Fellowship in the Word

Guest (Male): Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bil Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ.

Bil Gebhardt: Optimism in America is at an all-time low. So even though we know optimism can be good for you in a lot of different ways, it's not necessarily translating itself into everyday life. Now, I'm not talking about positive thinking. That had its day. That's 1980s and 90s, Zig Ziglar, people, positive thinking. That's kind of gone now.

The reason that it failed was, in my view, I don't think it worked because, first of all, it pushed God off to the sidelines and then it magnified human ability that was not found in biblical truth at all. You could just make yourself positive, and people couldn't.

Guest (Male): Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bil Gebhardt. Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church located in Metairie, Louisiana. Let's join Pastor Bil Gebhardt now as once again he shows us how God's Word meets our world.

Bil Gebhardt: After all these years of ministry, I've come to a certain conclusion, and that is that nothing is more important to a believer than your attitude. It transcends your past, your education, your success, or your failures. It's immune to what other people think, and it can stabilize you regardless of your set of skills or giftedness.

And we wake up every single day with an opportunity to embrace it for our own benefit. Attitude is a way of thinking and acting. As children of God, every waking moment is an opportunity for us to set an attitude one of two ways: human or divine. Human is much more common, but divine is much more fruitful.

We all have a different journey we're on. We're all spiritual snowflakes. We've all had our own personal failures, betrayal from people that we should have trusted. We've been abused by people who should have been there to protect us. Many of us have very difficult health issues, unmet expectations, and so on. And I think we all know this: our world is getting more toxic every day.

And so, the question comes down to this: you and I cannot fix what's happening in that world, but you and I can control what's happening between your ears. You see, what is your attitude? It's interesting to me that the world knows it needs a great attitude. It knows. The world is preoccupied with it. The world talks about all of the benefits of being an optimist.

There are tremendous benefits if you're an optimist. This is what the world has said. Optimists feel healthier than pessimists. That makes sense, doesn't it? That was a study of 150,000 people in 42 different countries. And they came to the conclusion that optimists feel healthier.

Here's the second one: optimists are healthier than pessimists. That's a Harvard study. A Harvard study said that they found out that people who are optimistic do not nearly get as ill as people who are pessimistic.

Thirdly, optimists live longer than pessimists. That's a University of Pittsburgh study, my alma mater. The University of Pittsburgh study came to the conclusion by studying 100,000 people.

Optimists are better at fighting diseases than pessimists. That was a law student study, and they found out that the students who were optimistic didn't get as ill between semesters as the students who were pessimistic.

Fifthly, optimists experience a lot less stress in their life. That was done by the University of Quebec in Canada because optimists produce less cortisol, which is the stress hormone, than pessimists.

Optimists have better relationships than people who are not. That shouldn't be a shock. If you have friends that are both, you know which one you'd like to spend more time with.

Seventh, optimists enjoy working more. That study was done at the University of Kuwait, of all places. Optimists get more job offers than pessimists do. That's a study at Duke University for MBA students.

Optimists adapt better to changes, and that is a study done in Australia. And lastly, and it seems kind of strange to me, optimists make better athletes than pessimists. That was a study at the University of Pennsylvania.

Now, with all those studies, it seems like optimism's a good idea, doesn't it? And yet, the conclusion is this: optimism in America is at an all-time low. Fewer Americans are optimistic right now than they've ever been throughout our history. And so, even though we know optimism can be good for you in a lot of different ways, it's not necessarily translating itself into everyday life.

Now, I'm not talking about positive thinking. That had its day. That's 1980s and 90s, Zig Ziglar, people, positive thinking. That's kind of gone now. The reason that it failed was, in my view, I don't think it worked because, first of all, it pushed God off to the sidelines and then it magnified human ability that was not found in biblical truth at all. You could just make yourself positive, and people couldn't.

How do you know that it's in decline? Suicide rate in the United States from early teens, 12, 13 years old, all the way to people that are 70s and 80s, in each category is at an all-time high. More people in America are killing themselves than any other time. The amount of antidepressants Americans are taking is almost beyond belief. If you look at it on a scale, it's just climbing out of sight. The positive thinking thing didn't work at all.

But I can say this: if you're a believer in Jesus Christ, you need to be and you should be as optimistic as any person can possibly be. I'm going to look at a good example. I'm going to look at Paul. Open your Bibles to Philippians chapter 4. Philippians 4 and verse 10.

Now, just a little background for those of you who don't know this, Paul's in prison. That's not exactly Disney World, okay, where you feel real optimistic. It's not like that. He's in prison. He's waiting for a decision to execute him or not. He doesn't get executed this prison stay; he gets executed on the next prison stay. But he doesn't know that when he's writing it.

So he writes Philippians from a prison cell, not a place where we'd see a lot of optimism. And so he starts in verse 10 and he says, "But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last you have revived your concern for me." Finally, the church in Philippi has reached out to Paul and said, "We're concerned for you, we're praying for you."

Notice what Paul says after that, though: "Indeed, you probably were concerned before, you just lacked opportunity." He could have said, "Where are you people?" He didn't. The reason he didn't is because of his attitude. He says, "Let me explain. I'm glad you're concerned for me, but that won't affect my optimism at all. Whether you're concerned for me or not doesn't matter for my optimism."

Notice how he says it: "Not that I speak from want. I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means; I also know how to live in prosperity. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need."

Paul says it doesn't matter if I'm in a penthouse or an outhouse. I'm optimistic. I'm completely content. You see, it's an interesting thing. You say he learned the secret to this. What's the secret? Because, notice, for us, it's almost like a secret we would want to know.

Because most of us have a tendency to be optimistic when the kids are behaving, right? You and your spouse are getting along great, you got a big raise, everybody's healthy, right? Boy, I feel positive. And then life happens, and then we don't keep it. Paul says, "No, the optimism I have, it isn't in any way affected by the circumstances in my life. I've learned that secret." Here's the secret in the next verse: "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." That's Paul's statement.

Because of Christ, I'm optimistic. It doesn't matter if I'm in a prison or a palace. It doesn't matter if I have a lot or I have nothing. It doesn't matter. I've learned this: I am content because of what Jesus Christ has done for me. That's Paul.

Dr. John Henry Jowett said of Paul, "His eyes are narrowly illumined, his cheery tone is never absent from his speech. The buoyant and springy movement of his life has never changed. The light never dies out of his sky." And then he says, "The Apostle Paul is an optimist." He is. He thinks like an optimist, he talks like an optimist, and he goes through trials like an optimist.

He thinks like an optimist, and by the way, that's how you become one, based on how you think. I'll show you one of the ways he thinks about that. Go with me to Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. And let's see how Paul thinks.

Now, I'll start in verse 35. I'll skip a verse and come back later. But he said, "Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation?" Paul's had plenty. "Distress?" Yes. "Persecution?" Yes. "Famine?" Yes. "Nakedness, peril, or sword?" Yes. He said, "Just as it is written, for your sake, we are being put to death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered."

When Paul talks of all the terrible stuff that's happened to him in his life, beaten with rods, stoned and left for dead, on and on and on. He said, "But I'm an optimist." Verse 38: "For I am convinced." What a great word. "I am convinced." This is bedrock to him. This is one of his convictions. "I am convinced that neither death nor life." Okay, tell me all the other things you know beside that.

"Not death nor life, nor angels nor principalities." That's the spiritual world. It doesn't even matter what happens in the angelic world. "Nor things present nor things to come." Nothing in the present, nothing in the future. "Nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

That's amazing. Do you get your thought around this? The God who spoke and as a result of His speech the universe was created. Now, we're just starting to understand the size and scope of the universe. It's so far beyond our imagination that we can't even grasp it in our head. He just spoke, and there it was. He is the only holy other God. He did all this.

And He said, "Oh, by the way, I love you. I love you." You love me? Yeah, Paul said, "I'm convinced of it." He said, "I am completely convinced that He loves me." He said, "Notice, death can't do it." In fact, Psalm 116:15 says, "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of one of His godly ones."

He said death will never change that. Life, that's everything that comes. Angels, principalities, the spiritual world, things present, things to come, everything we can possibly experience. Powers, that's the word *dunamis*. That means like political powers, emperor of Rome type stuff. He said they can't change that.

If he gives me a death sentence, that won't change God's love for me. He said not powers, not anything like that, and he says nor height nor depth nor any created thing. Nothing can separate you from the love of God. It's an amazing thing. I say this often, but understand this: there's nothing you can do to make God love you more. There's nothing you can do to make God love you less.

When we were at our worst, for God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son to solve that. He sent His Son. Paul says when we were at enmity with God, we were His enemies, he said He loved us so much His Son died for us. That's how much God loves us.

Now, think about the human need. So many of us end up in therapy and all kinds of issues because we need someone to love us, don't we? I think everyone in life wants someone to love them. And people who don't feel loved by anybody, boy, they're in a difficult spot attitude-wise. It's a very depressing thought.

But here He is, the Creator of all things, God Almighty says specifically, "I love you. And nothing can ever change that. Nothing." Now, is it possible, should that make you a little optimistic? You see, I mean, who loves you? Well, I think that person does and that person does, but all of us can say this: Almighty God loves me. He loves me. That's an amazing thing when you think about it from that perspective at all.

So Paul says, "I am convinced that that makes me an optimist." He also talks like an optimist. Let's go to Philippians again, chapter 1. Philippians chapter 1. Paul's talking about life now as a believer in verse 6. And Paul says this, he said, "I am confident." Notice, the last time he said I have confidence; now he said I'm confident. Same thing.

"I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ. The God who redeemed me will complete me." You see, He's going to do that. I'm confident of this. That's what's going to happen in my life. It's interesting because Paul was asked, apparently by someone in Philippi, an interesting question, and the question is this: "If you had a choice, would you rather die today or stay?" That's your choice. You want a choice? If you had a choice, what would you choose?

Now, I know you're in church and you think, "What's the right answer here?" But no, what would we think? "Well, that's a stupid question, right?" They asked Paul that. Now watch Paul's answer, verse 23: "I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and to be with Christ, that's very much better. Yet to remain in the flesh," he said, "is more necessary for your sake."

If I wanted to be selfish, I'd want to die. You say to Paul, "You want to die today?" "Yes. Yes. But for your sake, I'll stay." Now, could you say that? It'd be pretty hard to say, wouldn't it, from our point of view? I mean, we all think along these terms.

Now, let me explain a couple things, though. Paul's an extremely devoted man, I get that. But he has a couple advantages that he has; one particular one we don't have: he's been there. That's what we learn in Corinthians. He's been there. He said, "I can't tell you what I heard there. I'm not allowed to speak those words."

He's been in the presence of God. He's been in eternity. So, if you went to eternity and then you came back, you see, would you want to go again? Yes. Yes. Paul's not the amazing person to me; the amazing person to me is Lazarus. I can't even imagine that. I'm dead four days, I'm in the presence of the Lord, and now I'm back? Here? I'm back?

And by the way, most people you tell, if you walked up to someone and said, "My name's Lazarus, I was dead four days," "No, you weren't! No one's dead for four days!" You see what I mean? No one would even believe you, would they? And he's like, "Jeez, I sure wish I could go again."

But Paul's statement is interesting. You see, he talks as though he is an optimist, and he even talks to other people in normal ways that are as optimistic. Go with me to Acts 27 and verse 14. The book of Acts, 27:14. This is a difficult set of circumstances. If you could ever imagine this, but this is as bad a storm as you could possibly ever run into on any sea. It's in the Mediterranean, in the Adriatic exactly. This is unbelievable what's happening.

They're taking Paul back to Rome. He's going to be tried in Rome. Okay, they gotta get him back there. Taking other prisoners with him. So there's Roman Centurion, their soldiers, and then all of the sailors who are taking them back.

And it says then, "Before very long, there rushed down from the land a violent wind called Euraquilo. And when the ship was caught in it, it could not face the wind. So it gave way and let ourselves just be driven along." It couldn't turn the ship into the wind, so it allowed the wind just to blow the ship where it was going to go.

"Running under the shelter of a small island named Clauda, we were scarcely able to get the ship's boat under control. After they had hoisted it up, they used supporting cables in undergirding the ship, fearing that it might run aground in the shallows of Syrtis. They let down the sea anchor and this way and let themselves be driven along."

They got it out of the water for a moment, they put cables around it to strengthen the hull, then they took it back out in the water, then the sea started acting up, so they dropped their anchors so they wouldn't be driven along as fast; the anchor would drag on the bottom.

"The next day," it says, "as we were being violently storm-tossed, they began to jettison the cargo." They think they're going to die. They're sailors. "We can't be this deep in the water; we're going to get rid of cargo." On the third day, they threw the ship's tackle overboard with their own hands.

"Since neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, no small storm was assailing them. From then on, all hope of being saved was gradually abandoned." The world of the sailors: we're all dead men. We're going to die out here in this storm.

And when they had gone a long time without food, then Paul stood up in the midst of them. That first statement's kind of funny: "Men, you ought to have followed my advice and not have set sail from Crete and incurred this damage and loss. I told you when we were in Crete, don't do it. But you decided you were going to."

But that's not the encouraging part. He said, "Yet now I urge you, keep up your courage, for there will be no loss of life among you, only of the ship." He's trying to encourage people. He's trying, and he knows why.

He says, "For this very night an angel of God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood before me, saying, 'Do not be afraid, but you must stand before Caesar; behold, God has granted you and all those who are sailing with you.' Therefore keep up your courage, men, for I believe God that it will turn out exactly as I've told you. But we must run aground on a certain island."

And when the 14th night came, as we were being driven about in the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors began to surmise that they were approaching some land. Fourteen nights in a row in a storm, a sailboat, no lights, nothing. And all they have is some encouraging words from a Jewish rabbi. A little Jewish guy telling these sailors, "Hey, it's going to go great. No one's going to die." You see, he's trying to encourage them. They're sailors. They know exactly what is happening here. There's no doubt in their mind at all.

Guest (Male): You've been listening to Pastor Bil Gebhardt on the radio ministry of Fellowship in the Word. If you ever miss one of our broadcasts or maybe you would just like to listen to the message one more time, remember that you can go to a great website called oneplace.com. That's oneplace.com, and you can listen to Fellowship in the Word online. At that website, you will find not only today's broadcast but also many of our previous audio programs as well.

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If you would be interested in hearing today's message in its original format, that is as a sermon that Pastor Bil delivered during a Sunday morning service at Fellowship Bible Church, then you should visit our website, fbcnoia.org. That's fbcnoia.org. At our website, you will find hundreds of Pastor Bil's sermons. You can browse through our sermon archives to find the sermon series you are looking for, or you can search by title. Once you find the message you are looking for, you can listen online or, if you prefer, you can download the sermon and listen at your own convenience.

And remember, you can do all this absolutely free of charge. Once again, our website is fbcnoia.org. For Pastor Bil Gebhardt, I'm Jason Gebhardt, thanking you for listening to Fellowship in the Word.