Gateway Church Live | Jimmy Evans | The Power of Attitude | Apr 25–26

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] hey everyone welcome to Gateway Church thank you for choosing to worship with us today we're so glad you're here parents did you know about our online kids experiences every week and we're creating for different age specific videos for your kids and they can have fun and learn about God at the same time if you have kids from birth through sixth grade you'll want to have them check it out on either our website or one of our gateway apps we also encourage you to let your spanish-speaking friends and family members know that we offer simultaneous spanish interpretation of our entire weekend service and they can access that through our website at Gateway people.com we're so excited about today's service Pastor Levi Smith is about to lead us into worship and then pastor Jimmy Evans has an amazing message about the power of our attitudes after that Derek and I will be right back here to pray with you and give you some more info but now let's get ready to worship the Lord hello Gateway Church listen God wants to do amazing things right there in your home and in your family so let's welcome the presence of the Living God as we sing aha in the presence of my enemy i Raisa hi yeah louder than the unbelief razor my weapon is I Raisa comes to fight for me [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] yeah [Applause] we inside of me [Music] [Applause] what's the time asleep [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] while right where you're at [Music] singing louder louder sing a little [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] you imagine tires for when years everybody I am you say you crown me with confidence I am seen in the heavenly place under fear with the waters conquered I've tried so hard to see to be sold to you choose someone to carry your big two affection could never you keep what you don't [Music] my chippy is falling [Music] everybody [Music] we [Music] now I can finally [Music] tgd how to this [Music] since my big I can find to me how to [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] here crises [Music] Jesus have jeez [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you have called it up now I am seated there's no fear in your love [Music] I am seated with you [Music] there's no one like [Music] keeper of the day in the night holder of the Sun in [Music] you command the waters in the there's not one thing you're not created there [Music] the you [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] what Jesus [Music] no kill no say no say no stay [Music] the great No [Music] [Music] [Applause] I remember when I met Michael it was down at altar ministry just right after after service he he walked up and began to share about where he was that in his life I seen you I walked up to him I said neo man you like a guy who understand I used to be a drug addict I'm into the penitent trance of being a guy I said please help me out man I saw him surrender myself he's like you know why see-sawing you Michael take my number down ever since like every time I've been having a problem I talked to him he said to down your wife phanie if both we can't let go and let God Rhona virus has not only attacked the health of thousands but also threaten the livelihoods of millions day by day business and he had worked that day and then he came home and he just said babe there's no more work we just kind of felt like that was the end you know like no income wasn't even getting like last check or anything it was his rough hello Mary called me and told me that Michael had lost his job and that they couldn't afford to pay their rent so they and their family were sleeping in their car and she was pregnant I just wasn't in the car just in the passenger and I just did a deep prayer die just let it all go I said I'm giving myself to you God this is something I've never done before but I'm giving it all I said whatever you do please you know and just so she gave Oh won't get away he does like a storm Donald was the main pastor oh it was but he reached out to us and he was like hey man y'all still homeless we got your extended stay for two weeks he said y'all hungry would for to give you some food he said you need a gas box to go look for work I got a gas Bachar away and leave my wife which is where I mouth all the way open like do my job for like it was here in the ground I'm young which I was seeking for a job they hit me on email said call right away we need 20 people I'd been down to my knees and I just like I was breathless I it was just I I've never had somebody be so kind to me the feeling that gateway gave us the blessings of You Man is that we can breathe them just to have somebody just a whole community of people to call to check to even care to say I wonder if they have food I wonder all my prayers were answered oh but crying we've just been so overwhelmed with everything just it's it's truly the most amazing thing I've ever experienced in my life [Music] hey friends welcome to Gateway Church online we know there's so much out there you could be watching right now but we're glad you're hanging with us today this is all very new for a lot of us but we're excited about what God is going to do out of the statement a word of encouragement for all of us stuck in our homes right now is that we can do this God is bigger than what we're all going through right now and he has a plan for every single one of us during this time yeah for those of you feeling a little stir-crazy or like you want to do something to help there is still so many ways you can connect with your family community for instance you can join your campus Facebook group follow us on social media or visit connect gateway people.com we have a lot of encouraging content equipped classes ways you can help others worship videos and information about the party if you need prayer for any reason right now I mean any reason then Tex connect to 710 T we have prayer teams from every campus waiting to pray for you kids students we haven't forgotten about you we have special online experiences created just for you there's cool videos social media hangs games and encouraging words basically if you want to they updated submit a prayer request or five ways to serve learn about online community or watching options Texas connect to 1710 or visit Connecticut refuel calm it's all right there if you want to give today you can still give online at giving gateway people calm or and here's a reminder just because we can't gather together it doesn't mean that you are alone we love you and we're here for you so thanks for having Church with us today grab a cup of coffee get cozy and let's continue on to hear the message now I want to welcome all to the service thanks for joining us this weekend and I have a very special message for you I'm going to bring in just a minute but let me begin by saying this is our 20th anniversary actually the last Thursday April 23rd was our 20th anniversary but this weekend represents the 20th anniversary since we became a church back in the year 2000 and so pastor Robert and I have been friends for about thirty years and it was about maybe twenty two years ago pastor Roland Griffing at that time was pastor Roberts pastor and he gave pastor Robert his blessing for pastor Robert to come and for us at Trinity Fellowship that's where I was pastoring at the time for us to plant gateway church actually pastor Robert worked for me for a while in our Association of churches but we had Karen and I sat down with pastor Robert and Debbie at David's Steakhouse in Amarillo Texas and at that steak house we agreed that we were going to enter into a covenant relationship together as couples to begin gateway church and we shook hands there and we made an agreement before God that we were going to covenant together to build this church together regardless of what we had to do or how much we had to go through and so just before Gateway started in April of 2000 we laid hands on the elders of emerald Church in trendy fellowship we laid hands on pastor Robert and Debbie in kind of a core group that came down here to start the church we gave them some money and you know paid pastor Robert salary for a while and you know the beginnings of Gateway church were very humble to say the least where there were 40 people on the first weekend that we met him pastor Robert Debbie's home and then they went to the movie theater and all the different places the Gateway met but it was his pastor Robert has been such a faithful pastor of this church for the last 20 years now I've been apart since the very beginning and I'm just saying most of you don't know all that pastor Robert and Deb you've had to go through to plant into pastor gateway Church and they're happy to do it they love this church but I can just say there was a lot of sacrificing along the way and a lot of you also sacrifice along the way and you've served and you've given been the phenomenal congregation that you are and so we're gonna celebrate in a future date we don't know exactly win because of all the co mid-nineteen stuff but we're celebrating today and just remembering the faithfulness of God to Gateway Church from the very beginning I walked up to pastor Robert on the first day that we ever met as gateway Church and I said to pastor Robert the Lord spoke to me and said this is going to be one of the largest churches in America and one of the most influential churches in the world that's we had 40 people and pastor Robert I wasn't telling him anything he didn't know I was just confirming it to him but in the very very beginning of Gateway church we knew that this was a special church in a special place with a special group of people and so we celebrate God's faithfulness we celebrate pastor Robert Debbie's faithfulness and the faithfulness of our staff our leaders phenomenal leaders that we have the congregation precious congregation say it again we love you so much in Massena and hugging on you and all that kind of stuff it's going to be so special we're able to get back together but we remember that we are 20 years old and we have many more years to go if jesus terry's and we look forward to unbelievable things happening if this could happen in the first 20 years what can happen in the next 20 years and so we look with anticipation wait with anticipation to see what God is going to do and so before I preach let me say this prayer unite 7:14 is a group all over the world we have millions and millions and millions of people praying the same prayer every day and every week believing for God to break this plague this COBIT 19 plague so I'm gonna read this prayer because that's what all of us are praying this week would you please join me if you're there maybe with your family you can hold hands but just believe with me as we pray this prayer together our Lord and our God look in your mercy upon the suffering that covers the earth a force called Koba 19 is dominating governments dear ailing economies and destroying peace it is an ever-present challenge bringing pain and devastation upon your creation yet we declare the name of Jesus is above all names in heaven and on earth we believe as your Holy Scriptures have taught us every person problem pestilence and power must bow before the mighty name of Jesus Christ in the name of Jesus Christ we ask that kovat 19 be halted and eradicated or Jesus you created the world and everything in it you healed the sick walk on water fed thousands and raised the dead you rule and reign you said if you ask anything in my name I will do it in the name of Jesus we boldly ask for families churches cities and nations to be protected from the effects of kovat 19 we know the name of Jesus has great power when we speak it for you are our Savior and our Lord we know that even now you're at the right hand of our Father interceding for people as they battle covet 19 or Jesus we are confident in the power of your name so we asked you to give scientists researchers and medical personnel the supernatural strength and wisdom needed in their battle against covet 19 we ask for healing and restoration in the lives of all of those affected by this disease we ask all of these things in the name that is above every name the powerful name of Jesus Christ amen well thank you for praying that prayer with me and we're believing every single word of that we're praying it every day 7:14 in the morning seven fourteen the evening if you want more information just go to unite seven one 4.com and you can have all the information the prayers they're that we're praying together all over the world and so let me let me bring this message and and really when I'm putting messages together during this time I'm thinking of what will encourage you I'm thinking about what will equip you to get through this time and so this message is called the power of attitude I want to talk about our attitudes and how our attitudes determine our success and forge our futures more than any other factor in life and I really believe that I believe that attitude has more to do with success or failure than any other issue in life and some people would say well how about Jesus Christ well even if you're a believer when you're on your way to heaven if you have poor attitudes life is going to be tough and God's not going to bless it and so having good attitudes is absolutely essential if we're going to achieve our destiny and gods going to bless us and we're going to be successful in life so let me begin by defining the word attitude these are the dictionary definitions the first is a settled way of thinking or feeling about someone or something typically reflected in a person's behavior doesn't take very long to kind of see a person's attitude through their words and through their behavior a position of the body proper to or implying an action or mental state I was preaching one time and I think I might have been preaching on giving and there was a guy sitting right in front of me and he didn't like what I was saying about giving and he sat like this too the entire message we're gonna be like this and so I can kind of tell sometimes you got busted now as a preacher I'm saying we can kind of tell the way you're thinking about what we're preaching sometimes and and by the way you're the greatest congregation in the world to preach to so there's very few people who ever have bad posture but you can tell the you know a child in their attitudes it comes through there their posture the or third definition the orientation of an aircraft relative to the direction of travel I'll talk about this more of the message in just a minute but I'm a pilot and when you're flying on your instrument panel right in front of you there's an attitude indicator and the attitude indicator tells you if you have a nose up added to a level attitude or a nose-down attitude and if you get a nose down attitude and you keep it for too long you're going to crash that's the same way it isn't life so that's what attitude is you simply cannot overstate the importance of how important attitude is in our lives in every single area of our lives and attitudes run in groups churches have attitudes cities have attitudes if you go to Dallas if you go to Los Angeles New York New Orleans Chicago they have attitudes businesses have attitudes Airlines have attitudes all the different places that you go there are resident attitudes there that sometimes they're good and sometimes they're not so good but the different cities have different attitudes businesses churches families different families have different attitudes some very good some not so good and some Romans chapter 12 says do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God and so here's the question do I have a godly attitude or do I have a world attitude have I been conformed to the world in my attitude I have a worldly attitude or have I been transformed and I have a good attitude a godly attitude and so John Maxwell my friend wonderful man of God he wrote a book called the winning attitude and in it and in this book he talks about attitude and what attitude is and here's what he says attitude is the advance man of our true selves it's roots or inward but its fruits or outward it is our best friend and worst enemy it is more honest and more consistent than our words it is a thing that draws people to us or repels them it is never content until it is expressed it is the librarian of our past it is the speaker of our present it is the prophet of our future that's profound but it's really true that's how important attitude is President Thomas Jefferson made this quote which I completely agree with here's what he said nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude if you have the right attitude you're just gonna win your whole life is just gonna be win-win-win if you don't have the right mental attitude nothing nothing can help you he was exactly right this is a very accomplished man by the way our attitudes determine our success and Happiness more than any other factor in life and so let me talk about attitudes some truths about our attitudes and how profound they are in determining the quality of our lives number one we choose our attitudes okay no one chooses your attitude for you we choose our own attitudes now there was a man named Viktor Frankl and he was a prisoner of war in Auschwitz in Germany during World War two his mother was killed by the Nazis and his wife and brother both died in the concentration camps only he and his sister got out of the concentration camps the Nazis were extremely cruel to all the Germans in to him and to his family during that period of time and during during his time of starving and being tortured in Auschwitz he made this statement I will be happy and I will not hate the Nazis nothing that they do can make me hate them I think about that think about it if that man could choose to be happy in Auschwitz and choose not to hate the Nazis every single person can determine their absolute we choose our attitudes it's not forced upon us we choose and so he got out of Auschwitz he survived it he lived until 1997 as a motivational speaker author neurologist and psychiatrist and he was he was an inspiration everyone who heard his story and so think about your life right now and everything maybe this going wrong obviously the challenge with Koba 19 would you rather be in Auschwitz would you rather have your family dying all around you would you rather be tortured by the Nazis of course not okay it's not we're not experiencing anything on that level well if he could choose to be happy and if he could choose to forgive then then we can choose it every day of our lives we choose our attitudes no one chooses it for us here's the second truth about attitudes attitudes are not caused by people or circumstances there not Adam and Eve okay Adam and Eve had perfect bodies they would have lived forever if they wouldn't have sinned they were created in paradise they never had a bad day they never had you know a bad father or a mother or something like that they had never had a hurt or a problem in their entire lives but they were selfish brats and rebellious in the midst of perfection living in the presence of God so what caused their bad attitudes it certainly wasn't their circumstance okay anything like that King David and King David's an interesting person his greatest attitudes were in the worst times of his life and his worst attitudes were in the greatest times of his life when he was little David fighting Goliath phenomenal attitude when Saul was trying to kill him he was still respectful and submitted even during that time phenomenal attitude many of the Psalms the greatest Psalms that we read were written by David when he was going through all kinds of problems that they were trying to kill him so on and so forth but once he got the throne and he got settled here comes Bathsheba here comes the census some of the worst things that David did so you can't say in King David's life that good circumstances created good attitudes or bad circumstances created bad attitudes it was exactly the opposite interesting thing the Apostle Paul in Acts chapter 16 was in prison in Philippi after being beaten with rods and he was worshipping God at midnight he was praising God at midnight this man of God who had been persecuted was sitting there pretty not licking his wounds not complaining not angry at God he was praising God at midnight here's a deception if my circumstances would be better my attitudes would be better absolutely not absolutely not here's the truth I can overcome any situation with a good attitude that is the truth I'm not I am NOT a victim of my circumstances I choose my attitudes it is not a condition it is a choice that I make here's the third truth about attitudes happiness is a chosen attitude not a state of being if I'm if I'm a happy person it's not because I have a certain state of being that makes me happy I'm rich I'm successful I'm pretty or anything like that it's because I chose it I'm always going to have to choose it and so there are some people are always happy and there some people are always unhappy they choose it that's just the way that used to be many comedians come out of tragic circumstances people who choose to make others happy they themselves actually live sad lives Carol Burnett many of you know the comedian Carol Burnett brilliant comedian and she and some of the younger people might not know who she is but she's very very famous and just real funny lady both of her parents were alcoholics she was raised by her grandmother she never had a bed she slept on a couch her entire life she had to study in a dim bathroom for school because she didn't have like the light to study and after that experience she chose to make other people happy and so some people choose to share their pain because they feel sorry for themselves and they have a bad attitude some people choose to share their happiness because they want to make other people happy Hugh Downs this is a wonderful quote by Hugh Downs a happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes a happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes that's just true that you you see happy people it's because they chose to be happy they always do choose to be happy Denis Waitley I know this is my favorite quote outside the Bible okay I absolutely love this quote happiness cannot be traveled two owned earned worn or consumed happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love grace and gratitude we read that one more time this is a big one happiness cannot be traveled two owned earned worn or consumed happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love grace and gratitude I absolutely believe that you can't go to the store and purchase it you can't travel to it you know it's just a choice it's a certain set of attitudes that we have that's that's what makes us happy okay Abraham Lincoln says we're as happy as we make up our minds to be you talk about a guy with a great attitude so in Amarillo when I lived in Amarillo before I came into the ministry I worked with my mom and dad and we had an electronics and appliance business and and so I was I worked there I sold I delivered I did all kinds of things before I came to ministry and so we had you know lots of customers we had a very big business we had lots of customers and and so I went to many many houses delivering stuff and selling stuff and things like that and we had one customer that that I didn't like I didn't like going to his house he was mean he was mean to his family he was just a very very very wealthy okay so when we went to his house he had a very big house in a nice part of town there was an oppression in his house literally when you walked into his house there was oppression in his house it was like a spiritual darkness he had these cute little kids and they would kind of come around us when we were in the house and he would yell at him and scream and they'd run run down the hall and so I was in his house one day delivering something and I just remember just the feeling I just wanted to go home and take a shower when I left his house I just felt dirty and but I was in his house one morning left and so that afternoon I had a delivery with another delivery man I had a delivery of a refrigerator to a very modest part of town and there was a couple there's a tiny little wood frame house and we pulled in front of it in front and we had a new refrigerator that we were delivering there so I went up to the door and I knocked on the door of this house and this little literally a little old man open the door he was just a little guy and he said hey you the ridge writer guy and I said yesterday I would come on in here it's like that so when you deliver a refrigerator you know before you bring the new one in you have to get the old one out so we had the appliance dollies and we walked through the little tiny living room into the kitchen his wife was there she's real sweet and we were getting the old refrigerator out while I noticed as I walked through the the kitchen that there was a champagne bottle with two glasses sitting on the counter there and I thought well yeah that's interesting you know so we got the refrigerator on the dollies and as we were getting it on the dollies and getting it out of the kitchen this man and woman poured themselves a glass of champagne and toasted their old refrigerator and they said goodbye old refrigerator you've been such a great part of this family we're gonna miss you thank you so much for all that you did and I was just thinking now I've never seen that before you know you talk about a happy couple so we go we take the old refrigerator out and we bring the new refrigerator in and when we came in to the house this couple was dancing cheek-to-cheek in the middle of living rooms like this and they were just happy and laughing and singing and everything we got a new refrigerator like this so we go into the kitchen and we put the new refrigerator in they toasted that refrigerator and they said hello new refrigerator it's good to have you be a part of the family being so excited to have you all this kind of stuff we left that house and I said in the truck in front of their house and I thought about the difference between that couple and that man that morning the rich man in the big house that was unhappy and mean and this little couple didn't have much but I'll tell you one thing I've never seen a happier couple I've never being in their home was an absolute joy and I think about that I think about they chose they didn't have money they weren't powerful people they simply chose to be happy with whatever they had you choose your happiness I choose my happiness period no one chooses it for me number four God rewards good attitudes and disciplines bad attitudes and by the way so do parents good parents if you wait to discipline behavior many times you're too late attitudes for the seedbed of behavior you if you'll discipline attitudes you won't have to discipline a lot of behavior problems from exam example so our son Brent who's now 40 almost 43 years old wonderful man of God president of marriage today when he was growing up and in school one day he came home and he'd gotten licks he'd gotten swats because he rolled his eyes at the teacher and he came home I mean he wanted us to go up and you know sue the school or something and he said dad dad I got swatched today and I said wow how come he said all I did was roll my as a teacher and I said do you control your eyes he said well there's nothing wrong with rolling your eyes the teacher I said there is something wrong breaths bad attitude and he said you can't spank people for their attitude and I said oh you got spanked for your attitude and so when you have a bad attitude God disciplines bad attitudes let me just prove it to you right here this is James for God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble verse 10 humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and He will lift you up God rewards good attitudes and he punishes bad attitudes pride as an attitude right okay humility this attitude right so it says and by the way when it says that God resists the proud there that word in the Greek means to set yourself in battle formation against this isn't a little bit of resistance when we're walking in Pride God disciplines it God hates pride because pride does not acknowledge God and pride does not depend upon God but he loves humility when we have a humble spirit God loves it because it acknowledges that we need God and it depends on God and God absolutely loves it so God disciplines attitude so this is Hebrews 12 and this is a really important text of Scripture related to the discipline of the Lord Hebrews 12 7 if you endure chastening God deals with you his sons for what son is there whom a father does not chase in but if you are without chastening of which we have all become partakers then you are illegitimate and not sons furthermore we had human we have had human fathers who corrected us and we paid them respect shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the father of spirits and live for they indeed for a few days chastened us it seemed best to them but he for our profit that we may be partakers of his holiness now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present but painful nevertheless afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it therefore strengthen the hands which hang down in the feeble knees and make straight paths for your feet so that what is lame may not be dislocated but rather heal okay so let me explain that to you when it says make the hands that hang down in the feeble knees and make straight paths for your feet and all of the parents now you know what I'm about to say here okay so you tell your child something and you say young man you go into that room right now and you clean your room tends to hang down feeble knees and they walk like this that's what happens so here's what it says God is your father and he loves you and just as you had an earthly father they disciplined you you have a heavenly father that's disciplining you listen and he can either heal you or dislocate you that's what it says here if you want it if you want it to be healed get your attitude right and start this thing when God when God tells us to do something the answer is yes Lord with a good attitude just like with a parent and so listen to God disciplines us until our attitude is right that's what he's after this is what this is saying if you'll stop walking around with all the self-pity and all the bad attitude with your hands hanging down your feeble knees and you know go in a line like this as soon as you say yes Lord Lord says this one's over that's all I was looking for let me say this so I'm telling you about the importance of attitudes if you have a child that you don't instill in them the importance of attitude you're cursing that child you know that if you'll they'll never succeed God will never be able to bless them the way he wants to bless them so we all know how important it is and I hope in this message you'll hear again how important it is to have right attitudes and train our children to have overcomers attitudes and attitudes of faith listen God loves you too much to let you go through life with a bad attitude and I'm saying to some of you right now who feel like maybe God is against you no no God's never against you he's for you that doesn't mean he's not spanking you what's he looking for looking for a good attitude he's looking for you to say yes Lord start feeling sorry for yourself stop acting like you know life life is against you and everything's against just not goddess for you who can be against you but God is your father and just like we had earthly fathers who corrected us for our good God corrects us for our good and many of the times that God is correcting us he just reckons for bad attitudes worldly attitudes selfish attitudes prideful attitudes unthankful attitudes those kinds of attitudes but when you've been trained by God you become grateful and humble and joyful and all those kinds of things that's the kind of people that we need to be and that's what God is after he's not against you he's for you but I'm telling you God is a God of attitudes it's a big big deal to God here's number five importance of attitudes good attitudes precede and predict success favor and promotion and bad attitudes precede and predict failure disfavor and demotion and so the attitude indicator or an airplane is telling you as a pilot if you're up or if you're down or if your level okay so the attitude indicator on an airplane is not for good times if you can see outside if you have visual reference in the skies clear you just look out and say yeah I'm doing good you know you know your attitude but when you have clouds and when you're in bad weather you better pay attention to that attitude indicator because that attitude indicator see is so you go by feelings you know you don't have an attitude indicator in your airplane you go by feelings if a pilot gets the leans you think you're going straight but you just you're leaning just a little bit you start flying in circles until you crash you can't trust your feelings you have to trust your instruments when you're going through bad circumstances this is the instrument panel of our lives and especially when we're going through bad times we don't let our feelings tell us what direction we're gonna go we have to let God's Word tell us what direction we're gonna go and by the way the president mentioned this in a press briefing the other day and he said his concern as kovat 19:00 went on that there would be suicides and there have been okay and why do people kill themselves well I believe for the most part it's just simply because they're in a bad circumstance and in the moment it seems hopeless okay and suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem okay can't be undone and so in pray to God that none of you ever experienced that in your family and that you would never contemplate that okay God is a God that will come and get us wherever we are and there's always hope in God there's always hope in God and today you may be in the clouds but tomorrow you're gonna be in the sunshine today you may be under attack but tomorrow you're gonna be victorious and you have to have faith in the Word of God that gets you through those difficult circumstances this is your attitude indicator and when you get into the word and when you have faith in the word regardless of what you're going through you keep your nose up as long as your nose up it means you're gonna succeed you're gonna reach your destiny in god you're going to be everything that you want to be in this life and everything God wants you to be nothing nothing can stop the man that has the right mental attitude that's what Thomas Jefferson says but if you get your nose down and you let your feelings begin to dictate to you you're gonna crash your marriage is going to crash your your life is going to crash you're not going to fulfill the destiny that God has for your life and it's all based on your attitude it's all based on your attitude and so I want to talk for just a minute about Abraham Lincoln one of the most incredible people in the history of our country and I want to show you the example of his attitude and where it came from he had a difficult childhood in less than one year of formal education he failed in business in 1831 he was defeated for the legislature in 1832 he failed again in business in 1833 he was elected to the legislature in 1834 he was defeated for speaker in 1838 he was defeated for elector in 1840 he married a bad wife in 1842 he really was one of only one of his four sons lived past the age of 18 if that's not the most heartbreaking thing in the world he was defeated four Congress in 1843 he was elected to Congress in 1846 he was defeated for Congress in 1848 he was defeated for the Senate in 1855 he was defeated for vice-president in 1856 he was defeated for the Senate in 1858 and he was like the president of the United States in 1860 I mean don't you think somewhere in there that you know you just have a loser tattooed on your forehead and die I mean don't you think that you would get it at some point that you just weren't gonna succeed in life he never gave up in the intestinal fortitude the character that he developed led us through one of the most difficult times in the history of the United States of America the Civil War this man was strong as steel remember his quote we're as happy as we make up our minds to be and he he proved it in his life that he had the right mental attitude attitude is more important than aptitude and determining success attitude is more important than aptitude in determining success let me say this you give me a person with a good attitude any day over a gifted person with a bad attitude I could care less how gifted you are if you have a bad attitude I can't use you I don't want you around but if you have a good attitude even if you're the most talented person you're gonna make it and you're gonna win because you have a great attitude say I have a painting in my office at home behind the chair where I sit most the time studying and it's a painting of a big ship on a troubled sea and I have that that painting there because it reminds me of this saying a calm sea never produced a good sailor how would you like to go on the seas with a sailor who had never been on trouble seas if you're going to have a good life it means you're going to go through stuff but the purpose of that stuff isn't to harm you God allows it or causes it to grow yet to grow me up and one of the most important things that happens when we're going through difficulty is that we keep our eyes on God and we keep our attitude positive and we say to the Lord Lord what are you teaching me in this what is the Lord teaching us through covet night he's not against us he doesn't want to kill us he doesn't want to destroy us but what are we learning through this what are we learning as a family what are we learning about our finances and depending on God what could I learn through this and you get on the other side of the storm and you're not just a better sailor you're a better person and your character has been deepened and your attitudes have been improved I was in an art store in California and I saw these words on a on just like a poster on the wall it says in this life we all have mountains to climb we can sing as we climb or complain about our sore feet whichever we choose we still have to hike I decided to sing I love that I absolutely love that you're gonna have to hike through this life you're not gonna get out of this life without some without some work without little pain whatever are you gonna sing are you gonna complain and the person who wrote this is I decided to sing I decided to sing nobody can decide that for me I decided that on my journey I'm gonna get there happy with a good attitude let me talk about for attitude killers and I'm almost finished with this message just real quickly the first is wrong expectations how do people get bad attitudes well wrong expectations is one and believing that life will be easier and everybody's gonna like you your life is not easy and not everybody's gonna like you and I give you the bad news but but life is difficult we live in a fallen world in a book called good to great Jim Collins told the story of Admiral Jim Stockdale and he was a the highest-ranking military officer in the Hanoi Hilton prisoner of war camp in Vietnam from 1965 to 1973 he was tortured over 20 times during those eight years there were no prisoner rights and no release date at one point he beat himself in the face to this figure himself because the North Vietnamese wanted to use him for a propaganda tape trying to get the Americans to believe they weren't abusing our prisoners of war and he wouldn't do it his his job was to keep all of his men alive and some he kept alive and others he didn't keep alive but he was interviewed by Jim Collins and when he was asked how he's survive he said I never lost faith in the end of the story I never doubted that not only would I get out but also that I would prevail in the end and turn the experience into a defining event in my life which in retrospect I would not trade when asked who didn't make it out alive he replied the optimist they were the ones who said we're gonna be out by Christmas and Christmas would come and Christmas would go then they'd say we're gonna be out by Easter and Easter would come and Easter we go and then Thanksgiving and then it would be Christmas again and they died of a broken heart when he was asked for a summary of their faith versus his faith he said this this is a very important lesson you must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end which you can never afford to lose with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality whatever they may be and so he was just saying you're not gonna get out he would tell his men we're not getting out by Easter we're not getting out by Christmas but we're gonna get out and so the two problems was either false optimism or hopeless pessimism but what he had was triumphant realism okay is I'm not gonna be pessimistic but I'm not gonna be too optimistic I'll get my heart broke what am I gonna be I'm gonna get through this thing I don't know when we're gonna get out of this thing we're gonna get out of this thing this is going to be over we're gonna overcome it God's going to come through for us we absolutely know that but we have to be willing to confront our current reality by the way is a marriage counselor the number one reason for divorce is this appointment people get married with all the wrong ideas in their heads and they get their heart broken and they end up divorcing because they just weren't dealing with reality and that's why I teach and that's why I write books and all that kind of stuff to help people prepare for the realities of marriage but unrealistic expectations cause bad attitudes number two is comparing up always comparing yourself with someone better than you someone who has more than you I took my son Brent who rolled his eyes I took him to Mexico with me one time on a mission trip and we were in a Cunha Mexico in cardboard city where all these thousands of people live in cardboard boxes and we were walking down the street and Brent said to me I think he was around four - nor so and he said dad how many people live like this and I said about half the world's population Brent and you know he was a typical 14 year old kid at that time he wanted $200 tennis shoes air jordan tennis shoes all kind of stuff and he when we came home he was different he had seen something he had never seen before and it really changed him for three weeks then he went right back to where he was but it four of those few weeks it was great don't compare yourself with somebody better-looking richer to someone who has more compared yourself to people who don't have the blessings that you have it makes you more grateful comparing up just always it's just tormenting entitlement people owe me God owes me people owe me no they don't no they don't an entitlement mentality creates horrible attitudes and the last is just negativity always seeing things in a negative way rather than having faith in God and rather believing God is in my circumstance and he can make anything happen just always seeing things negatively let me let me end with this these are the four attitude builders if you want to have a good attitude these four things number one is gratitude gratitude gratitude gratitude lord thank you for this day thank you for oxygen thank you for the blood of Jesus thank you Lord for every blessing that you get when you start counting your blessings it just makes you happier and with a better attitude your gratitude gratitude toward God gratitude toward people I'm just thankful I'm just thankful number two is faith I have faith in God I believe that all things are possible with God I believe that God is for me who can be against me I have faith faith just creates this wonderful attitude not humanistic happiness but joy in the Lord I believe that God is with me and it's going to be okay am i told those that we're building the wall when the enemies were coming against them the joy of the Lord is your strength you cannot afford to lose that joy number three is humility first Peter 5:5 says be clothed with humility and when the Bible says be clothed with something that means it's not natural for us pride is natural pride is a part of our fallen condition and I've got to wake up every day Karen tells me that I'm I'm more handsome when I'm humbled so you know that's kind of hard to take sometimes but she says I like you better when you're humble I like me better when I'm humble you know but I have to decide every day to put on humility because pride is what I naturally wake up with okay number four is respect pastor Robert is one of the most respectful people I've ever met honor one of the core values that Pastor Robert has his honor I don't know how many times he's honored me it's my joy to get to honor him right now but I'm saying gateway church is a culture of honor and respect he respects pastor Olin he respects James Robison he respects me he respects pastor Jack Hayford he and when I say he respects I'm just saying he goes out of his way it he he is just a person of honor but but my choice is I'm gonna be respectful of women I'm gonna be respectful of my wife I'm gonna be respectful women should be respectful of men I'm gonna be respectful of authority I'm it be respectful for elders now there are fewer people all the time that qualify for being my elders people older than me so I'm saying but I'm gonna be respectful I'm gonna respect people that I preach to administer to I'm gonna be respectful I'm gonna respect our government leaders okay respect and honor just create these wonderful attitudes a lot of a lot of bad attitudes or rebellion disrespect dishonor things like that so here's what I'm say to you okay you need to have a godly attitude but believers should have the best attitudes of anyone on the planet we are the light of the world that's what Jesus said that means were the examples okay and so I'm not the smartest guy I'm not the most powerful I'm you just kind of put any category in there I know I'm not at the top of any category but I have a good attitude and I believe it's one of the reasons that I'm here right now and that God has blessed me I have I have chosen to be happy I wake up happy every day because I choose to wake up happy every day I want you to have a good attitude and this is a this is a message you might want your kids to listen to you like once a day for three weeks or something this is an important message and I'm telling you because I love you very very much your attitude will determine your success and happiness and life more than any thing else and you control your attitude and you may have had a bad attitude up until now you can change it just like that it's a decision you change it just like that and I promise you God will bless you if you have a good attitude pray with me lord I just pray for all my brothers and sisters watching and listening right now Lord we repent of bad attitudes we've all had them and we just repent God for self-pity for disrespect for ungratefulness for all the different things for pride all the different ways that we have demonstrated not just a bad attitude to you but people around us we've been a bad example with that bad attitude and Lord some of us have our hands hanging down and our knees are feeble and we're wobbling on the path that we're walking on because we feel so frustrated maybe even angry at you and Lord we stand up we stop acting like little kids and we stand up and we say yes Lord we want to serve you we want to be good sailors and we know that there going to be some storms that are gonna test us and train us and you're gonna teach us in the midst of those storms but lord I pray blessing I pray blessing the blessing of joy humility the blessing of faith the blessing God of gratefulness I pray your blessing upon every man woman and child every family heal everyone sick protect us supernaturally from kovat 19 I pray for your supernatural financial provision for everyone right now in need of finances bless families I pray that you'll heal all marriage problems and let marriages thrive and Families thrive through this time but I pray for our wonderful congregation and pray that you'll bless them and be with them in Jesus name Amen now if you made a decision for Jesus if you want to receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior I want you to text decision 2 7 1 0 1 0 7 10 10 and someone from Gateway will contact you they'll pray with you we want to give you a new Bible a fresh start Bible if you want to connect if you need help or if you want to connect to the church somehow this text connect 2 7 1 0 1 0 someone from the church will contact q and we will help you in any way that we can help you god bless you I love you I'll see you next time Wow wasn't that amazing and challenging message I just love the truce that pastor Jimmy shared you know every weekend pastor Robert encourages us to pause for a moment and ask the Holy Spirit what are you saying to me through this message so wherever you are why don't you pause for just a moment and ask him right now Holy Spirit what are you saying to me and if you're watching this and maybe you felt far from God but you're ready for that to change we want to give you that opportunity today so let's all pray this prayer together dear Jesus come on say it with me dear Jesus thank you for loving me and dying for me I repent of my sins and ask you to be the Lord of my life from this day forward I choose today to surrender my whole life to you in Jesus name I pray amen amen if you just made that decision to surrender your life to Jesus congratulations welcome to the family of God we're so thrilled for you we have some people who want to pray with you and get you connected with some great resources to help you just text the word decision to 7 10 10 and someone will reach out to you and if you'd like prayer for any reason at all whether it's for physical healing or financial need or a broken relationship whatever it is we have a team of people ready and waiting to pray with you all you need to do is text the word connect to 7 10 10 you can also text connect to 7 10 10 if you want to get involved in being the hands and feet of Jesus to so many who are in need right now or if you just like to get connected with us here at Gateway and you can always stay up-to-date with what's happening in our church there are social media channels or our web site thank you again for joining us we hope God ministered to you and spoke to you through the service today and if you know of any friends or family members who may need to hear Pastor Jimmy's message about the power of attitude please feel free to share this with them we love you we're praying for you to have a wonderful week see you next weekend

Channel: gatewaychurchtv

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Length: 69min 14sec (4154 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 25 2020