... is just that one verse that's in verse 22, where the Bible reads,
and he said unto the disciples,
The days will come when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man,
and ye shall not see it.
And they'd asked him some questions about what it was going to be like in the end times and so forth,
and he just makes that statement before he gets into the talk about the prophecies and everything.
He just says that the days will come
when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and ye shall not see it.
And what I want to preach about this morning is just taking things for granted.
You know, here these men walked and talked with Jesus Christ.
I think he's reminding them, don't take this for granted.
I mean, here he is physically among them, preaching to them God's word.
I mean, he's there in the flesh,
and he wanted to make sure that they understood what they were experiencing at that time.
Now, look back, if you would, to Proverbs chapter 27.
Proverbs chapter 27, right in the dead center of your Bible is the book of Psalms,
and right after Psalms is the book of Proverbs.
Look at Proverbs 27 verse 7.
Here's a profound truth from God's word about taking things for granted.
It says in Proverbs 27, 7,
The full soul loateth an honeycomb.
Loat means to hate.
The full soul loateth an honeycomb,
but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.
Go back to Exodus chapter 16, second book in the Bible.
You see, the Bible's telling us that when you're full, everything tastes bad,
but when you're really hungry, anything tastes good.
Now, if you've ever gone a few days without eating,
I've gone several days without eating before, three to be exact.
That's the longest I've ever gone without eating.
You know, I drank water, but I ate no food.
And let me tell you something, anything sounds good.
On that third day, all the foods that you once hated,
you would do anything to eat that food.
And all of a sudden, you're not the picky eater that you once were.
And we live in a society where we have such fullness and abundance
that we're surrounded by picky eaters,
because everybody just takes for granted the fact
that they have an abundance of nutritious food around them.
Look at Exodus chapter 16.
I'm going to show you an illustration from the Bible.
Now, you remember the Old Testament, the children of Israel,
after they left Egypt, they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years.
And as they wandered in the wilderness,
they oftentimes didn't have enough food and enough drink,
and so God miraculously provided for them.
And it says in Exodus 16, 31,
And the house of Israel called the name thereof manna,
and it was like coriander seed, white,
and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.
Now, the manna was something that God gave them
during those 40 years in the wilderness.
Every single morning, they would wake up, and it was all over the ground.
And it was these little grains that were on the ground.
They would gather them up, and they would fill it up,
and that was their food for the day.
They didn't have to plant it.
They didn't have to pull the weeds.
They didn't have the water.
It just came up every single day.
And God says here what it was like, what it tasted like.
The manna, he said, tasted like wafers made with honey.
Now, it doesn't sound so bad, does it?
Now, the Bible said in Proverbs 27, 7,
The full soul loathes the honeycomb,
but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.
Go to Numbers 21.
You're in Exodus, just a few pages to the right in your Bible,
Numbers chapter 21.
So back in Exodus 16 is when God first started giving them the manna.
And they were really thankful for it because they were very hungry.
And God fed them and provided this manna from heaven miraculously.
But by the time we get to Numbers 21,
they've been eating the manna for a while,
and they're starting to take it for granted.
They no longer are thankful for it.
They no longer appreciate it.
Look what it says in Numbers 21, 5.
It says,
And the people spake against God and against Moses.
Wherefore have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?
And look at their next statement.
For there is no bread.
Now, they're saying that they don't have any bread.
But look at the next statement.
Neither is there any water, and our soul loateth this what?
Light bread.
So did they have no bread?
No.
It's just that they were tired of eating the same thing
because they kept eating this manna,
and it was a light bread that they made out of it.
And they said,
We don't have any bread!
But they did have bread, didn't they?
And they said,
Well, we just don't like this kind of bread.
You know, they didn't have to work for it.
They didn't have to pay for it.
They didn't plan it.
It was just given to them by God.
But the problem is, when God gives us so much,
oftentimes we don't appreciate it.
We just get used to it.
We take it for granted.
And back when they were hungry,
it tasted like wafers made with honey.
And now they've just got to the point where they don't like it.
They're sick of it.
Look at Psalm 78.
Psalm chapter 78, right in the middle of the Bible is the book of Psalms.
Psalm 78.
The Bible says in Psalm 78, verse 23,
Though he had commanded the clouds from above,
and opened the doors of heaven,
and had rained down manna,
remember that's that food that they were eating,
that light bread that he rained from heaven,
and had given them of the corn of heaven,
man did eat angels' food,
he sent them meat to the fold.
Now, does it sound like it was a bad food that he gave them?
God's saying it was corn from heaven,
that it was angels' food,
that he was miraculously feeding them with something good,
but because they had become accustomed to it,
they took it for granted.
And they started complaining,
and then God became very angry and punished them, of course.
It says in verse 26,
He caused an east wind to blow in the heaven,
and by his power he brought in the south wind.
He rained flesh also upon them as dust.
That's when he sent the quail that came and landed in their camp.
And by his power he brought in the south wind,
he rained flesh also upon them as dust,
and feathered fowls as the sand of the sea,
and let it fall in the midst of their camp round about their habitations.
So they did eat and were well filled,
for he gave them their own desire.
But look at the next phrase.
They were not estranged from their lust,
but while their meat was yet in their mouths,
the wrath of God came upon them,
and slew the fattest of them,
and smote down the chosen men of Israel.
For all this they sinned still,
and believed not for his wondrous works.
You see, people who are discontented people,
people who take things for granted,
they're never going to be satisfied.
They complained because they didn't have any bread,
and God gave them the best possible bread,
but it still wasn't good enough, right?
They still lusted after something else.
And you see, that's the way it is in our lives.
There are two kinds of people in this world.
And turn, if you would, to Matthew chapter 15.
There are two types of people in this world.
There are those who are contented,
and happy with what they have,
and there are those who constantly take everything for granted,
and are covetous of something that they don't have.
Now, you say, well, Pastor Anderson,
you mean people are in two different kinds of situations.
No, it doesn't matter the situation.
It's the type of person that's in the situation.
There's the type of person who's always contented
and happy with what they have,
and there's the type of person
that takes everything for granted,
and they're covetous of something that they don't have.
And let me tell you something.
It doesn't matter how much that person gets.
They will always want more.
It's true.
The person who's greedy or covetous
and is not content with what they have
and takes everything for granted,
you can give them twice as much or three times as much,
and they still will not be satisfied.
Because notice, it says in the Bible
that the people who complained the loudest
were the ones who were the fattest.
I mean, they were getting enough to eat,
and they were the ones who complained the most.
You see, greed, lust, covetousness,
and taking things for granted,
it's a problem in your heart.
Paul said,
I've learned in whatsoever state I am,
therewith to be contented.
He said, I know both how to be abased
and I know how to abound.
Everywhere and in all things,
I'm instructed both to be full and to be hungry,
both to abound and to suffer need.
I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
You see, you need to learn contentment.
You need to learn to not take things for granted.
And many times God will teach you that
by making you go without.
Paul went through some pretty lean times
and he learned that when he had an abundance,
when he had all kinds of great food
and when he had all kinds of amenities,
hey, he was rejoicing and thankful for it.
But when everything was taken away from him
and when he's sitting in a jail cell,
he said like Job,
Naked came I out of my mother's womb
and naked shall I return thither.
The Lord paid and the Lord hath taken away.
Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Because it's the type of person
that is happy with what they have
and appreciates what they have
and doesn't take it for granted.
How many things do we take for granted?
Look at Matthew 15 verse 36.
I'm going to show you many, many verses right now in a row.
You don't have to turn to all of them if you want.
You can just sit back and listen.
But I'm going to show you how many times
Jesus, while he was on this earth,
thanked the Father for his food that he was eating.
Now it's over and over again.
And food is something that we take for granted.
But someday we may not have all the food that we want.
You know, hunger is a pretty strong sensation, isn't it?
And most of us have never even experienced real hunger.
And we eat a good breakfast, a good lunch, a good dinner.
And we don't necessarily appreciate what we have
because it's just always there.
And we take it for granted.
The phrase taking something for granted,
granted means that, you know, it's just,
of course it's been given to us.
You know, there's no question.
I mean, of course I'm going to have breakfast,
lunch, and dinner that's five stars.
You know, but we take it for granted.
Jesus didn't take it for granted.
Jesus Christ is recorded.
And the Bible doesn't record everything about Jesus, right?
But yet it takes time to record over and over again
how he was thankful for his food.
Look at Matthew 15 verse 36.
You can turn to all of these or not.
But it says in Matthew 15, 36,
and he took the seven loaves and the fishes
and gave thanks and break them and gave to his disciples
and the disciples the multitude.
Chapter 26 verse 27.
I won't have you turn there
because I don't want to slow me down here.
And he took the cup and gave thanks
and gave it to them saying, drink ye all of it.
Mark 8, 6.
And he commanded the people to sit down on the ground
and he took the seven loaves and gave thanks and break
and gave to his disciples to set before them
and they did set them before the people.
Mark 14, 23.
And he took the cup and when he had given thanks,
he gave it to them and they all drank of it.
Luke 22, 17.
He took the cup and gave thanks and said,
take this and divide it amongst yourselves.
Luke 22, 19.
And he took bread and gave thanks and break it
and gave unto them saying, this is my body
which is given for you this due in remembrance of me.
John 6, 11.
And Jesus took the loaves and when he had given thanks,
he distributed to the disciples
and the disciples of them that were set down
and likewise of the fishes as much as they would.
John 6, 23.
Howbeit, there came other boats from Tiberius 9
to the place where they did eat bread,
after that the Lord had given thanks.
Notice it restates, telling the same story
in the same chapter.
By the way, let me mention again a second time
in the same chapter that Jesus Christ gave thanks.
We ought to be thankful for our food today.
It says in 1 Corinthians 11, Paul is talking about
Jesus Christ while he was on this earth saying,
and when he had given thanks, he break it and said,
take, eat, this is my body which is broken for you
this due in remembrance of me.
So basically, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 times,
the Bible tells us that Jesus Christ gave thanks before eating.
Now that shows us something, doesn't it?
That we ought to appreciate the food
that is given to us by God
because every good gift and every perfect gift
is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights
with whom is no variable is not a shadow of turning.
God is the one who feeds us and takes care of us.
It says in Acts 27, 35, this is Paul.
It says, and when he had thus spoken,
he took bread and gave thanks to God
in the presence of them all.
And when he had broken it, he began to eat.
I don't think I have it in my notes,
but also in the book of Acts when Paul stood on Mars Hill.
He's preaching the gospel to a bunch of pagans
and he says to them that God is the one who's given you
every bit of food that you've eaten in your life.
He explains that to them.
And we ought to be thankful to God for our food
and I wonder if one day we're going to have to go without food
before we're thankful for our food.
Are we going to have to go through a famine
or some kind of a food crisis
before people will be thankful to God
for what he's just given to them in abundance
and made it available?
There's probably no one in this room
who has a shortage of food
and yet people complain that they're poor
because they don't have the iPhone
or they don't have a car that's a 2009
or they don't have this or they don't have that.
But the Bible says in having food and raiment,
let us be there with contentment.
We need to be happy with the things that we have
and not take it for granted.
And in America today, we actually eat foods.
My wife tells this often to my children
that they eat like kings because it's very true
because did you know that throughout history,
you couldn't just get food from all over the world?
I mean, there were certain foods
that were grown and raised in your area.
We can go to the grocery store
and eat exotic fruits and vegetables
from all over the world any time of year.
I mean, there's no such thing
as something being in season anymore.
It used to be, oh great, strawberries are in season.
No, it's always in season somewhere.
We'll bring it up from the southern hemisphere.
And we can eat fruits and vegetables
from all over the world 365 days a year.
I mean, we complain because, oh, Mexican food again?
You know, it's funny.
I remember I was talking to my friend Roger Jimenez
and this is what he said.
He said, you know, Pastor Anderson, he said,
I love Mexican food so much.
You know, he's from Venezuela,
which is a totally different kind of food.
But he said, you know, I love Mexican food so much.
He said, I think I could eat Mexican food every day.
And I said, you know what?
I said, there are millions and millions
of people who do that.
They're called Mexicans.
That's what they eat.
They eat it every day, so you're not alone.
There are other people who think that it's fine
to eat Mexican food every day.
And Chinese people eat rice every single day.
Just ask Victor.
Go to Victor's house.
He's got this electronic super-duper rice cooker.
I don't think that thing ever cools down.
It's always on.
It's just cranking out rice, rice, rice.
And you say, rice again?
There are people who eat rice every day.
There's one in our church.
I'll tell you the truth.
So what I'm saying is, you know, throughout history,
people in Mexico ate Mexican food.
People in Chinese, we eat Chinese food for lunch,
Mexican food for dinner, pizza the next day.
We eat all kinds of great food all the time.
And we live in the generation of the picky eater.
You know, let me tell you something.
I grew up as a picky eater.
My dad was a picky eater, and I became a picky eater.
You know, my dad brought forth after his own kind.
And I came to a point in my life
where I just decided I don't want to be a picky eater.
And I just started forcing myself
to eat things that I didn't like.
Now, they've said, you know, and look,
I don't want my wife to cook for me every day
the things I don't like, so I tell her what I like.
But, you know, I've learned to just force things down
that I don't necessarily like.
And some things that I forced down
eventually became one of my favorite foods.
Somebody said that, and I don't know if this is true or not,
but somebody said it, so I'm going to repeat it.
They said that if you eat something
that you don't like 11 times, then you'll like it.
Now, I don't know if that's true or not.
But I remember I used to hate cranberry juice.
And I just didn't like cranberry juice.
And when I say cranberry juice,
I'm talking about the cranberry juice cocktail
that's really like 25% cranberry juice
and the rest is water and high fructose corn syrup.
But it's still pretty strong, you know, if you're not used to it.
And I remember I hated cranberry juice.
And I remember I got really sick,
and when you get really sick with the flu,
sometimes the only thing you can keep down
is like 7-Up and cranberry juice.
And so, you know, my mom got me on a regimen
of cranberry juice and 7-Up,
and I would dilute the cranberry juice with boiled water.
You know how you boil your water when you're sick
to make sure it's pure?
Well, my mom would boil us water when we had the flu
and then, you know, cool it down in the fridge.
You could have chilled water that was free of any pathogens.
And I remember I would just force it down
for about a week and a half that I was sick.
And I would force down a half-diluted cranberry juice.
It was cranberry juice cocktail, already diluted 4 to 1, and water.
And I would force it down, force it down,
and on the last day of my sickness,
I walked into the kitchen, I pulled out the cranberry juice,
I poured a full pint glass of cranberry juice with no water added,
chugged it down, and said cranberry juice is my favorite drink.
And I'm not kidding.
Cranberry juice has been my favorite drink ever since then.
I'm not lying.
I don't drink it because of the, you know,
GMO high fructose corn syrup, you know, from Monsanto,
but that's another story.
So, you know, and plus I don't, you know,
now it's like a sugared, watered-down thing.
I got sick with a kidney infection a while back,
and you know what I did?
I went down to, it was either Whole Foods or Trader Joe's,
and I got the pure 100% cranberry juice with no sugar.
Four times the potency.
So eight times what I was, you know,
cramming down when I was sick before.
And I was just drinking it out of the bottle saying,
this stuff's great.
I love cranberry juice.
Because you see, it's all in your head in many cases.
And a lot of it just has to do with the idea,
and I'm not trying to rip on you,
and don't rip on other people in our church
if they're picky eaters.
You know, you're going to take them out to lunch today
and force them to eat sushi, you know.
That's not what I'm trying to say.
But I'm trying to say, hey, we need to try to be
a little more thankful and appreciate everything,
even if it's not a blockbuster every time we sit down
to breakfast or a blockbuster every time we sit down
to lunch or dinner.
You know, we need to just appreciate it and be thankful
that we have nutritious food to eat,
that there's something there.
You know, that we have something to eat.
Because there are people in this world who don't have anything to eat.
And we ought to be like Jesus and give thanks
for the food that we have.
Let me read you a lot of verses here quickly on be thankful.
You don't have to turn to them.
But it says in Psalm 100, verse 4,
Enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise.
Be thankful unto him and bless his name.
Romans 1, the famous passage,
talking about the downward spiral of a wicked society
and the downward spiral of a wicked person says in verse 21,
and this is where it started,
because that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God,
neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations
and their foolish heart was darkened.
Unthankfulness started the downward spiral in Romans 1.
Colossians 3, 15, Let the peace of God rule in your hearts
to the which also ye are called in one body,
and be ye thankful.
Colossians 3, 17, And whatsoever ye do in word or deed,
do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.
Hebrews 13, 15, By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually,
that is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name.
1 Thessalonians 5, 18, In everything give thanks,
for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
Ephesians 5, 20, Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father.
In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 5, 4, Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting,
which are not convenient, but rather giving of thanks.
Go to Ezekiel 16, verse 49.
Ezekiel 16, Old Testament, the three big long books at the end of the Old Testament are
Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel.
Ezekiel 16, 49 reads, Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom.
Now, Sodom is the, you know, we know the term Sodomite, which is what a homosexual is called
in the Bible.
And the Bible says that they're vile, they're wicked, strange, and so we use all these words.
And I know that's not popular, but it's the truth, and it's a wicked sin and abomination
according to the Bible.
But it says here in, where was I?
Ezekiel 16.
He explains how Sodom got that way.
And, you know, Sodom was not always that way.
And nothing starts out as wicked and vile as Sodom was to the point where when Lot was
there, and he had a couple of guests come over, I mean, the house was surrounded by
men knocking on the door saying, bring these guys out, then we may know them.
And they didn't just want to, you know, take them to coffee or something.
When they say we want to know them, it's like when it said Adam knew his wife and she could
see their very side.
They said they wanted to violate these guys.
I mean, they want to abuse them.
And God said that their wickedness was exceeding grace, and therefore God rained fire and brimstone
and destroyed this city.
But it didn't always start out that way.
You know, nothing starts out at that extreme depravity, okay?
You know, you could look at some of the most wicked cities in America.
I guarantee you they didn't start out that way.
You know, wicked, perverted people don't build a great society.
You know, they just destroy it.
You know, I mean, I think of a place that's a wicked place like, and you know, I've been to these places,
and I'm sorry, but you know, you feel like you're surrounded by filth when you go to these places.
The two places that I feel are a wicked place are Las Vegas and San Francisco.
Now, I'm sure there are other places that are wicked and whatever, and people get offended when I say,
I'm from Las Vegas, you know, okay, whatever.
But when you go there, you're confronted with porno everywhere you look on big screens.
You can't even drive down the street without porno.
I was in Las Vegas, and I saw billboards advertising to teenagers to be a part of porno.
You know, I mean, it's a disgusting place.
I guarantee you it didn't start out that way.
You know, San Francisco started out being a normal place a long time.
You know, once long ago, in a galaxy far, far away, it was actually built by people who actually worked
and were married to women and had children and did something normal with their life.
But this is where they went.
You say, where did they go wrong?
Well, God tells us where they went wrong.
Ezekiel 16, 49 says this,
Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom.
Pride.
Now, look at those two words next to it.
Sodom, pride.
What does that remind me of?
Oh, I don't know. I can't think of anything.
Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom.
Pride, but look at the next part.
Fullness of bread.
An abundance of idleness was in her and her daughters.
Neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.
And they were haughty, and what did they do next?
They committed abomination before me.
Therefore I took them away as I saw good.
You see, it started out in Sodom, it started out as a very prosperous place.
Because if you remember, the Bible calls it the well-watered plain.
He said it was like the garden of God.
It was like the land of Egypt.
It was a beautiful, well-watered, prosperous place.
And because of the abundance of bread, just total idleness,
meaning they didn't have to work that hard for their money.
They had a lot of prosperity.
Everything was coming to them on a silver platter.
Now, normally you'd look at that and say, wow, that's great.
And it is great.
And you know what they should have done?
Thank God for blessing them with such a wonderful place to live,
and such wonderful prosperity, and the great food that they got to eat,
and the beautiful scenery.
I mean, Sodom was a beautiful place.
Lot wanted to live there, just because it was such a nice place.
But instead of being thankful, they refused to be thankful,
but they became vain in their imaginations,
their foolish heart was darkened,
and they went down that spiral of Romans chapter 1,
which led them to abomination and sodomy,
which ended up in the city being destroyed.
It could have been a happy ending if they would have been thankful.
But see, pride and haughtiness, the other word there in verse 50,
haughty, means prideful.
Pride and haughtiness and arrogance is what stops you from being thankful,
because you're so proud that you think, well, the world owes me a living.
You know, be thankful to who?
To God? There is no God.
I did all this myself.
See, that's the prideful attitude that leads to unthankfulness.
Well, I did everything for myself.
I brought this all to myself.
No one gave this to me.
Or if they did give it to me, or if God gave it to me,
well, sure, God owes this to me.
Of course, God just owes me a living,
and owes me everything I want on a silver planet.
Anything I ask Him, of course He needs to give it to me right away, immediately.
But you see, this is the way children can act sometimes.
And today, many children are proud, arrogant, haughty,
and they're unthankful, and they throw themselves on the floor in the store.
They had a great breakfast, they had a great lunch,
they live in a house where they sleep in a warm bed,
but they throw themselves on the ground
because they can't have some little plastic toy that was made in China
in some sweatshop by some kid that would love to have their life.
Some child that would love to have their life
is making stupid cheapo plastic toys for some brat in America
who doesn't even appreciate it,
and throws themselves on the floor if they don't get it.
You see how it can become when we're not thankful,
and when we take things for granted?
They think every time they go to the store
that they're guaranteed a candy in the checkout.
And yes, I'm getting on you, young kids.
That candy aisle.
You know, you just think that the world just owes you your little candy.
That candy's bad for you anyway.
Not because candy's bad for you, but because that candy's bad for you.
It's all modified.
You know, it's pretty bad when the ingredient list can't even fit on the candy.
You have to add like an extra flap of wrapper.
You know, it used to be the wrapper flap was just a little flap.
Now the flap is huge, like it covers the whole back of the bar
because you have to fold up that flap and it's like a trifold.
You know, to get all the ingredients.
And it's like a lesson in advanced AP chemistry.
There's reading the wrapper.
It's like the chemists of the future are being prepared
in checkout aisles as they read ingredients to, you know,
I don't want to name some candy, I'll probably get sued or something, you know.
But, you know, sodium, phosphate, benzoate, you know,
soy lecithin that's been genetically modified,
Roundup ready, Monsanto soy product.
I want one!
You know, even though they're being fed at home, you know,
fruits, vegetables, meat, bread, butter, all the good things.
And so let's get off that subject.
Well, let's go to Proverbs.
We're in Ezekiel.
Go back a few pages to Proverbs
and then we'll get on a different subject altogether.
This is the last place I'm going to go on food.
Man, I'm getting hungry.
But in Proverbs 30 verse 7 it says,
Two things have I required of thee.
Deny me them not before I die.
Remove far...
This is a smart man who's praying, by the way.
Remove far from the vanity and lies.
Give me neither poverty nor riches.
Now, this guy's not praying to be rich, is he?
He says, give me neither poverty nor riches,
lest I be full and deny thee and say,
Who is the Lord?
So people who are full, people who have everything,
they have a tendency to think that they don't need God.
That's why we go knocking doors in a really rich area.
It's just, we're fine.
You know, you knock on the door,
Hey, you just want to invite...
Oh, we're fine.
You go to church anyway? No, we're fine.
We're all right. We're good.
We're satisfied with it.
We're good. We're okay.
But you go to the poor neighborhood
and it's amazing how people are much more receptive
to the gospel
because they don't think that they don't need God.
He said, I don't want to be poor and deny thee
and say, Who is the Lord?
Like, who's God? I don't need him.
Or, lest I be poor and steal
and take the name of my God and mate.
He said, I don't want to be so poor to the point
where I have to steal to stay alive.
And he said, I don't want to be so rich
that I'm just thinking that I don't need God.
He said, just feed me with food convenient.
And he's not talking about convenience foods.
He's saying, food convenient for me,
as in it comes to me just as it comes.
Give us this day our daily bread.
Now let's get on another subject.
Look at Hebrews chapter 13
because we're talking about taking things for granted.
We're going to end up where we began
with Jesus telling the disciples
that one day they would long for one of the days
of the Son of Man and would not see it.
But before we get there,
we're going to talk about another thing
you can take for granted.
Number one, you can take your food for granted.
And really not just your food,
but all of the material things that you have.
We talked a lot about food.
But you can also take your car for granted.
You can take your house for granted.
At least you have a car.
Some people don't even have a car.
Or you don't like your car
because of the fact that you just had your first child
and it's not a minivan.
But it's funny to see people,
they get pregnant with their first child
and it's like, let's go get a minivan.
SUV.
Which is fine.
If you can afford that, that's great.
No problem.
Minivans, SUVs are great.
I'm not against any of them.
But it's amazing how people will get upset
if they can't have a minivan
and they have one child.
And I mean, hey, if you can afford a minivan
or an SUV, that's great.
But some people just wish that they had a car
that ran reliably.
And I remember when we had three children,
we drove a Ford Escort.
Okay?
And we had three car seats
lined up in the back of that Ford Escort.
And when we got a minivan
was when number four was on the way.
And that's when we got a minivan.
And we got an eight-seater
just to provide for the future.
This December, we're filling the eighth seat.
And so basically what I'm saying is
your car, your house, your apartment,
I guarantee you I can show you someone who has worse.
You say, well, you don't understand my apartment,
how bad it is.
You don't understand what kind of a mobile home
or apartment or, you know,
just a cardboard box of the house I live in.
But you know what?
When we were soloing down in Mexico,
Victor, those were some pretty small houses, weren't they?
And it made anything that I've ever seen here
look pretty big and nice
because these things were small.
I mean, you want to talk about us.
It was like a room.
I mean, you looked at it from the outside.
It was just these cubes just lined up on the street.
And it made me appreciate what I have.
Just spending one day down there with Victor a few weeks ago
made me appreciate what I have here in the United States.
I mean, Scott, did your apartment seem pretty big
when you got home?
I mean, it was like it seemed clean.
And when your apartment seems clean,
you know that you've arrived at contentment.
You have reached the pinnacle.
No, I'm just kidding.
But anyway, the point is that, you know,
we can sit there and worry about what we don't have all day long,
but why don't we just be thankful for the things that we do have
and not take them for granted?
Good food, climate-controlled place to live.
I mean, what's that word?
Climate control, good food, a clean, safe house.
You know, I mean, you're in good shape, my friend.
And there are places that are all...
I know that everybody thinks that Phoenix is some kind of a war zone.
I don't know what... I don't watch TV.
I don't know what they're saying about Arizona on TV.
But every time somebody's visiting me from another state,
they're like, is it safe for me to come?
Is my car going to get stolen?
Are my kids going to get kidnapped and stuff?
And I'm just telling them,
there's not blood running in the streets yet.
Everything's fine.
I mean, who's had people say stuff like that?
What's going on down in Arizona?
I'm like, what are you talking about?
Everything's fine.
I mean, yeah, you hear the...
I mean, it's the same gunshots I've been hearing for five years.
It's changed.
You know, but we live in a pretty safe place.
Come on.
I mean, there's a lot more dangerous places you could be right now.
Try Gary, Indiana.
In any way, you know, Detroit, Michigan, or you know, whatever.
But anyway, look at Hebrews chapter 13.
We talked about not taking material things for granted.
But look at Hebrews 13, 4.
It says, marriage is honorable in all, and the bed on the pile,
but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.
That wasn't very nice of God to call people those kind of names.
But anyway, verse number 5, it says,
let your conversation be without what?
Covetousness, and be content with such things as ye have,
for he hath said, I'll never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
You know, one of the things that we should not take for granted
and that we should be content with is our husband or wife.
You know, and we can sit there and say,
well, you don't understand my husband, you know,
or you don't understand what my wife is like.
But yet, there are many people who are single who wish they were married.
They have no husband.
They have no wife.
And they would rather have, you know,
your husband that doesn't fix things around the house than no husband.
You know, they'd rather have some kind of a provider.
And then there are others who wish that they had, you know,
a different wife and they're not content with the wife that they have
and they take for granted the wife that they have.
Others wish that they had a wife.
You know, and I guarantee you that if you think about it,
you'd be thankful for the good things about your husband
and the good things about your wife.
You know, focus on the things that you're thankful for instead of coveting.
And that's one of the Ten Commandments, by the way.
Exodus 2017 says, Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife.
Nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass,
nor anything but his thy neighbors.
Deuteronomy 5 21 says, Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbor's wife.
And, you know, you look at someone else's wife
and wish that you had someone else's wife.
That's a wicked sin.
And you know what?
If you had their wife, you'd probably be begging to go back to your original wife.
Because I've talked to people who've been divorced multiple times
and usually what they said was that the first one was the best.
I'm serious.
I mean, I talk to people like that and they say that,
well, the first one was the best one, you know.
And it just gets worse sometimes.
You know, I'm not saying it's always like that.
Some people, their second spouse is better.
Great, whatever.
You know, it's still wrong to switch spouses.
But the bottom line is you can look at the grass on the other side of the fence.
It's always going to be greener.
But why don't you, and if it's your first wife or your second wife,
wherever you're at in life, you know, from now on,
you need to say it's still bad thoughts to be part wherever you're at.
You ought to decide that the wife that you have is a gift from God.
And you ought to be thankful and contented and grateful for the wife that you have.
And likewise, also the women, your husband, be thankful for them.
Sometimes you'll look at women who complain about their husband,
but he's a great provider.
Oh, but he doesn't do this.
You know, why don't you just be glad that he's providing?
That's a great thing.
That's his main job.
You know, or other people, you know,
oh, my husband doesn't provide enough wealth for me.
But yet you have food arraignment.
And hey, if your husband's not a good provider,
he's probably around a lot more often, right?
Other women, you know, women across America are saying
that their husband's not spending enough time with them,
but there's plenty of money in the account,
and then their other husband spends too much time with them,
and they're pushing them out the door like, go to work, you know, get a second job.
Buy me stuff.
You know, so the bottom line is, either one is not content.
They're not happy.
And the one who's pushing their husband out the door to go get a second job
and take me out to eat and buy me things.
You know, if he did that, then they'd be saying,
you're not spending enough time with me.
You know, you work too much.
I mean, some women's husbands work too much.
Have you ever had someone tell you that their husband worked too much?
Put up your hand if somebody's ever said that in your presence.
Now has anybody ever said to you that their husband doesn't work at all?
Yeah, you know?
And we can talk about any subject, you know?
And the problems that you have with your, it's because he's a human being.
It's because she's a human being.
You know, and I say to every husband that women are all like that.
You know, just maybe that's some comfort to you.
But the bottom line is that you need to be content and happy
because, you know what, if your wife were suddenly taken from you,
you'd probably begin to appreciate her really fast.
And if your husband were suddenly taken from you,
you'd start to realize how much you really did love your husband
and how much you did rely upon him and how much he did do for you.
And vice versa goes either way.
So what I'm saying is be content with the marriage that you have
and be happy and not take it for granted
and not just assume that your spouse will always be there.
And you ought to just appreciate it and not take it for granted.
Same thing, you know, your children.
You know, oh, the kids are so loud.
You know, I just wish I could get a break from the kids.
You know what?
But other people wish that their house is filled with the sound of silence
because they don't have any children.
They wished for that noise.
They wish things would be broken and spilled, you know,
because they wish that they had children in the house.
And so we need to just learn that it's us that's the problem
is really what it comes down to.
If we're not happy, if we take things for granted,
if we're not content with our house, with our wife, with our husband,
with our kids, with our job,
we need to realize that we're the problem.
It's because we are an ungrateful person
and we need to fix the problem in us
and then we'll be able to be happy like Paul in a jail cell
or in the lap of luxury.
We can enjoy both because the truly contented person,
they love living in the lap of luxury
because they appreciate every moment of it.
And when they're down and out, they're just thankful that they're still alive,
you know, that they've still got food, whatever.
You see, it's a type of person that we need to be.
But lastly this, look at Matthew 13, 16.
As I said, we'll finish where we began.
With Jesus telling the...
Did I say Mark 13? Matthew 13, sorry.
Matthew 13.
Remember we started with that verse in Luke where He said to the disciples,
The days will come when you shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man
and you shall not see it.
He says, you're living it.
For three and a half years, you are with Jesus Christ, God in the flesh.
You're living this miraculous thing.
And He says, don't take it for granted
because one day you'll wish that you were back in this time.
Now thank God that even after Jesus was gone,
they know that one day they'll be with Him again.
One day we'll be with Him.
One day we'll get to live that excitement.
And they were only going to be without that excitement for just a time
while He was taken from them.
Of course, now they're with Him right now in heaven.
But look at Matthew 13.
It says in verse 16,
But blessed are your eyes...
Jesus is constantly reminding the disciples of this.
Blessed are your eyes for they see
and your ears for they hear.
For verily I say unto you
that many prophets and righteous men
have desired to see those things which ye see and have not seen them,
and to hear those things which ye hear and have not heard them.
Now first of all, we ought to be thankful that we have eyes that can see.
You know, blind people just wish they could see.
Those that are deaf just wish they could hear,
and aren't those two things that we take for granted?
The fact that we can see? The fact that we can hear?
No matter how poor we are, no matter how bad things are going,
maybe you have your health, and praise God for it.
Other people would give all the money they have for their health.
And maybe you're sick and ill, but at least you have people who love you.
At least you have a family.
At least you have good food to eat. At least you have other blessings.
But He says here that one day,
they'll long for the days of the Son of Man.
And then in Matthew 13, He basically said that
He was very blessed to see the things that you see,
and to hear the things that you're hearing.
He said, many prophets, many of the Old Testament saints,
would have loved to know the things that I'm telling you right now.
Because those in the Old Testament did not know as much.
Elijah did not know as much as we know today.
He didn't have the whole Bible.
He didn't have everything right in front of him.
Look at Luke chapter 10.
Luke chapter 10 verse 23 says this,
And He turned unto His disciples and said privately,
Blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see,
for I tell you that many prophets and kings
have desired to see those things which ye see and have not seen them,
and to hear those things which ye hear and have not heard them.
Remember Daniel chapter 10?
A couple weeks ago on Wednesday night.
Remember in Daniel chapter 10 how Daniel fasted
basically he was just on bread and water for 21 straight days?
Why?
To understand something that we understand very easily,
all we have to do is just open the book of Revelation and read it.
Open the book of Matthew and read it.
We can just pick up the Bible and just easily understand more than Daniel.
And he was one of those prophets who really desired to know God's Word.
We have the whole Bible, but do we take the Bible for granted?
I mean, many people throughout history and many people in other countries
don't have the complete Bible.
They might have just John and Romans translated into their language,
or just the New Testament.
I had a Bible that I found at a thrift store
that was in some really different foreign language.
I couldn't figure out what it was.
But it was Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, and Psalms.
That's what they had.
Because there are many people who don't have the complete Bible,
and really throughout history, like the Old Testament,
they didn't have the New Testament,
we ought not to take this treasure for granted.
And you can say, oh, I wish I was living back then,
and oh, things were better back then,
and I wish I were living in this time period or that time period.
You know, I thank God that I'm living in 2010.
You know, for all the negatives of living in 2010,
hey, at least I've got the whole Bible at every Dollar Tree.
You know, I'm never going to be without God's Word.
I'm going to take God's Word for granted.
But not only that,
I think that one of the things that the disciples had
that maybe they could have taken for granted
was the church that they were in.
You say the church?
Yes, according to the Bible,
that first church was built by Jesus Christ,
and it was made up of Jesus and his dual disciples.
And they had a great church, didn't they?
And they had the ultimate pastor, Jesus himself.
I mean, you want to talk about the great pastor.
They had Jesus as the pastor.
They had a great church.
They had the Word of God.
And they were living in great days.
And Jesus had to keep reminding them,
don't miss it.
Don't overlook what you have here.
And many times today,
we could overlook the great church that we have here.
And knowing the pastor's not Jesus today,
you know, sorry, I'm not perfect, I'm not Jesus,
but you know what, this is a great church.
And it's not about me, it's about the whole group here.
I mean, if you have been at our church long enough
to get to know the people who attend our church
and the people who have been with us
and the newer faces,
hey, this is a great group of people.
It's unique.
And yet today, there are people who wish
that they went to this church.
But they live in some distant city in King God.
I mean, how many people download the sermons
from the website, right, across America,
and they wish they went to our church?
Thousands, literally.
And you may think I'm exaggerating that.
Do a little research.
Thousands.
And it's not because they want to hear me preach,
because they already hear me preach, don't they?
They can download, I mean,
all the sermons are on the internet.
Anybody can listen to the CD, download the sermons.
It's not because they want to hear me preach.
It's because they want to be here at this church.
It's because they want to come
where there's a group of people that believe like they do
and sing out the praise of God
because they mean it from their heart.
And they go out soul-winning, and they knock doors,
and they preach the gospel, and they win people to Christ.
Hey, they want to be in this group.
They want to be in this church.
And they would love to be here.
I mean, just a couple weeks ago,
somebody drove thousands of miles.
They got in their car and drove thousands of miles
across the country from Wisconsin to attend our church
and then got in the car and drove back.
We've had people get in the car from Illinois
and drive 2,000 miles, come to one service,
go soul-winning with us one time in the afternoon,
and then get in the car and drive back.
We've had people fly here from places in Europe
to attend our church one time, literally.
We've had people get in the car from L.A. and drive here,
come to church, and go back.
And yet many people don't want to drive 15 minutes to our church
or 5 minutes to our church or 30 minutes to a soul-winning,
independent, fundamental, King James-only,
fire-breathing Baptist church
when it's right in their backyard, but they don't care.
They don't appreciate it.
It means nothing to them.
And yet others wish they were here. Isn't that amazing?
And then other people wish they were here,
long to be here, and then come here,
and then they begin to take it for granted.
They'll come thousands of miles and say,
wow, I'm so glad to be a faithful word,
but not the famous, the infamous.
But anyway, wow, here we are, faithful word Baptist church,
so cool to be here.
But you know what?
At first it's cool, but then what happens?
We don't change.
We're the same as we've always been.
We're pressing on the upward way, but you know what?
They begin to take it for granted.
Isn't it amazing how the grass is always greener
on the other side of the fence?
People who are in some other church in some distant city
wish they were here,
and then people here wish they were in some distant city.
And I hope, you know, I don't think people wish that,
but you know, you might have wished that a couple months ago,
but now that we're going to have perfect weather
for the next six months, right?
Beautiful palm tree.
But you know what?
We have to learn whatsoever state we're in to be content.
When it's 115 degrees outside, praise God.
Praise God for Phoenix, Arizona.
I love it.
But you know what?
For the next six months, praise God even more,
because it's 75 and blue skies every day.
For the next six months,
I always say it's eight months of Paradise,
and my wife says, no, it's six.
Six months of Paradise and six months of Inferno.
So I believe it's eight months of Paradise
and four months of Inferno, but she constantly corrects me,
so I'm going to say it her way today.
Six months, I say it's eight months,
but six months of perfect, beautiful blue skies,
windows down, with snow?
Dirty black piles of snow by the side of the road?
Forget about it.
We live in Paradise, but do you appreciate it?
Do you appreciate the wonderful weather
that we're going to have here for the next six months?
You know, just don't take it for granted.
People who are living in some snow-filled arctic circle
wish they lived in Phoenix.
People who live in Phoenix wish that they were in Eskimo.
You know, it's like, just be happy
and don't take anything for granted.
Don't take your food or your things for granted.
Don't take your family for granted.
Don't take your parents for granted.
Other children are living in a godless home.
You have parents that have brought you to church today.
I don't care if your parents scream and yell
and throw things at you.
I don't care if your parents are...
They don't spend time with you.
You know what? They ought to spend time with you.
They ought to treat you lovingly, but you know what?
Just the fact that you have parents
that bring you to a Bible-believing church,
you know, that may save your soul from hell
from hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ.
And you know what?
I don't care what your parents are like.
You thank God for them.
Because there are millions today
who have parents that are not Bible-believing Christians
and are indoctrinating them in a lie
such as Islam or Mormonism or the New Age movement.
You know, thank God for your parents that are Christians.
If your parents are Bible-believing Christians,
just thank God for that.
And lastly, don't take spiritual things for granted.
Don't take the Bible for granted.
You have the wisdom of the ages in your hands.
Don't ever take it for granted. Read it.
Other people were burned at the stake like William Tyndale
to bring this into the English language.
But will you even take the time to pick it up and read it one time?
Don't take this church for granted.
Some people are searching in their city.
You know how far my sister drives to go to church every week?
You know how far she drives?
50.3 miles, doorstep to doorstep, each way,
my sister goes to go to church.
Because it's important to her to have her children in a church
that's faithfully preaching the Word of God
where they can learn the biblical truths that they need
and where they can go soul-winning and get what they need.
And she drives 50.3 miles to go to the church that she desires to go to.
When I was growing up, my parents would drive 45 minutes.
And it's not because there wasn't a decent church down the street.
Because, you know what, if there was a decent church down the street,
it would have been fine.
But, you know, I thank God that my parents didn't want to take me to a decent church.
They wanted to take me to the best possible church.
And they brought us to the best church they could find.
And they would go a half hour, they'd go 40 minutes
to get the real hard preaching that was from the Bible
than just some kind of a little sugar-coated sermon or some kind of a little filler,
somebody up here with some store...
You'd think I bought this sermon. Who would buy this sermon?
Who would sell this sermon?
Who would sell any of my sermons?
And today, you can go to store-bought sermon Baptist.
You know what I mean?
And, you know, he's got his little series.
You know, usually when these pastors are in the series,
a lot of times they bought it on the internet, literally.
$39.95, you know, and they bought this series.
You know, hey, you may not like Pastor Anderson,
you may not like my preaching,
but you know what?
At least you're getting a unique sermon that you're not going to hear anywhere else.
Because, you know, I got this with the Holy Spirit and the Bible
and Microsoft Word and Esau.
You know what I mean?
And threw it all into the pod and this is what came out.
But hey, at least it's the real thing.
Thank God for it. Don't take it for granted.
And, you know, this church is a great church.
And I don't take you for granted, by the way.
I love you and I'm glad you're here.
And when you're not here, you're missed.
Because I don't take anybody in this church for granted
because, you know what?
You're what makes up this church.
You're part of the team here.
And we're all part of the team.
And so don't ever take it for granted.
Don't ever get out of bed and say,
Ho, hum, we've got to go to church again.
Well, maybe we'll just drop you off in the USSR several decades ago
and you'll wish that you could go to church without risking your life.
Don't take it for granted, my friend, whatever it is in your life.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, thank you so much for your word, dear God.
I wish I would have been there when you said the days of the Son of Man.
I wish I would have been there and enjoyed that.
Thank God I will enjoy that someday in heaven.
But Father, I pray that you'd help me not to take things for granted in my life
and help every single person who's here to take this message
and let it sink down into their ears and really take it to heart
and not take things for granted.
But to be thankful every day for the wonderful blessings that they have.
And yes, I know we all have bad things in our life.
We all have negative things.
We all have physical ailments.
We all have financial problems.
We all have issues with family members.
But God, help us just be thankful that we have those family members.
And in Jesus' name we pray, amen.