Desire Paths - The Complaint Department w/Marisa Cantu

Hello. Thank you for calling the complaint department.

Please press 1 for weather, 2 for traffic, 3

for my boss gets on my nerves, 4 for my friends

are fake, 5 for my spouse won't accept that I'm

perfect, 6 for my kids are lazy, 7 for restaurant

food quality, 7 for restaurant food quality.

Eight for waiting in line, waiting on the phone,

waiting for spring, waiting for summer, waiting

for fall, waiting for winter, waiting, waiting,

waiting. If you would like to hear these options

again, please press pound. Don't we wish there

was a complaint department? Oh, a complaint department

that would fix all of our issues in life. If

you haven't figured it out. We're going to be

talking about fasting from complaining today.

Last week, Pastor Greg introduced us to desire

paths. They're paths that we prefer to take versus

the ones that have already been created for us.

Did you hear that? Sometimes it takes a second

time for reality to sink in, so I'm going to

say it one more time. They are paths that we

prefer to take. versus the ones that have already

been created for us. In the study that Andrew

Furman, a professor in interior design, did,

as Pastor Greg said last week, he said that desire

lines tell us something about the endless human

desire to have choice. The importance of not

having someone prescribe your path. Feels about

right. Right? We want our own entity. We want

to be our own individual. We want to make our

own choices. But we'll come back to that. The

Lent season began last week, and many people

fast from foods, other things that get in the

way of a relationship with God. How was everyone's

fast from social media? Cold. Looked a little

bit different for all of us, I'm sure. Fasting

is not a focus on what we take away, but on what

we want to bring into our space. Fasting is not

a focus on what we take away, but on what we

want to bring into our space. So what do we want

to fill ourselves with? Let's think about that.

Perhaps it's asking God to help us grow in a

certain area of our spiritual lives and making

a real conscious effort to stay near God. He

must become greater and I must become less. That's

John 3 .30. Let's pray. Father God, we just come

before you and we thank you. We thank you for

bringing us here today. We thank you for the

snow this morning. We thank you for the grumbles

that we had on our way here. We thank you for

the dog that got loose this morning and had me

running around for it for three minutes. We thank

you for bringing us here today. Allow us to clear

our minds right now and focus on what we want

to fill ourselves with this morning. Amen. If

you could stand with me, we're going to be reading

out of Philippians 2, verses 14 through 16. There's

Philippians 2:14–16

Bibles on the tables, or you can open your apps.

Philippians chapter 2, verses 14 through 16.

Philippians 2:14–16

This verse was written by Apostle Paul while

he was in prison, and he was talking to the Philippians,

and it says, 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. As you hold firmly

to the word of life, and then I will be able

to boast on the day of Christ that I did not

run or labor in vain. Amen. You can be seated.

Have you ever had a friend that has a problem

for every solution? And sometimes maybe you avoid

picking up the phone. Oh, it's that person. They're

going to keep me on the phone for 20 minutes

about the complaints of something that they're

doing, the same thing they complain about, but

they haven't done anything to change it. Right?

They say they can't do this, they can't do that,

but did they ever even start? To complain is

of our flesh. It's natural. Things happen, right?

So do we think that we're the only ones that

complain? Like, do we think that the Bible is

full of all this glorious information of beautiful

things always and in everything give thanks?

Nope. The Israelites, after being delivered from

Egypt, they had a complaint to the food quality

department. They said, you brought us here to

starve and we're only eating the manna from the

heavens? This is all we get? Complaint department,

for sure. Job, he never cursed God, right? But

there's 42 chapters of him really going through

it. Right? At one point he even says, I curse

the day that I was born. Right? Read them. Interesting

story. Like if you really want to have a chapter

story, Job is it. Jonah, a prophet, he complained

and became angry when God wanted him to go to

Nineveh. And what happened to him? He got swallowed

by a whale. We know how that story goes, right?

And he got spit back out and he still had to

go to Nineveh and fix some things. So to complain

is of our flesh. It is natural. It's okay to

feel that life has treated us unfairly. To feel

desperate, sad, and frustrated, disappointed,

annoyed, or even disgruntled. It's okay, right?

There are feelings. They're real. We have them.

It's human. But it's not okay to stay stuck there.

Right? So, let me grab something real quick.

Is the glass half empty? Or is it half full?

Who said half empty? Who said half full? Sermon's

over, we can go home. Psychology teaches us a

few things, right? It says that glass half full

is optimistic. Glass half empty is pessimistic.

So if you're optimistic, you focus on things

that... Optimists tend to focus on what they

have rather than what they lack. Acknowledging

the presence of something like water and its

potential. It's half full. It's got some potential.

While pessimists might focus on the absence of

what's missing. the empty space in the glass,

leading to a more negative outlook. And I was

asking my friend this morning, is it half full

or half empty? And she said, well, if you get

a smaller cup and pour it in there, it's full,

right? That's a good way of thinking of it, too.

Optimism can contribute to a greater happiness

and overall well -being. We're able to look at

challenges as an opportunity for growth. We are

more resilient in the face of adversity, more

likely to focus on solutions and maintain a positive

outlook. Doesn't that sound like a relationship

with our creator? A little bit of optimism, half

full. Proverbs 17 .22 says, a cheerful heart

is good medicine. A crushed spirit dries up the

bones. Our brain has 100 billion neurons in it.

Our mind is connected to our body, our blood

pressure, our stress management. So how we look

at things affects our body. It's a fact that

childhood affects adulthood, that our life experiences

mold us and our thought process, right? If you're

a glass -half -empty pessimist, maybe one bad

thing happened after another. Maybe you were

just in survival mode for most of your life.

And if you've gone through childhood trauma and

you're in survival mode for most of your life,

things look a little different, right? Survival

mode is real. I know a little bit about that.

Maybe you say, that's just the way that I am.

Maybe the grumbling and the complaining is just

who you are, right? But let me tell you something.

In him, we are a new creation. Psychology might

tell us something. But in him, we are a new creation.

In him we step into a body of Christ working

together for his good. In him we find hope no

matter the circumstances. Our mouth cannot speak

what our mind does not tell it. I don't know

if you've ever been next to a person in bed while

they're in a coma. They don't have the ability

to speak. Their mind might be shut off. But in

him, we are a new creation. We are alive as a

body of Christ. Let's shift a little bit to our

heart. Matthew 12, 33 to 34. Jesus is talking

to the Pharisees. And he's telling him, you know

what? You have to be known by the fruit of your

tree. And we know the fruits of the spirit, right?

Kindness, gentleness, patience, all those beautiful

things. And then he goes on to say, for out of

the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.

So what are you holding in your heart? Is there

any bitterness or resentment? Is there any past

hurt? Is there any forgiveness that needs to

take place? A person's words reveal their character.

Have you ever been around somebody and they say,

I didn't mean to say that. But did they? Sometimes

we have to let whatever's in our heart go so

that it can be filled with the things that take

us closer to Christ, that hold us near him. It's

easy to say, just let it go. Easier said than

done. But the word of God does say, do everything

without grumbling and in everything give thanks,

right? It's okay to feel it. To process it. Sit

with it. But don't get stuck there. Sometimes

we want to go to the complaint buffet too. We

just want to go fill ourselves of all this complaining

and ugh. the world and we eat our feelings away

just full of it right just full of the we want

to be in this sorrow we want to be having a pity

party we want to be there we just want to be

there and it's a buffet we get to go again second

round third round we just get to be there right

and you know what that's okay too just don't

get stuck there make sure you tell your friends

to pull you out of the buffet And we just can't

get stuck there. Ephesians 4, 29 says, do not

let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouth,

but only what is helpful for building others

up according to their needs, that it may benefit

those who listen. So how does complaining build

us up? How does... Complaining build up your

friend, your sister, your mom, your daughter.

How does that edify the church? How does it build

us up? Guess what? It doesn't. It doesn't. What

you're doing when you're complaining is having

a spirit of ungratefulness, and you're telling

God that you don't trust him. You're planting

a seed of doubt, and you're telling him, is his

goodness really good? And we know that God is

good, right? So coming back to desire paths,

they can also reveal where people refuse to tread.

If you've been walking the same route for years,

An itchy -footed urge to go off, even just a

few meters, is probably something you'll identify

with. And that's in the article that was in the

Desire Paths. If you've been walking in the same

route for years, you're just a natural complainer.

You're just a natural grumbler. You just want

to be there sometimes. But guess what? We can't

get stuck there. How do we cultivate a glass

half full mentality? How do we start to feed

into the spirit of gratitude, a heart of thanksgiving,

a mouth of joyfulness? Who wants dried up bones?

Anybody? I don't. How do we cultivate that? We

start practicing gratitude and focusing on the

positive aspects of our situations and things

that are going on. And when we have a negative

thought, we fill it with a positive one. Does

that sound easy? Maybe. In the situation you

might be going through, maybe not. But maybe

it does. Reframing negative thoughts can help

cultivate a more optimistic perspective. There

has to be at some point in our lives, if we are

holding on to old things and negativity, as a

body of Christ, there has to be a point of surrender.

of complete surrender, a real desire, an immediate

response to getting into our deepest relationship

with Christ. When I was young, the story of Zacchaeus

stuck in my mind. There was a song in Spanish.

It's in English, too, isn't it? Zacchaeus was

a little, little man who lived in Jericho. Where

did he live? Okay. Well, in Spanish, it tells

us that he lived in Jericho. Ours is a little

better. Porque a tu casa voy a ir. Okay, and

it says that, can anybody sing it in English?

I don't know it in English. He was a wee little

man, a wee little man was he. He climbed up in

a sycamore tree to sing to the sea. Jesus saw

him and said, take it, come down, for I'm coming

to your house today. I'm coming to your house

today. Yep. Same concept, right? Mine sounded

better. But imagine if Zacchaeus in the Bible

says that he was a short man. And that's why

he went up to the tree to see Jesus. And when

Jesus was there with him, he said, Zacchaeus,

come down from the tree. Because I want to go

and meet with you and have a relationship with

you in your home. Like our home is our intimate

space, right? And imagine if Zacchaeus was like,

I'll be down in a minute. Just taking my time

here. I can imagine Zacchaeus jump down from

that tree. And that story stuck with me like

all of my life because if anybody in here, is

anybody an overanalyzer? Like overanalytical?

I'm like, man, what if he like, you know, like

I said, took his time and... But I can imagine

that it was an immediate surrender. It was an

immediate response to Christ calling him down

from that tree. And at one point or another,

that's the kind of surrender that we have to

have. An immediate surrender. I had a disclaimer

in the beginning. That I should have said. There's

mental health problems, right? There's psychological

problems. There's things that we go through.

There's depression is real. All those things

are real. Those feelings are real. Justice. All

those things are real. So this is not to say

that those things are not real. This is not to

say get over it. This is not to say you can't.

talk to your friend about a real concern. This

is to say that we have to want to fill our space

with things that edify us. We have to not want

to be stuck in those spaces that don't build

us up. Right? You like that one? So, in closing,

getting into our deepest relationship in the

body of Christ takes some work. It takes relationship

building. It takes wanting to know him. It takes

inviting him to your table. It takes inviting

him into your space. How do you get to know him?

Just by coming here on Sundays. The word of God.

Worship. Fellowship. Intentional practices of

positivity and positive thinking. Gratitude.

Gratefulness. Cultivating that complete surrender.

So this week. Our fast is to stay away from the

complaint department and the complaint buffet

and to replace them with gratitude in your hearts.

I challenge you this week that when you want

to grumble or complain, and my daughter knows

that that number six for restaurant food quality

is my favorite call to the complaint department.

I promise, daughter, I will not do that this

week. So when you want to complain this week,

fill it with three things that you're grateful

for. That's my challenge to you guys this week.

And I'm going to add to what Greg said last week.

When you want to complain, try smiling while

you're complaining. Is that a good one? Hey,

I really don't like the food here today. The

quality is not that great. And so just try to

replace some. complaining with gratitude. Amen?

Amen. Father God, we just thank you so much for

this time of your word, of building us up, of

filling our space with you. Less of me, more

of you. And as we go into this time of taking

bread, and your blood that is shed. Help us to

find those areas of gratitude in our lives. Help

us to dig deep. Help us to surrender. Help us

to come down from that tree immediately and want

to be transformative. In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.