Our Lord Jesus taught me
to be kind
Mahragan Alkeraza 2011
Onesimus the runaway slave
(Epistle of St. Paul to Philemon)
Previous Memory verses
+ Review +
The Bronze Serpent
“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so
must the Son of Man be lifted up” John 3:14
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten
Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but
have everlasting life.” John 3:16
David and Abigail
“Wisdom is better than strength”
Ecclesiastes 9: 16
“blessed is your advice and blessed are
you, because you have kept me this day
from coming to bloodshed”
1 Samuel 25:33
• Mario: I don’t want Mark to come with us. He is
not very nice!
• Peter: You’re right! He is difficult to deal with.
We’ll tell him that we don’t want him with us.
•Madonna: It’s also not very nice to tell someone that we don’t want him.
•Uncle Nour: Madonna is right. What they said is exactly what the Bible
teaches us to do. The Bible teaches us to be kind to each other. Do you
remember what St. Paul did to Onesimus, the runaway slave?
•Madonna: Who is St. Paul? What did he do to Onesimus?
(Epistle of St. Paul to Philemon)
•Peter: I know! The church considers St. Paul “the philosopher of Christianity”.
He wrote 14 letters in the New Testament, writing four of them while he was in
prison.
Uncle Nour: That’s correct! I’ll tell you all about it. Philemon
lived in Colosse. He was a Roman citizen, not a Jew. His name
means “beloved”. He became a Christian through St. Paul’s
preaching. Philemon was a wealthy member in the church of
Colosse. His house was the church where the people would
gather to pray. Philemon had a slave. People could purchase a
slave from a marketplace. So Philemon bought Onesimus. The
name Onesimus means “useful”. Unfortunately, Onesimus was
not useful.
Mirna: Why?
Uncle Nour: He robbed his master and ran away to
Rome. In Rome, he spent all the money he stole from
Philemon. Do you think God would abandon Onesimus
because of what he did?
Mario: Of course not! But what did God do?
Uncle Nour: God arranged that Onesimus meets St.
Paul. St. Paul talked to Onesimus about our Lord
Jesus, In spite of being in prison . He told him how
our Lord shed His blood on the cross to save us. He
also told him that God is always ready to accept the
sinners if they repent, no matter how bad their sins
are.
Peter: Did Onesimus listen to St. Paul?
Did he believe?
•
Uncle Nour: Onesimus believed in the Lord Jesus. He
repented and confessed all his sins. St. Paul baptized him.
He became a bishop.
•
Mirna: What about Philemon? What did he do?
•
Uncle Nour: St. Paul sent a letter to his beloved Philemon
in Colosse asking him to forgive
•
Mirna: What did he say in this letter?
•Uncle Nour: He said: “I thank my God, making mention of you always in my prayers, hearing
of your love and faith which you have towards the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints….
Therefore I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten while in my chains,
who once was unprofitable to you, but now is profitable to you and to me.”
(Philemon 1: 4-10)
•Mario: Wow! St. Paul was really very kind to Onesimus.
•Uncle Nour: St. Paul’s kindness to Onesimus was not only by words, but also by deeds. He
said to Philemon that anything that Onesimus owes, he will repay.
•
Peter: Did Philemon forgive Onesimus?
•
Uncle Nour: Of course he did. He received him and treated him like a brother, just like
St. Paul asked him. He told him “receive him as you would receive me” Afterwards,
Onesimus became the Bishop of Berae. He was martyred on the 21st of Amshir. Now
who can tell me what helped Onesimus the runaway slave become a bishop?
•
Mirna: It was the way St. Paul treated him.
•
Madonna: Truly, he treated him with love and kindness.
•
Uncle Nour: Very good! As the Bible teaches us, kindness is one of the fruit of the
Spirit. It means that we should be nice to others and treat them with love, exactly like
what St. Paul did with Onesimus. We also have to be kind because we are God’s
children. To show the work of the Holy Spirit in us we should have the fruit of the
Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self
control. The Bible teaches us saying that…
•Mario: You’re right. What I said about Mark was wrong.
I have to forgive him and reconcile with him. From now
on I’ll be kind to everybody.
Memory Verse
“All of you be of one mind, having compassion for
one another; love as brothers, be tender
hearted, be courteous”
1 Peter 3:8
Discussion Questions
• What makes a person nice?
• Have you ever met someone who was just mean or
rude?
• Based on Today’s verse, How does the bible say we
should treat each other?
• What do you think that would look like?
Quiz time
• Onesimus was a --------- before repenting and after repenting
he became a ------------ (Fill in the blanks)
Robber – Bishop
• St. Paul forgave Onesimus but Philemon didn’t (True or
False)
False
• Onesimus the robber became a bishop by ........ and
............? (Select the correct answers)
• Magic
• Confession
• Robbing a bishop
• Repentance
Remember...
• That your behaviour is a reflection to what in
your heart
• To be nice and love others no matter how it is
difficult to get a long with them, just like Jesus
loved, regardless of our sins.