Last week I introduced you to the faithful slave owner Philemon. Here was a slave owner that Paul, the writer of this divinely inspired letter, could see and say good things about. He could do that because he knew that people inherently have good in them-they were in fact, created good in the image of God-even if we don’t like what they do. Today this is still true.

The title of this series is “critical Christian conversation key concepts” and so the key concept I hope we could see in last weeks text is we must see the good in people before we have that critical conversation. We must realize God has us where we are for His purpose even if it’s uncomfortable. We must be ready to share the love we have for them and be prayed up for them. Then we can enter the critical conversation.

This is where we are today. Paul is about to make the ask. He is about to bring the heat that makes this conversation critical. It’s time for the big reveal so open your bibles to the small but significant book of Philemon.