All right, well, good morning again. I ask that you stand with me as we would read from God's Word. Our text today is found in Philippians chapter 4, verses 1 to 3. This is what God says to us today. Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for my joy and crowned, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved. I entreat Iodia and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord. Yes, I also ask you, true companion, help these women who have labored side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers whose names are in the book of life. This is the word of God. Let's seek his face. Father, we sang and indeed our prayer would be in the light of today's sermon. that you would test our thoughts and our attitudes against the radiance of your purity. As we're called, as we're called to peace, as we're called to confident love, test our thoughts and our attitudes, Lord God. May they be conformed to the purity of You, we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. As we've been going through the book of Philippians, we've seen how Paul has warned them against the Judaizers, those who would say you need to add to your faith works, outward works, particularly that of circumcision. We've seen how He's encouraged them to be faithful, to have the mind of Christ, to consider others better than themselves. And now at the end of the letter, we kind of have a change. We have a sudden change. We want to talk today about confident love. And we'll see three things today. We'll see the call, we'll see the conflict, and we'll see the counselor. Let's just be honest. When it comes to relationships, it may be I don't know, maybe because I'm a dog person, that our best relationships are with our pets. But oftentimes, it's the relationships with people that become the issue. R. Kent Hughes, in his commentary on Philippians, has this little poem. It says this. It says, to live above with the saints we love, oh, that will be glory. But to live below with the saints we know, well that's another story. We laugh and we smile because it's true. People are naturally prone to have conflict with one another. We're going to see two ladies who are in conflict with each other. and what God would call us to do when conflict would arise within the church. But before we do that, we see the call. Paul gives a call. But before Paul gives the call, he gives a confirmation. He reminds them again of how he feels about the people of the church in Philippi, so that they would be confident in his love for them. Listen to what he says, he says, "'Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and my crown.'" Wouldn't you love somebody to write that to you? "'Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and I long for, my joy and my crown.'" The words brothers, of course, is the Greek word adelphois. It's a fellow believer, male or female. This wasn't the he-man, woman's hater club of the little rascals here. This was the church of God consisting of men and women. He says, whom I love. It's a great Greek word, akapetos, the object of one's affection. He says, I love you. We're reminded in Scripture through Peter, in 1 Peter 4, it says, above all. Keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. We earnestly love the people of God. Are you really glad to be here and see each other on a Sunday? Paul says to the church, he goes, you are my love. I long for you. Epipotitos, to long for deeply, to desire, and it's the only verb found here in the New Testament. It's only found here in the book of Philippians. Do you long for the people of God to have fellowship with, to hang out with? When you see a fellow church member at a restaurant or in Walmart, because that's, where else would you shop, right? You know, you always get my Walmart jokes. But are you happy to see the people of God outside of even church? Or do you, oh man, I'm really strapped for time and they got to show up. Now I got to talk to them. We laugh because it's true. That's what we do sometimes. I'm prone to it too. Please don't ever think that I'm above that because you could say, yeah, well, that happened. I saw you at Walmart, Pastor, and you just acted like I didn't exist. That probably happened. I apologize if it did. What do we long for? I am absolutely convinced as the days grow darker and darker and the return of Christ is nearer and nearer, this kind of stuff is going to really matter. It matters now. It's what's going to hold the church together. Paul says, I long for you, I deeply desire you. He had already said this in Philippians 1, he says, for God is my witness how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. I yearn for you with the affection of Christ Jesus. He says, you are my joy and my crown. He said to them already in the opening of the letter, He says, always in every prayer of mine for you, making my prayer with joy. He doesn't pray for them like, all right, I got to pray for them. It's with joy He prays for them. He says, you are my joy and my crown. When He says my crown, He's probably referring back to what He said in Philippians 2.16. He says, holding fast to the word of life so that on the day of Christ, I may be proud that I did not run or labor in vain. You are my joy and my crown." Paul, after reiterating his love for them, gives them the call. The call is this, stand firm thus in the Lord. Stand firm thus in the Lord. And Paul, in saying this, he's going back to what he had said earlier in the chapter in Philippians 1, 27 to 20, he says, only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ. so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit with one mind, striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God." The late James Montgomery Boyce I think is correct in his commentary where he writes this, he says, he tells us to stand. And the implication of that command is that God has already done or is doing the conquering. We are only to hold the ground He conquers. Now that is a truth. We talk about spiritual warfare. We are not the ones called to go out and make warfare. The command through scripture is to stand your ground. Stand. Stand your ground. Literally, the picture is this. Dig your feet in and stand. Again, the picture would be that of a Roman soldier with those long shields and they would just stand and they would stand their ground and they would ready and brace for the assault of the enemy. Not giving ground. Paul tells us this in the church in Ephesus, he says, therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day. And having done all to stand firm. Stand firm. We're not going to go out and wage war and we're going to go and we're going to attack the devil. The devil will eat you alive. Stand firm. How do you resist the devil? You stand firm in the faith, in the truths of what God has said. Paul has already told us this in Philippians 3.16. He says, only let us hold true to what we have obtained. Does that mean I never go out? That the idea that I'm not to go and bring truth to somebody, I'm just to stand around, no. We do, we go bring the truth of the gospel. We need to know when to be defensive and when to be offensive. When are we to be offensive? And what are we to be offensive with? The truth of the gospel, which has been revealed to us. Stand firm in your faith. Be absolutely convinced of what you know about Jesus, what God has revealed to you through His Word, what He clearly says in His Word. Please be very weary of people who will tell you they had a vision, and God spoke to them, and God told them this, and God told them that. No, unless it's what God says in His Word, They had bad pizza. It's of their own machinations. Stand firm in what God has clearly revealed in His Word. And Paul brings them back to of what he has already said. that we are the circumcision, that we are the ones who worship God, that we are the ones who worship in glory in God by the Spirit of God. He goes, stand firm in that truth and don't lose ground in it. But you can gain ground in spiritual by learning more of the deep truths of the faith, of going forward in the knowledge that God gives through His word. The idea is never go backwards, but you can go forward. And so Paul gives the call to stand firm thus in the Lord, and now he brings us to the conflict. He says, I entreat Iodia and I entreat Synthoche to agree in the Lord. I think Dr. Boyce is right in his commentary, he says, if anybody was falling asleep, because what would happen, the Book of Philippians, the letter to the church in Philippians would be read at Philippi, it would be brought over to the church at Colossae, and then it would go over to Thessalonica, and a letter from Colossae would go to Philippi and Thessalonica, and they would circulate these letters amongst the churches. And so imagine being in the church at Philippi, you just received this letter from Paul, right? Ooh, we're gonna hear what Paul says. And you're all amening and agreeing and say, wow, this is great, this is good stuff, this is just what we need. And then all of a sudden you hear, I entreat Iodian, I entreat Synthica to green the Lord. And Dr. Jane Boyd says, if anybody was nodding off, they woke up at this point. Whoa, what? Because everybody knew what was going on between these two ladies. Imagine having your name called out by the Apostle Paul. And let's be honest, it's not in a good way. I believe and most theologians will believe that this is not a theological issue that's the problem. If it was a theological issue, Paul would have gave clarity to it and he would have came down on the side of the person who was correct. It's most likely one of personal preference. We need to be clear that there are no personal preferences on the clear doctrinal issues of Scripture. On these issues there can only be obedience. Secondary issues of which full knowledge has not been given, we must hold them loosely. We are not to make them a primary issue. Well, what's like a secondary issue? Well, I would say How Christ returns, the end times, could be a secondary. Some people have one belief, some others. What happens between your death and going to heaven? Well, some have some beliefs, some have other beliefs. Those we can agree to disagree, but for us and our culture and our day, there is to be no disagreement. There is to be no personal preference on the doctrine issue of God's existence, of God being the creator, of marriage between a man and a woman, of the fact that God created them male and female. Now, those are the pressing issues of our day. And we cannot in any way hate in those issues, but we cannot affirm either. Stand firm in our faith. There is no personal preference in the doctrine of salvation. It is clearly laid out in Scripture. It is to be obeyed and believed, and that's it. This was not a doctrinal issue. This was a personal preference issue, and it is those kind of issues, more often than not, that destroy churches. destroy churches. Reading and commentaries and studying for this, they tell stories about churches that they've had experience with or know about which were just literally destroyed because of personal preference. I laugh at it today because I understand it to a degree, but many years ago, we painted the big room, the multipurpose room, and we, I will never do this again. And not that it was bad, because it wasn't like to this level, but we gave a choice of two colors, and some people decided to make a third color. Now, it seems like a small, we laugh about it, I think one of the problems, especially with social media, is everybody has to have an opinion. Everybody has to have an opinion, and it has to be validated. That's a danger. Don't say your personal preferences have to be validated. Hold them loosely. Let what God says be true, and every man a liar. When personal disagreement reaches to the point that these two ladies had, it can become a bitter root and a defiling of many within the church. We don't know the extent of what's going on, but God does say that when things fester, that's exactly what it says. Look at what it says in Hebrews 12, 15. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God, that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble, and by it, many become defiled. God desires that you and I are unified in our mind, in our doctrine, in spirit, and in Lord, one faith, one Lord, one baptism, all of those things. Unity is the major theme of the book of Philippians. It's the major theme of what Jesus prayed in His great high priestly prayer. Listen to what Jesus asked the Father for in John 17. He says, I do not ask for these only. meaning the apostles, but for those who will believe in me through their word, that is you and I, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one so that the world may know that you sent me and love them even as you loved me." What did Jesus tie in these verses is to the church being unified. He says that the church is unified. If they're one, the world will know that you sent me. He says it twice. God desires and God demands, demands of His children, you and I, that we be united in mind, in faith, Spirit, and Lord. God hates disunity within the church. He absolutely hates it, for it goes against God's very nature. If we want to become like God in His nature, God in His Trinitarian self is not against Himself. He's fully unified within Himself. Paul had already told them to have the mind of Christ and to become like Christ. To have conflict in the church is an abomination to God. This is what God says about conflict within the church, particularly over personal issues, personal preferences. Proverbs tell us this in Proverbs 6, 16 and 19, there are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to Him. You know, it's bad enough to be on the side that the Lord hates, but then to go from hating to abomination, well, that's stepping it up. He says, "...haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among the brothers." God says, that's an abomination to Me. God calls us to be unified. Does that mean we have to agree about it? Am I saying, oh, you have to agree on everything? No, you can have your personal preferences. But it can never become an issue of disunity, of causing division within the church. If you are a person who causes division, if you're the one that's always gotta complain, and say it's not good enough, and why do you really believe that? And you know, the leadership did this, and you believe this, and then you're the one that goes behind and starts talking to other people. which is gossip, which is a sin in and of itself, and complaining, then you're creating division within the body, and you are an abomination to God. I would be an abomination to God if I do the same thing. We read in Scripture that the one who does it is to be marked and avoided. The one who causes division is to be marked and avoided. Listen to what Paul writes to the church in Rome, in Romans 16, 17. I appeal to you, therefore, I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause division and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught. Avoid them. Very clear. Who are we to avoid in Scripture? We're to avoid those who cause division, those who are sexually immoral, and those who teach false doctrine. Those are three areas in Scripture that God says have nothing to do with those people if they claim the name of Christ. Paul uses a strong Greek word to show the seriousness of the issue and of his love for these two ladies. I don't think Paul had joy in writing this. Actually, Paul, in calling them out, shows his great love for them. He's bound in a Roman prison, and his concern is not for himself, but for the welfare of these two ladies. We may go, oh, how dare he call them out? No, he's showing how much he actually loves them. He uses the word entreat. He uses it twice. For each woman, he uses the word entreat. It's pericleo. To ask for earnestly, to urge and to implore. What does He ask for them to do? What does He urge and earnestly ask for? What does He urge them to do? What does He implore them to do? Come on, just let it go and move. No. Agree in the Lord. Agree in the Lord. All Christian unity. is grounded in Jesus Christ. All Christian unity is grounded in Jesus Christ. And so there's a lack of unity between these two ladies. Again, we don't know what the issue was. Maybe it was the color of the church. Maybe it was…who knows what it was? But the lack of unity between these two ladies was affecting the entire church. And Paul wanted these two ladies to be unified in order, partly maybe, for his joy to be complete. Remember what he said earlier to the church, maybe he was referencing this, maybe he was alluding to it, working himself up to this argument, I really don't know, but it seems in Philippians 2 too, he says, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Complete my joy. I love you, you're my joy and my crown, but you know what? Man, if you just get over this thing, my joy will be like super complete, uber complete." These two ladies, whatever was going on, were not heeding the call to think of others before themselves. They did not have the mind of Christ in their area of disagreement. Again, what did Paul write in Philippians 2, 3 to 8? It says, do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each one of you look not only to his own interest, but also to the interest of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God to be something to grasp. But He ended Himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross." They were not showing that they were children of God who live as ambassadors of Christ. What they were doing is showing that they were part of a crooked and depraved generation. Because Paul had also written to them, There had to be grumbling and disputing in whatever this disagreement was, this personal disagreement. But they were not acting in a way that would cause them to shine as lights in a crooked and twisted generation. And we've all been there. But Paul stating the issue that there's something going on here doesn't give us light to what it is. We can be confident it's not theological, because again, Paul would call it out. This is an issue about what God says. There's not a book in which Paul has not been clear about what God has said. He would make it known. This one's right. This is what you believe. This one needs to come in line with. That's what he would do. But he says, he doesn't just leave it. Listen, you ladies, I need you to agree in the Lord. He now calls upon the church to come and help. He brings in the counselor. Listen to what he says, particularly to one person, whom we assume the entire church would know. The person is not named. Your Bible might have a name, Zaziges or something like that, companion. We don't know if that's the name. We don't know the name of the person. And when we don't know, God doesn't reveal to us. We should not be going looking for answers in which God has not given to us. He says this, yes, I also ask you, true companion, help these women who have labored side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers whose names are in the book of life. The word companion, as sizey goes, it means someone who's yoked together, paired together. Again, we understand culturally what he's talking about. The yoke on oxen, which they used to use, which, to be honest, if you really, really wanna see what a yoke, take a ride out into Amish country. When they're plowing the field, you'll see what a yoke is. Or do what everyone will do. Hey, Google, what's a yoke? And you'll get your answer. but two oxen yoked together side by side. Christ yokes us together. Christ yokes us together. And that's what Paul is saying. He says, they were with me side by side. He says, help them, sylambano, join in helping. That word is used only one other place in the New Testament, and it's in Luke 5, verse 7, where the apostles were in the boat, and they had to call for help in bringing in the fish. It says, they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both the boats that they began to sink. This is, again, where Jesus worked a great miracle of fish. We see brothers and sisters in conflict and struggling. As members of God's house, we cannot stand aloof from the struggles of our brothers and sisters. We cannot stand aloof from the struggles of our brothers, sisters in the faith, whether they are physical or whether they are spiritual struggles. We cannot stand aloof. We are obligated. by the commission of Christ to step in and help. And that's what Paul is saying for them to do, particularly this yoke fellow, this fellow companion, whoever it may have been, the elder of the church at that time, we don't know. But we can probably be certain that as everybody was looking at Iudaea and Syntheci, when he said true companion, their eyes went from here to over there. They knew who Paul was talking about. Paul says of these ladies that they have labored side by side. Sinathaleo, they have literally struggled together in the faith. had asked the church to make sure, listen again to what he says in 127, only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear that you are standing firm in one spirit with one mind, what? Striving side by side for the faith of the gospel. These ladies had strived with Paul, he says, for the gospel, side by side, right there with him. And because of their disunity with one another, this personal preference which caused the division, we can probably infer that they were no longer striving side by side. It makes me think of Paul actually who, when he had a personal disagreement with a guy named Barnabas where, Barnabas wanted to bring John Mark. Paul says, no, you know what? He cowered out. He left us, man. When we were in the heat of battle, so to speak, of sharing the gospel, this young guy, he left. And Barnabas, whose name means encourager, was like, no, Paul, come on. He cut the guy a break. There was a personal disagreement. Matter of fact, the Bible tells us that it became a sharp disagreement between Paul and Barnabas, so much so that they went their separate ways. But I think Paul learned a lesson there because later on we see and send John Mark because he is beneficial for the gospel. That's what Paul is hoping for these ladies, that they would say, you know, hold on, wait a second, let's get back to this thing. Let's put this aside and whatever it would be. Why is it important that they would be unified in this personal issue? Can't they just have different views on it? Well, they weren't letting it be different views. They were letting it be a source of division. But he says, you know what? These names are written in the book of life. You know what unifies us more than anything else? That our names are written in the book of life. Are you confident that your name is written in the book of life? What are you going to say to the Lord when you stand before Him on the great day of judgment and He says to you, is your name in this book? And he starts, you know, opening a book, not that Jesus has got to look for it, you know what I mean. I hope it's not said of me, and I hope it's never said of you. As Jesus said in Matthew chapter 7, that we'll stand there and go, but Lord, I did this, I've done this, and I've done this. And then Jesus will say, you know what? I don't know who you are. Depart from me, you worker of iniquity. Paul was confident that these ladies' names were written in the book of life along with his and all who are faithful to the gospel of Jesus Christ. And that's what unifies us above anything else. But here's the thing. It's a personal issue. When personal preferences become a stumbling block to people, the issue moves from the realm of personal to doctrinal. It moves to the realm of doctrinal because being at peace is a clear teaching in Scripture. Paul even had this argument with the church in Corinth over meat sacrifice to idols. He says, hey, you want to, you know, you want to, because in the Greek marketplace, you had to, in order to even sell in the Greek marketplace, you had to offer your goods to the God, whoever it would be at the time, and then go to your little space and sell your wares. And some Christians were like, whoa, it's sacrifice to annihilates, you know. He said, those people, they're immature in their faith. They don't, you know, they struggle with that. Okay, they struggle with that. Your personal preference is that I can eat it. But if you have somebody who's immature in your house, guess what? Don't eat meat. Put your personal preference to the side for the sake of unity, for the sake of growth. Paul says that's where it becomes a doctrinal issue. The idea is being at peace with one another. Yesterday in men's Bible study in The Pursuit of Godliness, right? I always forget the name of the book. How can I? The Pursuit of Godliness by Jerry Bridges, we studied peace. Jesus tells us this about peace, pursuing peace. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God. Hebrews, the writer of Hebrews writes to us in Hebrews 12, 14, he says, I think it's imperative for us to understand that the writer of Hebrews is striving for peace, and the holiness is not separating peace and holiness. If I want to strive to be holy, I have to strive for peace, because God himself is peace. Remember that, oh gosh, he had the 300 soldiers. Gideon built an altar. and called it, the Lord is Peace. God and His nature is peace, and if you want to pursue holiness, you have to pursue peace. Romans 12, 18 tells us, if it possible, as far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. So what might it practically look like? You see, you're saying a lot of stuff, but how does this practically work in my life? Here's two ladies who disagree on something. You and someone else disagree on something. And it has to do with something with the church. So we have a plan to redo the church. And not that we're, I don't think we'll do it because it's just I've, in the past I've seen it just become disastrous. We'll have a decorating committee. And so you put a bunch of people in there who want their own personal opinions. And then it becomes a big fight. You know what, the person who is mature will say, you know what, I really prefer the color, whatever color it is you'd like. I think that would look a lot better, but you know what? Because it really doesn't matter in the end. Because what really matters within the sanctuary is the preaching of the word. Go ahead, let's do it that color. But apparently, these ladies were going, ooh, no way, man. It's got to be, mm. And they were digging their heels in. Don't dig your heels in. Over what? Who cares? Doesn't this get to the core of us? Let's just be honest, right? This is like, ooh, yeah. You know? You know, it invades the simple things of life. What do you want for dinner tonight? Isn't that a question that could lead to something that you don't want? Well, I want burgers. Yeah, well, I want pork chops. Why did you ask me what I want for, right? Like, why are we even going down this road? Just make the pork chops or what, you know? When we latch on to things that are just a... If possible, so far as it depends on you live peaceably at all, You know, let it go, but not in the way that Frozen would tell you to, because that's just outright satanic. Let it go. Let God take it. Who cares? Now, if it was an issue of salvation by faith through grace alone, don't let it go. Stand your ground. We are told, above all else, to let the peace of Christ rule. Listen to what Paul, again, writing to the church in Colossians says, and let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, indeed, to which you are called in one body, and be thankful. The starting point of peace is first to know that I have peace with God. If I have peace with God, I can have peace on the inside, and then I can have peace on those on the outside. I thank God that our church is not, we're not arguing about paint colors, because you're never gonna be given a choice again anyways. That's not true, I don't wanna say that, I don't wanna do that, right? But we do everything to avoid arguments. I'm very thankful, the other elders are thankful, trust me, that you trust us. If we say, this is what we believe God is calling us to do, you step in line. And I don't mean it like you're drones and you don't have a voice. We don't have in our church, this was in place before I came here, an annual church meeting in which we ask questions and everybody gets to say what they want to say. I think that was put in by Pastor Bill, very wise of Pastor Bill to do that. I've been in churches where those meetings, and it's like, oh my gosh, this is, if anybody walks in from the outside, they're gonna go, what is wrong with these people? And I don't know, and it becomes a fight, and you absolutely, as members and faithful attenders, have every right to say, hey, what about this? And I like, you know, can we? Absolutely, let me be clear. Come and ask, come and talk to us. It's not that you have no say. But have your say in the right way. at the right time. And if you don't like the answer that the leadership would have, then you know what? If it's a personal preference, just say, you know what, okay, it doesn't matter. Now, if I was up here and start teaching you that God wants you to be wealthy and God wants you to be healthy, well, that's a whole nother issue. Actually, if I were to do that, it's incumbent upon the other elders at that moment to stand up in the church and stop me, as I would do to them. That's doctrinal. See, if we just hold things loosely, and it's so hard because we're such selfish beings by nature. These ladies were letting something that was completely secondary yet blew into something. And the church let it happen, too. The church at Philippi holds blame to it, and so Paul has to call them out in it. And so we are to let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts because we were called in one body. So I would encourage you, if you're not at peace with somebody or, you know, it's just something's aggravating you about the church, don't let it fester. Make an appointment, come talk, please. Let's deal with it. But if it's something that you know you can really, when you sit and pray and think about it, you know what, it's actually not, it really isn't a big deal. Why am I holding on to this? And let it go. But if you need that extra help, that someone to come alongside you and work yourself through the process, loved ones, we'd be glad to do it. I don't believe that's anything going on, at least there is that I know of. But I can tell you, you can go to churches, And that is exactly the issues. I've been to many pastor conferences, and I've sat around tables with pastors that I've never met except for the first time. And I can tell you, because it's like their only outlet, and say, well, you wouldn't believe this person in my church. And I sit there, and I cannot relate to that at all. Because the people in my church, they're not like that. And they're amazed. And I say that to your condemn, not condemnation, commendation, that I am thankful to stand here with you. But we have a warning in Scripture, don't let a little thing become a big thing. Personally in your own life with somebody, live at peace. It's just, who cares, right? What happens if you get a little cut and you just let it go, right? It can become something that you don't want it to become. Live at peace. And being at peace, by the way, means moving forward towards somebody, moving towards somebody, not away from them. We said earlier, we're not to stand aloof from these kind of issues, back ourselves, well, you know what, that's your issue. You know, who cares? No, we need to come in the love of Christ and move towards them because when this kind of disunity happens, when this kind of eruption happens in people's lives, that means they're out of kilt with Christ. And you wanna, let's get back with Jesus on this. And let's think correctly about this. means moving towards someone. Paul writes this in Colossians, and above all these, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. Loved ones, when we strive after peace, when we strive after peace, others can be confident of our love for them, and we can be confident of their love for us. Let's pray. Father, thank You for Your Word. And yes, sometimes it gets to us, Lord. It causes us to think, and that's a good thing because that's a work of Your Spirit. I thank You, Lord God, for the unity of this church. And I pray, Lord God, that we would always be unified, that we particularly would be unified in the gospel of Jesus Christ. And Lord, in all those secondary issues, as we have building projects and we want to do outreaches and this and that, that secondary preferences would never become things which sidetrack us as a church because our focus is on the big prize, so to speak, the sharing of the gospel of Jesus Christ, of being conformed to the image of Christ, Lord, we ask these things in Jesus' name, amen and amen. Let's stand, let's close in a song. Let us close in doxology. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him, all creatures here below. Praise Him above, ye heavenly hosts. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen. Amen.