We all love to receive an encouraging note from a friend.

And on one page of the New Testament, we find a very personal letter from Paul to Philemon.

This brief note to a friend is full of doctrinal truth and practical help for us all.

Open your Bible and your heart today as we come to the book of Philemon.

Let's join Scott Pauli now as we study God's Word together.

A letter is no good if it's written but never received.

You could put so much thought into it,

but if it never gets delivered to the person that it was addressed to,

it doesn't accomplish its purpose. But God always intended that his inspired letters would be recorded and received and read

and relayed. We have been studying one of those inspired letters, this brief note to a friend we call

the book of Philemon, and I want to remind you that it is a parallel to the book of Colossians.

In fact, if you go back in your Bible to the end of the little book we know as the book of Colossians,

to Colossians chapter 4, you will see this connection.

The Apostle Paul actually references Onesimus, the same man who is the main character

in the little book that we have been studying.

In Colossians chapter 4 and verse number 7, we read this,

All my state shall Tickicus declare unto you, who is a beloved brother and a faithful minister

and servant in the Lord, whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose that he might know your

estate and comfort your hearts with

Onesimus a faithful and beloved brother who is one of you they shall make known under you all things

which are done here so get the mental picture get the get the understanding there are two men

walking along on a road each of them has a letter in hand. One man is named Ticichus.

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