Get Over Yourself Series

Pastor Mike Biolsi

pastor@ncfchurch.org

www.ncfchurch.org

North Country Fellowship Church

Attitude Adjustment #1

GET OVER YOURSELF

ILLUS: I was thinking, as I prepared this morning’s message… you guys are really blessed to be at this church. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized, that you guys are TRULY blessed to have me as your pastor. Honestly! There are a lot of pastors out there that are corrupt - taking people’s money, sleeping with people’s wives. I am a man of integrity, honesty and HUMILTY – and I doubt you would find a better pastor for this church anywhere.

I know what you are thinking… you are thinking that I am thinking about myself too much. Well, I thought you would think that, so I thought about why I could say what I just said…

I mean, how many pastors do YOU know who can play guitar, sing, prepare inspiring messages (like this one), run the sound system, fix things on the building, type the bulletins, print calendars, visit people in prison, design the church web site, produce CDs, counsel people, cast vision and be there for his wife and kids, too? Man, I’m good!

You might even say that I am the reason people come to church, and without me there would BE no church… [can I get an “Amen”?- no? – good!] :)

Ever met someone who felt they were “God’s gift to the world?”.

I know a guy who said to me, once, “The woman who is lucky enough to marry me…” I told him he better find a nice car to fall in love with because he will never find a woman who will put up with that! :)

Basically, what I want to say to people like that pastor, or that guy is, “Get Over Yourself!” Wouldn’t it feel great to be able to say that to some people?

The problem I run into is that if I said that to other people, it will probably come back on me sooner or later. Actually, I think all of us probably need to “get over ourselves” in some way or another.

Philippians 2:3 - Don’t be selfish; don’t live to make a good impression on others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourself. (NLT)

“Attitude is everything” [agree/disagree?]

We will come back to that thought in a little bit, but first, let’s read a passage about attitude…

Philippians 2:5-11 - Your attitude should be the same that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not demand and cling to his rights as God. He made himself nothing; he took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form. And in human form he obediently humbled himself even further by dying a criminal’s death on a cross. Because of this, God raised him up to the heights of heaven and gave him a name that is above every other name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (NLT)

[“made himself nothing” in the NASB reads, “emptied himself”]

ASK: What IS a Christian?

A Christian is a person who believes in, follows and imitates Jesus Christ.

So, as we near Easter, the time we remember the incredible sacrifice that Jesus made for you and me – which has become so much more vivid in our minds thanks to “The Passion”, I think we should find out what it means to really live the way Jesus would.

Now, I HIGHLY doubt that ANYONE in this room will be beaten, scourged, mocked, spit upon and killed like Jesus was. SO, we will bypass scourging lessons today :).

So how can we be more like Jesus? One way is to get an attitude adjustment… adjust our thinking to be in line with what Jesus would think.

Over the next couple of weeks we are going to look at this passage and fins ways that we can adjust out attitude to line them up with the attitude Jesus had. After all, he is the greatest person who ever lived, the greatest hero, greatest role model – he is God. Could you ask for a better pattern to follow?

ASK: How many of you wish that your spouse, friends, children, acted more like Jesus? Well, they probably think the same of you! :) So let’s adjust our attitudes together.

The first life principle that we can lift from this passage is that we need to get over ourselves.

“A man wrapped up in himself makes a pretty small package”

So how do you “empty” yourself? How do you get over yourself?

Look at life through a telescope, not a microscope…