Be An Active Witness Series

Last week we started learning from the Letter to Philemon. Even from just the first 5 verses we noted much about Christians and how to honor one another. As Christians, each one of us of course must work on our own spiritual growth and love for one another; but a way to honor one another is to pray for one another.

Please open your Bibles to Philemon….. Read along with me v3-7…..

We note the first prayer for one another from v3.

We are to pray for one another:

v3: for grace and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ

The second thing we are to pray for one another is to give thanks.

v4: give thanks to God for Christians growing in faith and loving others

And of course if you have a brother or sister in Christ who is not growing in their faith, pray for theior spiritual growth!

And we note in v6 the next thing to pray for….

v6: pray for each other to be active in sharing Christian faith

A Christian must profess to be a Christian in words and action!

And why must a Christian do this? We get an answer in v6 as well.

We are to share our Christian faith to have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ. What is the Christian faith??

Simply, the Christian faith is God’s amazing love through Christ for disobedient sinners which brings eternal life in heaven instead of hell.

And the more a Christian shares the Christian faith, the more the Christian will experience God’s love! This is God’s promise! Share your Christian faith and experience God’s love more and more!

And what does experiencing God’s love do? Verse 7 gives us a clue!

v7: The more a Christian experiences God’s love, the more love the Christian can give to others! I have said this often, you cannot give what you don’t have! But God provides for us all the love we need! Grasp God’s love more and more everyday and you will be able to love others more and more! The more we have of God’s love, the more we can give and God’s love is infinite!!!

And what does loving others bring?

Loving others, with the love from God, bring great joy, encouragement, and refreshed hearts!

What biblical truths can we apply to our lives from this passage today?

1. Pray regularly for Christians in the church:

a. for God’s grace and peace

b. for their spiritual growth

c. to give thanks for them

d. to be active in sharing their faith

2. Say daily “Because I truly believe in what Jesus Christ did for me, I will be going to heaven instead of being eternally judged in hell.”

And we should do God’s will by

3. Actively share our Christian faith, by words and actions, to those around us.

4. Yield to God the Holy Spirit and love others.

How are we doing in all these things? Take a moment to pray right now through each one of these application points!