All right, in passage there he says, this know also, in the last days, perilous times shall come when the lovers of themselves, own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents. We covered that on Wednesday night. Hopefully you got a little bit of a different take on that. And then he says, unthankful. Father, I pray that you might help us this morning and that you might bless the service. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen. All right, Romans chapter number one, unthankful. In everything he says in 1 Thessalonians 5, in everything, give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. He says it again in 1 Thessalonians chapter number four. Now why is that? Because in the last days, the first step to apostasy, ladies and gentlemen, is ingratitude or unthankfulness. Unappreciative, ungrateful, I'm entitled to this. The kids are not the only ones that grow up that way. You go to work for somebody, you've been working there two weeks, you think you should be running the company. You say, how do you know that? Because you're talking about the boss all the time and talking about so-and-so did this and so-and-so did that, and you're talking about how he's running things instead of saying, I sure am grateful I got a job and got a paycheck coming in. He didn't hire you to be the owner of the company. He hired you to come to work for him. If he wanted your opinion, he'd ask for it. But instead of being thankful that I got a way to pay my bills, now all of a sudden you're unthankful that you have a job and you're thinking, well, I got a job, but you know what? I think he needs to move me up to supervisor. I should be on the fast track. That's Isaiah 14. That's the devil saying, well, I mean, the Lord gave me a world down here to run and gave me the angels down here to oversee. And I'm the fifth cherub that covers. But I'm going to set my throne above his throne. I'm ambitious. I'm going to be like the Most High in the sense of ruling things, controlling things. And he runs through five I wills there. That's the modern way of the flesh. Unthankful, not grateful for the fact that I think the devil forgot he was a created being, he's not deity. Romans chapter number 1, we've hit this already before, this is last days, verse 21, because when they knew God, verse 21, they glorified Him not as God, Neither were thankful. Now watch, semicolon there. But became vain in their imagination. So their imaginations are thinking about themselves. And because of that, you see the steps of the progression. Their foolish hearts darkened. So now, their filter is so dark that no matter what comes in, if it's not applicable to them, if it's not applicable to what their agenda is, then they throw it out. They're no longer able to receive truth. They've already made up their mind. This is why I try to caution you about your preconceived prejudices and your preconceived preferences, is the other word I'm looking for. You want to be careful because that becomes a filter and you can't see the truth even though it's in front of you. Because it doesn't play to your agenda. And that goes from a religious standpoint. You get real nervous there. You get tense. You're like, now wait a minute. We all have to check our filters. How many of you have an air conditioner? Good. If you don't, we'll pray for you. You're in Florida. You need an air conditioner, not just for heat, but for humidity. Somebody said to me, well, I love to go camping. I don't mind going when it's 45 or 50 outside. I don't want to go when it's 100, unless it's holiday in. That's a good idea. But let me ask you a question. Every air conditioner has a filter on it. And no matter which one of you are here, you may not use it as much as other people, but everybody has to check their filter. This isn't for a global statement or a nationwide statement. This is an individual statement. Do I have an agenda? Do I have a filter? Is my heart so darkened in a particular area that when I'm presented with truth, I can't hear it? I can't receive it because it doesn't fit my agenda. And now you've got a particular problem. You've got some issues because now you can't receive the truth. And when you can't receive the truth, then it sets you up for the other things we've talked about, about your conscience being seared. Come to James chapter number one. James chapter number one. Now, I realize that James is written to the twelve tribes scattered about, and James is not, as many people are teaching nowadays, church-age doctrine and things like that, but you can get some practical application out of the book of James. Why? Because the Lord said in the last days, they're unthankful. That means I got a guard against not being thankful. Question, many of you may or may not know this, we have a number of medical professionals in here, but generally for me to take one step, it requires for me to operate somewhere in the neighborhood of 200 muscles to just take a step. You say, well, I don't think it's much of that. It's just using your calf. You might use a couple of muscles down in your Achilles tendon and things like that and maybe up around your hamstrings and stuff and your quadriceps. I can understand that. Maybe your hip flexors a little bit, but 200 muscles, that's ridiculous. Okay, well, look it up. But have you ever stopped to consider the fact that if it wasn't for God, there's at least 195 of those muscles that are working and you don't know anything about it? You ever thank God you can take a step? Until you can't? You ever thank God you can get up off the commode? Until you can't? See, there's little things like that. You ever thank God for your eyeballs? I don't know about you, I like waking up in the morning and open it up. I don't care if the room is pitch dark, and ours is. We got all kind of dark stuff all over. I like a dark room, but it goes back to when I used to work nights and stuff like that. But I don't want a little bit of glimmer of light coming through. I want it to be dark 30 in there, man. I mean, tape the alarm thing off so you can't see it and all that kind of a deal. I like waking up, but I like knowing I'm seeing the dark. It's not dark because I'm blind. Everything gone for your ability to breathe? Until you can't? You don't even think about breathing. That's controlled by your parasympathetic nervous system. It's automatically set up for you. You ever think God that you can blink? You say, what is that? Little microscopic pieces of trash flying through the air and you blink to keep your eyes moisturized and so it doesn't scratch your cornea? You just take that for granted, do you? You ever think God for your nose hairs? Nose hairs. Yeah, the things that when you get my age they start growing out if you don't stay on top of them. They tie in with your ears. You never even realize you had them until you start getting old and then all of a sudden it's kind of like, is that your mustache or is that, you know, that kind of thing? Never had a mustache before and then all of a sudden you wake up one day and it's kind of like you look like a walrus and got these things. Nose hairs. But you know why God put them in there? It's to catch certain things to keep it from coming in and corrupting your lungs. Here's a good one for you. You ever thank God for your taste buds? Until you don't have them. A friend of mine said, you know, I spent a lot of years smoking cigars and doing some things I shouldn't have done. And he said, and now if the food's not real hot or real cold, he said, I can't even taste it. He said, one of the worst things I did was I burned out my taste buds. He said, one of the few pleasures in life is being able to taste food. Well, I got news for you. I've had to eat that stuff like cardboard before. I'd rather have something on it to be able to taste it. You ever thank God for that? To make eating a pleasure, not just getting filled up, but being able to taste it? Being able to taste a good glass of sweet iced tea on a hot day? You ever thank God for that? I'm just saying unthankful. Take it for granted. Lord, I should have more than I have. You got a roof over your head? Paul says, with food and rain, but therefore to be what? Are you content? What if it never got any better? I've heard for years preachers get up in the pulpit and say, now Lord, we know that if it were to go bad now, we've had so much to be thankful for, we could never complain. Well, why are you complaining now? You're crying like a bunch of stinking babies who had their pacifier taken away from you. Like God's a bad God because all of a sudden you don't know what's going to happen to your 401K. You can't tell what's going to happen in the future and whether or not your dreams for your kids are going to come out the way you had them drawn up. I'm sorry, I thought you said that the Lord had been so good to you for so many years that if it all stopped right now, you had more than you could ever give thanks for. We've had a good run, haven't we? I'm just saying, I'm trying to catch myself here, unthankful. Well, Lord, you know, my knees hurt, my elbows hurt and stuff. Well, you abused them a little bit, but at least if they're hurting, they're still working. Just trying to draw it to your attention. I'm not trying to put you under conviction, but you live in a society, especially in the United States of America, ladies and gentlemen, that is so ungrateful for everything. They want more. They want equal. You ever realize that? without earning it. Do you realize, again, I told you, everything begins in Genesis. You find it through the law of first mention. You know what he said to Adam? You're going to earn a living from the sweat of your brow, boy. And what was intended to bring up a good garden, you're going to have thorns and thistles to fight now. You don't even know what that's like anymore. Get out. And that happens. You say, well, now all of a sudden you think you get something for nothing. What is that? Unthankful. That's where that comes from. Unthankful, unthankful, unthankful. You're jealous. I call it the Robin Hood mentality. You say, Robin Hood, that was a great movie, you know, and he made Med Mariam and this and that and the other and old Friar Tuck and all that. Yeah, the biggest one of the whole bunch down there that looked like a stinking watermelon with toothpick in it was Friar Tuck. He was the preacher of the bunch. And you always see him with a chicken leg in his hand or a turkey leg in his hand. And he's the one that used to go around for the Pope and collect taxes from everybody. Everybody owes me. I'm a man of the cloth. I'm collecting taxes. I don't work. I just collect money. You know what Robin Hood did? He stole from the rich to give to the poor. Well, Preacher, you know in the context of the story, that's communism. That's the rich have to pay for the poor. That's not biblical. If you work, you deserve to be paid for what you do. I realize I got to pay taxes. I understand that. But if you think I like my taxes going to take care of somebody like Charles Manson in the prison system over there to give him three hots and a squat every day, that kind of bothers me. I think it's a waste of my tax dollars. Somebody's been convicted of a capital crime, then Why are you taking my tax dollars for that? Spend that money on somebody that can be rehabilitated. It's like I'm paying the guy for his crime. Okay, well you wound up being done. I hope somebody will come take care of you. That's what they do in other foreign countries. Did you know that? In certain foreign countries, if you go and say, El Salvador is a good one. If you go to prison down there, once you go to prison, if nobody brings you food, you starve. I'm just saying, prison ain't a hotel down there. Are you getting the picture? I know you feel like I'm hammering you, but it's one of the great things that you don't recognize, you don't even realize, you come to expect. You crank the car up, you wouldn't dare have one without air conditioner. And now without leather seats. And now without a MP3 player. I mean, that's just standard. You got to have a phone. You know what they do? They play off of your covetousness. What do you do? They keep upgrading the phone, upgrading the phone, upgrading the phone. Nowadays, I don't know what the latest one is. I think the latest one from iPhone is like $1,200. For what? It's got a better camera. Well, it's an iPhone. And then you've got to go post to Facebook and give your opinion on all the stuff going on in the government and everywhere else because your life is so important. Unthankful. Your husband does everything he can to work for you and come home is never enough. Look, I realize if you have to work to help get things down the pipe a little bit, I understand that. But he works and then you come home and you expect to take care of the house and make a meal? Well, you know, it's a 50-50. I'm not sure where you got that. Some of you have been thinking about getting married, but you ain't coming to me for marital counseling. You say, why? I'm going to follow the book. And the book tells you what you're supposed to do. The problem is, is you'd rather be happy yourself in the here and now than in the hereafter. And you're comparing yourself to other women and saying, well, she's got and she's got and she's got. She ain't married to your husband. Well, I just don't think he should have done that. You married him, stupid. And now you're trying to fix him. You've been trying to fix him for years. And how's that working out for you? You ain't gonna do it without doing it God's way. So what is that? That's all about you. It's all about your expectations. Well, I got married and I expected him to do this and this and this. Well, it don't always work out with a Mercedes or a Bentley in the driveway and every night you come home and it's just marital bliss from then on. It's kids and cracks in the ceiling and leaking roofs and dogs barking and pooping everywhere and flat tires on the car and grease in the garage and all kind of stuff and having to live with each other. Can you imagine what it's like for him when he married me and you? He comes home every day and says, baby, you couldn't at least do the dishes? I mean, I've been out here working all day long, and you couldn't at least keep the house clean? Your house clean. You understand how? You couldn't at least keep the house clean? You couldn't dust in the corners? You couldn't wipe down the counters. You couldn't wash your cotton picking clothes. You couldn't make yourself a little more presentable. I'm the old man, I'm coming home and you meet me at the door with stinking cream all over your face and rolls in your hair. What are you trying to do? Punish me for marrying you? It's a picture of our relationship with Jesus Christ. You see, you put that on it, if you're a good woman, you're thinking, yeah, boy, maybe I could do a little work there. I know you have to work. I understand that. I realize, men, if she's working a job, you can't expect her to do all that stuff too. Pitch in. I mean, learn which end of the vacuum cleaner is up. You know, the carpet side down. It won't kill you. It won't kill you. I know mommy never made you do that and cut your crust off your bread. But it ain't going to hurt you to make up the bed every now and then. I mean, it's a strange thing to me. A kid goes into the military and I don't make up my bed. That drill sergeant standing there saying, you don't make up your bed. The whole platoon runs. And you go to make your bed and you learn to do it in the military for survival. And then after you get out of the military, you get back home and say, well, that's her job. It must be a place south of here living with you. It must be a real joy for that woman to live with you. You got a little noise there when I was talking about the women, but you men, you kind of clam up on me. Oh, well, I'm just saying. And as you grow older, things change. Maybe you don't know that yet. I hate to tell you, but I've already told you. It ain't going to be this all the time. Real marriage is, is you gut it out when it ain't like you thought it was going to be when you drew it up. I still make them put in for better or for worse, for richer or poorer. We've got to get back to unthankful. I make a good sermon. A fellow said the other day, he said, preacher, I've noticed you all haven't been having any singing. And I said, no, we can't right now. Singing sprays and makes people uncomfortable. So, you know, we just have a couple of specials and then I get up and preach. Yeah, I've noticed, but just because they're not singing, do you still have to take all the time? I said, well, I do for my folks. I said, they'd tar and feather me. He goes, you must have some unusual people there. I said, no, but I said, when they come in, they're glued to the seat. I said, if I give them 20 minutes and three points and a poem, I said, they're going to be kind of like, OK, that was an appetizer. Let's get the main course here. I said, I'm sorry it takes me so long to say so much, but I said, those people equate whether I really care with them or whether I spend any time with them. Oh, well, yeah, he says, there's that. I said, well, yeah, there's that. But the bottom line is, ladies and gentlemen, when it comes to the society we live in, we as Christians are no less guilty than the world we're watching nowadays. This is not to point fingers at them. This is to look at me and you. Am I grateful? I realize there used to be a prayer we used to say at the table over dinner. God is great. God is good. for our food. By His hands, we all are fed. Thank You, Lord, for daily bread. You know, it's a strange thing, ladies and gentlemen, that even that right now, we're not even known to do that. Lord, thank You for the food I'm about to eat. If it wasn't for You, I wouldn't be able to eat it. I wouldn't be able to taste it. I wouldn't be able to chew it. I wouldn't be able to take the nutrients out of it and eliminate the waste. Lord, I sure do appreciate it. I don't know how you fixed this thing the way you did, but you made a perfect system to be able to do that, and I sure am glad you allow me the privilege of enjoying that. Do you ever realize, ladies and gentlemen, God gave you food for a reason? He could have made you where you could run foodless. You know why He gave you food? For you to enjoy. That's why He gives you different flavors, and everything doesn't taste like cardboard. And He gives you gravies, and sauces, and dressings, and salt, and pepper, and nutmeg, and paprika, and red chili flakes, and whatever else you like to have on all your stuff, Tabasco sauce, and ketchup, and mustard, and mayonnaise, and ranch dressing, and Caesar, all that. Why did He do that? Your body doesn't need that stuff. He gave it to you for one thing. You know what he thought? He thought, well, you know something, as a Christian, there's a lot of things the world enjoys they can't enjoy. But I tell you what they could do, they could enjoy a good meal with some good friends and family. and sitting down around the table and starting off with their relationship with me and thanking me for the food. And you know what? Three, four times a day they're recognizing where it came from. That's a good way for me to get some worship off of them. I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll reward them with what? Something they like? Cheeseburger with bacon on it? Lobster? Key lime pie? Ice cream? Magic shell? Red velvet cake. You say, what is that? Just cake with red coloring in it, but it makes you feel special. You put red in it. I had red velvet. That's so much better than I had, you know, yellow cake. I had red velvet. It sounds posh. What did you have for dessert? Red velvet. Cream cheese icing. Yeah, but you know why God gave it to you? Because He's thinking about you. You ever thank God after you have a, I had a good cup of coffee this morning, a good one. I tasted that thing and I thought, man, I sure am glad I can taste that. It's not just a caffeine delivery system for me. Right? Otherwise I could take no-dos or whatever. It's, I enjoy the flavor. Ain't that something? You ever thank God for that? You ever understand that the Lord says, when it comes time that the new kingdom, I'll sit down and have dinner with you? You know, one of the greatest things that happens after you get down to the judgment seat of Christ, you have the marriage supper. He's sitting down with you to eat. Your taste buds have been touched by sin right now. The food you're eating has been touched by sin. Imagine what it would be like when you get up there and you're eating food with ingredients you've never even heard of. And you have taste buds that are uncorrupted by sin and food that came out of a ground that's uncorrupted. Can you imagine? I hope I'm not boring you to death. I'm just trying to get you to be thankful. James chapter number 1. James chapter number 1 and verse number 17. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." You know what he just said? Everything you have, guess where it came from? It came from God. Come to Colossians chapter number 4, Colossians 4. You'll never go wrong with thanking God. Now it's on a whole number, make it 3 and then we'll go to 4. Colossians 3. You come to a whole other level when you start thanking God for your trouble. He said in everything. Paul said, we glory in tribulation. That's a whole other level. But you'll never get to that level if you're not thankful for the things that are pleasing to you now. You can't be expected to be thankful, ladies and gentlemen, for trouble and problems if you're not grateful for the things that everybody should be grateful for. It's a progression. Colossians chapter number three, look if you will, verse number 15. Let the peace of God rule in your hearts to which also you are called in one body and be ye what? Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms, hymns, spiritual songs, singing the grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatsoever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus. Look at what goes on. That whole, that passage right there is couched with give thanks and give thanks. That's what you would call the parentheses in that statement. Giving thanks, he says, in all things to making sure that you're singing them. Look, if you will, please, in chapter 4. Look in verse number 2. Continue in prayer and watch in the same with what? Well, how about that? You believe what the Bible says about it? Look in Ephesians chapter number 5. Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians. Chief, I don't know what time my watch might be off. What time have you got? 1029. Alright, another minute or two here and then we'll get moving. Ephesians chapter 5. Look if you will, come all the way down to verse number 19. Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. You just read a passage similar to that. Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing, making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks for what? Unto God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. You know what he just said? You give thanks to God for all things. Come back to Ephesians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Philippians chapter 4. I wonder sometimes if maybe the reason we're not better at this is because me as a preacher and we as preachers don't teach enough about the fact that the Bible is not asking you as a suggestion. He's giving you a command. That's in there the same thing as not bearing false witness. That's in there about having no other gods before me. He's giving you a command in this age. You know what he's just saying? Isn't it a tragedy that he has to remind us to be thankful? Kids, today's Father's Day. And whether you had a dad fit to raise a cat or not, you wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for him having you. Maybe he wasn't always what he is now, but one of the ways if you got a good daddy to keep him being a good daddy is to tell daddy sure do appreciate it. I don't have a daddy to tell that to anymore. I'm glad I did tell him on occasion, at least. Daddy, I sure appreciate you. And the longer I lived, the more I realized what an idiot I was and how much he had to put up with to raise me. But if you still got a good daddy, you know what would be good? I'm not talking about just a send out a shout out. I'm talking about personal, eyeball to eyeball. Daddy, I sure appreciate it. I sure do appreciate it. Appreciate you stepping up. Thank you for bringing me in the world. Because if you hadn't brought me in the world, I'd have never got to trust Jesus Christ, and I'd get to spend eternity in a glorified body. Appreciate it. You say, well, I was a mistake when I was born, and I was in the way when I was born, and all that. Oh, OK. But you're saved now. Amen. Would you rather have never been born? That's Judas's prayer. I mean, what they said about Judas, it's better him never to be born. Why? Because he winds up being completely possessed of the devil. You'd rather not be born than spend eternity with Jesus? Not me, man. Are you in Philippians chapter four? Look all the way down there, if you will, please. Philippians chapter number four, come to verse number five. Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord's at hand. Be careful for nothing. Don't worry about it. But in everything by prayer and supplication, uh-oh, with thanksgiving, Let your requests be made known unto God, and the peace of God which shall pass on. But look at the qualifications. First of all, moderation be known to all men. Be careful for nothing. Right? So don't worry about it. God's got it. But in everything, by prayer and supplication, He's telling me to be thankful for the thing that's causing me distress. He's telling me to be thankful. He said, but in everything. Don't worry. Don't worry. That's what He's telling me to be thankful for. Whatever you're worried about, be thankful for it. Be thankful for the person that's a burr under your saddle or bee in your bonnet. Be thankful for the financial stress and strain. Be thankful for the disease or the sickness you got. You know, one of the quickest ways to get the devil off your back, one of the quickest ways to get the devil off of your back, ladies and gentlemen, is to tell the Lord thank you for whatever he just put on you. When the devil finds out he can't bother you with that anymore, he's like, well, why bother? Why bother? I can't upset him. You know how the devil can turn us as Christians against God real quick? Can't lose your salvation? It's for him to be allowed to do something like he did to Job. You say what you want to, but Job said, naked I came into the world and naked I shall live. Blessed be the name of the Lord. His wife comes to him and says, curse God and die. You know what he said? You talk like a fool, woman. He said, shall we receive good things? Shall we not receive evil? Not sinful. If God gave me good things, why shouldn't He give me bad things? Who are you to accuse God? You think when you got saved, God's only supposed to give you good things? He gave you salvation. Where did you get that? That's some communist manifesto you're reading. I got saved and I expect all prosperity. That's not in the Bible. You get it later. You get it later. You know what Job said? Job said, well, I've got good things. Shouldn't I get some evil to go along with it, balance it out? You know, if you have trouble in your life, you know one thing it'll do for you? If you have trouble in your life, it'll make you appreciate when you don't have trouble. Now I'm gonna give you some passages tonight that goes along with this. Bear with me for just a second. I'm gonna give you an illustration. I'll give you some stuff in the book of Psalms. But in the book of Psalms, it's the greatest song book there. There's 150 chapters of songs that are in there. And one of the things that the book of Psalms points out is enter into his praise with thanksgiving. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving. Enter into his presence with thanksgiving. Thanksgiving, thanksgiving, thanksgiving. That ain't turkey dinner. That ain't a cornucopia with vegetables falling out of it. It is, there is a secret to getting close to God, and it's learning to be thankful. And you have to learn it, because by nature, it's not natural. A kid comes up, they want what they want, if they don't get it, they cry. And then you give them a little love paddle on the hind end, and you straighten them out, and along the way, they have to learn how to be thankful for things. You say, why? They take it for granted. A kid, by the way, should expect mom and dad to take care of them until they get a little older. I mean, that's reasonable. They can't go work a job. Right? But come on now, after you get a little bit older, expecting cell phones and cars and fancy clothes and Jimmy Choo's and all that other stuff, or Pierre Cardin or Hartshaft or Marks or whatever's out there nowadays, I can't keep up with it. You're getting a little greedy, aren't you? Expect the mom and dad to just give you what you want. Here's the illustration and I'll close with this for Sunday school hour. And it don't matter, we're only seeing a couple of specials and then I'll be back again. But here's the thing you want to know. The Lord's coming up there to the lepers over there in Luke chapter 17. In Luke chapter 17, those lepers cry out to God or Jesus Christ as he comes walking by. And the Lord says, go show yourself to the priest. And they're going to go. That's exactly what the Levitical law told them to do. And they're on the way back to get pronounced clean by the priest so that they can rejoin their family and their community and so on and so forth. There's 10 of those guys that are individuals that are there. That's a Gentile number, but there's 10 of them. And one of them is a half-breed, a mix. And so he comes up there, you can look up the passage later if you want to, and he says to one guy, he comes back, and the guy bows down there, and he's down at the feet of Jesus, and Jesus says, where's the nine? And he said, this one came back, and he's a Samaritan. You'd never expect him to be grateful for it. He doesn't even know that he's supposed to be grateful for it. But you have to watch the passage. You know why? There's a lot of things in the passage you read too fast, you miss it. You know what he says? He says, where are the nine that returned to give glory to God? There's not one place where that Samaritan man said, glory to God. You know what he said? Thank you. Look at it on the break. You know what he said? He returned to give thanks. You know how God equated that thing? You're giving glory to God. You know what that thank you said for that boy that got healed of his leprosy? He said, God, I'm thanking you not just for healing me, but I'm thanking you that if it hadn't been for this leprosy, I would have never met you. And if it hadn't been for this disease, if it hadn't been for this trouble, if it hadn't been for this divorce, if it hadn't been for this trial, if it hadn't been for this problem, if it hadn't been for this hospital stay, if it hadn't been for this, Lord, I thank you for that, I'd have never had the relationship with you that I have with you now. And the Lord interprets that. You know what he says? Look at them giving glory to me. And just the antithesis or the opposite is true. When you gripe and murmur and complain, about how bad everything is and how hard... You know what you're basically doing? You're blaming God. That's blasphemy. God, it's your fault this is all happening to me. God's like, well, my, my, my, you forgot your sin nature, didn't you, Adam? Then you forget something there along the way, Adam. You sure have forgotten to be thankful. You know what happened? He uses as an illustration in Corinthians as what he did to the nation of Israel because they murmured and griped and complained. People say, well, you know, you shouldn't murmur, gripe, and complain. Yeah, but when you're murmuring, griping, and complaining, it is because you're unthankful. Watch. Isn't he giving them manna? I don't know what's made in God's kitchen up there. He's got a pretty good chef. I don't know what it was. It says a Horry Frost. I don't know what it was. Little ice cream balls or whatever. I don't know. But it couldn't have tasted bad. But they got accustomed to it. They didn't have to work for it. They didn't have to grub the ground. They didn't have to kill an animal. They had meat every day to eat, manna, given to them by God. Every day, showed them they're in God's favor. Are you with me? Now, I don't know about you. That would be pretty good to have one of your main needs met. I'm getting fed every day. God takes care of me. And then on Friday night, He said, go ahead and gather enough for tomorrow. and it won't spoil. If you gather it any other day, it'll spoil, but we don't want you doing this on the Sabbath, so you go ahead and gather enough and it won't spoil. You got enough for two days, so you don't even have to go out and get it tomorrow. You don't even have to sweat in the sun and go out there and grab you a pail full of the stuff. Just get it and eat it. You know what they say? Manna. I'd rather have garlic and leeks in Egypt. Manna. The Lord said, oh, you don't like manna? No, we wish we had some meat. The Lord said, I'll send you some meat. He sent them quail. Wave your hand and knock them out of the air. Flocks of them look like locusts. They're so heavy. And he sends it to them. The Lord said, I'm going to send it to them until it's running out of their nose. Do you know why? Because they weren't grateful for the manna. They weren't grateful for the manna. Would you be where you are today, right now, if it wasn't for some trouble that intersected you along the way that pointed you back to Jesus Christ and you said, you know something, Lord, I've been making this religion not a relationship and I need to get back to you. Would you even be sitting here today if God had just given you everything you wanted when you wanted it? Well, you'd be a spoiled brat, sure as I'm standing here. Trouble is the thing that runs us closer. It shouldn't be that way, but it is. That's why you get songs like, count your many blessings, name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done. But we don't usually do that. But I bet you could name 10 of your troubles just like that. Just like that. When's the last time you thanked God for the trouble? You want to get over your bitterness this morning? You hit an old-fashioned altar and come down and say, Lord, I appreciate the worst thing ever happened to me in my life. I appreciate it. I don't understand it. I sure do appreciate it. Father, bless Your Word and thank You for it. I pray You'll be with us in the upcoming service. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.