(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

In 1 Timothy chapter number 6, what we are preaching on this morning is being content in your life. So we look down at verse number 5, it says, perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth supposing that gain is godliness, from such withdraw thyself. But godliness with contentment is great gain, but we brought nothing into this world, and as certain we can carry nothing out, and having food and raiment, let us be there with content. So the Bible is teaching us here that we need to be content, and I think this is a really important subject in 2013, because we live in a society that teaches us not to be content, not to be happy with what you have, not to be happy with where you are at, and the things that you have. It is a very commercialized society. I mean, there is always people now with TV and with media, and I mean, just with the technology that is out there, you know, with the screens, I mean, people are constantly trying to sell you stuff, and just tell you, you need to have this, you need to have this, you know, you are not really complete unless you have this, and this, and this, and this, and just really just trying to get you into this mindset of thinking that, man, you just need to keep on spending, and you know what, it can even be, this couldn't be a more perfect time to preach a sermon, because Christmas time, of all times, ought not to be a time of covetousness, it ought not to be a time of thinking about just, you have to spend all this money and do all this stuff, and you know, focus on the gift so much, and what am I going to get, and all this other stuff, you know, that is not the purpose at all. The whole reason, you know, that Christians ought to be celebrating Christmas, it is not about Santa Claus, it is not about the trees, it is not about presents, it is not about celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ our Savior. That is the whole point, I mean, we are celebrating the fact that He came in and has given His life as a gift for us. He had the best gift in the world for us, and that is something that is extremely amazing, and you know, the way that we celebrate that, of course, one of the ways we do that is we do, we give gifts to other people, you know, because we love them, and we want to do nice things for them, but don't let this whole commercialized society get into your brain and just make you think that, you know, you have to do all these other things, and you start getting a mindset of, well, this person is going to give me gifts, so I got to make sure I give them, and them, and them, and that is not what giving gifts is all about. It is something you give, you can do out of love from your heart, not out of obligation, not out of anything else, but just something that you love to do. Now, that is not quite what we are focused on this morning, we are focused more on yourself as being content, and we can start with that first thing. Look, if you get nothing for Christmas, if you get zero gifts, if nobody gives you anything, be content. Don't be upset, don't get a chip on your shoulder, don't think, I deserve something, because that is not what a gift is anyways. A gift is not something you deserve, it is not something you earn. Hey, if you deserve something, go out to work, work with your hands, you get a paycheck, that is not a gift, that is something that you earn, that is something that you deserve, but if you don't get a gift, hey, you don't deserve one anyways. If someone decides to love you and give you something out of the kindness of their heart, praise God for that, and be thankful for it, and be content with what you have. But don't be expecting things, don't go into this holiday expecting well, I better at least get a couple hundred dollars worth of gifts, don't have that type of attitude. But you know what, it might seem funny to us, but a lot of people say that is the type of attitude that they have, and it is completely backwards, it is a wrong attitude that we ought to have, and we are going to see this morning what the Bible teaches about how we ought to be content with the things that we have. Look at verse number 8, it says that having food and raiment, raiment means clothing, let us be there with content. So we say look, do you have food? Are you clothed? I am looking at everyone here, everyone here has clothing, and I can smell the food right now, we are all going to have some food after the service. So there should not be anyone in the service this morning that is not content. We have food and we have clothing. Now you might not have the fanciest car to drive, you might not have the best house to live in, you might not have the fanciest clothing, but hey, you have clothing. The Bible says let us be there with content. This ought to be enough, you ought not to have this attitude where you just feel like you have to have these other things, and you are going to be upset, you are going to get all worried about not having some physical things, when the Bible says let us be there with content. Now there are two things that I am going to point out, and I want everyone to check yourself and analyze yourself, because there are two signs that people exhibit when you are not content. And those two signs are one, you are covetous, which means because you are not content, you are looking at things that do not belong to you, and things that you want, you are not content with the car, you go I want that car, I want that one. You are being covetous, things that you do not have, especially things that you cannot get, you want that. And the second thing that is indicative of people not content is complaining. Complaining, complaining, complaining, this is a piece of trash, this is no good, whatever it is, my appliances, my car, this thing is just a piece of junk, and you are just constantly complaining, complaining, complaining about it. That is not being content with the things that you have, it is definitely not being thankful. Being content is what the Bible says when we have to be content. We ought to be thankful for the things that we have, which is even beyond being content with them. It is beyond just being satisfied, we ought to be thankful to God for the stuff that we have, let alone just being content. We are going to be dealing with just being content, let's do a baby step, let's just try to deal with being content with the things that we have, not be covetous of other things, and not be complaining about the things that we do have, or both. So think about that for your, and everybody, myself included, because this is something that can creep in, and everybody can be guilty of this, but we got to try and remember to keep ourselves in the will of God, and knowledgeable of the Bible, and what God is telling us here to be content with the things that we do have. Not to be constantly complaining, not to be constantly looking at things that we can't afford, but this is something that we need to get straight into our life, because here is the thing, it might not seem like that big of a deal, but this will lead into bigger sins. When you have a covetous heart, when you have a complaining attitude, this is just going to lead to further and further sin. Look at verse number ten, where we just read, in first Timothy chapter number six, it says, for the love of money is the root of all evil. Now the love of money, that's covetousness, that's desire, and if you are coveting, you want to have more money, and that's what you are focused on, it says that's the root of all evil, the root. So all evil that exists in this world, the root of that all stems from the love of money. It says, which while some, look at the word coveted after, we are talking about covetous, if you are not content, you are covetous, which while some coveted after them, earned from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. Look, money is not going to be the answer to your problems. Loving money, desiring money, desiring these things, being covetousness, it's going to pierce you through with many sorrows, you will not be happy. This is something that is going to hurt you. It says, but thou, O man of God, flee these things, run away from them, follow unto righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, and meekness. And this statement, that statement there about the love of money and the root of all evil was made right in context directly after telling us just to be content. Now a person that is covetous, you know, they might be driven to stealing because they can't afford something, they desire something, they haven't, so that's going to lead you into another sin. It starts with that sin of covetousness, you see something, man I want to have that, and you say, well, I'm just going to steal it, I'm just going to take it. The opportunity arises, you just take it. It can lead into adultery, maybe someone who is not content in their marriage, not satisfied with the spouse that they have, right? They are not happy in their life, they are not thankful that God has blessed them with a spouse, they are not happy, so that is going to lead them into looking at other women and coveting someone else's wife or coveting some other woman that you are not married to, and can lead into adultery. It can cause someone to lie about, even just in the workplace, right? There is a job, there is a position that you want that someone else has, that can cause people to lie about that person and get them in trouble and then maybe, hey, you are next up in line, now you are going to take over that spot. There are so many things that you can look at where this covetous attitude, this covetous heart can lead you into other things, so don't let this get started in your life, don't let this even creep up and start to rear it's ugly head in your life. Try to get it taken care of before it leads to these other things. I mean even in extreme cases, that is where rape and other violent crimes and these things come from, is people who are covetous and they want to have it, and they want to have something that doesn't belong to them and they just want to take it. And it builds up and this is not something that happens overnight. This is not something, you know the rapist doesn't just, they are perfectly normal, everything is going great for them and then the next day they are just like boom, they are out committing some violent crime against somebody. This is something that happens over time, it happens gradually and this is something that can creep in and it starts with that love of money, it starts with that looking at it and desiring and just wanting to have more money and more material things and just possessing more things and starting to get covetous and looking at things and just wanting more and more and more. Don't let this creep into your life, it is going to lead, it is going to pierce you through with many sorrows. So we are going to deal a little bit more with some covetousness, because there are two aspects, I told you covetousness and complaining that have to deal with not being content in your life. Hebrews 13 verse 5 says, let your conversation be without covetousness and be content with such things that you have as you have. So you notice he says look, let your conversation be without covetousness. First of all, even your speaking, your talking, your conversation, the things that you talk about, don't have covetousness on the things that you talk about. Don't be talking about the things that you don't have and how much you want them. Don't even talk about it. It should be in your heart, don't be speaking about it. And then it says, be content with such things as you have. For he had said, I will never leave thee nor for safety. So that we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. Now, I think it is great, the reason why he tells us be content with such things as you have is because he had said, I will never leave thee nor for safety. There is no reason to be covetous of anything else and not to be content with what you have when you just know you have the comfort that Jesus Christ is never going to leave you or forsake you. If you are saved today, if you put your faith on Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ has made that promise that I will never leave thee nor for safety. He is never going to leave you. There is no reason you need anything else besides Jesus Christ. If you have Jesus Christ in your life, that is all you need. You can be content with that. You don't need anything else. He will not leave you. He will not forsake you. No matter what happens to you, no matter how low you are in your life, no matter what things are going on, Jesus Christ will not leave you. You can be content with that. You ought to be happy with that and praise God that you don't need anything else. You don't need to have any material. If you don't need to have these possessions, if you have Jesus Christ, he will never leave thee nor forsake you. Turn to Ecclesiastes chapter number 2. Take that as a comfort with anything. Anytime you think about things that you don't have, things that aren't going right in your life, you want to complain, you want to start being covetous about things, hey, you have Jesus Christ. That is the best thing you could ever have. Don't be deceived in the following half of the riches of this world and especially labor and be rich where that is your main focus and that is your main drive. Now look, we all ought to work, especially as men, we need to work, we need to provide for our families. That is something that God tells us that we need to do. We need to be out there working with our hands and earning our living and providing. That is what we are supposed to do as men. But don't get caught up in this mindset then of having to work so much where your main drive is just well I just need to make more money, I just need to make more money, I just need to make more money. Your heart is going to be in the wrong place and I will tell you what Solomon is going to tell us here in Ecclesiastes chapter 2 without you even having to discover it for yourself where that ends up and just having that desire to work and make more money and where that is what you are focused on. Because Solomon was able to pursue pretty much everything that people can pursue to find happiness. These are the things that people will turn to and we are going to see in Ecclesiastes chapter number 2, people will turn to when they are not happy, when they are not content in their life. We are going to see a bunch of things here that Solomon was capable of doing because of his position and his power and his wealth and all of these things that he had. Look at verse number 1 and start reading Ecclesiastes chapter 2. It says, I said in my heart, go to now I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure and behold this also is vanity. I just want my heart to be happy, I am going to enjoy mirth, happiness. He says vanity. Verse 2, I said of laughter, it is mad and of mirth, what doeth it? I sought in mine heart to give myself unto wine, so I started drinking, yet acquainting mine heart with wisdom, until I hold on folly, folly like foolishness, till I might see what was that good for the sons of men, which they should do under the heaven all the days of their life. I made me great works, I built me houses, I planted me vineyards, I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kinds of fruits. I made me pools of water to water therewith the wood that bringeth forth trees. I got me servants and maidens and had servants born in my house. Also I had great possessions of great and small cattle above all that were in Jerusalem before me. I gathered me also silver and gold and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces. I gathered me men singers and women singers and the delights of the sons of men as musical instruments and that of all sorts. So I was great and increased, more than all that were before me in Jerusalem, also my wisdom remained with me. And whatsoever mine eyes desired, I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy. He said anything that my eyes wanted, if I saw that, I just got it. Anything at all I wanted, anything in the world, whatever cross my heart if I wanted, boom, I got it. For my heart rejoiced in all my labor, and this was my portion of all my labor. Now look at what he says in verse 11, because he has everything. This is what you work for, right? He's saying mirth, laughter, these are wine, he built great things, he did great works, he planted things, he got servants, which means he was a business owner, he had people working for him, he got silver, gold, treasures, he had singers, I mean he had people singing for him, he had musical instruments, he had all this stuff, whatever he wanted, he got it. Look at verse 11, it says, Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labor that I had labored to do, and behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun. You say, how is that even possible? How can he have all this stuff? And he said, look, it's all vanity, which means it's all meaningless, it's vain, there's no point to this stuff. He has all these things, all the things that the world's going to tell you, you will be the happiest person in the world if you could just have anything that you want, if you could just work and get all these treasures and silver and gold and servants and wine and whatever. He said, look, it was all vanity, it's all vexation of spirit. Look at verse 17, it gets even worse, he says, Therefore I hated life, because the work that is wrought under the sun is grievous unto me, for all is vanity and vexation of spirit. This is what's going to happen if you're not content with the things that you have. If you're just striving just to work and to get more things, well, if I only got this, I'd be happy. If I only could just make this much more money, if I could only do this, then I'd be happy. It's not going to be happy, it's not going to be satisfying. If you're not content with what you have now, you'll never be content with the things that you have. Learn to be content with what you have now. Hey, if you get more things, great. If you lose things, whatever, be content with what you have in whatever given moment you're in. He comes up to a conclusion in verse 12 of Ecclesiastes, that's right at the end of the chapter, right at the end of the book. Ecclesiastes 12.13 says, Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Ecclesiastes is a great book, I recommend you read it. It's a lot of wisdom from Solomon and all these things that he did in his position. He's called the preacher here. All the stuff that he did, but he comes up to this conclusion. It's kind of sad, but ultimately in verse 13 of Ecclesiastes 12 he says, Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of men. Don't get all wrapped up in the cares of this world, in the covetousness and all the things that you can get and the wealth you can attain. You have the wrong focus if that's what you're focused on. Don't worry about your status, don't even worry about how other people look at you and how other people view you. Be content with where you are, with the things that you have, and just make sure you do it right by God. That's basically what he's saying. Keep His commandments and fear God. That's it, that's your whole duty. Be content with that. And that's what's going to matter. Matthew 6 says, Lay not up for yourself treasures upon earth, where moth and rust are corrupt and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust are corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. Don't be worried about laying up for yourself treasures on earth. We don't need this. It's going to be gone, it's going to vanish away. It's all just going to perish. We have a short period of time on this life, whatever things you accumulate, whatever physical things you possess, whatever riches you possess, it's going to be gone. It's going to vanish. And you know what? Even if you have it before you die, you know, moth, rust corrupts it. You know, these things, people can come in and steal it. It can be here one day, gone the next. You don't want to have your heart so tied up in these things that can so easily just be removed. Again, the reason why we can take comfort and be content with the things they have, because if we have our heart on the things of God, if we have our heart on heavenly things, on Jesus Christ, hey, Jesus Christ will never leave thee nor for safety. These physical riches, they'll leave you. They'll forsake you. They'll be gone. They'll fly away. But Jesus Christ never will. So if you have your heart focused on the things of Jesus, rather on the things of this world and the riches of this world, it will never let you down. It says where your treasure is there will your heart be also. So if you're worried about money and things and just getting more stuff, hey, that's where your heart's going to be. And that's a sin. Your heart not ought to be there. In verse number 25 of Matthew 6 it says, Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink, nor yet for your body what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat and the body than raiment? He said, Look, I don't even want you to think about this. Don't worry about what are you going to eat? What are you going to drink? Hey, what kind of clothes are you going to wear? It's not important. It doesn't matter. He said, Is it life more than just eating and drinking and dressing yourself? Life consists of a lot more important things than just being focused on those things. And he goes on and explains, Behold the fowls in the air. They don't work. They don't have to do anything. But God takes care of them. God still takes care of the birds. He takes care of the animals. He says, Are ye not much better than they? He's like, Look, you're a person. You're a human being made after the image of God. Aren't you way better than these animals that God still takes care of them? So if God is going to take care of them, don't you think He's going to take care of you? He says, in verse 31 of Matthew 6, Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewithal shall we be clothed? Verse 33, But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. Look, you don't even have to worry about these. If you seek the kingdom of God, if you seek His righteousness, if your heart is in the right place, if you're seeking God, God will take care of these things for you. They'll be added unto you so that you don't even have to think about them and worry about them. You've been given a thought. Get your heart right. Now we've read a bunch of passages regarding people being covetousness, having covetousness instead of being content. Now I want to focus a little bit more on the complaining aspect because turn to Exodus chapter number 14, or Exodus chapter number 15, sorry. Because this is a problem that the children of Israel had in Moses' day. This is a complaining attitude. They were not content. And of all people you would think, and it always amazes me when you read the book of Exodus and you read the story of the children of Israel coming out of Egypt, I mean, they were in bondage, they were in slavery, they had taskmasters over and they weren't free. They had to do this slave labor. And God sends a deliverer to save them out of it. They see all of these miracles, I mean, things that just have to be by the finger of God. There's no other explanation for it. They're seeing these things with their eyes, they're seeing these things happen. They're led away, Moses leads them out of Egypt, parched the Red Sea. I mean, can you imagine if you're running away from this army and people want to destroy you and kill you, and you're stuck, and you're like, oh man, what are we going to do? We've got this big sea in front of us. And Moses parts it so that the water just lifts up on both sides. I mean, completely amazing. It's an entire miracle. There's no way, like, that's something you would never forget for the rest of your life, I would think. I mean, it's such a huge event that would happen. You cross safely, then you turn around and see, oh wait, look, everyone that's chasing us now, the water just covered them and just wiped them all out. God just completely saved you physically, 100%, and then completely kept you safe. And you witnessed all this stuff, and you experienced all this stuff, and then to go about and start complaining. Oh, we're hungry, we're thirsty, you know, whatever, we need this, we need that. And just start complaining and complaining and complaining. After these great miracles, I mean, God just saved you. What do you think He's going to do with you after He did all of those miracles to bring you out and to show you who He was? Again, it's something that amazes me reading this. And we see in Exodus 15, now the first part of the chapter, Moses sings this song, the praising God, the glorifying God, but then it's like immediately the murmuring starts, the complaining, the little just whispering and complaining about Moses. Basically, look at verse number 22 of chapter 15. It says, so Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur, and they went three days in the wilderness and found no water. So, okay, here they are, they're going through the wilderness. Now, it has been three days and they haven't found water, so you've got to understand that they are experiencing physical thirst. It's not like they just came out and they're like, the very same day, they're just like, oh, I want a drink of water. They're experiencing a thirst that most of us probably haven't experienced. So, they are having this craving from their flesh. Their flesh is at war with them and they're saying, look, you need a drink, but the thing is that they still have lack of faith and still sin. Look at verse 23, it says, and when they came to Merah, they could not drink of the water. So, they finally come to the waters, they could not drink of the waters of Merah, for they were bitter. Therefore, the name of it was called Merah. 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, that he had made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them. It says, and said, if thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all the 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 then look at verse 27, it says, and they came to Elin, where were twelve wells of water, and three score and ten palm trees, and they encamped there by the water. So, get this, what happens in the story, because, ok, they go three days, and then they start complaining, saying, look, we need water, what are you going to do Moses, Moses, look, we need water, you brought us out of this wilderness, we need this water. Now, then Moses goes to God, and God answers their prayers, and says, ok, look, when they finally get to the waters, they are bitter, they can't drink them, they are poisoned, you can't drink them, right, it's like salt water or whatever, you can't drink salt water to be hydrated, it's going to kill you. So, they get to these waters, these waters are bitter, so now it's just like, oh man, we have no water, what are we going to do? Moses prays to God, and God answers their prayer, and says, ok, you know, here, now he made those bitter waters so that they weren't bitter anymore, and they could drink the water, and it was fine, but then they get to the place, like the very next verse, then they get to Elam, where there's twelve wells of water and three score and ten palm trees, they get to the place that God had already prepared. God was leading them, God had them on the journey, and he knew what was going on, he knew that he needed to drink water, he had this place already set up for them, but they started complaining before they made it there. They didn't have the faith to know that, hey, if God's going to perform all these miracles, he's going to take care of us along the way, too. We're going to trust in God's plan and what he has for us, and not get caught up in even the physical appetites of our flesh. We're just going to trust in God, God's got something planned for us, he's going to take care of us, and not trust in, and he did. I mean, twelve wells of water and seventy palm trees, I mean, this is a great lush place that he was bringing them into. They just needed to have a little, just needed to tough it out a little bit longer, and they would have been there, you know, without even having any complaints, everything would have been great and just fine. They had a lapse of faith. But see, this is just the beginning of the murmurings. God doesn't get upset with them over this first time. It's the continual complaining that they have, and I've got a lot of pages of notes, I'm going to skip through a lot of these because I just simply don't have the time. But in Exodus, they basically just continue their complaining in chapter sixteen, you know, the murmuring, murmuring, murmuring, over and over again, you're going to see the murmuring against Moses, the murmuring against God, and it says in Exodus 16, it says that Moses said, this shall be when the Lord shall give you in the evening flesh to eat, and in the morning bread to the full, for that the Lord heareth your murmurings, which you murmur against him. And what are we? Your murmurings are not against us, but against the Lord. So they were like murmuring to Moses and murmuring about Moses and saying, oh man Moses, you're not feeding us, you're not taking care of us. And he's like, look, you're not murmuring against me, you're murmuring against God. And this is where they're complaining about food. So first they're complaining about not having water, then they complain about not having food. And God feeds them with manna. Manna is the bread from heaven. God makes this miracle where he basically makes the dew, it's like dew on the ground, on the plants and stuff. When they go out, they collect it, and they can eat it. And this is just God providing food for them. All they have to do there, you have to work for it besides just going out and gathering. They just go pick it up, gather it together, and you have food for the day. And they couldn't store it up, they couldn't keep more of it, they couldn't get cabbages, and just decide to hoard a whole bunch of it for themselves and lay out more of it. No. They had what was good for them for that day, so that they could continue to rely on God to take care of them. But this still wasn't good enough. They continued to complain. They weren't even happy with this food. It was good for a while, they were ok with it for a while, then they started to complain some more. Turn to Numbers, chapter number 11. Because we're going to see this ungrateful attitude. It's a complaining, ungrateful, unthankful attitude, not content with the things that they have. And this is something that can creep in everyone's life. We want to make sure that we can stop this as soon as it gets started in our lives. Numbers, chapter 11, verse number 1. Genesis has those ridiculous numbers. Numbers, chapter 11, verse number 1 says, and when the people complained, it displeased the Lord. So look, your complaining is going to displease God. God doesn't want to hear your complaining. It says, and the Lord heard it, and His anger was kindled. So not only does it displease Him, He gets angry about it. And the fire of the Lord burnt among them and consumed them. And the people cried unto Moses, and when Moses prayed unto the Lord, the fire was quenched. And he called the name of the place Tabra, because the fire of the Lord burnt among them. And the mixed multitude that was among them fell a-lusting. So again, this covetousness, this lusting, this desiring to have things. And the children of Israel also wept again and said, who shall give us flesh to eat? Now mind you, at this point, they've already been fed with the manna. They already have sustenance. They already are being provided physically for their needs. They have food that they can eat, but they went lusting. Now they want flesh. This manna isn't good enough. It's not meat. Say, look, we want to eat some meat. Back when we were in Egypt, we had some meat. We want to have some meat. We really want this stuff. And that's what it says in verse 5 of Numbers 11. 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. We had all this great food back in Egypt. Yeah, back when you were in slavery. Back when you were in bondage. Oh yeah, now you're going to remember all the great things about Egypt, right? Forget about the taskmasters that were whipping you and making you do all this work. It's how easy you forget that now when you just want some food. Oh yeah, we had a great in Egypt, yeah, when you were a slave. But now our soul is dried away. There is nothing at all besides this manna before our eyes. Again, God has a miracle. He's miraculously providing them with food to take care of their needs. Oh, we have nothing besides this manna. It's just become so commonplace now. It's no longer a miracle in their eyes. They're no longer thankful that God's given them anything at all to put in their stomach to stay alive. That's how it is with so many things. You get used to having it. You get used to having things. At first it's great and you're thankful and you love it. Then it wears off. Then it just becomes, oh yeah. We all know that too. I'm so thankful we got in this house. I love this house and it's great. God had His hand in getting us in this place. This is more than I can ever imagine. It's a great gift and I'm very thankful for it. I hope I never get to a place where it's just like, oh yeah, this house stinks. I want another one. I want a bigger one. I want more stuff. That's wickedness. That is ungratefulness. That is not being content. God has provided a lot for you and for me. God has provided a lot for all of us in this room today. I know that for a fact. God has provided so many things for us. Don't get this attitude like the children. Oh, besides this manna that we had. They went lusting after this flesh. It describes what it is too. It sounds good to me. I don't know. People went about and gathered it in verse number 8 and ground it in mills. They beat it mortar, baked it in pans, made cakes of it. The taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil. It doesn't say in this chapter, but it also tasted like honey. They had this sweet. They did all kinds of things with it. They baked it. They prepared it all different kinds of ways, but they still weren't satisfied. Then it says in verse 10, then Moses heard the people weep throughout their families. Every man adore his tent and the anger of the Lord was kindled greatly. Moses also was displeased. God's angry. Moses isn't happy. You see this. Look what happens with Moses. Look at verse number 11. Moses said unto the Lord, wherefore has thou afflicted thy servant? Wherefore have I not found favor in thy sight that thou layest the burden of all this people upon me? Have I conceived all this people? Have I begotten them that thou shouldst say unto me, carry them in thy bosom as a nursing father beareth a sucking child unto the land which thou swearest unto their fathers? Whence should I have flesh to give unto all this people? For they weep unto me, saying, Give us flesh that we may eat. I am not able to bear all this people alone because it is too heavy for me. These people are just weighing down on Moses. All this complaining is just weighing down on him, weighing down on him, weighing down on him. He just hears it. He is just constantly complaining. This is what happens when you complain to other people. This is what it is like in their ears. It wears on you. It builds. It builds. It builds to where it is like, just stop complaining. Moses is like, look, I can't do anything about this. This is not my power. Even if I wanted to, there is nothing I can do about this. Basically, stop complaining. He is going to God and saying, look, God, I can't handle this. This is too much. This is too much of a burden for me. Look what he says in verse 15. And if thou deal thus with me, kill me, I pray thee, out of hand, if I have found favor in thy sight, and let me not see my wretchedness. He is telling God, he is at the point where he wants to die. He is saying, God, just kill me. I can't deal with this anymore. I can't deal with all of the complaining. And I will tell you what, when you complain, it is infectious. People start to hear you complain and then they start thinking, well, yeah, you know what, I don't really like that either. And it just grows and it spreads and it is something that spreads like a cancer. And it brings everybody's morale down. Nobody is happy when you are complaining about things. Obviously, when you are complaining about something, it is bad for you. You are not happy. You are not joyous about it. You are complaining about it. You are not content. Moses was ready for God just to kill him. It bothered him so much. Just from hearing all of this complaining. Now, on the contrary, when someone has a great attitude, in spite of adversity and in spite of problems and in spite of difficulties, hey, that is great. Man, that is edifying. That is uplifting. You see people, I know some of my friends, I have seen them go through some really difficult times. I mean really hard times. They have all kinds of things going against them, yet they still have a good attitude. They are still content. They still just, you know, I mean they could be going through the worst financial hardships, health problems, all kinds of things and you see people like that and you know what? That helps build you up. That helps edify you. That is like, it is such an exact counter opposite of the complaining. It is seeing someone with a good attitude, someone who is content and someone who is dealing with things properly. It is a great spirit to have and that is the way God says we all ought to have that type of spirit. Now, look what happens though, how God deals with complaining. If you are still at Numbers 11, look at verse 18 because God deals with this. You know, Moses is upset. He is ready to die and God deals with this complaining and it is not pretty. Look at verse 18, it says, And say thou unto the people, sanctify yourselves against tomorrow and ye shall eat flesh. For ye have wept in the ears of the Lord, saying, Who shall give us flesh to eat? For it was well with us in Egypt. Therefore the Lord will give you flesh and ye shall eat. Ye shall not eat one day, nor two days, nor five days, neither ten days, nor twenty days, but even a whole month until it come out at your nostrils and it be loathsome unto you. Say, Okay, you want to eat flesh? You want to eat flesh? I will give you flesh. I am going to give you so much flesh. He says, You are going to hate it and it is going to be coming out of your nose. I am going to give you so much. He says, I will satisfy you. You have this lust in your heart for something, you saying that what I am giving you is not good enough? Okay, I will give you the desire of your heart. We will see how much you like it after a month. And it says because you have despised the Lord which is among you and have wept before him saying, Why came we forth out of Egypt? And that is a terrible attitude that they had. God did all these things for them to bring them out of Egypt and then they are saying, We just wish we were back in there so we could eat this food. How ungrateful is that? And look at verse number 31 of Numbers 11. It says, And there went forth a wind from the Lord and brought quails from the sea and let them fall by the camp as it were a day's journey on this side and as it were a day's journey on the other side. So they got their camp and he brings in these quails and they just fall down. And they just fall down dead. And it is an entire day's journey on either side of the camp. They walk out and there are just quails on the ground for an entire day's worth of walking from the camp. And it says, And as it were two cubits high upon the face of the earth. Two cubits, a cubit is about a foot and a half, so about three feet high of quails for a day's journey on either side. That is a lot of birds. That is a lot of quail. And now you can see where he said, It is going to be coming out your nostrils. You are going to hate this. You are not even going to want to eat this stuff anymore. And the people stood up all that day and all that night and all the next day and they gathered the quails. He that gathered the leaves gathered ten omers and they spread them all from themselves around about the camp. And look at verse number 33 because God is not done judging them. And while the flesh was yet between their teeth, air was chewed. So they just started eating it. The wrath of the Lord was kindled against the people and the Lord smote the people with a very great plague. So not only did God say all this stuff, but they started dying for it. Their lust. God was so displeased with that, that He sent a plague and said, Now that you finally have this, what you have been lusting after in your mouth, they started dying. The murmurings of the people ultimately, you can look this up on your own. Numbers 14. It was one of the reasons why they were not allowed to enter into the promise land. It was their ungratefulness, their stiff necks, their hard hearts, and not having this humble attitude. And their murmurings and complainings. Numbers 14 kind of shows you that they were not allowed to enter into the promise land because of it. Now turn if you would to 1 Corinthians chapter number 10. Actually turn to 2 Corinthians chapter number 12. I will summarize, we are running out of time. 1 Corinthians chapter number 10 basically is explaining that look, all of these things that happened in the Old Testament, they are examples for us. It says, 1 Corinthians 10 by John the 10th verse says, But with many of them God was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were our examples to the intent that we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. And then it says in verse 10, It says, Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them for in samples, and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed, lest he fall. So look at all of these things in the Old Testament, these stories that we read about the people, children of Israel and in Exodus, they were coming out of going into the promised land, they were walking through the wilderness, all these things that happened to them and what they were doing, they were all written for our examples. They were all written for us to learn from and to see this and see what happened to them when they had this complaining attitude, when they weren't grateful, when they weren't content with what they had. And he says, Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed, lest he fall. Look, this can happen to anybody. This is written for our example so that you don't repeat the error that was already given here. We can all fall into this trap, we can all start having this ungrateful attitude and not being content. Don't let this creep in. And he says in verse 13, this is a great verse, 1st Corinthians 10, 13, Therefore there hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man. So any temptation you're tempted with, look, this is common to all men. You're not being grateful or whatever it may be, this lusting, it's common. It's common to men. But God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it. So he says, look, anything that you're tempted with, God does not put you through more than you're able to withstand. He says, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it. Anything you go through, God will not put you through more than you're capable of going through. And keep that in mind because that's a promise. As sure as God's word is true, this promise is true. You will not go through. So even when you get to the point where you think you're at a breaking point, I mean even like Moses, he was at a breaking point, right? He was at this breaking point where the children of Israel kept complaining to him and complaining to him. He wanted to die. God made a way out. God delivered. God helped him. And God will do that to you. Don't have a lapse of faith. Don't give up on God as the children of Israel did before they got to that great place with the twelve wells of water and the oasis that God had set up for them. Don't fall short. God's plan out for you is not going to put you through more than you're able to bear. And this all gets to the heart of the problem, which is, with not being contented, is a problem with the heart. This is something that comes out of your heart. Now, it's one thing to give lip service and to just say, oh yeah, I'm content with the things that I have and just to say it, but it's another thing to have it in your heart. And we all ought to have a heart that's content. And the first thing to do, and we're wrapping things up here, the first thing we need to do is just get it in your head. And this is the easy part. We read all these scriptures. We read a lot of stuff about covetousness and contentment and complaining. First, just understand in your head. You could look at this and say, you know what, yeah, this is right. This is what the Bible is teaching. This is what the Bible is saying. I understand this. That's the easy part, to get that and understand. Look, this is wrong. Hear the scripture and believe it and decide, hey, I need to be more content with my life. I need to stop my complaining. I need to not be covetous. I need to just get this right and the Bible teaches it very clearly. The hard part is actually changing your heart because this is where the problems stem from, is from this discontent that's in your heart. Now, one of the things that can help with that, memorize some of these scriptures on being content and try to catch yourself. Maybe if you start to complain, when you start to get these thoughts of covetousness, try to catch yourself and be thinking about, oh, no, the Bible says this. The Bible says be content with such things as you have. They're worth having food and clothing, you know, be there with content. This is the attitude that we need to have and try to make these changes in your life. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 12. I think that's where I had you turn. 2 Corinthians chapter 12. Paul, the Apostle Paul is an excellent example of someone who is content with his place and someone who had an extremely humble attitude. Look at verse number 7 of 2 Corinthians chapter 12. He says, and lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan, the buffeting, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from me. So he said, look, he had some kind of physical ailment, some things, just as a thorn in the flesh. He's not very specific on it, but he has this physical problem. And he says, I besought the Lord thrice. Three times he goes to God and he prays for me. He asks him, help me out with this, God. You know, whatever it is, pain, some kind of suffering, injury, whatever it is, he goes to God, God, help me with this. Verse 9, and he said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then am I strong. Basically, what he's saying is, look, God doesn't answer his prayer. He goes to God, he says, look, God, help me out with this. I'm really having a hard time with this. I have this physical problem. Please help me with this. God says, no. He says, my grace is sufficient for me. That's enough. The grace I've given to you, he says, that's enough, and the reason why is that my strength is made perfect in weakness. You say, how is God going to use me? I'm so weak. God's going to use you more than someone who's strong. God's strength is made perfect in weakness. God likes to take a little bit, the smallest things, and do a huge miracle with it, and just to show that he's the one that gets the credit, he's the one that gets the glory, he's the one that gets the honor. You think, man, I can't give the gospel to someone. I'm not really good. I don't know what to say. I'm not good with my mouth. I'm shy. I can't talk to people. Hey, God will use you. God's the one that's going to do the saving anyways. You just give yourself up to him and just let him use you, and he will work through you, and his power, his strength is going to be made perfect in your weakness. And the attitude that the apostle Paul had in verse number 10, he said, therefore, I take pleasure. He's happy about it. He takes pleasure in his infirmities. Infirmities is your weakness, is your sickness, is your physical ailments. It reproaches people, just saying bad things about you, in necessities. So even when you need things, if you need clothing, if you need food, if you have things that you need in your life and you don't have them, in persecutions, people are railing on you. People are getting on you. You're being thrown in jail, beat, whatever it is, in distresses for Christ's sake. He says he takes pleasure in those things because he understands that, look, when I'm weak, he's strong through Christ, through God. God's going to make him strong, and God's strength will be glorified and magnified in him through his weakness. When your car breaks down, when you get sick, maybe the kids destroy the entire house, right, who know that happens around here. Maybe some major appliance that you use all the time breaks, you know, whatever it may be. Whatever evil it might befall you, be content. Be content. God's with you. God's going to be perfect when you're weak. God's not going to let anything bad happen. God's not going to leave you or forsake you, okay? Be content with the things that you have. Contentment's more than just being thankful for the things that you have. You know, it's one thing that can help you become more content with what you have, is just keeping the proper perspective. I'm going to close on this, because sometimes it's hard to do, especially when things seem to be going on, but we need to have this right perspective. First thing that you can do when things are going wrong, or when sometimes you're right is, first of all, just look at what you have. Look at all of the other things that aren't going wrong. Look at all of the other things that are right in your life, and all the blessings that you've already received, and try to train your mind to work that way. And it's hard. Look, I'm not saying any of this is easy, either. The easy part is just understanding it and hearing, okay, yeah, you hear what I'm saying. The hard part's going to be when you leave here and you try to make these changes in your life. That's the hard part. And the hard part's going to be stopping yourself from having a murmuring heart and from having a covetous attitude. But what you need to do is just stay focused on the good things in your life. Because as soon as you start focusing on the bad things, as soon as you start focusing on the things that are wrong, that's when you're going to be complaining, that's when you're going to be covetous, that's when these things are going to be happening, when you're just all wrapped up in what's wrong. Don't be wrapped up in the things that are wrong. Be wrapped up in the things that are right. Be wrapped up in how you can serve God. Be wrapped up in the things that are just going well in your life. And then these other things that happen won't be as big of a deal and you can continue to stay content. I mean, I think of my children, if they do something and it just seems like, oh man, it's the worst thing in the world, how could you do that? You wiped out my entire hard drive, right? That would probably be something for me. Because I have so much work and so much stuff built into that computer. And man, if they were to wipe out that hard drive, I'd want to kill them. I don't know why. But here's the thing, right? And this is something I could relate to. Hopefully you guys can too. I could have a bad attitude and I could just focus and just be like, man, what am I going to do? I can't believe this happened and just start complaining about it and I can't believe these kids and whatever. I want to just be content. Obviously there's a problem we've got to deal with and if there's discipline that needs to be made, of course you can do the appropriate discipline. But it would be wrong for me just to dwell on it and just have this bad attitude or just think like, oh, if I had three computers, then I could make sure that even if this happens, if I can't afford that, then no. I mean, I shouldn't be worried about that. Basically just God's given me a lot of other things. We'll get past that. You know, there's obstacles that come up in your life. You could get past them. You could deal with it and it's going to take patience. It's going to take humbleness, weakness, and having a content attitude and just being grateful for the things that you have. And I guarantee you, I guarantee you this, if you can get this down, if you could get this contentment down in your life, you will have so much more joy in your life and so much more happiness. If you could just learn to wherever state you're in, whatever state you're in right now, be happy with that state. And then in Philippians 4, this is the last verse I'm going to turn to, Philippians 4 verse 11, real famous passage. The Bible says, not that I speak in respect of watch, for I have learned in whatsoever state I bear with to be content. I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. No matter what your situation is, no matter where you're at, we are instructed to be content. Apostle Paul learned to be content. We can learn. It's a process. It's something you're going to have to do. Learn to be content with the things that you have. You may be rich. You may be poor. Whatever it is, either way, just be content with it. And maybe you're rich today, maybe you'll be poor tomorrow. Maybe you have nothing. Maybe you're poor today, maybe you'll be rich tomorrow. Whatever. It doesn't matter. The things that you possess don't matter. Just be content with wherever you're at and be content and take solace in the fact that Jesus Christ will never leave you or forsake you. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, I thank you so much for your support. God, I pray that you would please work in all of our hearts. I pray that we wouldn't have this covetous attitude, especially at this time of year, dear God, where there's so many people just looking at the things that they want and they want to have and they want other people to get them, dear God, and help us not to have that type of mindset or that attitude. And Lord, I pray that you would please just help us to be able to look around us, look at the things that we have, look at our own clothing, look at our families, look at the things that we have that are going well in our life, dear God, and especially for our salvation, dear Lord, and the fact that you're with us and you're never going to leave us. Any person in this world might leave us, but you never will, dear God, and that's amazing. And we love you for that, dear God, and help us to remember that and be mindful of that, and not to take it for granted as just, oh yeah, God's there for me, and just treat it like it's nothing. Lord, help us to be content with the things that we have and not to have this wicked heart, dear Lord, but we love you. We thank you so much for all the blessings you've given us. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.