How Should Christians Handle Conflict? | 2 Timothy 2:14–26

Hey, well, welcome.

My name is Caleb.

I'm one of the pastors here.

Uh, glad to worship with you this morning.

And man, just a little side note.

I I'm so thankful for our worship team as they they lead us, uh, which leads me to the, yeah, absolutely.

It's really cool.

It's a blessing, the the work that they put in, just being obedient to how the Lord called them and use them.

Um, but if if you play guitar or like uh any kind of instrument, any kind of instrument.

Gazoo, I don't care.

Uh Brandon will have to deal with that.

Um but if you play any any instruments and would love to be a part of that, man, we'd love to talk to you about what that looks like.

And so reach out to Brandon or to Tim.

Um man, they would, it really is a blessing to be a part of that ministry.

And so just want to invite you into that.

We're in a series called uh Grit and Grace, and we're walking through 2 Timothy.

So if you haven't been here, that's what what's happening.

We're walking through 2 Timothy.

Paul writes to Timothy in a prison cell, and he's writing to Timothy, and he's saying, Hey man, these are these are probably my last words, my last things to tell you.

Timothy, as you're a young pastor and begin to lead the church.

Here's what it looks like to lead God's people in godless situations, in hard circumstances.

Here's what this looks like to have faith that uh doesn't just work in you, but it works through you and should change everything about what you do.

He says, Here's what this looks like, Timothy.

And so I'm gonna I want to encourage you in that.

Now, here's what's true.

This is Timothy is a pastor of this church, and sometimes we can sit back and think, okay, well, that's good for him because he's a pastor.

But what's true for the pastor, what's an encouragement for the pastor, is also good for the believer.

And so we can take some of this truth and say, okay, what does this actually mean for my life?

How do I apply this in my life as I walk with Jesus as well?

And so we've been walking through the book of 2 Timothy.

We're gonna be in 2 Timothy chapter 2, verses 14 through 26.

2 Timothy 2:14–26

And this week and in next week, obviously this week and next week, we're gonna be in the series.

But on November 1st, we're gonna take a one-week break for a Sunday that we're calling All Out Sunday.

And so, really special on this Sunday.

Uh, one important thing we're gonna do is we're gonna live stream Kyle and Kim as we celebrate.

They're in Africa, missions we sent, missionaries we sent to the mountains of Lesotho, Africa.

And we're gonna get to celebrate uh them being over there for a whole nother year.

Uh, and we're gonna live stream them.

So they'll be live in their house in Africa as we are here now, and so pretty exciting about that, pretty excited about that.

The other thing we get to do on All Out Sunday is we want to specifically share with you how the Lord is blessing and using River Oak, but also uh how God is specifically inviting us as a church to live all out for Him in 2027 and beyond.

And so I would just encourage you, would you make a special effort to be there on that morning, to tune in on that morning?

Uh it means it's gonna mean a lot for our church as we as we move forward.

And so we're really excited about All Out Sunday, November 1st.

Be a part of that.

This morning in 2 Timothy chapter 2, verse 14, Paul starts with a reminder.

2 Timothy 2:14

Now, what we know is we need reminders.

In fact, like 75% of your phone's use is just to remind you, right?

You're just like, I got an alarm for an alarm to set an alarm.

Like, I need a reminder all the time.

Constantly.

You have your wife's, your, your anniversary in there, men.

I know that, right?

And you got kids' birthdays, and you're like, I am a good father.

No, you are reminded.

We always need these reminders, and what you see in scripture is it's no different spiritually.

Paul's constantly saying, hey, remember, remind them, don't forget, continue to keep your eyes fixed.

Remember.

And he starts with a reminder here as well.

He says, Hey, Timothy, remind them of these things.

Now, if you haven't been here, that's like the vaguest statement.

It's like you buying birthday presents for your kids and talking to your wife about it.

Like, did you remember to buy the thing for the thing?

That's what it feels like.

He says, but remind them of these things.

And if you go back, you know what he's talking about.

The them and remind them of these things is the church.

He says, Hey, to the people of the church, would you remind the church of these things?

These things is the gospel.

You can look back at 2 Timothy chapter 2, verse 1.

2 Timothy 2:1

He says, Hey, would you remember that it is only through the grace of Jesus that you walk and you work, that it gives you power.

Verse 11, he says, Man, if if you died with Christ, then you rise with Christ.

He says, remind them of these things.

Remember what is important, remember the gospel.

He says, and then charge them before God not to fight about words.

This is important, and that's an important sequence.

He says, Would you remind them of what's really important that they wouldn't fight about the unimportant things?

The way this plays out in my mind, it's like going to a steakhouse.

And you're at the steakhouse and you hear your friends and they're arguing about who has the best mashed potatoes.

And you're like, it's not actually about the mashed potatoes.

Who cares about the mashed potatoes?

We're at a steakhouse, it's about the beef.

Right?

Like, this is what's important to us.

Like, I don't go to a steakhouse because they have the best baked potato.

I go there because they're gonna cook that steak just barely.

It's gonna move like it's still there.

Like, that's what I need.

He says, hey, the problem is you don't recognize what's not important until you recognize what is important.

You may fight about the mashed potatoes until you taste the steak.

Once you taste the steak, you're never fighting about the mashed potatoes anymore.

Paul says, Don't get hung up on the potatoes.

Would you remind them about the steak?

Would you remind them about the gospel?

That when they know the gospel and they're changed by the gospel and they're focused on the gospel, man, they wouldn't get hung up in all of the other things that people tend to get hung up in.

Paul is, and you should understand, Paul's telling them this.

Don't fight about these things.

Now, here's what you need to understand about Paul is Paul is not anti-fighting.

Paul is a fighter.

In fact, if you look in God's word, anyone that's spoken about in a uh a holy light or a good light, they're all fighters.

None of them are soft people.

There are no pushovers in God's word when it comes to those who are accurately and adequately following the Lord.

All of them are fighters.

But you might be like, well, but didn't he say live peaceably?

Paul says live peaceably.

How can you, Caleb, say he's a fighter, but he says live peaceably?

And I appreciate you bringing that point up.

How do you have peace?

Peace doesn't just happen to you.

You don't go home and it's just peaceful.

No, that's something you fight for.

You fight for peaceful environments.

You fight to create peace.

Like it's something you have to strive for and work towards.

Paul says, No, I'm not anti-fighting, I'm anti-fighting over the wrong things.

He says, So fight about the right things, not the wrong things.

And evidently, evidently, this is shocking, it's gonna be really shocking to you.

There was a time when the church people used to fight about words.

I'm so glad we're past that.

We're such an enlightened generation.

But there was a time where people would get hung up about the potatoes of ministry and miss the steak.

I'm making you hungry.

Everybody's going to the steakhouse after this.

He says this.

Check what he says.

He says, This is useless and it leads to the ruin of those who listen.

He says, when you fight about the wrong thing, when you miss the gospel and begin to fight about all the peripheral things, he says, it not only is useless, but it leads to ruin.

Jesus would step it up a bit.

In Luke chapter 6, verse 45, Jesus would actually say, Hey, what's in your heart is actually going to come out of your mouth through your words and through your actions.

Luke 6:45

That we can actually tell you what's in your heart by what you're saying.

And it's this reminder, he says, that your speech reveals something about you.

And Paul says, not only that, but it also ruins those around you.

That it's not just a revealing, like we know that, like, okay, what's in your heart, what's in your heart comes out your mouth.

He says, but it also affects those around you.

It's it's not just compartmentalized to you alone.

It actually has influence in those around you.

He says, so Timothy, verse 15, be diligent.

Be diligent to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed.

Correctly teaching the word of truth.

That correctly teaching word literally means to cut straight the furrows.

Like in the in the farming example, it's it's to cut a straight road.

It's to rightly divide God's word.

To speak truthfully about it.

He says, hey, Tim, the way that you'll instruct them best, the way that you will minister to the people around you best is by practicing what you preach and preaching what is true.

He says, be diligent to practice what you say you believe and then to preach what you say you believe, and to preach it rightly.

He says, avoid irreverent and empty speech, since those who engage in it will produce even more ungodliness, more godlessness.

And their teaching will spread like gangrene.

He says, man, be diligent in speaking what is right.

Avoid the irreverent speech, because there's some that are gonna do that.

And when they do that, it says their teaching is going to produce godlessness, it's gonna lead people away from the Lord, but also it's going to spread like gangrene.

Now, if you don't know what gangrene is, uh it's this terrible disease.

Here's a picture of it right here.

I'm just kidding.

I didn't put a picture of it.

Y'all are like, oh no.

What gangrene happens?

Gangrene causes a loss of blood flow to a particular part of the body, causing this generally fast-acting bacteria that causes the extremities to rot and then to die.

And so it's this disease that happens when bacteria get a cut, it's untreated, bacteria begins to grow and it begins to rot, it starts in the extremities and will eventually affect the whole body, can create sepsis and this whole thing.

And for you, hypochondria, actually, like maybe I have gangrene.

Here are some of the symptoms.

Do you smell weird and are you in extreme pain?

You might have it.

Also, is it a weird color?

Those are the things you should pay attention to.

My toes stink, they hurt, and they are black.

That might be gangrene.

He says, This is what the teaching does.

It begins to rot the body of believers from the outside in.

It's painful, it's gross, it's bad news for the body of believers.

He says, so don't participate in it.

He says, Timothy, would you remember that your words matter?

None are inconsequential.

God uses words to speak creation into existence.

Have you considered that?

That this is how God, let there be light.

And creation came out of it.

That your words matter.

Jesus uses words to heal and to calm the sea and the storm.

To tell people, hey, get up and walk.

He uses it to save.

Hey, you are now mine.

He uses it to resurrect.

You know, he didn't go in the tomb and grab Lazarus by the collar and be like, You're coming with me.

He simply from the outside says, Lazarus, come out.

He looks at the little girl who is thought to be dead and is dead.

And says, Taletha Kuhn, get up.

And she gets up.

Then he uses words, that there's power in words, that people have used words to start wars and to end wars and to create ideas.

That you, if you were married, you used words at an altar to make a lifelong covenant in marriage.

That you committed yourself to someone else through the power of words.

That we teach our kids to fight for peace.

How?

By using your words.

The words bless and words curse, that they matter.

But if you're careless with your words, you should understand you're careless with a very powerful tool.

Proverbs 18 21 actually says that death and life are in the power of the tongue.

Death and life are in the power of the tongue.

James would say that in the book of James that the tongue is like a fire.

The fire can be constructive or it can be destructive.

The fire can can heal, fire can sanitize, fire can purify, or fire can destroy and overwhelm and scar.

Proverbs 12, 18 says, careless words stab like a sword, but wise words lead to healing.

Man, is it a sword or is it a scalpel?

Right?

Like they do two different things.

He says, Man, your words matter.

Paul doesn't say don't use them, he says use them correctly.

In Timothy, he says, we need a whole lot more teaching of the Bible and a whole lot less of man's ideas or thoughts.

We need correctly teaching, correctly dividing the word of truth among the people of God.

That the truth of God's word should override the feelings or the thoughts of our mind.

That we should be diligent in submitting our hearts and our minds and our mouths to the will of God for the glory of God.

That we should get into the habit of speaking God's word over one another.

That we should refuse to compromise the gospel under the weight of social pressure, cancel culture, or the fear of persecution, that we should rightly divide the word to encourage, to exhort, and to lift up one another.

He says, this is the encouragement.

Anything less than that actually harms the people around you.

He says, but rather we should be a people who subjects everything under the word of God and rightly divides the word of God.

He says, Timothy, this is what this looks like to lead well.

Believer, this is what it looks like to follow Jesus well.

He says, however, not everyone will subscribe to this.

Paul says, speaking of heretics, Hymeneus and Philadus are among them.

There's a reason no one, none of you named your kids that he says, these two people are handing out hermeneutical gangrene.

That they are preaching a false gospel.

It says they have departed from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already taken place and they are ruining the faith of some.

That Hymenaeus and Philaeus are Philetus are teaching a false gospel, contrary to the scripture.

They're saying, hey, actually, the resurrection has already happened.

That your new life, your new resurrected body, you're in it.

Talk about a hopeless situation.

You're like, this is it for eternity?

He says, Some are believing it.

And they were falling away.

And people believed it.

Now, I just want to give you a picture of probably what Timothy is feeling.

That he's a new pastor.

And speaking from a pastor's heart, let me just give you a little insight.

That ministry is not something that you call yourself to, it's something that God calls you to.

I heard uh one wise old dead guy say, I can't remember his name, uh, he said, you should never try to pursue ministry if you're not called to it.

And if you're called to it, you shouldn't run from it.

And it was this very clear picture of, hey, if if you're called to it, go to it.

But if you're not called to it, don't do it.

The ministry is something that you're called to.

And so then as a pastor, you're called to go and shepherd at a church.

You're called to go and walk with other believers that they may know and be equipped for the work of ministry.

And when you're doing that, you're investing a lot in the church, that your heart is for the church and not the building, but the people who make the church for you.

And so when people in your church, in your church body, they begin to turn from the true gospel.

They begin to walk away from the church.

They begin to turn to lies or give in to things, it is heartbreaking for the pastor.

It is the thing that keeps us up at night.

It's the thing that keeps us on our knees praying.

Like the church, the people, you are the people that have our heart's affection as we try to push you to know and to love Jesus.

And early on in ministry, like one, two, three years, when people would just radically turn from the church, I remember feeling so hopeless in those times, feeling so heartbroken in those times.

Now, what's been really cool is over the years, what I began to see is how God rescues some of those people.

That no one is outside the grasp of the Lord.

They deny the Lord, they turn from the Lord, and then you see years later they're back.

And they're like, Jesus rescued me.

Jesus saved me.

Because in the end, you're actually not my responsibility, Tully.

You're God's responsibility.

That He actually is the one that is overseeing your soul, that's saving you.

And so then there's this like hope there.

But early on in ministry, it was really hard.

And so you got to know that that Timothy is there and he's and he's seeing these people preach a false gospel.

And he's seeing people he loves and he's called to and he cares for, turn from the gospel.

And you know that there is causing sleepless nights and stress and heartache and and and pain, physically, emotionally, spiritually, as he watches these people turn.

And so then Paul says, Hey, I know this is happening.

Be careful of it, it will spread.

But here's what you need to know.

Here's the encouragement in verse 19.

He says, But nevertheless, you should highlight that one.

He says, but nevertheless, despite how the world seems to be shaking around you, God's solid foundation stands firm.

Bearing this inscription, the Lord knows those who are his.

Though you may not, he does.

And let everyone who calls on the name of the Lord turn away from wickedness.

He says, Man, when your whole world is being shaken, you should know God's solid foundation stands firm.

You know in Greece, they say they have a hurricane hurricane.

No, they have an earthquake once a week.

They say they experience an earthquake once a week because there's two tectonic plates that meet right under Greece.

And it says and they they're constantly clashing and they have these earthquakes.

And here's what's interesting is that when the earthquake happens, no one runs out in the streets screaming.

Like we're all gonna die.

What they do is they sit there in peace.

Why?

Because they know, hey, well, this building that I'm in is actually built on a firm foundation.

And so the world is shaking around me.

I know where I stand stands firm, and so I'm gonna be okay.

And they sit and they keep drinking their coffee and smoking their cigarette.

That's what they do over there.

And they don't move.

Because they know they stand firm in this foundation.

And Paul is encouraging Timothy hey, when the world seems to be shaking around you, would you remember the foundation on which you stand?

It's God's solid foundation, and that foundation stands firm.

You don't have to run and scream and be fearful.

But would you trust in the firm foundation you stand on?

That while Hamenus and Philatus were overthrowing the faith of individuals, the reassurance is that they cannot shake the church.

That they cannot shake the church or God's plan.

Now, here's how deep this encouragement is: that this word the Lord knows who are his.

You see that highlighted in your Bible?

If you don't bring a Bible, you should bring a Bible, a paper Bible.

And when you open it, you're gonna see that it is bold.

The Lord knows who are his, because it's actually taken from a different part of Scripture.

And the different part of Scripture that it's taken from is Numbers chapter 16.

Numbers 16 · chapter mention

In Numbers chapter 16, Moses is leading the Israelites.

Numbers 16 · chapter mention

And as he's leading the Israelites, his own cousin Korah stands up with a couple other guys and 250 other Israelites, and they say, Actually, we don't believe in your divine uh calling from the Lord.

We are not following the ways of the Lord, we're doing Our own thing.

And they begin to want to start a rebellion in a revolt.

And in Numbers chapter 16, Moses, seeing his own family turn from the Lord, is heartbroken, and he hits his knees and he bows down and he prays.

Numbers 16 · chapter mention

And what he says is, The Lord knows who are his, and tomorrow he will show you who are his.

If you have teenagers and they're like, the Bible's boring, I don't like to read it.

Read Numbers chapter 16, because what happens next is they wake up in the morning, he tells the rest of the Israelites, hey, you may want to stand back from the 250 people.

Numbers 16 · chapter mention

And it says, all of them come to the edge of their tents, the 250, they have their family, they're prideful, they're arrogant, they're there, they're like, Yeah, what are you gonna do to us?

It says the earth opens up and swallows them.

Insane.

It shuts, they're just gone, tents and everything.

It's just like flat spot.

You're like, wow.

And then I imagine Moses was like, I told you, like I said it.

And Paul references this.

And he says, Hey Timothy, dude, the world is shaken up.

The Lord knows who are his, and he is in control of all of it.

Man, have faith, cling to the one true God who can open up the earth and swallow people whole.

He says, No, that his firm foundation can't be shaken.

Would you stand on that?

Would you cling to that?

That some may need to hear that, that you might need to hear that today.

That the Lord is at work, that the Lord knows, the Lord sees, and the Lord saves, that the Lord is patient, that the Lord is just, that he is immovable, that he is unshakable, that he is all-knowing and he's sovereign.

So would you cling to him?

Would you turn from wickedness by calling on the name of the Lord?

You should be encouraged by that word, let everyone.

Because in here you may say, I don't stand on the firm foundation of the Lord.

And he says, Well, are you part of anyone?

Then you are everyone.

And he says, and let everyone call on the name of the Lord and turn away from wickedness that you may stand on its firm foundation.

And in verse 20, he says, Now, in a large house, there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also those that are wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable.

And he begins to paint this picture for Timothy.

He says, Here's what you need to know.

He says, And then let me paint this picture.

He says, There's some for honorable use, some for dishonorable.

So if anyone purifies himself from anything dishonorable, he will be a special instrument, set apart, useful to the master, prepared for every good work.

There's this picture.

And what Paul's saying is in the church, and same with our church, there are two types of people.

There are those that are in the room that are in a position to be used for honorable use before the Lord.

And then there are those that don't know the Lord.

That they are they are used for dishonorable things.

Now, here's the thing: this is different than in your house.

See, in your house, you have tools that are used for honorable use, and you have tools that are used for dishonorable use, and you don't mix those things.

For instance, you have a fruit bowl and you have a throw-up bowl.

Yeah.

If you have kids, you got them both.

And here's what you don't do you don't put fruit in the throw-up bowl, and you don't put throw up in the fruit bowl.

You're never gonna mix those up.

You're never gonna confuse those at night.

Like, which bowl was the right?

No, you're not.

You know, one is for honorable use.

We eat out of this one.

We don't eat out of this one.

Right in my house, I have an oil rag and I have a wash rag.

I'm not confusing those.

I'm never changing the oil with my washcloth and I'm never washing with my oil cloth.

It's not happening.

He says, in your house you have very distinct tools, some for very honorable use, some for dishonorable use.

He says, but it's different in the church.

He says, but if anyone, who may be used for dishonorable use, if anyone purifies himself from anything dishonorable, he will be a special instrument.

If anyone purifies himself, surrenders his life to the Lordship of Christ, he becomes useful to the Master.

He becomes a tool, useful to the Lord, that the Holy Spirit moves in and the Lord knows who are his and he prepares you for every good work.

He says, Man, there's hope.

He says, it doesn't matter what kind of tool you came in here as.

That if you're like, man, you don't know me, Caleb, that I am the person who probably shouldn't be in here.

In fact, when I came in, I half thought I might get struck by lightning.

That's how dishonorable I am.

Well, you should know the grace of Jesus.

He says, but if anyone would surrender his life to Christ, he says, man, you become no longer a product of your past, a product of your history, a product of your deepest regrets, but rather you become made new in your identity, in your adoption, into the family of Christ, through the blood of Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

He says, But if anyone would turn, he would be made into an instrument set apart, useful to his master.

Do you want purpose in this life?

Pursue the creator of this life, and he gives you purpose.

Now there are three parts of this salvation: there's justification, there's sanctification, and there's glorification.

Justification happens the moment you come to know Jesus, that Jesus pays for your sin and you are justified before God because of Jesus' payment, that you are saved.

Sanctification really is then the remainder of your life where you are becoming more and more like Jesus, that the Holy Spirit in you is purifying and bringing to light and pruning you, that you would produce fruit of love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and gentleness and faithfulness and self-control and all the fruit of the Spirit found in Galatians 6.

And then there's glorification.

And glorification happens when you stand face to face with Jesus, where then you are glorified, no longer a product of any sin, but rather you are made perfect in the eyes of the Father.

He says, and the sanctification, the one that makes the primary part of your life, has two parts.

It has a lot of no's and a lot of yeses.

A lot of no's and a lot of yeses, a lot of killing of sin and a lot of running to Jesus.

He says, and here's how you posture yourself to be used as an honorable instrument in the kingdom of God.

Here is this process of sanctification where you say, I want to be an honorable instrument.

He says, Here's how you continue to posture yourself as this honorable instrument.

You flee from youthful passions, verse 22.

You flee from youthful passions, you pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.

He says, but reject foolish and ignorant disputes, because you know that they breed quarrels.

He says, You flee and you pursue.

Those are things like selfishness, being prideful, argumentative, sexually immoral, impatient, easily angered.

He says, Man, those are the things that the youth do in their ignorance.

He says, you should flee from those things.

That is not who you are.

And I'm talking to you if you're a youth right now, or if you're a senior adult, your walk with Christ isn't, your maturity in Christ isn't gauged by your physical age.

He says, you should flee from your youthful passions.

You should flee from what corrupts character and compromises faithfulness.

So maybe I didn't even list the thing that you deal with.

But is it compromising your character?

Is it jeopardizing your faithfulness?

He says, and instead you should pursue something.

You should pursue righteousness.

Righteousness is doing the right thing according to God.

You should pursue righteousness.

He says, you should pursue faith, trusting commitment to God even in the hard moments.

Even when you don't see how it's going to work out, you're like, God, I'm clinging to you.

God, I'm on this roller coaster.

I'm strapped in.

You got to make it work out.

That's faith.

You should pursue love.

Love is not the love we think about, it's a sacrificial, non-contingent care and generosity towards others.

Hear those words.

Sacrificing your own pleasure, good resources for the other, not contingent on what they give you back.

He said you should pursue that kind of love.

For others good, for the glory of God.

You should pursue peace.

Peace is harmony with one another.

And then did you see the last part?

He says, and you should do it with those who call on the Lord with a pure heart.

That you should do it in community with other people doing the same thing.

He says, This is what you should pursue.

You want to be useful to the master, then flee from this stuff.

Flee from the garbage, flee from the lies, flee from the salt water that says, I'm gonna quench your thirst, but actually causes you to hallucinate and kills you.

Would you pursue the fresh water of peace and of love and of righteousness and of faith?

See, these are action words to flee and pursue.

So you should hear that.

These are action words.

These are not a passive thing.

They both require your spiritual running shoes.

That you put the running shoe on when you're about to do something hard, when you're about to try yourself, when you're about to do something active or taxing.

And following Jesus is this way that it can't be done passively.

It's not a black tie, high hill, self-driving car event.

It's a muckboot, running shoe, work pants endeavor where, man, we are getting after it.

It gets dirty following Jesus.

We don't just stay clean and on the sidelines.

No, we actively deal with our sin.

We actively flee from it.

We actively pursue the gospel regardless of the circumstances.

It's the attitude of Christ when he pursued you and when he pursued me in our sin to rescue us from darkness and bring us to light.

That regardless of our past, he would make us into a tool used for his honorable purposes.

He says, Man, this is the call of the believer to flee and to pursue, to be useful, to strap on the running shoes, to not get caught up with the potatoes, to care about the stake of the gospel.

And then lastly, verses 24 through 26, he says, here is what's on the line.

Here's what's on the line.

Here's why this is important.

Listen what he says.

The Lord's servants must not quarrel because but must be gentle to everyone, able to teach and patient, instructing his opponents with gentleness.

Perhaps, that's a highlighter, that's one you want to highlight.

Perhaps God will grant them repentance, leading them to the knowledge of the truth.

He says, Don't crush them because God may save them.

In verse 26, he says, and then they may come to their senses and escape the trap of the devil who has taken them captive to do his will.

They may be rescued from the prison of their own sin.

That he's talking to a leader, but it's true for every believer.

That your opponent isn't your enemy.

Rather, it's an opportunity for Jesus to do something miraculous.

Maybe that just needs to sit on your mind.

You think about who is your opponent to the gospel right now.

Maybe it's that person at work and they're just hounding you and they're dogging you.

Maybe it's the person next to you.

Don't point.

That you're just like, oh, they're getting me.

Maybe it's a child.

That you're just like, ah, they have become my opponent in the gospel.

Like in it, and it just irks me, but it also hurts me that they just I need them to know Jesus.

He said, Don't quarrel, but be gentle with them.

Don't crush them.

Because they're your opponent, they're not your enemy, rather, they're an opportunity that Jesus has put in front of you that you may live the light of Christ in front of them, that they may experience the miraculous nature of salvation in their own life through God's work in you.

That they would experience the changing grace of Jesus.

So don't fight about the wrong thing, but be patient, be gentle, be gracious, that they may come to know Jesus through his work in you.

So, what does it look like for you to flee and pursue?

What does it look like for you to re-engage your mind with the people around you?

That I'd be conscientious of my words that the Lord might save them also.

Will you pray with me?

God, thank you.

Thank you for how you've spoken life into existence.

How your words are so powerful and full of mercy and full of grace and full of truth.

God, thank you for calling us together to gather around your written word.

Would it separate soul and spirit?

God, would it change and grow, Lord, as as we feel the hard cuts of scripture, the ones that kind of hurt or maybe even kind of offend, God, would you use them to heal, to restore, to grow us into the men and the women that you've called us to be?

And God, would you give us the strength to flee from the things that so easily entangle us and pursue righteousness?

And God, for those in here that don't know you, who haven't placed their faith in you, who are lost, would you rescue them now?

Would they come to a saving faith in you?

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

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