Reaching the Lost and Troubled

Turn with me in the New Testament. Turn to Hebrews, that's not where I'm going to speak to you from, but I want you to—that'll get you headed in the right direction. I'm going to speak to you out of a book tonight, one of the loneliest books in the Bible, because in all of my Christian experience, in all of my ministry, I've probably heard fewer messages, fewer scriptures read out of this little book.

Go to Hebrews and turn left to the little lonely book called Philemon, as tonight I want to talk to you about reaching the lost and the troubled, but really this is not a how-to message. It's really about changed lives and how we as Christians and how we in the church are to deal with people who have had a changed life and how we are to welcome them into the fellowship of the church. That, among other things, we'll find in this little book of Philemon, which, interesting, it does not deal with any doctrine.

Paul does not deal with any issue. It's just a private letter, and let's read through it a few verses here to set the background for what we want to share with you tonight. Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus and Timothy, our brother, to Philemon, our beloved brother and fellow worker.

Verse 3, Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God always making mention of you in my prayers because I hear of your love. He's talking to Philemon now, and the faith which you have towards the Lord Jesus and towards all the saints.

And I pray that the fellowship of your faith may become effective through the knowledge of every good thing which is in you for Christ's sake. For I have come to have much joy and comfort in your love because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through your brother. Therefore, though I have enough confidence in Christ to order you to do what is proper, yet for love's sake I rather appeal to you since I am such a person as Paul the aged and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus.

I appeal to you. This is the basis of his message or his letter is an appeal. I appeal to you for my child whom I have begotten or whom I have brought to Christ in my imprisonment.

His name is Onesimus who formerly was useless. I think that King James says unprofitable. Who formerly was useless to you, but now is useful or profitable both to you and to me.

And I have sent him back to you in person. That is, sending my very heart whom I wish to keep with me that in your behalf he might minister to me here in my imprisonment for the gospel. But without your consent I did not want to do anything that your goodness should not be as it were by compulsion but of your own free will.

For perhaps he, Onesimus, was for this reason parted from you for a while that you should have him back forever no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a beloved brother, especially to me, but how much more to you both in the flesh and in the Lord. If then you regard me a partner, accept him as you would me. But if he has wronged you in any way or owes you anything, charge it to my account.

I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand and I'll stop there. Now, Paul's epistle, letter, was addressed to a layman businessman by the name of Philemon. And this remarkable letter is from a friend to a friend asking the second friend to receive back into fellowship and into friendship a former cheating employee.

Now, specifically the three main characters in the letter is Paul who is in a Roman prison. He's under house arrest in Rome. The second main character that he's writing in behalf of is Onesimus, a runaway homeless fellow.

And Philemon, who is an upper-class Christian businessman of some means and influence. He probably, he might have been, he would be the equivalent of today, he was probably the president of the full gospel businessman's chapter in his town. And in this triangle of relationship are some remarkable lessons in the power of Jesus Christ to not only change the sinner's heart, but also change a Christian's attitude towards the change that has taken place or supposed change that has taken place in that sinner.

Now, there are some other things about this letter. And by the way, what's interesting about this letter is that it was a private letter. It's like being able to open Paul's mail and read it.

And when he wrote this, he never expected that you and I would be reading his mail tonight in 1987 in Times Square. But we're privileged to be able to, this letter was kept as a part of the canon of the scriptures. And it teaches us among other things that if you feel, for example, tonight, if you're here and you feel that your life is of no account, if you feel that you have been a failure and specifically if you've committed sins, not only against God, but against the society or against particular persons, then this letter of Paul's is hope to you that God can change your life and He can turn it around and make a complete brand new person out of you.

And I want you to know if that's your situation tonight, you couldn't be in a better place. You've come at the right place at the right time among the right people because we've got the right message for you. And then Paul's letter deals with the problem of how do we in the church address the problem of runaways and the homeless as well as the lawless in our society.

And Apostle Paul has something very surprising to indicate or that is revealed to me in this letter about our treatment of runaways and homeless and ex-drug addicts and so forth. And we're going to look at that. And then also Paul talks about how do we as Christians who may have been a victim of a crime, you personally tonight may have been injured by somebody spiritually, emotionally, even physically, and now that person gets saved and maybe they've been off somewhere.

Maybe you're the spouse, maybe you're the parents, and they've gotten saved and all of a sudden they come riding back into your life like a knight in shining armor and they say to you, here I am, I'm a brand new person and you have to deal with what you knew them before they came to Christ. And how do you deal with that situation? So consider these issues as well as others as Paul gives us some tremendous insights in this book of Philemon that I love very much. First of all, let me give you a word about Paul.

Look in the first verse. And just keep your Bible open because we're going to stay right here in this little book, this little epistle. I like how Paul opens his letter to Philemon and he says, Paul, a prisoner of Rome.

No, he says a prisoner of Jesus Christ. And then in verse nine, it says, Paul the aged and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus. Now, Paul is talking about aged.

He is somewhere between the age of 49 and 55. And one of our pastors on the platform can identify with this and two of us can. But in the original, it is believed that that term aged is somewhere between 49 and 55.

And he's under house arrest in Rome. He's going to be on trial for the fact that he has preached the gospel. Because he preached the good news, they brought him to Rome and his very life is at stake.

As a result, this appending trial. But notice that in spite of his circumstances, that he calls himself a prisoner of Christ Jesus. And you know what that means to me is that when you and I accept the fact that God has put us where we are, then that means we're a prisoner or we're an employee or we're a fellow traveler with Jesus Christ.

You see, how can you complain about the state or situation you're in if Jesus is your prison keeper? You see, to be in prison or a prisoner of Jesus Christ is to be highly honored and privileged. I think it's a line of a song. I don't know where it came from, but somebody has said where Jesus is, there's heaven there.

And Paul, you see, would not, Paul would not give the Roman government nor the devil nor anybody else the privilege of claiming him as their captor. He said, I am a, Jesus Christ has a prior claim upon my life and what a testimony. Can you imagine the censor who had to read his mail if they did it? And Paul writes and he says, Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ.

Can you imagine the censor saying, what kind of a fellow is this, prisoner of Jesus Christ? He wouldn't, he would not give knowledge to that, acknowledgement to that. You know, when I was studying this, the Lord put it on my heart to say tonight that if you're a prisoner, then you're not really a prisoner, you're a prisoner of Jesus Christ. And I said, Lord, how can I say that? I'm not preaching to any, aren't there any prisoners here tonight? But then I was reminded of these tapes and I just felt led of the Lord to address myself to somebody who's going to listen to this tape in prison.

And I want to say to that young man or young lady that knows the Lord Jesus Christ, that you are a prisoner of Jesus Christ. And when you are a prisoner of Jesus Christ, that means the state doesn't bind you or nothing else binds you, but you're bound to the Lord Jesus Christ and that can make your surroundings much better when you're a prisoner of Jesus Christ. Hallelujah.

Now Paul from prison engaged in prison ministry. Because he was given certain freedoms within his confines, outsiders had regular access to come to him. They could come and they could go.

Now he couldn't, but they could. I'm sure that he had guards, but it was relatively on a, as I said, he was under house arrest and so he had, it was not a normal kind of prison situation. Now apparently some Christians in Rome were engaged in outreach street evangelism in the Times Square of Rome and they came across this apparent homeless runaway character by the name of Onesimus and by some way, we're not told, we don't know, we just can read between the lines, but some way they brought him to Paul and said, here Paul, here is someone, here is a, here's somebody right, here's somebody hungry.

And this person turned out to be this fellow Onesimus. Now Onesimus was in fact a runaway slave who was, had come a thousand miles and left his slave owner Philemon, escaped from him and in the process also stole something from him. Look again at verse 18.

We know this, when Paul sends this letter, it says, if he has wronged you in any way or owes you anything, then charge that to my account. Now being a runaway was a capital offense, you might say, in those days. The Roman government depended a great deal on their economy.

They depended on slaves and therefore they were very harsh on slaves that would run away. They couldn't let this get out of hand. They couldn't let slaves take matters into their own hands.

And in some cases, depending upon the situation, if you were caught as a runaway slave, it was death by crucifixion or at best the slave would be branded with a red hot iron on the forehead with a letter F standing for fugitive or runaway. And somehow Onesimus found his way to Rome. It's believed that he stole an amount of money in order to make his way to Rome.

A thousand miles is a long walk. It's believed that he stole something in order to pay his fare or whatever to get there. And he lost himself among the throngs of people in the city of Rome, no doubt hanging out with other homeless people in an area where people like that go and hang out.

And then thank God, some Christians went and witnessed to him in that area and apparently one of the believers, as I said, brought him to Paul and led him to Christ. Now, three things happened to Onesimus when he was introduced to Paul and introduced to the gospel. First of all, Paul received him without condition or apparently asking any questions about his past.

I don't believe that anybody knew Onesimus did not offer the fact that he was a runaway slave. Otherwise, why would a man be willing to go visit a preacher in prison if he told Paul and the other believers that he was a runaway slave? It was too risky for him to do that and also it was against the law to provide refuge for a runaway slave. So that fact at first apparently was hidden.

But Paul, not knowing, it didn't really matter to Paul what he was. Paul did not treat him as a slave. He did not treat him as a runaway.

He did not treat him as a criminal, but rather he treated him as somebody who needed God. Now tonight, listen to me. It doesn't matter if you're here tonight if you're homeless or you live in a penthouse.

If you're living in sin, then you're lost and you're in trouble and you need to be saved from your sins. And if you come to us, you come to this altar and you say to us, I am a homosexual. I am a drug addict.

I am a runaway. I am a criminal. It may help us to know something about your problem, but Jesus does not save homosexuals or drug addicts.

He saves sinners. You see, neither our badness nor our goodness impresses God or is a criteria of acceptance before God. You may feel so bad that you feel unworthy of Christ.

Other people feel so good about themselves they don't sense a need of Christ. But the issue is not your feelings. It's not your social status.

It's not your lack of a status symbol if you have one or don't have one. The question is, without Christ, you are a runaway from God. And if Christ has no place in your heart, then you'll be homeless for all of eternity.

Now, Paul accepted Onesimus, but only the gospel could change his heart. Note how affectionately Paul talks or speaks of his convert in verse 16. He says, I'm sending him back to you for a limit.

He's no longer as a slave, but more than a slave. He's a beloved brother, especially to me, but how much more to you. You see, Paul did not see him as a runaway or as a criminal.

He opened his heart. He opened his cell. He opened his arms to accept this sinner with his love.

And yet I say to you, with all of Paul's love, as strong as it was, it could not transform and change this young man. And neither can a mother's love change the sinner's heart. Spouse, you can't do it.

You can't love them. Church, we can love them and reach out to them. But as much as we might do it, as much as I've said to young men at the Teen Challenge Center, I've seen them wanting to leave.

And I've said to them at times, I'd say to them, I wish I could put chains or handcuffs on your arms and chain you to the bed and make you stay. Or some of them, I'd like to pick them up and shake them a little bit and then love them. I'd like to, I'd try to do anything.

And I've seen mothers and parents and others in the church or even some Christians that get a burden for somebody and they play a game that I call, ready or not, here I come. Ready or not, here I come. I got the message.

You're the sinner. You need saved and I'm going to save you by hook or by crook or one way or the other. And you see, that's fine.

You must be motivated by love. And yet that in itself will not do it. And think of all the human and the social and the government or private efforts to reach the unreachable of our society.

If love would do it, I remember being interviewed by somebody from a magazine. They wanted to know the success of Teen Challenge. And I remember she tried to explain it away.

She said, Reverend, she said, I think the bottom line of it all is, is that they get changed because you love them. I said, bless your heart, lady. I appreciate that.

But I sure don't have a personality that can change and make a drug addict want to change his life. Onesimus had a miraculous encounter with the living God. Paul received him and then Paul pointed him to Jesus.

And this is what the testimony was. Look at verse 11, who formerly was useless. Another good title of this message tonight would be from useless to useful, from unprofitable to profitable.

You see, the last thing the gospel is designed to do is to produce aimless, worthless, lazy, inefficient people. But it produces people whose lives are changed and that only God can change your life tonight if you're in that situation. And when he changes you, not only will you be ready for heaven, you'll be ready for earth.

Not only will you be ready to die, you'll be ready to live now. Jesus will change your life around. Hallelujah.

Onesimus means useful. And that's very interesting because he turned out to be anything but useful. And Paul writes to Philemon and he said, Hey, listen, I know that this fella has never lived up to his name.

I mean, it's almost a joke to call him Onesimus. He's useless. He's unprofitable.

He is useful only in name only. But now Paul is able to introduce the fact that Jesus has come into his life. He's now a brand new person.

Old things have passed away and behold, all things have become new. Jesus makes you useful. Hallelujah.

David, you'll remember, I go back way to the beginning. I don't know how this popped into my mind. You know Harvey, the first Jewish fella.

I guess because I just heard about him recently. Harvey was the first Jewish fella that came to us out of Williamsburg. And you talk about a fella who was useless as far as his mother was concerned and society was concerned.

Harvey stole everything that wasn't nailed down in his house. And he came home one night and he found that his mother hadn't moved. One day she just decided to move.

She didn't tell him he came home and lo and behold, she didn't live in the same apartment anymore. She had moved someplace else. Didn't tell him.

Because she couldn't take it anymore. And Harvey ended up in prison and he wanted to come to Teen Challenge because some of his friends in the neighborhood, he had heard that they got religion. He didn't know what it was, but he knew they were changed and he wanted to come.

And so we sent one of our staff to interview his mother to get her permission. He finally, he did locate his mother. Even though she moved, he located her.

And we wanted to get her permission and we said to her, look, if Harvey comes to us, he had been bar mitzvahed when he was at the proper age and grew up as an Orthodox Jew, but then got involved in drugs. And so one of the staff went and explained what Teen Challenge was and what would happen to him and she thought for a moment, she says, well, he's useless to me now. If you're Jesus and he's dead to me now, if you're Jesus can bring him back to life again, I'll be very glad to have him do so.

And that's exactly what happened to Harvey and that's nearly 30 years ago. He lives in California and he's still serving the Lord and working. He who was unprofitable, the useless became useful because that's what Jesus Christ can do in your life.

But you know, a further evidence that Christ had changed Onesimus' life is that he came clean. He confessed his deepest, darkest, hidden secret. As I said, I don't believe that Paul knew the whole story about Onesimus at first.

He didn't need to know it. But I believe that as a result of having introduced him to the gospel and as a result of the conviction of the Holy Spirit into that cell and the Word of God is that it brought it out. And Onesimus, finally one day, I believe he opened up and he said, listen, Paul, I've got to tell you something.

I am a runaway. I am a slave. I've stolen some money.

You see, the true evidence of a new life in Christ is that we're willing to repent and come totally clean and honest and open before God. Now, the reason why we have some people, now some, David mentioned before about some who have come and confessed things here, but there are others who have come. They've come to this altar, they've prayed, and there's not been a change in their life because they have not confessed specific sins.

You see, John the Baptist called repentance laying the axe to the root. In other words, it means to getting down to the nitty gritty and coming totally clean before the Lord because Proverbs 28 and 13 says, He who conceals his transgression will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion. There's a sister here tonight.

I'm sure she will not bear me repeating her testimony that we gave some weeks ago. Very early on in one of our meetings, the Lord convicted this sister, Christian, about taking money from her husband and giving it to the poor. She would just take it.

And at one point she confessed it to her husband. He just laughed it off and didn't say anything. But one night in this service, a scripture was read about steal no more.

And she got convicted. And the Lord said to her, the Holy Spirit said to her, not one penny more. And she came to the altar and the Lord met her because she came clean.

She came clean. But let me take it a little step further. A further evidence of Onesimus' changed life is that he was willing to go back to the person that he had wronged and ask forgiveness and make restitution.

Now Paul grew to love Onesimus. He must have really progressed in the Lord because Paul wanted him to stay with him. Look in verse 13.

It says, he said, I'd rather he stay with me, whom I wish to keep with me, that in your behalf he might minister to me in my imprisonment for the gospel. But listen, we've been saying it on this pulpit. Please hear me out.

Righteousness means that Onesimus had to go back to the scene of his wrong. He had to face up to what he had done. He had to face up to who he had done it to.

And Paul taught Onesimus proper biblical principles and the Word of God got under his skin. I'll never forget my dad was a preacher one time. He took over church and he said, listen, he said, I can't sing.

I got no fancy personality. I can't play guitar. I can't sing.

He said, all I can do is preach the Word. He said, I'm going to preach the Word and I'm going to preach the Word until it gets under your skin and it changes your life. And if you aren't open to it, then this preacher will get under your skin.

Take your pick. It's either the pastor or the Word. And the Word of God got down to the nitty gritty in this man's life.

And Onesimus in teaching righteousness, he refers to Onesimus as one whom I have begotten in the faith. And that word begotten means that you give the law. You teach the law.

You teach the whole counsel of God. And you see, if you love somebody, when you disciple them, you'll do what Paul did. He required him to go back to those he had wronged and ask forgiveness.

And even when possible, yes, it must include restitution. And what a testimony it is when the sinner goes back like the prodigal son and he says, I have sinned against heaven, but Father, I'm not even worthy to come back into your house. Let me give you a testimony tonight of a young lady.

She'd been at Teen Challenge and she's moved on now to the next phase of her rehabilitation. This young lady that the Lord started convicting her about her past and some of the things she had done. And so on one occasion, she wrote a letter to one of her sisters that she had stolen from and asked her to forgive her.

And the Lord released her from that. But then the Holy Spirit began to probe deeper and said, no, I want you to deal with something else. She had some outstanding criminal charges from a department store that she used to shoplift from.

In fact, for 17 years, she shoplift from this store, sometimes three to $400 a day. And as I said, the Lord began to convict her. And so she wrote a letter to the judge and confessed to the charge.

In fact, it was, I think she was due to go to court, but she went ahead and she sent a letter to him. And so the judge called her back, responded with a letter and said, come to court and called her name. And he began to question her and ask her if she really knew what she was doing.

Because I don't believe that judge probably had ever gotten a letter like this in his life. I mean, can you imagine, here's not a policeman or here's not the law bringing somebody to court. Here's a girl writing and saying, hey, I have wronged, I've done something wrong and volunteering herself and throwing herself at the mercy of the court.

And so he said to her, do you know what you're doing? Because she had a long, as I said, a long, long record. But then one of our counselors, Yolanda, was there and introduced the fact that this young lady was a teen challenge and that she wanted to change her life. And so the judge said, well, go back and talk to the people at the department store and see if you can work it out with them.

And in the meantime, he would not let her plead guilty. This is the end of side one. Turn the tape over to continue this message on side two.

Because I guess if she pled guilty, he'd have to send her away. And so he postponed the case. And so they went to talk to the department store and the department store said, no, we never reduce charges.

So it looked like that was it. Finally, she was given a day to come back into court. And I have her testimony here before me.

And they showed up. The department store was there, the DA was there, and everybody was there. And the judge was so impressed with the fact, as the scripture says, he that conceals his transgression will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes will find compassion.

The judge let her go, fined her $30, and let her go. But you know what I appreciate about Yolanda, the counselor, when she got back, she said, all right, there's one thing you got to do. You got to get away all those clothes.

Don't you dare wear any of those clothes that you stole. You give them away. But she made restitution.

And you see, sometimes that's evidence when you go back and you make right something that you've done wrong or somebody that you've wronged. That's a part of having a changed life. But then Paul dealt with something else in this letter.

Note how Philemon fits into this story and into this message. Philemon is the slave owner. Onesimus had run away from him.

And as I said, had robbed him of a certain amount of money. Now, this is a true story. This is not a parable.

And in this true story, Philemon is a type of the church. It's a type of the Christian worker. And what it says to me is this, and what I want to say to you in regard to it is, how are we to respond to the unprofitable that become converted and in the eyes of the Lord, He calls them profitable? How do we respond to them? Now, Philemon had a good testimony.

Look at me again, what Paul says about this man. In verse 5, he says, I hear of your love and of the faith which you have towards the Lord Jesus and towards all the saints. In verse 7, he says, For I have come to have much joy and comfort in your love because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed because of your brother.

Now, this man, this man qualified, you might say, as a deacon or as an elder. His conduct in the house of God, as far as Paul was concerned, was unquestionable. But Paul is not concerned about Onesimus' love for other Christians.

He knows it. He said the hearts of the saints are refreshed by you. But now Paul is writing to him and he said, Philemon, I know that you love.

I know you personally. I hear the report, but now I'm going to stretch your love. Now I'm going to test you because I'm about to tell you about a situation.

I'm about to tell you about a person and I'm about to test you. I know you love saints, but what about Ains? You know, that's, you know, something in the process of being a saint. You love the people in the church, but what about Runaway? What about this other fellow? Now Philemon is not the first who has been tested in this regard.

So are we. So is the church. Are we able to accept and to love and embrace the Onesimuses? That maybe we knew them before conversion, but now they've come back and Paul has some things to teach us about what to do in this regard.

And I want to share them with you just in closing. Three things that we need to observe in deeding with a new convert who was once unprofitable. And I want you to listen to me carefully.

First of all, in verse 15, Paul says that thou shouldest receive him back forever. Not now as a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved especially to me, but how much more unto thee, both in the flesh and in the Lord. You know what this says to me is that Christ breaks down the wall of petition between us.

There is a spiritual brotherhood between all true believers. And I think that's a beautiful testimony about this church. And that's the vision that we would have for the Times Square church, that no matter what our culture, no matter what your race, no matter what your status in life is, that we're all God's children and we have the same Heavenly Father and each of us has the same rights and privileges before our Lord.

We ought to love one another as brethren. I remember a fellow said to me one time, after he got saved, he was worried about after he got saved, would he still be culturally what he was? I said, don't worry, brother. You'll still have a rice and beans stomach after you're saved.

Don't worry about it. You know, and some of you, although after conversion, one still likes rice and beans, another likes soul food, another likes something else. But you see, the Lord breaks down any barriers that there might be because of our outward differences.

Paul says to Philemon, O Nehemiah returns to you, yes, as a servant in fact, but he's something more now. He's a believer and you're to have a new relationship with him. He's like a brother beloved to me and if he's a brother to me, then how much more should he be to you? And he says to Philemon, are you willing to lay aside all these other trappings in his life? Are you willing to lay aside the fact that you're the employee and he's the employer? Are you willing to lay aside the fact that you're the owner and he's the slave? Although that would not change in actuality, yet in Christ that doesn't matter anymore.

And I like what Paul says to him. Oh, Paul is so insightful. Look at verse 16.

He says, he's no longer as a slave. He's more than a slave. He's a beloved brother, especially to me, but how much more to you? And now I want you to receive him back both in the flesh and in the Lord.

Now, I want to tell you something tonight. I could love every one of you in the Lord. Sometimes it's in the flesh that I have problems and I'm tested.

But Paul says, I want you to love him in the flesh. Yes, he comes back. He's still a slave, but don't treat him like a slave anymore.

Yes, he may be this race or he may be that race. He may have been a criminal. He may have been that, but now those things don't matter anymore.

Christ breaks down the wall of partition between us. Hallelujah. Some people love others only in the Lord, not in the flesh.

We break bread together. That's a symbol of being one. That means that we're one in the Lord.

But my friend, that's not just love in the Lord. That's also when we go out of here, as soon as we go out of the house of the Lord, we're in the flesh. I mean, in the good sense, in the natural sense.

And therefore we must love one another and accept one another. And then Paul also had something very interesting to say about Philemon's financial obligations. And Paul himself was personally willing to get involved financially in this case.

And therefore Paul teaches us something about charity. Look at verse 18 and 19 again. But if he has wronged you in any way or owes you anything, charge that to my account.

This is the first example in the Bible of a charge account. Paul set up Visa Master Charge. He said, charge it to my account.

In fact, he signed it. He said, I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand. I will repay it.

Paul, he's talking about money. He's talking about, he's going to take it out of his own pocket. And then he said, in case this doesn't work, he puts a parentheses.

Notice it says, lest I should mention to you that you owe me even your own self as well. I love Paul. Now there's a twofold lesson here and hear me out.

Christians ought to help other Christians financially. Christians ought to help other Christians financially. That's number one.

Number two, wisdom ought to be exercised in doing it. Wisdom ought to be exercised in giving us funds. Paul gave based on knowing the purity of Onesimus' heart.

He had discipled him. He knew Onesimus over a period of time. He felt Onesimus deserved to be helped because now his convert was willing to go back and work.

He was willing to go back and make certain things right that had been wrong. And I say to you tonight, friends, beware of how and who you give to. Do you know enough about the other person in the church you're giving funds to? Because you and I realized in my life, at times I've given people money when they needed to have discipling in their life and certain character changes before that money would mean anything to them.

Let me ask you this. Let me take you back to the Old Testament. And do you remember the prophet who ran away and ended up in the belly of a well? Jonah, all right.

Jonah, all right. Suppose you had been witnessing down by the docks where he went down to get a ship. And he had come along and given you some story.

And he would have had some story and said, Brother, would you help me? I'm in a real distress. I really need to make a trip to Tarsus. If you had known what God was doing in his life, would you have paid his fare? And you see, sometimes I've paid people's fare when God was discipling them and they were going to Tarsus and I had no business paying their fare.

That's why there must be discipline. Proverbs 11, 15 says, Be sure you know a person well before you vouch for his credit. And we've had people that have been coming here and they've been working the crowd.

And my friend, sometimes it's just putting, you know, if a person is need, you feel like you should take them out and give them a meal, then do that. Please do that. Don't get me wrong.

But my friend, what we've got to do, that's why I love this story of a letter of Paul's. Onesimus' life was changed, first of all, and then Paul got involved. And that's what we plan to do.

That's what we plan to do in this ministry here as well. And as I was saying, we've had people, I remember our first weekend, our first opening, a lady came here and she wanted a place to stay. And she said, please, you know, announce it to the people, here I am.

I've come from out of town. And what she had done is unwisely had come here, had unwisely come here and she was just going to throw herself on the body of Christ. And she said, would you announce that somebody would find a place for me? And I said, no, I'm not going to announce that, but I'll do my best to try to find you a place.

And so she pleaded with me. And so finally I found somebody that was going to get her a place to stay overnight in Brooklyn. And I said, I went over, I was so happy.

I found somebody and I said, hey, I've got a place for you to stay over in Brooklyn. She says, Brooklyn. My goodness, I don't want to go over to Brooklyn.

You see, Paul used wisdom. Paul used wisdom. And then finally, Paul's appeal to Philemon in Omnesimus' behalf teaches us something about receiving back a fallen brother or sister.

Look at verse 15. It says, you should receive him back forever. Verse 16, no longer as a slave, but much more than a slave, a beloved brother, especially to me and how much more to you.

And then verse 17. What a powerful verse. Sometime I'm going to preach just on that one verse.

It says, if then you regard me as a partner, accept him as you would me. That's even a type of Christ there. You talk about sticking up for somebody.

Paul put his reputation, his friendship, he put everything on the line with Philemon in behalf of a fallen brother. And what a beautiful example of forgiveness and grace. And you see, the church must always welcome back the man or woman who's made a mistake.

And too often, we regard the man who has taken the wrong turn, we regard them with suspicion when he returns to God and we're not prepared to trust him. It's been said that the most uplifting thing about Jesus Christ, that he trusts a repenting man on the very field of his defeat. And I've seen, that's a beautiful thing that I've seen about ex-drug addicts, ex-homosexuals, that God can change their life and then he trusts them and he will send them right back out into the same turf and the same territory to reach the same ones.

But if you've been wronged specifically by somebody, then God has a lesson for you to learn here. May your love be stretched. If Christ is willing to forgive, may we not be charged with making it hard for that one to be restored.

God, give us the spirit of restoration, tempered with wisdom, when we see that God has changed a person's life. Let's pray. Let's bow in prayer.

This is the end of this sermon by Don Wilkerson. For a copy of this tape or any other from Times Square Pulpit, write to World Challenge, PO Box 260, Lindale, TX 75771 or call Area Code. If this city ever gets to you, start reading this about Abraham.

Start thinking about this other city. Hallelujah. You don't live here, praise God.

God has another city prepared for you. Jesus is coming back to take us to that city. Hallelujah.

That's what it means. And listen, this confession of Abraham's,