everybody what is going on you know what time it is you're listening to join the journey podcast

with your host emma daughter thanks for joining you've probably heard the phrase forgive and forget

but forgiveness doesn't always mean we'll forget in today's passage matthew 18

jesus provides instruction as to what we are to do if another

believer sins against us.

When it comes to conflict resolution and forgiveness, the reality is most of us probably grew up

with an unhealthy view of conflict and probably developed unhealthy approaches to dealing with it.

And even if your family handled conflict well,

you probably saw other people, be it on TV or at school, handle it poorly. One of my friends

on staff here at Watermark said some of us grew up being taught to fake peace, pretend everything's

okay when it's not, and some of us have grown up with the tendency

to break peace, having learned to deal with our issues by fighting, yelling, and maybe even

cutting people out of our lives completely. In our culture, conflict is either something we

avoid at all costs, or it's an excuse to kick someone out of our lives. But God views conflict

differently. Now, if you've been around Watermark for a while, you've heard this a million times,

but hang with me because I bet God's got something for you as well. But if you haven't read Watermark's

conflict field guide, I'd suggest you check out the link in the episode description.

Now in verse 15, Jesus begins his discourse about conflict resolution by encouraging the believer

who's been hurt to go directly to the person who's hurt him. And just to be clear,

Jesus is talking about conflict between two believers. Think about it kind of like this. Let's say you've

got some spinach in your teeth and you spend half an hour talking to a friend with that spinach in

your teeth. Which of these two scenarios would you prefer? Option one, the friend never tells you

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