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The Complainer · Wetumpka Church of Christ Online

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Okay, so to start off, let me quickly tell an experience that
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I had yesterday as we were driving to the church building
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to drop off our kids for the youth devotional that they were
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headed to very simply. I was driving fall.
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Pretend. I've got my hands on the
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steering wheel here and we were coming down to 31 about to cross
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Highway 14, where we would eventually merge into that right
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lane, that kind of brings you to downtown.
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And I hear one of the kids in the backseat, say, that guy over
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there is on his cell phone. And I, you know, I'm driving
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about to merge. And I look over and I'm kind of
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looking and sure enough that fella right over there.
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He's got his bone right in his hand and he's got the other hand
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on the steering wheel and he's looking down and and I was just
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staring at him with just firm indignation about how he was not
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looking at the road. And I audibly said aloud, he's
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going to get someone killed and is as soon as those words had
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left my mouth. I brought my eyes back to the
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center and had to get over rather quickly.
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So I didn't hit the little concrete, triangle shape thing
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and up and hit a pole. So I tell you that story to say
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often, when we do lessons, as we're going to do here in just a
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moment, one of the things that we Tend to do is we think about
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that person amongst us who really needed that lesson.
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You know, Jason how many times have you heard Uncle?
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Randy, as you come out, say, you know, she needed that and she
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needed that Uncle Randy, if you're watching, you know, so I
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would like to encourage us this morning as we talk about some of
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the things that I prepared to discuss.
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Let's try really, really hard as hard as we can.
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And to not allow some other individual in the congregation
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to enter our minds and US psychoanalyze them and think
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about how wonderfully this lesson will apply to them.
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Let's maybe think about how we can do some things to better
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ourselves and maybe see if some of these things may befall upon
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us as I've done the last couple of times that I've had the
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opportunity to preach and as will be doing Again this
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morning. We're going to continue our
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thought process on how we as Christians.
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Use our words, the things that we say and what we talked about
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in the past. The first lesson that I brought
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to you was was criticism how we give out and how we accept the
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criticisms that we experience in our daily lives.
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And a couple of weeks ago. We talked how we handle gossip
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in the pitfalls and the dangers that come with speaking gossip
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and even listening. To gossip.
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I want to begin by reading you some Snippets from, you know,
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just the other day. I was perusing through Harvard
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Business Review. As I often do from time to time
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and I just stumbled upon this article just, you know, just by
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chance. I'm so sarcastic this morning.
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Let me let me read the first paragraph and I'll give you the
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title. It goes like this, Lisa couldn't
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stand it any longer. Every time she met her
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colleague, Peter. One of her senior Executives at
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the large retail chain, where they both worked.
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He would begin an endless lament about his work, the government,
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and his personal life. After listening to Peter's
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moaning, didn't take long before she And stay claustrophobic
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reaction. It didn't help that.
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Whenever Lisa tried to reframe Peters situation, more
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positively, he would revert back to his - or negativity Peters
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constant, grumbling whining, and lamenting was toxic for everyone
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himself included. This article is entitled
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managing a chronic complainer and really the premise of the
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article was dealing with lead. Leaders and how they can help
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their, their workers. Not be that chronic complainer
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and that toxic person in the workplace.
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Let me, let me give you a little bit of what we read in this
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article. I'm not going to read the whole
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thing to you. But I do want to give you some
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of it. Research shows that chronic
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complaining like this individuals Peters.
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It has a psychological effect not only on the individual but
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others around them. The repetition of bad sad, mad
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and Powerless, feelings eventually causes
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Neurotransmitters in the brain to go through what scientists
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call a neural rewiring, which reinforces negative thought
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patterns, which makes it easier for unhappy thoughts to repeat
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themselves leaving little room for more positive feelings of
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gratitude, appreciation, and well-being, the long and short
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of it is that's a bunch of big fancy words for saying if you're
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always complaining, you're reprogramming, your brain to
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only hear negative things and not hear positive, things, your
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reprogramming, your brain. To only complain and never have
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anything good to say. A continuous cycle of negative
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thoughts, may even cause damage to the in the word looks like it
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says hippocampus, but that's not how the word is pronounced.
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But this is a part of the brain that uses problem solving and
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cognitive functioning a constant complaining can actually damage
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parts of your brain. Complainers become negativity,
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addicts. They're attracted to we're all
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familiar with this word, drama attracted to drama that comes
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with a complaining attitude. The article goes on to talk
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about how chronic complainers also have damaging effects, not
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only on themselves, but people that they are surrounded by they
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transfer these negative feelings onto other people.
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Psychologists call this projective identification.
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And what they eventually do is, is they use other people, this
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author calls, calls calls, this using other people like a trash
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can, like a dumpster. They take all of their
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complaints and they dumped them on you and you leave feeling
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burdened from their complaints. When you yourself, had none,
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your home going on at a as social beings, our brains
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unconsciously mimic the, the method and moods of other people
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around us, this neural me. Rowing.
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Hey, however, has a flip side. People who complain about
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everything they become contagious.
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And before we realize it. What are we doing?
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We too are finding things to complain about in many cases.
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Chronic complaining starts early in life.
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As a means of gaining visibility and establishing Rapport in
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family. Maybe it begins at such a young
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age, where there's someone in a home who they don't feel
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recognized. They don't feel important.
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Ain't they don't feel noticed and the only way to get noticed
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is to complain and that is how they learned.
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That is how they grew and turned into an adult who still finds
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things to complain about on a regular basis.
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As a chronic complainer. These early experiences can
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become deeply ingrained patterns of behavior.
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The authors talks about this is probably why Peter, the guy in
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the story at the beginning, constantly complains.
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This would explain why he react. Poorly to advise.
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Have you ever noticed this will talk about this a little bit
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later on, but you ever noticed if somebody who's just a
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constant complainer, you try and give them some advice to help
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them with their situation. They don't want to hear it.
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They don't want to hear the good advice.
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I don't want to listen to good advice and they'll always say
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that's not a good idea. That's not gonna work because
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all they want to do is complain. This is why people often react
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poorly to advice because resolving their problems would
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take away. The reason to complain and it's
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threatening their sense of self. You know, it is who they are.
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And I'm here to tell you this morning.
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As we look at some passages from scripture, if that is who we
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are, we gotta change who we are. We've got to be a different kind
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of person. Thank you for that.
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Amen. I didn't get one a couple of
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weeks ago when I asked for one and finally got one.
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Yeah. I don't know what that does for
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a preacher. Appreciate that.
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Jeremy. Okay, last couple of things in
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this article, the author goes on to talk about how we need to
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help people cultivate an attitude of gratitude that they
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kind of give some quick Solutions at the end and they
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don't really dive into it, very deeply, which will try and do
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here in just a moment. But some of the things they
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encourage Lisa to do for Peters help him, cultivate an attitude
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of gratitude, help him shift his attention from complaining to
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Counting His blessings. And of course, creating such a
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behavior Behavior. Change is something that does
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take time and it is a gradual process.
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Eventually, people. Let me read this last little to
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two sentence paragraph while chronic complainers appear to be
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harmless on the surface. Some people might say what bad
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is it really just complaining and being unhappy all the time.
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Chronic complainers appear to be harmless on the surface.
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They owe it to their colleagues and themselves to regulate their
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behavior. Eventually people will Tire of
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negativity. Peter needs to realize that the
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squeaky wheel doesn't always get the grease.
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Sometimes they just get replaced.
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I think about that. I don't know about you, but I
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enjoy the company of you guys and I would hate to find that I
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get replaced and I don't get to spend as much time with you guys
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as I had in the past because of my complaining because I need
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you guys, and wouldn't you hate to find out that you were?
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The person that got replaced because of the negativity.
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When you need all of us in another article, and then we'll
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dive into the sermon here in just a second.
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And another article. I found on a Blog, it was just a
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leadership blog. It talk real quickly about what
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a chronic complainer is and it kind of helped me understand a
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little bit better. When we start reading some of
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these passages. We'll look at in just a moment.
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This author gives about seven things.
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What a chronic complainer is a chronic complainer.
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Is someone who one is seeking validation, they constantly
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complain because they're looking for attention, you know, when
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you're complaining people listen to you intently because they
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think you have something important to say or at least a
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complainer thinks they have something important to say.
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Number two, a complainer is someone who feels powerless
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their complainers because they see themselves as weak and the
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circumstance as powerful. So they feel powerless.
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Number three, they feel powerful when they complain.
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The only thing weakness can do is a firm itself and disrupt
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others. Number four.
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They don't see themselves as pollution.
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They don't they don't realize that they're bringing.
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Body else down. Number five.
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How like how this how, he writes, this complainers cuddle
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with problems and bristle at Solutions.
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Newsflash. Chronic complainers aren't
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seeking advice number. Six.
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Complainers. Play it safe.
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It's easy to complain. It's hard to seek a solution and
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put it into action and seven. Complainers blame others.
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It's the boss's fault. It's the co-workers fault.
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It's the wife's fault. It's the weather's fault.
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It's always something other than themselves.
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Chronic complainers, are blamers.
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Chronic complainers, are happy with themselves, but not with
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others. Complaining makes us
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unattractive and we all like, to look at attractive.
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I mean, how many of us I would say, most?
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I'm trying to pick. Who can I pick on?
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Let's see, maybe Jeff did. It but the rest of us looked in
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the mirror this morning to see how he looked before we walked
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out the door. You know, we like to appear
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attractive. So we work on things, you know,
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we buy a new pair of shoes. We put our fancy socks on that
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have. Shannon's face all over them.
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You know, we put on a tie, we brush our teeth, we put on
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deodorant, we put on some cologne, we straighten this, we
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straighten that and then we work on our words and we try and be,
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you know, a happy individual. We Care least.
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We should about what people think of us to a degree.
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So when we're a complainer, we become unattractive and I'm not
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just talking about physically. And more importantly, we become
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unattractive to our Christian Brethren when we need them and
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they need us and we become unattractive to people in the
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world who need to see Jesus living in us and we can't do a
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good job of that when we are a complainer.
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It kills our Sample, and it drives people away.
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It is a difficult habit to break.
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But it is something that needs to be done.
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You know, it is complaining is part of our conditioning as we
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grow up in our culture. I don't know how many of you
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realize this, as you look around our culture today.
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But complaining is just what everybody does.
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Very specifically, it is in the news so much that I just can't
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watch it anymore. I haven't watched the news in
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over a year. Now.
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I feel like I'm a better person because of it, at least.
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I hope I am. But do you remember back when
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covid first started? It was the, it was like a
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national shutdown. And the News every day was about
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how many people had, how many people were dying?
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All the terrible things that are going on in the world.
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The news is reporting on the wars and the deaths and the
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crime, and the Crooked politics and none of the politicians can
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get along and eventually in the midst of all, that an actor
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named John Krasinski. I think I'm saying his name,
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right? He came out with the I don't
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know if you want to call it a Like a vlog.
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It was just his personal video camera in his home.
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He put on a suit, sat down at a table and he did something
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called some good news sgn. I believe I'm getting that
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right. And all he did was report on
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things that he could learn from the internet that were good
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things, that was good news and I tuned in and watched some of
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that. And I thought this, this right
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here is what we need instead of just whining and complaining and
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being sad all the time. We need some good news.
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You know that that's what we as Christians should be for the
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world around us. That is what we as Christians
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should be to the lost in our neighborhoods and in our
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workplaces and young people in your school's, we should be a
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source of some good news, the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
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What do we really have to complain about?
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When Jesus Christ, gave his life on the cross for our sins.
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Paul wrote the book of Philippians is he was in prison.
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And in Philippians 1 verse 27, he says, only let your conduct
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your conduct the way you live your life, only, let your
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conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ.
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Let your, let the way that you live, be worthy to what the
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gospel of Christ is, and gave to you.
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So that whether I come and see you or I'm absent.
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Whichever way I hear about you, guys.
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He says that I may hear of your Affairs that you stand.
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Fast in one spirit with one mind striving together for the faith
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of the gospel. Paul says, I want to hear that
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you're living for the gospel. The good news the way that
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you're living your life. That's what I want to hear.
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So, so what does the Bible have to say about, grumbling and
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complaining and whining? What one chapter later as Reese
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read for us a moment ago in our scripture, reading verses 14 and
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15 of Philippians. Chapter 2 Paul writes, do all
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things without complaining and disputing that you may become
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blameless and harmless children of God without fault in the
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midst of a crook'd and perverse. Generation among whom you shine
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as lights in the world, you see? In the, in the unhappy
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complaining, unsatisfied lacking, contentment world that
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we live in. We as Christians spreading the
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gospel, get to be a source of light and joy, for those around
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us, but only, if we're not always walking around
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complaining about every single thing that is going wrong in
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life. Let me real quickly give you
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four types of complainers. I'm gonna give you four types of
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complainers this morning. And then I'm going to give you
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five things that we can do to make sure that we're not a
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complainer. You might say, Brent, that
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sounds like a whole lot that you're going to try and cover
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their, but I would like to remind you and especially for
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our visitors, who are brand new and don't know this our services
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on Sunday morning. Do not conclude until 11:30 for
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you. Who are visiting with us.
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You might say what, but that's the truth, Elders.
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Back me up on this. Is that right?
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Our worship service last? Until 11:30.
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See. It is the truth.
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It is the truth. So when I finish before 11:30,
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you should go. Hey.
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Good job, Brent. If we do that, okay, there's
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four types of complainers. And this won't take very long.
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The first is the whiner, The Wider is an individual who just
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wakes up with a negative attitude their their statement
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that they make most often is, that's not fair.
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That's just not fair. You know, why did the, why did
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they give at? And I didn't get that.
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Well, why is she always looking like that?
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And I can't look like that. Why did he get the job?
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And I swear, I was supposed to get the job.
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Or how did he get around all those cars?
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Like he's making it through the light.
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I'm gonna get stuck on it. It's not fair.
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That's the whiner. Probably one of the more typical
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complainers that, we experience Jesus mentions.
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This kind of individual in Matthew chapter 10, rather
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chapter 20 and verses 11 and 12, and I'm not going to take this
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Parable out of context. I do just want you to notice
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something. In the midst of this Parable.
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Jesus is talking about those individuals.
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That were paid a certain amount when they agreed to work for
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this master. They were paid.
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They were I'm sorry. They were paid the same amount,
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but they started working at different times of the day.
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And at the conclusion of the work being done.
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It's a conclusion of the day. All these people were paid the
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same thing and let's look at what happens here in verses 11
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and 12 of Matthew chapter 20, and when they had received it,
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they complained against the landowner saying these last men.
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They have worked only one hour, and you made them equal.
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Us who have borne, the burden, and the Heat of the day, we've
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been here all day, and you're paying us.
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The same thing that you're paying them.
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They have only worked an hour. And the individual goes on to
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explain that. Well, you agreed, I said, would
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you work today? And they said, yes, we will and
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I'll pay you this. Well, okay, it sounds like a
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good deal. What's it to you?
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You know, some people are just like that whiners go around
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saying that things just aren't Fair.
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Kind of, like, sometimes I do on Facebook, you know, Walmart's
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out of mustard or Walmart's got buggies that we the wheels just
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won't drive straight for crying out loud.
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Get some new Buddies. Walmart.
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There's nobody at the sports desk in the back to sell you
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anything in the glass case, you know, so some of us we find all
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kinds of Ways to vent. Our frustrations are little tiny
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minut things in life, and it really hurts our influence
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really hurts our influence. So you got the whiners.
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Secondly, you got the Martyr, the Martyr I'm sometimes accused
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of doing this as well. And that is the individual who
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is doing things for others. And at the conclusion of doing
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things for others isn't happy with the reception of the things
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done. And they start to complain.
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I can't I can't believe that you're not happy with what I
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have done for you. This is the kind of person their
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favorite saying is no one appreciates me.
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That's, that's the Martyr. These people are always having
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pity parties when things don't go their way and they let
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everyone know about it. We read about this in Numbers
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Chapter 11 Moses. Great guy.
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Did he complain? Some sure did.
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He have a reason to I suppose but he in this particular
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passage. You see him being this type of
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Winer a martyr. Purrs 11.
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If you want to turn over and read with me since verses 11
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through 15 numbers, 11 11 through 15.
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So Moses said to the Lord, why have you Afflicted your servant?
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You know, he's hearing all the whining and complaining of the
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Israelites like Moses. Why did you bring us out of
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Egypt? And we don't have food and we
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don't have fresh water and we're going to die.
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We'd be better off back into Egypt and Moses says to God.
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Why have you Afflicted your servant me Moses?
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And why have I not found favor in your sight that you have laid
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the burden of all these people? On me.
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Did I conceive? All these people did?
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I beget them? That you should say, to me,
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carry them in, your bosom, as a guardian carries, a nursing
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child to the land, which you swear to their fathers, this to
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me, this really sounds. Whiny Moses saying I'm not their
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literal parent. I'm not carrying them in my womb
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to Egypt. Sorry to the promised land for.
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They weep all over me saying, give us meat that we may eat.
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I am not able to Bear all these people alone because the burden
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is too heavy for me. If you treat me like this.
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Please kill me here. And now, if I have found favor
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in your sight and do not, let me see my wretchedness.
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Any of us ever talked like that? All I have done for you.
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People. All I've done for you.
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And this is, this is what I get in return.
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How many of us have parents have acted that way?
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The Martyr? The third one is the cynic, the
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cynic. And this is where we'll go to
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the Book of Ecclesiastes Solomon.
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Fits this category. The cynic is the individual
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who's like, well, we're all going to die.
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Yeah. This is it.
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Nothing can be fixed. Nothing can be made better by
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this is the end of me. I'm going to fail.
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I'm going to be fired. I'm going to lose my job.
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She's gonna leave me, you know, it's just that you know, the
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world is just kaput, Ecclesiastes chapter 1 verses 2
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through 4. You remember, Solomon writes
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this because he's been searching for for the a reason for
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existence. And we do know as he gets to the
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conclusion of the Book of Ecclesiastes.
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He realizes what the meaning of life is, but here in the early
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part of the Book of Ecclesiastes, he hasn't gotten
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there yet. And this is what he says.
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Vanity of vanities, says the preacher.
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Her vanity of vanities all is Vanity.
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That's five vanities. Just in a few words there.
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He says what profit has a man from all his labor in which he
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toils under the sun, one generation passes away and
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another generation comes, but the Earth abides forever.
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He says, you know, all this work.
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I've done all the toiling and working for my job.
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And what do I get? Nothing?
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That's the cynic. Few verses later verse 9 of
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Ecclesiastes. One that which has been is What
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will be and that which is done, is what will be done.
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And there is nothing new Under the Sun, the cynic and fourthly.
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The fourth complainer is the perfectionist and the
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perfectionist, you know, that they get down on themselves, but
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they also get down on others and that, is there expecting
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everything to always go as planned happen, exactly, like
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they have prepared for, and it doesn't always happen that they
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can't. Make things be perfect.
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And so, they find things to complain about their famous
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phrases phrases are phrases. Such as is that the best you can
24:45
do or don't you want Excellence? Try harder?
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A couple of passages that I think maybe.
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In a way, convey. This thought is one found in
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Proverbs chapter 27, and verse 15.
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Now, the new King James says, this Proverbs 27, 15 a continual
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dripping on a very rainy day. In a contentious woman are alike
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and I'm not going to pick on the women, but what the author is
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trying to get at is that, you know, a husband with his wife
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who's always nagging him and never pleased with anything that
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he's doing and he can't do anything, right?
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It's like just a drip drip drip, drip, drip that never ceases a
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version of the Bible that I'm not familiar with the gnb.
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And I thought, I wrote down what that stands for.
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But I don't remember that version words that passage this
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way. A nagging wife is like water
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going, drip, drip drip, on a rainy day in chapter 21 of
25:51
Proverbs, verse 19, new King, James says, better to dwell in
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the wilderness than with a Tensions and angry woman.
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Now, the southern version says better to live out in the desert
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than with a nagging complaining wife.
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And you know, there's absolute truth that we don't want to be
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married to someone who's never happy with anything that we do
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that, everything that we do is an epic failure.
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We're always at fault. We can't meet any expectations
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wives. I want to be married to a
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husband like that and husbands don't want to be married to a
26:23
wife like that. That's that is the
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perfectionist. Someone who is never happy with
26:30
anything. So we look at these with these
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passages and we talked about some of these types of people
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and we take our minds back to Philippians chapter 2, verses 14
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and 15. And we understand that God
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instructs us as his children to not be and to not have a
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complaining attitude. We know that to be fact because
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we find it in scripture. So what can we as Christians
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today do about it? What is the solution?
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What can we do to make sure that we're not that type of person,
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so that we can be the right kind of influence to people around
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us. I'm going to give you those five
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things right now. Number one.
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The first thing that you need to do is the same thing that any
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person suffering from substance abuse has to do in order to get
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clean and that is admit you have a problem.
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So again back to what I said at the beginning of the lesson this
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morning, let's don't think about the people in the audience who
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struggle from this let's ask ourselves.
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Is this something that I struggle with and do I need to
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make some changes in my own? Own life.
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The first step is you have to admit that.
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It is something that you struggle with Solomon writes and
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Proverbs 28:13, he who covers his sins will not Prosper, but
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whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy to fix the
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sin in our lives. We have to confess the sin in
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order to begin the changes and this is probably the hardest
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thing. Thing that we have to do in the
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things that we're going to suggest here is recognizing that
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we ourselves are the ones suffering from this problem.
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It is so easy. And we talked about it in our
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Young Adult class, Allison brought up the passage from The
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Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus is discussing, how, you know, if
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you got that beam sticking out of your eye, how are you going
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to go and help someone else with the spec?
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And there's, it's so easy to see the speck and so difficult to
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see the beam in our own eyes. If someone recorded our voices
28:38
for an entire week of everything that we said, what would it
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reveal concerning our speech? What would we hear things that
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were negative or things that were positive?
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Would we hear someone that we would want to be around or
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someone? We would try to avoid?
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I'm playing is not only a bad habit.
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It goes directly against the will of God.
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We have to admit that we have a problem.
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God did not want the nation of Israel to be complainers.
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In fact, God, condemned the nation of Israel because of
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their complaining and they complained all the way from
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Egypt and all the way to the promised land in numbers.
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I'm not going to give you all these scripture references.
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If you feel like you need them. I'll give them to you later.
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But for Times Sake, all the things that they completed
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claimed about complain about on their Journeys, they complain
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about what they had to drink, what they had to eat the fact
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that they were missing out. Don't know the good food that
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was back in Egypt. They complained about their
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leaders. They complained about what they
29:42
were giving and they were complaining about how much of
29:45
what they were given was given. They had eventually developed
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this grumbling complaining attitude of which God says in
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numbers 11 and verse 1. Now, the people complained about
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their hardships in the hearing of the Lord, and when he heard
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them, his anger was aroused. In fact, you read further on
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into numbers. Chapter 11, you'll see that God
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punish the nation of Israel by consuming some of its people
30:11
with a fire executing them because of their complaining.
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God said in Numbers, Chapter 14 and verse 29 and following that
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complainers, were not going to be able to enter into the
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promised land and because of their complaining, wandered in
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the wilderness for 40 years and eventually losing their lives.
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You want to conquer the complaining that you have in
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your life? It makes you have a problem
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number to accept responsibility for our own lives.
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I say this. Let's just brush over this one
30:44
real quick here. Many times the things that we
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complain about. We have brought them upon
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ourselves because of our poor decisions.
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You ever heard the expression, you made your bed now.
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Sleep in it. That's harsh.
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That's harsh. It's real harsh.
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When someone says, well, you made your bed now sleep in it.
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Well, what I think we should gain from this, is that Back
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that many times the complaints that we have are an attempt to
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blame other people and blame circumstances.
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But the reason that we are complaining about these things
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that we're experiencing is because we made poor decisions.
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So what can we do? Let's make some better
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decisions, make some better choices.
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Proverbs 19. And verse 3 says, when a man's
31:27
Folly, brings his way to ruin its his folly.
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It's his foolishness, his foolish.
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This has brought upon him some hardship ruin when that happens.
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The the wise man says his heart, rages against the Lord.
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He wants to point and blame others.
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Now God comes down to earth walks in the garden and says to
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Adam Adam. What are you doing?
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My wife gave it to me, you know, that's that's what we do.
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What do we need to do? Is we need to accept
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responsibility for our actions. Not complain about how things
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happen when it's of our own fault.
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We're free to choose what we will do in our lives.
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We're free. And how will react and respond.
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We're free to say, whatever we wish, God gives us all.
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These abilities gives us free will, but once we make a choice,
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we're no longer free to complain about the consequences of that
32:31
choice. People complain about being in
32:33
debt. They're spending all their
32:35
money. People complain about not having
32:38
this and not having that, but they're sitting on the behind,
32:41
not working for this, or for that.
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People find all kinds of things to complain about and often it's
32:49
because they're not willing to accept her responsibility for
32:52
themselves. I found this on the internet.
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I thought it was pretty funny. There's three types of people in
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life. Three types of people, the
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accuser the excuse, ER, and the chooser.
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You know, when it comes to complaining many people, they
33:05
just blame others. Many people make excuses about
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life circumstances, you know, I was born this way.
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I was born into this and this is how I was raised.
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It's not my fault, but then those people who are choosers.
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They choose to make a change, make a difference and be better
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admit that you have a problem except the responsibility and
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thirdly and this this right here is the solution.
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This is the antidote to all. Complaining in life have an
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attitude of gratitude. And the Bible is chock-full of
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this a time. Say we cannot look at all of it.
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But I'll give you just a few. The first one is, first
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Thessalonians, chapter 5 and verse 18.
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This is my favorite Bible verse. This is the verse that I have at
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the bottom of all of my stationery.
33:51
When I met somebody a letter, this verse is at the bottom in
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everything, give, thanks for. This is the will of God in
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Christ Jesus. Concerning you in everything.
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Now, it It doesn't mean you have to think God for the terrible
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sinful thing that is happening to you.
34:10
That someone else has placing upon you, but you can still be
34:14
thankful in the situation, not for the situation, but in the
34:18
situation and in everything, give thanks look around for the
34:24
Silver Lining. You're driving down the road and
34:27
you're stuck in a traffic jam. Be thankful that you're in a
34:29
motorized car. That's working.
34:32
You're stopped for many, many, many hours, and you're going to
34:34
be late for your appointment, be glad you got some air
34:37
conditioning in the summer and heat in the winter.
34:40
Your car breaks down. You got a flat tire and you pull
34:42
over on the side of the road and you're going to miss the event.
34:45
Be thankful that you weren't in a terrible auto accident.
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Be thankful that you have working arms and legs that you
34:50
can change your tire. You're there.
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You can find the silver lining in just about everything.
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You're going through the worst experience in your life.
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You name it? Death disease, heartache loss of
35:06
a loved one. Yes, steel have Heaven waiting
35:11
on the other side. Look for the Silver Lining,
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develop an attitude of gratitude.
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Philippians 4 verse 11. Paul says, not that I speak in
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respect of want for I have learned in whatsoever.
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State. I am therewith to be content, be
35:29
content, be thankful. The psalmist writes in a
35:35
numerous passages, Psalm 717. I will give thanks to the Lord
35:40
because of his righteousness. Psalm 91.
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I will, I will give thanks to you Lord, with all my heart.
35:46
Psalm 30:5 18. I will give you thanks.
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I will praise you. Psalm 69 30 Magnify Him with
35:52
Thanksgiving. So I'm 95 1 through 3, come
35:55
before his presence with Thanksgiving.
35:58
Psalm 104 through five, be thankful to him.
36:01
Psalm 106 and verse 1. And for he is good, he is
36:04
merciful and his Mercy endures forever.
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That's just a tiny little snippet of everything that you
36:11
can find in God's word. Jesus Christ died on the cross
36:14
for yours and my sins. And because of that, we have a
36:19
Hope Of Heaven. One day have an attitude of
36:24
gratitude fourthly. Look for God's Providence in
36:28
your life. If you want victory over
36:32
complaining, look around and try and find some things in your
36:35
life that you think might be God working in it.
36:40
Now. Even Paul was hesitant to put
36:43
his finger on something. That was providentially God's
36:47
doings. In fact, when Paul wrote to
36:49
Philemon in the book of Philemon, discussing the
36:51
circumstance with onesimus. Paul said, for perhaps, he
36:55
didn't know for sure, but he said maybe maybe Be in.
37:00
And so what I encourage you to do is look around at your life
37:02
and think, maybe man, I got this flat tire.
37:05
I was talking to Alex about this the other day that, you know,
37:09
sometimes I'll have some kind of Automotive incident where I'm
37:11
broke down, and I grew up in the rice family.
37:13
We've never had the best vehicles and sometimes you break
37:15
down on the side of the road, and I think, maybe, maybe this
37:19
is God. Keeping me from some terrible
37:21
automobile accident, way, on down the line.
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I don't know. But if you start doing that with
37:27
everything that goes bad in your life.
37:30
The complaining quickly goes away and the thankfulness
37:33
quickly sets in try and look for the providential workings of God
37:38
in your life. Paul wrote in second,
37:39
Corinthians 4 verse 17. He says for our light Affliction
37:43
which is but for a moment is life.
37:46
Life is a is a light Affliction. There's a lot of Heartache but
37:49
it's you know comparing it to what Paul is about to mention
37:52
here. It's small and it's temporary
37:54
for our light Affliction, which is, but for a moment worketh for
37:57
us a far more exceeding and eternal weight.
38:00
Glory while we look not at the things which are seen.
38:03
As don't focus on life. He says not only things that are
38:08
seen But at the things which are not seen for the things which
38:12
are seen are temporary but the things which are not seen are
38:16
eternal. Try and find some things in your
38:21
life that you could consider the providential workings of God.
38:25
When We complain, I'm basically saying that if I were God, I
38:29
would do it this way. What complaining are complaining
38:33
is, is kind of like the Israelites?
38:35
It's Rebellion against God. I'm questioning God's wisdom.
38:41
I'm doubting God's love. I'm forgetting God's goodness
38:46
when I complain and fifthly this morning.
38:50
Practice speaking positively that sounds so cliche and silly.
38:56
But if you're an individual who struggles with the complaining,
39:00
start working on some good things that you can say, get,
39:03
get a note card, write some things down that you should be
39:06
being happy about and things that you should say on a regular
39:09
basis, put it in your pocket. And when you find yourself
39:12
complaining, whoop, that note card out and start reading about
39:14
some things that you can be happy for and say them out loud
39:19
brag on. Our people compliment.
39:21
Someone, tell someone that you're so proud of this person
39:25
over here. Don't always be talking about
39:28
how you can't stand. So and so and you can't stand.
39:30
So and so find something to say positively Paul says, in
39:36
Ephesians 4:29, let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth.
39:41
But that means here's what should come out of your mouth.
39:44
What is good for necessary edification, that it may impart
39:50
grace to the hearers. The Bible tells us that we're
39:54
going to give account of every word that comes out of our
39:57
mouth. What do you want God to be
39:59
reading from The Book of Life when he discusses your life and
40:03
the words that you said. What are the results?
40:10
In our lives from not complaining, you got to go back
40:13
to Philippians chapter 2 and look at verse 15, which is right
40:16
after verse 14 numerically, obviously, but in verse 14, he
40:21
said, don't Grumble and complain.
40:23
And then in verse 15, he tells us what the outcome will be that
40:27
you may become blameless and harmless children of God without
40:32
fault. You're telling me if I'll stop
40:35
complaining and grumbling, but I'll start being positive and
40:38
I'll start saying good things. What will I become Brent?
40:41
Well, the Bible says I'll be blameless.
40:43
I'll be harmless. I'll be the children of God.
40:46
I'll be without fault. And even though I'm in the midst
40:49
of a crooked and perverse generation.
40:51
I'll be able to shine as a light in this world.
40:58
I know it's kind of sounds, so cheesy.
41:03
When you say it like this, but get rid of the negative talk and
41:07
say good things because we, as Christians of all people in this
41:13
world, have the most to be thankful and grateful for.
41:19
Maybe you're here this morning and you're not a child of God.
41:21
I want to encourage you become a Christian, become a Christian by
41:24
repenting of the sins that you have in your life confessed.
41:27
That Christ is Lord and Savior and be immersed in water.
41:31
So those sins can be washed away.
41:32
We have a I'm sure you back here behind me that is prepared.
41:35
And if that is what you need will study with, you will talk
41:37
with, you. Will Pat you on the back.
41:39
You can be baptized into the Lord.
41:41
This very morning. Maybe you already are a child of
41:43
God, but somewhere in your life, you've made some mistakes as we
41:45
all do. Maybe you're a person who wants
41:47
to change from being the complainer to someone who is one
41:51
who brags and says good things and positive things.
41:53
Maybe you just need prayers of strength and encouragement.
41:57
Maybe you have a sin in your life that you need to repent of.
41:59
If we can help you in any way. Please come right now, while we
42:01
stand in the sink.