Live Free with Josh Howerton - Does Your Attitude Help Spread the Good News? | Ep. 40 | Friday March 31, 2023

Episode Date: March 31, 2023

The circumstances you walk through in life can be incredibly hard at times. Even so, did you know that the attitude you present as you go through them impacts the people around you? The good news of Jesus can be proclaimed despite the struggle and in a lot of ways, the struggle makes the good news more evident. In today’s episode, Pastor Mike shares what it looks like to hold onto your faith in the middle of it all. For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.comit. Church slash daily drive. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Hey, welcome to the Daily Drive podcast. My name is Mike Bro, and we're simply taking a few minutes each day of the week to slow down and just listen to God. So, hey, I just want to thank you so much for joining us, and it's an honor just to get the hang with you. And what we're doing, we're just walking through a little book of the Bible called Philippians.

It's found the back of the New Testament section of the Bible. Actually, it's a letter that was written by a very passionate guy who was chosen by God to spread the good news of Christ's love all over the world. And this guy's passion, his courage, his boldness, his faithfulness, his love for all people, it landed him in a Roman prison where he was unjustly incarcerated for his faith in Jesus Christ. And so he writes most of these letters from there, and he writes this particular letter from a prison cell. And we are in verse 12 of chapter 1. And I wanted to tell you, re-recap that about him being in prison, because his attitude is amazing when you read this. So if you've got a Bible, you can look at it. Verse 12, Paul says this,

I want you to know, my dear brothers and sisters, that everything that has happened to me here has helped to spread the good news. That's just amazing to me, because you never know how your attitude in the midst of tough times helps spread the good news. When people see you in a tough struggle

and they see your faith, and they see your peace, they see your joy, they see your aliveness, they see your hope, even when your life is really, really hard, it makes a huge statement. Because, gang, life gets hard for everybody, and people are looking for hope. Paul goes on to say in verse 13, for everyone here, including the whole palace guard, knows that I'm in chains because of Christ. I love this.

They know, they know I'm not a criminal. They know what it is that landed me here. they know I'm here only because of my love for Jesus. In fact, all the guards now know all about him. And I love this. They thought that Paul was their prisoner. And Paul knew that they were his captive audience. You know, I can't wait to maybe meet a few of those guards in heaven someday.

Because of their conversations with a guy filled with peace and joy in their prison. He goes on verse 14. And because of my imprisonment, most of the believers here, have gained confidence and boldly speak God's message without fear. I mean, here's people going, man, if Paul can, if he can have that kind of attitude, what he's going through, if he can have that kind of joy, if he can have that kind of contentment, if he can have that kind of confidence, guess what, so can we. By the way, that's what you call true leadership to model faith over fear,

to model confidence over insecurity, peace, over anxiety, hope over despair, gratitude over entitlement, joy over gloom, people pick up. up on that stuff. Listen, your kids are inspired by that kind of leadership. Your friends and your neighbors notice that. And as other believers saw Paul's attitude, they were inspired to live their lives with the same kind of fearless love. Oh, my time is up today. So just let those few verses resonate in your heart. I know that some of you listening are going through some really tough stuff. And please know that I and many others pray for you every day. And also know that so many of you inspire us, like Paul inspired his readers. Your resilience, your patience, your endurance,

your joy, your kindness, your faith, your gracious attitude is resonating and spreading the good news in ways you may never know. So if it's okay before we close today, I just like to pray for you. Father, I thank you for people that are listening today that are going through tough stuff. God, there are all kinds of people that are such an inspiration because of their faith in the middle of tough circumstances. And Jesus, I thank you for the way you give us peace that is absolutely unexplainable in those circumstances. Your peace is not the absence of conflict. It's just calm in the middle of the chaos. So I thank you for the way you give that to so many of us. you especially for all of our friends today that are going through struggles, but man, they are

spreading the good news of God's love because people can see their faith. And they do it with such a gracious attitude. I pray God that you have blessed their lives today. And I pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen. Hope you guys have a great day. See you next time. Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays at 6 p.m. and Sundays at 9.30 and 11 a.m. Central Standard Time. Also, if this podcast was helpful to you, would you be sure to rate, review, and share this podcast to help get the word out? For more information about all digital ministries of Lake Point, visit lakepoint.compt.combe.combe.combe.