Sister Duckie, take your Bibles, turn with me
to the book of Proverbs chapter number 17. Proverbs
chapter number 17, oh, this is gonna be helpful
tonight. Very, very, very, very, very helpful.
helpful to me. I know it's going to be helpful
to many of you. We went on the Minute Boys camping
trip and I got up there and I was encouraging
the men, a proverb a day, a proverb a day will
help you in a great way. And I explained my process,
you know, on the 17th you read Proverbs chapter
17. On the 16th of the month you read Proverbs
chapter number 16. And one thing I have recently
done is before I read the proverb a day, I asked
the Lord, I said, Lord, Give me something in
here that I can use today. I need something.
I know I'm gonna go through life. I'm gonna go
through difficulties today. I need wisdom today.
I need wisdom, oh, but I need wisdom today. Yesterday,
oh my, I was reading the Proverbs today, Proverbs
chapter 16, and I got to Proverbs 16 verse 32.
He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty.
and he that ruleth his spirit, then he that taketh
the city, ruleth spirit. So that was my verse
for yesterday. Yesterday I had a verse, and I
knew that probably the Lord's gonna do something
for me, but yesterday afternoon, I got a phone
call, and I answered the phone. This is Pastor
Matt Nettis. I'm Chesapeake Baptist Church. And
it was a man from India, a pastor from India.
And if you ever have phone calls from India or
across the world, it comes in and go. It's like
it's there and then it's not there. And it's
there and it's not there. And it's there. And
the conversation, I'm trying my best to listen
to this pastor from India. He's Indian. It's
broken English. I'm trying to understand. But
as the conversation went, I struggled very mildly
and I kept saying, I'm sorry, I didn't understand
what you said. And the guy was very excited that
he actually was talking to me. And so, you know,
15 minutes into there, it was just, I felt bad
because I kept saying, I can't understand you.
You cut off. And eventually I said, could you
send me an email? I'll give you my email. You
send me what you're talking about. And he broke
and said, okay. And so I spelled my last name,
N -E -T -T -E -S -H, but it cut in and out. And
so he came back and he started spelling it S
-H -I -N. And I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, no.
And I'm going through, I think I told him 10
times my email and he still had it wrong. So
finally I said, can I just have your email address?
And it was like 15 minutes. Now, I don't know
about you, but the situation was frustrating.
You ever been through a frustrating situation?
Anybody else okay? And during that conversation,
I know God wanted me to be Christ -like, treat
this man from India with respect, with kindness,
not to get flustered right there, but I was struggling.
But the proverb they, he that ruleeth his spirit,
then he that taketh a city right there. And I
remember that proverb today, and I was able to
rule and really be able to control my spirit
as I talked to him. That proverb helped me in
a great way. Okay, okay. So you get to today.
Today is Proverbs chapter 17. I began to read
the proverb and before I read it I said, God.
Give me something here today that I can use.
And I got to Proverbs chapter number 17, verse
27. And as you're there, if you'll stand with
me for the reading of God's word. Proverbs chapter
17, verse 27. And we'll read verses 27 and 28
together. Ready? Let's read them together. He
that hath knowledge spareth his words. and a
man of understanding is of an excellent spirit.
Stop right there real quick. He that hath knowledge
spareth his words. I know some of you said, praise
God, that means it's a short sermon today. I
could see it in your eyes. No, that's not the
phrase. That's not the phrase. That's not the
phrase. But we'll read it again. Let's read that
verse again. He that hath knowledge spareth his
words and a man of understanding is of an excellent
spirit. Verse 28. even a fool when he holdeth
this peace is counted wise, and he that shutteth
his lips is esteemed a man of understanding."
And that last little bit, an excellent spirit,
an excellent spirit. And I said, okay, that's
the verse for today. Today, I wanna make sure
that I have an excellent spirit. So early in
the morning, and I got up at a little bit after
five this morning, read that, started studying
that and thinking, I said, man, that's not only
good for me, that's really good for the church.
The wisdom of an excellent spirit, the wisdom
of an excellent, I need it. Trust me, we all
need it. Before we go any further, let's go to
the Lord in prayer. Dear Father in heaven, we
love you. And it's a good truth, I needed this
today. And boy, I know without a doubt, many
of the people here, are in need of this, Lord.
I pray that you help us to think about that word
excellent. We work at that and think about that
word spirit. We put them together and Lord, then
we make some decisions in our life. I pray that
you help me, help us all to decrease, help us
all to have years to hear and please guide us
and direct us in Jesus' name, amen. You may be
seated. An excellent spirit, say that with me.
An excellent spirit. Now, an excellent spirit,
what is the word? excellent means. What does
the word excellent mean? Excellent is above common,
better than ordinary, and you could say of great
worth. So the word excellent means better than
common. It describes something that stands out
because of a quality or worth. It's above common,
better than ordinary. Okay, amen? Better than
ordinary, excellent, went to the store. week
and a half ago two weeks ago and went in there
and I found these wagyu hamburgers they were
just hamburgers and they were discounted they
were it was great and I said wagyu hamburger
this is great and fried my wife fried them up
and I don't know if you ever had a wagyu burger
but a wagyu it's a special breed of cow Some
would say that that cow has been massaged. I
think it's a myth. But that wagyu has a higher
quality of beef known for its rich flavoring,
marbling. And I wouldn't know, but man alive.
I ate that wagyu burger. Glory be to God. Hallelujah.
Another word for that would be excellent. It
was above ordinary, better than ordinary, above
common wagyu burger. Glory be to God. Hallelujah.
Somebody say amen. I'll move on. Okay, good,
good. Excellent, above common. Now, we get to
think about this, an excellent spirit. And think
about that word spirit. Say spirit with me. Spirit.
The word spirit has to do with your inner attitude.
Okay, your inner attitude. We might say somebody
when you're around them, he has a good spirit.
And what we're saying is he has a good inner
attitude. By the way, she said the right thing.
but she did it in the wrong spirit. You ever
heard that? She said the right thing. Sometimes
you can say the right thing, but you have a bad
inner spirit or bad attitude about it, bad spirit
about it. You ever heard this? This home has
a sweet spirit in that home, or the church, Chesapeake
Baptist, has a good spirit about it. What we're
saying is that the word spirit has to do with
your inner attitude. And it's not just about
what we do outwardly. Boy, it's about what's
going on inwardly. The spirit is something that
happens inward. An excellent spirit. Spirit is
the inward attitude that shapes how a person
thinks, how he speaks, how he reacts, how he
carries himself or she carries himself. And the
inner condition, by the way, the inner condition
of you eventually comes out. and it shows in
how we speak and the way we act and the way we
respond. So you put those two together, an excellent
spirit, it's an above common, better than ordinary
inner attitude that shapes how we think, speak,
react, and respond. So an excellent spirit, think
about it, an excellent spirit is above common,
it's better than ordinary, it's wagoo. Why goo?
Inward attitude that shapes how we think, speak,
act. Notice in that, look at Proverbs chapter
17 verse 27, he that hath knowledge spareth his
words. And a man of understanding is of an excellent
spirit. A man of understanding, even a fool when
he holdeth his peace is counted wise, and he
that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.
So right away, the Bible connects an excellent
spirit with understanding, with restraint and
wisdom. So the wisdom of an excellent spirit.
We're not talking about somebody who is naturally
outgoing. So when we say excellent spirit, it's
not talking about, well, he has a big personality
or somebody who's impressive or somebody who's
polished, educated, or talented. It's not talking
about it. It's talking the inward person. No
matter your personality, you have an or an extraordinary,
not an ordinary, above ordinary attitude. The
husband, a husband ought to have an excellent
spirit. A wife should have an excellent spirit.
A pastor should have an excellent spirit. A teenager
should have an excellent spirit. A Sunday school
teacher ought to have an excellent spirit. A
servant of God, a Christian ought to have an
excellent spirit. Now, I remember reading an
autobiography of a preacher from really the 1960s
and 70s, 80s. And I remember his autobiography.
He read the Bible through every month, like cover
to cover. And you read about this man. He had
a church in Florida. and very knowledgeable.
But if you ever read any of the books that he
wrote, he wrote a lot of books, but you read
the books, he was known for being a Bible knowledge,
but he had a conference. And the conference was
called the Bad Attitude Baptist Conference. And
so he had truth, but he didn't have an excellent
spirit. And what would show from that is his
two divorces. got divorced from his wife, first
wife, his second wife right there, and had problem
with his people skills. He may have had truth,
but he did not have an excellent spirit. So what
kind of spirit do we have? What kind of spirit
do you have? Think about this church. What kind
of spirit does this church have? Out in public,
what type of spirit do we have? Do we have a
spirit that is, you begin to think about it like
I said, above common, better in order, an inward
attitude that shapes how we think, speak, act,
and respond? Now, go with me to the book of Daniel,
if you will. Daniel chapter number five. Daniel
chapter number five. Okay, as you're turning
to Daniel chapter five. All church, I want to
have an excellent spirit. I want to have wisdom
and understanding where my attitude, yes, I have
the truth. I have the truth. I want to have a
good attitude. I want to have a good spirit inside
of me with the way I say things. how I respond
to things, and my everyday interpersonal relationships
right there. Daniel chapter number five. Oh,
this is absolutely an amazing truth. Look at
verse number one. Belshazzar the king made a
great feast to a thousand of his lords and drank
wine before the thousand. Okay, remember this
is the Babylonian captivity. Daniel was carried
off into captivity and he's serving King Belshazzar.
Verse three. then brought the golden vessels
that were taken out of the temple of the house
of God, which was at Jerusalem. So they take
the golden vessels that they had robbed from
the temple in Jerusalem that they brought to
Babylon. Look at verse number four. They drank
wine and praised the gods of gold. That's wicked.
We say that, amen, that's wicked. You understand,
that's not good. Look at verse number five. in
the same hour came forth fingers, fingers of
a man's hand and wrote over against the candlestick
above upon the plaster of the wall of the king's
palace. Okay, verse six. Then the king's countenance
was changed and his thoughts troubled him. Now
watch this, verse six. So that the joints of
his loins were loosed and his knees smote one
against another. I can't do it, but I just imagine
Belshazzar, ah! I just wish I could do that.
Some of you will show me how to do that after
the service right there, but he was scared half
to death. This hand came out. Look at verse number
eight. Then came in all the king's wise men,
but they could not read the writing. Okay, verse
nine. Then was King Belshazzar greatly troubled.
Okay, verse 10. Now the queen by reason of the
words of the king and his lords came into the
banquet house and the king spake. And look at
verse 12, for as much as an excellent spirit,
for as much as on what? And knowledge and understanding,
interpreting. She's talking about Daniel. She
says, I know somebody can help you. It's just
Daniel. He has an excellent spirit. He has knowledge
and understanding right there. Daniel. had above
common, better than ordinary, inward attitude
that shaped how he thought, how he spoke, how
he reacted, how he responded. This is vitally
important. He wasn't in a good situation. He
was in a faraway land, in captivity, in a pagan
land with wickedness all around him, yet he had
an excellent spirit. Next chapter, look at chapter
number six. This is a little bit later, Daniel
the lion's den. I'll just, verse number three,
just go to three. Then this Daniel was preferred
above the presidents and princes. Why? Because
on what? An excellent spirit was in him. And
so Daniel, once again, he carried on with that
above. Common better than ordinary inward attitude
that shaped how he thought how he spoke how he
reacted how he responded He wasn't he wasn't
merely promoted because he was gifted and talented
He was preferred because he had an excellence
or something about Daniel that was different.
What was different an excellent spirit? It wasn't
that he was I believe he was gifted but it was
an excellent spirit. How he reacted, how he responded.
This is the story of the Daniel and the lion's
den. You remember a little bit later you'll see
that he gets rejected, you might say. What does
he do? He goes to the Lord in prayer. It's an
amazing thing. Daniel had something better than
Taled. He had an excellent spirit. And what I
want to say, young folks. young teenagers, young
ladies, young married couples. Oh, one thing
that'll help you in a great way is to learn to
have an excellent spirit. Your circumstance,
we worry so much about our circumstances, but
a excellent spirit will help you in any circumstances
you go through. And so, I wanna go through this.
Go to Daniel chapter one, real quick. Daniel
chapter one. Wanna show you a couple of things.
Daniel shows what an excellent spirit looks like
in real life. So I want to just go through a
little bit about the life of Daniel and show
you what an excellent spirit looks like. Look
at verse number eight. But Daniel purposed in
his heart that he would not defile himself with
a portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine
which he drank. Okay. Ah, yowzers. This is challenging.
One thing that he did, he purposed in his heart
He had an excellent spirit. He was told to do
something that was against his Bible -believing
Christianity, his convictions, okay? But God
tells us that the excellent spirit, he had these
Bible -believing convictions, but the way he
handled himself with people was wise. It wasn't
with a bad attitude. You understand the difference?
I have my convictions. And by the way, convictions
are good. Bible -believing convictions are great.
but so often Bible -believing Christians have
a bad attitude with their convictions. And so
we have to have the balance of Bible -believing
Christianity convictions, but we have to have
it with the right spirit, an excellent spirit.
Convictions are not wrong. Bible -believing Christianity
is right, but sometimes we have such a bad attitude
in our Bible -believing convictions, and it's
wrong. So keep the convictions. Don't change
the conviction. Never change the Bible belief.
By the way, just quick reference, I'm not gonna
lie. Christianity is changing a whole lot. A
lot, a lot. Just say amen. But the Bible hasn't.
So we're Bible believers. So the world may change.
Worldly Christianity is constantly changing,
but we Bible believers, and really in our church,
there's probably a couple areas that people get
out of whack about. First of all, the King James
Bible. Well, the King James Bible's the word
of God, and I'm not changing away from that.
Now, I'm gonna have a good attitude, I'm gonna
understand, but I just believe the King James
Bible's the word of God. Music, music, wow, wow,
wow, music is very influential. I wrote a book.
two years ago, and I never published it, but
a book on the history of music, biblical Christianity,
and I don't need to work on it, but why we use
the type of music we use here at the church,
and wow, so few people even understand that issue
today. Now, people come in every Sunday and they're
like, whoa, where did this church come from?
And they're speaking typically of the music that
we use in the church, psalms, hymns, spiritual
songs. Now, we're gonna keep those. It's a biblical
conviction. but I'm going to have a good attitude
and excellent spirit with that. Modesty and dress,
holy meckles. You wanna get people wound up and
you start talking about gender distinction and
people really get out of whack. Now I'm not changing
from that. I believe that God made a woman a
woman and a man a man. I believe that with all
my heart. I understand the world is different
today. But the world, man alive, they accept
homosexuality, transgenderism, they accept a
whole lot of things. I'm gonna stick to the Bible
beliefs that men ought to be men and women ought
to be women. but I'm also gonna have an excellent
spirit about that. And so there's the balance.
Don't kick out the convictions, but have an excellent
spirit inside of those convictions. Now, go on,
if you will, with me to Daniel chapter number
two. Look with me at verse number 30. I'm gonna
go to fourth gear. That means I'm speeding up.
But as for me, the secret. Now, he interpreted
a dream. But as for me, Daniel says, but as for
me, this secret. is not revealed to me for any
wisdom that I have, more than any living, but
for their sakes. That shall make known the interpretation
of the King, and that thou mightest know the
thoughts of thy heart. Now, if you follow along
with me right there, Daniel was humble. What
an excellent spirit in his response right there.
Had nothing to, he didn't have pride. He wasn't
haughty right there. When God revealed Nebuchadnezzar's
dream to Daniel, Daniel didn't strut around and
act like he was something special. He gave God
the glory. And an excellent spirit is not living
for himself. He's living for the glory of God.
In other words, an excellent spirit, we have
to realize our flesh desires the credit. Our
flesh wants recognition. Our flesh wants applause.
And the flesh wants people to know how much we
know and how much I did. but an excellent spirit,
hey listen to God, be the glory. You understand
that that's important? Okay, go to this next
one if you will. Go to Daniel chapter six again.
Daniel chapter six, and remember it talks about
an excellent spirit in verse number three, but
verse number four is chapter six, verse four.
Then the presidents and princes sought to find
occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom,
but they could find none occasion nor fault for
as much as he was faithful. He was what? Neither
was there any error or fault found in him. And
what is that? That's a testimony. The enemies
looked for, you might say dirt, but they couldn't
find anything. Why? He was faithfully at a testimony.
An excellent spirit is not looking to be lazy
or dishonest or inconsistent, but an excellent
spirit, whether somebody's watching or somebody's
not watching, they know the Lord's watching and
they're gonna have an excellent spirit because
it's the right thing. And I wanna encourage us.
not just have a public persona of an excellent
spirit, but let's go home and have an excellent
spirit. Let's have an excellent spirit when we
wake up. Let's have an excellent spirit when
we get that phone call from the man in India.
That's a hard one, but let's try our best to
have an excellent spirit. Oh, boy, let's move
on. Verse number 10, chapter six, verse number
10. Now when Daniel knew that the writing was
signed, He went into his house and his windows
being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he
kneeled upon his knees three times a day and
prayed. And you know, this is important. He's
in a predicament. You pray, you die. Basically
what it was. We're gonna throw you in the lion's
den. But his life was based on just doing right,
an excellent spirit. And he didn't rely on his
circumstances. He relied on the Lord, and that's
what prayer is. God, you're gonna have to do
something. Lord, you're my only hope, and he
prayed to the Lord. An excellent spirit in Daniel
came from a consistent walk with God. Okay, go
back to chapter number 17, Proverbs chapter 17.
I'm going to fifth gear now, and wow. Remember,
an excellent spirit. It's above common, better
than ordinary, inward attitude, an inward attitude
that comes out. It shapes how we think, how we
speak, how we react, how we respond. You ever
been there? I've had trouble with an excellent
spirit in my life. Anybody else ever struggle
with that? I play basketball. And it's, I don't
know, it's something about basketball. And I've
really worked on it. I think I've done good overall
since last Thanksgiving. Now, that's good for
me. It's been a life -long struggle, but I've
been really working on my attitude. I've been
working on my excellent spirit, but it's a struggle.
And boy, it gets lonely up here. It gets very
lonely up here. It gets lonely right here. Okay,
here we go. Proverbs 17, he that hath knowledge
spareth his words. Verse 28, even a fool, when
he holdeth his peace, is counted wise. and he
that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.
So, he that hath knowledge spareth his word.
Doesn't mean a knowledgeable man, okay, think
about it like this. A knowledgeable man, somebody
who has knowledge, that's what it says, he that
hath knowledge, somebody who has knowledge, knowledge,
okay? Sometimes people have knowledge, but does
not mean you have to say everything you know.
Okay, you have knowledge, but sometimes you don't
have to say it. You don't always have to give
your opinion. You don't always have to win the
argument. You don't always have to correct every
detail. You don't always have to have the lost
word. And an excellent spirit has the wisdom
to be very careful with his words. And so holdeth
his peace, verse 28. He that shutteth his lips.
Sometimes the wisest thing you can say is nothing.
Okay, sometimes silence, you think silence is
not weakness. Silence is often wisdom. And there
are times when speaking's right, yes. Correction
is needed, truth needs to be declared. But there's
a time an excellent spirit knows that not every
thought needs to be, you could say, a sentence.
Now, I'm gonna go through there as you mark these
down. Proverbs 29 verse 10 says, a fool uttereth
all his mind, but a wise man keepeth it in till
afterwards. A fool just lays it out, well, it's
on my mind. Whatever comes out of my mind, I'm
just gonna say it out is. But a wise man puts
the brakes on. He has rule over himself. He knows
how to wait. He knows how to pray. He knows how
to be patient. He knows how to think before he
speaks. And that's part of an excellent spirit,
okay? Let's work on this. Before I speak, think
about this, before I speak, I gotta say, is it
true? Is this necessary? Is this the right time?
Is this the right spirit? Is this what God would
have me to say? And so sometimes an excellent
spirit is being careful with your words. And
am I speaking because God wants me to or because
my flesh wants me to? Now this is a very, I don't
even like using the word real sermon for me because
it is something I have to work on. Anybody else?
Okay, please, I mean, this is getting lonely
up here. I need some help right here. Okay, an
excellent spirit. An excellent spirit is different.
Just don't turn there. Ecclesiastes chapter seven,
verse nine. There's the word, be not hasty in
thy spirit to be angry. Don't be hasty in the
inward spirit, the inward attitude to have an
angry spirit. The Bible shows us that people
have the wrong spirit in them sometimes. A hasty
spirit, you might say. Some people are quick
to anger. And they don't take much to set them
off. You know, it's a look or a comment. And
recently, my family, we watched, I think, 30
minutes of road, not rage necessarily, but road
accidents. And you watch some of those accidents
with this one guy on the highway. And it's got
the dash cam. And this person comes up. and just
rams the person right in front of him on purpose.
And he's like drives by and he's shaking, he's
angry. And I think that was brother, who was
that? Hey brother Frank, you shouldn't have done
that. You shouldn't have done that. You shouldn't
have done that, I think it was wrong. But it
doesn't take much. So hasty in spirit, but an
excellent spirit is not easily stirred. Okay,
Proverbs 16 verse 18. Pride goeth before destruction,
and a haughty spirit, haughty spirit, say haughty.
Haughty. Haughty is sort of prideful. And you
look at pride. Pride says, I deserve better.
I should have been recognized. Nobody's gonna
tell me what to do. I'm always right. They do
not appreciate me. But an excellent spirit, an
excellent spirit's different. An excellent spirit
can serve without being seen. An excellent spirit
can be corrected without falling apart. An excellent
spirit can rejoice when somebody else is blessed.
And an excellent spirit can give God the glory
he deserves. So Proverbs 25 verse 28, he that
hath no rule over his own. Spirit, he that hath
no rule, he that hath no rule over his own spirit,
his inward self, his inward out, is like a city
that is broken down without walls. Back in the
day, a city without walls, woo, man alive. They
could be attacked and plundered by the enemy,
but with no rule over your own spirit. Well,
that's just the way I am. I fly off the handle.
Well, okay, you can do that, but you don't have
an excellent spirit. You have no rule over your
own spirit. And so it's a powerful picture. And
God says that somebody who does not rule his
own spirit is like that city. You know, don't
allow, okay, look at this. Hebrews chapter 12
verse 15 says like this, looking diligently,
lest any man fail of the grace of God, lest any
root of bitterness. And there's a bitter spirit.
You ever have somebody that's inside their inward
spirit is not excellent, but they're bitter.
and somebody poisoned them, or they were poisoned
at one time, their spirit, and everything that
comes out, they have a hard time with trust,
and they have a hard time with attitude, and
they have a hard time with this. There's a bitter
spirit about them, and it's not a great way to
live. Bitterness, by the way, I don't wanna skip
over this, but bitterness, if you get bitter,
bitter, it changes how you hear preaching. It
changes how you view people. Bitterness changes
how you respond to leadership. Bitterness changes
how you treat your family. Bitterness changes
the spirit of your home. By the way, pastors
get bitter. They get angry and all of a sudden
all these people are preaching at you. They get
angry at the people that are out there and he
begins to think everybody out there hates the
preacher. And boy, have you ever met a bitter
pastor? It's a miserable, bitter wife or a bitter
husband, and it's death. It's death. But have
an excellent spirit, amen. Okay, this is the
end of it. How can I have an excellent spirit?
Ask that. Okay, this is really quick. This is
seventh gear, okay? Walk with God. Walk with
God. Daniel prayed as he did a four time. He
had to walk with God. So one thing that'll help
you have an extra spirit, make sure you walk
with God. Have a walk with God. Go to God. But
one thing that'll help your bitterness, the Lord's
Prayer, forgive us our debts. Forgive us, Lord,
forgive me. Forgive us our debts and we forgive
our debtors. A day doesn't go by without forgiving
people who've wronged you. The answer is not
to get rid of people that wrong you. The answer
is us forgiving them. Not allowing that bitterness
inside of us. Okay, rule your mouth. He that
hath knowledge spareth his word. So walk with
God. Learn to rule your mouth. Stay humble, only
by pride cometh contention. Number four, be faithful
in the little things. Daniel's enemies couldn't
find a fault with him. So be faithful to the
little things. Be on time. Keep your word. Just
do your job. Serve without drama. Be kind at
home. Be honest in business. Be faithful in church.
Do right, even if nobody claps. God sees little
things. Then number five, respond right when
you're under pressure. When you're under pressure,
you ever get under pressure? Okay, how many of
you ever get pressured? Okay, I hope so. I get
pressure, pressure, pressure, pressure. You're
a councilman for the wonderful city of Chesapeake.
No pressure. None whatsoever. But inside the
pressure, if you're controlled by God, you can
have an excellent spirit. You should have an
excellent spirit. You represent the king. Mom,
mom, have an excellent spirit. Dad, have an excellent
spirit. Now here's the thought. What are you
gonna choose? There are some here this evening
that you have an excellent spirit. Praise God.
I believe probably, in that section, 90 % of
you. This section right here, 92%. Let me see
right here, 99%. Ugh. Okay, there's hope, though.
There's hope. There's hope, bro. But we'll get
it right. But if you have an excellent, keep
going. But if you struggle with that, I wanna
beg you, go to God in prayer and think about
it. Say, God, help me to have an excellent, above
-ordinary inner attitude. that affects how I
respond, how I talk, how I interact with people,
help me to have an excellent spirit. And by the
way, seek and ye shall find. God wants you to
have it and boy, you can have an excellent spirit.
Dear Father in heaven, we love you. It's hot
in here tonight. I thank you for the attentiveness
of your people. And I pray, I have no doubt,
I needed the reminder, Lord. And I pray that
you help me to be a father that has an excellent
spirit, a husband that has an excellent spirit,
a pastor that has an excellent spirit, just a
Christian, an everyday Christian that has an
excellent spirit. And I pray that you help somebody
here without a doubt, there are some that have
been struggling and have even struggled today.
Help them to not live that way, help them to
learn to walk with you. helping to learn to give
you the glory, helping to learn that they can
have an excellent spirit where they can control
what they say and give them wisdom in doing so.
We love you. Thank you for today. In Jesus' name,
amen. Stand with me if you will.