He became a slave. When we first hear it, it sounds strange because it seems counter intuitive. But what if it is actually true and not just a radical thought that freedom comes most often in life when we bind ourselves to certain fundamental commitments.
Title: Freedom From More of the Same
Big Idea: It is possible to go days, weeks and even years where what we do and who we are remain pretty much the same, but is that really living? One of the audacious claims in the Bible is that ordinary people can find freedom from the paralysis of more of the same when every moment of our day becomes an opportunity to learn from God about living a life of greater freedom.
Exodus 3 & 4; Rom 8:29; Eph 4:22-24; II Cor 3:18
He became a slave. Who became a fugitive. Who came to know Christ. And overcame it all. Hear the story of Onesimus, the slave who betrayed Philemon, and the passionate efforts of Paul to convince Philemon to change his mind…about this truly changed man.
Title: Changed Lives
Big Idea: All of us know what it is like to mess up. We know what it is like to do our best to hide what we’ve done. In Philemon we meet a guy who was a thief and ran away in order to hide. But this fugitive experienced a dramatic change and we can learn a lot about mistakes, hiding and changing from him.
Philemon 1:11-14
Big Idea: Life can be viewed through many difference lenses or perspectives. The ones we choose to view life through and live by will shape everything in our life.
Philemon 1:15-16
Big Idea: Is it possible for one person to change history? In the final week in our series about a fugitive (Onesimus) and a wealthy man (Philemon) we will learn how ordinary people (you) can leave a legacy that changes history.
Philemon 1:8-10 & 17-21
If we call ourselves “Christ-followers” it is time to walk where our leader would walk and talk like our leader would talk. That calls for treating people with God's heart for them; the way we get this done is by responding to the Holy Spirit in our ordinary, daily interactions.
Title: The Albright Heart
Big Idea: Deep in the DNA of the people who make up Albright is the desire to make a difference in this world. To live the kind of life that is used by God to be indiscriminant lovers of men, women, teens and children so that they too will discover God’s loving embrace. In week one of this series we are going to talk about our current heart condition and how we can heat it up so we can live the life that is written on Albright’s DNA markers.
Big Idea: The single greatest gift Christ-followers can give to the people in their lives is an introduction to the God who created them, who loves them, and who has a purpose for their days. But how can ordinary Christ-followers have this type of eternal impact on those they already know?
Big Idea: Making friends and being a true friend with those who don’t yet embrace the claims of Christ is both Christ’s mandate for his followers and their great privilege. But once genuine friendships are established, what’s next?
Big Idea: Every Christ-follower has a unique story about what their life is like because of Jesus. So it isn’t necessary to be a gifted evangelist in order to engage others in spiritual conversations, you really only need to know how to tell your own story.
Big Idea: When Jesus entered the scene more than 2,000 years ago he lived life with a grandeur vision. What was his grander vision? How would our lives and the lives of those around us be impacted if we lived life with Jesus’ grander vision?
As Manitobans we are very familiar with winter storms. Some are predicted others unexpected. Some are worse than expected and others are less severe. The same is true about storms that hit our life. They can be expected, catch us unaware, be worse than or not as bad as they might have been. But no matter the storms intensity we often ask, how do I find God in this storm.
Freedom Bound 
