Sunday – September 17, 2023, Tishrei 2, 5784
Greetings brothers and sisters in the Kingdom of God and welcome to a new study from the Book of Philemon. You will likely notice that the individual teachings, not just of this series, but in general will trend shorter. We are in a sound bit, microwave, generation and a shorter teaching will enhance digestibility. This examination of Philemon will be a multiweek study. The main theme of the Book is intercession (intervention, mediation, arbitration, negotiation) and upon that I will focus. As with any Book of the Bible there are lots of Truths spoken of but I will do my best to stick with intercession. What a wonderful gift given to mankind.
Please take a moment to share this teaching, all of this Ministry’s teachings, as widely as possible. Thank you so much for sharing. Your sharing is vital to the dissemination of the Truth, the Gospel, the Good News. Now, let’s turn our attention to our primary Bible text from, you guessed it, Philemon. Please be sure you are reading out loud.
Philemon 1:1-4 (KJV)
1 Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and Timothy our brother, unto Philemon our dearly beloved, and fellowlabourer,
2 And to our beloved Apphia, and Archippus our fellowsoldier, and to the church in thy house:
3 Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
4 I thank my God, making mention of thee always in my prayers,
Last Sunday I left off with verse three noting that we are seeing the reality of intercession emerge as part of the salutation. This type of greeting, or a variation thereof, is common throughout the New Testament. The Apostle Paul is asking the Lord to give a greater measure of grace and peace to the recipients of this letter, primarily one Philemon. This is not based on them being worthy for we are worthy of nothing in ourselves but praise God in Christ Jesus gifts flow abundantly. This is no small decree, request, on the part of the Apostle Paul. He is asking God to allow a greater measure of the favor, the goodness of God and the peace (in perfect expression) to be present in their lives. Perhaps even at the early stage of dealing with the topic of intercession we can all appreciate, be overwhelmingly thankful for this enormous gift. We must all be intercessors and it is vital there be intercessors in our lives. An intercessor can bring a level of protection, success, into our lives above our own faith. Now, let’s move forward into the fourth verse.
Philemon 1:4 (KJV)
4 I thank my God, making mention of thee always in my prayers,
The Apostle Paul is thankful for these people and says that they are continually in his prayers. He brings them before the Throne of God on a regular basis. As I close for today let’s look at another one of the Apostle Paul’s writing where we are exhorted to be intercessors for a very wide variety of people.
1 Timothy 2:1-4 (KJV)
1 I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;
2 For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.
3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;
4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
Lord willing, I will pick up right here in two weeks, next Sunday is the Eve of the Day of Atonement.
Authored By: Dr. David R. Wood, Bible Teacher, and Prophetic Voice
2 Chronicles 20:20 b (KJV)
20 … Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.
Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 (KJV)
13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
14 For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.
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