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Amen. All right. So keep your place in Exodus 16. We're going to be going back and forth to Exodus 16 throughout the sermon. The title of the sermon, or the subject, I should say, of the sermon this morning is on the subject of complaining or being a complainer. There's lots of examples of this in the Bible. We'll go through some this morning. But in Exodus 16 is a good example of the children of Israel just complaining. Murmuring is another word for complaining, that they were murmuring against the Lord and against Moses and Aaron, their leaders. But I just want to go through the sermon this morning, look at some Bible study on people that have complained in the Bible, what happened, what didn't happen, and look at what we can learn from that and take from that for ourselves. Because complaining, this is actually a really big problem for people today. I mean, even it doesn't really seem to matter how well things are going for you or how bad things are going for you. Some people are just going to be complainers, I'm sure you know. Some people are just negative people. So I want to look at what the Bible says and what we can take from that and how we can learn to, if it's a problem that we have, which, look, I don't care who you are here today, it's a problem that you have at least to some degree of complaining about things. So maybe I can get you to think about changing that about yourself. Look at Exodus 16 in verse number 2. So here we have the children of Israel. They've been delivered out of the Egyptian slavery by Moses and the Lord, of course, with the plagues and this great story. God has killed Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea and just performed this great miracle to rescue this nation from bondage. And in Exodus chapter 16 in verse number 2 the Bible says, And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by fleshpots, when we did eat bread to the full. For you have brought us forth into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger. So first of all, I mean, they were brought out of Egypt. They were rescued from bondage, from slavery. And here there's a problem that comes up here. And what do they do? They're complaining right away. They're murmuring against Moses and Aaron. And they say, basically, what they're saying here is what did you at least when we were in slavery, you know, we had food to eat, you know, our refrigerators were full. It's basically what they were saying. Like we had flesh pots, we had plenty to eat. Did you bring us out in the wilderness just to have us all starve to death is what they're saying to Moses and Aaron. So a problem comes up. And this is many times the catalyst to complaints is that a problem comes up. But many times that especially with serial complainers, there's not even really a problem. They just complain no matter what. Okay, look at verse number three. This is the problem, you know, where it says in verse number three that the whole assembly was hungry. They were hungry. Okay, that's a strong look. Hunger is a strong desire. It's a strong problem to have. So look, you know, they start murmuring. Okay. So it the Bible here implies that they murmured against Moses and Aaron. So there's kind of two stages to this. They basically started complaining behind their back, murmuring behind their back about the problem, and then they eventually bring it to Moses and Aaron and complained straight to their faces. Okay, so look, they complain, they complain straight to Moses and Aaron. And you know, with the implication that they murmured first, which many times we know that's exactly what happens is you start start murmuring amongst yourself before you even attempt to bring the issue to someone that could help solve it. Okay, so look, they were hungry, we get that, but they did not handle it correctly. Okay, so please remember that they did not handle this situation correctly. They had a real problem. Hunger is a real problem. Okay, if you're hungry, and you don't have anything to eat, you know, that's an issue, right? So they had it wasn't that they didn't have a problem is that they didn't handle it correctly. We'll talk about that in detail towards the end of the sermon. So they basically say, you know, did you bring us out here just to die? Did you bring us out here just to kill you? Nevertheless, look at verse number 11. Nevertheless, even though they had a problem, they didn't handle it correctly. Nevertheless, God still fixes the problem. This is a great example, by the way, of God's long suffering. If you think that Oh, God is is is mean, and God, you know, this this idea that there's an Old Testament God and a New Testament God, which isn't true anyway. But look, this is a perfect example of the long suffering and the mercy of God. Because look what happens in verse number 11. The Bible says this, the Bible says the Lord spake unto Moses saying, verse 12, I've heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, speak unto them saying, at even you shall eat flesh. And in the morning, you shall be filled with bread, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God. And it came to pass that in at even it, you know, in the evening at night, the quails came up and covered the camp. And in the morning, the dew lay round about the host. And when the dew that was that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness, there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoarfrost on the ground. So basically, what God does here is, and it's interesting in verse number 12, he says unto them, in the evening, you shall eat flesh, and the morning you should be filled with bread. So I mean, there's some dietary advice here, too, by the way, and that's not the point of the sermon. But if you're going to eat a donut, you shouldn't eat it at nine o'clock before you go to bed, basically. I mean, so it's just one of those proofs of, you know, God, so God is feeding them. And we know that the advice that God is giving is correct. So I mean, it kind of backs up this idea that, you know, if you're going to have like a bunch of carbohydrates and things like that, that you should eat it in the morning, right? So you have a chance to burn that off during the day. But that's not the point of the sermon. The point here I'm trying to make is that God fixes the problem. They don't handle it correctly. They have an issue, they complain, they murmur, they murmur against Moses and Aaron, which is really murmuring against the Lord, then and they say all these terrible things about, you know, just come out here to kill us and all these extreme things. And they have they basically show that they have no faith in who in the Lord. And what does God do? He just fixes the problem for them. Okay, so he says, in the morning, I'm going to provide this basically manna, which is bread on the ground that you're going to be able to go out and gather up. And in the evening, I'm going to give you meat, I'm going to give you protein to eat in the meeting in the evening. So God fixes the problem. And he doesn't, you know, come and smash down on the nation of Israel here. He hears their murmuring, and he, he's long suffering with them, and he fixes the issue. Okay, go one chapter later to Exodus chapter 17. There's so many examples of complaining in the Bible that I actually couldn't, we couldn't go through them all today. So we'll just go through a few examples. But I just want to kind of give you this idea of, you know, just murmuring against the Lord over and over and over again, look at verse number two of Exodus 17. So this is later on. And it says, again, it says, Wherefore the people did chide with Moses. Look, if you're chiding with someone, it means you're being, you know, you're, you're, you're, you're bringing strife to the situation. You're not being respectful, you're just, you know, you're arguing, okay, you're bringing complaint in a, in a non-respectful way, is what that means. Wherefore the people did chide with Moses and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide you with me? Wherefore do you tempt Look at verse number five. And the Lord said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee the elders of Israel, and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go. Behold, I will stand before thee upon the rock in Horeb, and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us or not? So this word tempted is used in verse number seven and verse number two. What that basically means is they were testing God. They were testing God. They were basically saying, you know, they were, they had a problem, and they were coming to Moses and saying, you know, Hey, is the Lord with us or not? You know, if the Lord's with us, he'll do this. And if not, you know, he won't. And it doesn't look like he's with us. So they were tempting, they were testing God. Once again, you know, they were not handling things in a respectful way, which is why it says that they chided with Moses. I mean, this is like bitter complainers, these people. That's the picture that we're getting here. Go to Numbers chapter 14. We'll see another example of the children of Israel. Now just think about this. As I'm reading these stories to you, think about a word that you would use for a bunch of people that have been rescued. Say you did something for somebody. Say you went and you saved somebody's life, or you, you, you know, bailed them out of a horrible situation, or whatever. And just the next thing that happens just in a short period of time later, they're just, they're complaining to you, and they're yelling at you, and they're chiding with you about how you treat them and how you don't do enough for them after you saved their life. Think about that. What would you call somebody like that? Just remember that word in your mind. Okay, look at Numbers chapter 14, and look at verse number 2. Now this is, now this is when the spies have come back. So now they're approaching the Promised Land, and the 12 spies go into the Promised Land and go and they find out, and of course, all the 10, 10 of the spies come back, and they give a horrible report, and they say, all these people are so powerful, we'll never be able to defend ourselves against these people. And look at verse number 2, the Bible says, and the children of Israel, what? Murmured against Moses and against Aaron. And the whole congregation said unto them, would God that we had died in the land of Egypt. Here we go again. Or would God that we had died in this wilderness. And wherefore hath the Lord brought us into this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be prey, were it not better for us to return into Egypt. And they said one to another, let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt. Now we have something extra going on here. So they're basically, you know, they're murmuring again, and they're complaining again, and they're saying, why did we even be brought out here? You know, now it's not that we're going to starve to death, or we're going to die of thirst. Now it's all these people who's, who's, you know, look, this is a promise that God made them. Think of this. This is a promise that God made. He said, I'm going to give you this land. And they're basically saying, there's no way we could do it. So they're basically not believing the Lord. They're not, I mean, look, that's basically a lack of faith is not believing the Lord. That's what that means. But finally, God's patience comes to an end here. And look at down at verse number 26, for sake of time. God has finally had enough of this, especially when they say, you know what, we're going to raise up another leader, and we're going to go back to Egypt. And God's done with it at this point. He's put up with enough murmurings and enough evil speaking from these people. And look what the Lord says in verse 26, says, and the Lord spake unto Moses, and unto Aaron saying, How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against me? So this murmuring against, so first of all, it shows you that the murmuring against Moses and Aaron, the Lord really took it as murmuring against him. So don't forget that. Don't forget that, you know, murmuring against the leadership that God put in in charge there was murmuring against the Lord. And how shall I bear with this evil congregation which murmur against me, I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me, he took it personally, say unto them, as truly as I live, sayeth the Lord, as you have spoken in my ears, so will I do to you, your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness, and all that were numbered of you according to your whole number from 20 years old and upward, which have murmured against me. Now look, turn to Psalm chapter 106. This event was so bad that it even made it into Psalms, okay? So look, God basically says, I'm done with you. Anybody at this point that is part of the children of Israel that is 20 years and older is not going into the promised land. So this is why they wandered for another, you know, 40 years in the wilderness, and God didn't let any of these people enter in, except Caleb and Joshua, who were the two spies who were loyal to the Lord. Look at Psalm 106 verse 24. And look what the Bible says here about this situation. Yea, they despised the pleasant land, and they believed not his word. I mean, really, that's the sum of it right there, is that they must not have wanted the land, they despised the gift that God wanted to give them, and they believed not his word. They just didn't believe God. They looked at what was in the world, they looked at what was in front of them just physically, and they just said, we don't believe that God's going to give us that. So thus they despised the land. But they murmured, instead they did this, they murmured in their tents. Meaning, they were just talking behind everyone's back in their tents and hearken not unto the voice of the Lord. Therefore, he lifted up his hand against them to overthrow them in the wilderness. They basically, they were talking bad about leadership and the Lord, and God just, he considers it rebellion. And I'll show you that in a few minutes. But murmuring this idea of complaining, you know, God looked at it as rebellion. Don't miss that. Now, what does the Bible say? So here we have a lot of examples. I can give you many more. But the Bible has a lot of examples about people in the Bible, in the Old Testament, murmuring against him, complaining against him. But the Bible actually addresses it very specifically in many different places. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 10. So we see actual physical historical examples, but then the Bible also warns us against it specifically. Just in general, as a rule, as a law, as a commandment. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and look at verse number 10. And this is an interesting tie because it ties it back to the nation of Israel as well. But look what the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 10 and verse number 10. The Bible says, neither murmur ye as some of them, ancient Israelites, also murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer. So the Israelites here is what it is talking about, you know, murmuring, complaining against, you know, God. Look at Lamentations chapter 3. Lamentations chapter 3. Lamentations chapter 3. So of course that, I mean, I added the ancient Israelites there, but it's basically, that's who it's referencing in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse number 10. Look at Lamentations chapter 3 and look at verse 39. The Bible says, wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins? Let us search and try our ways and turn again to the Lord. Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in heavens. We have transgressed and rebelled. Thou has not pardoned. So look, the Bible here is saying that if you complain, it equates it with rebelling, okay, which is very easy to see that that is what God looked at this as with the children of Israel. Now, he's only going to put up with it for so long, okay, as we see. I mean, we see great long suffering in the Bible, especially with the children of Israel, but there eventually will be consequences to complaining, okay? And once it gets to that point, the problem is, is those consequences are severe. I mean, it was serious consequences for the children of Israel. So we see that we shouldn't complain. We see that, you know, murmuring is bad. The children of Israel were complainers. They murmured against Moses, Aaron, and the Lord himself. So what should they have? What should have they done is the question, and that's the application this morning. The first point I want to make on complaining is that complaining is rebellion. So you think it's no big deal. You know, I'm just going to be negative about certain situations or certain people or whatever, but it's rebellion, and that's important to know. It's an act against whom you have a complaint, okay? It's rebellion against that. So, I mean, if the issue is just a problem and you want it solved, complaining does nothing to get to that solution is the point. Complaining is wrong. It solves nothing. However, if you really want to complain about somebody, you know, if you really want to do is complain about somebody or somebody else. So let's say that I have an issue with somebody, and I want to complain, you know, I want to complain in my tent about that person or complain to somebody else about that person, and I'm just complaining and I'm murmuring against that person, congratulations, I'm a railer. That's what railing is, is complaining about someone to someone else. That is railing, okay? So look, there's two categories when it comes to complaining about people. You can sum it up into two categories. The first one is complaining to the person. Turn to 1 Timothy, chapter 5. 1 Timothy, chapter 5. 1 Timothy 5 and verse number 1, the Bible says, Rebuke not an elder, but entreat him as a father and the younger men as brethren. So what the children of Israel did with Moses and Aaron, it was not respectful. When they came and they chided with him and they murmured against him, whether it be to his face or behind him, you know, it wasn't a respectful way of bringing in a problem to the attention of Moses and Aaron. So it's not the way to approach the issue. Turn to Philippians, chapter 4. So remember what I asked you to think about, you know, how would you characterize somebody like that? Somebody who you saved their life and you've done like the most, you know, you've saved somebody. You've done something great for somebody and immediately they're complaining that you don't do enough for them or they're saying that, you know, I mean, if you were to save someone's life and then you were responsible for feeding them as well, I mean, just to think that you wouldn't, you know, if you cared enough to save their life, why would you care enough to just save their life and immediately let them die of something like hunger? Look at Philippians, chapter 4 and verse number 6. Here's what they were missing the entire time. The way to approach the issue was it wasn't the problem that was the issue. It was the way they approached it. The Bible says in Philippians 4, 6, be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. Notice what it says here. It says, but in everything by prayer and supplication with what? With thanksgiving. So what these people were demonstrating was that they were unthankful. And you'll notice that whenever the Bible is talking about prayer or approaching God, look, God wants you to ask Him for things. The Bible says that God wants you to ask Him for things. Like if you want something, just ask. Anything you want. But the Bible always ties prayer together with being thankful. And you'll always see that that is a way that God wants us to pray and ask for things, but He wants us to come at Him in a respectful way with thankfulness, the Bible says. So look, I mean, they were just whining. They were just complaining. And they were making these crazy accusations as well. Like, did you bring us out here just to kill us? I mean, they were making these crazy accusations that, you know, God was going to let them starve to death. God was going to let them die of thirst. God was going to send them into battle and abandon them and let them be killed and let their children and their wives be killed. So look, this is the same person that rescued them in the first place. It was unthankful. So they should have said, you know, Lord, thank you for saving us out of Egypt. You know, thank you for all the great promises that you have made us. Lord, you know, we need some food. Lord, could you provide us with some some meat to eat? You know, Lord, I mean, it just would have been done just like that. And the Lord would not have been angered with them. So the second part is this. So we see that you can complain, you know, to a person and be respectful and you can be, you know, unthankful while you're complaining to a person. That's one thing. The second thing you can do is you can complain about a person. You can complain about a person. Look, this is worse. This is especially wicked because there's no effort. Like if I just complain about a person to you, there's no effort by me to actually solve the issue that I'm complaining about. It's completely, completely disingenuous to do that. I mean, it's that's why it's the definition of railing. Turn to Matthew chapter 18. Turn to Matthew chapter 18, which is the whole point of Matthew chapter 18 and why God tells us, hey, if you have a problem, here's how to handle it. It is very simple. I don't know why it is so hard for people to grasp this. But in Matthew chapter 18, look at verse number 15. The Bible says it doesn't say you're never going to have problems with anybody. Like I said, this this sermon is not about not having issues. You're going to have issues in your life. You're going to have problems. You might even have problems with people, with individuals, with leadership, whoever. It doesn't say that you're never going to have problems or disagree with people. It never says that. But the Bible just tells it you there's a right way to deal with it and a wrong way. Look at Matthew 18, 15. The Bible says, Moreover, if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him. What? Alone. It says if you have a problem with somebody, just go talk to them individually about it. You and them alone. And if he shall hear thee, thou has gained thy brother. Now look, people don't do this. Because people, you know, I don't know if it's our country or our society that we live in now or the internet or whatever. But people just they don't like to talk to people face to face. You know, they don't like to, you know, have a problem. I mean, it's uncomfortable. I mean, if brother Ryan said something that offended me, it's kind of uncomfortable to pull him aside. And he didn't. But it's kind of uncomfortable to pull him aside and be like, Hey, you know, brother, you know, the other day, you know, he did this or whatever. And it's uncomfortable. But 990 high 90% I guarantee you, if something like this happens, and you follow this rule, this is as far as it will go. You will talk to the person about the offense. They'll be like, Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it that way. Look, I mean, this, I mean, in a marriage as well. I don't know how many times I've said something to my wife, and she, you know, took it the wrong way or whatever. And I was like, Oh, I didn't mean it like that. I mean, you guys are laughing. Okay, I'm not the only one. It makes me feel better. But I mean, there's many times where I say something or my wife says something to me. And I'm like, maybe I take offense, or she takes offense, whatever. And then we talk about it, and it's over. I don't go to the kids and be like, you know what, you know what mom did? You know what mom said to me? And here's the thing. And I turn my kids against their mom. I mean, that would be stupid and crazy when you think about it, you know, from that perspective. Yep, that's how that's how we treat each other. Which is, you know, it's bad. Okay, 99% of the time, step one in Matthew chapter 18 will fix the problem, period. So just do it that way. It's pretty simple. So complaining behind somebody's back. I mean, it's pretty basic stuff here. It's pretty basic stuff, but it's still, you know, it's a big, it's a big issue. But you know what, you know why people do it? Because if you feel like somebody wronged, I mean, look, if Brother Francisco wronged me, if he did something bad to me and wronged me, you know what my flesh wants to do? My flesh wants to burn him down. My flesh, especially if he did something where I'm really angry at him, my flesh just wants to tear him into the ground. But what is that, though? That's my flesh. That's my flesh. I should not be listening to my flesh. I should be Matthew 18-ing this guy. Right? I mean, any time you see people doing that, you'll be like, I mean, if people are doing that to you, be like, why are you telling me this? I mean, this is going to help you, you know, the only reason they're doing it is because it just it satisfies that that need in their flesh to just, just get them back. It's basically it's vengeance when you think about it. I mean, railing is a form of personal, you know, vengeance against somebody. But look, it's not it's not what we're supposed to do. It's not what we're supposed to do. So what can we learn from all this? So we know this, we know this, right? We know complaining solves nothing. Right? We know complaining. I think a lot of people I know a lot of people complain just for the sake of complaining. They complain just because they're they're just listening to their flesh, and they just want to complain. But let me tell you something. Whether they're complaining about situations, or people, it's just it's just bad for you. All in all together. Being a complainer and complaining is bad for you in general, it will anger the people that were that are over you. It will anger I mean, Moses and Aaron, they're like, why are you complaining to us? Like, why are you I mean, they were angry about it. I mean, it will anger your authorities and like, here's a here's the really bad thing. It'll anger the Lord. You'll anger the Lord. And here's the thing, it doesn't even make you feel better. It might for that, like split second, you know, make you feel better, but it will overall just like, it just gives you a bad attitude. It gives you a bad, it gives you a bad spirit. And then you realize that, you know, there's that complainers, these people that just have that just fallen into this, and they complain just for the sake of of complaining, you realize they don't they have, I mean, people that really fall into this that are just negative about everything and complain about everything. They they don't want to solve anything. They just want to complain. And they don't want to solve problems. Here's another thing, turn to First Kings chapter 21. Here's another thing. And I think we especially as Americans, especially today, I think we need to really grasp this one, turn to First Kings chapter 21. But the Bible says the Bible gives us a demonstration here. But here's the thing, there's always going to be something that you could complain about. I don't care how great your life is, or how good things are going for you. There's oh, there could always be something that you you could find if you become this person that is a complainer, that's a negative person that has a bad attitude about everything, you will find something to complain about no matter what. You say why? Well, look at First Kings chapter 21. This is this is Ahab. He's a king. Ahab has everything that he wants. He's a king of Israel. And it came to pass after these things that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which was in Jezreel, heard by the place of Ahab king of Samaria. And Ahab spake unto Naboth saying, Give me thy vineyard that I may have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near unto my house. And I will give thee for it a better vineyard than it. Or if it seemed to be good to thee, I will give thee the worth of it in money. And Naboth said to Ahab, The Lord forbid it me that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee. And Ahab came into his house heavy and displeased because of the word which Ahab the Jezreelite had spoken to him. For he had said, I will not give thee the inheritance of my fathers. And he laid him down upon his head and turned away his face and would eat no bread. I mean, look, this guy was a king. And this this way, he couldn't get this one piece of property. And he had many properties that were better than this one. He wanted this one because it was close to his house. He just wanted something that he couldn't have. And it just wrecked this whole day. And then they end up killing this guy over this thing, which is another thing. But I mean, the whole thing is that the guy was a king. He had everything he wanted. He was rich. He was powerful. He had everything. So it doesn't matter how good you have things. You can always find a reason to complain. There will always be guys. There will always be this guy where you work. I don't care where you go to work. There will always be this guy. There will always be this guy. And you want to be, look, first of all, beware of this guy. I can pick this guy out in the first week easily. No matter where I go to work, I can find this guy or people like this guy in the first few days because he sticks out that much. So first of all, you stay away from this guy for two reasons. The first one is that he'll make you have a complaining heart. If you hang around with this person, he's like, yeah, you know, this company, this is why they're bad. They don't do this for us. And they should do this for us. And I know another company that does this for everybody. And they do this and, look, you will feed off of that and it will spread to you. A bad attitude spreads like cancer. I mean, it just spreads to other people. So a good way to handle it is just be like, you know what, it's going to be fine. We have good jobs. It kind of resets people. And then this guy, if you just are kind of like have a positive attitude around this guy, he's not going to want to talk to you anyway. He's not going to want to come talk to you. He doesn't want to go to the people that listened to his garbage. I mean, he gets that, you know, it kind of resets people to have a positive attitude and a negative situation, by the way. I mean, a lot of people will snap out of it. But this serial complainer, he'll just not want to have anything to do with you, if that's what you do. Look, and, you know, usually the serial complainer, he'll go and he'll find the people that just adopt his attitude is what he'll do. It will spread, you know, to them. But look, you're going to be, you know, the second bad thing is this. If you do hang around with that guy, and you're even seen with that guy. I mean, I told you how fast you can identify that guy. If you know what to look for, you can identify that guy very quickly. And if you're seen always being around that guy, it's going to lump you in with the complainer. Even maybe you just say, I don't say anything. I just listen to it. Well, it's going to lump you in. And they're going to be angry. The authorities, the people above you, you know, the people that are, you know, in charge of you are going to be angry with you just like they're angry with that guy, because they're going to lump you in. So how are you supposed to approach an authority with an issue? 1 Timothy 5.1, rebuke not an elder, but entreat him as a father. The Bible says it's not that you're not going to have issues, or it's not that you can't bring issues to the attention of the people that you work for. It's just you're supposed to be respectful. You're not supposed to go around complaining and, you know, just whining about everything behind everybody's back. So some people are just chronic complainers. You know, this is another thing is that you need to be careful that you don't, if you go home and all you and your wife talk about is complain and have negativity towards everything and everybody, your kids are going to start to be like that. And you're going to raise a bunch of complaining, negative children. And I mean that's, it will spread to them for sure. So look, you need to avoid these people. It's easy to identify them and it's really at the end of the day, what is it? It's unthankfulness, which is serious. And God's not going to bless that. I mean that's why God came down on the children of Israel because they were unthankful. So appreciate, I mean think of us. Appreciate what you have. I mean appreciate, you know, your church. Appreciate your friends. Appreciate your family. Look, no one here really that I know has anything that they should be complaining about. I mean a lot of people, do you know a lot of people, we were out the other night and, you know, we were, you know, we're, I don't know, we were having dinner outside somewhere or whatever and like we saw just all kinds of people just sitting by themselves. You know a lot of people, like a lot of people have no friends. They have nobody to do anything with and they have, just kind of have like a lonely life. And I can't imagine for people like that, for people that don't have a group of people like this, especially like-minded people, I can't imagine what this last year has been like for people like that. I mean that must be rough. I mean if you were lonely before this, I can't imagine. I mean look, you have too many friends here probably. I mean people here are probably like, man there's another event coming up? I mean there's a lot going on. People, look, most people, most people out here that are outside, you know, of this church, this ministry, they have nothing to do right now. I even, Heidi and I were talking about yesterday morning, we were like just talking about Saturday soul-witting. How, I mean, what a great way to start Saturday morning. And we were like, you know, most people, I told my wife, I was like I bet you most people just lay around until at least 10 or 11 o'clock every Saturday morning. Even if they go, you know, go and do something or go, you know, whatever, you know, I'm sure they don't get up and start moving around until 11, 1130, 12 o'clock. By that time we've already been out soul-witting, been out walking around. It's a great way to get the morning, the day started. I mean your job, everybody here, your job, your job, I don't care what's going on at work, your job is a blessing. I mean if you haven't figured that out from this last year, that your job is a blessing, I mean I don't know what you need to have happen to you to figure that out. I mean I talk about that all the time. I mean I tell my family that probably twice a week, sitting at the dinner table, I'm just so thankful that we're able to still go to work. I'm so thankful that we're able to still, because I could come home, and here's what I don't do by the way, my wife has no idea what's going on at my job, and I mean she doesn't want to know and I would never want her to have to hear all that stuff. But I don't go home and like sit at the dinner table and complain about my job to my family. I mean think about the double-edged sword of damage that that would do. Number one, I'm unthankful for my job, and number two, I'm just spreading all this negativity. I'm spreading, I mean to my boys, I'm telling them, you know what, complain about your job. Your job, because look, there's something to complain about at every job. I guarantee it. Because guess what, everybody's not the king of the world and there's probably things at your job that go on that you wouldn't do it that way. Or people there that maybe you wouldn't hire, or whatever. But I mean the point is, it's a blessing that we have jobs, guys. A good, but complaining, complaining is a choice. And having a good attitude is also a choice. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 12. Having a good attitude is a choice. Look at Paul. 2 Corinthians chapter 12, look at verse number seven. Look, Paul, Paul did not have a great physical life. He did not have, and you say, oh, he went through a lot of persecution and torture and beatings. Yes, that's true. But he also had some problems, like personally. Look at verse number seven of 2 Corinthians chapter 12. And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me. Lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice three times, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, I would rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. So Paul has this medical issue, and it's painful. He's got like a painful thing going on. We don't know what it was, but it was something that was just, it was just, it was wreaking havoc on him. I mean, it was a thorn in his flesh means that he was suffering from it. He was suffering from it so much. I mean, was Paul a weakling? I mean, Paul was beaten almost to death more times than I can count in the Bible. And he was stoned and he was, you know, lashed and everything. Paul was no weakling. So this must have been something that was serious for him to go to God three times and ask him, Lord, will you take this away from me? And the Lord said, no. The Lord said, you know what? So you don't, you know, so you're not lifted up. I'm not going to take it from you. So what does he do? He makes the choice to glory in it. He's going to, I'm going to glory in my infirmity. You know, most gladly, he says. He says most gladly. He just accepts God's decision because God made a decision that no, I'm not going to take that away from you. He's like, I'm glad I'm going to glory in it. And you know, what I have from Christ is much better. Like that's God's decision. Look, but it was, I just want to really point out that, that the idea, whether or not you take a situation, you say, I have a medical situation that is painful, that hurts. Well, you can look at that in a negative way, or you can glory in it. I mean, because that's what Paul did. I mean, you can take a situation that everyone would agree is bad. Everyone in this whole entire world would agree that's bad. And you can say, you know what, I'm going to glory in this. You know, God has put this on me. There must be a reason for it. You know, God doesn't talk to us like, you know, the Bible is talking to us here, but you know, there must be a reason for it if God doesn't take it away from us. And so we just glory in it. It's a decision is what I'm trying to get you to understand. But look, you need to just put things in perspective, you know, in your life, really. You know, it's one of the greatest benefits of having gone through difficult times in your life. If you've ever gone through difficult times with your health, if you've ever gone through difficult times with your finances, I know that we've had times like that, both of those things. And I, I am thankful for those times. I am thankful for those things that we went through, because it puts perspective on my life, that no matter what happens, I can always be a look back and say, you know, I'm thankful that, you know, God delivered us from things and God got us out of things. Hard times give you the proper perspective. You can always look back on those times as reference of how things could be. And here's another thing. And if you're just constantly negative, and you've never gone through any hard times, well, guess what? Maybe God needs to give you a reference. I mean, think about that. Think about if you're just this kind of person that you've never gone through anything difficult, and you've never gone through anything tough, whether, whether it be anything in your life, and all you do is complain. I mean, you think that that would be a good thing, that you would just glory in that, thank God that I've never gone through. And how can you do that? Because you look at other people that have gone through bad times, gone through hard issues or whatever. And you can look at that and say, thank God, God has never required me to go through something like that. Thank God that I've never had to deal with something like that. That's the way to handle that. Or maybe if you just become this complainer in this negative person, maybe God gives you something that you can use as a reference. God gives you something to say, you know what, I'll show you how bad things can get, and then maybe you'll be thankful. Then maybe you'll be appreciative. I mean, this is also why, this is also the same reason, the same philosophy, is why kids that are spoiled and undisciplined are the most miserable kids you'll ever meet. Which the irony of that is what? What's the irony of that? You get these parents, and they never want to discipline their kids. They never want to spank their kids. They want to give their kids everything. Why? Because they want them to be happy. I can't, I noticed this, I noticed this before I was even saved when I first became a parent. I noticed how strange this was, these parents, they just wanted to give their children everything, and they just want to provide for them everything just to make them, just to give them everything they ever wanted, just to be happy. And the kids were miserable. These are the kids that are screaming constantly. That, you know, you would think, how can a kid live on fruit snacks? It's possible, I've seen it. They won't die. You would think, I'm like, I've told my wife about certain kids that we've known for years. I'm like, these kids are going to die. You can't live on fruit snacks alone, but you can. It's a miracle, but it's possible. But these kids are miserable. That's why the Bible says that if you don't discipline your children, you hate, you hate them. You know, you hate your son, the Bible says, because look, you want to make them miserable, you must hate them, because they will be miserable. I mean, you'd think, you know, it's, it's, it's just ironic. So think about that a miserable child is an undisciplined child. And it's almost, you know, it's almost like the Bible's true. So look, don't be a complainer. Change that about yourself if you're a negative person, because look, it's something that it's something that you can change very easily. By the way, you just have put things in perspective, do things what the Bible says, you got a problem, just bring it straight to the person, have a good attitude about things, put things in perspective, realize that, you know, if you don't put things in perspective, maybe God will give you the proper perspective, save Christian. Train yourself, because look, people aren't, I mean, here's another thing about being a negative person, people aren't gonna want to be around you. People do not, I mean, normal, positive people do not want to, because what did I say you should do? If you're a positive person, and you're not a complainer, you shouldn't be around people that are complaining. So you're like, you know, I want to complain, and there's no one around me. Well, you're probably just around a bunch of positive people that don't want to be around a complainer. Be, you know, you can be that one person in the midst of negativity, by the way, that can say, you know, hey, let's try going this way. There's a problem, and somebody just wants to complain about it. Maybe five people want to complain about it. Be that one person that's like, hey, what's the problem? Okay, let's work through it. Hey, it's gonna be fine, let's just figure out some ways to work through the problem. Complaining solves nothing, and it will only damage you. And if it becomes, look, if it becomes chronic, if complaint becomes chronic, you will endure chastisement from the Lord because of it, just the same as the children of Israel. And I mean, honestly, it's one of the biggest things, if you just become this negative person that's complaining, it will affect your entire life. It will affect your whole life. It will affect your family life. It will affect your work life. I mean, it will be passed on. I mean, how would you like for, you know, that inheritance that you give your children to be a horrible attitude towards everything, that it can affect your families as well? So there's a lot of lessons that we can learn from the children of Israel here. It's a pretty simple concept that a lot of people seem to struggle with, and I'm not sure why, but it's definitely something you can make a decision to change on, okay? So do some reflection and say, you know what, if I've been negative about situations, if I'm negative about people, and if you have problems with people, just follow what the Bible says. It works. I mean, 99%, I'll take those odds. Just follow that. I mean, and many times you're going to realize that it's just a misunderstanding. It's just somebody didn't mean something or, you know, I said something that my wife thought I meant something else and I didn't because I never mean anything bad. So, I mean, the point is, is that just follow what Matthew 18 says. Just talk about it individually and it will be solved. So be a positive person. I mean, it's such a great blessing to be around positive people and to be influenced by positive people and, you know, it's something that we should try to do ourselves, okay? Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.