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Verse 9, Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. Matthew 5-9, Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. Now what does it mean to be a peacemaker? Well, just right on the surface, a peacemaker is someone who would be a mediator between people. Like, let's say two people are fighting, they're not getting along, they're arguing, and a third party comes along and sets them at one again. A third party comes along and figures out what the problem is and finds a way to peacefully resolve the situation. So they avoid fighting. You know, people are fighting and they come over and say, hey, what's going on? Let me help. And they resolve things, they're a mediator. Now we're not talking about being a busybody in other men's matters, just sticking your nose in things where you don't belong and gossiping and stuff like that. But what we are talking about is someone who sincerely, truly wants to step in and solve a problem and fix things and find a solution for people that they can both agree on where we can have a win-win situation where everybody's happy, right? See, the Bible says that if it be possible, as much as lieth in you, dwell at peace with all men. So we want to have peace in our church, peace at work, peace at school, peace in the neighborhood. We want to have peace in our country. We want to have peace any time we can, in any situation we can. If it's possible, we should strive to have peace. Well, if you just passively go through life just letting whatever happen, that's not a recipe for peace. If you want to have peace, you have to work toward peace. There has to be effort put into peace. You have to be a peacemaker, not a peace sit back and let it happen-er, okay? A peacemaker is one who makes peace, right? So they make peace with other people between them and others, and they also make peace between two third parties, right? That's a peacemaker. So that's pretty easy to understand. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. Hereby so all men know that you're my disciples, if you have love one to another. Does that make sense that people would look at you and say, you know, you're a godly Christian, you're a child of God, you're a peacemaker, that's a Christian virtue, being a peacemaker. Not somebody who's stirring up strife, causing trouble, but trying to reconcile people. Now look, there are some people that we can't reconcile with, nor should we reconcile with. That's why the Bible says, if it be possible, as much as lieth in you, dwell in peace with all men. We can't make an alliance with the devil for the sake of peace. Hey, let's see if we can get God and the devil to work out their differences. No. And we can't get the devil's minions and the children of God to work out their differences. There are some irreconcilable differences there. But what about when godly Christians have differences? What about when brothers and sisters have differences? What about when a husband and his wife have differences, right? If we can step in and help them, I mean, what if you know a married couple, and they're struggling in their marriage, they're at each other's throats, they're on the verge of divorce, what if you could get in there and provide some help and counseling and solve that problem? Boy, wouldn't that be a virtue? You'd be a great peacemaker. You made peace in that home. So that's what it means to be a peacemaker on the surface. But then there's another secondary meaning that a peacemaker would be one who helps people make peace with God. Because right now, we're talking about making peace amongst people. But also, people that are not saved are at enmity with God. And actually, getting people saved is a form of being a peacemaker because you're helping people make peace with God, which is the most important peace that they'll ever make. For example, the Bible says in Romans 5, 1, therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians chapter 2, verse 14 says, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace, and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby, and came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were not. So Jesus, according to Ephesians 2 there, is the ultimate peacemaker who basically was that mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. He's the ultimate peacemaker who made peace between God and sinners. Peace between God and the Gentiles. Peace between God and those Jews that believed on him, those that were nigh and those that were afar off as well. James 3.18, here's a great verse, and the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace. Now literally, James 3.18, in context, is talking about making peace between people because it's contrasted with bitter strife, envy, and people who are not getting along in the church. And then he's talking about the opposite of that, the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace. But it's interesting that the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he that winneth souls is wise. So there's another secondary meaning there of the fruit of righteousness. What's the fruit of righteousness? It's a tree of life, and he that winneth souls is wise. The fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace. So when you're going out soul winning, you're bringing forth the fruit of righteousness by winning people to Christ, and what are you doing? You're making peace. Because you're taking a guy who's at enmity with God, he's at enmity with the Lord of the universe, and what are you doing? You're reconciling him to God. You're making peace between that person and God. So you're a great peacemaker. So the soul winning times are literally peacemaking times. We're going peacemaking. Let's not change it to that, but that's what we're doing, if you think about it.