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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . And I'm pretty sure everyone got all the moms got something this morning right everyone else got a got a gift very good We appreciate you appreciate the hard work that your mom's put in it's not easy not an easy job, but I'm sure the kids especially are appreciate you We've got the May challenge this month is a baptism challenge, so praise God We already got one we got one baptism for the month. We've got another I Forget three may be scheduled for tomorrow at camp, so That's gonna be pretty exciting if you get down to camp tomorrow And you want to you know I'll try to round some people up when we're gonna do the baptism whoever's around I'll just kind of drive by and let you know hey, we're gonna do a baptism We're gonna do all of our baptisms at the lake. There's a there's a beach and a lake If you haven't been there before if you've been there, you know where it is if you haven't been there We've got maps out front so go ahead and either take a picture of the map or help yourself to a map if we need Any more I could print them out no problem, and that kind of tells you with the layouts of where everything's at and then Let's see of course the camping trip is this week. I already mentioned this morning. I'll bring it up again real quick If if if you get there, and you want to check in get your parking pass Just Ask if they've received the list from me yet, so that way you know if I have arrived because otherwise They won't really know what you're talking about, and I really want things to go smooth that check in for everybody So I don't care what time you show up at the at the event right at the camp Just understand that I have to be there kind of straighten everything out before I really want you getting All of your stuff taken care of because I really don't want any confusion So if you could just you know even if you say oh, I don't care. I'll get my own parking pass I'll pay for it or whatever It's better. It's gonna be a lot easier for me. If you just wait just hold off a little bit until I get there I'm gonna be out there pretty early on early afternoon like by one o'clock I'm planning on being there if not earlier So I really want to make sure I get a chance to talk to them And and it will help out tremendously if we don't have any special cases of people going oh, yeah But I'm just gonna do this and I'm gonna do that Let's let let the list arrive because as soon as you start doing one-offs and then things get confusing So appreciate your your help with that and anyways by waiting you get the parking paid for which we plan doing anyhow, so Looking forward to seeing everybody there and as I mentioned previously and if there's anyone watching livestream, you know, come on out We've got a couple of spots still available. So we'd love to have you join us Even if it's just for a day or two Come on out and and join our camping trip. We've got the Bible memory passage Of course, the deadline is tonight for Hebrews chapter 2 for those of you who have not Quoted that chapter make sure you get that Quoted to someone out loud where you can check your work make sure you quote a word perfect before midnight tonight I counted seven people total. So if you did not raise your hand this morning, but you say pastor persons I'm gonna have this done by tonight. Just just slip your hand up real quick If you're gonna get that done and you didn't already raise your hand Just want to make sure I'm not missing anybody. All right, very good We started in Hebrew chapter 3 this week. This is a great opportunity, especially if you're going camping this week You're going camping this week, you're probably not working right for one we're gonna be having plenty of time to rest relax and memorize six verses right Spend a little bit of that time as you're lounging Resting leaning back. Maybe you got a hammock. You're gonna kind of enjoy the weather Bring bring this with you get at least get the first two verses done, right? Six verses it's not that much to ask three weeks is a long time to get six verses memorized so, you know, and if you do this, you're gonna you're gonna get a prize for that so I Encourage you all to participate in Hebrews 3 we got the upcoming events listed there. Of course with the the camping trip baby shower Pastor Robinson, Jason Robinson's gonna be here June 5th. So it's gonna be awesome He's gonna be preaching for us on that Sunday And then we've got the anniversary picnic on Saturday the 25th followed by the 26 being the actual anniversary Sunday and then pastor answers gonna be preaching for us on July 10th. Now. I did want to make one more reference for the Camping trip There was an event that did not make it on the calendar that's scheduled for Tuesday afternoon and that is a singles event for 18 plus singles every 18 or older and a single if you want to The whole point is just to get a chance to have some icebreakers meet people See other people from camp if you don't already know them and kind of make some new friends and mrs. Rogers has volunteered to be in charge of that event and You'll be doing some I think some pretty basic things Maybe some games and just some good wholesome fun for people to get to a chance to know one another At camp, so if you have any anyone in that range, that's single That's gonna be on Tuesday afternoon and tomorrow night. I'm every night of the camp I will be giving a rundown of the next day's Activities the next day's event so I'll make sure everybody is aware of all the times and things that are going on In case someone didn't get a schedule or someone forgot or whatever I'll be going through that every evening. So what time was that one gonna be do you remember 1 p.m. okay, so 1 p.m. On Tuesday for singles and Let's see We got the birthdays and anniversaries down there at the bottom of the page, of course at the end on the back We've got the picture of Everly Everly Claire Doty and she was born on Friday all the stats are there and Everything went really well. So appreciate your prayers For her and then if you wanted to do the meal train just get ahold of either my wife or mrs. Mosteller Is there anything else that I'm missing? I Was wise no, no. All right, very good Oh before we I have a question because I just popped in my head Do we have song books set aside for nursing home stuff or no? Okay, so we've just been using what's what's an auditorium? Okay, I'm gonna be collecting some of these books for camp I would also recommend this if you if you have like my family We have some song books that we have at home That we use to sing from at home if you have any of those at home It would be a little helpful if you if you remember to bring those with you to the camp and then take them back home with you Because It would just be helpful, right? We're not gonna have enough for everyone to go around We're gonna have a lot of people at camp But I don't want to take all of our song books away from here to bring them to camp so if you have some it would be helpful to bring your own but Obviously You know, I'm planning we're planning on having some of the relatively probably easier well-known songs To sing during during the camp. Yes Yes, yes, yes, yes good point too we are planning on doing sword drills or And or Bible tribute we're gonna do some activities for the kids right before the preaching Similar to what we did last year. Pastor Thompson did some sword drills. So any kids that are of reading age We're gonna try to separate into some groups So let's so try to be as fair as possible so that the little ones have an opportunity to win a prize So that the older kids aren't just you know, nailing it every time But we're gonna we're gonna do some fun things like that for the kids. We've got a ton of prizes to give away Hopefully let's try to make a really a really fun time out of out of that. So Remember to bring Bibles because it's it's not gonna work to use your cell phone or a digital device To get to the verse that you have to turn to for your sword drill. That's unacceptable We're not gonna let you do a quick keyword search and be like, alright, there we go. We're I'm on it So it's got to be physical. You got to know where to find places in a physical Bible But but make sure you bring some of those with you If you don't have a Bible of your own take one that's out on the bookshelf and that could be yours to keep anyways Alright that's about it for announcements brother Peter. You please lead us in our next song Right church, you know if your handles a song 184 Song 184 I love thee my Jesus so I The first words can I find to tell Jesus I love Me Because of my And the news Shadows I love me my Jesus Rejoice me I love me my Savior I For me I Love me my Savior My phrases be This My sins all The Savior's word is done In the morning and the noontime Evening shadows, I love me my Jesus In rejoicing I love me my Savior Oh Evening shadows, I love me my Jesus. I love me my Rejoicing I love me my Savior In Church while the offering plates are being passed around if you can open up your Bibles to the book of Ephesians chapter 4 It's the book of Ephesians chapter 4 and as we do customary here at stronghold Baptist Church We're gonna read the entire chapter and I'm gonna ask brother Devin if he can please do that for us I Therefore the Lord beseech you that you walk worthy of the vacation where with you are called with all Oh in this and meekness with long suffering forbearing one another in love Endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace There is one body and one spirit even as you're called in one Hope of your calling one Lord one faith one baptism One God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ Wherefore he saith when he ascended up on high he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men Now that he ascended what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth He that descended is the same also that us ended up far above all heavens that he might fill all things And he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers For the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ Till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God Unto a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ That we henceforth be no more Children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine By the sleight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive But speaking the truth and love may grow up into him in all things, which is the head even Christ From whom the whole body fitly joined together are in Compacted by that which every joint supply of according to the effectual working in the measure of every part Make it increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love This I say therefore and testify in the Lord that he henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind Having the understanding Darken being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness to work all uncleanness? With greediness, but she have not so learned Christ If so be that you have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus That she put off concerning the former conversation the old man Which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts and be renewed in the spirit of your mind And that she put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness Wherefore putting away lying speak every man truth with his neighbor for we are members one of another Be angry and sin not let the Sun let not the Sun go down upon your wrath Now to give place to the devil let him that stole still no more But rather let him labor working with his hands the thing which is good that he may have to give to him that needed Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth but that which is good to the use of edifying that it may minister grace unto the hearers and Grief not the Holy Spirit of God whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and eel speaking be put away From you with all malice and be kind one to another Tender-hearted forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake have forgiven you brother Matt Johnson you mind praying for You All right, so my sermon this afternoon Actually not planning on being a really long sermon but it's a very simple message and it's something that we need to let's need to cover from time to time and What I'm gonna ask you to do today And Really what you should be doing in general with sermons is applying it to yourself Okay, don't be thinking like oh man this person really needs to hear this or this person, you know apply it to you okay, apply it as as it as it's fit right and There's gonna be something for everybody in here So whether you're guilty or not of the sin that I'm going to be talking about and I'm gonna tell you this Everybody's guilty to various degrees of the sin I'm gonna be covering this afternoon But to whatever extent you are it is what it is. Try to get that right apply it to yourself But then there's also another aspect of this is how to deal with people who are guilty of this sin That everyone's gonna need to be paying attention to as well Because what I'm gonna be talking about here is a sin that we do with our mouth And this is the the sins that we commit with our speech with our mouth are some of the easiest sins to commit It's it's it's not one of the hardest things to tame We're gonna be looking at James chapter 3 a little bit later But but this is this is definitely an area that everybody needs work on in general. Okay? Everybody says things they don't really mean or that they know they shouldn't have said it happens Okay, so so just take this apply it to yourself as appropriate and don't be you know Because part of this has to do with talking about other people, right? And if you could control your thoughts about just thinking about other bellman this person is it That will help you not to get involved with some of these sins about talking about other people Right, we're not so worried about other people sitting and doing this thing wrong. Then you won't be saying the things That you shouldn't be saying anyways Okay, so let's get into this Chapter 4 verse 29 what we read there says let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth I'm gonna read for you from 1st Corinthians chapter 15 Because it's this concept of corrupt communication This is the command and not like corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth in 1st Corinthians 15 verse 33 The Bible says be not deceived evil communications corrupt Good manners now It seems to me these days It's ever more important for churches to be teaching manners Good manners to people. I don't know where the problem completely has stemmed from it's something that should be taught at home and And should just begin with parents teaching their children proper manners I Don't know if it's just the the previous generation that has completely dropped the ball in this or If it's the kind of the culture at large has gotten Very very like kind of losing respect and losing you know kind of kind of Speaking and communicating with people on a buddy-buddy level as opposed to Treating people with respect. That's a lot of where manners comes from is treating people with respect Right being knowing how to act appropriately out in public in front of other people and manners Literally is going to come from the the Christ like mindset of esteeming others better than yourself To where you are going to pay attention to what you're doing be polite to other people show them respect and treat them the way that you would want to be treated and Somewhere along the way, you know treating people with respect even in little things Okay, you might say basketball is not a big deal, but it's it's it's kind of a big picture Okay, where people would would treat say greeting an older person that you don't know by their last name, mr So and so or mrs. So and so right real simple things like that along the way things have just gotten to this first-name basis Even with people you don't even know I? Don't want to get too deep into into manners as much because there's a focus that I want to cover with the evil communications But these are areas that that ought to be dealt with at home and Used to be dealt with at home whether you were religious or not It's just the way that we were just the way the culture was but that's that's kind of It's on its way out. It seems So these are areas that well, you know what you're gonna hear it in church If you didn't hear it at home if mom and dad didn't teach you about manners. Well, guess what now it's time to learn some manners Okay, and we need to learn manners there's a lot of area that you could cover with manners Manners and what you should be talking to what we're talking about With other people just in general. Okay using proper manners with talking people so that we don't have evil Communications because the evil communications will corrupt your good manners. It goes beyond having good manners and saying okay Well now my manners have been corrupted because I'm speaking about things that are evil that I shouldn't be speaking about So and I just wanted to bring that up because that's where the title my sermon comes from evil communications corrupt good manners Very similar to the phrase there in Ephesians 4 verse 29 if I look down at your Bible that says let no corrupt communication Proceed out of your mouth. So in order to do this, we need to have a filter between our brain and our mouth Right to stop the flow of the communication that's gonna come out if you could identify it as being corrupt Wait a minute, maybe I shouldn't say this. Wait a minute. Maybe this isn't appropriate. Hold on a second and The way you're gonna identify that is based off of what the scripture says And some common sense, okay, but yes primarily off of what the scripture says It says but that which is good to the use of edifying that it may minister grace unto the hearers so it's contrasting corrupt communication With saying things that are good and useful for edifying people and ministering grace under the here's When it comes to just being taught manners This can be summed up with the teaching if you don't have anything nice to say don't say it at all Okay now it's not 100% a literal translation of that But it's it's kind of a good rule of thumb Now Obviously there's going to be times where you need to tell the truth to people and it's not going to it may not sound nice Okay, that's not what this is talking about. And that's not what I'm talking about But you know just as long as we're aware there's general principles of general rules If and this is probably gonna be the overarching theme of the rest of the sermon if you're gonna talk about somebody Especially Think about what purpose does this serve? Am I edifying the person I'm speaking to by referencing someone else Or my enemy is anyone gonna be edified by this if not, maybe you shouldn't say it It's Too easy to get caught up in the gossiping the busy bodiness of just talking trash about other people and And you know, what am I talking about here? The can you believe so-and-so did this? Can you believe so-and-so said that? What Purpose does that serve if? Somebody does something that you think is out of the ordinary. It's kind of weird. It's it's maybe sinful. We go What purpose does it serve by you talking about that person to somebody else? Who are you edifying You have to watch your mouth because More than likely you're probably getting involved in other people's business That you should not be getting involved with or you're speaking evil about a brother or sister in Christ for no reason at all Continuing on here in Ephesians 4 verse 30 says and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption It's a grief to God Especially the Holy Spirit that resides within you When you're having conversations of things that are inappropriate or evil communication or you're talking trash about someone That is not edifying at all. God is grieved by that. The Holy Spirit is grieved as A participant in a way of that of that conversation just by simply virtue of being within you verse 31 says let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and Evil speaking be put away from you with all malice now if we look at those different attributes there of the things we're putting away bitterness wrath and I mean wrath and anger are pretty much the same thing and malice all of those things are very similar if not exactly the same and Evil speaking and what is it that people say things that they ought not usually it's because They're bitter about something or someone or they're angry at them and they want to just Start talking now and the evil speaking is meant to intend harm If you think about the word evil when God brings evil against people he's gonna bring harm or damage to them When you are speaking about someone else now, it doesn't have to be physical harm It doesn't necessarily you know evil speaking doesn't necessarily mean you're saying I'm gonna punch this guy's lights out the next time I see him. I mean that could be one form of evil speaking, but basically you're causing damage to their reputation You're causing damage to their you know just their social standing or whatever you want to call it to their to their To who they are to the person just by talking about them in a negative way. You're evil speaking And then it says here in verse 32 of course and be kind one to another Tender hearted means you're soft-hearted, right? Forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you now evil speaking could be done Whether someone has done you wrong or not? And I could also say this evil speaking is done whether or not what you're saying is true Now look if you're railing on someone and you're bringing up railing Accusations you things you don't know or you can't verify or just flat-out lies That's wicked and that's wrong of course and everyone should know that But even if the things that you're saying are true about someone else that doesn't mean it's always Appropriate to talk about those things and to start spreading or gossiping or spreading rumors about people Even if it's true saying oh, yeah, so and so did this so and so did that what's the purpose? What is the purpose? And you have to ask yourself that question before you're gonna start blabbing on with your mouth About the juicy news or whatever it is that you want to talk about Or the shock can you believe they did look It serves no point Cuz here's the thing if something like that happened. Let's say someone Trying to think of an example. There's nothing to do with anybody Let's say someone shows. Let's say someone shows up to shirt to church tonight And It's kind of a silly example, but just just bear with me because this is going to demonstrate just in general what we should be thinking about and They're wearing clothing that's kind of odd like maybe they have plaid pants and And some weird color golf shirt or something, right? It's a normal person, but they come in just kind of dressed out of the ordinary Everybody's gonna know that that's out of the ordinary, right? You don't need to start making a big deal out of it and kind of point. Oh, man Can you believe that they now look? Wearing something funny and talking about that is also not like that big of a deal just in general, but but my point is if it's not if it's not gonna do any, you know, if it's gonna do some damage to the reputation or Or you're kind of talking about people to make fun of them Right, that is evil speaking You shouldn't you shouldn't be looking down on people for especially for something so silly as that and then trying to get other people To kind of think the same way right or to to mock or laugh at people That might just have something some kind of a silly difference or whatever and that's kind of a that's an example You know, it doesn't really happen in that much I guess but my point is to be thinking about people about things before you speak to to Consider what's the value and what's the purpose of this? You know, the Bible says that in in much speaking There wanteth not sin So when when you use a lot of words and you keep on talking and talking talking for people have a hard time Controlling your mouth. You're gonna find yourself involved a lot more sin just because you're talking a lot The Bible says that even a fool When he holdeth his peace is Proceed, you know, he's seen to be a wise person So if someone could be a complete fool, but if they don't say very much Pika people could just be like wow, they're kind they must be kind of wise because they're not saying anything and It's a good way to be if you if you don't know very much and you don't have a lot of knowledge My recommendation keep your mouth shut Some People talk just to hear themselves talk I Remember a long time ago being in a group of guys and like I Never really would would say a lot and then someone finally asked me like why don't you really you know? You know you look like you've got all kinds of things to say right and because there's just me and this other guy and we hadn't hung out a whole lot, but I was usually one of the quiet ones and He's like now that you're like it's just us like you always look like you got something to say man what you know I'm just kind of like well, I don't really have anything to say So he was kind of thinking like like I must have all this wisdom Because I didn't say much when in reality. I was just like I don't really have anything Anything at all. I don't know that much about things. So I'm just kind of not not saying anything but We should be able to practice that self-control right now I did it cuz I was shy like I didn't I didn't really want to want to I wasn't the center of attention didn't want to be but And you know what? There's not a problem of people like Talking and everything else But just all the more reason and to pay attention to what you're saying if you are a person that likes to talk a lot Right and pay attention to things that you say so you're not gonna wind up Committing some sin because you start talking about things are inappropriate talking about things that you shouldn't be talking about now I'll turn you over to James chapter 3 James 3 is an excellent job of just giving us a great warning on how big of a deal this is With the language that's used here You Things you might think aren't that big of a deal or kind of start off real small can become really big really fast words that you that you say without giving much thought Can turn into big big issues? You say something that's really offensive to someone else Without even giving it any thought can cause a lot of problems. I mean Especially if it's someone you're friends with or someone that someone else is friends with you say something stupid to someone and that just so happens to be their best friend or whatever you can start causing a lot of problems and For no good reason at all if the thing that you had to say just has nothing to do with anything, what's the point and Remember that here in church too, right like Especially I would say almost of all places, you know, we are commanded to love the brethren first of all We're commanded to love the brethren here we all ought to have a love one for another as brothers and sisters in Christ that familial type of love that kinship and love one for another and You know, we should not be tolerating people who are going to talk trash about someone else in this church because if you love them, you're not going to want to tolerate that either and you shouldn't and Everybody ought to think twice because if you want to make enemies really fast That's one good way to do it. If you want to have a lot of people not like you at all Start talking crap about people Because the more you have a P a family where everyone loves each other and you come in trying to talk trash about people No one's gonna like you and for good reason And it you may think it's harmless or you might not give it much thought But you know what? It's gonna do damage either to the person you're talking about or to yourself James 3 look at verse number 5 the Bible says even so the tongue is a little member and boasteth great things behold How great a matter a little fire came with it only takes a spark it only takes just a little bit of flame to cause huge destruction and Once that flame gets out of control man, watch out It doesn't take much verse 6 says the tongue is a fire a world of Iniquity and don't let that slip by a world of iniquity That's that's a lot of iniquity, right? I mean, how big is our world? Everybody lives on it. It's massive. It's huge a world of iniquity. What's an equity sin? One Small little piece of our body is Capable of producing a world of iniquity It's a big deal now on the same token, right? You got to remember With how much good can be done using your words using your tongue using your speech using your language The amount of good that can that can get a person from going to hell to going to heaven, right? There's so much power in our words and in the speech matters and people are Impacted and influenced by the things that we say for all manner of good. It's great It's a great use but you know what the opposite is also true Words could be used to do a lot of damage and to hurt a lot of people and to cause a lot of pain So that's all the more reason why we gotta be so careful because our tongue man It's it's capable of bringing a world of iniquity So is the tongue among our members were six and that it defile it the whole body and set it on fire the course of Nature and is set it is set on fire of hell For every kind of beasts and of birds and of serpents and of things in the sea is Tamed and have been tamed of mankind, but the tongue can no man tame. It is an unruly evil full of deadly poison Well that doesn't spell it out for you, man. We ever watch out and be careful with our tongues, right? Because Obviously the the Bible using a lot of colorful language here to help us understand But saying you you know, you can't even fully tame it which means Try not to say as much You don't have to go on and on and on and on and on Because if you do some of that poison that deadly poison is bound to come out Jump down to verse 13 the Bible says who is a wise man and dude with knowledge among you Let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom But if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts glory not and lie not against the truth This wisdom to send if not from above but is earthly Sensual devilish for where envying and strife is there is confusion in every evil work So a lot of this to a lot of the evil speaking and the problems with the tongue comes from envying and strife And being other people striving about things, you know If you have envy for someone you definitely should not be talking about them at all You got to take care of that envy problem. First of all But it's it's only gonna cause more problems with your lips or with your tongue verse 17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure then peaceable gentle and easy to be entreated full of mercy and good fruits without Sociality and without hypocrisy and the fruit of the righteous is sown in peace of them that make peace we should be interested in peace and you know as much as I within you be at peace with everybody with your neighbors and especially within church Right. We don't want to have problems with people. We want to be in harmony. We want to be in peace We want to be in one accord and striving together the work that we have to do not having strife within us First Timothy chapter 5 we're almost we're actually almost done with looking at scriptures and then I'm gonna rant for a little while and Then we'll be done All right. I told you it's not gonna be that long of a sermon The concept is simple But I want I want to bring everyone's attention this evening to this point of being careful with our words With our words because it's so easy to let them go It's so easy to say things we should it's so easy to get caught up in gossip and and and just talking about things that serve No purpose Now here's something that would serve a purpose if you're gonna talk evil about somebody Would be like you witness a crime and they need to be like held responsible for something There's a there's a good time now. Now. Here's the thing That's not the right time to start talking to everybody else about that problem But going to whoever needs to be talked to and talking to them about it right, so whoever the authority is if Someone like does something really bad and you need to go to the cops and you tell them about then that's what you do Right or if there's something Serious going on in church that you might need to break fellowship with somebody over then Yeah, it might be time to come and let me know Hey, this is what happened. But but here's the thing with that now it's gonna cover this a little bit later But just understand there is an appropriate way of dealing with these things if you want to bring something to my attention about someone else in This church you see someone doing something you hear someone doing something you better be prepared for me to say Alright, I'm gonna call that other person up right now or go talk to him and we're gonna deal with this Right now and everyone's gonna know and they're gonna know that you are bringing this to me Because I cannot receive People speaking evil about someone else even if it's true if you're just gonna say something about someone I can't just take that I can't receive that that would be wrong of me to say Oh, okay. This person's doing this thing wrong and you're saying this to me. Well, I'm gonna believe you and not them. No So I'll just deal with it right away because then I need to find out Well, are you just being a gossip and a railer and it's in slandering someone's name or not? because if you are you ought to be ashamed of yourself and If you're not well, let's just deal with this now then But instead of getting me involved guess what you could deal with it And I'm not saying this because like oh man, I'm just sick of everybody coming to me. That's not it at all But just understand this is the way it's going to be and I understand. I know it's not comfortable dealing with people especially about something that's like oh, I don't I mean, what do I do they said this and They shouldn't have said that that's wrong. Well, you know before I even get into first Timothy 5. Let's just deal with this now Proverbs 25 has the answer to this Proverbs 25 has the biblical way of dealing with people who are who are speaking Evil who are saying things that they ought not to be saying whether it be a backbiting or railing You know something along these lines You say what what's backbiting backbiting is literally biting on someone else like talking bad about them behind their back That's what backbiting is because we'll probably look at a couple verses that talk about that Railing is bringing up accusations against people right usually false accusations against people And Gossiping we all know what gossiping is the Bible usually first that about being a busybody Because you kind of get involved in matters that don't concern you really at all And you're just talking about things to talk about them someone else's business And that's where we're gonna do is look at some of that But here's the deal because I started going into this already anyways how to deal with corrupt communication from others This applies to everybody so you don't go to in your Bibles the second opinions and Say oh go tell a pastor or his wife that someone's saying things. They shouldn't say that's not what the Bible says You go to Proverbs 25 verse 23 the Bible says the north wind driveth away rain So does an angry countenance a backbiting tongue The what is that an anger your countenance is your face So when people say things they ought not you need to express That that does not sit well with you at all It is uncomfortable to do, but I'm gonna say this if you love that person you should do this You should It's better to have that discomfort It's better to have somebody get huffy and puffy and maybe a little angry because you're giving them a nasty look going You shouldn't be saying that It's better to deal with it early Then to let that person continue, and then if you stick around guess what now you're starting to participate Participate in Their evil because when you don't say anything that silence is consent You are assenting to what they're saying when you don't oppose it Okay, so instead and running and tattling about that to someone else if you are involved with that you deal with that at the time This is what needs to be done like I said, it's not comfortable I Understand not liking conflict. I don't like conflict. I don't I Really really don't like it, but I'll deal with it when I have to And that's the way you need to be just if things come your way whether you invited it or not Well, we all have things that we have to deal with that. We don't like I Don't like spanking my children, but you know what it has to be done, so I do it There's a lot of things. I don't like doing at my secular job either But guess what if it's part of my job I do it Right you can't run away from things if you don't if you don't like something you can't just run away from it Jonah didn't want to preach How did that turn out for Jonah? He could have just went and preached and obeyed God and then everything would have been a lot better for him But then we wouldn't have gotten all those awesome chapters So I'm kind of I'm kind of torn on that half of me really likes that he didn't want to go because we got an awesome story out of it and some great teaching but Man, he might he might not have the same perspective So that's how you deal with it, okay, it's real simple Express your discontent and hopefully that can squash these problems and look we all have to understand Everybody is probably guilty of this to one extent or another Saying things you ought not to say We need to keep tabs and keep track of our tongue and make sure that we're not just getting involved in gossip And look, you know, I kind of bring up a lot about our church because I care about our church and I love everybody here right But even anywhere out in the world You shouldn't be doing this to anybody. I Mean it's not it's not just all of a sudden. Okay to be a gossiper about Someone on the job that's unsaved or say like well, they're not even saved who cares it's still the same thing Did I return to first Timothy 5 look at first Timothy 5 And you know, I mentioned this morning how men and women are different my God built us different This is also one of those things that is more common of a sin with women than it is with men It's just a fact It's a wave meant the way Women are built is a little bit different than with then with men and as far as just talking about things Because a lot of men don't really talk about anything Other than work or I don't have that many friends. So I don't talk to people about a whole lot of stuff right maybe like guns or Or I mean, I don't do this but maybe like TV shows or something right? I mean, it's like that's it you're gonna get your cars or whatever the hobby is like Like that's kind of what guys do whatever they're into is what gonna be the conversation is about And I know this is true in my family. I know it's true in other families as well It's not I don't just have that much of a weird family But like the man I have all you know, just brothers So my mom is like the only female in my family and guess who's doing all the phone calls It's my mom, you know often I call my brothers or they call me Almost never I'm not bragging about the but just it's just the way we are. Does it mean that we hate each other? We don't love each other. No, not at all Of course, we love each other. I mean my family right like I love my dad too, but I just we don't We don't talk very much And thank God right because mom like holds everybody together Like like make sure that there's we kind of know what's going on in people's lives because mom is there to do that facilitate that So so that's great And I think that's part of the reason why God probably made you know women with these skills to be really Interpersonal and have a lot more and look you probably noticed that in this church, too I'll say this right now if you don't get very much personal attention from me or emails from me or text messages from me It's nothing against you At all, I promise it doesn't mean I don't like you. I Think you're great All of you I think you're great I Just don't do the communic, you know that that communication That much right so You know My wife does a lot of that Leslie kind of communicates with people a lot better than I do here and it's more just knowing Everything that's going on. It's not because I don't care about you. It's just because I'm a guy All right See I'm getting some amens the guys are saying look that's right. I'm getting confirmation. I'm not the weird one All right, men are different than women in that regard. So because of that Naturally because women are just are just better at kind of communicating and doing all this stuff they have a tendency then more to get involved with gossip and some other areas that that Men just I'm not saying men can't do this. Of course men can do this in two I'm not saying they can't it's just a lot more likely that you're gonna find women being guilty of this men So just your women ladies pay extra attention, you know kind of be careful with what you're saying and You know I bring that up as we go to 1st Timothy chapter 5 Because this the verse number 13 that we're look at is talking about the younger widows talking about the younger women It says and with all they learn to be idle Wandering about from house to house and not only idle but toddlers also in busybodies Speaking things which they ought not I will therefore that the younger women marry bare children guide the house Give none occasion the adversary speak reproachfully for some are already turned aside after Satan so these things about toddlers busybody speaking things which you ought not again That's gonna be turned aside after Satan And why does that happen? It usually happens when people don't have a lot of work That that's where a lot of this comes from Because just like you said first Timothy chapter 5 they learn to be idle The younger you know these these widows that were serving their family are serving their husband now that now they become a widow and they're Younger and then they kind of find themselves not having as much to do They end up just getting involved in everyone else's business and going from house to house and being toddlers and busybodies instead of you Saying look don't do that The more things you have to occupy your time the less time you have to get into other people's business It's funny I went in into a break room and we have these TVs like there's always TVs playing and In the morning or some morning shows like some news. I don't know I don't know I don't know very much about about this stuff right and they have these different guests on and you know, I kind of thank God like for the most part because I've been so kind of removed from from The movies and TV, you know, like a lot of stuff that's popular these days. I'm kind of out of the loop on You know, I have to see stuff on social media or whatever to kind of to know what's going on But I couldn't tell you who an actor is anymore unless it's some old actor from when I you know from a decade or so ago I Don't even really know so like they're they're watching some guy and some Don't remember what the because there's a couple other people there in the room and they were telling me who this person is Just like yeah, whatever I don't care, you know, like I don't know who these people are and I don't care what they have to say And you know, I don't care because I'm too busy I've been busy at work all week. I've been putting in all kinds of overtime I'm not thinking about anything that this guy has to say. I don't care what he has to say I don't know what movie he was in. It means nothing. Oh, but he's so nice great That's fine. I don't care. I came in here to get a coffee Because I was up really late and I got to work a lot Staying busy is gonna keep you from me like I can't even get involved in gossip Because I don't even know who these people are You know, but whatever right the whole point is keep yourself busy All right So the more you have to do the less likely you're gonna be finding yourself even in situations to begin with Obviously, there's all there always seems to be time to do this though So Verse 14 says are we sorry we read through all these I wanted to read first Peter chapter 4 verse 15 The Bible says but let none of you suffer as a murderer or thief or as an evildoer or a busybody now here uses the word busybody But then it gives a little more clarification in other men's matters Because that's what a busybody really is getting involved in other people's business. You're being busy, but not about your work You're being busy about other people's work So this is this is what we need to make sure so I kind of boiled down Here's my last rant okay, and we're done Don't speak about things that are none of your business I Have a saying at my house When my wife and I are having a conversation we're talking about whatever my work her work We're talking about something like adult talk And my kids come up and say what are you talking about? You know my answer is none, yeah My answer is none, yeah none your business get out of here Right We need to have that it's kind of funny right and and you know, but I'm trying to teach my kids You can't just go and just know and like want to even know like it's none of your business what we're talking about You have no reason to know what we are talking about We're having a conversation and we need to be able to apply that With other people as well look at people they have something going on and they're talking and their friends or whatever Great if they want you to be involved, they'll invite you And if they don't then they won't But it is what it is, right? You don't need to be speaking about things and none your business Don't speak about things that are inappropriate and I didn't cover this very much but appropriate is very broad, right? Inappropriate things can be things that are just you know, not that shouldn't be spoken about in mixed company for sure You know male things talking about in company of women or female things in a company of men that could be inappropriate You know like biological things or something like that, you know some things that like ladies Would be appropriate for them to talk about Amongst themselves, but it's not appropriate to talk about in front of in front of men and vice versa Right or Just inappropriate because it's just something you shouldn't be talking about anyways, right? It doesn't have to be necessarily kind of like a taboo thing, but just look that's not appropriate Don't talk crap about people behind the back that's backbiting, right? I Don't really care what they're doing if they're doing something That's that's worth like I said before if someone's doing something worthy of breaking fellowship with Then go ahead and bring it up and be prepared to Have them right there Because that's not going to be let go that's gonna have to be dealt with right away and if you're not willing to do that, then don't say anything and If it's not at that level of seriousness Don't say anything Those are options Don't say anything don't say anything or be prepared to have everybody aware of what's going on Now here's the thing if someone does something it's not that big of a deal, but you kind of don't like it you don't have to like be best friends with them or hang out with them or anything just Live your life and let them live theirs But you don't have to be talking about them If you don't have something useful or helpful to say My advice don't say it right think about things are gonna be for edifying for helping people One other thing I didn't cover this really at all in the sermon, but how about this don't complain about anything ever That's not easy it's not easy it's not easy to do But I didn't bring this up because that's a whole sermon in itself murmuring complaining God hates it Everybody around you hates it. Nobody likes a complainer And if you have a complainer in your life don't complain about them because now you've become the complainer See I mean it this stuff just snowballs and just kind of gets out of hand and Then you could go well. Can you believe this guy? He's complaining about this now. You're a tattler and a complainer See how great a matter a little fire can live You know I like to try to make some jokes out of it and be light-hearted about it, but it really is serious It really is serious, and these are the types of things That if they just go unchecked these break churches these split churches people get into factions And we don't have that here, and I'm glad at least not to my knowledge I mean I'm pretty sure everybody now while everyone is not necessarily all the best friends and I know that personalities don't always mesh perfectly But when you have a group this size you know I mean we have like close to a hundred people in general like You're not all going to be a perfect fit with each other of like Perfect harmony right that's fine as long as you love one another Okay, and love one another enough to not talk trash about them then everything's great because we could all work together and Someone acts a certain way or or does things you don't like or maybe was raised Culturally different or whatever and you kind of don't like that It's okay. It's okay You don't have to be best friends with that person. Just don't say anything about it you know don't be talking about that to anyone else we could all get along we all love one another and Have our differences and here's the thing too. There's gonna be people as we grow As we should and if there's this doesn't happen, then we've got our own problem anyways everyone's going to be at their own level of spiritual out spiritual growth and Especially the people who are at a higher level need to understand that and Don't have the expectations of what you do every day for everybody else Let them grow Let them grow so if people have an area, and they have a very obvious flaw Okay, well other people probably gonna see that too, but it doesn't mean you all get together and start talking about that flaw It's not going to do anyone any good other than cause separation and division because if that gets around to You know someone else the person that you're talking about now. Oh so you're talking trash about me, you know it's like and With newer believers or newer converts or people aren't that very spiritually grown that might just want them to leave Because now you're coming across as holier-than-thou No purpose for that at all Everybody needs to exhibit the grace and long-suffering To look past people's faults and not just talk about them, and that's all about them at all Just give them the grace we want. I want people who are sinners to come into this church I want people who have problems in their life to be a part of this church Why because I would like to help them through their problems People who are saved to come in Regardless of how many sins they have in their life in general and try to help them through all those problems through the teaching of God's Word And if you've been here for a while Hopefully you've experienced it yourself or maybe witnessed with other people as well growth I am thrilled with the growth I've seen in this church in the short time that we've been around I can look around the room and people who have been Here for a while. I can see growth. I've seen changes I've seen people go in their lives and become more and more godly and praise God for that and Everybody grows at a different pace and that's okay If people are growing that's awesome And we do not want to do anything to Cause that to stop Because because we're because people start talking trash about someone who's you know, maybe a newer convert or whatever Let people grow Give them the space to do that. Give them the grace to do that How would you feel if you were say a new convert or you don't really know that much and you show up to a church And you had a bunch of people pointing at you and making fun of you. I Wouldn't want to go to that church Not for a second My last little rant statement And then we'll close with this gossiping lying railing backbiting complaining They're all sins that you commit with your mouth I Would consider all to be corrupt communication, it's not good. It's not godly. It doesn't help edify anybody Those are all sins. But as I mentioned before they're also all ways to get people not to like you Because who wants to be around a railer backstabber backbiter, you know gossip complainer Not me I don't have time for that, right So you deal with that by by giving them the nasty look, you know, it's it's it's not fun, but it's necessary We have to deal with things that are not fun, but hopefully if you could just do it, right You know that person might be might be mad at you And they might not want to talk to you. But you know what at least you could know you did what's right. I Mean if they're in there, I mean they're in the wrong doing stuff like that Anyways, they need to be told it doesn't mean you hate them. All right, you do those things you say those things because you love them It's it's to stop the behavior and And similar it's not exactly the same because it's it's much more severe but similarly and when I say what's more severe is is the the you know, what people call shunning or you know, The church discipline of putting away evil people from among you Like the Bible says in first Corinthians that that is much more severe, but that's also not pleasant But that's something you do because it's helpful for them to under to get understand. Hey, I did something wrong People need to have that in their life They need to hit a point and have some type of consequences of going Wow, I didn't realize what I was doing was that bad that people don't even want to go eat with me This isn't quite as bad. This is a different, you know different type of sin this isn't something you break fellowship over but it is something that you should say you should give the nasty look to and Drive away those types of comments and make sure it's clear Hey, I don't appreciate that and I'm not going to be a participant in that type of a conversation It's for their good and it's for your good to to make sure that you don't come across as being okay with what's going on It's that simple right and you know I'm not preaching this because we've had like all kinds of some slew of problems or you know, something like that It's it just needs to be dealt with though, like The the sins with your mouth is things that happen so easily It's it's a reminder sermon Like so many others are I mean I hit on alcohol consumption a lot. I hit on All manner of sin we need these things refreshed Over and over again, it's it's it's fleshly sin that we need to get in. Like I said at the very beginning I Want everyone thinking? Oh, man, this person needed this first. I hope they're listening. Oh, man. They're not here today They're that you know, whatever That shouldn't be going on in your mind Apply this to you What one of the things I've noticed my last comment on that One thing I've noticed is the people who are always thinking about oh so and so should have heard this are Usually the very people that need to hear what they're hearing Usually that's the case when you start trying to apply it to everyone else and thinking oh man I wish they were here. You know what you need that sermon If you're here today you need the sermon if you're not here today you need the sermon We all need this sermon bottom line, let's borrow that word of prayer dear Heavenly Father Lord We thank you so much for for having a long suffering and mercy on us dear Lord. I pray to please help us We've got a great church here. I thank you for bringing together all the people here and I know there's a lot of love here and I pray that you please help us all to Know when it's appropriate to say certain things or not say certain things your Lord and I pray to please help us to keep a filter on our mouths so that even you know so that when we have a foolish thought that we don't just utter those foolish thoughts dear Lord and that we could prevent ourselves from getting into sin and and maybe even worse is causing more problems by letting that that fire come out of our tongue and cause and cause a Much more serious problem just because we're not really being mindful with the things that we say I pray to please help us all to have better consideration of the impact of our words and That you would just just be with us help us to grow and and to grow together in unity dear Lord to serve you As a whole body here. We love you. So in Jesus name we pray. Amen All right, we're gonna sing one last song before we're dismissed brother Peter, please lead us I Saw number 56 when we all get to heaven All right, let's kind of prepare for the stronghold Baptist camp trip. So let's sing this out with all our hearts. It's over 56 On the first Oh Wow Okay Me Oh Oh Amen church