FORGIVEN BUT STILL UNFIXED - Tim Dilena

They said a young man gave us life to the Lord. light up some weed and smoke weed on the street. And the Lord put it on our heart that is next step was going to be TSC water baptism and he not only got saved but is now going through the class to get water baptized next in the next couple of weeks said so I won't use his name so we let him know about the water baptism and then today Diana minister to another young man name and they just gave me his name he received the Lord also registered for water baptism and I'm so excited for those young men. They may be here this morning or in the first service that just that became born again but I want to just not only talk to them but I want to talk to those that have not only been saved for maybe four days but for 40 years. And I feel like that God wants to do something I want to I want to share something from I want to preach from an entire book today and entire we're going to go all the verses from the book of Psalm I'm kidding we're not going to go through the book of Psalms. We're going to be here till the next nor Easter then was what we'll do. But I want to talk to you about this I want to talk to you about forgiven but still unfixed forgiven but still unfixed. How many would say these words I'm forgiven but there's still a lot of work to be done anybody with me on that. Look at the person next to you and say I need a lot of work tell them that say I need a lot of work in my life. So here's what we're going to do we're going to just before we pray I want to tell you what happened and please don't I know just pray just pray don't email me or text me. So just before service it was it was just the oddest thing probably hasn't happened to me in like 40 years. So if it's an attack or just some physical thing that just blew my nose to our I haven't had a nose bleed and it just it wouldn't stop. And so I couldn't come out we had to just make sure and I just said I'm preaching today I brought I said so don't send me remedies or anything about hop on one leg and I'm not doing any of that. So I'm just we're praying it through but I brought tissue I said I don't care I said if I preach and I feel this I'm sticking this in my nose I'm just going to tell you and if someone goes why does he have tissue in his nose just say he's fighting the devil. That's all you have to sell somebody he's fighting the devil but I'm going to preach today I'm just going to tell you that right now. So how many how many today because I don't know it's not just me because I feel like this is such a message of hope that God wants to speak today. I'm going to hear today you need that healing in your body would you just raise your hand. Oh my this is the sick group today this is lift your hands I'm with you I lift lift your hand this is that old that old song that that play the baby again. I am the God you know this that healing I am. Come on if you need healing just lift your hands to I sent my word I sent my word. I am the Lord your healing let's sing it one more time one more time come on we're going to believe for healing today. I am the God. I am the Lord. I sent my word. So father with our hands lifted up we're just saying we're asking for healing today in Jesus name. Father for those that are battling whether it's me with an issue of blood I'm praying dry it up let it be gone in Jesus name. Those that may be facing whether it's in back pain or migraine or it's as serious as cancer diabetes something a heart condition we're going to pray today. Send your word and heal our disease today. Father that men and women not only would be sitting here and feeling the healing power of Jesus but those watching around the world would you heal those in South Africa and Nigeria heal those Lord God in Paraguay and in Mexico. Heal those Lord God I'm going to believe in Germany heal those Lord God I'm going to believe in the UK in Northern Ireland Slovenia.

So father we're asking for the mighty work of Jesus to take place today. Let the word of God do something special today. We bless you, and we thank you in Jesus' name. And everybody said, "Amen." Now, I know you greeted somebody, but I need you to do it again so I can dismiss the choir and the screen would come down. You're the one o'clock, so find a couple people and just say, "I'm so happy you made it to church today." And then you may be seated. Choir, you are dismissed. God bless you. What a blessing. Thanks, guys. Get something to write with, get some note, or get ready to take some pictures of the screen. I'm gonna walk you through something that has so blessed me. And this is some of it how it started. Anyone ever feel like this? I said this out loud to myself. I'm just so tired of me. Anybody ever feel that way? It's used to go, "I am just so tired of me." I feel like, as I'm getting older, that as my physical site is maybe weakening and having to now get readers so I can read the pages, I feel like that my spiritual site is getting better. That I think as you get older, your spiritual site gets better while your physical site may be weakening.

And I think that's what happened to the apostle Paul. The older Paul got the more he saw, he saw what was unfixed in him. He began to see it. Let me explain this to you. When one of the first letters that Paul writes is Galatians, and what he says in Galatians 1-1 is actually this. He goes, "Paul, an apostle." It's 48 AD. It's very close when he starts ministry. And so he is referring to himself as, this is my title, this is who I am. See this a lot that it's so easy that we want people to know this is what we are, who we are. Then just about seven years later, his, maybe his physical site is weakening, but his spiritual site is opening up a little bit more. In 1 Corinthians 15-9, he doesn't even call himself an apostle, he calls himself this. I'm the least of the apostles. He said, I'm starting to realize that, man, I don't have it. That title isn't helping me, I'm the least of all those. And then that happens five years after that in the Ephesians, the book of Ephesians, Paul begins to leave the titles and looks at the church and says, I'm like you, in fact, I'm not just like you, I'm the least of all of you, I'm the least of all the saints. Like it's starting to become even clearer to Paul. And then when he's coming to the end of his life in 64 AD,

he goes from the boardroom to the church and out the doors. And then he just says this in 1 Timothy 1, 15, he goes, I'm the chief of all sinners. He said, I'm the worst of the worst. This is older Paul, this isn't even younger Paul. This is Paul beginning to say, my eyesight's going, but my spiritual site is very clear for what I'm beginning to see. I love what Billy Graham's wife, when she was coming close to her own death, Ruth Graham made her family, what she made her family put on her tombstone. She caught it, it was like this revelation to her. She was driving one day and she entered into a construction zone on the highway. She saw those cones, she saw the orange signs. And when she reached the end, after slowing down to 20 miles an hour on the highway, she reached the end and saw these words. End of construction, thank you for your patience. And she says, that's it, that's what I want on my tombstone. I wanna put end of construction, thank you for your patience. Folks, when you get saved, a bunch of orange cones come down and we are just a work in progress. Amen, that's all we are. That's how the apostle Paul saw it. It's the orange cones that begin to come. There's still a work that God does, those orange cones like Ruth Graham saw go down to the day that we go to heaven.

And here's why this happens. I started to realize this and this was my moment when I got tired of me. I started to realize this and this book came alive to me. I realized you can be forgiven of your past, but the past will be unfixed. It's still something that we have to address and things that we have to deal with, forgiven and fixed are two different things. Just because you're forgiven doesn't mean everything is fixed. What do you mean, Pastor Tim? How many know you can come to an altar, raise your hand, say a born-again prayer, and just because your relationship with God is right, how many know that your relationship with the New York courts may not be right? How many know you can be right with God and wrong with the IRS? You can be right with God and wrong with your probation. though you get saved, you can still be in debt? Because those things have to be addressed, those things have to be looked at. I was sharing with somebody, I said, "If you robbed a bank and get saved, are you forgiven and going to heaven?" The answer was yes. When you tell the judge you can't lock me up now because I'm a Christian, I said, "Bro, you're going to jail." I mean, just tell you that right now, I'm just telling you, you can be going to heaven and to jail at the same time. And here's why you need to understand that, is that God's forgiveness always exonerates in the courts of heaven, but not guaranteed in the courts of earth.

But you have God inside of you now. It's God beginning to say, "You've got a relation with me, but now we've got to begin to fix the stuff that has had problems." That while sin is forgiven in an instant, consequences can linger. It can linger around for a long time and we'll have to be addressed. There's nowhere I saw this more than when I started when David Wilkerson asked me to come as a 20-year-old, a 19-year-old to Detroit. I'll never forget, I was just, I was a volunteer intern on staff and all the leaders were gone. So I was at the office and put my car there in our office, the church, that was the office, was right next to the projects in Detroit. And while I was there, I had a young man come knock on the door of the church. He was a drug dealer a few blocks over and he came in, put a gun on my desk and said, "I just shopped somebody last night." And he said, "To me, I grew up in the church and I couldn't take the conviction of the Holy Spirit any longer. So I saw your car here and I came because I needed to ask you, what am I supposed to do?" I remember praying with this young man, couldn't be any more than in his early 20s and I watched the tears come down his eye, really had just a real moment with God, let him to the Lord. But though he saved, though he addressed his salvation, he has an outstanding issue that we can't just, we can't just go, you saved, go, go and sin no more. But there's something that's there. Did his salvation zero out what he did the night before? He saved. But here's what I told him. I said, "You're a Christian now. That's settled." But I said, "We have to deal with what you're faced with right now." And I literally told him, I said, "Would you let me go to the police, give them your gun, your name, tell them what happened, and tell them that you also became a Christian."

He said he would, listen to these words, he said, "I'd rather be free on the inside and locked up than locked up on the inside and roaming these streets." And he gave me that permission and I watched a young man get liberated and what God did this amazing thing inside of his life. This is incredible because salvation does forgive sin past, present and future, but many times it doesn't resolve it in man's eyes. Resolve comes from integrity, honesty and truth because Christ is in us. Christ in us gives us the wisdom and the courage to look at those things. This is such an important issue because when people come to Christ, you're not just bringing a heart that needs to be forgiven, a heart that needs to be changed. How many know you're bringing a whole bunch of baggage with you also and you're bringing stuff? What do you do in those moments? And here's what's amazing that my heart just got gripped with. There is a whole book of the Bible that's devoted to forgiven but unfixed. There's a whole book of the Bible that's devoted to dealing with this, that you're saying you're going to, you have to deal with God but then you're going to have to turn around and deal with what you just ran away from. It is a 25 verse book called Philemon. Philemon, this little book that comes at the end of the New Testament, is so powerful. If you're here today, you're not a Christian, there's something for you there because the first issue you've got to get resolved is what's going on inside of your heart. That's being born again, that's when God begins to forgive you of your sin. And if you are saved and running from things that you should be addressing, this book is for you. It is so practical, it is so powerful as you look at this and I have to give you just a little bit, I have to give you the three, a background and the three people that are part of this book because if you do, then all of a sudden the names and the story really just starts to live right off the pages of these 25 verses. So just for a moment, get ready and follow with me, the background of the people in Philemon.

It's the first, it's Paul, Paul's writing the letter, Paul is in prison in Rome and He is an apostle and he's writing this letter, this 20. The person he's writing it to, his name is Philemon. He is a Christian who had a slave who ran away. I'll explain that in a second. And this man either leads a church or the church is actually in his house. And so he's writing a letter to him about the third man, which is Onesimus. That's the man that ran away. That's the slave that ran away to Rome who gets saved while he's in Rome trying to hide amongst the millions of people in the largest city in the world. This man was running away and happened to run into salvation, happened to run into his future and his destiny. It is so powerful that this man who tried to run away ends up running right into God. And it's something that's so hit me because it's something that we realize that to run away and to try to even get away from God, you begin to realize that God is following you the whole time. He's on your trail going to find you even though you try to hide in the biggest cities. It is a book about a man that had to face God. And then once he faced God, becomes a Christian, God, and really the Apostle Paul, turned him around and said, "Now you've got to face a past that's been unaddressed. Now you've got to deal with how you got here." And this way, he was saying, "You can't run anymore. I can't just sit there and say, 'Now you're a Christian. You don't have to worry about what you just left. You just ran 1,300 miles out of your way and God made you bump into me." And so this is what happens. That's why it's so important when we do a conference here. In August, we did the women's conference with Priscilla Shire. It was a powerful time as all those ladies came. And now, next weekend, we have, it starts at 10 a.m.

It's just on Saturday, 10 to 12.30 is the men's conference made for more. And it is a challenge to every man because what it is, it's going to take men and make them face the things that they need to face, that you have been made for more, that God has called you. Mark Batterson, who pastors in one of the most important cities in the United States, Washington, D.C., has an incredible church right in D.C. And Mark will be with us. Be two sessions. And I want to just challenge all of you men, not just online, but you that are here, to give up those two and a half hours, 10 to 12.30, because it's going to be that moment that you can go, "Well, I'm already saved," but some of us need that turnaround, somebody to turn us and say, "Now let's deal with these issues." You've been made for more. You've been made for not just to become a Christian, but you've been made to do something for God. You're going to see that in this story. This is, so when we're inviting you to, whether it's Priscilla Shire or Mark Batterson, it really is that turnaround moment for you to understand why God did save you, why God did change you, why God did this work inside of you. This is Paul speaking to Onesimus, this slave. Slavery in the days of Paul is not like the heinous crime that this country has faced. And when you read the New Testament, there was two to five million slaves in Rome that was more occupational, that people would serve between 10 to 20 years and in a role. It was almost like signing a contract, but it was very, very dangerous to run away and to break the contract. If you broke the contract, it was either you would face death or branding iron. They would brand the letter F on you saying that you were fugitive. It was very real of what was going to take place. Onesimus ran away, and by law he can be killed or branded. Paul knew this, Onesimus knew this, and Philemon knew this.

And we're now in this moment of what do you do? Will God, will Onesimus let God not only face him for salvation, but turn him around and say, "Let's face, let's fix what's been unfixed." Your soul is saved, your life is changed from the inside, but let's go backwards. Onesimus made this decision, a steal from his employer, run to Rome, blend into the biggest metropolitan city in the world, left as a rebel, and never realized that by chance he runs, he gets arrested in Rome and runs, who do you think becomes his cellmate while he's in Rome? The Apostle Paul, you can't even make that up. You're with some million people, and you still get arrested in the city, and God change This is incredible. And what does Paul do? Paul does what he always does. Leads the man to Christ. And he leaves him to Jesus. Onesimus is transformed. But now you have an elephant in the room. Onesimus is a fugitive, an unfixed past. And now he's going to have to face it with, though, with Christ in him. That he's able to do this. This is important. I wanna walk you, just take about three or four minutes to walk you on this journey. I want you to understand this today. Those are watching online, university campuses, different countries in different states. God works out the details for your salvation. You, listening, being here today. You understand your miracles today.

You shouldn't even be here today. Don't let that get old. You are sitting next to a miracle that God went after. And God began to bring them to eternal life. You're here as a miracle, listening. And so don't dismiss this on how God intersects lives. And so God intersects the lives of Paul and Onesimus. Folks, do you understand? Let me walk you through this. You're gonna see notes come on the screen very fast. Philemon and Onesimus live in Colossae. That's the city they live in. Paul lives in Jerusalem. Do you understand those two cities are 700 miles apart? And there's no way that Paul should meet Onesimus unless God gets involved. And so God is about to get involved. So God brought two people together from Colossae and Jerusalem and said, I'm gonna do it this way. You're gonna meet in Rome in a jail cell. And that's where it's all gonna start. So let me take it from Paul's standpoint, how Paul ends up in Rome. This is amazing. You have to go all the way back to Acts 21. Let me do this fast.

Here are your, how many know these words? Here are your cliff notes. Anybody remember cliff notes when you didn't wanna read the book, you cheated that by cliff notes. That's the way. Here's your cliff notes. In Acts 21, believers are telling Paul not to go to Jerusalem. So what does Paul do? Paul goes to Jerusalem. What happens in Jerusalem? A riot happens in the temple. Paul is there in the temple, preaching the gospel and Paul gets arrested. This is all God's plan. Then in Acts 22, 23, Paul is testifying to the council. While he's testifying, a group of men begin to say we will fast until we can kill this guy. So they find out about it. So the government gets 200 soldiers to move Paul to Caesarea. So Paul can stand before two governors and a king. Felix, Festus and Agrippa. But while he's there, Paul says four words that change everything. Paul says in Acts 25, 11, while they're trying to testify against them.

Paul just simply says, I appeal to Caesar. That's an automatic Rome trip. But that trip wasn't like on like Delta or on JetBlue. That trip is different. Paul is sent to Rome in Acts 27 with 276 prisoners. He's on a prison boat. He has chained at the bottom of this boat on his way to Rome, not realizing another story is playing out in Colossae. That an anesthemous is gonna end up in the same place. While Paul is going to Rome on a ship, a prison ship, there is a shipwreck on the Rome journey. They're stranded on an island in Malta for three months and even Paul had insult to injury. Paul is bit by a snake while he's stranded on this island. Floats there, his life is rescued. They finally arrive in Acts 28, 16, when he says when we entered Rome. And guests who gets arrested and is put in the same prison cell as Paul, but onesomus. So Paul gets there through death threats. He gets there on a prison ship, stranded on an island, bitten by a snake, gets to jail, and who gets chained up to him? But this guy named Anesomus, that God was going to do something and he thought he was running away from God, but he didn't realize he was running right in smack,

right into God in the middle of Rome. And what is miraculous that makes me laugh is that Paul and Anesomus's boss, Philemon, are friends. Talk about messing this guy with this whole thing up. Here's Paul, who's friends with Philemon and knows this guy. You'll see this in the letter. And here's what's amazing. There are three to five million slaves in Rome and the one Paul meets in jail comes from a friend's home who runs a church. I can just tell you this is a God set up. God is setting this whole thing up. He's bringing 700 miles altogether. That's why you're sitting here today. Listen, I don't know who you are. We don't even know how you got it. You may have just came into this place because she said, "Oh, it's a Broadway theater. Let's get out of the rain." And it's free. Let's come for the show. And here you are. The show is you got a gospel choir and you're going, "Okay, let's just listen to the music." And somehow, you can't even leave. You feel like your feet are glued to the floor. That's the Holy Spirit's. Understand some. Some of you may have gone to a hotel concierge and say,

"Is there a synagogue or a religious place?" And you showed up here today. What is God doing? God's bringing 700 miles. He's intersecting you for a miracle today. You don't know why you're here. I can tell you why you're here. God's about to get ahold of your life. God was working out details for three years for the two men to meet for Onesimus to get saved. Acts 21 happens in 59 AD. Philemon was written in 62 AD. It's three years. And this whole thing comes. Onesimus and Paul meet in a prison cell. The runaway is going to meet an apostle. And while Paul is there, he's writing three letters. And this last one he writes is what changes everything. He writes, they're called the prison epistles. He's writing Colossians, Ephesians and Philippians. Well-beloved books of the New Testament. They're letters. Epistle means letter. Just so you know, a pistol means letter. An apostle is not the wife of an epistle. So just understand something. So you just, apostle, apostle is a leader. An epistle is a letter. So just keep this in mind. And there's one other letter that this man is going to write

that gets overlooked. But really what it deals with is being forgiven and then turning us around to face a past. Turning us around to deal with something that's unfixed. Jesus had forgiven Onesimus. But we don't know about Philemon yet. We don't know where that's at. How are they to approach Philemon? Paul is now faced with this dilemma. Yeah, this man is saved. God brought us together. God brought all of this together. And now all of a sudden God is, God is wanting to do something inside of him. God is wanting to say, now that you're saved, you have to understand there's things that need to get unfixed. And it happens in all of us. None of you get saved. I didn't get saved. And all of a sudden everything's perfect. We still carry the baggage. I dealt with that in some years ago in a church where this Muslim woman comes to Christ from having dreams in Iran as a teenager, comes to Christ. But her husband was a strong Muslim. And finally, we would meet together. And these were his words to me. He goes, how can you say she's a Christian? She's not changed.

She's not changed. She seems to be just so mouthy. She needs to be there. I said, she's just become a Christian. Let God work upon her. Let God do his work. And I sat for almost three months every Sunday night before I preach. And we would have these very heated exchanges of what Christianity was, of what God does in people's lives. And that sometimes that you may come to faith, but you have all this baggage. That's Philemon. That's the book here. Talk about baggage. The baggage that Philemon is facing is this. I've got, I'm saved, but I make it branded. I make it killed in this. This young lady that became a Christian. And I was talking to her husband. Finally, I just said to him, I said, I want to just read something to you. And I remember it on a Sunday night reading to him something from C.S. Lewis. And I said, C.S. Lewis was doing a Q&A in a book called God in the Dock. And I said, I want to read to you because everything we're discussing begins to deal with the question you had. He was asked the question,

what do you say about non-Christians that are nicer than Christians? Anybody ever faced that before? That you don't look and just look straight up here in this moment? That you have somebody that is saved. Who still mean? They're mean, they're mouthy, they're mouth. They just have the attitudes, arrogant. And then you meet somebody who's not saved. And you see this kindness person. C.S. Lewis addressed this in this Q&A. And I read to this Muslim man, the words. I said, here's what C.S. Lewis says. He says, take the case of an old sour woman who was a Christian but cantankerous. I love that word, cantankerous. It means your argumentative, bad, tempered and uncooperative. I won't even ask you to raise your hands. But just that's what it is, cantankerous. It says, let's take... but she's cantankerous. On the other hand, take some pleasant and popular fellow who has never been to church, not a Christian, who knows. And then he says this, who knows how much more cantankerous the old woman might be if she were not a Christian and how much more likable the nice guy would be if he was a Christian. He says you can't judge Christianity simply by comparing the product of those two people.

You need to know what kind of raw material Christ is working with in both cases. Let me tell you something. All of us are raw material. But thank God that he's patient with us. Think of the emotions that are swirling. Paul is now going, Onesimus, you've gotten right with God. Now I'm trying to turn you, and I'm going to send you back. Can you imagine, and Paul goes, and here is the only thing. I'm going to give you a letter, 25 verses. And the only thing between you and a branding on you and possible death is what's written in that letter. Can you imagine what this young convert is going through? Does Onesimus know what's even in the letter? Will Philemon listen to Paul's words? What if he doesn't even just open it? What if he takes the letter, crumples it up and throws it to the side? We don't know the future here. When he gets on the property, what do I say to him? When I finally step on, do I just, do I speak to him from a distance and say, "Hey, wait, I'm a question now." What do you say? That's what he's faced with, that's what's going on. We just know what's in the letter. And the letter is what Paul begins to go. I'm going to give you this letter, and this is what I want you to present to Philemon your boss.

You're saved, now Christ in you is going to be the very thing you need to go back and face an unfixed past, a past that you want to avoid, a past that you're just going, I'll just get a job in Rome. Some of you are in New York City, you're running from something. Some of you are in this city trying to lose yourself amongst millions of people. You're like an Onesimus. And even what you're hearing today may seem to get a hold of something inside of you. I want to read to you the letter. I want to read to you what Paul does. It is incredible. Knowing this, knowing I've got a saved guy named Onesimus, I've got to turn him around and give him this letter, and he's going to be facing death or a branding iron or forgiveness, and you don't know which one it's going to be. So I'm going to send you back to 1,300 miles, and you're going to go back. Yeah, you're saved, but I don't want you because there's something that God has for you Onesimus that I don't want you to carry this baggage any longer. So folks, let me read to you what Paul writes. It's incredible. Paul starts off, we're going to read all the verses. So get read, it's only 25 verses. So just hold on and don't complain, but let's go through this. Here it is.

Paul is good, he writes. He says, this letter is from Paul, a prisoner for preaching the good news about Christ Jesus and from our brother Timothy. I'm writing to Philemon, and I love you, just he just starts building him up. Our beloved co-worker and to our sister, Afia, and to our fellow soldier, Archipice, and to the church that meets in your house. Watch what Paul says, "May God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and mercy." I always thank my God when I pray for you Philemon. I can just see Philemon going, wow, this is amazing. Paul is writing to you. He says, 'cause I keep hearing about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God. He goes, I got faith in me. Paul notices I got love for all the people. And he goes on and I'm praying that you will put it into action, the generosity that comes from your faith. As you understand and experience all the good things we have in Christ, you know Philemon's going, I'm gonna get this thing framed, and I'm putting this right in my office. This is going to be the best letter ever. And then he says this, "Your love has given me much joy and comfort my brother." Paul called me brother, for your kindness

has often refreshed the hearts of God's people. The greatest letter ever until we get to verse eight and nine. He goes, that is why I'm boldly asking a favor of you. And I can just see him going, okay. What is, what is, I could demand it in the name of Christ because it's the right thing for you to do. But because of our love, I prefer simply to ask you, consider this as a request from me. And then Paul goes, Paul, an old man and a prisoner. He's shameless. And then he goes, "For the sake of Christ." And then here's what he says, "I appeal to you to show kindness to my child, O Nesimus." Nesimus, what? O Nesimus. Okay, let me, let me, he drops the bomb. Okay, look at me for a second, I'm gonna ask you something. What name, if somebody mentions it, it changes your whole face? Oh, this crowd is much vocal than the other crowd. You guys got problems in the one o'clock service. Think of it. What is it? What family member? What leader? What is it that we'll mention, that you mentioned? Can you imagine? It's so easy to figure out, just say your name and all of a sudden, I've watched it. You can deal with it on so many different levels.

It could be family, you're going, oh yeah, God is good. And you know, and you know that there's something. That's Philemon thinking, this is O Nesimus, he's stolen from me, he's broken the contract, all this stuff, and Paul says this. I appeal to you to show kindness to my child, O Nesimus. I became his father in the faith while he was here in prison. Paul waits, it's amazing. He waits nine verses before he drops the bombshell because he knows this is that name that you know about. This is that name that maybe could make your skin crawl, the name that maybe you are running from, maybe you're here in New York City, 'cause you don't wanna deal with that name. And this is the Apostle Paul. This is him coming to him. And what he says when he says to him these words, look at verse 10 again. I appeal to you to show kindness to my child, O Nesimus. I became his father in the faith while he was here in prison. What Paul was saying was, is that he left you as a fugitive, but when he came to prison, he became a Christian, and because he's a Christian, listen to this, guess what? We're brothers now in Christ. He became family, he's part of the family of God. And I'm going like, I could just see Philemon going, oh man, he had to get put in jail next to Paul.

O Nesimus, he says, hasn't been much used to you in the past verse 11, but now he's gonna become useful to both of us because Christ is inside of him. Something has changed in this man. He tells you in verse 12, I'm sending him back to you. And with him comes my own hearts. Can you imagine you are a Nesimus and you're walking back with this letter, whether you've read it or not, and you walk in, and there is Philemon, and you're going, Paul says to read this. Can you imagine Philemon just didn't go, give me that? You stay right here, don't you go anywhere? I'm just reading this, oh, that's me, yes, there's a second. Thank you, Jesus, thank you, God, you're in my own. O Nesimus, can you imagine him looking and going, Apostle Paul, you are the most blessed man on the planet right now. Can you imagine him looking at this going, how did you meet Paul in Rome in the same jail cell, Paul that I know, writing me this letter, how does this happen? And in fact, Paul said this, he goes, I wanted to keep him here with me while I was in these chains for preaching the good news, and he would have been of help, he would have helped me on your behalf. Paul was saying, I knew I needed to turn him. I knew I needed to make him. God has something for him, he is forgiven,

but he has an undelt with past, and the undelt with past is with you. He's got to be dealing with this issue. We can't just go, you're saved, you don't have to deal with this stuff anymore. Just stay in Rome, be a pastor, be this, be a businessman, do this in Rome, don't even go back, it's 1300 miles, there is no internet, there is no cell phones, no one would know you here. You can get easily lost here, you're saved now. Paul wouldn't let him do that. Paul says for what God has planned for your life, Verse 14, I didn't wanna do anything without your consent. I wanted you to help because you were willing, not because you were forced. It seems you lost Onesimus for a little while so that you could have him back forever. He is no longer like a slave to you. He's more than a slave for you is your beloved brother. He's family and especially to me. Now he will mean much more to you both as a man and as a brother in the Lord. So if you consider me your partner, welcome him. Paul is just gonna get him. Welcome him as you would welcome me. Do you see what he just said? He said, now I'm an apostle and I'm asking you to understand, to welcome him just like, just like you would be welcoming me.

We're all equal in this. You know what that means, folks? It means this, whether you have a home in the Hamptons or you're struggling to pay your rent in the Bronx, listen to me close. Every one of us needed Jesus Christ. Every single one of us, whether you work on Wall Street or whether you're unemployed, everyone needs Jesus to get saved. Every single one of us, so whatever your title, whether you call yourself CEO or whether you call yourself homeless, each one of us needs Jesus to change our lives. Every single one, that's what Paul was telling him. Paul was saying, whether you have a church in your home or you're in apostle in prison or you're a runaway slave here named Onesimus, we all needed grace, amazing grace at some time. We all need to face those things. And he tells them in verse 18, if he has wronged you in any way or owes you anything, this is where it gets really great. He goes, charge it to me. I'll take care of it. And then Paul writes this, look at verse 19. I, Paul, write this with my own hand. I will repay it. But I won't mention that you own me. You're very soul. Paul is amazing.

Okay, I want you to look at this right now because in my Bible that all those capital letters, that's not for emphasis. This is what historians say. So our historians say that when Paul was writing this, he was dictating it to the man he was traveling with and he goes, give me the pen. I wanna write this part myself. I'm gonna write this. And you could see this old apostle's hand shaking. I, Paul, write this. I will repay it. Then I can see him going. But don't forget, you own me a whole bunch. Paul is amazing. He's amazing. And all of a sudden Paul was saying, if you're heating up a branding iron, or you're thinking about hurting this man, this brother now in Christ, says, I want you to forgive him now. There is a third option. You are a believer. And don't forget, he's telling him, this is so important for you to understand. This is a brother in Christ. And whenever you feel like Paul was telling him, whenever you feel like you did this, you did this, you did this, you did this, it was almost like Paul was saying,

don't forget the stuff you've been forgiven of. When you want to hold something over somebody, can I just tell you, I've been forgiven of a lot of stuff. Anybody with me on that? Okay, here's what the Bible says. So about a third of you have been forgiven of a lot of stuff. Let me help the other two thirds, because that means you're bitter. So I just, here's the part I want you. Let me tell you why, because the Bible says he has been forgiven much, will love much. So when you forget what you've been forgiven of, then you're offended at everybody. When you forget, so let me ask the question again, how many have been forgiven of pretty much? Would you raise your hand? Oh, that's an interesting, everybody, hands up. You know why? Because when you remember what you've been forgiven of, that's when you step back and say, God, I owe you so much. How can I not forgive? How can I not do that, Lord Jesus? And then Paul ends the whole thing. And he just simply says this, one more thing, please, I'm going, Paul, no more things. He goes, one more thing,

please prepare a guest room for me. I'm hoping that God will answer your prayer. And let me return. He said, I'm going to make one day, I'll be back 1300 miles, that journey in Colossae. You pass first, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus said, Jews, greetings, so does Mark. Aristarchus, Demis, and Luke, my co-workers. May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. This is amazing. Willie, would you come? I want to give you the ending of the story. Well, it's hard to, because the end of the Philemon story, no one really knows it from this. When you're looking at it, you're going, wait a second. So what happened? So it's taking place. The runaway meets Paul in prison, gets saved, given a letter that we have in the New Testament. The Bible doesn't mention it to us. History and just some reading really tells us that he did forgive him. I want to read to you something I saw in Earl King's book called Christianity through the centuries. I read this and I'll put it on the screen because it was just amazing. This is what it said. Some 50 years after this letter was written after the Apostles came, the early church fathers came. Ignatius was one of the early church fathers and martyrs. On the way to his death, he was allowed to write letters of encouragement. One of the letters he has written from Smyrna, he wrote it to Ephesus. In that letter, he makes mention of their pastor in Ephesus and his name is Onesimus.

Listen to this, church tradition records that Onesimus succeeded the apostle Timothy as the pastor of the church in Ephesus. That runaway was to be in the ministry. He was going to be in the ministry. But it was as if the apostle Paul goes, "God has something for you, but you can't take this baggage into what God has." So I'm going to turn you around. But yeah, Onesimus, you got right with God. But now I've got to just turn you because what God has, I don't know what it's going to be, but God has something for you. There is this side note that I'll just tell you. There's a side note that says when they were compiling the books of the New Testament, they said that around the same time that Onesimus was pastoring, that they met in Ephesus to go, "Here are the letters, here are the books for the New Testament." And what's amazing that Onesimus would have been there? Can you imagine Onesimus going like this? I got something we can slip in between Titus and Hebrews. I say this. Can you imagine he pulls out a letter and he just goes, "Let me just tell you. This is what changed my life. Someone not just only led me to the Lord, someone said, "Dress your past. Not only has God forgiven me, but God can fix me. God can change me." And that's what he did. And I could just see Onesimus goes, "I really would put this in." Hebrews, I can see him going, Hebrews amazing. The Thessalonians, Timothy's, and Titus, incredible. But how about right in between these 25 verses? And just tell people there's hope. And you feel like you've royally messed up. There's hope. God brings hope. What does this mean to me?

Let me just say this as all the musicians come and we get ready. We're going to close right here. Here's what I've learned from this folks. Here's what we can all learn. Number one is this, runaways. Runaways can be forgiven and can become pastors, which means God can do with every once in people's lives. He doesn't just forgive, but God fixes. God does miracles is what he does. Every person that's in this place, we're all runaways from God. But thank God that he helped and showed up and did something for us today. Thank God. You're sitting here. You're listening today. And in the midst, can I just speak to those that maybe are here or listening online or at a university that may be a wall? God's got a message for you. Here it is, Psalm 139. Is there any place I can go to avoid your spirit to be out of your sight if I climb to the sky? You're there. If I go underground, you're there. If I flew on morning's wings to the far western horizon to New York City, you're there. You'd find me in a minute, you're already there waiting for me. I thought if I could get to Rome, no one would find me. God was there. Can I tell you something? You may be here in New York City. You may be listening around the country and around the world. God is still there, and God wants your life. God wants you to be forgiven and wants to change your life. That's what God does.

Some of you are on the run, and this could be the day that you face God and maybe get turned around and go, "Let's face a broken past. Let's face the stuff that you've been wanting to run away from." And here's finally the last thing. God loves intersecting heaven and earth. God loves taking something that's going on here and sending something from heaven. "I have a friend who told the story, he said he was preaching." and it was like nights of revival meetings, and the church put them up at a hotel, and when you walk in the lobby, there's a bar there, and it was, he said, he walked after service, got out, walked through the lobby, and they were having happy hour, and he goes, no one was happy, and everybody was in there drinking and everything. And he noticed that they had a piano in there, that they kind of, for the later hours, and so he said, and he was a piano player, and he said, I went in, and I started playing the piano. He said, I started playing amazing grace. He said, I started watching all these people with drinks in their hand going, I remember, oh God, come in a minute. He said, it was a moment. What was that, Pastor Tim? Heaven is intersecting earth. Heaven came to a bar that night to say, you may be trying to drown your past. I love you so much. I'm going to hunt you down in a bar

to remind you how much I love you. Come on, just for a moment, would you just stand and sing that word, sing that great hymn, in fact, written by a man who used to be involved with slave trading, and God changed him. Come on, you know this song, amazing grace. Come on, lift those hands and sing. ♪ Amen ♪ ♪ We praise our sweet ones ♪ ♪ And sing our praise ♪ ♪ I praise our sweet ones ♪ ♪ I praise our sweet ones ♪ ♪ One found was blind ♪ Come on, let's sing it one more time. Come on, let's lift our hands and sing. ♪ Praise God, praise God ♪ Come on, sing it, church. ♪ Praise God, praise God ♪ ♪ Praise God, praise God ♪ ♪ Praise God, praise God ♪ ♪ Praise God, praise God ♪ ♪ Praise God, praise God ♪ ♪ Praise God, praise God ♪ - I was, this morning I was getting ready to come to church, and I was just finishing up some notes. I have a book sitting on my windowsill called "Beyond the Cross on the Switchblade." And it's, we are here because of one man's obedience

to God, David Wilkerson. I felt God call him to New York City. He was coming because he saw a life magazine article that had seven young men in a courtroom scene, all pinned by a court artist. And David Wilkerson in Pennsylvania looked at those seven boys and felt like God spoke to him and said, go to those boys, go rescue them. I'm so excited because next year we're gonna tell that story on Broadway, that there's gonna be a musical and we're gonna do a free, free cross on the switchblade on Broadway, and it is gonna be amazing. Three nights a week, we have it scheduled for two months and whatever God does with that, I believe it's gonna change people's lives, it'll go Sunday night. Here's the good news, it's gonna go Sunday night, Monday night, which is the blackout date for Broadway. So we could be one of the very few shows on Broadway on Monday night, and I'm believing Monday nights, lots of people are gonna come to Christ. And then on Tuesday, we'll do it for two months. Well anyway, so the story that gets him there is David Wilkerson looks at those seven boys that killed a quadriplegic in a park up in the Bronx, killed it with a senseless boy, and they were all getting ready to be sentenced for life in prison. And God spoke to me, he comes to New York City and didn't realize it wasn't gonna speak to those boys, but he would speak to all the other gang members. Nicki Cruz becomes a Christian team challenge, starts,

decades later, Times Square, church starts, it's all a miracle. But in the middle of that, I remember reading the part of the story, David said my heart was moved because I was going, God, did you never have any intention for me to talk to those boys? And he said, I wanna talk to them, I just read it this morning. One of those faces that magazine is on my wall in my office, that magazine that moved his heart. And one of those boys, his name is Juan Martinez, Juan Martinez. And David Wilkerson wrote, he said, God, I wanna talk to that boy. I have no idea how to get ahold of him. So what he said was he got some money and he got it all put in dimes. How many remember when phone calls used to cost a dime? Anybody remember that? How many of you have ever used a payphone? Would you raise your hand? Okay, just don't make sure. He said, he said he took a phone book and the name of the kid was Juan Martinez. So he said, I was gonna look up every one Martinez in New York City. Okay, does anybody see what I'm talking about? Juan Martinez. So there's probably like 3000 Juan Mart. So he said, I took all these dimes

and he said, I was down at my last dime, the 40th dime. I've been hung up everything. I don't know what you're talking about. So he put the last dime in. Is this the home of Juan Martinez who's going to jail? Is this his parents and they hung up on him? And this is, David Wilkerson goes, I give up God. He said, he pulled, he said, he got in this car and he pulled over to the side of the road. And he goes, I give up, I totally give up. I don't even know what to do anymore, God. I give up. And so he felt this peace come over him. 40 dimes wasted, 40 phone calls. And he just said, I put it in your hands. David Wilkerson said, he gets out of the car. And he just, he said, he just goes, does anybody know Juan Martinez who's going to jail? And the guy goes, this is his house. (audience applauding) This is his house. Said his family lives there. He said, Elmyra, but his family lives here. And David said, Wilkerson said, I went up there. You know what that was? Heaven intersecting earth. Heaven intersecting a prison cell in Rome. It's heaven intersecting at a bar at a hotel. It's heaven intersecting in the Bronx that God comes. And can I just help you?

Heaven is intersecting here for some of our lives. It's intersecting for some of our lives. I'm not going to embarrass you, but I'm going to ask you this. If you're here today, this one you can keep your eyes open for. If you're here today and you're saying, Pastor Tim, I feel like God is turning my shoulders and saying, don't run away anymore. Face that stuff. I'm in you. I'm going to help you. Face, whatever that may be. I don't even want to add things, but you know, because you feel heaven's intersecting because of what he has for you. Who knew that Onesimus was to be a pastor? Who knew that he was going to succeed? As I succeeded Carter Conlon, our general overseer, who knew Onesimus was going to go, "Yeah, that guy I succeeded is Timothy." No last name, just Timothy. That's all we call him is Timothy. We succeeded Timothy. And you're the church of Ephesus, a place, a city that would be part of putting together the New Testament. Who knew a fugitive? And if he wasn't forgiven and I'm telling you today, your future, your destiny may be wrapped up in God just turning your shoulder a little bit and it's going, let's face this.

You are forgiven, but let's fix this. You understand what I'm saying? You're forgiven. Let's fix this. Don't go into the future with this unfixed. How many are saying that God is speaking to you that I got to get something fixed here? Would you just lift the hand and just say, I got to get something filled? Hold it up. Hold both those hands up and just say, God help me. God, just help me, God. God, with these hands that are raised, you're inside of them. God, you're big inside of them. So now, would you notice these hands that says, I'm forgiven, but still a lot of unfixed things that need to be addressed? Whether relationally, whether contractually, whether financially, whether it's just running from city to city, whether it's running from relationship to relationship, whether it's just silencing and getting new phones so no one can get a hold of you. God, I'm gonna pray today. You've got Onesimus all over this place today. There's a calling, there's a touch of God upon them, and God, would you work a miracle for them today? Work a miracle for them today. God, given the courage, why?

Because Christ in them is the hope of glory. Christ in them is what can begin to help them make that walk, that 1,300 mile walk that Onesimus did to face and walk into Colossae and to say, God has changed me. God has done something and I wanna get this right. Oh, God, work a miracle for us today. Father, don't let us miss, miss the next preachers, pastors and the people of God that you wanna touch today. Now folks, can I ask you to do me a favor? Would you close your eyes and bow your heads for just a moment? I can't let us leave today. Well, we're gonna sing, I'm not gonna take long with this. But could it be that God brought you here or watching online, listening? That maybe you've been running away from God and this is the day to stop? Ended up in a church today. He ended up listening to some New York pastor on 51st On Broadway. Could this be a day that God says, stop running? You can't fix a past on your own, that's why you're running. But maybe this is the day that God's going, I'm gonna change it today. I'm gonna change it from the inside out. I'm gonna work inside of you. Can, here's the good news, I want you to get. Remember when Paul said if he owes you anything, "I got this covered."

Can I just tell you, there's a God that loves you, that has paid the price for your sin, that his son has died on the cross for you, that the only thing you owe is to say, God, come into my life and say, you owe him your life. Like Paul said, he goes, can I remind you? You owe me your life. God gave his son for you. With your heads bowed and your eyes closed, online and in person. If you're here today and say, Pastor Tim, this is no accident, this is heaven intersecting earth. I need God in my life. I've been running away from this. I've been trying to do this on my own. I need God in my life, need God to change me. I'm gonna pray just a simple prayer if you're here today and say, would you include me? I want God in my life, no hesitation. That's you, you're going, this is that moment. I'm done running, I'm done running. I've done my 1300 miles and I want God now. That's you, just lift your hands in. Would you just pray? Hold it up high, hold those hands up high. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, all the way back there. Falcon, let me make sure I see yes, yes, all the way back there, yes, yes, yes, yes.

Thank you, thank you, God, both of you right there. Can we just do this for every hand that's raised? Can we all pray this together? Say these words with me, dear Lord Jesus. I believe you're the Son of God. I believe, and on the cross, you took my sin, my shame, and my guilt, and you died for it. You faced hell for me, so I wouldn't have to go. You rose from the dead to give me a place in heaven, a purpose on earth, and a relationship with your father. Today Lord Jesus, you turn from my sin to be born again. Come on, say this loud. God is my father, Jesus is my savior. The Holy Spirit is my helper, and heaven is my home. In Jesus' name, and everybody said, amen, and amen, and amen. Hey, one last thing, we'll sing a song and dismiss you. If you prayed that prayer, just text the word, decide if 51,000 online, you'll see a link that you can begin to email to. But if you're in person here in a number of hands, a couple of dozen hands, would you could always go to exit seven, two of our great people over there at exit seven, they're there, they can get you a Bible and just get you started in your journey, take five minutes, seven minutes with you. Let's sing one more song, look at the person next to you and just say, you're a miracle, you are a miracle.