48 sermon' topics for church growth

The need for constant growth of faith and its implementation in relationships with people

The purpose of the sermon is to deepen the understanding of the essence of Christianity and the application of faith in people's lives.

1 Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and Timothy our brother, our beloved Philemon and fellow worker,

2 And to Apphia, our beloved sister, and to Archippus, our fellow soldier, and to the church in your home:

3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

4 I thank my God, always remembering you in my prayers,

5 hearing of your love and faith which you have for the Lord Jesus and for all the saints,

6 that the fellowship of your faith may be effective in the knowledge of every good thing that is in you in Christ Jesus.

7 For we have great joy and consolation in your love, because through you, brother, the hearts of the saints are refreshed.

8 Therefore, having great boldness in Christ to command you what is right,

9 For love's sake I rather ask, none other than I, Paul the elder, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ;

10 I ask you for my son Onesimus, whom I begot in my bonds:

11 He was once useless to you, but now he is useful to you and me; I return him;

12 You accept it as my heart.

13 I wanted to keep him with me, so that he might serve me in your place in the chains for the gospel;

14 But without your consent I did not want to do anything, so that your good deed would not be by compulsion, but voluntary.

15 For perhaps he went away for a time, so that you might receive him permanently,

16 not as a slave, but above a slave, a beloved brother, especially to me, and much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.

17 So if you have fellowship with me, receive him as me.

18 If he has wronged you in any way, or owes you anything, hold it against me.

19 I, Paul, have written with my own hand: I will repay; I do not tell you that you owe me even yourselves.

20 So, brother, let me profit by you in the Lord; rest my heart in the Lord.

21 Trusting in your obedience, I wrote to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say.

22 And at the same time prepare a room for me, for I hope that through your prayers I will be granted to you.

23 Epaphras, my fellow prisoner for Christ Jesus, greets you,

24 Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke, my fellow workers.

25 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.

(Phil.1:1-25)

In life we are constantly faced with the need to believe. We go to work and wait for payday, believing that with the money we receive not in gold and paper but in electronic form we will be able to buy part of what we need, someone will be able to buy everything we need and even more.

When we get married, we believe that our relationship will last for a long time, and will improve and deepen. Although, this does not always happen.

As members of the church, we believe in our salvation and forgiveness of our sins and strive to act according to biblical teaching.

So, we can state the following:

1. Faith is the foundation of human life and society. When faith in a person or in institutions of power is lost, relationships are destroyed.

2. A happy family life can be built on trust, when it is absent, the relationship also collapses.

3. The life of the church and believers is built on the foundation of faith in Jesus Christ, His love for us, sinful people, and His substitutionary sacrifice for us on the cross of Calvary.

For a healthy and lasting relationship, our faith must grow and develop.

What growth of faith does Paul expect from Philemon, to whom the epistle of the same name is addressed, and what growth of faith does God expect from us, believers?

Someone might object: "My life is not built on faith, but on material well-being. I have certain assets, and I manage them correctly."

But in addition to material assets, we need time to properly manage our lives and property, but time is not in our control. If you remember, Jesus says this about a person who has removed the factor of God from his life, who gives time to a person's life – a madman.

Let us consider the cultural and historical context of our message to understand what God is speaking to us through it today, and what He expects from us today, what we must do to grow and develop our faith.

The author of the Epistle to Philemon is the Apostle Paul (1:1).

The message is addressed to Philemon and all believers.

This letter was written around 60 AD.

Philemon is the shortest of all Paul's writings and addresses the issue of slavery. It is clear from this letter that Paul was in prison when he wrote it.

Philemon was a slave owner who also ran a church in his home. During Paul's ministry in Ephesus, Philemon likely visited the city, heard the apostle preach, and became a Christian.

The slave Onesimus robbed his master, Philemon, and ran away, heading to Rome to Paul. Onesimus was still Philemon's property, and Paul wrote to smooth the way for his return to his master.

Through Paul's testimony, Onesimus became a Christian (Philemon 10) and Paul asked Philemon to accept Onesimus as a brother in Christ, not just as a slave.

The events that take place in the New Testament take place against the backdrop of a slave society. In this historical period, this was the main socio-economic formation of society.

We can reconstruct the circumstances surrounding the writing of the letter by connecting the contents of the letter with the text of Paul's Epistle to the Colossians. Philemon was most likely a resident of Colossae (cf. Col. 4:17 with Phil. 2), converted to Christianity by the Apostle Paul (v. 19). One of his slaves, Onesimus, had run away (vv. 15-16), and he very likely took some of his master's property with him (v. 18).

Slaves at that time did not represent a humanistic but only an economic value. A slave could be bought, sold, punished or killed, he and his family were property.

The message is a personal letter with elements of an IOU.

Outline of the Epistle to Philemon

I. GREETING (vv. 1-3)

II. PAUL'S GRATITUDE AND PRAYER FOR PHILEMON (vv. 4-7)

III. PAUL'S REQUEST FOR ONISIMUS (Verses 8-20)

IV. CONCLUSION (Articles 21-25)

This epistle is the smallest in the New Testament, but it is the cornerstone and foundation for understanding the need to grow our faith.

Philemon's faith had reached a high level, and good news of this reached the apostle Paul. Paul desired the growth of Philemon's faith and ministry, and rejoiced at the fruits that Philemon bore, to whose salvation Paul had contributed his share.

1 Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and Timothy our brother, our beloved Philemon and fellow worker,

2 And to Apphia, our beloved sister, and to Archippus, our fellow soldier, and to the church in your home:

3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

4 I thank my God, always remembering you in my prayers,

5 hearing of your love and faith which you have for the Lord Jesus and for all the saints,

6 that the fellowship of your faith may be effective in the knowledge of every good thing that is in you in Christ Jesus.

7 For we have great joy and consolation in your love, because through you, brother, the hearts of the saints are refreshed.

8 Therefore, having great boldness in Christ to command you what is right,

9 For love's sake I rather ask, none other than I, Paul the elder, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ;

10 I ask you for my son Onesimus, whom I begot in my bonds:

11 He was once useless to you, but now he is useful to you and me; I return him;

12 You accept it as my heart.

13 I wanted to keep him with me, so that he might serve me in your place in the chains for the gospel;

14 But without your consent I did not want to do anything, so that your good deed would not be by compulsion, but voluntary.

15 For perhaps he went away for a time, so that you might receive him permanently,

16 not as a slave, but above a slave, a beloved brother, especially to me, and much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.

17 So if you have fellowship with me, receive him as me.

18 If he has wronged you in any way, or owes you anything, hold it against me.

19 I, Paul, have written with my own hand: I will repay; I do not tell you that you owe me even yourselves.

20 So, brother, let me profit by you in the Lord; rest my heart in the Lord.

21 Trusting in your obedience, I wrote to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say.

22 And at the same time prepare a room for me, for I hope that through your prayers I will be granted to you.

23 Epaphras, my fellow prisoner for Christ Jesus, greets you,

24 Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke, my fellow workers.

25 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.

(Phil.1:1-25)

Detailed outline of the letter to Philemon

I Paul writes about his situation and greets the addressee

A He writes not as an apostle, but as a prisoner of Jesus Christ.

B Greets on behalf of himself and his employees

Greetings to Philemon and his family (house church)

II Paul thanks God for Philemon

A Paul constantly prays for those with whom he ministers.

B Good news reaches Paul about Philemon's ministry

Paul addresses Philemon to strengthen his faith

D Filimon's faith has reached a high level

III Paul wants to take it to a new level

A "Has the boldness to command" Philemon

B Writes about the motives and basis of his request

S Appeals with a request for the runaway slave of Philemon – Onesimus

D He asks to accept him not as a slave, but as a brother.

IV Paul does not violate social foundations and laws, he fills them with new meaning

And Onesimus is now not only a slave, but also a brother.

B Philemon is in debt to Paul, just as we are in debt to God.

Paul identifies Onesimus with himself and with his heart.

D Pavel guarantees compensation for damages from Onisim

V Pavel will certify the “IOU” with his signature

A Paul reminds us of Philemon's debt

B Paul motivates him to obedience

Pavel promises to come soon

D Conveys greetings from his staff.

What is important at this stage for Philemon, and what might be important for us, reading these lines today?

We, each person, me, have people we have given up on. We don't want to communicate with them, we don't want to have anything in common with them, due to the circumstances we consider communication with them impossible, not useful and even unprofitable. Philemon had the same attitude towards the runaway slave Onesimus.

All he wanted to do with Onesimus was to punish him. And by law he would have been absolutely right, Onesimus was his property, his slave, Philemon had suffered financial damage from him, and wanted compensation, if not financial, then at least moral.

And you and I have people with whom we have no great desire to communicate.

The problem is that you and I were just as worthless, “written off,” and maybe even worse people, with whom no one wanted to communicate.

What did God do for you and me? He gave His only Spiritual Son, Jesus Christ, to take away our sins so that we could freely come to God and communicate with Him.

For this communion, faith is necessary, which God gives, and by which we are saved, and by which we have communion with God.

At some point, this is enough for us. And we see good changes and good fruits of this communication in our lives. As it was in the life of Philemon. But Paul wants Philemon to accept Onesimus too, no longer as a slave, but as a beloved brother.

If we want our relationship with God to deepen, we need to change our attitude toward those “bad” people who were in our lives, but today we consider communication with them impossible. I’m not saying that we should buy them an expensive gift and rush over and lay the latest phone at their feet or invite them over and treat them to a delicious dinner. No, it’s enough for us to remove from our mental list that big fat cross we put next to their name and phone number.

For us today it is enough to start praying for them so that God will give us the opportunity to restore our relationship with them, and to pray for ourselves so that we can change, so that we can forgive them and start restoring our relationship with them.

Just call them and find out how their life is, what they live on, do they have anything to eat?

Why is this important to you and me? It is important for several reasons:

1. It enables our faith to continue to grow and bear good fruit in our lives.

2. It gives people we consider “written off” the opportunity to recover and get a “second” chance.

3. It reminds us of what we were like and how hard it was for us, and it will keep us from losing or questioning our present relationship with God, which was given to us not deservedly, but only by the grace of God, and through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the sinless Son of God.

May the Almighty bless you in your search for truth.

With God's love, respect and prayers for you,

Rustam Nasyrov.

2024 Plan – Prayer for the Worst Person

January has already flown by unnoticed, and although the echoes of the New Year and Christmas holidays are still heard, the Christmas trees have not yet been removed everywhere, the year has already confidently come into its own, the daylight hours have already increased by almost one hour, the eye and hand are getting used to writing these four numbers – 2024, and it is time for you and me to look around and understand the spiritual atmosphere and spiritual tasks for believers – Christians in this difficult year and in our difficult times. Let us turn to the texts of the Bible to better understand our task for this year.

21 If thine enemy be hungry, feed him bread: and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink:

22 For by doing this you are heaping burning coals on his head, and the Lord will repay you. (Prov. 25:21-22)

38 You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

39 But I say to you, Do not resist an evil person. But whoever strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.

40 And whoever wants to sue you and take your shirt, give him your cloak also;

41 And whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two.

42 Give to him who asks you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you.

43 You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’

44 But I say to you: love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,

45 That you may be sons of your Father in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

46 For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the publicans do the same?

47 And if you greet only your brothers, what do you do more than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?

48 Therefore be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect. (Matt. 5:38-48)

Relationships with God provide the opportunity to build other relationships with people of this world, namely:

A Do not repay evil with evil

B Respond to evil with good deeds

C Do not conflict over property issues

D Do not conflict over political issues

E Do not refuse to help those in need

F Help those who are unfriendly to us

G We can respond to hurt differently

For the people of this world, it is not only and not so much words that are important, but practical actions and the daily life of believers. They do not listen to us so much as they look at how our words relate to our lives and our deeds.

How can we be effective in this new year 2024 and how can we reach as many people as possible with the good news of the Gospel? We can do this by starting to pray for the worst person around us.

The concept of “loving your enemies” is a principle often associated with religious and moral teachings, particularly Christian theology as taught by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. However, there are various arguments against this principle from different perspectives. Here are a few:

1. Pragmatic arguments:

· – Self-preservation: It is natural for humans to want to protect themselves from those who wish them harm. Love involves a certain level of vulnerability that may not be wise in the presence of enemies.

· – Justice: Some argue that loving your enemies can prevent justice from being done. Wrong people should be held accountable and punished, not offered love and forgiveness.

2. Psychological arguments:

· – Emotional Authenticity: It is psychologically unhealthy or inauthentic to have positive feelings for someone who has caused harm. This can lead to internal conflict or denial of one's true emotions.

· – Trust: Trust is the foundation of love, and trusting someone who is considered an enemy may be impractical or impossible because their actions demonstrate hostility or harm.

3. Social and cultural arguments:

· – Social Cohesion: From a social perspective, excessive love for enemies can undermine group solidarity and in-group defense. Favor for one's community or nation may sometimes require a tough stance toward opponents.

· – Cultural norms: In some cultures, honor and retribution are more important than forgiveness and love, especially for one's enemies, since this approach is important for maintaining social order and containing aggression.

4. Philosophical and ethical arguments:

· – Moral Reciprocity: The concept of reciprocity is central to many ethical systems, which suggest that one should treat others as they treat oneself. Loving someone who does not reciprocate may be considered morally inappropriate.

· – Deontological views: Some philosophical views argue that certain actions or roles require specific responses. For example, a judge or a soldier must adhere to principles of justice or protection rather than personal loyalties.

5. Evolutionary arguments:

· – Survival mechanism: Evolutionarily, mistrust or even hostility toward strangers or those who signaled danger may have been critical to survival. Showing affection in such circumstances may contradict deeply ingrained survival mechanisms.

6. Political realism:

· – Strategic Interests: In international relations, the notion of loving one's enemies is often considered unrealistic. States act in their own interests, and maintaining power often requires a cautious or even confrontational stance toward adversaries.

7. Risk of exploitation:

· – Encouraging Abuse: There is a concern that this principle can be exploited by unscrupulous people. Offering love and unconditional forgiveness can encourage enemies to continue their harmful behavior without fear of retribution or consequences.

These arguments come from a variety of perspectives and touch on the complexity of human relationships, be they personal, social, or international. While the ideal of loving one's enemies may be intended to create a more peaceful and forgiving world, counter-arguments highlight the potential problems and downsides of universally applying such a principle.

Let us consider the historical aspect of our passage in order to form a correct idea of the idea laid down by Jesus Christ in His Sermon on the Mount – the new law of the New Testament.

This book is known as the Gospel of Matthew because it was written by the apostle of the same name. The style of the book is what you would expect from someone who was once a tax collector. Matthew shows great interest in record-keeping (18:23–24; 25:14–15). The book is extremely orderly and concise. Rather than writing chronologically, Matthew organizes this gospel around six themes.

As a tax collector, Matthew had a skill that made his job even more exciting for Christians. Tax collectors had to be able to take shorthand notes, which essentially meant that Matthew could record a person’s words as they spoke them, word for word. This ability means that the words of Matthew’s Gospel are not only inspired by the Holy Spirit, but must also be factual transcripts of some of Christ’s sermons. For example, the Sermon on the Mount, recorded in chapters 5–7, is almost certainly an accurate record of that great message.

The book is addressed to a Jewish audience, since the majority of the early apostolic church were Jews who had converted from Judaism and knew the Law.

The Apostle Matthew wrote this book in the early days of the Church, probably around 50 AD. This was a time when most Christians were Jews, so Matthew's focus on the Jewish perspective in this Gospel is understandable.

Matthew tried to prove to the Jews that Jesus Christ was the promised Messiah. More than any other gospel, Matthew quotes from the Old Testament to show how Jesus fulfilled the words of the Jewish prophets. Matthew describes Jesus' descent from David in detail, and uses many forms of speech that were more natural to the Jews. Matthew's love and concern for his people is evident in his careful approach to telling the gospel story.