I Changed My Mind About My Attitude

This morning, if you have your Bibles and want to turn there, I've got two scriptures for you, Proverbs 27, 19, and put a mark there, and then turn to Luke chapter number 9.

And we're in a series today called I Changed My Mind.

Last week, Pastor Jimmy started the series and he talked about fear, anxiety, and worry.

What a great message it was.

If you weren't able to be here, I would just encourage you to go online and listen to the message.

I mean, I don't think I've ever heard a message.

I I know I've never had a dream about Osama bin Laden and a gun.

And that's all I'm gonna say for you now.

Just a little pique your interest.

If you haven't heard it, go to the website and check it out.

Uh fear, anxiety, and worry.

What a great, great uh message.

And uh next week, uh he's gonna continue in the series.

I changed my mind, but he's gonna be talking about insecurity.

Now, there's a theme passage that we're using in this series, and it's Romans chapter 12.

Romans 12 · chapter mention

So just stay in your in your passages there.

Uh, but let me read this passage to you.

Romans 12 and verse 1.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

The two words there that are essential is conform.

Do not be conformed.

The the Greek word there for conformed, it's the the word that we get schematic from.

It it means uh to conform or to a pattern or a mold or to model after.

And Paul is is saying, do not be conformed or follow the pattern or model your life after the world, but be transformed.

And that word transformed is the word that we we get metamorphosis from.

Uh it it is, it means to be changed, radically changed.

That's why we use the butterfly as the logo for this series, is because uh a butterfly starts as a worm, goes into a little cocoon, and then comes out radically transformed, uh changed by a process of metamorphosis into a butterfly.

And God says, our life needs to be radically changed.

And uh that takes place by approaching the way that we think and uh about certain things in life.

So, today's message, what I want to talk to you about, is your attitude.

I uh this the title of this message is I've changed my mind about my attitude.

Now, I was thinking about this, and I was I was thinking uh attitude is a major factor in how we respond to the circumstances of our life.

It opens the doors for God's transforming work uh to have its full effect.

And I was thinking about how often we uh we minimize attitude.

For instance, have you ever said of yourself or to somebody else, you you meet them and they're a little cranky, and they say, say, or or you say to yourself, to excuse your crankiness or theirs, uh, whoa, must have woke up on the wrong side of the bed.

It's it's an attitude that we carry, and and circumstances and events and things in life uh create attitudes, and attitudes become a contributor or an inhibitor of the transforming work of God in our life.

Now, what do I mean by attitude?

Attitude is the outward reflection of our internal emotions.

So, if we're dealing with anger or frustration or indifference or disrespect or disappointment or cynicism or contempt or independence or rebellion, those negative emotions that churn in our life, they work their way out in an expression facially and attitudinally in the way that we conduct our life.

On the positive side, if if you have peace or satisfaction or fulfillment, if you're excited, if you have joy or thankfulness, those positive emotions work their way out in attitudes as well.

Now, I I'm a I think just an average guy.

I'm I'm like uh most of the men that I know or have met, and that is for most of my adult life, I have learned and attempted to repress my emotions.

Uh you know, emotions aren't our friend.

I don't like to cry, I don't like to go to movies that cry.

I send my wife to those.

I uh she enjoys that.

I don't.

And uh so for most of our the 40 years of our marriage, my wife has done her best to help me get in touch with my emotions.

And normally the way that she would do it is a situation would develop and she would say to me, How do you feel about that?

And I would say, I don't know, and I don't care.

It doesn't make any difference how I feel.

You know, leave me alone.

Quit pushing in to this stuff.

I'm fine.

Denial is a great way to live.

But she wouldn't let it go, and so over the years, these 40 years of our marriage, she would ask me in different ways, and so I learned to make responses.

And one response I would make is I'd kind of, you know, I'd go deep, as deep as I could go in my emotions, and I'd come out and I'd tell her the way that I think I should feel.

And she wasn't too satisfied with that, and so I'd press in a little deeper, and I'd come out with telling her the way that I thought she wanted me to feel.

And that didn't work either, because somehow in women there's an intuitive or an actual ability to really understand that there's a connection with what's going on inside and what's coming out out on the outside.

And so what she would say to me when I would give her these false answers is, oh, really?

If you're really doing good, why don't you let your face know it?

And I went, you know, I my face doesn't know it.

I you cannot hide what's going on in your emotions.

Our attitude reflects the emotions, and our face displays the result.

There's no doubt about it.

We simply can't overestimate the importance of attitudes in our lives as it relates to happiness, success, and every area, uh every area of our life.

Uh we're we're impacted by attitudes all the time.

You you realize that businesses have attitudes, churches have attitudes, cities have attitudes, individuals have attitudes.

Maybe you know of a friend or a family member or right now.

If you were honest with yourself, you'd say, you know what, I really, I'm just struggling with a bad attitude.

I just have a bad attitude.

Have you thought that maybe the motive, what's driving that bad attitude, is an emotion that you're not paying any attention to?

Something is going on inside and it's being reflected on the outside.

What watch this.

Uh there's an encounter between Jesus, James, and John, after Jesus gives a uh a command for them to uh uh to fulfill.

Luke chapter 9 and verse 51.

Luke 9 · chapter mention

When the days were approaching for his ascension, he was determined to go to Jerusalem, and he sent messengers on ahead of him, and they went and entered a village of the Samaritans to make arrangements for him.

Now, just so you know, the Samaritans, they were a splinter group of Jews, and they were at odds with the rest of the Jewish people.

Uh the Samaritans, they they claimed that they were a part of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh.

But the rest of Israel claimed that they were Jews that had been resettled, uh, they were people who had resettled in after the the Babylonian uh occupation, and they were just cover-up Jews.

They were they were secular, they they were idolatrous, and and so there was a real uh there was tension between the two of them.

And so Jesus says, I want you to go into this village of the Samaritans to make arrangements for him in verse 53.

But they, the Samaritans, had an attitude and did not receive him because he was traveling toward Jerusalem.

And when the disciples, James and John, saw this, they developed an attitude.

Have you ever met somebody that had an attitude and their attitude jumped all over you?

And all of a sudden you didn't have a bad attitude, but now your attitude is giving me a bad attitude.

This is what happened with them.

They developed an attitude and said, Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?

Now that's an attitude right there.

But he Jesus turned and rebuked them for their attitude.

And he said, You don't know what kind of attitude your spirit reflects.

What kind of spirit you are of, for the Son of Man did not come to destroy lives, but to save them, and they went on to another village.

Our emotions, our attitude reflects our emotions, and our face displays it.

If you're there, Proverbs 27 and verse 19.

As water, as water, as in water, face reflects face, so the heart of man reflects the man.

Now, here's two questions for you.

First, am I approaching life with a worldly attitude or a godly attitude?

This is this is these two questions every one of us need to answer today.

Am I approaching life, the situations of my life, with a worldly attitude or a godly attitude?

Here's the second question.

Is my attitude, is the attitude of my mind conformed to the emotions of the circumstances or the people around me, or is it transformed by God's word?

Is my attitude worldly or godly?

Is it being conformed or transformed by the people or circumstances around me?

John Maxwell wrote a book on attitude, and the title of it was The Winning Attitude.

And here's what he said: attitude is the advancement of our true selves.

Attitude's roots are inward, but its fruits are outward.

Attitude is our best friend and our worst enemy.

Attitude is more honest and more consistent than our word, than our words.

Attitude is the thing that draws people to us or repels people away from us.

Attitude is never content until it's expressed.

And listen to this.

This is a powerful statement.

Attitude is the librarian of our past, it is the speaker of our present, and it is the prophet of our future.

Attitude is the librarian of our past, the speaker of our present, and the prophet of our future.

Our attitudes determine our success and happiness in life more than any, more than giftedness, more than opportunities or circumstances.

Our attitudes affect our life.

So here's some things that I want to talk to us about this morning when it comes to attitude.

Here's the first thing attitude is our choice.

Viktor Frankel was a Jewish prisoner in in the Auschwitz concentration camp in Germany during World War II.

His mother was killed by the Nazis.

His wife and brother died in the concentration camps.

And his sister was the only family member who survived.

And in the midst of all the suffering and tragedy that he experienced, he made a decision to be happy and determined that he would never hate the Nazis, no matter what they did to him.

It was the difference in his life, he says, between life and death.

And he lived until 1997.

He passed away.

And before he passed away, he was a motivational speaker, an author, a neurologist, and a psychiatrist.

He made a choice not to allow circumstances to define the internal issues of his life, but to be motivated out of something higher, something greater.

His story proves to us that every one of us have the ability to choose the right attitude in any circumstance.

So, let me just ask you a question.

Who or what is influencing your attitude?

You have a choice.

You can choose an attitude that is different than the people around you, different than the circumstances you're experiencing, who or what is influencing your attitude?

Proverbs 3, 31, do not envy a man of violence and do not choose any of his ways, for the devious person is an abomination to God, but the upright are in his confidence.

What Proverbs is tell telling us is if we hang around people, it's the idea that uh somebody's bad attitude is is likely, possibly, gonna come on me.

Or if I have a bad attitude, where did it come from?

Is somebody influencing me?

Don't don't hang around with an envious person because you might become envious yourself.

Well, don't hang around somebody with a bad attitude if they just want to hang on to their bad attitude.

1 Corinthians 15, 33, do not be deceived.

Bad company corrupts good morals.

Today, we can choose to change our attitude.

You may have to deal with some internal emotions that you've denied or repressed or you've been unwilling to look at, but let me tell you, it's worth it.

We want the reflection of God to come out of our life, and if we do, we have to choose the right attitude.

We have to allow our emotions and the internal issues of our life to be conformed and to be transformed, not to be conformed.

Here's the second thing attitudes have consequences.

God responds to our attitudes.

He rewards good attitudes and he disciplines bad attitudes.

Hebrews 12 and verse 7.

If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons.

For what son is there whom a father does not chasten?

This is just a logical progression.

We love our kids, and because we love our kids, we express our love and we discipline them when they are out of line.

So does God.

One of the things I always told my kids when they were growing up is one of the reasons that we discipline you is because you are God's child, and when you leave our house, God will continue to discipline you.

At 60 years old today, I know if I get out of line, God, who loves me, will discipline me because I'm his son.

Verse 11.

Let me find my my place here.

Verse 11 says, now uh no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful.

Nevertheless, afterward, it yields peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

We know this as parents.

We know that attitudes are the seedbed of behavior, and if we deal with an attitude when it surfaces in our children, we'll be less likely to deal with it in a behavior later on in their life.

Jan and I understood this.

With our four kids, we wouldn't allow huffing and snorting and rolling of the eyes and an attitude to be demonstrated when we gave an order or uh, you know, assigned them a responsibility.

Take out this trash.

You know, well now now hold on, before you take the trash out, we're gonna deal with this attitude.

The attitude is a part of the issue.

I got one amen for sure.

Tyler, uh, we we are four kids.

We have two boys and two girls, and Todd is our oldest son and uh a part of the ministry team here, one of our associate senior pastors.

And then our daughter Lisa and her husband are members here, uh, and uh Lindsay, our youngest daughter, and her husband Brett.

Brett was playing uh the bass this morning on the worship team.

Our our third child, second son, Tyler, lives with his wife in Houston.

And uh I tell a lot of stories on him because he's not resident.

When Tyler was 16, all uh Lisa, Tyler, and Lindsay, the our the three youngest kids, all went to a Christian school.

And when Tyler was uh driving, he was about 16 years old, uh, I noticed that he came home uh over a series of days.

It was a you know, I don't know, seemed like a long time, with just an attitude.

He he was complaining about the school, he didn't like the coaches, he thought the teachers were terrible, he he thought they uh they uh uh described they assigned too much homework.

I mean, every there was not one good thing about the school.

And I when I noticed that it was a continuing thing, a pattern, I said, Hey, hey, Tyler, uh, what's going on?

He goes, What do you mean what's going on?

And I said, You kind of got an attitude.

I mean, nothing, nothing good's going on.

You you complain about the teachers, the principal, uh, the the coaches, and he said, Dad, dad, I mean, it's just ridiculous.

It's ridiculous.

The uh today there was a teacher who disciplined a student for yawning in class.

And I thought, really?

Yawning in class?

And I went, wait, wait, wait, wait.

There's an attitude here, Tyler.

Is that the whole story?

Well, as I probed in a little more, no, not exactly.

It was the justification that he was giving me for his bad attitude.

So I said, Tyler, we we got to deal with whatever it is that's in there that's that's driving this bad attitude, because if you don't deal with it as an attitude, you will deal with it as an action.

And he goes, Oh, dad, you're so old.

And I said, I'm telling you, I may be old, but I've got a little experience in this stuff.

And you will deal with it.

God, there's if there's something working, if there's uh and some issues in there, God wants to help you deal with them so that the what is the attitude doesn't become the action.

And he goes, uh, whatever.

I I'm not in there.

I say, okay.

So a couple of days later, uh, I'm on my way home from work and I'm about to pull into our subdivision, and I notice across the street from our subdivision is a police car with lights, you know, uh rolling, and two cars in front of the police car, and Tyler's car was the lead car.

So I just pull around the corner in front of his car, I get out, and as I walk to the driver's window, he just kind of slinks in his seat.

And so I go up to the window and I say, Hey T, what's up?

And uh, before he could really answer me, the police officer is there at the door and he said, Oh, you must be dad.

And I said, Yes, sir, I am, and obviously you have some business to take care of.

And I just look back at Tyler and I said, See you at home.

Attitudes have consequences.

It turns out that what Tyler had been doing with his friend was drag racing.

And he got a ticket that day for speeding and drag racing, and he paid a pretty hefty fine.

And without rubbing it in his rubbing his nose in it, I I said, Tyler, you just can't help it.

Attitudes have consequences.

They're there, it's gonna come out.

So let's talk about what what are you feeling in uh uh against authority?

You're railing against your teachers, your coaches, everything.

There's an issue that you're addressing.

What is it in there?

And now you you think you're above the law, so you can drag race and speed.

Our attitudes have consequences.

James 4, 6.

God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

Humble yourselves, therefore, in the sight of the Lord, and he will lift you up.

Just like a dad, I mean, nothing that Tyler could do, nothing that any of my kids could do, would change the fact that I'm gonna love him, and God is gonna love us, but he will relate to us different based on our attitude.

Like me, like a father, like a loving father.

Father, he says, I'm going to discipline that attitude until you get it right, because a bad attitude opens the door for the devil's influence.

You know what?

You want a scriptural example of this?

You remember the story of Cain and Abel?

The two brothers brought an offering to God, and Abel's offering was accepted, but Cain's wasn't.

And so we pick up the exchange between Cain and God in Genesis 4 and verse 5.

But for Cain, his offering God had no regard.

So Cain had a bad attitude.

He got mad and his face fell.

And the Lord said to Cain, Why are you angry and why is your face fallen?

If you do well, will you not be accepted?

And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door.

Its desire is for you.

You must rule over it.

We can choose our attitudes, and in choosing our attitudes, we have to understand they have consequences.

We can rule over our attitudes.

Bad attitudes bring God's loving discipline.

Good attitude, attitudes bring God's purposes to light.

On an airplane, in the center of the airplane, the center of the dashboard, there's a an instrument that is called an attitude indicator.

It has a horizon, an artificial horizon line, and you see the nose of the plane related to the horizon, and if it's above the horizon line, the plane's climbing.

If it's even with the horizon line, it's on cruise, level cruise, and if it's below the horizon line, it's descending, maybe to a landing, or worse than that, a crash.

We, like uh like the the plane, like a pilot, we need to monitor the attitude of our life.

If the attitude, if our attitudes are are good and and positive, we're we're gonna climb out of the circumstances that we're in with God's favor and blessing.

We're we're gonna cruise right along to the things that God's doing.

But if our attitude is is negative, is bad, and we're not dealing with it, we're descending.

We're gonna land someplace, maybe crash in someplace.

God is at work in our attitudes.

Uh, to keep the direction of our life uh in the right angle, we need to anchor our attitudes in what God is saying.

Do we have a godly attitude?

Are we looking into for God to direct the issues of our life?

Or are we being influenced by our feelings or our friends or the circumstances and allowing those things to determine our attitude?

Attitude is more important than aptitude in being successful in life.

We all, every one of us are going to face difficulties in life, challenges, but our attitude will help us climb out of the direction, out of the difficulty with God's uh favor and direction.

James 1 and verse 2, count it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter various trials.

For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness, and let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

If our life is not going in the right direction, we need to take a look at our attitudes.

Because attitudes have consequences.

Here's the third thing attitudes have influence.

You say, well, Tom, how do what do they influence?

Well, one of the things, attitudes influence our perspective.

Uh there are people who are always happy regardless of what's going on, and there are people who are always unhappy.

The apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 4 11, uh, for I have learned in whatever situation I am in to be content.

I know how to be brought low, I know how to abound.

In any and every circumstance, I've learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.

I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Many, many comedians uh come out of a tragic past, and one of my favorite comedians growing up was uh a lady by the name of Carol Burnett.

You may know her or know of her.

Uh, she had a uh a comedy hour that my family would uh you know would often watch as often as we could.

And she was just a funny, funny lady.

I had no idea that uh as she was entertaining me with her humor and and fun, that her her past was tragic.

Both of her parents were alcoholics, she was raised by her grandmother, never had a bed.

She slept on a couch the entire time she was growing up and studied for school by a dim light in the bathroom.

But she chose an attitude of happiness, and she allowed that attitude to influence many other people.

There's no telling how many thousands or maybe millions of people.

Her attitude of happiness, her choice to be happy, influence uh the numbers of people it influenced.

1 Thessalonians 5.18 says, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

So some people choose to be happy and thankful and they influence others that way, and there are others who choose to be unhappy and they infect others with their unhappiness.

What are you doing today?

Do you know that your attitude has influence?

Listen to this quote.

Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn, or consumed.

Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love and grace and gratitude.

Attitudes influence perspective and our happiness.

There's no doubt about it.

Here's the second way that uh attitudes influence things they influence.

They influence our circumstances.

Some people believe that if they had better circumstances, they they'd have a better attitude.

You that might be your response to me today.

You'd say, Tom, if you only knew what I was dealing with, if you knew how long I'd been unemployed, if you knew the situation of my marriage, if if my situation were different, I would have a better attitude.

Probably not.

Adam and Eve were created perfect people in a perfect paradise and were grateful and rebellious, were ungrateful and rebellious.

David wrote in Psalm 34 and verse 1, I will bless the Lord at all times.

His praise shall continually be in my mouth.

My soul makes its boast in the Lord.

Let the humble hear and be glad.

Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together.

Habakkuk 3:17, though the cherry trees don't blossom and the strawberries don't ripen, though the apples are worm-eaten and the wheat fields stunted, though the sheep pens are sheepless and the cattle barns empty, I'm singing joyful praise to God.

Habakkuk 3:17

I'm turning cartwheels of joy to my Savior God, counting on God's rule to prevail.

I take heart and gain strength.

I run like a deer, I feel like I'm king of the mountain.

It's not about if you had better situation, a better circumstance, your attitude would be better.

It's about finding God's perspective in the circumstance you're in and letting that determine your attitude.

Paul and Silas were ministering in Philippi, and they were harassed by a demon girl, and they delivered the girl from the demonic spirit.

And the owners of the girl, she was a slave girl, got upset, and they they demanded that Paul and Silas be thrown into prison into prison.

So in Acts chapter 16 and verse 24, here's what happened.

Acts 16 · chapter mention

The jailer, having received the order, put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in stocks.

About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.

Now they they'd been beaten, they'd been embarrassed for doing the right thing, they'd had their feet in stocks and they'd been thrown in the deepest part of the prison.

And what they were doing is singing hymns and praying, uh, lifting up God in that place.

And verse 26, suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundation of the prison was shaken, and immediately the doors were opened, and everyone's bonds were unfastened.

Their attitude influenced the circumstances.

It really is the enemy's lies if we think our circumstance if if our circumstances were different, our attitude would be different.

Here's God's truth.

We can overcome any person or circumstance set against us by choosing the right attitude.

I've I uh I saw a video on on YouTube.

Oprah Winfrey uh has a network that called the Own Network, and on that network, she she has a show called Oprah's Life Class.

And she was interviewing Rick Warren, the pastor of Saddleback Church, on the subject of winning against all odds.

And uh when Rick was asked to come and do the show, he he said, I'll come, but I I just have one request.

I want to bring someone with me.

I want to bring Nick Vajuchik uh with me.

And I don't know if you've ever seen him before, but just watch this clip.

Oprah, I know that you love to think out of the box and have things outside of the box on your show.

And I know that you love illustration, so if I may illustrate in about 180 seconds, can I do something a little crazy, but it'll be powerful?

Is that cool?

You got a camera behind me, right?

Yeah.

I gotta show you.

Come, come, come.

The best step right here.

Is there enough light here?

The chemistry.

I was born without arms and legs.

The chemistry I could not change in my life.

I know that God didn't give me this pain, but what the enemy tried to use for bad, he turned into good.

The connection.

I want to tell uh Porsche, look, I'm I'm a guy, I love cars, okay?

And I love Porsche's more than Ferraris, okay?

And I want everyone to know that that we are wonderfully and fearfully made.

And until you can actually understand that we are all wonderfully and fearfully made from God, um, I want you to know that that you will always be trapped and chained and you will be stopped.

But when you have the incredible power of faith and action, nothing holds you back.

And you're beautiful just the way that you are.

I've got the connection.

For me, in my life, I'm thinking, man, I'm not gonna get married.

I kind of you know, kind of hold my wife's hand.

What connection am I gonna have?

But you know what?

All things come together for the good for those who love you.

This is a little bit hot.

I'm gonna break my arm, man.

This is pretty crazy.

You asked me what it was.

I had parents who were my heroes.

They always said you you can either be angry for what you don't have or be thankful for what you do have.

Do your best.

Because I gave my life the Lord Jesus Christ.

And the renewing of my mind.

I knew that I could be unstoppable.

He said, because I gave my life to Jesus Christ and renewed my mind, I knew I could be unstoppable.

Your your circumstances won't change the the attitude.

You will change the circumstances with your attitude.

If anybody can have a bad attitude, it was Nick.

And yet, and yet he overcame.

And what you didn't see on the video is uh he he plays golf.

Don't ask me how a guy without arms or legs can play golf.

I don't know.

But I saw uh I saw him putting.

Uh he he scuba dives, swims, uh, he's he's married and has a little boy.

I mean, his his situation in no way determined the outcome of his life, just like our our situation shouldn't determine the outcome of our life.

We can choose our attitude if we understand attitudes have consequences, and we can use our attitude for the right kinds of influence and to change the circumstances of our life.

I want you to bow your head, close your eyes, and let me just ask you what we ask every week here.

What's the Holy Spirit saying to you?

Maybe you're here, you came with a friend, or it's Mother's Day, and you came with family, and you've never made a commitment of your life to Christ.

You can change.

You can choose a godly attitude by beginning with a commitment of your life to Jesus Christ.

We'd like to help you with that today.

You don't have to become a member of the church.

We just want to help you in your relationship with Christ.

Maybe you came and there's a burden in your life, and you really need to change your attitude about some situation.

We'd like to pray with you.

In a minute, our our altar ministry teams are gonna come.

We're gonna have one more song of worship.

I'm just gonna ask you if you don't absolutely need to leave, if you just stay for just a minute, it'll be short.

But we're gonna allow God to do the work that He's been doing.

And if someone needs prayer, we're gonna have prayer.

If not, we can just take a minute and rejoice and tell God, thank you for all that you've done.

Lord, let me walk with the right attitude in this week and in my life.

Father, I just ask you to come right now.

Lord, thank you for your ministry work in our hearts today.

Would you come, Lord, and be with us?

And would you speak to us?

Give us courage, Lord, to stand above the circumstance and situations and to choose, God, your way of doing things.

Let your word uh reign in the circumstances and in our attitudes.

And God, let your will be done in Jesus' name.

Amen.