Raise Your Standards

Leadership School

As we head into the new year:

I want you to think a little differently

A lot of people set goals for the new year

I want to quit this and pick up that

Habits you want to start or break

Vacations you want to go on

How many times have you said I should do something like:

I should pray more

I should lose weight

I should be more confident

I should make more money

I should take more time to hang out with my kids

I should start a business

I should take my wife on more dates every month

Our goals are what we want:

I want a closer walk with God

I want to hear the voice of God

I want a better job

I want to be in better shape

Here’s the thought this year:

Instead of setting goals, raise your standards

Standards are what we allow:

We allow ourselves to skip out on our prayer time

We allow ourselves to get distracted

We allow ourselves to remain comfortable in the job we’re currently

We allow ourselves to make excuses

why we don’t have enough time

why we don’t want to take risks

why we need an extra 30 min of sleep

Matthew 16:19 NKJV

19 And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

Bind (Deo)in the greek: tie, fasten, prohibit, to forbid

Whatever you prohibit will be prohibited

Loose(Loo-o):

undo, dissolve, anything bound, tied, or compacted together

What you allow on earth will be allowed in heaven, What you don’t allow on earth won’t be allowed in heaven

I like to think of it like this: What you prohibit on this earth can free you from being bound

Jesus is saying what you choose to allow or prohibit, heaven gets behind you

What are standards in your that you have compromised in?

There’s three choice in your life when it comes to your standards:

Commitment

Bound or obligated, as under a pledge to a particular cause, action, or attitude.

this is how you feel January 1st

I’m committed to this thing

nothing can get me off this new way of living

I cannot be shaken

We make contracts with ourselves an hold ourselves to standards

BUT For most of us the commitment eventually turns into

Compromise

A settlement of differences in which each side makes concessions

Usually when your flesh wins the argument with your spirit or soul

When a second thought enters into the situation

compromise will always work itself into standards if you’re not careful

Compromise isn’t always sin, but it can turn into it if your not careful

We might think of compromise as quitting or falling into temptation

Compromise is really a the small decisions you make along the way which leads you to quitting

Compromise is when you allow the wrong thoughts to start negotiating with your standards

Romans 12:1–2 NKJV

1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

2 Samuel 11:1 NKJV

1 It happened in the spring of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the people of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.

There was a standard here

When we compromise our standard we end up in the wrong place

When we’re not where God wants us to be we see the wrong things

2 Samuel 11:2–4 NKJV

2 Then it happened one evening that David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king’s house. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to behold. 3 So David sent and inquired about the woman. And someone said, “Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” 4 Then David sent messengers, and took her; and she came to him, and he lay with her, for she was cleansed from her impurity; and she returned to her house.

We can relax our standards to the point we end up in situations we never should have been in

You see people relax their standards about church or compromise for a job

When we are in situations we shouldn’t be in

Compromise creates momentum in our lives

Where standards and discipline create postitive momentum in our lives, compromise works in the negative

When we compromise our standards in leadership, business and in our personal lives it create a product in our lives

That product is

1 Timothy 1:19–20 NKJV

19 having faith and a good conscience, which some having rejected, concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck, 20 of whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I delivered to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.

3. Chaos

A condition or place of great disorder or confusion

The etymology of chaos ”gaping void; empty, immeasurable space,"

Lack of Structure is the product of chaos

Emptiness

You have nothing to frame the problem

Where standards put you on the offense chaos is a purely defensive position

When people don’t have standards in their finances

You don’t have standards in your arguments with your spouse

You compromise saying the right things to each other in love

Chaos ensues and the defense drives you to sides

If you don’t have standards in your arguments or ground rules

NO wonder people don’t stay together

If rules are off the table nobody wants to engage in the game

2 Samuel 11:5 NKJV

5 And the woman conceived; so she sent and told David, and said, “I am with child.”

Chaos!

A woman that is married to a man that’s at war is going to come back and find out he’s not the father and he knows how long gestation periods are in woman

Enter the defensive mode

2 Samuel 11:14–15 NKJV

14 In the morning it happened that David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. 15 And he wrote in the letter, saying, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retreat from him, that he may be struck down and die.”

This is after he finds out that Uriah is a real stand up guy won’t fall into his plan

Chaos creates further chaos

Once chaos reigns

Your only option is damage control

not only are you not moving foreword

you’re goin backward

2 Samuel 11:24–27 NKJV

24 The archers shot from the wall at your servants; and some of the king’s servants are dead, and your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.” 25 Then David said to the messenger, “Thus you shall say to Joab: ‘Do not let this thing displease you, for the sword devours one as well as another. Strengthen your attack against the city, and overthrow it.’ So encourage him.” 26 When the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband. 27 And when her mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord.

A little bit of compromise creates a vicious cycle of reinstating commitment standards in our lives

Here are 5 Areas to Raise your Standards:

1. Relationship with God

What are you standards with God

Isaiah 26:9 NKJV

9 With my soul I have desired You in the night, Yes, by my spirit within me I will seek You early; For when Your judgments are in the earth, The inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

Early I will seek you

Here’s some good examples for standards to put into practice:

Talk to God every day

Be thankful everyday (Find something to be thankful for)

Read the word daily

Go to him especially when you don’t feel like it

Before you make big decisions ask him for guidance

Whatever your standards are now just raise them just a bit

2. Your Relationships with other

Have standards with the people you allow in your life

1 Corinthians 15:33 NKJV

33 Do not be deceived: “Evil company corrupts good habits.”

What are your standards of your relationships

What are your standards with your spouse?

What are standards by which you argue or talk to each other

Sarah and I had to set standards for our arguments

Standards with your anger, Don’t let the sun go down upon your wrath

3. Your Health

Choose this day whom you will serve

Your mouth or you soul

Decide that you have standards

I will workout x amount of times daily

I’m committed to going on a walk “rain or shine”

The standard is i don’t eat junk food or eat out everyday

Even if it’s to eat healthy 5-6 days a week and have a 7th day

I will get better sleep

Have a standard for rest

I will have a “Sabbbath” once a week

What is your standard?

I’m only going to eat a certain way

You get to set the standards

4. Your finances

Tithing

Malachi 3:8–12 NKJV

8 “Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. 9 You are cursed with a curse, For you have robbed Me, Even this whole nation. 10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this,” Says the Lord of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it. 11 “And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, So that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, Nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,” Says the Lord of hosts; 12 And all nations will call you blessed, For you will be a delightful land,” Says the Lord of hosts.

Standard is tithing

Then budgeting

Then offerings

My standard is I want to be the most generous person I know

I have an abundance to give to every good work

We lend and to not borrow

I don’t go into debt for stupid stuff or toys

Put a limit and standard

Talking to someone who doesn’t have limits on their spending or standards

Could buy a house on the frivolous spending they do

5. Focus

Raise your standards on your focus

Talked a bit about distractions last week

Raise your standards on how much time you allow yourself on social media, the news, watching tv

Try not to check your email or touch your phone for the first 30min to and hour in the morning

Try and be present when you’re at dinner or with your kids

Bonus:

Raise your standard with your boldness and confidence

Initiate conversations

Be the first one to say hi

Proverbs 28:1 NKJV

1 The wicked flee when no one pursues, But the righteous are bold as a lion.

Demand of yourself to be more bold

This is one I’m going to work on this year

I’d rather be introverted

I’m going to work on saying hi before others

Extending my hand out and being confident

The world is looking for you to be a leader

one who doesn’t compromise their standards

The world is now demanding that we be lukewarm