Nehemiah chapter number six. I know we kind of covered the whole chapter last time, but that's a okay. I got one verse. I got one verse for the text today. Okay. Now, I hope you brought your running shoes. In fact, I hope you are wearing your running shoes. as we are going to cover a lot of verses here today on this particular subject. So, if you ain't fast turning your Bibles, definitely make sure you have a pen and paper handy, and you can write down these scripture references. I believe this is a very important sermon here today. In case you haven't read the title there on the live stream, it's about gossip. Gossiping. And I believe that this is a subject that needs to be dealt with. And to the point that as I was studying there for my book there on the Survey of the Book of Nehemiah, when I got to this part here, I mean, this stuff just flowed. And I'm like, God, I think you want this sermon preached. It's took me a few months before I finally got over here to it, probably over a year actually. But I believe this is the timing that God would have for us. So we're going to be dealing with gossip today. So write down these scripture verses here. This is stuff that will be of help to you. It's not going to be completely inclusive of everything the Bible has to talk about in regards to gossip, but we have several points here today, and I believe that it is something that is very important. especially the way the world is today here in 2024 my soul people love to run their mouths so we're gonna read this one verse is gonna be verse number six And then we're going to get into the sermon here after we pray. The Bible says, you know, let's back up. We're going to go to read verse number five. That way you all know who's talking. Then sent Sanballat, his servant unto me in like manner the fifth time with an open letter in his hand. Okay, now this is our actual text verse, verse six. Wherein was written, it is reported among the heathen and Gashmu saith it, that thou and the Jews think to rebel, for which cause thou buildest the wall, that thou mayest be their king according to these words. Somebody is running their mouth. Now while I have no doubt that Gashem or Geshem, I kind of think that he called him Gashmu there just to try to insinuate to Nehemiah, hey look I don't agree with him. I do believe that that stuff actually was said and this is simply something that's being done of course to undermine Nehemiah. But we want to look at the subject of gossip here today. So let's go ahead and say a word of prayer. Our Father in heaven, we do thank you, Father, for the opportunity to stand here and bring your word to your people here today. We pray, Lord, for your blessings upon Garage Baptist and that it would be a help to each and every one who is watching and listening to this. And it'll be a help to them, an encouragement to them, give them some strength and some direction that is needed. And we do ask you, Father, please to bless all my brothers as they stand to bring your holy word here today. and that you'd help each and every one of us to bring out what it is that is so needed here on October the 6th, 2024. Help us, Father, please. In the name of Jesus, we do pray. Amen and amen. All right. Now, we're gonna talk about gossip. How about we start off by defining it? I think that's a pretty decent starting point for us. Amen. The word gossip means to talk about others, to pass on rumors, especially about personal or private information. It is idle talk that is no one else's business, let alone any concern of the person who is informing others. That's gossip right there. Now I realize there are things, and we need to differentiate this real quickly, there are things that do need to be passed on. Instructions. orders, directions for how something needs to get done. A supervisor will pass it down to an underling. His boss passed it down to him. That's not gossip, okay? That is important information to get a job accomplished, okay? There are times when something is going to happen. Let's say something personally happened to me. And I need to go see a therapist, and I need to tell this therapist, this is the stuff I have been dealing with here, and these people have been hurting me. You're trying to get some help for your sanity, for your mental health's sake, okay? That's not gossip. Okay, we need to make sure that this is understood. There are times when there's something wrong that needs to be reported. This person over here is molesting this child. Yeah, go report that to the police. It's not gossip. But this person is molesting this person, but I'm going to go tell other people who have no authority who have no ability to do anything about it. Now that's gossip. Okay, let's make sure we are clear about this. There's something wrong going on over here, but instead of going to the person who can actually do something about it, like something happens in your church. pastor's unaware of it, and this one over here, they're doing something, and you know about it, okay, pastor, there's this situation in the church, and for the unity of the church, for the spiritual health of the church, you need to be informed so that you can properly investigate it. Okay, that's one thing, that's not gossip. Going to everybody else, though, and say, hey, you know what sister so-and-so's doing over here? Oh my, let me tell you, that's gossip. even under the guise of, hey, let us pray about it. Okay, end it with, let us pray for this person. You don't need to be going and blabbing all the details. That's gossip. Okay? God doesn't like gossip. Okay? As a matter of fact, the Bible gets into it in depth here about gossip. And I said, we're going to be dealing with this. I want you to first of all see condemnation of gossip. First one here is 1st Timothy chapter number 5 verses 11 to 13. I'm gonna read these verses We're gonna go as quickly as we can. We got a lot of ground to cover This is but the younger women refuse For when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ, they will marry now Paul is writing here He's talking about dealing the widows and all that stuff. Okay, and And he says this, having damnation because they have cast off their first faith, and with all they learn to be idle. Okay? And we've read all of that previous to that word idle, simply to get to this point here. I want you to know who Paul's talking about. Idle, wandering about from house to house, and not only idle, but tattlers also, and busybodies, speaking things which ought not, which they ought not. In other words, anything that they have no business running their mouths about. I don't care if they're a young widow or they're an old widow. If they're an old widower or a young widower. If they are a married couple, singles, teenagers, twenty-somethings, whatever the case is. The Bible condemns it. Paul condemns it. Any gossip, any sort, is to be avoided. It is none of your concern. Congratulations, you know something, and it's killing you to keep a secret. Keep it anyways, eh man? You don't know who else to tell? Go tell a stuffed bear or something like that. Hey, better yet, go tell it to God. Ask God to take this burden off of your heart that you've got this terrible secret and you just need to tell somebody. Tell God about it, okay? But to go out there and tell someone else when it's not their business and it certainly wasn't your business, you're bringing condemnation in. Don't do it. Why? Because when it comes to gossip, it is very caustic. That is the nature of gossip. It is caustic, it is acidic, it is destructive. The Bible talks about in Proverbs 16, 28, a froward man soweth strife. That word froward, I'll get down in a moment, means perverse or fraudulent, a fraud. And a whisperer separateth chief friends. The word whisperer means to send or stretch out. You're gonna be stretching people's relationships, fellowship, I should say, not relationship, can't break relationship, but fellowship. I mean, they've been best friends. And you tell something that was none of your concern. Something that didn't need to be said. And now you're stretching them apart. But I just, I just whispered it to somebody here real quickly. You cause damage. Because some things aren't meant to be stretched. Now I realize friendships, fellowships will kind of stretch out there. I got a fellow I considered him my best friend for years. Still consider him one of my dearest of friends. I haven't seen him face to face in a while. We haven't had a phone conversation with them in a while. We've had some text messages, but even the texting has fallen off. But that's natural. Okay? To go out there, though, and to break somebody's marriage apart simply because, well, I could, no. To break someone's fellowship apart, their friendship apart simply because I could or I wanted to, no. Gossip is very caustic. For the one who is gossiping, I liked how this came across to me. It's like hot sauce. Now personally, I don't like hot sauce. I know some people who love hot sauce, okay? It burns going down, but it tastes, oh, so good. Oh, I don't get it, but hey. But then again, I also don't get people who think that gossiping is good either. Proverbs 26 verse 22 says, the words of a tail bearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly. The word wounds literally means to burn in. You're just going to sit there and burn away. What does acid do? It burns, it eats away, it destroys, because it's caustic. Gossip is caustic. It may not seem like you affected them all that much by going out and telling something you had no business talking about, but you don't know what kind of damage it did. What kind of long-term damage it will do. You don't need to gossip. Don't. And also, and with that as well, James 3, 5 says, even so the tongue is a little member. and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth. How many forest fires have been set out there from someone flicking a cigarette away? Yeah, acres upon acres, miles upon miles from just a little cigarette. Just one word out of your mouth that you had no business saying, even though you felt like, hey, I needed to say something. can cause a lot of damage. I've been there, done that. Got the t-shirt, still doesn't fit. I'm thinking right now of an incident. I thought I was doing right. I thought I was just gonna be helpful. And I ran my mouth and I didn't know. I was a dumb teenager. Dumb 40-something year old now, same difference. Yeah, I hurt a lot of people that day. A lot of people. just by apologizing because I had heard something. I needed to keep my mouth shut. I ended up gossiping just a little bit without even realizing that's what I was doing. You've got to be careful about this stuff, church. It is so caustic, so destructive. Now, there's a combination that forms gossip. Gossip can start as the truth, but The spirit of it is combined with the ears that like to hear, and repeat it, and can change it subtly or even completely. I got to thinking about that and it reminded me of that old game you used to play as a kid called telephone. You know, when you got a person who starts and they whisper something in that person's ear and that person, I mean, they don't get to say, repeat that again or anything. They just have to turn and repeat what they thought they heard and just keep on going down until you get to the very last person. And when they tell the very last person, that person now has to say, this is what I heard. And the first person goes, not even close, or yeah you got it right, or there's so much messed up, or it's kind of good, you know, it changes person to person to person there. A good, a good example of accidentally. Now I realize we call Eve the first legalist, but let's just think about it here. Genesis chapter three, verses one to three. Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, yea, hath God said, ye shall not eat of the tree of the garden. Okay. Honest question. from a very tricky creature, but it was an honest question. And let's face facts. Yeah, God had said they were able to eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now what he did was he left off that part, but the rest of it was true. Okay, now continuing on. The woman said in the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, Okay, now Eve, so far you're going good. God told Adam, perhaps Adam told you, maybe you were actually there for it, we don't know specifically, the Bible is silent on that, but you know what, let's just proceed on that telephone line. God told Adam, Adam's told Eve, okay? God has said. Ye shall not eat of it. Boom! All right, Eve, you doing good, girl. Yes! Yes, that's right. God said we are not to eat of the tree that was in the midst of the garden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. You are doing great. Leave it right there. Put a period on it. No, she puts a comma there. Neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. You need to justify yourself. But some gossip is that way. We're just passing it along to justify ourselves, giving more information that's needed to justify ourselves. It's become a combination because instead of just giving what little is necessary to help the situation, we're now going above and beyond. And there are times when going above and beyond is wrong. And that's exactly what Eve did there. And it kicked the door open for Satan to help plunge humanity into sin. Okay. I say help because it was Adam who was responsible ultimately for this. Okay. Eve was tricked. Adam willingly took. Alright. Now there's the intentional, intentional combination here when it comes to gossiping. Exodus 23, excuse me, verse number one. Thou shalt not raise a false report. Put out thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness. Raise a false report Put your hand out and say, hey, I will go right along with it, I will swear on the Bible, and my testimony is a lie. Part of it is not true, therefore it makes the whole a lie. It's always black and white. As far as God's concerned, you're telling the truth or you're not telling the truth. And unrighteous means you ain't just. That means you're sinful, you are wicked, you are not accidentally, you are intentionally doing it. And God doesn't like that. Now there's a connection through gossip that people will sometimes long for. They want to be just one of the gang. They'll tell someone because they want people to listen to them. They want people to interact with them. They want to feel like they're part of the group. I get the desire for it, but going about it using gossip is wrong! 2 Timothy 2, verse 16 to 18, the Bible says, but shun profane and vain babblings, for they will increase unto more ungodliness, not less, more. And their word will eat as doth a canker, of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetes, who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already, and overthrow the faith of some. These guys, they were wanting to be more than what they were. They wanted to have, hey, I want the same authority as the Apostle Paul, and this is how we're gonna do it. I'm telling you right now, the resurrection already took place. So this is what we're gonna have to do now. No, no, no, no, no, no. God was using Paul and the other apostles to direct the church in the direction that it needed to go. You wanted to connect with these people so that you could be large and in charge. so that you are the man, you are the woman, whatever your case would be. Don't seek those type of connections. Those type of connections corrode and destroy. It undermines. It says right here, overthrow the faith of some. You know, some of those weaker Christians, like, yes, I can't wait to be safe, to go to heaven. I got saved. And it's like, too little, too late. Resurrection already took place. And it's like, oh man, now what do I do? Well, listen to me. And for $49.99 a month, I can teach you how to still make it to heaven. That's sort of nonsense, okay? Y'all can go ahead and laugh at that. That's okay. Yeah. We don't need to connect to people through gossip. Because all that's going to do is hurt somebody. Now there's also the callousness of gossip. Some will start it simply because they're mean. Okay, they're angry. They've got an axe to grind. Uh, they want to put you in your place, whatever the case would be. Psalm 41 verses 5 to 7 says, My enemies speak evil of Me. David says right there, they're my enemies. When shall he die and his name perish? And if he come to see me, he speaketh vanity. His heart gathereth iniquity to itself. When he goeth abroad, he telleth it. All that hate me whisper together against me. Against me do they devise my hurt. This is intentional. I'm not accidentally gossiping. I'm intentionally doing it. I have an agenda. Ooh, that's scary right there. There are Christians out there, church, who do have an agenda to hurt someone. Maybe they want to get rid of the pastor. They don't like the pastor. They didn't vote for him. They don't want him. So let's run our mouths and tell everything that we possibly can and undermine all support he's got there in the church to run him out. Maybe we don't like that piano player. The Sunday school teacher. And maybe there's that new person there in the back. They obviously don't have all that much money. They're not good enough for us. Let's talk about how poor they are. Let's run them down. That way they'll understand that we don't need or want their kind here in our church. Honey, it ain't your church, it's God's church. You're just a part of it. But they're callous about it. We see in Proverbs 17, 9, "...he that covereth a transgression seeketh love." That's good. But, "...he that repeateth the matter separated, very friends. I don't like that those two people are friends because it's keeping me from having the closeness with the one friend that I want. Oh, three or four of us over here, we're friends, but I don't like that one, so I'm gonna convince the others to be mean and get that one that I don't like to leave our group. I've heard a lot of stories about that over the years. In fact, I've heard of murders taking place because of that type of callous gossip that takes place. Ain't good, church, ain't good. And some people, maybe they're not just seeking a connection through gossip. Maybe it's not a matter that they're just that callous. Some people just crave gossip. They're not looking to hurt anybody. They're not looking to make friends. They just want to run their mouth. They're the church gossip. Don't let them know anything because they'll tell everybody simply because they think that it is God's talent that he has given them to go and tell somebody, everybody, about what they've heard. God has called them to this position in life to go out and let everybody know all the details. No matter how juicy the details are, no matter how gory the details are, no matter how obscure the details are, no matter how irrelevant the details are. Tell somebody! Tell somebody! That's their attitude. They just love the gossip. Proverbs 18, 21, Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof. They love the gossip until the gossip comes back to them about them. Then all of a sudden they get hurt over it. As we said earlier, there is a fine line between talking about something that's going on so that you can pray for them. I have a friend, her daughter called me a few weeks back, said my mom fell, she broke her elbow, busted up her shoulder, she needs surgery. Okay, so I went and I told a few other people, hey I need prayers for this dear woman here, for healing for her. It wasn't gossip. Okay? Her daughter wasn't gossiping to me. I wasn't gossiping to the other people. Someone needed help. But now I were to go out there and tell everybody else, yeah, she fell and she broke this because she was doing X, Y, and Z. They didn't need to know about X, Y, and Z. That's gossip. So there's a difference there. Are we telling it to pray about or are we telling it to tell about it? So only pass along what needs to actually be said. Proverbs 10, 19, in the multitude of words, there wanteth not sin, but he that refraineth his lips is wise. And we look at that and it's like, there wanteth not sin. Well, hey, that means that we're not gonna be any sin. No, no, no, actually the word wanteth means to cease. There ceaseth not to be sin. Because we're just sitting here running our mouths nonstop. And I realize some people are sitting there saying, ain't that what you're doing preacher? You just running your mouth nonstop too. There's a difference. This is a sermon versus us going out there and telling things that we got no business telling. But we just crave it. And some people, their craving of gossip is because they love to hear their own voice. Some it's because simply because they love to talk. And some it's because they love to be the center of attention. Now, I realize there is that old statement, I guess we'll put it that way. I don't repeat gossip, so listen the first time. That's a joke, okay? But some people, they take that a bit more to heart. It's not gossip if I only tell it one time. No, it's gossip no matter how many times you tell it, if it's not being done correctly, if it's not just you conveying information to help somebody. So there's more to gossip than just talking about it. Gossip consumes you. And that's our next point, the consuming of gossip, because it is a self-consuming beast. James 1, verse 26, "...if any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain." The word vain literally means empty. There's no substance to it. You need more and more of the gossip that you're bringing in to keep yourself full because the gossip is hollowing you out. It's eating you from the inside out. And you could sit there, you could be on the front row of the church right there in the spit section. So what's the spit section? That's the part when that preacher's up there, he's hacking away. I'm the Lord's head, head, head, head. And the spit is just flying and you're right there where that spit lands, okay? You could be sitting right there. But if all you are is a gossip, you can listen to that sermon all you want. It's just going in and vaporizing, because you are so consumed by gossip. Proverbs 13 3, He that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life, but he that openeth wide his lips shall have destruction. How in the world is gossip going to destroy me, preacher? Loss of reputation. A good reputation, I'll put it that way, because you get a bad reputation. Everybody knows. Don't tell that person anything because that person will tell everybody else. Now you're going to be losing a lot of those friends you wanted. You're going to find yourself ostracized after a while. No one wants to be near you. Be that person who walks up to the group and the group suddenly decides, you know what, it is after all time for us to disperse and poof, they're gone. Leaving you standing there all by yourself. It can happen church, it can happen. By the way, there is chastisement for gossip. God, he doesn't put up with gossip. Psalm 101 verse 5, Whoso privily slandereth his neighbor, him will I cut off. Him that hath a high look and a proud heart will not I suffer. God doesn't like gossips. And pastors don't like gossips. Even though sometimes that's the only way we hear what's going on in the church, we don't like gossips. If you're going to follow Christ, you shouldn't like the gossip and you shouldn't want gossips around you. Proverbs 19, 9 says, A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall perish. God will punish. And by the way, there are no free passes. I'm just going to give you the scripture verses here. We're not going to take the time to read them for the sake of time. But in case anyone thinks that I'm just picking on... You know, anybody and everybody except for those with any authority. The Bible says about pastors aren't allowed to gossip. Titus chapter 1 verses 7 to 11, don't do it. So the pastor, the under-shepherd of the church, is not supposed to gossip. You know, that trickles down to everybody else. Don't gossip. The mature ladies, the Bible talks about in Titus chapter 2 verses 3 to 5, don't do it. Oh hey, in case you think I'm just picking on the women, the young men, Titus chapter 2 verse 6 and it goes into chapter 3 verses 1 and 2, don't you do it. God doesn't care if you are young or old, male or female, rich or poor, don't gossip. He'll get ya. You don't want God to get ya. Because if He gets you, He's going to tear you up from the floor up. Remember, it says over there in Hebrews chapter number 12, I believe it is, God chases those whom He loveth. If He doesn't chase you, you're a bastard. You're not one of His. I'd rather not get to chasing Him because I've done right and don't deserve to be chasing. Because guess what? If I don't deserve to be chasing, my Heavenly Father is just. He's righteous. He's perfect. He won't chase me just for the fun of it. like some earthly parents do. He won't do it. So alright, so God doesn't like gossip. What do we do? Well, we need to collapse the gossip. How do we bring it into gossip? Well, you stop spreading it. Stop talking it. Stop listening to it. Proverbs 26 verse 20, where no word is, there the fire goeth out. So where there is no tail-bearer, the strike ceaseth." In other words, no fuel for the fire. You ain't even going to have smoke, because there's no fire. Proverbs 21.3, Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from troubles. Psalm 141, verse 3 and 4, said, And watch, O LORD, before my mouth. keep the door of my lips, incline not my heart to any evil thing, to practice wicked works with men that work iniquity, and let me not eat of their dainties." In other words, I hear them talking the gossip, I ignore it and walk away. We've had times they're at work. They're on the dock while we're waiting for product and all that and whatnot. Guys will start talking about various things that go on and yeah, I realize I've had many a time. Okay, I'm guilty. I will stop and I will listen to what's being said. I want to know what's going on where I work. That's one thing, but some of the stuff that they start talking about, yeah, I don't need to know. None of my business. And as soon as I hear it's none of my business, time for me to exit stage left. We also stop gossip by dealing with it directly and with witnesses. Okay, Matthew chapter 18 verse 15 to 16. Our Lord said, moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established." Note Jesus said witnesses, not those who have hearsay or have been gossiping. Those who know what's going on and can honestly testify about it. You can collapse gossip that way as well. So I've got just a couple of questions and a statement here in closing for you today. Number one, does any of this sound like it might apply to you? Number two, have we been guilty of gossiping no matter what we may call it or think about it? It actually boils down to being gossip. Hmm. And my statement is simply this, if we have to talk about someone, let's make the conversation between us and God. Our Father in heaven, we thank you, Lord, for all that you've done for us. We're grateful, Father, that your Word contains so much that any issues that we have in life, it's actually there. There's help for us there if we will just simply come to your Holy Word, read it, study it, Look, see what is there for us that can be a help to us, so that we can go about doing things correctly instead of whatever way we feel like it. Thank You Father for this. We love You Lord and we ask You Father please to help us to walk closer to You, to follow Your holy will. In the name of Jesus we do pray, Amen, Amen. I'll turn and sing the song Kneeling