We return again this morning to the subject of Biblical peacemaking. As I mentioned last week and Clay reminded you in our announcement this morning, we are beginning, a desirous of beginning, a peacemaking team here at our church. They will be a group of people who will receive some additional training in Biblical peacemaking and be available whatever kind of conflict situations come our way. We said last week conflict is inevitable. There is no perfect church here on this earth. The perfect church will come when we are all in heaven. In the meantime peacemaking is a wonderful opportunity of service and a wonderful way in which we can put our feet to the gospel of Jesus Christ here in the midst of our congregation. So we'll see you next Sunday if you're inclined for that. The location and so forth is in the bulletin. Blessed are the peacemakers, Jesus said, or they will be called the sons of God. That was our text last Sunday morning. Our text this morning is over in Philippians 4. It is a case study in the practice of peacemaking. This case study involves a conflict between two women in the mission church located in Philippi. I am indebted to my friend Ken Sandy, the founder of peacemaker ministries for his excellent treatment of this particular passage of scripture. Now I'm going to be reading the scripture this morning, Philippians 4 verses 2 through 9 from the new international version. That's not found in your pubival. But you do have all of the verses printed out on that outline that it's found in your bulletin. So you'll want to follow along there rather than in the pubival. So let's stand now for the reading of God's Holy Word, Philippians 4 at verse 2. I plead with you, Odea, and I plead with Sintiki to agree with each other in the Lord. Yes, and I ask you, loyal Yoke Fellow, help these women who have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel along with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers whose names are in the book of life. Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again, rejoice. Let your gentleness be evident to all, the Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving present your request to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things. Whether you have learned or received or heard from me or seen in me, put it into practice, and the God of peace will be with you, the grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever. Will you pray with me? Our God and our Heavenly Father, we thank you that you are indeed the God of peace. We are so thankful, Lord, that you have made peace with us through the blood of the cross. And Father, we pray that even today, as we look at your word and consider biblical peacemaking, that we might understand in fresh new ways how to do that, and that we might grow in our appreciation for your making peace with us, and out of that, we might be more and more peacemakers in those situations that you put us in in this life. Father, help us for Jesus' sake, amen. Maybe seated. Well, our case begins right here in Philippians 4 at verse 2. Paul is writing a letter to the church at Philippine, and in the midst of this general letter, in the midst of a public letter to the church, Paul kind of shifts gears abruptly and begins to address a particular problem in that church. In fact, he gets rather direct and he gets rather personal. He starts calling two women in that church by name who are involved in that problem. And from the Apostle's actions here, as well as his words, it is clear that peacemaking is a priority. I plead with you, Odea, and I plead with Sintiki to agree with each other in the Lord. There are no excuses not to make peace, and in preparing sermons, we all want to look around and try to figure out what other people have thought this passage means, and we read books called commentaries, and it's interesting to read the commentaries on this verse. Everybody, it seems, is trying to figure out what these two women are disagreeing about. The commentaries even go so far as to suggest several options, but you know we're not told the nature of the conflict, and it would seem that Paul leaves that out on purpose. The actual issue is so secondary that he doesn't even mention it. Peace-making is the priority. You and I don't often see it that way. We tend to focus on the situation, don't we? We want to focus on who's right and who's wrong, and most of the time I'm right and he or she is wrong. Notice here that Paul is pleading with these two sisters in the Lord, and he doesn't do it kind of together, he does it individually. Euodia, Sintiki, each one has the responsibility to agree with the other one in the Lord. There are no excuses, no extenuating circumstances, no exceptions. Euodia and Sintiki are to agree with each other in the Lord. They cannot say we can't do it because you see they've got the resources of the Prince of Peace to help them in that conflict. Nor can they pursue peace at the expense of purity. The truth matters. We're reminded here at verse 3 that Euodia and Sintiki are true believers, and the honor of Jesus Christ is at stake, and as true believers, both of these ladies have the same Holy Spirit living in them, a Spirit who has quenched the Bible set, a Spirit who has grieved when these two women are disagreeing with each other, and he has quenched and grieved until they agree with each other. I wonder if you have noticed that I have, that as a Christian, I don't feel very good when I'm involved in a conflict, particularly with a brother or sister in Christ. You would understand that that is because the Spirit in us is grieved. He has grieved the more I focus on the conflict, the more I tend to get angry, the worse I feel. The Apostle's next request teaches us that a third party helps. Yes, and I ask you, Loyal Yoke Fellow, that's an interesting term, to help these women who have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel. A third party helps, helps with communication, first of all. We're not told the name of this Loyal Yoke Fellow because he could be any one of us. All of us are candidates for this blessing of making peace, might be with somebody that we're in conflict with, it might be as a third party to help two parties in conflict. You see, conflict almost always involves poor communication. My adversary may be speaking very clearly, but his words are filtered through my broken relationship with him. Really, really hard, I don't know about you, but it's hard for me to hear the truth from somebody that I don't like very much. We desperately need to hear the truth when we find ourselves in the midst of a conflict, and we can usually hear it better from a third party. A third party not only helps us with communication, but they often bring much needed counsel. If I'm in a conflict and it's gotten much past a mere difference in taste, I usually need the counsel of a godly person who is outside of that conflict. Last week, we noted that...