THE POWER OF ATTITUDE Proverbs 23:1-8 When you sit to dine with a ruler, note well what is before

you, and put a knife to your throat if you are given to gluttony (lacomie). Do not crave (pofti, tanji) his delicacies, for that food is deceptive (inselatoare). Do not wear yourself out (nu te chinui) to get rich; do not trust your own cleverness. Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout (vor aparea) wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle. Do not eat the food of a begrudging host (celui pizmas), do not crave (pofti) his delicacies; for he is the kind of person who is always thinking about the cost. Eat and drink, he says to you, but his heart is not with you. Next to knowing Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, nothing is more important than having a good positive attitude. Your attitude can: MAKE OR BREAK YOU HEAL OR HURT YOU MAKE YOU FRIENDS OR MAKE YOU ENEMIES MAKE YOU HAPPY OR MAKE YOU MISERABLE (nefericit) MAKE YOU A SUCCESS OR MAKE YOU A FAILURE Some people think that the whole world stinks (miroase urat). Once a cranky (morocanos) grandpa (bunic) laid down to take a nap. To have a little fun, his grandson put some limburger cheese on his mustache, right under his nose. Grandpa awoke with a snort (sforaiala), staggered (clatinandu-se) out of the bedroom and shouted, "This room stinks!" On through the house he went, shouting louder, "This whole house stinks!" He charged out on the porch (prispa) and shouted as loud as he could, "The whole world stinks!" The truth is, it was grandpa who stunk. The problem was right under his own nose (problema era chiar sub nasul sau). 95 times out of 100, when we begin to feel that things in life stink, the problem is not with the world or with others, but with ourselves. The problem is that our attitude has become negative. Change you negative attitudes to positive ones, and you can change your world. Someone had rightly (pe buna dreptate) said that attitude not aptitude determines ones altitude in life. Beginning today and lasting for the next several weeks we are going to talk about attitude. And this topic applies to everyone here, because we all have attitudes; sometimes theyre good, sometimes theyre not so good, and other times theyre just plain nasty (pur si simplu urate). Many of the ideas that well be sharing for this series are from a book called The Awesome (nemaipomenita) Power of Attitude written by Dale Galloway. I received this book free a couple of weeks ago when I attended a seminar that he was giving up in Winter Park on Building leadership. As I said I received the book free (explain) most of the books had do with attitude and getting along with people, maybe God was trying to tell me something. Now today we just want to introduce the subject, lay the ground (pune bazele) work for where well be heading. And we will do that by revealing 3 facts about your attitude...
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1. YOUR ATTITUDE - REVEALS THE REAL YOU How important is your attitude? Your attitude is more important than: facts - circumstances - what others say - its more important than your past - your education and your money. Your attitude is more important than anything else. And understand that your attitude is much deeper than just a few thoughts you might think or not think. Your attitude comes out of the core of your being (din adancul finite tale). Your attitude represents your disposition, your outlook (perspectiva), your very character. The Bible says in Pr 23:7; "For as a man thinks in his heart, so he is..." (NKJV) ILLUSTRATION; JAR OF WATER -- PUT A LID ON IT LOOSELY -- SHAKE THE JAR VIGOROUSLY UNTIL WATER FALLS OUT. ASK PEOPLE WHY THE WATER SPILLED? LID LOOSE JAR SHOOK GRAVITY NO, THE REASON THE WATER CAME OUT WAS BECAUSE THE JAR WAS FILLED WITH WATER. WHATS ON THE INSIDE IS WHAT COMES OUT. Jesus said, in MATTHEW 15:17-19 Dont you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of a persons mouth come from the heart, and these defile (spurca) them. For out of the heart come evil thoughtsmurder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander (calomnie). Your attitudes always become actions or reactions (reactii). When we least expect it, they will pop out (iesi la iveala) and cause other people to like or dislike us. Much Louder than the words you speak is your attitude that keeps telling people what you are really like. Personally I find this truth that my attitude reveals the real me. I like to say, like many others do, when I do or say something that obviously wasnt the right thing, "I didnt mean it, where did that come from," - it came from inside. When I have a negative, nasty (urat), critical attitude thats the real me and when you have one thats the real you. Understand we dont have an attitude just because we had a bad day (all that a bad day can ever do is shake our jar). The reason you have a bad attitude is because you have a bad attitude inside of you/inside of your jar. YOUR ATTITUDE REVEALS THE REAL YOU.

2. YOUR ATTITUDE DETERMINES THE SUCCESS AND FAILURE OF EVERY RELATIONSHIP IN YOUR LIFE. What a difference your attitude makes! Your attitude affects every relationship in your life. And sometimes relationships will never get started in the first place -- because many times your attitude has built up walls... making it difficult for people to be around you. Bad attitudes effect your marriage relationships/your relationship with your kids/at work/at church/friends And the thing that makes a bad attitude so destructive is that like the jar of water with the loose lid on it, a bad attitude is eventually going to spill out (verse) into some negative actions - destructive words and deeds. In Numbers 12:1-11, we read about 2 brothers and a sister. Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite. Has the LORD spoken only through Moses? they asked. Hasnt he also spoken through us? And the LORD heard this. (Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.). At once the LORD said to Moses, Aaron and Miriam, Come out to the tent of meeting, all three of you. So the three of them went out. Then the LORD came down in a pillar of cloud; he stood at the entrance to the tent and summoned Aaron and Miriam. When the two of them stepped forward, he said, Listen to my words: When there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, reveal myself to them in visions, I speak to them in dreams. But this is not true of my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my house. With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles (taine); he sees the form (chipul) of the LORD. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? The anger of the LORD burned against them, and he left them. When the cloud lifted from above the tent, Miriams skin was leprous it became as white as snow. Aaron turned toward her and saw that she had a defiling (pangaritor) skin disease, and he said to Moses, Please, my lord, I ask you not to hold against us the sin we have so foolishly committed. One brother Moses, had a good attitude. The Bible says that "Moses was a humble man, more humble than anyone on the face of the earth.." In other words, Moses was teachable (docil) and cooperative. He treated people as he wanted to be treated and he lived a life that was properly lined up with his heavenly father. But Moses brother Aaron and His sister Miriam on the other hand, chose a bad attitude - and they eventually spilled out. Miriam seems to have had the worst attitude and she infected her brother, Aaron. In verse one of Numbers 12 we read, "Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his cushite wife.." Get the picture? here they are, family members whom Moses thought he could count on and trust, going around behind his back, criticizing him, stirring up trouble among Gods people against their leader, their own brother Moses. YOU CAN NEVER TRUST PEOPLE WITH A BAD ATTITUDE BECAUSE THEY WILL DO THINGS THAT YOU NEVER THOUGHT THEYD DO

You see, most people who stir up trouble do so not out of right reasons but out of bad attitudes. The fact that Moses had married a Cushite wife was not the real problem - it just shook Miriams jar. This was just a symptom, an excuse. The real problem was that Miriam had a longstanding (de lunga durata) bad attitude. This bad attitude stemmed (a rezultat) from her jealousy of her brothers position and leadership. And out of her own poor self-esteem she allowed herself to become critical and choose to cause trouble. Often times the things that we criticize and get all stirred up about are not the problem at all. The problem is our own sour (acreala), sick, bad attitude. Ive seen and you have seen; bad attitudes; Destroy; marriages/families/work environments/board meeting/ladies meeting/church services...etc You see whenever you have an individual or a group of people filled with a bad attitude and wearing a loose lid, trouble is bound (trebuie sa) to happen, things will rapidly get negative.

3. YOUR ATTITUDE IS ALWAYS YOUR CHOICE I like the man who was explaining to a friend about his days in college. He said, "No, I never actually was in the top half of my class, but I can say that I was in the group that made the top half possible..." Two men are in prison. One looks out through the bars and sees only mud. The other looks out through the same bars and sees the moon & stars. They are both in the same place. Whats the difference? Its the attitude of choice. Without a doubt, the human mind is the most awesome (nemaipomenita) creation of God. With it, God has given us the ability to think, to, reason and to choose whether we will focus on positive thoughts or negative thoughts. In every one of our lives there is the positive and the negative. The choice as to which one we will focus on and feed (alimenta), nurture is up to us. Understand You cant choose what will happen to you today (its beyond your control) -- but you can choose your own attitude - we each have the power to decide how we will respond to what happens to us. Dr Victor Frankl stood under the glaring (izbitoare) lights of the Gestapo court in a Nazi concentration camp, soldiers had taken away from Victor every earthly possession - his clothes, his watch, even his wedding ring. And as Dr Frankl stood there naked, his body shaved before those cruel men, men who tried to take every ounce (gram) of dignity from him. At that moment Frankel said that he realized he was destitute (lipsit) except for one thing. He still had something that no one could take away from him, not even the Nazis. He still had the power to choose his own attitude. And he choose to not give that attitude to his enemies. He chose joy, he choose hope, he choose to be positive.

And let me give you an example of someone who was close to many of us. Judy faced an enemy perhaps more powerful then the Nazis. She faced an enemy that was unrelenting (fara mila), cruel and unstoppable. She saw the things she loved taken away from her - her health, her energy, her job, her life. Yet in the heat of that battle she went to a store in Brandon Town center and bought a red tshirt that said, ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING. When the manger of the store found out why she wanted it he was so moved by her attitude & courage that he gave the shirt to her - she wore it often to her treatments. Judy had cancer, but because of her attitude cancer never really had her. Judy refused to her attitude away to cancer. Maybe right now you are feeling pretty broken, your life has taken way too many turns for the worse. A lot of things have gone wrong. It seems like everything has fallen right down on top of you. Youre weary (obosit), overwhelmed (coplesit) and your hopes & dreams are fading (se sterg, evapora) fast over the distant horizon. I know from personal experience that it is not easy when the stuff of life hits you on the head, knocks you down and then kicks you in the stomach. But in such times you must remember that there is something that your situation can never take away from you - that there is something that not even; Nazis, Cancer, paralyses or even what youre facing can take away from you - your power to choose your own attitude. No matter what has happened to you (some of you have had tough times (vremuri grele); bad marriages, health...etc), the attitude choice though is still yours. And understand that Jesus Christ wants to help you choose and cultivate a positive attitude. I find it both interesting and tragic that the one thing that no person or circumstance can ever take away from us, the awesome power to choose our own attitude; is usually the first thing we give away. For you see to blame our bad attitudes on another person or on a difficult circumstance is simply a cop-out (scuza). And If we allow events and people to cause us to be negative we are only hurting ourselves more because in addition to everything else we are know forced to live with the effects and misery our bad attitudes will bring. YOUR ATTITUDE REVEAL THE REAL YOU DETERMINES THE SUCCESS OF EVERY RELATIONSHIP IS ALWAYS YOUR CHOICE NOW Before we go today I want to give you four steps that you can take HOME WITH YOU THIS WEEK, STEPS that will help you be more positive STEP ONE START SPEAKING POSITIVE WORDS The first step in becoming a more positive person is to work at learning to speak positive words. Notice, I said learn. And the reason because that speaking positively is something you have to learn by practice. It does not come naturally. It is always easier to talk negatively, to criticize. I mean most of us can do that without even thinking, the negative words, comments and phrases just flow effortlessly from our lips.
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The reality is that you help create the atmosphere in which you live by the words you speak. When your words are positive, you produce a creative, loving, accepting, positive environment. On the other hand when you speak negative words you create suspicion, mistrust (neincredere) and cant do anything right atmosphere. Therefore the task of the Christian life is to eliminate negative words, to do away with words that hurt and tear down, replacing them with positive words, words that build up, edify and encourage other people.

STEP TWO NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS LOOK FOR GOOD AND YOU WILL FIND IT A positive person (and thats the kind of person I want to be) is not one who refuses to recognize the negative (he knows there are plenty of negatives out there), but he refuses to dwell on them. Remember there is always the negative and the positive in every person or situation. And what a positive person does is develop the habit of looking for the best results even from the worst conditions... Its always possible to look for something good, even when things look bad. And the remarkable fact is that when you look after and seek good you will find it. PEOPLE TEND FIND WHAT THEY ARE LOOKING FOR. WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR NEGATIVE OR POSITIVE. We can look at the land and always see giants if that is what we are looking for or we can look at the same land and see a land flowing with milk and honey. Its a meter of focus, its a matter of choosing what you will look for. If want things to work out in life - if you want a good attitude - you need to focus on the positive look for the good in every situation and every person and you will find it STEP THREE IS TO TAKE CHARGE OF (a fi responsabil de) YOUR THOUGHT LIFE Let me share with YOU the 3 Fs of taking charge of your thought life: #1 FIX; "Fix your thoughts on what is true and good and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely (incantatoare), and dwell on (insista) the fine, good things in others. Think about all you can praise God for and be glad about it." (Phil 4:4-8) Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness (blandete) be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious (ingrijora) about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition (cereri), with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable if anything is excellent or praiseworthythink about such things. We are not to let our mind wander all over the place, but rather we are to take command of it and choose positive thoughts over negative ones.

#2 FILTER; Would you eat out of a garbage can (cos de gunoi) that not only had garbage (gunoi) in it, but had maggots (larve), poisons (otravuri) etc. To do so would be suicide. In like manner if you want to really take control of your thought life you need to filter the garbage out there. #3 FEED; Question: what are you feeding your mind? It matters what we feed our physical body, doesnt it? Many diseases we have today, from cancer, heart disease to no energy result from an improper diet. It is a fact that eating the wrong things can hurt you. But it is not enough to just stop eating the bad is it. Because if we do not start eating the good we will starve. In the same way its not enough to only filter out the garbage from our minds, we also have to feed on the good. There are many source of good books, music..etc But the greatest source of good thoughts is Gods word. Put God in get God out. Put Gods word into your mind and it will come out in your speech. STEP FOUR NEVER SURRENDER LEADERSHIP TO THE NEGATIVE -- ALWAYS LOOK FOR THE POSITIVE Question: when you feel the mighty onslaught (atacul) of a negative emotion, how do you handle it? Heres what you need to do: Admit it (recunoaste-o). Face it. But dont give in to it. You see, one way to destroy a negative emotion is to replace it for example: REPLACE: Anger (manie) with love fear with faith complaining with gratitude (recunoastinta) bitterness (amaraciune) with forgiveness judgment with acceptance feeling sorry for yourself with helping someone else Right now I am going to tell you a sure way for gaining victory over negative emotions. Learn to pray out your emotions. Learn to cry them out and pray them out until you pray through to victory. Did you know that Jesus prayed aloud and with emotion? In Hebrews 5:7, we read; "During the days of Jesus life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death and he was heard because of His reverent submission..." In other words Jesus shows us here by His own example how to pray out negative emotions to our heavenly father. Hebrews 4:15, teaches us that our high Priest, "is touched by the feelings of our weaknesses..."