God, the Giver

Welcome to this week's message from the Church at Chelsea Westover.

Our core values are vibrant worship, intimate fellowship, fulfilling service, and clear biblical truth.

We pray that this message changes your life.

Let's tune in to today's message and see what God has in store for you.

I want you to turn with me.

Does everyone have an outline?

If you do not have an outline, raise your hand.

I want you to turn in your Bibles to Numbers 11.

We're out of them, okay?

That's a good problem.

That's a good problem.

I don't know about you, but many of you have been telling me how this new series on God's Not Dead has been such a blessing.

And today we're going to continue.

We started out what happens when we see God.

Hey, if God's alive, you're going to have an encounter with an awesome God.

Can I get an amen?

If you got saved, you had an encounter with an awesome God.

You saw him high and lifted up.

Amen?

You had an encounter.

We saw that in Isaiah chapter 6.

Isaiah 6 · chapter mention

And then we went to the burning bush in Exodus chapter 3.

Exodus 3 · chapter mention

God, the enabler.

And we saw where God erases our excuses and he enables us to do what God has called us to do.

Can I get an amen?

Amen.

And then we went last week to Joshua, the encourager.

Joshua chapter 1, verses 1 through 9.

Joshua 1:1–9

And we saw that words always, from words from God always precedes the works of God.

Before you can do something mighty from God, hey, I mean, before you can do something mighty for God, you must hear from God.

Amen?

On what he wants you to do.

And we talked about that, even in the burning bush, how God got Moses' attention.

And then he said, Moses, I'm going to use you to deliver your people from bondage.

Well, today, God's not dead.

And because God's not dead, God is the giver.

Aren't you excited about how much God gives to you?

Amen.

Well, let me put it another way.

Are you really thankful for what God gives to you?

You know, He thinks about us.

God has been mindful of us.

Now listen to this, church.

God has been mindful of us to bless us.

Psalms 115, verse 12.

Psalms 115:12

He thinks about you all the time so that he can bless you.

Can I get an amen?

But the problem is a lot of times those blessings are short-lived.

They're short-lived.

And then the next thing you know, we're going right back to that person sometimes that we don't like.

Hey, Todd.

Good to see you.

Amen.

I have missed you.

Do you get my message?

Okay.

I said, Todd, if you don't come Sunday, I'm coming to get you.

But I love you, man.

Good to see you.

But but you know, God blesses you.

And you're on the mountaintop.

Isn't it sad?

How quick we're back to our old I hate to say it, but I got to.

Complaining.

Griping.

Well, the story today is about that.

And by the way, you're not by yourself.

I'm not by myself.

The nation Israel was just like that.

And it's so sad.

Probably one of the most important messages as a Christian that we could hear today is God the Giver.

And God gives, expecting a gracious, unbelievable, appreciative attitude back from us.

Not a complaining, griping spirit.

Amen.

Numbers chapter 11, one of my favorite books of the Pentateuch.

Numbers 11 · chapter mention

There's five books in the Pentateuch.

The five books of Moses, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy.

I love Numbers because it gives us a history of what God told Israel.

If they would do this, I would bless them.

If they would do this, they would, hey, prosper.

If they would do that, if they would listen to him, fulfill his commands, do what he says, they would walk in a land flowing with milk and honey.

Now I don't know about the milk.

I like milk, but I sure love the honey.

Amen.

I am a honeyman.

I really am.

I put honey in my coffee.

I put honey in my eggs, I put it in everything.

I just love honey.

I really sometimes I just drink it because I love honey.

But now I want to share with you two things as we look at the overview in Numbers 11 today.

God, notice the title, God the Giver, possessing an attitude of gratitude.

That's what I want us to leave here with this morning.

An attitude of gratitude.

Can I get an amen?

An attitude of gratitude because of what God gives to us.

Can I get an amen?

Amen?

And with that, I want us to constantly be aware of how easy it is for us to start complaining after we've been so blessed.

That is just breaks my heart.

And I'm guilty.

So with that, let's look at the beginning.

The Israelites had been traveling for about a year in the wilderness and around, actually, they'd been spending most of this time around Mount Sinai.

They had circled it twice.

And now, though, they're about ready to go out into the desert.

And Mount Sinai represents in the Bible God's presence, God's power, God's deliverance.

I mean, for that year they were just kind of hovering under the presence of the tabernacle and God's presence.

I mean, oh, they were they were just really having a good time.

It'd be like you and I being in church right now, and everything's exciting.

We're praising him in spirit and in truth, and we're hearing the truth, and we're worshiping God, which he so desires in John 4.

And we're just we're just staying here.

Sometimes in the middle of the week, when Satan's just knocking the fire out of you and got you down, trying to take you out.

You're discouraged, you're defeated, you're you're you're you know, you're just having a bad day or bad week.

Wouldn't you love to say, I wish I could go back to Sunday at CCW when we were in that moment and just stay there.

Amen?

I mean, there's no doubt about it.

If you walk in this building with the right heart attitude and God shows up, there's not a better time, there's not a more joyful time of you know being in his presence than when you're in the house of God.

And that's why it's so important to be in the house of God.

Amen.

And you just want to go back there.

Well, that's kind of what Mount Sinai was for the nation Israel after they had been delivered out of the bondage of Egypt.

So, with that said, I want to give you an overview.

The children of Israel were to learn two things that number one, they must trust God and not man.

They must trust God and not man.

Now, watch this, in a crisis.

They must trust God and not man in a crisis.

Now, when the crisis came, they all turned to Moses in verse 2 in Numbers.

Notice what it says.

Then the people cried out to Moses.

And when Moses prayed to the Lord, the fire was quenched, so he called the name of the place Tabareth, because the fire of the Lord had burned among them.

In other words, anytime there was a problem, the people would turn to Moses instead of God.

But yet it was God that had delivered them.

Amen.

You with me?

And the Bible says in Psalms 118, verse 8, it is better to trust in the Lord, now listen, than to put your trust in man.

Psalms 118:8

Listen to what he says in verse 9.

It is better to put your trust in the Lord than to put confidence in our government.

Listen, when the problems come and we have them, when the trials come and we'll have them, when the crisis come and we will have them, we don't turn to our government.

We don't turn, hey, to the preacher.

We turn to God.

Amen.

Now thank God for the preacher.

Don't throw me out there by myself.

I mean, thank God for him.

And hopefully he's setting the example.

And you see, he does play a pretty important part.

But he's not the, hey, he's not the answer.

He's the one that directs you to the answer.

Amen.

So we got to learn that.

Now, no second thing we must learn.

Not only should he tell them, and by the way, you know this verse.

Quote it with me if you know it.

That's a good verse.

Trust in the Lord.

Lean not.

And all thy ways.

Stop right there.

Say it again.

In what?

Acknowledge him and he will direct your paths.

Is that not good?

Proverbs 3, 5, and 6.

That's it.

That's the answer.

Now notice the second thing God's going to teach us, and that is not only we must trust in God, not man in a crisis, but number two, that God will supply every need that we have.

Hello.

Come on.

God will supply every need that we have.

Now he didn't say he would supply every want that we want.

And that's a lot of times our problem.

Hey, he supplies our needs, but we want more.

That's called lack of contentment.

And that's another sin.

O me.

Amen.

That's another one.

We preached about that a few months ago, not being content.

So, but he said, Philippians 4.19, my God shall supply all your needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

Say this with me, church.

God will supply my needs.

Say it.

One more time.

So we've got to learn that.

Every need, not just, take, hey, not just some needs, but every need.

And by the way, the Bible very clearly tells us in Matthew chapter 6.

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

Amen?

Matthew chapter 6, verse 30.

Matthew 6:30

Wherefore, if God so clothed the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you?

Oh, yeah little faith.

And then he goes on and he says, So what's the answer, verse 33?

Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these other things shall be added unto you.

All needs, all things shall be met when we go God's way.

Amen?

When we do it his way.

It's not your way, it's not my way, it's his way.

Amen.

So that's the synopsis of this whole chapter, really, the whole book of Numbers, is you've got to learn two things.

Hey, you've got to put your trust in God in Christ's and not man, not the government, not any agency, but God.

And then, secondly, you've got to trust God to meet every one of your needs.

Now, somebody say, Pastor, that's good.

That is good, because that's the truth.

So, with that said, why did the children of Israel so blessed not understand how to be a nation of gratitude?

See, and I wrote this to myself, potentially, Israel had everything they needed to fulfill God's will for their life.

Now let me say this again.

Potentially, Israel had everything they needed to fulfill what God had called them to do.

But realistically, now watch this.

Israel did not receive everything that God had for them so they could do for God what he wanted.

Because they complained and they griped against God.

They had an attitude of ingratitude.

And if you'll notice in your outline, why?

Why did they not receive everything they needed?

Because it was available to them, because they had an attitude of ingratitude.

Now, watch this, folks.

I have seen this so many times in my own life as well as in many Christians' life.

A lot of times we have, hey, listen, we've been lifted up into the heavenly of heavenlies.

Amen.

Hey, we've been blessed with all spiritual blessings.

But the problem is, many times we don't enter into those blessings and those, hey, that those those unbelievable, unthinkable, should I say, blessings of a real God because we are ingrateful.

Wow.

And then we wonder why God's not blessing.

Maybe it's because we're not thankful.

Wow.

Can you say oh me?

So, with that said, I want to give you three observations.

Observation number one about the nation Israel in verses one through three.

Read with me.

Now, when the people complained, it displeased the Lord.

Can I say something right here?

Complaining displeases the Lord.

It displeases the Lord.

For the Lord heard it.

By the way, he knows when you're complaining, and his anger was aroused.

So the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp.

Then the people cried out to Moses when Moses prayed to the Lord, the fire was quenched.

So he called the name of the place Tabbit, because the fire of the Lord had burned among them.

Observation number one.

The people complained.

They had only been gone from Mount Sinai three days.

Now, for about a year they were in, they were worshiping.

They were having an unbelievable time with God.

In fact, we see the present of God was in the tabernacle.

And then they leave Mount Sinai, go into the desert.

They've only been gone three days, and now they're complaining.

Three days.

It doesn't take long for your blessings to be turned into complaining when you get out of the presence of God.

Hello.

Listen to me.

That's good.

That's important.

You in the overflow.

Listen.

That's why it's so important.

Hey, that you be in your small groups, you be in church, you be around other Christians that are always uplifting and talking about the Word of God, exhorting one another, holding each other accountable.

You with me?

Now I want you to write in.

Our tendency, I put this to myself, our tendency to sin is greater than others.

Our tendency to sin is greater than others.

Now, what uh what do you mean by that, Pastor?

When you're in the presence of God, the tendency for you to sin is unlikely.

Not that you can't, but it's very unlikely.

Like right now, these two hours that you are here with us on Sunday mornings.

What a I love just, I can't wait to get here to worship with you and to love on you and to pray with you and then to teach you, to teach us the word of God.

Now, most of the time, these two hours that we're here on Sunday, we're most likely we're not going to be involved in a lot of sin.

Amen.

I said most likely.

Now that doesn't mean you can't be in here with a heart deceitful and you know, and a lot of people come in here lost.

But even the lost, when they come in here, they're kind of they're up, they're sometimes they're scared, but they're they're like, Well, what's this all about?

And next thing you know, the Holy Spirit grabs our hearts and starts loving on them and starts teaching them.

But there's a tendency for us to sin when we're not in the presence of God.

That's why you're quiet time every day.

That's why you're praying with somebody every day, and being with those people and being in church is so important.

Can I get an amen?

So we see that.

We see that.

Look at what Jesus said.

Jesus said in John 6.43, Jesus said, therefore answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves.

Hey, look at what he says in Philippians 2.14.

Do all things without murmuring and disputing.

Now, why?

Look at verse 15.

Can you give me verse 15 next?

I don't think I put it in there.

Uh, but verse 15 says, Because we are to be a light to the community, and we are to be all that we can be to be a testimony.

Look at what he says, that you may be blameless.

In other words, you must be an example and harmless, the sons of God without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation.

Can you say we're there?

Hello.

Among whom you shiny lights in the world.

Hey, ladies and gentlemen, when we are, hey, when we are upset or we're complaining and we're murmuring, that's not a witness.

Listen, the world gets that all the time.

They want to see something different.

They want to see the joy of the Lord.

Amen.

They want to see somebody that can smile at them and say, Jesus loves you.

Or you they can look at you and say, Jesus is awesome.

Amen.

So it's important that we understand that.

Now notice the second observation.

The complaining displeased God and brought his discipline.

Wow.

The complaining displeased God and brought his discipline.

Now Tossians 3.6 says, the wrath of God comes on, now watch this, the children of disobedience.

Not the lost, but the children.

For those things' sake, the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience.

Look at Hebrews 12, 5.

And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaks unto you as unto children.

My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him.

The Lord loves you, and he's not going to let you go and get away with, hey, murmuring and complaining and not being a testimony and a light, hey, for him.

Amen?

So he says, You're you're we're this example in this crooked and perverse nation.

You can't watch a news channel.

I've quit watching news and I used to be faithful at it.

I hear nothing, nothing positive, not one thing.

It's all negative.

It's all just garbage.

Amen.

And the news media, back when I was a little boy, you know, there was only three of them, three news agencies, they really were held to a code of ethics that they had to tell the truth.

Now they tell what they want, and hey, they tell their own agenda.

So, the complaining, displeased God.

Now, this was not the first time that they had complained.

I want you to look at Exodus chapter 15, verses 24 through 26.

Exodus 15:24–26

I think it's up there for you.

I want you to look at this.

This is awesome.

And the people complained against Moses.

This is the first time.

Now, this is the first time they complained after they had been delivered.

And the people complained against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?

So he cried out.

Moses, he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree, and when he cast it into the waters, the water were made sweet.

Sweet tea.

Hello.

Amen.

Now I know you northerners don't understand that sweet tea.

Don't go to the north and ask for sweet tea.

First of all, they don't know what that is.

Let me tell you the definition of sweet tea.

Southern sweet tea.

We put a little tea in our sugar.

Amen?

Then he made a statue.

Now watch, and an ordinance for them, and there he tested them.

And he said, If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in his sight, give ear to his commandments and keep all his statues.

I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord.

Who heals you?

He said, All right, all right, all right.

I know you're immature.

I know you need to grow up.

I know, you know, you just came out of years, years of bondage and torment and all this.

I know you don't know any better right now.

So here's what I'm gonna do.

I'm not gonna discipline you this time.

I'm just gonna say you ought not to do that.

So the hey, and if you'll follow what I tell you to do, everything's gonna be awesome.

You you're gonna be used greatly by me.

I've got a plan for your life.

Just follow my leadership and watch how I bless you.

Now, wouldn't you get excited that you didn't get taken to the woodshed?

Amen.

Well, guess what?

They didn't learn anything.

Because now we see in Numbers chapter 11, we see now they're right back.

Numbers 11 · chapter mention

They had for a year been doing good because they were in the presence of God, everybody just loving one another, exhorting one another, growing in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

But now they get out, it's time to go do what God's asked to do.

They've only been gone three days, and now they say, I don't like what I'm eating, I want some meat.

Sounds just like a bunch of Baptists to me.

Hello.

Well, I don't like steak, I want bologna.

I mean, you know, never content.

Never, just, just, hey, hey, it wasn't that they didn't have what they needed.

They had plenty of what they needed, but they didn't have what they want.

The Lord basically said, grow up, grow up, grow up.

Notice the third observation.

A godly, godly praying saved the people from ultimate destruction.

In verse 2.

Then the people cried out to Moses, and when Moses prayed to the Lord, the fire was quenched.

I mean, there were some people that were killed, but Moses cries out, hey, godly praying can say, can mean, and make things happen.

Can I get an amen?

The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

James 5, 16.

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, forgive their sins and heal their land.

2 Chronicles 7.14.

Is that not good, church?

Wow, that's good.

That's good.

Now here's where the godly leader does come in.

Thank God for a godly man that could, hey, intercede for his people.

Hey, to God.

Can I get an amen?

He said, please don't, please don't.

Please don't, Lord.

Stop this.

I'll deal with it.

I'll talk to them.

I'll preach to them.

I'll love them.

We'll repent.

We'll do what you want us to do.

Well, did they do it?

Afraid not.

You know why they didn't do it?

Israel possessed an attitude of ingratitude.

I want you to see these four things about their attitude.

Their attitude was unaffected by the discipline of God.

Wow.

Their attitude was unaffected by the discipline of God.

Again, you look at verse 3.

So he called the name of the place Tabareth, because the fire of the Lord had been burned among them.

This was the first judgment.

I mean, not the first judgment, but this was the, well, the first judgment after God had told them.

Now, hey, I'm not going to discipline you if you do right.

But they didn't do right.

They started complaining and griping.

So now he disciplines them.

In fact, he kills some of them.

Now, look at verse 34.

Let me jump to the end.

So he called the name that was the place, Kilbreth, Hatava, because there they buried the people who had yielded to cravings, the lust of the flesh.

Again, this is the second, hey, second discipline, second incident, two incidents in this one chapter where God steps in and he brings judgment.

Because they didn't listen.

Wow.

Now, I thought, how can I apply that to us?

Oh boy, it didn't take me but a minute for the Holy Spirit to say, hey, preacher, how many times have you said, Lord, if you'll deliver me from this situation, I won't never do this again.

Or Lord, if you'll get me out of this thing and I don't get, if I don't have to go to jail this time, I'm gonna serve you forever.

Hello?

Come on, come on.

You with me?

Or boy, if I don't get kicked out of school, teenagers, on this incident, Lord, I'm gonna serve you.

I won't miss a Sunday in church for a year.

Have we all been there?

Amen.

I want to see every hand in this congregation go up in the overflow, too.

We've all been there.

Well, that's exactly what the Israelites did.

That's exactly what they did.

It was an attitude.

They were unaffected by the discipline of God.

Notice the second thing.

It was an attitude unappreciative of what God had done or God's benefits.

Can you imagine?

Look what God had just done.

Don't you remember the Red Sea?

Don't you remember?

Hey, hey, God parting the Red Sea, killing all the Egyptian army after you.

Don't you remember God sending the manna down from heaven?

The quail, bringing water out of the rock?

Don't you remember all those benefits?

They hadn't remembered them much.

Oh, okay, it's one of these things.

Okay, God, thank you for today.

Now, what you gonna do for me tomorrow?

Hello.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Oh, yeah, yesterday, good.

Yeah, but what about today?

What you gonna give me today?

What you gonna do for me today?

See, it wasn't about God, it was about them.

Amen?

I mean, it didn't bother them one bit.

Verse 5 and 6.

Look at it.

We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, the garlic.

But now our whole being is dried up.

In other words, we just don't want to eat this stuff.

There's nothing at, hey, at all except the man.

We don't want to eat anything but this old bread.

We don't want to, hey, we don't want to eat this bread.

We're just not gonna eat.

Well, bless God starve.

Hello?

You better be glad I wasn't God.

Amen.

By the way, I'm glad you're not God too.

Amen.

Amen.

I'd have killed a whole bunch.

Wipe them out.

Ungrateful, complaining.

See, I grew up in a very poor home with my grandparents, but I didn't know I was poor because we had the love of God.

And we we had we had all we needed.

Amen.

Now I never had what I wanted until I got working.

And you know, I decided I want some things.

You know what?

And you know what my granddaddy said?

Well, go to work.

Amen.

Hello.

So I went to work.

I started a little paper route.

Ten years old, got my little bike, had my little two baskets, bought my bike for$5, took a spray can, painted it, put my little basket on there, put about 25 papers in there, and I was a paper boy to the neighborhood.

I got tips.

You know why?

Because, you know, I wouldn't just throw the paper, I'd go put the paper right there on the door.

So when I went back to collect, and if there was anything, I would other stuff out there, I'd always pick up and just take the back then, oh I am telling my age.

Back then they delivered milk to the door.

And so I would I would ring the doorbell and they'd come and I'd have their milk and the paper and ice.

Yeah.

Hey, instead of them paying me a dollar and twenty-five cents for what they've owed me for the paper and I made a quarter, they'd give me two dollars.

I made 75 cents.

Woo! That's a lot of money back then, folks.

Amen.

I went to work.

God was providing my needs, so I figured God's taking care of that.

If I want something, I can go to work.

Then I started reading the Bible, it says, Work's good for me.

Amen.

See, my granddaddy was teaching me a lesson.

He said, You won't?

Go work.

I've been working ever since.

I have worked two and three jobs all my life.

And you say, Man, no, because I didn't see it as work, folks.

I saw it as a calling from God and a thankfulness to my God.

Amen.

Notice the next observation.

They were unappreciative.

Not only of what God had done or God's blessings.

But number three.

Now let me tell you why they were unappreciative.

I'm convinced of this.

Well, this is good.

Israel was out of Egypt, no doubt about it.

They had been delivered out of Egypt, but Egypt wasn't out of them.

Hello.

See, when we get saved, a lot of us get saved, okay?

We get saved out of the world, but some of us still live in the world.

Amen.

And we are to live in the world, but I mean we don't get all that worldliness out of us.

And it's hard to because that's all we see every day on TV and all the new.

I mean, we're tempted in worldliness.

And in other words, we don't get that worldly philosophy out of us.

And the worldly philosophy is what you want, you deserve.

Hello, man.

Somebody said, come on, preacher, that's good.

We even our government says that.

Oh, everybody deserves this.

No, every hey, if we got what we deserve, we deserve to die and go to hell.

Hello.

Thank God we don't get what we deserve.

Amen.

Thank God for the mercy and grace of God.

Amen.

So that they were brought out of Egypt, but spiritually they were never delivered at this time from Egypt.

I'm going to show you as we go.

So that's important that we understand that tremendously.

And one of the ways is, let me tell you.

You remember the prodigal son?

Man, I thought about this.

The son that lost it all got right with God and said, even my servants at my father's house have it better than me.

He arose and he went home to the Father.

Remember the story in Luke 15.

And when he came, the father was excited.

He was happy.

He ran out and met him.

I mean, they had a party.

Now watch this.

Are you ready?

You ready for this?

He was so excited.

Hey, this son had lost it all.

Wait, wait.

He didn't get the house.

He forfeited that when he left.

He didn't get any of the inheritance.

He didn't have the money.

He had lost his.

He had absolutely nothing.

But yet he was rejoicing because God had put, whoo! God had picked him out of the muck, out of the pig pen, and put his feet on a rock and put a new song in his heart.

Psalms 42.

But hey, isn't it amazing that the boy that had lost it all had ten times more joy than the boy and the son that had it all?

Amen.

That's good.

Amen.

That's the sermon.

Wow.

That's why I love new Christians.

They don't know any better.

You know why they're so excited?

Because they've just been saved out of the pig pen.

Man, their life's been changed.

They've been renewed.

They got a new future.

Hey, God's not interested in the past.

He's interested in the future.

Their past, they knew they were headed to hell.

They knew they were headed to destruction.

But now they got a new chance.

They got a new life.

They just have a spill.

And then bless, yes.

Then bless God to come to church and they sit by Sister Fluffyhead, a deacon potato head, has been in church all their life, and they say, Well, well, well, Micah, that'll wear off.

Teach.

Well, I've been 32 years and it hadn't worn off yet.

Jesus.

Woo! Woo!

In fact, mine's just getting more and more and more.

Preach.

You with me, church?

Thank God for being the God of the giver.

Wow.

Wow.

Wow.

Woo! And then last thing about the nation Israel.

Their attitude was insensitive to their calling.

Let me tell you what God had called them to do.

If we went back to Exodus 15, remember?

He said, okay, now you made a mistake, but here's what I want you to do.

In fact, he said, I'm gonna make a statue, I'm gonna give you the Ten Commandments, I'm gonna give you the word, and here's what I want you to do.

And if you're willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land, but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword.

Isaiah 1, 19 and 20.

That's what he said.

He said, Here it is.

They were it he says, I want you to be a light in a crooked and perverse nation.

Look at this, 1 Peter.

Is it 1 Peter, Jeremy?

Your chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people.

You're different.

That's what he says.

1 Peter 2 9.

You're different.

You're different.

You're different.

You're chosen, you're a godly nation.

When people look at you, they shouldn't see a defeated Christian.

They ought to see a victorious Christian.

They ought to see a man or a woman or a teenager.

I don't care if you're walking through the fiery furnace, you're still singing, whoa, Jesus is awesome.

They ought to see a difference.

If God's still alive.

If God's not dead.

That'll be a difference.

Well, let's look at the truth about a complaining spirit.

This is gonna be a little tough.

My shoes, I put my boots on.

Number one, it's contagious.

Look at verse four.

It's contagious.

Good people begin to act like carnal people sometimes.

Now note look at verse four.

Now the mixed multitude.

Does anybody have a I want to say maybe an NIV?

Or what does your word say rabble?

Does any version say rabble or A B B L?

Yours does.

The what?

I thought it did.

Now, you ought to ask the question, DJ, what is a rabble?

Now, first my thought when I read that, I said, well, rebel, I know what a rebel is.

I'm not talking about Ole Miss.

Gary's back here.

Gary's a big old Miz fan.

Hey, what's a rabble?

Okay?

A rabble is an Egyptian.

A rabble is a Egyptian mixed with a Jew.

That's what a rabble is.

So not only had all the Israel been delivered, but as they were leaving, there were some Egyptians that went with them.

Oh yeah.

There were some Egyptians that went with them.

And that's found in, let me make sure so I can give you the right chapters that I study.

Exodus 12, 38 and Leviticus 24, verse 10.

Leviticus 24:10

And it talked about how they had someone married some Egyptians.

They had intermixed.

Okay?

Now, the principle there is, oh, well, Pastor, you're against mixed marriages.

No.

The principle is I'm against lost people marrying saved people or saved people marrying lost people.

That's the way it is.

So what had happened, some of the Egyptians had married some of the Israelis, or they had gone with them, and they were still serving all their false gods.

And so now, guess what?

Guess who leaves and starts the complaining?

The rebels.

Ha! The rebels.

Notice, look, man, this is good.

Look at verse 4.

Now the mixed multitude who were among them yielded to intense craving.

So the children of Israel also wept again and said, Who will give us meat to eat?

In other words, they started it.

They started saying, You're God so good.

Why aren't we eating steak instead of sweet bread?

Satan always has his plants.

Hello.

Woo! Satan always has his negative, complaining people.

And when they start complaining, it spreads like wildfire.

Woo! Just like that.

I've told our leaders.

And I'll tell you this.

A leader is one of two things.

Hey, when a problem starts in a church, or a problem starts here, as a leader, I have two choices.

I can take a bucket of water and put it on the fire, or I can take a bucket of gasoline and pull on the fire.

You with me?

You can too, as a part of your family.

You can either be the solution to the problem, or you can cause the problem.

Or you can cause the problem to get worse.

Hello, oh me! Oh me.

Oh me.

We see it was contagious.

Reminds me of the uh monk that was in the monastery.

Every ten years they would allow him to say something.

First ten years they said, What would you have to say?

He said, Bad food.

Ten years later, okay, would you like to say something again?

Yes, hard bed.

Ten years later, he said, What would you like to say now?

I quit.

He said, That figures all you've done is complain the whole time, anyway.

Amen.

Did y'all read my blog?

I was dealing with quitting and finishing.

A winner never quits and a quitter never wins.

Amen.

Never.

Never.

Don't start something if you're not willing to finish it.

My daughter tried to quit volleyball one time because she wasn't getting to play.

And she was a good player.

As good as any.

And she said, I'm quitting.

I said, No, you're not.

You should have never started.

You're going to the end.

Now, if you don't want to play again next year, that's fine.

But you're not quitting.

Amen.

Amen.

Teach.

Hey, if you quit early in life, you'll quit all your life.

Amen.

Woo! Let me repeat that.

If you quit early in life, you'll quit all your life.

Always.

Number two, the truth about a complaining spirit, it has a selective memory.

Oh! Verse five.

We remember the fish.

Oh, you remember what you want to.

They're remembering what they had when they were in bondage.

Why didn't they remember the beatings?

Why didn't they remember the pain?

Why didn't they remember all the torture?

Why didn't they remember all All the bad things that were happening.

They didn't want to.

Oh, I'm out here eating.

See, I wouldn't have had a problem with the cinnamon roll cinnamon roll every morning.

I would not have had a problem with that at all.

I might would have said, I might would have said, can I warm the sweet water so I can have some coffee?

But we got we got well that they I'm sure they mixed the honey and the water and made it sweet.

But uh, but but why?

Why do you think that hey, they were complaining, you know?

They had a selective ministry.

Oh, we had it great.

Oh, they had it great the whole time they were in there the last 10 years, they were crying out, oh God, deliver us, oh God, deliver us.

We're in bondage, we're dying, we're being tortured.

What happened to that memory?

What happened when you were in rehabilitation and God rebilitated you and God gave you a job, and now you're out and you've been out a little while, and things go a little bit.

Now you're starting to complain and gripe.

Because God's not doing all that you think he ought to be doing.

I got news for you.

You ought to be thankful.

First of all, he saved you.

He put your feet on the rock and he's providing for you, and he loves you, and he's got something great for you if you don't just follow him.

Amen.

Come on, preach.

Darren, you said I preached on level 12 Tuesday night.

Well, I'm taking it to 12 this morning.

Preached about 300 Tuesday night preachers and churches.

But listen to me, folks.

Let's not have selected memories.

Let's be thankful.

Go back to the day God saved you.

Come on.

Look what He's doing for you.

Look what you got now.

Wow.

I found this poem.

You gotta hear it.

I'm not good at reading poems, but I'm gonna try.

This one's real deep.

Lord, forgive me when I whine.

Today upon a bus I saw a girl with golden hair.

I envied her, she seemed so gay, and wished I was as fair.

When suddenly she rose to leave, I saw her horribly I mean I saw her hobble down the aisle.

She had one leg and wore a crutch, but as she passed a smile.

Oh God, forgive me when I whine.

I have two legs.

The world is mine.

I stopped to buy some candy.

The lad who sold it had such charm.

I talked with him.

He seemed so glad.

If I were late, it did no harm.

And as I left, he said to me, I thank you.

You've been so kind.

It's nice to talk with folks like you.

You see?

He said, I'm blind.

Oh God, forgive me when I whine.

I have two eyes, the world is mine.

Later while walking down the street, I saw a child with eyes of blue.

He stood and watched the others play.

He didn't know what to do.

I stopped a moment and then I said, Why don't you join the others, dear?

He looked ahead without a word, and then I knew he couldn't hear.

Oh God, forgive me when I whine.

I have two ears, the world is mine.

With feet to take me where I'd go, with eyes to see the sunset glow, with ears to hear what I'd know.

Oh God, forgive me when I whine.

I've been blessed indeed.

The world is mine.

I think that sums it up, doesn't it?

Doesn't it?

Dissatisfaction, I put this in your notes, I think, comes when our attention shifts from what we have to what we don't have.

Look at verse 6.

But now our whole being is dried up.

There's nothing at all except the manna before us.

And look at verse 9.

And when they do fell on the camp in the night, the manna fell on it.

Now I want you to understand something here.

This is this is so, so powerful.

It's so powerful.

And it brings me to the third thing.

It's an attitude that's not satisfied with what is available.

Every morning, folks, listen to me.

This group of people saw a major miracle every morning.

They would wake up, walk out of their tents, and there was the manna on the ground.

Every morning they had new manna, fresh bread, not stale bread, fresh bread.

But they weren't satisfied.

They didn't thank God.

They complained to God.

Lord help us.

Lord help us.

Can I get an owe me.

Lord help us.

Israel allowed, hey, one loss of meat to keep them from rejoicing over all their gains.

One thing you don't get, and we start getting upset toward God.

What about all the blessings He's given to us?

Number four.

An attitude.

The truth about a complaining spirit.

Look at the fourth thing about a complaining spirit.

It wants to be heard by others.

Oh boy.

Look at verse 10.

Look at verse 10.

Then Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, everyone at the door of the tent.

And the anger of the Lord was greatly right.

Wait, wait, now notice.

Okay, it's one thing for me to be upset with you.

Okay?

Why don't I do what I'm supposed to do and go into my closet with God and complain to God and let God deal with my attitude?

Can I get an amen?

No.

What am I gonna do?

I'm gonna step out in front of my pen.

Everybody.

CCW is the worst church you can ever pastor.

The people are ungrateful.

They don't care I just boom boom boom boom.

That's what they did.

They didn't go back and start praying about it and complaining.

By the way, if you got a complaint, and and we all do, take it to God.

And I'm gonna show you that in a minute.

Amen.

Take it to God.

They didn't do that, they took it to everybody else.

And I wrote this down.

Complainers are never content unless they have an audience to listen to them.

Woo! Hello.

So why don't you just come on with me and let's whine together?

Hello.

Hello, you got your boots on?

It hurts.

Guilty.

Guilty right here.

I mean, complaining is a cancer that can spread so quickly and do so much damage that can sometimes not be fixed.

Hello.

That's what happened.

That's what happened.

The difference between watch a concerned person and a complaining person.

It's in your notes right here.

A concerned person expresses their views to the right person and then leaves it.

Okay, you got out with me.

Sylvester, you got out with me.

I got out with Sylvester.

Let me show you.

Go to Matthew.

Well, go to Matthew 5.

We'll start there and then we'll go to Matthew 18.

Therefore, if thou bring the gift to the altar.

Now watch this.

If you got out with someone, instead of complaining about it, you better go to them, make it right, or you can't even worship God with the right spirit.

Look, I'm teaching right here.

Therefore, if thou bring the gift to the altar, and there remembers that thy brother hath ought against thee, look at verse 24.

Leave the gift at the altar and go to thy way first, be reconciled to the brother, and then come in offer the gift.

That's pretty plain, isn't it?

That's what Jesus said.

Amen.

Go to Matthew 18, verse 15.

Matthew 18:15

More if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between now watch, thee, you, me, and him alone.

You don't have to go to the tent and open the door and start telling everybody what Sylvester's done to me.

You don't have to get on telephone and call Sister Fluffhead, knowing she's going to tell everybody else.

If they shall hear thee, watch.

Thou hast gained the brother.

Look at that last part.

Thou hast gained thy brother.

Well, Brother Danny, I don't know why everybody wants to call me and Tom.

Tell me all this stuff.

Well, would you like for me to tell you why they call you?

You listen.

I wasn't gonna say that, but I lay in it.

We become a garbage dump.

Amen.

Hello?

Trump, a garbage back set.

There it comes.

And you know what?

Oh, bless your heart.

No, you don't know how to be doing that.

That's gossiping.

You're spreading rumors.

You're don't hurt the body of Christ.

Don't hurt your brother.

Don't hurt your sister.

Here, I'll tell you what I'm gonna do.

You got all with Melvin, I'm gonna call Melvin right now.

We're getting together.

We're gonna have lunch together right now.

Amen.

Amen.

We get that worked out.

Tell you what, you do that once or twice, they won't call you.

I don't get many calls like that.

Moses, now watch.

Moses.

Hmm.

Well, no, let's go ahead.

Complaining persons express their view to everybody and never leaves it.

Let me show you this.

Psalms 34, 13.

This is very important.

Keep thy tongue from evil and thy lips from speaking guile.

Look at Proverbs 21, 23.

Whoso keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps his soul from troubles.

Woo! Somebody say amen.

Don't have something good to say it, don't say it.

Alright?

Notice the fifth thing.

We're gonna finish it up.

It can cause the leader to sin and to start complaining.

Look at verse 11.

So Moses said to the Lord, Why have you afflicted your servant?

And why have I not found favor in your sight?

That you have laid the burden of all these people on me?

Did I conceive all these people?

Did I forget them?

That you should say to me, carry them in your bosom as a guardian carries a nursing child to the land which you swore to their fathers.

Where am I to get meat to give to these people?

For they weep all over me, saying, Give us meat that we may eat.

Hey, I am not able to bear all these people alone because the burden is too heavy for me.

If you treat me like this, please just kill me here and now.

I was I ain't gonna get that desperate.

If I have found favor in your side and do not let me see my wretchedness.

He just started complaining.

I didn't ask for this job.

You gave me this job.

Remember, I told you I didn't want to do this.

Now he starts complaining.

Now you gotta let me tell you the only good thing about Moses' complaint.

He was complaining to the right one.

He was complaining to God.

But he here's the leader now, he's complaining.

Been there.

Oh Lord, don't you know all that we've done?

So what?

You ought to be thankful and keep getting it.

Hello?

You okay?

So what?

By the way, let me remind you, Pastor, you haven't done anything.

It's me working through you and your people that's done it.

I've done it.

Amen.

Woo! Hallelujah.

Oh, me.

Yes, Master.

Moses' displeasure was different than God.

God's displeasure, I wrote it out for you, was over their ungratefulness.

Moses' displeasure was over the people complaining to him.

Moses complaining was different than the people.

Moses complained to God.

The people complained about God.

Moses complained to God alone, and the people complained about God to others.

Number six, a complaining spirit.

It has its roots of self-centeredness.

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, yeah.

Oh, that hurts.

Now look at verse 32.

And the people stayed up all day.

God has sent three feet worth of quail in two-mile radius, a mile to the east and a mile to the west.

And look, they're gathering it.

And the people stayed up all the day and all night.

And all the next day gathering the quail.

They wanted meat.

Bless God, he's giving them meat.

He who gathered least gathered at least ten homers.

And they, now watch.

Next phrase.

They spread them out for themselves all around the camp.

They didn't gather it to help each other, they gathered it for themselves.

Complaining spirit always has its self-centeredness in them.

It's all about me.

Hello.

It's all about me.

This is one of the messages you're probably going to throw in the garbage.

I hope not.

Because every one of us is going to go, hey, I love you.

Can I say something?

My bottom's just as red as it can be right now.

Lord has whooped me good.

I promise.

Can you imagine?

I'm the one that has to preach this and all week he kills me.

You just don't understand.

I did my, you know what I almost did?

I'm going to say, I'm going to fess up.

All right.

I'm going to fess up.

Just to you, Darren.

After about Wednesday and after I'd preached Tuesday night before we had a service, I thought to myself, you know what?

It's Friend Day coming up.

Two weeks.

I need to preach that message I preached Tuesday night about bringing friends to Jesus Sunday.

And I'll just skip this one.

God is my witness.

I justified why I should skip it.

Well, you know, uh, I got three or four more messages.

You know, I'm gonna skip this one.

You know what the Holy Spirit says?

You ain't about to skip this one because you got a problem.

Ask my wife.

We we had a situation.

I'm gonna I'm just messing up.

Yes! God's whipping the car out of me.

Amen.

But I knew if I did not preach this message for for us as a family, I'd be so disobedient to God.

We need this.

This is that underlying cancer that I'm convinced destroys most churches.

Amen.

Last thing.

It will bring the wrath of God.

Verse 33.

So he called the name of the place, Kilbreth.

Because there they buried the people who had yielded to the craving.

Wow, thousands were killed.

Thousands.

I close with the closing thoughts.

God gives graciously.

God is unhappy when we complain.

And God sometimes gives us what we don't need.

Hello.

They didn't need the meat.

If you read the story, the meat started coming out of the nostrils.

They started throwing up.

Hello?

Hello.

That's they did.

They ate so much, they started throwing up.

Hey, listen to me, church.

Love God.

Be content.

Just serve him.

Follow him.

You remember when they chose King Saul?

They didn't need a king.

But God gave him a king and look what happened.

Amen.

They didn't need the meat.

But God gave it to them.

And look what happened.

I love you so much.

I really do.

Look at me.

I know that was a tough message this morning.

I'm telling you.

But I feel so pure and peaceful right now.

Because the truth, you shall know the truth.

And the truth shall what?

Set us free.

What we don't want to be, church, is a complaining, griping church.

We want to be a loving church.

When everybody else is complaining, you know what we want?

We want to get the bucket of water.

Clay?

Sylvester, Benji, David.

When a problem arises, we don't want to get a bucket of gasoline, we want to get a bucket of water.

When you hear of a problem, get a bucket of water.

Where there's no wood, the fire go out.

Proverbs 22, 10 says, cast out the complainer.

And strife shall cease.

I'm not saying throw people out.

What I am saying is deal with the problem.

Amen.

Does that make sense?

Amen.

Thanks again for tuning into this week's message.

We pray that your life has been changed.

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We hope you have a wonderful day and again, God bless you.