Online Sermons
Lesson #3 - Grumbling
Series: Taming The TongueLesson #3 – Grumbling
1. Sinful synonyms - - list at least seven other words that describe grumbling:
__________ … __________ … __________ … __________ … __________ … __________ … __________ … __________
2. In your orbit, who grumbles more - - men or women, children or adults, older or younger?
3. Why did they grumble?
What was one of the “lowlights” of the Exodus from Egypt?
cf. Ex.14:11; 15:24; 16: 3 & 8; 17:3 with Num.16:41 & 17:10 and Deut.1:27
~ Did Israel’s belly-aching stir up the anger of God? – cf. Num.11:1 with 1Cor.10:10
~ At the completion of the forty-years wilderness journey, how many “originals” made it to the promised land?
cf. Num.14:26-30 & 26:64-65 / the book of Numbers is a book of murmurings.
1Cor.10:10 / do not grumble, as some of them (Old Testament) did, and were destroyed by the destroyer
Philp.2:14 / do all things without grumbling…
Js.5:9 / do not complain, brethren against one another, that you yourselves may not be judged
1Pet.4:9 / be hospitable to one another without complaint
Jude 16 / they are grumblers, finding fault..
4. What is the source of OUR grumblings?
Why is Oscar such a “grouch”? … What’s eating Madame Blueberry?
Name one thing you carped about during the last week?
~ Does constant complaining flow from a lack of contentment?
Generally speaking, are you in a perpetual state of discontentment?
Might someone rightly characterize you as a malcontent ?
How would you define an ingrate ?
Will the cultivation of a constant sense of gratitude help to eradicate discontentment and grumbling?
cf. Ps.107:1-2; Eph.5:20; Philp.4:6; Col.2:7; 3:15 & 4:2 and 1Thess.5:16 & 18
~ Do these phrases describe you? - -
giving thanks for all things … overflowing with gratitude … an attitude of thanksgiving … rejoice always … in everything give thanks
5. How can we make gratitude a daily practice?
Our English words think and thank derive from the same German root (denken and danken). If we THINK, we will Thank.
In his classic little volume, Little Foxes That Spoil The Vine, W.B. J. Martin tells this story.
I recall an induction of a new minister in a church in northern England. Northerners pride themselves on being plain, blunt men.
One of the deacons at the service of recognition said, ‘If we like you, we’ll say naught, but if we don’t we shall tell you.’
~ How does this square with Prov.3:27 and Eph.4:29
What is meant by this Swedish proverb - - those who wish to sing always find a song ?
Had you been imprisoned like Paul and Silas (Acts 16:25), would you have been singing? Would it have been a hymn of praise?
