Excellence

Introduction:

One of the major goals of any athlete is to improve performance and to be excellent in every phase of the game.  Pursuing excellence is a great goal if it is done with the right standard and motivation.  If the standard is too low, we become arrogant; if it’s too high, we can become discouraged.  If excellence is purely focused on personal goals at the expense of team goals, team unity will suffer.  Excellence is more than just winning a game; it is giving your best with the right motivation in all circumstances.

Application:

1. How do you define excellence? 
2. What are the motivating factors of your life?
3. Share some examples of how you as a team have dealt with great wins. How have you dealt with losses and adversity?

Bridge:

In Colossians 3:23-24, Paul gives a picture of true excellence:  “Whatever you do, do it enthusiastically, as something done for the Lord, and not for men, knowing that you will receive the reward of an inheritance from the Lord.  You serve the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Connection:

1. God is clearly interested in every aspect of your life.  How would your habits change if whatever you did, you did it enthusiastically for the Lord?
2. In what ways do you seek approval from others? 
3. Describe a time where you placed pleasing God ahead of pleasing man.
4. What does a team competing with excellence look like?

Discovery:

1. Ask God to show you areas where you are settling for man’s standard of excellence instead of pursuing His standard of excellence.
2. Pursue godly excellence in relationships, schoolwork, practice and competition.
3. Encourage and challenge one another to excel in competing for the glory of God rather than self.

Memory Verse: “Therefore I, the prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received.”  Ephesians 4:1