Godly Attitude

Good morning and welcome

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This morning we continue with our sermon series Is Your Life Balanced? with the message Godly Attitude

Attitude is so important to success in life

Having coached hundreds maybe even a thousand different kids in my career you can always tell the ones who are going to be okay

The ones who are going to succeed in life

Not by talent

not by ability

not athletic success

no none of those are how you know

As a coach you can tell the kids we know are going to be successful at life when they leave us are the ones with a positive, can-do attitude

Most of the time they are very successful in athletics, not always but most of the time but they are by far some of the funnest

most rewarding kids to coach and be around

Attitude matters

God gives us a very clear look at what our attitude should.....scratch that....must be as Christians

We are going to cover some ground this morning

If you haven’t already done so please grab a notes sheet

you will need it

To get the most from this message…any message really…you will need to spend time with it this week

take notes

write down convictions

write down edifications

write down questions

Spend time with them....diving into them with God in the secret place this week!!!!!

So many times I hear

I don’t know what to study in my secret place time

start with notes form the message and watch what God does!

I also want to say this…those note sheets are nothing special because of me

nothing special because of the message

The message is not powerful because of me

I only get in the way at times

no the notes and message are powerful because of God

Don’t study them because of me

study them because of God

In my secret place time a few weeks ago I was reading my daily devotion Pursuing God by A W Tozer

It was talking about Christ glorified in us

He was talking specifically about our relationship with Holy Spirit and how for most Christians we miss the power and depth of that relationship

Many that seek the Holy Spirit, that is a message or series in and of itself.....but many that seek the Holy Spirit seek the wrong things

spiritual gifts.....we are told to covet the best gifts and we should but more than that we should seek the Holy Spirit Himself

Tozer said

“Oh, if we would only stop trying to make the Holy Spirit our servant and begin to live in His life as the fish lives in the sea, we would enter into the riches of glory about which we know nothing now. Too many of us want the Holy Spirit in order to have some gift..healing or tongues or preaching or prophecy. Yes, these have their place in that total pattern of the New Testament, but let us never pray that we may be filled with the Spirit for a secondary purpose! Remember God wants to fill you with His Spirit as an end in your moral life. God’s purpose is that we should know Him first of all, and be lost in Him and that we should enter into the fullness of the Spirit that the eternal Son, Jesus Christ may be glorified”

What if you

what if i

what if we

CCC sought to live in God and the Holy Spirit as fish in the sea.

Sought to be so filled with God and Holy Spirit that our moral lives ended

What a beautiful and powerful place this would be!!!!

I say all of that because that is Godly Attitude

seek God for God not what he can and will do

Love God for God and God alone not His works

What a glorious God we serve!

As I said earlier we are going to cover some ground this morning but I felt God say it was necessary and important to see it all so that is what we are going to do

Romans 12:9-21

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King James Version Chapter 12

9 Let love be iwithout dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. 10 Be kindly affectioned one to another ||with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another; 11 Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord; 12 Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer; 13 Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality. 14 Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not. 15 Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. 16 Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits. 17 Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. 18 If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. 19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. 20 Therefore gif thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. 21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

This morning I am going to pull out 18 aspects of Godly attitude that we as Christians must be working to develop in our lives as disciples of Christ

Again so important you have a notes sheet or are taking notes on something else.......you will not get it all today.....this will be information overload but if you have the notes sheet and/or taking notes you can go back and dive into each of these over the next several days or weeks and see what God has for you

That is part of IT

that is part of discipleship......it takes work....it takes preparation.....it takes being engaged and writing things down to study further later.......again not because of me but I long for you to have an

intimate

dynamic

deep

personal

relationship with Jesus and this is one way to improve that relationship......taking notes and diving back into them this week!!!!

1. Love Authentically vs 9

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True love

Agape love

Genuine love

no one likes fake

one of the easiest ways to upset someone is to offer the real thing but deliver a fake

be genuine

love genuine

loving authentically

it will be messy

you will make mistakes but most people look past mistakes when something and someone is authentic

it will require sacrifice

it will require genuine effort on your part

it will require longsuffering…patience

it will require you to be dead to ego

dead to arrogance

and walk and love in humility

to be able to love authentically one must have a Godly attitude

1 Timothy 1:5

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5 Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned

authentic love comes from a pure heart and good conscience which is only achieved through Jesus!!!

you can love authentically because of your sincere faith

How

How do we get to pure hearts and authentic love

1 Peter 1:22–23

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22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto lunfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: 23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever

obedience

purified souls by obedience to the Truth

God grows you through obedience

God matures you through obedience

I believe that one reason satan and his demons and your flesh fight so hard against obedience is because there is power

eternity

life changing

power in obedience

you are free to obey because of Christ

you are imperishable

eternally saved

adopted

headed to heaven!

AMEN???? Praise God!

In fact the next 17 things in Romans 12 are all about obedience because of loving authentically

first by God loving you…then you love God authentically followed by loving others authentically

2. Abhor evil vs 9

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The 2nd act of obedience…the first being love authentically mentioned here in Romans 12 is abhor evil

Abhor comes from Greek verb meaning detest utterly

this is a strong emotion detest utterly

you for sure can’t be comfortable with evil and abhor evil at the same time

you can’t justify evil and abhor evil at the same time

your pet sin....

your stronghold..

that sin you enjoy

that sin you justify

that sin you try and hide from God

you must abhor it

detest it utterly

kill it

So many Christians struggle in life and with their relationship with God because they love evil instead of abhorring evil

you cannot be a true disciple of Jesus and not abhor evil

you for sure will not be able to have a Godly attitude without abhorring evil

Jesus died because of evil

as a Christian your only response to evil is to abhor it…not people but the evil behind them....we hit this hard last week......if you missed it go to our website cccnevadamo.org and media then series Is Your Life Balanced? and Living in the World not of the World.......or you can also find it on our app.....available on android or apple…go to your app store and search cccnevadamo and download the app

3. Hold fast to good vs 9

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Abhor evil and cling to good

remember good only comes from God Himself....cling to God

Psalm 101:3

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3  I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes:

I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me.

refuse to set evil before your eyes

when you cling to evil it clings to you

cling only to good

give the evil to God

reject it

run from it

refuse it access to your heart

only allow good into your heart

It is a choice

it requires sacrifice

you will have to change

you will not be able to do some things you used to do

you will not be able to do some things that your friends and family still choose to do

abhor evil cling to good

cling to God!

4. Love one another with brother affection vs 10

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I want to look at two verses that I believe tell us all we need to know here

1 Peter 2:17

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17 Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king

What a reflection of Christ!

honor everyone

everyone is created by God when they were in their mothers womb.....now just because everyone is created by God that does not mean everyone is God’s Child.......you only become God’s child when you make Jesus your personal Lord and Savior through salvation. Jesus is the ONLY way to become God’s child

God wants everyone to come to repentance

honor them as God’s creation

Love the brotherhood

love Christians authentically

love Christians well

love Christians hard

I want you to know something:

You can’t love the brotherhood on Sundays only

it must be all day everyday!!!

Again another reason you must be in a discipleship relationship with other Christians

Another reason you need to be in a discipleship group.....Monday night for women......Wednesday night for Men....soon to be Monday nights.....Wednesday night Bible study for couples or those not going to the women’s or men’s discipleship groups.....also coming in September a high school bible study/discipleship group will meet on Wednesday evenings......Friday at noon for women

We also have one life group that will start back up in September on Tuesday nights......if you feel called to start or host a life group see me

Discipleship and loving the brotherhood authentically and well must be a priority and something you are intentional about

Fear God

Respect God

God’s wrath will be poured out in due time

Fear Him

He holds the power of life and death....spiritual life and death

He is not a genie in a bottle He is GOD ALMIGHTY

HONOR HIM

Honor the emperor…be a good citizen..if it is not against God’s Word like it or not obey it to honor God!

We will dive into this closer to November

Philippians 2:3

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3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves

this is how you love one another with brotherly love

Humility

kill you

kill your selfish ambition

lose your agenda

kill your arrogance

truly

humbly look at others more significant than you!

5. Outdo one another showing honor vs 10

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Compete.....Compete with one another

now we just said kill you selfish ambition and arrogance and lose your agenda and that is true

this is not a contradiction but you are to compete to try and outdo each other in showing honor

Let’s be honest human nature is to see others as pawns

ways to achieve good for us

Society yells and screams

you do you

put yourself first

look out for number one because no one else will

God says die to self and put others first

Compete to show honor

What would today truly look like if we all were competing to show honor to others

church would be completely different

walmart would be completely different

workplaces and neighborhoods would be completely different

schools would be completely different

how powerful

outdo one another in showing honor

6. Don’t be slothful in zeal, be fervent in Spirit,serve the Lord vs 11

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Dont be lazy

Don’t say or think things like this:

someone else will do it

they get paid let them do it

I am too busy to stop and do that even though God is leading me to it

they might reject me so I will just keep going

God called you to do it so go do it!

but beyond that do it with zeal

do it with passion

be fervent in spirit

you are called to be different than society

where is your passion for Jesus!!!!

Remember the days of box offices.....now young ones you have no idea so just hang in there

that music act was coming to town......you camped out for days to be in line to get your ticket at the box office

that is passion

that is zeal

that is fervent spirit

when was the last time you were like that for God

put all else on hold

took time off work just be in God’s presence?

camped out on a sidewalk just to purchase an opportunity to see God.........

The next three go hand in hand so we will look at them together

7. Rejoice in Hope vs 12

8. Patient in tribulation..constant in prayer vs 12

9. Generous vs 13

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When people see you these things should stand out

these things should dominate what they see and hear

rejoice in hope…what hope…JESUS that hope

You have hope in Jesus that you are never defeated because Christ is in you therefore you are victorious

Patient in tribulation when tribulation hits do you

go nuts?

Anxious

depressed

worried

or

powerful

strong

patient

God’s got it

Generous with resources but also time

are you a generous person?

The remaining deal with your relationship with others

Godly attitude is concerned about others because God is concerned about others

10. Bless those who persecute you

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Bless not curse

When you are persecuted bless them

no room for anger or retaliation

no room for putting them on blast on social media

no room for hatred

no room for revenge

this is serious church

God is serious church

you are freely forgive and therefore must freely forgive

as a Christian you do not have a choice......how can you withhold forgiveness from someone else when Jesus died to forgive you

you killed Jesus

Your sin drove the nails

you are the reason God had to look away from Jesus

Why are you forsaking me????? Jesus cried out on the cross when HE became your sin

Forgive as you are forgiven....

bless those who persecute you

bless them

pray for them

serve them!

11. Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep vs 15

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Do life together

committed

aware

engaged

truly rejoice when someone rejoices

truly weep when someone weeps

be present with them

be intentional with them

be open and honest and vulnerable with them

12. Live in harmony....unity vs 16

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seek unity

let it go if it is not eternal

Romans 14 comes to mind here

unity and harmony is much more important than you being right or you getting your way

live in harmony

13. Be humble vs 16

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Jesus was not influenced by sinners

He ate with sinners

He associated with the lowly

not to be influenced by them but associate with them so He could influence them

no one is beneath you

no one is too broken for you

no one is too dirty

no one is to far gone

eat with them

hang with them

make them feel important

make them feel loved

make them feel seen and heard

be humble and put others first

14. Don’t repay evil with evil vs 17

15. Live peaceably…intentional effort for peace vs 18

16. Never seek revenge…let God handle it vs 19

17. Feed enemy…give enemy drink vs 20

18. Over come evil with good vs 21

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I felt led to put these together and go to Matthew for our scripture to drive these home

Matthew 5:38–42

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38 Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: 39 But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40 And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also. 41 And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. 42 Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.

I believe this sums up the last 5 points

i also believe this is such a beautiful picture of Godly attitude

Humble

loving

serving

going above and beyond for the other person

what the world teaches

repaying evil with evil

not living peaceably

seeking revenge

punishing and withholding from enemies

trying to overcome evil with evil

is sinful because it is driven by pride

In Matthew Jesus shows us a completely humble person

completely humble reactions

No matter what the person does they are more important than you so you love them because nothing they can do can touch you spiritually

sure it can touch you physically

sure you feel it

sure you get hurt

but the physical no longer matters

let it go God has it

Do you have a Godly attitude this morning?