Juniors Camp Message #1 - Attitude
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Text: Proverbs 25:28
He that hath no rule over his own spirit
Is like a city that is broken down, and without walls.
Ask the boys and girls to sit up and put their feet in front of them.
Illustration:
Transition to a Broken down city.
Imagine a city that is open to the attacks of enemies.
What do you think the dangers would be if a city had broken down walls?
Think of it like this...
If you want to know what it'd be like imagine if you didn't have walls in your home.
What if you didn’t have a front door with a lock.
Imagine if you didn't have a front door with a lock. If someone wanted to steal your tv, your computers. All of your belongings are at risk. And you can not rest without fear.
Even little armies would be capable of quick victory. There was no enemy that you could face. You sleep you're at risk. You go to the field to work your belongings will be taken.
Scripture is pretty clear about your Attitude - It's a Big deal.
“Your attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.” - Winston Churchill
1. Your attitude will shape how you view your past.
After surviving a concentration camp in Hitler's Germany, Viktor Frankl said this…
Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: To choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, is to choose one's way. - Viktor Frankl
It is a sad thing to see a young person humph, sigh. And pouting because they don’t get their way. “My mom doesn’t love me…”. Well that’s not true is it that is the way we feel but it is not the truth.
2. Your attitude will shape how you view your future.
If you could control one thing to change your life. Choose your attitude. Anger, Resentment, Combatitive and Ungrateful attitudes will do more to hinder you than any award ever will.
Transition: A bad attitude is leaving you exposed to every temptation, every thought, every attack, and every heartbreak Satan wants to throw at you. He is coming after you and if you can't control your attitude you have no way of holding him off.
I. Your Bad Attitude is a Warning. In ancient times no one wanted to be near a city with broken walls. You moved away from that city. You went and found a city with the Biggest walls you could find. But when you saw Broken walls you knew at one time those walls were useful - Then Stopped. Sadly many young people are wreaking their walls in two major ways.
1. Pride (6-7) Put not forth thyself in the presence of the king, and stand not in the place of great men: For better it is that it be said unto thee, Come up hither; than that thou shouldest be put lower in the presence of the prince whom thine eyes have seen. (6-7)
When I think of myself first and foremost I will struggle to like anyone, anything, or any situation that doesn't put me first.
“humility is not thinking less of yourself but thinking of yourself less.”
When we are the only thing we think of we will struggle with a right attitude.
2. Prattle (9) Debate thy cause with thy neighbour himself; and discover not a secret to another:
Prattle is an old word that means to gossip. When I can talk bad about my parents. I have a bad attitude. If I can talk about my pastor, youth pastor, principle, or boss I have an attitude problem.
Anytime I have to hurt someone else to feel good about me than You have a bad attitude.
The issue is that these two things allow you to give yourself permission for a bad attitude. It allows you the liberty to let your spirit run without control.
II. A Bad Attitude is Sad. A broken down wall is a sign someone has taken the treasure, or someone soon will. A bad attitude is an indicator that you've bought into a lie.
THE PROBLEM WITH ATTITUDE IS THAT IT IS INSIDE…
Illustration: Bean Boozled
When we have an attitude to our parents…
What we say…
“They can't treat me like that…”
“Everyone is so mean to me…”
“No one ever listens…”
What we are really saying…
“God doesn't really mean to honor my parents.”
“God doesn't really mean obey them that have the rule over me”
“God doesn't really take care of me. So I can't trust Him.”
“I have a good attitude because I'm not mad at anyone”
- A good attitude is not the absence of a bad one.
“I can't help a Bad attitude.”
You can not afford the loss of the • Broken relationships • Missed Blessings • Ruined Testimony
That a bad attitude is stealing from you.
Lies we believe about a bad attitude
III. A Bad Attitude is Changeable
You can get control of your attitude…
• Stop Trusting your Feelings
The heaven for height, and the earth for depth,
And the heart of kings is unsearchable.
Illustration: Both the hummingbird and the vulture fly over our nation's deserts. All vultures see is rotting meat, because that is what they look for. They thrive on that diet. But hummingbirds ignore the smelly flesh of dead animals. Instead, they look for the colorful blossoms of desert plants. The vultures live on what was. They live on the past. They fill themselves with what is dead and gone. But hummingbirds live on what is. They seek new life. They fill themselves with freshness and life. Each bird finds what it is looking for. We all do. Steve Goodier, Quote Magazine, in Reader's Digest, May, 1990
• Surrender your attitude
Take away the dross from the silver,
And there shall come forth a vessel for the finer.
We have to choose to move away from the normal attitude that takes control of us. and Choose to surrender ourselves to feeling good, and being happy, and liking our environments. A lot of teens are emotional basket cases, and depressed because they want to be.
• Decide to Obedience
As an earring of gold, and an ornament of fine gold,
So is a wise reprover upon an obedient ear.
You see what has to happen is that you bring your attitude under control.
Whoa hold on the passage doesn't say Self Control.
Solomon wasn't commanding you show self control but that you surrender yourself to God's control.
The passage doesn't say you should control it but that it should be controlled.
Scripture teaches that when you bring your attitude under Christ's control his Spirit will produce an attitude of “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.”