Disciple: Reconciled to Reconcile - Pastor Joseph Pringle

God reconciled us to Himself through Christ, a gift we could never earn. But reconciliation received becomes reconciliation entrusted to us. We are ambassadors for Christ, and the way we handle relationships is the evidence of the gospel we represent. Scriptures: 2 Corinthians 5:17-21, 2 Corinthians 6:1-2, 2 Corinthians 13:11, Matthew 5:9, Matthew 18:15, Romans 5:10, Colossians 1:21, Ephesians 4:1-3, Ephesians 4:26, 1 Timothy 6:12, 2 Timothy 4:7, John 13:35

Show Notes

You and I have been reconciled to God through Christ. That reconciliation was a gift we could never earn, and it was never meant to stop with us.

That's the big idea behind this message: reconciliation received becomes reconciliation entrusted to us. We are ambassadors for Christ, and the way we handle relationships is the evidence of the gospel we say we believe.

Here are the three things we walked through:

Remember who you represent. We are ambassadors. That means our authority comes from the One who sent us, and the message He has entrusted to us is: be reconciled to God. That has to show up in our marriages, our workplaces, and every hard relationship in between.

Fight the good fight. There are fights worth having in this life. Truth is worth fighting for. Unity is worth fighting for. But a lot of us are spending our energy on the wrong fights. We are fighting against each other when there is a real enemy at hand. Be eager to maintain unity, because maintaining is always easier than rebuilding.

Restoration is the destination. Biblical confrontation is not weakness. Jesus actually encouraged it. The goal going into any hard conversation has to be restoration, not vindication, not punishment, not avoidance. Aim for restoration, and God will guide the conversation.

We would love to have you join us at C3 Orange County any Sunday at 10 a.m.

Scriptures: 2 Corinthians 5:17-21, 2 Corinthians 6:1-2, 2 Corinthians 13:11, Matthew 5:9, Matthew 18:15, Romans 5:10, Colossians 1:21, Ephesians 4:1-3, Ephesians 4:26, 1 Timothy 6:12, 2 Timothy 4:7, John 13:35

What is C3OC Church?

We are a local Church in Orange County California who are passionate to witness lives being renewed in Christ, strengthened through discipleship, and to thrive in the fullness of living for Christ.
Get connected to us by visiting www.c3oc.com or emailing us at [e-mail]

for the past few weeks we have been going over this new series called Disciple and I believe this to be very important for us to to move forward as a church that we are serious about the faith that we believe that we are becoming more like Christ not just in you know the way that we speak or even the duties that we fulfill, but our heart and our character, our actions, our desires, our spirit is reflecting the kingdom of heaven here on earth. And that's what our call as disciples is. And so for the past, I believe this is week six, and Cecily brought the word last week. Can we give it up for Cecily? It's amazing. The South African Lioness, teaching us how to live a life of faith. And so this series has been burning within me for quite some time. And in planning that out, we come to a stage within the disciples journey, where we're not just challenged internally, but there has to be a strong representation of the gospel externally within our lives. We can't just preach one message and begin to live another way. And one of the biggest, and I believe this to be the center point message of the gospel. Obviously the center point message of the gospel is Jesus. But as something that we need to understand, reconciliation is the heart of the gospel. That is what Jesus was completing. That is what God was doing when he sent his son was so that a world that was alienated, you and I could be reconciled with the Father in heaven. So today I have, I don't know, maybe 482 scriptures that we're gonna march through. This is a scripture heavy message because we need to grasp this understanding. It's not an understanding of my preference of what reconciliation could look like. It's our understanding of what is the truth about reconciliation and what is my involvement in bringing that reconciliation to the world around me. And so I was gonna say tonight, the title of today's message is reconcile, to reconcile, reconciled, to reconcile. And the question that I want hanging over, this entire sermon, and that we can take away and begin to look at this week is this. Does the way I handle relationships represent Jesus? Does the way I handle relationships represent Jesus? There are great blessings that come with us being a reconciled people and a reconciling people. In Matthew five, nine it says, this blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the sons of God, the daughters of God. There is much power for identity, for authority, for anointing in your life to actually understand I am called to be a reconciler in this world. And the reason why, you know, in choosing particular themes, like we could spend the next 17 years going through every attribute of a disciple. And dare I say that every message that we would preach is to strengthen us to become a stronger disciple, a stronger image bearer of Christ. And so this centering around reconciliation is purely because it is what I believe the heartbeat of the gospel that we represent. And so that's the big idea that you and I are reconciled people not just to be reconciled with God, but so that we can become a reconciling people. And you know, before we're given this command of bringing reconciliation around us, reconciliation is something that God has already accomplished for us. And if we miss that, this whole message is going to come across us, okay, so I've got to be a nicer person. I've got to forgive people, don't hold grudges, but that is not big enough for the message of reconciliation. So first we're going to understand, I want us to grasp this understanding that you and I have been reconciled to God. In 2 Corinthians 5 17 to 21 this is where we're going to be kind of pulling apart this this whole message and we're going to dance around a little bit. So are you guys ready to go on a journey today? You're ready to go on a journey. This is awesome. So 2 Corinthians 5, 17 to 21 it says this, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The oldest pastor way behold, the new has come. When you got saved, when you handed your life over to Christ, he didn't try and polish up an old life. He said you are now a new creation in Christ, that is good news. this from God who through Christ reconciled us to Himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. That is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, That means because of all of that, we, you, me, we are ambassadors for Christ. God making his appeal through who? Through who? Through you? Through me? Through us? We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." This is big for us to understand. Paul's saying, God reconciled us to himself. Here's the thing, reconciliation assumes that something was broken, something was fractured beforehand. had been alienated or pulled apart. It means that there was something that was not reconciled. It was not together. So we have to assume that from the beginning, there was a giant separation between us and between God. The meaning of reconciliation is simply this, to restore harmony, to restore harmony between the relationship of us and Christ. I've said it a million times. I think Adam is gonna have the reddest face from everyone who enters heaven and slaps him and said, why did you eat the apple? To restore the harmony of Eden, to restore that within the kingdom of God, to restore that within our lives. So there was this alienation, this hostility, There was this separation that occurred. God's word says that that was us, that we were separated. Colossians 121 says this, and you who were once alienated and hostile in mind doing evil deeds. We weren't just people who needed like a spiritual car wash. We didn't need like a buffing up in our lives. We were separated from God. Sin had torn us a long distance away from God. It had torn apart humanity's relationship with its creator. And the reality of all of this was that we could not reconcile ourselves. Religion, morality, good intentions, good behavior, it wouldn't do it. We couldn't apologize our way into holiness. We couldn't work our way into righteousness. So God did what we could never do. This, this is the good news of the gospel, that we, there was nothing that we could do. We had a, there was a perfect law that man could not live to reach for this relationship with Christ, with God, that we would be reconciled with our father, but that could not do it. So, he sent his son to die as our substitute to initiate the reconciling of us with him. Romans 5, 10 says this, for if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son much more, now that we are reconciled, we shall be saved by His life." So here it is, we were enemies, we were reconciled, and the reason we were reconciled is because it was through Jesus Christ, the death of His Son. And he and me, the cross isn't pretending that sin didn't happen, or that offense didn't happen, that justice is ignored or it's excused or the debt isn't waved away as though it didn't matter. Jesus still bears it. It's been born on the cross. He bore it that day that all of humanity's sins came to him. Dying on that cross, he bore it and he defeated it that day. So here's the strangest concept that you and I could wrap our heads around. The most sinful place that the world has ever known was at the intersection of the cross that day. It bore all of the sin. It bore all of God's wrath that day. That Jesus walking to the cross wasn't just carrying the sins of his generation, of who was living that day. From that day till now, he bore the sin of you and I at the intersection of that cross. That's why it's so incredible. This innocent and blameless man started to carry the weight of the sin of the world. That's why he hugged the cross when he started carrying it up was because he knew that it was freedom for you and I here today. that we could be reconciled with the Father in heaven. He imputed all of our death, if you wanna look up, the theology of it all look up, the imputation. And he paid all of this, that we could never pay through righteous deeds, through doing anything in life. And I know I'm going over and over the same details, but it's so important for you and I to grasp that the free gift of salvation, The initial reconciling with our father is a gift that was given to you and I that we could never pay for. We could never pay for it. You can't work your way into it today. It's still by the power of the cross that we are saved, that we are redeemed and that we are reconciled. There is no other way. And you might hear teachings. Oh, there's many pathways to God. That is not true. I believe there's many pathways to Christ, but there's only one pathway through Him. We all have different journeys. We all met Christ in different ways, and that's the fascinating thing of Him drawing people towards Him, and us as disciples being sent, carrying the ministry of reconciliation to others, that they are drawn towards Christ, but it's through Christ and Christ alone that we are saved and that we are reconciled. That's why the message of the gospel is not find your way back to God. The gospel is God came after you and I. He sent his son, his only begotten son because he loved the world so much. He loved us so much that he sent him to die and to bear our sins, to consume all of the justice all of the wrath from God that we would stand innocent and blameless by the blood of Christ before our Father. God initiated it, God provided, God paid, and God reconciled. That's why the Scripture says in 5 17, therefore if anyone is in Christ, He is a new creation. Some of us need to say that over and over and over again. You were born into a particular situation. These scenarios had happened to you. Your Enneagram has painted you into a box and I'm this way and these are my proclivities and you have had labels from doctors that have been placed all around you, I'm telling you you have been made a new creation in Christ. I know that you bear some resemblance to your parents, but when you are born again in the kingdom of God, you begin to resemble the image of your Savior. You begin to understand that my relationship with my true Father in heaven is where my identity comes from. Your dad might have been an alcoholic and addict. He might be lazy. He might might never have been present. Your identity comes from your Father in heaven because guess what? You are made into a new creation that we would fully grasp and understand this. You might have lived a life where you slept around a lot. You might have lived a life where you made plenty of bad decisions. You are a new creation in Christ. I'm sick of people trying to dig up the past. You don't know what I've done. You don't know where I've been. You don't know what I've had to walk through on this. You are a new creation in Christ. There is a grace that is sufficient for you today. There is a grace that is stronger than any fight you are going to face in this life. And I'm telling you, like, to understand that as an identity. That's why people say, oh, it's just born this way. Good news. You can experience of reburfing here in this life so that you are born again with this new identity. You have been reconciled to God the restoration of harmony. You're not standing where you stood and you are not alienated anymore. That is worth getting excited about for you and I. That is worth all of the praise that we again. And in my prayers, yes, I come with prayers and petitions, and I come with requests, but I'm always at the standpoint of my heart if you do nothing for me ever again, God, you have done enough on the cross. The cross is all that I need. The blood of Christ is all that I need over my life. It's the greatest gift that you and I have ever been given. And to overlook this and to forget about this act is to forget about the foundation of our faith, to forget about the roots and the sustaining nature of everything that is built on top of. Jesus Christ was sent to complete what we could never complete. And then Paul goes on and he makes this big turn. He ends by saying this. He says, all this from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself. And I think at that point we go, that's great. That should be a full stop. And then we move on. He reconciled us to him and we're done. But there isn't a full stop. There's a continuation at this point because reconciliation received becomes reconciliation entrusted to us. So he goes on in verse 18 and he says and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. Suddenly this isn't only about what Jesus did for me, did for you, it's about what Jesus now intends to do through me. It's now what he intends to do through Noah. What he intends to do through Alan. What he intends to do through Alex, through Gons, through Greg, through Kurt, through Cecily, through Gary. Now what he intends to do through us. We cannot just preach the message of reconciliation. We are called to become the evidence of it. Amen. It's a great preaching quote. I'm forgetting who it was that said it and he said, I am preaching the gospel everywhere that I go and sometimes I even use words. Greatest evidence of Christ living in your life is going to be the way that you live. The decisions that you make, the patience that you hold, the explosions, oh yeah, those ones, the explosions that you take to pray and instead of going wild or crazy or saying yes to everything you have a stance in this life. So to do so, I just have three points here today. Number one, we have to remember who we represent. We've got to continually remind ourselves who we represent in this life. 2 Corinthians 5, 20. Therefore, we are, What does that word say? We are, oh, come on guys, let's get there. We are, for Christ, God making his appeal for us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God, ambassadors. This is something we need to kind of remind ourselves of on a daily basis. It's an identity we need to know about within our worlds, and a ambassador lives somewhere while representing somewhere else. Lives in a foreign country, but he's representing somewhere else in that foreign land. Their authority is from the one who sent them. The ambassador is a representative of the one who sent them. and church, that is who we are in this world, that is who you are in your marriage, that is who you are in your family, that is who you are in your workplace, that is who you are in the in and out drive through line that's taking way too long, that is who you are when things get tough, that is who you are when your morality is tested with people, that is who you are when your patience is coming to its end. You are an ambassador of Christ. We've been entrusted with a message like, just understand the weight of this. It's not that we're given a choice here. He says that you were being reconciled with the Father and now you are called an ambassador of the Father. There is now this understanding that me as a Christian, Christlike, a disciple and a follower now have a representation for the kingdom in this world. We don't get to carry our message, we carry his message. We are not first the ambassadors of our preferences of our opinions, of our personal agenda, of our grievances, of our culture. We're not first ambassadors of our success. We are ambassadors for Christ. What message is the King entrusted to the ambassadors be reconciled to God? That's the message. That's It's the one where we speak and we live as a testament to the gospel we represent. There is forgiveness in Jesus, there is peace with God in Jesus. There is a way home in Jesus, our sin doesn't have the final word, our shame doesn't have the final word, our rebellion doesn't have to have the final word. The cross made reconciliation possible. This is our message and Paul runs straight into this in 2 Corinthians 6, 1-2 says this, and working together with him, that's so awesome, you get to work with God, isn't that awesome? And working together with him, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain for he says, in a favorable time, I listen to you. And in a day of salvation, I have helped you. Behold, now is the favorable time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. This is the urgency of our message. That now is not relative to the time that it was written. The day of salvation is now. It's today. It's the 4th of October, 2026. Now is the day of salvation. We sang the song today, todayness. There has to be a todayness within our faith. A todayness within our tenacity to say, I am an ambassador for Christ. I remember who I represent. This person in front of me are talking about all their problems I got somewhere to be. No, you know what? I'm gonna slow down because first I'm an ambassador of the kingdom. have you ever been prayed for? Do you have experienced a piece beyond your own understanding? That we would slow down and understand that there was such a larger picture at play. And God has placed you in the middle of it and said, you are my ambassador. You are filled with my spirit. Bring it into these areas that you have been placed. And if I am an ambassador of reconciliation and the way I handle relationships, especially broken ones, it really matters. It really matters to my witness of Christ. We got to know the world isn't only hearing the gospel that is preached, you know, from microphones or this or that. It's watching the gospel that we live. Listen, if you and I moved to a new country and there's a new law system, there's a new language, there is new, you know, in Australia we drive on the right side of the road. The left side, sorry, we drive on the right side here. Yes, it's the other way. Okay, so if we moved to Australia and in that sense we said, well, I'm gonna continue living the old way. I'm going to continue talking and Christine thinks that I speak a different language. It's English, but you can't understand me half the time. But you move to another country where there's a different language, but you say, I'm going to live by the old ways. I'm going to speak in my old way. I'm going to live the way by the laws of the place that I've just come that are completely contrary to this new land that you are living in. That's what Paul is actually addressing with the Corinthian church. You say, man, you have now become a new creation in a new kingdom that is breaking into this world. But as this new believer, you've got to stop thinking and looking at the Word of God and at the church from the perspective of the world that you were walking away from. And instead start looking at the world you have walked away from that you have cut off your flesh from that you have been born and you from. And instead I am an ambassador into the world from this new kingdom now. And this is the battle that we face because, I mean, it sounds easy and we can, man, Joe I was shouting in Australia not there, I felt so inspired, Cecily was out there and she was talking South Africa last week and oh, I just felt this like, this wild call coming up within me, but then when it comes pushed to shove, we start getting a little trepidation, right? We suck in a little timid. This is where we have to have a strong prayer life, a strong word life, and we have to be connected with people around us to continue forward. And if we're not good at relationships, if we're not good at reconciling differences, then we're going to end up on a journey of faith isolated. So we need to understand who we're representing. Forgiveness, reconciling, making it should confront you and I. It's easy to forgive the easy things right but man when it's a real offense we need to remember who we represent and we should celebrate when these things confront us for these old ways within us this old language the old way I used to drive like can you imagine if I pulled on to the freeway driving in the wrong direction. It's not going to end up good. This old way of living is now being crucified on the cross when it is being confronted. I don't want to drive that way. I don't want to talk that language. I don't want to have to go through all of this learning. But if I crucify my flesh, man, I tell you that is the dying of my flesh and the living in Christ starting to spring forth. Jesus says in John 1335, by this all people will know that you are my disciples. What does it say? If, we've So I've got to work on this, you all right? If you have love for one another, Paul, notice this, Jesus gives the world permission to look upon us, he gives the world, he's saying that they will look upon you and they can cast a judgment for they will. And the reason, the reason and the premise of this is going to be, if you love one another. Man, Acts 2 is awesome. This birthing of the church, and one of the greatest little verses that's in there, it breaks down everything that's happening in the church, and meeting in one another's homes. They go to church daily for the prayers. They're praying for one another. They're ministering to one another, and day by day their numbers grew, and it said this, it says, and all of those who looked upon them, looked with favor. That they had favor from all who were looking on. Why? Because they could clearly see that there was this love for one another, that there was this fruit that was growing. And so Jesus is giving the world a permission to look in and say, what's different? Well, how are they loving each other differently? Our relationships are a huge part of our witness. We cannot preach God reconciles while making a lifestyle out of division. We cannot preach, reconcile and forgiveness without forgiving others in our life. We cannot preach peace, the peace of God and the joy of God while losing it all over here because we're just angry and we love to let it go. The gospel has to become visible in our life, not just horizontally, but vertically. Also, sorry, not just vertically, but horizontally also. Point number two here today. Fight the good fight. Fight the good fight. This is so important for us to actually understand and delineate that there are good fights that you should fight in this world. Timothy 612 says fight the good fight of the faith and near the end of his life in 2 Timothy 4 7 he says this I have fought the good fight I have finished the race and I've kept the faith I want to be able to say that at the end of my life I want to say I lived full but I died empty I poured everything out that I possibly could. I've finished the race and I've kept the faith. These and there are things for you and I that are worth fighting for in this life. Truth is worth fighting for. Unity is worth fighting for. Faith is worth fighting for. The gospel is worth fighting for. Scripture tells us that unity is worth fighting for. It's so funny because most of the time we think fight is the cause of division, but we got to get kind of like a little bit of a clenched teeth against all division and fight for unity. Generally, that means I'm fighting my flesh to a place of shut up. I'm fighting my flesh. I'm wrestling with that for it to go down. Oh, that offense, that really hurts. I'm going to justify it with everything that I can. I'm going to stack up all of the evidence. I am now going to bury this in the tomb. I'm now going to nail it on the cross for the fight of unity is so much greater than the fight of my opinion. Ephesians four, one, two, three, it says, walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called with all humility and gentleness and patience bearing with one another in love. I love that Hannah just laughed. Eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. Eager, the pursuit of unity is impassive. It's not off to the side. It's not something that you do nothing for and it actually develops. No, unity is something that you fight for, that you actually lean in and you're intentional to create. He says maintain it, and that means work on it. I'll tell you this, okay? I used to be 245 pounds at my biggest, okay? I got lost some weight and I went down and then I put some weight back on and I'm just going to tell you in this context and take my you know metaphor here lightly but I'm telling you this it's way easier to maintain that it is to rebuild and so there is this eager maintenance of the unity that has been created. Maintaining is way easier than rebuilding, so protect unity. Be eager for it, like go after it, sweat for it, because unity will cost you an eye something. It'll cost you your need to have the last word. It'll cost you, my wife just looked at me because she said, you always get the last word. It will cost you your need to have the last word. preach it, preach it. It will cost you the satisfaction of rehearsing the offense over and over again. It will require you to admit I was wrong even when everything in your body is said, oh, but I was right. This is where being a disciple becomes quick, real fast. It becomes heavy, real fast. Because a lot of Christians are fighting nonstop, they're just fighting the wrong fight, fighting over preference, fighting to be understood, fighting to protect a reputation, fighting to win. I'm just going to win. No matter what, I'm going to win. Meanwhile, Paul says fight the good fight. One of my favorite stories surrounding this is in it's in 1 Samuel 17. This is the story of David and Goliath and and and David's father sends him to take some food to his brothers who are at the field and so Eliab is there and and and he walks He walks up to Eliab and hears Goliath up there. Vue, vue, vue, And he's hearing all of these threats and he's looking over at the Israel army and they're all shaking in their boots and David walks up, this little shepherd's boy who's got cheese and some grains with him to drop off to his brother and he walks up to Eliab his eldest brother and he says, what's going on? What's the deal? Why isn't anyone fighting this guy? And Elliot gets angry at him, straight away. Gets angry at him and he starts accusing him, you little shit. And like, come on, this is a shepherd boy, I was gonna say. But think about it, brothers, you know, brothers who have been fighting the eldest and the youngest here, who was also from a different mother, if you didn't know that. And so there is this internal turmoil that's happening in this family. And Elliot's like, you get away from here, you stupid little, you know, shepherd boy, just go back and look after the sheep. And do you know what David does? Cause me as the little brother, I'm a little brother, I would have been like, yeah, you wanna go? Like that would have been me. Cause I'm Australian and I speak Dingo. And so, here's David, and David just does this. It says he turned, and he walked the other way, and he asked the same question to other people. Before long, Saul had heard that this kid was asking, and he got brought before Saul, and Saul accepted him as the challenger against Goliath. I wonder if David had just stood there and fought with his brother, if the outcome would have been the same. never really know but I do think that we get caught up fighting the wrong fights. When there is an enemy who is taunting the church, is taunting the kingdom that we end up turning against our brothers and sisters, nah nah nah Nuggie nuggie, crow pack, crow pack, you know like and we get in this kind of family dispute when there's a real enemy at hand that needs to be struck and he needs to be taken down. So we cannot afford to just keep fighting the wrong fights. And if Paul is saying there is a good fight, then there is a distracting fight. Then there is a wrong fight. Then there is a bad fight that is stealing your energy. It's stealing your spirit. It's stealing your faith to fight the real fight of faith. It's high time we stop fighting against each other and started fighting for one another, fighting for unity, fighting for friendship, fighting against bitterness, fighting against gossip, fighting against division within ourselves. Ephesians 4-26 says this be angry and do not sin. It doesn't say don't be angry because you're going to get angry in this life. There are going to be moments where it boils up but it says be angry and do not sin. So you can feel it well up, but thank God there is a fruit called self-control. Might not be out of control, everything else, but I do have a fruit called self-control that I can lean on. So we got to fight the good fight. The last point here today, Because I can hear a lot of the quiet questions, well, how do I actually do that? When it comes down to a conversation, how do I actually practically have conversations? How do I practically fight this good fight that we're called to fight? Jesus was never against confrontation. He actually encouraged it, first of all that blessing from the Beatitudes of Christ is blessed are the peace makers, a peace keeper's peace makers, it's an action of making peace. We're called to learn how to have hard conversations like Jesus did, and so .3, just focus on this singular scripture, 2 Corinthians 13, 11, says this, finally brothers rejoice, aim for For restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you. This last point is restoration, restoration is the destination. I never walk into a heart or confronting conversation without first having the destination figured out. So no matter what the conversation is regarding, I always have a destination in mind. That is one of peace, unity, truth, and growth. always go in no matter how scary it is because the reasons why we don't have these conversations is It's just gonna be so awkward to have these oh my gosh, I just I don't want to do this, but you're actually called to confront these things Confrontation isn't bad. I don't know why it's always like when you think of confrontation you think kind of like like of the shining where he's axed through the door. And here's Johnny. You know, like we think of that as the confrontation. But confrontation is the pruning and growth of relationships. It's helping us become sharper. And so having an aim before you go in to every conversation of restoration. That is discipleship, not avoid every conflict. aim for restoration, not pretend nobody hurt you, aim for restoration, not stay in every unhealthy situation regardless of repentance or safety, aim for restoration. The goal will determine how you and I enter into that conversation. So if we walk into that with I want to justify my actions, then I'm gonna walk in with this vindictive attitude. If indication is the goal, I'll enter trying to prove that I'm right. If my goal is punishment, I'll make sure you feel what you did to me. If my goal is avoidance, I'll never even enter the conversation at all. But if my goal is restoration, I can enter with truth and love in collaboration. And that's why Jesus said in 1815, Matthew 1815, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault. Between you and him alone. He says, go. There's going to be an action there. And I'm not saying make mountains out of molehills. Have good discernment in life to understand like I'm I'm gonna have to leave this one to a conversation with this person or I'm gonna bring this one to Christ have that wisdom and discernment but if your brother sins against you go and tell him his fault I feel like we just sweep it under the rug and then we talk behind their backs we make up things in our hand and there's just a division within our soul would be Jesus totally expects us as his disciples to confront things biblical reconciliation is not weakness in that sense there is a step forward in that and listen to the outcome he says if he listens to you after you've confronted your brother if listens to you you have gained your brother. That's the outcome of mature disciples fighting for unity. I will not allow a small crack to be wedged into a gorge in my life. That there is this large division. I will not give the enemy any foothold in my life. Instead I will bring it and I will confront it. This is where we actually move forward as disciple because I love that Paul says agree with one another because that seems impossible doesn't it? To agree with one another on absolutely everything but he's not talking about your opinions, he's not talking about our preferences in this life like oh you've got to agree with you know my favorite band because we have different favorite bands and now I don't like you. He's not talking about that okay he's talking about this we are agreeing to aim for restoration and in humility I will lay down my fault I will receive the responsibility that I need to receive and make the changes necessary. Proverb says this faithful are the wounds of a friend that tells you and I that not all wounds are bad. My question is, do you have people in your life who can wound you? I'm not just saying wound you, like chop you up, wounds you well. Are you woundable in this life for growth's sake, for the sake of unity, that you wouldn't become super defensive when that person comes to confront, when that person sees something that needs to shift or change or that it's a genuine concern and worry. Man, I want to see you walking on the right path in life and I want to aim for restoration. And so for you and I to actually understand we need a destination in our conversation, we should not avoid conversations. We're kind of living the time and age of ghosting. Just like, oh, just slowly disappear, slowly fade into the backdrop, don't do that. That's, it's, it's, it's, it's not biblical that you would be from footed and I'm telling you like God will put some spiritual hair on your life, put some faith on your life where you like, and I'll tell you there's nothing better than when you sit down with someone and you have a, like me and my wife, we're married, so of course we have these conversations of conflict like hey that really hurt me or hey this this I don't understand this can you bring cleric and all of a sudden we're closer at the end of our conversation it's like I love you so much thank you for helping me love you better right like oh man I didn't realize that that was hurting and to be honest I was being passive and aggressive where I was whatever it is thank you for calling me out I need to grow up and mature in this area and then all of a sudden I can love her better because I love her and you should love your brothers and sisters that are next to you enough to say someone needs to change within me. I know it. I know it. I want to get better. I want to look more like Christ in my relationships because I am a representative first of the kingdom. You're a representative of the kingdom so let's agree on that and bring unity as ambassadors in this world. Amen? You and I carry a ministry, and it's called the Ministry of Reconciliation, that we live up and down. We understand that there is this reconciliation that happens with God, and we have a slide for this. This is kind of, you know, I'm sure that some of us have seen something like this before. But this is our great reconciliation with God. The vertical relationship that's been reconnected, that's been restored, that's been reconciled. This is salvation. It's the work of the cross. But the cross has to work not just vertically but horizontally also. That the love that we have received is expressed in our world. The great command that Jesus gives, each and every one of us, is His disciples. He says, I've fulfilled the Lord, but this one commandment lives above all. He says, love the Lord your God with all your heart, your body, soul, and mind. And love others as you love yourself. When you get this right, you start loving God with all your soul, body, and mind. This little intersection of self begins to love, begins to have a confidence for yourself that's healthy. And when you You love yourself well and you understand how Christ loves you, you will love others. The cross is powerful to understand that we can't just have a vertical line in our life, but we have to have the horizontal lines working as well. We have a ministry of reconciliation. Amen? Let's all stand here today. It's our aim here today. It's for unity, is that you and I have a message within us that is the gospel, which is good news. It's bringing that to the world around us. And I want to challenge you this week to open your mouth and to preach the gospel, to bring the Spirit of God into a situation that feels like there is disunity. It might be in your marriage, it might be in your workplace, it might be with a friend, but begin to guide conversations of reconciliation. I can assure you of this. It's a great saying that says, all the thousand deaths we experience in fearing the one. So what that means is we can spend so much time dreading the singular conversation and we experience a thousand stresses just imagining all of these different scenarios. But I'm telling you when you actually sit down and do it in the confidence of Christ. You sit down and say, God, guide this conversation. keep peace within my soul and that the aim is that of restoration. You'll see God begin to spark up a new confidence within you. Just thank God it's not by my strength or my it's by his spirit. So when we are filled with his spirit and we fight for unity, I'm telling you this is there was so much power that is seen in this. So, God, I thank you, Father, that you are our guide, you are our standard, you are what we reach for, the God in our own lives where there is any kind of fractures with relationships. I pray that we we would be led towards bringing the message of reconciliation. Father, I pray that we would never forget about the sacrifice that Jesus made and the debt that He paid when He carried our sin to the cross. And God, I just pray just as the Lord's prayer says, forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who have sinned against us. The God, you would give us the revelation that the love received is the love that we pour out as well that the mercy we received is the mercy that we pour out as well and you Lord that the love that we receive is the love that we pour out give us the strength to comprehend it give us the humility to hand over our pride to you Father and God I just pray for restoration in relationships I pray that this church would stand in unity alongside one another, that there would be this strength and bonding God in spirit and in truth, that above preference we aim for restoration, that above our opinions or even hurts, that we would confront with truth and with spirit, and that there would be healing, Father. So God, we thank you that your kingdom comes first. You thank you, Lord, that you would give us the roads to unity here today. In the mighty name of Jesus, we all said, amen,