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Just about everybody I know or have met in my life all have something in common. Almost everyone wants something better in their life. Nobody in their right mind would want things to be worse, would they? We want change, but we only want change for the better. Even people who have what they classify as a pretty good life, would always be up for something a little better.
We can’t always change the circumstances in our life, but we can always try to make our life a little bit better. We can make it more positive and less negative. Our scripture that we start with today can help point us in the right direction. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus (NIV) Another version says, Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus NKJV Our mind, our attitudes should be the same as that of Jesus. After all, our goal as Christians is to become like Him. The first place to start would be to think like Him and have our attitudes be like His.
What exactly is it that we are after by being like Christ? We should be after the fruit that He would have in His life. Let’s look real quick back our Fruit of the Spirit passage. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. (NIV) When we have the mind of Christ, when we have our attitudes the same as that of Christ Jesus, this is what our life will look like. Your circumstances may not change, but I guarantee that if you have these things in your life, your life will be better. Your life will be positive because these are positive things and your life won’t be negative because none of these are negative things.
So, how do we do it exactly? How do we make that change to positive from negative? We’re going to look at 6 different things we can do that will lead us to be positive people.
I. Think Positive Thoughts
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things. (NIV)
A. Some of us fail to discipline our thinking. To be a positive person, the first thing we have to do is not allow negative thoughts to dominate our minds. Now I’m not here to tell you that this is an easy thing to do, but it is something that we all have to work on. Negative thoughts dominate our minds. We are all afraid of failure and afraid of what other people might think of us. We allow fear to fill our minds with negative thoughts. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. NKJV With the Holy Spirit living in us, we have power, not fear. Notice also that this verse says we have a sound mind. That is a mind that we are in control of, not fear, not Satan, we are in control.
B. Christians must take deliberate action, replacing negative thoughts with positives and keeping an optimistic outlook. Easier said than done isn’t it? How do we do this? One thing we need to do is make a conscious effort to realize the thoughts that are in our head. When we feel our selves giving over to that negative thought, we need to rebuke it. That’s a word we really need to get a hold of in our life, REBUKE. It means to censure it, check it, repress it or admonish it. Put a stop to those thoughts. Say, “Lord, I rebuke these negative thoughts in the name of Jesus.” I repress them, put a stop to them.
The best way for us to get negative thoughts out of our minds is to get positive thoughts in there. Remember, our goal is to have the mind of Christ, so we need to put Christ like thoughts in our head. What would those be? Things that fit in the category of the fruits of the spirit. The best way would be to fill our minds with God’s words and then His thoughts will be there. The more we put of Him in our head, the less we have of negative things.
II. Hear Positive Sounds
The LORD Almighty has revealed this in my hearing:
(NIV)
A. What are we listening to? What is penetrating our ears? Are we pouring filth into our ears? It’s certainly not hard to hear things we don’t want to hear or things we shouldn’t hear. What affect are they having on us? We are almost all guilty of thinking that what we hear won’t affect us. We won’t let it take hold in our minds and lives, but everything we hear does affect us. It changes what we just got through talking about. It can change our thoughts and cause us to have those negative thoughts instead of positive thoughts.
Are we hearing the things of the world or the things of God? What we hear will affect our minds and what is in our minds will affect who we are, how we act and how we respond. What are we listening to? What’s coming out of that TV we have on? What about the radio or MP3 player we have? People stick these little speakers in their ears and crank the volume up and pay no attention to what they are pouring into their heads. I used to be really bad about what I heard. Just watching a movie didn’t bother me what was said on it, it’s just a movie. But I have to say that I’m getting to where I can barely stand any of the garbage that comes out now. I have to keep asking myself why they have to use all of those words. And I’m a guy that used to say all of them with frequency. But the more I try to be like Christ, the more it bothers me to hear these things.
B. We must listen to the good, not the bad. We must hear from the Lord and heed his word. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. (NIV)
There is an old saying, “Garbage in, garbage out”. In other words, if you keep feeding garbage into your head, pretty soon, that’s all you will know and all that will come out.
The bible says that out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. What ever is inside will come out.
III. See Positive Sights
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith (NIV).
A. Some Christians look for the bad in people and circumstances, seeing only the faults and the negatives. If you search out the bad, eventually, all you will be able to see is the bad. After a while, it will be hard to ever see any good. What are we focused on?
B. To be a positive person one must look for the good and look to Jesus. tells us “set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” (NIV)
IV. Speak Positive Words
Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts. (NIV)
A. Many people talk mostly about evil and bad events. This is kind of like watching the news these days. Did you ever notice that there is no good news? All we ever see is the bad news. Why? Because bad news sells. Doom and gloom sells. Good things that people are doing , nobody seems to care about. Ever notice that gossip is always something bad? Nobody makes up good stories about people but they will make up lies. Some people are harsh, unkind and take God’s name in vain. Every word that comes out of their mouth is rough. Never encouraging.
B. We should talk positively, seeking to glorify God by extolling His goodness, grace, and love. Lift people up. says: Encourage one another daily.
This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. (NIV)
V. Perform Positive Deeds
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, (NIV)
A. The deeds of many are negative. They are selfishly motivated, dishonest, and displeasing to God. What people tend to do, the tend to do for themselves. We are motivated by greed more than compassion. What’s in it for me? Some of it isn’t hardly our fault anymore, it’s just the way the world has turned. We have to worry about ourselves, because no one else will. If we don’t help ourselves, who will?
B. We must be truthful, ready to lift those who are down, and witness for Christ. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. 19 In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.
(NIV)
VI. Attend Positive Places
I rejoiced with those who said to me, "Let us go to the house of the LORD. (NIV)
A. Christians hurt their influence when they go to the wrong places in search of entertainment.
B. Be a positive Christian. Attend church faithfully. Go with God and He will go with you.
Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another. (NIV)
Conclusion: If we want to be positive people, we have to do positive things and stay away from negative things.
I. Think positive thoughts - whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things.
II. Hear positive sounds The LORD Almighty has revealed this in my hearing
III. See positive sights Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith
IV. Speak positive words Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts.
V. Perform positive deeds Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men,
VI. Attend positive places I rejoiced with those who said to me, "Let us go to the house of the LORD.
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