We are "The Difference Maker"

The speaker talks about the importance of having a positive attitude in all aspects of life, both at home and outside. They discuss the impact of attitude on our relationships and how it can make a difference in our daily lives. The speaker asks questions about where our attitudes come from and the limitations and capabilities of our attitudes. They give examples of biblical figures who maintained positive attitudes despite difficult circumstances. The speaker emphasizes the need for hope, encouragement, and understanding in our interactions with others. They also mention personal challenges they are facing and how they choose to maintain a positive attitude. Overall, the message encourages listeners to have a positive and hopeful attitude in all situations. Just waking up this morning, just seeing the beautiful sky, all the birds, the air, my animals in front of me, and a beautiful morning of a sunrise. I love the fact that all around me are doves. All around me. I just praise God for his creation. Such beauty, such beauty. I wanted to come together this morning, just wishing you a happy Tuesday. Everybody's getting back to work, trying to readjust, trying to get these kids up and going, and getting on your way this morning. Probably got to hit traffic, probably got to go through some things. I have been talking on the character of God in different ways, and I wanted to share with what God has shown me this morning. Amen. Let's start out with just a small prayer. Father God, I just thank you for this morning. I thank you for all that you are doing. I thank you, Father God, because you put the breath of life within us today. I thank you, Father, that everyone under the sound of my voice, Father God, I believe in Jesus' name and through faith that your Holy Spirit is going through the airways right now, bringing comfort where comfort is needed, bringing healing where healing is needed in Jesus' name. I thank you, Father God, that you are restoring, refreshing, Father God, you are waking us up this morning, Father. And I just pray, Father, that this short word just gives somebody just hope today, just a firm foundation, reminding them that Jesus is the rock to stand on. In Jesus' name. Amen. Okay. God has had me on character. One of our characters that we struggle with a lot, I think, as believers, our attitude. You know, we want to do the works of the Lord. We want to go out and we want to minister. But isn't it funny how sometimes our attitude outside our house is different from how we present ourselves in our homes? Amen. Our attitude makes a difference in our life more than just about anything else, honestly. All these being equal, the person with a positive, healthy, well prevailed over the person who may have skill, but a lousy attitude. Attitude cannot replace talent, but it's the difference between two talented people. And I want to, the title of my podcast today is called The Difference Maker. Amen. We can make a difference. We can be different. We can run our household just the same as we are in church. I mean, if we see our family and our children as our brothers and sisters before our children and husband, I'm talking from a wife's point of view, we shouldn't have no problem. But lots of times we want to respect those outside our home because, in a sense, we're looking for some kind of approval. We're looking for some kind of pat on the back because we don't get it at home. Well, I think, honestly, if we reevaluate ourselves and we stop for a moment and realize how important our relationship is with our family, we would see it in a different light on how we present ourselves before everybody. Amen. I have some questions for you today. One, where did you get your attitude? Honestly, where did you get your attitude? Our attitude is inward feeling expressed in our outward behavior. You know, Terrence, have you ever noticed how you feel or project and how you look? Amen. It comes from our personality, our environment, the impact of others, or self-image, our exposure to growth opportunities and associations with others, our beliefs, and our choices. So, in other words, how we reflect to others is what is within us. Have you ever heard the saying, some people say you can't get what you don't have? You know, some of us have been through some hard, traumatic times. Some of us never experienced love. Some of us never experienced friendship, true friendship. Some of us, even in our marriage, you know, what we thought we had, it could have been so much better and you don't realize that we're down the line. Amen. Two, ask this question. What is it that your attitude cannot do for you? Well, let's look. I'll give you a good example. Moses, who led the people of Israel to the Jordan River, but wasn't allowed to cross despite being a godly leader. Why? His earlier disobedience prevented him. Even through his modeled and great attitude most of the time, it didn't get him across the river. For instance, how about Joshua? He returned from spying out Promised Land with a positive attitude about conquering it. Wasn't able to persuade the people to go at that time. This was the people's disobedience. You know, come on, let's be real. So we ask ourselves, what can our attitude do? You know, just like the word of God, it's either life or death to a situation. What comes out is how we are going to see our day. What are you confessing over your day? Did you get a gripey or did you get a proclaiming blessing over your life? Did you get a proclaiming victory over your life? You know, I mean, and a lot of people probably say, oh, but you're a pastor. It's so easy for you to say. Well, no, it isn't. No, it isn't. I mean, honestly, currently right now, I have nowhere to live. I'm having to get out of the home we love with all my children. As you know, we are a DCS home. You know, I raised teenagers. I love teenagers. Teenagers are hard for a lot of people, but you know what? I love teenagers. But, you know, I have to get up with the attitude of hope. I have to get up with the attitude knowing that God is going to make a way out of no way. You know, and it's hard sometimes, you know, because you got all these faces looking at you. You got all these kids wanting to see and wanting to say something because they honestly were not raised in what you believe. You know, sometimes when we have this attitude of everything's going to be the same thing. Oh, nothing changes. See, I told you. Oh, I told you this was going to happen. Well, yeah, you're speaking it into existence. But if us as examples of a great attitude, a godly attitude, we will find that there is hope. There is miracles every single day. Let's go to Joseph whose great attitude kept him steady despite being beat up and thrown into a pit by his brothers. By his brothers. By his brothers. I think God put this in the word for a reason. By his brothers. You know, sometimes our brothers and sisters are not perfect, but we have to have the grace to understand that where did this attitude come from? What's going on in their lives? Instead of talking and fighting and discouraging and bringing death upon a situation more than it already is, what life are we speaking? What encouragement are we speaking? I mean, you never know what somebody's going through that it might be the last day on this earth. We don't know the struggles. We don't know the situation. And I speak from experience. Amen. But Joseph maintained a positive, hopeful attitude, believing that each step was not an end, but merely a bend in the road. You know, I mean, have you ever gone down a straight road and then all of a sudden there's a sharp curve and there's signs everywhere telling you that that curve is about to happen? You know, there's a struggle. And in that bent road, somehow, someway, because of the signs, because of the warnings, which the word of God brings us every day, we were able to foresee what was coming and prepare for the curve in the road, the bump in the road. And we were able to get back on track and keep on going. Amen. You know, I want to give another example. Amen. Ruth, now I'm just trying to think. See, God doesn't put the word in our path for nothing. God does not put that word in our path just for us to just read on a whim or just to sound good behind the pulpit. God gave us his word so we can understand how to walk every day. Because people, this world is getting crazy. This world is getting wicked. This world is getting untrusting. This world is getting, you know, just so, so crooked, so crooked, so crooked. I want to take you to Ruth. Ruth was an outsider who remained positive and hopeful despite losing her husband early in her marriage. Her mother-in-law insisted, you know, that she go and find a new husband. She refused to take matters into her own hands, I guess I'm trying to say, and stayed with Naomi and looked after her, you know. She looked after her. Her consistency activated and drew Boaz to her. And he later asked her to marry him. She became part of the line of Christ. You know, but what attitude do you have to carry in spite of everything? I mean, come on, think about this. This lady, my God. I mean, look at Naomi. She loses her husband. I'm sure loses her husband. And then she is, she is with these two young ladies. But she gave them the option, amen. ...on Joseph that, you know, I didn't really put out there. But I mean, yeah, he was beat up and thrown into the pit by his brothers. But also he was sold into slavery, blackmailed by Potiphar's wife and forgotten by fellow inmates in prison. I mean, come on. They came to him for a favor to do something for them. And all he said was, remember me when you go there. You know, remember me when you go before, you know, the king. How many of y'all feel that sometimes, you know, people just, just are not truthful or, or it's always about them. But don't allow that to change your attitude towards life. You know, we look at another prophet, you know, I mean, and I can put this on discouragement because, you know, sometimes we go through some hard things that can bring discouragement in our life. I mean, look at Elijah, the great prophet went from conquering the false prophets of Baal to the worst days of his career within a matter of days. Why? Discouragement. He went from victory to defeat quickly and ran from a woman named Jezebel. I mean, come on, guys, you go and God just does great miracles in our life. And we allow one human being to inflict fear, to inflict doubt, to inflict discouragement because he felt he was the only one left who was faithful to God. In fact, it took God to restore his perspective. You know, we've got to be careful. We've got to be careful what we allow. We have to be careful what we tell ourselves. And even in the advice that we tell ourselves, does it line up to the Word of God? Does it line up with the attitude that we are supposed to carry as believers? Does it line up with who God says we are? Does it line up to the purpose in our life? Does it line up to get you to the destiny that God has called you to get to? You know, it's not easy being a believer today. It's not easy being a pastor, you know, because being a pastor, there's so much ups and downs. There's so much death these days. There's so much hurt. There's so much discouragement. There's just so much going on that if we are not careful and we don't stay built up in the Word of God, if we don't put those positive things in our ears throughout the day, if we don't listen to things that encourage us, that inspire us, that bring inspiration to others through our life, we're going to really have a hard time on this walk. And I speak from experience, you know. I have a history of depression and anxiety. And, you know, I got really sick. I, you know, I lost perspective of what was going on around me. Depression got the best of me for about, my gosh, almost two months. But it had already started from a seed way back. You know, if we honestly believe what people tell us without them even knowing who we are, there's something wrong there. You know, we get up every day, every day. We get up every day believing that today is going to be different. At least we're supposed to. You know how many times I crawled out, you know, crawled out of bed and I asked God to give me strength just to get my feet outside my bedroom door to be able to see my kids' beautiful faces. See, if I lay there and I just decided to just die, how would this affect those around me? If I decided to spiritually die and never pray again, knowing that my attitude is prayer. My attitude to my children is positive. My attitude is courageous in the most hardest situations. That's who Margie is. That's who Jesse is. We have been through some knocked down, crazy things in our life. God has allowed us to have the grace to battle cancer and win. God has allowed us to have the grace to go through six strokes with my husband. And my husband still stands, raises his hands and gives God glory every day. Why? Because he fought. He believed. He's spoken into existence. He never gave up. Even though he can't speak like everybody else, he still will try to get behind the pulpit and read the Word of God because that's all you need to hear. The Word is life. The Word is life. But if we decided to not approach our day, if we decided that we give up, have you ever thought how many people it was going to affect? Have you ever thought how many people this was going to affect? The way you walk that is wishy-washy, doing things you know you're not supposed to be doing, doing things and allowing your kids to witness what you're doing and they're confused because it doesn't line up to what you confess every day. You're talking about Jesus as Lord in your life, but you're allowing certain things to conquer you that it's mind-blowing to them because they would never seen you or never would expect you to fall for that. I want to encourage you. I just want to encourage you. I just want to encourage you today. You know, sometimes a lot of us, we deal with fear and fear is a crazy thing. You know, who's the best example in the Bible of walking through fear? And that would be David. Do you remember this teenager who fought Goliath and won? Consider the fact that he did not in the face of hundreds of frightened soldiers. He did it in front of all of them. These are soldiers that have been sitting there for a while, complaining that they are soldiers carrying their armor. They shine bright. Their swords are sharpened and shined, but yet they stand in fear doing nothing. Fear surrounded him in the camp, but David saw only one thing. Only one thing. That Goliath was a man defiling God himself. He knew God was bigger than the giant and defeated him with a stone and a good attitude. Hallelujah. He had to have a good attitude. He had to have this courageous attitude that demonstrated such a faith because he knew, because he knew, because he knew. As Pastor Joe would say, he knew it without a shadow of a doubt. Glory to God. He knew it. A lot of us, we fear what? We fear failure in our life. And this is a big one. This is a big one. You know, we don't study much on this, but you know Barnabas? Some scholars believe that Barnabas was the Barnabas who was passed over to replace Judas Iscariot as the 12th disciple. Or how do you say? Apostle. If so, he didn't grumble and go home. He assumed his ministry was to promote others. And he did so by giving his money generously and his time to mentor young leaders, not the least of whom was Paul, the greatest apostle in history. Barnabas took failure and turned it into a success. I mean, there is just so much in the Word of God. How can we not be encouraged? You know, Job. We talk on Job. You know, especially when we go through things. You know, Job. The story of Job is the story of a man who faced the worst of problems. My God, this man went through stuff. In a short time, he lost his land, his livestock, his possessions, and even his children. To make matters worse, his friends began to throw their theories at him as to why he was going through such a tough time. Surely, he must have done something wrong to deserve this. But Job's attitude stayed steady, hopeful, and was rewarded by God in the end. You know, Job is the story of a man who faced the worst problems. Amen? How about Daniel? The young man was removed from his familiar surroundings and was taken captive by the Babylonians and the Persians. He was forced to adapt to a new culture, a new way of life. Talk about change, man! But Daniel negotiated the changes in his life and maintained his principles. He later became the most influential man in the nation. I just want to encourage you today. You know, as we're getting to work this morning, may this message, you know, this podcast just bring an attitude of gratitude that you can carry something in your heart in spite of your atmosphere, in spite of the people around you. You can be a beacon of light in the midst of darkness. You can bring joy to someone in a very sad situation. My God, if you know that you have a brother or sister going through something, people, lend a hand, say a kind word, give a hug. You know, sometimes it just takes that little bit to change a life. You don't know what they're contemplating in their life. You don't know if there was a death before they walked in that morning. You don't know if there's a situation with their children. I mean, it could be anything. That's why we should carry this attitude of gratitude. We should carry an attitude of hope. We should carry an attitude of joy. Because joy is contagious. Laughter is contagious. A smile is contagious. I just want to encourage you today. Change something, even if it's a little thing. Change something. Change something. If it's hard, my God, if it's really that hard in your life to change something, then I want you to look at whatever you're doing. If there is a cup on your table right now drinking coffee, move it to the side. If you're looking one direction, look the other direction. Because at least you changed something today. Instead of saying words of death over your life, change how you talk to yourself. You're necessary. You're important. You were created unique. You were created with purpose. God took his time with you. You might not know everything God has done in your life this far, but I guarantee you, he will expose it. He will show you the talents and the abilities. He will show you how courageous you are in difficult situations. He will even give you courage where you never even thought you had courage. So, amen. I just thank you for this morning. I pray that God just minister to your heart this morning. I pray that you also remember who you are in Christ. And if you don't know, let me help you. Let me help you. If God says that we are significant, I'm going to give you some scriptures to follow by. Matthew 5.13 says that we are the salt and water of the earth. I keep saying this because we are. We are what brings flavor to this world. We are what brings joy into this world. We are what brings love into this world because Jesus Christ is love. And if it abides in you through his spirit, we should be able to reflect that love. Amen. John 15.1 and 5. I am the branch of the true vine and a channel of his life. Jesus, we are connected to Jesus, the vine. We are his branches. John 15.16 says I have been chosen and appointed to bear fruit. So, everything that we speak out of our mouth is like giving someone something to eat. We are able to bear this fruit to bring joy to others, to bring peace to others. Amen. Acts 1.8 says that I am a personal witness of Christ. 1 Corinthians 3.16 says that I am God's temple. How much more do we have to be careful of our attitude? You don't want to give off the wrong vibes, people. Because people are, you might be the only Jesus they know. The only true example of Jesus. 2 Corinthians 5.17-20. Let me remind you, I am a minister of reconciliation. Read it. 2 Corinthians 6.1. I am God's co-worker. I am here on this earth to work the things of the kingdom to bring joy and peace and correct those things. Give instruction. And I'm not telling you tell them what to do. I just mean give them a hand. Give them truth. Amen. But in love. Ephesians 2.6. I am seated with Christ in the heavenly realm. This isn't just not physical. We have a spiritual part of our life that we have dominion to speak to it and it has to go. We have dominion to speak to it and it has to move. So, move something. Amen. Ephesians 2.10. I am God's workmanship. God created me, people. God created you. God put it in your mind to do so. God put it in your heart to adjust. We can adapt. We can be renewed. We can be strengthened. Ephesians 3.12. This one I love. I can approach God with freedom and confidence because he said it. Ephesians 3.12. Read it. And it found the one that everybody knows. Philippians 4.13. My God, I can do all things through Christ who strengthened me. So, how can you not be encouraged this morning? Man, we need to get up. We need to dust off. We need to get ready because today is a new day. What lies before us, God knows and he will reveal it to you. God knows. We have to have the attitude of prayer. We have to have an attitude of faith. We have to have an attitude of courage and understanding. And we won't gain that understanding unless we are in the word of God. Amen. So, I just thank you this morning for tuning in to my podcast this morning. Again, my name is Pastor Mark. And I come to you with my podcast, Pastor's Wife, where we just talk about the things of the heart. We talk about things that we deal with in everyday life. You know, not getting preachy about it, just talking about it. You know, we have a lot of people. We have a lot of people that wake up alone. We have a lot of people that basically don't have a home. You know, they're sitting in a little room in a nursing home. Or, you know, they're in the hospital right now because they're battling things. You know, have you told an elder today that they're appreciated? Have you told someone that fought for our country how much we appreciate their sacrifice? Because it's what keeps us safe today. They were a part of that. They were a part of it. That our kids can have the freedom to get up and go to school with no worries. Yeah, we have gangs in the cities. We have a lot of things going on. But you know what? Your attitude can change things. Your attitude in how you talk to people can change a person. But your judgmental attitude won't change nothing. We have to understand, people, that the character cut of Christ, yeah, it comes with the price. But also it comes with the victory that man can't give you. And it's worth it. It's worth it. You know, my heart goes out to everybody, you know, battling sickness today, disease, cancer. Anybody that is maybe at home waiting for a child to come home. You know, my heart goes out to you because, you know, I know what that feels like. I know what it feels like. I have experienced loneliness. And sometimes that loneliness is where I put myself. You know, depression is a real thing. But Christ is bigger. The Word of God is active. The Word of God can produce something in your life and changes that you never even thought possible. If you don't believe me, ask me. Let's talk. Inbox me. Let's talk about the Word of God. What are you going through right now? Because I am a living example of a testimony of what God can do. I know what it is to be shut up in an asylum because depression has hit you so hard. And it's not even by your own doing. It's by, you know, situations in my life where rape brought it. Molestation brought it. Battery brought it. Abuse brought it. Psychological abuse brought it. But I'm going to tell you one thing. There is no power like the Word of God. The words that you speak over your life. Because it gives you meaning to wake up. It gives you meaning to stand up. And you can't do it alone. Quit trying to be your own God at home and trying to fix things. All this, uh, hubba bubba, whatever in the heck people do these days. These crystals and meditation or worshipping a dang tree or, you know, you're worshipping all this stuff that God created. There's only one creator, people. And even the ones that serve Satan. Guess what? God created him. You're just, you're worshipping a copycat. Oh my God. I just want to encourage you today. There is hope in the Word of God. And if you need that little boost, if you need that pat on the back, my God, inbox me. Talk to me. There is nothing impossible with God. I'm a living testimony of it. And I just encourage you today and I thank God for you. And I just want to end with this. Through the Word of God comes healing. Through the Word of God comes peace. Through the Word of God comes a joy that surpasses our understanding. And even in the hardest times where you just don't know what today brings, you set it in the atmosphere and don't take no for an answer. God says you have not because you have not seeked it out. Are you seeking it out? Are you trusting God with everything that that you are believing to happen indeed in your life? Amen. God is faithful. So I just thank you this morning. I thank you for listening to my broadcast. This is Pastor Margie with Pastor's Wife. And I pray that you have a wonderful and blessed and glorious Tuesday morning. Now go in with the attitude of gratitude. Go in with that courageous attitude to face whatever it is that you are facing today and open your mouth. If you can't even say a word this morning because your heart is so broken, you feel so defeated, just open your mouth. Scream it to the heavens. Just say, Jesus, help me. Jesus, I need you. Jesus, I desire more of you in my life. Jesus, have your way. Because people, when it is God's will in our life, nothing can go wrong. But the problem is we want to put ours into His. And it don't work that way. If we can trust the God that created us and knows everything about us, why can't we trust His words, the lamp into our feet and the light into our path? God bless you.