We are starting a new sermon series this morning—“Practicing the Way of Peace.” This five-week series will be focused on the biblical principles concerning conflict resolution. As we live our lives, conflicts are bound to happen—there’s really no way to avoid them. The question, then, is not how can we avoid them but how should we respond when conflicts come. A twentieth-century author, C.T. Lawrence Butler, provides us with an interesting perspective on conflict. He writes: “If war is the violent resolution of conflict, then peace is not the absence of conflict, but rather, the ability to resolve conflict without violence.” Over the next few weeks, our goal is to consider the biblical teachings about conflict resolution in order to learn, and hopefully implement, the practices that lead to peace—being able to resolve conflict without violence.