Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. This is Gary Nearon welcoming you to the Lamp and Light broadcast coming to you from the studios of Central Baptist Church in beautiful Ocala, Florida. Lamp and Light is a ministry taking a book of the Bible verse by verse teaching, as it is, to men as they are, without compromise or apology, speaking the truth in love, and our purpose is to give the lamp and light to all. Yesterday in our study of Philippians chapter 4, we finished verse 1. Let's listen as we continue with verses 2 through 5. Now, here is our teacher and pastor, Dr. Andy Bloom. Thank you for listening today to the Lamp and Light broadcast. And today we're going to be in Philippians chapter 4, verses 2 through 5. We've titled this section, Those Women in the Church. Now, I tell you, you may want to listen. Some of you men will want to listen to say, uh-huh, you women. But then you women will want to listen just to make sure that I tell it as it is. You'll want pencil and paper and you'll want to follow along on this study. I know it'll be a great study for you and a good portion of scripture, something that every local church really needs to learn here from this passage. And so I trust you'll follow along with it. You'll call others, ask them to listen in. I trust also that you'll write us, let us know that you're listening to our broadcast. We're on Monday through Friday in your area at this same time. And so I trust that you're listening each day and that you'll write us and let us know that you're listening. We also have CDs of our broadcast. And when you write, you tell us what radio station that you heard our program on that you want to hear again. And if it's what week it is, the date and the radio broadcast, then we can mail you that CD for a gift of five dollars. As you mail that to us and ask for it, then we'll send that to you. Now our text is Philippians chapter four, verses two through five. And there we read, I beseech you, Odeus, and I beseech Syntyche, that they be of the same mind in the Lord. And I entreat thee also, true yoke fellow, help those women which labored with me in the gospel with Clement also. and with other my fellow labors whose names are in the book of life. Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, rejoice. Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Verse two of our text tells us of two women. The only time their names appear in scripture is not flattering. Many stories and jokes have been made about women in the church. One evangelist said that some women have a tongue long enough to wrap around the church twice, come in the back doors, down the aisle, and lap over both sides of the altar. Well, that same evangelist, for some reason, his meetings just weren't that successful when he said that at that time. And probably that had something to do with it. But going back to our text, we find that in the Bible days, people did have their differences. Now notice the use there of the word beseech in verse two. It is a strong word in the Greek meaning, I beg or I exhort, please. He says, I beseech, Iodeus and Syntyche. Now, I'm the preacher. I've been preaching for over 20 years, 25 years, over 25 years. As a matter of fact, I preached my first sermon in 1970, so well over 30 years. And yet I cannot always announce the names right. And so when I enunciate these names, being a pastor that long, I feel like I can enunciate them the way I want to. But I think that's pretty close to the way they are to be enunciated. Now, I believe that these women are included in verse 3, where he says, those women which labored. And it's important. Obviously, these women play an important part in the local Philippian church. And so both are dressed with besiege. And the Bible lays out how things are to be handled when there are differences. And we're given an example of it right here. You know, we ought to defer to those that are above us if we have a difference with them. In Matthew chapter 23, Jesus told the disciples to do what the scribes and the Pharisees told them to do because they sat in Moses' seat. But he said not to do as they do. But what about when you're the same rank with another church member? Well, the book of Ephesians says, submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. Notice the names. Iodeus means prosperous journey. Syntyche means pleasant acquaintance. Now, oftentimes in the New Testament, when they were baptized, they would give up their old pagan name and take on a Christian name. In some churches today, a child is not given an official name until they are baptized. And that's a result of that practice back in those days, although We don't baptize children, but some religions do that and that's from the practice in those days Now this was showing that they were turning from their old religion. They were born again. And so they were being Baptized in obedience to the Lord's command after their salvation and they would change their names and they would also be publicly identifying themselves with Christ and and now this new name would identify them and it would identify them in character and person now some People, it's interesting to me that they refused to be baptized after they got saved. And they refused to be baptized in a church building where everyone is for it and there'll be no catcalls, there'll be no persecutions. In that day, in the Bible day, they would get it from all sides. They would be hated even by their families in many cases. Yet they'd get baptized in obedience to the Lord's command and also because they wanted to be identified with Christ. In what he commanded also, they wanted to be obedient. Now, I really have doubts about somebody that says they got saved and then their pride or something else will not allow them to get baptized. It shows that Jesus really didn't come into their life as a God or a Lord, did he? Well, sometimes as we look at these two people, we see the industrious workaholic. This person is not the kind to relax or be pleasant or take it easy. On the other hand, there's that friendly outgoing person who tends to put off some work just in order to socialize. Now, the names of these ladies may be descriptive of their character. If so, we can see how that would be important. and also would cause impatience with one another. We are not told what the difference or contention was about between these two. It's not important. Obviously, it was not in the Lord, because he is of one mind, and so they must seek to be of that one mind. By the way, the word unity only appears three times in the Bible, once in the 133rd Psalm, and twice in Ephesians chapter 4. That doesn't appear anywhere else. And the unity of the New Testament there does not talk about working towards a unity where you're compromising and giving up and adding things and so forth, but rather It's talking about coming to the unity that's already there. You see, the Lord's laid the groundwork. He set up all the standards, the rules, and your unity is based in him. Unity can only be in Christ. If you say, well, let's forget the doctrines that make us different, then you're also kicking out Christ when you start to have unity based on the fact that you're going to kick out the doctrines that make us different. We're just going to be happy and be one happy family. No. The Lord laid down doctrine as one of the areas of unity, and so he lays it down. There's a unity, and it's the only right unity is in Christ. Now, with these ladies, if their names mean anything in this, Eudeus is working. She's building. She's getting it done. She's doing it now. She's industrious. She's a workaholic. She is the one that has the prosperous journey. On the other hand, we look at Syntyche, and she's making every visitor feel welcome. She's making sure every member is spoken to and made to really feel like they're wanted and they're really at home in this church. And so she is the one that is a pleasant acquaintance. Now, the local church can use both of these ladies. A house divided simply does not stand. And so the church can use both these ladies, and they're to be of the same mind in the Lord. Now, pride is what causes friction between people. I want my way. You want your way. And neither one wants to give in. When the mind of Christ is in you, you will put Jesus Christ and then others ahead of yourself. And that takes faith because humility is so contrary to the spirit of this world and really to our old inner self, our old nature, our own pride. We look at ourselves as losing. to defer to another, when in fact, according to heaven's record, it's a victory. And it's rewarded with an eternal reward that will not rust or ever pass away in heaven. Some people will oppose you just because it's you. Several years ago, a man stood down in front of the church where I was pastoring. He told me, he says, Pastor, I'm looking for another church. I said, oh, what's the problem? He says, well, I agree with everything you say from the pulpit. But when I see that you're the one saying it, I just can't handle it. Well, that guy had a problem with me, evidently, over something. And to this day, I don't know if I did anything ever to hurt him or not. But nonetheless, it did cause him to leave, whatever it was. He never just told me, only that he agreed with what I said. Whatever I said was true. But he, just because I was saying it, he didn't like it. Well, there are some, if you say black, they're going to say white, and vice versa. So it's obvious this unity of these two ladies was destroying the testimony of Christ there in the local church. Now, notice, if you will, verse 1, stand fast in the Lord. And then verse 2, be of the same mind in the Lord. Now, busybodies have a tendency to thrive on the disagreements others are having in order that they might destroy the work of God. Imagine how busy bodies really just rejoice almost in being able to tell others about what's going on, how they like to talk to one person on one side of the feud and then another person on the other side of the feud just so that they can add fuel to the fire. Some people, you might call them Christian arsonists, I guess if there's such a term. They enjoy just throwing wood on the fire, just adding fuel to the fire when there's a disagreement. So it's obvious both thought they were right, And neither one would take a step to make up. Now, again, obviously, their differences are not doctrinal. Some get mad at a pastor, at a music director, a principal, a youth director, or someone else that's in the church. And your difference is not over doctrine. It's not over immorality. And so you're holding a grudge and you begin to hold a grudge and that grudge may be within a church. It may be within a family, but it's a grudge. And that is a terrible testimony to the unsaved, especially if it's in your own family. And when your own family sees that is the love that brethren have, they won't want to get saved if they're unsaved. It keeps disruption in the lives of others that are affected. Sometimes children grow up and they don't want to go to church when they get older because all they've seen is their parents gossiping, running things down. Why do they want to go faithfully to some place that the parents obviously find that brings them much discomfort and pain? We also find that holding a grudge within a church or family causes division. Now, most believe that they back up authority. But then if they don't like the pastor, they don't like that youth director, music director, all of a sudden the kids or the choir members or someone else is right. Even though it's not a doctrinal, it's not a moral problem. The Bible tells us there are diversities of administration. This is your radio pastor, pastor Andy Bloom saying, may the word of God be a lamp into your feet and a light into your pathway today. We want to thank you for listening to the Lamp and Light Broadcast. If you would like a CD copy of today's message by Dr. Bloom, send us your name, mailing address, and include the radio station by which you are listening and the date of the broadcast. We would appreciate a gift of $5 to Lamp and Light Broadcast, 1714 SE 36th Ave, Ocala, FL 34471. You may also visit us on the website and freely download the sermons by clicking on the sermon library. That website is www.centralbaptistocalla.org. Again, the address for the Lamp and Light broadcast is 1714 Southeast 36th Avenue, OCALA, Florida 34471. And again, our website is www.centralbaptistlocala.org. This is your announcer Gary Naran saying, May God's peace be with all that are in Christ Jesus. Sands, lovely sands.