In the sermon 'Seven Robber Barons - Pt 2', Peter Allison discusses the destructive nature of strife as illustrated in Proverbs 17:9-15. The concept of 'robber barons' is used as a metaphor for individuals who disrupt the peace of churches, families, and relationships. The sermon identifies several initiators of strife, including pride, selfish ambition, divisions, lust for pleasure, hatred, false teachings, disagreements, contentious individuals, scoffers, gossip, anger, and misunderstandings. Allison emphasizes the importance of recognizing these sources to prevent strife. Strategies to stop strife include avoiding contentious people, overlooking offenses, prioritizing others' interests, not seeking personal vengeance, and responding with soft words. Biblical examples, such as the Johnstown Flood and disputes within the early church, are used to underscore the devastating impact of unchecked strife.

Please turn in your copy of God's Word to Proverbs chapter 17. So we continue through verses 9 through 15. I would like to read that section again. We looked at some of those verses last week. Proverbs 17, beginning at verse 9.

He who covers a transgression seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates friends. Rebuke is more effective for a wise man than a hundred blows on a fool. An evil man seeks only rebellion, therefore a cruel messenger will be sent against him. Let a man meet a bear robbed of her cubs, rather than a fool in his folly. Whoever rewards evil for good, evil will not depart from his house.

The beginning of strife is like releasing water. Therefore stop contention before a quarrel starts. He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the just, both of them alike are an abomination to the Lord. Thus far the reading of God's Word may he bless the reading and may he be praised at the hearing of his Word. Almighty Father in heaven, may we be healed by your word this morning.

May your word bring light to us. May it bring conviction of our sin. May it bring understanding that as David prayed, he was wiser than his instructors because he gave heed to your word. Father, Your Word is truth. Please sanctify us this morning by it.

And may we find in it great treasure and wisdom. Wisdom and may we behold your beauty and your glory as it is revealed to us in these words may we know more of you and may we feed upon your word this morning. May it go deeply into our heart, penetrate the innermost recesses of our mind, and renew our thinking and our emotions and our actions that flow from those thoughts and emotions. Father, we ask all of this this morning, not because we deserve any of it, but because you are good. And you are a gracious and good heavenly father.

And for Christ's sake, we ask this morning that your word may come to us in spirit and in truth. In Jesus' name, amen. Seven robber barons we looked at last week. Robber barons, you remember, is that metaphor that's used to describe people who crush competition, who rig markets, who corrupt governments, and in general, wreak havoc upon a culture, upon a nation, upon a land and its people, and their way of life, their way of living peacefully. Their way of living peacefully.

And this we said was a very apt description of the seven types of people, the seven people that are described in Proverbs 9-15. People who destroy the peace of the church, who destroy the peace of families, and who destroy family relations. We saw that We looked at five last week. Those who repeat a matter back to a person and separate friends. Those who rebuke a fool and simply a fool in his folly.

Those who rebel against authority, and those who ungratefully return evil for good. Evil for good. And so this morning we come to verse 14, the sixth robber baron. Those who initiate strife, The beginning of strife is like releasing water, therefore stop a contention before a quarrel starts. Those who release water.

Beginning of strife is like those who release water the idea here is The water a water that's stored in like a dam Stored water is a very powerful force. It can be used for good. Hydroelectric plants use the power of stored water to generate electricity. They use the weight of the water falling down a distance to turn a generator and generate electricity. It's a very efficient and reliable source of power, assuming you have a reliable body of water.

And there are a number of those plants in our country and around the world. But it's also a very destructive power when that water is suddenly released and improperly released from the dam. We all have experienced something like that, or are aware of those who have, last year when the Conroe Dam was overflowing and they were releasing A large volume, twice the amount of water that had ever been released from that dam in its history, was being released down the river, and it wrought great destruction on everything that was in its path. In fact, in one of the first great natural disasters in this country was a dam that broke. The Johnstown Dam, well it wasn't called that dam, but it's Johnstown City in 1889.

The dam broke and it emptied a very, very deep lake in a very short amount of time. This dam was 72 feet high and almost a fifth of a mile long. And the water was probably 60 feet deep, probably three times the depth of Lake Conroe. So it was a very deep gorge, it was a very narrow gorge, and they were working. It had been a lot of rain and the water was rising up over the dam.

But the owners of the dam had done some things over the years. These were wealthy corporate people from the Pittsburgh area. Had bought this dam. It was privately owned, although it had been originally public. And they had done certain things to it that had the effect of destabilizing it.

And when this rain came, Although they were working desperately to save it, they ended up pulling their people off of the dam and about an hour later it burst. And they had sent warnings down to Johnstown city, but the people there had heard warnings about the dam probably failing before, so they really didn't pay any attention to the warnings. And a destructive force, unlike anything that had ever been seen in this country, was released. It was a wall of water, 60 feet high, came tearing down this gorge. One person described it like a mountain just rolling down the valley.

The amount of water that was flowing was probably seven times, six or seven times, what was flowing over Lake Conroe last fall during Harvey. Seven times that amount of water. And it came in on Johnstown City and killed thousands of people. It wiped them out. It just wiped whole structures away.

And it destroyed a city. It destroyed several little villages on the way down. Took out almost everything that was in its path. And that's what this passage here is talking about. The releasing of water as from a dam.

Starts a contention and it has the exact same destructive effect upon relationships. In fact, the NIV actually translates this verse that starting a quarrel is like breaching a dam. Starting a quarrel is like breaching a dam. It unleashes a very powerful destructive force that ruins churches, ruins families, destroys relationships, can ruin marriages, quarreling. The beginning of strife, the initiation of strife.

What is it that initiates strife? That's what we need to be concerned about. If initiation of strife is this destructive, it's something we should be able to recognize. The initiation of strife. Both so we don't do it and so we know how to respond when it happens.

What are the things that initiate strife? Well, the first thing this morning is pride. Proverbs 13, 10 says, only by pride comes contention, but with the well advised is wisdom. Now, contention can come from many different sources, that Proverbs and other passages teach us that, but what this is saying is That pride is this chief means, because pride is often behind, it's often underneath many other sins. It's the root behind many actions that cause contention.

See, pride makes men intolerant of contradiction in either their opinions or their desires. Makes them intolerant and makes them fight. Pride makes people annoyed and irritated with anything that looks like a slight to them. And it leads to fighting. Pride was what led to Saintin's quarrel and fight and revolt against God Himself.

Pride is what led to the contention of Coridace and Abiram against Moses. They started a fight. Behind all of these fights, these big cosmic fights, Satan's fight against God was pride. He didn't feel that he was getting the recognition that he wanted. He wanted to be in God's place.

So pride is this very broad and in one sense very diffuse fault that is behind the creation of strife. Such that Proverbs 13 says, only by pride comes contention. Another source of pride, or of contention, another initiator of contention is a selfish ambition. In the King James it's actually translated as strife. But if you, James says in James 3, 14, But if you have bitter envy and strife, and that word strife is the word for selfish ambition.

If you are ambitious, selfishly, and that is what saints have, selfish ambition. If you have bitter envy and strife or selfish ambition in your heart, glory not and lie against the truth. This wisdom descends not from above but is earthly, sensual and demonic for where envy and strife or selfish ambition are there is confusion in every evil work. Selfish ambition begets strife. This happened even among the very disciples, Jesus' own disciples.

In the Gospels, as recorded in Mark 10, is one place, or other places in Luke, but the disciples were wondering and debating among themselves about who was the greatest. And when they got to Capernaum and when Jesus was in the house, they had gotten where they were going, he asked his disciples, what was it that you were disputing among yourselves on the road? He waited until they were away from everybody else. And he just asked the question, what were you fighting about? Maybe you've asked your children the same question.

And maybe they've responded in the same way. They kept silent. They kept silent because on the road they had been fighting about who would be the greatest See they had a selfish ambition to be great So Jesus sat down and he called them to himself and he said, if anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all. Selfish ambition is a cause of strife. If there is strife, ask, is there selfish ambition here?

Divisions is another cause, initiator of strife. The Corinthian Church is an example of strife that broke out because of divisions. People were following people instead of Christ. And Paul in his first letter to them, in 1 Corinthians, he writes to them, Now I plead with you brothers by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that you all speak the same thing and there be no divisions among you, no contentions, no schisms, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and the same judgment. For it has been declared to me concerning you, somebody told Paul, somebody went to Paul and said, Paul, this church, Quarant, they are fighting, they are divided.

What do we do? For it has been declared to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe's household that there are contentions among you. Now I say this, that each of you says, I am of Paul, or I am of Apollos, or I am of Cephas, or I am of Christ. People were following other people. And these people were becoming disciples of Apollos, or disciples of Cephas.

And other people said, well I am of Christ. And Paul said, no brothers and sisters. Is Christ divided? Was Paul the one that was crucified for you? Why are you following other people?

Why are you creating divisions? A party spirit among yourselves? That's a very real issue even today. Especially in our age of rock star speakers. People who come into town who have a great name and people who come to hear them and who follow, begin to follow them, whatever they say, that's what they believe.

And they lose the sense of being Christ's disciple, of searching the scriptures daily to see whether what they are being taught is true. Even Paul, the Berean searched the scriptures to see whether what Paul was saying was true. They didn't just accept it because Paul said it. So that was what was going on in Corinth. He says, I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius.

He says, was Christ divided, was Paul crucified, or were you baptized in the name of Paul? No. He says, I thank God I baptized none of you, lest anyone should say that I baptized in my own name. Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanus. Besides, I do not know whether I baptized any other, for Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect." Divisions can cause strife and contention among people.

And instead of following Christ, instead of being disciples of Christ, instead of seeing the Messengers that bring that word as simply themselves disciples of Christ Divisions following people and having favorites Or I should say becoming disciples of people instead of Christ can lead to division. Fourthly, a lust for pleasure is an initiator of strife. James says in James 4, what causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Don't these fights come from your lust that warren your members? Your desire for pleasure, your desire for ease, Your desire for what is good for you, what will suit you.

Isn't that what causes your quarrels and your fights? The lust that warren your members. You lust and don't have, you kill and desire to have, and yet you cannot obtain. You fight and you war, and yet you don't have because you don't ask. Lust for pleasure.

Another initiator of strife is hatred. Proverbs 10-12 says that hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all sins. Hatred stirs up strife. Hatred is an animosity, an enmity against other people. And that stirs up strife.

It's a spirit that lives within us. And stirs up strife. Makes us an initiator of that destructive force. Another initiator of strife is those who teach false doctrine. So you can have people who are teaching the truth, but are making disciples to themselves, but you can also, Paul told Timothy, you have false teachers.

First Timothy 6. If anyone teaches otherwise, teaches other than the truth, other than the gospel that has been delivered to you. And does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which accords with godliness? If somebody is teaching something other than the doctrine of Christ, he is proud knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from which come envy and strife and reviling and evil suspicions and useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain from such, withdraw yourself. False teachers, who come in, who deny the truth, who deny the gospel, become obsessed with their way of doing things.

You see, pride is behind this. It's even mentioned in this text. Paul says that these are proud people and they actually know nothing. But they're obsessed with disputes. And what does that produce?

It produces disputes and strife and evil suspicions and useless, useless wranglings about unimportant things. Teachers of false doctrine can initiate strife in the church. Just think of how many people, good churches, lost people. In 1994, there was A man who told everybody to leave the church, he had been a faithful teacher for many years. But in his old age, something maybe because of dementia onset, He began to tell people to leave the church, to leave good churches.

He began to bring under his camp a whole nation of people who were expecting the Lord to return any minute. And it caused many divisions in churches. Strife, unnecessary strife, as families that were deceived and led astray, felt they needed to leave these good churches. Teachers of false doctrine can cause great disruption and strife in the Church of Jesus Christ. Disagreement or difficulty can be a cause of strife.

Acts 15 tells the disagreement about, in this case, a very important matter. It was not a trivial thing that there was a dispute about it. Concerned circumcision and do all Gentile Christians need to become Jews in order to be Christians Or can they become a Christian without becoming circumcised and keeping the Mosaic Law? And therefore when Paul and Barnabas had no small dispute in the church at Antioch over this matter, there was no small dissension. It was a big quarrel, but it was an important one.

This disagreement over a doctrinal matter, over a significant doctrinal matter, led to the very first ecumenical council being held in Jerusalem. Paul and Barnabas and certain others determined, or the church in Antioch determined that Paul and Barnabas should go up to Jerusalem and to the apostles and the elders about this question. So that when they couldn't resolve this dispute, and when it became no small dissension, but a very big one, and it was creating division and strife in the church, they appealed to the Ecumenical Council. And all of the apostles and the elders of the church gathered together and they discussed this matter and They had a big dispute as well in Jerusalem. Says in verse 7 of Acts 15, And when there had been much dispute, people were arguing from the Scriptures.

They sincerely believed that their view was right. One side said, no, they have to be circumcised. Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom of Moses, you can't be saved. And the other side said, no, no, That's not required. That seal of the covenant of grace is passing away.

So when there had been much dispute over the matter, then Peter rises up and speaks, and others rise up and speak. And they are brought by the work of the Holy Spirit, working through this body of elders and apostles. And here we see one example of where the apostles do not speak with their apostolic authority, but rather they speak as on a parity with the other men, the other elders that were in this assembly. And by the work of the Holy Spirit, they are brought to one mind. And then we read at the end that it pleased the apostles and the elders and the whole church to send chosen men to Antioch with the answer to that question.

It pleased the group. We don't know whether this was unanimous, the Bible doesn't say, but it does say that it pleased this group. At least the majority were convinced. And as a result of this ecumenical council, they issued decrees, authoritative and binding decrees on all of the churches, all of the Christian churches. And they, that's Timothy, Paul, and Silas, went Timothy, Paul, and Silas went throughout the cities and delivered to these churches the decrees for them to keep, which were determined by the apostles and the elders at Jerusalem.

Because you see, there is a greater authority than just this local church. We're a part of a presbytery, a wider body of churches, who has the authority to decide these types of matters of doctrine and issue authoritative decrees. And it put an end to this dissension and quarreling about on a matter of doctrine. But there are also other disagreements that can lead to quarrels. Abraham and Lot's servants had a problem with not enough water.

And remember, they were continually quarreling over this very limited resource. Isaac and the Philistines at Gerar, their herdsmen quarreled over wells and who owned the wells? They would dig a well and then have a fight over who got the first water out of it, who could use the water out of it. Water is a precious commodity and it led to disagreements over it, led to strife. Another innate initiator of strife is simply a contentious person, somebody who is given to strife.

Proverbs 26, 21, As coals are to burning coals and wood to fire, so is a contentious man to kindle strife." Somebody who is by his nature contentious. What is a contentious person like? Proverbs 16-28 says, A foward or perverse man sows strife, and a whisper separates chief friends. What is this kind of person? This is a big source of the initiation of strife.

Well, there are a few characteristics we could give of a contentious person. Somebody who defends every conviction they have, as if the gospel is at stake. It's somebody who is quick to speak and slow to listen. Somebody who rarely asks questions and when they do it's simply to accuse. They're not somebody who's looking to learn.

They're looking to defend, to dominate, to destroy. Somebody who can be very sarcastic, dripping with sarcasm. It's somebody who doesn't see nuances. You know what I mean? Somebody who states everything categorically, who knows no nuance and differentiation, no shades and differences and nuances in things.

But Everything is just stated with the same emphasis, as categorically as if they were stating the gospel truth. God has created a world of great nuance, a world of great color and variety and shade. And when people lose that perspective, it can create strife. People that don't give the benefit of doubt. They don't read the statements in context.

They lose that context. They lose that nuance. They take matters out of context. They put the worst possible construction on somebody's motive and the meaning of their words. Words can have many different meanings, shades to them, and the context is important.

And It requires us to have trust in somebody, so that we believe what they are saying. At times I have pondered, I have noticed, it has been impressed upon me just how crucial this attitude is in order to have any kind of effective communication. And how when we trust people, these things just flow by and we don't often even realize the other way that something could be taken. You don't even think about it. A contentious person is also someone who speaks everything on their mind.

They think it, it comes out. They don't put themselves in other people's shoes and try to understand their context and what they might be meaning by what they said. People who criticize more than encourage, People that have a pessimistic outlook, they expect to be rejected. That's their expectation. The world is against the truth, and so in every expectation they expect to be rejected.

Well, they are, often. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy. It's people that don't evaluate their own positions. They can't step outside themselves and look back at what they believe and grow and adapt what they believe that can cause contention. So a contentious person is like wood to a fire.

It kindles strife. Proverbs 16-28 that I just read talks about a perverse person. It's a very similar person, somebody who is obstinate, who's contrary, who's stubborn, who's intractable over unimportant things. It's somebody who creates strife. This is a contentious person initiates strife.

And when they are gone, then strife disappears. Just like taking the wood out of the fire, the fire disappears. It goes out. A tenth initiator of strife, besides contentious people and perverse people, are scoffers. Proverbs 22, 10, cast out the scorner and contention shall go out, yes strife and reproach shall cease.

What is a scoffer? Scoffer is somebody who has contempt for what is good and true. And they treat what's good and holy and right as if it's mean and vile and worthless. They look down upon it. That's a scoffer, somebody who looks down upon what is good, who mocks it.

When that person is removed, strife goes away. Gossip is another source of strife. Proverbs 26-20, where there is no wood, the fire goes out, and so where there is no tail bearer, the strife ceases. It's a little bit different than what we saw earlier in verse 9 about repeating a matter. That's talking about taking a matter that you've heard back to the person it's spoken about.

This is talking about tail bearing is just talking, talking too much. Talking about things that don't need to be talked about. Where there's no purpose. No good purpose. Anger is another source, initiator of strife.

Proverbs 29, 22, an angry man stirs up strife and a furious man abounds in transgressions. You see, it's very easy to sin when we're angry because our passions are inflamed. You know, when you have an inflamed spot on your body and you just touch it, it hurts. When passions are inflamed in the same way and they get bumped just a little bit, it erupts in a fight, contention. Misunderstanding is another way that strife can begin.

Just simple misunderstanding. People that you think you understand something but in fact you don't actually understand what was going on. Assumptions are made, maybe. This happened when the Israelites were going into the land of Canaan remember that the Two and a half tribes received an inheritance on the other side of the Jordan The Ruben Gad and a half tribe of Manasseh Well, they built an altar over there by the Jordan, a very great impressive altar. And the children of Israel heard somebody say, oh, these people have built an altar over across the Jordan.

And when the children of Israel heard of it, they gathered together at Shiloh to go to war against their own brothers and sisters because they heard this story. And so they sent a representative, the son of the high priest, to the children over there, and a representative from each of their own tribes. And they spoke with them saying, Thus says the congregation of the Lord, What is this thing that you have done over here? What is this great evil that you are doing? You have built for yourselves an altar that you might rebel against the Lord.

Is the iniquity of Peor not enough for us, from which we are not cleansed till this day, although there was a plague in the congregation of the Lord, but that you must turn away this day from following the Lord. And it shall be if you rebel against the Lord that tomorrow he will be angry with all of us, all the congregation. Nevertheless, if the land of your possession is unclean then cross over." And so they go on. And they bring another argument, "'Did not Achan the son of Zerah commit a trespass and wrath fell on all the congregation?' So they're rightly concerned that God's wrath will fall on them because of what they think this sin is well Then the children of Reuben Gadd and half tribe of Manasseh Answered them and said the Lord God of God's the Lord God of God's he knows and That Israel know that if it is in rebellion or if in treachery against the Lord, do not save us this day. But if we have built an altar to turn from following the Lord or to do some sin, then require an account of us.

But in fact, we have done it for fear, for a reason, saying, in time to come your descendants may speak to your descendants, saying, what have you to do with the Lord God? For the Lord has made the Jordan a border between you and us. And Jordan River is something that in the spring becomes impassable. It's fallen. And so there's this border, the division.

They recognize that this geographical feature, and anybody that's lived in a city that has a river knows that it does create a division. Even with our means of transportation today and ability to build bridges, rivers create a division, geographical division. How much more when you don't have those capabilities? And so they built this altar So that they could have a remembrance, a stone of remembrance for future generations that they were part of the land of Israel. Far be it from us, they said, that we should rebel against God and turn from following the Lord to build an altar for burnt offerings or grain offerings or for sacrifices besides the altar of our Lord God Which is before his tabernacle so they said we're not building this altar to turn away from God or to have our own Sacrificial system up here.

We built it simply as a remembrance because we were afraid that future generations would think what do we have to do with this land of Israel across the Jordan. They wanted a witness. And so when all of the rulers of the congregation heard the words of Ruben Gad and Havtah of Manasseh, then it pleased them. And they said, this day we perceive that the Lord is among us because you have not committed this treachery against the Lord. Now you have delivered the children of Israel out of the hand of the Lord.

And so they returned. And so this misunderstanding which could have led to a great fight The army was gathered they were ready to attack but wisely they talked about it first and A in a great struck fight due to misunderstanding was averted Well in the beginning of strife is like releasing water. It unleashes this great destructive force. Therefore, Proverb says, stop it! Stop it!

There is a humorous clip circulating the internet about a counselor. And somebody comes to him for their problems. And they have a discussion on the price and it's like $100 for three minutes. And he says, well, that's ridiculously expensive. And his answer was, well, I don't need any more time than that so I need and so she begins this counsele start spilling out all her problems and how she's this way and that way and and the counselor listens to her for Whatever the allotted time was and then he says well his advice stop it and And then he said you've got oh, I know what it was he said it wasn't a time limit, it was a certain number of words.

And so he had a few more words left. But the point was, he didn't tell her how to stop this. He didn't tell her how to stop doing what she was having trouble doing. How do we stop contentions? Stop contentions before a quarrel starts.

How do you do that? Well, the Bible gives us guidance there as well. First of all, you can stop a contention by simply dropping the matter, not pursuing it. Proverbs 1911 says, the understanding of a person makes him slow to anger and by his glory overlooks an offense. His glory.

It's His glory to overlook an offense. Drop the matter. Don't continue to quarrel about it. Another way to stop contentions is to simply avoid contentious people. It's better to live elsewhere.

That's what Paul told Timothy about false teachers. From such a one, withdraw yourself. Just leave. Don't try to argue with a fool. That's what, that was one of the earlier robber barons trying to correct a fool in his folly Just withdraw yourself it's better to live in a corner of a roof than with a contentious or quarrelsome person.

In those cases, it's talking about a wife. But it's true about any quarrelsome person. Proverbs 23, it is a man's honor to avoid strife, but every fool is quick to quarrel. It's a person's honor to avoid it. Can avoid contentious people.

There's another way that really gets to beyond simply Those two are simply dropping a matter, overlooking it, or avoiding. But there are a couple other ways that really get to the heart of strife. One is Philippians 2, 4. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit. There's that word That's called strife that we looked at earlier.

But in loneliness of mind, let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out for his own, not only for his own interest, but also for the interest of others. Look out for the other's best interest. That's one of the best ways to avoid a strife. Look out for the interest of others.

Then put that first. If strife comes from lusting for our own pleasure, which is really what's good for us, what's in our own best interest. Then stopping strife comes when we start looking out for the interests of others, not just our own. And Abraham gives us a very beautiful example of that in Genesis 13. I alluded earlier to the fact that his servants and Lot's servants were having strife over this resource of water.

It's a valuable commodity. It's necessary. It's even, it's as necessary to growth and stability then as it was as it is today. In fact, we still have fights over water today. It's a big source of contention, even right here where we presumably get a lot of water.

A lot of the strife over the release of the dam was about over water rights. Who has the right to the water? And so in Genesis 13 we read that the land was not able to support them, that they might dwell together because their possessions were so great. And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abraham's livestock and the herdsmen of Lot's livestock. So what did Abraham do?

He had a right to the land, But what did he do? He looked out for the interest of Lot and he said, please let there be no strife between you and me and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen for we are brothers. Is not the whole land before you? Please separate from me and if you take the left I will go to the right or if you go to the right, I will go to the left." He gave the choice to Lot to take whatever he wanted. He gave him first choice.

And Lot lifted his eyes and saw all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere. This was before, of course, you remember, the Lord had destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah and turned it, rain, hail and fire and brimstone on it. It was like the Garden of the Lord in the land of Egypt. And so Lot saw that and he chose that. He went that way and Abraham went the other way, the way Lot did not choose.

Abraham looked out there for the interests of lot. He looked out for someone else's interests besides himself, and he stopped a quarrel before it destroyed them. The other way to stop a quarrel is to not seek to avenge ourselves. We've been wronged. You can fight a quarrel about it.

Fight a quarrel about it, or you can say, as Paul did, give place to wrath, turn it over to the Lord. For it is written, Vengeance is mine, I will repay. Do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to the wrath of God. And that follows that statement as much as possible. As much as it depends on you, live peaceably with all men.

How do you do that? Don't seek to avenge yourself. Don't seek to have every wrong against you made right. But rather be content to leave the matter, to turn the matter over to the Lord, and to leave it in His hands, to do as He sees fit. Because He is the righteous judge.

He knows the things that we don't know. He knows the thoughts and intents of people's hearts. And He alone can judge with perfect justice. We're like the Israelites that got upset about the altar. We don't know what the intent of somebody else's heart is.

We don't know all the things that are going on. And it's often simply not even possible for us to judge rightly. And so Paul says, don't seek to avenge yourselves, but rather give place. Give it over to the Lord. He's just.

And He will. It is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay. He will do justly. And we can rest in that. And lastly, A soft answer turns away wrath.

A soft answer turns away wrath. But a harsh word stir up anger. Sometimes simply a soft answer. We did a whole message on that when we covered Proverbs 15.1. So I won't go into More detail and now you can go look that message up Stop a contention before it ceases drop the matter avoid contentious people look to the interest of others don't avenge yourself and give a soft answer in response to anger.

You know, the other effect of letting water out is in addition to the great destructive force, is that you can never get it back. Once you've let water out, all the water that was released from Lake Conroe is gone. You'll never get it back. If you dump a bucket of water out on the ground, you can't come along and vacuum it up. It gets absorbed into the ground, it runs off, it gets contaminated, and you can never get it back.

And that's also, I think, a part of the image here in this metaphor. That once this water has been released and this destructive force has been unleashed. It can't be gathered back to use it for its useful purpose anymore. Strife, as I said, ruins friendships. It ruins, can ruin, can destroy families.

There are, you know, famous stories of strife that goes on generationally between families. And things, it's like words. Once they've been said, you can't unsay them. Once a quarrel has begun and gotten into full steam, it's impossible to put it all back in the dam. The beginning of strife is like releasing water, therefore stop contention.

Stop it before it starts. Let us pray. Father in heaven, we bow before you, recognizing the sinfulness and corruption of our own hearts, the ease with which we fall into strife and contention within our families, children, brothers against brother, families, children, brothers against brother, sisters against sisters, even between parents and children, and between one another. Father, we ask your forgiveness for all of the times that we have been an initiator of strife. And We ask, Lord, for the supernatural power of Your Holy Spirit to be able to overlook offenses, to be able to look out for the interests of others, to not seek to avenge ourselves of every slight against us, but to give a soft answer.

And so to stop contention before it starts. So Father, this is not native to us. This is not in our own natural ability to do. But we look to you, for with you all things are possible. And that which you require of us, you give to us the power, you make available to us the means that we may escape the temptation.

So Father, the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds and casting out arguments. And everything that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. Oh Father, may Your Spirit fill us. May Your Spirit lead us. May our words be those which our Spirit filled.

May our steps be guided by Your Spirit. Be guided by your spirit That we may walk not only at peace with you But also with one another well this father we ask of you for Christ's sake. Amen.