge house which has places for other people to come and lodge and stay, which we read in verse 22. And then he says, our beloved friend and fellow laborer, so he Paul calls Philemon his beloved friend and fellow laborer. This shows the deep personal relationship that Paul shares with his co-workers and fellow laborer would also, you know, seem reasonable to assume that, you know, Philemon was a leader of the church at Colossae and not occupious as some scholars state. And then in verse two, it goes on to say to beloved Appiah. So Appiah was basically, you know, Philemon's wife and she's not mentioned anywhere else in the New Testament, you know, but why is Paul mentioning Appiah? Because the customs of those days was, you know, that the wife would supervise all the slaves in the household. So since Paul was writing about Onesimus was a runaway slave, it also involved Appiah's decision, so he also mentions her name. And then here it mentions occupious. Occupious, some people say is, you know, Philemon and Appiah's son, but some people say that, hey, you know, his name is mentioned in Colossians chapter four, verse 17, where Paul admonishes occupious concerning his work and says to occupious, take heed of the ministry which you have received in the Lord that you may fulfill it. So some people say occupious was the pastor of the church meeting at Philemon's house. And some scholars say that it was not occupious, but it was Philemon, but anyway, his name is mentioned here. And yes, he says, you know, occupious a fellow soldier, so he may have been a Christian teacher at Colossae. That's why Paul calls him a fellow soldier and probably a member of Philemon's family. And then he goes on to say that to the church that meets at your home. So he says, you know, he greets the people who meet the church that the saints and the believers who gathered at Philemon's house. And, you know, we know that Christians had no places of gathering, they did not have their own church buildings, but they met in house churches. And hence, you know, Philemon had a church meeting at his house. And he says in verse three, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. So again, from God is Paul's customary greetings found in each one of his letters. However, in this greeting, it's not directed towards a congregation or believers of the church, but just to an individual that is to Philemon. And hence this makes this letter very unique among Paul's other writings. And, you know, this Philemon really is a personal note written by Paul to one man. And we know that grace, mercy and peace comes to us from God the Father. He's the source, the giver and the one who blesses us with grace, mercy and peace. God our Father, you know, unlike the other epistles that Paul writes here. He does not say God the Father, but God who is a father to us, which means God is fatherly. That is, you know, he's talking about the father figure in God the Father that we find. So the statement here recognizes the fatherhood of God rather than just the title of God as the Father. So Paul basically is saying or reminding Philemon that irrespective of our social standing, you know, whether we are a slave or master or free, we are all one in Christ Jesus because God is our Father. And because God is our Father, we are all children of God. And since he does not treat us partially, you know, irrespective of our standing, we need to consider each one of us who are born again, who are part of the family of God as brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus. Okay. Any questions so far? Any questions from verses one to three? Okay. There are no questions. We will move on to verses four to seven. So again, one of you please read verses four to seven, please. I thank my God, making mention of your, of you always in my prayers, hearing of your love and faith, which you had toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints, that the saying of your faith may become effective by the knowledge, by the acknowledgement of every good thing which is in you in Jesus Christ. For we have green joy and consolation in your love because the hearts of the saints have been repressed by your brother. Amen. Thank you, Abinas. So says I thank my God. So Paul prayed often for Philemon like he prays for everyone else. And he prays with thanksgiving to God for Philemon because Philemon had been such a blessing to Paul that he prayed often and he prayed gratefully and thank God for Philemon. He says he makes mention of you, making mention of you always in my prayers. So in Paul's letters, you know, four times he says he makes mention for people. We studied this in Romans, Romans chapter one was nine. We also see this in his letter to the church at Ephesus, you know, Ephesians chapter one was 16. The church at Thessalonica, first Thessalonians chapter one was two and here in Philemon was four as well. So he's making mention means that Paul did not pray long prayers or intricate prayers for these people or for Philemon. But he did often mention Philemon in his prayers. So, you know, it's a nice thing that we learn from Paul that, you know, to keep remembering people who have invested in our lives, people that we mentor, people who have, you know, have been have blessed us part of our ministry teams in the past. Remember them and pray for them because there's always enough reason to thank God for fellow believers, even if they are still, you know, things that need to be worked on in their lives or whatever. But, you know, it's good to give thanks for them. So in this letter, there is no hint that there are attitudes to be changed or false doctrines to be corrected. But Paul demonstrates basically his genuine personal love in a very, very, you know, tactful way. He respects Philemon as a person. He wants him to receive Onesimus back, not as a slave, as a brother, to forgive him. Also, he wants Philemon to release Onesimus back to him so that he can be useful for Paul in his ministry. But he does not want to force any decision on him. He just wants to request him based on love, brotherly love, you know, them being brothers in Christ, children of God, because they have their Heavenly Father as their father. So, you know, it's, Paul evidently just is leaning on the Holy Spirit to show Philemon who is his friend, what is the right thing to do even as he writes this letter. Okay, so we can learn something from this as well, you know, it's a very healthy way of maintaining personal relationships. You know, sometimes we think we know best how the other person should behave, should react, should act, you know, but in some cases that may not be true. You know, you know, we just have to tell the other person and just leave it at that and get the other person to make the decision for themselves and not just force them or get them to act on what we want to say. You know, it seems that we always know better how a person should act than the person himself. Well, in some cases, you know, it could be true, but this does not mean that it's not our task to go and tell them what is right or wrong, or, you know, guide them in the way of the truth. But it's important that even as we do that, we do need to do it very cautiously because, you know, what is a speck in someone else's eye, you know, is like a plank in our own. And, you know, so we need to be very careful and we need to, you know, wait for the Holy Spirit to lead us and guide us and to convince us, you know, that what we are going to do, what we are going to say, you know, is in a worthy manner the right way and that's what the Holy Spirit wants us to do. Okay. Verse 5 says, hearing of your love and faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and towards all the saints. Okay, we'll stop here. We'll stop at verse 5. I just wanted to discuss about when did I say I'm going to give you the test for Second Timothy? Is it today or on Wednesday? I've kind of forgotten. Maybe I made a note of it. Anyone remembers? It's, yeah, it's Wednesday 12th. Yeah. Okay. Okay. It's Wednesday 12th. So I'll post it on Wednesday. Now we've finished Titus. So when do you want to have the test on the book of Titus? Can you suggest a day, please? It's the 19th. All right. April 19th, which is a Wednesday. Is that fine? Because you have the last assessment is on Philemon. So it's, so 12th is your assessment on Second Timothy is 19th. Okay. For Titus. Okay. So we'll have, since most of you said, okay, we'll have it on the 19th. Okay, everyone, I'll meet you next Monday. Next Monday will be our last class because we've finished Philemon. And, you know, we'll go ahead with the assessment this Wednesday and the following Wednesday, and then we'll discuss a date for Philemon. Okay. Which will just be, I think, 20 marks test. Okay. Thank you, everyone. Have a blessed day and a blessed week ahead. God bless you. Thank you.