gossip, etc.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Testing one, two, three. Okay, looks like we're doing pretty good.
Code Name, thanks for coming let me uh, okay, great,
here we go. So welcome everyone, Thank you for listening in.

(00:22):
I am at an event for the next two Sundays,
this Sunday and next Sunday, so my spaces are going
to be a little bit different today. I want to
talk a little bit about some different topics, including gossip,

(00:43):
and let's start with prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you for
your word, Holy Spirit. I invite you, I request you.
I ask you, Lord God, to speak to me and
each person who listens and minister to us. Grant us understanding,

(01:06):
change our hearts. God, I pray to know you and
submit ourselves to you, pursue you, love you, obey you
with our lives. Thank you, Lord for transformation to be
more like Jesus. Hallelujah in Jesus' name, Amen, Praise God.

(01:28):
So let me get started. Oh hold on, nope.

Speaker 2 (01:35):
I did.

Speaker 1 (01:36):
I did invite you Code Name to be a speaker
if you want. But I will just get started. So
the first thing I want to go over is that
it is judging and condemning. So if you are not
aware of these scriptures. I want to mention them to you.

(02:00):
I apologize I'm not as prepared as I usually would be. Okay,
Matthew seven, so let me read these are This is
a teaching of Jesus Gospel of Matthew chapter seven, starting
with verse one. Do not judge, criticized, condemn others, so

(02:23):
that you may not be judged, criticized, condemned yourselves. For
just as you judge, criticized, condemn others, you will be judged, criticized, condemned,
and in accordance with the measure you deal out to others,
it will be dealt out again to you. Now, actually,

(02:46):
I'm going to go keep going for a little bit
because it's so good. Then I'll talk about judging and condemning.
Why do you stare from without at the very small
particle that is in your brother eye, but do not
become aware of and consider the beam of timber that
is in your own eye? Or how can you say

(03:07):
to your brother, let me get that tiny particle out
of your eye, when there is the beam of timber
in your own eye, you hypocrite, First get the beam
of timber out of your own eye. Then you will
see clearly take the tiny particle out of your brother's eye.
Do not give that which is holy to the dogs.

(03:28):
Do not throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample
upon them with their feet and turn and tear you
to pieces. This is Gospel of Matthew chapter seven, verses
like one through six. Okay, so let me talk really briefly,
if I may, about judging and condemning. So one of

(03:49):
the things that I recommend to understand about judging is
that it is taking a person's behavior and equating who
they are to their behavior. So condemning is not only

(04:15):
equating them to their behavior, but saying that that is
all they will ever be. So both those things are
in defiance against God's word and defiance against the redemptive
work of Jesus Christ. And so okay, so understanding those things, now,

(04:40):
let's talk about some other things, like helping people and
examining fruit and intercession.

Speaker 2 (04:50):
Why am I bringing this up. Let me go to
gossip for a second.

Speaker 1 (04:57):
In some circles, gossip is discussed as if it is.

Speaker 2 (05:03):
Telling any other person.

Speaker 1 (05:07):
Something about somebody else that is less than positive, less
than complementary, less than good, basically, anything negative about any
other person being told to someone else. That's what they
regard and refer to gossip as So let's look at

(05:32):
some things that the Bible has to say. I think
I will go to two New Testament versus. One of
them is Romans. And yeah, so let's start with Romans

(06:06):
Chapter one versus twenty eight.

Speaker 2 (06:10):
And So, since they did not seek fit.

Speaker 1 (06:13):
To acknowledge God or approve of him or consider him worth,
the knowing God gave them over to a base, condemned
mind to do things not proper or decent, but loathsome
until they were filled, permeated, and saturated with every kind
of unrighteousness, iniquity, grasping, coveteous, greed and malice, full of envy, jealousy, murder, strife, deceit, treachery,

(06:42):
ill will, cruel ways, secret backbiters, gossipers, slanders, hateful too,
hating God, full of insolence, arrogance, boasting, inventors of new
forms of evil, disobedient and dutiful to parents without understanding, consciousless, faithless, heartless, loveless, merciful, merciless.

(07:10):
Though they are fully aware of God's righteous decree that
those who do such things deserve to die, They not
only do them themselves, but approve and applaud others who
practice them. Okay, please understand that simply telling someone else

(07:30):
about something that's not positive about another person could not
possibly fit into this list.

Speaker 2 (07:44):
The definition of gossip has to be.

Speaker 1 (07:50):
Fit.

Speaker 2 (07:50):
It has to fit with the verse. Okay. It can't
simply be examining fruit.

Speaker 1 (07:56):
It can't simply be repeating facts to someone that are
relevant to know or act upon.

Speaker 2 (08:03):
It can't be that.

Speaker 1 (08:05):
That can't be the proper definition of gossip given the context.

Speaker 2 (08:10):
Okay, hopefully I'm hoping that this is clear.

Speaker 1 (08:14):
I'm hoping I'm being a blessing in what I'm saying
and how I'm saying it. Okay, next, let's see here.
Let's look at Second Corinthians twelve. Okay, here we go,

(08:39):
Second Corinthians twelve twenty.

Speaker 2 (08:42):
Let me find this verse. Please give me just a moment.

Speaker 1 (08:47):
Okay, all right, so start Second Corinthians. This is the
second letter of Paul to the Church at corinth chapter twelve,
verse twenty. For I am fearful that somehow or other,
I may come and find you, not as I desire
to find you, and that you may find me too,

(09:07):
not as you want to find me that perhaps there
may be factions, quarreling, jealousy, temper wrath, intrigues, rivalry, divided loyalties, selfishness, whispering, gossip, arrogance,
self assertions, disorder among you. So again, repeating facts that

(09:31):
are not positive to someone else about another person that
should be known or acted upon does not belong in
a list like this. So we need to take gossip
in context, understand how the Bible is defining it by

(09:54):
looking at the contexts. Okay, now let's look at some
dictionary definition. This is from Webster's eighteen twenty eight Gossip
as a verb means to prate, the definition of prey,
a definition of.

Speaker 2 (10:11):
Prate I did not get for you.

Speaker 1 (10:12):
I apologize to chat, to talk much, to run about
and tattle, to tell idle tales.

Speaker 2 (10:22):
Okay, So, when we are sharing.

Speaker 1 (10:26):
Something that is not positive about someone to someone else
for purposes of knowledge that's needed or action that's needed,
that is not idle tales, and that is not tattling,
even because tattling is actually let me get the definition

(10:47):
of tattling, hold on one moment, to pray, to talk idly,
to use many words with little meaning. So sharing something
factual about somebody else that's not positive for the purposes
of knowledge that's needed or action that's needed, that's not

(11:12):
that doesn't fit with that definition. Okay, let's keep going.
Definition of chat to talk in a familiar manner, to
talk without.

Speaker 2 (11:22):
Form or ceremony.

Speaker 1 (11:25):
Well, there's a lot of ceremony and there's a lot
of form to presenting factual information for purposes of.

Speaker 2 (11:32):
Knowledge or action that's needed.

Speaker 1 (11:36):
So again, we need to look at and understand gossip
in a way that's in context of scripture, and that
is according to the actual meaning.

Speaker 2 (11:49):
Of the word. Okay, so let's talk about this a
little bit. Let's talk about.

Speaker 1 (11:56):
People needing to know things for for purposes of action,
knowledge that's necessary about people's fruit. So going around, Let's
say I happened to be in a nice.

Speaker 2 (12:13):
Atrium area overlooking a.

Speaker 1 (12:15):
Street, So going up and telling a bunch of strangers
walking up and down the street, telling a bunch of
strangers some negative story about Let's say I knew someone
named mister Jones, so Bob Jones. So let's say I went,
I knew something that was negative about Bob Jones, and

(12:36):
I went told ten people who don't know me and
probably don't know him on the street.

Speaker 2 (12:41):
That's idle talk. Let's say I knew let's say.

Speaker 1 (12:44):
Code name, she's listening and on this spaces Let's say
I knew that Code Name met Bob Jones, and Bob
Jones was talking to her. Let's say he was talking
to her about a business opportunity, or let's say he
was talking to her about about a relationship or something
that would involve her and not keep the keep the

(13:09):
interaction at a surface acquaintance level. But I could see
actions words, I could see things developing to where Code
Name should know the negative thing that I know about
Bob Jones and his fruit in order to make an

(13:31):
evaluation that is based on facts and reality for what
her decision, what her involvement level, what her degree of
openness is to Bob Jones. And the problem when people
define gossip as telling anybody anything about anybody else that's

(13:54):
negative is that then appropriate information is not shared with
people who need it.

Speaker 2 (14:04):
And there's a.

Speaker 1 (14:05):
Time, in a way, a place, a method, for sure.
I'm not trying to say that there isn't anything to that, Okay,
So that goes into examining fruit. Now let's talk about prayer,
So prayer changes things. If you're not used to hanging

(14:26):
around or associating with people who change things through prayer.

Speaker 2 (14:30):
Maybe you're used to going to prayer meetings.

Speaker 1 (14:32):
Where they have cookies and tea and handouts and they
take attendance, and prayer doesn't seem to be a big
factor at the prayer meeting.

Speaker 2 (14:41):
Maybe you're used.

Speaker 1 (14:42):
To prayer conferences, books on prayer t shirts that reference prayer,
handouts about prayer, little cards in a box about prayer,
little emails or pop up notifications on your phone about prayer,
but you're not used to being around people who actually pray.

(15:07):
I could see that that you would feel some caution
about having access to negative information because you don't want
things to go dark.

Speaker 2 (15:17):
But just so, just to say this, this is not
the only way to live.

Speaker 1 (15:24):
There are people who are regularly involved.

Speaker 2 (15:27):
In praying and changing things.

Speaker 1 (15:30):
In the world and with people and with people's lives
through prayer. Faith and pretending are the opposite.

Speaker 2 (15:42):
It is.

Speaker 1 (15:45):
Irresponsible and disrespectful towards someone who's prepared to use their
faith to alter reality, to bring change in the unseen
realm that manifests in this seen and physical realm to
hide or disguise or obscure or misrepresent facts and reality

(16:10):
to them, because facts and reality of what is going
on can equip the person to understand more of the context,
more of the picture, whereby to come before the Lord
and receive his wisdom in how to overcome set in
order alter what is going on. The Bible said you

(16:34):
and Jesus taught us to pray. One of the things
he said is for us to pray so that God's
will will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
So if that's not which it's not a game of pretend,
if we're all not agreeing to the same charade. If

(16:56):
that's real, then there's a lot of work to be done.
It is real, and there is a lot of work
to be done, And so it is then counterproductive to
obscure or disguise from those people who are willing to
use their faith what the reality actually is. For example,

(17:23):
Jesus talked in Mark chapter eleven about speaking to the mountain,
commanding it to be removed and be cast into the sea.

Speaker 2 (17:32):
If a mountain.

Speaker 1 (17:34):
Needs to be moved and you tell the person there
is no mountain there, then you have effectively blocked them
from using their faith and commanding the mountain to be
removed because they think there's no mountain there.

Speaker 2 (17:52):
I don't know if that's a good example or not.
I'm hoping that helps.

Speaker 1 (17:56):
So that is just a brief little talk about gossip, judging, condemning,
and helping and making a difference.

Speaker 2 (18:14):
And again to go over it.

Speaker 1 (18:21):
Some people define gossip as repeating facts that are not
positive but negative about someone to someone else.

Speaker 2 (18:36):
But this is obviously not a productive, useful, or scriptural definition,
because when the Bible talks about gossip, we need to
take it in context.

Speaker 1 (18:50):
And also looking at the definition of gossip, we can see.

Speaker 2 (18:55):
That sharing information.

Speaker 1 (18:59):
For that for productive purposes is not in line with
the definition of the word. And if people aren't familiar
or accustomed to associating their self with spiritually productive people,

(19:21):
they may end up living in a delusion or perception
of perception that the world is different than the way
that it truly is. Prayer does change things, and so

(19:45):
it's appropriate and responsible when in relationship, when in in
the fields of the Lord, in doing the work of
prayer with someone who uses their faith to share what

(20:07):
the reality is. Most of the time, if somebody uses
their faith and is a person who is spiritually productive.
They don't want to hear endless details. They're looking for applicable,
impertinent details. And again examining fruit, getting to know people

(20:30):
is important.

Speaker 2 (20:31):
It's important to.

Speaker 1 (20:33):
Get to know people and find out what's this person
up to, what are they about, what do they use
information they're given for If we will do what Jesus
said to do when he was talking about you know,
you'll know them by their fruits. If a tree produces
good fruit, it's a good tree. If a tree produces

(20:56):
evil fruit, it's an evil tree. This is a parable
about people. He made that clear, and I'm going to
leave that to you to look up. If you've never
read it and don't know where it.

Speaker 2 (21:05):
Is, go ahead and look it up. Find out.

Speaker 1 (21:09):
And another thing I'd just like to go over one
more time is that when people are encountering someone that
we have knowledge factual, not.

Speaker 2 (21:22):
Hearsay, not rumors.

Speaker 1 (21:25):
Not you know, things that we don't actually know if
it's true or not. But when we know someone's fruit
and we see someone else in a position where they
should know that it could help them to know what
we know, it is not right for us to withhold

(21:51):
that information from them really to our own self interest.
That's what it kind of comes down to. After a while,
it's good and it's right for us to find and
obviously be praying about it, looking for a time and

(22:13):
a place and a means whereby to share the information
the facts that would be appropriate for them to know
for their own decision making. So I'm hopeful that this
brief conversation here, this brief recording that I'm making, is
helpful to you and encouraging, it gives you, gives you

(22:37):
some food for thought. I'm not trying to tell you
what to think, or tell you what to do, or
tell you what you believe. I do not put myself
out there to be an example or to be a leader,
follow me or anything like that. But I would like
to help you, and I would like to serve you.
And if the things that I say can lift you up,
encourage you, provide for you some something useful to you,

(23:04):
great please take it, run with it. And even if
the Holy Spirit shows you adjust this here, adjust that there.
You don't have to be doing what I say.

Speaker 2 (23:18):
Take it.

Speaker 1 (23:19):
Let the Holy Spirit work with you how you are
in the path and future God has for you, And
and just let me be be serving you, not telling
you what to do, telling you what to think, telling
you what to you what to believe, because ultimately, this
is your walk, this is your call from God, this

(23:40):
is your assignment from Him. And so I'm hopeful that
that's I'm hopeful that that is helpful and gives you
some things to work with.

Speaker 2 (23:51):
You on your way. And I'm sure that.

Speaker 1 (23:55):
Any number of people will improve any number of ways
upon the things that I've shared in this recording. But
thanks for listening. God bless you guys. Talk to you
another time.

Speaker 2 (24:06):
Bye,