What is the Spirit of Excellence, and why does it matter to me today?

excellence = the quality of being excellent
excellent = superior; very good of its kind, eminently good
Is the Spirit of Excellence important today in the church? Yes.

Is the Spirit of Excellence important today in the body of Christ? Yes.

Is the Spirit of Excellence important today with all of the different ministries of Helps? Yes.

What about in the work force? Is the Spirit of Excellence important today in the work force? Yes.

Foundational Scripture: 2 Cor 3:18

AMP: 18 And all of us, as with unveiled face, [because we] continued to behold [in the Word of God] as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured into His very own image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of glory to another; [for this comes] from the Lord [Who is] the Spirit.

We are going from glory to glory, but what took us there? It did not happen on its own.
… all of us continued to behold…

behold = 1). to perceive through sight or apprehension, 2.) to gaze upon

“all of us” “continued to behold” or continued to look – in the word of God, as in a mirror. When we look in the wrod of God, we are looking in a mirror. We see ourselves in the word, we see ourselves conforming to the image of God in the word of God. The word of God is a mirror of ourselves. We see ourselves AS THE WORD DESCRIBES YOU!

The word of God tells us that “by His stripes, I am healed”, so what do I do when I am in need of healing and reading in the word? I begin to see myself, as in a mirror through the word, being healed.

For us to continue to see this image of what we look like in the word, we have to continue to look in the word. We cannot just take a quick peek, then walk away, and expect to continue to know how we look according to the word. James tells us (v. 1:22) to be “doers of the Word [obeying the message], and merely listeners only”.

How does God see you? When God sees you, he sees you:

* conforming to the Word.
* washed in the Blood
* not as a defeated one, but as a conqueror
* not as barely making it, but living an abundant life
* He sees you walking in the glory of the Lord, as we walk in the fullness of God

… constantly being transfigured into His very own image…
transfigured = to give a new and typically exalted or spiritual appearance to; transform outwardly and usually for the better

The more we get into the Word, the more we study the Word, the more we meditate on the Word, the more we let the Word soak into our hearts, our spirits, and really get inside of us – the more we are transformed into the image of Christ. Changed into His image.

Now, if we want to conform to His image, and the Bible says that the more we are in the Word, the more we conform to His image – it is probably a good idea for us to find out what is His image?

If the image of God is mediocre, the more we get into the Word, the more mediocre we would become.

What is the image of Christ? The image of Christ is “excellence”, it is the Spirit of Excellence. The Father did nothing that was mediocre. As He made the Earth, and the stars, and the planets, and the solar system, and the billions of galaxies, there was nothing that was mediocre. There was nothing that the Father did that He did not complete. The Father not only created, and completed what He created, but He also took time to examine His creation. What was He looking for? Excellence. How do we know that? When He examined His work, His creation, He stepped back, looked it over, and said “this is good…”. He was pleased with what He saw. Would the Father have been pleased if He had done a mediocre job? No, I don’t think so. Everything that He created was in excellence.

Jesus is not only a starter, but He is also a finisher. The Bible says that Jesus is the “author of our faith”, but He is also the “Finisher” of our faith. He came here to finish a work. Did he do it? Yes, he did.

Why are we talking about starting, and finishing, and examining what’s been done? These are all attributes of the Spirit of Excellence.

Ps. 8:1 – How excellent is thy name.

His very name is excellent, and the very nature of God is hidden in the names of God, and His very nature is Excellence. Looking through the Word of God, everything that He created was Excellent. He made us excellent, and we are conforming to His image.

We’ll keep talking about how to do that, but before we can conform to His image, we have to know what it is…

Daniel is a man in the Bible that had this Spirit of Excellence.

How do we know Daniel was a man of excellence?

Daniel 5:12 Because an excellent spirit, knowledge, and understanding to interpret dreams, clarify riddles, and solve knotty problems were found in this same Daniel…

What was found in Daniel? An excellent spirit – the Spirit of Excellence…

We know Daniel had the Spirit of Excellence. Many things happen once you catch the Spirit of Excellence. Once you have caught the Spirit of Excellence, or when you are striving for the Spirit of Excellence in all that you do:

1.) You must acknowledge that it exists. If it doesn’t exist, why are we striving for it?

2.) You must acknowledge that you don’t have it. If you already have it, why are you striving for it? The Spirit of Excellence is not taught, it’s caught. You have to catch it.

Once you realize that the Spirit of Excellence is real, that it exists, and that you don’t have it, you will want to catch it. You will seek it out. You will hunt for it. You will be with others that have it so that you might be able to catch it also!

One of the results of having the Spirit of Excellence can be found in Daniel 1:20

Daniel 1:17-20 17 As for these four youths, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom, and Daniel had understanding in all [kinds of] visions and dreams.

18 Now at the end of the time which the king had set for bringing [all the young men in], the chief of the eunuchs brought them before Nebuchadnezzar.

19 And the king conversed with them, and among them all none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah; therefore they were assigned to stand before the king.

20 And in all matters of wisdom and understanding concerning which the king asked them, he found them ten times better than all the [learned] magicians and enchanters who were in his whole realm.

When you have the Spirit of Excellence, it is not hidden. The world can see it. It is seen by the world.

Look at Daniel 1:20 – In ALL matters, they were found 10 X better.

What made these guys 10X better? They were flowing in the Spirit of Excellence. When you catch the Spirit of Excellence, you will stand out in your job. You will be noticed by your bosses – I don’t know what they are doing, but it’s different. Their work ethic is different, their results are different, I don’t know what it is, but I like it…

There is a lot of teaching in the body of Christ, but one thing that is missing is the Spirit of Excellence. It’s really hard for your light to shine when you are blending in with everyone else… We have to be better.

Here is the definition of how to get a guaranteed pay increase at work: When you are willing to do MORE than you get paid for, you will get MORE than you are being paid now.

The world says “if they want me to do more, they better pay me more, and until they pay me more, I’m not doing any more…”. The Spirit of Excellence says to do more now. And when you do more now, you will end up making more. A secular article wrote that you should dress for the position you want to have, not the position that you currently have. This is excellence.

So, what is the Spirit of Excellence, and how do I get it?

The Spirit of Excellence is the image of God. God is NOT mediocre.

mediocre = of moderate or low quality, value, ability, or performance

God is the very top, the very definition of excellence. Any area of our lives, anything that we do, if it is done mediocre, we are not conforming to the image of Christ. Whether it is our job, an area that we volunteer to help the church, any area. If this is mediocre, we are not conforming to the Spirit of Excellence.

If you make a commitment to be somewhere or do something, and you don’t do it, you are not conforming to the Spirit of Excellence. We should do things as “unto the Lord”. As we do things “unto the Lord”, we should do those things with excellence. Defining “unto the Lord” could be “Spirit of Excellence”.

If you had an appointment with the Lord, would you show up? Would you be on time? How would you dress? If you were going to be late, and it was unavoidable, would you call Him?

We can’t say that we are doing something “unto the Lord”, unless we are really doing it “unto the Lord”. If Jesus was sitting here, would we still be doing it the same way?

God is not mediocre, He is not half way.

Excellence is a Spirit

It is not taught, it is caught. You have to want to catch the Spirit of Excellence. You have to predetermine in your heart that you want to catch it, or you won’t.

How do I predetermine that? How can I catch the Spirit of Excellence?

The Spirit of Excellence can be applied to your work, to your ministry, to anything that you put your hand to do.

If we are not doing it with the Spirit of Excellence – God is not in it.

Powerful statement: God is in what you do in the same measure as the excellence you do it with…

If you want more of His glory in your life, this is one way to see His glory. Do it with excellence.

God doesn’t do anything, unless it is with excellence. Nothing in creation was created without excellence.

Excellence is Leadership

Leadership is not a title on a business card, it is a characteristic, a quality. If you do things with excellence, people will follow you.

Excellence stands out in a crowd

Always -

People flowing in excellence will stand out in a crowd – they will shine.

Leaders will always duplicate themselves in their followers – mediocre leaders create mediocre followers, excellent leaders create followers that flow in excellence

Anyone looking for leaders will be looking for those that stand out from the rest of the mediocre crowd.

Excellence is a Destination, not a State of Being:

It is where we are heading.

Nobody has arrived at excellence, except for God.

We are striving for more excellence in what we do.

Excellence is a Direction:

It is where we are moving toward.

Excellence does not work from the outside-in, but from the inside-out:

Excellence is a battle between your Spirit and your flesh:

Your flesh will keep you in mediocrity every time, but your Spirit was created by the Lord, and is already an excellent Spirit. The problem is that it does not have dominance.

How do you deal with the battle between the Spirit and the flesh? If you are flowing in excellence, it is right in the middle of the battle.

If you are mediocre in what you do, your flesh is ruling – not your Spirit-man.

Excellence starts with the Core, in your Heart:

The first question we should ask ourselves is “who am I doing this unto?”

If we are doing it unto the Lord, we have to ask:

* “what does He want me to do?
* “in what manner does He want me to do it?
This may step on toes, but we have to acknowledge this, as it impacts the amount of glory, of God’s anointing and God’s hand in our lives. If we want to see the glory of God, we’ve got to flow in Excellence.

It doesn’t matter if you have to do less, what matters is that we do it RIGHT.

It’s not the amount that matters, but the attitude of the heart in which it is done.

* ex. Mary & Martha

Excellence makes us judge ourselves:

We have to judge ourselves to determine if we are operating in Excellence. The Bible tells us that we don’t have the right to judge anyone else, but we do have the right to judge ourselves.

Flesh will tell you “I want to judge others and not me…”
The Spirit will tell you “I’m only allowed to judge me, and I won’t say anything about anybody else…”

Excellence is a Habit:

It does not come by accident. We don’t stumble upon it. We have to strive for it.

We have to do it consistently, constantly striving for more and better, until it becomes second nature.

The Spirit of Excellence does not become second nature, but the striving for better becomes second nature, and that’s where we need to be.

Until we get the striving as a habit, we won’t get the Spirit of Excellence.

Excellence is an attitude of Striving:

Excellence is a Reputation:

So is mediocrity. Mediocrity is a reputation.

What is your reputation?

You have to predetermine that you will catch the Spirit of Excellence. It will not come by itself. You have to hunt for it, search for it, and seek it out.

How do we start?

Whatever we are doing, begin to judge yourself.

* Am I doing what I am supposed to be?
* Am I doing it as though Jesus is standing with me?
* Am I doing it to the best of my ability?
* How can I interact with people better?
* How can I be more friendly?
* How can I smile more or better?
* How can I serve the people better?
* How can I serve my employer better?
If you don’t judge yourself, you will never improve.

Others should not have to always tell us what we are doing wrong. We should be judging ourselves, looking for how we can do it BETTER.

Excellence cannot be given to someone by someone else – it has to be caught. And we have to do the catching. Pastor can’t pray for you to get it, it can’t be imparted to you, Santa won’t even bring it…

If we aren’t willing to look at ourselves and pick out the faults, it becomes a pride issue.

If we say, I do everything with Excellence, I don’t need to improve, there is either an issue with pride or you are just delusional (and we can pray for you…)

God stays afar from the proud, so He’s not even in what you are doing…

We have to judge ourselves. We don’t want to go our entire lives living a mediocre life, when we could have had the fullness of God and His glory by operating in excellence.

Excellence starts when we learn to examine ourselves, it is an attitude of self-examination or self-judgement.

Excellence is a judgement of comparison.

Comparison of the way we are doing it, to the way we COULD be doing it.

Comparison of your present standard to your potential

Striving for excellence helps us fulfill the potential that God already has on the inside. God already has a plan for us, but most of the time, we don’t fulfill the plan because we never reach the true potential that we have inside.