Paul's Very Heart

I. EXORDIUM:

Who is your very heart?

II. AUDIENCE PROFILE:

Believers

III. OBJECTIVES:

To prove that JESUS is our very heart and should be the center of our hearts.

IV. TEXT:

Philemon 1:12 (Amplified Bible)

1:12 I am sending him back to you in his own person, [and it is like sending] my very heart.

Philemon 1:12 (New International Version)

1:12 I am sending him--who is my very heart--back to you.

V. THESIS:

JESUS is the Center of my heart.

Proverbs 4:21 (Amplified Bible)

4:21 Let them not depart from your sight; keep them in the center of your heart.

VI. TITLE:

Paul's very heart

VII. EXPLICATION:

A. Author: Apostle Paul

B. Date written: 60 A.D.

C. Purpose: To appeal to Philemon to receive, forgive and restore Onesimus even as Philemon would receive Paul

D. To whom written: Philemon.

He was apparently a member of the church at Colosse, which seems to have held its assemblies in his house (Philemon 1:2). His benevolence (Philemon 1:5-7), and Paul's request for him to prepare a lodging (Philemon 1:22), indicate that he was a man of some means.

As Paul had never been in Colosse (Colossians 2:1), Philemon must have met him elsewhere, possibly in Ephesus, which was not far away. It would seem that he owed his conversion to the apostle, Philemon 1:19.

—Thompson Chain - Bible Book Outlines

E. Main Theme:

A personal plea with Philemon to forgive and restore Onesimus, his once runaway slave, now converted through the ministry of Paul. As a runaway slave, it is inferred that he robbed his master and fled to Rome (Philemon 1:18). There he came under the influence of Paul and was converted (Philemon 1:10). He became a devoted disciple of Christ (Colossians 4:9). Paul would have chosen to detain him in Rome as a helper (Philemon 1:13), but not having the consent of Philemon (Philemon 1:14), he felt it to be his duty to send the slave back to his master. So the apostle writes this beautiful letter of intercession, pleading with Philemon to receive Onesimus as though he were receiving the apostle himself.—Thompson Chain - Bible Book Outlines

F. Keywords: Receive (forgive and restore) him

Philemon 1:12 (Amplified Bible)

1:12 I am sending him back to you in his own person, [and it is like sending] my very heart.

Philemon 1:17 (Amplified Bible)

1:17 If then you consider me a partner and a comrade in fellowship, welcome and receive him as you would [welcome and receive] me.

G. Keyverses:

Philemon 1:16-17 (Amplified Bible)

1:16 Not as a slave any longer but as [something] more than a slave, as a brother [Christian], especially dear to me but how much more to you, both in the flesh [as a servant] and in the Lord [as a fellow believer].

1:17 If then you consider me a partner and a comrade in fellowship, welcome and receive him as you would [welcome and receive] me.

VIII. MAIN BODY:

A. Paul's sends Onesimus to Philemon

"I am sending him"

1. Remember, GOD sents back Moses to the Israelites

Exodus 3:14 (Amplified Bible)

3:14 And God said to Moses, I AM WHO I AM and WHAT I AM, and I WILL BE WHAT I WILL BE; and He said, You shall say this to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you!

2. GOD sent His WORD to us

Isaiah 55:11 (Amplified Bible)

55:11 So shall My word be that goes forth out of My mouth: it shall not return to Me void [without producing any effect, useless], but it shall accomplish that which I please and purpose, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

We just need to receive it no doing on our part.

1 Thessalonians 2:13 (Amplified Bible)

2:13 And we also [especially] thank God continually for this, that when you received the message of God [which you heard] from us, you welcomed it not as the word of [mere] men, but as it truly is, the Word of God, which is effectually at work in you who believe [exercising its superhuman power in those who adhere to and trust in and rely on it].

Type of spiritual sowing, GOD sowed His Son into our life to reap sons because GOD wanted to bring many sons to glory.

Hosea 10:12 (Amplified Bible)

10:12 Sow for yourselves according to righteousness (uprightness and right standing with God); reap according to mercy and loving-kindness. Break up your uncultivated ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, to inquire for and of Him, and to require His favor, till He comes and teaches you righteousness and rains His righteous gift of salvation upon you.

Hebrews 2:10 (Amplified Bible)

2:10 For it was an act worthy [of God] and fitting [to the divine nature] that He, for Whose sake and by Whom all things have their existence, in bringing many sons into glory, should make the Pioneer of their salvation perfect [should bring to maturity the human experience necessary to be perfectly equipped for His office as High Priest] through suffering.