Speaker 1: Hey, what up?
Speaker 1: It's Mark Carter on, the Pastor of Fierce Church.
Speaker 1: Welcome to our podcast.
Speaker 1: I'm so pumped that you're able to join us today.
Speaker 1: I hope this encourages you, inspires you, strengthens you, gives you hope to keep pressing on, and it's my prayer that this sermon gives you a more expansive view of God's love for you.
Speaker 1: Enjoy the message.
Speaker 1: I was 24 years old and I'd been sick for almost a year.
Speaker 1: This is that debilitating sickness that shut my life down and I throw myself on the bed.
Speaker 1: I say God, I don't know why you're allowing this to happen.
Speaker 1: Do you understand what this is costing me?
Speaker 1: It's costing me money, it's costing me time.
Speaker 1: It's costing me all the progress I thought I was going to be able to make during this season.
Speaker 1: There was pain, there was accusation, there was a demanding and there was like a forlorn I don't know what to do moment going on in me.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you ever had that moment where you were at the end of your rope and I throw myself down.
Speaker 1: This series is about being stretched.
Speaker 1: The last series that we did around Exodus, the road out, was all you know.
Speaker 1: It was really figuratively talking about people getting saved, coming to know the Lord, jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: See, just like when we come to Jesus by grace and faith, it's absolutely free.
Speaker 1: The Israelites were saved out of Egypt by God, absolutely free, like they didn't do anything right.
Speaker 1: God just decided he loved them.
Speaker 1: He's going to get them out of slavery and he really does the same thing with us.
Speaker 1: He looks at us, he loves us in Christ and he decides to call us out to himself.
Speaker 1: But then it's time, as time goes by, to grow up, and that's what this series is about.
Speaker 1: It's about us taking steps toward maturity.
Speaker 1: Now God relates to us in different ways sometimes, depending what's going on.
Speaker 1: I don't know if this happens for you.
Speaker 1: I have different ways of relating to characters in my life.
Speaker 1: Okay, so I relate to the barista typically a pretty similar way.
Speaker 1: Right, it's not too deep, we don't go very far.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: It's like hey, how are you doing?
Speaker 1: This is what I'll have, thank you.
Speaker 1: And then I walk around like that was our way.
Speaker 1: That's how we relate to one another the Amazon guy or gal that comes to the door that has my package.
Speaker 1: We don't go very deep either.
Speaker 1: It's just kind of like hey, you're doing what you do, you're the Amazon person.
Speaker 1: I come out the door and get the thing.
Speaker 1: That's the nature of our relationship.
Speaker 1: God relates certain ways to everybody.
Speaker 1: The ologians call it common grace.
Speaker 1: The way he relates to everybody is he puts his reign on the godly and the ungodly.
Speaker 1: He lets everybody see the sunshine, just about.
Speaker 1: He causes everybody to experience fresh air and light.
Speaker 1: And there's just way he's being good all the time to everybody.
Speaker 1: That's called common grace.
Speaker 1: But then there's another way of relating that God does for those who come to him through Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: It is the blessing that is in Christ.
Speaker 1: He relates to us and we begin to understand, we begin to resist the thing that makes us want to run from God.
Speaker 1: Did you know that everybody has this thing inside of them that wants to run from God?
Speaker 1: John 30, 320 says it this way, for everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light lest his deeds should be exposed.
Speaker 1: That's really everybody.
Speaker 1: Everybody does wrong and everybody, like an animal, is afraid of you.
Speaker 1: We're afraid of God.
Speaker 1: On some level we know that if he evaluates us morally, even if we can defend ourselves, I might not feel okay in the glory of his light.
Speaker 1: It makes me want to hide.
Speaker 1: Well, he begins to override that in Christ.
Speaker 1: He begins to draw us to woes and we begin to see the heart of love of the Father that would seek us out through Christ.
Speaker 1: We begin to see that he really is worthy of obedience.
Speaker 1: We begin to see this.
Speaker 1: Here's something else you begin to see and you don't see it before.
Speaker 1: Here you begin to see the horror of your own treason against the holy God that slowly starts to appear before your understanding.
Speaker 1: You're like oh, I knew we were supposed to obey, but I'm realizing I am a traitor to the very one who is most for me.
Speaker 1: Yet at the same time we're seeing the attractiveness of Jesus and how much he wants to open arms to say I want to forgive you, I love you, I will bring you into the relationship with the Father that you longed for and I'm just going to forgive you.
Speaker 1: That is a special grace and what it causes, the blessing that comes, is relationship with God through Christ.
Speaker 1: Like.
Speaker 1: You get close, you get to walk, you slowly learn to like, hear from him over your lifetime, not to mention you're completely forgiven and you go to heaven to be with him forever.
Speaker 1: That's a different layer of blessing, but there's another way of relating.
Speaker 1: This is beyond that.
Speaker 1: This is a life that is increasingly knowing the presence of God.
Speaker 1: It's increasingly blessed in a different way.
Speaker 1: We're receiving new revelation from God.
Speaker 1: He's using it's not that pain goes away, but he's using pain to refine us and to make us more like there's a blessing that he's relating to us in a certain way.
Speaker 1: See, before that we might have had pain and it's like well, you know that's really hard.
Speaker 1: Now God begins to take the pain and say I'm going to use this to draw you toward me.
Speaker 1: If somebody say, if, if you'll lean into me during your times of hardship, I will make us closer, it's an increasing blessing.
Speaker 1: Now here's the thing if you begin to drift away, it will get darker.
Speaker 1: The blessing will start to notice things like why isn't this going so well anymore?
Speaker 1: And it's really just God's gentle way of like saying come back, come back, I can do stuff about that if you'll come back Now.
Speaker 1: God doesn't get us out of all trials.
Speaker 1: In fact, according to the Bible, god sends some, allows some.
Speaker 1: You're not going to get away from difficulties, but, man, I'll tell you what the difficulties of planet earth are.
Speaker 1: So much better with Jesus than without Him.
Speaker 1: Feeling distant from Him.
Speaker 1: We're going to talk about complaining today.
Speaker 1: Complaining Now.
Speaker 1: Don't complain about the complaining sermon, okay, and I just want you to.
Speaker 1: Everybody complains, I complain, you complain.
Speaker 1: The disciples of Jesus complained with Jesus, okay.
Speaker 1: So if you'll complain and you're around Jesus, it must be pretty deep in all of us.
Speaker 1: And he didn't condemn them, he didn't leave them, he's not going to leave you.
Speaker 1: And yet we got to wrestle with this idea that complaining is sin.
Speaker 1: Complaining is looking at our God and saying I don't quite trust you.
Speaker 1: I'm going to evaluate this a little different than you do.
Speaker 1: Even though it hurts you when I complain, even though you died on the cross for my sin, it still hurts you and I'm still going to do it.
Speaker 1: Here's what we do when we're complaining.
Speaker 1: We're really just evaluating everything.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 1: So I got this chair.
Speaker 1: Let's pretend this represents your arbitrary complaints, something you're just going to.
Speaker 1: Let's make sure everybody can see it your arbitrary complaints.
Speaker 1: You just come along and you're just like I'm going to measure this random thing.
Speaker 1: Hey, I don't like that.
Speaker 1: That's not the right measurement for me, and so I'm going to place my little puke button on it.
Speaker 1: Here's what I think of this, and I might come over here and say is this really the right width?
Speaker 1: Nope, I don't like it.
Speaker 1: So, just randomly, I decide I don't like it, so I'm going to puke on it for everybody, so everyone can see bam, I don't like that thing.
Speaker 1: I might measure who thinks this step is a good height?
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't think it is Randomly.
Speaker 1: I'm just going to complain about it and puke all over it and let everybody see.
Speaker 1: This is what I think.
Speaker 1: That's what complaining is.
Speaker 1: That's us just measuring, evaluating and puking.
Speaker 1: That's complaining.
Speaker 1: And so God wants to help us get a hold of this thing.
Speaker 1: Now there's responsibilities that we have.
Speaker 1: Okay, like not everything is complaining.
Speaker 1: If you realize, like you know, I should probably really be studying a little bit more, I need to spend a little bit more time with the kids, that's not necessarily complaining.
Speaker 1: But when there's something that's positioned in your life that either you can't do anything about or you're just not doing anything about, it becomes complaining.
Speaker 1: So I might complain about political leaders.
Speaker 1: I might complain.
Speaker 1: I don't like this, this meal that I got from Wendy's.
Speaker 1: I don't like this spiritual leader and what they're doing or how they're doing it.
Speaker 1: I don't like the way my family member is interacting and instead of like approaching them, instead of dealing with it on some level, complaining is I'm not going to do anything about it, I'm just going to puke on it.
Speaker 1: Complaining keeps us in the wilderness.
Speaker 1: That's what's happening with the Israelites.
Speaker 1: It keeps them in the wilderness, it keeps us in the wilderness, and that means it gets us increasingly lost.
Speaker 1: It gets us I can't see straight, and really what we're going to find out.
Speaker 1: Complaining is.
Speaker 1: Complaining is reinforcing unbelief.
Speaker 1: When we complain, we're saying hey, by the way, don't trust God about it.
Speaker 1: God doesn't have a plan for this.
Speaker 1: This is just random.
Speaker 1: God isn't in control, he's not sovereign.
Speaker 1: Therefore, I'm just going to measure this and say it's not worth very much.
Speaker 1: Now, some complaining is very light.
Speaker 1: It's like I'm complaining about I don't like the curfew, I don't like these tax papers that everybody has to do, and I'm complaining and I'm puking on it.
Speaker 1: I just want to own.
Speaker 1: Though there are heavier complaints.
Speaker 1: There are season complaints.
Speaker 1: There's a time when you cross over into maybe like a sickness that is a long term thing, or maybe like a wrestling match between two parents on a parenting strategy, and you realize this is going to go for a long time.
Speaker 1: I'm not getting out of this anytime soon.
Speaker 1: There is a version that you can still be complaining about that, but I just want to own that it's harder.
Speaker 1: It's harder because it's long term and it's wearying on us.
Speaker 1: But either way, complaining reveals the heart.
Speaker 1: Jesus said this Matthew 12, 34.
Speaker 1: He said out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.
Speaker 1: Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.
Speaker 1: When I'm puking this up, this started actually here.
Speaker 1: This is where it was and out of the heart, the mouth speaks.
Speaker 1: We can hear ourselves.
Speaker 1: We just listen to ourselves.
Speaker 1: We can hear.
Speaker 1: This is what your heart really thinks about it, because it just comes right out.
Speaker 1: Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.
Speaker 1: Sometimes we're really just clinging to the idol of a perfect life.
Speaker 1: Sometimes we're I mean, this is really what we're doing.
Speaker 1: We're taking how God might have arranged our life and we're measuring it and we're saying, god, you just don't measure up, do you?
Speaker 1: So I've just got to complain about it.
Speaker 1: Thankfully, somebody say God's word, god's word has the answers, like it always does.
Speaker 1: So let's go to.
Speaker 1: We're going to look at two different moments where the Israelites this is, they're going to do this again and again and again, guys, one of their tests is can you get through this without complaining?
Speaker 1: Can you be in a difficult situation that you did not plan and you didn't really see coming?
Speaker 1: But because God is with you and because he's the one bringing you through the test, can you trust Him without complaining?
Speaker 1: Exodus 16, 2, and the whole congregation of the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.
Speaker 1: And the sons of Israel said to them what did?
Speaker 1: We had died by the hand of Yahweh in the land of Egypt.
Speaker 1: We sat by the pots of meat when we ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to put the whole assembly to death with hunger.
Speaker 1: And Yahweh said to Moses look at how gracious Yahweh is.
Speaker 1: Behold, I'll rain down bread from heaven for you and your people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day that I may test them whether or not they will walk in my law".
Speaker 1: So the time commandments have not been given yet.
Speaker 1: God knows.
Speaker 1: The Sabbath command is coming.
Speaker 1: He wants to see.
Speaker 1: Hey, let's see what happens.
Speaker 1: I'm going to tell you guys to only pick up a man of six days.
Speaker 1: See if you do it.
Speaker 1: They don't Don't take more than you're supposed to.
Speaker 1: They do.
Speaker 1: They're constantly failing these tests.
Speaker 1: But they're not only failing the tests, they're complaining about the tests at all.
Speaker 1: They want to get past the tests.
Speaker 1: And did you see the way they kind of like, drift from reality?
Speaker 1: Oh that, we sat by the pots of meat.
Speaker 1: Moron, you were a slave.
Speaker 1: You had fresh whips in your back every day.
Speaker 1: What are you talking about?
Speaker 1: Pots of meat?
Speaker 1: But that's what complaining does.
Speaker 1: Complaining shifts our perspective.
Speaker 1: When I start to complain, part of me starts to believe it.
Speaker 1: I start to see things differently.
Speaker 1: Think about this way when you're around a lot of complaining people, how many know that?
Speaker 1: The entire atmosphere starts to get charged with complain-iness and then you start to even like buy in.
Speaker 1: At first you're like that's dumb and they're like well, you know, maybe Complaints to keep us in the wilderness.
Speaker 1: Number one don't complain, don't complain.
Speaker 1: And here's what we do.
Speaker 1: Don't complain as we drift away from reality.
Speaker 1: Recognize that complaining is not only a particular sin that we do in a particular moment, it's an attitude that happens to us long term.
Speaker 1: These Israelites they've been practicing complaining.
Speaker 1: It's kind of like their best thing.
Speaker 1: They do Ever since they left.
Speaker 1: Even before they left.
Speaker 1: They were just complaining.
Speaker 1: We don't trust God, we don't trust how this is going.
Speaker 1: It's even hard to believe these were the same people in the last series who God was so affectionate for.
Speaker 1: He was so like after, and you know, he led them through the Red Sea and like, wow, these people.
Speaker 1: They must, their minds must be going.
Speaker 1: That was like two weeks ago from here, and yet all they do is they sit here and complain because their attitude is see, when you have a complaining attitude, it doesn't really matter what happens.
Speaker 1: You're going to find a way to measure it and complain about it.
Speaker 1: That's how you interpret life.
Speaker 1: You're no longer just complaining about a thing.
Speaker 1: Complaining is how you approach everything.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's real man, and complaining it shuts down faith, it messes with our mind and it's a choice.
Speaker 1: Even though it's an attitude, it's still a choice.
Speaker 1: You and I have a choice every day if we're going to complain, and the way to pass the test is by choosing the response beforehand.
Speaker 1: Early twenties I had this foreman.
Speaker 1: I was on this crew, literally working on the railroad 10 hours a day, and it was.
Speaker 1: It was nasty man, it was a horrible job, but this guy, I'm not kidding, he had it out for me.
Speaker 1: Okay, like he would, he'd sit.
Speaker 1: He'd just be like, wow, that was a really crappy job.
Speaker 1: I'm like thank you, that's kind of like my day.
Speaker 1: Okay, didn't necessarily want to help me learn how to do it.
Speaker 1: He was just like that sucks.
Speaker 1: I'd be like that's not really what happened.
Speaker 1: No, that's what happened, you suck.
Speaker 1: That was how that was going for me and I just was discerning Okay, what test am I in?
Speaker 1: What is trying to happen here?
Speaker 1: I want to take this guy's head and twist it around eight times and just see what happens.
Speaker 1: I wonder what will happen if I did that.
Speaker 1: I figured that probably wasn't the way to pass the test and I knew, according to God's word, I'm supposed to honor this guy, like, even though he's a chump, I'm supposed to honor him and, like, respect him and do what he says and do it with a good attitude.
Speaker 1: And so Jesus and I just made it my mission.
Speaker 1: Okay, god, we're going to get through this as fast as possible, but I'm going to pray for strength to submit to this guy's authority with a good attitude, and I'm asking you to, as soon as possible, get me a new boss.
Speaker 1: That was the deal that I made with God and in that whole time, you're just discerning.
Speaker 1: Carter, this isn't about the guy.
Speaker 1: It's not about the guy.
Speaker 1: It's about your heart and what it's going to do.
Speaker 1: Is it going to puke out how much this is a crappy situation or is it going to?
Speaker 1: God is in control.
Speaker 1: God places authorities over me.
Speaker 1: I'm just going to do what I'm supposed to do and trust God to do what I can't do.
Speaker 1: I say come on, carter, so you know, maybe you've got some interruptions happening in your day.
Speaker 1: Is it possible that that's a test?
Speaker 1: Maybe you're getting some feedback on your job and you're like I know I asked for feedback, but I hate it when it comes from them.
Speaker 1: Yeah, is it possible that that's a test?
Speaker 1: Just like it was two weeks ago.
Speaker 1: One of the applications was these people needed to ask God remember the need just to look up and set a complaint like what do you want to do about it?
Speaker 1: What do you want to do?
Speaker 1: What do we need to do here?
Speaker 1: Again, that's what they're learning.
Speaker 1: Again, it's a repeat test.
Speaker 1: How many repeat tests about that?
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's just a.
Speaker 1: Hey, we didn't get it quite the first time.
Speaker 1: So let's just ask God God, would you get us this food that we're after?
Speaker 1: That's what they should have done, but they didn't.
Speaker 1: Now here's a little secret that you can do, because I know that for some, you're a part of like a culture, you're on a team, you're in a family, you're in a place where the culture itself is a bit toxic and everybody's complaining.
Speaker 1: Here's what you gotta decide to do.
Speaker 1: Are you ready?
Speaker 1: You've gotta decide.
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna roll that way.
Speaker 1: The way I'm gonna pass this test is to not participate in that.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be a little Joseph.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna keep my head down.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna work hard.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna let blessing come out of my mouth.
Speaker 1: When people are jumping in to gossip and talk about everything, I'm just gonna do what I can to either be quiet or say something positive and encouraging into the situation.
Speaker 1: I'm going to use this test.
Speaker 1: I'm already in it.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna use this time to develop myself rather than just being sad that I'm around all these people that don't seem to want to progress the way that I do.
Speaker 1: Hey, we're gonna find out as this story goes on.
Speaker 1: Again and again, they face complaining as we read these chapters.
Speaker 1: Again and again, the Israel's gonna complain and eventually it's gonna get so bad.
Speaker 1: You saw how God was so gracious at first.
Speaker 1: He was like, oh, let's just give him some food.
Speaker 1: Eventually they're going to send some spies into the Promised Land and come back and they're complaining to everybody else in the community is going to cause unbelief to grow and they're like well, god isn't God.
Speaker 1: We gotta worry about that Promised Land.
Speaker 1: There's Amalekites in there.
Speaker 1: Man, who knows what's gonna happen if we go?
Speaker 1: We're gonna be grasshoppers in their side.
Speaker 1: Let's just all calm down.
Speaker 1: Complaining, complaining, complaining let's not do it.
Speaker 1: And God is gonna get so fed up.
Speaker 1: He's gonna be like okay, I gave y'all all the chances in the world, I'm angry now.
Speaker 1: God is slow to anger, but eventually he can get there.
Speaker 1: I'm angry now and I'm gonna choose your kids and they're gonna go in instead of you.
Speaker 1: So, complaining man, it worries God.
Speaker 1: Listen to how God responds in that moment.
Speaker 1: How much longer are these wicked people gonna complain against me?
Speaker 1: I've heard enough of these complaints.
Speaker 1: I think God really is gracious.
Speaker 1: I think Jesus was gracious with his disciples.
Speaker 1: I think most of the time when we complain, you know he's like okay, but I wonder if sometimes God is just like can you just stop please?
Speaker 1: This is all I hear from you lately.
Speaker 1: Can we just zip it and move forward?
Speaker 1: Complaining really is like dude, it is a super powered enemy against us.
Speaker 1: Complaining shuts down and postpones God's promises.
Speaker 1: Think about all the stuff that God like.
Speaker 1: He kind of gotten them through this wilderness lickety split.
Speaker 1: It was an 11 day journey, took 40 years that you think of.
Speaker 1: Just hey, let's just go.
Speaker 1: Sometimes I'm wondering God, am I just holding myself up because of my bad attitude?
Speaker 1: Would you progress me through a lot more stuff because I don't pass the test?
Speaker 1: And if I just would, well then we could get on with it.
Speaker 1: But this complaining is destroying my faith.
Speaker 1: Complaining, think about it differently.
Speaker 1: Complaining is the anti-faith statement.
Speaker 1: It's the anti-faith.
Speaker 1: God can't use this.
Speaker 1: It's crap.
Speaker 1: That's what it is.
Speaker 1: God says I can do anything and I can use anything to do anything.
Speaker 1: Why are you calling my means and methods?
Speaker 1: I don't plan just the ends, I plan the means.
Speaker 1: Why can't I just use whatever I want and you call it good to get you where you're supposed to go?
Speaker 1: And it's contagious, hurts God, hurts us, hurts others.
Speaker 1: It's a wicked disease.
Speaker 1: It destroys the faith of others.
Speaker 1: You've heard this before, man.
Speaker 1: You've heard somebody speak unbelief and for some reason maybe you just took it, you just received it.
Speaker 1: Wow, yeah, that is right, that can't happen.
Speaker 1: Instead of that was just a complaint, my friend.
Speaker 1: Sometimes the enemy uses our voice to discourage other people.
Speaker 1: He uses us to just say, no, that's wrong, that can't happen.
Speaker 1: Don't trust God for that.
Speaker 1: I've said that.
Speaker 1: You've said that we don't even necessarily know.
Speaker 1: We said it, but you've heard it through other people.
Speaker 1: Maybe You've heard somebody just shut something down without thinking about it and we've gotta be careful of that.
Speaker 1: James 3-6 and the tongue is a fire of the very world of unrighteousness.
Speaker 1: The tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body.
Speaker 1: It says, hey, you got this little tongue, but you can talk so much mess and talk yourself out of faith that it messes up the rest of everything for your body.
Speaker 1: It sets on fire the course of our existence and is set on fire by hell.
Speaker 1: That last part is really important.
Speaker 1: It's set on fire by hell.
Speaker 1: I used to wonder like what does that mean?
Speaker 1: Is there like a tube from my tongue down to hell?
Speaker 1: And it just kind of like fuels from hell?
Speaker 1: No, that's not really what it means, but it does mean our spiritual enemy has unique access to our world through our tongues.
Speaker 1: He speaks all kinds.
Speaker 1: God speaks through his word.
Speaker 1: The enemy often speaks through loose tongues and he wants us to not only discourage myself, he wants us to discourage everybody around us.
Speaker 1: We're hearing that and the secret weapon, like the super nuke, is when you combine complaining with gossip, you put those together, man, that'll burn down a church right there.
Speaker 1: Why don't you imagine?
Speaker 1: Imagine you came in here next weekend and you saw people starting little fires in different places.
Speaker 1: Say, somebody was just starting a fire right here, somebody's out in the hall, they're pouring some gasoline on the wall and they're just pfft.
Speaker 1: Someone's over in the bathroom, they're trying to like blow something up.
Speaker 1: You'd be like, hey, what you doing?
Speaker 1: You're damaging the church.
Speaker 1: Why are you doing that?
Speaker 1: And yet that's exactly what the enemy does through gossip.
Speaker 1: All the time.
Speaker 1: I love to talk about gossip when I don't think there's a gossip problem in our church.
Speaker 1: So just you know, I'm not aware that there's one, but it's like preventative medicine.
Speaker 1: Gossip hurts everybody.
Speaker 1: It burns down what God is trying to build up.
Speaker 1: Proverbs 26-20,.
Speaker 1: Without wood, a fire goes out.
Speaker 1: Without gossip quarreling stops.
Speaker 1: What do we need to do?
Speaker 1: Well, we probably need to ask forgiveness for a complaining, and we probably need to do it, like every day or every other day or with relative frequency, every time we notice that our attitude is slipping into a complaining spirit.
Speaker 1: We need to recognize this does have an impact on our relationship with God.
Speaker 1: We need to not complain and, number two, we need to complain to the Lord.
Speaker 1: We need not complain, but then we do need to complain to the Lord.
Speaker 1: Here's the next little episode for the Israelites, 17, verse one.
Speaker 1: Then all the congregation of the sons of Israel journeyed by stages from the wilderness of sin, according to the command of Yahweh.
Speaker 1: They camped at Refidim and there was no water for the people to drink.
Speaker 1: Now we'd just been through this.
Speaker 1: Okay, there was, remember Mara, and the water wasn't really.
Speaker 1: It was there, but it wasn't really drinkable.
Speaker 1: They've already had a water trial.
Speaker 1: It wasn't long ago and yet here they go again.
Speaker 1: Therefore, the people contended that means they opposed Him.
Speaker 1: They got in His face.
Speaker 1: They like went after Him, contended with Moses and said give us water that we may drink.
Speaker 1: And then Moses said to them why do you contend with me?
Speaker 1: He's like look up, dude, why don't you just talk to Him about it?
Speaker 1: Why do you test Yahweh?
Speaker 1: But the people thirsted there for water and they grumble against Moses.
Speaker 1: And Moses said and they said why now have you brought us up from Egypt to put us in, our children and our livestock to death with thirst?
Speaker 1: So Moses cried out to Yahweh, saying what shall I do with this people?
Speaker 1: A little more and they're going to stone me.
Speaker 1: Now notice again how tripped out they are because they're all talking.
Speaker 1: There's over half a million of them.
Speaker 1: They're just talking, talking, talking and they've convinced themselves.
Speaker 1: You know what God's trying to do.
Speaker 1: He's actually trying.
Speaker 1: He brought us through all that stuff in Egypt, all those plagues year long.
Speaker 1: He brought us through the Red Sea and he did the whole thing just to kill us out here and we're reading this.
Speaker 1: We're like do you really think that?
Speaker 1: Have you really gotten so deluded?
Speaker 1: You think that's what's happening right now and yet are complaining gets us to thinking crazy things.
Speaker 1: What you think God's really doing.
Speaker 1: You think God's trying to punish.
Speaker 1: You Think God's trying to hurt.
Speaker 1: You Think God's trying to keep something from.
Speaker 1: You Think God hates you.
Speaker 1: Why would he die on the cross through Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: If he hated you, why would he spend all this time pursuing you?
Speaker 1: Why does he speak to you so gently and lovingly through his word?
Speaker 1: That's not what's going on.
Speaker 1: And Moses, wisely, what do you do?
Speaker 1: He complains to the Lord.
Speaker 1: He brings his complaint.
Speaker 1: He doesn't complain about the situation, he just brings the situation to the Lord.
Speaker 1: Moses cries out what shall I do with this?
Speaker 1: People A little more, and they will stone me.
Speaker 1: I love it because he doesn't say there is a problem.
Speaker 1: He says God, you and I've got a problem.
Speaker 1: This thing going on out here, I don't like it, gives me the heebie-jeebies, makes me super afraid.
Speaker 1: I don't trust these people.
Speaker 1: God, they're about to stone me.
Speaker 1: Do you know that you can bring your complaints to the Lord?
Speaker 1: And it's not sin For you to just say God, I'm really wrestling with this.
Speaker 1: That's what Job did.
Speaker 1: I love this scripture.
Speaker 1: It's one of the most famous scriptures from Job Okay, job.
Speaker 1: For those of you who don't know, this dude is getting hit by every side.
Speaker 1: He's lost his kids, he's lost his property, all kinds of buildings and stuff.
Speaker 1: He's lost his health.
Speaker 1: And this is what he says about God.
Speaker 1: Even though he's wrestling back and forth, he says though he slay me yet, I will hope in him.
Speaker 1: I will surely defend my ways to his face.
Speaker 1: That's a strange pair.
Speaker 1: Though he's slay me, I'm gonna hope with him, but I will defend my ways to his face.
Speaker 1: He says I feel comfortable.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna bring God my list.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say God, I don't get this.
Speaker 1: And you and I have permission from God to say I don't get this.
Speaker 1: I don't feel like I'm doing it.
Speaker 1: I don't know why this happens to me.
Speaker 1: We can totally bring that to him.
Speaker 1: And at the same time he says you know he might kill me, this might end up in me dead, and even so I will hope in him.
Speaker 1: Job says even if it were to end in my death, god is still good.
Speaker 1: God has a plan.
Speaker 1: God will bring good out of this.
Speaker 1: That is an awesome set of values to put together.
Speaker 1: I can be 100% authentic with God and I can believe, no matter what happens to me or doesn't happen, or how it doesn't go, god is still going to be good and work his plan.
Speaker 1: Jesus himself says something like this Matthew 26, 39,.
Speaker 1: My father, if it's possible, may this cup be taken from me.
Speaker 1: It's okay to tell God what you think it's okay to tell God you're uncomfortable.
Speaker 1: Yet not as I will, but as you will.
Speaker 1: When we bring God our complaints, here's what happens, my friends.
Speaker 1: We get this beautiful thing called revelation.
Speaker 1: He often will reveal his heart to us.
Speaker 1: If we're just whining, he's not gonna show himself to us very much.
Speaker 1: But if we bring him our complaints, we might find that he teaches us about himself.
Speaker 1: So I threw myself on that bed.
Speaker 1: It's like why are you letting this happen?
Speaker 1: Here's what it's costing me and God doesn't talk to me sternly very often, but it was stern that day.
Speaker 1: It was like a stop in your tracks, wasn't threatening, but it was kinda a little bit and it was straight out of heaven.
Speaker 1: God can do no wrong.
Speaker 1: He didn't say oh, there, there, it's gonna be okay.
Speaker 1: Come on, little champ, buck up.
Speaker 1: Like he didn't feel bad for me.
Speaker 1: He didn't like jump into my victim mentality.
Speaker 1: He didn't agree that accusing God was right.
Speaker 1: He said here's what this young servant needs to know at this stage in his life.
Speaker 1: Here's what you don't get, carter.
Speaker 1: Even when stuff is going bad in your life, god can do no wrong.
Speaker 1: So whatever's going on, it's not cause.
Speaker 1: God is doing you wrong.
Speaker 1: He doesn't do wrong.
Speaker 1: He's not doing you wrong For the rest of your life.
Speaker 1: Get this.
Speaker 1: Remember the moment on the bed.
Speaker 1: God is not the one doing wrong.
Speaker 1: You might be doing it, they might be doing it, or just the earth, being the place that it is, the rebellious planet might be doing it, but it ain't God.
Speaker 1: I wonder if we would bring him our complaints more often, in a spirit of meekness, like Job or Jesus, and saying whatever I'm supposed to know about you not about the map, not about how to get somewhere faster, about you, would you tell me?
Speaker 1: Cause I think maybe there's gold in here.
Speaker 1: I think maybe there's treasure in here that I could take for the rest of my life if I get revelation on who you are.
Speaker 1: Here's the point, my friends.
Speaker 1: A test is the greatest opportunity for faith.
Speaker 1: Where else are you gonna have faith?
Speaker 1: This is what these Israelites are missing.
Speaker 1: You've got all this opportunity to say nope, we're believing God.
Speaker 1: God's gonna do it, it's gonna be awesome.
Speaker 1: Your test is the greatest opportunity.
Speaker 1: You have to say I don't know how it's gonna work.
Speaker 1: God's gonna be good.
Speaker 1: God can do no wrong and God will see me through.
Speaker 1: I don't know what that looks like for you.
Speaker 1: I don't know what you're tempted to complain about.
Speaker 1: I don't know what really tragic stuff has happened to you, but I know this that praise will make the bitter waters sweet.
Speaker 1: And one of the most powerful things that we can do, my friends, is recognize.
Speaker 1: Really the fastest way for us to get out of the wilderness is to praise God in the wilderness, even for the wilderness, god, thank you that you brought me here to teach me this Someday.
Speaker 1: I don't feel like praising you now.
Speaker 1: Someday I'll do it because I feel like it.
Speaker 1: Right now I'm just doing it because it's wise.
Speaker 1: Complaining keeps us in the wilderness, but there's better things for you and I.
Speaker 1: Hey, thank you so much for joining us today.
Speaker 1: If you don't have a home church and you're looking for a Bible preaching community that has its heart set on passionately knowing Jesus and being his witness in our generation, check out Fierce Church.
Speaker 1: We'd love for you to join us, either digitally or in person.
Speaker 1: Also, if you're looking for leadership development related content, don't forget to check out the Fierce Leadership Podcast, available wherever you get your podcasts from.
Speaker 1: Special thanks to those of you who give generously to support this ministry.
Speaker 1: It's because of you that this is possible.
Speaker 1: You can click on the link in the description to give now or visit Fierce Church for more information.
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Speaker 1: Whatever challenges you're facing, I know you can make it.
Speaker 1: Don't give up.
Speaker 1: Hang on to Jesus.
Speaker 1: He won't let go of you.
Speaker 1: Jesus loves you so much and we love you.
Speaker 1: I hope someday we get to meet in person.
Speaker 1: Thanks again for listening.