# The sin of murmuring

Category: Obedience to God’s Will
Key Passage: Exodus 16:1-4
Speaker: Paul Chisgar
Date: August 23, 2023

Last week, the week before, we covered them coming through the Red Sea, and God’s miraculous hand just splitting that Red Sea they came through. Of course, you know the story, and Egypt and Pharaoh came in, and God made the walls of water come down, one on the left, one on the right. A hurricane wind doesn’t do that. One on the left, one on the right, and then it came down and killed them all. They sang praises to God, and then they went out and faced a battle.

No water, three days out there, no water. Oh, Lord, they needed some water. God said, all right. They had water, but it was bitter. That’s kind of like torture. You have water, but you can’t drink it. Sometimes it goes like that, from bad to worse. But God brought them out of that, and they stayed faithful. Then they made it to Elim over there, with twelve wells of water, one for each tribe, seventy palm trees—most just the oasis picture. If you stay faithful, God blesses us in His time, His way.

We are right after that. They just came out of Elim, and we are in Exodus 16. Just for a bit tonight, we are going to focus just on one thing. Typically, on Wednesday night, it’s a little bit more of a Bible study, and we will have some of that. But we are just going to focus on the sin of murmuring for a bit.

By the way, can I just say this? I got convicted of saying this thing. Preaching is just one sinner preaching about a bunch of other sinners, amen? And so I’m working at it too, but it’s something I think we all can work at. We are in Exodus 16. We are going to start in verse number one. Would you please stand together just to show respect for the Word of God? Exodus 16, would you look at verse number one right there?

The Bible says, “And they took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came into the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they departed out of the land of Egypt.” So they have been out there for one month. They left the 15th of the first month, been out there a month, and they ran out of food. That is what is going on. They had taken some food with them and left hurriedly, but they had no food.

Look at verse number two: “And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.” Oh, what a sad thing. Notice how they murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. And the children of Israel said to them, “Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and we did eat bread to the full! For you brought us forth into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”

Now, can I just say a word there? I do not think they meant everything they said. They were hungry. When you are hungry, you get irritated. Sometimes you get irritated and you say things you do not really mean, things you ought not to say. I do not think they meant that. But they said, “We want to go back to Egypt where they were slaves, where they made the bricks and the mortar, and they got beat if they did not make it all, and they were making all the pyramids, and they had taskmasters.” Sometimes we say some dumb things sometimes, do we not? I am guilty for sure. Open mouth and hurt both feet, you know?

But can I just say that this is a fault? When we do murmur, we sure are setting ourselves up to go back to the world. And they said, “We want to go back.” By the way, the flesh pots—we do not know exactly. I looked it up a little bit. Nobody knows exactly. But maybe it was those taskmasters; maybe they wanted to keep working, and so they had big pots, and they had meat in there, maybe just boiling it, and they just came over and got some food from time to time. But the best of the second, nobody really thinks it was like a feast. It was probably just the kind of food they served as slaves, like they were, to keep them nourished so they could make more bricks and mortar. And they said, “We want to go back to that?”

I do not really think they were hungry. Sometimes we just start, you know, what they call it, “Diary of the mouth”—we just start saying things I will never say. And I think that is going on right now.

Look at verse number four: “Then said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no.” In other words, God said, “I am going to take care of them. I have got them. I know they are saying things they ought not to say, but I have got them.”

But just for a bit, this thing of murmuring—that verse number two, “And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured”—would you pray that God would just help us all not to murmur and to be better Christians and to grow beyond this thing of murmuring? Would you pray that?

Father Lord, I need your growth in this area. Father, I think in some ways we all can use it. Grow us. Lord, I sure would like to be one that continually gives you praise from our lips. Father, grow us in that tonight. Lord, help us to kind of see it like you see it and give us your mind, your heart on the subject, Father. And we will thank you for what you do. Father, we ask for this in the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.

Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated.

Now, the very first building it was in Laverne. It is now a real estate business. It is right across from the new post office there in Laverne, by the Dunkin’ Donuts there, you know, right across Murfreesboro Road there, sunken down in. There is a little—now it is a bright green, neon green building. Some of you say, “Yeah, the most neon building I think I ever saw.” How was our little bitty building? We were meeting in there for maybe ten months at first.

A little bit into it, we were going to have our first fellowship ever. People were just going to bring a little something afterwards, you know. We were just having fellowship after Sunday night service. That day, that weekend—now, it was a daycare Monday through Friday—but we would come in, and eventually, on Wednesday, about three or four months into it, we did Wednesday, too.

Anyway, we would come in there on Saturday, maybe Friday night or Saturday, and we would take down the daycare, basically set up church, and Sunday night we would take it all down and put the daycare back together for the daycare coming in. Totally different people.

So anyway, we came in that Saturday morning, I believe it was, to set up. And wow, we walked in, and there was a stench in there. You know, in a daycare, every once in a while, they do not throw away the trash can—the diapers. And, you know, that happens. We have had it in our nursery and all that before, you know. So we are going, “Well, there is probably some trash pail somewhere,” you know. And so we went looking around, we could not find it. All the dirty diapers were taken out. So we are like, “Wow.” We were looking all over. We could not find it.

So you know what you do? If you cannot get rid of the stench, you try to cover it. So we went and bought all kinds of air fresheners. And, you know, I remember I found some you put in the air intake—a little patch you put in there so it will circulate through the whole building. “Man, this will help.” We had other air fresheners all over the place, you know. Starting a church, we do not want people coming in and saying, “Man, that church really stinks over there,” you know?

So we did all that. And Sunday morning, man, we had air fresheners everywhere. And we kind of made it through. You know, it was a little bit of that small building in the Lord. I am not sure what point there is. Maybe we did not have a minute at that point. I do not know. But anyway, we…

By the end, we remember towards the end of the service, it started stinking again, you know? And so you kind of wanted to have an invitation, praying, “Let’s get out of here before everybody knows this place stinks,” you know? And we did that. Then we came back still Sunday afternoon. We tried to find it. We could not find it. So Sunday night, we had service, and we had our first fellowship, but you know if it really stinks, you do not want to eat there. You know what I am saying?

So it is kind of like, it is funny, by Sunday night we just had a small amount of people. I do not know how many back then at that time, but we may have had 20 people that Sunday night, maybe less than that. But I remember—see, it was just open conversation Sunday night—“What in the world is smelling around here?” you know? And people were kind of looking around, expecting me to find it, you know? So we said, “I tell you what, after the service, we are going to find this thing.”

So after some of us, we prayed, dismissed, and we did not really have a fellowship. We had a smell-a-ship. I remember people—I can see some of the people just walking around. I mean, to every area, some of them were in the settings, just walking everywhere, just smelling, “Where is this coming from?” Everywhere, just, you know, and there is a little small daycare, every room, every trash can, everywhere. And we found it finally.

And they had bought a refrigerator that week from an auction, so it was used. And in that refrigerator, before they had bought it, someone had meat that must have been unplugged, that leaked down, and that meat—the juice had leaked down inside that refrigerator. And man, I am talking about it. It was not where it was cold; it was down in there. And it just stank that whole place up, man.

Now, that is what we are like to God when we are murmuring.

And God says, “You know, I love that lady. I love that man. I love that passion. I love those people down there, but man, they are just murmuring.” And it stinks to the Lord. I want you to see this. Just a couple of things about it. The Lord hears. It is not just Moses and Aaron; the Lord hears.

By the way, they were not per se—we will talk about this in a minute—but they were not per se murmuring against the Lord. They were really, we will talk about that, but they were murmuring against Moses and Aaron. But watch what happens here. Look down in verse number seven, if you would please. Exodus 16, verse number seven. “And in the morning, then ye shall see the glory…”

We will go back to verse number six. Verse number six right there. “Moses and Aaron said unto all the children of Israel in the evening, Then ye shall know that the Lord hath brought you out from the land of Egypt: And in the morning then ye shall see the glory of the Lord; for that he heareth your murmurings against the Lord: and what are we? that ye murmur against us?” You are not murmuring against us. We are nobody. You are murmuring against the Lord.

And Moses said, “This shall be when the Lord shall give you in the evening flesh to eat, and in the morning bread to the full, that the Lord heareth your murmurings, which ye murmur against him: and what are ye? Your murmurings are not against us, but against the Lord.” Moses is preaching now. He said, “This goes back further. You are murmuring about us? Not us. It is the Lord. You are murmuring against the Lord.”

Look down verse number 11. We have seen some of these. “And the Lord,” now this is the Lord speaking to Moses, saying, “I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel. Speak unto them, saying, At even ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread: and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God.” Notice that. The Lord heard.

Look over in Numbers 11, a different situation, but murmuring is a big part of it. Numbers chapter number 11. This is as they are getting close to Kadesh Barnea, the promised land. And Numbers 11, verse number one—when you are there, would you say amen? Amen. Good, good, good. Look at verse number 11, verse number one. “And when the people complained, it displeased…” Who did it displease? The what? The Lord. “And the Lord…” What did the Lord do? He heard it. “And his anger was kindled against the Lord burned among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp.”

Look in chapter number 14. Chapter 14, verse number 27. Numbers 14:27. “How long shall I bear with this evil congregation which murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me.” Now, right here, I just want to point out: Hey, the Lord hears it.

Can I go this far? Sometimes I do not murmur out loud, but I murmur inside. In my spirit, I murmur. In my heart, I murmur. Help me out. The Lord hears that. Look at them. My outward appearance—but where does the Lord look? So I got in my heart. Yeah. The Lord hears that. He does not just say, “Well, I’m not worried about that. I don’t hear that.” No, the Lord heard it. God, He inhabits—I mention this often in every Sunday school class—the Lord inhabits the praises of His people. He likes it when His people are bragging on Him. He likes that.

Would you look over in Second Chronicles a little bit? We are turning a little bit here in the beginning. Look over in Second Chronicles chapter number five. This is when they finished the temple, Solomon’s Temple. And boy, they had a great, great day there, and it was wonderful. God moved in an amazing way at the end of it. And I want you to notice this. Look at Second Chronicles chapter number five. Second Chronicles, look in chapter number five. Look in verse number 13. Second Chronicles chapter five, verse number 13.

“And it came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord, when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised the Lord, saying, ‘For he is good; for his mercy endureth forever,’ that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the Lord: So that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of God.”

Man, I would love it if the Holy Spirit of God would fill me. Your body, Christian—if He would fill you like that. He said it was just a cloud. The priests could not really stand and walk because you could not see. It was just so thick, if you will, of God. Now, how was it? When was it that God moved in? When they were murmuring? No, when they were praising and thanking the Lord.

Friend, it is so important that I spend my days, my life, not murmuring and complaining and just all that. No, praising and thanking the Lord. That is when God moved in there. Look, friend, He hears that when I spend time, whether it be in my heart, whether in my mouth, when I spend my day just murmuring, the Lord hears it. He is not—He is not, “Well, I can’t hear that.” No, He hears that. He hears it.

Dixie, you know, most of you know, we got our little Yorkie. She is 15 years old. She has one foot on the banana peel, one foot in the grave. All right, maybe I should say three feet in the grave, one foot on the banana peel. How about that, you know? But our other dog, Dixie—Dixie is big, and she is our outside dog, or he is. Sometimes they will go for walks in the morning. Dixie loves to go for walks. I mean, she just loves it. That is like, you know…

And if I come outside with my spray of bug off, because we go out in the woods, she knows we are about to take a walk. Man, she starts running around, circles, whatnot. She is ready to go. “Let’s go,” you know? And sometimes we will just tease her and stand and talk for a minute, Tammy and I. She just drives her crazy. “Quit talking, let’s go,” you know? And we will take her collar off. She has one of those collars. She will go so far. She gets that collar off, you know, and we will go for a walk. And praise the Lord, the Lord has given us woods out there in the field where we can walk.

And, you know, when you are walking, there are all kinds of things out there. I mean, I will never forget, I was walking out there a couple of times—a couple of times, I think it was—and there was a skunk out there. You talk about a fearful preacher! My goodness, man, I told her—I went the other way, you know. I never forget one morning I was walking out, and there was a woodchuck, woodchip—all kinds of different names for it, you know. What is the name I am looking for? Groundhog, I guess. Anyway…

Yeah, that thing—amen, you know. It was not a possum to those, you know. Anyway, it was dark. It was early in the morning, and I saw him coming. And he was coming down on this path, so I just froze. And he kept coming. He did not know I was there. And you would see him, he would get a little bit closer, and he would just stop, you know, and he kind of looked right. He is like, “Something is not right,” you know? We could not figure it out inside. I never moved. He kept coming closer, and he would stop. “Something is not right,” you know?

Man, I am telling you, he got right in front of me. And he stopped. He froze. Something. And all of a sudden, he just—right in front of me—and he just looked right up. Boom! Man, he took off. He is gone, you know? Anyway, so you go out there. There are all kinds of things: dead animals out there. And, you know, dogs—and there are horses out there, part of it, too. And if there is something dead out there or, you know, horses have fertilizer. You understand all that stuff, you know? Trying not to gross out too bad, you know?

But man, those dogs—the stinkier it is, the more they love to just—they will just get all in it, you know. They love it, you know. And we are walking. She will be gone here and there, none, and pretty soon she will catch up with me. And, you know, a dog—it is funny. Dixie is an affectionate dog. She wants some pet, you know. And she will come up, and you are like, “Whoa, what did you just get into, man? I ain’t petting you. Get out of here,” you know? And she will follow. You are like, “Go on your walk. I am taking my walk. You take your walk.”

And we will come back up to the house, you know, and she will come up. I am not petting her, so she wants some petting. So she will come right up to Tammy. And Tammy, she is like worse than me. I will smell her, you know, when she gets close. Tammy smells her ten miles away. “Oh, get out of here, Dixie.” You know? I mean…

And I say, “Lord, I want to be close to you. Man, I need your presence.” And God says, “Man, that murmuring—the Lord hears it. And I am not going to be close to the Lord.” Now, I confess to get it right, but my murmuring—I am just not going to get close to God.

But I have the stench of murmuring on me.

Now, first thing, just the Lord hears it. Then let us look at this thing here, and we have already noted or seen it. You have already seen it, I am sure. But our murmuring—we might be murmuring. I might be murmuring against Brother Patterson. I do not know. I am just looking at him, so, you know, because he has so much money and I do not. Brother Patterson, if he did not know that, he is a multi-billionaire, you know. And Ms. Patterson says, “If he is, I want to know about it. Where has he got that money stash?” you know?

But anyway, I am murmuring, but I might be murmuring against Brother Patterson, but it really goes back beyond Brother back. It goes to the Lord. Because the Lord—help me out—every good and every perfect gift is from whom? From above. Coming down from the Father of Lights.

So all murmuring goes back to the Lord. Look back over here. You have seen it. Let us look at it again. Exodus 16. Look at verse number two. Exodus 16, just one word, but it is an amazing word to me about this thing right here. Exodus 16, verse number two. You there? Amen. Exodus 16:2. Look at this: “And the whole congregation…” Wow. The whole congregation murmured. Why? Because when you start murmuring, it affects those around you, and they are very tempted to start murmuring. And now you have got two people murmuring, and probably two other people heard it, so now you have got four. Man, it just spreads. Boom.

And you get a congregation or a group of people or a workforce, and just everybody is murmuring, and it brings everybody else down. By the way, a good godly person can stay above that, but it sure is hard for them. You do not want to make it hard for that person, do you? Right?

It hurts your testimony. It affects those around you so very, very much. Look over in Numbers 14. Numbers 14. You are right there in Exodus a little bit over in Numbers 14. This is when the children of Israel were supposed to enter into the promised land. They did not enter into the promised land because of the ten. They came back and gave a bad report. Joshua and Caleb said, “Wait, no!” versus the ten. Oh, la, la, la. What happened? Numbers 14. Look at verse number 36. Numbers 14:36. “And the men which Moses sent to search the land, who returned, made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up a slander upon the land.” Murmuring.

I mean, they did not enter into the promised land. They wandered around for 40 years, died of natural causes of death. That generation—murmuring had a big part of it. Brother Stoner, he is not here tonight, but Brother Stoner, I have heard him tell this story twice. It is good he is not here. That way I can embellish it, amen. Now, you know, he would probably watch it online. If you want to hear the correct story, talk to Brother Stoner, amen.

But I am telling it so I can tell it how—no, I will do my best to get it accurate, amen. But for years, Brother Stoner traveled and would help businesses and would speak in conferences about businesses and organizations and how to organize and how to make things more efficient and all like that. He is very good at it, did a great job of it, and he traveled sometimes even internationally, traveled all over.

And I heard him tell the story twice. He said he went to a business—I think it was in St. Louis. And it was not a huge business, a small business. I do not know. I want to say there were 11 employees, maybe 20. I cannot remember. And the man that had hired him to come in there—I cannot remember if it was a dental office or what it was, but some kind of office. And…

And he gave his speech. He talked to them and showed them, “This is what I think will help your business run better,” and so on and so on, you know? And the man said, “Look, we’ve got one lady. She has been here longer than just about anybody, and she knows a lot about it. She knows how to run this place.” And so I have a hard time talking to her because she knows so much, but she just brings everything down.

And I remember they had given everybody a job as far as cleaning, and nobody’s—no janitor doing everything, but everybody had their job of cleaning, doing these spots. And this lady had been there so long, she was, you know, the queen bee, she thought she was, and she never would do her cleaning. And the guy told her, Brother Stoner, “Look, I don’t want to talk to her. I know how to—I want you to talk to her. And you handle it.”

And, you know, he kind of thought, “Well, she’ll probably perk up and tell Brother Stoner—give her the ultimatum, but she’ll cooperate if you give her the ultimatum.” Well, Brother Stoner went to her and said, “Ma’am, the easier part of your job is your cleaning that you have to do. And if you don’t think you can do those things that are required of you, then you need to find a place where you don’t have to do those.” She got them—walked out. And Brother Stoner said, “Man, I went back to the owner of the place, and he was mad. What? She quit? She knew everything about the place,” you know? “And you made her quit.”

And Brother Stoner said, “Well, you know, every once in a while, typically it doesn’t go like that, but every once in a while that’s where it goes.” And she walked out, you know? So she’s gone, you know? And so Brother Stoner said—Brother Stoner, the last time I heard him tell it, he said, “I was a little worried about him paying for my services, but he did. He paid,” and he said, “Well, at least he got paid,” you know? And he left town.

And a month or two later, that man called. He said he was surprised, and he called me. And he said, “Man, my business has been so much smoother. Actually, business is increasing greatly. There’s such a better attitude.” He’s not really sure, you know, which one did it. “He gave me all these suggestions. I’m not sure which one did it.” And Brother Stoner said, “Probably has a lot to do with that lady not being there. And you didn’t think you could make the business happen without her.” But the guy said, “I think you’re right. She’s not there to bring everything down.” And business is booming, and things are just getting along a whole lot better because the murmuring’s not there.

Friend, it not only affects you, but it affects all those you are around. And you are not going to be a good testimony by murmuring. And you are going to bring everybody else down if you are not careful. Murmuring.

Number one, we said the Lord hears murmuring. Number two, we said murmuring goes back to the Lord. Number three, murmuring hurts your testimony.

And then very quickly, look over in Numbers chapter number 11. Numbers chapter 11, we have been there several times tonight. And I want you to notice something here. This is well after the point that we are at with the children of Israel, crossing the Red Sea and all that. We will get to this one day. But I want you to see what happens. Numbers 11, verse number one. Over here next, as they complain, no food. God said, “I’ll give you quail.” And look, look here, chapter number 11, verse number one. “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 burned among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp.” Wow. God did not take that lightly.

“And the people cried unto Moses; and when Moses prayed unto the Lord, the fire was quenched. And he called the name of the place Taberah, because the fire of the Lord burned among them. And the mixed multitude that was among them fell to 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; and the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlics: But now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, beside this manna, before our eyes.’”

Now, here is the thing I just want to pull out. They wanted food. They were murmuring about it. God said, “All right, I’m going to tell you,” they gave them food. And later on, they are murmuring about the food God gave them.

Now, here is the thing: If we are not careful, murmuring becomes a way of life. We just murmur about everything. If we are not careful, it’s just—if we are not careful, you know, we just—we wake up murmuring. We go to bed, we go out. We—I read a little thing sent from D.L. Moody, and he said some people will hear a preacher, and he preaches so many good things, but he says one thing that there is a question, and they will go home murmuring about that one thing when he said about 200 good things. It just becomes a way of life: murmuring.

Oh, by the way, that can sneak up on any of us. It is very interesting. Just read that over in Numbers 11. Let me read for what 1 Corinthians 10 says: “Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.”

But if we are not careful, it will be a way of life. You know, we are so blessed. We live in the greatest nation on the face of the earth. And that problem—sure it has problems—but it is still the greatest nation on the face of the earth. Praise the Lord, we have air conditioning, especially on these hot days. They might have some holes in them right now, but we have the new ones ordered. We have cushioned seats, amen.

Isn’t it amazing? I think about sometimes: You always want something cold, put it in the refrigerator or the freezer. You want it warm within seconds, put it in the microwave. Boom. We have everything. I mean, if we are down to one vehicle, we complain. How many people would love to have one vehicle?

Go to these nursing homes. Sometimes you will find somebody at a nursing home—they are not 70, 80 years old; they are 30 years old. Had a stroke or car accident. We have got two good legs, two good hands, feet. Well, a good hand and a half, how about that? You have good eyes and ears. And if we are not careful, we have got all these blessings: got good families, good church. God hears our prayers. He loves us. If not careful, we will spend our time murmuring.

Lord, I need you. We will get close. You’ve got it. It will become a way of life. I thought about Brother Warren today. Haven’t you? Most of you know him. Most of you do. Sit down here.

Brother Warren, he had diabetes, all kinds of health issues, had a sore on his one foot, just a hole in his foot. Almost lost his foot over it. And he lived alone, just him and his dog, over here in a camper by himself. Been to Bible college years ago, was in the ministry for years, but in the later part of his life, by himself, living in a camper, him and his dog. But he always had a good attitude.

I mean, he loved to laugh. You could hardly shake his hand without him saying something that would tell right there. You know what is going to happen if you look down, you know? How many heard his story about McDonald’s and the bologna? Yeah, a bunch of you. I mean, he loved to tell some joke. He is always trying to get there, but just having a good time.

I remember the last time visiting him in the nursing home down about in Lewisburg, I believe he was down there, and got to visit him. And at that point, he was bedridden and couldn’t get out of bed. He had lost so much weight at that point. And the man, he had a good spirit. And he said, “I name off the nurses. She’s saved. She’s not saved. I’m going to witness.” He said, “Think of her. Remember, I pretty much all over her.” He said, “I’m having a hard time finding a lost person down here.” He’s witnessing to them. He said, “They’re not in church.” I’m talking about the Lord, preacher. You know? And he just—it was this ministry. He’d tell me, he said, “Man, I got them in the palms of my hand. They’ll do anything for me.” He had such a good attitude. It is because it was good to be nice to and kind to him. He wasn’t a murmuring, complaining guy. He was just good to them. He was—it made his day.

I think it was the last time, maybe the time before last, he had—they had him on a limited diet. And but he wanted some cashews, you know? And he had ordered them some way. He had found out secretly how to—and they brought a—when I was there, they brought the package in. It was in a box. You couldn’t tell what it was, you know? And he was—and he was—and he was, “I don’t know what that is,” you know? And…

And we got pocket knives out, you know, and he was just cashews. Man, he was so excited about having a can of cashews. And he couldn’t get out of bed. He knew he was—find a hiding place for that can, preacher, you know? “You’re going to get us both thrown in jail,” you know? And he was just happy to have a can of cashews. And he stashed it somewhere where he could, you know, get it at any time when the nurses weren’t watching, he’d get it out. And he, you know… He was happy. He knew—he knew he was limited. He was so ready to go home. He had had some good phone calls with his ex-wife and with his sons. And God was kind of bringing him—and he was just so thankful for all that.

And he just had such a sweet attitude. And he was stuck really away from everybody. He wanted to be close to his church family. He was an hour or so down there. He’s stuck really in the middle of nowhere in a nursing home. And he got to the point he couldn’t get out of bed. But honestly, I don’t know if he complained one time. He just didn’t murmur. He was uplifting, exciting. Asked him out to church. He wanted two things: He wanted to be, you know, either go home or he wanted to come back to church. He wanted to see that new building over there. He’ll see it one day from heaven.

I don’t know about you, but I’m convicted. I’m handing that over, but he didn’t murmur, just on top side.

Would you bow your heads and close your eyes, please? Maybe here tonight, and just between you and the Lord—I won’t have you raise your hand—but maybe you just need to say, “Hey, Lord, forgive me for my murmuring. I understand you don’t want to—you never leave me nor forsake me—but your presence isn’t real, and I understand because of my stench.” Now, I want to—forgive me, Lord, forgive me for my murmuring. Lord, I don’t want it to become a way of life for me.

Maybe just spend a moment right there, just, “Lord, forgive me. Cleanse me.” I’m going to ask you this. I’m going to ask—would you take a challenge? I’m going to ask—raise your hand on this. I’m going to let you set the time. But would you say, “I’m going to try to go 24 hours? I’m going to try to go three days? I’m going to try to go a week”? Have the Lord lead you.

And I’m going to try to go, and I’m going to watch it. I’m not saying it will be perfect. When I mess up, I’m going to confess right there. I’m going to get back, and I’m going to try 24 hours, maybe three days, a week, a month. I preach it between me and the Lord. We’re just going to talk. And I’m going to try, sincerely, honestly try by your grace, to go for a certain amount of time without murmuring.

And preacher, between me and the Lord, I don’t know what the time is, but I’m going to shoot for it. I’m going to ask the Holy Spirit right now, and I’m going to set a time, and I’m going to try to go for a certain amount of time without murmuring. God’s welcome heart—I’m going to take that challenge. However long it may be, God’s leading you. I’m going to take this with it—without murmuring. That’s you tonight. You slip your head, and preach, “I’m going to shoot it. I’m going to try that.” I’m going to take that challenge. God bless you. God bless you. Oh, my friend, God delights in that. Oh, He delights in it. What a wonderful, wonderful thing.

Thank you so many of you taking the challenge. Would you please stand? We’re going to have a word of prayer. We won’t be long. Would you come spend some time with the Lord as they play? Would you do that?

Can I say this? Sometimes people say, “Well, they’re just naturally that way.” No, they’re not. Naturally, they’re a sinner, just like you and I. They have to work at it, just like you have to work at it. But just somebody says, “I’m going to work at it.” And some say, “Well, I’m just going to…” No, no, let’s work at it. I don’t want to murmur. I don’t want to be a murmurer. I don’t want to go with that. Would you do that? Would you do that?

Amen. Glad you’re in church on a Wednesday night. Let’s work at that thing. I have to work at it. And just murmuring—oh, it displeases the Lord. He’s just so clear about that. No murmuring. And let’s just thank Him. Praise the Lord. So glad you’re here on a Wednesday night. And we’ll just say, tomorrow you’re going to say, “Man, it’s just so hot.” Instead of that, say, “Praise the Lord for air conditioning.” There you go. We have air conditioning.

And I went—my wife and I were thinking—Brother Patrick and Ms. Marlene, their air condition has been out of their house. Pray the Lord they got it fixed today. And so they just got out of murmuring. They’re praising the Lord right now. No, but we, of course, were tempted away. I’m sure I fell a million times. It’s been—man, we ain’t got no reason to complain. Patrick and Marlene, now, they had a right to complain, you know, no air conditioning. But praise the Lord, don’t, don’t, don’t. Thank you. Oh, praise the Lord for the air conditioning. Amen. And let’s just work at it at least 24 hours. Let’s just go murmuring-free. Amen. And I think the Lord will be very, very pleased with that. We’re so glad you’re here on a Wednesday night, everybody. Thank you so much for being in God’s house.

Original File: The sin of mummering - Pastor Paul Chisgar - Wednesday PM 08232023