Sermon Central
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Your Attitude Will Determine Your Altitude
Contributed by Johnny Creasong on Jul 9, 2002 (message contributor)
Summary: Everyone needs an attitude adjustment now and then. Here’s some ways to get your attitude aligned!
YOUR ATTITUDE WILL DETERMINE YOUR ALTITUDE
(PHIL. 4:4-8)
What is attitude?
Attitude is the EYE of your soul! Your attitude determines how you view life.
If your attitude is negative, you will see life positively. If your attitude is positive, you will
see life positively. If you have a thankful attitude, you will see things you encounter as
gifts to be thankful for. “I may not be able to change the world I see around me but I can
change the way I see the world within me!”
No wonder the Scripture says, “Rejoice in the Lord always.” (Phil. 4:4) Being
joyful is not a matter of chance or circumstance. It is a matter of deciding to rejoice! And
since the decision of whether or not we will rejoice is left up to us, Paul reiterates the
command: “I will say it again; Rejoice!”
HOW TO CORRECT MY ATTITUDE’S VISION
--Rejoice!!! (vs 4)
---Celebrate God all day, everyday!
--Start by getting up each morning, saying
“Good morning, Lord!”
instead of “Good Lord, it’s morning!”
The world will seem brighter to you if you will face it with a whistle rather than a
whine. What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies
within us. God chooses what we go through. We choose how we go through it!
Attitude is the EYE of your soul! Your attitude determines how you view life.
Attitude is the FACE of your life! Your attitude determines how you appear to
others. Other people mirror the attitude they sense we have. Jesus put it like this: “The
way you treat others is the way you will be treated.” When the attitude we possess places
others FIRST and we see people as important, then your perspective will reflect their
viewpoint, not yours. Until we walk in the other person’s shoes and see life through
another’s eyes, we will be like the man who angrily jumped out of his car after a collision
with another car. “Why don’t you people watch where you’re driving?” You’re the fourth
car I’ve hit today!”
WHY CUSTOMERS QUIT
1% die
3% move away
5% other friendships
9% competitive reasons (price)
14% product dissatisfaction
BUT...
68% quit because of an attitude of indifference toward them by some employee!!!
HOW TO GIVE YOUR ATTITUDE A FACE LIFT
Apostle Paul says, “Let your gentleness be evident to all.” (Phil. 4:5)
The word here translated “gentleness” is one of the most untranslatable words in the New
Testament. The best translation of the word is reasonableness. The hardest time to be
gentle and reasonable is when we know we are right and someone else is obviously dead
wrong. Your face will be turned against them. The face of Christianity will appear
deformed to those you and I come in contact with if our attitude toward them is wrong.
And we can even be wrong in our effort to be right!
“As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for
Jerusalem. And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get
things ready for him; but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading
for Jerusalem. When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you
want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them? But Jesus turned and rebuked
them, and they went to another village.”
When in our determination to be bold we become brazen, the face of Christianity
becomes deformed. We may be right but we don’t look right.
What do we look like when in our desire to be frank and become rude? The
Christian who boasts that he always calls a spade a spade is likely to end up calling
everything a spade. “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a
multitude of sins.” (1 Pet 4:8) If we always run others down, we will soon appear to be
a very low down person.
Our attitude deforms the face of Christianity when in our effort to be watchful we
become suspicious. Some people find enemies where there are no enemies. Ever notice
how certain people are hostile to everyone who disagrees with them? Paul says, “Let your
gentleness be evident to all.” (vs. 5) Satan cares little whether we go astray after a false
doctrine or merely turn sour. Either way he wins!
How do we give our attitude a facelift? Make it as clear as you can to all you meet
that you’re on their side, working with them and not against them!
What would happen if for one week, you treated every person you met as if they
were the most important person in the world? Attitude is the FACE of your life! Your
