good morning my friends i'm pastor
stephen brooks welcome today to our
morning glory midweek bible study
today we're going to be in the book of
daniel chapter 6 why don't you meet me
over there
and uh as you can see we're back over in
the
studio a we're having some audio
technical challenges in our traditional
wednesday morning studio b we'll get all
of that ironed out praise the lord but
you know that's the blessing of having
two studios if one ever uh has a problem
i can switch over to the other one and
then get that one fixed it's just nice
to have some redundancy
not only in streaming but also in life
isn't it do you ever notice on airplanes
they have redundant parts why because if
you're flying and this goes out you
always have a backup that you can rely
on the backup and oftentimes
good systems have three levels of
redundancy praise the lord and actually
we have that here so we thank god for
his goodness praise the lord
all right we're going to be in daniel
chapter six today we're going to talk
about moving towards excellence praise
the lord this is a wonderful subject to
study and i believe it will have a great
impact in your life for good so let's
pray heavenly father as we go into your
word we ask that your holy spirit would
come right now during this study that he
would come bringing the spirit of wisdom
and revelation
and that we would begin to see the
scriptures now we thank you that the
spirit of wisdom and revelation is the
holy spirit so oh god we just thank you
for giving us divine illumination to
move towards excellence to know what it
is and to know how to
develop it to know how to approach it
and to
step into it we give you praise
in jesus name we all agree and say amen
praise the lord
daniel chapter 6 verse 3 then this
daniel
distinguished himself above the
governors
and satraps
because an excellent spirit was in him
and the king gave thought to setting him
over the whole realm
well the king can see that daniel is
different that there's something
exceptional about him
where he is even identified as having an
excellent spirit
what is an excellent spirit well i
believe we can define
an excellent spirit
as being able to operate
and perform at the highest
possible level for each particular
moment
and
i say for each particular moment because
i believe excellence is something
that moves and we have to endeavor to
keep pace with it or else we will be
left behind
of the mark of excellence for example in
the television industry how many of you
remember
decades and decades back everything
used to be black and white and before
there was black and white there was
there was motion without audio so
eventually audio was added it brought a
new level of excellence and then we went
from black and white to color but how
many of you know that when we went to
color as big of a jump as that was
uh there were still new levels to reach
matter of fact um
sports
took off to a new level when color
television was created because once
viewers could see their teams in their
colors
it created a different level of
connection and attraction
and so yes we went to color television
that became the new level of excellence
but even still that was color television
and a resolution at that time of 360p
which had a lot of graininess in it
and uh you know it was uh it was a long
time before we ever made the jump to
what we now know today is 1080p most of
the videos that you watch on the
internet have a resolution of at least
720 which is the lowest standard to be
considered
uh you know high def but really true
high definition is 1080p and
thank god for youtube and many other
formats that allow us to stream the
message but you know what in this day
and age if i was still streaming to you
or ministering to you in black and white
there would be
a loss of a connection why i've been
left behind of what the standard of
excellence now is so
excellence or
having a spirit of excellence is
operating and performing at the highest
level possible for each particular
moment that's why we're always on the
move to
uh
rise to levels of excellence to bring
glory to the lord now the word
excellence in the hebrew
is the word yet tear
and it means when we translate it it
means excellence of course but it means
preeminent
it means surpassing
now like this it also means extreme
wow you would be extremely different in
a good way so it means extreme it means
extraordinary and it could also be
translated as being very great praise
the lord so daniel had an excellent
spirit and the lord wants you to move to
an excellent spirit as well to have that
developed within your life
so
what we want to do is we want to move
towards that but we also
we can't ignore the context really that
we are seeing daniel while being
portrayed with an excellent spirit we
have to look at the context and see
the reaction that that that can cause
sometimes even around uh those that
would be around us or even those from a
distance that we might not know
and that is a reaction uh oftentimes of
persecution when you have an excellent
spirit we actually can read it in the
very next verse which is verse 4
so the governors and
satraps sought to find some charge
against daniel
concerning the kingdom but they could
find no charge or fault because he was
faithful nor was there any error or
fault found in him then these men said
we shall not find any charge against
this daniel unless we find it against
him concerning the law of his god so an
excellent spirit can
create and foster jealousy among those
who do not value excellence
and excellence of course is a key
characteristic
of god's eternal kingdom everything
about heaven is excellent everything
about the lord is a spirit of excellence
he is the king of kings praise the lord
so excellence which leads to success is
always
not sometimes
it's always accompanied with persecution
this is something that you must be
prepared to deal with
while some persecution comes from those
in the world
it's not surprising
that this other source of persecution
comes from believers
who are not developed in their walk with
the lord
and so
they are the ones that refuse to move
with the cloud of glory and having been
left behind
they become jealous they become
indignant
and so uh
they get stirred up and they begin to
criticize
what is criticism it can be a form of
persecution criticism is one's opinion
expressed in a very harsh manner so you
can have a different viewpoint but to
express it so
an intent to demean or hurt the other
person those are things that we should
never step into so my friends we have to
understand that when you have the
excellent spirit like daniel had like
what you're moving further into there
will be at times persecution now we see
this
as par for the course as expressed in
the book of isaiah
chapter 42 and let's drop down to verse
13.
isaiah 42 verse 13
the lord shall go forth like a mighty
man he shall stir up jealousy like a man
of war he shall cry out yes shout aloud
he shall prevail against his enemies now
i'm bringing that to you from the king
james version and it says he shall stir
up jealousy
so
the going forth of the lord
automatically stirs up
those that would have this type of a
spirit when the lord begins to move when
there's a lifting that begins to take
place in your life because of an
excellent spirit it just does something
to stir up those that already have it
resident within their heart and so we
need to
be aware that this is going to happen
and position ourselves to walk
accordingly praise god
i have found that i made a note of this
that jealousy can be due to them re
perceiving that you have some type of
advantage that they don't have
that's why many become jealous they look
at you they look at your lifting they
don't see all the efforts that you're
doing or all the work that you're
putting into it they just see you're
lifting up
and
uh they think that you have some type of
superior advantage some type of help
that they don't have and even christians
can think like this while they
technically
biblically have the very same advantages
that you do they're just not utilizing
it and so they become jealous
we see also in mark chapter 10
that jesus gave further insight
concerning this mark chapter 10
and in verse 29
so jesus answered and said assuredly i
say to you there is no one who has left
house
or brothers or sisters or father or
mother or wife or children or lands for
my sake and the gospels who shall not
receive a hundredfold now in this time
so you can expect to receive the 100
fold return the 100 full blessing in
this present life in which you're living
houses and brothers and sisters and
mothers and children and lands with
persecutions with persecutions praise
the lord
every lifting up from the lord
will cause
persecution to come against you
there is no successful kingdom committed
man who will not receive his own share
of persecutions
we are not more anointed than jesus and
jesus was persecuted more than any man
but we're going to just walk in the
principles of the word of god we're
going to forgive those that would be
jealous or would bring persecution we're
going to bless them and not curse them
we're going to bless them and we're
going to go on and stay focused on what
we are called to do praise the lord
notice so often with the great biblical
characters that when they were normal
nobody bugged them or bothered them when
isaac uh was in a situation of need just
like everybody else the philistines
didn't envy him it was only during his
lifting they got jealous
and now they begin to persecute same
thing with nehemiah and ezra as they do
their work on the wall and so forth it's
only when their success now there's
jealousy
and we see with jesus
that when he was a carpenter
uh there's there's no trouble matter of
fact i'm sure many people liked him and
thought he was a real just a real
wonderful uh young man everybody thought
he was just the nicest person but the
moment whoo
the moment he was anointed and now is
his time of being lifted up
to carry out his commission then
suddenly all hell breaks loose
persecution everywhere
what in the world is going on well he's
anointed he's walking in an excellent
spirit his ministry is growing uh the
message is being sent all over and he
went on to accomplish his assignment but
yes there was persecution just be aware
of that it comes with an excellent
spirit praise the lord
now
let's go further into
not only understanding excellence but
how
we can merge into it and have a life
that exudes excellence i believe it's a
package deal
i believe that uh the lord would want us
to be developed in our career field with
excellence that the lord would want us
to
be developed in our home life in our
marriage life or your single life or
whatever it might be where there's an
excellent spirit that you just walk in
and that begins to affect everything in
your world and also those that would
have view of your life the way that you
live and govern your life so now we're
going to go over to colossians chapter 4
and this is primarily our
our key verse today that i want us to
dig into
colossians chapter 4
and verse 17 the apostle paul is writing
and he's going to address a certain
individual
these are the instructions and he says
and say to archipus
take heed to the ministry now
archipus when translated in greek means
lover of horses
so he was obviously named this name by
his parents
because perhaps they loved horses and
this is something that's being passed on
to the sun but everywhere he went his
name denoted uh an element of i of his
identity as someone who just really
likes horses a whole lot praise god so
if you're out there and you like horses
then know that uh god can even honor the
name of a horse lover praise the lord
and there he is in the bible lover of
horses
[Laughter]
glory to god i like horses too um
i don't i don't want one because they're
a lot of work not only feeding them but
all of the manure that's got to be
removed and cleaned up unless you have a
big open you know uh pasture-type field
or something like that but even still
they're a lot of work but i tell you
what every time i see those painted
ponies whew my goodness beautiful horses
i do like the mustangs
if you ever go to the biltmore estate
here in
asheville north carolina uh there are a
couple of horses that are there now
they've got a whole stable full of
horses that you could take tours on the
extremity of the property and go out
into the forest and all on the trails
but there's a couple of the horses that
are there
that are
um
that are that have been brought into the
uh i guess the flock is not the word but
brought into the group of horses that
work there uh i think there's two of
them that used to be
uh on the uh
on an island that's off the coast of
north carolina where back in the 1600s
a spanish ship crashed on the island
and all the men eventually got off but
they left all of their horses they were
mustangs and so they ran wild they've
been running wild for 400 years and
they're still running wild today out on
that island but two of them were brought
from the island to asheville and uh when
we uh toured the biltmore estate
we actually decided to take the horse
ride and so my daughter got the mustang
and so she was real happy she got to
ride the wild what was formerly a wild
mustang running around on an island and
uh so that was really nice and i got to
ride the only white horse they had they
had one all-white horse
i felt a little bit like jesus no he
didn't come back
nobody was throwing palm fronds or palm
leaves in front of me but it sure was
fun to ride the white horse
maybe it was a precursor because we're
all going to come back with the lord
eventually at one point after the
uh you know the catching up of the
saints and then the uh the full
unfolding of the latter half of the
great tribulation all that ends we will
come back with the lord he will be up in
front and we'll be riding behind him on
some really fast
white horses praise god we have a lot to
look forward to all right let's get past
archipus and his wonderful name and say
to archbis take heed to the ministry
which you have received in the lord that
that you may fulfill it
thank you lord jesus take heed
this word take heed in the original
greek language means to see
with mental vision
and to consider and contemplate it so
basically when you pull this word
together take heed the fullness of the
meaning of it is suggesting that we uh
find out what it takes to get it done
and then do it take heed see it
contemplate it understand it now that
you know and you can see it go after it
and get it done praise the lord so we
have to take heed
and here he's being
exhorted to take heed to the ministry
that the lord has given him but i i
don't want you to think just ministry
because out of out of everybody in the
body of christ only about 15 percent
get called into full-time ministry so
what happens to the rest of the 85
percent you have to identify the career
field and the calling that the lord has
for you so you could read it like this
take heed to the career field which you
have received in the lord that you may
fulfill it praise the lord now
let's cover something very important
here because
if we skip this we can never get into
excellence so let's go through a little
uh understanding of fulfilling this
scripture
just because you receive a ministry
or a placement into a specific career
field does not guarantee fulfillment
does not guarantee that the end result
is all going to work out
you're going to have to give it all it
takes you're going to put your whole
heart into it
because that is the path into excellence
praise god so
you cannot attain excellence in any
ministry or career field that you have
not received from the lord
i'm going to have to read that again and
say it real slow i want you to meditate
on this let it get into your spirit
because god wants you to reach the top
now listen to this
you cannot attain excellence
in any ministry or career field that you
have not received from
the lord
well pastor stephen now i don't
understand that why would that be
because god
is not committed to what he has not
commanded
hmm
okay let's chew on that just a little
bit today
god
is not committed to what he has not
commanded
so if the vision
is not from the lord
and you engage in it anyhow
then
you're going to have to do it
in your own strength
your own power
your own ability you're going to now
have to fund it it's all on you
if you jump into something that god has
not commissioned
so you want to be very careful
as if we're endeavoring to break this
down you want to be very careful that
you don't mistake
ambition
passion
or certain impressions
for what would be a true vision
or a true identification of what god has
for you
and
the bible warns against selfish ambition
now ambition can be a good thing when
you're dialed in and you're running in
your lane
but
so often
people are looking left and they're
looking right they're looking in every
direction instead of the direction that
god has for them and it can really cause
some trouble praise the lord so just
because
you see a need
doesn't mean
it doesn't mean that god is calling you
to that ministry or even that career
field i see a need over there yep that's
where god wants me well just because
there's a need doesn't equal
a calling or an assignment let me give
you an example let's talk about ministry
for a moment
you could be in ministry
and uh maybe you travel to a different
country or maybe you're here in the
states and you see
young children that that are not being
raised right maybe they're abandoned or
something like that and some countries
are they're homeless literally just
walking streets or walking trash piles
and you may think i need to start an
orphanage
all i'm saying is that just because you
see a need doesn't mean that god is now
giving you a divine assignment because
if you look carefully enough there are
needs absolutely everywhere and if you
just start trying to tackle needs tackle
needs tackle needs it's endless
it's endless and the ability to fund it
is bottomless it's just there's just no
way they're everywhere you you could
drain all the money of elon musk bill
gates or jeff bezos put them all
together you would empty their wallets
within weeks if you try to
fulfill every need that's out there
[Music]
praise god
for example with the orphanage
you might think well orphanages are good
it's all good hospitals are good
christian schools are good there's all
kinds of good things you can do but you
you have to be careful that you don't
get into something that god has not
called you to get into i'll give an
example i was sitting next to a pastor
one time
and this is the only pastor i've ever
given
this type of specific word to and i was
sitting next to him and i said pastor
josue
i said the lord shows me that you're
supposed to be involved in an orphanage
helping out with an orph with an
orphanage
and he stopped and looked at me
he said pastor stephen he said did you
know that i was raised in an orphanage i
said no i had no idea i didn't know that
he said well i was he said that's
that's in my heart see but just because
i gave that word to him doesn't mean i
can start going around to others oh
brother orphanage is really good all of
you need to have an orphanage
well
there i'm just saying the
orphanages are wonderful but the needs
are endless we have we have unwed
mothers we have those that can't pay
hospital bills we have needs here needs
there all they're all over the planet
and some places in the planet they're
desperate
so
you're going to have to filter through
all of that
and do not mistake ambition
passion or certain types of impressions
for what would be a true vision or a
true assignment to a god-given
ministry or even career field
whoa praise god
why is this so important because you
cannot attain excellence in any ministry
or career field that you have not
received from the lord
praise god
praise god
an open door
or
or a wide open opportunity does not
equal that that means that's a divine
assignment
because there's doors all over the place
now yes you want the right one to open
but i'm saying there's all kinds of open
doors out there
but that doesn't mean that's a divine
assignment
praise the lord
so take heed
take heed to what you have received from
the lord the ministry the career field
calling take heed to it
excellence
begins with knowing
that the ministry or the career path is
from the lord and you're not going to be
able to excel in it if it's not from him
look at this in jeremiah chapter 23
i think i think this is stunning
look at this jeremiah chapter 23
verse 21
i have not sent these prophets
yet
they ran
well pastor stephen if they're out there
running around surely god sent them
their prophets no
he did not send them
i have not sent these prophets
yet they ran
sounds like some rebellious prophets to
me
i have not spoken to them
yet they
prophesied
well pastor chief and they're
prophesying all the time surely it must
be god no it's not it's it's all them
it's all coming out of their soulish
nature
and if there's something you want to
hear trust me they'll cook up a real
good one for you too
and god's not in it
i now now yes there are true prophets
rock solid
that when they give a word
it's it's uh it's coming from a very
seasoned veteran man or woman of god
prophet or prophetess
and
yes you really need to give great heed
to that praise the lord but there's a
lot of fluffy stuff
and let me say this that today
verse 21 is going on more than i've ever
seen
in the history of the church
we've got people all over the place
that are running races that they're not
even assigned by god to be running yet
they're out there running
they're out there running and some
some christians
are so naive
to the wisdom of god they actually
applaud them while they're running yes
good good good that's real good
i'm thinking i'm thinking no that's not
good it doesn't even have the right ring
there's no anointing on it
wow i have not sent these prophets yet
they ran i have not spoken to them yet
they prophesied
praise the lord and you know what that's
why those prophets are not excelling
they're not excelling and moving forward
in the plan that god has for them
because they're running races they're
never called to be running not that
they're not supposed to be a prophet
but
you're going to have to get into your
specific
assignment let me dig a little further
with this this helps out jeremiah
chapter 1
verse 4 let's examine just just for a
moment the mystery of predestination
verse 4
then the word of the lord came to me the
prophet jeremiah saying
before i formed you in the womb
i knew you
now when he's saying i knew you
that means like i know everything about
you i knew you everything's mapped out
planned out i've got it all preset it's
ready for you when you show up before i
formed you in the womb i knew you before
you were born
i sanctified or i set you apart i
ordained you a prophet to the nations so
before he's ever out of his mother's
womb
he's already
he's already
pre-planned and pre-ordained by the lord
to be a prophet now watch this not just
a local prophet
not just a regional prophet
but a prophet to the nations so his
ministry is going to have an
international impact
we could even say a global
impact
but how
how successful would
would jeremiah have been if he would
have said you know what
lord
i guess you've got a good plan for me
obviously you're real smart you're god
you're created the planet and not the
universe and everything else created me
too but you know what lord i've got a
different idea you know lord i know you
want to be you want me to be a prophet
but uh lord i want to be a chemist
because i love taking tests test tubes
and mixing stuff together and i just
love working in the laboratory and you
know i've always wanted to wear one of
those white lab coats that's lord that's
really what i want to do so let us ask
ourselves a question
could jeremiah ever rise to the highest
level of excellence as a chemist
no
no
so why in the world would you go a path
that you could never be number one in
why would you go in a direction that no
matter how
much you pour into it and how much you
try you could never be number one or you
could never reach true levels of
excellence because that's not your lane
that's not your
assignment oh but if he stays a prophet
oh he's going to become world renowned
yes he was known all over israel kings
and other nations knew about him people
in other countries talked about him they
even had a name for him the weeping
prophet
now of course he wasn't crying all the
time
he's probably laughing right now in
heaven praise the lord but i mean we're
still reading about him a couple uh what
over 2 000 years plus ago so he stayed
in his lane and he reached excellence
even during a time of war even during
the time of great distress in the land
wow
thank you jesus praise god
so you have to tie into what god
preordained you to do
praise god which is why also you can't
even truly know that until you get born
again
because god
before you were ever born planned out
what you would do your assignment your
calling and your purpose and you cannot
know that outside of him
praise the lord so
true knowledge of god's plan for your
life begins with the born-again
salvation experience praise god
you know i think it's very interesting
the
the story that dr dgs dina karen told
and he was the great man of god from
india passed away a few years back
he talked about the time that
he was taken to heaven in a vision
and when he was in heaven
he saw
how did he describe it uh he saw these
big
markers
that had
like he would see like a
kind of like a um
it's like a banner you ever seen like a
banner that's like kind of like a flat
like a flag banner that's kind of
straight like that real tall but kind of
thin and he could see these banner
markers that was said that were set up
in heaven and it had rankings
in areas of ministry and look there's
also rankings in career fields
uh whether it's scientific uh academic
or whatever it might be medical there's
rankings in god's eyes
and so dr dunakaran said that when he
went to heaven
he saw this one banner this one ranking
and at the top of it it said salvation
and it had the ministers
that were called by god to preach what
salvation in other words they are
evangelists now remember you you've got
to get in your lane you'll never get
into excellence if you don't get into
your lane because
even if you identify that you're called
to the ministry okay you've solved the
first big question but don't forget
there are five
areas of ministry powell excuse me
apostle prophet evangelist pastor
teacher so it's not just being in the
ministry and identifying that which
which lane which of the five
okay
because if you don't get that right
you're still not going to come into
excellence so dr dennicarin
very reputable
trusted man of god
said while in this vision he's looking
at this
this this
list of names and it said salvation and
this was the list of the great
evangelist and he looked and lo and
behold
number one the number one name on the
whole list he looked and it said
billy graham
isn't that amazing and the list just
goes down
just like that of all other
good
ministers that are that are called to
evangelism that are
like archips they're fulfilling their
ministry and they're all on that list
but at the very top was billy graham
and then
his eyes moved over to another list
and it it had different people on this
list you know what it said
it said
salvation and
baptism in the holy spirit
and a different person's name was on the
top of that list because they yes that
that those evangelists would lead you to
the lord and then they would also lead
you into the baptism and the holy spirit
and he could see these different lists
and their rankings and the excellence of
those that had risen to the top because
they're they're in their lane and then
he looked over to another list with a
long
long list of names
and at the very very top the title of
that list said compassion
and dr dennicarin said he looked
and there
to the joy of his heart the very number
one name of all the ministers in the
world that ministered on that subject
the number one name dgs denicarin
hallelujah praise god and you can see
that all over him if you go to youtube
and watch his videos
you see a man
with the camera zoomed in close to him
you see a man behind a pulpit like a
glass pulpit like this and he's
preaching very calm demeanor very
relaxed and if you didn't know you think
well maybe he's talking to 50 people
maybe he's talking to 100 people and
then the camera starts panning back
zooming out and you realize oh
there's there's some people in the
audience then you start to see a
thousand people 2 000 people the camera
keeps panning back ten thousand people
twenty thousand fifty thousand a hundred
thousand two hundred thousand two
hundred fifty thousand people you
realize he's speaking to a multitude
these massive meetings and he's just
standing there real calm talking and
he's ministering with deep compassion
why
because that's exclusively needed in
those parts of the world where you have
people sitting out there in the audience
in destitute poverty no shoes sick
diseases and
no don't no hospitals no
no money uh living uh day by day hoping
to just get another meal or make it
through the day and so what do what do
they need they need the compassion of
christ
whew and it just flowed out of him like
a river praise god supernaturally it was
beautiful it was supernatural he was
called the apostle of love but that love
was expressed with a very fatherly type
compassion
and so because he's in his lane where
does that take him it takes him up just
like it did daniel who stayed in his
lane it takes you to the top and you can
never get to the top levels of
excellence and be in the wrong place
pastor stephen i want to be like daniel
i want to develop an excellent spirit
do
what he's called you to do pray make
those discoveries and invest into that
and when like archipus you are given
a ministry or a or an unveiling of the
lane that you're supposed to be in your
career field all hands on deck get your
job done now at all costs
this is helping you to understand why
some christians that are floundering
despite their excuses they're still
floundering why they're in the wrong
lane
they're in the wrong lane
um
praise the lord you ever ever notice in
the olympics that when you get to the
men's 100 meter dash
and you get to the finals
eight fastest men on the planet
let's go back a few years because he's
retired now and you have
uh usain bolt there in the final
how come nobody that runs the mile is
trying to race him how come none of the
high jumpers are trying to race him how
come none of the shot putters or discus
throwers are trying to race him because
he's untouchable in his
specialty event you take him out of that
and go put him over there in the pole
vault
suddenly now he's he he can't he can't
compete but you put him in his element
and what happens excellence
excellence
praise the lord glory to god
thank you jesus
now we must make use of some other
principles as well second peter chapter
one you're moving towards excellence
ii peter chapter 1
verse 10 therefore brethren be even more
diligent
to make your call and election sure
for if you do these things you will
never stumble be very focused to make
sure that your call
and your election are sure your walk
with the lord your salvation is intact
and also the contribution that you are
making through your work just stay with
it and continue to develop and develop
and we see some keys to that development
in verse 5
but also for this very reason
giving all diligence add to your faith
virtue
the virtue knowledge
to knowledge self-control to
self-control perseverance to
perseverance godliness to godliness
brotherly kindness and to brotherly
kindness love
for if these things are yours and abound
you will be neither barren nor
unfruitful in the knowledge of our lord
jesus christ take all of these qualities
and merge them into your life and take
it with you everywhere you go take it
into your workplace take it with you
everywhere you go because trust me
self-control is valuable everywhere
knowledge is valuable everywhere
diligence works everywhere perseverance
works everywhere godliness is beneficial
anywhere you go nobody wants a cheater
or a liar working for
them praise the lord and make
application praise god now let's go over
to second timothy
chapter 2.
ii timothy chapter 2
verse
4.
this is going to help you also move into
excellence
no one
engaged in warfare
and take them entangles himself with the
affairs of this life that he may please
him who enlisted him as a soldier
i've said this before i would like to
repeat it at this time that the primary
reason
the main reason why men fail is because
of broken focus
something else
has distracted them and got
their focus off of what
they need to be dialed in on
did you know that when david
king david committed adultery with
bathsheba did you know that he was 48
years old at that time
well now pastor stephen that's
interesting i thought maybe he was 27
still young and spry and you know had a
uh you know really uh trying to you know
still uh exert all of his youthful
energy and so forth and uh i figured he
was a young fellow no he was 48 years
old
what happened to david uh bathsheba
broke his focus
yes we can't blame bathsheba because
first of all david's in the wrong place
at the wrong time he should have been
over there at ammon modern-day jordan uh
engaging his top general uh uh
to take the city
but he's goofing around goofing around
he's lost his focus now he gets himself
distracted and in trouble and so you
can't you can't rise to excellence when
you're sinking down in to sin
um stay alert this is a lifetime walk
this is a lifetime walk when you're in
your 30s the enemy throws different
things at you than when you're 20. and
when you're 40 or 50 he those different
things that you
now that you're in a different decade of
your life so be aware of these types of
things
and don't be distracted consider
yourself as a good soldier
and you don't allow yourself to get
entangled up in stuff
that will
impair your process
of rising to the top because it's going
to take everything to get there
praise the lord and we see that
in our closing scripture found in first
corinthians chapter 15
hallelujah i'm so glad that you're here
with me today and that you have an
interest
in developing an excellent spirit
like daniel you you do understand that
not everybody in the church has his
interest
there are those in the church
that
uh maybe they belong to the sloppy agape
group
they love the lord and they love others
but don't expect them to brush their
teeth don't expect them to uh dial back
the garlic or the onions before the big
meeting no they're gonna be themselves
and uh you know what there's a did you
know what the white house garlic is
banned on the list
it doesn't matter if you're president
and you say i love garlic
matter of fact my ancestors used to
raise garlic gardens it doesn't matter
garlic is not allowed on the menu at the
white house why
because they they tried to create and
all that they do a spirit of excellence
and it's not excellent to go up in
somebody's face and you know have bad
breath and breathe it all over them
it's not excellent well pastor steve i'm
going to eat what i'm going to eat well
then you you can't go into certain
places
you you can't behave certain ways and go
into certain places
we're not talking about being
haughty toddy or you know rude or
arrogant or anything like that but we we
are trying to move into a mindset of
excellence like daniel had and daniel
was the top advisor
to a very powerful king
very powerful king
and nebuchadnezzar was something else
yes he was an ungodly man he had a lot
of mixture in his life but i tell you
what that was the center of
literature and growth and development in
the areas of science and education it
was the world leader at that time and
he's standing right in the midst of it
and god wants you to be like daniel
where you rise to the very top of your
career field even if it's in babylon and
of course for many of you it is and
maybe some of you are laughing thinking
yeah i'm in new york modern day babylon
or even as paul referred to rome as
being babylon maybe you're watching me
from rome
because in paul's era it was there was
great persecutions against the
christians there in rome italy
but regardless of where you're watching
me from god will give you wisdom like he
gave to daniel not the compromise but to
walk in excellence not to break the laws
of god but the walk in excellence and
still
achieve your assignment
all right one more thing we need to see
first corinthians chapter 15 verse 10.
paul says but but by the grace of god i
am what i am
and his grace toward me was not in vain
see pastor stephen it's all grace
that's all it is
yes
it is all god's grace
but we have to also embrace our
responsibility
again but by the grace of god i am what
i am and his grace toward me was not in
vain but i labored more abundantly than
they all
well pastor steven i was hoping you're
gonna work on read part b well we can't
ignore that while
it is the god is god's grace to carries
us even empowers us we still
with that empowerment must now express
it through various forms of labor praise
god
hallelujah
but i labor more
abundantly than they all he outworked
any of the twelve original apostles
he worked worked worked but i labored
more abundantly than they all yet not i
but the grace of god which was with me
so the grace of god is with you it is
there
and it will empower you but yes it
empowers you also to work and while
you're working
you're just enjoying it because why this
is what god has for
you praise the lord and even paul said
the same thing
god had him mark before he was ever born
to be a preacher of the gospel
some of you are wondering why is it not
working right for me because god already
knew before you were born what you're
supposed to be doing
but sometimes people they have a lot of
ambition and ambition can be good but
the bible warns against selfish ambition
and you can be like i'm going to do this
no matter what and if you do that you'll
never reach excellence and you'll never
become number one
what took out
william branham at the time the world's
leading prophet
well
the
the 1950s healing movement began to lift
and as that came to a close the teaching
ministry the next move of the holy
spirit in the earth the teaching
ministry began to come forth and up
until that time there was just all
preaching
it was almost uh
the mindset was like it would be almost
impossible for a minister
to actually have provision
come in to support him if all he ever
did was teach
because people
in the church really devalued teaching
but the teaching movement came
and god began to raise up teachers
kenneth hagin
charles capps and kenneth copeland so
teachers began to come forth they're
teaching teaching teaching teaching
and
william branham began to foresee even
before it started to shift that healing
movement that was coming excuse me the
healing movement was ending and now
we're going into a teaching movement and
he said i'm going to be a teacher
and you know what he was a great
preacher and he could he could really
preach
divine healing really well
and he could also
operate in the ministry office of the
prophet with words of knowledge that
when he was in that category he's number
one number one prophet on the earth at
that time
but he said i
want to teach and i'm going to teach
and he couldn't teach
anytime he tried to teach he'd he'd
start getting in the false doctrine
anytime he tried to teach he would start
confusing people
and gordon lindsay the founder of christ
for the nations and also
the uh
general editor for the voice of healing
magazine
went to william branham
and said why
are you trying to teach
when you can't teach
why don't you stay satisfied with god's
unique blessing upon your life as a
prophet and operate in the sign wonder
ministry that god has given you and and
then you can be a blessing to many many
people he said no he said
i want to teach and i'm going to teach
and that
began the sudden
falling apart of his ministry
and eventually
the premature
loss of his life through a tragic
accident he got out of his lane
he got out of his lane
wow my friends
let us not be like isaiah the prophet or
excuse me the king the king
back in the old testament prophet king
priest three distinct categories
that that you could be assigned into by
the lord
so the king wants to be a priest
and he goes into the temple to offer
incense and the priest said hey hey
look we love you and respect you but you
got to get out of here you are not
allowed to do this this can only be done
by the descendants of aaron and we are
those descendants you cannot do this he
said i'm going to do it anyhow and while
he was talking he was struck with
leprosy
struck with leprosy turned white
i got his attention
he died a leper
now as a king
fame
wealth prosperity notoriety as a king
if it has stayed as a humble king
oh what a legend he would have been but
it was all cut short all cut short
praise the lord
there
there is something special about
reaching levels of excellence and
knowing
who you are in the lord and knowing your
assignment and staying plugged into that
and as we see in verse
10 there is also something special about
labor and work because there's no bright
future for the lazy man or the lazy
woman
there's no bright future for such a
person
praise god but i see the spirit of
excellence beginning to touch your mind
as a man thinks in his heart so is he
the word heart there in the new
testament
is a reference to the mindset of a
person so as a man thinks in his mind so
is he
whoo you have to think i'm becoming like
daniel
i'm becoming like joseph i'm rising to
the top in my career field i'm being
lifted up
to give advice perhaps to the king or to
the ceo hallelujah or the board of
directors praise god
those are two very special anointings
the joseph anointing and the daniel
anointing that will rest heavy upon this
end time church praise god
praise the lord
please lift up your hands i want to pray
that the spirit of excellence touch you
touch your mind
that it will begin to rest upon your
life
praise the lord
praise the lord um
heavenly father we just thank you
for the anointing the mantle of the
spirit of excellence
something that
we grow into because excellence
continues to move higher
so father let that anointing come and
rest upon your people right now
let them be
persuaded to be like daniel
a man that will not violate the laws of
god your word but a man also who develop
into excellence we thank you father god
take your people higher into this area
because there there's high places
that they were determined to walk in
before they were ever born and it's
going to happen
it is going to happen i thank you father
for the unveiling of destinies
i thank you for the diffusion and the
blocking of wrong paths
that the angels would go forth and put a
briary blockade in front of that wrong
path
and no it's not the devil blocking it
it's god's angels blocking it now father
we give you praise
hallelujah
hallelujah
and father may we always
walk in reverence of you knowing
that we can never become number one
or come into an excellent spirit
in something that we're not called to
now father we give you praise
let the
spirit of excellence begin to descend
upon your people
as they praise and worship you
i see a bright future oh god for your
people
a future full of laughter and joy
hallelujah
thank you father thank you father
and the lord says you will be honored as
you follow his path and his plan for
your life you will have honors
awarded and bestowed unto
you
now father we thank you
father we thank you
in jesus name
amen
amen
praise god
you know the tragedy is so many live and
die
all of their they lived all of their
life and they never stepped into what
god had for them and then they get old
and then they blame the company i tell
you what i worked for that company for
40 years and all they did was give me a
watch worth 45
and they got that watch from walmart
and that's all i got for 45 years of
labor
that's not the company's fault that's
the individual's fault for getting into
a lane that had no future for them
now could have been perfect for somebody
else
or could have been something that was
transitory that they eventually passed
through and move on to the next level of
blessing
praise the lord but some people lock
them in themselves uh into dead in
destinies
there's a dead end
um
and a lot of that is because of a
of a refusal to fully give their hearts
over to the lord
as lord
well i love jesus as savior but ain't
nobody gonna tell me what to do
well
then the only person losing out is the
stubborn individual praise god that's
why we have the old testament
all of these are types and shadows all
of these old testament stories were
written for us
upon whom the eight at the end of the
ages has come
time is short
god's gonna make
the years that you have before you
count and be maximized father we thank
you in jesus name amen if you're
watching today's program and you're
thanking pastor stephen i want to know
why i'm here which is my no which is
more reason than my feet to walk on
grass and my nose to uh to breathe in
for a share i want to know my purpose
well then if you don't know christ it
begins right there and that's the
greatest thing forgiveness of sins
receiving eternal life
pray this prayer right now
heavenly father
i come to you in the name of jesus
i repent of my sins
i ask you to save me
and that you would write me write my
name
in your book of life i give my life
completely to you
and i turn from sin
take me now as your child thank you
father in jesus name
amen welcome welcome welcome to the
family of god
praise the lord
now i sense in my heart somebody
is
has awakened to a reality of an
understanding of this is why things
aren't working out for me
there's been something that i've said
today and you're beginning to realize
this is why things aren't working out
for me
okay
so
if you're going the wrong direction you
need to
you need to tell the lord lord i've
gotten on the wrong path
and if you'll turn to the lord he's a
master
at helping you to
get back
onto the fast lane
the freeway
of
what could we call it of the
pre-ordained life
the pre-ordained path that he has for
you
and i've taken some wrong exits not
intentionally just got distracted took
off took off some little uh uh you know
wrong exes that i realized wait a minute
wait a minute what am i doing well what
do they have to do lord help me get back
on path okay and so get back on path and
the lord knows the fastest way to do
that
and he'll help you to do that
praise the lord
so father let that wisdom come now i
thank you and if you've done that just
repent
it begins right there humble yourself
repent say lord
um i know what's going on here so just
repent say lord i'm sorry forgive me and
restore me back onto the path that you
have
for me
in jesus name amen and you know what
there is great
relief in that there is great relief in
letting go of something that god never
intended for you to carry
jesus said my my yoke is easy my burdens
light
praise god that's why paul's laboring
all the time laboring all the time
but it's not
something that's just draining him
there's actually life in it praise the
lord all right let's
let's take holy communion we are going
to proclaim the lord's death until he
comes his death upon the cross is the
reason why we now have eternal life
through him
let's take holy communion together grab
some unleavened bread some grape juice
let's pray over it
heavenly father we thank you for the
bread the juice
we consecrate it we set it apart as
holy
and we thank you that it is this is now
the body and the blood of jesus
father as we receive his flesh
we thank you father that life is
precious
and it must be spent wisely
not foolishly
but we thank you father that your
assignments will keep us busy until the
lord comes back
so as we receive the body of the lord
help us to stay on track
and help us to strive
for excellence
in jesus name
amen let's receive the lord's flesh
let's receive the spirit of excellence
praise the lord
do you think the lord was ever late
do you think the lord if he lived in
modern times today now of course he does
live but if you were on the earth today
walking around today do you think he'd
miss his flight
showing up late oh
sorry
fellas i'm sorry i bet it's all late we
just missed a plane you could you ever
see jesus doing something like that
well now pastor steven he was late for
lazarus
lazarus died he was late no no if jesus
shows up
later than what is expected that means
he's on time and everything else is now
running according to heaven's time clock
he's never late he's never early
he's always on time
but no
jesus was always on time
one of
you get into areas of dishonor if you're
always showing up late show up why
because you're disrespecting somebody
else's time and you're inconveniencing
them
and you can't do that in areas of
excellence they won't wait they won't
wait to close the door the opportunity
is lost
father we thank you for the blood
the blood
of jesus
we ask that if we have committed any
sins
you wash them all away
ask you and cleanse us from all
unrighteousness
thank you
and father we bless those that would
persecute us as we endeavor to
move forward in excellence we bless
those that wouldn't understand even our
own brothers and sisters we bless them
forgive them and we go on we go on
we thank you father god
we thank you for right standing with you
through the blood of jesus
we give you praise
in jesus name
amen let's receive the blood of christ
praise the lord
hallelujah
thank you jesus
this is me taking my jab praise the lord
pastor stephen have you taken the jab
uh you you actually get to watch me take
it every sunday and every wednesday
praise the lord
hallelujah
praise the lord
[Music]
glory to god
thank you lord jesus
hallelujah
[Music]
praise the lord glory to the lord
pastor stephen how do you know
how do you know have you ever seen me
sick
have you ever seen a sign show up sunday
morning pastor stephen couldn't make it
today he's sick
okay
this is what i'm taking
the medicine of immortality right here
do you ever show up on wednesday morning
and there's a big sign saying pastor
stephen can't make it day he's in bed he
has a headache he's got a backache
you ever seen that
can you name one time and all the years
i've been streaming on the internet
you've ever seen that
steve i don't understand that look right
here
here's my explanation
the medicine
of immortality
i'm not saying i'm living forever
physically because should the lord tarry
i'll go the way
that
we all have to go eventually but
i expect to live the full days of my
life out and i have eternal life on the
inside of my spirit and i will go to be
with the lord forever and so will you as
a child of god
praise god
this is my this is my insurance policy
right here
praise the lord
thank you jesus just thought i'd throw
that in today extra blessing
[Laughter]
oh glory because you'll lose the
excellence excellent spirit
if if the boss needs you uh where's he
or she at oh
uh
they're sick again laying in bed
coughing sneezing all that stuff
okay and even if you are you know
you know the thing is is that if you're
there
you're there praise god
daniel spirit of excellence
spirit of excellence
praise god
thank you jesus praise the lord
praise the lord father i speak blessing
over your people they're breaking forth
in the new levels and they're loving it
and the sun
shine of your glory is shining on them
this is their time take them to the top
thank you with an excellent spirit in
jesus name
amen
and amen thanks for watching i'll see
you back next time bye-bye