Sermon Brief: Stop Complaining – Start Proclaiming!

January 11, 2009 in Sermons with 0 Comments

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From Journey Through the Word: Numbers

Based on Numbers 10-12

ONE GREAT TRUTH: Attitude is half the battle… attitude is controllable, so we should cut off complaining and proclaim our faith in God’s awesome abilities!

CORRECTING KILLER ATTITUDES…

At least three attitudes that cause complaining and what to do about them:

From Ingratitude to Gratefulness

The children of Israel were no longer thankful for the gift of the manna God was providing. They weren’t thankful for God’s deliverance at all – all that they could do was complain about everything God had provided. 1 Corinthians 10 tells us that their murmuring led to a great temptation, moral failure, and judgment from God. The antidote to ingratitude is seeing everything as a gift from God – even life itself.

From Fatalism to Faith

Moses’ attitude, upon hearing the negativity of the Israelites was, “I can’t do this, God. It’s too hard.” This is always true when you remove God from the equation of life – we can’t do it. But faith says “where God guides, God provides.”

From Egotism and Jealousy to Selfless Cooperation

Miriam and Aaron were jealous and filled with pride, which created an unhealthy competition among them as leaders of God’s people. Miriam and Aaron became fault-finders and did whatever necessary to call his leadership into question to elevate themselves. Peter learned this same lesson on the seashore with Jesus, who predicted that he would die a martyr’s death. When Peter wanted to know what John would suffer, Jesus simply said, “That’s between him and me, what should you do for God?” The Israelites were learning some very tough lessons and this one was that if they were going to be a nation, self and ego had to die in favor of team work. You may have heard before that “teamwork makes the dream work.” God has given so richly, especially in the gift of His Son, Jesus.