Garwood Presbyterian Church

Producing Excellence

Numbers 14:1-9 and Colossians 3:23-24

Introduction To be a great leader for God, we need to produce excellence. And the first thing we need to do to produce excellence is to prioritize our life.

1. Prioritize
   1. Set your priorities for the day at the beginning of every day.
   2. God believes in priorities.
      1. Matthew 6:33
      2. Mark 12:28-31
   3. Besides loving God and seeking His kingdom, especially by loving other people as though they were ourself, what else should be our priorities every day?
      1. $10,000 of leadership advice: At the beginning of each day, take a small piece of paper and write "Have To" on one side and "Want To" on the other side. Then take 10-15 min-utes and write down everything you have to do that day on one side and everything that you would like to do on the other side. These are your priorities for that day.
   4. Joshua knew his priorities. See Numbers 14:1-9.
   5. Rev. Dr. Rick Warren was on the cover of the August 18, 2008, edition of Time magazine, which called him "America's most powerful religious leader." But in his first year of being the pastor of the Saddleback Valley Community Church, he collapsed onto the floor while leading a worship service at his church in November of 1980. He not only collapsed physically, but also emotionally, as he was not able to carry out any of his pastoral duties for months. He was trying to do too much. This forced him to examine his life and set priorities for himself. He came up with six. As he successfully carried these out, he realized that they should also be the priorities for his church and this was done. Then he realized they should be the priorities for all churches and he wrote The Purpose Driven Church. Then he realized that they should be the priorities for all Christians and he wrote The Purpose Driven Life which has sold over 30 million copies, and instituted the "40 Days of Purpose" program for churches.
      1. His success shows us the importance of having Godly priorities.
2. Responsibility and Self-Discipline
   1. Once we have set our priorities, we need to carry them out by a responsible and self-disciplined life.
      1. This should not be hard for us as a Christian.
      2. We should not have to be told what to do. We should take responsibility for our own life.
   2. If you want to be a leader, you first need to lead yourself!
3. Working With All Our Heart
   1. When we carry out our priorities, we should do it with all our heart.
      1. Colossians 3:23-24 points out that as a Christian, "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as for the Lord, not for people. It is the Lord Christ you are serving."
      2. Jesus is our real boss!
   2. We should be the hardest working person on our job.

Conclusion: To produce excellence we first need to work smarter, not harder, by setting our priorities. Then we need to be responsible and self-disciplined as a disciple of Jesus Christ. Last, we now work harder "as for the Lord." This will help you be a great leader for God.