Well, I want to introduce this morning's one another exposition because we're still in that series of the church's one another's with some practical theology. Now, I know many of you think, well, what is practical about theology? But hang on. I'm going to make my point here in just a minute. So, I want to start this way. The Bible teaches everywhere, certainly in the New Testament, but I think also in the Old Testament, a truth that we have come to call, in many circles, progressive sanctification. Progressive or ongoing sanctification. And what that means, in other words, is that when you place your faith in Christ, God does forgive you, but he doesn't perfect you. Not yet. And so instead, you spend the rest of your life growing in holiness. And so that idea of ongoing or growing holiness is the basis for this more formal expression, progressive sanctification. So, okay. Can you make that a little more practical for me, Craig? Well, okay, the reality that you are never completely holy in this life means that every once in a while, even you blow it. Or maybe it would be more polite if I said every once in a while, even that person in the pew behind you blows it. Does that feel better? And that means sometimes that when some of us blows it, blow it, there's fallout for the rest of us. Let's think about the way that might happen in any kind of church. Well, for example, young in the faith Christians get confused on the details of scripture and they fall victim to doubts and to fears and even to errors. And we'll see an example of that in a little bit. Some believers, whether they are new or not so new, grow lax in the daily disciplines of their Christian life. They do things like neglect the church. They unbuckle their spiritual armor. They nod off on guard duty. And they forget that the captain of their soul has promised to return, and he could return at any moment. And all of those things aside, you know that there are just some Christians that can be hard for you to deal with, right? They always seem to be kind of out of step with the rest of us. And because they're out of step, they try our patience. So if that's true, and I think you're saying, oh yeah, that's true. If that's true, how can we live with one another and love one another on this road to sanctification? And we are called to live together and to love one another on the road to sanctification. So this morning, I want to tap into the Apostle Paul's letter to a church of very enthusiastic, but honestly, just recently converted Christian newbies. Which means that every once in a while, they stepped off of the path, and they even stepped on one another's toes. I'm talking about the church at Thessalonica. And so from Paul's letter to the Thessalonians, particularly his first of those two letters, I want us to consider together this morning three ways that we can respond to one another when times are tough. Three ways that believers like us can respond to one another, are supposed to respond to one another, are commanded to respond to one another when times are tough in the local church. We're gonna think about the ideas of comfort and encourage and do good. Number one, we comfort one another in times of sorrow, from 1 Thessalonians chapter four. Number two, we encourage one another in times of spiritual distraction. In 1 Thessalonians chapter five, and then again in 2 Thessalonians, 1 Thessalonians, excuse me, chapter five, we do good to one another in times of tension. Comfort and encourage and seeking to do good. Well, let's begin there. In 1 Corinthians chapter four, why don't you follow me if you're not already there to verse 13. Paul writes to these Christians, But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with a voice of the archangel, and with a trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord." Here it comes in light of that teaching, verse 18. Therefore, comfort one another with these words. Well, the church at Thessalonica was a good church. But as I said a moment ago, it was a recent church plant actually planted by the Apostle Paul himself. And that means that it was filled with men and women who loved the Lord. I mean, have you ever met somebody that's a brand new convert and was just on fire for Jesus? Well, this was a church full of people like this. They loved the Lord, but you'd have to admit that they were kind of immature in their faith in many ways because they hadn't been Christians. Therefore, they hadn't been under the teaching of the gospel for very long. And so a rumor began to circulate among these saints, a story that began to cause them concern and even sorrow. And actually, although I said it was a rumor or a story, you couldn't say it was a rumor so much as you'd have to admit that it was an error, a threat to their newfound Christian theology. Because somebody was teaching that if you died before Jesus returned, then you don't go up. If Jesus comes back and you're already dead, you missed it. Now, I just have a little parenthetic note about that. At least that tells you that the Thessalonians were really convinced that Jesus would return at any moment, and they applied that to their daily life. Now, they didn't get the right answer, but that's the right attitude to have. Can I say amen? Amen. So that's a good thing, and that's a lesson for you and I this morning. But the problem with all of that was that these tender-hearted saints at Thessalonica, as they thought about that nasty rumor, began to sorrow for the eternal destiny of their Christian friends who had already died. Would they really be left behind? Well, word of this sad theological misunderstanding reached the apostle Paul, and the apostle set himself to comfort his friends. Comfort. And that is exactly what we want to see this morning, how Paul consoled his friends in times of sorrow. And I want to tell you the short answer right here. Verse 18, he comforted them by bringing them the truth. Follow again as I read verse 13. But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren. There is Paul's concern for the truth. There is what Paul would be convinced would set things aright, the idea of the truth. And so the apostle then goes on to explain what we call the parousia, or the rapture of the church, in the next few verses, 14 through 17. And to sum that up, the truth is that when Jesus returns, all of the saints will rise to meet him. The living and the dead. And that's what the Thessalonians wanted to hear. The dead and the living. And not only that, the dead, verse 16, go first. So all will be caught up with the Lord, and just so there's no confusion, and here is the best part of all, and it doesn't matter what your eschatology is this morning, beloved, we can agree on this, verse 17. We shall be forever with the Lord. We shall be forever with the Lord. That's where everybody's eschatology ends, right? Well, so here's a fairly specific example of how to comfort somebody. You tell them the truth. And so down to our key verse in this first text and point, verse 18, therefore, comfort one another with these words. with these words. That is a direct reference to what Paul has just summed up in verses 14 through 17. It's a direct reference to the truth of Jesus' imminent return. And so Paul has just given us an order. He has told us to comfort one another, and he has given us an example to tell them the truth that pertains to their sorrows. And so if our friends are sorrowing or doubting because they have misunderstood God's truth, they have misunderstood God's high end in some matter, you and I have an obligation to help them to find solace in Scripture. That is where true comfort begins. It always begins with the truth. And this is where truth begins. Truth always begins in the word of God. Well, that's a good example. But you know, sorrow and distress come on us for all kinds of reasons, not just faulty theology. In fact, one of my favorite verses on this subject, I quote it from time to time from the book of Job, as surely as the sparks fly upward, so a man is born to trouble. You start a fire and stir it up, you're gonna get sparks. God breathes life into the soul of man. Sooner or later, that man's life will, it will know sorrow. As surely as the sparks fly upward, so a man is born to trouble. And beloved, that means that if you and I love one another, we need to be there to comfort one another when those sorrows arrive. not just because of a misunderstanding in our theology, but in whatever circumstance that life challenges us with. And so I wanna look at a secondary text here on this first point about comforting. It talks about comforting one another in times of all kinds of difficulty. So hold your finger there in 1 Thessalonians chapter four, but follow me to 2 Corinthians in chapter one. First and second Corinthians were written close together. They were written to a church that Paul also planted, but they were written to a church that is not like the church in Thessalonica in this. The Corinthian church was a troubled church, not simply in a few matters of theology, but in many manners of life and theology. One of the biggest problems that Paul faced in the church at Corinth was an invasion of false teachers in Paul's absence that not only attacked Paul's teaching, they also attacked Paul's character. And that attack on Paul's character among a group of people that he had led to the Lord and deeply loved, wounded Paul's spirit and caused him great personal grief. He didn't just care about them as an organization on the list of churches that he was looking after, but he cared about them as a people that he loved. So Paul knew deep sorrow as this problem progressed, and it took quite a while to confront it and to turn it around. And so in the second letter to the Corinthians, it's actually the third of four letters that we know Paul wrote, we read this beginning in verse 3. 2 Corinthians 1 and verse 3, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and here it comes, the God of all comfort. who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ. But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation. Or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer. And our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that as you are sharers of our sufferings, so also you are sharers of our comfort. Those last seven verses to begin with, I'd point out to you, they should ring true to all of us still today. We all sorrow, perhaps for a variety of reasons, but we all sorrow, and therefore we must all, as brothers and sisters of Christ, share one another's sorrows. When sorrow comes, When it comes to the believer, he or she should first seek God. That's what Paul says he did up in verse 3 and 4. Paul, a mature Christian, sought God for comfort. And that's the right thing to do when you sorrow-seek God first. In fact, God's Holy Spirit is known often as the paraclete. Have you ever heard that expression? We would translate it, the comforter. And that's because the noun paraclete is directly related to the verb that we've been using several times already, the idea of to comfort. The comforter and to comfort, it's related to the Greek word parakaleo. And so this idea of God comforting us through His Spirit in times of sorrow is the first line of defense for a mature Christian. And we often experience that through our prayers concerning our woes, through searching the Word concerning our problem, and then obeying the Word in what it tells us. And those things the Holy Spirit uses to begin to comfort each and every one of us. but that's not where it ends. Maybe it begins with you and I going first to God alone, but that's not where it's supposed to end. Because then as we find comfort through God's Spirit and in God's Word, when our brothers and sisters around us are then afflicted, that means by that time we have been equipped to comfort our loved ones in the Lord. And that's because having been comforted ourselves, we have a testimony about how effective God is. We've grown deeper in our faith and we can encourage others to stay the course. Our comfort becomes effective in the comfort of those around us. And so when that dynamic begins to happen in the church, we seek God's comfort. We get God's comfort. We see others in affliction. We apply that comfort to those others. We begin to see this principle that Paul articulates in verse six, and it kind of goes like this. You can look at it yourself. But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and your salvation. Or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer and, by implication, have been comforted in. Here's kind of a way to boil this down. Comfort received and comfort passed on is effective in the enduring of all kinds of sufferings. Comfort received and comfort passed on is effective in the enduring of all kinds of suffering that the church experiences. The short story is we've got to comfort one another when hard times come. So to kind of sum this idea up, we are comforted by God's Spirit. We then comfort one another. And the bow on the package that ties all of this together is God's truth. whether we are comforted by God's word through his spirit, or whether we are comforted by one another, the basis for effective comfort is the word of God. When we sorrow and doubt, the truth shared in love is God's source of consolation. Well, I said as we began, it's a command. Back in 1 Thessalonians 4, that's where I'm turning. That's a command. Therefore, comfort one another with these words. So I'm going to ask you this morning, can you do that? You know, if we're going to, as a church, excel still more, if we're going to grow in grace, if we're going to progress in holiness, can you do this? Can you comfort somebody else because God has already comforted you and you understand the truth that's come out of that affliction? In order to comfort one another, you have to see lives, fears, and trouble through the lens of Scripture, through the truth. Let me give you some examples. When people come down on you for no reason at all, It helps to remember what the Bible teaches about the sinfulness of men. Why did he do that to me? You know why he did it to you, he's a sinner, come on. You need to understand your difficulties through what the Bible teaches about the sovereignty and the wisdom and the love of God. Wow, man, why did that happen? Was God asleep? Was this problem too tough for God? Are God's resources stretched too thin? No. We need to view our problem through the lens of God's wisdom, God's wise in all things. Through his sovereignty, God's not overwhelmed by anything. And through his love, God loves you whether your day is dark or whether your day is bright. And in all of this, we need to remember the unshakable guarantee of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. What I mean by that is, no matter what happens to you, beloved in the Lord, no matter what happens to you, follower of Jesus Christ, it doesn't mean this. It doesn't mean that you've slipped out of his hands. Your salvation in any circumstance, good or not so good, your salvation is absolutely guaranteed and secure. And you can take that to the bank. Beloved, kind of wrapping up this first command to comfort one another, sorrows and doubts and trials won't stay away for long. But a part of the answer is that God has put you and I here to comfort one another in these things. And so we are a family. And we encourage one another in times of doubt and temptation. Follow me just a couple of verses, actually the next verse in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 1, I'm gonna read down through verse 11. Now as to the times and the epics, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you, for you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. While they are saying peace and safety, then destruction will come upon them like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief. For you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness. So then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober. For those who sleep, do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God is not destined us for wrath, but for the obtaining of salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord, who died for us. So that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with him. Here it comes, verse 11. Therefore, in light of those teachings, encourage one another and build one another up, just as you also are doing. Well, as you continue immediately on into verse chapter 5, some of the Thessalonians had apparently drifted into another theological problem. They knew that Jesus was coming, But they had seemingly allowed that promise to lose its power in their daily lives. And so they were slowly drifting without this sense of accountability from light into darkness. You might say they were beginning to fall asleep at the wheel. Back in the summer of 2002, I was in seminary in Los Angeles. And we received word that Joni's dad was very ill. Next morning, we threw everything and everyone into the minivan, and we started to drive straight through from Los Angeles to Oklahoma. It was about a 22-hour ordeal. The very early hours of the morning, I nodded off. on the west side of Albuquerque and drifted towards an overpass abutment on I-40. My oldest daughter, Bethany, was sitting right behind me two or three o'clock in the morning, but I guess she knew I was maybe not too trustworthy, so she was awake. And as I drifted towards that abutment, she called out, da! She calls me da. I'm happy to report that because of her word of encouragement, we're all still with you. Paul's encouragement is to stay awake on life's narrow road. He reminds us in that the motivation for us to stay awake and to stay the course is the basic gospel promise that Jesus died for us. and that in dying for us, and you and I trusting in that, that the wrath of God is satisfied against even the most desperate of sinners like you and like me. And the result of his dying and the result of our trusting is that we are to live with him now, excuse me, we are to live for him now, and we will live with him in the life to come. And that blessed hope of who Christ is and what he has done for us and the promise of the life to come is our encouragement to walk in the light and to live, let me hear this with me, and to live like saved men and women. And so Paul uses this basic gospel encouragement to admonish us, to encourage us, to build us up in daily faithfulness. In fact, in that, Paul gives all of us two closely related instructions or commands so that none of us will drift off the path. They are the related commands to encourage one another and to build one another up. Verse 11, let's read that one again. Therefore, encourage one another and build up one another just as you also are doing. Paul's term encouragement, the first of those two ideas, that's how my Bible translated, is exactly the same Greek verb that we saw back in chapter 4 in verse 18 where it was translated comfort. The underlying Greek term is parakaleo. I mentioned that a little bit ago. It's where the Holy Spirit gets his title, the paraclete, or the comforter. And this verb, parakaleo, can have one of two basic but related meanings in the Greek, either to comfort or to encourage. Back in chapter four, it meant to comfort. You can tell that by the context. But here, a few verses later in chapter five, you can tell that it means encourage. And the basic way you can tell that is by its partner instruction to build one another up, to encourage and to build up are very similar ideas. And Paul's idea is when you see your brother or sister drifting off of the road, because he's grown tired, because he's been distracted, you need to encourage them to stay in the light, to stay awake, to stay alert, and to stay armed for spiritual combat. So we've seen two one another so far. the comfort one another in chapter four, and now the encourage one another in chapter five. But there is a common denominator between the two of them, though they are two separate commands. Let me tell you what that common denominator is, whether it's the idea of comforting or encouraging. The common denominator, the common thread between each of these commands is the idea of God's truth. We comfort and encourage one another with the truth of God. That is the starting point for all effective biblical counsel and comfort. Well, I want you to consider another text with me that makes it very clear that your church plays an essential role in encouraging you and building you up so that you don't stray off of the path. So keep your finger there in 1 Thessalonians 5 and follow me into Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews 10, beginning in verse 23. It's a part of the text that Alan read for us this morning. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering. Beloved, these are days which will tempt us to waver. For he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together as is the habit of some, but recognize this, encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near. Writer of Hebrews is talking to an audience of early Christians who had come to faith in Christ from Jewish background. That's why it's called the book of Hebrews. Now, after they had come, and not long after they had come to faith in Christ, out of their Jewish backgrounds, in the Roman Empire, Christians began to be persecuted, but Jews were not. Oh man, many of them were saying rats, bad timing. So many of these former Jews were considering leaving their new Christian faith to return to what they perceived would be the relative safety of their former Judaism. And so the leaders in this letter of the Christian community were telling them, no, don't do that. Don't waver. Hold fast. Times are tough. Times are tough. But Christ is faithful. And so while you persevere, here's what you do. All of you encourage one another. Encourage one another to love, to love God, to love each other, to love the lost. Encourage one another to do good. And we'll say more about that in a moment. Encourage one another to do good and encourage one another to continue to meet and to worship. I want you to see something important in verse 25. Not forsaking our own assembling together. but encouraging one another. I've cut out some words in the middle so we can draw these two contrasting but complementing truths together. Encouraging one another and assembling together go hand in hand. The writer of Hebrews assumes that as we assemble together, we will encourage one another and we will be strengthened from dropping off the path. The key to staying faithful and the context for staying faithful and being encouraged is the church. Our local church is our context for encouraging one another so you and I stay faithful to the faith. Beloved, here is a non-negotiable of building up one another, obeying this second command in this morning's text. You can't be encouraged and you can't be charged up towards love and faithfulness and good deeds if you don't stay plugged in here, in your local church. It won't happen. It won't happen if you ignore the local church. You won't be faithful if you ignore the local church. And you know why I'm so confident in that? It's because that's all there is for the context of discipleship and growth in my New Testament. Nominal church members are unfruitful. And when pressure comes, they are often soon unfaithful. Beloved, the place for you to come for encouragement and for strength in the Lord is the Lord's church. I wish that life was not prone to distractions and temptations, but life is. It just is. As surely as the sparks fly upward, so a man is born to trouble. Life is and life happens. You and I need one another. We need one another and we need one another's encouragement to stay the course. Beloved, we are brothers and sisters in Christ. We are family, and we do good to one another, even in times of tension. Well, let's keep reading. Back in 1 Thessalonians, in chapter five, we urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the faint-hearted, Help the weak, be patient with everyone. See that no one repays another for evil, but always seek after that which is good for one another and for all people. Have you ever heard this old saying? I love my church, it's the people I can't stand. That's a bad attitude. That's a bad attitude. But you know it pops up from time to time because every saint in every church, here comes that practical application of that big theology, every saint in every church is just a work in progress, right? In fact, verse 14, Paul profiles three common kinds of Christian that often seem to need a little extra attention, and then just in case he missed somebody, he throws a blanket over all of us. He talks about the unruly, he talks about the fainthearted, and he talks about the weak, and then he talks about everybody. Unruly, you could also translate it disorderly. You know, it's like a soldier who can't or won't march in step with the rest of the platoon. And so when somebody begins to break rank, the rest of the troop begin to admonish him, to correct him, to say, hey buddy, get back in step. Get back with the platoon, or we're all gonna be in trouble. And so we admonish the unruly. And then there are the fainthearted. Now in the context of first Thessalonians, that might include fainthearted. That might include people like the doubters and the worriers and the tempted that Paul encouraged back in chapter four. The ones that were confused about their theology. The ones that were not so strict on the return of Christ. And so there are the unruly, there are the fainthearted, and there are the weak. Now when Paul talks about the weak, he's not talking about your biceps, he's talking about your soul. He's talking about their resolve against sin. Maybe like that saint just up a few verses that we read about in verse six, who is tempted to fall asleep and to even slide into darkness. Then he talks about everyone else, the unruly, the fainthearted, the weak, and all of us. Beloved, you and I know it's true. Every one of us needs to be handled with patience from time to time, right? Can I get a witness on that? Amen. Which should motivate you to handle everybody else with patience, right? Can I get a witness on that? Amen. People require patience, right? You know, one writer points out that when people with sin issues are confronted, remember it says to admonish the unruly? When people with sin issues are admonished, they usually don't respond well on the first confrontation. Has that been your experience? People don't usually immediately turn their life around with a smile the first time you go and say, hey, I got something I wanna talk to you about. And so you gotta be patient with them. Probably gotta go again. And maybe again. And that's not easy. It's not easy, but it's commanded and it's completely possible. Listen, think with me. Patience is a characteristic of love. First Corinthians chapter 13, love. What's the first thing that Paul teaches about Christian love? Love is patient. Thank you, brother. Love is patient. Patience is a primary characteristic of love, and we are called to love one another. Patience is a fruit of the Spirit, right? Galatians chapter five. And every believer has the Spirit dwelling in him. And so patience is a characteristic of love and is a fruit of the Spirit. And so we should be practicing patience, even with the unruly, the fainthearted, the weak, and just about everybody else you could name. But Paul's not done. He goes on in verse 15 to write of two possible responses to the brothers and sisters who are unruly and fainthearted and weak. The first is a negative command. The second is a positive command. The first says, don't do this, thou shalt not. The second one says, instead, do this, thou shalt. The first, and it's the negative, it's the thou shalt not, it says, don't retaliate. Don't retaliate. I like the picture of the church as God's flock. Psalm 23, other texts. You know, big, white, fluffy sheep. Kind of gentle, cool creatures. We got a flock of them down the road from us this spring. Green pastures, quiet waters, blue skies, silver clouds. It's kind of idyllic, isn't it? Problem is sheep bite. But the real problem is, is that sheep bite other sheep. Paul's command here is, don't bite back. You ever heard somebody say, I don't get mad? I get even. Oh yeah. Or maybe you don't even want to get on my bad side. God says, vengeance is mine, I will repay. Beloved, don't go above your pay grade. Don't meddle in God's business. He is able to bring justice and to straighten things out. Are you aware of the fact that this isn't the only place in Scripture that the command to non-retaliation occurs? The whole idea about vengeance being God's and not yours is really all over your Bible. That tells me something. The temptation to retaliation is powerful and it is common. We are all tempted to take out our own pound of flesh, right? We are. And we've been saying this month that these New Testament one and others all seem to flow primarily from the command to love one another and to be humble towards one another. Well, beloved, here is a place. Here is a place where humility and love must strengthen your soul if you and I are to obey. Robert Thomas writes this about this text. Non-retaliation for personal wrongs is one of the best evidences of Christian maturity. Non-retaliation for personal wrongs is one of the best evidences of Christian maturity. Verse 15. See that no one repays another evil for evil. And then that next instruction is the flip side, the opposite of retaliation. It's instead, and it's to be understood in this way, instead, always seek good. Again, the second half of verse 15. Seek after that which is good for one another and for all people. Now maybe Jesus, excuse me, maybe the writer Paul here is thinking about Jesus teaching from the Sermon on the Mount. Remember this text? But I say to you, Christ said, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. In that same sermon, our Lord also taught us to forgive others, to not hold grudges. Lest our father not forgive us. And so we are instructed instead to seek after the good for one another, to seek after. You know, in my English translation, that doesn't sound like a particularly strong word, but it could be better translated to strive after or to press towards. It is actually an intense idea. Beloved, you don't dawdle on the way to doing good for your brothers and sisters. Instead of seeking revenge, you press hard to do good. And while the primary target of doing good are your brothers and sisters in Christ, Paul goes on to broaden this to include all people. Your primary focus is always the family of Christ. but that never ignores those outside the family. And think of this, think of how attractive our gospel looks when we strive after doing good, not only for ourselves, but those outside our doors. That kind of seeking after doing good glorifies the gospel of Jesus Christ. This kind of seeking good and not seeking revenge requires a lot of wisdom. Often when somebody is unruly or faint-hearted or weak, what they need at first is patience, forbearance, and a little bit of help. But if that doesn't work, there are times when the best and most biblical help for an unruly saint is a big dose of truth-injected admonition. There will be a time for that. There will be a time when to admonish is to do good. But that takes wisdom. And if you were in a situation where you're not sure right now which of those two apply, whether to forbear or to admonish, I ask you at first to pray, perhaps to seek counsel, and whatever your conclusion, to wrap yourself in humility. Other saints' sins got you down? Don't bite back. Don't bite back. Instead, patiently strive for good. I like to teach that the church is family. Warts and all. So like every healthy family, you need love and humility to make all this stuff work, right? And so when our church faces tough times, it's time to comfort one another. It's time to encourage one another. And it's time to roll up our sleeves and to pursue God's best for one another. It's just what families do, right? Let's pray.