 Amen. All right. So keep your place in Exodus 16. We're going to be going back and forth to Exodus 16 throughout the sermon. The title of the sermon or the subject I should say of the sermon this morning is on the subject of complaining or being a complainer. There's lots of examples of this in the Bible. We'll go through some this morning. But in Exodus 16 is a good example of the children of Israel just complaining. Mermoring is another word for complaining that they were murmuring against the Lord and against Moses and Aaron, their leaders. But I just want to go through the sermon this morning and look at some Bible study on people that have complained in the Bible what happened, what didn't happen and look at what we can learn from that and take from that for ourselves because complaining this is actually a really big problem for people today. I mean even it doesn't really seem to matter how well things are going for you or how bad things are going for you. Some people are just going to be complainers. I'm sure you know. Some people are just negative people. So I want to look at what the Bible says and what we can take from that and how we can learn to if it's a problem that we have which look I don't care who you are here today. It's a problem that you have at least to some degree of complaining about things. So maybe I can get you to think about changing that about yourself. Look at Exodus 16 and verse number two. So here we have the children of Israel they've been delivered out of the Egyptian slavery by Moses and the Lord of course with the plagues and this great story God has killed Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea and just performed this great miracle to rescue this nation from bondage. And in Exodus chapter 16 and verse number two the Bible says and the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness and the children of Israel said unto them would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt when we sat by flesh pots when we did eat bread to the full for you have brought us forth into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger. So first of all I mean they were brought out of Egypt they were rescued from bondage from slavery and here there you know there's a problem that comes up here and what do they do they're complaining right away they're murmuring against Moses and Aaron and they say basically what they're saying here is what did you you at least when we were in slavery you know we had food to eat you know our our our refrigerators were full it's basically what they were saying like we had flesh pots we had plenty to eat what did you bring us out in the wilderness just to have us all starved to death is what they're saying to Moses and Aaron. So a problem comes up and this is many times the catalyst to complaints is that a problem comes up but many times that especially with serial complainers there's not even really a problem they just complain no matter what okay look at verse number three this is the problem you know where it says in verse number three that the whole assembly was hungry they were hungry okay that's a strong look hunger is a strong desire it's a strong problem to have so look you know they start murmuring okay and so it the Bible here implies that they murmured against Moses and Aaron so there's kind of two stages to this they basically started complaining behind their back murmuring behind their back about the problem and then they eventually bring it to Moses and Aaron and complain straight to their faces okay so look they complain they complain straight to Moses and Aaron and you know with the implication that they murmured first which many times we know that's exactly what happens is you start start murmuring amongst yourself before you even attempt to bring the issue to someone that could help solve it okay so look they were hungry we get that but they did not handle it correctly okay so please remember that they did not handle this situation correctly they had a real problem hunger is a real problem okay if you're hungry and you don't have anything to eat you know that's an issue right so they have it wasn't that they didn't have a problem is that they didn't handle it correctly we'll talk about that in detail towards the end of the sermon so they basically say you know did you bring us out here just to die did you bring us out here just to kill you nevertheless look at verse number 11 nevertheless even though they had a problem they didn't handle it correctly nevertheless God still fixes the problem this is a great example by the way of God's long suffering if you think that oh God is is is mean and God you know this this idea that there's an old testament God and a new testament God which isn't true anyway but look this is a perfect example of the long suffering in the mercy of God because look what happens in verse number 11 the Bible says this the Bible says the Lord spake unto Moses saying verse 12 I've heard the murmurings of the children of Israel speak unto them saying at even you shall eat flesh and in the morning you shall be filled with bread and you shall know that I am the Lord your God and it came to pass that it eat at even it you know in the evening at night the quails came up and covered the camp and in the morning the dew lay round about the host and when the dew that was that lay was gone up behold upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing as small as the whore frost on the ground so basically what God does here is and it's interesting in verse number 12 he says unto them in the evening you should eat flesh and the morning you should be filled with bread so I mean there's some dietary advice here too by the way and that's not the point of the sermon but if you're going to eat a donut you shouldn't eat it at 9 o'clock before you go to bed basically I mean so it's just one of those proofs of you know God so God is feeding them and it we know that the advice that God is giving is correct so I mean it kind of backs up this idea that you know if you're going to have like a bunch of carbohydrates and things like that that you should eat it in the morning right so you have a chance to burn that off during the day but that's not the point of the sermon the point here I'm trying to make is that God fixes the problem they don't handle it correctly they have an issue they complain they murmur they murmur against Moses and Aaron which is really murmuring against the Lord then and they say all these terrible things about you know just come out here to kill us and all these extreme things and they have they basically show that they have no faith in who in the Lord and what does God do he just fixes the problem for them okay so he says in the morning I'm gonna provide this basically manna which is bread on the ground that you're gonna be able to go out and gather up and in the evening I'm gonna give you meat I'm gonna give you protein to eat in the meeting in the evening so God fixes the problem and he doesn't you know come and smash down on the nation of Israel here he hears their murmuring and he he's long suffering with them and he fixes the issue okay go one chapter later to Exodus chapter 17 there's so many examples of complaining in the Bible that I actually couldn't we couldn't go through all today so we'll just go through a few examples but I just want to kind of give you this idea of you know just murmuring against the Lord over and over and over again look at verse number two of Exodus 17 so this is later on and it says again it says where for the people did chide with Moses look if you're chiding with someone it means you're being you know you're you're you're you're bringing strife to the situation you're not being respectful you're just you know you're arguing okay you're bringing complaint in a in a non-respectful way is what that means where for the people did chide with Moses and said give us water that we may drink and Moses said and then why chide you with me where for you do you tempt the Lord look at verse number five and the Lord said unto Moses go on before the people and take with thee the elders of Israel and thy rod where without smotus the river take in thine hand and go behold I will stand before thee upon the rock and Horab and that shall smite the rock and there shall come water out of it that the people may drink and Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel and he called the name of the place Massa and Maraba because of the children of Israel and because they tempted the Lord saying it is the Lord among us or not so this word tempted is used in verse number seven and verse number two what that basically means is they were testing God they were testing God they were basically saying you know they were they had a problem and they were coming to Moses and saying you know hey is the Lord with us or not you know if the Lord's with us he'll do this and if not you know he won't and it doesn't look like he's with us so they were tempting they were testing God once again you know they were not handling things in a respectful way which is why it says that they chided with Moses I mean this is like bitter complainers these people that's the picture that we're getting here go to numbers chapter 14 we'll see another example of the children of Israel now just think about this as I'm reading these stories to you think about a word that you would use for a bunch of people that have been rescued say you did something for somebody say you went and you saved somebody's life or you you know bail them out of a horrible situation or whatever and just the next thing that happens just in a short period of time later they're just they're complaining to you and they're yelling at you and they're chiding with you about how you treat them and how you don't do enough for them after you saved their life think about that what would you call somebody like that just remember that word in your mind okay look at numbers chapter 14 and look at verse number 2 now this is now this is when the spies have come back so now they're approaching the promise land and the 12 spies go into the promise land and go and they find out and of course all the 10 10 of the spies come back and they give a horrible report and they say all these people are so powerful we'll never be able to defend ourselves against these people and look at verse number 2 the Bible says in the children of Israel what murmured against Moses and against Aaron and the whole congregation said unto them would God that we had died in the land of Egypt here we go again or would God that we had died in this wilderness and wherefore hath the Lord brought us into this land to fall by the sword that our wives and our children should be pray we're it not better for us to return into Egypt and they said one to another let us make a captain and let us return into Egypt now we have something extra going on here so they're basically you know they're murmuring again and they're complaining again and they're saying why did we even be brought out here you know now it's not that we're going to starve to death or we're going to die of thirst now it's all these people who's who's you know look this is a promise that God made them think of this this is a promise that God made he said I'm going to give you this land and they're basically saying there's no way we could do it so they're basically not believing the Lord they're not I mean look that's basically a lack of faith is not believing the Lord that's what that means but finally God's patience comes to an end here and look at down at verse number 26 for sake of time God has finally had enough of this especially when they say you know what we're going to raise up another leader and we're going to go back to Egypt and God's done with it at this point he's put up with enough murmurings and enough evil speaking from these people and look what the Lord says in verse 26 says in the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron saying how long shall I bear with this evil congregation which murmur against me so this murmuring against so first of all it shows you that the murmuring against Moses and Aaron the Lord really took it as murmuring against him so don't forget that don't forget that you know murmuring against the leadership that God put in in charge there was murmuring against the Lord and how shall I bear with this evil congregation which murmur against me I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel which they murmur against me he took it personally say unto them as truly as I live sayeth the Lord as ye have spoken in my ears so will I do to you your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness and all that were numbered of you according to your whole number from 20 years old and upward which have murmured against me now look turned to Psalm chapter 106 this event was so bad that it even made it into Psalms okay so look they may God basically says I'm done with you anybody at this point that is part of the children of Israel that is 20 years and older is not going into the promised land so this is why they wandered for another you know 40 years in the wilderness and God didn't let any of these people enter in except Caleb and Joshua who were the two spies who were loyal to the Lord look at Psalm 106 verse 24 and look what the Bible says here about this situation yay they despise the pleasant land and they believed not his word I mean really that's the that's the son of it right there is that they must not have wanted the land they despise the gift that God wanted to give them and they believed not his word they just didn't believe God they looked at what was in the world they looked at what was in front of them just physically and they just said we don't believe that God's going to give us that so thus they despised the the land but they murmured instead they did this they murmured in their tents meaning they were just they were just talking behind everyone's back in their tents and hearken not unto the voice of the Lord therefore he lifted up his hand against them to overthrow them in the wilderness they basically they were talking bad about leadership and the Lord and God just he considers it rebellion and I'll show you that in a few minutes but murmuring this idea of complaining you know God looked at it as rebellion don't miss that now what's what does the Bible say so here we have a lot of examples I can give you many more but the Bible has a lot of examples about people in the Bible in the Old Testament murmuring against him complaining against him but the Bible actually addresses it very specifically in in many different places turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 10 so we see actual physical historical examples but then the Bible also warns us against it specifically just in general as a rule as a law as a commandment look at 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and look at verse number 10 and this is interesting tie because it ties it back to the nation of Israel as well but look what the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 10 and verse number 10 the Bible says neither murmur ye as some of them ancient Israelites also murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer so the Israelites here is what it is talking about you know murmuring complaining against you know God look at Lamentations chapter 3 Lamentations chapter 3 Lamentations chapter 3 so of course that I mean I added the ancient Israelites there but it's basically that's who it's referencing in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse number 10 look at Lamentations chapter 3 and look at verse 39 the Bible says wherefore doth a living man complain a man for the punishment of his sins let us search and try our ways and turn again to the Lord let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in heavens we have transgressed and rebelled thou has not pardoned so look the Bible here is saying that if you complain it equates it with rebelling okay which is very easy to see that that is what God looked at this as with the children of Israel now he's only going to put up with it for so long okay as we see I mean we see great long suffering in the Bible especially with the children of Israel but there eventually will be consequences to complaining okay and once it gets to the that point the problem is is those consequences are severe I mean it was serious consequences for the children of Israel so we see that we shouldn't complain we see that you know murmuring is bad the children of Israel were complainers they murmured against Moses Aaron and the Lord himself so what should they have what what should have they done is the question and that's the application this morning the first point I want to make on complaining is that complaining is rebellion so you think it's no big deal you know I'm just I'm just going to be negative about certain situations or certain people or whatever but it's rebellion and that's important to know it's a act against whom you have a complaint okay it's rebellion against that so if they I mean if the issue is just a problem and you want it solved complaining does nothing to get to that solution is the point complaining is wrong it solves nothing however if you really want to complain about somebody you know if you really want to do is complain about somebody or somebody else so let's say that I have an issue with somebody and I want to complain you know I want to complain in my tent about that person or complain to somebody else about that person and I'm just complaining and I'm murmuring against that person congratulations I'm a railer that's what railing is is complaining about someone to someone else that is railing okay so look there's two categories when it comes to complaining about people you can sum it up into two categories the first one is complaining to the person turn to first Timothy chapter five first Timothy chapter five first Timothy five and verse number one the Bible says rebuke not an elder but entreat him as a father and the younger men as brethren so what the children of Israel did with Moses and Aaron it was not respectful that when they came and they chided with him and they murmured against him whether it be to his face or behind him you know it wasn't a respectful way of bringing in a problem to the attention of Moses and Aaron so it's not the way to approach the issue turn to Philippians chapter four so remember what I asked you to think about you know how would you characterize somebody like that somebody who you saved their life and you've done like the most you know you've saved somebody you've done something great for somebody and immediately they're complaining that you don't do enough for them or they're saying that you know I mean if you were to save someone's life and then you were responsible for feeding them as well I mean just to think that you wouldn't you know if you cared enough to save their life why would you care enough to just save their life and immediately let them die of something like hunger look at Philippians chapter four and verse number six here's what they were missing the entire time the way to approach the issue was it wasn't the product wasn't the problem that was the issue was the way they approached it the Bible says in Philippians four six be careful for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God notice what it says here it says but it everything by prayer and supplication with what with thanksgiving so what these people were demonstrating was that they were unthankful and you'll notice that whenever the Bible is talking about prayer or approaching God look God wants you to ask him for things the Bible says that God wants you to ask him for things like you if you want something just ask anything you want but the Bible always ties prayer together with being thankful and you'll always see that that is a way that God wants us to pray and ask for things but he wants us to come at him in a respectful way with thankfulness the Bible says so look I mean they were just whining they were just complaining and they're making these crazy accusations as well like did you bring us out here just to kill us I mean they were making these crazy accusations that you know God was gonna let them starve to death God was gonna let them die of thirst God was gonna send them into battle and abandon them and let them be killed and let their children and their wives be killed so look this is the same person that rescued them in the first place it was unthankful so they should have said you know Lord thank you for saving us out of Egypt you know thank you for all the great promises that you have made us word you know we we we needs we need some food or could you provide us with some some meat to eat you know Lord I mean it would just would have been done just like that and the Lord would not have been angered with them so the second part is this so we see that you can complain you know to a person and be respect disrespectful and you can be you know unthankful while you're complaining to a person that's one thing the second thing you can do is you can complain about a person you can complain about a person look this is worse this is especially wicked because there's no effort like if I just complain about a person to you there's no effort by me to actually solve the issue that I'm complaining about it's completely completely disingenuous to do that I mean it's that's why it's the definition of railing turned to Matthew chapter 18 turned to Matthew chapter 18 which is the whole point of Matthew chapter 18 and why God tells us hey if you have a problem here's how to handle it it is very simple I don't know why it is so hard for people to grasp this but in Matthew chapter 18 look at verse number 15 the Bible says it doesn't say you're never gonna have problems with anybody like I said this this sermon is not about not having issues you're gonna have issues in your life you're gonna have problems you might even have problems with people with individuals with leadership whoever it doesn't say that you're never gonna have problems or disagree with people it never says that but the Bible just tells it you there's a right way to deal with it and a wrong way look at Matthew 18 15 the Bible says moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee go and tell him his fault between thee and him what alone it says if you have a problem with somebody just go talk to them individually about it you and them alone and if he shall hear thee thou has gained thy brother now look people don't do this because people you know I don't know if it's our country or our society that we live in now or the internet or whatever but people just they don't like to talk to people face-to-face you know they don't like to you know have a problem I mean uncomfortable I mean if brother Ryan said something that offended me it's kind of uncomfortable to pull him aside and he didn't but it's kind of uncomfortable to pull him aside and be like hey you know brother you know the other day you know he did this or whatever and it's uncomfortable but 990 high 90% I guarantee you if something like this happens and you follow this rule this is as far as it will go you will talk to the person about the offense they'll go I'm sorry I didn't mean it that way look I mean this I mean in a marriage as well I don't know how many times I've said something to my wife and she you know took it the wrong way or whatever and I was like oh I didn't mean it like that I mean you guys are laughing okay I'm not the only one it makes me feel better but I mean there's many times where I say something or my wife says something to me and I'm like maybe I take offense or she takes offense whatever and then we talk about it and it's over I don't go to the kids and be like you know what you know mom did you know mom said to me and here's the thing and I turn my kids against their mom I mean that would be stupid and crazy when you think about it you know from that perspective yep that's how that's how we treat each other which is you know it's it's bad okay 99% of the time step one and Matthew chapter 18 will fix the problem period so just do it that way it's pretty simple so complaining behind somebody's back I mean it's pretty basic stuff here it's pretty basic stuff but it's still you know it's a big it's a big issue but you know what you know why people do it because if you feel like somebody wronged wrong I mean look if brother Francisco wronged me if he did something bad to me and wronged me you know my flesh wants to do my flesh wants to burn him down my flesh you find especially if you did something where I'm really angry at him my flesh just wants to tear him into the ground but get what is that though that's my flesh that's my flesh I should not be listening to my flesh I should be Matthew 18 in this guy right I mean that anytime you see people doing that you be like I mean if people are doing that to you be like why are you telling me this I mean this is going to help you you know the only reason they're doing it is because it just it satisfies that that need in their flesh to just just get them back it's basically it's vengeance when you think about it I mean railing is a form of personal you know vengeance against somebody but look it's not it's not what we're supposed to do it's not what we're supposed to do so what can we learn from all of this so we know this we know this right we know complaining solves nothing right we know complaining I think a lot of people I know a lot of people complain just for the sake of complaining they complain just because they're they're just listening to their flesh and they just want to complain but let me tell you something whether they're complaining about situations or people it's just it's just bad for you all and all together being a complainer and complaining is bad for you in general it will anger the people that were that are over you it will anger I mean Moses and Aaron they're like why are you complaining to us like why are you I mean they were angry about it I mean it will anger your authorities and like here's the here's the really bad thing it'll anger the Lord you'll anger the Lord and it and here's the thing it doesn't even make you feel better it might for that like split second you know make you feel better but it will overall just like it just gives you a bad attitude it gives you a bad it gives you a bad spirit and then you realize that you know there's that complainers these people that just have they've just fallen into this and they complain just for the sake of of complaining you realize they don't they have I mean people that really fall into this they're just negative about everything and complain about everything they they don't want to solve anything they just want to complain and they don't want to solve problems here's another thing turn to 1 Kings chapter 21 here's another thing and I think we especially as Americans especially today I think we need to really grasp this one turn to 1 Kings chapter 21 but the Bible says the Bible gives us a demonstration here but here's the thing there's always going to be something that you could complain about I don't care how great your life is or how good things are going for you there's oh there could always be something that you you could find if you become this person that is a complainer that's a negative person that has a bad attitude about everything you will find something to complain about no matter what you say why look at 1 Kings chapter 21 this is this is a hab he's a king a hab has everything that he wants he's a king of Israel and it came to pass after these things that Naboth the Jesuite had a vineyard which was in Jezreel hard by the place of a hab king of Samaria and a hab spake on the Nabah saying give me thy vineyard that I may have it for a garden of herbs because it is near unto my house and I will give thee for it a better vineyard than it or if it seemed to be good to thee I will give thee the worth of it in money and Naboth said to a hab the Lord forbid at me that I should give the inheritance of my father fathers unto thee and a hab came into his house heavy and displeased because of the word which may have the Jesuite had spoken to him for he had said I will not give thee the inheritance of my father's and he laid him down upon his head and turned away his face and would eat no bread I mean look this guy was a king and this this way he couldn't get this one piece of property and he had many properties that were better than this one he wanted this one because it was close to his house he just wanted something that he couldn't have and it just wrecked this whole day and then they have killed this guy over this thing which is another thing but I mean the whole thing is that the guy was a king he had everything he wanted he was rich he was powerful he had everything so it doesn't matter how good you have things you know you can always find a reason to complain there I mean there will always be guys there will always be this guy where you work I don't care where you go to work there will always be this guy there will always be this guy you know and and you want to be look first first of all you know beware of this guy I can pick this guy out in the first week easily no matter where I go to work I can find this guy or people like this guy in the first few days because he sticks out that much so first of all you stay away from this guy for two reasons the first one is that he'll make you have a complaining heart if you hang around with this person he's like yeah you know this company this is why they're bad they don't do this for us and they should do this for us and I know another company that does this for everybody and they do this and look you will feed off of that it will it will spread to you a bad attitude spreads like cancer I mean it just spreads to other people so you know a good way to handle is just be like you know what it's going to be fine we have good jobs you know I mean just just it kind of resets people and then this guy if you just are kind of like have a positive attitude around this guy he's not going to want to talk to you anyway he's not going to want to come talk to you want to go to the people that listened you know to his garbage right I mean he gets that you know it kind of resets people to have a positive attitude in a negative situation by the way I mean a lot of people will snap out of it but this serial complainer he'll just not want to have anything to do with you if that's what you do look and you know usually the serial complainer he'll go and he'll find the people that just they just adopt his attitude is what he'll do it will spread you know to them but look you're going to be you know the second bad thing is this if you do hang around with that guy and you do are you're even seen with that guy I mean I told you how fast you can identify that guy if you know what to look for you can identify that guy very quickly and if you're seeing always being around that guy they're gonna it's gonna lump you in with with the complainer even maybe you say I don't say anything I just listen to it well it's gonna lump you in and they're gonna be angry that the authorities the people above you you know the people that are you know in charge of you are gonna be angry with you just like they're angry with that guy is they're gonna lump you in so how are you supposed to approach an authority with an issue first Timothy 5 1 rebuke not an elder but in treat him as a father the Bible says you just it's not that you're not gonna have issues or it's not that you can't bring issues to the attention of the people that you work for it's just supposed to be respectful you're not supposed to go around complaining and and you know just whining about everything behind everybody's back so some people are just chronic complainers you know this is another thing is that you need to be careful that you don't if you go home and all you and your wife talk about is complain and and have negativity towards everything and everybody your kids are gonna start to be like that and you're gonna raise a bunch of complaining negative children and I mean that's it will spread to them for sure so look you need to avoid these people it's easy to identify them and it's really at the end of the day what is it it's unthankfulness which is serious and God's not gonna bless that I mean that's why God came down on the children of Israel because they were unthankful so appreciate I mean think of us appreciate what you have I mean appreciate you know your church appreciate your friends appreciate your family look no one here really that I know has anything that they should be complaining about I mean a lot of people do you know a lot of people we're out the other night and you know we were you know we're I don't know we were having dinner outside somewhere whatever and like we saw just all kinds of people just sitting by themselves you know a lot of people like a lot of people have no friends they have nobody to do anything with and they have just kind of have like a lonely life and I can't imagine for people like that for people that don't have a group of people like this especially like-minded people I can't imagine what this last year has been like for people like that I mean that must be rough I mean if you were lonely before this I can't imagine I mean look you have too many friends here probably I mean you I mean people here probably like man there's another event coming up I mean there's a lot going on people look most people most people out here that are outside you know of this church this ministry they have nothing to do right now I even Heidi and I were talking about yesterday morning we're like just talking about Saturday soul winning how I mean what a great way to start Saturday morning I really like you know most people I told my wife I was like I bet you most people just lay around until at least 10 or 11 o'clock every Saturday morning even if they go you know go and do something or go you know whatever you know I'm sure they don't get up and start moving around till 11 11 30 12 o'clock by that time we've already been out soul winning been out walking around it's a great way to get the morning the day started I mean your job everybody here your job your job I don't care what's going on at work your job is a blessing I mean if you haven't figured that out from this last year that your job is a blessing I mean I don't know what what you what you need to have happen to you to figure that out I mean I talk about that all the time I mean we're I mean I tell my my my family that probably twice a week sitting at the dinner table I'm just so thankful that we're able to still go to work I'm so thankful that we're able to still because I could come home and here's what I don't do by the way my wife has no idea what's going on at my job and I mean she doesn't want to know and I would never want her to have to hear all that stuff but I don't go home and and like sit at the dinner table and complain about my job to my family I mean how I mean think about the double-edged sword of damage that that would do number one I'm unthankful for my job and number two I'm just spreading all this negativity I'm spreading I mean to my boys I'm telling them you know what you know complain about your job your job because look there's there's something to complain about that every job I guarantee it because guess what everybody's not the king of the world and there's probably things at your job that go on that you wouldn't do it that way or people there that maybe you wouldn't hire or whatever but I mean the point is I mean it's a blessing that you know we have jobs guys I mean a good look complaining complaining is a choice and having a good attitude is also a choice turn to 2nd Corinthians chapter 12 having a good attitude is a choice look at Paul 2nd Corinthians chapter 12 look at verse number 7 look Paul Paul did not have a great physical life he did not have any say oh he went through a lot of persecution and torture and beatings yes that's true but he also had some problems like personally look at verse number 7 of 2nd Corinthians chapter 12 and lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations there was given to me a thorn in the flesh the messenger of the messenger of Satan debuff at me lest I should be exalted above measure for this thing I be sought the Lord thrice three times that it might depart from me and he said unto me my grace is sufficient for thee for my strength is made perfect in weakness most gladly therefore I would rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me so Paul has this medical issue and it's painful he's got like a painful thing going on we don't know what it was but it was something that was just it was just it was wreaking havoc on him I mean it was a thorn in his flesh means that he was suffering from it he was suffering from it so much I mean like was Paul a weakling I mean Paul was beaten almost to death more times than I can count in the Bible and he was stoned and he was he was you know lashed and everything Paul was no weakling so this must have been something that was serious for him to go to God three times and ask him Lord will you take this away from me and the Lord said no the Lord said you know what so you don't you know so you're not lifted up I'm not going to take it from you so what does he do he makes the choice to glory in it he's gonna I'm in a glory in my infirmity you know most gladly he says he says most gladly he just accepts God's decision because God made a decision that no I'm not going to take that away from you he's like I'm glad I'm gonna glory in it and you know what I have from Christ is much better like that's God's decision look but it was I just want to really point out that that the idea whether or not you take a situation you say I have a medical situation that is painful that that hurts well you can look at that in a negative way or you can glory in it I mean because that's what Paul did I mean you can take a situation that everyone would agree is bad everyone in this whole entire world would agree that's bad and you can say you know what I'm gonna glory in this you know God has put this on me there must be a reason for it you know God doesn't talk to us like you know the Bible is talking to us here but you know there must be a reason for it if God doesn't take it away from us and so we just glory in it it's a decision is what I'm trying to get you to understand but look you need to just put things in perspective you know in your life really you know it's one of the greatest benefits of having gone through difficult times in your life if you've ever gone through difficult times in with your health if you've ever gone through difficult times with your finances I know that we've had times like that both of those things and I I am thankful for those times I am thankful for those things that we went through because it puts perspective on my life that no matter what happens I can always be a look back and say you know I'm thankful that you know God delivered us from things and God got us out of things hard times give you the proper perspective you can always look back on those times as reference of how things could be and here's another thing and if you're just constantly negative and you've never gone through any hard times well guess what maybe God needs to give you a reference I mean think about that think about if you're just this kind of person you've never gone through anything difficult and you've never gone through anything tough whether whether it be anything in your life and all you do is complain I mean you think that that would be a good thing that you would just glory in that thank God that I've never gone through and how can you do that because you look at other people that have gone through bad times gone through hard issues or whatever and you can look at that and say thank God God has never required me to go through something like that thank God that I've never had to deal with something like that that's the way to handle that or maybe if you just become this complainer in this negative person maybe God gives you something that you can and use as a reference God gives you something to say you know what I'll show you how bad things can get and then maybe you'll be thankful then maybe you'll be appreciative I mean this is also why this is also the same reason the same philosophy is why kids that are spoiled and undisciplined are the most miserable kids you'll ever meet which the irony of that is what what's the irony of that you get these parents and they never want to discipline their kids they never want to spank their kids they want to give their kids everything why they because they want them to be happy I can't I notice this I notice this before I was even saved when I first became a parent I notice how strange this was these parents they just wanted to give their children everything and they just want to provide for them everything just to make them just to give them everything they ever wanted just to be happy and the kids were miserable these are the kids that are screaming constantly that you know you would think how can a kid live on fruit snacks it's possible I've seen it they won't die you would think I'm like I've told my wife about certain kids that we've known for years I'm like these kids are going to die you can't live on fruit snacks alone but you can it's a miracle but it's possible but these kids are miserable that's why the Bible says that if you don't discipline your children you hate you hate them you know you hate your son the Bible says because look you want to make them miserable you must hate them because they will be miserable I mean you think you know it's it's just ironic so think about that a miserable child is an undisciplined child and it's almost you know it's almost like the Bible's true so look don't be a complainer change that about yourself if you're a negative person because look it's something that it's something that you can change very easily by the way you just have put things in perspective do things what the Bible says you got a problem just bring it straight to the person have a good attitude about things put things in perspective realize that you know if you don't put things in perspective maybe God will give you the proper perspective saved Christian train yourself because look people aren't I mean here's another thing about being a negative person people aren't going to want to be around you people do not I mean normal positive people do not want to what did I say you should do if you're a positive person and you're not a complainer you shouldn't be around people that are complaining so you're like you know I want to complain and there's no one around me well you're probably just around a bunch of positive people that don't want to be around a complainer be you know you can be that one person in the midst of negativity by the way that can say you know hey let's try going this way there's a problem and somebody just wants to complain about it maybe five people want to complain about it be that one person that's like hey what's the problem okay let's work through it hey it's going to be fine let's just figure out some ways to work through the problem complaining solves nothing and it will only damage you and if it becomes look if it becomes chronic if complaint becomes chronic you will endure chastisement from the Lord because of it just the same as the children of Israel and I mean honestly it's one of the biggest things if you just become this negative person that's complaining it will affect your entire life it will affect your whole life it will affect your family life it will affect your work life I mean it will be passed on I mean how would you like for you know that that inheritance that you give your children to be a horrible attitude towards everything that it can affect your families as well so there's a lot of lessons that we can learn from the children of Israel here it's a pretty simple it's a pretty simple concept that a lot of people seem to struggle with and and I'm not sure why but it's definitely something you can make a decision to change on okay so to do some reflection and say you know what have I been negative about situations have I been negative about people and if you have problems with people just follow what the Bible says it works I mean 99% I'll take I'll take those odds just just follow that I mean and many times you're going to realize that it's just a misunderstanding it's just somebody didn't mean something or you know I said something that my wife thought I meant something else and I didn't because I never mean anything bad so I mean the point is is that just follow what Matthew 18 says just talk about it individually and and it will be solved so be a positive person I mean it's such a great blessing to be around positive people and to be influenced by positive people and you know it's something we should we should try to do ourselves okay let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer