Bless each and every aspect of it.
Bless the singing that prepare our hearts for the message.
But most importantly, Lord, please bless Pastor Mejia,
fill him with your spirit as he preaches unto us,
and give your spirit in the congregation as well,
that we may leave her edified
and apply the sermon to our lives.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
You may be seated.
Please turn your songbooks to song number 377.
Song number 377, "Rescue the Perishing."
Song number 377, all together nice and strong in that first verse.
♪ Rescue the perishing, care for the dying, snatch them in pity from sin and the grave. ♪
♪ Weep for the erring ones, lift up the fallen, tell them of Jesus, the mighty to save. ♪
♪ Rescue the perishing, care for the dying, Jesus is merciful, save. ♪
A few announcements here before we sing our next song, which will be song number 248.
If you want to get that ready in your song books, Now I Belong to Jesus, song number 248.
If you did not get a bulletin, go ahead and raise your hand.
One of the ushers can get one for you.
Some important information on there.
Of course, we welcome you to come back to our Sunday evening service at 5 p.m.
And then typically we have our midweek service at 7 o'clock on Thursdays.
But this week it's being switched because of Thanksgiving.
And so I'll give you that information in just a bit.
We are a family integrated church.
And so infants and children stay with their parents in the service.
But for your convenience, we do have mother, baby rooms
located throughout the building.
Should your child need some diversion.
And so if you need to know where those rooms are at,
you can ask one of the ushers.
You can use those rooms.
They have changing table screens and speakers.
And you can come back in at your discretion.
You see the so many times in teams listed there in the middle,
the list of expecting mothers, keep them in prayer.
And then the stats for salvations and baptisms for the month of October,
we've already hit our 2000 salvation goal.
And so we'll be exceeding that this year.
Praise God for that.
On the right hand side is the upcoming church events.
We have the Science Meetup coming up on Sunday, November 23rd.
That'll be after the PM service.
And as I mentioned, our midweek service this week
will be switched to Tuesday, November 25th.
It'll still be at 7 PM.
No service on the 27th.
And so the service will be on Tuesday, the 25th.
Don't forget that.
We have the Christmas fellowship at my house coming up
on Friday, December 5th.
There is a sign up sheet at the guest center.
And so please sign up.
My address is on there.
Don't dox me, please.
And so I appreciate if you don't give that information
to my enemies.
I would greatly appreciate that.
And then we have our Christmas caroling
on Saturday, December 13th.
Please make sure you silence your phones
during the preaching so as to not be a distraction
during the service.
And that is it for our announcements.
Song number 248, "Now I Belong to Jesus."
Song number 248.
The other nice song in that first verse.
Jesus, my Lord.
Chapter number 2, Ephesians chapter 2, Bible reads.
"Let there be therefore any consolation
in Christ, any comfort of love, if any fellowship
of the spirit, if any bowels and mercies.
Fulfill ye my joy, that ye be like-minded,
having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory,
but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other
better than themselves.
Look not every man on his own things,
but every man also on the things of others.
Let this mind be in you, which also was in Christ Jesus,
who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery
to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation,
and took upon him the form of a servant,
who was made in the likeness of men.
And being found in fashion as a man,
he humbled himself and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross.
Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him,
and given him a name which is above every name.
That at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow,
of things in heaven and things in earth,
and things under the earth.
And that every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed,
not as in my presence only,
but not much more in my absence,
work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
For it is God which worketh in you
to will and to do of his good pleasure.
Do all things without murmurings and disputings.
Ye may be blameless and harmless,
the sons of God, without rebuke,
in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation,
among whom ye shine as lights in the world.
Holding forth the word of life,
that I may rejoice in the day of Christ,
that I have not run in vain,
neither labored in vain.
Yea?
And if I be offered upon the sacrifice
and service of your faith,
I joy and rejoice with you all.
With the same cause also,
do ye joy and rejoice with me.
But I trust in the Lord Jesus
to send to Mothiah shortly unto you,
that I also may be of good comfort
when I know your state.
For I have no man like-minded
who will naturally care for your state.
For all seek their own,
not the things which are Jesus Christ.
But ye know the proof of him,
that as a son with the Father,
he hath served with me in the gospel.
Him therefore I hope to send presently,
so soon as I shall see how it will go with me.
But I trust in the Lord
that I also myself shall come shortly.
Yet I suppose it necessary
to send to you Epaphroditus,
my brother and companion in labor and fellow soldier,
for your messenger he had administered to my wants.
For he longed after you all and was full of heaviness,
because that ye had heard that he had been sick.
For indeed he was sick nigh unto death.
But God had mercy on him,
and not on him only, but on me also,
lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.
I sent him therefore the more carefully,
that when ye see him again, ye may rejoice,
and that I may be the less sorrowful.
Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness,
and hold such in reputation.
Because for the work of Christ, he was nigh unto death,
not regarding his life,
to supply your lack of service toward me.
Pray to the Lord God, thank you for your word,
and thank you for this opportunity we have to hear.
I preach and just ask that you would bless
Pastor Mahia with the Holy Spirit now.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Okay, we're in Philippians chapter two this morning.
And verse 14, the Bible says do all things
without murmurings and disputings.
And the subject I'm gonna preach on this morning
is heart murmurs.
I'm gonna preach on the subject of heart murmurs.
A physical heart murmur is essentially an extra
or an unusual sound that's heard during a heartbeat
when a doctor is listening with a stethoscope.
And it can lead to various health complications
with the heart, of course, holes in the heart, fatigue,
and even in some severe cases, heart failure.
But normally it's basically when the heart makes two
or makes a sound that's unusual.
There's two steady sounds that a heart makes.
And a murmur is when a doctor hears
somewhat of a swishing, a rumbling sound
in between those beats.
And that's what's referred to as a murmur
because of the fact that it resembles
somewhat of a soft, low, continuous noise.
And that's actually what the word murmur means.
Murmur is something that's done--
a sound that resembles somewhat of a soft, low, grumbling
sound.
So when someone is complaining or someone is murmuring,
it's basically someone who is complaining
under their breath, right?
They're grumbling about something.
They're murmuring about a particular situation, person,
place, or thing.
And the Bible says here in Philippians chapter 2
that we should do all things without murmurings
and disputings.
Why?
Well, verse 15 says that ye may be blameless and harmless,
the sons of God, without rebuke,
in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation,
among whom ye shine as lights in the world.
So according to the Bible, we know
that the Bible teaches us that we
ought to let our light shine, right?
And there's various ways to do this.
Of course, we know that the Bible tells us
that they may see your good works
and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
We let our light shine by the good works that we do.
But according to Philippians chapter two,
the Bible also tells us that we let our light shine
by not being complainers and murmurs, okay?
Not being a person who's just constantly complaining
about your situation, your financial situation,
your circumstances, your health, whatever it may be.
God wants us not to be complainers.
He doesn't want us to be murmurs.
He doesn't want us to dispute about the situations
that we find ourselves in.
And in fact, 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 18 says this,
"In everything, give thanks for this is the will of God
in Christ Jesus concerning you."
So we see that this is essentially
what Philippians chapter two is telling us.
It says, "Do all things without murmurings and disputings."
And 1 Thessalonians 15 gives us an alternative to that.
He says, "In everything, give thanks."
So what is the Bible telling us?
It's telling us that God wants us
to be characterized by thankfulness.
Now we obviously have Thanksgiving coming up
and so it's important for us to address
and talk about the importance
of having an attitude of gratitude.
And you know, God wants us to be thankful.
We ought to be a grateful people.
There's a lot to be grateful for.
And quite frankly, at the end of the day,
the Bible commands us to be thankful
and it prohibits us from being murmurs and complainers.
Ephesians chapter five, go to Exodus if you would,
the book of Exodus.
Ephesians chapter five, verse number three says,
but fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness,
let it not be once named among you as becoming saints.
In other words, these are things
that should not characterize a saint of God, right?
A saint is simply referring to a saved person,
someone who's been set aside
through their faith in Jesus Christ.
And it says that fornication, uncleanness, covetousness,
shouldn't be something that would characterize a believer.
He goes on to say,
neither filthiness nor foolish talking,
nor jesting, which are not convenient,
but rather, listen to this, giving of thanks.
So, Bible is saying that we shouldn't be characterized
by sinful habits, sinful behaviors,
but we should be characterized by thankfulness.
He says, but rather giving of thanks,
meaning that is convenient, that is suitable,
that is something that's becoming too insane to a believer
is having an attitude of gratitude.
Colossians 2 and verse number seven says this,
rooted and built up in him and established in the faith
as he had been taught,
abounding therein with thanksgiving.
What does it mean to abound?
It means to grow in.
So in other words, the longer we're a Christian,
the more we should be thankful for,
the more we should abound and grow in our gratitude.
Why? Because the longer you're a Christian,
the more about the Christian life you know,
the more Bible you know, the more blessings you see,
the greater works that you see coming from God,
you know, God shows himself strong on your behalf.
Therefore we should have bound with Thanksgiving.
It shouldn't be that the longer you're Christian,
the more grumpy you get,
the more of a miser you become,
the more angry you are, the more miserable you become.
We should be thankful for the things that we have,
the longer that we are saved.
Colossians chapter three, verse 15 says this,
"Then let the peace of God rule in your hearts,
to the which also you're called in one body
and be thankful."
Ephesians 5 20 says, "Giving thanks always
for all things unto God and the Father
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."
Now it goes without saying that it's really easy
to complain.
It's not hard at all.
I do it all the time, comes naturally.
It's just a natural byproduct of being a human being.
And it's not really hard to see
the negative things in life, right?
It's not really difficult to see all the bad stuff,
the negative things,
to point out the negative things in our lives.
That's really easy to do.
It actually takes discipline to be thankful for, right?
It takes discipline to have gratitude.
It takes intentionality to be grateful for your parents.
It takes intentionality to be thankful for your spouse.
It takes intentionality to be thankful
for just anything that God has given to you.
We have to intentionally be grateful for those things.
And this is why the Bible tells us, be thankful.
You know what that means?
It means it's a command.
And if it's a command,
that means that it doesn't come natural to us.
Why?
Because God commands us to do things
that we are not naturally inclined to do.
Therefore, it needs to be commanded of us to be thankful.
The point being here is that we want to avoid
having a spiritual heart murmur, right?
Murmuring in our hearts, complaining in our hearts.
Just as a physical heart murmur is an abnormal sound
that signals something may be wrong with the physical heart,
in like manner, a spiritual heart murmur
is the sound of murmuring, complaining, grumbling,
and yes, even rebellion coming from a heart
that is out of tune with the Lord and his word.
When the mouth murmurs, it's because the heart is sick.
And the Bible tells us,
keep thy heart with all diligence
for out of it are the issues of life, right?
This morning, I'm gonna go over some of the stories
in the Old Testament,
examples and illustrations of complainers.
And in light of that, it would inspire us
not to be murmurs and complainers ourselves, amen?
And so this is a reset button for our church
to be thankful, to say thank you
when someone does something nice for you,
to be thankful for your spouse, your parents,
your church members, and so forth.
We're gonna talk about heart murmurs this morning.
Look at Exodus chapter 14, if you would, Exodus chapter 14.
Point number one is that heart murmurs
indicates a lack of faith.
You know why people complain about things?
It's because they actually lack faith.
And this is very evident
when it comes to the children of Israel.
If you ever wanna look for a bad example
of anything in the Bible, just go to the nation of Israel.
They're a bad example of just pretty much a lot of things.
And you can pretty much go to the Old Testament
and think to yourself,
"What is this something that I shouldn't do?"
And just look at the nation of Israel and boom,
you got yourself the illustration right there.
And in this particular case,
we see that Israel is a perfect example
of a people who complain too much.
They murmur about everything,
despite the fact that God did great works in their life.
He saved them out of Egypt.
He performed great miracles among them.
Yet despite that, they're complaining.
Look at Exodus chapter 14, verse 11.
And they referring to Israel sent into Moses,
because there were no graves in Egypt,
has thou taken us away to die in the wilderness?
Now, just keep in mind,
this is like immediately after
they got delivered from Egypt, okay?
This is not even 40 years in.
This is not, they haven't experienced
any trials whatsoever, no tribulation.
Pharaoh's not even dead yet.
Pharaoh's still pursuing them.
And in light of that, they're murmuring against Moses.
And what are they saying?
Oh, did you take us out of Egypt
so we could just die in the wilderness?
No, we took you out of Egypt because you asked us to, right?
Isn't the reason that they are leaving Egypt
is because for years on end,
they were crying out unto the Lord
to be delivered from the hand of Egypt and from Pharaoh.
And all of a sudden, when God answers their prayer,
now they're complaining again.
Oh, because there's no graves in Egypt,
has thou taken us away to die in this wilderness?
Wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us
to carry us forth out of Egypt?
I'll tell you why, 'cause you asked this too.
You literally petition and prayed for generations on end
to be delivered from the hand of Pharaoh,
and all of a sudden you're complaining about it.
Verse 12, is not this the word that we did tell thee
in Egypt saying, let us alone?
No, that we may serve the Egyptians?
For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians
than that we should die in the wilderness.
Now, obviously, this is an indication
that they're lacking faith, right?
Why?
That God had already promised them,
I'm gonna bury your enemies, I'm gonna destroy them,
I'm gonna deliver you.
And they're not even halfway, they're not even a quarter in.
They're not even 10% in, and they're lacking faith.
They don't believe that God's gonna deliver them.
They think they're gonna die immediately
after being delivered out of Egypt.
And they're thinking to themselves,
it would have been better for us to just stay in Egypt,
serve the Egyptians, wrong.
You're just lacking faith, okay?
Look at Numbers 14, if you would, Numbers 14.
Hasteing murmurings in Israel
is a result of a lack of faith in God's word.
And you know what?
Don't be hasty with your speech.
If God is trying to show himself strong on your behalf,
don't immediately just give up and throw in the towel
and throw up your hands and say,
"Oh, I don't think I could do this."
If you wanna step out in faith this year
to go out and preach the gospel for the first time,
and maybe you get the door slammed in your,
not maybe, you will get the door slammed in your face, okay?
Someone is gonna embarrass you,
someone's probably gonna cuss you out.
Oh.
You know, someone's gonna say some evil about you.
Don't just throw up your hands and say,
"Oh man, why did I even get involved in this?"
Just to just be cussed out.
Yeah, part of it is to be cussed out, yeah, for sure.
Yeah, so you can earn some rewards there, how about that?
You know, don't just throw up your hands and say,
"This doesn't work, I can't do this, this is too hard.
Why did I even come out of here in the first place?"
Just to be mocked and ridiculed.
Folks, have some faith.
And at the end of the day,
if we're reproached for the name of Christ,
we're blessed, right?
But the truth of the matter is,
is that the longer you go out and preach the gospel
and open your mouths boldly
to make them own the mysteries of the gospel,
the more likely it is you are gonna get people saved.
I mean, 2,000 salvations this year
didn't happen on accident, it was intentional.
And I guarantee you, a lot of those doors
that we knocked, we got cussed out at.
They slammed the door in our faces.
We were mocked, we have stories to tell.
But you know, it was worth the 2,000 salvations though.
Point that I'm making here is that a heart murmur,
someone who complains about what God is doing in their life
is obviously lacking faith.
And you know what?
Sometimes obedience to God results in difficulty.
It results in trials.
It's gonna result in people persecuting you,
saying stuff about you.
It's gonna result in your family criticizing you.
Don't just throw up your hands and say,
"Oh man, I should have just stayed home.
I should just not serve God.
You know, I don't think God can work through this.
This is not what I signed up for."
No, it is what you signed up for
because it's given on your behalf to suffer for Christ's sake
just as it is for you to believe on him.
Look at Numbers 14 if you would.
In verse number one, it says,
"And all the congregation lifted up their voice and cried."
Now, when it says all the congregation,
you know how many people that is?
It's like a million people.
This is an entire nation.
So the entire nation is literally whining right now,
complaining, and the people wept that night.
The children of Israel murmured against Moses
and against Aaron, and the whole congregation
said it to them, would God, that we had died
in the land of Egypt, or would God,
we had died in this wilderness?
And wherefore hath the Lord brought us into this land
to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children
should be a prey?
Were it not better for us to return to Egypt?
And it said one to another, let us make a captain,
let us return into Egypt.
Now, what is this talking about specifically?
Well, obviously God brought the children of Israel
out of Egypt to bring them into the promised land, right?
And the land was a plenteous land,
flowing with milk and honey,
houses that they did not build,
wells that they did not dig,
vineyards that they did not plant.
I mean, it was just saturated with God's blessing.
All they had to do was go there and overtake it
and just claim it, right?
That's all they had to do.
And so what happened was Moses sent essentially
a reconnaissance mission into the promised land
just to kind of check it out.
Let's see what we're gonna take over.
Let's look at the houses.
Let's look at the big grapes.
Let's just kind of prepare as we're gonna take it over.
And so they send these spies into Canaan land.
Everyone returns and two spies,
which is Caleb and Joshua had a good report.
They're like, this can be done.
The rest of them were just like,
no way this cannot be done.
The people there are giants.
There's Amalekites there.
We are in our own side as grasshoppers.
And they end up bringing up an evil report about Canaan land.
And what does that do?
It causes fear in the hearts of the people.
And it doesn't matter if there was large fruits there,
houses there, condominiums there.
They got vineyards.
They got everything necessary to live life.
The evil report of the cowards ended up
discouraging God's people.
And so what ended up happening is that the people were like,
oh, why do we even try?
Why are we even doing this?
Are we just coming here to die?
This is essentially showing that they don't have faith in God, right? Let me just remind you that anything that's done for God is going to require some stress on your end.
Anything worth doing for Christ requires a little investment on your end, requires a little pain on your end.
But you know what? We live in a society today where young people don't want any pressure whatsoever.
They don't want any pain, they don't want any sorrow, any grief, they just want to medicate themselves away
and not feel any sense of grief or sorrow or pain or struggle or pressure.
Folks, it's not biblical.
You know, obviously God gave Canaan land to the children of Israel, but it comes with a price.
And the price is you got to go to war, right?
But yet you have the children of Israel here thinking they can't overcome the Amalekites.
They can't overcome the inhabitants of Canaan land.
They can't possess the land. Why? Because they're too small.
Oh, we're in our own side as grasshoppers and so forth.
Look at verse number 11.
So they're complaining against Moses. They're murmuring against him.
And it says in verse 11, the Lord said into Moses, how long will this people provoke me?
How long will it be air, air meaning before they believe me for all the signs which I have showed among them.
Now, this is a sad statement because God is basically saying, you know, I performed all those miracles in Egypt, the 10 plagues.
I delivered them. He showed this supernatural, the supernatural feats in Egypt.
Yet despite that, they're not believing that God can bring them into Canaan land to destroy their enemies.
He said, how long is it going to be before they actually believe the signs that I show?
Look at verse 40. If you would skip down to verse 40 and they rose up early in the morning and get them up into the top of the mountain.
Saying, lo, we be here. We will go up into the place which the Lord had promised for we have sinned.
Now, this is basically the children of Israel recognizing that they messed up.
So we see here that, yeah, there was a lack of faith, but really what it is is just rebellion.
Because of the fact that Moses and of course Caleb and Joshua, they're bringing up a good report.
And then finally they realize like, oh man, we messed up. We're going to wander the wilderness for 40 years for disobeying God.
Let's just do it. But by that time, it's too late. The offer is off the table.
The will of God is no longer available, right? So he's basically telling them, no, I'm actually going to replace you.
Oh, there goes that word, right? Because he tells Moses, you know what? I should just like destroy this people.
This is the word that he uses. Disinherit them and I'll start a new nation with you.
So even in the Old Testament, replacement theology was a thing, right?
Like even even even way before they were disinherited, like God was willing to just wipe out like a million people and just start over with Moses.
And of course, Moses ends up interceding and he doesn't.
The point being here is that they recognize, you know, it's at this time that they knew they messed up, right?
Because they're like, oh man, we're not going to inherit it.
We're going to be wandering the wilderness.
And so verse 40, they're just like, oh, no, no, we're just kidding.
We're going to we're we could do it.
You know, let's go up and do it.
Let's go up to the top of the mountain.
We're here.
We're going to take over.
We've sinned.
We changed our mind.
Verse 41, Moses said, wherefore now do you transgress the commandment of the Lord?
But it shall not prosper.
Go not up.
And I want you to notice this for the Lord is not among you.
That's scary because the Lord was with them initially, but because of their disobedience,
because of their lack of faith, because of their rebellion, guess what?
Now the Lord is not with you folks is better to just obey God in the first place.
Yeah.
You might be a little scared to get involved in serving God and may cost you something,
but better that than you changing your mind later and the offers off the table thereafter
and the Lord is not with you, right?
He says, go not up for the Lord is not among you that you be not smitten before your enemies
for the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you and he shall fall by the
sword because you're turned away from the Lord.
Therefore the Lord will not be with you.
So I want you to notice that the reason they're going to lose.
It's not because of the Canaanites.
It's not because of the Amalekites.
It's not because they're stronger than them.
It's because they turned away from God.
And folks, let me just remind you that the only person that can really destroy you is
your disobedience to God.
The enemies of this world can't take you down.
The only way they can take you down is that God allows them to take you down because of
your disobedience to God's word.
God could actually be your greatest enemy because of your disobedience to God.
And he says there, therefore the Lord will not be with you.
Now that should be enough.
And the children of Israel should have been like, yeah, you're right.
Let's just, let's just, let's just embrace or accept whatever punishment is going to
come upon us.
And, you know, we messed up.
And so let's not, let's not go up.
Let's not disobey the word of Moses.
Let's not disobey the word of God.
We've already done it once and look at the mess that we're in.
Let's not do it again.
But look what verse 44 says, but they presume to go up into the hilltop.
So in other words, they're like, yeah, we're going to do it anyways.
So just rebellion on top of rebellion, rebellion against his word to go into the land.
And then when he tells them not to go into the land, they're like, well, we're going
to rebel and actually go into the land anyways.
They presume to go up to the hilltop.
Nevertheless, the Ark of the covenant of the Lord and Moses departed not out of the camp.
Then the Amalekites came down and the Canaanites, which dwelt in that hill and smote them and
disconfited them even unto Horma.
Oh, big surprise.
So they get destroyed.
They get their rear ends whooped because of the fact that they disobeyed God.
One thing that I'm making here is that a heart murmur is often an indication of a lack of
faith.
Okay.
And if there's any way that I can just challenge you for this new year coming up is step out
in faith, obey the Lord.
And you know what?
Sometimes God's commandments don't necessarily make sense to us.
The numbers don't add up, but you know what?
Just do it anyways.
Go preach the gospel anyways, come to church anyways, read your Bible anyways, serve the
Lord at whatever capacity you can in our church with the laws, just do it anyways.
Invest your time in serving the Lord, even if it doesn't make sense.
Why?
Because at the end of the day, he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he's
a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
And so we need to make sure that we step out in faith and not be these complainers and
murmurs.
And look, we have a huge task at hand in the coming year.
I mean, yeah, great that we saw 2000 salvations this year.
That's awesome.
I can't wait to see more.
But this coming year is Project 4K though, all right?
And you know what we don't need in our church?
A bunch of murmurs and complainers saying that we can't hit the 4K, all right?
We don't know.
We'll see.
I don't know.
I care the why.
I don't think we're going to be able to do that.
Yeah, yeah.
Go ahead and stay in the wilderness then, but we're going to go ahead and go into the
promised land and just go preach to those people and just name it and claim it and
just go over there and just preach the gospel.
And you know what?
By faith, I believe we're going to hit the 4K.
And you know, if there's any doubt in your mind that we can hit the 4K, just don't tell
anybody.
Keep it to yourself.
Shut up.
Don't say anything.
Why?
Because of the fact that you might be like those who brought up an evil report to the
children of Israel, discouraging the heart of the people and thereby causing them not
to go out there and preach the gospel.
And look, you know, in the day and age in which we live, you know, 4K, though a great
task to accomplish is not impossible, especially with only TV, all the missions trips that
we're going to be taking, we're going back to Belize, you know, there's these cruise
missions trips that you can take.
Everyone can participate in this at some capacity, be a part of the work, be a part of the vision
that's taking place.
And you know what, this should be a challenge to those of you who are not yet preaching
the gospel.
Okay, you need to come into the land as well.
You need to come into the promised land as well.
And if you haven't yet preached the gospel, you're not out there soul winning with someone.
You need to make it your goal this year to start going out as a silent partner.
If you have to for the first three months, four months or whatever may be, but just go
out there and see the work, you know, go out there and participate and just watching people
get saved.
How about that?
Hey, I got a challenge for those of you who are not yet ready to preach the gospel.
Here's the challenge for you.
Go with someone and go watch someone do it.
I have a challenge for you.
Go out there and just watch someone get saved.
I'm not even telling you to go preach the gospel because maybe you're not ready to
do so.
But you know, it doesn't take much to actually go out there, stand next to a person who does
know how to preach the gospel and get someone saved and rejoice with that person to that
person believed on the Lord for salvation.
And according to the Bible, you get some rewards from that too.
So why not?
And so the point that I'm making here, oh, you really think that you're getting all these
people saved?
Well, you sound like a murmur.
That rumbling sounds familiar.
You sound like a little Israelite complaining about the giants.
Well, it just seems that the goal is too big.
We are in our own sight as grasshoppers.
Well, just keep it to yourself then, because as for me and my house, amen, we will serve
the Lord.
And as for me and my church, we're going to go out there and preach the gospel and get
people saved.
Don't have the heart murmur that says, I just don't think we can do it.
And you know, a challenge for you as well, not just in a matter of soul winning.
How about just reading your Bible, right?
And let me just, again, once, once again, put this out there.
You need to be reading your Bible every single day.
We have way too many biblically illiterate Christians, you know, too many social media
Christians that rely upon social media and false prophets to learn the Bible.
But they don't actually crack open the Bible themselves and read it.
And I'm talking about, I'm not talking about like reading it topically, I'm going to pick
a topic of the Bible and just kind of study it.
No, read it from cover to cover, like Genesis to Revelation, like read through numbers,
like read through Leviticus, like just read the entire thing.
Well, what do I do after I'm done reading it?
Read it again.
Okay, well what if I finished the second time, then read it a third time.
Give attendance to reading to exhortation to doctrine.
People ask me all the time, do you have a devotional that you would recommend?
What commentaries do you recommend?
And I'm just like, the Bible, because they think I get my stuff from like commentaries.
I'm just like, yeah, I got the greatest commentator right here.
This is the commentary that I use, amen, is the Holy Spirit, you know, and at the end
of the day, it's available to all Christians.
The problem is Christians don't open up the Bible.
Well, it's just too hard to read.
Well, we wouldn't want you to do something hard now, would we?
It's just so difficult to read.
Well, I'm sorry that just, you know, reading the eternal word of God is just a little hard
for you.
Folks, it's not a good enough excuse.
I'm sure Canaan land was a little hard to overcome too.
I'm sure the task at hand was difficult, but God commanded them to do it.
And you know what?
So should you.
Every single year, you should have the goal of reading the Bible all the way through.
If you've never read it before, read it at least once through.
But if you have, challenge yourself a little bit, maybe read it twice and or three times.
Why not?
Right.
Challenge yourself to read the word of God.
And maybe you're of the type because I'm sure there's there's types in here.
They're just like, well, I've read the Bible.
I read the Bible twice a year.
Three times a year.
OK, new challenge.
Read it in a different language.
How about that?
Right.
That's a big challenge right there.
Point being is that, you know what, we need to make sure that we guard our hearts from
having a heart murmur, complaining over the task at hand, thinking that it can't be done.
This can't be accomplished.
I can't read through my Bible that much.
I can't go soul-winding that much.
I can't go to church that much.
We need to make sure that we step out in faith and actually do it despite the fact that we
think we can't.
Go to Exodus 15.
Exodus 15.
A heart murmur is an indication that there is a lack of faith.
But also a heart murmur is discontentment disguised as observations.
Heart murmurs is discontentment or complaining disguised as observations.
Well, I'm just making an observation.
No, your complaining is what you're doing.
Look at Exodus 15 verse 24.
"When it came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter.
Therefore, the name of it is called Marah."
People murmured against Moses.
And by the way, verse 23, you know, that's not hard to understand now, is it?
Oh, it's just so hard to understand.
Well, they were bitter.
"Therefore, the name of it is called Marah.
Therefore, showing us Marah means bitter."
Look, you just learned something new, amen?
Verse 24, "And the people murmured against Moses, saying, 'What shall we drink?'
And he cried unto the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree, which when he had cast
into the waters, the waters were made sweet.
There he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them, and said, 'If thou
will diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and will do that which is right
in his sight, and will give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none
of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians, for I am the Lord
that healeth thee.
And it came to Elim, where were twelve wells of water, and three score and ten palm trees,
and they encamped there by the water.'"
So we see here that the children of Israel are murmuring about necessities.
Because water is a necessity, right?
It's something that people need.
And they run into an issue where there's water, but the waters are made bitter.
Meaning they're poisonous, it can kill you if you drink it.
And the first thing they do is what?
Do they pray unto the Lord?
Do they ask God to provide for them?
Do they say, "Lord, these waters are bitter.
Make them sweet?"
No, they start complaining first against the leader.
Verse 24 says the people murmured against Moses saying, "What shall we drink?"
And obviously we see here a beautiful picture of the cross, right?
Because verse 25 tells us that the Lord shows him a tree that's cast into the waters and
the waters are made sweet.
And obviously we know that the wages of sin is death.
The bitter taste of death is the fact that hell is a reality, right?
And what we see here is that when Jesus Christ was crucified, he essentially made the waters
sweet into us.
When we drink of the waters of everlasting life, we have everlasting life.
And so we see that parallel though with the, with this concept.
The point being is that, you know, why are they complaining regarding a necessity when
God has literally showed himself strong so many instances before this.
And it's just like one little difficulty, one little amount of pressure, one little
challenge that comes up and all of a sudden it's like, why don't we have water to drink?
Well, how about you pray first?
How about you ask God first?
Oh, how about you just wait, right?
It's like, you know, sometimes on Sunday night or on Thursday night, we stay here late.
And then, you know, my wife and I, we go home with our six kids and my kids are like, mom,
I'm thirsty.
And it's just like, I want water and we're like, we don't have any water.
Just wait.
They're like, I just want water, and it's just like, where do you want me to pull this
water out of?
There's no water in the car, and they're like, ah, and they start losing it, right?
They start complaining and murmuring, and it's just like, you're about to get water
right now.
We're almost home.
It's like 10 minutes.
You're not dying.
Good night in the morning.
But you know what?
Christians are the same way though.
When they don't immediately get something that they think that they need or want, all
of a sudden it's just God's fault.
All of a sudden it's just like, I can't believe this is happening to me.
All of a sudden it's just like, oh man, the world is falling apart.
All of a sudden just Christians start crashing out when they don't get the needs that they
have immediately.
But you know, sometimes we just got to wait and there's nothing wrong with a little patience,
a little bit of endurance.
Right.
And you know, you think, you know, the Bible says I've not seen the righteous forsaken
nor see bacon bread.
That's what David said.
You know, God has never allowed any Bible believing Christians who's serving him, who
saved a righteous person.
He's never seen him starve.
And you know, I've never seen a Christian starve either.
And in fact, we have like the opposite problem, right?
We have the opposite issue.
Sometimes it's just too much food, right?
But yet we see here sometimes with Christians is all of a sudden a necessity comes up and
their default setting when a necessity comes up is what?
To complain.
But you know what the default setting should be is we should pray.
You know, the Bible says to not be careful for anything, but by prayer and supplication
with Thanksgiving, let your request be made known unto God.
Meaning we're supposed to ask for these things.
And you know what?
Water is a necessity, but you know, paying the bills are a necessity too.
Paying the bills, food, all the necessities of life.
You know, God knows that we need these things.
He's not ignorant of our necessities, but the Bible says to seek ye first the kingdom
of God and His righteousness, and these things, referring to the necessities, shall be added
unto you.
But let me just make something very clear though.
You know, I've not seen the righteous forsaken nor seed begging bread, but the key word there
is the righteous, right?
I've not seen the righteous forsaken nor seed begging bread, but the key word there is righteous.
And you know what?
We can't expect God to provide for our needs if we're not in line with what He's saying
in His word too.
If you're just backslidden, you're involved in sin, you're not serving God, you're not
obeying Him, you can't expect for God to just provide for all of your needs.
Why?
Because the Bible specifically tells us that He'll add things to us when we seek the kingdom
of God and His righteousness and that's a good incentive to serve God even if you don't
feel like it.
Like I'm going to keep serving God because of the fact that I want God to continue to
bless me, I want God to continue to provide for my needs, well I think that's a selfish
reason.
Yeah, God knows it's a selfish reason which is why He put that commandment out there.
He knows it's just like I'm going to incentivize them, you know there's various ways that
God gives us incentives.
One being, you know, if you do this you'll be punished and it's like okay I'm not going
to do that then.
If you do this you'll die, gotcha, won't do it.
Another one is like if you do this I'll bless you and it's just like oh yeah I think I'll
do that.
Well I just think we should do that in love for God.
Of course we should do that in love for God but let me just be honest with you, there's
not a single person in this room who loves God 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 100% of
the time, it doesn't exist.
You know how I know?
Because if you think you do, you're a liar, that's how.
That's why it's important to sometimes serve God out of a necessity because we know that
God has promised us a reward or He's promised to provide for us.
In its most basic level, serve God by going to church, by winning people to Christ, by
reading your Bibles, by serving your spouse, serving your children, serving your church
members at its most basic level.
That's a fundamental level there, meaning that you should put spiritual tasks first.
It should be a priority.
God shouldn't be an afterthought.
The service of God should not be an afterthought, right?
So the children of Israel are complaining, they're murmuring because of the waters of
Maribor.
Go to chapter 16, if you would.
Chapter 16.
And look, if they would have just waited a little longer, they would have been led to
the wells.
All they had to do was wait.
Look at Exodus 16 verse 1, "And they took their journey from Elam, and all the congregation
of the children of Israel came into the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elam and Sinai, on
the 15th day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt.
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, "Wood to God, we had died by the hand of the
Lord in the land of Egypt."
Keep in mind, this is immediately after the waters of Marah, excuse me.
These are after the waters of Marah, he's made the water sweet, he finally provided
for them, he also provided wells of water for them, and then they're complaining about
something else in chapter 16.
It says, "When we sat by the flesh pots, when we did eat bread to the full, for you have
brought us forth into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger."
So the first thing they were complaining about is water, now they're like, "We're hungry."
Oh, you've come to kill us with hunger.
And you know, sometimes when people complain, Christians particularly, they often think
back to how it was before salvation.
Oh, it was so great before I was a Christian, it was so great when I was allowed to do this,
against that and the other, but they don't really think about all the oppression, all
of the attacks from Satan, the fact that you didn't know that you were saved, the fact
that you didn't know about salvation, but all of a sudden when you're going through
a hard time, it's like, oh man, the watermelons, the melons, the leeks and the garlic and all
the great stuff that Egypt had to offer, you know, then why did you cry out to the Lord
to begin with, right?
But here's the ironic thing about this particular statement here, because they're complaining
and I want you to notice this about being hungry, okay?
They say, they're basically saying they have no food, right?
But folks, listen to this.
When the children of Israel left Egypt, they left with cattle and not just like a little
bit of cattle.
They left with a lot of livestock and obviously a lot of it was supposed to be for sacrifices,
but not all of it though, because their occupation was livestock.
So like as they're complaining about not having food in the wilderness, they got their beans
and tortilla in their cabinet, right?
They got food in the cabinet, they got food in the refrigerator.
All the while they're complaining, "Oh man, God's not like providing for us in the wilderness."
I'm sorry, what's all this livestock I see here, right?
Like what are you talking about?
Hey, you know what?
The same goes for Christians as well.
We're really good at complaining about things that maybe God doesn't give us immediately
all the while we're not really noticing what we already have, right?
"Oh man, I have it so hard."
Yeah, we have it so hard in Southern California.
"It's just all the rain."
"Oh yeah, it's just so hard in the rain."
"Oh man, it's just so difficult."
"Oh, it's so hot, it's so cold."
Okay, Goldilocks, you just want the perfect situation.
It's just like, "Oh man, we were just struggling so bad."
"We don't have this exact food."
But you know what?
You have food though, at the end of the day.
No one's starving here.
Let's just be honest.
Nobody is starving.
And quite frankly, let's just pretend for a second
that someone in here was struggling with food.
It's only because you're not asking for help
from your brothers and sisters in Christ.
'Cause quite frankly, let's just pretend for a second
that God didn't provide for your needs in a miraculous way.
It's probably because he has members of this church
that would provide for you.
We would give you groceries.
We would give you food if you needed.
If you're going through a hard time,
there's people in our church, myself included,
that wouldn't think twice about providing for you
and helping you in a time of need.
That's a fact, OK?
Now, obviously, we don't want you
to be like a crackhead on the freeway
that when you give them a double cheeseburger,
they're like, oh, where's the fries?
You know what I'm talking about.
Or it's like you give a meal to this homeless person,
and they're like, oh, that's it?
And then what you want to do is like, no, that's not it,
and just try to take it back.
This is mine, actually.
I made a mistake here.
Just forget this ever happened.
And here's the thing, folks.
People get mad about pastors or whatever not
wanting to provide for baby formula
for some woman whose husband left them
or doesn't have a husband.
But folks, at the end of the day,
the church has a responsibility to provide for the church.
And yeah, the Bible does teach that we
should be a blessing to the poor.
But let me just be real frank with you.
Poor people don't really exist in the United States
of America.
Poor people don't exist.
You say, how do you know?
Because I used to live in Long Beach near the river bed,
and those homeless people had condominiums on that river bed.
Like, it made any eight-year-old covet.
It was like, dang, this fort is nice.
And I'm not just talking about tents.
I'm talking about TV.
I'm talking about all--
it's like, you got more stuff than I do.
How in the world do you-- you got game stations in there.
They got Xbox.
They got screens in there.
I mean, they're not struggling at all.
And this is why when--
I remember years ago, this is when I was at my old church,
we would evangelize in the riverbed.
And we would-- me and a couple guys, a group of like 10 guys
or so, we would prepare these hot dogs wrapped in foil
and a bottle of water to go to the riverbed
to feed those who are there.
And we'd say, can we preach the gospel to you?
And we thought, you know, that's a good idea.
Hey, we got a hot dog, some water.
Can we give you the gospel?
And the vast majority of us was like, I don't want a hot dog.
No, I'm good.
I'm full.
They're just like, what?
Is this real?
Chad, is this real?
I thought these people were homeless and hungry.
No, it doesn't exist.
And you know what?
The Bible tells us the righteous consider it the cause of the
poor, but the wicked regardeth not to know it.
You know what that means?
It means that righteous people don't just flippingly give
their money to every Tom, Dick, and Harry who asks for it.
There needs to be a cause.
Why?
Because God wants to prevent us from becoming enablers.
Meaning, don't give your money to those gypsies.
You say, why?
They just got to fade.
Look, gypsies are some of the worst, too, by the way.
You know why?
Because they're on the side of the freeway
with their 10-year-old on an iPad.
And they got like a fade.
Fades are expensive.
Haircuts are cheap.
OK?
But yet they're asking us for what.
It's like, what in the world?
You say, oh, man, I don't know.
That's not very Christ-like.
Well, what Christ are you talking about?
Can you book chapter and verse on that?
What are we supposed to provide for the poor?
Is that a poor person?
According to whose standards?
Bro has a fade.
He's got Air Jordans.
Is that even a shoe?
You know, Nike got Air Force Ones on.
Nice clothing.
His children are all there.
They look well fed.
And then when you deny them, they get all mad at you
and they start arguing with you.
And that's not a poor person.
A poor individual is someone who is physically incapacitated.
They can't provide for themselves.
And quite frankly, at the end of the day,
there's so many government programs in our country
there shouldn't be anybody who's not being provided for.
And look, some of these people, if you were to tell them,
hey, I could give you a ride to a shelter
where they'll feed you, they'll give you an Obama phone.
They'll, you know, they'll do all these things for you.
They're just like, oh no, no, thank you.
The righteous consider it the cause of,
then why are they asking for money?
I'll tell you why, because they want to go buy drugs.
That's why.
It's not 'cause they're hungry.
A wicked person just kind of gives their money to whoever
and doesn't consider the cause of the poor.
The Bible says that the righteous consider it the cause.
Why are they in the situation that they're in?
Is it 'cause they're lazy?
Is it because they have a drug addiction?
Is it because, you know, fill in the blank?
We need to make sure we consider the cause of the poor.
And not just flippantly give our money to whoever.
And let me just be very, very frank with you.
You know, we don't just give our money as a church
to anybody who comes through our doors either,
asking for it.
If some person just walks through,
I don't care what the internet says.
I don't care what these virtue signaling people
say out there.
Oh, every church should,
shut up, you don't come to my church.
You don't serve God, you don't read the Bible.
You don't win souls to Christ.
Don't tell me how to do my job as a Christian.
You know, one of the most annoying things to me
as a Christian is when atheists and agnostics
try to tell me how to be a Christian.
That's not what Jesus would do.
You don't know Jesus.
How are you gonna tell me what Jesus would do
if you don't even know who he is?
You reject him.
But you're gonna tell me how to be a Christian?
Is that what your church should do?
You don't go to church here.
So who are you to tell me?
You think I'm gonna go into McDonald's,
tell them how they should make their burgers?
Go to In-N-Out and tell them,
oh, you're not doing this right,
you guys are running this company wrong.
That's not my place.
You know, oh man, the internet is gonna get mad.
So what?
It's the internet.
They're gonna type something out?
Just because a person comes through these,
I'll get back to the sermon in just a bit.
Just because a person comes through these doors
asking for something,
doesn't necessarily automatically give it to them.
Now look, there's been people who've come to our church
asking for food, and you know, I have provided for them.
You know, they'll say like, I'm hungry,
and I'll say, I got an In-N-Out gift card,
but you have to listen to this gospel presentation.
You know, and that's just it.
I said, you know, my assistant will take you
to go get something to eat,
but he's gonna talk to you first.
I'll do that, but sometimes I don't do that.
Sometimes they're like, nope.
Why, because you know how people spell churches today?
ATM, that's how they spell churches today.
And they think, well, it's a church,
so you should give us money according to who.
Doesn't exist, that's not a concept of the Bible.
The Bible teaches us that we need to provide
for the needs of the church, of other Christians.
Yeah, it says do good into all men,
but I want you to notice this,
especially they have the household of faith.
Why?
Because finances should be funneled
through the local New Testament church
in order to fund the work of the ministry.
To fund the preaching of the gospel,
the spreading of God's word,
not to fund drug addicts
and people who have destroyed their lives.
It doesn't work that way.
You know what?
Get your mind out of the internet,
off of the comments section
where people are saying,
well, this is what a church should do.
Well, you know, the Roman Catholic church,
you're gonna bring to me what the,
using the Roman Catholic church
as an example of what to do?
It's nonsense, my friends.
So like, who do you donate to?
I donate to soul winning, to evangelism.
I donate to Christians who are doing the work of God.
I don't think that's right.
Well, you know what?
You can find a bunch of non-denom churches
that do practice that, where you'll be happy at,
where they're funding drug addicts
and crackheads and all that.
And you even get a special message
every single Sunday on Zionism too.
'Cause you know what?
They also fund Israel.
They fund everyone.
They fund all the wicked people.
And so I don't even know how I got off on that,
but it was good though.
Necessities, necessities.
They're complaining about necessities.
I remember at my old church,
I mean, my old church had this philosophy too.
There was a guy who, you know, he was a drug addict.
And he came and he came asking for money.
And my father-in-law was just like,
I'll get you a meal, but I'm not gonna give you money.
'Cause you're just gonna take the money,
go do more drugs.
And so he's just like, I just need some help.
And he said, well, if you need some help,
if you're really serious, just keep coming to church.
And he's like, there's a bench,
you can sleep there if you want.
And you're like, oh, I can't believe he said that.
The bro was sleeping on the bench before that.
What are you talking about?
Probably a better bench than any other bench he slept on.
And you know what?
The guy kept coming to church.
He went to every service.
He ended up getting his life together,
learning righteous principles.
He reunited with his wife,
'cause he got his life together,
and his child, because he got his life together,
and became a functioning member of the,
a respectable functioning member of the church.
Bus driver, the guy was solid, was happy.
There you go.
Isn't that the goal?
Or is the goal just continue enabling people?
And by the way, you know, we as Christians
shouldn't enable anybody in our family either.
Someone's involved in sin and drug abuse and adultery,
fornication, drunkenness, don't help that person.
You're not doing them a service by helping them.
All right, I gotta get back to the sermon,
'cause if not, that's like point, I still got more points.
Look at numbers 21.
Just remember, you know, God wants to prevent us
from becoming enablers.
And you know, it's a wicked thing
when people are just asking for money
to just spend it on drugs or on their own lusts,
their own desires.
And we were just helping them with that
because we're just such good people.
No, you're a wicked person if you're doing that.
Look at numbers 21, verse five.
And the people spake against God and against Moses.
Wherefore have you brought us up out of Egypt
to die in the wilderness?
For there is no bread, neither is there any water,
are so low that this light bread.
So before it was just like, we're hungry, right?
Oh, okay, then why don't you kill the cattle
that you brought with you out of Egypt?
No, I want you to feed me.
Okay, so then he gives them manna from heaven.
Like just supernatural bread that comes from heaven.
He provides it every single day.
All they gotta do is just go out and pick it up, right?
But the children of Israel, like the crackheads of today,
don't wanna do anything.
And you know what?
After that, they're just like, I'm tired of this bread.
'Cause loathe means that they hate it.
I mean, I'm sure this bread was delicious.
You think God's gonna give bad quality bread?
You think God is just gonna provide some tasteless bread?
It probably tasted just delicious.
Our soul loathe this.
Then go kill one of your cattle.
What are you complaining about?
And the Lord, so you said, what did the Lord do?
Okay, okay, sorry, I'm sorry.
Just collected all the manna.
I'm sorry about that.
What kind of food do you want?
And what do you want, Junior?
Then what do you, you know, is that what he did?
Look at verse six.
"And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people,
and they bit the people and much people of Israel died."
So they're all complaining, God's like, all right.
Just, God doesn't mess around, okay?
And you know what?
I don't hear these stories in Sunday school classes.
More Sunday school classes need to teach this to the kids.
Don't complain 'cause God might send some fiery serpents
to come and bite you, all right?
And it looks like God had lost his patience here.
He's just like, I just sent you manna from heaven.
You're not killing your cattle.
I just saved you out of Egypt.
I just turned the bitter water sweet.
I gave you wells.
I've given you everything,
and now you're complaining about the supernatural bread
that I baked in heaven.
He's like sending everything,
and then they're just complaining about the bread,
and God's like, okay, if you don't wanna eat the bread,
I'll have the serpents eat you.
And obviously, go to 1 Timothy chapter six.
You know, obviously, God ends up using it
'cause he's such an awesome God.
He ends up using it as a beautiful picture,
because once they realize the error of their ways,
they cry out to God.
God makes Moses make a brazen serpent,
and when they look upon,
they will be healed from the bite of the serpent,
which is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, right?
And so God is just almighty, all powerful,
and even uses this for good.
The point being is that people like this are implacable.
They're just implacable, nothing pleases them.
But I'm gonna tell you what the problem is.
The problem is not the wilderness.
The problem is not the bitter water.
The problem is not this loathsome bread.
The problem is them.
The problem is discontentment,
not being content with what you have.
Look at 1 Timothy chapter six.
And let's start reading in verse three.
It says, "If any man teach otherwise
and consent not to wholesome words,
even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ
into the doctrine, which is according to godliness,
he is proud knowing nothing
but doting about questions and strives of words.
Whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmising,
perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds,
destitute of the truth."
And I want you to notice this.
Supposing that gain is godliness
from such withdrawal of thyself.
Now, this is a perfect picture
of your prosperity gospel preacher, right?
Trying to assert that,
oh, if you make money, that means God is with you.
Gain is godliness.
Be greedy, be covetous.
It's okay, God wants you to be rich.
That's not what the Bible teaches.
He says, withdraw yourself from people like this.
Look at verse six.
"But godliness with contentment is great gain,"
the Bible says.
Now, the Bible's not against you obtaining wealth.
What the Bible's against is, first of all,
obtaining wealth through unrighteous means,
but also if you have wealth without contentment.
Why, because contentment is the virtue
of being satisfied with whatever you have
at any given time and not complaining
if you have $100, $1,000, or a million dollars.
It's like whatever you have, you're always content.
You're always satisfied.
And what do you need with contentment?
Godliness, because godliness helps us
to set our affections on things above
to be more eternally minded.
You couple that with contentment, that's great gain.
Because it doesn't matter how poor you are,
if you have godliness with contentment, you're happy.
Verse seven, for we brought nothing into this world
and it is certain that we can carry nothing out.
And having food and raiment, let us therewith be content.
So God is saying here, if you've been fed today,
you've had breakfast, lunch, and dinner,
you have clothes on your back, you should be content.
But let's just be honest, all of us
are going to get more than three meals today, this week.
And a lot of us have more than just one set of clothing.
We have an overabundance of those things.
So that means we should be even more content
than the person who just has these essential means
to live by, right?
Point being here is that God is trying to teach us
we need contentment in our lives.
And you know what?
We need to teach our kids contentment too.
You know, I know that sometimes we want to spoil our kids
and give them everything they want,
but obviously that's not always conducive.
That makes them spoiled little brats.
And you know, they're the ones who are just complaining
about everything and they often are not happy
with whatever you give them.
It's not bad to give our kids gifts.
We want to give our kids gifts,
but you know what?
The biggest gift you can give them is just contentment.
Teaching them to be satisfied with what they have.
Teaching them gratitude.
And especially during this particular time right now,
you know, Thanksgiving, Christmas,
teach your kids contentment.
You know, my wife tells me when her growing up,
you know, in a pastor's home, house of eight kids,
they were super happy on Christmas or for Christmas
to be able to go to the Dollar Tree store or Daiso
to get their Christmas gifts.
The 99 cent store to get their Christmas gifts
is just like the most awesome thing ever.
Why? Because they were content.
And you know what?
We still carry on this tradition today
where we'll take our kids to Daiso.
If you don't know what Daiso is, okay,
it's a Japanese store, I think.
Some of you anime lovers may like that.
And it's a, Mike knows that he's all excited back there.
And so does Glenn, obviously.
You know, it's a Japanese store
that has all kinds of Japanese products.
And what we do is we take our kids there
and they're super excited about this every year.
And they have a certain amount of money
to spend not on themselves.
The money that they have is to spend
to buy gifts for their brothers and sisters.
So they're just super excited so we can have shifts.
It's like, all right, boys, you guys go over here.
Girls, you go over here.
And now you got to--
and they have their list of who they're going to buy what for.
And they're super excited.
They're not excited about buying things for themselves.
They're just excited to get to buy something
for their siblings.
I mean, isn't that what Christmas is about anyways?
It's like giving gifts to someone else, right?
Like being a blessing to someone else.
Kids are like, what?
Bro, what you talking about?
Christmas is about me getting gifts.
No, it's actually about giving gifts to others.
And it's actually about feeling satisfaction
about giving gifts to others.
Teach your kids how to do that.
And they get excited.
And you know what?
It's no wonder that when my kids get gifts,
they're thankful for it.
Whether they get one, two, three, four gifts,
or one gift, if we're broke that year,
you know, they're happy with it.
Why?
Because the satisfaction has already been embedded.
Contemnment is already being embedded
through them giving gifts to others.
Point being is we need to practice
contentment in our lives.
And you know, when you do practice
contentment in your life,
it makes getting things that much sweeter.
Because contentment is like,
I'm not really expecting anything, right?
Contentment is just like,
I'm just happy with what I have.
So then when you do get something,
you're like, whoa, this guy didn't expect this.
Not like, oh, that's it.
What do you mean a double cheeseburger?
I wanted, you know, chicken nuggets, you know?
It's having a spirit of expectations
whereas contentment is like,
I didn't expect anything at all.
So anything I get on top of that is just a win.
Point being is that a heart murmur
is a heart that essentially disguises complaints
as an observation.
Or we're just making an observation
that we don't have water.
We're just making an observation that we're hungry.
No, you're complaining and you're murmuring.
By the way, in our church,
for those of you who are new to our church,
everything in our church is free.
Activities are free, food is free.
Whenever we have an activity for the church,
whenever we do some sort of special,
any kind of special activity,
we don't charge in our church for anything.
And in fact, you can literally take a songbook home
if you wanted one today.
If you're just like, oh, I want a songbook
'cause I wanna learn to take it, it's yours, it's free.
Just don't take the chairs and stuff like that
'cause we need these chairs for church.
And so, you know what I mean?
Don't go overboard on it or anything like that.
But you know what, things are free.
'Cause the house of God,
things in the house of God should be free.
We shouldn't make the house of God a house of merchandise.
Bibles are free, materials free,
hymn books are free, activities are free.
Hey, the meals that we had on Friday,
that was free, amen.
It was like, oh, if you couldn't give us
a small donation of $5 to pay for the turkeys.
No, it's all free.
And obviously, people pitch in and stuff like that,
but whatever the church offers, it's free.
Therefore, don't complain, amen.
You know, hey, brother Jose smoked four or five turkeys
for free.
He just did it for free.
So don't be like, yes.
Be thankful.
Throw some gravy on that mess if it's too dry.
And it wasn't dry, brother Jose.
I almost offended brother Jose right now.
You know, be thankful.
Don't be a complainer and a murmur over the food.
And you know what?
If someone treats you out for food, be grateful.
You're out there soul winning, and your team leader
buys you a meal, here's something you could do.
Thank you, brother Maury.
Thank you, brother Cody.
Don't be like, ah, cool.
All right.
Oh, where's mine?
Oh, am I-- can I get--
yeah, let me get another--
this is what you do, OK?
If your team leader doesn't tell you what to get,
then just get exactly what the team leader gets.
Or get the cheapest thing on the meal, on the menu,
or whatever.
But if they offer you something to say--
and if they tell you, hey, I'm going to get you a number three,
don't be like, ah, actually, can I get a number five instead?
Super size or something-- I don't even know what to do.
Just be happy with what you get.
Because here's the thing-- before your team leader,
you wouldn't have gotten anything, right?
So something is better than nothing.
I'm trying to teach you contentment here.
And there is a concept where sometimes we can just
have too much honey, right?
Vomit up the honey.
Sometimes you have too much good things,
and then you don't appreciate it enough.
You end up vomiting it up, right?
It's like, sometimes we'll spoil our kids,
and then they just end up finishing the day complaining
and fighting against each other.
You know why?
Just too much honey, too much honey.
Go to Exodus 16, if you would.
Actually, just go to Numbers 11.
I need to hurry up, because we're pretty much done.
I got on the crackheads and the poor people for too long.
Numbers 11, I'm going to skip a point here.
Heart murmurs corrupts the whole body, by the way.
Heart murmurs can corrupt the whole body.
Look at Numbers 11, verse 4.
It says, "And the mixed multitude that was among them
fell a-lusting, and the children of Israel also wept again,
and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat?"
Here we go again.
We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely,
the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions,
and the garlic.
And now our souls dried away.
There is nothing at all beside this manna before our eyes.
And the manna was as a coriander seed,
and the color thereof as the color of delium.
It says, "And the people went about, and gathered it,
and ground it into mills, and beat it into mortar,
and baked it into pans, and made cakes of it.
And the taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil.
And when the dew fell upon the camp in the night,
the manna fell upon it.
Then Moses heard the people weep throughout their families,
every man in the door of his tent.
And the anger of the Lord was kindled greatly.
Moses also was displeased.
And Moses said unto the Lord, wherefore
hast thou afflicted thy servant?
And whereof have I not found favor in thy sight,
that thou lay'st the burden of all this people upon me?"
So I want you to notice the complaining begins
with the mixed multitude.
There's a distinction here between Israel
but also the mixed multitude.
This is referring to the Egyptians that came out
with the children of Israel.
They were mixed among the people.
And they're the ones who started complaining
about the manna and the provisions of God
and how they had it made in Egypt.
And what did it cost people to do?
It caused the children of Israel in their camps
to also complain.
And here is the principle that we can learn from that.
Don't be a complainer in our church,
because you'll affect everyone else.
Don't be a complainer.
And if you murmur about something in your heart,
keep it in your heart.
Don't complain about it to others.
Don't complain about the preaching.
Don't complain about the building.
Don't complain about the music.
Don't complain about the lighting.
Don't complain-- I don't know what else--
don't complain about the architecture.
Just be thankful.
Why?
Because murmuring can spread to others.
Murmuring can spread to others.
It can cause others to be complainers, as well.
And you can infect the entire body.
It's important for us to spread being thankful,
to spread gratitude, rather than spread murmuring.
Go to Numbers 13.
Numbers 13.
Numbers 13 and verse 30 says, "And Caleb
stilled the people before Moses, and said,
let us go up at once and possess it,
for we are able to overcome it.
But the men that went up with him said,
we be not able to go up against the people,
for they are stronger than we.
And they brought up an evil report of the land,
which they had searched unto the children of Israel,
saying the land through which we have gone to search it
is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof,
and all the people that we saw in it
are men of great stature and so forth.
So we see here that they're complaining about the land,
they're complaining about food,
they're complaining about this, that and the other,
and it ends up influencing others to be murmurers as well.
Now, an example of this in the New Testament
are the Pharisees, right?
Why, because the Pharisees would always murmur
against the Lord Jesus Christ
for sitting with publicans and sinners.
They would murmur against it.
And here's how we can apply it.
Don't murmur because we get new people in our church
who aren't exactly a fundamental Baptist like yourself,
right?
You know, a healthy church just reaches new people
and they'll come in all shapes, colors,
and sizes and volumes.
Don't be like a Pharisee and just murmur against that.
You're like, oh man, but they're just not like us.
Of course they're not.
But you know what, if they're coming to our church,
it's probably because they want to be a fundamental Baptist.
So why don't you teach them to be one?
You know, I was thinking about, you know,
I was preaching at a conference a couple of weeks ago
at Faithful War Baptist Church.
And you know, I put out a video about preaching there
and we had a lot of visitors come from social media.
And as I was preaching against the Catholics,
I was just like going off in the Catholics.
I just look in the distance, I'm like,
these people do not look like fundamental Baptists.
They didn't look like just even concerned.
It was just like the like purple haired
and initially what I thought was like,
oh, I got some protesters here, you know.
I was getting flashbacks
'cause they look like Portland people,
you know what I mean?
You know what I'm saying?
That look, you know what I mean?
That Portland look.
And I'm talking about the crazy colored hair
and everything and even the clothing was different.
And I remember like judging thus within myself like,
oh man, I don't know if these people are, you know.
And I was like going off and I'm preaching hard
and I'm like looking at them.
I'm like, I'm about to get them, you know.
If they're coming,
but you know, they're just kind of like not in their heads.
And I'm thinking to myself,
oh wait, these are probably just visitors from Instagram.
So then like, you know, I'm thinking to myself like,
you know, maybe they're offended at what I'm saying
or 'cause they just didn't look like fundamental Baptists.
And so after the service,
I would go up to them to go meet them.
And they're just like,
we love your stuff against the Jews, purple hair.
And they're just like, man, the stuff that you say
is just awesome.
We've learned so much from the podcast.
We learned so much from your videos.
We learned so much from your preaching.
And I'm thinking to myself like the purple hair.
They got like stuff on their-- you know, it's just like--
and I'm just like, well, praise God.
I wasn't just like, come not near me,
for I'm holier than now.
Why?
Because obviously we're reaching new people.
And they're super grateful, had a lot of gratitude.
They tune in a lot.
And you know what?
That's a good sign.
And look, folks, there's going to come people
that come to our church that are not dressed in a shirt and tie.
And by the way, there's no dress code here.
This is just to make something very clear.
We were like, is there a dress code?
Well, yeah, let me take that back.
There is a dress code.
It's called clothes.
Wear clothes, OK?
Well, you don't have to dress in a suit.
You don't have to part your hair like me.
You don't have to wear a tie or whatever like that.
There's no dress code here, OK?
You say, why do you dress in a shirt that-- well,
because the house of God is just important for me to come to.
And so I take it serious, or whatever.
And obviously, I'm the pastor, so I'm the example here, OK?
I'm not going to come up here.
You see a glass pulpit here?
You know what I mean?
Like, I'm not going to have a stool with a glass pulpit
and an armor, you know, a polo or whatever.
You know, that's not my style.
I'm a Baptist.
Point being is that, you know what?
Don't murmur when we have new people come to our church, OK?
Who are not-- you know what?
We're going to have people come from non-denom churches,
the churches that you get annoyed with.
Don't be a hater.
Don't be a little hater because they don't fall exactly
in line with how you are or how you believe.
Folks, they're coming here because they
want to believe like the Bible.
And so help them along the way, amen?
Don't be like the Pharisees just murmuring
because Jesus is sitting with the sinners and the publicans.
And they're going to come here with weird beliefs, too.
But you know what, so did you, though.
You came with some weird beliefs.
In fact, some of you still got weird beliefs.
How about that?
Point being is that people--
we need to be grateful over the fact that people are coming.
And I'm not saying everyone who comes is weird or anything
like that.
The point that I'm saying, though,
is you shouldn't expect people to come already
a fundamental Baptist.
Oh, I'm expecting everyone to come to be just new IFB,
right off the bat.
You weren't that.
You just learned the reprobate doctrine.
You just learned post-trip, pre-wrath, rapture.
You just learned about soul winning.
You just learned about the King James Bible.
Don't be that way.
You know, obviously I come from a fundamental Baptist church,
so I had a lot of these foundational things,
but not everyone's like that.
Give people some time to grow, to learn.
And you know what?
They esteem the doctrines of the faith.
Be patient with people like that.
If someone comes, you know, with a bunch of,
you know, look like their face just,
they went face first into a tackle box
or something like that.
Don't be a hater.
Don't stare at them, you know.
Don't be like the kid in the grocery store.
You know what I'm talking about.
Just like staring at the handicappers or something.
You know, don't be that way.
Don't be like, you know, go up to them, greet them,
be kind to them, be gracious to them.
They want to learn, amen.
All right, I'm done.
A heart murmur means the spirit needs curing, amen.
And what is a cure for a heart murmur?
Be thankful, be grateful.
And what better time to be grateful than Thanksgiving, amen.
It's just the time to hit a reset button
and just say, Lord, thank you so much for salvation.
Thank you for my church.
Thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ.
Thank you for the truth.
Thank you for my brothers and sisters in Christ.
Thank you for mom.
Thank you for dad.
Thank you for my kids.
Thank you for the people you've placed in my life.
Just be thankful.
Why?
Because this is the will of God
in Christ Jesus concerning you.
And so if you are guilty of having a heart murmur,
being a complainer in your heart,
learn contentment, learn gratitude.
And don't be like the children of Israel, amen.
Let's pray.
Thank you so much for the examples in your word.
Thank you for the murmurs in the Bible
to teach us what not to do.
And I pray that Lord you'd help us
to prevent being a murmur and a complainer
that we would see the silver lining in all things Lord.
Because at the end of the day,
our worst day here on this earth
is still some lost person's best day.
Because we have salvation, we have eternal life.
And I pray that Lord you'd help us
to grow in our heart of gratitude.
And may we give you all the honor and glory
that you deserve, in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
- Please turn your songbooks to song number 220.
Song number 220, Jesus is all the world to me.
Song number 220, altogether nice and strong
on that first verse.
♪ Jesus is all the world ♪