21 April 2019
Two-Minute Features | 28 April 2019 | 14 April 2019

Being Negative Pushes People Away from Us (TMF:1115)

Friday, April 26, 2019
Peace to Live By: Being Negative Pushes People Away from Us (TMF:1115) - Daniel Litton
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       It all comes down to the law of reaping and sowing. You harvest the fruit of what you plant. If we have a negative mindset, a negative focus, and we live out that in our character, we will reap negative, bad, uncomfortable results. If we are always correcting people, for instance, we will find that people generally don’t like us. That’s because they don’t want to be constantly corrected. Or, if we are like this we may find that they end up constantly correcting us in return, or being on the defensive, because we have been critical toward them. If we are always saying what is wrong, saying negative things, again we may find that people tend to avoid us. That’s because they have figured out that we are no fun to be around; all we see is the negative, and certainly, that’s no fun. Again, if we are always tearing down others, that’s no fun to listen to. It may be interesting at first to hear what the person has to say, but then once we understand that the person tears down and cuts on everyone, we come to know that’s a person we don’t want to be around.

Avoiding a Critical, Faultfinding Mindset (TMF:1114)

Thursday, April 25, 2019
Peace to Live By: Avoiding a Critical, Faultfinding Mindset (TMF:1114) - Daniel Litton
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       One thing I want you to realize is that most people who suffer from negativism don’t even realize it. They have become so used to being negative that it is just part of their being, part of their attitude, and they look at everything with a critical, faultfinding mindset. And it is true that, as Christians, many of us have been taught to be critical of things. We have been taught to be critical of the world, to watch our own behaviors carefully, and things like this in order to protect ourselves from sin’s influence. And these are good things (see Proverbs 14:15). The problem is that we have let the critical mindset get out of control in many instances. You cannot be around some brothers and sisters for long just because they are too negative and critical. You may make a statement at a Bible study and all this type of person does is point out what’s wrong with your statement, what you missed, or what needs improved upon. They feel they have to correct everyone and everything. It all comes down to the law of reaping and sowing. You harvest the fruit of what you plant.

Our Failures Must be Forgotton (TMF:1113)

Wednesday, April 24, 2019
Peace to Live By: Our Failures Must be Forgotten (TMF:1113) - Daniel Litton
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       I know we have been taught to think bad of ourselves because of all the sin that resides in us, that is, in our flesh. But we need to see ourselves how God see us, and that is perfect in Christ, made righteous by his blood, as we discussed the first week of this series. If we are constantly thinking bad about ourselves, we aren’t going to advance very far in life. If we are continuing to focus on our failures instead of the things that we do right, we are going to be downtrodden and unmotivated to do much of anything. It is written in 1 Corinthians 1:30, 31: “And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord” (ESV). Jesus has made us right with God, and we should live in that truth. We have righteousness, sanctification, and redemption from God, and we ought to live like we do. We shouldn’t be living feeling unrighteous, unwashed, and unredeemed.

Negativity is Poison That Can Ruin Our Lives (TMF:1112)

Tuesday, April 23, 2019
Peace to Live By: Negativity is Poison That Can Ruin Our Lives (TMF:1112) - Daniel Litton
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       So, the breakthrough we are considering today is: God wants us to live with a hopeful mindset, and not with a negative, unbelieving, and faithless one. Negativity is a poison that can ruin our lives. It is written in Proverbs 15:13: “A glad heart makes a cheerful face, but by sorrow of heart the spirit is crushed” (ESV). Some of us have developed such a negative mindset that we cannot see anything without a tinge of negativism. It is rooted deep in our brains. We have negative eyeglasses seemingly affixed permanently to our faces. And why are some of us more negative than others? Sometimes people are negative because of the way they were raised. They had a negative mother or father, or both were negative, having a grim outlook on life, and this was passed down to the child. And sometimes children and young adults have experienced failures and rejections over and over that have built up this type of mindset. They feel like they’ve been dealt a bad hand in life.

Laying a Foundation of Good Thinking (TMF:1111)

Monday, April 22, 2019
Peace to Live By: Laying a Foundation of Good Thinking (TMF:1111) - Daniel Litton
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       Today I want us to focus on looking at the bright side of things. I want us to consider how negativity can be very detrimental to having a right mind, and how we should be thinking positive thoughts throughout the day. One foundational verse to this concept is found in Proverbs chapter 15, in which we read in verse 15: ““All the days of the afflicted are evil, but the cheerful of heart has a continual feast” (ESV). We want to be laying a foundation of good thinking, right thinking which leads us to a having a better mindset. The Apostle Paul at the end of 1 Corinthians chapter 13 talked about the three most important things we are to have. Recall, he said they are 1) faith, 2) hope, and 3) love. Operating with a ‘hopeful’ mindset, which is full of faith, is really important for the believer, yet many of us don't live in hope with faith. So, the breakthrough we are considering today is: God wants us to live with a hopeful mindset, and not with a negative, unbelieving, and faithless one.