Today's sermon is a follow-up to "The New You" sermon series, where we will take a look at the book of Philemon, which is only 1 chapter long.

Philemon was a member of the church in Colossae, and he was a good friend of the apostle Paul. In this brief letter, Paul specifically asks Philemon to do something quite extraordinary — to receive a runaway slave back as a brother and a "man" (an important concept, since Romans did not always consider slaves as "men" or "women").

Many of us have a call from God to do something extraordinary, too ... perhaps extraordinarily hard. For the Kingdom to flourish, and for us to grow, we must do the hard thing. Forgive someone who deeply hurt us. Reconcile with someone we haven't seen in years. Start that ministry that we've dreamed about. Give generously to some initiative. Give up some sin.

Whatever your calling is, you will be blessed when you step into it.

Key Text: Philemon 8-21