King of my Attitude | Jud Wilhite | Central Church

all right well welcome everybody so good to have you with us today a big shout out to each of our locations thank you for joining us you're watching online it's great to have you guys with us today and I just wonder like um if you had a moment over the last few months where you how to struggle with your attitude anybody maybe the question is does anybody not had that moment cuz you need help if you haven't at that moment right you know we've all struggled with our attitude I mean it's a daily struggle right and we're still in this thing and so you know we're all still trying to figure out how do we move forward what does life look like what's the future gonna hold it so we're all kind of wrestling with that I've had my ups and my downs and you know I was just thinking back today on when the announcement of the initial shutdown first began and I remember we held church that weekend and then it was on Monday when they announced that church would be well everything would be shutting down and and we agreed you know that it was the responsible thing to do we wanted to play our part do whatever we could in that time but but I want you to know I was heartbroken about that and because everything within me everything kind of as a pastor I just believe that the church is essential it's an essential place as essential as the grocery store and so you know I ruffled with out it was it was hard it was a struggle and and I know many of you did as well and so I went back and I looked at my notes on what I said just over three months ago in the kind of last live services we had at our Henderson location before the shutdown happened and this is this is what I said then and I still believe it today that the church is not an entertainment venue that it isn't a sporting event that it's so much more than that it's a hospital for the hurting it's a last line of defense for people who are struggling it's a place where people can experience God when they have nowhere else to turn in their lives I mean literally it's a place where we find hope and spiritual guidance in a really difficult and challenging world and I remember then what I said is I want you to know that whatever happens the church will be here and we will be available that will keep serving that will keep finding ways to meet people's needs that we will push back on selfishness and engage in service we'll find opportunities in the crisis that we never saw coming and we'll find growth happening in ways that never really happen in calm seasons and I've just went back I read through that again and I didn't realize that oh man I don't even know what I was talking about I don't realize we'd be almost 5 million pounds of food served to people in need and we'd be out on the Food lines every day I don't realize that like you know everything would look different all these weeks and months later but I just want to state it again I say it all the time and I mean it from the bottom of my heart I couldn't be prouder of the people of Central I couldn't be prouder of the people of the Christian people in our city and the people of faith that have rallied together I couldn't be prouder of how we've tried to rise to the need and serve people I'm proud of our church and I'm proud of the Capitol see Church in this season but it's been a struggle with my attitude that's for sure and one of the trigger points for me when it came to attitude was filming each week to an empty room so Lori and I we would Lori so sweet this whole time she would ride with me and go up to church and she would sit alone out in the auditorium and laugh at my jokes like they were funny and clap like you know it was really good every now and then she'd even stand up you know and really give it you know like she she was doing everything she could she was amazing but as this thing went on I remember I would get so kind of stressed and bummed out about coming to an empty church building and teaching that it would really start the tweet was like a trigger for me and so the morning before we would ride to church together I was terrible I was crouching around the house I mean Here I am about to go teach God's Word you know and I'm like I'm like you know everything's bad dirty dishes are bad everything's bad and then where it really came out was in the car right we'd be in the car on the way to church and I well or II driving I would be that passenger seat driver you know what I'm talking about right now right I mean I'm just like slow down speed up put your blinker on turn your blinker off watch out for that truck look out for that car take this exit take that exit you know I just it got bad it got so bad then at one point Laurie and I agreed that when I will come up to film the message at church we would not talk in the morning at all I will go my way she would go her way we would drive in separate cars and we did we drove in separate cars up to the church but she would come on I have an amazing wife she was still kind enough to come and sit and listen and you know we drove in separate cars and then you know after I taught I was always better because it was like all that stress and pressure was off but I have had some moments not just those moments but many moments and I'm still struggling even when I wouldn't read the news I struggle with my attitude right now and I think all of us can relate to that dynamic I mean this pandemic it it brings the best out in people you see it like incredible acts of service and generosity and sacrifice of people doing amazing things and let's be real it brings out the worst in people too right and we've seen that all you have to do is look around at the the hate and the divisive nough sand the rhetoric and you know all the division that we see in our culture emerging it's all sort of there I read an article this week that said people are more unhappy right now in general than they've been in 50 years 50 years and I have to do is read the news to understand why but I want to suggest to you today that it is not all out of our hands that there are some things that we can do to make our situation better even if we can't change the global situation there are some things that we can do to make our marriage is better and our families better and our friendships better even if we can't sort of change everything right now Maya Angelou said this she said if you don't like something change it if you can't change it change your attitude if you can't change it change your attitude and the Bible affirms that we can take control today of how we think listen our attitude is not just something that happens to us it's something that we can choose something we can fight for in our lives and so I want to share with you a simple but powerful idea and I'm sharing it with myself as well and that is this if you want a better life choose a better attitude if you want a better life today choose a better attitude and there is a lot in life that you cannot choose yes but you can choose how you react you can choose how you think and you can choose how you're going to approach what you cannot control and so we've been looking at the Book of Colossians the last few weeks cuz where else do you look when there's nowhere else to look you look to Jesus who is the king and Colossians is an incredible book an incredible look at Jesus and who he is at his love and his power as his supremacy and so we've been kind of unpacking that and I want to continue to do that today as we look at Colossians chapter 3 we're gonna bring this up on the screen and when we get to the read word I'm gonna ask you to say it out loud real loud alright here we go it says since you have been raised to new life with Christ look at this set your what sights set your sight set your sights on the realities of heaven where Christ sits in the place of honor at God's right hand set your sights on the realities of heaven now there's a there's a there's a scriptural teaching here that when we become followers of Jesus we become united with Jesus death and with his resurrection we've died with Christ and we've risen again in him we have new life in him we've been restored in him and Paul says listen we got a the way you control your attitude as you start to control your focus where you gonna put your focus he says set your sights on the realities of heaven in other words on all the things that God has done for you in your life don't lose your spiritual footing when everything else is pulling you in all kinds of different directions so I want to share two simple thoughts with you today one is to set your sights on God and the other is to set your sights on good first I want to talk to you about setting sites on God we have this Bulldog named Roxy that was with us for many many years she passed away this last year and we all miss her deeply but I was thinking about her because man when somebody would come to our house and ring the doorbell she would get so excited and she would run to the door and dance and you those of you with dogs you know what I'm talking about like dancing around the door who she thought everybody was coming to see her every it was always a visit to her you know she was the only person in the room in her little mind and it was little very very very little she danced around that door and what we knew is if we let people in to the house then as soon as she saw them she would pee and I'm not talking about a little pee or a polite pee I'm talking about waterworks you know I'm talking about get that somebody get the towel forget the paper towel so we got a strategy which is when the doorbell rang we were having friends come over I would run into the kitchen and I will grab some food and then I would go and I would usually just one chips all it would take I'd take a chip and I would hold it out in front of Roxy and her whole body would wag she'd be so excited people are at the door they're here to see me and as soon as she saw that chip will happen everything focused in on that chip now it was like Oh chip she forgot people were there she forgot that you know friends had come to see her it was all about the chip and we did this thousands of times literally had to be a thousand you know I hold the chip up she's so excited and she would follow me and we would I would put the chip in the bathroom and then she would go in to get the chip and I would shut the bathroom door and this was our strategy because then when our friends came in after about 10 or 15 minutes she would settle down and then she could come out and hang out with everybody and she wouldn't pee all over the place okay but what was amazing to me is Roxy hated the bathroom she did not want to go in the bathroom but all that went out the window when I held up the chip as soon as I held up the chip it didn't matter a thousand times and she did it every time whoo and I throw one chip in there straight into the bathroom and I shut that door that's the power of focus right see when Paul says were to set our sights on the realities of heaven that word set your sights means a continuous ongoing folk it takes effort right it's something we have to choose to do you got to set your sights on God and who he is and who he says you are on the realities of heaven you have to choose to do that and you have to stay engaged there in your heart and in your life and that will begin to set the course for your attitude that'll begin to affect kind of how you see everything else in your life so we have to set our sights on heaven set our sights on God and who he is and all that he's done for us look at this Colossians chapter 3 beginning in verse 2 he puts it this way he says think about the things of what heaven you see that think about the things of heaven not the things of Earth see think about the things of heaven not just the things of Earth one of my biggest challenges the last three months is all I'm thinking about are the things of Earth come on somebody all I'm thinking about or what's gonna happen in people's lives what's gonna happen with the coronavirus well are they ever gonna find a vaccine are there any treatment options that are actually gonna work all I'm focused on are the things when are we going to be able to open all of our church campuses what are we gonna be able to move forward what should I be doing right now as a leader it's all focused on the things of Earth and then I wonder why my attitude is struggling so much come on somebody I'm not focused on the right stuff that's important but the Bible just said it you got to think and that word think means it implies an intentional action to think about the things of God and the things of heaven so what does it mean to think about the things of heaven does it mean we sort of imagine ourselves floating around and togas and you know playing harps and like the things of heaven man I think it's way more than that just means to remember who God says you are remember who's you are remember all that you've learned and been taught spiritually over the years in your life hang on to those things and let them sink down into your life I think it means that we we acknowledge this tension that we're in between the already and the not yet see when Paul writes these verses and we're gonna look at some more in a minute he throws these tenses around past tense you know we've already died to Christ we've already died with Christ we've already died to sin past but then he also uses like present-tense we know we so there's past tense there's the present tense there's all this stuff moving around and I think it's sort of it reminds us of this simple principle that can be really powerful for us and that is that we live every day spiritually between the already and the not yet this is the tension between the already and the not yet you are here somewhere out here in no person's land right between the already and the not yet we live between the great things God has already done well we're also eagerly looking forward to the great things that he has yet to do and what I found in my life is that my attitude is greatly tied to where I focus in the in-between if you will sometimes I feel the not yet more than the already you know like is the world at peace not yet do I have an uninterrupted sense of purpose in my life and well-being not yet are my relationships satisfying and supportive all the time well with my wife guess cuz not yet are the people I look to for leadership always wise and uncompromised no not yet right is the work that I do always friction-free not yet are my efforts to love my friends and my family always appreciated not not yet am i valued for who i am and not just what i do not not yet am i free from destructive thoughts and emotions not yet am i immune to self-sabotage not yet do i have a body that is free from pain and weakness not yet do i live in a world free from greed and selfishness where everyone has enough not yet do i live in a world free from unfair bias or racism or tribalism not yet there do i live in a world where people's hearts have been captured and restored by the overwhelming love and acceptance of their heavenly father not yet and some days it's just it's easy to get stuck in the not yet you can get stuck there for weeks you can get stuck there for months years some people get stuck there their whole lives and it will ruin your attitude and point of the not-yet is that we look forward to God to what God will do rather than fixating of what he has not yet done so we also have this over here B already and they already reminds us that God is moving and working and so what are you gonna focus on what am I gonna focus on you're gonna focus on the things of heaven you're gonna think about the things of heaven it's gonna shift your focus from the not-yet to remember the already listen listen this is already God has forgiven me God has given me a new life and a new future already listen God has sent His Spirit to fill me already God has given me a new identity and a new name already God has written my name in the Lamb's Book of Life already God is with me and he has promised to never leave me already God is guiding me already God is strengthening me already God is working in my future already God's working in my family already God has promised to provide for me already God's given me a new hope already God is good already God is faithful already God calls me a friend already God hears my prayers already God is still in control already God loves me with an unconditional never-ending and unchanging love already the battle has been won already his victory is on the way already he is making all things new already already you have a new life in Christ already one day you will see it for all that it is but for now the greater life you've been promised the life that you sense is possible the life that you want I mean one day it will fully be revealed it's already but it's not yet and the Cape to trick is don't get stuck in the not-yet focus on the already that God has done and look forward to the not yet that he will do listen problems are not evidence that God doesn't care they are reminders that he isn't done problems are not evidence that God doesn't care they're reminders that he isn't done and this is why Paul says to think about things of heaven not just things of Earth it's what we got a we got to be heavenly minded which means that we make an effort each day to remember who we are and who's we are we remember our faith we remember that Christ is our life we remember that this life is not all there is we intentionally focus on Jesus the king and how that reframes our life we remember that this world is not our life Christ is our life and when you set your sights on heaven I actually believe you do the most earthly good because it motivates you to live from that so set your sights on God it'll totally change your attitude love God love others think about the things of heaven not just the things of Earth if you want a better life choose a better attitude here's another thought and that is to set your sights on good to set your sights on good I read this article this last week that was fascinating to me I got a I got a laugh out of it there was a prisoner who got really sick he had some some different issues that he was facing and it continued to go downhill and eventually they they it came to a point where it looked like he was gonna die and the doctors got involved and they actually had to jumpstart his heart five different times in this process and he actually did his heart stopped for a minute and they brought him back and you know he got better and while he was recovering after all of this he filed a legal motion and his legal motion was this he had a life sentence and he was dead for a minute so if he's legally dead for a minute and he's got a legal life sentence he's now served his sentence and he should be free to live you got to admire the the argument the judge didn't buy it as you can imagine she's like dead people don't make these arguments you're dead but that was his argument nonetheless but Paul is actually going to make the same kind of argument about us check this out Colossians chapter 3 beginning in verse 3 help me out on the read word here he says for you what died to this life you died to this life when you came to faith in Christ you died to this life and your real life is hidden with Christ in God and when Christ who is your life is revealed to the whole world you will share in all his glory so when Christ is revealed you will share in all of his glory you died in your own life to your past to your sins to your mistakes to use to your stuff Paul saying when it comes to your spiritual status as a Christ follower you are dead to who you used to be and you are alive now to who God has made you to be your life sentence has been served your life sentence has been so listen your dead to the sin that tries to drown you you are dead to the voices that want to define you you're dead to the failures that want to disqualify you you are dead to the guilt that controls you you're dead to the accusations that scare you you're dead to the drugs that may be call out to you you're dead to the rage that consumes you listen you're dead to the desires that ruin you you're dead to the temptations that haunts you you're dead to the mistakes that condemn you you're dead to the fear that harasses you you're dead to the pettiness you're dead to greed you're dead to insults you're dead to jealousy you're dead - cruel - you're dead to lying you're dead to steal and you're dead to rejection and listen you're dead to hatred you can't accuse a dead person you can't hurt a dead woman you can't harass intimidate or destroy a dead person you have a new life within you that cannot be killed it can't be killed you have a new power within you that will not run out you have a status as God's child that cannot be stolen it's already started but it's not yet finished and one day people are gonna look at you and they won't see the part of you that is wearing down listen they'll only see the part of you that is rising up they will see your failures they will only see God's victory that's your real life and Colossians says Lucas is hidden some right now but it won't be hidden forever it won't be hidden forever the old life is dead the new life has begun the old life is dead the new life has begun so we got to set our sights on the good we've got to remember all that God has done and it's easy to forget we've got to be intentional about our attitude you want a better life right now better Marisa here's the thing about attitude attitude your attitude my attitude affects everybody around us when I'm not okay my family is less okay right when I'm okay my family is more okay some of them might not be okay but you know we're it affects all of us listen when I'm not okay it affects our church our church gets impacted by that when I'm not okay my loved ones and friends get impact when you are not okay your kids get impacted by that your coworkers get impacted by that and we say around here it's okay to not be okay no problem but you don't have to stay there all the time you can choose a different attitude through faith in Christ you can set your sights with continual focus on God and on the good you can trust him in your life and so I want to just share some really practical things that I've been doing to try to give Judd an attitude adjustment in this season anybody need that I need it anybody with me here this mother all attitude adjustments real simple all right set your sights on the good and the first thing I want to talk to you about is just simply this good health good health it's super basic but it's really powerful listen I've been trying to get plenty of sleep I've been trying to go to sleep at the same time every night you know like being really disciplined about that I've been trying to be very intentional about dealing with stress about resting appropriately in my life up in eating breakfast come on somebody I've been drinking lots of water I've even been taking my vitamins especially that vitamin D I read an article you know and so I'm I'm just trying to do I'm just trying to do what I can do filming and I think it's made a difference in my own process here with health and that's a really simple thing but if you're worn out and you're exhausted and you're not sleeping and you're not taking care of yourself and you're not even doing the simple basic things it affects you in which it's we're all interconnected right the physical the spiritual it has a tremendous effect on our life here's another thing that I'm trying to focus on and that is good news good news this is this one's a challenge good news we all need to be informed I get it but we don't need to just flood our minds all the time with every bad news chaotic article that we can find out there right and they are all over the place you may think that kind of stuff doesn't affect you but it does and studies actually show even having it on in the background affects you and it builds up our stress and so we've got to be intentional to find good stories find things to be thankful for and give thanks the more we appreciate what God has done the more your life appreciates in value listen the more you complain the unhappier you're gonna get but the more you give thanks the more you enjoy in your life what you already have it's so good health is what I'm trying to focus on good news wherever I can find it is what I'm trying to hang on to and then good friends I think are very very important listen we all have those relationships that fill us up right people that bring joy and hope and encouragement lean into those people in your life connect with them however you can the quality of your relationships determines the quality of your life so lean into those relationships but we also have people in our lives that could be negative and draining anybody hear me hear you know what I'm talking about don't point to the person next to you now that's that's dangerous listen attitudes are contagious and you made it may need to do some extra social distancing right now from people in your life that like to spread their bad attitude everywhere else they go I'm not telling you to cut those people out of your life I'm just saying you might want to limit your exposure right at least for a time so that you could choose a better attitude so that you can get a better life Paul's saying look your real life is already hidden with Christ God has already won the battle set your sights on God set your sights on good good health good practices good news good friends and that will start to happen because I think the next struggle we're facing is the mental health struggle I mean we're already in it but I don't see it going away in the near future and the mental health struggle is huge all of these things are interconnected as a part of how we fight that battle as a reminder today of Viktor Frankl Viktor Frankl was a psychiatrist in Nazi Germany and like so many in Nazi Germany at that time he was imprisoned in the war camps he actually was imprisoned in four different death camps and survived many of his friends and family and people that he loved didn't survive but he did survive and being not only a prisoner but a psychiatrist he sort of looked at the prison camp experience through some different lenses as far as how people reacted and later he said that one of the things that he noticed in the prison camps when everything was stripped away from people is that people responded to that very differently and usually he found it was connected to meaning if they had a greater meaning in their life than just work or survival a meaning that was bigger or a purpose that was bigger or a mission in their life that was bigger that meaning and purpose would help them push forward but he said you'd see people that would come in and and they would fight they would choose their attitude they would fight to find meaning even in the middle of all of this and he said other people as soon as they got to the to the death camps would basically just emotionally lie down and prepare to die and he said you would see all of this play out and then he wrote this he said we who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others giving away their last piece of bread they may have been few in number but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing to choose ones attitude in any given set of circumstances to choose one's own way our greatest freedom he says is the freedom to choose our attitude so right now I know so many of us have had so much stripped away and that process continues on and we're all trying to figure out how to navigate it but as for me I want Jesus to not just be king of my life I want him to be king of my attitude and so I'm setting my sights on God and I'm setting my sights on good and I'm asking Jesus to lead me and guide me listen set your sights on God on who he is on all that he's done and remember remember you're dead to the old life you're alive to the new life remember who God says you are you're living in the tension between what God has done already and what God has yet to do problems though are not proof that God doesn't care there are reminder that God isn't finished and that his best is still on the way so lean into what he's already done while you wait on what he will do and then set your sights on the good do the things that you can do to feel good so it's easier to choose a good attitude in your life there's a lot of things you can't control there's a lot of things you can't choose but you can choose how you react so if you want a better life choose a better attitude and some of you maybe are here today and maybe you've yet to cross that line of faith maybe you're watching at home or at one of our locations maybe you're watching on our partnership with God behind bars at different prison facilities around the country and you've yet to fully surrender your life to Jesus Christ and I want to encourage you with all my heart listen what Christ has done for you can change your attitude it change your heart some of you are so tired you're tired of feeling like you're barely making it you're tired of feeling like you know you're you you've got this weight of bitterness and anger on your shoulders you're so tired of being angry there is another way Jesus wants to forgive restore heal do a work in your life and set you up to follow him he isn't finished yet and now could be your moment your opportunity it only took a pandemic to get here but here we are now could be your moment to surrender and to trust and to experience God doing something supernatural in your heart and in your life so if you'd like to become a follower of Jesus today I just want to ask everybody to bow their heads and close their eyes and you can repeat this simple prayer after me to say dear God I thank you for loving me thank you for sending Jesus into the world I believe you died on the cross for my sins of a levy rose again forgive me for my sins give me the gift of eternal life help me face the challenges that I'm up against God I surrender my life to you in Christ's name friends with every head bowed and every eye closed if that's your prayer today if it's your commitment you just slip your hand in the air wherever you're at just acknowledge that you're reaching out to God today you're trusting him in your heart and in your life just slip your hand in the air God we thank you for your love we're grateful for each person reaching out to you we pray you'll do a supernatural work in each of their lives as they follow you in faith we give you thanks in Christ's name Amen

Channel: Central Church

Views: 2,882

Rating: 4.8947368 out of 5

Keywords: central church, central online, central live, drew bodine, it's okay to not be okay, past jud wilhite, jud wilhite, sermons, online church, jesus is king, king of my attitude, covid-19

Id: qOBLJX6_Hak

Length: 32min 48sec (1968 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 27 2020