Gossip & Slander (Part 2)

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Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

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No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the

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Apostle Paul said, �But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.�

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In short, if you like smooth, watered -down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn�t for you.

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By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we�re called by the

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Divine Trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King. Here�s our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth.

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Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry. My name is Mike Abendroth. It�s actually kind of sunny outside.

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I�m thankful for that and this May Day in real time. Noco time, who knows when it is. For a mild winter, we sure have had a cold, raw spring.

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When does it become summer? I�m not exactly sure. On No Compromise Radio, we have a little theme.

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Always biblical, always provocative, always in that order. I like straight talk.

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I like frank talk. I like Bible talk. That�s what we try to do. Why the moniker

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No Compromise Radio? Number three, we don�t want to compromise and we don�t like it when we do.

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We don�t like it when other people do. Number two, because God is just and loving at the same time, among other things, at the cross, neither justice, law, or his love was compromised.

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Number one, third on my list, but number one, top of the list with priority,

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Jesus never compromised. He became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

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Info at NoCompromiseRadio .com if you�d like to write us and request. Who knows what?

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Who knows what? There are a couple books there that you can pick up. The new book, I just sent it to Jill, the editor,

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Evangelical White Lies. It should be out within, I don�t know, hopefully a couple months or so.

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This summer is the release date, sometime this summer, hopefully earlier than later. Things that we think might be true because we�ve heard them so often, yet they aren�t.

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I�ll just give you one teaser chapter that you live the gospel, i .e.,

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you don�t have to talk, and it leads into friendship evangelism.

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That�s one of the chapters. I wrote this book several years ago when I did a lot of writing, did

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Bump back in those days, Sexual Fidelity, Evangelical White Lies, but I�m just getting around now to doing something about it.

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I just did, I got permission to do Colossians, S. Lewis Johnson. I have verbal permission.

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I haven�t gotten written permission yet. Let�s see how that all works. But I feel tired. I feel busy. I feel feelings, nothing more than feelings.

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Last time we looked at gossip, it really was a larger issue of speaking poorly of people, which obviously includes gossip.

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So, you want to listen to the last part, and if you missed it, we are in James 4. Do not speak against one another, brethren.

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He who speaks against a brother, or judges his brother, speaks against the law and judges the law.

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But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge of it. We were talking about fault finding, and we talked about how cowardly it is to hide behind the

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U .S. legal definition of slander. Well, if it�s true, king�s ex doesn�t count.

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That doesn�t hold water when it comes to James 4. We have a tongue, so we may praise

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God. I was reading Ephesians, and that burst of praise that Paul has in Ephesians 1, 3 -14, that one sentence that�s praising

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God the Father, that He chose us and that He gave us Jesus. Because in Him, we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.

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That�s a praise. We can use our tongue to praise, and of course, I�m talking about typing as well, from the brain to the tongue, from the brain to the fingertips.

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Or maybe you use dragon dictation, who knows? We can encourage people with our tongue, great job, way to go, proud of you.

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And we can also torch people. I don�t know if it�s more fun to torch or to encourage.

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I know which one�s more biblical, I know which one�s more godly. There is a time to torch false teachers,

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I understand that. But here we�re talking about brothers and sisters in Christ.

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Maybe you are an Arminian, you like to torch Calvinists. Maybe you�re a

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Calvinist and you like to torch Amaraldians. After all, I�m looking outside here and I see a tulip and there�s no four -pointers out there, just the five -point

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Calvinist tulips. Anyway, do not speak against one another.

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And the first reason He gives, do you notice, if you look at James 4, brethren. Now, I have a brother and I have a sister, who have same mother and father physically, and of course

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I know their faults, they know mine, I have more faults than those two put together. But when somebody speaks ill of my sister or my brother,

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I don�t particularly like it. Now, of course, if my sister and I talk about my brother, that�s okay, or if they talk about me, that�s okay, or if my brother talks to me about my sister, then that might be okay.

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In -laws are definitely out. It doesn�t say speaks against the in -law here, it says speaks against the law.

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It doesn�t say judges the in -law, it says judges the law. But if you judge the in -law, you�re not a doer of the in -law, see, it doesn�t work there.

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That is in -law of Jesus. But brothers, Christians, brothers and sisters in Christ, three times in that verse, brother, brother, brother, that�s one another.

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Speaks against one another, don�t do that, don�t speak against one another. Many of you and I am in the same proverbial boat,

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I don�t have much English, I don�t have very many relatives, blood relatives,

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I have no cousins, I have no uncles, I have no dad,

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I have no mom, I have no grandparents, but I do have brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, I have a large family.

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So don�t speak against them. He goes on to say, as we talk about speaking poorly, this could include undue criticism, it could be slander, backbiting, sowing discord, fault finding.

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You don�t want to judge the law itself. He talks about the brothers, and then he talks about judging the law.

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He who speaks against a brother or judges his brother speaks against the law and judges the law.

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Isn�t that interesting? Judges with evil intention. What law is this?

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Maybe you think it�s Mosaic law, I guess you could argue that if you�d like. Here, James 2, 8, just prior to that, if however you are fulfilling the royal law, that�s the last thing he said about the law, so I think that�s better with context, but I�ll accept either.

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You are fulfilling the royal law according to the scripture, you shall love your neighbor as yourself, you are doing well.

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And actually I think that�s from Leviticus 19 anyway, so if you want Mosaic or here, fine.

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One commentator wrote, �We might think that to speak evil of our neighbor is not a very serious sin, but scripture would say that it is one of the worst of all because it is a breach of the royal law and an infringement of the rights of God.�

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God, I�ll do what I want, I�m over you, you�re under me, your rules don�t apply to me, will not have your law rule over me,

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I sit on a perch and I do what I want.

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That�s not what we do, remember we are people who have been redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ, we have been bought, purchased with a price.

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When you see the law, what is your job? Well, James 4 says it�s to be a doer, not a judge of the law.

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Earlier he had said, of course, in James 1 .22, be doers of the word, right, be doers.

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If you�re going to judge, then you don�t do, you need to stop it.

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The conclusion, when all has been heard is, �Fear God and keep his commandments.� That�s Ecclesiastes 12, verse 13.

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Obviously, for me as well, but I�m not God, you�re not God, God get out of the way,

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I�ve got my world to run and I�ll do what I want. Verse 12 goes on to say, don�t be the fault finder, we�ve got brothers, we don�t need to judge the law, the lawgiver and the judge is

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God himself. Verse 12, there is only one lawgiver and judge, the one who is able to save and destroy.

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God alone, only one, there�s only one lawgiver,

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Isaiah 33 .22, for the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the

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Lord is our king, he will save us. How many laws have you given on Mount Sinai?

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How many laws did you give on the mount, regarding the Sermon on the Mount, reiterating those laws?

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Are you the executive branch, the legislative branch, the judicial branch, or is

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God a king? Now, put it that way, well, we have to say, oops, are we really even capable to judge?

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Do we know motives, heart, the machinations of the person�s mind as they did something, we don�t like it, now we�re going to go run around and tell everybody else about it.

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And as I said last time, this is especially important in a local church. And the ones that receive most of the criticism,

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A, because they�re also sinful, but they are the leaders by the ordained counsel of God, are the elders, are the pastors.

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It's easy to rip into pastors, why? Because they aren�t perfect, and they are in charge, so people go against leadership for lots of reasons.

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But here, James 4 .12 talks about our inability, I�m not talking about total depravity,

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I�m not talking about spiritual corruption with a T, since I�m looking at those nice tulips out there.

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Megan has done a great job keeping those tulips. It says here in the text,

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James 4 .12, �But who are you to judge your neighbor ?� Boy, James has a way of just,

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James the jugular, he goes for the jugular. This is

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God�s right to do, it�s not our. Are we anybody compared to God?

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Are we somebody compared to God? Who are you? And in the Greek, there�s a certain emphasis there.

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Who are you? You? Really? You? Who are you? I think

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NIV even says that. But you? Who are you? Expositor�s Bible Commentary.

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With shattering bluntness, James crushes any right his readers may have to sit in judgment over their neighbors.

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This is not to rule out civil courts and judges. Instead, it is to root out the harsh, unkind, critical spirit that continually finds fault with others.

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God alone has this authority. God alone has this authority.

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Ephesians 4 says, �Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you along with all malice.�

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You, the Christian, you who are in Christ, you have been redeemed, you�ve been chosen by the Father. The Son has redeemed you.

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The Spirit has sealed you to the day of redemption. You were dead in trespasses and sins, but because God has great love for people and because by grace you�ve been saved, because you�re in one body,

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Jew and Gentile, now in the new man, the new body. Because of all those things.

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You want to have your life measure up to who you are in Christ.

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That�s your desire. That�s your goal. That�s your privilege. �Walk in a manner worthy of your calling ,�

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Ephesians 4, 1. Colossians says the same thing. After a lot of indicatives, after a lot of who

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Jesus is, chapter 3, verse 5, �turns to the responsibility, to the response ,� verse 8, �but now you also put them all aside, anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your.�

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1 Peter 2, verse 1, he again has talked about God has caused you to be born again, right?

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You have living hope, precious blood. Chapter 1 says much about that.

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We turn now to chapter 2, verse 1, �Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and all hypocrisy and all envy and all slander.�

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If someone�s got a problem with someone else, don�t you think they should either

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A, cover it because love covers a multitude of sins? Or B, if they can�t get over it, if they can�t say to themselves, �You know what?

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I�m a worse sinner than they are. God loves me. I should probably love them as I�ve been loved ,�

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Ephesians 4. But if I can�t get over it, I should probably do a blog about it.

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I should probably say something about it on Facebook, probably tweet them privately.

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I guess you could. Go to them. If you have a problem with someone, cover or confront.

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Those are your only two options, cover or confront. I cover it in love or I go confront them.

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If your brother sins, go and reprove him in private. If he listens to you, you have won your brother.

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You�re offended, wronged, taken advantage of, go to that person, not the pastors.

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I mean, if the pastor did it, yeah, go to the pastor, but if somebody else did it, you don�t go to the pastors, you don�t go to the elders, you don�t go to your spouse.

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I guess you could say to your spouse, �So -and -so did such -and -such to me, I need to go talk to them.

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Am I thinking rightly ?� I guess I would maybe accept that on a rainy day in Massachusetts.

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Now let�s flip it around. First of all, my name is Mike Abendroth. This is No Compromise Radio. If someone wants to come and gossip to you, �I know it sounds fun, it sounds good.

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You want to know. Did you hear? Did you know ?� What are you going to do, though?

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Don�t you want to help people obey? I have many, many faults in my life, but I want people to obey.

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I want God�s glory. I want them to honor the

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Lord with obedience, not to keep their faith, obviously, but just because they�re children of God, they�ve been adopted, and I want them to do that.

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I really think it�s the best. So how can I, if somebody wants to gossip to me, help them and do what�s best for them?

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Well, what would have to happen is I�d have to tell them, �I can�t hear your gossip, because if you�re going to sin to me, if you�re going to sin by giving me this information, he who goes about as a slanderer reveals his secrets, therefore do not associate with the gossip�Proverbs 20 .19�then

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I�m going to have to stop it. I�m going to have to say, �No, I don�t now need to have you sin, and I also don�t need to be as guilty as you by listening to it.�

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Oh, how many forest fires would be put out, forest fires of gossip and slander, if there was no one to listen?

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There was just emptiness. It�s like outer space. No one would listen.

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So, I�ll say it again, if someone comes to you to gossip or to slander, speaking down to you,

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James 4 language, you don�t want them to sin, and you don�t want to sin with them.

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What�s as bad as, or maybe worse than, the gossip? It�s the one who receives the gossip.

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You�re as guilty as the gossiper? I think so. There�s one writer that said, �Will this build respect for the person

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I am about to mention ?� That�s a good question to ask yourself. Will it build trust? Will it build love?

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Am I going to have to desire to take this back someday? Years ago,

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Charles Swindoll, Chuck Swindoll, is it Charles? Chuck Swindoll is how he goes,

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I know. He talked about a tombstone in England, in a church out in the country.

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�Beneath this stone, a lump of clay, lies Arabella Young, who on the 24th of May began to hold her tongue.�

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Four preachers

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I read met for a friendly gathering. During the conversation, one preacher said, �Our people come to us and pour out their hearts, confess certain sins and needs.

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Let�s do the same. Confession is good for the soul.� In due time, all agreed.

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One confessed he liked to go to movies and would sneak off when away from his church. The second confessed to liking to smoke cigars, and the third one confessed to liking to play cards.

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I guess they�re a bunch of fundamentalists. When it came to the fourth one, he wouldn�t confess.

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The others pressed him, �Come now. We confessed ours. What is your secret?

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What is your vice ?� Finally, they got it out of him. It�s gossiping, and I can�t hardly wait to get out of here.

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Ara�s a French writer said some people will believe anything if it is whispered to them.

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I mean, really. We hear something bad about somebody else. It makes us feel better, doesn�t it?

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I mean, if we�re walking according to the flesh, we�re feeling better because we would never do that.

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We would never stoop so low. We would never do something so sinful. Turkish proverb, �Who gossips to you will gossip of you.�

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The atheist Bertrand Russell, �No one gossips about other people�s secret virtues.�

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That�s one thing I try to do. I�ve got a long way to go. But in front of other people,

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I try to speak well of my wife. I try to speak well of my children, but I don�t want it to turn into like a bragging session about them.

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But I try to speak well of other people, and I especially, and I know our elders do it as well.

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If you�re in leadership, I especially speak well of the other elders. Now again, they probably got more problems with me than I would have with them, but I�m always saying to other people things about the elders that would make them think well of the elders.

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It�s not flattery. It�s not lying. But I�m trying to do this very thing.

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I�m trying to build them up. I�m trying to encourage them. I�m trying to teach and show by modeling as an example.

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Let�s speak good words and not slanderous words. Billy Graham said, �A real Christian is the one who can give his pet parrot to the town gossip.�

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Anonymous said, �You know, there�s a lot of one -word people out there, you know, Madonna, Prince. Something that goes in one ear and out the other and over the back fence.�

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That�s what Anonymous said. Does anything good come out of gossip?

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Well, if you think, you know, �Shall I sin that grace might abound ?� then I have a different sermon for you.

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What do we do with gossip? Let�s just cease and desist when it comes to gossip and then let�s say to ourselves, �Hmm.

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Do you know what? I�m glad I�m forgiven for all the gossip that I�ve committed.� I mean, isn�t that enough to damn us?

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The answer is yes. How many times over? The times that people have come to me and said, �Mike, did you hear this?

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Here�s a juicy tidbit.� But I said, �No, I can�t accept that.�

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Oh, there�s been times I�ve said, �I can�t accept it.� But if you�d like to get to heaven by being good, you�re going to have to do all the law, do this and live.

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James, Proverbs, you can read Proverbs 10 for a panoply of how to use your tongue and what are the warnings behind them.

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We have a difficult job and that is we can say things. I mean, if you�re going to kill somebody and murder them, there�s a few speed bumps along the way.

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If you�d like to murder them with your words, there are no real speed bumps. It�s encouraged.

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It�s encouraged. Now, the thing I think would help you is if you go back and think about who you are in Christ and then give yourself to gospel ministry,

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I don�t mean full -time, I just mean be courageous and join a church.

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I said that, be courageous. I think that�s Josh Harris� line. Be courageous, join a church and serve.

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It�s harder to sideswipe people with your words when you�re serving alongside of them, realizing how hard it is to serve.

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That makes it much more difficult. Well, I thought this was going to be three weeks, but I don�t think it needs to be three weeks.

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Mike Abenroth here, No Compromise Radio, 24 -and -a -half -minute show. While we don�t ask people to give, we do ask you, if you�ve got friends or relatives or enemies, tell them about the show.

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Tell them it�s 24 minutes, easy to do, and we talk about all kinds of subjects, and sometimes we have to work on our diction, our lexical, syntactical, hermeneutical.