[Applause] Just say it one more time. Say this with me. It takes
Look at your neighbor and tell them it it takes a team.
Let me remind you of a few things that we’ve talked about. Teaming is not man’s idea. It’s God’s design.
Teaming is working together toward a common goal and a shared purpose.
Teaming is sacred. Yes, it’s at the core of God’s nature.
God blesses people who team for his cause and his purpose.
The three most important teams in your life is the home team, the work team,
and the church team.

We encouraged parents one week to make sure you partner with the church.
that you team with the church that you understand the dynamics there. God God
planned that. He didn’t plan for the church to raise your children,
but he also intended for you to connect
your children and your house to his house. And so things like that, we’ve
been talking about the the the spiritual nature of teaming and how God dwells in
that and how God impacts all of our lives through the power of people
teaming together for his purpose and and his cause. And
you know, I I think about I think about our children. And some statistics for
you is that in the last year, we have served 1,962
children and 1,175 youth. All of them unique. So that is
not duplicates. We didn’t count two Sundays in a row. We didn’t count that.
This is this year, so 10 months with your help and partnership
and and we’ve got an offering, an annual offering coming up, our big legacy
offering. And this is what it’s all about. So, I just want to remind you that we are hard at it and we are
working together and we are fighting for our families. We’re building the church and we’re fighting for our family
as a team. As a team. So, I think most people want to add value to the teams in
their life. I I really do. I I think most of most of you here today, you want
to add value to the teams in your life, but but many people don’t know how. We
don’t always know how to do that. And today we’re going to talk about the spirit that elevates every team and that
is the spirit of excellence. So here’s some today is about that. It’s about me
reminding you that this is one way all of us can add value to the teams in our
life. Imagine a young man being taken from his home, forced to live under the
rule of a foreign king in a land that didn’t share his culture, his faith, his
values. This young man’s name was Daniel. And there’s a book in the Bible that is
named after him. Daniel was stripped of his freedom. He
was surrounded by pressure to conform
in Babylon. Daniel could have easily blended in,
given up. He could have easily grown bitter.
He had reasons to wonder why it was him. Why did I end up
here in this foreign place being taken away by my enemies?
He had reasons to have a bad attitude, to hate the people around him,
to be bitter towards those who were in his surrounding area in this new nation.
He had a he had a reason, I guess you could say, to be mad at God or to be
upset. I mean, based on a lot of people’s criteria of when they get mad at God, he certainly had a reason
to be upset with God. But instead, the scripture says this about Daniel. It
says, “Daniel distinguished himself.” This is Daniel 6 and verse three. It
says Daniel distinguished himself
above the governors and the satraps because that’s
government leaders that would be like uh maybe a senator something like that
today because he distinguished himself. How
did he do that? because an excellent spirit all right was in him
and the king gave thought to actually putting him over the whole realm.

A foreigner. He he he’s giving thought. Why did he why did he think about that?
because he was different than most. He stood out from the rest in a way that
caused him to rise up in the eyes of those around him
and those over him. And what was that difference? It’s
because there was an excellent spirit that was in him.

So I wanted to remind you today that we serve a God of excellence.
And the only reasonable response we have to God’s excellence is to answer the
call to excellence. We’re called to excellence.
So good. If you want to understand excellence, just start with God. The word excellence
is in scripture over 70 times. One example of that in the Old Testament
just a simple verse it says praise him for his excellent greatness.

Philippians 4:8, a verse that most of us are familiar with, telling us how to
think and what our mind should be on. And it lists these things, whatever things are good, whatever is holy. And
it goes down and then it says, “If anything is praiseworthy or excellent,
think on these things.” Think on these things.
Everyone shout, “Excellence.” Excellence. From the very first pages of scripture,
we see a God who creates with order and beauty and intention.
God’s process is deliberate. His design is intentional.
Right? The solar system, the heavens, like it is so amazing if
you just know a little bit about it. The distance between the stars and the
planets and the rotation of the earth and the how it’s all just so
perfectly designed and and the scripture says about the
heavens that the heavens declare the glory of God. Why? Because he created it with
excellence and it is excellent. After every day of creation, God steps
back and he says, “It is good.”
And then on the sixth day, he said, “It is very good.”
Now, that’s excellent. When Moses’ tabernacle was built, God
detailed instructions about how the tabernacle was to be built. and the craftsman who
would build it. And it said things in scripture like they they were to be filled with the
spirit of God, with knowledge, with wisdom,
and all kinds of skill. In David’s tabernacle, which was the
second tabernacle of the Old Testament and really the one we still most imitate
and live in in the New Testament. The the worshippers who were led to
worship, and I’m just picking out a few phrases. It says they were trained and
skillful in music for the Lord.

trained and… doesn’t say they just kind of said, “Hey, anyone who wants to be on a worship team like go ahead and come
and and no singing, no worship required, get up on stage and knock yourself out.”

They didn’t do that. They they they says they were trained.
They were skillful. Somebody shout skillful. Skillful in music for the Lord. A lot of times
I’m saying these things because a lot of times we live in a world that often time goes downward in its in its uh
expectation of how we should conduct our lives. We
live in a actually a Christian culture that a lot of times thinks grace covers
everything to the point where, you know, we’ll just be sloppy.

and what we do and we’ll blame the grace of God. Grace is not about allowing us
to be sloppy. We should all the more have hearts of
excellence and attitudes of excellence. You see, everything Jesus did was done
on purpose and with purpose and for a purpose. He never cut corners.
He didn’t operate in chaos. He showed us what it looks like to lead,
to serve, and to live with excellence.

Excellence is about—it’s not about perfection.
It’s about being the best you can be and doing the best you can with what you
have. All right. That’s what excellence is about.
Not about being perfect. It’s not about having more money or
drawing attention to yourself. It’s about learning everything you can
and adding value everywhere you go. Right? It’s about putting your heart into
whatever you do at home, at work, at church. The Bible tells us, the Apostle Paul said,
“Whatever you do,” Colossians 3 and 23, “Whatever you do,
work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord,
not for human masters.”

Let’s not be people who drag into church.
Uhoh. Some of y’all just went “Was he looking at me today?”
Maybe. Let’s not be people who bring our tired
attitudes. Talked about that last week if you want
to. Go back and listen to it.

You know, tired attitudes because we didn’t plan, we didn’t prepare for our big day
of worship, no forethought. It just slipped up on us. I’ve had
times, this may sound, you know, rigid to you. uh don’t really care.
But I’ve had times when I’ve said to our staff, “You you you you get home by 6:00 on Saturday night.

Like just be home. We’ve been looking sloppy lately. So
will everybody just let’s take a a a few weeks and remind ourselves.

Let’s get home. Let’s get the kiddos bathed. Let’s get our music on.
Yeah. Let’s get ready. Get ready. Get ready. Get ready. Cuz tomorrow we’re
going to the house of the Lord. And we want to go with excellent
attitudes. So let’s not let’s not be people who
drag ourselves and are like, “Just be glad I got here.”

Tell God that. There’s some scriptures uh I can’t get
into it right now. I’m being drawn to it. But Malachi chapter 1, just go,
you’ll find out how God doesn’t like mediocrity. Like he just he just rips people who
were bringing their leftover offerings. And he’s like, “You know, if the governor came to have dinner at your
house, you’d serve something better than you’re giving to me as a sacrifice.

Knock it off.” He just rebuked them. And a lot of times, what do we do offering time? We’re like, “Oh, let me
see what I got with me.” Let’s not be that way. Let’s be people who plan ahead.
We seek first the kingdom of God. We put our giving right up at the top.
We prioritize God and we give cheerfully. Amen.

So, I’m talking about the the spirit that elevates the team. I’m not talking about a harsh God. I’m
not talking about a mean God. I’m not talking about a God who is like, you
know, grouchy and de. I’m talking about how God is a God of excellence.
Yeah. and that in our service toward him in our family and at work, like
everything we do, put our heart into it because you know the spirit of
excellence is a is a spirit that allows God to promote us to bless us
to do good things in our life where a a a bad spirit—God can’t bless a
bad spirit. The spirit of excellence has high
standards—has higher standards actually than most people. That that’s why that verse “he
distinguished himself above the normal because an excellent spirit was in him”
like it was above the others, above the norm. A lot of people aim for the standard of normal
and their goal is to fit in. But an excellent spirit will cause a person to stand out,
to be exceptional, to go the extra mile. High standard, high standard will cause you to not
compromise and lower your standard just to fit in with other people.

Most of us know who Michael Jordan is, and I think he’s the greatest player to ever play basketball. When Michael was a
rookie, he was invited to a teammate’s house. He—I heard him tell this story.
He was invited to a teammate’s house and when he arrived, knocked on the door, he
heard somebody coming to the door and then he heard a voice say, “It’s just a rookie.” Like to everybody else, “Just a
rookie.” And open the door to let Michael in. And so when the door opened,
he stepped inside and there was a party going on. And he saw things that he said
he had never seen before: the drugs and the drinking and and and the women.
And his first thought was: I was to mingle.

Like “So so this is the NBA. Like this is I guess what we do in the NBA.” That was
his first thought. And then he and then he said but then there was this other thought
that said, “No, this is not what I came here to do.”

and he turned and he walked out the door and he said
now he knows that was a deciding pivotal moment in his life
and if he had stayed he would not have become the great player that he became.

He became the team leader, not the rookie,
the team leader, and he led his team to six national
titles in the ’90s. My point is that he had the spirit that
elevates a team. It wasn’t the spirit that fits in
and measures itself by everybody around you or is looking for the applause and the
acceptance of everybody around you. It was a spirit of
excellence and the spirit of excellence has higher standards than other people.

Hear me today young young men young young women, hear me today. If you want
all that God has for you, don’t accept mediocrity
as your standard for life. Don’t make it your goal. Go ahead, clap your hands.
You’re wanting to clap. I can hear you today. Don’t make it your goal to fit in
when God has called you higher. And if that means like separating
yourself from the crowd, standing out from the crowd, so be it.

And maybe another way to say it is also when God blesses and promotes you, don’t
cower away from it. A lot a lot of people make that mistake like your excellence
gives you visibility, opportunity to influence and lead. And a lot of people
are hiding like “No, I don’t want no attention. I don’t want…” No, that’s a
misuse of of your humility. You showed your humility when you were
willing to not be accepted. When you were willing to go a different route,
when you were willing to rise up to the measure God has for your life. And when
God blesses you and you start getting promoted, don’t apologize. Go ahead and
receive it and be an example of the believers in your life.

So like Daniel, we’re not meant to fit in. We’re we’re actually meant to stand
out. Jesus said to his disciples, “You are the salt of the earth and you are the light of the world.” That doesn’t
sound like hiding. It sounds like living. You know, we don’t do it for the applause of men. You
can’t have that motive, but we do it as unto the Lord. And when and when the light shines bright and
people start saying, “If he can do it, I can do it. If they can serve God, I can serve God.
If they can put up with being, you know, judged by people, I I can put up with
that harsh judgment. I can separate myself. I can give God glory and honor
with my life and put him first in my life. I’m called to live a life of excellence.

Come on, church. Come on, church.
Come on, people of God.

Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. There’s a story about a baby eagle that fell from its
nest into a barnyard where chickens were. Bunch of chickens.
And as the eagle started to grow up, it imitated the chickens
that were around it. Started acting like a chicken, walking like a chicken, you know, just
running around with the chickens, eating what chickens eat. And then one day,
little eagle looked up and saw an eagle flying over the barnyard
and thought, “What is that? So majestic, so beautiful, soaring
through the sky. Wouldn’t it be great,” the eagle thought, “if I could fly like that. Wouldn’t it be great?” And
then the young eagle just instinctively spread its wings; to its surprise, its
body left the ground, and the eagle started
to be who God created it to be. You might be surrounded by chickens.
But you were made for more. I said you were made for more.
Come on. I said you were made for more. I said you were made for more.

I was standing in a a store buying a jacket for Easter a couple years ago and
and you know it was uh maybe Friday night, Good Friday, maybe Thursday cuz
we have church on Friday. So I’m standing there and and and you know trying on jackets and pretty soon there
was a little crowd. I guess they weren’t busy but all the retail people were around me and chatting and talking and
one of them said, “Now what is the what are you buying a jacket for?” And I said, “Buying a jacket for Easter Sunday for
church.” And out of that little crew, you know, nobody—I said, “You guys going to church?” None of them were going to
church. Must have been half dozen of them. Nobody going to church. Now, you could get in situations like that where
you’re you feel small, but just remember, you weren’t born to be a chicken.
Come on. You were born. You were born for something better, something higher,
something greater. The psalmist said, “I was glad when they
said unto me, let us go to the house of the Lord.” I’m not going to feel bad
when my friends don’t plan to go to church, and when my neighbors say, “You go to church all the time.” They’re not
going to shame me into stopping what I do. I’m an eagle. God God birthed me. I
serve him. And I am the person he created me to be. And he didn’t make me
a chicken.

So the spirit of excellence will cause you to cultivate excellent attitudes and to have an
excellent attitude. It is one of the best things you can do for your team.
I said it’s one of the best things you can do for your team. People with bad attitudes
are bad for a team. People with bad attitudes are hard to
work with. True. People with bad attitudes are selfish
and inconsiderate. People with bad attitudes are not reliable.
People with bad attitudes bring everything down. Question everything. Sarcastic
bad attitudes will wreck a team. Some of you are like, “I just want I
just want something better for my home.” Well, look in the mirror and say, “I’m going to be better.
I’m going to change my attitude. I’m going to change the way I talk.” Come on. “I want
something better, Pastor Kevin, for my marriage.” Looking in the mirror is a good place to
start. Like, what’s that—what’s it look like when you look in the mirror and you
look at that person staring back at you? What kind of attitude? Is there an attitude of excellence, a spirit of
excellence, a a a spirit that lifts, a spirit that compliments, or is there a
faultfinding spirit? Are you everything that God intended you to be? And I just
feel like—let let me talk about that for a minute because I hope every husband and wife wants to be the best you can
for your for your spouse. I hope that that you know I hope you’re
not that person who if your spouse were gone tomorrow
that all of a sudden you’d get your act together because you’re looking for another one.
Some some marriages actually could be saved by us actually thinking this way before
there’s the divorce. Think about what would you do?
How would you act? What choices would you make if you were single again?
Why not make it now? You’re welcome. Yeah.

Little pastoral encouragement. Rise up with excellence. Don’t say, “Well, it’s good enough.”
Don’t say, “Well, he’s just my husband. It’s just my wife.”
Why do that? Why say that? Why have that attitude? Why have that spirit? Why not
be your best for the people that you love? “Well, they don’t really care, Pastor
Kevin. They they don’t… They’ve already got my bad breath. They already got my
sloppy self. Like, it doesn’t matter if I make them breakfast or not.” Like, why
why are you letting yourself off the hook? Why not go back to that spirit of
excellence that you had when you first met and you first dated and you’re trying to impress them? You
know what I’m talking about. And it’s the same way with serving God.
It’s the same way with serving God. Some people are like, “You know what? I’ve been serving the Lord a long,
long time.” And I’m like, “Yeah, but you got rusty.
You got dusty. You’ve been in the church for 50 years and you’re the one that makes the church
squeak. You try to raise your hands and you got out of that now cuz you’re so mature.
You don’t need to like get happy. You’re just a mature believer who’s condescending and looking at everybody
else down your nose at the young people, they dance around and they’re all excited
about God and serving God and you’re like wearing a bag. ‘Well, I’ve been around here for 50 years.'”

How about you get back to the joy of the Lord as your strength? Come on. How about you get back?
Come on. to being a person who gets your hands up in the air. Shout unto God with
a voice of triumph. Celebrate the goodness of the Lord in your life. Have
that fresh spirit of a brand new believer.

Bring your best to God, not your worst to God.

Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Okay. So, I’m landing this plane. I’ll
just tell you, I had five el attitudes that elevate teams. But you’re going to
have to buy the book to get those attitudes. Five attitudes that elevate the team.
Like, it’s there. I’m just done right now. I’m—time’s up, but I’m also done. I feel like I hit the target today. What I
wanted to hit, what I wanted to say to you. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
Come on, let’s give the Lord and his word a good hand, everybody.
Praise God. Praise God. Just stand to your feet if
you would at all the locations and
I want to speak to the person today who knows
that God’s calling you to serve him. I want to talk to that person. I want to talk just for a moment to the person who
knows that you’re not here by accident. You ended up—somebody invited you or maybe you’re new. Maybe you’re not new
to the church, but today God’s
talked to you. He’s—in your own private places and moments of thought,
God has been there and he’s been drawing you and you’ve resisted at least up until now.
Maybe you’ve known him before, walked with him, and maybe not.
But today, God’s calling you to serve him, turn towards him,
to be his son, his daughter,
to seek first his kingdom,
and know that the other things—that everything that you need,
your father has it for you. If the birds of the air are taken care
of, how much more will your heavenly father take care of you?
And I don’t know who you are. I don’t know your name. I don’t know your background. But I I just want to pray
with you today. I want to invite you actually today to prayer. I want to
invite you to a prayer that surrenders your life to God—that makes him the leader and the Lord
of your life. We call it the prayer of salvation. It’s the prayer of new beginnings.
and in Yakima, in Bellevue, down there in your living room today or
right here in Tacoma, wherever you’re at today. If I’m talking to you
while heads are actually being bowed, I’m asking your hand to go up. I want to
just see who you are here in the room where I can see you and God sees every hand raised at every location. Good.
Good. God bless you. Just “Pastor Kevin, you’re talking to me.
God’s been calling me and I’m—today I know I know this is my moment for him—to choose him.” Good. Hands are going up.
With your hand held high, wherever you are, we’re all going to support you in this prayer. But I want you to just say
out loud with me. Say, “Lord Jesus, welcome to my world.
Come into my life. And forgive me of all my sin. Forgive me all my sin.
In this moment, I choose you.
And I ask you to be the leader and the Lord of my life. To be the leader and the Lord of my
life. I ask you today to guide me. Guide me. Help me.
Help me. Teach me. Teach me. Heal me. Heal me. Show me your will.
Show me your will. Show me your way. Show me your will. I devote myself.
I devote myself to follow you. Follow you. today,
tomorrow and forever, and forever in Jesus name,
in Jesus name and all God’s people shout amen. God bless you.