Numbers chapter 11, please. Numbers chapter 11. Thank you, Brother Milby. Thank you, Brother Jerry Bird. Appreciate the privilege to be back in camp meeting again. And thank you, Brother Pace, for the good preaching tonight. Numbers chapter number 11. Numbers 11, verse number 1. The Bible says, 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. And the people cried unto the Lord. When Moses prayed unto the Lord, the fire was quenched. And he called the name of the place Taborah, because the fire of the Lord burnt among them. multitude that was among them fell a lusting, and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat? We remember the fish which we did eat in Egypt freely, the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic. But now our soul was dried away. There's nothing at all beside this manna before our eyes. And the manna was as corander seed, and the color thereof was the color of delim. And the people went about and gathered it and ground it in mills or beat it in a mortar. and baked it in pans, and made cakes of it, and the taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil. And when the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell upon it. Then Moses heard the people weep throughout their families, every man in the door of his tent, and the anger of the Lord was kindled greatly. Moses also was displeased. And Moses said unto the Lord, wherefore hast thou afflicted thy servant? And wherefore have I not found favor in thy sight? that thou layest the burden of all this people upon me. Have I conceived all this people? Have I begotten them that thou shouldest say unto me, Carry them in thy bosom, as a nursing father beareth the suckling child, and the land which thou swearest unto their fathers. When should I have flesh to give unto all this people? For they weep unto me, saying, Give us flesh that we may eat. I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me. Thank you and be seated. Father, do help us tonight, we pray, as we come to this special time, this important time, this time of preaching the Word of God, and Lord, I need you tonight. I thank you, Lord, for the good reports of this morning, and Lord, for what we've already heard tonight. and I pray that you'd help me now. I trust completely in you and pray for your power and liberty that you'd give us that to preach the word of God tonight. I love you, Lord, and I pray for your help now in Jesus' name, amen. I want you to notice verse number four, please. The mixed multitude that was among them fell, a lusting. And the children of Israel also wept again. I want you to notice that phrase, they wept again. And I want to just take a simple illustration tonight and preach to you on why babies cry. Why babies cry. I want to lay a foundation tonight just simply to let you know that this is not a message to frail you tonight for not being strong if maybe you're loaded with a burden tonight. I realize more than ever God's people are carrying weights and they're going through situations that have weighted them down. But sometime back in the spring, it's seemingly the Lord began to work in my heart with hotness about the condition of my church and the condition of our churches today. We're in a sad way in this day. I love the church and I thank God for the church. I know some of you might have got saved in a pine ticket. Some of you might have got saved in your bedroom or somewhere in your house, but I was in church when I got saved. The man of God was preaching to me, and it was there that I heard the preaching. And when the Lord saved me, I fell in love with the church. I want to thank God for the church. My wife, she'd been saved when she was 12, got away from God and she got right with God in the church, the same church that I was saved in. It was in the church that the Lord peeled my eye for my wife. She was playing the piano and the Lord spoke to my heart and let me know that he was going to give me that girl for a wife. And so I've had a lot of good things in the church. I fell in love with the people. I found a family in the local church. I don't hate the church. I spend my weeks, every week, building to go to church. Praying for what God wants me to preach. Visiting my people. Going to hospitals. I love my people. I'm not down on my church. I'm not going to travel off in camp meetings and vent about my people. They're my people. I know they belong to God and I don't deserve them. I don't deserve pastoring. But he put me there. And so I'm going to love the church. I'm not going to love football more than church. Amen? In fact, I'm over-disgusted with football. I'm over-disgusted. I think if they can't stand up and put their hand over their heart, and pledge allegiance to an American flag. If they don't like this country, they can go to North Korea, as far as I'm concerned, and play football over there. Amen. Most of them are just a bunch of fornicators. Amen. I don't care if you're from Alabama. If you idolize that team, you're wicked. Amen. Amen. Now don't get me started on that, but I want to tell you something. Listen, I don't like coming to church and hearing about football. Amen. I don't like coming to church and hearing about yard sales. Amen. Listen, we need the church in this day. And it's a pitiful time of what the devil is doing to the church. Let me back up and say what we're doing to ourselves in the church. Now, I was up late last night and on the phone, and I was checking on somebody, and I'm not gonna give many details, but this is a good church. And if God doesn't intervene, I'm not talking about my church, but I called somebody concerned about what's going on and this church is coming apart at the seams because the people are taking it apart. And there's a lot of destruction in this day. I talked to a preacher from Alabama, and he said, Brother Ronnie, in my area where I pastor, he said there's so many churches that don't have preachers in this area. And preachers are so discouraged in this day. And so I want to preach to you tonight to help you with the church. I've been preaching to my church. Sometimes I might say something about a tattoo, but I've been preaching to my church about love. And I've been preaching to my church about kindness. And I've been preaching to my church about fellowship. I think if there's a place on the face of the earth where we should feel the Spirit of God and the love of God, it ought to be in a little old-fashioned Baptist church where it's got a dear man of God that loves his people and is trying to preach to them and where they get along. But we have allowed babyish behavior to tear down and to grieve the Spirit of God in our churches. I had a preacher friend about a year ago, and I'm not promoting this, but he sold his house. I met a member of his down at the hospital, and he said, preacher, did you know our pastor's resigned? I said, no. So I called him, and he said, I'm sick of it. I said, brother, you can't do this. He said, I'm selling my house. He said, I'm selling everything in my house. He said, I'm giving away my books, and he said, I'm walking away from it, and I'm going to go to a place, and I'm getting away from it. He said, I don't believe God has called me to keep a nursery. And he said, I'm disgusted with it. Now let me tell you something. I don't promote that. God doesn't want us to quit. He wants us to get right with God. Amen. I thank God for the power of restoration, don't you? That the man of God just preached about. And I'm becoming more and more aware, the older I get, the more that I need to get right with God. I think we're playing around in the house of God. I think we've lost sight of our responsibility in the house of God. Now, I've read you a text tonight in these verses where Moses had become to a point or came to a point where he was so weary with God's people. that he cried unto the Lord. If you look at verse number one, the Bible says, the Bible says the people complained. It displeased the Lord, and the Lord heard it. and his anger was kindled. Now let me tell you something tonight. God is displeased with complaining. And complaining, complaining is a type of crying. It's a type of crying. It's a type of whining. We could go back, and to be honest with you, when you read chapter 11 and verse number one, I don't know what they're complaining about. I know that they've got a history of complaining. I'm not a very good theologian, but I don't know what they're complaining about. I don't know what they're murmuring about. I don't know what we're complaining about in this day. I mean, we've been saved by the grace of God. God has put together for us good families and peace in our heart. And he's blessed us over abundantly. We have nothing to complain about. And so when you look at the history of Israel, Exodus chapter number 17, Exodus chapter number 16, it's a history and a pattern in Israel for crying and whining and complaining. Now, verse number two, the Bible says the people cried unto Moses. Verse number four, the Bible says the children of Israel, in the middle of the verse, the children of Israel also wept. Verse number 10, the Bible says, Moses heard the people weep. Verse number 18, the Bible says, sanctify yourselves against tomorrow, and ye shall eat flesh, for ye have wept in the ears of the Lord. Now, here they're complaining. They're complaining about the manna, which is a type of Christ. They're tired of the manna that they have eaten and eaten and eaten. And for some reason, they have grown in a spirit of complaint. We're tired of this. We're tired of the same thing. They have the spirit of saying, we'd like to have a smoke machine. We'd like to have some strobe lights. We'd like to do something for the young people. We'd like to have something different. A praise leader. A youth pastor. a puppet show. We'd like to do something beside the same thing of preaching on the cross and preaching repentance and being faithful to God and preaching against sin. We're tired of the routine. And it grieves the Spirit of God when God's people become to a place of crying and complaining. Now crying is in reference to complaining. God, in verse number 10, is angry. And in verse number 10, Moses is displeased. Moses is displeased. And he's speaking to the Lord in verse number 12. He says, Have I conceived all this people? Have I begotten them that thou shouldest say unto me, Carry them in thy bosom? As a nursing father beareth the suckling child unto the land which thou swearest unto their fathers. Whence should I have flesh to give unto this people? And he goes on and he's talking to the Lord. Is this my weariness? Is this my designated days of having to listen? Isn't it sad that people can't talk anymore in the house of God other than thermostats and fans and the seating and who's shaking their hands? and examining and complaining about the pastor and his wife and what he is preaching and what he's not preaching. And the Bible goes through, we go through the scriptures and we see reference to God's people being like little children. The Lord spoke to the Pharisees over in Matthew in chapter number 11. And verse number 16, and he says, But where unto shall I liken this generation? It is likened to children sitting in markets and calling unto their fellows. Now from what I understand, in the Babel days, in the marketplaces, the little children would gather and they would play, and they would mimic weddings, and they would mimic funerals. and they would play him out. And he says, the Lord is likening unto these children and saying, we have piped unto you as they would in a wedding, and ye have not danced. And then he says, we have mourned unto you like they would in a funeral, and ye have not lamented. For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, he hath a devil. The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, behold, a man gluttonous, and a wine-bibber, unsatisfaction, and crying and complaining. Crying and murmuring is symbolic or is a characteristic of people that are not right with God. Amen. And so he goes on. And the Bible tells us, as Paul wrote to the Church of Corinth over in 1 Corinthians and chapter number three, and he spoke about this church. And he called them babes. and he made reference unto them in chapter number three. Our brethren could not speak unto you as spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. In Hebrews and chapter number five and verse number 12, Paul wrote and he said these words. He said in chapter 5 and verse 12, for when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God. and are become such as have need of milk and not strong meat. For everyone that uses milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. When you get over back into Isaiah, in the scriptures in the Old Testament, in Isaiah in chapter number three, The prophet said these words in verse number eight. He said, for Jerusalem is ruined and Judah is fallen because their tongue and their doings are against the Lord to provoke the eyes of his glory. The show of their countenance does witness against them. And they declare their sin as Sodom, and hide it not. But notice in verse number 12. As for my people, listen, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. Oh, my people, they which lead thee calls thee to err and destroy the way of thy past. Is that not where we've come to in this day? Children are the oppressors of mothers and fathers, and they have become the oppressors in the house of God. And the Bible says women rule over them. Now, I love ladies. I appreciate them. I think we've got a good company of godly women here in this meeting. But you and I know that the utmost problems in the house of God in this day are because of the females. Amen. I didn't get many amens about that, but I can do my own. I want to say to you, listen. Listen, the gossiping and the talking at home and the putting the pressure on men and men have failed to take up their place with the man of God in the house of God. Someone said, what's happened to the preaching of standards from the man of God? I'll tell you what's happened to it. His daughters and his wife and those in his family have pressured him and whined and complained and listen, they've fallen to the world and to sin. The woman is the weaker vessel. I don't care how many you see on a road crew out here wearing work boots and a hard hat. They are the weaker vessel and they cannot stand the pressures of spirituality. We need men in this day that will get their thumb out of their mouth and stand up and be men at home and men at the house of God, amen. This message is a message to examine the behavior of Christians. So what are we seeing today? We're seeing exactly what the scripture has warned us about. Evil men shall wax worse and worse. These are the last days. These are times where Paul wrote and said perilous times shall come for men shall be lovers of their own selves. They put that, hey, can I tell you something? If men of God, if you call a prayer meeting at four o'clock on Saturday afternoon, it may be you and two old ladies in the church that'll be there to pray. The rest of them are watching Georgia and Florida on the TV set. Amen? Lester Roloff warned us back in the 60s and 70s that television would be the downfall of our family, and I think the man of God was right in what he preached, amen? And people have given themselves for pleasure. The spirituality of God's people is weak in this day. It's deprived in this day. We know very little what to talk about. Can I tell you, if you've been saved by the grace of God, that Bible ought to be the food for your soul. And the man of God ought to be the best friend that you have on the face of the earth. We're living in a day where pastors are having to beg the men, please scotch me while I preach. and you might get two amens, and it'll stop right there. We're living in a day-to-day where the pastor's begging from one service to the next. Anybody got a word from God? Anybody got a word of praise? Anybody got a testimony? People sit and they look like they're in the most miserable place on the face of the earth. We're plagued with sadness. We're plagued with defeat. We're plagued with our own flesh. The only thing that makes us excited now are sports and money and overtime. I had someone tell me sometime back, said, Preacher, with my work from October to December is a peak season, and I'm gonna be slammed seven days a week. But his eyes got big and said, but all the overtime is gonna help me out. I don't think you ought to take your job that's going to keep you out of the house of God. I don't think you ought to do that. I understand the pressures that are upon us this day for finances, and I'm not a good Christian. I'm not promoting me, but I'll tell you something, I want to be one. I want to be a good Christian. Amen. My wife and I, listen, when we courted, we courted going to the house of God. We courted going to revival meetings. My wife, listen, has been playing a church piano and her own feet couldn't touch the pedals. She's raised that way. Hey, we were poorer than dirt right after we got married, and I had a good job, and a man offered me second shift supervisor. I said, sir, I can't take that. I said it'll pull me from prayer meeting on Wednesday night, and when my pastor calls for revival meeting, I'll miss five nights of revival meeting. I'm sorry. He looked at me like I was crazy. I wasn't crazy. I love the house of God. I love the man of God. I appreciate you preachers preaching to me. I thank God for this church that has hosted this meeting. Some years ago, I was standing there a couple years ago, a missionary come by our church, young family, young man, young wife, two little girls, just had a baby, a little baby boy, two and a half weeks old. And the meeting was over, I was standing in the back of the church, and And please, I'm not trying to entertain you tonight, but I just want to make a spiritual application. The mother had taken that little two-and-a-half-week-old baby and fastened it in a little carrier. She had fed it, and it was sound asleep. And she laid it on the back pew. And I was standing there with its daddy, the missionary, and we were talking. And I looked down. I was watching that baby. I love kids. I love my children. I love my grandchildren. I love the children of my church. So I was looking at this little baby while he was talking to me. I was just looking at that little baby. I thought, boy, that is a picture of serenity. It's a picture of peace, satisfaction. What a blessing. And while I was looking at that baby, the baby jerked. And he was talking to me, and I kept watching it. And the baby kind of kicked one foot. And then all of a sudden, just like a busted thermometer, its head turned like a pickle beet. And it just made the ugliest face and started just crying. Well, you know, I've been a daddy for over 40 years. And we're expecting our eighth grandbaby. And so I'm used to all that. But I thought, how in the world can you go from such serenity and peace and contentment and all of a sudden just screaming and crying and yelling? And I got to thinking about that. Why do babies cry? I had never figured that one out. But why do babies cry? Why do babies cry in a Baptist church? Do you understand what the application I'm making tonight? I don't understand what makes saved people in a house of God, got a good pastor, with good preaching, and some music that honors God, and just wants to cry all the time. You would think that we could be satisfied with some things that God has done for us. Let me mention these things quickly and I'm done. Number one, babies cry because of selfish desires. When you stop and think about a little baby, that little infant hasn't been taught Nor is it mature enough to think about anybody else but itself. And that's what babies cry about. It's because all they can think about is themselves. Can I help you tonight? Maybe the reason that you're all the time seeing the faults of the song director. and the complaints that you have toward your pastor. We don't have any crybabies that are members of this church, do we? We don't have that, surely not here. People that watch Pastor Bird and drive off and whine and cry and say, why does Brother Bird do this? And why does he hold the line about this? And how come he always calls on them to sing and never calls on me to sing? And just cry and just complain all the time? Well, it is a cause of selfish desires. Paul wrote about the Corinthian church. And you'll find as you go through the book of 1 Corinthians, places where selfish desires are manifested. In other words, taking each other to law in 1 Corinthians in chapter number 6. And then in 1 Corinthians 11, the disgracing of the Lord's Supper, where they wanted to run in front of the other, and they were concerned about themselves getting first place, and honoring themselves before their brothers. And then the Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians and chapter number 12 and verse number 20, the Bible says, for I fear, lest when you come, I shall not find, or when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not, lest there be debates. and envings, and wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, torments, and it goes on and on, the disorder and the confusion among this church. Can I tell you what's destroying our churches today? It's that tongue in your mouth. And it's that that you are texting and you're taking inside issues that belong inside the church and you're putting it out there in front of all those sinners. Shame on you. Self-centeredness. Selfish desires. While that baby's not thinking about the benefits of its mother, it just continues to cry. And then the father has to go to work early the next morning. But yet it cries all night. And then it wants some food. And then it wants to be held. and then it wants some attention, and then it's just got some problems, and it keeps crying and crying. And I want to say to you tonight, selfish desires. Number two, sickening disease. Things affect it. Sin affects people's lives. It affects people's lives. Sin got in the church of Corinth. They had a fornicator in that church. And that sin got in the church and affected that church. That's why that church was such a crying church and a complaining church. Trying to honor, trying to honor sin above the righteousness of God. Then I want to say to you, and please I'm not trying to be funny, but a stinking mess. Babies mess their diapers. It chaffs them. And they cry about it. When there's no sense in that. When God has given you a preacher to warn you about worldliness and sin and ungodliness, but you bucked it. You turned from it. You wouldn't listen. You got mad when he preached about things about your teenagers. And you stood against the man of God. I've seen them at times when I've got done preaching stand over to the side in the church auditorium. This has been years ago. And whisper among themselves. I knew that they were upset. I knew that. But then, and I'm not saying this out of pride, my heart's broke about it, but then they've lost their children. They're devastated. They're sitting in the house of God weeping and crying and wishing things had not turned out the way they did. God has given us a man of God to preach to us, but we have gotten ourselves in a stinking mess in this day. I'm sorry to report to you, but it's not the politicians up in Washington that have ruined our churches. It's not the sodomites that have ruined our churches. We have grieved away the Spirit of God in our churches because of the sin of our crying and our complaining in church. The stiffness, I can feel it. I was between churches years ago. Pastored my first church and left and I felt like I knew I was gonna attend church. And I went to that church and we visited two or three weeks. And I told my wife, I said, I said, I don't know what's wrong, but I feel there's something wrong in that church. And I said, we need to go somewhere else. And we did. And it wasn't just two or three weeks. Everything blew up at that church. The pastor had to leave. Can I tell you something? When you come into a church, you can feel an atmosphere of discontentment and crying and stiffness in your heart. Ladies, the Spirit of God's grieved at what you're thinking about the pastor's wife. The Spirit of God is grieved with our all that we carry against the brethren. The Spirit of God is grieved with our feelings toward the man of God. And we have gotten ourselves in a stinking mess with sin. Our churches are so full of adultery and fornication and ungodliness. And young people in our churches, the majority of them have lost their purity by the time they're 16 years old. And we've learned how to turn our face away from all this mess. I told this person last night, I said the mess in that church will take nothing less than God to fix it. And after all the churning and bending and throwing words at one another, there'll be wounds and scars that will never be fixed. Church is coming apart. I thank God for this place. This place is a haven where we can come from different parts of the country and see each other two times a year. Spend some time fellowshipping and hear some preaching. Get some things settled between us and God. And get renewed. And go back to our churches. But you all know as well as I do what we go back to many times. Deadness. Stiffness. Whining and complaining. Many of us pastors just complain. Complain, I want something better. I want to get out of here. I want to find a place that's on fire for God. I want to find a place that loves me and cares for me. Well, you find that place. But you'll go from the east coast to the west coast, from north to south, and there aren't any of those places. These days that you and I are living in now are difficult days. But you and I have never seen our wives tied to a post and fire set underneath of her with the pleadings to deny Jesus Christ. You and I don't know hardships. and we're ready to throw in the towel just because we're having to pacify some babies. I plead with you by the mercies of God, we all need to start looking at Calvary and our Savior and praising God for what He's done for us and bind together with strength and love, preferring and honoring one another before ourselves and forgive one another of our faults and band together and thank God for each other. I get so tired of the divisions among preachers. I mean preachers that are Baptist preachers that believe in the King James Bible. And I understand men go liberal, but I want to tell you something. As bad as our day is, there are still some good men of God, and many of them are seated right here, that are trying to pull the plow and do what's right. And I'm not up here trying to be a liberal, let's love everybody. I'm just simply saying you and I are of rock faith. That's the reason we're gathered in this place. We believe, listen, in repentance and we believe in all time, Holy Ghost conviction for a sinner to be saved. We believe that together. We believe that God saves us from sin and gives us a life and a desire of righteousness. Instead of analyzing each other, picking each other apart, whispering things and saying things. I may not hear what you say. You may not hear what I say. But God hears everything that we all say and what we think in our hearts. Babies cry just simply, and I'm done, just because of an established nature. They cry because they're babies. And that's what babies do. And I feel like what this Bible teaches me about persistent complaining and crying and pointing out faults. I think it's a pretty serious condition because it reveals a spiritual condition of a person. I don't know about you, but when the Lord saved me, before He saved me, I didn't like my preacher. I didn't like the Bible. I had a King James Bible, but I was a lost man. I didn't like it. I didn't read it. I didn't like going to meetings. I didn't like going to church. I didn't ever go to a revival meeting. I didn't like being around God's people. I played a hypocrite. I was raised in a God-fearing home. But I was lost. And I loved sin and I loved worldliness. And I had long hair and I combed my hair behind my ears when I was at home and I'd brush it out when I was gone and I'd pull the rock music out from underneath the seat. I was living two lives. But one blessed day the Lord saved me. And that little old church, and those people, and that preacher, I fell in love with. And God has privileged for me to just get around a few places like this place and meet people like you. I love you. I'm glad God has put Ken Jenkins where he has put him. And he's doing a work for God. And I'm thankful the Lord's let me cross paths with Hanley Milby, Jerry Byrd, Dale Owens. And I shouldn't start naming, but I thank God for you men. And we need each other in this state. And we need to get right with God. We need to get our wet diapers off and get our thumbs out of our mouth. God's been good to us. I've been in places on the mission field where they meet in shacks or in open yards where there's nothing but dirt. And they sing from the power of their lungs with joy in their heart because they've been saved by the grace of God. We've got suits and dresses and clothes and a good Bible. And we can record messages and we've got microphones and fans and air conditioners and heaters. And all we do is just walk in service after service like we're pushing an IV pole down a hospital hallway somewhere. Sad and defeated and mumbling and complaining and griping about everything. Why do babies cry? Because they're turned to themselves. Because they've got sin in their life. Some of them have never been saved. And they've got an established nature that will never be fixed until they get to Calvary. Thank you preacher for letting me preach.