Forgiveness, Harmony, And The Christian Life | Pastor Will Hawk | March 8th, 2026

The moment we stop treating Colossians 3 like a checklist and start wearing it like a robe, everything changes. We open with the text—compassion, kindness, humility, patience, forgiveness, love—and name the tension: these can feel like smoke in the eyes or like warmth by the fire. From there we walk the path Paul lays out, moving from “put to death” to “put on,” from battle to belonging, and we talk candidly about what happens when grievance sets up camp in the heart.

We share why “Do I forgive?” is the wrong question and how “How do I forgive?” becomes a doorway to freedom. Drawing on Jesus’ parable of canceled debts, we confront our quiet desire to be “small sinners” and discover the joy of being greatly forgiven. We also get practical about pace and posture: letting the peace of Christ rule looks like moving slower, talking less, and resisting the urge to fix everyone else. The only thing we’re called to control is ourselves, and that self-control reframes when to correct and when to wait, choosing the good of others over the itch to be right.

Harmony doesn’t come from sameness; it grows where love binds differences. We explore how a community can teach, admonish, and still sing together without fracturing—because gratitude keeps the heart soft and the word of Christ keeps it steady. Along the way we touch on worship nostalgia, why restraint is a form of wisdom, and how a simple pause at the door—asking God to let peace rule—can transform a home, a team, or a church. If you’re tired of carrying old wars into new rooms, this study invites you to lay them down and live clothed in Christ’s righteousness.

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Transcript

Reading Colossians 3:12–17

SPEAKER_00 0:46

Hey guys, if you could please turn in your Bibles to Colossians chapter 3. And if you want to use one of the Pew Bibles, that would be on page 984. Let's read God's word. Put on then as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another, and if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other. As the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you are called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. This is the word of the Lord.

Nostalgia, Worship, And Church Family

Easter Weekend Plans And Invitations

Smoke Or Warmth: How To Read Commands

From War To Home: Put Off, Then Put On

Forgiveness As A Way Of Life

Pitfalls Of Withholding Forgiveness

Debts, Mercy, And Loving Much

Let Peace Rule: Slow Down, Speak Less

The Only Thing You Control: Yourself

When To Correct And When To Wait

Harmony Through Love, Not Sameness

Let The Word Dwell: Teach, Admonish, Sing

Responding Together In Worship And Prayer

Will Hawk 2:05

Amen. Hey, uh a couple of things. I I missed the very first song. Did Stokes tell y'all we were doing a throwback worship Sunday, or did you just figure it out along the way? He told you? Okay. Little trivia. By the way, more hands went up this Sunday than normal, and I'm crediting that to the Holy Spirit and nostalgia doing a one-two punch on some of your hearts. I just want to hang out with Impact Students for a moment. How many of you knew any of the songs that we sang? Okay. So your parents went to church, is what you're telling me? Okay. All right. All right, a little trivia. Shout to the Lord, which by the way, while Carrie was singing it, I was convinced she was ready to release the album. All right. She's like, let's just hit the record button. What yet don't look on your phones. What year did Shout to the Lord come out? No. Wrong decade. Wrong decade. Doesn't start with a two, by the way. 1994. All right. So nope. Um, I was 12 years old when Shout to the Lord came out. I remember there was this event in Atlanta called the March for Jesus. Nobody in here is gonna remember this, I don't think. And I remember having a boombox on my shoulder, like uh a good white kid walking through an urban area, all right? Blasting shout to the Lord while this group of Christians just marched around singing worship song. Christians are so weird. We're so weird. Um, but that's okay because we are in this world. We're not meant to be of this world. And thank you to the worship team for that. That was really super fun and good stuff. I need to give you guys a real quick heads up on a couple of announcements. We're doing something different this Easter because space has become a little bit of an issue. This is just for Easter. We're not forecasting necessarily the days ahead. We have a sunrise service at 6.45. We always do it. If we get half the sunrise we had this morning, it's gonna be glorious. So that'll be at 6.45. Feel free, invite neighbors, friends, etc. Actually, do you have a slide for Good Friday? Let's go back in time a few days. The whole weekend, Good Friday, will be at 6.30 here. That will be a little bit more of a somber service if you're not familiar with sort of Christian tradition and method. Uh, we'll probably have communion at that service as we think about the death of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, then sunrise service. And then on Easter, we're changing our service times. And you have a few weeks to kind of get this in your heads, but we're gonna have a service at 8:30, 1015, and at 12, because we get real tired of telling you guys, don't invite folks because we're too full. And even if we don't say it, we realize if there's not a seat next to you, people are less likely to do it. So just know, man, we want you to invite your friends and neighbors. So many testimonies of people coming to the Lord on an Easter Sunday. We want to lean into that. If you want to help and you're not already volunteering in some capacity, Easter Sunday is one where if you're a member, boy, would I love for you to just ask Josiah, like, give me a job. Josiah, will you stand up? He's got the headphones on the back. That's Josiah. You can also help in kids, men, which is always our biggest need. And you can see Natalie at the front office. But just let the gears turn and let sort of your your spirit lean in as we have so many things to look forward to. All right, Colossians is where we have been. And as we sort of look at this text in Colossians 3, 12, do y'all have it? Yep. Okay, good. Um, as we look at this, let me tell you the wrong way to read this. Whenever it's cold outside, and the way Columbus works is you feel like it's warmed up, and then one day goes, mm-mm, nope, it's freezing again. We almost always put a fire in the fireplace. My wife loves the fire, hates the smoke, like complains about it. I'm like, baby, like you can't have one without the other. Like, give me one minute. I'm gonna get the smoke up the chimney, out the flue, and we're gonna enjoy all this warmth. Let me tell you the wrong way to read this. The wrong way to read this is smoke in the eyes. Like, ah, these are so many rules. These are so many hard things to do. Put on, then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved. Hey, I want you to have a compassionate heart, be kind, be humble, be meek, be patient, bear with other people, forgive other people, put on love, don't forget about that. And then he goes on, and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teach people, admonish people, sing songs. You know what, whatever you do, do it to the glory of God. That is a long list. And there's two ways to read this. One is the smoke at the beginning. We're like, my goodness, how am I supposed to live up to this? And the other is, I think, the warmth that it's intended to create. I think what's actually happening here is Paul is so excited about what Christ offers the believer, he just can't stop pointing to it. And the best way to understand this comes down to the first two words in the passage. Here's where we were last week. Last week, we were called to put things to death. It's supposed to feel gritty. It's supposed to feel like Christian, sharpen your sword, lean into the brokenness of this world, sin in you, sin around you in others, sin in the world, armor up, shield on, walk into a hostile world. You can do this, you can fight this because Christ has already fought this and secured the victory. That's where you're kind of like war cry leaning in. Now watch the tone shift. Put to death, therefore, what is earthly in you. Sexual immorality, impurity, passion, on and on it goes. And then the passage we look at today, put on then. Put to death. It's war. Put on. There are a couple of ways I would encourage you to picture this, and I'll just give you a little picture to kind of get your mind flowing. Right now, there are a number of people who would be in the sanctuary that are not in the sanctuary because they're on the other side of an ocean fighting in a battle. You don't have to be a soldier to understand what it's like to come home after a long trip. If you've gone on a mission trip, if you've been on a business trip, if you've been away from your home for an extended period of time, you will get homesick at times. One of my favorite things we did in camp ministry, kids always got homesick. Um, and we would go to a pharmacy in Columbus and we would ask them to make a prescription out for homesick pills. And it was legit. It was like one of the little orange tubes with a white cap, and they would print it and it would be homesick pills, take one as needed, and we just put sweet, sweet tarts in it. Like that's all we did. And the kids started getting more homesick when they realized how great the homesick again. I mean, middle of the day, we're having lunch, but I'm feeling just a little homesick. And we didn't care. We're like blip, blip, blip, blip. There is this reality that when you have been away for a long time, when you have been away doing hard or difficult things, that when you come home, there is this tonal shift that happens. And let me tell you what I think Paul wants the Colossians to feel and what I think he would want you to feel. I think he wants you to feel on the left-hand side this war that we wage in to put to death all of the broken things. But then he wants that warrior to come home. He wants that warrior to realize what Christ has secured on the battlefield. And when you get home from a long trip, first thing I want to do, take a shower, brush my teeth, hug my kids, and just watch, look at my family be a family again. This is what I think Paul is writing to the Christian. And he's saying, You have been bathed in Christ, take a shower, you have been cleansed by his blood. Brush your teeth. You have been clothed in righteousness. The verses we're reading today should feel like a warm robe after a hot shower, after weeks away, and you just sit with the family, and all of a sudden, when the milk spills, you're not angry because you realize what you've missed. All of a sudden, when little boy one throws a block and it hits little boy two in the head, instead of being like, that's it, you're to your room, you go to your room, you just look at them and you smile because even though they are little bitty sinners, they are your little bitty sinners and you love them. This is how I think Christ would have us feel as we read through this today. The commands are going to feel heavy only when read as external words, but when we read them as a cleansed heart, all of a sudden it feels different. Christian, put on compassionate heart, kindness, humility, meekness, patience. Christian, when you walk into your home, when you walk into your church, bear with one another, and you can't stop, forgive each other, and put on love, and let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts and be thankful. And whatever you do, do everything for the glory of the Lord. This perspective creates something in us, it creates a willingness to forgive because one, I did I need forgiveness, two, they need forgiveness, three, there can be no peace in your heart, there can be no peace in your home, there can be no peace in your church if forgiveness does not exist. And not only exist, but exists as the primary operating structure of how you live your life. I want to be careful in preaching this. The reason I want to be careful is because I think there's a way to preach this and say, you need to forgive. There's nothing wrong with that. I would probably preach it if I was reading this from a different text. Because I'm reading it from this text, here's how I think I would say it. Christian, you really want to forgive them. You do. You may not feel like you want to forgive them, but you know you do. And if you will, you will find blessing upon blessing multiply from the inside out. As Christians, there is a question that we must recognize is never appropriate. And it's this Do I forgive? Christian, that that is not allowed to live in your vernacular. Do I forgive is never a thought that should be allowed to enter into your mind. How do I forgive? Yes. Ask it, pray it. Should I forgive in this way or in that way? Yes, pray it. But this concept, do I forgive them? Do I forgive that? Do I forgive my own soul? Should never be allowed to exist in the vernacular of your heart and the vernacular of your mind. I will tell you where it comes from. It comes from that. They deserve this. By the way, if I was not a Christian, if I was in this room checking out the claims of Christ, and I was not yet a Christian, that is what I would immediately combat my question with. I would say, now hang on a minute. What do you mean I can never ask the question, do I forgive? They don't deserve it. In fact, it is right for me not to ignore this. It is right for me not to overlook this. It is right for them to feel the consequences of their action. They deserve this timeout. If that hasn't already happened, you need to pick something or someone that you're struggling to forgive to really appreciate the goodness of this text. When I put this question up, if someone came to mind, if something came to mind, let it sit and don't move past it yet. Just let it sit. I promise you, we are gonna end with the robe of Christ righteousness. This is gonna be warm. This is a gladness text. But if you really want to get the warmth, allow the smoke to hit your eyes for just a moment. We are gonna look and say, they deserve this. But if you do not trust God, if you do not trust God's word that do I forgive should be removed from your vernacular, let me tell you a couple of things that are gonna happen. Number one, grievances are gonna take up a per a permanent resonance in your heart. You are going to be aggrieved wherever you go because you can think about that person, you can think about that situation no matter what. And grief is gonna live there like a ball and chain that wraps itself around your soul and your emotions. I promise you that. The second thing that's gonna happen is you're gonna resent that person for what they have done to you or what they have done to someone you love. By the way, I think that can actually be harder. You you being offended that someone has hurt someone you love is even harder because you don't know when to put that thing down because you weren't even the one that was sinned against. Resentment is going to masquerade as justice. You're going to say, I'm not being resentful, I'm just right. They should not have kindness, warmth, charity, goodness, peace, harmony from me because they deserve this. And then what's going to happen is you're going to find every infraction of brokenness, and it's going to become this like self-fulfilling prophecy where all you see in them is the resentment that you think they rightly deserve. And finally, your community is slowly going to erode. You are going to find yourself very alone because if you do not forgive, you're going to find very few people to do life with. This room is full of people who need to be forgiven. Every time we meet, everywhere you go, when you walk through Walmart, it is a place on this earth where people need forgiveness. I don't want to go into it too big of a personal story, but I will tell you this. It was very difficult for me to forgive my father. Incredibly difficult. But what I found was I wasn't able to forgive him until I pitied him. I'm not even recommending it. I'm not a counselor. Somebody's probably sitting in there and be like, oh, you're sending people to counseling and you're doing malpractice. I'm just telling you, for me, I had to watch the consequences of his sin become so real that it got to a point where I moved from you deserved this to a place where I pitied him. If we don't recognize how pitiable we all are, we are going to miss this and you are going to miss the warmth that God encourages for you to have. Tim Keller puts it this way forgiveness is granted often a good while before it is felt. Not felt before it is granted. It is a promise to not exact the price of sin from the person who hurt you. And I think it's important for us to realize forgiveness and reconciliation are two different things. We want both as Christians. You can always give forgiveness. You may not get reconciliation on this side of eternity. But when you realize that yes, they deserve this, but so do I, all of a sudden something changes. I I want to have a non-retorical. Jesus is speaking here. Oh, no, he's speaking here in Luke chapter 7. Tells a story, hanging out with a bunch of Pharisees. Woman walks in, busted life, falls down before Jesus, tearful mess, not a pretty cry. It's like an ugly cry, kind of a situation. And he looks at the Pharisees and he says, Guys, I've got a question for you. A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed 500 denarii, the other owed 50. Deneri was a day's wage. One owed a year and a half worth, the other one owed a month and a half worth. Now here's my question. Which one do you want to be? The guy who owes 500 or the guy who owes 50? All right. Now, wait, wait. I want responses. By show of hands, if you want to be the guy who owes 500, raise your hand. All right, what's up? If you want to be the guy who owes 50, raise your hand. You're wrong. Okay, let me tell you why. People who are hanging out in service one. All right. Here is why. Yes, in the economics of it, nobody wants to owe$50,000 when you could owe$5,000. You're like, Will, come on, like just give me some real stuff. What is being put on display? This. When they could not pay, and by the way, you can't pay for your sins. Try as you might. When they could not pay, he canceled the debt of both. Now, which would you rather be? Would you rather be the one forgiven of 500 sins or the one forgiven of 50? Now, let me be real. Do you really believe that? Most of us would rather be the person who only needs to be forgiven of 50 cents. Most of us want to live a life in front of others on social media, in the minds of other people, where it's like, I know Will's a sinner, but he's like a lowercase S sinner, right? Like, that's what we want to be. We want to be lowercase, like, don't throw it in italics. It's just like, yes, I know I'm a sinner, but I grew up in church and I was singing shout to the Lord from 12 years old. Can I just tell you this? Why did Paul call himself the chief of sinners? Number one, he believed it. He looked at his own life as clean as it was. And he said, Man, I'm not the 50, I'm not the 500, I'm not the 5,000. When God looks at me, he sees 50,000 wrongs. And he loves me. You see, when we are willing to recognize that we want to be the one, not who goes and intentionally sins to build up a bigger debt so we can show how much God loves us, but when we want to go to the trouble to say, God, would you show me my sin in such a way that I would know how much you love me? That, Christian, is beautiful. That, Christian, is how you retune your heart. That is the battle you walk through to step into a home and feel truly warmed and truly cleansed and able to sit bound in love, seeing harmony and seeing peace. Simon answered, This is Simon the Pharisee. So he's like, I suppose you're right, Jesus. I suppose the one for whom he canceled the larger debt. And Jesus says, Yeah, man, you may not get it all right, but you got that right. Lewis Meads puts it this way: to forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you all along. Above all these things. By the way, I'm sorry, I didn't do a good job of transitioning as a pastor. We're now moving to verse 14. And moving to 14, I need you to feel this transition. I'm pounding on your soul the need to receive forgiveness and the need to give it so that you can lean in and really appreciate it. All right. I'm blowing all the smoke in your eyes that I can so that the Holy Spirit would, through his own word, cause you to say, I need to repent and receive the forgiveness that Christ offers, and I need to give that forgiveness to those around me. Now, if you are there, and I hope you are, by the way, you don't have to come down to the altar, you don't have to have special prayer with the pastor. In this moment, in your own seat, you can ask for the forgiveness of your sins, and many of us should regularly, which is why we do that at communion. Once that is right, then all of a sudden, Paul says, Hey, above all these things, that whole list put on love, it binds everything. Everything together. It holds this world of church and family and struggle with self together. And it does so, take a look very quickly, in perfect harmony and peace. Those words meant very little to Will until about 10 years ago, really 17 years ago. I like adventure, I like new things, I like bungee jumping and jumping out of planes and shooting potato cannons and getting as close to breaking the law as you can without actually breaking it and hoping nobody sees occasionally. But like that, that is who I am just built from the inside. But the older I get, and I don't like this about myself, even if it is more godly confession. The older I get, the more perfect harmony and peace just sounds really, really good. And I don't want to give up the adventures. I I don't want to give up the fun go after it things. But I don't know that at this point in my life, if there is anything more enticing than perfect harmony and peace. And the way that the gospel points to it, the way that this scripture points to it, is fascinating. The Bible doesn't say go fight for peace. It doesn't say go make things harmonious. It looks at the Christian and says, You have been forgiven for 50,000 sins, many of which you may not even realize you committed. Let the peace of Christ rule. This is scripture saying, move slower, talk less, smile more. I couldn't help myself. Okay. This is the Bible saying, slow down, Christian. You do not need to fix everything with your hands. You do not need to fix everything with your words. You need to recognize that you have been clothed in the righteousness of Christ. Let him work. Let it. When you want to speak into the situation, just hold back a moment. When you want to fix the broken thing, hang on just a second. Let the peace of Christ rule in your heart. Now I will tell you, there is an arch enemy of peace and harmony. And it comes from the answer to this question. This will be maybe fun. Uh I'm cool if anybody wants to answer it, unless you have already heard the answer in first service. Not cute. All right? What is the only thing a Christian is called to control? I saw a tongue that is not incorrect, but that is not the only thing. There's only one thing you are called to control as a Christian. The only thing you are called to control is yourself. Now, that'll include the tongue. That'll include all kinds of things, but I'll tell you what it doesn't include. It doesn't include your wife. It doesn't include your husband. It doesn't include your children. It doesn't include your employees. It doesn't include your employer. It doesn't include your neighbor. It doesn't include your finances. It doesn't include your friends. What it does include is that. This is what you are called to control. Self-control. I give you a plethora of scriptures. I could read out of Mark 10 where Jesus says, you know, the Gentiles, those who are in charge, they lord it over them, controlling the people below them as little serfs and peasants and peons. It will not be like that among you. When he writes to the elders in 1 Peter 5, shepherd the flock of God among you, not domineering. But I would also maybe just point out Titus 2 because the Bible pretty much covers everyone. Did y'all lose me right there? All right, thanks. All right, see if you can dodge this scripture. Older men, self-control. Young women, self-control. Young men, self-control. It's like the only thing young men are told to get right. Now, what have I not circled? Guess what, older women? You get by. Y'all don't even have to be self-controlled. It's not on the list. The reason it's not on the list is because you are expected to teach the younger women to be self-controlled. It's gonna be very hard to do if you're not doing it yourself. Of all the things, Titus is like, hey, eyes up. The one thing, Christian, you are called to control is yourself. Now, if you will go about this, you are going to find that there are some very complicated realities to that. Might I invite you into something the Holy Spirit has been teaching me lately, and I love it as much as I hate it, if I'm honest. Love it as much as I hate it. I read the Bible pretty frequently. Uh you pay me to do so. I try to honor that. This has been the newest thought that the Holy Spirit has given me. When I think of wisdom and power, I think of everything Jesus said. He would look at a lame person and say, You're done with that, boop, and off they go. He would look at a blind person and say, No more, demon-possessed, I got that. He would speak and power would flow out of his words. Wisdom, unequivocal wisdom that the wisest minds of that day, this day, and any day could not combat. When Jesus speaks, wisdom and power, but when I think of harmony and peace, I think of everything Jesus didn't say. He certainly spoke about it. But lately, what I've been realizing is how different the gospel narrative would be if Jesus corrected every foolish word, idea, or action that his disciples had. If you have ever opened a Bible reading plan in January and thought, this is a pretty big book. Maybe I should just go New Testament this year. We get it. Can I tell you how different your Bible would be if Jesus corrected every foolish word, idea, or action in his disciples and he only hung out with them like that for three years? The book would be endless, full of men's foolish, dumb ideas, and Jesus being in the back, like, seriously, I made you in my own image. I can't even see it anymore. Like, how are you wrong this often? I think of all the things that Jesus said when I think of wisdom and power, but when I think of harmony and peace, I think of all the things he didn't correct that he could have. When you are are living in your home, when you're living in your church, when you are at work, how many things do you let go? How many ought you to? Let me make it more complicated for a moment before I clean it up. Can you just please tell me what to do when I read this Bible verse? Answer not a fool according to his folly. Okay, cool. Alright, I'm if I'm around as a foolish person, I'll just be quiet. Otherwise, I'm gonna be like him. Next day in my reading plan. Answer a fool according to his f okay. Unless he be wise in his own eyes. All right. So which one are you gonna do? The Bible is not contradicting itself. This bothered me for years. When I spend a lot of time with fools. What am I supposed to do? Do I say something? Do I not say something? By the way, I'm being tongue-in-cheek, but a lot of you have difficulties with your mom and with your dad, and you don't know when to speak up. You look at your kids, you don't know exactly when to speak up and show grace. You look at your spouse and you don't know when to speak up and you don't know when to show grace. I do think there is a bit of a lesson in this. I think lesson number one is if you always answer a fool, you need to pipe down a little bit more than you do. Otherwise, we wouldn't have verse five. I think if you're always too nervous to step in, you should probably step in more often than you do because verse four exists. But I think the key to understanding this and you knowing when do I speak and when am I quiet is right here. Who is your greatest concern when you see foolishness? If you see foolishness and your biggest concern is them or the people around them, that's a good time to speak up. But if your biggest concern is that you just can't let something foolish go, you may need to go to the Lord with that. Odds are it all comes down to whether you are speaking and confronting people for your own good or for the good of the community, which is why we are told to above all put on love that we would have harmony and peace. Paul's surprising counter-cultural argument is that harmony is not achieved by sameness. It's not being the same race or education level or socioeconomic level. That's not where peace is. It isn't sameness that makes peace rule. It isn't avoiding conflict and finding little rugs to tuck stuff under. That is not what actually makes peace go away. It is binding things together in an endless love. In other words, harmony and peace is determined by who lives in your heart, not who lives in your house. Harmony and peace is determined by who lives in your heart, not who goes to your church. It's determined by who lives within you, not who you work with. That is where harmony and peace come from. So I think the gospel is simultaneously incredibly simple and incredibly essential. We all need Jesus. We all need him yesterday, today, and tomorrow. And what you will find is that the more time you spend with people, ironically, the longer a relationship goes, the greater the scale is going to tilt from agreement to grace because you're going to realize that you've been married for 20 years and you're just realizing that you've been tying your shoes wrong the whole time. That's not a real argument. I'm making that one up. But the longer you are with people, the more you are going to realize not how much you are like them, but how differently you see the world. And what's beautiful about the Christian life is when those things that used to throw you, you have thrown and you just love them. You love your spouse, you love your parents, you love your kids, you love your neighbors, not because they are like you, but because they are so not like you, but exactly like you in your need for Christ. And this ability to be honest creates something. This is the last passage and the last little point. If the band wants to go ahead and get ready and come up, and if the ushers want to get ready, that would be fine. Let the word of Christ notice, you're not even fighting, just let it put this on. I I was I was praying with somebody in the first service, and they said, What I struggle with the most is when I come home at the end of the day, I don't like who I am when I walk into my house. I go to church, I read my Bible, I sing worship songs in the car. Why can't I make it through the door and be the person I want to be? I will tell you this. You can try to strong arm yourself, but the best thing to do is to refuse to get out of the car, to walk in the door, to refuse to get out of the car, to walk into the dorm room, to walk into the classroom, or to walk into the office until you have said, God, peace and harmony are not ruling my life right now. Love is not holding me together. I am angry about this email and I am frustrated about this text message. I am disappointed in this person and I feel let down. And I am, without losing my job and showing up late, refusing to move until you let me be at peace. Christian, he's already given it to you. Let me dwell in the word of Christ. This is not you fighting, this is you wearing the robes of righteousness Christ is holding out to you. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. Teach people, admonish people, and sing songs. And in the event that churches were going to argue about what songs we get to sing or not sing, or if we just had a throwback to the 90s, when do we get Sandy Patty or whatever it is that some of y'all are dealing with? I just love this. Hey, sing some songs, sing some hymns, sing some spiritual songs. Don't overcook it. But be thankful in your heart to God. Krishna, I just want you to look at the three words that I underlined because you will not find this in the world outside of Christ. How can the same group of people teach each other, hey, what do we need to know so that we can navigate this life? Admonish one another, which is like encouragement with sharp teeth. Admonishing is, hey man, I love you too much not to have this awkward conversation. How can we teach each other, admonish each other, step into one another's lives, and point out that we all carry 50,000 cents? How can we do it by being people who say, I want you to know that I want to be more like Christ. Will you help me with that? And then that same group of people who is able to point out brokenness in one another, unlike the world, they don't become enemies. Unlike the world, they don't become estranged. Unlike the world, they sing songs together. How weird are Christians! Incredibly weird. Because the love of Christ has bound them, the love of Christ has purchased them, they are clothed in the love of Christ and they dwell in his word, and all of a sudden, this group of people that is not the same but incredibly different can point out flaws, can teach each other humbly, and can stand and sing songs together. The community that Christ builds is a teaching, admonishing, and singing community, so that whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. And Paul says this not as command, so much as he says this as encouragement. Let it happen. Let peace rule, let love go. You are able to do this, Christian. And if you're not a believer, if you are still in the battle, might I encourage you to find forgiveness not only for the people around you, but for yourself as well. Because unforgiveness is the war that you will always carry home with you. Unforgiveness is the war you will carry home with you. But if you will leave it behind, you will be cleansed in Christ, clothed in his righteousness, able to overlook a thousand wrongs and see in yourself ten thousand that Christ has overlooked as well. As we get ready to respond, Larry already told you the ushers will pass the offering. We will have a group of people meeting on the back for prayer, stand and sing. In front of you are response cards. I I want to talk with the pastor. Some of you may need to do that. I I want to become a Christian. I there are a number of things, but let's be a people who respond, who sing, who teach, who admonish. And I've put a couple reflection questions on the screen for you to ponder as we get ready to stand and sing together.