In August, Regions Beyond which is Steve Oliver's Apostolic Sphere (which is a part of Newfrontiers ) held a Conference in the UK .
At the conference Steve O and others shared on what the the apostolic, what is Regions Beyond and how do we relate as different apostolic spheres that share a common history, vision and values.
This series of blogs is very useful to helping us understand who we are, what vision shapes us and what the future holds for us.
At the conference Steve O and others shared on what the the apostolic, what is Regions Beyond and how do we relate as different apostolic spheres that share a common history, vision and values.
This series of blogs is very useful to helping us understand who we are, what vision shapes us and what the future holds for us.
You can find the mp3 audio recording the sermons that we will be summarizing here by City Church Gloucester website. This is PART 2 and of Steve Oliver's first message.
Philemon verse 1 Right in the opening address
in the letter to Philemon we get an idea of what Church Planting looks like in
the nations. To Philemon our dear friend
and fellow worker— 2 also to Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow
soldier—and to the church that meets in your home:
Verse
4 : we see what makes an apostle happy.
Verse
6: You want to grow in God? Share your faith
Martin
Luther referred to this book as “This is holy flattery of the finest kind”!
Now,
to the crunch. Paul does not appeal on the basis of apostolic authority but
love. Philemon’s mind must have been spinning.
Verse 11- Onesimus means “useful”. Paul is
playing on this name.
Verse
12- “ I am sending him who is my very heart” Do not miss the extent of the depth
of relationships as they sought to reach the nations. There is no shyness in
sharing their heart.
Verse
17 This was a huge thing for Philemon. It would mean Onesimus would not sleep
in the slave quarters but in the finest of guest rooms of the house.
Verse18:
“Charge it to me”
Verse
23 Ephapharas planted the church in Colossae and Laodicea. The gospel is going
across the nations. He is at the cutting edge going to the nations,
establishing churches and appointing Elders, engaging cultures and new
situations.
In
the Roman world 60% were in slavery. So the church was full of people who were
in slavery.
Now
Onesimus is coming face to face with the issue- a wealthy slave owner and a
runaway slave.
One
new man in Christ- how do I bring these two together? Philemon is a true hero.
He knows what the law demands and the possible actions. But he responds to Paul’s
wish.
Fifty
years later in 110 A.D Ignatius a church father was arrested by the Romans. He
was the Bishop of Antioch. He was taken to another city to be martyred. One
their travel they stopped at Ephesus and the church served Ignatius. He was
there for quite some time. He wrote a letter thanking them for their
hospitality and he wrote to the bishop or Overseers of Ephesus. Can you guess
who it was? It was Bishop Onesimus. It can’t be proved but many scholars feel
it is the same Onesimus.
God
loves to take the nothings and confound the world.
Philemon
understand Apostolic partnership and that it will be costly to him, it will
impact his reputation in Colossae and more so when they hear what he did for
his fugitive slave. But he was sold out for the purposes of God. The young
slave grows up. This letter became famous in the early church.
Bishop
Ephesus is also responsible for compiling the 10 letters of Paul. We don’t know
how he did this but we owe much to him. God does amazing things through the gospels.
The
nations are waiting for us to hear the good news but it means partnering that
goes beyond a constitution or organization but a partnering of hearts.
The
world is waiting for us; we have many Onesimus' to unlock in the nations.
Two
things I want to leave with you
1.
None of the story about Philemon or Onesimus
would have happened if it were not for Apostolic thrust to the nations. Jesus
told them to go to their cities. Samaria and then to the ends of the earth.
Young men born out of Paul’s ministry get
caught up in apostolic ministry. Eph 4:11 Christ gave us the gifts God has a
plan for each one of us. We need good strong healthy churches and we need those
who will go.
2.
We need to note how to relate to a Sovereign God
who works things our in our lives. You may be running away from something. What
does God want for you? We need the businessmen who will partner with us as we
go to the nations. God will not ask us to do something and not provide. We only
need to bring our 5 loaves and two fish to God.
Paul’s letters are always about people and
often we have turned it into static doctrine if I can call it that. Everyone is
described with affection. We are here. We have people who have gone before us. We
have the young ones as well.
We could buy a killing filed in Burundi for
100,000 pounds to start a training center and church. We got money to work into
India.
These are significant days. We need to
rally our churches and see the purposes of God and join together in true
relationships even though we are spread out.
Apostolic partnership is here and so we go!
God is calling us and whatever it is, whether it is to be faithful in prayer ,
lets respond to God and take the opportunity , whether it is local, global or somewhere in the
middle.
Word of Grace is an Evangelical (Born Again), Spirit filled (Charismatic), Reformed, English speaking church in Pune that upholds the Bible as God's inspired Word for life. We are a church community that have people from every part of India and parts of the world. We are here to put the Great Command and the Great Commission into practice by equipping and releasing every member into works of service. To know more about us please log ontowww.wordofgracechurch.org.
English Language Service Sundays at 10am. Please check google maps for directions!
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