Elevation with Steven Furtick - Just A Little Bit (Joyce Meyer)

Episode Date: November 3, 2025

Is it bad to complain? Joyce Meyer sheds light on what God’s Word says about it and provides practical strategies for living a grateful, holy life. If you’ve just made a decision for Christ, please respond HERE: ele.vc/tIepfr Scripture References:Numbers 21, verses 4-71 Corinthians 10, verses 8-11Philippians 4, verse 6See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation Church, and this is our podcast. Be sure to subscribe so we can get you these new sermons every week. I hope you're blessed today. One more time for the Lord. All right, praise God.

You can be seated. Love you too. You know, we tell each other we love each other all the time, but I really, really do love. Holly and Stephen. And it's kind of funny. You have connections with certain people, and I met him, I don't know how many years ago,

at a Hillsong conference in Australia. And it was just like an immediate bond. And so it's an honor for me to be here today. And I want to teach you something that will you'll enjoy, have fun with, but it will also make you come a pyre. because we're living in a day that, really, to be honest, we talk about how hard it is, but God chose us for this time. We didn't just end up here in 2025 accidentally. We're here

for a purpose, and the world is very dark, but we have the privilege of being lights in a dark for us. And I think we need to shine a little brighter than what we are. Amen. And you know, everybody, you all have a pulpit. Maybe it's not this one. It might be your backyard fence or your desk at work, but you've all got a pulpit. And most people that will come to the Lord will come through somebody like you, your influence, because the ones that really need it aren't here today, but they are different places in your world. And really, we're not supposed to be doing all the work anyway. Paul said, you train them up. So they go out and do the work of the ministry. You know, well, first of all, I'll tell you that I have four grown

children and my baby will be 45 in December. My oldest son will be 60. I don't know how that all worked out since I'm only 50. That's an odd thing. But we have four grown children. Dave actually ended up with some kind of virus and couldn't come this weekend. And we have four grown children. We have 12 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.

And so I feel like all I do is write checks all year. You don't take them very long and all they want money. like five or six years old, and they'll got their hand out for the cash. Dave and I in January will be married 59 years. We are not alike at all, so don't tell me that you can't get along with somebody that's different than you are,

because you can if you want to. And I've actually had the great privilege. I can't think of having the privilege of doing anything greater than actually handling and teaching the Word of God. The most important thing that we have. And I've been teaching for 50 years. And I want to talk to you today about, well, I actually put two titles on it.

The first one was acceptable sins, which I think that we think there are some of those. And I think there are things that are sin that we have forgotten our sin. And, but I decided to change the title to just a little bit. Because, you know, that's the biggest lie the devil tells people. It's just a little bit. That's not a big deal.

That doesn't matter. I think the hardest thing for a sincere Christian to do is to keep the balance between holiness and legalism. Because, see, I've been legalistic, and I don't want to be legalistic. God, I don't want to feel like I can never do anything or never have any fun, you know, but all I can do is spiritual things. However, if I have to choose to lean toward holiness, I'm going to always lean toward holiness. And some people will call that legalism, but it's not. And God has called us to be a holy people.

And we live in a more casual society today. and I don't know that I think it's good, but maybe that's because I'm older, I don't know. But it seems like the more casual our society gets, the more casual our morals get. And I think we have to be really careful because we are a unique generation that has been called for such a time as this. Do you know that Jesus actually really could come back in our own? lifetime. I mean, he really could call the church home at any day. And I don't ever want to be ashamed when I stand before him. When 50 years ago, just as I was starting to teach home Bible studies, I was going to a Walgreens drugstore one day. And I remember I was walking down the street to

get there. And I saw a penny laying on the street and I just kind of kicked it and walking. And I got about this far and the Lord spoke very clearly to me and he said if you pick up pennies you'll always be blessed But I knew it had nothing to do with the penny. What he was saying to me was if you pay attention to little things I'll always bless your life and he has and we've picked up many pennies in our life. I will dig them out of the dirt I won't I won't leave them there because they have a very special meaning to me. And we've tried the best we can to run our ministry with integrity and excellence. And I think it's time to tighten our belt of truth just a little bit tighter. You know, in Ephesion 6, when it talks about warfare, one of the first things it says is tighten the belt of truth.

Tighten it. So you may know the word, but God wants us to lean in on it a little bit. make sure we're living it and not just talking about it. And so I think that there are things that we do, that we shouldn't do, but we do them because the devil says, it's just a little bit. Everybody does it. I mean, maybe you're not here

because I know their integrity, but there are pastors. know that do things that God won't let me do. And I used to, I went to God complaining about it one time because there was a movie that was out that I really wanted to see. And I just knew God didn't want me to go see it, but I mean, my pastors were seeing it, everybody was seeing it. And I got a little mift. I thought, why is it that everybody else can do stuff and I can't do anything? And you know what he said to me? Look, Joyce, you asked me for a lot, do you want it or not? So, you know, Everybody wants everything that you hear talked about, but not everybody's willing to live the lifestyle they need to live to get it. I want to read your story. It's by a woman named Annette Ney. Many parents are working hard to explain to their children and teens why some video games, music, movies, books, and magazines are not acceptable material for them to see or bring into their homes.

One parent came up with an original idea that's hard to refute. He listened to all the reasons his children gave for wanting to see a particular PG-13 movie. It had their favorite actors, everyone else was seeing it, even church members said it was great. It was only rated PG-13 because of the suggestion of sex. They never really showed anything. The language was pretty good. They only used the Lord's name in vain three times in the whole movie. The video effects were fabulous.

The plot was power packed. Video effects were fabulous. Yes, there was just one scene where they blew up a bunch of people and killed them. But, you know, violence is normal stuff today. It wasn't really that bad. Even after all these explanations for the rating, the father would not give in. He didn't even give them a satisfying explanation for saying, no, he just said no.

A little later that evening, the father said to his teens, if you'd like some brownies, I've made some fresh. He explained he'd taken the family's favorite recipe and added a little something new. They said, what is it? And he calmly replied that he had added just a little bit of dog poop. He said, but it's just a little. And it's in this whole batch of brownies. You won't even taste it.

But all the other ingredients are gourmet quality. He had taken great care to bake. the brownies at the precise temperature at the exact time. He was sure they'd be superb. Even with all the explanations of the perfect attributes of the brownies, the teens, not one teen, would even try one. The father acted surprised. Well, there's only one little element in there that, I don't know why you act so stubborn. He said, I assure you you, you won't notice it. You won't taste it, if at all. But but they all held firm and not one would even try the brownies. It then explained that the movie they wanted to see was just like those brownies.

Sin enters our minds and our homes by deceiving us into believing that just a little blitz won't matter. Just a little bit won't make any difference. So now when the father's children want to do something they shouldn't do, he just says, would you like a brownie? Now, I have one main thing that I want to get out today, and so I'll have to, just kind of give you a little dust over so we all have a good idea. Okay, I doubt that any one of you is going to rob a bank next week. I doubt that anybody here is planning to rob the local mini-march.

I doubt that anybody here is planning a murder. But there are some of you here this morning that harbor jealousy. Oh, yeah, it is a sin. Bible says jealousy rots the bones. You know, it's amazing to me that we don't see this sooner. Everything that God tells us to do or not to do is not for his benefit. It's for ours. He just tells us to do what will make us happy and what will make us better and what will make us healthier and make us live on. Jealousy rots the bones. It has an actual effect on your health. but let's just say that there's a woman at work that is not a believer and there's an office that's

opened up there weren't enough offices for everybody but certain people got offices and somebody had quit and so now this office was open and you're a Christian and you prayed for that office you even gave a little extra that week in the offering because you wanted that office but this girl who wasn't even a Christian. Got it. Now all of a sudden you can't like her anymore. Because as soon as you become jealous of somebody, you can no longer have a loving, right relationship with him. Or maybe let's say it's a sibling rivalry. Maybe just somebody here today. Maybe. Or somebody watching on television. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe. you have a brother or a sister that's smarter than you are. I had one son that got straight A's

and never had to crack a book. And another one that a girl, she got good grades, but I mean, she studied so hard that was all the girl did. And then I had two who didn't care. And one of those two runs the ministry now. And because he wasn't a book guy. He was a hand. on guy. And everybody has gifts, and you should never be jealous of somebody else's. Because what happens, if you're jealous of somebody else's gifts, it causes you not to see your own. And then we end up being robbed because God put that gift in them for you.

The gift that's in me makes me work. You get to enjoy it. right and so i need your gift and you need mine but if we get jealous of each other then it doesn't happen what if my eyes said you know i'm really tired of just looking at that ring i've looked at that ring all my life and i'm just tired of it and i want my own ring Now what if God said, oh, okay, well, there you have it. So now I've just messed up everything. I got my ring, I got my way, but now I can't see what I'm doing or where I'm going in life.

Amen. Or what about unforgiveness? And you know, I know you hear a lot about unforgiveness, but it's the single biggest problem in the church. You would be absolutely astonished at how many people are in here today that are angry with someone. And you don't forgive them because you don't think they deserve it or, you know, it's funny when somebody does something that hurts us, how well we remember it, but how quickly we forget the things that we do to other people. Amen? And you want to forgive, some of you, some of you don't, but you want to forgive.

People get mixed up because they think forgiveness is a feeling. So you pray to forgive and you don't feel any different about that person when you see them. You still want to knock them down. But forgiveness is not a feeling. It's a decision you make about how you will treat someone. Now, I want you to get that. That'll help so many of you. The Bible says that we are to do three things.

pray for our enemies. So if you want to forgive somebody, you pray for them. You pray for them to be blessed, and you think, well, I don't want them to be blessed. Well, you pray for them to be blessed anyway. And that doesn't mean God's going to give them a new house. Maybe he'll give them some revelation about how they treat people. You pray for them to be blessed. You bless and do not curse them.

And that means in that way that you speak. well of them, you don't speak evil of them. So you don't run around telling everybody else what they did. And thirdly, if they have a need, ooh, that's the out-chewing. If they have a need, you meet that need. Now, forgiveness doesn't necessarily mean that you have to be around the person. You don't have to have a reconciliation of the relationship, but how you feel. about them in your heart. You release them in your heart. You release them into God's hands. And you do yourself a favor when you do that. Not them, you. Because you can't, it messes your love life up if you're mad at people. And I tell you, I want to be so good at forgiveness that I'm

forgiving somebody while they're still trying to offend me. So I just wanted to give you an idea, but I got to get going here to get to the real stuff. One I want to mention is lying. There are a lot of Christian liars. Because any time you don't keep your word, you're lying. Now, we're going to get down to little stuff because I think God cares about the pennies. If you tell somebody, I'll call you back this afternoon.

And really, if the truth were told, you already know when you say that, you're not going to call them back this afternoon. You've just found a way to get rid of them. I'll tell you how God cured me of that. We were in Florida, Jacksonville, Florida, ministering several different churches. And we kind of really hooked up with this one couple that were pastors.

And so we said to them, I said to them, hey, you guys ought to come to St. Louis sometime. And stay for about a week and we'll take you to the yard. and, you know, we'll do all these things. Well, I didn't, I don't even know why I said it. I didn't really say it. I didn't really say it because I wanted them to come. I just was trying to be nice.

Well, about a month went by and the man calling. He said, well, we're ready. I said, ready for what? He said, we're ready to come to St. Louis. And I thought, oh. And I said to God, God, what am I going to do? I can't have company for a week right now. I'm just up to my eyeballs and work.

And he said, I'll tell you exactly what you're going to do. You're going to tell them to come. And you're going to put them in a good hotel. And you're going to spend the week with them. And that's going to teach you not to say things that you really don't mean. Amen? Don't tell people I'll pray for you and then don't pray for them. I'll pray for you as a good way to get rid of people too sometimes.

I'm going to pray for you about that. Well, then you pray for them about that. If you tell somebody you're going to call them back, you call them back. If you say, I'll call you in a few weeks and we'll go to lunch, call them and take them to lunch. We expect God to keep His word, and God expects us to keep our word. Amen? I mean, these to me are areas where you could lean a little toward legalism. and it wouldn't hurt. I honestly try before God. Anything that I tell somebody I'm going to do,

to the best of my knowledge, I do it. And if there's anything I've forgotten, Lord, please remind me. But the thing I actually want to talk to you about today is a big sin, but one that people, I don't think you even think it's a sin, and that's complaining. I don't know. if you know who Madame Guy in is, but she lived in the 1600s, and some of her books have really helped me. They're pretty strict, but they've really helped me. And she said something is just like, God, you've got to be kidding. She said, even if you sigh, it's a sign of discontentment. So let me just tell you, I've got a ways to go. Because I still do sigh. in numbers 21 verses 4 through 7 the bible says and they journeyed from mount hor by way to the red sea

to go around the land of edom and the people became impatient depressed much discouraged because of the trials of the way and the people spoke against god and against moses why have you brought us out of egypt to die in this wilderness there's no bread here neither is there any water and we loathe this light contemptible, unsubstantial manna. My might. Then the Lord sent fiery burning serpents among the people. And they bit the people and many Israelites died. It was 23,000 exactly.

And so they went to Moses and said, we have sinned. Duh. Sometimes it takes us a long time to get the idea that God's trying to get something across to us and we're just not paying any attention. Oh, Joyce, does the Bible really say complaining is sin? Well, it says give thanks in all things, no matter what the circumstances might be, be thankful and give thanks, for this is the will of God, for those of you who are in Christ Jesus. Well, that was a lousy clap.

That was high. And then over in the New Testament, in 1st Corinthians, 8 through a long, it repeats that whole thing again that's in numbers. And Paul said, these things befell them by way of a figure as an example and a warning to us. A warning. You know, everything that you hear in church

is not supposed to make you feel great. And that's one of the problems we have today. People just go to get their blessing and they want to feel good. Tell me how wonderful I am. Tell me all the good things that the Bible has to say about me. Well, you know, I just went through a season of doing that. I spent about six weeks telling the whole world how wonderful they were.

Now I feel led to go in another direction. I feel a new annoying coming on me for a season. One of those mama spankings. We must not gratify evil desire and indulge in immorality as some of them did. God called what they were doing immorality. They were crabbing and complaining about this miracle that God's raining down out of the sky. You think miracles would keep you happy? They really won't.

Because we get too used to things. I bet they were excited about that man of the first few days. But, you know, we get familiarity with things. I remember saying to the Lord once, why don't you do the things that you used to do when I was first baptized in the Holy Spirit. I mean, I had so many supernatural things happening. It was just like, I'd ask God for an answer to something and open my Bible. And there would be the answer. Why don't you do the things you used to do? And boy, did he shock me? He said, oh, I still do them. You've just gotten used to them.

How many amazing things is God doing in your life every day that you don't even recognize as amazing anymore? Do you know how I'm? amazing it is just to have a church like this to go to. I mean, really. Amazing. There's so many amazing things that God does for us, but we have gotten, yes, God's our friend, but he's also sovereign, and he means what he says. And when he says to do something, if we don't do it, we're going to feel it in our own life. Remember what I say. I think if you get this, it'll really help you. Everything that God tells us to do or not to do is for our benefit.

It's not for his. It's for our benefit. He's telling us what will make us happy. What will make us powerful? What will put us in a position where the devil can't touch us? He's telling us how to live a life that is so far superior that you can't hardly believe it. And we have the audacity to obey him, yes, but just a little bit.

There's just a little bit that we, you know, Saul when God told him to go in and kill all the women, the men, the babies, the cattle, don't leave anything. And Saul did a little too much thinking. And instead of just doing what God told him to do, he killed everybody, kept, got rid of everything except the good stuff. And when Saul confronted him about it, the prophet Saul, he said, well, I just kept the good things to sacrifice them to the Lord. Now you're really getting lying. Oh, I just did it for you, Lord. I desire sacrifice. I desire obedience, not sacrifice.

And I think sometimes we don't obey God in something and then we will do something like give extra money in the offering. And I think it just happens so fast, sometimes we don't even realize what we're doing. We're trying to make up for something else that we should have done and we didn't do. Wonder how happy it would make the Lord if everybody that's a Christian never complained,

I'd be happy if I could make it through one whole day. I mean, I really try to do this. I'll tell you what we don't do very well is inconvenience. We are just spoiled rotten. Inconvenience. Well, my electric went off for two hours. None of my electronics would work. I couldn't use my e-ped, e-ped, e-ped, whatever they are.

There's too many things. It's YouTube and whatever the pad is. I mean, we can't live if we don't have all of our electric stuff. I mean, I left my phone at home on this trip, and I was kind of proud of myself. I thought, I'm going to see how I do without it, but they figured out a way to get it to me, and I got, I had it for the time I got here. Okay, listen to what Paul says in First Corinthians. First Corinthians 10, 8, we must not gratify evil.

desire and indulge in immorality as some of them did, and 23,000 suddenly fell dead in a single day. Wow. We should not tempt the Lord, try his patience, become a trial to him by critically appraising him and exploiting his goodness, as some of them did, and were killed by poisonous the serpents. Nor should we discontentedly complain, as some of them did, and were put out of the way entirely by the destroyer. Now, these things befell them by way of a figure as an example and a warning to us. They were written to admonish and fit us for right action by good instruction. We in whose days the ages have reached their climax. You know, the Bible doesn't say that we are just to be encouraged. Paul told Timothy, preach the word, encourage, urge,

warn, and rebuke. So we need a healthy diet of all of it in order to be balanced. Yes, we need to be encouraged. There are times when we need to be rebuked. There's times when the sermon needs to make you squirm just a little bit in your seats. You know, I mean, if we're not going to learn anything, you've got to learn something when you go to church. I mean, it's great. The worship is great, and it's great to jump around and be happy, and we all need that.

But you need to listen to every word that Stephen says. Don't ever be the kind of person if somebody asks you what did Stephen preach on the day say, it was good. I know it was good. I want you to know well into the middle of next week. If somebody asks you, oh, I heard Joyce was at your church Sunday. What does she preach on? I want you to be able to tell them that we have to stop just letting a little bit of sin into our lives because a little bit doesn't matter. And when you have something inconvenient, I want you to, when you start to complain to remember, Oops. That's something I'm not supposed to do. Go on, how many of you complain?

Everybody in the whole church is sinning. Let me ask you a sincere question. Do you believe that little things like this make a difference? So it's not the big things that we're guilty of. It's all the little stuff. A man that I knew, his wife had divorced him, and he had met another guy, and they both claim to be Christians. and this other guy was living with his girlfriend, had been for quite some time. And he says to the guy that I know, I've got a good idea.

Why don't we fast once a week and pray together for God to do these certain things they wanted him to do? Now, excuse me, but that's just stupid. I mean, why? why even bother? But you know, somehow or another, he had himself convinced that what he was doing wasn't wrong.

And that's the scary part. The Bible says that the heart is deceitful above all things. Who can know his own heart? That's why we've got to have some meetings with ourselves. I mean, at least once a week. You should have a meeting with yourself. And just really ask God,

am I doing okay here? Is there something you need to remind me of? Do I need a little kick in the rear? See, this doesn't mean that you have to live this rigid, legalistic life where you can never do any things or never have any fun. But how about if I throw this out? What if you start listening to your conscience? That's one of the best things that God has given us is a conscience.

It's part of our spirit. Conscience comes from their intuition, revelation. So I can sit and talk to your head all day, but I want it to fall from your head to your spirit and become a revelation. We have got so much information, but we need it to become revelation because when it's revelation, that's when you start really doing it.

One of the definitions I found for complain, to complain means to remain. So the Israelites remained in the wilderness 40 years trying to make an 11-day trip. And one of the reasons, I have found 10 reasons why they stayed out there. But one of them was just complaining. They just complained every time it was inconvenient. Now it's God's fault. It's Moses's fault.

And we wish we would have stayed in Egypt where we had those onions and leeks and garlic. I might rather try a brownie than that, I don't know. If we could just understand what we give up in an effort to try to get what we think we want, God doesn't answer complaints. He answers prayers. Philippians 4-6, Philippians 4-6, do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything by prayer and petition, definite request, with thanksgiving.

Now, you know, the Lord says a lot of stuff to me that I just don't give by with much. Not that I'm trying to, but I don't. And I was praying for something one time, and the Lord said, why should I give you that? You're already complaining about what you've got. Why should I give you something else to complain about?

We're supposed to be thankful people. I love be thankful and say so. It's not enough to say, well, I'm a thankful person. Well, how many people are in your life that are blessings to you that you haven't thanked in a long, long, long, long time? You know, if the word thank you was around your houses more, marriages would last a lot longer. Dave told me the other day to get him something, and I said, say please. And he didn't say it. I said, you're not getting it until you say, please.

don't take me for granted. Even in your home, you need to say please and thank you. It's amazing. I mean, if we just had better manners, so how can you be a light and a dark world? Get out there and, you know, you don't really have to preach to everybody. I forget the famous person that said it, but somebody said preach at all times and if necessary use words.

Who was it, Mike? St. Francis of a sissy. He's like, my brain, when mine gets you. gives out. I say there's so much stuff I forget now. It's just gotten to be hilarious. I don't, I don't even argue with my kids anymore when they tell me you told us that last week. I just say, okay, if you say so, I don't remember it, but if you say so. But I tell you, you know, when you don't remember things as good, it's great for movies, because I can watch a movie and not see it for two months and go back and watch it again. Just like a brand new movie. You know what? You're going to get old.

and you better make your mind up. I just made up my mind. I'm going to be a funny old person. I'm not going to be cranky and crabby and hard to get along with. I just want to be funny. And my kids think I'm hilarious. I don't know what I was saying before I got off on that.

See? There you go. It's in there. It comes back. So how can you be a light in a dark world? You know, I think a lot of people, they get real tense when somebody says you need to witness.

Because we automatically think that means we got to back somebody into a corner and preach to them. When I wanted to be used of God, I didn't know yet that God wanted me to preach, and so I just, anything they asked us to do at church, I tried it. And one of the first things I did was, it was in a season when passing out tracks was a big thing. And so our church would take a group of people

and Saturday morning to downtown St. Louis and pass out tracks. So I tried street preaching. I hated it. Did not like it. And that doesn't make God mad for me to say that. It just that didn't fit. You know, if you don't know what you believe God wants you to do, act like a woman buying a new outfit. it. You just keep trying on stuff until something fits. Amen. We're too afraid of being wrong.

And it just paralyzes us. It doesn't matter if you try something and it's not the right thing for you. Your heart's right. You're just trying to find out what God wants you to do. And it's not that hard. You find something you're good at. Everybody's good at something. You just keep trying on stuff till it fits. So I tried street ministry and didn't like that. I tried working in the nursery and me nor are the kids like that. I got over that in two weeks. But when I finally got around to try to teach, I had led a girl to the Lord in the bathroom at work.

And when we started to go back to our desk, the Lord simply said to me, what are you going to do with her? And I said, well, what do you want me to do with her? He said, teach her. I don't know how to do that. He said, I do. Whoever says God's going to call you to do something you know how to do. That's the fun part is stepping out blindly and watching God work through you.

Why is he called the weak and the foolish things of the world that confound the wise, so we can't take the credit. I mean, I am the least-likeliest person on the earth to be doing what I'm doing. I mean, right. This message that I'm preaching here today will go around the world, in 107 different languages. And that's, that's amazing. It's amazing.

I don't know, I don't know how I've written 150 books. I thought one day, how did I do that? I don't know how I did that. And people say to me, how have you done all this? I don't know. I don't know. If you're willing, God will use you. But don't, don't get all torn up

if the first thing you try doesn't work or the second thing doesn't work. You're not a failure until you quit trying. Amen? Be happy in your faith and rejoice and be glad-hearted continually. One of the things we can do to be enlightened in a dark world is just smile.

Seriously, just don't get out in the world and be a crank. Be friendly. Hi. How are you today? Smile. and be one of the very unusual people that don't complain. You hear complaining everywhere you go. The next time you feel like complaining about waiting in traffic,

just be glad you're not one of the people that have no legs and can't even walk. The next time you, just for the ladies, the next time you want to complain about your husband, there's a lot of lonely people that'll take him off your hands. Well, that's going over better than I thought. Maybe I better say something to the men, too. I don't know. I mean, really, once your eyes are open to it, you see how ridiculous it is to complain.

God does so much for us. And, you know, part of the reason why there's so many divorces is people forget about the good stuff. And they laser in on the one or two things that aggravates them. And that's all they think about. one time I was having a hard time with Dave over something and God put on my heart to make two lists. One, everything I liked about him and everything I didn't like about him. And the list of stuff I liked was so much longer than the list of stuff that I didn't like. And that's usually what it comes down to.

People will get divorced over a couple of little things that they don't like and forget about all the things that you love about them. The Bible says that love covers a multitude of sins. And I'll tell you something that will help you in your homes. Stop every time somebody makes a mistake telling them they did. We have lived in our home for 20 years, and for at least 18 of those 20 years, sometimes I'm slow, 18 of those 20 years, every time Dave left his closet light on, which is all the time, I would say,

you left your closet light on again, I finally decided to shut up and just turn it off. Because if I tell him you left your closet light on, you know what he says? Do you know what he says? He says,

I didn't leave it on, you must have turned it on. Now, why would I go to his closet and turn on the light? The man has three different kinds of hearing aids, and he won't wear any of them. He won't wear any of them.

and he says that he's not hard of hearing that I mumble. Now let me ask, have you heard me mumble one time here today? But you know what? You know what I really love about Dave? He lets me do anything I want to. Just anything I want to do, he lets me do it. Well, that's worth turning off a closet light and keeping your mouth shut. If I went home and said, you know, honey, I feel like I need to spend some time alone,

I'm going to just leave for a couple of weeks and spend some time with the Lord. And he'd say, okay. So see, look at the good things in people. Look at the good things about your job. Instead of complaining about your job, be glad you've got a job. There's so many people that don't even have a job. Amen? Let's appreciate everything good that God does for us. And let's just not complain about anything. Amen? How many of you, if we pray together today, how many of you will just make a couple of commitment to just try to tighten your belt just a little bit. Let's all stand up together. I really forgot to ask how they like to close services here,

but I'm going to pray for you and then give it back to Stephen. Now, this has been very serious to me today. I never go anywhere and preach without feeling like I've got the word of the Lord. And so this is very simple. You're not going to forget it, but at the same time, very profound. Don't. Well, it's just a little bit. No.

And don't do it because everybody else is doing it. You're only going to have to answer for yourself. You do what's right if everybody else in the world wants to do it wrong. Amen? Father, we love you so very much, and we're so appreciative that you love us. And I want to thank you for reminding us that we need to pay attention to little things. because it is the little foxes that spoil the vine. So we're all making a fresh commitment today

to always be sure that we do what we say we're going to do. It's not harbor things like jealousy and petty things and little, hang on to little anger issues, but to just let that stuff go, let it go and help us to appreciate everything you do for us. and God put a watch over our mouth lest we sin against you with our tongue by complaining. And let the words of our mouth and the meditation of our heart be acceptable in your sight. In Jesus' name, amen.

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