INTRODUCTION
This morning I want to start off a short series entitled, “Discovering the Champion in You.” Sitting in this room this morning are men and women of God who have been miraculously saved. Can somebody say, “Amen!”?
And because you’ve been saved and empowered by the Holy Spirit, you have been transformed from a nobody to a somebody. You’ve been bought with a price, the precious blood of Jesus, and the old you has passed away, and behold, or take a look at me, I am a new creation, I am one of God’s champions!
But there are many attributes that make some one a champion. Whether it’s in a competitive sport, event, academics, vocation or yes, the Christian faith, there’s one trait that distinguishes champions from chumps. That characteristic is one’s attitude.
The first message in this series is entitled, “Maintaining a winning attitude.”
Attitude – “A state of mind or a feeling; an arrogant or hostile state of mind or disposition.”
Have you ever known someone who just perpetually had a bad or negative attitude? Everyone has a bad day from time to time, but I’m talking about someone who never has anything positive to say, always in the pits, never sees the good in anything or anybody.
You know, of all people on the face of the earth today, Christians should have the most reason to have a positive and upbeat attitude. But why do many believers have bad or negative attitudes?
We need to understand that our attitudes are a direct reflection of how we perceive the realities of life. “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he”. If you perceive something to be a problem, then it will be. If we endure many hardships and negative experiences in life, then our attitude has a tendency to be negative.
Sometimes people are in such a bad situation that they have an attitude of hopelessness. Instead of fighting the good fight and battling and persevering through it, they merely resign to the situation and live out a self destructive lifestyle because they have adopted a negative attitude.
The bottom line is merely this - we need to realize that the problems we face are not what will make or break us, but our attitude, or should I say, how we respond to the problem will be the determining factor whether we taste the thrill of victory or taste the agony of defeat.
TRANSITION
Now remember the title of the message, “maintaining a winning attitude”. To maintain something means you need to constantly work on it. So what steps to I need to take to maintain the attitude of one of God’s champions?
Let’s read Philippians 4:4-9
Now this is a powerful passage of Scripture. But we must remind ourselves of Paul’s circumstance when he wrote this.
He did not write this …
…from his mansion on the hill sitting in his Jacuzzi
…right after winning the lottery
…climbing the corporate ladder of success
Rather he wrote this sitting in prison cell unsure of his fate. But in these four short yet powerful verses, we discover four practices that permit Paul to have a winning attitude even in the midst of overwhelming circumstances.
To be a winner at anything, you have to practice, practice, practice.
I. PRACTICE THE “PRAISE PRINCIPLE” (vs 4)
*** The following was borrowed from Kirk De Vine’s (contributor ID 6297) message "What Praise Will Produce (sermon ID 48777) ***
As I look at the Body of Christ today, I am amazed at the attitude that some of us have adopted… It blows my mind how many folks come into the House of God week after week and leave the same way they came… It’s mind-boggling to me how some folk treat the church just like they treat their job… They just show up and put in their time, then complain about everything that’s going on, but do nothing to help the matter… It seems like you ought to get tired of the same old things… You ought to get tired of living from day to day without any joy, peace, and happiness in your life… You ought to get tired of
Being down and out…
Going through…
Going under…
Going backwards…
You ought to be tired of coming in here week after week and leaving the same way you came…
Leaving here with the same ole problems…
Leaving here with the same ole heartaches…
Leaving here with the same ole heartbreaks…
Leaving here with the same ole let downs…
Leaving here with the same ole set backs…
(Don’t know about you but…)
I’m tired of being down and out…
I’m tired of being the tail and not the head…
I’m tired of being the defeated and not the over-comer…
Part of your problem is that you won’t praise God in spite of the problem. Do we really know and understand the Power of Praise…?
Praise can cause walls to fall… (Ask Joshua…)
Praise can stop the fury of fire… (Ask 3 Hebrew Boys…)
Praise can quench the appetite of a lion… (Ask Daniel…)
(Trying to say…) There is Power in Praise…
Learn how to praise Him through trails and tribulations….
Learn how to praise Him through hell and havoc…
Learn how to praise Him through sickness and pain
There is Power in Your Praise… I dare you to praise God…
In the midst of your circumstances…
In the midst of your confusion…
In the midst of your crisis…
I don’t know about you but I’ve got to Praise Him…
Because He’s Almighty…
Because He Blessed Me…
Because He Cares for me
Because He Delivered me…
Because He Erased the penalty of sin that was against me…
Because He Forgave me…
Because He Gave me eternal life…
Because He Heard my cry…
Because He Justified me…
Because He Kept me…
Because He Loves me…
Because of His Mercy…
Because He Never left me…
Because He Opened doors for me…
Because He Paid the price for me…
Because Redeemed me…
Because He Saved and Sanctified me…
Because He Took my place at Calvary…
Because of His Undying love for me…
Because He gave me Victory…
Somebody ought to praise in this place… (Why?) Because there’s Power In Your Praise…
When you praise, you loose sight of your situation in the magnitude of His power and glory.
Paul reminds us of the Lord’s emanate return for us. With that in mind we don’t have to worry or freak out about anything, but pray.
II. PRACTICE RIGHT PRAYING
God wants us to pray, not just about the major things or severe life crisis, but every matter that concerns our lives.
Let’s take a closer look at verses 6 and 7.
We don’t have to worry about what the future holds if we have confidence in God’s ability to answer prayer. It doesn’t matter what we face in life, we can have the assurance that we’re going to come out as champions because God is in control of everything.
Paul says, “I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day”
There is an implied promise in this verse. If we pray about everything, and bring our needs before the Lord, then we will experience the peace of God that surpasses our ability to understand it. We will; it’s going to happen.
His peace will guard your hearts and minds
“Guard” – standing a military post to prevent a hostile invasion
“Hearts” – the deepest part of our being – the inner man
“Minds” – our thoughts
In other words when we practice right praying, God’s peace will stand guard over our spirit and thoughts to prevent a hostile invasion of worry.
The reason some people have such a sour attitude about life is because they don’t have God’s peace, and the reason they don’t have God’s peace is because they are not practicing right praying.
A lack of God’s peace gives way to worry. When your knees start knocking, kneel on them.
III. PRACTICE RIGHT THINKING (vs 8)
One of the greatest struggles for the believer is to transform their patterns of thought. But in order to maintain a winning attitude, we must diligently practice right thinking. What is right thinking? It is simply thinking from a Biblical perspective.
ILLUSTRATION
At 7 p.m. on October 20, 1968, a few thousand spectators remained in the Mexico City Olympic Stadium. It was cool and dark. The last of the marathon runners, each exhausted, were being carried off to first-aid stations. More than an hour earlier, an Ethiopian had crossed the finish line, the winner of the 26-mile, 385-yard event.
As the remaining spectators prepared to leave, those sitting near the marathon gates suddenly heard the sound of sirens and police whistles. All eyes turned to the gate. A lone figure wearing the colors of Tanzania entered the stadium. His name was John Stephen Akhwari. He was the last man to finish the marathon. His leg bloodied and bandaged, severely injured in a fall, he grimaced with each step. He hobbled around the 400-meter track.
The spectators rose and applauded him as if he were the winner. After crossing the finish line, Akhwari slowly walked off the field without turning to the cheering crowd. In view of his injury and having no chance of winning, someone asked him why he had not quit. He replied, “My country did not send me 7,000 miles to start the race. They sent me 7,000 miles to finish it.”
John teaches us to get up again: "Even if good people fall seven times, they will get back up" (Proverbs 24:16).
GOD NEVER DESTINED YOU TO BE A FAILURE
God did not…
…spare you from alcoholism
…deliver you from the demons of drug addiction
…see you through the darkest hours of your life
…hold your hand and carry through that bitter divorce
…overshadow you with His love during your times of loneliness
…reach down from Heaven and touch your afflicted body
…conquer death, hell and the grave for you to roll over now and give up
God told Adam and Eve to subdue the earth and have dominion over it; to be fruitful and multiply.
Paul reminds us in Ephesians that God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing – not withholding one.
Just like John Akhwari, God did not put you on this earth to start a race, but to finish it in champion-like form.
Right thinking is what separates whiners from winners.
Nobody wants to hear how bad you’ve got it, and how nothing ever goes your way, and woe’s me.
That’s “stinkin’ thinkin’”
It’s time to stop feeding the beast of worry through unbiblical speech and thoughts and start taking thoughts captive, and speaking words of life over yourself.
It’s time to take those thoughts of guilt, shame, pride, uselessness and failure and handcuff them to the cross. Why? Because with out practicing right thinking, not only will our attitudes drift, but our hearts along with it.
And God is more concerned about the condition of your heart than the works of your hands. He is more concerned about you heart than outward religious practice and protocol.
The devil works from the outside in and Christ works from the inside out.
Because when you think from a Biblical perspective, you gain confidence in God and His Word, and by so doing, your attitude changes.
Remember that our attitude is determined by how we perceive reality.
IV. PRACTICE RIGHT LIVING (vs 9)
Paul tells the church in Philippi to put the “praise principle”, right praying and right thinking into practice. These are behaviors that the Philippians learned and received from Paul by what they heard of him and the deeds they saw him doing.
In order to practice right living, we must not only learn from the example of others and the Word of God, but we must receive it. We must embrace it, adopt it as part of our being.
Why must we practice right living?
Because you cannot live a life of repeated sin and have perfect peace, and be worry free.
God will not allow you to sin successfully.
When we live right according to God’s Word and by Christ’s example, here Paul makes us another guarantee - that the God of peace WILL BE with us.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion this morning, I want to ask you an all important question – what is your attitude like today? Better yet, what’s your outlook on life?
Perhaps your facing a tremendous life’s crisis or are undergoing a life change that has caused you to have a less than desirable attitude?
This morning I challenge you to breakthrough in to a new attitude – the attitude of a champion.
