Overcoming the Habit of Complaining

Oh, crossing family. It is so good to be with you.

We are in a sermon series on habits.

I thought I would let you know some of my bad habits.

I drive fast when I'm going over bridges in case they collapse.

Anybody else? OK, couple of you.

I also will. Sometimes, if I really don't

like the bridge, I'll crack the window so I can get it all the

way down if I need to. Nobody else is a weird.

OK, couple weirdos. I used to chew my fingernails.

How many of you guys chew your fingernails?

OK, pick your burgers. Need them.

Just joking. Just wanted to catch a couple of

you. Just wanted to catch a couple of

you. Here's another one I have before

I go to bed. I like to shut all the doors.

Do you guys like, in the room? Like if there's a closet door,

You got to shut all the doors. I organize my desk every day

before I start work. I got to have it.

I think that's more just being a psycho in junior high.

This one was debilitating. I went to a three story junior

high and I was in a phase of my life where I had to end my steps

on stairs on an even number. And so you're just going up the

stairs and I'm counting in my head.

And, like, I got to get to the I almost went through a phase

where I had to be divisible by 4, but the Lord healed me.

Here's I'm not kidding. I made it all the way through

Disney World when I was on the Don't step on a cracker.

You'll break your mother's back. And there's a lot of concrete

cracks in Disney World. I can I have to eat more than

one bowl of cereal. I don't know if I've ever eaten

a bowl. And part of that's because I

refuse to drink the milk until it's been properly diluted.

And God bless whoever made Fruity Pebbles, because if that

doesn't make milk delicious, I mean unbelievable.

I am a person who is trying hard to not take my phone to the

bathroom with me. How many of you guys would be

honest? You take your phone to the

bathroom? OK, here's why I stopped.

I'm trying to stop. I haven't been super successful.

There's been so many times my legs, both legs have fallen

asleep and it feels like you're wiping somebody else's butt,

which is weird. And she, like, you're trying to

get out of the bathroom. Both legs are kind of hurt.

You feel like you just wiped a stranger's butt.

It's just not, it's not ideal, it's not how I want to live.

But you can get sucked into the wrong thing on your phone and

next thing you know, 35 minutes and you know, toilets fit me

different than they fit you normal sized people.

Anyhow, that's just some of the habits in my life I'm trying to

navigate. And in this series, we've

learned that between 40 and 95% of human behavior, which is how

we think, what we say and how we act, are habit based between 40

and 95%. And if our lives are based on

the decisions we make, and our decisions are largely based on

our habits, then there are some uncomfortable, unavoidable

truths. First one We are creatures of

habit, which means that our habits form us, which means if

you change your habits, you can change your life.

I want to welcome you joining from all of our different

locations, those of you who are watching online and inside.

I also want to welcome those of you who are joining us for the

first time or the first time in a long time.

And to those of you who made a New Year's resolution to

prioritize God, Jesus, or the Church, I just want to cheer you

on and tell you you're doing great.

Keep it up. I think it's safe to say, and

I've said this a bunch of times here, we all want a better life.

We want better relationships. We want better health.

We want a better walk with the Lord.

We want a better faith. We want to make a bigger

difference, make a larger impact.

And our habits will either propel us forward or they will

hinder us from making these dreams, goals, ambitions and

resolutions. A reality and one habit, one sin

that is keeping you and I from living the life that we want to

have. Experiencing the depth of

relationships that we crave and the impact that we desire is the

habit is the sin of complaining. I was talking to Jerry on my way

here today and I was just, you know, kind of verbally vomiting

and said, well, I got to get off the phone with you.

I got to go preach a sermon on complaining.

And then we both started laughing, said yeah, the opening

5 minutes of the sermon will just be a shot of my rear end on

camera while I'm already at the steps going, hey guys, I can't

preach this one yet. Author Will Bowen says this

about complaining. Complaining is an epidemic that

is destroying our happiness, our relationships and our health and

our success. The problem is that most people

are not even aware that they complain.

Complaining, I love this illustration he gives, is like

bad breath. You notice it when it comes out

of somebody else's mouth, but not when it comes out of your

own. I think every parent in whatever

room you guys are at can relate to this.

When we hear it in our kids, when your kids, especially

during snow days, you know Walmart was open.

Figure out how to keep the schools open.

OK? I'm not a teacher, all right?

And your kids start going. I'm hungry.

And you make them some food. And like, I don't want that

food. I don't like that food.

Well, then fix it yourself. We don't have anything in the

pantry and we. I don't have anything to do.

I'm bored. You know what we call it?

Whining. Quit whining.

But at some point in time, you get old enough that you're not a

kid anymore. And So what do you call it when

adults do it? Complaining.

And the sad truth is, we regularly call it out in our

kids, but we do it too. And who calls it out in you?

When was the last time one of your friends overcame the hurdle

of being passive aggressive and said, hey, do you realize that

you complain a lot? We all do it.

But when was the last time someone said, hey, do you know

that you're like a complainer? The reason why I bring this up

is because complaining impacts us relationally.

It attracts the wrong kinds of people into your life.

Do you know who likes complainers?

Other complainers. And then you'll attract the

worst kind of complainer, the 1 upper.

Oh, so you think you had a bad day And then they go on their

story and then you don't want to listen to them.

You start thinking of the worst thing that they're talking

about. So you can go.

No, actually I know you think, but what I really didn't even

want to get into, but I will since you brought it up.

And then they go down their road and then you've just circled

yourself with a cycle of negativity and it brings you

down. So it attracts the wrong kinds

of people, which means it pushes the right kind of people away.

Because the right kind of people don't want to get sucked in.

They don't want to get dragged down.

Listen to this. We haven't even got to the

Bible. Scientists are discovering that

frequent complaining, check this out, weakens your immune system,

raises your cholesterol, makes you more susceptible to

diabetes, heart disease and obesity.

I'm not fat. My wife's a complainer.

She's not here, so I can get away with it.

In 2016, Stanford did a study and found that complaining

reduces the size of your hippocampus, which is

responsible for memory and problem solving.

Complaining, or simply hearing complaining for more than 30

minutes a day can physically damage your brain.

Ladies, if you wonder why your husband is fatter and Dumber

than when you first met him, it might be because the ladies he

works with complain too much. OK, OK, well, some of you are

going to have a hard time writing an e-mail this week.

You're like, I don't know if I can complain about the sermon on

complaining because we complain about a lot of things, don't we?

We complain about the prices at the pump and the grocery store.

I spent well. I bought three dozen M&M cookies

from Hy Vee last night because I'm on a diet and I wanted to

cut back. And it was like, it was 699 or

599. I was like, this is ridiculous.

We're going to have to give up, you know, bread.

We complain about politics and we complain about culture.

We complain about potholes. We complain about generational

differences. We complain about situations at

work. We complain about the weather.

Even though we all choose to live here.

We could all leave like we've experienced how this however

many years you've been here, it's not a surprise.

Come winter, check it out. It gets cold.

Come summer it gets hot. We've chosen to live in a

miserable part of the country. This was us.

We said we want Carhartts or we want our shirts off.

Do we want nothing in between? We complain about our health.

We complain about our homes. We complain about our spouses.

We complain about our friends. We complain about our family.

We complain about our finances. We complain about the service at

the restaurant, the speed of the drive through, and the taste of

the food. We can't stop complaining.

In fact, we are so bad at complaining and we've gotten so

used to complaining. That's how we start off our

conversations. How was your day today?

Well, you wouldn't believe it. Boy, it's cold out there.

Oh, it's so cold. I've been uncomfortable.

My knees been giving me fits. My wife won't get off my back.

I got to get back surgery. I mean, you we don't stop.

But just so you know, complaining is part of the human

experience. We find it all the way back in

Genesis chapter 3 when Adam cries out to God and he says,

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

This woman that you put here with me, she gave me some fruit

and from the tree and I ate it. And men have been grumbling

about their wives ever since. There is no stopping the

complain train that we are riding.

There's perhaps no greater example of complaining than the

Israelites who cried out to God when they were enslaved in

Egypt, and God heard their cries to be delivered, and he sent

Moses to deliver them, and Moses and Aaron performed 10

miraculous signs in front of them.

The 10 plagues and eventually Pharaoh released the people of

Israel, who'd been enslaved for generations.

And so they finally leave Egypt and they're approaching the Red

Sea. And then Pharaoh changes his

mind and says, no, we need all of these Israelites back to take

care of us and to build our cities.

And so he sends his army after the Israelites, right after they

just received their freedom. And as the army of Egypt of the

Egyptians approached, the Israelites cry outlook what it

says in Exodus 14. As Pharaoh approached, the

Israelites looked up, and there were Egyptians marching after

them. They were terrified, and they

cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, Was it

because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the

desert to die? What have you done to us by

bringing us out of Egypt? Didn't we say to you in Egypt,

leave us alone, let us serve the Egyptians.

It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to

die in the desert. They're going.

Thanks a lot, God. I mean, I know we cried out to

you and asked us you to deliver us, but then you went through

the plagues and it got a little bit harder on us and then we

kind of pseudo changed our mind. But then you delivered us and we

were really stinking happy about that up until the army that you

delivered us from came to attack us.

And there's no place for us to go.

We're stuck between the army and we're stuck between the Red Sea.

And you know what you're thinking?

Didn't you just see God perform 10 miraculous feats in front of

you? But they weren't thinking about

that. They were thinking about the

army behind them, and they were complaining.

And so God tells Moses to go out and spread his hand across the

waters, and Moses does it. And the water divides to the

right and to the left, and it divides in such a way that the

ground that the Israelites walk on through the Red Sea was dry.

And then after they get on the other side, they close the water

up and their enemy is defeated. Well then in chapter 15, the

Israelites find themselves in the desert of Shur.

They had not had water for three day, or they had not found water

for three days. And they finally come to a place

called Mara. And the water there is bitter

and they can't drink it. And guess what they did?

They went, our God is so good and so mighty and so powerful,

and he never takes his eye off of us.

He'll come through. Nope.

That's not even close to what they did.

You know what they did? Well, I'll let you read it.

So the people grumbled against Moses saying, what are we to

drink? So then God had Moses throw a

piece of wood into the water, and he made it sweet.

That was chapter. We've done chapter 14.

We've done chapter 15. For those of you who kind of,

like, are used to seeing things and going, I think I know where

this is going. Guess what happens in chapter

16? Well, in chapter 16, the

Israelites start to get a little hungry.

I can relate. I've been hungry before.

I get a little hangry from time to time.

There are 31 days into their freedom. 31 days.

And in Exodus chapter 16 in the desert, the whole community

Exodus 16 · chapter mention

grumbled against Moses and Aaron.

The Israelites said to them, if only we had died by the Lord's

hand in Egypt. There we sat around with pots of

meat and ate all the food we wanted.

Well, you have brought us into this desert to starve this

entire assembly to death. You know what God did?

He sent mana and quail every single day and fed all of them.

All they had to do is go out and gather it off the ground.

In 31 days, the Israelites experienced 3 miracles after

experiencing 10 previous miraculous signs through the

plagues and every time they come into a hardship adversity.

Their immediate response was not to believe that God would come

through. Their immediate response was to

complain about God and His deliverance.

They go on again to grumble about the fact that there's no

water at another place and God brings water out of the rock and

refidem and I need you to know this because this was a hard

truth for me to take in. God takes your grumbling and my

grumbling. You're complaining and my

complaining personally. Look what it says now.

The people complained about their hardships in the hearing

of the Lord, and when he heard them, his anger was aroused.

If you want to make God angry at you, like I thought, this was

church, I thought the whole point was to get him to stop

being angry. If you want to make God angry

with you, keep complaining. God has called you and me.

Those of us who call ourselves Christians, he has called us to

be different. They go out of their way in

Scripture, the teachers of the Bible, and the writers of the

Bible to show us that the Christian life is to be

different, to be uncommon. Look what it says in First Peter

1 Peter 4 · chapter mention

Chapter 4, verse nine. Offer hospitality to one another

without grumbling. Fellas, when you find out your

mother in law's coming over, you know you're supposed to do that.

Sounds wonderful. What are we going to have?

Or should we make scones? Like you're supposed to be in a

place where you're going. I'm so glad that we get to help

this, you know, frail person. Come into our house and give her

love and warmth and all kinds of stuff.

Husbands, you're not supposed to grumble.

Wives, when your husband invites people over to the house, you

shouldn't be going. I can't believe it.

Again, you should be going. Oh, this is an opportunity for

me to love people. Guys, you want to remember this

verse? You don't see this one, like

hanging over kitchen tables at Hobby Lobby, Like, oh, the don't

grumble sign. No, it's just Eat, pray, love.

OK, It's like, you want to keep the grumbling, OK, put that one

over your table and see who sits at it.

Men. It's important for us that when

we get opportunities to show hospitality women, it's

important for us When we get opportunities to show

hospitality, to see it as an opportunity to love people, not

to grumble about it. It's an opportunity for you and

I to be a blessing to people. Look what it says in Philippians

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2. Do everything without grumbling

or arguing. Deal with kids that aren't

grateful. A spouse who doesn't appreciate

everything you deal. A boss who's never satisfied.

Wash a car that's got more rust than paint.

Do everything. Shovel your drive when it's cold

out. Mow your yard when it looks like

trash. Push mow when the riding mowers

broke. Do everything without.

I mean, it says everything I could go places.

I won't do everything without grumbling or arguing so that you

may become blameless and pure. Children of God without fault in

a warped and crooked generation. Then you will shine among them

like stars in the sky, Confrontational moment in the

sermon, ready if it hasn't been there already, like you're

there. Do you handle hardships in life

in such a way that people go? There's something different

about you. Everybody has a bad boss.

Do you handle it differently? Everybody has hardships in their

marriage. Do you handle it differently?

Everybody has kids that are ungrateful and wine.

Do you handle it differently? Everybody has moments of their

life that don't go as planned. Do we handle it differently, or

do we perform the same way those in a warped and crooked

generation handle it? By whining and complaining and

grumbling, he's saying you will shine among them like stars,

that you will walk in the same aisles at the grocery store and

while everybody else is complaining about the prices and

that you can't find stuff. And your wife didn't want to get

out in the cold. And so you're trying to figure

out exactly what she wants and she thinks that she knows where

everything is in in the store, but they rearrange stuff.

I'm just saying, I've been there and do you go, this is an

opportunity for me to just shine like a star?

This just, you know, oh oh, I mean, just, you know, look at

all the options for spaghetti. Oh, this will be perfect.

I'm going to get 5 and they'll all be wrong, which will give me

an opportunity to come back out and meet somebody else.

Or do you go how you and I handle the inconveniences of

life? The flat tires and the long

lines and the relational challenges is supposed to set us

apart so that people see us and they go, I want what you have,

but they'll never see that if we're saying the same things

that they're saying. Complaining gets in the way of

our ability to minister to others and point them to Jesus.

Ephesians Chapter 4 says this. Do not let any unwholesome talk

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for

building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit

those who listen. If somebody were to listen to

you, would they be edified and built up?

I heard a motivational speaker once and he said there's two

kinds of people in the world. There's basement people and

there's balcony people. Balcony.

People call people up to the balcony, and basement people

pull people down into the basement.

You have a choice to make. Do you want to be a person who

brings people to the balcony or drags them to the basement?

Do the words that you use, are they building the people up

around you? Or are they leaving more

frustrated and more depressed at our culture, at our politics, at

life because they interacted with you?

You might be going, OK, you sold us.

We got to stop complaining with Clayton.

I'm going to need some help. OK, so how do we do this?

Luke, Chapter 6 A good man brings good things out of the

Luke 6 · chapter mention

good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things

out of the evil stored up in his heart.

For the mouth speaks with the heart is full of every single

one of you. You are full of it.

The question is, what's the IT? Are you full of a grumbling,

complaining spirit? Or are you full of thankfulness

and gratitude and peace? Whatever is coming out of your

mouth is an indicator of what is occupying your heart.

So pay attention to what's coming out of here, because it

will tell you what is in here, and if you change what's in

here, it will change what comes out of here.

Here's another way you can deal with it.

When hardships come, when frustrations come, when things

don't go the way you'd like him to go, don't keep it.

Cast it first, Peter chapter 5 verse seven, says.

Cast all of your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

So this is what it would look like.

God, it is frustrating having the prices go up in a way that I

wasn't planning on. This is affecting my budget, but

God help me use this as an opportunity to trust you more

and still give me opportunities to be generous.

It's different than going Can you believe the price of Fruity

Pebbles right? Oh, you're going to have 1000

opportunities in the upcoming week?

And you can choose to complain about it to others and drag them

down or you can use it as an opportunity.

So you know what? I'm just going to cast this

frustration, this fear, this deep rooted part of me.

I'm going to cast it to God because I know that he cares for

me. The other thing you can do is

you can change what you do. You can start changing your

behavior. Look what it says in First

Thessalonians. These are If you're wanting to

memorize a verse and you're like, I need to get into Bible

memory, just memorize verse 16 or verse 17.

It's just two words back. I memorized 2 verses today.

Babe, rejoice. Always.

Pray continually. I couldn't get to 18.

It was too long, right? This is what he says.

Rejoice always wins. Always all the time.

Pray continually. How often is that?

All the time? Give thanks in how many of the

circumstances? I don't like the Bible either.

Some of you like I never knew. I never liked that book.

Sounds horrible in all circumstances.

Why? For This is God's will for you

in Christ Jesus. How many of you have ever asked

a question? What's God's will for my life?

The rest of you, if you didn't raise your hand, why are you

here? What does God want me to do with

my life? I'll tell you.

Rejoice, always pray continually, give thanks.

In all circumstances, this is going to make you weirder than a

$2.00 bill. You are going to be a nut job

walking around town because everybody else is going to be

complaining and you're going to be gone.

I love all the varieties of spaghetti sauce and I love how

expensive they are. Jesus, don't you see how cool

you're going to look? Like a complete weirdo and it's

going to make people go. I want what you have.

I want to be able to go through the hardships and the grievances

and the pain of life and it not impact my mood and not impact my

relationships. And I'm able to pull people up

instead of push people down. What he's saying is as you go

about your life, rejoice instead of grumble, pray instead of

complain, give thanks instead of being negative.

Why is he telling you all this? Because the hardships of life

and our ability to endure them in a godly way matures us in

Christ. It strengthens our faith.

Look what it says in James Chapter one.

This is another brutal verse. Consider it pure joy, my

brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds,

because you know that the testing of your faith produces

perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work

so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

You have a choice. When life does not go your way,

you can complain or you can grow.

When life doesn't go your way, you can whine or you can become

complete. You can grumble or you can

become mature. Perhaps the most abused verse in

scripture has some insight into this.

For those of you who already have the tattoo, let me set it

up the way Paul does. Philippians Chapter 4.

Philippians 4 · chapter mention

I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have

plenty. I've learned the secret of being

content in any and every situation, whether well fed or

hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.

He's saying whether I'm having a good day or a bad day, I'll be

OK. Whether I have everything I need

or I need everything, I'll be fine.

I'll be content. Do you know what?

How he's going to do this? Anybody know what the next verse

is? You ready?

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

What? I thought that verse was about

whether or not the Chiefs were going to win in the playoffs.

I thought this was about me nailing my dance routine.

I thought that verse was about me getting a promotion.

I thought that verse was about me getting a pretty girl to

finally marry me. I thought that verse was about

me losing weight. I thought it was about me

winning a bit at work. Nope.

It was not about you getting those pants to fit.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Some of you people have been there.

I'm calling on Jesus, right? It's not about any of that.

The I can do all things through. Christ who strengthens me is

about I can get through anything, whether things are

going my way or everything's against me.

I can be content when it's hot outside in summer and it's

unbearably cold in a Midwest winter.

I can get through it because he gives me strength.

This is about you having a bullet proof life with Christ

that you can throw whatever you want to at me and I can be

content because Christ is my strength and my portion

Philippians, that's where it comes out of.

That church was started and Paul and Silas got put in prison and

you know what they were doing after they've been beaten and

put in prison? They were singing songs like

weirdos. And then an earthquake happens

and all the jail cells break open and all the prisoners that

were next to him didn't leave. Like, I wonder what the next

song is going to be. And a church was started because

people were being thankful in the midst of a bad situation.

So Paul writes to this church Philippians.

And guess where Paul is sitting when he writes the letter to the

church in Philippians in jail. The Paul's going you can do

whatever you want to do with me. I'm going to accomplish what the

Lord has for me. I can't be slowed down.

I can't be detoured. We see when we look at the

Israelites, we look at them and we go, How could you be

complaining when God is doing so much around you?

We see in them how, after the 10 plagues, could you doubt that

God wouldn't handle you at the Red Sea?

After everything that God did at the Red Sea, how could you

complain when you didn't get the water you wanted?

How could you? After you got the water you

wanted, how could you doubt that God wouldn't get you through a

little bit of hunger? And after the manna and the

quail, how could you think that there wouldn't be water again?

We look at them and go, How could you?

But complaining is like bad breath.

It's easier to notice it in others than to notice it.

And you? We look at the Israelites and we

wonder, how could you complain when God is doing so much on

your behalf? But you and I, we do the same

thing. We see their error, but we

struggle to see our own. How could you and I possibly

complain when we have so much going for us because the God of

the universe loved us when we run?

Lovely Jesus came and died for us when we didn't deserve.

It forgives us when we ask for it.

Adopts us when we're unworthy. Hears us when we pray.

Is preparing a place for us in heaven.

Defends us from Satan. Intercedes for us before the

Father. Paul cries out in Romans.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those

who love Him, who've been called according to His purpose.

That when we walk into the darkest of valleys, we may walk

into it, but we don't walk into it alone.

No matter what we face, we don't have to face it alone.

We have way too much going for us to spend any time

complaining, and I hope you'll join me in it.

We're moving to a time of decision.

To those of you who haven't started an intimate, personal

relationship with Jesus, you just need to know this.

Your life is going to have hardships and your life is going

to have struggles regardless of whether or not you begin your

relationship with Jesus. I don't want to like, you know,

sell you the car and then you drive home and the wheels fall

off. I want to be upfront with you.

You're going to have hardship whether you have Jesus or you

don't. The difference is is that when

you have the hardship, you won't be alone.

Everybody gets a flat tire, but it's different when your dad's

in the car. Isn't it, girls?

Everyone has car trouble. It hits different when your

dad's a mechanic. Everybody gets in a wreck.

It's a little bit different when your dad runs a Body Shop.

Everyone gets cavities. It's different when your dad's a

dentist. When you start your relationship

with Jesus Christ, you're going to have to go through the

hardships of life. But the promise of the gospel is

that you will have the author of life with you, and he can redeem

any situation. He can save any Sinner you are

going to leave here and you're going to have life hit you in

the mouth. I just need you to know that

when it takes its swing at you, he'll be standing there with

you. Some of the punches he's going

to block. I can't even.

I have no clue. All the things that he saved me

from and some of the punches I'm going to take and he's going to

clean me up. You can go through life on your

own or you can do life with him. And I'll just tell you, I've

done both and I'm never going back.

And that's not just my testimony.

That's the testimony of thousands of people who call The

crossing home. If you're here today and you've

never started a relationship with Jesus Christ, I would

appeal to you. You don't have to do life alone.

You don't have to get it all figured out before you start a

relationship with your Heavenly Father.

He knows everything you've done. He's pre decided to love you.

He's pre decided to forgive you. He's just waiting on you to be

ready to receive it and live a life in response to it.

And so in just a few moments, the people around you, some of

them, are going to come up to the steps and pray.

Some of them are going to get down on their knees where

they're at. Some of them are going to lift

their hands and worship. But I want to encourage you to

walk right over there by that baptistry and to talk to

somebody about how to start a relationship with Jesus Christ.

To those of you who already have a relationship with Jesus, this

is the part of the message that twisted me up.

Our complaining is hurting our ability to reach the very people

that Jesus came to save. Our complaining makes us

indistinguishable. The people around us miss out on

the hope that we have in Him. And so the Bible's antidote to

our complaining is to give thanks, to spend time thanking

God for all that He's done for us and continues to do, for us,

to spend time repenting saying God.

I've been ungrateful. I haven't been thankful.

And when we do that God will re platform your life so that way

you can be a light to those in darkness.

And if you're like me, and you have a burden for your friends

and your family members and your neighbors and the people in your

community to find Jesus, and you realize that you're complaining

is getting in the way of your prayers being answered, you're

going to want to beg God to forgive you and to change you.

Would you stand with me, God? I keep driving to this place, so

hopeful and so optimistic that at any moment in time, this

church could catch fire and people's lives would be

radically changed and transformed.

God, I look forward to the day when this place is packed,

services are added because the people we care about are

starting to care about you and God.

On behalf of this church, we owe you an apology.

You've been so good to us, and we just slip into the trap of

complaining like ungrateful children.

God, on our worst days, you haven't abandoned us.

You haven't stopped loving us. You haven't shut off the spigot

to guide us. But God, we want you to do a

mighty and radical work in our hearts.

Change what's on the inside so we can help change people on the

outside. Hear my praying.

Amen.