An Attitude Adjustment; NV 9/2/01 AM

OS: A Mr. Kester’s Paddle – “Attitude Adjuster”

I.      Why is an attitude adjustment needed?

A.        Attitude dictates performance. (B Romans 12:1-2)   * Renewing of the mind = attitude.

                    1.          C Ability is what you’re capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it. Lou Holtz (Notre Dame Football)

B.         Our attitude affects other people. Since an attitude is often expressed by our body language and by the looks on our faces, it can be contagious.

                    1.          Have you noticed what happens to a group of people when one person, by his expression, reveals a negative attitude?

                    2.          Or have you noticed the lift you receive when a friend’s facial expression shows love and acceptance?

                    3.          We want to have a positive impact on the lives of others.

C.        It is remarkable that something so small and adjustable has such an impact on our lives.

TS] Our attitude affects not only our own lives but also the lives of those around us. If an adjustment is needed don’t you want it? A person cannot travel within and stand still without.   James Allen / Words can never adequately convey the incredible impact of our attitude toward life. Life is 10 percent what happens to us and 90 percent how we respond to it.

II.   So what is this attitude? Can we define it?

A.        Here is a smattering of wry observations on life and work: Attitude = How you look at life.

                    1.          The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.

                    2.          Borrow money from a pessimist. They don't expect it back.

                    3.          If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried.

                    4.          Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.

                    5.          The sooner you fall behind the more time you will have to catch up.

                    6.          If at first you don't succeed, then sky diving isn't for you.

B.         D The Attitude is an inward feeling expressed by behavior.

                    1.          The advance man of our true selves.

                    2.          Our best friend or worst enemy.

                    3.          It is never content until it is expressed.

                    4.          E It is the librarian of our past, the speaker of our present, and the prophet of our future.

C.        The kids put Limburger cheese in Grandpa’s moustache while he took his afternoon nap. “This room stinks”, “The kitchen smells bad too”, and he went outside, “The whole world stinks.”

                    1.          When we carry “Limburger cheese” in our attitudes, the whole world smells bad.

D.        Our attitude is essentially our view of the world.

                    1.          We are individually responsible for our view of life.

III.  Good News: We can change our attitude!

A.        Our attitude is not dependent upon our circumstances.

                    1.          Consider the Apostle Paul.

                    2.          F Philippians 4:4, *11,12.

TS] Let’s take a look at G Philippians 2:3-8 and note the Healthy attitude qualities of Jesus.

I.      H He was Selfless! (3-4)

A.        Selfishness will breed a bad attitude every time, and produces unhappy people.

                      1.       There is nothing that always goes your way.

                      2.       Life is not fair!

B.         To be selfish doesn’t have to be learned. We are naturally selfish when we come into this world, and maturity is learning to be selfless.

1.     A young boy went to the local store with his mother. The shop owner, a kindly man, passed him a large jar of suckers and invited him to help himself to a handful. Uncharacteristically, the boy held back. So the shop owner pulled out a handful for him. When outside, the boy's mother asked why he had suddenly been so shy and wouldn't take a handful of suckers when offered. The boy replied, "Because his hand is much bigger than mine!"

2.      

II.   I He was Secure (6-7)

A.      Though completely Divine Jesus took on the form of a servant.

                             1.          Jesus had nothing whatsoever to prove, and nothing to fear.

B.      Security is a funny thing.

                             1.          Customer: “Why do you have your thumb on my stake?” – “So I won’t drop it again.”

                             2.           

C.      Without security the world is always out to get us.

                             1.          We walk around with a chip on our shoulder.

                             2.          We continuously have to prove ourselves, and defend our rights. Demonstrate our position.

                             3.          It happens in marriage all the time. “would you mind putting on a load of clothes for me?” - …I can’t do that she might forget who the man of the house is!”

D.      Security comes from knowing three things.

                             1.          Where we came from.

                             2.          What we are doing here.

                             3.          Where we are going.

III.           J He was Submissive. (8)

A.      Have you ever really thought about the submissiveness of Jesus? The Creator submitting to the creation!

B.      Some have the attitude that says, “This is my life, and God as no right to place demands on my life.”

                             1.          God has given you this life! It belongs to Him!

C.      An attitude of submissiveness will set you free from the struggle of power.

                             1.          Without a submissive attitude we, once again, walk around with a chip on our shoulder.

                             2.          I’ve got to demonstrate my power, or position on a regular basis.

TS] The selflessness of Jesus, His security, His submissiveness are all attributed to His attitude. K (5)

      There is very little difference in people, but that little difference makes a big difference. The little difference is attitude. The big difference is whether it is positive or negative. Nowhere is this principle better illustrated than in the story of the young bride from the East who, during wartime, followed her husband to a U.S. Army camp on the edge of the desert in California.

      Living conditions were primitive at best, and her husband had advised against her move, but she wanted to be with him. The only housing they could find was a run=down shack near an Indian village. The heat was unbearable in the daytime-11k in the shade. The wind blew constantly, spreading dust and sand all over everything. The days were long and boring. Her only neighbors were Indians, none of whom spoke English. When here husband was ordered farther into the desert for two weeks of maneuvers, loneliness and the wretched living conditions go the best of her. She wrote to her mother that she was coming home. She couldn’t take it anymore. In a short time she received a reply which included these two lines, “Two men looked through prison bars; one saw mud, the other saw stars.”

      She read the lines over and over again and began to feel ashamed of herself. She didn’t really want to leave her husband. All right, she thought, she’d look for the stars. In the following days she set out to make friends with the Indians, asking them to teach her weaving and pottery. At first they were distant, but as soon as they sensed her genuine interest, they returned friendship. She became friendly with their culture and history-in fact, everything about them. As she began to study the desert, it too changed from a desolate, forbidding place to a marvelous thing of beauty.

      She had her mother send her books. She studied the forms of the cacti, the yuccas and the Joshua trees. She collected sea shells that had been left there when the sands had been an ocean floor. Later, she became such an expert on the area that she wrote a book about it.

      What had changed? Not the desert; not the Indians. Simply by changing her own attitude she had transformed a miserable experience into a highly rewarding one.

in Philippians 2:3-8:

He was selfless. (3-4)

He was secure. (6-7)

He was submissive. (8)

All of the above are attributed to His attitude. (5)