What's Your Attitude? -

got swindle served Dallas seminary well as the fourth president and is known by millions around the world for his practical application of the Bible to everyday living he now serves Dallas Theological Seminary as Chancellor we still discuss what that actually means don't we dr. Swann doe as Chancellor and is currently the senior pastor of Stonebriar Community Church in Frisco Texas dr. swindle is the author of more than 50 books and is the featured Bible teacher on the popular radio program insight for living which is aired nearly 2,000 times daily worldwide he and his wife Cynthia reside here in the Metroplex and love to spend much of their time with their four grown children and 10 grandchildren and am I correct six great-grandchildren last time you checked amen plea maybe more we'll play please join me in welcoming dr. Chuck Swindoll today hang at the at the school today and we're so glad you've chosen to do that pay close attention to what you see and for what you hear these are the people who have all the answers right over here that is what you wanted me to say Paul isn't that no these are folks that are learning right along with the rest of us and so grateful for the ongoing ministry of his school the graduates are literally around the world and our president right now is at a Jews for Jesus board meeting out in San Francisco and he would normally be here with you and I'm sure would be speaking to you in my place so I'm glad to be here with you and you're right about Chancellor nobody knows what it means so that's the kind of position to hold where nobody nobody knows what it is one of my grandson's years ago said to me wasn't Hitler a chancellor not yeah as I recall he was while I'm talking this semester on ways to ruin your time at Dallas seminary kind of coming in the back door rather than giving you a lot of hype about things related to ministry we're looking at it realistically last time I talked on worry and how that can drain you of your energy and anticipation I and that's not where we want to go but the enemy would of course bring everything to your attention that you could possibly worry about and then you spend your time here lost in that rather than things that really matter because most of those things don't happen now I'm on another subject today on how it can be ruined if you're not careful a couple of stories will help set the pace for all of this first we'll go to a 19th century musical genius who is also a bit of a showman his name was niccolò paganini he was a violinist was engaged in a violin concerto before a packed house that night and while playing this music all of a sudden Bing one of the strings on his violin pot broke and Hungary ously down from the instrument he frowned beads of perspiration burst out on his forehead and he kept going on three strings improvising and then the second string broke Bing and it hung down and wouldn't you know it before long a third string broke the conductor wondered if he should stop the peace and bhagavaty of course let's go on and he continued on one string when he finished of course that Italian audience burst to its feet and they shouted Bravo Bravo oh and thinking it was all over there certainly wouldn't be an encore he said please be seated please be seated he looked at the conductor and nodded and the conductor began the encore piece and his pocket and he put a Stradivarius under his chin he said to the audience and now hug Anini and one string and he played the encore on one string what an accomplishment the people sat shook their head as the conductor did they had never seen anything like it Paganini and one string change the geography changed the period of time and we move to the era of the Holocaust dr. Viktor Frankl born in Vienna by then had his degree and was beginning to practice neurology as well as psychiatry but because he was a Jew was brought before the German High Command and stood there having had everything taken from him his home his practice his wife family right down to the gold watch and his own wedding band as well as all of his clothing he should in full humiliation before his in interrogators naked under the Kliq lights as they falsely accused him of one act after another he was guilty of none of the above but they stayed at it and ultimately the man went through three years in concentration camps during which time he lost his wife he lost his mom and his father other relatives and he endured until the liberation out of the camp and made his way back to Vienna but before I go any further there Frankel writes in his book of a sudden realization that there was one thing no one could ever take from him can you guess what it was it was his choice of attitude no one no matter what else they may take can make me determine what my attitude is I take that on myself it's my choice it really came down to Viktor Frankl and one string with part immediate was fortitude and with Franco it was determination they will not make me hate I will live in hope they will not make me bitter I will forgive they will not make me mean-spirited I will love they cannot make me anything I do not choose for myself the choice of attitude made all the difference in the life of Viktor Frankl some time ago I wrote a piece on attitude at our insight for living ministry they they put a nice frame around it and I remember sitting in my in my study at my desk and just writing it out in longhand and thinking through how much attitudes really mean to us because you see what will ruin your years at this school is the choice of a wrong attitude there are those who have come through this school having made a decision about an attitude that changed their whole opinion of the school and even a ministry I don't know where they are today but I can assure you they're not engaged in a meaningful ministry with others and that attitude began right here in the ranks of other students at this school I saw it when I was here I've seen it in years that have followed and unless I miss my guess I'm looking at some today who are teetering in the balance of what attitude I'm going to choose in light of what I've experienced in days past I've said for years that we all have someone we can blame for something all of us have been hurt wounded by someone else maybe it's plural by others your choice of attitude will make all the difference in how you respond to that here's what I wrote the longer I live the more I realize the importance of choosing the right attitude in life attitude is more important than facts it is more important than your past more important than your education or your financial situation it's more important than your circumstances your successes or your failures more important than what other people think or say or do including what they think or say about you it is more important than your appearance your giftedness or your skills it will make or break a company it will cause a church to split or succeed it will make the difference between a happy home or a miserable home you have a choice each day you live regarding the attitude you choose life is like a violin you can focus on the broken strings the dangle or you can play your life's melody on the one that remains you cannot change the years that it passed you cannot change the daily tick of the clock you cannot change the pace of your march toward death you cannot change the decisions or reactions of other people you certainly cannot change the inevitable these are strings that dangle they mean little today what you can do is play on the one string that remains your attitude I'm convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I respond to it the same is true for you poll was down to one string when he wrote the letter to the Philippians he found himself under house arrest he did not know what the future holds no one does but he had a group of people he loved and he chose while sitting there chained to a Roman soldier that he would write a letter to these people he cared about it has come to be known interestingly as a letter of joy isn't that interesting why because he chose that attitude when you turn to the letter to the Philippians and you work your way through it you will see the attitude emerge over and over and often it's related to his choice to rejoice rather than to blame or to grieve he says in verse 12 of chapter one I want you to know brothers that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel look at that my circumstance what were they well as he wrote you could hear the chain rattle you could hear the soldier breathing next to him maybe he was sleeping maybe he was wide awake staring at this strange man writing with a great deal of passion but my circumstances have chosen have turned out for them for the greater progress of the gospel so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole Praetorian Guard and to everyone else you know how it's what I call a captive audience when you have a soldier chained to you and you want to talk about Christ he can't get away how good is that may could grieve all day about being chained or he could choose joy you know what we used to do that when we were kids I don't know when we learn to frown so much and get so negative kids are basically fun-loving animals little creatures on the way I have a friend who calls junior highers pre people I love the story of the the precocious little granddaughter who's spending the weekend with her grandmother they're fixing cookies in the kitchen and the little girl is beginning to lose interest she's seven eight years old and she says granny how old are you your grandmother swallows hard and says well honey granny never talks about her age he's a good you could trust me how old are you and I granny said well really honey I'm not going to tell you how old I am it wasn't long before the grandmother realized that the child wasn't around and she was there was silence which meant you got to be checking on this thing too she went upstairs and there was the little girl sitting on the grandmothers bed with the purse upside down and all of the belongings from the purse inside and she's holding the driver's license as little girl says to her grandmother granny you are 76 years old grandmother said well how'd you know that what she's I know what year this is and let's see what year you were born and I just subtracted you're 76 he also made an F in sex it's just built and the kids they don't they don't know they're having fun they don't know what they're saying is unusual but I never had heard that before Paul's got F written all over his circumstances it's an impossible situation he had dreams of reaching the world going all the way to Spain he certainly wanted to appear before Nero before his life was over but look where he was and he sits down to write a letter enjoy you know why I'm impressed because he didn't have to no one told him that he was going to write this many letters or these many thoughts for the people in the years to come to read and to find strength in he just simply made the best of his circumstances in fact he talked about that when you get to he wrote about that when you get to chapter chapter to listen to these words from verse three down through five do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit that's an attitude you'll be tempted again and again at the school to be selfish you'll be tempted the more you learn to get conceited I love the fact that one man wrote it this way in education is going from an unconscious to conscious awareness of my ignorance when you really get the message of this school that we have to offer you'll realize how ignorant you are and when you graduate you're ignorant you realize will be far more than you had thought it was so do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit do nothing on the basis of that wrong attitudes but then he turns to uh a right attitude with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself you talk about a lifetime task oh through your life certainly if you make something of it you will be given an opportunity to grow and even by God's grace to be promoted not one of these people ever thought they would be on the faculty at Dallas seminary not one they do not feel that they deserve it because it's a matter of grace and in all of their learning and all of their grow all of their degrees it was never thought I'll be on the faculty I guarantee you virtually every one of these men and women was surprised when they were invited to join the faculty theirs is a life of unselfish service they commit themselves to this task year after year and they face students people like us that they're willing to pour their lives into Paul goes further have the same attitude in yourself that was also what in Christ Jesus you realized it was an attitude that Jesus had when he left heaven to become a part of our lives on this earth it was an attitude of unselfish humility he came and he lived among those who did not want him came into his own things in his own ones did not welcome him John writes didn't change his attitude he's more determined than ever I'm on Matthew in our church out in Frisco and we recently finished that scene where Jesus stands toe-to-toe with those proud critical Pharisees and scribes and he in this faceoff he brings to their attention the things they're not willing to see in themselves very common among those who are proud is a lack of self awareness around Jesus you get a little self-awareness especially when he looked him in the eye and said you hypocrites think about that you can't remember the last time you called anyone a hypocrite and I can't either but when you're Jesus and you have an attitude of humility it isn't a statement of judgmentalism it's the truth no one else would tell them that I love the line a little later on in the same narrative where the Apostles are the disciples come up to Jesus and say to him you realize that you offended the Pharisees when you said that really an attitude of unselfish humility here's another one well you'll need this one about halfway through the school here verse 14 do all things without grumbling and disputing whoa some of you already caught that cut that verse out of your Bible you thought you jumped from 13 to 15 at 14 when there's a positive mental attitude what a privilege it is to be in this country what a privilege to be considered as a student at this school what a privilege to gain a knowledge of God's Word but you know what would you get here if you're not careful you'll fall into a grumbling and complaining attitude because you you think the course is too hard it's supposed to be hard you think there's too many books to read relax someday you'll be able to read the books you want to read and then you will have picked up the habit about reading those you didn't want to read how good is that huh grumbling and complaining please I heard it all the way through my four years here and I got some sick of it I could have screamed what are you complaining about who are you blaming what's wrong with you it's a choice of a bad attitude very simple you see the aggressive response when you don't choose a good attitude is to blame or to have self-pity both of them are pathetic what an absolute waste I made a list Blane never affirms and assaults blame never restores it wounds blame never solves it complicates blame never unites it separates blame never smiles inference blame never forgives it rejects blame never forgets it remembers blame never builds it destroys all things without grumbling or complaining remember that it's a choice of attitude when you get to chapter three is the same and it's all about joy begins the whole chapter with those words finally brothers sisters rejoice little later on he says it again I say rejoice let your patience be known to all people around you it's an attitude of willingness to wait I was speaking at a moody founders week conference several years ago and met a great lady there and she had a terrific sense of humor and we hit it off right away and she wrote me a note when the conference was over this is what it says Chuck I want you to know I've been here all week and I've enjoyed every one of your talks I know they'll help me in my remaining years I love your sense of humor she says humor has done a lot to help me in my spiritual life how could I have raised 12 kids starting at age 32 and not have had a sense of humor I'm married at age 31 I didn't worry about getting married I'll let my future in God's will to God's will but every night a hung a pair of men's pants on the bed as I knelt down and prayed father in heaven hear my prayer and grant it if you can I've hung a pair of trousers here please fill them with a man what a great attitude well I thought it was really funny and so I I ran it into my sermon the following we didn't fit but I put it in there anyway interestingly in the congregation was a father and a son the mother was home with a sick daughter so half the family was there and and half was away so mom and daughter didn't hear my comments about that funny remark the lady had written me in about a week and a half I got a letter from the mother it was terrific your Chuck he writes I want to know if I have anything to be a concerned about she said my son has a bikini hanging on the foot of his bed should I be concerned total farms I know you got nothing to worry about lady what a great attitude you're not married so what you are married big deal make the most of either one you spread your time wasting it over not having or feeling like you could have had another kind of partner you've got the very one God sovereignly has chosen for you to have remember the vows for better or for worse she takes those vows to remember or he takes those same vows it's life my wife and I have learned that our attitude has everything to do with the whole atmosphere that is in our home how important it is that we let that attitude stay positive she's terrific about that oh I'll bring situations to her and rather than looking at the glass half-empty she'll remind me that it's half-full with ideas I'd never thought of before how horrific is that she had back surgery a year ago next month serious surgery he cut into her in the front for three and a half hours and turned her over and cut into the back for six and a half hours that's a serious surgery it's called a 360 operation by this very capable spinal surgeon recovery from that was horrendous still going on guess who were a caregiver has been you think I'd give that privilege to somebody else I've had the joy of being right there through the lengthy days and of pain like I cannot describe not once have I heard a statement of complaint from her birth amazing she's so gracious she'll say things like nobody has had a caregiver like I've had and I think in my mind if you knew some of the thoughts I've had at times you wouldn't be that great hearted but you know what when I chose joy the Sun was out every day the room was filled with laughter we had more fun at times and she began to learn how to walk again and turn again and sit down again through all the pain of all of this the secret has been an attitude Paul sums it all up in Chapter four whatever is true whatever is honest whatever he's just whatever is pure whatever is lovely whatever is a good report fix your mind on these things not on Donald and Hillary okay you want to ruin your day try to follow that bunch of clowns from one day to the next please how grateful how grateful I am close how grateful I am that God is sovereign sometimes when I watch that news and shut it off I almost want to throw the remote edit at times I'll say lord thank you for helping us through this mess neither one is worth a toot one of us getting to get to office but you know what I remind myself God has seen this old world through the mission Nero horrible Pope's terrible preachers dreadful men and women right down to where we are now and not once have I heard a groan from heaven what am I gonna do with these two clowns please fix your mind on things that are true and honest and just and pure and lovely and of good report all the things they are not fix your mind on who God is and what he's doing if you don't you're in the camp with one or the other remove what a dreadful place to live I was sitting at uh at the head table at the Christian Booksellers Association several years ago and I was because I was going to speak at this bentwood just packed with people I made 3,000 people were there and I looked around and I saw all the authors that had written all the people I admire and my thought was why on earth didn't I call in sick why did I say yes when any one of those people could do a far better job than I and suddenly to my great delight spotlight turned from the center of that stage down to the end and there said a lady in a wheelchair whom I've known and loved since the 70s teenager in 1967 she dived in the Chesapeake Bay and lost feeling as a result of that broken vertebrae that paralyzes you and since that time he's never been out of that chair she had the biggest smile as she looked at me and said hi Chuck can't wait to hear you talk tonight no even so Lord come now now let it in with her so she said I'm not here to talk I'm here to sing but she said I all the muscles that are part of this diaphragm I'm supposed to have don't work right so I need you to help me and she begins when peace like a river attendeth my way when sorrows like sea billows roll whatever my line you've taught me to say it is well with my soul my sin oh the Bliss of this glorious thought my sin not in part but the whole is nailed to the cross I bear it no more praise the Lord O my soul and we were by them saying it crying and laughing and I walked down there and hugged her and thanked her and I realized when I walked back to my seat there's Johnny Erickson and one strength because she plays that string so beautifully the world is blessed by her presence quick story and I'm through my sister was a part of the women of faith ministry for over 20 years that's such a great time she said one of our favorite guests was Johnny and we would bring her and she would minister it we've had the same experience at our church one of these particular events they had overbooked so they had to bring in extra chairs and some are down here mashed against the platform it lifter watch the whole thing doing this the money I paid for this little wind-up doesn't say that bubbly chair well I'm good this is not fair is how much money they make I was so the lady who was the leader of the group Mary gram wonderful friend said to Johnny we've already announced that we we overbooked and we just didn't want anybody to miss so we put with she said could you just say something to the ladies so that they would just accept the fact that we did our best Johnny said I'll take care of this rolls herself out on the stage look sentiment says understand that some of you do not like the chairs that you're sitting she said since 1967 I haven't liked mine either but it's the chair God has for me suddenly all the people shall praise God thank the Lord for any chair one strength it's all you got one string if you let the enemy take his have his way in your life you'll focus on the three the dangle your dad who did this against you and shouldn't have your mother who didn't prove herself to be the mother you needed or wanted that man that took advantage of you or that woman or that boss or that coach or that teacher I don't care what your name they're all dangling strings and they mean nothing unless of course you want to live a dango strained life rather than playing on the one string that God's given you go there listen to me go there it's well with my soul it's well with my soul Lord it's well with my soul thank you for this chair thank you for this life I give you this ministry for this training for this faculty for the privilege of living for you dear father we acknowledge that we're all short-sighted we just are like that it's part of our depravity we hated about ourselves but there we are today some things have been said that can make a difference but they won't if we turn to those three strings enable us Lord at least for the Encore to play this magnificent melody called living the life you have provided for us and doing it for your glory with an attitude of unselfish humility free of complaining and grumbling full of joy marked by love and whatever is true and honest and just and pure and lovely and a good report enable us to fix our mind on these things in the name of Christ who came and lived playing is one string we pray everybody said

Channel: Dallas Theological Seminary

Views: 49,663

Rating: 4.8003025 out of 5

Keywords: Dallas Theological Seminary, DTS, Dr. Chuck Swindoll, choices, attitude, patience, perspective, humility, joy, trust

Id: fPVKsrg8POI

Length: 42min 48sec (2568 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 18 2016