The goal of my sermon this morning is to help you make an attitude adjustment in your outlook on life and walk with the Lord.
* In 1977, in Tallahassee, FL, Laura Shultz, who was 63 at the time, picked up the back end of a Buick to get it off her grandson’s arm. Before that time, she had never lifted anything heavier than a 50 pound bag of pet food. Although she didn’t like to talk about the event, it began to make her think about life. She said, “If I was able to do this when I didn’t think I could, what does that say about the rest of my life? Have I wasted it?” Laura had always loved rocks, but her parents lacked the money to send her to college. At age 63, with some encouragement from friends, she went back to a local college and began to study geology. She eventually got her degree and went on to teach geology on a college campus. You may good years in front of you. Decide that you are capable of doing anything you want and start working toward it now. Do you believe your attitude determines your altitude?
Let me share with you principles today from God’s Word to build your faith.
I. Be Spiritually Dynamite (17:12).
*Stormin’ Norman Sutton was a dynamite spiritual leader in my home church. At the age of 95, he was out front, leading in prayer, ministry, encouragement. One day, he placed his hand on my shoulder and said, “David, have you ever considered God may be calling you to preach?” We need more people like Stormin’ Norman because too many Christians and churches are stuck in discouragement and defeat instead of encouragement and victory.
In Joshua’s day, the Manassite tribe were spiritually stuck. They wanted everything their way and didn’t want to do the necessary work to live powerfully in the promised land.
*Growing up in America and in the church, it’s easy to let the Manassite attitude come on us. Instead of being eager to grow and take new territory for the Lord, we lose the passion. None of us means too, but it’s easy to make it about us and not God. Burger King appeals to our selfish desires and even says, “Come to Burger King and have it your way.”
*At a former church, one man would come up to me Sunday after Sunday and share with me what was wrong with my sermon and often complained I was not hard enough on sin. He wanted me to preach more about the sins of homosexuality, abortion, drunkenness, etc. Those were the major sins of the day, but sins such as anger, complaining, gossiping, greed, selfishness, laziness, were very minor sins in his book. Like the Manassites, he could conquer a little, but didn’t want to do the work to conquer his anger problem. I am guilty of doing the same things when I complain about my sad lot in life, and fail to see the abundant goodness of God.
*Vampire author, Anne Rice, has recently stated she is through with Christianity. Rice states, “I remain committed to Christ as always but not to being ‘Christian’ or being a part of Christianity. It’s simply impossible for me to ‘belong’ to this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group. I refuse to be anti-gay. I refuse to be anti-feminist. I refuse to be anti-artificial birth control. I refuse to be anti-democrat. I refuse to be anti-secular humanism. I refuse to be anti-science. I refuse to be anti-life. In the name of Christ, I quit Christianity and being Christian. Amen.”
While I do agree with Anne Rice that some Christians tend to judge, criticize, act self righteously, and look down upon others, not all do. Jesus did not spend the majority of His time condemning others, but saving, serving others. We should follow in His example. Speak out against evil, but live out a heart of service to the Lord and others.
Here are three reasons why you can be a spiritually dynamite Christian.
1. God daily loads you with benefits. Much of the book of Joshua is reminders of the power and presence of God. Ephesians 1:3, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ…”
* What difference would it make to you this week if you stopped 1 minute out of every waking hour and thought about the blessings of God in your life? One of the greatest blessings He’s given us is the free gift of salvation. Salvation is God’s gift to those who receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
*Imagine yourself drowning in an ocean with no help in sight. You are doing all you can just to stay alive and fight of sharks. After hours of struggle, you have no more strength. Death is certain and you begin to go under into the sea of forgetfulness. As you are about to go under, however, a rescue helicopter arrives on the scene. The man in the helicopter extends the rope to you, pulls you out of the water and safely on board. What would others think if you said, “I’m really proud of the way I hung in there. You should have seen how I helped that helicopter hover right over me. It was my strength that enabled me to get on board.” That is the way many people think of salvation. However, Christians know they were sinking and doomed to death and yet Jesus came to their rescue. Jesus brought you new life when you were dead in sin.
2. God’s power enables you to overcome giants (17:13).
The giants you and I face today are not like Canaanites, but more often times the daily battle with the giant of sin. It is God’s Holy Spirit power that enables us to overcome. Romans 8:11 - If you are a follower of Jesus, you can rejoice that the same Spirit that raised Christ from the grave is alive in you!
3. God gives you a purpose worth living for.
What kept Joshua and Caleb on the right road into the Promised Land? Why was it those 2 pleased God and entered into God’s plan victoriously, while 600,000 died in the wilderness? Joshua and Caleb believed God. No matter how long they stayed in the wilderness the promised land was on their mind!
* I was reading in Hebrews 10:23-25 this week. I’ve read this passage many times before, but the Spirit of God spoke to my heart in a tremendous way. Listen, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”
God is faithful. Let’s never forget that. One of the reasons He has us here is to worship Him, witness to others, build up love, good works in the Body of Christ. God’s church has a purpose. Do you know that purpose for why you are here as a Christian?
* Apple’s purpose statement is, “"To make a contribution to the world by making tools for the mind that advance humankind." We have 5 main purposes as a church family. We are here to worship God, evangelize, disciple, minister, fellowship.
II.. Avoid Spiritual Apathy (17:14-16).
* Often times Christians will say their walk with God just seems dry. It is normally during those dry times that believers tend to neglect their personal fellowship with the Lord. Dr. Mark Brister (my pastor during teen years) said when he went through dry times in his walk with God, he’d take out one of his old favorite Bibles, go back and read some of those underlined verses. Go back and recall times when he felt closer to the Lord.
How can you avoid spiritual apathy?
(1) Let go of a complaining attitude (17:14)
* A constant complainer stumbled upon a $10 bill. He said, “Just my luck, if someone else would have found this, it would have been a $20 bill.”
The Manassites were constant complainers. They were upset about Joshua’s spiritual stance and felt they deserved special treatment.
(2) Let go of a complacent attitude.
Always remember, the day you stop learning is the day you stop growing. Sometimes we take this attitude into our church live, family life, work life. “I’ll always be stuck here. I can’t ever get any better. I’ve gone as far as I want to go.” What often leads us to become complacent? It’s the feeling of, “I’m better than others. I should not have to work because I’m in the upper class.”
* Lou Holtz is the only coach in NCAA history to ever lead six different college teams to postseason bowl games. He said, “If you are bored with life, if you don’t get up every morning with a burning desire to do things – you don’t have enough goals.” Coach Holtz avoided complacency like a roach avoids light.
* September 12 in National Back to Church Day. Our church has been stuck in attendance - 70. Knowing the temptation to settle and become complacent, I have a goal to bring two new people back to church this Sunday and see 85 people in worship.
(3) Let go of a compromising attitude.
God had told his children to go into the land and drive out all the enemies. God calls you to conquer all that would rival anything that challenges the preeminence of Jesus Christ in your life. It’s not possible to live victoriously in Christ, while giving in to compromise.
* I feel pressure to compromise in my preaching. I want to preach sermons that are going to make everyone feel nice and at ease, but God calls me to preach the whole counsel of His Word. God’s Word often pierces my heart and convicts me of sin before I preach it to you. Just as God’s Word speaks often of the love of God, it also speaks of holiness, judgment, hell, sexual immorality, pride, etc. I’ve made a decision to be faithful to God to preach “Thus saith the Lord,” rather than “Thus saith David Cook.”
*”If you make it easy for yourself to fall into sin, you most likely will. If you look down the barrel of Satan’s double barrel shotgun, he is going to pull the trigger.” – Dr. Rod Mattoon
*A former pastor battled with personal sin. He said he felt like an exhausted swimmer battling alone in the pounding surf, unable to escape the strong undertow, about to go down for the last time. On shore he could see all the people of his church. Some were shaking their heads in weeping and despair; others were shouting and shaking their fists in anger and frustration. There were words of encouragement and gestures of good will. There they were, all lined up, watching and waiting for something to happen. Only one man stepped forward and risked everything to plunge into the water and help the victim to safety. Am I willing to be that man? Thank God today, because of the power of Jesus Christ, you don’t have to compromise. Quote, “The one who turns his back on the Lord needs the backing of the church.” Because of Jesus’ work on the cross, you can find forgiveness and grace to help you overcome!
III. Pursue God’s Will with Passion (17:17-18)
Sometimes, we want God to do everything and complain when we fell He’s not doing His job. We want God to bring revival to the church – but we don’t want to repent of our sin and seek His face. We want to get in better shape, but are content to watch TV instead of walking. We want better finances, but continue buying things we don’t need. Quote, “We are all manufacturers, making good, making trouble, or making excuses. Do you need to sharpen your axe for growth? Sad reality, Ephraim compromised and God’s will and later followed idols. Mannaseh in Hebrew means, “forget.” Quote, “True freedom is not having it your way, but yielding to God’s way.
* I challenge every church member to give 3 hours a week into God’s service at CWBC. Sunday School, Worship, and ministry. You could give a list of excuses, but that would be like the Manassites. To reach our full potential as a church family, each person must be doing what God says, obeying Him as Lord.
* The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude... I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our attitudes. (Chuck Swindoll)
Conclusion: Attitude determines altitude. If it were easy to have a positive attitude, everyone would. The truth is, it’s not easy to reach for new goals, break out of bad habits, take the time to become better personally. Let’s determine by the power of Jesus Christ to let our attitude become more like His!
