EXCELLENCE PART 2

Now look at the book of Acts 6:1-3 the Bible says, “And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables. Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.” The first thing they looked for among the men to fill these position was honesty. Is honesty excellent? Yes it is. In other words even though the person was filled with the Holy Ghost and wisdom but doesn’t have good honest character, he is disqualified. What caught my attention in this passage of Scriptures is that He said, look out from among you seven men of honest report. The Bible said the first time they preached the gospel, they won about three thousand souls and the second time, they won about four thousand souls. The Bible says the Holy Ghost kept adding to the Church daily such that should be saved . which means they were having more than seven thousand members in Church and yet they had to look for just seven men having honesty. That tells you that this character is scare and whatever is scare is so important and everybody wants it. Don’t just be a Christian having faith, add excellence to it. Be so exceptional like the believers in Antioch that they were called ‘Christians.’ Let the same be said about you.

What is Excellence? You cannot achieve excellence overnight, you have to work hard for it, like the Bible says in Proverbs 22:29, “Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men.” Getting to that point of excellence takes discipline and one of the discipline is Self-Control. It doesn’t take anything to be evil; every one of us born into this world was born into sin. You never taught a child how to lie, they just know how to lie because that is the nature of man. But never deceive yourself to think that because you are now born again, you are going to start living the good life like Christ would have you live it; and do the things like Jesus would have you do. That is not true. Even though you are now a Christian, you still have to learn how to be good, how to be excellent and how to be like Jesus. It is by practice, that is why the Bible says you must be a doer of the word. So If you don’t do the word and keep doing it, you will never change. So, you leave that old life by doing the word and practicing it, until it becomes part of you. You must learn how to become Christ and that is what is called Excellence. What you don’t learn you can never become. The book of Daniel 5:12 says, “Forasmuch as an excellent spirit, and knowledge, and understanding, interpreting of dreams, and shewing of hard sentences, and dissolving of doubts, were found in the same Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar: now let Daniel be called, and he will shew the interpretation.” How did Daniel get the excellent spirit? Through Hard work. Daniel 1:20 says, “And in all matters of wisdom and understanding, that the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm.”

The opposite of excellence is mediocrity. The father of mediocrity is the devil. John 8:44 says, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.” He didn’t say the devil is a thief or a murderer. He said the devil is a liar because the foundation for every evil is lying. The door way to every other evil is through lying. Lying is a sign of mediocrity. If you can conquer lying you can win over anything. When excellence is been sought after, will you be one of them? Who are you in the house of God? A mediocre? Or can we be proud and say this is my beloved son in who I am well pleased.

Joseph was persecuted because of excellence; He wanted things to be done the way they ought to be done. His brothers connived to sell him because he won’t compromise. When he was sold, he got to Egypt and excellence started speaking again when Potiphar handed over everything to him to manage except his wife. And the Potiphar’s wife tried all she could to seduce Joseph but excellence spoke again and he refused. So many Christians today will fall for this temptation, that is mediocrity. You can’t live a compromising life and be successful. When you compromise, you open the door for the devil to come into to your life. Galatians 5:19 and 22 talks about the works of the flesh and the fruits of the spirit respectively. Any time you practice the fruit of the spirit, angels follow you and the power of the Holy Ghost is released. But anytime you practice the works of the flesh that is how you open the door for demons in your life. You are enhancing their ability to rule your life. Take lying for example, haven’t you discovered that after you have done it over and over again, you don’t think to do it again, when you want to tell the truth but you just continue to lie. Because it has entered you by practicing it over and over again. At this point the devil has gained entrance into you just like the Holy Ghost rules a true believers life. But this man called Joseph refused to compromise. He never changed his character it was in him. He stood by what he believed and it did pay him after all. If you stand your ground on what you believe in the word of God and refuse to compromise, it will pay you in Jesus name. Excellence will pay, it may not pay today or tomorrow but it will eventually pay. Keep doing what you are doing, keep being that person everyone wants to get involved with. Don’t be the devil, don’t lie, stand your ground, don’t let the devil deceive you. Doing the wrong thing will pay for a while but on the long wrong, you will regret it. Stand on the path of excellence.

God bless you, see you next month.