Your Attitude
Pastor Rod Thompson
Midland SDA Church
February 8, 2020
You’ve heard the saying attitude is everything. But when it comes to personal spiritual growth and church growth there is nothing that could be more important. From 2003 -2007 there was some research done to identify the fastest growing SDA congregations in North America. The criterion was that they had to have at least 5% increases in attendance, membership and baptisms for 5 consecutive years. In this research project they then studied the top 5 fastest-growing congregations.
The interesting thing about each of these top 5 growth churches is that they had a strong evangelistic ministry to the community. In every case they were a bright light in their community. But it is also interesting that they determined that no single factor alone will help your church grow – including some imaginary, ideal location where numerical or other increase is automatic.
They also determined that no combination of efforts or strategies will make your church grow without the Holy Spirit. But with the Holy Spirit there is every reason for optimism and enthusiasm for the future.
Of all the factors that the research study identified as contributing to church growth – including effective leadership, enthusiastic involvement of the members, utilizing the power of prayer, and inspiring and dynamic worship – none was more important than faith – based optimism.
In other words, the most important ingredient in church growth is to have a winning attitude based on faith and trust in God. Attitude involves the way you perceive things – your views and how you interpret situations.
In short, attitude is the mental filter through which a person sees the world. Some people perceive the world through a filter of optimism, and no matter what happens, they always trust God and claim Romans 8:28
Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose
We could define a winning attitude as one that does not result from what happens in the world, but how we decide to interpret events in the light of God’s promises and activities in the world.
Attitudes can either be winning or defeating. Let me show you why we must reject a defeated attitude
You have your bibles open to Numbers 13
God has brought the Israelites out of Egyptian bondage. He brought them through the Red Sea, provided food and water for them in the desert, He has brought them to the borders of Cannon, and now He wants to bring them into the Promised Land.
Read Numbers 13: 1-3 So Moses sent 12 spies into the land
Read Numbers 13: 17-20
God promised to give them a land flowing with milk and honey. But you know the results, 10 of the spies that Moses sent out to explore the land could not trust God to fulfill His promise. They viewed things purely through a human perspective.
Read Numbers 13: 31-33
A defeated attitude hinders God’s blessings and offends Him. The 10 spies had a foretaste of the lands goodness, but they didn’t live to possess it because they mocked God and elicited His wrath upon themselves.
Read Numbers 14: 22-23
A defeated attitude leads to anxiety and insecurity. The spies left in confidence, with a spirit of adventure, but returned in fear, no longer trusting and relying on God.
The whole Israelite camp wept because the 10 spies felt disappointed, betrayed, frustrated, and insecure. And what was the result? They influenced everyone else to want to appoint a new leader to take them back to Egypt.
They said it would be better for us to be slaves once again, or to have died in the desert.
They ceased to trust in the Lord.
Read Deuteronomy 1: 29-35
A defeated attitude is the root of unbelief. It prompted the 10 spies to lose their faith in God and compare themselves to grasshoppers (Numbers 13: 33)
But a winning attitude opens up your spiritual vision
Read Numbers 13: 30
You see, Joshua and Caleb had a different view of the situation. They were aware that the inhabitants were powerful and lived in fortified cities. But they knew that God would keep His promise. They expressed no fear at all. Rather they attempted to encourage the crowd.
Read Numbers 14: 6-9
A winning attitude is the mark of a Godly person, the mark of a Godly leader. You see Godly leaders who trust God and believe in His ability to do the impossible will move their churches from where they are to where the Lord wants them to be.
Have you ever wondered why God wanted Moses to send spies to the land of Canaan? God could have told Moses every little secret about the cities there, and guided the children of Israel toward victory.
I have to conclude that God was allowing them to be tested. He wanted to see their attitude.
We can look at this story and we can say, that’s a nice history lesson, but what does that have to do with me?
Read Romans 15: 4-6
God allowed Israel to be tested. Sometimes God allows us to go through circumstances before we can actually be blessed. How do we react when God allows our faith to be tested? Are we anxious or do we trust Him and His power.
An essential quality of a winning attitude is to respond with trust and confidence. Not only did the disobedient spies have a defeated attitude, but later on they sought to conquer the Promised Land in their own strength in spite of God’s warning and they lost the battle.
When we meet strong holds, standing in our way, we need to find strength in God. As we do we will start to look beyond what we see in this world?
Proverbs 3: 5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.
Attitudes are contagious. Is yours worth catching? Furthermore, attitudes are extremely powerful. Therefore attitudes of defeat have a disastrous influence on others.
It is unbelievable how just 10 ordinary people turned almost the entire nation of Israel against Moses, Joshua and Caleb. You see, one or two people in the congregation can motivate the entire church to have a defeated mentality (attitude).
Just a few people can destroy trust in God when it comes to public evangelism, community service, and financial support for the school for the church or missions.
Therefore, I want to urge you to never give room to defeated attitudes in your personal spiritual walk or in the church. If I summarized this concept, I would say, your attitude determines your destiny, your success, and your growth – as well as the churches growth.
Often times we look at the first century church with envy. We look at it as a time of church growth and Christian spirituality. But the situation today is much the same as it was in the first century.
Christianity spread, not because it didn’t have challenges, but because it had a strong faith in Jesus Christ and the power of His Spirit. In our time God will carry His church to triumph and success.
We are coworkers with God who can accomplish anything. The Lord is willing to do great things for us. We don’t gain the victory through numbers, but through the full surrender of the soul to Jesus.
We are to go forward in His strength, trusting in the mighty God of Israel. God desires to do great things for His children and His church. Not that God depends on us, nor does faith based optimism rest on wishful thinking or ignorance of reality. It is based on the power of God.
God does things that are impossible for us. Nothing is too difficult for Him. A reality that scripture testifies to again and again.
He gave a child to a barren woman who was 90 years old, married to a man who was 100
He gave a child to a virgin who never knew a man
He took a youth and defeated a giant
And He promised that if we have faith of a mustard seed we can move mountains
The entire weight of the scriptures is behind faith in a God who can do all things.
When we believe in the power of God, He rewards us with His rich and abundant blessings.
So how does your attitude of faith affect the church? And how can it make it grow?
First of all we must be willing to grow and pay its cost. Yes, there is a cost associated with church growth.
The cost of growth is that of changing the culture to believe in the God who can do the impossible.
Faith will empower us to move from indifference to missional life
From tradition to transformation
From maintaining the status quo to engaging the present
An optimism based on God’s promise enables us to move from ease and comfort to living with adventure, faith, criticism, and even pain, from putting in time to effectiveness
And from dead orthodoxy to a living faith. We must move from our usual worship.
From profession of faith to passion
From plans to purpose
From pain to promise
From programs to people
And from paralysis to prayer
So how do we make that happen?
1) Build your own faith first – Study God’s action in the bible
2) Live out your faith – demonstrate faith in action and in word. Always talking about the incredible power of God
3) Instill a vision in the congregation of God’s greatness through your own testimony
4) Help build an enthusiastic congregation with a healthy self–esteem that believes all things are possible with God.
a. Call attention to the action of God – High attendance and offerings, answered prayer
b. Address problems from the perspective of faith. Take the opportunity to be creative
c. Hang out with people who have faith based optimism – by beholding we become changed
The question is, how does faith based optimism affect us?
Faith based optimism makes a difference in your life and witnessing in 3 ways
1. It affects your perspective of God
Believing in faith based optimism is to accept the reality that with God all things are possible. Including His mandate to make disciples of all nations, tongues and peoples. Even if they are not receptive to start with
2. It affects your witnessing and evangelism
Real growth in the church takes place when the members are passionate about the mission of Jesus Christ and are actively sharing His love with the world around them
So think about that for a minute – Lack of involvement in evangelism could be attributed to
Weak spirituality
Failure of vision
Fear of rejection
Busyness
Disdain of traditional methods of evangelism
Doubt that people are interested in the gospel or our unique message
Faith based optimism will shape the way you do ministry. With faith your ministry will have eternal significance. What ever ministry you do – whether it is adult or children’s Sabbath school, whether you are a deacon or elder – no matter what you do – it is about leading people to the throne of grace, where their lives will be radically changed.
3. Faith based optimism will affect your attitude about your churches ministry and its outreach.
One of the greatest hindrances to God’s work is that of our attitude
I can’t tell you how many times I have heard people say things like, this area is too hard to reach, people here are not receptive to the gospel, we tried that before and it didn’t work, we don’t have the money or resources to make that happen.
But when we have faith based optimism, you have a new enthusiasm to share your faith
Your willing to try something different to reach people
You adapt old methods to fit the new time and generations
Our church can become a place of hope and faith and growth.
Faith based optimism becomes a reality when leaders and members buy into it and it permeates throughout the entire life of the church from song service to ministry, and from committee meetings to evangelism.
An attitude of optimism and faith means that instead of letting challenges intimidate us we expect God’s triumphant intervention. We pray for conversions in large numbers as we work in the power of the Holy Spirit. And we anticipate that God will do great things.
What are your expectations? God will reward you according to your faith and what you look forward to.
Therefore, wait and pray for great worship, great services, great faith, great Sabbath school, great people, and great growth.
Expect God to do great things. Expect God to help you fulfill your potential. Expect people to be transformed and to change the world and to do wonderful things for God
Moses sent 12 spies to check out the land and see if it was possible to take the promised land. Ten came back and claimed it was impossible. But 2 said, if God is with us, we can do it.
How about you? Will you join me in believing that as we begin this New Year, that God is on our side and that we can win our community for Jesus?
Prayer and faith will accomplish what no power on earth can do.
We need not be anxious or troubled. The human agent cannot go everywhere, and do everything that needs to be done. Often imperfections manifest themselves in the work. But if we show unwavering trust in God, not depending on the talent or ability of men, the truth will advance.
Let us place all things in God’s hands, leaving Him to do the work, according to His own will, through whomever He may choose.
Those who seem to be weak God will use, if we are humble.
Human wisdom, unless controlled by the Holy Spirit, will prove foolishness. We must have faith and trust in God. He will carry out the work with success.