Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

You've Heard It Said Pt.3

Amen! Let's turn to Matthew. We'll pick up where we were on our teaching on the Sermon on the Mount. I believe the Lord really has a word for us as a fellowship here this evening and possibly into the next couple of sessions. I'm going to talk about a subject that I think, probably in the hour that we're coming into as a fellowship, is something that we need to take very seriously. I believe it's probably one of the only things that Satan can use to destroy us as a fellowship and as individuals going into these last days--a people that are walking and pursuing holiness and hearts to walk in the light.

We, for years, have been a people that are watchmen on the wall, seeing the judgment of God, the day of the Lord at hand. We're very aware of the end times, and false prophets are going to arise deceiving many. Men will be lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. We're very aware of those aspects. As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the hour of the coming of the Son of Man. All of these things that we look, and we see the signs, they're on us, aren't they? Can you imagine? How much longer is the Lord going to allow all of this iniquity? Stop and think when He brought judgment on Babel. We're way beyond the Tower of Babel. And when He brought judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah; we're way past Sodom and Gomorrah. And in the day of Noah when all were doing what seemed right in their own eyes, the day of the Lord is at hand. We need to be aware of that and shake ourselves. Who knows if it's going to tarry? If it does, we're just going to stay about His business; amen? Just stay busy about the Kingdom of God.

What is this thing that we want to talk about? Turn to Matthew 5. We're talking about the doctrine of Jesus. He ends the Sermon on the Mount, and it says that they were astonished at His doctrine for He spoke as One that had authority, not as the Pharisees, not as the hypocrites. The authority that Jesus was representing was the demanding of the application of these truths, not just the acceptance, but to daily walk out and in our midst require, that these commandments are kept, doers of the Word, not hearers only, deceiving ourselves.

We talked about our role as salt and light as we started the study. We looked a little bit in our last session at how important it was for us to--and we'll be referring back to this through the whole study--but the fact that Jesus did not come to destroy the law, but He came to fulfill it. He said, "The great among us of the kingdom are those that do the Word [verse 19], and teach others. The least in the kingdom are those [that what?] break these commandments and teach others."

As we study through all of these different specific truths and principles, we need to understand that each one of them must be applied in our lives. Not only applied in our lives, but what? Taught and required of those around us. He says that the moment we think we're the exception; the moment we begin to step outside these boundaries; we begin to break these commandments and then teach others; not in a class, but just by our lives, by little comments that we make. We're not going to get into it tonight, but by just telling people that we have greater liberty. "We should be able to enjoy this particular freedom," judging others in either their liberties or their conscience.

Each one of us needs to walk out our own salvation with fear and trembling and be involved in the lives of those that are around us, and at the same time be ready to lift up hands that are hanging down. Paul said in Corinthians the thing that is the strength of this fellowship, "Having the same care one of another," amen? Every member doing their job, having the same care one of another. The strength of this fellowship, and one of the things that guarantees our victory and our finishing the course, is found in the love that we have for one another and the unity, the oneness that God's worked among us. The one thing that Satan is going to attack is that love and is that oneness. Jesus speaks toward that in the very next portion of His teaching.

"Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee [You've sinned against somebody, there's a breach]; Leave there thy gift before the altar..." Don't think for a moment that you have access to the presence of God when there's schism, when there's strife. The Scripture says, "Where there's bitter envying and strife, there's [say it] every evil work." He says, "So, do something about it! Don't pray about it. Don't say, ‘I'll just live with it.' Don't say, ‘That's just how they are.'" If your brother's trespassed against you, you need to reprove him. If you've trespassed, and you've sinned against a brother, the Scripture says, "Go to him. Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first [before you approach God, first, say it with me, verse 24] be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing."

So what's Jesus talking about here? "You've heard it said, "Thou shalt not kill,' but I say unto you..." First of all, and we'll talk just a moment briefly about this in the study, "Thou shalt not kill." We know that there are conscientious objectors that have always been around, men like Sergeant York.

You all remember the story of Sergeant York. He was a conscientious objector. I won't go into the whole story. I talked about it a few months back. He just didn't feel it was right--ignorant of the Scriptures to a degree. He studied; he knew the Scriptures, but not a full understanding of many of the things that some of us have come to know. Yet in his heart, he just believed that it wasn't right to take another man's life. We understand that, but he didn't have the full understanding.

As he went to war, you know the story. He said, "I'll go, but I won't kill anybody." Then as his platoon began to get mowed down around him, he began to move. He found a place that he could and he began to kill the enemy, captured them. It's a great story as it goes on. When he was asked, "I thought you said, York, that you wouldn't take another man's life"? He said, "All I know is this. Those guns were mowing down and killing everybody around me, and somebody had to stop those guns." So he said, "Let me get this straight. You took life to save life?" He said, "Yes."

As he was working through that dilemma, it would have helped him to understand the Biblical position in this. We realize that God is the author of government. Nowhere did God say that we're not to allow ourselves, as He's ordering our course sovereignly, to be part of supporting a government and all that it's comprised of. If we can get into a conscientious objector category, that would probably be something wise if you ever find yourself there. None of us ever wants to take a life, but God said, "A life for a life." "Thou shall not kill" is better understood, "Thou shall not murder." That's what the Hebrew is saying to us there. It's not taking another life; it's taking another life in malice. It's taking another life out of pride, hatred, envy, wickedness, all of the things that are in the heart of man, the evil things.

I'm not going to get off into that in detail. But I want you to understand when it says, "Thou shalt not kill, but I say unto you, he that is angry with his brother is a murderer," that we begin to see it in the light of the other Scriptures we've studied as it pertains to the hatred of the brethren. We know that the word used for hatred really is implying in the original language "to love less than self." For me to hate someone doesn't mean that I'm hostile toward them, that I'm in a position of where I'm trying to make preparation to destroy them. The Scripture's very clear we're not to take delight in the calamity or in the destruction of an enemy. These are difficult things to live! It's great doctrine, but try living all this stuff! Yet this is what Jesus is saying to us. We need to come to the place of living our lives to honor Him, living separate from all of the natural tendencies of elevating self, of justification, of, in many ways, the tendencies to provide natural preservation for ourselves.

As Jesus is speaking here, I want to talk about something that you might not immediately think about. To be a murderer, to kill my brother, is to love him less, to be angry with him without cause, to allow a breach to come into our midst. Most of us are aware of that. Most of us are aware of the power and the danger of strife. The thing I want to talk about first in this study is something that we all hear, just kind of blow off, even laugh about, and that's gossip, busybody, slander.

We're going to talk about that a little bit, and everybody got real quiet... We laugh about "the Calvary grapevine." I want to tell you that most of the time that's sin. I'm going to tell you something that most of us are not aware of. It's found right there in Romans 1 for those who are not going to inherit the kingdom of God. It's right there with homosexuality. It's right there with murder and all of the other heinous crimes against a holy God. Yet it's something that we take for granted that will always be in our midst.

I shared with someone what I was going to be teaching on and they said, "It will probably work for about a week, and then it will come back." It better not! Amen? It will kill you and it will kill us as a fellowship. How do we then live together in such close quarters and be involved in one another's lives and free ourselves from this? Number one, by being aware of it; being aware of it and being aware of how dangerous it is and that it's not acceptable to God. Those that are under its power will not inherit the kingdom of God. It will send you to hell like lying, adultery, fornication, drunkenness, reveling, and yet we take it as something that's just part of the natural course of life. We're going to see in James that the mature man is the one that can control his tongue, "How great a matter, how great a fire a little spark kindles." That one little word that you think is so innocent can destroy another person's life. It can bring access to Satan into our midst and destroy a fellowship. "How great a matter a little fire kindles."

"Is it really that big of a deal?" It's so common among Christians, isn't it? How many of you saw that video that was out by those supposed Christian comedians that circulated some? It was on pay-per-view, I think. It circulated around. I don't even remember what it was called. There was some funny stuff. These guys were sharing different things. This one guy, he's a comedian--but comedy is reality either exaggerated or exposed--things that people, reality that people don't talk about, that somebody talks about, and we kind of all nervously laugh. The comedian was telling this one, he was doing this one bit. I thought it was interesting. He was telling the people that he wasn't always a stand-up comedian, that he actually worked at a 7-Eleven-type situation.

He said that one time he was involved, and it was very busy in the store. He was trying to catch up. It was one of those things where you're supposed to pay at the pump. He said he didn't quite get to this lady and she came in. She was exasperated and angry at him. He said he used to always just like to make statements that were not direct, but implying certain things. He talked about this lady, that she was fairly robust. She was round. She came in and began to give him "what for." So he turned, saw her, and here's this rather large lady. He said, "Ma'am, I'm so sorry for your ‘wait.'" He really got enjoyment out of that. Then he went on and she didn't get it. He said, "Being a Christian man, I didn't directly tell you how rude she was. I didn't want to embarrass her any more than that. Like any good Christian, I wouldn't say that to her face; I came and talked to you about it!" Of course, everybody laughs, because gossip is such a big part of the Christian world, isn't it? I guess since we can't cuss, we gossip. We've done a lot of study over the years on words, haven't we, the power of words, and our need to put a watch over these things.

Now let me show you the magnitude of the consequences of this first, and then we'll go look at a couple of the practical applications. Turn to Romans 1 for just a moment with me. Let's take a look at this. There are some other passages, I think that as we get into them, are going to be very revealing to us of the place that we've given the enemy in our midst and how dangerous it is to be ignorant of his devices. Verse 28; listen to this, the power; we all know the power of this chapter. Verse 28, "And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; Being filled [perfect participle] being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness [I'm reading this slowly so we can really get ahold of the group of offenses], covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, Backbiters, haters of God..." [Look! Following whispering, busybodyness, just being involved in other people's business, and followed by backbiters. We know what a backbiter is. We're talking about slander here, and following those two categories, haters of God ], despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, Without understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things [Except for whispering and backbiting, erase those out. We can't apply that to verse 32] Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things [except, say it with me, "Except whispering." What? You can't contradict the Word? Come on. Let's all contradict it. Let's all say it together, "Except whispering." "No, you aren't getting me to deny the Word." Good!] that they which do such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them."

Let's talk about this a little bit as we go on, about just how much you know about everybody in here that you probably shouldn't know! Let me ask you a question, first of all. We all know what I'm talking about. Let me ask you about a heart issue, first of all. Do you have to know? See some of us are just--it's a hobby, some of us busybodyness and whispering and backbiting, we use the term gossip, slander. For some of us it's just a hobby, for others, it's an art. It's a compulsion. Do you have to know? Do you find yourself needing to know? Do you find yourself always involved in--now to give us a general guideline, let me first of all tell you this: As it pertains to those that are around us, and different things that are going on, if you're not part of the problem or part of the solution, you shouldn't be involved in it.

I'm not just talking about sin that's committed in our midst. I'm not talking about whispering and going on and talking about other people's sin and offenses. We'll talk about that as we go on. We're just talking about being a plain old busybody. The Scripture speaks to that pretty readily. I want to deal with that part first because it seems so "innocent" to many of us. But is it, really?

Turn over to 2 Thessalonians for just a moment. Here's a passage in 2 Thessalonians that many of us are familiar with. We've applied it in different areas, as we've brought instruction and reproof and rebuke to brothers and sisters, and rightfully so. It's what the Scripture in its context is making reference to. Second Thessalonians, Chapter 3, he starts in verse 7, "You know how you should follow after us. I command you to withdraw yourselves [verse 6], from all who are not walking as they've been taught. Withdraw yourself from every brother that walks disorderly [we're going to talk about that], and not after the traditions that you've received of us."

Many of us are very zealous. We not only hold to the biblical order, but we understand that there is order of community that we adhere to. Paul makes reference to the fact that they knew his manner of living and they were to follow after it. "Those that walk disorderly and not after the traditions that have been received, for you know how you ought to follow us. For we behaved ourselves in your midst in an orderly fashion. We didn't eat any man's bread for nothing [he teaches on the laborer and many of these different things], so therefore are not chargeable to any." He said, "It's not because we don't have any power, but we wanted to be an example to you. You guys were in need of this kind of ministry." Because of the need in their midst, he took care of them in this particular way. "For when we were with you, we commanded that if any would not work, he shouldn't eat."

Many of us, of course, are very gung-ho on that. We understand the need to be diligent and productive in our lives and in the community, in our society, providing for our families. The admonition was that if you don't work, you shouldn't eat. He says, "For we hear that there are some among you which are disorderly, working not at all." Many of us say, "Lazy bum, guy ought to get to work!" In fact, some of us are even talking about him to other people, and how he needs to become more diligent. We need to take note of those that are walking disorderly among us. He tells us that we're to exhort these people, verse 12; look at it, "Exhort them that with quietness they are to work and to eat their own bread. And brethren, be not weary in well doing. And if any man doesn't obey this commandment of mine, [this word of mine by this epistle], note that man [the Scripture says put a tag on him, mark him], and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed. But count him not as an enemy, but admonish [rebuke, correct is what the Greek is, treat] him as a brother."

Now, let's go back to verse 11. "For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are [Say it!] busybodies." You're going to find that too much idle time is in common with being a busybody. You're going to see that as a pattern that begins to arise, idle time, being not just the fact that you're doing nothing, but that you're not doing something constructive. You see, [it's not idleness] if when we're together we're edifying one another, we're building up, we're doing things that are constructive, if we're using our multiple words-per-day sharing the Gospel. Some of us just have so many words and they've got to come out or we'll burst.

Are they words that are edifying? Are they words of life? Are we sharing the Gospel? Paul's going on here to the church in Thessalonica, and he's saying, "Look, you've got to understand something. These people that are moving in your midst as busybodies that are idle, I want you to rebuke these people. I want you to mark these people. I want you to make them ashamed of this kind of a lifestyle."

Now we begin to see the responsibility that's on the rest of us next time we find somebody that's a little busybody. What's a busybody? Somebody that's got their nose in everybody else's business. You know what? Most of us know who you are, and we talk about you to other people. You know what? We just gossip about you busybodies because you shouldn't be a busybody. You shouldn't be so nosy. You shouldn't always need to be in the know and find out. There are some of you I could go ask (I won't name any names), that know ten times more than any of the pastors or deacons what's going on in this church, and we have meetings every week to talk about it! You know names, places, and times. If I want to know anything, I know some of you that I could just come and ask. You know everything that's going on around here. Why? Is that your calling? Why? Is it an obsession? I want to tell you something. If it is, Satan has you under his power. If you can't live outside "the know," you're in bondage to the slanderer, the destroyer, the accuser of the brethren. You need to start taking note of these things and not laughing at it and blowing this stuff off like it's nothing. We're all guilty of it. You know what? We sin in the deacon's meetings at certain times, going beyond what's necessary to take care of the need. So often it happens in the form of jesting. We've got a bunch of guys that enjoy having a good time, and men's humor is not always acceptable.

We need to guard our hearts. Satan, in these last days, is going to try to destroy us by causing us to destroy one another, to break confidence, to give access to what appears to be innocent. But we saw in Romans, it's not innocent at all. Sharing information with others who are not able to do anything about it is not acceptable.

Some of us are saying, "Dear Lord, what can we talk about?" How about talking about Scripture? How about planning some type of outreach? How about the older women sitting around and giving some instruction to some of the younger women in how to raise children? How about following some of the things that we are admonished to do and speak toward?

"Well, I'm not trying to hurt anybody." We're not talking right now about the category of malice. We're not talking about maliciousness. We're not talking about slander. We all know the difference. Slander is what's trying to come and defame somebody and destroy somebody's character, character assassination. We're just talking about "talking about..." The Scripture begins to speak clearly toward these aspects.

Look at 1 Peter for just a second, turn over there. We're talking about these aspects that we need to deal with. We see the term idleness. These guys are idle. Because of the idleness, they find themselves talking about things they shouldn't be talking about. First Peter, Chapter 4, look down at verse 15. "But let none of you suffer [be judged] as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a [what?] busybody in other men's matters, Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf." It's interesting; he's contrasting "Christian" with what? A busybody.

If you're going to be judged, if people are going to have something to say about you, let them say you're a Christian. Let them say that you're speaking words that are edifying, that you're someone that's always bringing about the Word of God which "is profitable for reproof, rebuke, instruction into righteousness, that the man of God might be perfect and thoroughly furnished unto every good work" (2 Timothy 3:16-17). The admonition of the Apostle here to us is very clear about being involved in other men's matters.

Why do you need to know? What's this compulsion? Now, does that mean that we're not involved and aware of what's going on in our community? We're not talking about that. We're not saying, "Oh, did you hear that so-and-so is going to--wherever?" It's that person that has to run up and say, "What? What? They're doing what? Going where? When they leaving? Going on an airplane, bus, train? How many suitcases are they taking? Are the kids going? They just were gone last week!" See what it does? It takes us from an awareness into now making judgments. We now begin to, in our need to know, in our casual conversation--and that's where all of us that are hearing need to guard and understand when have we come from normal transfer of information--just talking about things we don't need to be talking about. It's none of your business to make any judgments on these things if it's not sin. If it's sin, we don't talk to somebody else about it; we talk to them about it. "If your brother sins, you go to him," amen?

It can be very subtle, and yet it can be so dangerous. We need to guard ourselves. Turn over to 1 Timothy, Chapter 5. When Paul's speaking here in this fifth chapter of Timothy, the admonition that's coming forth, he's talking about ministers' duties, the responsibilities of folks in the body, and the requirements of leaders as he's going through this context. Then he talks about widows for just a moment. He says, "Let the younger widows not be involved in the care of the fellowship." There was provision that was made for the older widows to be taken care of by the rest of us if they didn't have natural family. He says, "But not so for the younger widows [verse 11], for when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ, [then] they will marry [anyway]; Having damnation [or judgment], because they have cast off their first faith. And withal they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but [what?] tattlers also and busybodies [Say it with me, the last phrase], speaking things which they ought not."

We see then there's this idleness, this focus that's obvious. What's being stated here, this focus on self, the lack of seeking the good of others, the edification. He said, "They're going to end up in sin. They're going to, because of this they're wandering house to house, end up as tattlers and busybodies. "Tattlers," we all know what tattlers are, right? That's what our brother was, "Mom, Bob hit me!" Always tattling. My cousin, Tim, was a tattler. "Bob hit me!" (I mean, why state the obvious?)

We all know what tattlers are. We want to go tell somebody else what somebody did to us. "I'm not gossiping now. First of all, let me tell you something. He's a good brother. She's a good sister, so don't misunderstand what I'm saying. They love God, and I know that they love us. Oh, they've talked to you too, huh? These folks?" Then we go on to tattle what they did they shouldn't have, or they're going to, or whatever else. I'm tattling and guess what? Here's Mr. Busybody, Mr. Got-to-know. Now some of us men are this way. But ladies, I hate to break it to you: We're more in your territory right now, because most guys don't have a clue what's going on. "Did you hear about so-and-so?" "Who?" "You know, your oldest son?" "Oh, oh, yes, that's right." Guys don't know what's going on! We can give you a football score, but other than that...

There are men that have this propensity, but it's not quite as common. Guys, more than busybodies, when we do get ahold of information, we like to be critical. We like to pass judgment. We want something finished. We want to pass a verdict on this thing, so we can go on to knowing, or not knowing, other stuff. Women don't want to come to a verdict, they just want to keep talking about it, talking about it, talking... It's not about solving the problem, it's just about talking about it. It's like there's a contest. "How many people can we get to know about this by noon?" Have you ever tried to keep a secret around here? You ought to try it sometime.

He makes reference to these tattlers and busybodies. He's trying to cause us to see that there's a danger here in these words. Many of these things that we're doing are not even harming others as much as it's harming us. Unless it's slander, unless it's defamation, unless it's implying sin in the life of another individual, we're harming ourselves more than anybody else.

We have to ask the question, then, "What is it, really, that's motivating this in us, this need to know, this need to ‘share'?" We'd like to make it innocent. But as we go on into the study, we're going to see that there's a root in there, that many of us aren't aware of, that's very destructive.

Turn over to Psalms with me for just a moment. Let's bump it up a little bit from just the busybodyness to what the natural progression is. I want you to understand something. "In many words, there is ..." Now some of us talk more than others. You have to be careful, because the more you speak, the more you can misspeak. The more you speak, the harder it is to remember what you said. If you're going to talk a lot, at least tell the truth; amen? That way you don't have to say, "I never said that."

Have you ever noticed people that talk a lot don't ever remember what they said? Or, at least it's convenient to say by implication, "How do you expect me to remember what I said in those forty thousand words that we had in that conversation?" "Remember you said...?" "How could you remember that?" "Because I only said four things; I can remember what I said. I said, ‘Uh-huh...' Somewhere along there this was said, so it had to be you, because I couldn't get a word in edgewise." You all know who I'm talking about, right? We all know somebody like that in here. In fact, turn to the person next to you and say, "I know who he's talking about." No, don't do that! We already know. Next session we'll have slides. See, it's not like we don't know.

The admonition of the Scripture is, "What are you doing letting these people do this and then remain in your company?" This is what Thessalonians is asking. You wouldn't let a fornicator stay in your company, an adulterer. Why do we so readily embrace this sin and aren't offended by it? We'd be offended by a homosexual, a fornicator, an adulterer, a liar, or a thief in our midst that's saying they're a Christian. But the fact is some of these people are your closest acquaintances. What are we going to do to help them? "I've got to go talk to somebody about it." No, talk to them! We're called to have the same care one of another, amen? That's where our strength is! We're not in any way implying that we're to be less involved. The Scripture says very clearly, it's a passage that we teach over and over, it is the strength of this fellowship, and it's something that we're going to continue to do. "Our lives are to be knit together," the Scripture says. We are constantly to be intertwined and made so tight that we're one, can't even tell one from the other, we're family. Not just blood, we are all--you can't tell the difference in the way that I treat this brother than the way I'd treat one of my blood relatives. We're one, praise God! We need that kind of intimacy, and unity, and oneness. In the midst of it, we need to have care one for another, not to allow sin to manifest itself in our midst and tolerate it.

In Psalms, as the psalmist is speaking here, Psalm 101:5, "Whoso privily slandereth his neighbor, him will I cut off: him that hath a high look and a proud heart I will not suffer." Slander, remember, expresses itself in a lot of different degrees. As we talk about our brothers' and our sisters' mistakes, "How they should have done that, if they were being, if they would spend more time in prayer, if they were more involved in the fellowship, and if, duh, duh, duh, da-duh. Then they wouldn't be in that mess, and they..." We just love them. And you know what? Most of the time that's the truth, we do. We do love one another.

Yet, the proud look he talks about here, the need to somehow have to be right all the time, the need to have to pass judgments, the need to always have to, want to, be involved in and judge everybody else's actions and whatever is sin; it's pride. The need to pass these judgments, to make these observations, to inform others so they can pray, comes back to that root of pride and selfness. Whether it's vaunting ourselves as being better, knowing better, or vaunting ourselves just in the fact that we take pleasure in the knowing, "I just want to know. I just want to round up as much information as I can. I just want to know." Why? "It's where I find my pleasure."

God's revelation on a busybody is very clear to us. You need to take up a new hobby. The Scripture is speaking to us here as we read this, Proverbs, Chapter 10, verse 18 as the Holy Spirit's speaking, "He that hideth hatred with lying lips, and he that uttereth a slander, is a fool." What are these lying lips? "I didn't really mean that. I was just trying to help." It's not just talking about making up, fabricating things, about individuals. It's talking about passing judgments, slandering, bringing defamation of character, and then trying to justify our reason for being involved in things that we shouldn't be involved in. We lie about why we're talking about what we're talking about.

The Scripture makes it clear. If a brother trespasses against you, say it, "Go to him!" We're not going to talk about overt sin in this evening's session. We know that when there's conflict in relationships, we seek forgiveness. We seek to bring about restitution and reconciliation in relationships that have been breached and what the responsibility of both parties is. Right now, we're talking about these things that aren't as obvious and the spirit behind it. Is it in natural man? What are some of the biggest moneymakers today as you look? It's all these tabloids. People want to hear some new, juicy [tidbit], and it doesn't always have to be, as I said before, slander. We just want to know. We need to be "in the know."

I really don't quite understand that because I don't want to know! I've got enough problems! I really don't want to know. I sat at lunch this morning. The more I sat there, the more angry I got. I went to the health food store; we were over at Cheesecake Factory. We were having lunch. I was in this booth. The booth that I sat had--have you noticed you can't go to a restaurant and be at peace? Everybody's got to have the news, CNN. That's not a news station, it's propaganda. There's no news in it; it's just propaganda. I'm confused. I am, really. I think I'm the father of Anna Nicole's baby! They've got me confused. Who cares?!! Dear Lord, do you understand the hours that have been spent on that versus President Ford's death? Anna Nicole: this sells more papers, makes more money, it appeals to the human nature. It's the world. It's sin. It's the fruit of having our eyes opened and the capacity to know good and evil, to know, to know.

That's why I keep sharing with you, beloved. I'll tell you what. The most damnable tool on this planet is the Internet. The prophets have spoken, "In the last days knowledge shall increase." The need to know will rob you of time, of producing stuff. We waste so much time gaining knowledge that we don't do anything. We know about stuff, but we're not doing anything. At the push of a button--you know what? Some of you are pushing too many buttons. You're sitting around. You've got this little ache, and it's like, "Oh, bone cancer: symptoms..." Now we're all doctors. Dear God, we worry about that. We hear about bird germs and we're afraid of canaries now. All I'm saying is it's that same spirit that makes you a busybody.

How important is it for you to know what God said? How does this drive you in motivation, just knowing what God said? There's plenty in here (gesturing toward his Bible) for you to spend your time on, so that we can talk about people. If you want to talk about people, let's talk about Abraham. Let's talk about Moses. Let's talk about Joseph. Let's talk about Elijah and Elisha.

In this first session tonight, I just want us to begin to come to grips with how vile this is in God's eyes, how dangerous it is to us as a people. It's not innocent. It's not natural. It is not acceptable. As we begin to learn how to live in these intimate relationships, and yet not have to share it with everybody.

If you want to know how many suitcases I'm taking on my trip, come and ask me. If I want to tell you, I will. If I don't want to tell you, I'll tell you to go ask so and so, they'll know. Let's not be ignorant of his devices.

Father, we thank You for Your Word tonight. We just ask that You would strengthen us. Cause us, in our oneness, to be careful to protect one another and to speak to edification, to give no place in our midst to schism and strife and bitterness and envy, not to let the sun go down upon our anger, to leave our gift and go and be reconciled that we can worship You, Lord, that we can come freely into Your presence. Help us to see that there's a danger in our closeness and there's a great strength. Help us to protect this strength, the great gift that we have of our unity and our love for one another. Father, help us to protect the strength that we have in our unity and our love for one another. Father, give us a jealousy--help us to protect the strength that we have in our love, in our unity, as we care for one another. We ask in Jesus' name; amen.

Turn to somebody next to you and say, "I'm putting a watch over my mouth." Amen. Go in peace. God's love go with you.

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