⏱ 8 min read

• Day 42 of 50, and we are going strong with another powerful word from Minister James Deke from the book of Philemon. You’ll be super blessed by this! 📖🔥🤗
• Maybe you missed Galatians, Ephesians, and Philippians, Colossians, 1&2 Thessalonians, 1&2 Timothy, and Titus but hey, you can join in and let’s “tattoo” God’s Word in our hearts! 📖🤍
• God bless you, and looking forward to your lessons, insights, and comments.

“That I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, who became my son while I was in chains.  Formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me.” ~ Philemon 1:10-11 (NIV)

One of the most beautiful pictures of gospel transformation is captured in a short letter Paul wrote to a man named Philemon. He was a wealthy believer in Colossae whose house served as the meeting place for the church. 

• Onesimus, his slave, had run away, likely stealing from Philemon in the process. 
• In God’s providence, Onesimus encountered Paul in Rome, heard the gospel, and was radically transformed.
• Apostle Paul’s letter to Philemon beautifully captures this change, “Formerly he was useless to you, but now, he has become useful…”.

This short sentence summarises the power of the gospel – it takes the useless, the broken, the guilty, and the wandering, and makes them useful in the hands of God.

What caused the change in Onesimus’ life?

It was the transforming power of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. In Colossians 1:6, Paul said,

“This same Good News that came to you is going out all over the world. It is bearing fruit everywhere by changing lives, just as it changed your lives from the day you first heard and understood the truth about God’s wonderful grace.” 

• From the day the people heard and understood the truth about God’s wonderful grace, captured in the gospel, it got them saved and changed their lives.
• The transformational power of the gospel can not be overemphasized; it is the very power of God unto salvation (Romans 1:16-17). 

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.” ~ Romans 1:16-17

No matter how broken, sinful, or far gone a person may seem, the gospel can turn their lives around. Onesimus is one of many who experienced the wonder-working power of the gospel.

I would like to highlight some key aspects of the gospel’s transforming power:

1. The gospel saves and delivers us from sin and the tyranny of the enemy: 

For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. ~ Romans 6:14

• The gospel (Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection) saves man entirely, because it is the power of God unto salvation (Romans 1:16).
• In the gospel, we find the forgiveness of sins (Eph 1:7), freedom from sin’s power (Romans 6:14), deliverance from the kingdom of darkness (Col 1:13), and the gift of eternal life (John 3:16). 

For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, ~ Col 1:13

This is the good news: Christ died for our sins so we may live unto God. Onesimus, once a guilty fugitive, became a forgiven son of God through the gospel.

2. The gospel gives new identity:

Due to the fall, the nature and the identity of man was corrupted but the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ changes the narrative (Eph 2:1-5). 

Through the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, we become new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17), we receive the nature of God (2 Peter 1:3–4), and we are adopted as sons and daughters of God (1 John 3:1, Romans 8:14–17).

“Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!” ~ 1 John 3:1

What a blessing, no matter your past, habits, or shame, the gospel declares: “Old things have passed away”, you become who God always intended you to be (a new creation and a child of God).

3. The gospel renews the mind and reshapes behaviour:

The gospel changes who we are, and who we are then changes how we live. Paul said, “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” (Romans 12:2). The gospel gives believers new desires, values, ways of thinking, and strength to walk in righteousness. 

• In Luke 19:1-10, Zacchaeus, a corrupt chief tax collector met Jesus, who is the embodiment of the gospel.
• After the encounter, he abandoned greed, restitution followed, and he became generous.
• Zacchaeus did not change because of rules, he changed because he experienced the gospel in the person of Jesus.

4. The gospel breaks strongholds and addictions:

• When the gospel is preached, captives are set free, bondages fall, and the chains of sin are broken (Isaiah 61:1, Luke 4:18).
• This same gospel has the power to set people free from any bondage they find themselves in as they turn to the Lord. 

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed;" ~ Luke 4:18

The mad man in Gadara (Mark 5:1-20), possessed by a legion of demons, experienced the transformation power of the gospel in Jesus – He was clothed, regained his right mind, and became a witness of Christ in his city. 

5. The gospel produces good works and kingdom usefulness: 

The gospel does not just save; it equips believers to be useful in the kingdom. It makes them vessels of honour (2 Timothy 2:21), fruitful in every good work (Colossians 1:10), and zealous for good deeds (Titus 2:14). 

• Saul, a violent persecutor of the church, encountered Christ and became the greatest missionary in history.
• The gospel turned a destroyer of the church into a builder of churches. That is transformation!
• Onesimus, once an unreliable slave, he became a dependable helper to Paul, so useful that Paul called him “my very heart” (Philemon 1:12).

The gospel turns sinners into saints, rebels into servants, outcasts into leaders and the useless to useful.

• The gospel does not leave people where it found them; it makes them who God intended them to be. 
• Interestingly, Onesimus’ name meant useful in Greek, but he was useless (a servant Philemon couldn’t count on).
• But the gospel restored him, transformed him, and empowered him to live out his God-given name.

Dearly beloved, the gospel is still changing lives. Just as it transformed Onesimus, it can transform yours too. No one is beyond God’s reach, no past is too stained, and no life is too broken.

If you will come to Jesus and embrace the gospel wholeheartedly, you will see God turn your life from useless to useful, from broken to restored, from ordinary to impactful. ~ Min James Deke

Are you ready to start a new relationship with God through Jesus? If you’re ready to do that today, please pray this prayer with me:

“Dear Heavenly Father, I hear you knocking at the door of my heart, and I want to open it up to you. I confess that I have sinned and that I need your forgiveness and mercy. Thank you for loving me so much that you sent Jesus to die for my sins, so that I can be forgiven.

“Jesus, you promised that anyone who believes in you will not perish but have everlasting life and eternity with you in heaven. I believe in you and accept you as my Lord and Savior. I leave my old nature behind, and I embrace the new life in you. Amen.”

Congratulations! If you just prayed to accept Jesus, please use the form and let me know. I’d like to send you some free materials to help you start your journey with Jesus.

Hey, you're blessed and highly favoured and dearly loved! Do share your lessons from Philemon. Remember to tag us and your friends on 📲:
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