No Bad Apples: #2 – Toss Out Negativity
Mark 11:22-25 Victory Fellowship
July 3, 2022 - Rev. Roderick Grabski
I. Introduction:
a. You’ve heard the saying, “One bad apple spoils the whole bunch.” It usually refers to a person unwilling to work well with others and consequently undermine the task at hand. The same can be true of certain attitudes that keep us from experiencing living in the unspoiled fullness of the Spirit of Christ.
b. For five Sundays in the summer of 2022, my sermons will focus on an attitude (bad apple) that needs to be eliminated from the life of a Spirit-filled Christian in order to preserve our faithful witness.
c. Entitled, No Bad Apples, this series will deal with improving our walk of faith, similar to picking out the bad fruit in order to make the bunch more appealing.
d. The topics each week will include:
i. Being too Stubborn to Change
ii. Negativity
iii. Self-Centeredness
iv. Wounded-ness (playing the victim)
v. Fault-finding (blaming others)
II. This 2nd week I want to focus on Tossing out Negativity.
a. Did you ever get food poisoning at a restaurant? How soon were you able to return to that place?
b. Likewise, if we only focused on the times we brought home from the market a bad piece of fruit or vegetable we might never enjoy those foods again.
c. We have to not focus on the negative experiences and have faith and confidence to know there is good food.
d. Similarly, in order to keep our spiritual life fresh we must not let negativity void our attempt to draw closer to God.
e. Negativity is fed by doubt and fear. We replace it with Joy and Praise.
f. Jesus said if we have faith and do not doubt we can move mountains.
i. Whatever we ask -believing it will happen- we will receive it.
g. When we toss out negative grudges and forgive those who have wronged us, we give the Holy Spirit room to work in us and keep our faith fresh and alive.
III. Application:
a. Just like tossing out bad fruit to spare the bunch, we can let loose of negativity.
b. Toss out fear and doubt and un-forgiveness in our lives! It is a major step in renewing our faith in Jesus Christ. The Joy of the Lord is our strength!
IV. Conclusion:
a. Let’s agree to ask God to help us examine our lives - and if we see any of these behaviors present - I say it’s time we pick out the bad fruit so that only good apples remain in our spiritual life
Come Holy Spirit and let the tossing begin!
PRAYER
SONG: Dare to Believe
Mark 11:22-25 (NLT)
22 Then Jesus said to the disciples, “Have faith in God. 23 I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart. 24 I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours. 25 But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins, too.
