We'd like to welcome you to the Harvester podcast, season one, episode three.
My name is Brian Kenyon and we have with us.
Forest Antemesaris and Steven Ford.
And our first three episodes that we've been talking about some aspect of unity.
We started out by talking about unity in general.
And then our last episode, we talked about root causes of division.
and for this episode we would like to address the restoring restoration of unity and we
run a role the last podcast from first corinthians the book of first corinthians and
steven was kind of give us a point that and so we've all of us recognize that first
corinthians is a good book on both how to destroy unity as well as how to restore unity
and so we would like steven to start us off with some points about restoring unity of
course being a preacher all of my thoughts are illiterate so with the letter r is the
first one i'm taking right from first chrithin chapter one with restoring unity is a
refocus on christ one of the neat things about first chrithin chapter one is if you look
at the first ten verses in those ten verses ten times paul recognizes the name of the lord
and so it's Jesus Christ Christ Jesus Jesus Christ our Lord Lord Jesus Christ and on and
it seems that what he's trying to do at least in part is remind them of who the Lord
actually is who has all authority Matthew 28 and so you know he's reminding them of what
they're supposed to be focused on and so he kind of brings that to a head and in verse
number ten
Before he does anything he mentions the Lord then he gets to verse 10 where he says nabba
seat you brethren by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ That you all speak the same thing
that there'd be no divisions among you that you'd be perfectly joined together in the same
mind in the same judgment so leading up to the fact that you're supposed to be in unity is
You need to be Refocused on the Lord and so instead of self it's on Christ.
That's a great point.
I think you know
there in verse 10, like you said, the fact that he pleads with them by the name of our
Lord Jesus Christ, and it just shows you, if you don't acknowledge the authority of Jesus,
you can't have the unity that the church is supposed to have.
that, mean, everything's gonna flow downstream from that, right?
And too, you know, when we focus on Christ, we're focusing on really the most important
thing that we share in common.
Because that, mean, you gotta have some basis for unity.
And in the world, you know, we see different bases or bases for unity.
You know, it could be skin color, could be ethnicity, it could be, you know, country,
could be sports team, could be politics, whatever it is, there's got to be something that
bridges you together.
And for the Christian, the ultimate thing that bridges us together is Jesus, regardless of
where we're from, who we're related to, what sports team we like, whatever.
If, you know, if we're in Christ, that's really the only bedrock we have to build unity
on.
Yeah, and even in
Chapter one verse thirteen, you know, is Christ divided?
Was Paul crucified for you?
Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?
I think that's saying the same thing as what you're saying, Forrest, except Paul is using
himself as the, here's the antithesis.
I mean, I don't have the power.
You weren't crucified for me.
I can do nothing for you, except of course, being an example of things, but Christ is the
essence of it all.
And without him, we are truly nothing.
You would think that that would be an encouragement though because we have different
backgrounds because in a worldly sense you may have a higher status than I may have for
whatever reason or you know or whatever.
Being in Christ brings us together and I'm thinking in Galatians chapter 3 look there's no
more Jew or Greek there's no bond or free male or female whatever the world says our
standard is.
that's gone those you know the identity is still there you know I'm still who I am but in
Christ when I come into the body of Christ I don't have to worry about being at a lower
standard than somebody else having to be looked down upon or I don't have to carry the
burden of looking down on someone else we're all just brothers in Christ.
Right, that's a great point you know and that's I mean there isn't a you know a Jewish
Church of Christ and a Greek Church of Christ there's not a you know and there shouldn't
be you know a white Church of Christ a black Church of Christ
you know, you could go through the list of everything that the body, know, female church
of Christ, male church of Christ, whatever, you know, the goal is to all, you're either in
Christ's church or you're not, right?
And that is that, that has to be the basis.
And that's where I go back to first Corinthians 12.
I mean, all those, you know, it doesn't matter if you're an ear, if you're a fingernail,
whatever you are, you are important to that body.
No matter what your earthly status is.
But in Christ, all that stuff is done away.
You're a Jew and a Greek, bond or free, male or female, you're all one in Christ Jesus.
Yeah.
And you see those things aren't reasons to be, you know, and I think aren't reasons to be
divided.
And there's like kind of a cliche.
I don't know.
You hear this in movies and like political stuff where, you know, what unites us is more
important than what divides us.
Yes.
There's nowhere that's more true than in Christ, right?
Where we're talking about the Son of God.
who died for us and bled for us and purchased the church and you know whatever might
divide us what unites us is so much greater so if we can re focus was that the yeah so we
can refocus on that and not you know so if you're if you're dwelling on the divisions
you're going to be divided right because you're going to find what you're looking for so
if you're dwelling on the differences if you're dwelling on well i would have done it this
way whatever it is if that's what you're focusing on you're going to have division but if
you focus on christ you're you're well on your way to unity
And if I might add, the various aspects of Christ, you can even parse that out farther.
You know, what am I focusing on on Christ?
You know, if I look at you and think anything of you, I have to think about, well, wait a
minute.
Who is Christ?
he's the one that died for the sins, not just the sins of the world, but for your sins and
your sins.
So when I think about that, man, how could I look down on you?
And Jesus thought enough for you to die for you and to advocate for you and to be your
savior.
how could I look down on the value that the Lord puts on you?
think about the various aspects of his personhood, his role.
can influence the way I see my brothers and my sisters.
I'm made, if you all are made in the image of God, well that's in the image of who?
Well that is Christ also.
Right, absolutely.
gotta appreciate that too.
That's a great point.
Yeah, and I thought when he was saying that, thought of Romans 15 verse 7, Paul says,
receive one another just as Christ also received us to the glory of God.
Right.
And you know, Christ received you, so who am I to say
you know i'm better than you or your lesson me around inferior to you or whatever because
christ received you and you and me and he received us all despite our sins in spite of our
shortcomings are failing weaknesses he received us through the gospel yeah absolutely and
i think you see that even with you know one it changes the way i treat you because of what
christ has done for you right he's received you saved you et cetera but also
So the way I kind look at it is I'm supposed to treat you the way Christ would treat you.
But also, I think from Matthew 25 with the parable of the sheep and the goats, you know,
you could say that also I should treat you as if you were Christ.
Right.
Because as you did it to the least of these, my brother, and you did it to me.
That's what Jesus says there.
So I think it's if you treat if you're trying to treat other people the way Christ would
treat them and you're treating them as if they are Christ.
Like you're going to avoid a lot of problems when it comes to your dealings with people.
Yeah, think that's in Colossians chapter 3 about not being man-pleasers with your job,
that you're doing that to Christ.
I'm also, you mentioned Brian in Romans 15, I was thinking about also Ephesians 4, I think
that's around verse 32, and we have to put away all these wicked things and forgive each
other as God has forgiven us in Christ.
And so if we see that value, and you take it even a step further and not just considering
what Christ has done for you, but...
man, how would I treat the Lord?
I wouldn't look down on the Lord or mistreat Him, so if I can see that, and that really
elevates the way I would interact with each other.
Yeah, be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ
has forgiven us.
Absolutely.
So that's definitely a good point.
And so the first thing about bringing back unity again, restoring unity, is a refocus on
Christ.
And secondly, what do you have, Steven?
I have remember oneself.
And this is from 1 Corinthians chapter 6.
Again, with the Rs.
You can remember yourself.
You don't need to remember yourself.
can remember.
And so with this one, I'm thinking 1 Corinthians chapter 6.
At least in some cases, the division can become, it can come from arrogance, as we talked
about earlier, pride in an earlier episode.
and remembering who I am and where I was, which was one of Paul's main points in his
preaching, and which Christ commanded him to preach about his interaction with the Lord
and the subsequent things that the Lord would tell him.
But Paul often talked about here's who I was.
I'm thinking of 1 Corinthians chapter 6 where Paul says that unrighteousness cannot
inherit the kingdom of God.
And we know those passages very well, 9 and 10.
But in verse 11 where he says, such were some of you.
So this Corinthian church who we read earlier, they were puffed up.
But then he says, well, wait a second now.
Who did you used to be?
And so if I remember who I used to be.
And who I may still be at sometimes if I'm not putting myself to death at all daily, then
I can get on my high horse and not look at my brother's heart.
And so if I'm looking at myself as a heart, then that can help to restore the unity that's
at least broken by way of pride.
Yeah, that's a great point.
That made me think of Romans 12 verse three, where Paul says, for I say through the grace
given to me to everyone who's among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought
to think, but to think soberly.
Right, so there is when I lift myself up above you, I'm not thinking soberly, right?
I've over inflated myself, I think of myself too highly, and it's kinda, you know, who do
you think you are?
Get off your high horse.
But I can do that, I can put myself on that high horse and look down at others, but I'm
not thinking soberly.
I've forgotten where I've come from, I've forgotten what Christ has done for me, I've
forgotten how Christ loves you, and the result is gonna be division.
Yeah, I was thinking of 1 Timothy 1.12 where Paul writes, thank Christ Jesus our Lord who
has enabled me because he counted me faithful putting me into the ministry although I was
formerly, what he talks about before, formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, an insolent
man, but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly and in unbelief and the grace.
And just for us to talk about that, the grace.
of our Lord was exceedingly abundant with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.
And then he goes on to say this a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief.
However, for this reason, I obtained mercy in that in me first Jesus Christ might show the
long suffering as a pattern to those who are going to believe on him to everlasting life.
And so
Paul remembered where he came from and never forgot that and he always remember that.
It's interesting that passage you referenced for us a minute ago in Romans 12 and I never
caught that I guess when he contrasts arrogant thinking with sober thinking.
If you think about what sober thinking is you think of person there in their right mind
you're thinking clearly you're sharp and the opposite of that not in your right mind not
thinking clearly.
is to be puffed up.
And you know, when we think about a drunk person versus sober person, the contrast there,
and here he's saying sober versus his prideful arrogance.
And that's a sharp contrast I just never picked up on.
It really highlights how off, I guess you could say that thinking is.
For sure.
I mean, people, sometimes we call it, what do we call it?
You know, like a power trip or drunk with power or something.
You can be drunk with pride, so to speak.
You're not thinking right.
is your life you know person yeah and i was thinking do you you're talking to you know and
steven was mentioned about sober verses we think of sober verses intoxicated right but
pride can intoxicate you know alias as a passage is indicating right absolutely good point
there so remember now and i think we may well play on that are you dash member here or
remember as in memory but there are he dash
come back, be a member, know, rejoin yourself.
When you just said that there are several passages that talk about coming to yourself,
getting back to a sober sort of thinking, you know, I kind of looked that up and just see
how many times that's mentioned in the New Testament.
prodigal, know, the classic example of prodigal son when he came to himself, you know.
And that can be...
You know pride, you yeah, I'm here on my own.
Sure.
And then you think when when the clarity of mind comes back, he sobered up and then what
happened?
He sobered up.
Yeah, they came back to his father.
That's that yes, it will.
Yes, it will.
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah, that's a good point.
Remember oneself.
Yeah, that that that chapter six, though, man, it really hits me.
You know, I've got a past I won't necessarily go into right now.
But periodically, it can become easy to see who you are now and almost forget the guy that
you were and the guy that you used to be.
And some of those habits may still be fresh enough in your mind where you could very
easily slip back into that if you're not careful.
Because that's why you don't have to remember who you are, what your tendencies may be,
where you came from so that you don't get back into that sort of thing.
And not just remembering it to be
overly self-deprecating but to remember so you don't get back into like Paul was saying,
buffeting his body.
Hey, I remember that I may have a tendency toward this thing.
So I've got to make sure I'm not a castaway myself.
Well, Paul did that obviously for himself all the time.
He reflected on his past life, but also he encouraged other people to do it.
All the time he's reminding people, hey, remember what you were.
Whether it's...
Whether it's Roman chapters one and two, whether it's Ephesians chapter two, whatever it
is, right?
So Paul always takes who you used to be to motivate you to take hold of who you're
supposed to be in Christ.
know, like, hey, you didn't you didn't you didn't wake up just the most righteous person
in the world, right?
A lot had to happen for that change and to hold other people to a higher standard than God
ever held you to.
You know that that's not something we should be doing.
That may be part of what he's saying to the elders in Ephesus or to Timothy, know, take
heed to yourself.
Be mindful of who you are.
And that could, I guess, be various ways of thinking about that.
But however you think about it, think about yourself.
Take a toll of who you are, where you are, what's going on in your life.
Yeah, and how Christ is the reason why you changed and Christ is why you are where you are
now.
And that's just an awesome point when it comes to unity.
Okay, so refocus, remember.
And the third one I was thinking about again with this pattern in 1 Corinthians in chapter
13, I would say revive the love.
Revive the love is, you know, lack of love for the Lord, lack of love for each other can
cause division.
And the opposite side of that, as we talked about a little bit in the last episode when we
were together, but
you reviving that love, rekindling that, that, you know, the passage we read a little
while ago, Ephesians 4, can really get to the heart of that.
Man, if I truly love you, then I have to put away whatever hard feelings I have and
forgive you.
Because Christ forgave me, so just kind of reviving that love for each other.
Yeah, that's a great point.
I think that even goes a long way where, you know, if I just think about, you know, Paul
wasn't afraid to name names, call people out.
But he also had a heart, even for those who were false teachers, even for those who, you
know, I think about, you know, Philippians chapter three, where he talks about writing
with tears in his eyes for those who are enemies of the cross of Christ, you know, of the
cross of Christ or whenever he talks about church discipline, the goal is the salvation of
the brother.
Right.
So I think even Paul shows us that even when you have that division because of unsoundness
or whatever,
that our main goal is not to prove how right we are.
It's not to show that we're the ones standing up for what's right.
Our main goal is for the salvation of others.
And it is a heartbreaking thing when somebody goes astray and when that division happens.
But a lot of love, like we talked about even on the last episode, that love is such a
guardrail from the things that often divide us.
Yeah, in fact, love covers a multitude of sins.
And of course, in 1 Corinthians 13, that whole chapter, especially the first part about
that, about love.
And of course, really, that addresses the division thing, because remember, they were
divided over to miraculous spiritual gifts.
Who had them, who didn't, and all that.
And so in chapter 13, Paul's saying, if they're regulated by love, that issue won't be
divisive.
Yeah.
And if you suffer long, if you're kind, if you don't envy, if you don't parade yourself,
if you're not puffed up, if you don't behave rudely, if you don't seek your own, if you're
not provoked, if you think no evil, if you don't rejoice in sin, if you rejoice in the
truth, that's gonna go a long way to defeating division, right?
Because how much division comes because of envy, because of a lack of kindness, because of
being puffed up, because of being rude, because of seeking my own, whatever it is.
The love is the antidote to all those things, because that's...
as Paul is describing love there in verses four through six, you you plug those things
into the situation, whenever division arises, and you see, I think you start to see a way
out, a way to unity, you know.
And see a way out, and going to what you just quoted, Brother Brian, you see a way over.
You have a lot of faults, I've got a lot of faults, we all do.
But I see a way over those faults when I think about love, and you just cited,
or quoted rather, 1 Peter chapter 4.
I want to just look at that just a little bit and you know, kind of his closing words here
in chapter 4 before he gets to chapter 5 here, he says, but the end of all things is at
hand.
be therefore sober, which we talked about a moment ago, and watch unto prayer, and above
all things, and I love that, above all things have fervent charity or love among
yourselves for, or because, charity shall cover the multitude of sins.
And it doesn't make it so the sins do not exist.
You know, it doesn't say, I love you so you can do whatever you want, but man, I can love
you like God loves you.
God loves us when we're right or we're wrong, you know He doesn't approve of it But I can
still love my brother's sister with or without their faults if I truly have that love of
God I mean, I love how he just underscores that or at least in my mind is underscore, you
know above all things Yeah, you have whatever you want to have, you know, but you've got
to have this first.
Yeah, I love for each other Yeah, like that love that love like you say doesn't excuse
sin, but it but it it doesn't allow sin
to get in way of our unity or our love for one another.
So it covers it in that sense.
And I'm not going to be a micromanager who's lording myself over you, you know, trying to
penalize every indiscretion, right?
That's not a loving thing to do.
And I think that's part of this too, especially there's kind of a callback that our
Proverbs 10-12, hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all sense, right?
So if I hate somebody,
Now I'm looking, I'm waiting for you to do something that I can call you out on because
there's nothing I would love more than to prove myself over you, right?
But if I love you, then it's like, okay, the bar is set a little bit and it's not
subjective.
It's not that sin ceases to exist, right?
But I'm gonna give you a charitable benefit of the doubt until there is no benefit and
there is no doubt, you know, as Harem used to always say.
But until that point,
It's like, hey, you're my brother, right?
Until I know that you're not.
even to that kind of illustration, how the hatred is looking, waiting for you to mess up.
On the other side of it, I think is the exact opposite.
True love is waiting and anticipating that you will do right.
I'm thinking about that prodigal son.
The father's out there looking.
And he had every anticipation.
My son's coming back home.
Why?
Because he loved his son.
And he was hoping and anticipating and waiting and ready to do all the, I'm sure in his
mind he already had the fatted calf.
He already had the clothes and the rings and the party all set in his mind.
Anticipating and hoping for that day.
My boy's coming home.
And we're gonna celebrate his coming back and our renewed unity.
I mean, you love someone, you're rooting for them.
You're on their side.
That's what I always try to tell.
You my wife it's like hey, we're on the same team no matter what you know like because
when you love somebody That's what that means like hey you and you even if you or I end up
in that pigsty We're we're ready, and we're working to get you back right.
It's not like okay.
We're done We're off you know that's that's not the love that we read about in the Bible
Yeah, and I think that's all good commentary and in first Corinthians 13 7 when he ends
that little section there
love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
It's not gonna let sin get in the way, it's not gonna let shortcomings, weaknesses get in
the way, it's gonna be there.
Yeah, absolutely.
And let's see, if I have that right, in verse eight, it never fails.
that's one of the great things of prompt it never fails so you will never lose when love
wins but then there's another side to that coin coming out of first corinthians real quick
love does cover a multitude of sin but as we were talking about earlier it doesn't excuse
it and what comes to my mind is in mark chapter ten where you have the rich young ruler
and i love that mark includes this in his record where it says Jesus beholding him loved
him and so
love and then he proceeds to tell him there's something wrong in your life that you need
to fix in order to be what you have proclaimed you want.
This man wanted eternal life and so Jesus says hey you need to fix something so love in
addition to covering him up to the sin
It also exposes sin when it's there.
So if I truly love you as my brother in Christ, then I'm not gonna just say, well, you
know, just forget it.
You're wrong.
But man, I just love you so much.
God doesn't do that.
You know, he tells us, informs us when we're doing wrong.
And so did Jesus in a way that wasn't harsh, rude and mean to get a gotcha.
But like, I love you so much.
I want you to be in heaven so much.
I'm willing to come to the world and die and even tell you when you're not right.
tend to doesn't exist so that yeah as you mark ten is one of my favorites to to kind of
demonstrate this point yeah that's a great point yep very good all right so we have had to
restore unity refocus on Christ remember ourselves and where we came from and reviving
love I do you think I can think of another re yeah I got what you go here we're not you go
ahead okay well mine is re
Pentance.
Oh man, amen.
And that comes from 2 Corinthians, which is a follow up if you go to 2 Corinthians chapter
7.
2 Corinthians chapter 7.
of course, verse 10 is the key verse, but I think I always like to go back up to at least
verse 8.
even though Paul writes, even if I made you sorry with my letter, and this is New King
James translation, I do not regret it.
Though I did regret it, for I perceived that the same epistle made you sorry, though it
were only for a while.
Now I rejoice not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance, for
you were made sorry after a godly manner, in that you might suffer loss from us in
nothing, for godly sorrow produces repentance, leading to salvation not to be regretted,
but the sorrow of the world produces death.
And then verse 11 and notice the change in verse 11 from first Corinthians for I observed
this very thing that you sorrowed in a godly manner.
What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what
fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication and all things you proved yourself
to be clear in this matter.
And so Paul was anticipating he was afraid how they were going to accept first
Corinthians.
and he and you know lot of times people right off the preacher if he steps on the toes too
much but he would rejoice when tides came to give him the report that they did repent and
whenever you think of disunity another root causes of the of disunity we talked about last
episode those causes of division i mean there's their sin somewhere in there whether
intentional or unintentional i mean you know sometimes but but an order
for that to be resolved european it's has to come somewhere in there absolutely yes
whether whether it was you know division because of sense which is real as far as you send
and we've disfellowshipped you and now you know that repentance is to be there or division
because of sin in that i'd boundo and commencing and or i was puffed up or whatever and
that i think that sometimes is harder to restore
Because in both instances the offender has to acknowledge that they've done wrong, right?
but in the second instance that in my experience, it's a little tougher because Whatever
reason we're dug in more or whatever it is that it's it's hard to say.
Hey, I was wrong I'm sorry.
I treated you this way etc.
I need to repent, you know
That can also go back to humility, remembering oneself and those sorts of things and
wanting to just acknowledge, hey, I'm imperfect too.
I could mess up as well.
It's easy to say in a static environment like this.
I'm sure each of us has had a point in life where we may have realized, well, maybe I'm a
little off, but sometimes you get stubborn.
You may not want to be, and it can be trivial things like something small.
Well, I ate too much, too many donuts and I don't want to admit it or whatever.
Or it could be something major like sin in our lives, which could be destroying the church
or marriage or family and those sorts of things.
either way, we've got to of practice humility on a daily basis.
that becomes part of who we are.
So when it comes to a point that we can say, hey, you know what?
I messed up.
I need to do better.
We can be like, you know, Peter, Peter, you know, he messed up big time.
but you know, are you gonna let it be a stumbling block?
Or a stepping stone.
Yeah, to get to something better and higher.
Yeah, absolutely.
I would I would say to you know, unless you've got more on repentance There's one little
one I wanted to throw out there going with it don't have a Corinthians reference for it,
but we'll find one.
Yeah You know, I was gonna say reopen lines of communication to try to bring unity back
because you know in these instances where I'm just thinking about locally, you know where
we've got congregations within five ten mile radius that
Most you know, we probably maybe we haven't talked to in decades perhaps, you Where What
would it take obvious?
We're not gonna be united without and those instances without talking to each other.
Yeah, you know and It's hard when you're the offended party to reach out for
communication, you know Or or vice versa, you know when you're the one who who
cause the division to reach out and say, let's get together.
Because it might be, you think the division is warranted, what do you want to get together
about?
But I think in those instances where there is division in the body of Christ and it is
hampering our reach, our effectiveness, our faithfulness, we need to try to reach out to
those brethren who, even if they want nothing to do with us.
And let's say, hey, let's sit down and just have a conversation.
If they say no, they say no.
Right.
Right.
But at least we can say we've
we've extended what we can do.
know, Romans 12, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men, at least I did
what I could do.
And when the ball is in their court, the ball's in their court, you know, but at the very
least try to have those conversations so that we can restore unity.
Yeah.
And that's a very good point.
Cause in cases like that, it's like, you know, what would it take?
And both, both sides need to think about this.
What would it take for unity to be restored?
Right.
And then what can we do about it?
That's the key question.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I think in lot of those instances, I just think in our context with the
non-institutional issue, which I'm sure we could have our own, a whole episode about, you
know, but I know that there's non-institutional brethren who are my age that might not
even understand why we're not together, you know?
But the problem is we've been silent for a generation or two now as far as communicating
with each other.
So that kind of, we're just kind of stuck rather, we're not sitting down at the table and
trying to have these conversations, you know.
One of the things you mentioned is, I think the harder is if you are the offended party,
if it's a matter of sin, that you may be sitting waiting, you need to repent.
So I'm gonna just wait.
And there's an idea that that's the only way it could happen.
You know, when we think about if,
God looking down at the world, how many prophets did we read about that God sent out to
warn and to warn and to warn over and over and over and over?
And when you think about that sort of cycle of, you know, reminding, reminding, reminding,
you need to repent, need to repent, you need to get right.
And God is always an injured party.
He's never done anything to mankind.
so reaches out.
Every Every time.
And so it's like, wow, he can reach out.
from the very beginning, opening pages of Genesis, God is reaching out.
Until exactly today, he's still reaching out through the gospels.
Like, well, how can I sit back on my high seat and say, well, I gotta wait for so and so
to repent and come to me.
I need to make an overture to my brother, no matter what the situation is.
Whether it be...
This or that you know to say hey man look here's an issue.
Thank you.
What do we need to do to fix this?
Yeah, absolutely Bible says you know and come in humility Yeah, obviously, but right you
know broach the topic You know they get the ball rolling so speak absolutely And I if you
and if you refocus on Christ remember oneself revive the love I think you're gonna want to
reach out you know and talk to a person and
and try to have those conversations because all those things are more important than the
pain or the herd or whatever that may have led to the division.
You know, but we can't sit here and say, until you come groveling at my feet, we're not
going to solve this problem.
You know, that will lead you to repaint.
Exactly.
And so this is going to bring this episode to a close, just to re state the points.
ways to bring back to restore unity refocus on christ remember oneself revive love reopen
communication and then repent some of the repentance last we have to figure out all this
other stuff to see who needs repent and how to restore but unity is very important that we
all agree with that and it's a disunity is a hindrance to evangelism it's a hindrance to
spreading the gospel
and so we definitely want to be united all right we appreciate your listening and we
invite you to our next episode as we discuss further biblical matters