The Path You Are On is Not Going to End Well
Gossip and Hurtful Words
John 3:16-18 is still as real today as it was when it was written 2000 years ago
16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned. NIV
The love of many has grown cold and gossip, hurtful word
Back stabbing close friends and family members is increasing
But God still LOVES the World
The people we hate, God loves
More than ever, we need to make sure we are not gossipers saying hurtful things
We need to be speaking the truth in love
Not to make us feel good, but to save others from a life that will not end well
Jesus did not come into the world to condemn it, but to save it
How about your location?
Are you speaking the Good News,
with a love for the world,
like Jesus loved and loves the world?
Gossip and Hurtful Words
Proverbs 16:27-28
27 Mean people spread mean gossip;
their words smart and burn.
28 Troublemakers start fights;
gossips break up friendships.
Who are these Mean people and Troublemakers?
They are people who don’t know how to love.
More and more we see
the fulfillment of Matthew 24:12-13.
Because of the increase of wickedness,
the love of most will grow cold,
but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.
NIV
The Message says it this way…
For many others, the overwhelming spread of evil will do them in
— nothing left of their love but a mound of ashes.
"Staying with it — that's what God requires.
Stay with it to the end. You won't be sorry, and you'll be saved.
Matthew 24:12-13 MSG
Evil brings out the worst in us.
Unkind words and gossip become easy
when you lose your love for others.
The more we are hurt by others
the meaner we can get.
Love is tenderness, it is kind and peaceful, but…
The lack of love builds callouses.
Before the guns and military equipment
come out there are “words”.
Words of destruction…
Words that hurt,
that cut deep into the heart of people.
Those cuts many times heal as callouses
that replace the tenderness with insensitivity.
It is true people who gossip,
who say hurtful words…
Are headed for a life that will not end well.
Sadly, those headed for a destructive
end incite others to the same path.
Wrong doers can bring out the worst in us.
We fight fire with fire until everything is destroyed.
God’s Message is a Message that deals with the tongue…
It teaches us how to speak.
Jesus, when speaking of the love of many
will grow cold in the last days…
Must be more than an observation of others.
His words must be a warning
to us so we do not grow cold.
Jesus’ next words in Matthew 24 verse 14 tell us
what His followers are doing at the time of cold hearts…
And the Good News about the Kingdom
will be preached throughout the whole world,
so that all nations will hear it; and then the end will come.
MSG
God’s people are still speaking words of “Good News”.
I know you won’t find that news station
on our cable network.
This Good News is still the same
as it was in the days Jesus
walked and talked on the earth.
John 3:16-18 is still as real today
as it was when it was written 2000 years ago.
16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned
NIV
The love of many has grown cold and gossip,
hurtful words, back stabbing close friends
and family members is increasing.
But God still LOVES the World.
The people we hate, God loves.
More than ever,
we need to make sure we are not
gossipers saying hurtful things.
We need to be speaking the truth in love.
Not to make us feel good, but…
To save others from a life that will not end well.
Jesus did not come into the world
to condemn it, but…
To save it.
Be very careful that the hurtful unkind word of others
does not cause your heart to grow cold.
Our words, even in the last days,
should be words of salvation.
They should be words that express the love of God
to save lives, not condemn lives.
This is tough stuff, but…
Jesus says throughout the world
He will have His people speaking the Good News.
Are you speaking the Good News,
with a love for the world,
like Jesus loved and loves the world?
Scripture Reading
Proverbs 16:27-30 MSG
27 Mean people spread mean gossip;
their words smart and burn.
28 Troublemakers start fights;
gossips break up friendships.
29 Calloused climbers betray their very own friends;
they'd stab their own grandmothers in the back.
30 A shifty eye betrays an evil intention;
a clenched jaw signals trouble ahead.
(from THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language © 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved.)
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