If you got your Bibles and you're in Numbers chapter 11, we're going to start and just look at one verse to start off this morning. Kind of what we're just going to springboard from is a couple other passages we are going to look at. I'm just going to be rather predictable. when it comes to this time of the year. But instead of, you know, my pessimist side is gonna be what comes out more. So instead of looking at the positive aspect of being thankful, we're gonna look at the pessimist aspect of what we typically do, complain. So this morning, I wanna preach this. If you're taking notes and wanna give it a title, It is the destructive nature of complaint, the destructive nature of complaint. Numbers 11, verse number 1, the Bible gives one of many descriptions of the attitude of the children of Israel. They had a typical habit of a bad attitude. on a regular basis, and they normally showed it because of the words they said, and the things they griped about, and the people they pointed fingers at, and you name it. But verse number one of chapter 11 in the book of Numbers says this, and when the people complained, it displeased the Lord. And the Lord heard it, and His anger was kindled, and the fire of the Lord burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp. " By the way, just a thought, you say, why the uttermost parts? Because when a person has a gripey, complaining spirit, they're not gonna be any further away from God than they can possibly be at that moment. when you're griping, complaining, murmuring, all these different aspects. The children of Israel, the ones who are griping, complaining, and murmuring the most, do you know where they were located? As far away from the tabernacle as could possibly be. The tabernacle was centered right in the middle of the entire children of Israel as they were placed around it in all their tribes and their companies and their families. And the ones, listen, as they complained more and griped more, the ones who did the greatest amount of griping were evidently the ones furthest away from God. Now that's a very simple aspect of the whole message. As they complained, by the way, we'll see in just a minute what their complaint was really about, what brought the Lord to just being fed up. And so he took care of the worst of the worst, the fire of the Lord. It wasn't a fire of revival, okay? It was a fire of judgment. And it all came about because the people complained. And so this morning, as much as I don't want to, because in all honesty, you're not looking at someone this morning that has spent the last several months doing a great job of not complaining. I've done my fair share of voicing my frustrations with different things at different times. And we get reminded this time of the year, though, when we're focused on giving thanks, which, by the way, everybody's like, all right, this is our time of the year where we gotta be thankful. It's like, actually, no, it's supposed to be all year round. But this is the time of year where it's really hard to avoid the reminder that we're not a very thankful people. We love to think we are, but if we actually took time to stop and examine our day in the hourly scenarios of each day, if you could take the time to look back over this past week and just reflect on each individual day And write down every moment that you can remember. Think about Monday, think about Tuesday, think about Wednesday. Actually, go back to Sunday. Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. And have two blocks, or two pieces of paper, and one of them put times I was thankful, and the other one put times I complained. And then go day by day and do this. Say, Lord, will you help me to remember both of these times throughout each day? You say, why would I want to do that? I know exactly. Why would we want to do it? Because if you ask God for something, be careful what you ask for. One preacher said in dealing with asking forgiveness, one preacher said, I think my brother Souter might've been one of the ones I've heard say it. Take a moment and ask God, Lord, if there's anybody that I need to forgive, will you bring that person to my mind? Be ready to write down a lot of names. I think I don't have anybody I need to forgive. I think I'm good. I've forgiven everybody. I think Brother Souter was the one that said he felt like that until later on he had a list of like 12 to 15 names because he asked the Lord to show him, bring to his mind individuals that maybe he even forgot about internally is still struggling with. Just pressed it down, suppressed it where he wouldn't think about it, but the problem was still there. It was never actually dealt with. And that's kind of the way we are with complaint and thankfulness. Oh, I was pretty thankful this year. I'm pretty sure I didn't hardly complain at all this week. Ask the Lord to bring to memory the things that you thought and the things that you said this week, and then examine them in the light of thankfulness or complaint. Now, if we did that, I'm gonna say we probably need one piece of paper for the thankfulness, and we might need three or four for the complaint. Because we tend to complain without even thinking about it. We tend to voice our frustrations without even thinking about it. Sometimes we murmur complaint and nobody even, we mutter it to ourselves, nobody even is around to hear it. We're just thinking, door getting stuck, I left my keys on my counter. Right? Okay, I guess I'm the only one that really did that. But no, we tend to complain I'll give you one, you ready? Who drank the last of the tea in the refrigerator? I left it there for labor and it's gone. Thankfully I'm not the only one that does that. Why are you smiling, Libby? Okay. She'd always take the juice or something like that and go look at the last bit of ice cream. Who ate the last Popsicle? Okay, but regardless, if we're not careful, before we even think about it, we complain. And complaint has some negative outcomes. We're going to look at some of that here in just a moment. Let me pray, and then I'm going to give you a little bit of background thought, and then we're going to jump into three simple outcomes that we find due to complaint in our lives. But let's pray. Heavenly Father, we do thank you for this morning. Pray it should help us as we look at this. very down-to-earth, very hit-close-to-home topic that each one of us have to be aware of and willing to accept is a struggle for us. I pray that You would show us our needs, show us our weaknesses, show us where we struggle, and would You help us to be humble and tender to respond with this truth as the Holy Spirit leads. We ask it all in Christ's name. Amen. So complaint as a whole in the Bible is often used as the word, you see it more in the word murmuring. Murmuring ultimately means it's a very soft utterance of an internal struggle. Nobody hears much, but God knows. Or better, y'all know this one, right? When somebody does something or says something, and so you turn away, you know, and you go different directions, and when you're walking... Sure, you didn't mean to. Oh, you didn't know it was somebody else's. Oh, you didn't know I had it in there for me, did you? Okay. Right? That's exactly murmuring and complaining. We don't say it out loud. We just say it internally. But why don't you say it out loud? Because we're not brave enough to face what would come. All right. But complaint, what is complaint? An expression of unhappiness, dissatisfaction, or discontent. That is complaint. Now, I don't know exactly who to attribute this to, but someone once said, the person who gives thanks can find comfort in everything, while the person who complains can find comfort in nothing. How true is that? Complaining is the outward expression of inward discontent. And people find a way to gripe about everything. Right? Told you this is going to be fun. We gripe about everything, even when we're having a good day. I know some of you are just optimistic people, you know, make people like me sick. But just, you know, sunshine and butterflies and roses and good for you. All right. Some of us, though, You know, the sun's shining, it's too hot. When it's raining, it's too wet. Just facts. Live in Alabama, the weather's never right. It's always wrong, all right? But here's, Leuhold said this, okay? Many people do complain. Matter of fact, in fact, complaining for some people is just a way of life. That's not the way we're supposed to be. Lou Holtz, if y'all know football, you know Lou Holtz. Now, I don't know how much I fully agree with this, but I find it comical, and so I figured I'd give it to you anyways. He said this, he said, never tell your problems to anyone. 20% don't care, and the other 80% are glad you have them. That's a pessimistic way of viewing life, I tell you. But just facts, according to Lou Holtz, all right? Now, here's the thing. I'm sure somebody cares. I just don't know who. But here's the thing, just about everybody complains, and may I say it is a natural part. It is the sin nature within man to be discontent. It is our sin nature. We fight it. We struggle with it. You could have the best of the best of the best, and in any given moment, you'll find something that you don't have, and now you're unhappy. That's just the way it is. And now we also look and say, well, why not complain? There's a ton of reasons to complain. You know, traffic, sports, taxes, healthcare costs. That's a big one right now, isn't it? The government, and on and on and on we could go. Your neighbors. If you knew the kind of people I had to live around. Well, if you knew the kind of people they had to live around, too. It's just something to think about there. But complaining, now I want you to listen to this. Complaining is one of the most dominant sins amongst God's people. And yes, I said sin because it's what it is. Some people, and I know we joke about it and all. It's not about being pessimistic. I'm just realistic, okay, no, but there's, I'll joke about that sometimes. It's not pessimism, it's realism. But in all honesty, to see the negative and complain about it constantly is not benefiting anyone, especially not myself. Now complaining as a whole is a symptom of something. Y'all ready for it? Complaint is a symptom of the failure to trust God. It is a symptom, kind of like a fever. The fever is not the problem. The fever is a symptom. It's a sign. Feeling sick to your stomach is a symptom of being sick. There's lots of things that you can tell instantly there's something not right. Why? Because the symptoms are revealing a issue in my life. Well, the complaining aspect of it is simply the symptom of a failure to trust God. And may I say also a failure to be submissive to his provision and his oversight of our lives. I'm not going to try to get ahead of myself. I'm going to try to stay on track. I put some things in order based off of where I want it to be, where I do believe it needs to be said to best flow. So I'm going to try to stick with that even though my brain's getting ahead of me. But when we look at the children of Israel and you look at their complaint, understand they complained in spite of the blessings. Their complaint was not founded on how horrible God had been to them. Their complaint was founded on what they did not get according to what they expected. But in order to complain, they had to forfeit the memories of what God had done. For example, God had delivered them supernaturally from slavery in Egypt. That remembrance had to be forfeited. To complain, they had to forget and forfeit that God protected them against their enemies and brought them through the Red Sea on dry ground. Miracle, by the way. And then drowned Pharaoh's army behind them and took care of the entire enemy in one swipe. And they did nothing but walk. They had to forget that. They also had to forfeit the memory of how God provided daily bread and water for them in the desert. So many times God provided. They had a need, God provided. They had a need, God provided. They complained, God provided. They complained, God provided. Constantly, God took care of them. And yet, they complained. They complained about their food. They complained about the so-called luxuries that they had left behind and they forgot what they used to be. They were slaves, there was no luxury. They complained against their leaders. And what really, in verse number one here of chapter 11, what leads to God finally saying enough and bringing judgment is they complained about the manna. They went so far as to complain about the provision God had given as though it was something that wasn't good enough. It's one thing for us to complain about hardships, right? Complain about struggles, complain about sorrows, complain about frustrations. But when complaint gets to the point where we even complain about, well, I know God did this, but that wasn't good enough. Well, I know God took care of it, but God gave that to us, but he did so much more for them. Now it's not a complaint about the suffering, it's a complaint about God not doing it good enough. God's not being good enough. God's not blessing us enough. And God, with the children of Israel, finally, he said, that's enough. I've had all I'm gonna take. By the way, it doesn't say he destroyed all of them, it says that he destroyed the ones, he destroyed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp. Those that had gotten furthest away. By the way, I'm just gonna give you this, this is again supposition on my part, yes, but I want you to understand from the basis of what is comprehended from Scripture, the justness of our God, the mercy and grace of God, and His holiness and His qualifying of wisdom in all that He does. Understand, the way they were divided and the way they were laid out, there was always gonna be a group of people that were the furthest away from the center where the tabernacle was, in the midst of them. there's always gonna be families, based off of the natural layout and design, there was all, not everybody can be right up front. Not everybody can be as close as the other group. As many, the millions that there were, there was naturally gonna be some families that their place, where they have been put, where they are supposed to be, is gonna be the last group along the edge with the children of Israel. Now how unjust would God be to attack the ones that are on the outer edge if it was just the fact that they were the furthest ones away because that's where they had been placed? Would it be just of a holy God to say, well, I'm gonna punish somebody, so I'm just gonna punish the ones on the outer edge. Well, why not just go ahead and punish the ones in the middle or the ones closest to the center? Why not all that? What is it? Is he punishing people because they were naturally on the outer edge? No, we're talking about when he says those that were to the utmost parts of the camp, I don't believe in any way, shape, or form you find in the Bible a God who is unjust as to attack people just because they were placed as the outermost part of the band of Israel. So it's not gonna be according to the placement as God laid out and as Moses helped design the layout of the children of Israel by tribe, by family and all that. There has to be something else that falls in line that causes these individuals to be the ones that are met with judgment. And therefore I present to you my supposition. It had to have been that there was a group of people who through their complaint and through their grumbling had formed their own party, and had decided that they would be their own little group, and had through their complaint not only separated themselves from being where they should be in closeness to their God, but also had naturally seen a bit of a separation even from God's people. By the way, birds of a feather flock together. If you're a complainer, you're gonna find people that love to complain and you're gonna sit down and have a pity party. If you're a positive person, you're more than likely not gonna go surround yourself with a whole bunch of negative people and vice versa. So these individuals, however many there are, have banded together to cry against Moses and to cry against all the leaders and to cry against the provision of God because they're sick and tired of the manna. Is this all we get? And God says, oh, you want something? I can give you something. Fire from heaven. And he brings a consuming fire, but only on them that were in the uttermost parts. They had brought themselves away from God, away from God's people. They were on the outskirts, toying with the idea of just removing themselves altogether. And God said, I'll make it easy for you. You're done. You say, preacher, this is not a very encouraging message. Don't complain. All right. So as they complained about these different things, and they complained ultimately about the manna, God said, no more. There are three things that I want to very quickly give you this morning. that are the results of complaining. We're talking about Thanksgiving, right? It's a timeframe to remember we need to be people who know how to give thanks. Well, a complaining tongue and a thankful tongue don't fit in the same mouth. But here are some results of complaining. Number one, complaining causes resistance. And ultimately, what I'm dealing with here is a resistance to God's authority. Pharaoh had asked the question, who is the Lord that I should obey his voice? Pharaoh ultimately thought he was God. And God himself, the all-powerful, true God of all creation, and God of the universe, showed his power against Pharaoh. The Israelites leave Egypt. Now, here's something they also forgot. When they left Egypt, they left slavery, but they didn't leave poor. They left with all the riches of Egypt. And the Egyptians literally said, here, take it, just go. And the Bible says they spoiled. They didn't even conquer them. They just spoiled them without having to fight. I mean, God worked and worked and worked and worked and provided. They left wealthy with the wealth that wasn't even theirs. The Israelites literally shoved it in their face and said, take it and get out. The Egyptians. And the Israelites left Egypt. They were in Egypt one night as slaves. They left the next day as wealthy, free individuals. It's amazing, they get to the Red Sea and they complain about being brought here just to die. Honestly, every time God provides, it doesn't take very long and the children of Israel are complaining about something. Now, we have to ask ourselves this question. Do you ever complain? Don't say no, because I know you're lying. But think about this. This is where it hurts. Okay, so just hold on. What do you say about your spouse? What do you say about your children? Right? Hmm. What kind of things do you say about your job? Gripe, complain. I'll give one for the kids. What do you say about your school and your homework and your teachers and the classes you have to take and all, yeah, and your parents? Yeah, okay. Just figured I'd go ahead and bring the kids in on that one. Do you ever complain about the cashier or the sales clerk? You ever gone to fast food and complained about the fact that they're lying to you? There's nothing fast about it, right? Do you ever share all the things you see wrong in the church with others? By the way, that's how many a church has been split and fallen to pieces. And it started with just a couple of people complain, complain, complain, complain. Have you ever told someone, the weather ruined your plans? I've never done that. I've done it from a pulpit, what are you talking about? Complaining is the evidence that we are dissatisfied with the way God is doing things. Well, it would have gone great if God would have kept it from raining. I used that one just recently. You see how uncomfortable this is? But man, are we really good at griping. By the way, here's how we gripe sometimes. Y'all ready, y'all ready? We're really good Christians about it. We present it as prayer requests. I need prayer. It's been a hard week. Nothing's gone right. Right? I love these messages. It gets so quiet. It just really does. But it is, it's an evidence that we're dissatisfied. As a whole, it causes a resistance. What are we resisting? We're resisting what God knows is best. We resist what God has allowed because it's His way. And we start having a pity party about it because it's not fair. Secondly, very quickly, I gotta hurry. Complaining causes ruin. It causes ruin. What is the ruin? Well, it ruins the unity of God's people. You're there in Numbers 11, go to 13, check with 13 very quickly. Numbers 13, verse number 30, through verse number 33. Complaining causes ruin within God's people. It could be within your family, it could be within the church, but regardless, it ruins things. Numbers 13, verse number 30, and Caleb stilled the people before Moses and said, let us go up at once and possess it, for we are well able to overcome. There's your optimist. And then there was a whole bunch of pessimists. But the men that went up with him said, we be not able to go up against the people for they are stronger than we. And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel saying the land through which we have gone to search it is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof. They start giving like this horror movie scenario. The land eateth up the inhabitants thereof the people that we saw are in it are men of great stature. And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants." And by the way, it wasn't enough to say the giants. One time they had to double down on it. You know, like, thank you, Captain Obvious. We appreciate that. We saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants. Well, duh. And we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight. Complain, complain, complain, complain. If you notice, though, what they did in their complaint, they exaggerated. And then they supposed what was reality by putting in the people's minds what the other people were thinking. Did they tell you? No, we just know this is how it has to be. Exaggerate, exaggerate, exaggerate. Have you ever exaggerated your problems? You ever told your story of just how bad it was? And if somebody actually had gone back and could watch a reel of that day, a video of that day, they would probably look and say, that wasn't half like you described it. Our opinion of our misery is way worse than what other people's opinion of our misery would be if they saw it in reality. No, y'all know the song, right? Nobody knows the trouble I've seen. Nobody knows my sorrow. What's that, come on, hee-haw. Hee haw, what is that though? Woe, despair, and misery. Is that what it is on me? Yeah, okay. We all have a tendency to exaggerate, and can we say why? You ready? You know why? Because we want people to feel sorry for us. Can I tell you one of the greatest epidemics in our country, and I say our country more than anywhere else, honestly, because with great blessings and great freedom and great, all the excess and all the abundance that we have comes a whole bunch of griping and complaining and weak people. But do you wanna know what the number one issue that we have, like a cancer in our nation, and it's even within God's people? You ready? Victim mentality. We're all victims. But you're not as bad a victim as I am. Oh, that's pretty bad. But let me tell you what I've had to endure. Right? We're victims, everybody's a victim. Why do you think they have signs posted? Just call, one call, that's all, okay? Why do you need, why do you have a, because everybody's a victim. You need to get what you deserve. You don't want what you deserve. Trust me, we don't want what we deserve. But everybody's a victim. Everybody needs to be given something more. Children of Israel, that's what they saw, and they never saw, never remembered the blessings. They only saw what they perceived to be a victimizing of themselves. And they pointed at Moses, they pointed at Aaron, and ultimately they accused God of victimizing them when he had done so much for them. By the way, be careful. with complaining because the sin of complaining is contagious and it spreads like a wildfire. The 10 that gave the evil report turned the heart of the people from a desire to go into the promised land and they all ended up with the sickness of we can't attitude. Oh, we can't do it now. Oh, it's not going to work. Oh, where's misery and woe? That's, they ended up, they all became victims. But what were they a victim of? They were victims of their own attitudes. Complaining does not change a thing or make a situation better. It simply amplifies the frustration and spreads discontent and discord. This is fun, isn't it? This is great, loving it. Lastly, and I'm done, complaining causes regret. What's the regret? Well, ultimately, it's the regret of our damaged testimony. You ever notice the more you complain, the less people wanna hang out with you? The more you gripe, the less people want to do things with you. The more you're unthankful for what has been done, the less people want to do for you. Or better yet, flip it around, have you ever been the person that has been the one trying to help, trying to encourage, trying to be there, and you just lost your desire to want to do it anymore because the person you're doing it for, all they do is just, they see nothing of the blessing, they just tell you another complaint, they tell you another complaint, or they tell you how I really appreciate what you did, I wish you could have done it last week. Really? How about I don't do it any more weeks, period. Complaining destroys testimonies. By the way, have a church, a group of people complain about the city 24-7. Complain about the people in the city. Complain about everything around here. Complain about all we gotta do to help people around here. Have a church that gets the testimony of being a complaining church about everyone around. and see if the society around that church wants anything to do with it. They don't. Who wants to go there? Those people are miserable. And who wants to go there? Those people, you go there to get encouraged, you leave depressed. Who wants to be a part? They don't love or like or anything anybody. They can't even stand each other, don't know how in the world they go to church together. They just sit on opposite sides of the auditorium. But it causes regret. Philippians 2, 14 and 15 says this, do all things without murmurings and disputings that ye may be blameless and harmless as sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation among whom ye shine as lights in the world. That's supposed to be what we are. And yet, a complaining spirit removes or should say damages our testimony and removes our opportunity to be alight. How we live has a dramatic impact on whether or not our witness reveals the truth of God's ability to save and sustain those of us who are searching for answers. God can handle, God can provide, God can... Is God worth serving? Well, if we complain, people think no. Well, does God take care of His people? Well, if all we do is complain, they think no. Why do I want to serve a God that does nothing for His people? Why is it that God's people ought to be singing the praises? of the one who has saved us, the one who provides for us, the one who sustains us. Why is it important that we rehearse those things which we know already? We rehearse it, rehearse it, rehearse it. I'd much rather society get sick and tired of hearing about how good God is than for them to be sick and tired of hearing the bellyaching and complaining of a people that are supposed to have a God that provides. A Christian who is always grumbling and complaining is harmful to the cause of Christ. Now here's the thing, I gotta hurry, but I'll be done in just one second. Just hold on for a second, I'm almost done. When we fall apart in the midst of trials, the world says, where's your God when you need him? I thought you said God takes care of you. Well, sounds like you're doing a pretty poor job of it based off of what you're telling me, right? Our words, our witness from our mouth can do benefit or great damage. Our testimony is the most important tool we have, and God uses our lives to influence others. I got to give you this just for a funny. Y'all ready? Okay, let's go ahead and laugh for a minute. You ready? Most people who grumble and complain are like the man who was extremely unhappy with his chainsaw purchase. One day when he walked into a hardware store, he walked in to buy a chainsaw that he saw was advertised that it would cut down six trees an hour. He came back the next day fussing and complaining, totally frustrated and said, this chainsaw is about as useless as a screen door on a submarine. Salesman said, what's wrong with it? The man replied, I only cut one tree and it took all day to do it. It advertises six trees, six trees, one tree. It took me all day and I'm beat and dead tired. The salesman said, hmm, let me look at it. He reached down and started the chainsaw. Instantly, the man said, what's that noise? Y'all get it? I don't know how he cut down one tree without cranking the chainsaw. But regardless, the problem was not the chainsaw. The problem was his inability to understand how it worked. May I say the problem, our problem, I'm not gonna say your, but our problem is not God. Our problem is the inability to understand how he works. And instead of trusting him when it's not quite the way we hoped, we tend to do like the children of Israel and we gripe and we complain. May I say some of our complaint is due to our own problems that we've created. Don't expect God to bail us out of the stupid decisions we make. But don't miss the goodness of the Lord in the midst of our idiocy. That went over like a lead brick. All right. God is good in spite of us. And sometimes we have a hard time seeing it because we've made it so rough on ourselves by not following him. Just let God work. The Bible is clear that complaining is repulsive to our Heavenly Father. It is a serious sin, so serious that God brought judgment in the midst of the children of Israel when they complained, not about the things they came from, not about the things they were facing, but even about the things that God provided for them. They began to complain about it. If we're not careful, most of us have a tendency to be the same way, have the same mentality. Many believers look at life through dark glasses, like the children of Israel in today's scripture we looked at. They complain and grumble, and they should be praising the Lord for His gracious provision. Here's where I close with this thought. And this is, again, somewhat predictable because it's the opposite side of what is normally preached on this time of the year. It's the negative side of what we tend to fall towards more than thankfulness. But praise is the best remedy for complaining. You literally cannot praise God for who he is and what he has done and complain at the same time. It's just not possible. And by the way, the more you spend time praising God for his goodness, the more it diminishes those irritations that make you want to draw yourself to complaint. the more you focus on Him and what He has done and how we don't deserve it and all that He has helped with and all that He has intervened on and take the time to look at the positive side of what God has done. Even in the little things, you cannot help but when we get our focus on the thanksgiving and the praise of God, it literally, it's like a dissolving, It's like Dawn dish detergent on grease. It breaks it up. And that complaining spirit just tends to melt in the midst of praise. It's impossible to thank God with a sincere heart for who He is and what He's done and how undeserving I am for it. It's impossible to do that and keep a complaining, griping, murmuring spirit. Psalm 107, four times, four times in Psalm 107, the same verse is repeated, the same phrase is repeated as an entire verse. And here's what it says, verse number eight, verse number 15, verse number 21, and verse number 31, all say this exactly word for word. Oh, that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men. Oh, that men would praise the Lord. In simple terms, if only we would praise God instead of complain. If only we would spend more time focused on His goodness than on our problems or perceived problems. We wouldn't be such victims. we had actually see ourselves as individuals blessed beyond what we deserve, blessed beyond measure. This morning, as again, we have this time of year where we're focused on thanksgiving, may I remind you the only thing gonna keep you from being thankful is complaint. Throw it in the garbage where it belongs Pick up the praise because it will completely change the atmosphere of your life, the atmosphere of your mind, the atmosphere of your emotions. Everything will change with what we focus on doing. And praising God is the remedy for it all. Let's pray.