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[ Silence ] [ Music ] Why should I feel discouraged? Why should the shadows come?

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Why should my heart feel lonely and long for heaven and home? When Jesus is my portion, a constant friend is he. His eye is on the sparrow And I know he watches me

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I sing because I'm sure not happy. And I, and I, I sing because I'm free. You know? His eye is on the sparrow

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And I know he watches I know he watches ♪ Yes, I know he was dressed ♪ ♪ All over little old me ♪

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Yes, he does, and I want you to sing this with me. ♪ I said I sing ♪ ♪ I sing ♪ ♪ Because ♪

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♪ Because I'm happy ♪ ♪ Because I'm happy ♪ ♪ I want you to know that I sing, yeah ♪ ♪ I sing ♪

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♪ Because I'm so free ♪ ♪ His eye is on the sparrow ♪ ♪ And I know he's gonna watch ♪ ♪ He's gonna watch me ♪

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♪ I said, I said I sing ♪ ♪ I sing ♪ ♪ Because ♪ ♪ Because ♪

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♪ I'm happy, yeah ♪ ♪ You know I sing ♪ ♪ I sing ♪ ♪ Because ♪

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♪ Because ♪ ♪ I'm free, yeah ♪ ♪ His eye ♪ ♪ His eye ♪

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♪ Is all over the sparrow ♪ ♪ And I know ♪ ♪ I know ♪ ♪ He watches ♪

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♪ I know ♪ ♪ I know ♪ ♪ He watches ♪ ♪ And I know ♪

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♪ I know ♪ ♪ He watches ♪ ♪ Me ♪ [applause]

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[ Music ] [music] ♪ And all I love to see ♪ ♪ But I long to rise in the arms of faith ♪

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♪ And be closer to the living ♪ ♪ For me there are heroes ♪ ♪ And we look to the cross that I have died ♪ [Choral singing]

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The scripture passage that was read earlier dealt with the larger portion of this letter, which is very brief, by Lehman, that Paul wrote.

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to a runaway slave. But my message this morning is largely centered upon just six words in this

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epistle, the first six words. Philippians, Philemon one and one. Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ. Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ. Paul wrote seven prison epistles which

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are included in the New Testament. Philemon is the letter on which this particular message is based, it is the shortest of Paul's prison letters. It consists of just one chapter. This suggests that the contents of the letter

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were not only important, but urgent. So I'm particularly concerned about how the letter begins. Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ. We're not sure where Paul was when he wrote this letter,

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whether he was in Rome, Ephesus, or Philippi. What is definite and explicitly stated in the letter at the beginning is that Paul is a prisoner. wherever he is, whatever may be the surrounding circumstances,

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Paul is a prisoner of Jesus Christ. A prisoner of Jesus Christ. A prisoner, let me say, of Jesus Christ. That means he's just one among many.

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There were others, and we still, through the centuries, have had prisoners of Jesus Christ, and Paul is one among many. Some translations read, "A prisoner of Jesus Christ's love." Others read "A Prisoner for Jesus Christ."

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And each translation opens the door to a little more meaning, a little more understanding. To be of, a prisoner of Jesus Christ means one is possessed by Jesus Christ. He confesses that Jesus Christ is ownership of his life. And "for" means that he is rendering a service for Jesus Christ.

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He's not only "of," a prisoner of, but a prisoner for Jesus Christ. We're not our own. Jesus Christ is our master, he is our Lord. We are his servants.

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We are prisoners. Paul considers himself a prisoner of Jesus Christ. What he is doing, the service he renders, is for Jesus Christ. We are not accustomed to thinking like that.

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I heard people say, and they still say, "Oh, I'm so proud of my children. They've been good children. They haven't given me any trouble. They have never been arrested. They've never been in jail." Usually that's the way the testimony goes.

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But here is a man who has rendered outstanding service as a missionary, one of the most outstanding personalities in the New Testament, not including Jesus Christ, Paul, who says time and time again and seems to take a certain delight in saying,

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"Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ." We place a great deal of emphasis on prisons. You know, we are opening our schools again for this, for new year, new school year,

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and we have more prisons, more money spent for prisons than for schools. That tells something about our society and our emphasis. Many have suffered and sacrificed to be set free.

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But what Paul has to say has special meaning for us as a prisoner of Jesus Christ. He takes a courageous stand in defending a runaway slave. He is one who is remembered for the way he gives testimony to his belief. But he is himself a prisoner, not of the Romans,

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though he spent considerable time in a Roman prison. but he is not a prisoner of the Pharisees, although Paul has a distinguished reputation of being a Pharisee. That was his professional training. But he's not a prisoner of the Jews, or even though that is the race to which he belongs, Paul is a prisoner of Jesus Christ.

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In ancient times, prisoners were subjected to inhumane conditions, unhumane. And of course, modern times haven't changed too much. We try to make prisons as uncomfortable as possible. Visitors to Rome have shown a place that is called Paul's prison.

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We're not certain that it was Paul's prison, but it was a dark, dingy place, a dam, most unpleasant circumstances for a prison. But this is pointed out as a place where Paul spent some time in prison. Today we try to have as little convenience as possible if we can get away with the fact

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we've had to be taken to court in order to provide what I consider humane conditions for our prisoners. So in his letter, Paul asks Philemon to accept Onesimus, his runaway slave. run away from from home and Paul is asking him he's sort of paving the way

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for him to come back we know of many stories of runaway slaves in fact they were often beaten publicly other slaves could get the lesson that this would happen to you if you try to do it they were they were not only beaten but sometimes skilled. Well that was true in ancient times. So we think of freedom of

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locomotion to be able to go where we want to go and to do what we'd like to do and say what we'd like to say. But when we are arrested one of the first things that happens the arresting officer takes us and puts us in handcuffs and we don't have the freedom of our hands anymore and the Austro

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instrumental in reading to us Miranda writes anything you say may be used against you. But there are other kinds of prisons beside physical prisons. We may visit the prison just a few blocks from here and we sit in the courtroom and we We see men and women sent to prison time and time again.

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And we say a great deal about the horrible conditions of our prisons, but there are other kinds of prisons besides the physical prison. Some live in mental prisons. Not only should we be concerned about physical bondage,

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but we should be concerned about the crippling of the mind. God has given so many people good minds to cultivate, to develop, and to use them, and we fail to do so. We fail to cultivate the mind,

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and we, as a means of penalizing ourselves, live in mental prisons. we fail to see the possibilities of the present because we are prisoners of the past. I grew up in days in Dallas where we had

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what we called a streetcar. And when you boarded the streetcar, there was a sign, on one side it said for colored, On the other side it said for white.

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And sometimes you had to move the sign back and sit behind that for colored sign. And the times changed. I went away to Ohio and I was in a place where we did not have that sort of rule. And I found myself getting on the bus,

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going to the back of the bus, because that was where I was accustomed to going when I was at home. So, and a sentiment dawned on me.

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You don't have to go to the back of the bus. But my mind, that mental frame, that was still there, even though the rules had changed, I still was getting on and going to bus and going to the back of the bus.

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So let us not be prisoners of the past. Let us be open to the possibilities of the future. This may sometimes be a frustrating experience. It can be very frustrating sometimes.

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I was invited by a group of ladies at First Baptist Church in Dallas to come to one of the circle meetings held out in the affluent section of the city and I would speak to them concerning the needs of our people in Dallas. And as I came to the door of the house, I decided that I would go and punch the doorbell. And I punched the doorbell, and the lady of the house came in to the door, came to the door, and I went inside, and we had a meeting, and I spoke.

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And as I was preparing to leave after the meeting, the maid came to me and she said to me, "Now listen, son, the next time you come here, you come around to the back door." So she was the one who delivered to me the message. It can be rather frustrating sometimes as to where we are to go and where we are to

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to sit and what we are to do. When Nat Turner was captured, he was held in the prison for some time. In fact, he went from prison to death.

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And he maintained silence from the time of his capture until the time of his death. He was silent, even though he was in prison. When John Bunyan was put in prison for preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, his daughter visited

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him and said that arrangements were made that if he were willing to stop preaching that he would be set free. Bunyan responded if I am set free this morning I will preach Christ this evening. He was determined to be a witness for Jesus Christ

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we often talk about Dietrich Bonhoeffer, but Bonhoeffer came to this country and Participated in in making lectures and our seminaries and other places and it was during the war involving Germany and Adolf Hitler and And many nations were crumbling in Europe.

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When he came here and had the opportunity of staying here since the war was already out, had broken out in Europe, but he refused the opportunity to stay here and went back to Germany.

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And in going back to Germany, he knew he was going to face death. And while he was in prison, while he was in prison, he wrote prison letters.

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And those letters are treasured and read by people all over the world. It's how he used his prison time. So it's all right to be in prison for the right thing.

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But many people have been instrumental in making significant contributions by being in prison. Martin Luther King wrote his famous Birmingham letter

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from prison. So how we use the prison time is important. A group of college students in Sumter, South Carolina in the midst of the city were going to jail

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and I had been invited there to speak in a religious emphasis week. And while this was taking place, we decided to go to the jail. And there was one man there who was the pastor of the Walker Memorial Baptist Church in New York City.

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He had come to Sumter to get his boy out of jail. He didn't want his son in jail. And we went to the jail with him to get his son out. And his son said, no, daddy, I want to stay there.

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He wanted to make a testimony. and his testimony was made by remaining in prison. And in so doing, they attracted the attention of the nation and the president of Virginia Union College

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wrote a book telling the story and gave it the title, "They Sang Through the Crisis." Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ? Yes, he's a prisoner.

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He's in chains, yes. We know the story of how he was put in prison in Philippi. We know the story of how the doors were locked and he was placed not only just in prison,

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but he was put in the inner prison. His feet were put in stocks. He was in chains. It was a dark place.

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But at midnight, darkest hour of the night, Paul and Silas sang hymns and prayed to God at midnight. It's all right to be in prison. Sometimes you may be in prison to sickness,

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sickness that you cannot escape. Doctors said there's no hope, you're in prison. But we can make the most of that prison so that at our midnight hour,

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we can praise God and find something to give thanks to God for in the midst of our prison experience. That was the testimony of Paul and Silas. And that's been the testimony of saints through the years,

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to sing praises to God. In fact, the very fact that we are alive, no matter what may be the condition, we are alive to see each other's face,

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we can say, "Thank you, Lord, thank you." Even in the midst of the darkness, they have a light to shine. There were chains, but the chains fell loose. There was ground underneath their feet, so to speak, but the ground was shaken by earthquakes.

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They were able to rejoice in their prison experience. So there ought to be some things that you do because you just have to do them. In other words, we're so quick many times to run away when things don't go our way, to give up.

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But there are some things we ought to do, just because we have to do. Some used to call it the can't help it. Just can't help it. Can't help it.

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Some want to run away when they're insulted, but others in the face of difficulties and Prison experiences will say, "Lord, I'm going to serve you as long as I can." Thanks be to God that this apostle makes this witness for us. Paul, a prisoner for Jesus Christ.

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Jesus Christ is in my life. Jesus Christ has changed the course of my life. Jesus Christ is my Lord and he's the God, he's the governor of my life, Paul. This is who I am. This is how you know me. I'm a prisoner of Jesus Christ.

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Wouldn't it be wonderful if people knew us by that kind of title? Who is he? Who is she? A prisoner of Jesus Christ. That the Spirit of Christ has so possessed the life of this individual that we remember that person as Paul describes himself, a prisoner of Jesus Christ. And if we don't be like Christ, we're going to have some prison experience.

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You know, we forget that experience in the life of Jesus during those last days when he was arrested, falsely accused, unjustly condemned, and stayed all night being judged by Pilate. He was a prisoner, a prisoner, taken from the garden where he was on his knees and ends up in prison. So this is the one we follow, Jesus Christ,

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and it is the best testimony we can make to say that we are prisoners of Jesus Christ. Lord, I wanna be a Christian. It's hard, the way it's done, but I wanna be like you.

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I want to be a Christian in my heart. In my heart, yes, in my heart. Lord, I want to be a Christian in my heart. Someone here today needs to make a decision for Jesus Christ.

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Someone today needs to have a life-changing experience, and it can happen right here. If you should open your heart to Jesus Christ, let him come in and bless you and direct you.

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So as we sing the song of invitation, Lord, I want to be a Christian in my heart. We invite you to come, to unite with the family of God here at Ebenezer. Come.

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[Music] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [Music]

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[MUSIC] ♪ In my heart ♪ ♪ Lord, I want to be more loving ♪ ♪ In my heart, in my heart ♪

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♪ Lord, I want to be more loving ♪ ♪ In my heart ♪ ♪ Lord, I want to be more holy ♪ ♪ In my heart, in my heart ♪

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♪ Lord, I want to be more holy ♪ ♪ In my heart ♪ ♪ Lord, I want to be like Jesus ♪ ♪ In my heart ♪

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♪ In my heart ♪ ♪ Lord, I want to be like Jesus ♪ ♪ In my heart ♪ [MUSIC]

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In my heart, in my heart, Lord I want to be a Christian in my heart. ♪ In my heart ♪ ♪ In my heart ♪ ♪ Lord, I want to be like Christian ♪

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♪ In my heart ♪ [Music] [BLANK_AUDIO]