I remember growing up and going to kids camp and youth camp, my mom each year would get me a disposable camera to take pictures through out the week. She would always give me a warning though, “you only have a limited amount of pictures make them count.” So each picture I had to be decisive and make sure I got the perfect picture. Now did that always happen? Nope, because I just liked getting the camera to flash when I would hit on my hand. So where my mom wanted to preserve memories I just wanted a toy. Obviously this was before the days of having a $1500 camera in your pocket and before social media where these memories now live. But we haven’t gotten rid of the mentality of making sure these pictures count. On social media we live in a day and age where we really on post the best pictures, with best angle, so we are presenting what we consider our perfect outcome. We ant everyone to see our lives in the best form, the perfect form.

This is one reason I have really enjoyed TikTok. Because TikTok breaks down the barrier of perfection. We have real time news and stories from people experiencing things that are happening around the world. But even on Tiktok, the pursuit of making the perception of ourselves we have in our head become a reality has started to take place.

We have become so desperate to look perfect that we will use filters and things to replace the beauty in which God created us. And I believe we unintentionally bring this mindset into our relationship with God.

We have allowed our cultures idolization of the “Perfect Life” to shape our expectation of our relationship with God. We create realities around our expectations.

Have you ever placed an expectation on something and because that one thing wasn’t met you were disappointed?

Those guys were stunned because their expectation was met. It was the highlight of their trip. But the curious thing to me is the fact that this high dollar restaurant didn’t flinch at the idea of changing the course because they cared about the customer. And the cared about being excellent. They easily could’ve fallen into the temptation of stay the course in what they thought their perfect meal would be but they chose excellence which led to joy.

This how the enemy try’s to trap us. He puts in a place of comparison that we need to have the better more perfect life, but God doesn’t expect us to be perfect. He expects us to trust in Him and consistently give our best.

A life built on God is about being excellent in trusting him with everything we do. When God gives us a direction, He wants us to go, He wants us to give our all.

Excellence is about consistently showing up and doing the best we can. That means in our hardest moments we are focused on who God is and trust Him in those moments. We must get to a place where we are giving our all and understanding that God controls the outcome. God isn’t asking us to do the impossible, he is asking us to walk out the good works he put in us so He can show up and do the impossible.

Walking out excellence in our life is about knowing who our God is. It’s about knowing who we serve and the outcome of that service. Excellence in our life is realized when we hear “Well done my good and faithful servant.”

To do that we have 3 key components to live and excellent life:
Know God
Being Faithful
Take Others With You

1. Know God

Knowing God is super important to living an excellent life because if you only know about Him you can easily switch His characteristics into a list of things to achieve perfection. We have to remember the perfect life isn’t the goal.

Do you know God or do you know about Him?

One simple thing that will help us change from knowing about Him and knowing Him is simple, read the Bible from the perspective that this isn’t simply about God but this is from God to us to understand who He is. God’s word came to us with the full picture of all of existence in mind.

When we know God, our life is switched from striving for an idea of what life should be to living life with purpose and on purpose.

So who is God?
Father
Lord of Lords
King of Kings
Holy
Everlasting
Good
Loving
These are just some of who he is.

These aren’t just characteristics that I see in the Bible but these are characteristics that i can point out in my life. So how do you go from knowing about God to Knowing Him?

Spending time with Him
John 15:5
5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

Your prayer time, bible time, and time thinking about Him is all about having a revelation of His character that becomes real in your life.

Now I now revelation is a real “Churchy” word but here is what that means: It’s simply when a characteristic of God is revealed in your life.

I remember the first time I experienced the Holiness of God. I was in a worship service and I felt a strong urge to go and read Isaiah Ch 6. So as I read, Isaiah is taken up into the throne room of God. Angels are flying around calling out Holy, Holy, Holy, is the lord God Almighty and his glory inherits all of the earth. Then Isaiah reacts and says woe is me, for I am undone, I am a man of unclean lips in the midst of people with unclean lips.

Isaiah’s sin was revealed. And in that moment it was like all of the things that were between God and I came to mind. I was overwhelmed with the weight of my sin. I didn’t know what to do so I kept reading. The Angel then brings coal from the alter and touches Isaiahs lips with the coal. When he did that his sins were forgiven. I then remembered all the times I was at an altar call and prayed “Forgive me God of my sins, I confess that you are lord and believe in my heart.”

I was then rushed with the sweetest most intense presence of God I have experienced. I knew what God wanted me to do, I knew what I needed to stop doing to continue to carry God’s presence.

It was in a moment of focusing on Him, set aside time, having His word to guide me, and not letting the regret of sin to stop me.

Renewing your mind
One of the things that hinders us from understanding God is our own thoughts. The enemy has come in and gotten our mind so wrapped up in the accusations that we have laid aside who God says we are. You are a son/daughter, an heir to the kingdom, called, filled with purpose, and so many more. But to get to that place you might need help. We have resources for that.

I suggest you grab a copy of Killing the Orphan Spirit. This was huge for me. Go through Freedom Class. It helps you unpack all the things that are keeping you bound up with out you realizing it. On your way to work put the Bible on, let it play and just let it wash over you.

2. Being Faithful

One key to living an excellent is being faithful to God’s plan for you. Being faithful isn’t about being perfect with every step. The Bible says this about the righteous:

Psalm 24:16
for the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity.

Being faithful isn’t about being perfect, it’s about being present so we can give our best to His will in every moment. He has given us Good Works for us to walk out. In order to that we have to make sure we are being faithful in those works and walking them out. He has already given them to you to walk out but it’s up to you to walk them out. In the parable of the talents we see this.

The master gives a servant one talent, he gives another 2 talents, and the third 5 talents. He leaves and says he will be back to check on their progress. The servants with the 2 and 5 go and invest the talents while the servant with one buries his. The master returns. He sees what the 2 servants have done and says Well done, good and faithful servant.[e] You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ The last servant he gets there and this is the interaction:

Matt 25:24-26
24 He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’ 26 But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant!..”

The servant was more worried about what would happen if the outcome didn’t go the way he wanted. The master was interested in the servant being faithful to who the master was.

What if it is our desire for a perfect outcome that is causing us to no realize the full potential that God has placed in us?

Perfection is built on performance, excellence is built on purpose.

A desire to be perfect leads to condemnation but a life built on excellence listens to conviction.

In every moment we have to options running at us: temptation and faithfulness. One leads to death and the other to life. This why understanding who he is, is key. When we know him, we know he has defeated death, hell, and the grace. So no matter what accusation, temptation, or thing the enemy wants to use is thrown at us we can stand on the strength of Christ.

When we are living a life of purpose, a life built of Christ, we will naturally fill our life with excellence because it doesnt matter what we are doing, when know we are doing to honor and worship God.

So how do we live on purpose? How do we live a faithful life?
We have to know what God’s will is for you.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
Rejoice always, no matter the circumstance because we know that we serve a God that is fighting for you. And that the hard things we are facing can be the very thing that brings up the issue that is keeping from the fullness of faithfulness. Embrace the pain. Find content in those hard moments because that is the love of God working things out of you so He can work His goodness into you.

Pray with out ceasing. Talk to Him. In everything. He is with you, the spirit is dwelling in you. Don’t talk yourself out of prayer because you think you have to be perfect. The prodigal son had been sleeping in the pig pen before the father hugged him and clothed him. Just run to the father and fall into grace.

Give thanks to God. Because everything around you he has blessed you with.

Life hasn’t always been easy for me. Honestly there are days now where I wish I didn’t have to face the decisions that I have to make BUT when I give thanks for where he has brought me too it puts everything in perspective for me.

3. Take Others With You
One of the greatest things that I have been able to experience in life is the joy of seeing others experience a deeper relationship with God.

One of the greatest experiences I had with this is with Brandon. I have been able to see Him go from someone who was hurt by Christian’s to a man that is now leading other men to grow in God and have those deeper connections with God. And it all started because we started hanging out at family events, then he started asking me questions about the Bible, then we started meeting at Starbucks Monday mornings before work, then He got plugged in at Freedom, we went through Freedom class together, and now we are here.

Taking others with you isn’t about you bashing them over the head with the Bible but knowing God, being faithful, and looking for opportunities to share what God is doing. When we understand who God is then you are able to love people where they are at. You are able to be faithful to God so others can see how you handle difficult situations. And that will crack the door open for you to have a conversation.

Matt 28:19-20 is the great commission, Jesus gives us a few directives.
Go into the world. To be effective in the world we have to know who God is. His ways. And be faithful in those things so we don’t get ensnared in the enemies traps.

Make disciples
This is all about being present in the world and acting out Godly characteristics. In doing so we are able to show people who God is and give us an opportunity for relationship with those people and lead them to relationship with God.

Baptize them
Once they are committed and have had spiritual revitalization they are baptized to put to death the old ways.

Teach them to live according to His commandments
We are empowered by God to teach others what we know about him so they can understand Him and live out those things through being faithful to Him.

The key though is we aren’t getting them to follow us, we are point them to Christ. We are to exemplify the character of Christ. Our goal is to know god and be faithful to him so that others can see the goodness of God through us. That means when life is hard we choose faithfulness to Him.

The enemy wants to tell us that we are not going to live up to our purpose and he uses the culture around us to drive that point deeper in us. He wants us to compare ourselves to what we see on Facebook and Instagram. A perfect life in our culture is built off of comparison and feeling like we aren’t enough. Living an excellent life is understanding we aren’t enough but God who is rich in mercy sent His son to die for us so we have the opportunity to know Him and be faithful to him.

Excellence is simply living a life where God is first and everything we do honors Him.

What is the Holy Spirit saying to you through this message?

How does he want you to respond?