Sermon Tone Analysis

/Scriptures: Galatians 5:22-26/

/ /

/"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Against such things there is no law.

Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.

Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other."

/[1]

 

I have always asked the Lord to help me to be sensitive to others.

There are times when I have chosen to subdue my excitement or enthusiasm because I felt that someone else was at the opposite end of the spectrum.

There have been other times when I have forced an enthusiastic response because I have not wanted the spirits of another person to be dampened by my own.

I want to allow myself this morning to address what is one of the most common seasonal struggles that I have ever come across.

It seems that for every person that I encounter who is working to enjoy a Merry Christmas this year, there is another who is planning to be unhappy.

This is not an isolated plan for either person but one that seems to be repeated from year to year.

I am not sure what your plan calls for so far.

I realize that there are circumstances that could contribute to either end but I am also certain that there are those who will enjoy the holiday who have comparatively little and there are those who will be immensely unhappy when they have so much that should call forth a spirit of gratitude and thanksgiving.

Any of us can lose our bearings from time to time.

I went hunting with Mumbles, a dear friend, a couple of years ago now.

He got lost for several hours in the woods.

When I met him, I was on the way back to Layton Ford’s camp to sound the alarm.

Darkness was approaching and the weather was cold.

Not the kind of night that a person would choose to stay in the woods.

I asked him if he was lost and true to the honor of all men he said, “No, I was terrible confused.”

I believe that there are many lost in the cold emotional wilderness who would never admit that they were lost.

The best that you’ll ever get is that they might be terrible confused.

*1.

** Attitude Adopted*

 

Ø     *We develop a sense of entitlement relative to our attitude*.

To justify it we cite our misfortune or our abuse – how we have been victimized.

*SONG FOR TAMARA*

 

We all feel so sorry for her,

She never asked for it, she didn't deserve it.

It was the only thing she knew

Pain was her path to maturity

And through experience she grew

She turned seventeen on her seventh birthday

and eight on her eighteenth.

Ten terrible years too soon

 

The little girl is still alive and hating

The childhood thieves who raped her soul

She's looking for the years she lost

And any chance to live them through

But her hate just holds her ransom

And it drives away the few

Who would love to get to know her

If she'd only let them through

 

The victim has become a tyrant

She rules the present day

It's an adolescent nightmare

cause the child won't go away

I guess she'll be a child forever

From the cradle to the grave

She's trading ten years that she's missing

For a life beyond the pain.

Once she was the victim

Now she plays the fool

The teacher taught her lessons well

Where distortion was the rule

There is one man who loves you

Just because you're you

But you've got to let the victim die

Or the victim will be you.

Ø     *The attitude that we adopt is powerful.

It can make us or break us.*

A traveler nearing a great city asked a man seated by the wayside, "What are the people like in the city?"

 

"How were the people where you came from?"

 

"A terrible lot," the traveler responded.

"Mean, untrustworthy, detestable in all respects."

"Ah," said the sage, "you will find them the same in the city ahead."

Scarcely was the first traveler gone when another one stopped and also inquired about the people in the city before him.

Again the old man asked about the people in the place the traveler had left.

"They were fine people; honest, industrious, and generous to a fault.

I was sorry to leave," declared the second traveler.

Responded the wise one: "So you will find them in the city ahead."

Your attitude toward people will pre-shape every encounter that you have them, positive or negative.

The people with whom you work reflect your own attitude.

If you are suspicious, unfriendly and condescending, you will find these unlovely traits echoed all about you.

But if you are on your best behavior, you will bring out the best in the persons with whom you are going to spend most of your waking hours.

n      Beatrice Vincent

 

Wondrous is the strength of cheerfulness, and its power of endurance--the cheerful man will do more in the same time, will do it better, will preserve it longer, than the sad or sullen.

-- Thomas Carlyle

 

 

*Am I responsible for the attitude that I hold?*

Or is someone else responsible for it?

God can’t do anymore than He has already done.

He will not change certain things in your life – you’ll have them for the ride.

One of the consequences of accepting our attitude is that we become judgmental.

In this state we misjudge others:

 

[     Sheltered – They have never known misfortune.

A mistake to assume that people who have a ready smile have never known bad times before.

[     Selfishness – they are consumed with themselves and uncaring.

If they really cared they would be morose like me.

 

[      Insensitive – their happiness is hurtful to others.

[   *You know what, if it’s true about people it is equally true about things and events and circumstances**.*

* *

Problems can be augmented or diminished based on our attitudes toward them.

Any molehill can be made into a mountain with the wrong attitude.

Issues that never need to become issues can be inflated beyond reason with people whose hearts and minds are tiny little things.

When I am driven by pride and my selfish perspectives life can become a series of relational catastrophes and conflicts.

A big woman or man, large in spirit and settled in their ego can reduce the mountain to a manageable mound and diffuse others who are convinced that the end is imminent.

And you can choose what type of person you wish to become.

So what’s the Christmas Crisis?

 

*2.

* *Attitude Anticipated*

 

Many people fully anticipate from year to year that it is going to be a miserable season and it approaches and they are just as they have anticipated.

A husband gave his wife a beautiful skunk coat beside a Christmas tree.