That they would sink down into our ears, that we would not be just forgetful hearers, dear God,
but that we would hear your word and put this into practice and learn this, dear God.
In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.
Now, this is a great chapter, but the part of the chapter that I'd like to focus on
is toward the beginning of the chapter when he's talking about the children of Israel
and describing some of the sinful, wicked things that they did in the wilderness.
And he explains to us that these things were written for our example, he said in verse 11,
Now all these things happened unto them for in samples,
and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come.
Wherefore, let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
God is warning us about a variety of sins that the children of Israel committed.
One of them was fornication, one of them was lust, one of them was idolatry.
And he brings up this sin in verse number 10,
Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer.
And that's what I want to preach against site, murmuring, complaining.
You know, murmuring is a sin according to the Bible.
Whining, complaining, sniffling, whatever you want to call it.
Look back, if you would, and we're going to go through all these scriptures.
Exodus 15, Exodus chapter 15, the second book in the Bible, Exodus 15.
Because this is something that God brings up a lot.
While you're turning there, I'll read you another verse.
The Bible says in Numbers 11, verse 1,
And when the people complained, it displeased the Lord.
And the Lord heard it, and his anger was kindled,
and the fire of the Lord burnt among them,
and it consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp.
So the Bible says here that when the people of Israel complained,
it displeased the Lord, and he became very angry,
and he even killed some of them in the camp that were on the edge of the camp.
And so God hates complaining.
Murmuring is a sin. Murmuring means complaining.
Look if you would at Exodus 15, 24.
And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?
Look at chapter 16, verse 2, next page.
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 the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full,
for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness
to kill this whole assembly with hunger.
Look at the next chapter, chapter 17.
I mean, almost every chapter they're complaining.
Verse 3, And the people thirsted there for water,
and the people murmured against Moses and said,
Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt
to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?
Now, we're going to read some more verses in a minute,
but these are legitimate needs that people have.
They want to eat. They want to have something to drink.
They want to have a place to stay.
Nothing wrong with any of these things,
but there is something wrong with complaining and whining
when you don't get just the right food or the right drink
or enough food or enough to drink.
God has promised he'd provide all our needs.
He said, God shall supply all your need
according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus.
Obviously, if God brought them out of the land of Egypt,
obviously be parted the Red Sea
so that they could go across on dry land.
He's not going to just let them die of hunger and thirst.
But the problem is they didn't have enough faith
to believe that God was going to provide for them,
and then they were just whining
because of the fact that they didn't get to eat
exactly when they wanted.
Later, it was what they ate.
God provided them manna from heaven.
He fed them with angels' food, the Bible says,
and yet they complained because they didn't have cucumbers.
They didn't have garlic.
They didn't have leeks.
They didn't have onions.
They didn't have all these spicy, tasty foods.
They just had this bread that tastes like honey
that was in the form of manna, and they complained about it.
Now, you may sit there and read this and say,
why was God so mad?
I mean, of course they're hungry.
Of course they're going to complain.
They're thirsty. Of course they're going to complain.
That's just because we live in a society where everybody complains,
but that doesn't mean that God accepts it.
That doesn't mean that it's okay with God
when we murmur and complain about what He has provided for us.
Now, have you ever known people who are just constantly complaining?
Like, you'll go to work, and you'll ask them,
hey, how you doing?
Well, it's Monday.
You know, it's like, what?
They're just always, you know, how you doing?
Well, it's Friday, so I'm almost out of here.
You know, is that how you live your life?
Just you complain about your job?
You know, some people wish they had a job.
Some people would be thankful to have your job.
They're out looking for a job.
They're putting in applications. They're putting in residence.
Or maybe they've been injured, and they can't work right now.
People would love to have that job, and you complain about it.
Maybe one day God will take it away from you,
and then you won't have to complain about your job anymore.
But you see, we live in a society where everybody just complains,
and every day it's either I'm tired, I'm hungry, I'm thirsty.
I have to work too much.
You know, I don't get any...
Whatever it is, that doesn't make it right.
God says it's murmuring, it's complaining, and He's displeased with it.
Look at Numbers 14.
Numbers, flipped from Exodus to Numbers,
there's a few pages to the right in your Bible.
After Leviticus, the book of Numbers, look at chapter 14, verse 2.
And we'll get into a lot of New Testament scriptures,
but right now I'm just showing you the children of Israel,
some of the complaining that they did.
Numbers 14, 2 says,
All the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron,
and the whole congregation said unto them,
Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt,
or would God that we had died in this world?
They're basically complaining to the point of saying they wish they were dead.
And then he says, look at what it says in verse 29.
Your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness.
This is Moses preaching to them.
And all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number,
from twenty years old and upward,
which have murmured against me.
Look at chapter 16, verse 41.
But on the morrow all the congregation of the children of Israel
murmured against Moses and against Aaron, saying,
Ye have killed the people of the Lord.
Now, when you look at most of the people complaining against Moses,
it really wasn't Moses' fault.
Because it wasn't Moses' fault that they didn't have bread to eat.
It wasn't Moses' fault that they didn't have water to drink.
It was really God who was in control of these things.
God was the one who brought them into the wilderness.
Moses was just the tool being used by God to bring them out.
But it was God's plan, God's idea,
God chose the route, God chose the timing,
and yet they're constantly murmuring against Moses and Aaron,
complaining to Moses and Aaron, blaming them.
Now, in this particular instance here in number 1641,
where they say, Oh, you've killed the people of the Lord.
This is when Moses cursed Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.
You remember Korah, Dathan, and Abiram started to cause division
by trying to turn people away from Moses
and trying to get people to make a captain and go back to Egypt.
They were trying to take them back to Egypt, back into slavery,
back into bondage, and Moses stood up and said,
Look, God has spoken through me here.
I am a prophet of God.
Because they were trying to say that Moses is not really a prophet and all that stuff.
He said, In fact, I'm going to curse you right now.
This is what Moses said, and I'm just paraphrasing,
but he basically prayed to God that God would open up the ground
and swallow them alive and that they would fall into hell.
You remember this?
And basically Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, the earth quaked
and there's a big crevice opening the earth and they fell into it.
And then they complained to Moses, You've killed the people of the Lord.
You know, Moses is not the one who opened up a chasm in the ground
and killed these people.
Moses was not the one that parted the Red Sea.
Moses just by faith held up his rod and so forth and smote the waters,
but God was the one who parted that Red Sea.
God was the one that brought him out of Egypt, not Moses.
The Jews were mixed up on this in the book of John, chapter number 6,
and Jesus told them, Moses did not give you bread from heaven.
Because they're trying to say, Oh, well, Moses did this.
Show us your miracle.
Jesus told them, That's not Moses' miracle.
My Father gave you bread from heaven, not Moses.
But you notice how they complain against Moses.
They murmur against Moses.
It's not even his fault.
It's really God.
And so many of the things that we complain about,
we may direct our complaint to all different people,
but really at the end of the day, we're really complaining at God.
When we say, Oh, we don't have the food that we want,
or we don't have as much money as we want,
or we don't drive the car we want,
really most of the situation of our life were put there by God in a lot of ways.
God's the one who is controlling a lot of these things,
and that's who we're really mad at in many cases.
You know, when the economy goes bad, we lose our job,
we grumble, we complain, and you know what?
Yet God is the one that could give us more.
He could give you a better job.
He could give you more food.
He could give you a better car.
But he chooses not to.
And you ought to be content with what you have and not complain about it.
There have been a lot of bad things that have happened to me in my life,
but I'm not going to sit and complain about it.
I'm going to say, Hey, the Lord gave and the Lord had taken away.
Blessed be the name of the Lord.
I mean, there have been times when I lost money,
where I lost business, I lost customers in my business,
all these different things.
I can complain about it and say, Oh, man, it's so terrible.
Or I can just say, You know what?
Hey, thank God I'm still working in this economy.
Thank God I'm still making money.
Instead of complaining and being down about it and getting upset about it,
just at least being thankful for what I do have and saying,
You know what?
Naked came I out of my mother's womb and naked shall I return thither, as Job said.
And I guarantee you, nobody in this room is going through anything as bad as Job went through.
Let's look at Deuteronomy chapter 1.
That's number 16.
Look at Deuteronomy 1.
This is Moses again talking about the children of Israel.
He said in verse 27, And ye murmured in your tents and said,
Because the Lord hated us, He had brought us forth out of the land of Egypt,
to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy.
I mean, you notice the whining?
God hates me.
God is just trying to punish me or torment me for no reason and bring me out of Egypt to die.
You know, they were in slavery and they got delivered from slavery,
but they didn't recognize that that was a good thing.
They actually wanted to go back to Egypt because they didn't recognize what God had done for them.
Look at Psalm 106, and this will be the last thing we look at for the children of Israel.
But Psalm 106 verse 23, it says this, Therefore he said that he would destroy them,
had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach to turn away his wrath,
lest he should destroy them.
Yea, they despised the pleasant land, and watch this next phrase,
They believed not his word, but murmured in their tents, and hearkened not unto the voice of the Lord.
Therefore he lifted up his hand against them to overthrow them in the wilderness.
Now look at that.
What in this scripture is the opposite of believing?
He said they didn't believe his word, but instead they murmured.
Because if we really believed God's word, we wouldn't be murmuring, we wouldn't be complaining.
If we really believed that God would supply all our need,
if we really believed that God is the one who put us in the position that we're in,
God is the one who feeds us and clothes us and gives us what we have,
every good gift, the Bible says, and every perfect gift is from above,
and cometh down from the Father of Light with whom there's no variableness,
neither shadow of turning.
If you get something, if I give you something, if someone else gives you something,
if your boss gives you a bonus, you know, that's above and beyond what you earn,
that's what bonus is, he gives you a bonus.
If somebody sends you a gift, if you get a check in the mail, hey, you know who gave that to you?
God did.
Now he used some human being to give that to you, but that came from God,
and you ought to be thankful to God.
And so when you believe God, you'll say, God gives me everything I need,
because he said in Matthew 6 that my Heavenly Father knoweth that I have need of all these things.
Even before I prayed, he knows that I need food, he knows that I need clothing,
and he will give what we need, okay, ask and ye shall receive,
and if we really believe that, we'd say, well, if I don't have it, I must not need it,
because he said he'd give me what I need.
And having food and raiment, let us be there with content.
But see, when you don't believe God's Word, you begin to murmur and complain,
and say, you know what, I'm not getting a fair shake, I got a bum deal,
you know, so-and-so's better off than I am.
And all that is is covetousness, to say that so-and-so's better off than I am,
because you wish you had their life or whatever.
And turn, if you would, to 1 Timothy 6.
Here's probably the best scripture that I know on this subject.
1 Timothy 6, because basically we need to get it into our minds that murmuring is a sin,
and that really it's just kind of an expression of what's in our heart, which is a lack of contentment,
and a heart that covets something that we don't have.
Look at 1 Timothy 6, and this is a great chapter.
I'm trying to decide how much of it we want to read, but let's just start with verse number 6.
And this is a great thought right here.
But godliness with contentment is great gain.
That right there is your formula for happiness in life.
Godliness and contentment.
Now, you don't want to be just content without godliness.
Yeah, I'm happy where I'm at.
I don't care about serving God.
I don't care about going to church or going soul-willing or anything like that.
But if you have godliness and contentment, that's great gain.
That's success.
That's more than Donald Trump has.
He has neither.
He has neither godliness nor contentment.
The world thinks he's successful.
He's wicked as hell.
How does he make his money?
Through gambling, casinos, selling liquor in those casinos, swindling people, teaching them all this get-rich-quick stuff.
He makes his money by having his little pornographic Miss America pageants or whatever he has,
a bunch of women in bathing suits strutting their naked bodies around.
Let me tell you something.
Donald Trump does not have godliness, and he doesn't have contentment either.
And so he has nothing.
And when he dies, none of his money is going to go with him.
He's going to go into the grave, into the dust, and his soul is going to go to hell, and his money is going to go.
It doesn't matter where it goes.
Do you think he's going to care where his money is?
No.
I don't know what kind of trust he has set up, what kind of will he has, who he's going to leave all that money to,
but it really doesn't even matter.
But let me tell you something.
The person that has real success is the person who has godliness and contentment.
And if you want to be happy, there's your formula right there.
Two things.
Live a godly life, serve the Lord, keep his commandments, win people to Christ, and be content with such things as you have.
He said in verse 7,
Now that doesn't say having a nice house, food and raiment.
It doesn't even say having food, raiment, and a vehicle.
It doesn't say having food, raiment, and anything.
It just says food and raiment, let us be there with contentment.
There were times when Jesus didn't even have a place to sleep.
He said,
That's not the lifestyle that I want to live.
Do you want to live a life where you're not sure where you're going to sleep tonight?
You know, well I have clothes and food, but I hope I can find somewhere to stay tonight.
But you know what, that's the life that Jesus lived for much of his ministry.
And then we're not content because our house isn't that nice.
Or maybe it's just an apartment or a mobile home so it's not a real big nice house.
You know what, we just ought to be thankful that we have what we do have.
Because I guarantee you there's plenty of people across this world that do not have a temperature controlled place that they're going to sleep tonight.
It's either too hot, it's too cold, they don't have an unlimited supply of food in the fridge.
We can eat fruit from all over the world year round.
It doesn't have to be in season.
It's brought on refrigerated trucks to the grocery store.
We can go to that grocery store and eat whatever fruit we want, whatever food we want.
We can have breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day.
And there are a lot of people in this world who don't have that.
There are a lot of people in this world who do not eat until they're full.
And it's not because they're on a diet.
It's just because that's all they have.
And so we ought to be content and happy and say,
Praise God, we have plenty of warm clothes in the winter.
Not that we need them in Phoenix.
We've got cool clothes in the summer.
That's enough.
We've got food.
We've got drink.
We've got ramen.
Let's just be happy with what we have.
And you know what? People who are happy, it's because they choose to be happy.
And people who are miserable, it doesn't matter how much you give them, they will continue to be miserable.
It's true.
I mean, people who are murmurers and complainers, people who are not content with such things as they have,
you could give them a million dollars and it wouldn't be enough.
It wouldn't.
Because they're just not a happy person.
People who are happy know how to be abased.
They know how to abound.
I mean, Paul said this.
He said, I've learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.
I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound.
Everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry.
Both to abound and to suffer in need.
I can do all things through Christ which is stronger than me.
Paul knew what it was to have money, to have success, to be in a comfortable position.
He also knew what it was to be rotting in a jail cell with nothing.
Where he's just begging somebody to bring him the Bible and a jacket.
You remember that scripture in 2 Timothy chapter 4?
He says, the cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee,
and the books, but especially the parchments.
He just said, can you please bring me my jacket because I'm in jail.
Can you bring me the books and the parchments?
Whether that's the scriptures, the Bible, whatever.
I'm sure that either the parchments or the books is referring to the Bible.
He just wanted some reading material.
He's in jail.
He's got a jacket on, but he needs a warmer jacket.
Whatever.
So the point is that we need to stop and ask ourselves, why am I not rejoicing?
Happy is a word that's used in the Bible, but let's just use the word rejoicing.
Having joy.
That's more of a biblical concept that's mentioned more.
If you don't have joy, it's because something is wrong with you spiritually.
Because we all go through trials and tribulations.
We all have the thorns in our flesh.
We all have heaviness and bad things in our life.
But the question is, why don't you have joy in your life?
It's because you're not choosing to rejoice in the Lord.
The Bible says rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice.
And if you'd stop and focus on the fact, hey, I'm saved.
I'm going to heaven.
All my sins are forgiven.
God's not even going to mention my sins to me.
I'm going to live in a perfect place in heaven.
I have nothing to go downhill from here.
It's all going to be uphill from here.
As soon as I leave this world, I'm going to be in a wonderful, perfect place.
I don't deserve to live there eternally.
So if I spent 70 years here and maybe part of it is pretty miserable, praise God,
I'm going to be there for 7 million years.
And so we need to get our attitude right and say, hey, I'm going to choose to be a joyful, rejoicing person
because God commanded me, rejoice in the Lord.
This is the day which the Lord hath made.
We will rejoice and be glad in it.
Instead of just saying, oh, another crummy day, it's Monday, it's Tuesday, whatever,
why don't you say, hey, this is the day which the Lord hath made.
And if you have a problem in this area, why don't you read that scripture every morning
and let that sink in and live that way and say, hey, God made today.
It's not just another day to mark up the calendar.
God created this day and I'm here.
I've got the Holy Spirit living inside of me.
I've got the Bible.
I've got food.
I've got clothing.
I'm going to use this day for the glory of God.
I'm going to rejoice.
I'm going to praise God.
I'm going to do something for God.
I'm going to read something in God's Word.
I'm going to learn the Bible.
I'm going to try to give somebody the Gospel.
I'm going to do something with my life.
I'm not going to sit around complaining and murmuring because of the fact that I don't
have it just the way I wanted it.
Now, you know that babies complain, don't they?
Babies complain because they haven't learned.
As Paul said, I've learned in whatsoever state I am there with to be content.
This is not something that comes naturally to you.
You're a sinner.
You have a sin nature.
The natural thing for you to do is complain.
The first thing it does when it comes out of its womb, complaints because of the fact
that it was taken from this nice cozy environment in its mother's womb.
It's ripped out of that into this world.
Usually in a hospital with bright lights shining on it and nurses poking at it and everything
and stretching it out because they have to measure it like the second it's born.
It's like give the kid a little time.
It's not going to grow by tomorrow.
Just measure it tomorrow.
They have to measure it and do all these things.
If a child doesn't get food on time, they complain.
It's normal.
It's natural.
They're a baby.
But are you a baby?
Are you a spiritual baby that just every time something doesn't go your way?
Now, how often do you as an adult person have a crying breakdown?
Where you just...
Probably not on a daily basis.
I hope not.
But you know what?
Little babies, they have a crying breakdown every day.
It's true.
I mean they go through these...
There's my baby whimpering in the back right now.
They go through on a daily basis these extremes of just...
But you know what?
That's the sign of a baby because as you grow up, you start to learn,
hey, if I skip a meal, it's not going to kill me.
I'll still be okay.
I'll still survive.
I'm still going to make it.
But yet babies, if they skip a meal, they're going to scream.
They're going to cry.
They flip out about going to bed at the wrong time,
but then they cry about being tired.
It doesn't make any sense.
But as we grow up, we need to learn to be content,
to be happy with what we have.
He said in verse 8,
and having food and raiment, let us be therewith content.
But they that will be rich fall.
Now just let that sink down with you.
Did you hear that?
They that will be rich, and the word will be rich means want to be rich,
desire to be rich.
They're willing.
That's what they want.
But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare,
and into many foolish and hurtful lusts,
which drown men in destruction and perdition,
for the love of money is the root of all evil.
Okay, did you get that?
It is the root of all evil.
Now, all the modern Bible versions change this.
You know, these modernized, the NIV, the HIV, whatever.
You know, the NAS, all these new versions.
They water down the Bible.
They take out the word hell.
They take out the blood.
They take out all these things, and they change this.
They say the love of money is a root of many kinds of people.
No, it's the root of all evil.
You say, well, every sin doesn't come from money.
It's not related to money, you know.
But wait a minute.
Evil does not mean sin, number one.
Evil is harming someone else.
And number two, every person who is harmful to others,
it started out when they loved money.
That's where it came from.
That was the root of that.
The greediness for money,
the greed for what belongs to someone else
is what then leads them maybe to become something worse,
you know, and to lust after someone's body
and to be a rapist or whatever,
horrible evil things people do.
It starts out with the love of money.
It starts out with the child who loves money.
He grows up to abuse people in the business world.
He grows up to rip people off or to steal or to harm
because of the fact that he started out as a little child
and nobody ever taught him to be content with what he had.
Nobody ever taught him this word.
No, you can't have that.
It's not yours.
It doesn't belong to you.
And so he just loves money.
You say, Pastor Aaron, I don't love money.
I just love having the exact car I want.
I just love having the exact house I want.
I just love having all the exact clothing that I want.
I just love going all the places I want to go.
Well, let me break it to you.
That's what we're talking about.
Because, you know, it's not the money.
It's just all the stuff that money buys that I'm in love with.
I don't care about the money.
I mean, money means nothing to me.
I just want to take expensive trips all the time,
wear fancy clothes, fancy jewelry, drive fancy cars,
live in a fancy house, have all the conveniences,
and not have to suffer or skip any meals or eat food I don't like.
That's all, Pastor Aaron.
It has nothing to do with the love of money.
What do you think the love of money is?
Does he just love, like, King Midas to count your bills or something?
Is that what you think the love of money is?
I just love the physical paper
because it smells like the roller skating rink.
Or maybe the roller skating rink smells like money.
I don't know.
Has anybody else ever noticed that?
Whenever you go to a roller skating rink,
it smells exactly like a dollar bill?
Has anybody yet?
Somebody.
Nobody knows what I'm talking about.
John, thank you.
I'm serious.
Whenever I went to the skating rink,
you know, it doesn't the skating rink,
okay, let me ask you this.
Doesn't the skating rink have a real distinct smell?
Yes.
Do you agree with that?
It's like that carpet they have or sweat.
Yeah, sweat.
And I noticed when I was a child one time,
I put a dollar bill up my nose and went,
it smells like the skating rink.
I don't know if it's the sweat of all the hands
that have handled it or whatever.
Yeah, the skating rink does smell like sweat.
You're right.
But anyway, you know,
oh, I just love that sweaty, smelly dollar bill, you know?
No, it's people loving the things that it buys.
They just desire the fancy lifestyle.
They desire the wining and dining and the fancy clothes.
You know, when you love the brand names and fancy clothes,
that's what the love of money is.
That's what it's talking about.
You love all the fine raiment, as the Bible says,
and all the fancy things,
and you want to live the lifestyle of the rich and famous.
That's what the love of money is,
and let me tell you something.
People who love money are bad people.
Understand that.
If you get around somebody who they just talk about money,
money, money, money, that's all they talk about?
They're bad people.
Stay away from people like that.
They're the kind of people who are going to hurt you,
that are dishonest,
and you know, this is what's wrong with Amway.
You know, things like Amway,
and you say, oh, come on, don't hit on Amway, you know.
But this Amway mentality,
my dad went to an Amway meeting one time.
His friends begged him to come,
and he said it's like a church service,
worshiping money.
That's how he described it.
He said they sing songs about money.
Like, we come and we sing, you know,
nothing but the blood of Jesus,
what can wash away.
You know, we sing songs about Jesus Christ, right,
about being saved and about the Bible.
Sing them over again to me,
wonderful words of life.
They go to these Amway meetings and sing songs about money.
Now, I don't know any of the songs.
If I knew them, I'd sing them to you right now, I promise.
But I don't know the songs.
My dad came home singing them.
He's like, this is bad.
He said it's like a church service, worshiping money.
And then after they do the singing,
then they have the preaching, he said.
This is how my dad described it.
They preach you, and this is what they preach.
Would you rather have friends or a Ferrari?
You know, they say you're going to lose friends,
you know, in Amway.
But it's worth it, you know.
And they would teach their people.
And we had some friends that got into Amway.
And they, you know, of course, guess what?
My parents weren't friends with them long after
because it caused them to lose all their friends.
That preacher was right, that Amway preacher
of the God of money.
Basically, these people got into Amway,
and here's how you can tell they got into Amway.
Number one, they shaved off all their facial hair.
Now, I don't have any facial hair,
but there's nothing wrong with being clean-shaven.
I'm clean-shaven.
But it was like you had to be clean-shaven.
So all of a sudden, all these guys who had mustaches and beards,
they'd come to church clean-shaven,
and then here's number two,
they'd park backwards in their parking spot.
You know how people sometimes back in?
So they'd come to church, and they were clean-shaven.
They'd back in, and then number three,
they had this little Binaka.
But it was not Binaka brand, it was Amway brand,
this little breath spray, because they're telling them,
like, you got to be sharp, you know, you got to have fresh breath,
clean-shaven, park backwards, all this stuff.
So, like, we'd be at church,
and my dad called it invasion of the body snatchers.
That's what my dad called it.
He's like, he's like,
Sue, his wife's name was Sue, my mom,
he'd be like, Sue, it's like invasion of the body snatchers.
Like, these people are no longer human.
And I'm just repeating to you what my dad taught me when I was a child.
We would show up at church,
went to a church called Citadel Baptist Church,
it was a fundamental independent Baptist church.
We'd walk in, and we'd see one of the guys come in,
clean-shaven, and we would literally go see if he's parked backwards.
That's what my dad would say.
And we'd go, look, sure enough, he's parked backwards.
The guy, they got to him, too!
They'd be like, not him!
You know, not so-and-so, not Jim, you know?
You're like, oh, man!
And then he pulls out the breath spray, you're like, that's it.
It's for sure now.
Because it would, and it literally ruined their life.
We knew, there was a guy that went to that church.
You know, he showed up clean-shaven,
mustache was gone, parking backwards, spraying breath spray, okay?
This guy was the manager of a Raley's,
and Raley's is like a high-end grocery store in California.
It's one of the nicest stores.
It's not a crummy grocery store at all.
He was either the head manager of a really big Raley's,
or maybe he was the assistant manager, and it was a good job.
It was a well-paying job, he had good benefits,
he was in charge of an important grocery store, high-end place,
and he had this really good job.
He got demoted from either the assistant or the top manager of Raley's.
He got demoted to just being a clerk at the cash register,
because of Amway, because he started slacking on his job,
he started talking to people, he was evangelizing on the job with Amway.
Not about Jesus, about Amway.
And it messed up his life, and it caused all his friends,
because his friends started to just feel used by him,
because all he wants to do is just make money off his friends,
just use them for financial gain.
You know, it's like, look, I just want to go out to eat with you
and talk and hang out with you.
I don't want to hear about Amway.
I don't want you to try to sell me something,
I just want to be your friend, you know?
And then they lose friends.
You see, this is the love of money will do this to you, it'll mess you up.
They taught their people in Amway to go,
there's a whole sermon about Amway tonight, no I'm just kidding, but anyway,
they would tell them to go park in front of rich houses, mansions,
they would literally go driving on Sunday afternoon between church,
they would drive around fancy neighborhoods saying,
Someday, someday this will be our neighborhood.
Someday we'll have a house like that.
That is wrong, that's covetousness.
And this is what Christians can get sucked into,
and Amway, a lot of Christians are into it.
And they get this thing where it's like, oh, someday, who cares about that?
You know, why just be happy that today you live in the house you live in today?
Oh, you don't understand how small my house is, how crammed it is.
You know what? That's the house that God is providing you right now.
Thank God for it. Praise God for it.
I remember when we were first married, we were dirt poor,
and I thank God we were poor because it helped me to learn to be content.
Because we were just content with each other.
You know, we were newlyweds.
And you know, when you're newlyweds, it says,
your spouse is just all that matters to you in the world,
you live in this world that's just starry-eyed,
and it's just the two of you in the whole universe.
Didn't you feel that way, honey? That's the way I felt.
You know, you don't care about anything.
You don't care about, you know, you just, da, da, da, da, da.
You just, all you care about is just that you're married,
and you love each other, and it's, you know.
So we were all just so happy, but man, we were poor.
I mean, we were poor. Dirt poor.
I mean, we're like just scrimping and scraping.
We never ate out. We never spent money.
We never took vacations. I mean, we just had no money.
I mean, we just barely paid our bills, bought food,
and we had to scrimp on food.
I mean, every chance we got, we were hanging around at my parents' house
just to eat there, just to eat their food.
We'd go there every Friday night, and we'd eat dinner
and have breakfast the next morning, and I mean,
we were just trying to get that food.
And we enjoyed being with my parents, obviously.
Mom and Dad, in case you're listening to the sermon,
we had fun, we liked it.
No, but honestly, part of the reason we'd go over there was to get the food.
And it wasn't because we were just greedy,
it's just because we didn't have any food hardly, you know.
We had two plates, two forks, two glasses, literally.
Now, most people have not lived like that.
Most people probably never lived in a house that had two glasses,
two forks, two plates, two spoons, two knives.
That was our house.
We sat on the floor, Indian style, and ate,
or we ate at the counter standing up.
We didn't get a table and chairs until we'd been married for several months.
And then we got a table and chairs, we had two chairs.
If people had to come over, we'd tell them, bring a chair.
Bring your own chair.
Come over for dinner, but you must bring a chair.
And, you know, bring a couple plates while you're at it.
Well, we got a couple plates by then.
But literally, I mean, we didn't have nice things.
We lived in a one-bedroom apartment.
We never had a studio apartment because my sister gave me some good advice.
She gave me wise advice.
She said, Steve, I know you're poor, but you must get a one-bedroom
because she said you're going to get in a fight with your wife
and you're going to need to close that door.
That's what she told me.
I mean, it sounds like I'm kidding, but it's true.
She said, like, you're going to need a chance to just get away from each other
like in case you have a fight or something.
You don't want to just be in the same room all the time.
You need to have someplace to go just to get away and cool off
or that she could go and just be by herself.
So I said, yeah, you're probably right, you know.
So we got a one-bedroom so that we could at least have a door
that we could close and whatever and cool off, the cool-down period, you know.
But anyway, and you know what, the people who don't understand that
it's just because you've never been married.
But anyway, it's true.
But anyway, the point is that we had a one-bedroom,
but did you know that when we had two children
we still lived in a one-bedroom apartment with four people?
Me, my wife, two children living in a one-bedroom apartment,
and it was what, 700 square feet?
640 square foot, one-bedroom apartment with us and two children.
But you know what, we were content with it.
We were happy.
And you know what, whenever we got into a two-bedroom right after that,
we thought, this is great.
And I even told my wife, I said, you know, honey,
it's great having a two-bedroom.
It's nice because we have a room for the kids,
for all their toys and all their things.
But I said, you know what, honey, in reality,
we could have kept on going with the one-bedroom.
This is just a bonus.
This is just a blessing to have this extra bedroom.
But some people, it's like, oh, man,
I can't believe I live in a two-bedroom apartment with my one child.
Oh, we have one child, and we don't have a minivan yet.
And then it's like, you just have to have a minivan
because you have one child.
We got a minivan when my wife was pregnant with our fourth child
because when she had that fourth child,
we weren't going to fit in the car anymore
because the car only had five seats.
And it was like, we needed that van.
And I'm not saying it's wrong to have nice things that you don't need.
I'm not saying it's wrong to have nice things.
I hope that's not what your life is about.
Is not the life more than meat and the body than raiment?
Isn't there more to life than just, can I get a minivan?
Can I get a bigger house?
Can I have better clothes?
Can I have fancy things?
Can I live in the lap of luxury?
Hey, we need to focus on the spiritual in our lives
and say, you know what, I'm going to be happy
with a dinner of herbs and love, the Bible says,
than a stalled ox and hatred therewith.
I'd rather have a happy marriage.
I'd rather have a godly life.
I'd rather have a wife that's faithful to me,
that loves me, and I love her,
and children who are raised in the nurture and admonition of the Lord
and live in a shack than to live in a fancy house
and not have God blessing me.
We ought to focus on the spiritual and say,
I'm happy because I win souls to Jesus Christ
and people are going to go to heaven because I gave them the gospel.
I'm happy because I get to read God's word every day
and it thrills me to read the Bible
and He walks with me and talks with me.
That's why I'm happy today.
I'm happy because I have the Bible.
I'm happy because I get people saved.
I'm happy because I'm saved and going to heaven.
I'm happy because I don't live a filthy, ungodly, wicked life
and I'm not in the gutter somewhere drunk.
That's why I'm happy.
Not, well, if I would just get more money, I'd be happy.
You know, and today, so many people's life
consists in the abundance of the things which they possess
and Jesus said, beware of covetousness
for a man's life consistent not
in the abundance of the things which he possesses.
You know, and there are other things that people complain about.
It's not just money.
Sometimes people complain about physical ailments.
You know, sometimes people could complain
about different things physically that they have wrong.
Some people complain about their appearance.
Now stop and think about it.
Isn't God the one who created you?
I do not believe that any human being is just a mixture of DNA.
Just, well, we mixed the two DNA and this is what we came up with.
You know, and it's just kind of ugly.
You know, I don't believe that.
I believe that God forms and fashions every child in its mother's womb.
And so I don't think that you can really say,
oh, well, you know, I'm so ugly.
Well, God's the one that made you.
God made you the way that you look.
You know, just forget what.
You don't look like, you know, who's the big, who's the,
that all the guys like or whatever.
Who?
Who's the woman that everybody says, oh.
Megan Fox.
You worldly.
How do you even know that?
Who is it?
Megan Fox.
I've never even heard of Megan Fox.
Thank God.
I praise God for it.
Who else?
Angelina Jolie.
Or Megan Fox.
You know, you think that because you don't look like Megan Fox,
you know, not that I even know who that is.
For sake of the sermon, I'm going to pretend like I know who that is.
You think that just because you don't look like Megan Fox,
that somehow, you know, oh, I'm ugly.
And, you know, women are down on their appearance more than men a lot of times.
Men, they don't even realize they're ugly.
No, I'm just kidding.
Anyway, just kidding.
But, you know, women will be down on their appearance.
Oh, you know, I'm fat.
I'm ugly.
You know, my hair.
I'm having a bad hair.
You know what?
Quit getting so focused on yourself and on your appearance.
Work on the inside.
You know, and just realize that if your hair is brown,
it's because God gave you brown hair.
Because God thought that you looked best with brown hair.
And if your hair is curly, God made it curly.
Love it curly.
If it's straight, God made it straight.
You know, if you're short, some people are down on me too.
When I was a child, I was very short.
Now I'm an average height now.
I'm 5'11".
But, you know, when I was a child, I was always the shortest kid in my class,
except one Filipino boy that was shorter than me.
It's true.
There was one Filipino boy that was shorter than me,
and there was one Mexican guy that was like my same height.
And those were my two best friends, by the way.
I'm not kidding.
They were.
Those were my two best friends, Robbie and PJ.
And they were the only kids that were as short as me.
I can show you my class picture where we're in the front row,
just the three of us, side by side,
really short, and everybody else is taller than us, towering over us.
And, you know, I hated that as a child.
I wished to God that I would be taller.
Okay?
But, you know what?
Maybe there's a reason why God had me grow up short.
Maybe he wanted to keep me out of a certain crowd, or maybe...
I don't know why.
But I don't believe that me being short growing up was an accident.
I believe that God created me that way.
And now, for some reason, I'm a normal height of an average white guy.
But when I was a child, I was the average height of a small Filipino.
But the point is, hey, I was that way because God made me that way.
And, you know, God didn't intend for everybody to be anorexic like Angelina Jolie.
And God didn't intend for everybody to look the same and to be the same.
God made different people for a different reason.
And today, we live in a society that basically says, like,
if you're handicapped, there's something wrong with you.
So, let's do a genetic screening just to make sure nobody has any handicapped children.
You know, that's the kind of stuff that's going on today, literally.
They'll do a DNA test and say, oh, you know, your child may be handicapped.
Why don't you just abort it?
You know, that is so wicked.
We used to have a girl in our church that had Down syndrome.
And she would go out soul-winning with my wife, and she would quote to people John 3.16
and all the other verses about salvation.
And people got saved because they wouldn't turn her away
because they heard this girl, you know, quoting the verses,
and then my wife or whoever else would give them the Gospel and explain it to them more clearly.
And God was able to use her, even though she had Down syndrome.
I thank God somebody just didn't say, oh, we don't want a child with Down syndrome in this world.
You know, God created people to have Down syndrome or whatever other ailment.
That's His will.
And not everybody is supposed to be some perfect, you know,
Adolf Hitler specimen with blonde hair and blue eyes that's, you know, the master race or whatever, this garbage.
And by the way, that garbage came from America.
I don't know if you know that.
Hitler learned it from America.
It was a woman by the name of Margaret Sanger that was one of the top people in eugenics,
the founder of Planned Parenthood, Margaret Sanger, who started a lot of that stuff.
And she was the one who taught this doctrine of, you know, survival of the fittest that came from Charles Darwin,
that said only the strong survive, that said only the best and the brightest and the best looking.
Look, God made all different kinds of people for all different kinds of reasons.
And if somebody is short, so what?
If somebody is tall or big or small, whatever they are, God made them.
And they ought to be content with who they are and what they are and what God made them.
Instead of having to dye your hair 50 different colors, why don't you just be happy with the color of hair that God gave you?
Instead of having to just constantly, and you know when I was a teenager I used to bleach my hair blonde and do all this stuff,
but when I became a man I put away childish things.
And I've realized this is who God made me.
Or people are upset, they complain about the fact that they're getting old.
Or they complain that they're too young.
Or they complain that, you know, they're this or they're that or, you know, I need to lose weight or whatever, you know.
Look, if you need to lose weight, lose the weight.
But don't complain and say, oh man, it's so hard not being able to...
I'm not preaching to you, Brett.
It's so...
I didn't hear you complain about it.
I heard you talk about it, but you didn't complain about it.
You know, but people are just, oh man, it's so hard, I just want to eat so bad, I just have to...
It's like, look, you know what, just be happy.
And, you know, do you want to hang around with people who are just down all the time?
Look, we're going to go through heaviness, the Bible says, because of manifold temptations.
Turn to 1 Peter 1, if you would.
But we can still rejoice, according to the Bible, even when things are going bad, if we learn what it means to be content.
And the opposite of rejoicing is murmuring, complaining.
I'm sorry, it's 2 Peter 1. Sorry about that.
Is it 2 Peter 1? Somebody help me out here.
Does anybody know the Bible here?
Anybody been reading your Bible?
We're not leaving until we find this.
1 Peter 1, 6.
There we go, thank you, Garrett.
One person in the church who reads the Bible. No, I'm just kidding. Just kidding.
Here's what it says in, let's start in verse 3 though.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again, there's your born again right there,
unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled,
and that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for you, as opposed to the money of this world that's going to fade away, it's going to pass away,
the corruptible inheritance.
He said this, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time,
wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season if need be,
ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations, that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perishes,
though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ,
whom having not seen ye love, in whom though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.
He said look, your faith is being tried, the trial of your faith, manifold temptations, think of, you say what does the word manifold mean?
Many fold, that's where it comes from, like you've heard like thirty fold, sixty fold, a hundred fold, manifold,
it's just a multitude of trials, tribulations, bad things, I go through things, and you may look at me and say,
well it's easy for you to say Pastor Anderson, because your life is a bed of roses, you know,
and I might look at you and say the same thing, but I don't know what you're going through, you know, I don't know the stuff that you deal with,
and you don't know the stuff that I deal with, you know, now some people know a little bit what I deal with, Scott, you know,
he knows a little bit, he goes with me and works with me and everything like that, but still even Scott doesn't know everything that goes on in my life,
and I don't know what goes on in your life, you know, everybody comes to church and they're all dressed sharp and everything's great,
you know, there are hurtful things, there are trials and tribulations that all of us go through, some of them people hear about,
some of them people know about, people know about trials that I've been through, there are other trials that I've been through that people don't know about,
but the point is everybody is going through trials and tribulations, everybody is going through manifold temptations and has heaviness,
has sorrow in their heart. Paul said, look, are they offended and I burn not? You know, he said, I'm offended sometimes,
I get hurt, I feel bad sometimes, but yet I choose to go through life focused on the fact that I'm saved, that the spiritual, and saying,
hey, weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning, and therefore I obey the fact when God says, rejoice, I'm going to rejoice, daily.
Seven times a day will I praise the Lord because of His righteous judgments. I will bless the Lord at all times, His praise shall be continually in my mouth,
Psalm 34.1. You see, that is what the Christian life is about. You go through trials, you go through heaviness, but you rejoice and you're content.
He said in 1 Corinthians 7, if you're married, be content being married, be content with your wife, be content with your husband.
He said, if you're single, be content being single. You know, hey, if you can get married, you know, great, so much the better.
But you know what, if you're single, you just got to be content being single. And if you're married, be content.
Don't just always be coveting something else because the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.
But when you get there, there are people who are married who wish they were single. Did you know that? It's called divorce.
It happens all the time. And there are people who are single who wish they were married.
And then when they get married, they wish they were single. And then when they're single, they wish they were married.
Because they're just the type of people who aren't happy. Because they're covetous people.
Because they're just not content with such things as they have. Here's a great verse for you, Hebrews 13, 5.
Let your conversation be without covetousness and be content with such things as ye have.
For he had said, I will never leave thee nor for safety. Isn't that enough?
I mean, isn't that enough to rejoice about that Jesus Christ has said he'll never leave thee nor for safety?
How about the fact that you can't lose your salvation? That it's everlasting life?
That he said, I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
That's something to rejoice about right there. Isn't that enough? To let your conversation be without covetousness?
But so many times our conversation is just nothing but covetousness.
Hey, let's get this car. Hey, maybe we can get this house. Oh man, what do you think we can buy? What do you think we can get?
It's just shopping. You can't even drive down the street on Sunday. We got out of church and we tried to drive somewhere.
And we're in a traffic jam. Why is this traffic jam? And it's just everybody's going to Arizona Mills.
You know, just hundreds and thousands and thousands and thousands. But I wonder if there's a traffic jam because of church.
Just people just cramming. And that's why sometimes there aren't as many people in church at Faithful Word.
Because they get stuck in this traffic jam. It's ironic, but so many people are trying to get to Faithful Word Baptist Church.
That they create a traffic jam and most of them don't make it here. So that's why there's not a real big crowd.
Because people can't get here because of the traffic. No, but there's a traffic jam. No, that's not true.
There's a traffic jam at the movie theater. There's a traffic jam at the mall. There's a traffic jam at the shopping center on Sunday.
Because there's nothing wrong with buying something on Sunday. But the problem is that that's just all people's life is about.
Oh, the weekend is coming so we can go buy and spend and fill our eyes with the movies and lust upon Megan Fox or Angelina Jolie.
I'm going to be preaching about that for like the next 10 years now. Thank you for teaching me that.
I'm sick of saying the same names over and over again of people who are probably like 50 years old now and so young guys can't even relate to what I'm talking about.
But anyway, I'm just kidding. But the point is that it's a type of person who's content. Did you hear me?
You take the Apostle Paul, put him in any situation, he'd be content. Stick him in jail, stick him in a foreign city, stick him in the king's palace, he's content.
Not because of the circumstances. You think you'll be happy when X, Y, and Z happens. You won't.
If you're happy today, you'll be happy. And if you can't be happy tonight, if you can't go to bed tonight rejoicing, you won't go to bed happy tomorrow. I don't care what happens.
Because your life's never going to be perfect until you get to heaven. It's always going to be something.
If it's not your finances, it'll be your health. If it's not your health, it'll be your relationships. It'll be family.
You will never live the perfect life and you just think, oh, if I could just straighten out my finances, it'll be great. Then you'll get sick.
This is a really encouraging sermon. And then you finally get well, you're going to lose your job. You're going to lose your money.
It's true. There's always something. And you've got to just learn to just say, you know what, I can accept the things that are bad in my life and be content anyway.
And you know what, if you say, oh, well, somebody else has it so good, you may not, you wouldn't want to trade places with them in many cases.
You know, because, you know, I think I heard a poem that said, if all our problems were hung on a line, you'd take yours and I'd take mine.
You know, you don't want other people's mess. I'd rather have my own mess that I made myself than to inherit somebody else's problems.
You know, and I've got problems, but you know what, I'm okay with the problems that I have.
You know, I can deal with it. Because you know why? The place that we started tonight had the answer.
1 Corinthians 10, remember I talked about how they murmured? He said just one verse down from that.
He said, for there are no temptations taken you, but such as is common to man.
For God is able, who also with the temptation, I'm quoting it, I don't really have it memorized, but provide a way of escape.
He'll make a way of escape. And so anything you're going through in life, even if it's a lack of food, a lack of drink, a place having trouble finding the right housing,
problems on the job, physical ailments, God is not going to put you through something that you can't handle.
And God is testing you, and God is trying you, and this is how you pass the test. You don't complain. You praise God.
Here's how you fail the test. You complain, you murmur against the Lord, you murmur against the pastor, you murmur against your parents,
you murmur against the boss, whoever it is that you blame or whatever. Or you just murmur against God or you murmur in general.
That's how you fail the test. God wants you to learn to be content.
And by the way, you complain about the food that's on your plate, and I'm preaching to the kids right now especially, because kids have a problem with this.
Listen up kids. You complain about the food that's on your plate, one day God may have you suffer hunger.
Because that's what he did to the children of Israel. He suffered them to hunger and fed them with manna that they might know that man does not live by bread alone.
If I ever were to proceed out of the mouth of God that man lived.
Let me tell you something kids. If you don't be thankful for your food.
You know, and people make fun of me a lot because I don't, every time I eat I don't say like, okay let's pray for the food and have a formal prayer.
But you know what, I can promise you one thing.
Whether or not I stop and say okay let's pray for the food, I promise you that every time I eat I thank God for my food.
And it's from my heart, honestly.
I mean when I'm in California, especially when I buy round table pizza, every time I put round table pizza in my mouth I'm thinking to myself, man thank God for this, thank you Jesus.
You know, whether I say it out loud or it's in my heart, I'm serious.
Because I don't want God to have to take away food from me before I'll be thankful for it.
You know, and if you keep complaining about your wife or your husband, maybe God will take them away from you.
Oh okay, you don't like your spouse? Well try being alone.
Or you just complain about your job, maybe God will have to take your job away to teach you how to be content.
I'd rather just be content and not murmur so that God can bless me.
And you know what, if God makes me go through some lean times, blessed be the name of the Lord.
You know, I'm just happy to be saved.
And that's enough. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father we thank you for your word dear God and thank you for all the wonderful blessings that you've given us that we live in a land of prosperity.
Many people today are literally starving.
They literally don't have food to eat, they're literally digging in a garbage can right now.
Thousands and thousands of people are digging in a garbage can right now.
And many times it's not because of any fault of their own.
But they're living in some messed up country, some abusive country where they're starving and they're digging in the trash and we go home to the fridge.
You know, and we're upset because the milk is 2% instead of whole milk or whatever.
God just please help us to be content and to be happy and rejoice in the Lord.
And to be content, righteous people, not covetous and not always down on what we don't have.
And we love you and in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Amen.
Alright, let's sing the song, Count Your Blessings, appropriate to the sermon.
And that song is on page number, give me one second I'll find it.
Count your blessings, you got it? What is it?
439.
Great song, 439. Let's sing it out on the first verse.
When upon life's billows you are tempest-tossed, when you are discouraged thinking all is lost, count your many blessings, name them one by one.
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.
Count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your blessings, see what God hath done.
Count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your many blessings, see what God hath done.
Are you ever burdened with a load of care? Does the cross seem heavy? You are called to bear. Count your many blessings every day.