ACTS 15 LETS AGREE TO DISAGREE2020 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Acts 15 Lets Agree To Disagree

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2020. Well, as we get started here in Acts chapter 15 this morning, I'd like to begin by asking you, what is the right color for a flower to be? If you could think about that for just a moment, what's the right color, the correct color for a flower to be?

Well, it might be a little bit of a challenge, right? Because, well, how many kinds of flowers are there? Do you even know how many kinds of flowers are there? I didn't know, so I started to look it up and found out. They've changed, the numbers changed throughout the years as they've classified things differently. But the latest tally is...

369,400 flowering plants. So plants that produce flowers. So 369,000 essentially different kinds of flowers. And that's interesting to think about. I mean, I could think of a couple offhand, but there's 369,000 flowers that God has created. And as you look at creation and just the flowers as one little example of that, you can see that God loves diversity.

He loves diversity. He created such diversity that there is this many, almost 400,000 different kinds of flowers. If you wanted to see all of those flowers, think about that. If you wanted to see every flower that exists, think about that.

you would have to look at a thousand flowers a day to see them all in one year. I mean, that's pretty crazy, right? Can you imagine that? I mean, maybe that'd be a nice job to look at a thousand flowers a day. But to see them all, to see the full diversity that God has created, it would be a full-time job, you know, for a full year to be able to see the variety. Or maybe you can think about the birds. How many different kinds of birds are there?

Well, again, you can look it up. You can do some digging and there's a lot of discussion about the exact quantity and what's a specie and what's a subspecie.

But one source said there's 10,000 species of birds that exist. And that same source says that 20,000 subspecies of birds exist. So quite a different variety. And I would ask you to consider which one has the correct song. Which bird sings the right bird song? Which one sings the one that is correct and the one that it's supposed to sing better?

If you wanted to hear the song of each of those birds, you would have to find that bird and listen to one bird a day for almost 30 years, 29 and a half years to be able to see each bird at one bird a day or listen to their song. There's all this diversity in God's creation. But the amazing thing is that with all this diversity that God has created, every Christian who exists must be exactly like me. Isn't that interesting? How there's all this diversity that God's created except for everybody else is supposed to be just like me.

Of course, I'm being silly. The idea here as we begin to consider these things is that there is a lot of diversity that God has created. And as we look around at creation, as we look around at all that God has done, we need to understand and let it register in our hearts that there is also going to be, as part of God's design, diversity amongst us. As we look at chapter 15 this morning, I've titled the message, Let's Agree to Disagree.

There's a lot of diversity amongst us. There's a lot of differences. We see things. We have different perspectives. We're made differently. And that's going to require then an agreement that it's okay for us to be different, to disagree, to have some different perspectives. And I think for us to consider these things this morning is really important because we

Handling conflict and handling differences between us is not something that's going to get less and less as time progresses, but I would suggest there's much more for us to disagree about. And as you look at the world in our current environment right now in this moment in July of 2020, right, like there is more open disagreement and outrage and

different viewpoints that are expressed and wrestled over than I can remember or that I've noticed in times past. Maybe it's always been the same. It's just not as visible or maybe it's always been the same and I've never noticed it. I don't know. But the point is there's a lot of reasons for us to disagree. A lot of things that we might disagree about. A lot of things that we might have different opinions about. And you know sometimes we cannot stand the idea of

that someone else has a different opinion than us. Sometimes it just gets under our skin, and why don't they see it my way? Why don't they understand? It's so clear, and sometimes we can get on a mission to persuade others to our position. And sometimes there's merit to that. There's reason for that, and we do need to understand the distinction between those things that are essential, those things that are non-negotiable,

and understand the things that are negotiable. As we consider this passage, there's some good lessons here. As we consider this idea of disagreement, there's some good lessons for us. And it applies to things involving the church. It applies to things involving politics, perhaps. Things that you might be encountering within your marriage relationship or family. Financial decisions and methods and approaches to certain things.

This past week, I stirred up a little bit of controversy. On Wednesday, I asked those who were here in attendance to abide by the no singing law. And it stirred up some disagreement. It stirred up some alternate ideas. And it was, you know, something that we all got to wrestle with this week.

And then as I'm reading over the passages, I'm like, Lord, how great you are, right? To stir up disagreement amongst us so that then we can see the scriptures right there in our daily reading about how to handle and how to work through and deal with disagreements. And we can come to an agreement about our disagreements and learn to work together. And so that's what we want to consider here in Acts chapter 15. And we're going to look at three points to consider this.

The first one is we'll be looking at verses 1 through 17. Here's point number one. Let's agree to make the scriptures our standard. The first thing to agree about, the first thing to really, you know, settle in stone and lay the foundation is let's agree that the scriptures are the standard by which we live, by which we measure, by which we apply or to understand and discern truth. Jumping back into verse 1 and 2, it says this.

And certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved. Therefore, when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and dispute with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders about this question.

Here, as we look at this passage, we're encountering a situation where Paul and Barnabas have come back from their missionary journey, and they are there back in Antioch and ministering to the church, and all of these Gentiles are being saved, and God's doing a work, but then some from the sect of the Pharisees

came up and began to demand and require and try to convince everybody that these Gentiles had to become Jews in order to be saved. That they couldn't be saved just by believing in Jesus, but they had to adhere to the customs of Moses, beginning with circumcision, but then following along with all of the Old Testament law and traditions handed down through the generations. And so

The church is stirred up over this. It causes quite an issue, quite a disagreement, and there's lots of passion on all sides as they discuss it. And so they decide, we need to send Paul and Barnabas down south. Now, just to give you a quick look at the geography, they're up in Antioch, which is in the region of Syria, and so it's about 300 miles north of Jerusalem. And they're

And so they're up there, they're doing the work of the Lord there, they're having church there, and this dispute comes up. They cannot resolve it internally, so they decide, let's go, let's get a final authority, go down to where the apostles are in Jerusalem, we'll address this situation and come back with word about what the Lord says and what the Lord desires for us. And so here they are sent out. Now, as they...

are sent out they're going to go find out what the lord has for them and we're not going to get into the details of the argument right not we could but not this morning but not dealing with circumcision or legalism or those kinds of customs instead looking at more a little bit of the process that they went through and the things that they encountered as they did

As they go down, they have several meetings with the group down there in Jerusalem. Some of them are public. Some of them are a more private group of the elders and leaders. As those meetings are going on, there's all kinds of discussions happening. And some of them are very good discussions and good things to consider. But ultimately, we find that they are not the standard. And so I'm going to put it this way.

There's many good things to consider as we disagree. There's many good things that we could bring up, many good things that we could discuss, many good things that should be part of the conversation. Traditions are good things. Traditions often begin because it's a good thing and we need to continue it. And yet we find that traditions themselves are not the standard by which we measure and evaluate truth.

Look at verse 1 again. It says, certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved. The people there are saying, now you need to follow our traditions. Now, this was, of course, the law for the Jew to be circumcised, to follow the law of Moses until Christ was

And then there was a transition that came. There was a transition that happened and those laws became traditions. As followers of Christ, we are not under the law. The rest of the Old Testament is going to teach that very clearly, right? So there was a transition that was made. And yet here are this group of people, the Jewish people that were raised in and these traditions are part of who they are.

They cannot see the world another way. They've known these traditions their whole life. And so now coming into the group, they're like, hey, this is cool, but man, it doesn't seem right. You got to fit in with the traditions. You got to hold fast to the traditions. We got to keep on going in the things that we've known our whole lives. And if they wanted to continue in those traditions, many of them, you know, we're not wrong. Now, you know, when it comes to the sacrificial system, that was a different thing. But

But to follow along with the dietary standards, to follow along with those customs and things, there was no problem for them to carry on with those traditions. They're good, but they're not the final standard for all people. There was a difference between their traditions and the standard that God desired. Well, another thing to consider from this passage is that personal experience is good, but it's not the standard.

As the discussion is going on in one of the meetings, Peter stands up and begins to share what he experienced. It's in verse 7 here of Acts chapter 15. It says,

And so Peter shares his experience going back to Acts chapter 10. He went to the house of Cornelius and through Peter's preaching, the household of Cornelius, who was Gentiles, they were filled with the Holy Spirit. They believed in Jesus. They were saved. And so he shares his experience. It was a good experience. It was a good thing to consider. It was a good part of the conversation to have. Then as they continue to go on in verse 12, it

Paul and Barnabas share some of the examples that they've seen. And so we find examples in this discussion. And they're good, but they're not the final word. They're not the standard. In verse 12, it says, then all the multitude kept silent and listened to Barnabas and Paul declaring how many miracles and wonders God had worked through them among the Gentiles.

So there's all these testimonies, you might consider them. There's all this anecdotal stories about what God did in various places as they went and ministered. There's some good examples there. It's a good part of the discussion. And all of these things are good things to have as part of a discussion around disagreements. But none of these things were the final word. The final word was not until James stood up.

And it begins in verse 13. It says, James stands up at the end. And the final word is not the word of James, really. It's the word of the Scriptures.

And it's this final word that settles the issue. It settles the disagreement. It resolves the conflict. Even though there was a long and fierce debate before this, after this, they're all going to join together in agreement and send out a letter in unison saying, hey, we've made a decision. Here's what the scriptures say.

And so as we consider these things, it's important to understand there's a lot of good things to consider and a lot of good things that should be part of our discussions about disagreements. But we need to also agree from the get-go, the Word of God is going to be the final standard. That's the final say. Now,

There's a couple things to consider along with that, and that is it is important to rightly use the Word of God, right? So finding a single verse out of context doesn't necessarily mean, okay, well, I found it in the Bible, so that's the standard. Now, Paul encouraged Timothy in 2 Timothy 2.15, right?

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, who rightly divide, or rightly dividing the word of truth. There is wrongly dividing of the word of truth, and that happens all the time. And so it's not just that there is a verse that has a reference to the thing that I want to use for my side of the disagreement.

But looking at the whole of Scripture, looking at and building a biblical case for what the Bible says, that establishes for us the final word, the final authority about the agreements and disagreements that we have. You remember, Satan used a verse when he was bringing the temptation to Jesus. So it's possible to just, you know, grab a verse to misinterpret it or to use it wrongly.

Peter talks about in 2 Peter 3, those who twist the scriptures to their own destruction. I mean, if you think about it, anything is biblical if you're creative enough, right? You can find a verse to support whatever, you know, crazy idea that you want to pursue.

But that's not the idea here, is having the scriptures as the standard. But the direct and clear teaching of the scriptures, that's the standard. That's what we measure things by. Let's agree that that becomes the final authority. And even if I don't like it, and even if I think otherwise, and even if I would prefer something else, we will abide by what the scriptures teach.

God loves diversity. Again, we can see that in creation. We can see that in all that God has done. God loves diversity, but he hates division. And we need to be careful that our diversity does not become division. When we agree that the scriptures are our standard, we learn how to work together. We learn what to center ourselves around, what to base our relationships on. We learn when to divide because there are times to divide. We learn when to divide because there are times to divide.

But more importantly, we learn when not to divide. And we allow the scriptures then to be the final authority, the final standard. All opinions are weighed by the scriptures. All things are measured by the scriptures. Actions are evaluated by the scriptures. The scriptures are the thing that is used to evaluate truth.

And so agreeing to disagree begins with, we have to agree that the scriptures are the standard. If we can't agree that the scriptures are the standard, well, then we have to even start earlier in the conversation about the word of God. And we're not going to be able to work beyond that. We're not going to be able to work together long term. There's not going to be agreement because we don't have a standard, but we need the standard of the word of God. We need the standard to be the word of God. So let's agree on that.

Well, then moving on to the second thing to consider this morning, looking at verses 22 through 26, let's agree to unite together in love. Let's agree to join together and let love be the covering. Let love be the softening, the cushioning between us as we relate to one another. Reading verses 22 through 26, it says,

Then it pleased the apostles and elders with the whole church to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas, namely Judas, who is also named Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brethren. They wrote this letter by them, the apostles, the elders, and the brethren, to the brethren who are of the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, Cilicia, greetings."

Here is they send this letter to the Gentiles in Antioch and beyond saying,

you can see a real unity that has happened. It says in verse 22, it pleased the apostles and elders with the whole church. Now again, prior to this, the meetings that took place, some of them were public meetings with the church, some of them were private meetings with the apostles and elders. And in all of those cases, it describes dispute. It describes this disagreement, strong disagreements between

that were had just moments earlier in the passage, but now in verse 22, they're able to say, it pleased us. It pleased the apostles. It pleased the elders. It pleased the whole church. We were disagreeing. We had different sides and we were all fighting over, you know, which was the right side. But now, after establishing the standard in the scriptures, we've come to an agreement and it's pleased us to send to you this decision today.

This is what the scriptures teach. Factor into this idea and understand that it was not just the original troublemakers who had different opinions, right? In verse 5, it tells us some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed rose up. So there was these initial troublemakers who rose up and said, these guys must follow the law. And then in verse 6, it says the apostles and elders came together to discuss this matter. And the apostles and elders agreed.

They already were in unity. No, that's not what it says. In verse 7, it says, and when there had been much dispute, then Peter rose up. So as the apostles and elders gathered together, there's disagreement. They don't all see it the same way. They don't all have the same perspective. But after they have consulted the word of God, seen the standard, now they're able to walk away and say, you know what? We're pleased to send you word. Here is what the scriptures teach.

They're united together. In verse 23, as they're writing this letter, it's all of them collectively, the apostles, the elders, and the brethren. This is the church with the elders, with the apostles. Again, there was a lot of strong disagreement between all of these groups, between people of each of these groups, a little bit earlier. But they've united together. They've banded together in love. In verse 25, it says,

As they're continuing to address the churches there, it says, being assembled with one accord, again, you see that unity, to send chosen men to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul. Barnabas and Paul who brought this debate, who were on the other side saying, listen, they don't need to become Jewish to be saved. They don't need to keep the law to be saved. There was disagreement between Barnabas and Paul and many of the elders and the brethren and maybe the apostles involved.

But now, after they've had this discussion, consulted the scriptures, now they can say, beloved Barnabas and Paul. We love him. We love Barnabas and Paul. We're united together in love. We're assembled in one accord. The apostles, the elders, the brethren. Pastor Warren Wiersbe says, it's beautiful to see that this letter expressed the loving unity of people who had once been debating with each other and defending opposing views.

They used to be on opposite sides, but they've been able to come together, to come to agreement, to unite together in love. Listen, as we talk about these things and consider disagreements, you need to understand that there is a battle tactic of the enemy to divide us with disagreements. And if it's easy for us to get into disagreements that divide us, that divide

that cause us to separate, that get us angry with one another and upset, and I'm not talking to you, and I'm not serving with you. And if it's easy for us to have those issues take place between us, we're in trouble. Because that's an easy tactic for the enemy to just stir up a little bit of disagreement, for the enemy to just bring up some different opinion. And now we're at odds, we're at war, and we have forgotten that we're united together as one body.

The Apostle Paul gave a clear warning in Galatians chapter 5. He said, It's a battle tactic of the enemy to get us battling each other to distract us from the real battle. Not that we can't have discussions and disagree, but we can't bite and devour.

Our hearts need to be still united in love, even if we see things differently and have different perspectives. And it's okay to have different perspectives and to have different ideas, but at the same time, there needs to be the love that binds us together in spite of those disagreements. Another important issue to consider in this, Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians 6, this issue of the people within the church going to court against one another, suing one another.

And he says, brother goes to law against brother and that before unbelievers. The issue of our witness is crucial. As we bite and devour one another, as we disagree and fight each other, again, not that there's not room for us to have discussions and have various opinions and share those opinions, but there's a way to have those opinions and share those opinions and talk about those perspectives that is not biting and devouring. And the enemy is very clearly understanding that

This battle tactic, he uses it effectively to cause us to devour one another, but also to sour our witness before unbelievers as they see us battle, as they see, you know, the hatred and venomous tone that comes out of us, then we're not representing the Lord. Paul goes on to say, why wouldn't you rather let yourself be cheated than to taint your witness of the gospel of Christ? I mean, it's that crucial. It's that important. You represent the Lord.

Let's love one another. Let's agree to unite together in love, even if we see things differently. In the armor of God that Paul lays out for us in Ephesians, you see the shields of faith, right? And the shields were of the Roman soldiers would lock together to form a united wall of defense. And that's the position that we need to take, a united wall of defense. God loves diversity and there's a lot of room for diversity, but he hates division. We need to be careful.

Pastor Warren Wiersbe says Christians need to learn the art of loving compromise. They need to have their priorities in order so they know when to fight for what is really important in the church. We need to learn how to come to unity, how to work together, to fight for what's right and important, to have discussions about everything else, but to not divide over those things that are not essential.

Well, the final thought to consider is found in the final verses of the chapter where Paul and Barnabas have a disagreement. And they split up. They go different directions as a result. Point number three is let's agree to follow our personal convictions. Verse 36 says, Then after some days, Paul said to Barnabas, Let us now go back and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.

Now Barnabas was determined to take with them John called Mark, but Paul insisted that they should not take with them the one who had departed from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work. Then the contention became so sharp that they parted from one another, and so Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus. But Paul chose Silas and departed, being commended by the brethren to the grace of God, and he went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches."

This is a famous disagreement, one that's been studied and talked about and discussed ever since it took place. It all began with a good idea. Let's go back and visit the churches that we planted. Came from a place of love and concern, and we're talking about two men who care about people, who are mature in their relationship with the Lord, who want to minister the gospel, and yet they find themselves at odds in this situation. The issue was around this man, John Mark, who

Because on their initial missionary journey in Acts chapter 13, partway through the journey, John Mark splits. He goes to Jerusalem. He says, never mind, I'm not going to go on with you guys. And he takes off. And so Barnabas says, yeah, that's a great idea. Let's go back and visit the churches. I'll grab John Mark. And Paul says, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. You're not bringing that guy. He bailed on us last time. We can't trust him. We can't rely on him. No, it's not a good idea. We shouldn't bring him. Now, both Paul and Barnabas agree the trip is necessary.

They both want to go. They both see the need to go, but they disagree about whether or not to bring John Mark. It tells us in the passage here that Barnabas was determined to bring John Mark. This was a well thought out. He considered it. He wasn't just being, you know, stubborn, but he was determined. But then on the other side, Paul insisted, no. And so you have the determined and the no. It was a deal breaker for both of them. The trip is needed, but they're stuck at this impasse.

Not going is not an option. Going together is not an option. So they decide, let's go separately. You take your guy, I'll take my guy, we'll go our separate ways. It was a fierce debate, a fierce disagreement. In verse 39, it says, the contention became so sharp that they parted from one another. This word contention, it means to stir up or to provoke. Now, it's easy for us to look at this and begin to

apply our own tendencies to the situation and read into things. Some people look at this and say, yeah, Barnabas, he was just favoring John Mark because that was his cousin. And so family issues and he wanted to bring him and Barnabas wasn't right. He wasn't good in this. Or Paul is being too harsh and too critical. Paul, you gotta show some grace. And so Paul's wrong in this. And there's discussions about which one's right and so on and so forth. I would ask you to consider

The scripture here actually, it outlines what happened, but it actually doesn't tell us. The Lord doesn't reveal and say one was wrong or the other was right. The contention being so sharp can immediately in our minds make us think that, well, this must be some sin issue. But it also could just mean that they were passionate about their decision and their passion was revealed in the conversation. It wasn't that they then started name calling and saying, you're stupid, Barnabas. Why do you want to take him? You know?

Hey, listen to me. I'm smart. Hey, I was a Christian before you, Paul. It wasn't like they were fighting like that. It was they had their positions. They held to them. They discussed them. There was passion on both sides. And we would love to say, well, now, couldn't they just stop and pray about this and find out if God wanted John Mark to go or not? Some people look at this and say, oh, man, this is so sad, such a sad situation that happened here. I have a whole different perspective on that. I would suggest to you they are both right.

And you might disagree with me about that. And that's okay. We can agree to disagree. But we see here, again, what's the right color flower? Well, it depends on the flower. And even then, there's a multitude. There's no right color, one correct color flower, right? In the same way, God created Paul and Barnabas to have differences, different giftings, different emphasis, different personalities. Is it any surprise that the guy who had the nickname encourager is

wanted to encourage a broken and defeated John Mark who had failed on the first missionary journey? Is it any surprise that the guy who is such an encourager, that was his nickname, Barnabas is not his real name, it's his nickname because he was so encouraging all the time. Is it any surprise that he would reach out to someone who had failed previously and said, hey, let's go, we wanna help you and you can be part of the work again. Paul the Apostle is the guy that God used to establish the standards for serving in 1 Timothy 3.

Is it any surprise that the guy who is entrusted with establishing standards for serving holds fast to say, no, he failed before, he can't go with us this time? No surprise. And I would suggest not necessarily sin. I would suggest this is the position that God gave to each one and God intended for them to move on, to go different routes. As you look at the passage, you can see they didn't handle it wrong. They went different directions. That's not necessarily wrong.

They still loved each other. The church remained united. They didn't like get people to take sides. Well, what do you think, Gabe? You know, is Barnabas right or is Paul right? You know, why don't you join my side and we'll outnumber Paul and, you know, tell him that he has to follow what I say. They didn't divide the church. The work of God continued. They still loved one another. There's still references to them in other scriptures that there's probably not any sin in this. Again, sometimes we just can't stand the idea that someone has a different opinion than us.

And we have to convince them and persuade them, and it's our mission to change their position. But that's not really what God has called us to. God has given each of us different makeups, different personal convictions. Let's agree that it's okay to follow those. Again, not deviating from the scriptures, that's still our standard. But there's lots of room for diversity and variety beyond that. Paul tells us in Romans chapter 4, "'Who are you to judge another's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand.'"

One person esteems one day above another. Another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. There is a place, there's a lot of occasions where each of us, we just need to have our own decision, our own conviction between us and the Lord and make our own decision before the Lord. And other people don't have to agree and other people don't even have a say in it. Again, with the understanding that the scriptures are the foundation. So that doesn't mean I can violate the scriptures and the clear teaching of the word of God and you don't have a say. But,

There's a lot of other occasions that are not directly addressed, and so we have liberty. Listen, you have the liberty to install the toilet paper roll any direction you want. It does not change your salvation one bit. Maybe it changes your marriage relationship, but it doesn't change your salvation. You have the liberty to pursue God's will however he leads you, even if it's different, even if it's something that's never been done before. You can let God lead you. You have liberty in him. You have the liberty to vote for whoever you want.

You know, like, what? No, no, no. You have to vote this way. Or if you vote that way, you're not a Christian. You know, you're not. Listen, you vote for whoever you want. It won't change your salvation at all. Your salvation, your relationship with God will change your vote, right? It will impact the way that you vote. But your vote will not change your relationship with God. It won't change your access to God. It won't change what Christ did for you at the cross. You have a lot of liberty. There's a lot of room for us.

to make decisions, to pursue what God puts upon our hearts, to have different opinions and viewpoints and perspectives and methods and techniques and outlooks on life. Paul says in Philippians chapter 3 verse 15, therefore let us as many as are mature have this in mind and if anything you think otherwise God will reveal even this to you. We don't have to get everybody else to agree with us or to sign on on our vision or perspective. Leave it in God's hands. Let's agree to disagree.

You want to go that way and you want to do it that way and it's not violating the clear teaching of the scriptures? Go for it. You want to live that way? You want to have that approach? You want to have that attitude? You want to look like that? You want to have that haircut? Whatever. Go for it. Follow what God has created you to be. Follow what God puts upon your heart. Follow those convictions that God gives you. That's fine. There's no problem. But the problem begins when we try to then force everybody else or others to our viewpoint when it's not...

something that's clearly established in the scriptures. And so let's agree to disagree, looking at the scriptures as our standard. That's the thing by which all things are measured. Everything else is evaluated by the scriptures. And if we can agree on the scriptures, we can be united together in love. No matter what other diversity we express and show and have in other areas of life, we can have unity and fellowship and love for one another.

And let's agree to follow our personal convictions and let people follow their personal convictions. Again, not that we can't have discussions, not that we shouldn't have discussions, but we also need to be very careful that our discussions don't become divisions. They don't become dividing and devouring. That instead it enables us to continue to love one another, to be united together and understand each other. Again, this is a valuable tool of the enemy.

He uses disagreement to divide us, to rip us off, to tear us apart. Let's put a stop to it, guys. Let's agree to make the scriptures our standard. Just completely defeat the enemy's tactics, his methods. Let's agree to unite together in love, no matter what. We're believers. We're on the same team. We're on the same side. No person is our enemy. Let's agree to follow our personal convictions and allow the Lord to lead us individually in

as he sees fit. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the encouragement, God. Thank you for the value that we have in the brethren that you've given to us. And you've placed us strategically, specifically with attachments to one another. Lord, that we might benefit, that we might grow. Lord, that others might minister to us, that we might minister to them. And Lord, our differences and disagreements can be confusing and difficult and challenging sometimes.

But Lord, help us to allow these things to be tools in your hand instead of tools in the enemy's hand. Lord, that it would develop us and change us and help us to draw near to you and to one another. And so I pray that you'd bless our relationships, bless our fellowship, bless our unity amongst other believers. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.