Passion And Positive Attitude Series

Passion and Positive Attitude

Rom 8:37-39, 1 Cor 15:58, Luke 19:10, John 3:17

May 23, 2003

I. John Schnatter founded Papa John’s Pizza, it grew from one store to 46 in its first seven years, and from 46 to 1600 in the seven years after that. The reason that the company has grown so much is the passion that John has for what he does.

A. Success Magazine did an article on John of Papa John’s and they said, " Pizza is Schnatter’s life, and he takes it very seriously."

B. His philosophy is simple, "concentrate on what you do well, and do it better than anyone else."

C. He says, "Talking about my dreams for a Pizza Business at age twenty-two, people thought I was crazy"....Vendors, bankers, and even some friends just laughed when I told them I’d be opening five or six stores and month.’

D. Now he is opening thirty stores a month, that’s one new store every day of the year. And the reason is passion.

E. Experts spend a lot of time trying to figure out what makes people successful. Often they look at people’s intelligence, education, and other factors, but more than anything else the thing that makes the difference is passion.

F. Most effective leaders don’t fit into a stereotypical mold. Fifty percent of the leaders of Fortune 500 companies didn’t do above average in college, seventy five percent of US Presidents were in the bottom half of their college classes.

G. What makes it possible for people who seem ordinary to do extraordinary things? Passion! Nothing can take the place of passion in a leaders life!

II. If there are people who can have such a passion for things that are not going to last beyond this life, how much more should we as Christians have a passion for what we do to serve God, when what we are doing last for eternity.

(1 Cor 15:58 NIV) Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

A. PASSION IS A CRUCIAL STEP TO ACHIEVEMENT.

1. Your desire determines you DESTINY.

2. If you think about great leaders in the world the characteristic that stands out is their passion for what they did. Gandhi for human rights, Winston Churchill for freedom, and Bill Gates for technology.

3. Anyone whose life is beyond ordinary has a great desire, because desire brings results!

4. A small fire creates little heat and little change in the things around it. The stronger your FIRE and PASSION for what you believe in the greater your potential for accomplishing.

B. PASSION INCREASES YOUR WILL POWER.

1. It is said that a young man approached the Greek philosopher Socrates and casually said, "O great Socrates, I come to you for knowledge."

2. Socrates took the young man down to the sea and waded out with him in the water, and dunked him under for thirty seconds. When he let the young man come up Socrates asked him to repeat what he wanted.

3. Knowledge O great one he sputtered, Socrates put him under again this time for longer, after repeated dunkings and responses Socrates asked again what do you want. The young Man Yelled, "Air! I want Air!"

4. Good answered Socrates "when you want knowledge as much as you want air you will have it."

5. There is no substitute for DESIRE AND PASSION in seeing the things that we think are important, come to be.

6. Passion is the fuel for the will, and without passion the things that you say are important aren’t as IMPORTANT as you say they are.

7. If we say that God is important in our lives and we have no passion for serving Him and seeing His Kingdom increase her on Earth then He is not as importnat to us as we say He is.

C. PASSION CHANGES YOU.

1. If you follow your passion instead of other’s perceptions of what you should be, you will become more DEDICATED and PRODUCTIVE.

2. The passion you have for what you believe in will speak to others louder than anything. People will follow you when they see that you are passionate about what you say you BELIEVE.

D. PASSION MAKES THE IMPOSSIBLE POSSIBLE.

1. There is something about human beings that makes impossibilities vanish when they become impassioned enough about something to fire their SOUL.

2. A fire in your heart for what you truly believe in reduces the number of things that are impossible.

3. A leader with a great passion and a few skills always accomplishes more than a leader with great skills and LITTLE PASSION.

4. There is a saying that says, be more afraid of a 100 sheep led by a lion than a 100 lions led by a sheep.