(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

There in Psalms chapter 2, and if you would, actually just keep something there, we'll get back to it, but I'm going to remind us of what the Bible says here in Romans chapter 2 verse 8 where the Bible reads, But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but are of righteous indignation and wrath. So there in Romans chapter 2 it says, But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth. So the problem with these people in Romans chapter 2 is not that they're contentious, but it's that they're contentious and do not obey the truth. So it's not just being contentious, because a lot of times people say, you know, if that person's contentious, or to be contentious in any way is a negative thing. The Bible's showing us there in Romans chapter 2 that being contentious and not obeying the truth is what the problem is. There's two different types of contention, and that's what I want to preach about tonight. Right and wrong contentions, right and wrong contentions. There are good forms of contention and then there are bad forms of contention. And of course, contention is anytime we are contending with somebody, obviously, we would think of, you know, you could think in the boxing world, somebody's coming up to the ranks is going to contend for the belt, what are they going to do? They're going to challenge the other one. They're challenging the champion. So that's really what we mean by contentions, it's when people are challenging another person, when they're resisting, when they're opposing, when they're arguing, when they're going against somebody else's will or whatever it may be, that is a form of contention. And what we want to determine tonight, what is the right kind of contention and what is the wrong kind of contention. So it's up to us really to understand the difference. We have to go to the scripture and we have to look at the Bible in its entirety and say, what is a good contention and what is a bad contention? What makes them good and what makes them bad? It's important to understand because we all kind of are by nature contentious beings, some of us more so than others, but we all kind of have a self-will about us, we all kind of want things our way and sometimes that might go against the grain, it might go against what another person in our life, whether it's in a home or a business situation or even in a church or whatever it might be, our will might go against somebody else's and it might turn into a form of contention. The thing about contention is that they have consequences. You know, if we have contentions, there's consequences for better or for worse. And it's important that we understand the difference between a good contention and a bad contention because of the fact that contentions cause conflict. I mean, that's the very nature of being contentious, you know, there's some kind of conflict taking place. So we need to understand that contentions have consequences and that they cause conflict between good and bad, between the righteous and the wicked, between saved and unsaved. They cause conflict between friends, between family members, between co-workers, church members, spouses, children. So it's important that we understand the difference between a good contention and a bad contention. And the Bible shows us the difference here. If you would, you're there. Well, just keep something in Psalms 2 for a moment here, but we're going to look first of all at bad contentions. What is a bad contention? Well, what we see here in Psalms chapter 2 is we see an example of bad contention in the wicked contending with the righteous. The wicked contending with the righteous. This manifests itself when people are resisting and opposing God's word, when they're opposing the preaching of God's word, the commandments of God's word. That is a bad contention. That's not something we want for ourselves, we don't ever want to be found to fight against God. And there's a lot of this going on today, and it's nothing really new. The Bible says there in Psalms chapter 2, in verse 1, Why do they hate and heed the rage? And the people imagine a vain thing. The kings of the earth set themselves together, set themselves and the rulers take counsel together and against the Lord and against his anointing, saying, Let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us. So he's saying there that breaking the bands asunder and casting away the cords and taking counsel against the Lord and against his anointed, what does God call that? He calls that a vain thing. It's a vain thing to contend with God, because it's a losing battle ultimately. We might think that we're getting away with it, and the world might think today as they cast off biblical doctrine, as they might cast off biblical principles and resist God and resist the Bible, they might think that that's a good thing, but God says it's vain. And one day they'll understand why it's vain, because God ultimately is going to win. But we see this throughout scriptures, the Pharisees, they often contended with Jesus by trying to catch him in his words, and ultimately went to the end. And they were so contentious with the Lord that they even ended up crucifying him. They arrested him, they lied about him, they tortured him, and then they crucified him. Contention, in a bad form of it, is when we see people that are resisting God, resisting God's word, resisting the clear teaching of God's word. That is a type of bad contention. Now if you would, turn over to Proverbs chapter 28. When you get something in Proverbs, just keep something there, because we're going to spend a lot of time in Proverbs towards the end of the sermon. There's a lot that the Bible has to say about contention in the book of Proverbs. So we see here that, you know, contention is something that can be bad when it's a contention against God, against the Lord. And what makes it especially bad is when the righteous do not fight back. I mean it's bad enough when you have wicked people contending with the Lord, with his anointed and with his people and with his word. What's really bad is when the righteous just roll over and let him do it, and they don't stand up. The Bible says in Proverbs 28 verse 1, The wicked flee when no man pursue it, but the righteous are as bold as the lion. We're going to see here in a minute that a form of good contention is to stand up for the faith, to stand up for the word of God. I mean, yes they're being contentious with us, and a lot of people seem to have adopted this notion of pacifism as far as, spiritually speaking of course, we're not advocating physical violence for anybody, but they just roll right over for these people that are coming against God and resisting him, and contending with God, and they just think that somehow they're going to win them over by just rolling over on their back and belly up. But that's just not the case. The Bible says the wicked flee when no man pursue it, and it's a sad thing today when God's people are fleeing from contentious, ungodly, heathen people. Here there in Proverbs, look at Proverbs 28 verse 4, They that forsake the law praise the wicked, but such as keep the law, contend with them. So here now we're getting into a good contention. That's a good contention right there, when people are contending with those that are wicked, with those that are forsaking the law. And we see that today, we see people who are forsaking the law, and what do they end up doing? They forget the law. And they even get to the point where now they're even praising and condoning the wicked. And the Bible says here that such as keep the law, those that understand and know God's word, they contend with those people. And that is a spiritual contention. Again, we're not saying that we need to take up arms and go out and resist people physically, but by all means we need to be contending against the wicked in the pulpits of America, at the doorsteps in America, and in every place that we can make our voice known and heard, we ought to be contending with the wicked, and letting them know that the wicked are wicked, and calling them out for it, and saying no, we're not going to stand for it, we're not going to go along with it. We might not be able to change it in the short run, we might not be able to do anything about it, but that's no excuse to just turn and flee, and end up in a position where we're actually going to end up praising them in a way. So it's a spiritual contention. If you would, look at 1 Timothy chapter 6, 1 Timothy chapter 6, again keep something in problems, point of meeting. The Bible says in 1 Timothy chapter 6, beginning in verse 10, For the love of money is the root of all evil, which while some coveted after, they have earned from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But thou, O man of God, flee these things, and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold unto eternal life. So a fight is a contention, a fight is when you're bringing it to somebody else, you're not just running away trying to save your skin, you're not just trying to keep your hide from getting any scars or battle wounds or anything like that, it's the complete opposite of what Timothy is being admonished to do here. Timothy is told to be contentious, to go out and fight the good fight of faith, to go out and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. Those are all great, nice, gentle things that we like to, you know, you'll see on, you know, somebody's grandmother will, you know, knit that on something, you know, or have a little, what are they called, cross stitch, you know, they'll put that part of the verse on there, and hang it up, and have a nice little scene, because that sounds real sweet, it sounds real nice, doesn't it? Righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness, and those are great things, those are things we want for our life. But let's not forget verse 12, it says right there, fight the good fight of faith, there ought to be a fight in us, there ought to be some contention in God's people today that stand up against the wicked and fight. Goes on and says there in the later, in verse 13, I give the charge of the sight of God who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before a point just pilot witnessed a good confession, that thou keep this commandment without spot, unreputable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. So we're to keep that, we're to contend, and that is a commandment to fight the good fight of faith. That's not something, that's not optional. God's people have to be willing to contend today, and specifically contend with the wicked. That is a good form of contention that we need to have today in our Christian lives. You know, and knowing the law, knowing the Bible, that's what's going to help us, because as I said in the beginning, we need to know the difference between good and bad contentions. And it's really up to us to take the Bible and know the law, and know when to contend with somebody and when not to contend with somebody. Now what is an example of bad contention, or knowing when to contend with somebody? Well, it wasn't very long ago in this country, when everybody was up in arms about the bags getting married. They're all up in arms about a bunch of homos getting married. And that was the big battle. That's not really the battle anymore, is it? Right. And the battle is much worse than that now. You know, now that's even while they're adopting. You know, and that's never really been the battle that God wanted us to fight anyway. You know, the homo-marriage, it's not the battle. That's not a contention to stand up. That's them leading you down a different path. That's not what we need to be fighting over. I mean, as has been so eloquently said by others, you know, homo-marriage is not a problem as long as it's immediately followed by a homo funeral. Right. The Bible says in Leviticus 20 13, you know, if a man lay with mankind, his blood shall be upon him. Romans chapter 1, they that do such things are worthy of death. That's what the Bible says. But they want this false narrative. They want this false agenda. They want you to think it's all about, oh no, they're getting married. You know, oh no, but the problem is they're breathing. Yeah. But they're still alive walking around. That's the problem, violating other people, spreading disease. So we need to learn to pick our battles wisely and contend for the right reasons. You can see how people can seem like they're contending for the right thing, but really missing the point. And we really need to know when to contend and when not to contend. And we need to learn to pick our battles wisely and contend for the right reasons. Go ahead and turn over to Jude chapter 1. The Bible says in 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, but even after that you had suffered before and were shamefully entreated as you know at Philippi. We were bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God with much contention. So Paul is showing us there that he was willing to suffer contention, that he would put himself in a place of contention for what reason? For preaching the gospel of God, for preaching the truth of God. That was something worth contending over. Look at Jude chapter 1 verse 3. Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you and sort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men cryptid unawares, who before old were ordained to this condemnation of godly men turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God and Lord Jesus Christ. So there's a reason to contend today. We have something to fight over. To fight to speak the gospel of God with much contention. That's worthy of contending over. Contending with with those that would come in and corrupt the faith, those that would creep in, and ungodly men that would turn the grace of God into lasciviousness and deny the only Lord God. He says there to contend for the faith. So there's a time for us to contend. There are certain areas that we should certainly get up in arms and fight over. But we might need to also pick our battles wisely in the sense that we don't let our contention with the ungodly get out of hand and become a distraction. Turn over to Titus chapter 3. We understand that there's ungodly men. We understand there's heretics. We understand that there's wicked people out there. And there are certain times that we are to contend with them. But another way we need to pick our battles wisely and contend for the right reasons is to not let our contention with the ungodly get so out of hand that it becomes a distraction. As I alluded to earlier with the homo-marriage, that was just a distraction from the real battle that needed to take place, from the real stand that needed to be taken. It was a distraction and people just let it get out of hand. Look at Titus chapter 3 verse 8. This is a faithful saying, And these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable in the men, but avoid foolish questions and genealogies and contentions and strivings about the law, for they are unprofitable and vain. A man that is an heretic after the first and second admonition, reject, knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth being condemned of himself. So we're to contend for the faith, but there's also a time to leave off that contention when we are to walk away from a heretic. After the first and second admonition, we're contending with him sometimes, you see this is something you use a lot of soul winning. We'll go to a door, we'll knock on a door, we'll start to give somebody the gospel, and they'll say, yeah, but, and they'll have an argument. Then you'll take the Bible and correct them on that point. Then they'll still not get it. You'll have to go somewhere else. That's two admonitions. And the Bible says it's better for you to leave off that contention, to not contend with that person, and to just move on. Why? Because avoiding foolish questions and genealogies and contentions, why? Because they are unprofitable and vain. The Bible says it's a vain thing, and that it's unprofitable. So we need to learn that, yeah, there's good contentions and there's bad contentions, but even within that realm of what makes it, when it's right and proper and righteous and holy to contend for something, even sometimes, even within that, we need to understand that we can get caught up in something that's just going to waste our time. And learn to pick our battles wisely and contend for the right reasons. Another thing we need to not contend, is to avoid contention amongst brethren. I mean, nothing can slow down the work of God more than when God's own people within a church start to contend with one another. And they start to have strife amongst one another. And now it just becomes about some drama in the church that they have to straighten out that never should have been there, just because some people were contending for the wrong reasons. Because they didn't understand right and wrong contention. And where the battle really needs to be fought, where the contention really ought to be. Who it is that we really should be contending with. So a form, another form of bad contention is when you see the righteous contending upon another. Turn over to 1st Corinthians chapter 1. 1st Corinthians chapter 1. The Bible says in 1st Corinthians chapter 1, Now I beseech you brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, that there be no divisions among you, that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and the same judgment. For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. So Paul here is beseeching them that they speak the same thing. That there be no divisions. Because that's what contention brings, it brings division. It's people going against each other. He wanted them to be perfectly joined together in the same mind and the same judgment. Because he wanted to be able to accomplish the work for God that God had for them to do. And what was the problem? Why is it that he had to exhort them to be of one mind? That there be no divisions. Because there were contentions among them. And that's what can really slow down the work of God. That's where people can, churches can get out of sorts is when they start to allow contention to creep in. And they get contentious with one another over things that are unprofitable and vain. And really contention is something that stems from carnality. I mean if you find bad contention, the wrong kind of contention, whether in a church or elsewhere, I guarantee you there's carnality involved. We're going to start to look at that. But go ahead and turn over to 1 Corinthians chapter 3. The Bible says in Proverbs 13, only by pride cometh contention, but with the well advised there is wisdom. So the Bible says only by pride cometh contention. You know, there's been a lot of contentions this month. And what month is it? Pride month, right? Well, who's, so who's, there's pride involved, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's always on both sides. You know, there's pride within every contention, but maybe there's only pride on one side. And yeah, we're contending with the wicked today during this pride month. But the pride is all on their side. We're standing up for righteousness and holiness and godliness and the word of God. And they're standing up for filth and iniquity and everything that is vile and disgusting that God hates. They're standing up for everything that God hates. Why? Because they're full of pride. They're proud. They're carnal. And it's really easy to get after them. And we have a good time doing it. But here's the thing. A bad form of contention can even creep into our own lives. Pride can creep into our own lives and we can be content with one another. That's what was happening here in First Corinthians. That's why Paul had to beseech them to be perfectly joined together because there were contentions among them. Look here in First Corinthians chapter three, verse three. For ye are yet carnal. For as there is among you, envying and strife and divisions, are you not carnal and walk as men? For one sayeth, I am of Paul and another, I am of Apollos. Are you not carnal? So, you know, they have envying and strife and division. That's something that all comes from contention. Those are all forms of contention. And what was the contentions? One saying, I'm of Paul, I'm of Apollos. And they're each making their case for their man. And there's this big division there. And Paul says that when he observed that, he called him carnal. He said, ye are yet carnal. So whenever you see contention, you're, you know, there's pride involved. And it's somebody's being carnal. There's some kind of carnality. You know, this is something that can happen in long term relationships. That's why it happens within churches, because people get around each other and they get to know each other and they start spending time with one another. And they, you know, people start to let their personalities shine through. They get comfortable with one another. And then people start to find out that maybe they don't, you know, click well with other people. They start to rub each other the wrong way. And the next thing you know, you know, they have contention in a church because people aren't getting along. They don't have the same goals in mind, maybe. But it happens in a lot of different long term relationships, whether it's in a church, how about in a marriage? You know, I mean, am I the only one that's ever had contention in a marriage? You know, I mean, that's part of marriage is contention. If you would turn over to Proverbs chapter 21 verse 19. 21 verse 19. The Bible says in Proverbs 19, that foolish son is the calamity of his father, and the contentions of a wife are a continual dropping. It says in Proverbs 27, a continual dropping in a very rainy day and a contentious woman for a life. I mean, that's kind of interesting way to put it to say it's a continual dropping. You've ever laid in bed at night, you heard, you know, you heard the plunger in the toilet, just running, you have to get up and take the lid off. It's annoying, you know, or you have that one drip outside. You know, it's not necessarily causing any damage, maybe, maybe it's not really hurting anything. But it's not a blessing. You know, it's not pleasing to the ears. And, you know, it says here in Proverbs 21 verse 19, it is better to dwell in the wilderness than with a contentious and angry woman. I mean, that could happen in a marriage. You know, where do you think the idea of the hunting camp came from? It's right there. To dwell in the wilderness. Some guys read that and said, brother, I think we got a solution. It's better to go out in the woods, you know, you know, that's not the case up here in Mount Vernon, we're taking you all with us. And, you know, but that's what it's saying that it's better to do that than to dwell with a contentious and angry woman. And that's something that can happen in a relationship. Why? Because you have people that are together for a long term, they're getting to know each other. And, you know, there's carnality that creeps in, pride can creep in. You know, it's kind of picking on the ladies here, but this could just as easily go the other way. And what contentions do is that they lead to other forms of conflict. Look at Proverbs 21, look at verse 9. Notice the same, you know, warning here about the same person. It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop than with a brawling woman in a white house. Wait, I thought she was just contentious and angry. But now it's liking her into a brawling woman. What is a brawler? I mean that's somebody that's going out looking for a fight. That's somebody who's just not happy unless they're at odds with somebody. Unless they got somebody to pick on, somebody to try to put down and bring down. If that's you, then you're a brawler, man or woman. So the problem with contention is that it leads to other forms of conflict. And if you look at, you're still, go to Proverbs 22. I'll read you from Proverbs 26 where it says, as coals are to burning coals and wood to fire, so is a contentious man to kindle strife. That's really interesting the way it puts it. It says, as coals are to burning coals. So what's he talking about here? He's about adding fuel to the fire. There's a fire already there and he's not going to let it go out. He's going to add coals to burning coals. He's going to add wood to fire. He's fueling the flames. He's banning the flames. So is a contentious man to kindle strife. You know a contentious person, they don't, they like it when there's contention. They like when there's strife. They'll keep fueling the flame. They want there to be drama in the house. They want there to be drama in a church. They want people to be at odds with one another. Whether it's with them or even better yet if they can just put two other people at odds with one another and watch them fight it out from afar. They enjoy that type of thing. It's a brawling type of person. It's an angry type of person that does that and it's better to be far away from those types of people than to have them around people. So contention is something that's kindled. It's something that's fueled and what happens with a fire? What happens if we just keep fueling fires? Eventually they start to spread don't they? You can let a fire get out of control. I mean you know a little tiny flame can just take over and just burn down entire you know forest. Entire cities have been wiped off the map. That's what they're doing. They're trying to spread contention. That's what's so dangerous about contention. That's why we have to be wise about who and where and what we're contending with and understanding that there's good contention, yes. But there's also bad contention because it can spread. Look at Proverbs chapter 22 verse 10. Cast out this corner and contention shall go out. Yea strife and reproach shall cease. So you see how there if you got rid of contention you would get rid of strife and reproach? That's what contention does within a marriage. That's what contention does within a church. That's what contention does when somebody goes out of their way and starts conflict and kindles conflict. You have strife as a result. And it can even bring about reproach on somebody. So contention is a very dangerous thing. It's not something we need to just be flippant with and we need to understand the difference between good and bad contention. We need to understand right and wrong contention. That's the point of the sermon today. Why? Because it has consequences for better and for worse. If we find ourselves contending with one another for the wrong reasons, we should seek to end it. If there's contention within a marriage or just contention within a church, even between children and parents, that there's some kind of contention that's not right, someone needs to end it. Someone needs to just be the bigger man or the bigger woman, whatever, and just end it. Someone needs to act like the adult and just leave it. You don't want the mess it brings. In the Bible says it's better to dwell in the corner of a house top. I did roofing for a few years. That's not a comfortable place to live, especially in Arizona. I'm glad I didn't do that here. I did that back in Michigan. You're exposed to the elements. You can't get comfortable. All the amenities are inside, but it's better to be up there because that's how bad contention is. So if it's going on in a church, if it's going on in a family, it needs to stop. We need to leave it. We don't want the mess it brings. If you would, turn over to Acts 15. Turn to Acts chapter 15. Acts chapter 15 and verse 36. After some days Paul said unto Barnabas, let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord and see how they do. So these guys are involved in a good work. I mean, Paul and Barnabas, they made quite the team, don't they? They went out and they started churches throughout that whole region. They went out and preached the gospel to multitudes. They've been in the battle together. They've been persecuted together. They've been in the work of the Lord. I mean, I have to imagine at this point in the story, man, these guys are like, you know, two peas in a pod. Best friends. Dear brothers in the Lord. And they're going out to do another great work. They want to go again and visit the brethren in every city where you have preached the word of the Lord and see how they do. And Barnabas determined to take with them John, whose surname was Mark. But Paul thought not good to take him with them, who departed from Pamphylia and went not with them to the work. And the contention. So what was the problem here? They had contention. They were something they weren't seeing eye to eye on. They were disagreeing. And the contention was so sharp between them that they departed asunder one from another. And so Barnabas took Mark and sailed onto Cyprus. You know, that's kind of fortunate. You wonder if we read that story and say, well, who's right? Who's wrong? Well, it was contention that was so sharp between them. You know, the contention was between both of them. I mean, maybe Paul was right. You know, Mark ended up later we read that he ended up Paul ended up asking for Mark. He said, bring Mark with you for he's profitable. You know, but at this point in Mark's life, he developed kind of a reputation with Paul as not somebody you want around him when you're trying to do the work of the Lord. When you're trying to do some serious work. But at the same time, you know, that contention could have just as easy been left off as by Barnabas and just said, you know what, Paul? You're right. Let's just leave Mark here. It's more important that you and I go together and get something done. Now, I don't know if Paul and Barnabas ever got together later and shook hands and talked it out and, you know, and got over it. I mean, I'd assume they did. But what if they didn't? What if the rest of their life they're just like, oh, there goes that guy. They see each other at church and it's just like. They never got over it. People do that, man. People do that in churches. Well, he sits on that side. I'm sitting over here. And they'll avoid each other for years, you know, and it's probably for the best because if they got together it would just be nothing but a bunch of arguing. But why can't somebody just get over it? Yeah, you know, it sounds, you know, that's so easy to say, but it's really that easy for someone to just say, you know what? Maybe you are right or maybe you are wrong, but I'm still just going to suffer wrong. I'm just going to allow myself to suffer wrongfully and just get over it because the relationship that I have with you, Paul, is more important. You know, the relationship, what we can accomplish together from the Lord is more important than me just being right. And that's the way it is in the church. That's the way it is in marriages. You know, it's more important that your marriage lasts and that your marriage, you know, you don't end up divorced and that your children are raised in a godly home than you being right. And if you have to just get over some contention that's probably over something trivial, he threw his sock right in the middle of the living room floor. Can you believe that guy? You know? Yeah, maybe he was a little lazy for doing that. He probably should just pick it up. But you know, that's no reason to, you know, quit cooking dinner and just watch you starve, buddy. Because that's just escalating things. Oh, you're not going to cook dinner? Let's see, let's see what happens when that car needs to get fixed next night. Or you want to go out and do some shopping and all of a sudden there's nothing in the bank account. Right? That kind of thing happens in marriages. People get carnal with one another and they start to contend and fight over stupid little things that if one of them just said, you know, right, I'll pick up the sock. Or you know what, he's had a hard day, let me pick up the sock. Over something as stupid as that. I mean, people go down just pads that are just ridiculous and it ends up harming marriages, harming homes. Same thing happens in church. Happens in churches too. Happened here with Paul Barnabas. Well, I don't think we should bring Mark. Well, I think we should. Well, he didn't go to the work. Yeah, but he learned his lesson and it was so sharp. I don't know how exactly that argument went down, but they were so sharp that they just couldn't even be around each other anymore. That they had to go their own ways. And of course, we know that they went out, that Paul went out and still continued to do great works. But that friendship was damaged. That friendship was hurt. You know, they went to those cities where they had been before and Paul shows up and they go, hi Paul, where's Barnabas? Well, you know, how does he explain that one? Well, I don't want to talk about it. You know, everyone's going, what happened to Barnabas? Where's Barnabas at? Did you notice Paul came to Barnabas? Did you hear what happened with Mark and Paul and Barnabas? So the thing is, it would have been better just to admit wrong and suffer wrongfully. It's better than dealing with the consequences. To just allow yourself to just get over it, suffer wrongfully and move on and continue to work for the Lord and continue to see God bless a church, bless a family. Then dealing with the consequences that come when we get involved in the wrong kind of contention. And again, that's not to say that we should never be contentious. We have to be contentious over the right things in the right way, for the right reasons. And if there is contention, let's leave it off. Let's walk away from it because the consequences are not worth it. Let's go ahead and pray.