Transcription
First Kings chapter 10, verse 45. And I would read from, first of all, at this point, from the Good News Translation. He said, "The Queen of Sheba heard Solomon's wisdom and saw the palace he had built. She saw the food that was served at his table, the living quarters for his offices, the organization of his palace staff and the uniforms, the war, the servants who waited on him at feasts, and the sacrifices he offered in the temple. It left her breathless and amazed."
I want to begin by talking about good taste and government. And I'm quoting from a very interesting article by One Abdul Review, second May 2019. "A dead person cannot therefore have good taste or no good taste. An inwardly fettered man is a wicked man. A dead man who is lacking in inner mobility and warmth."
[Music]
"Even if you were a king or an emperor."
[Music]
"As such, is ponderous, cold, cursed, and lacking in good taste or sense of beauty. He is one who will not see the ugliness in crossing well-kept lawns and will devastate guardians and nature in general. On the other hand, the man with inner freedom is a lively man with good taste, a robust sense of humor and language which seeks to build and enable, and not someone who would reduce the dignity of the neighbor. It is a man with inner richness that appreciates and renders selfless service. It is the man with inner freedom that is free without, and who is free and free indeed."
To borrow the expression of Martin Luther King Jr., "What is observable outwardly is a manifestation of the inner condition." What is observable outwardly is a manifestation of the inner condition. It follows, as we are privileged to now know with the unique higher knowledge available in the world today, that field disorder and chaos in a society, either in the traffic or in the market, in the neighborhood, workplace, restaurant, airports, or cinema halls, are all reflections of the inner nature of the people. Man builds his environment. It is not the environment that molds the man. Man builds his environment. It is not the environment that molds the man.
From this president's, ex-president's testimony in far away Europe, you can understand that this thing is deeper than we actually thought. And it's not absolutely a problem with Africans or a problem with a black man. Our God is an embodiment of excellence. And that is why heaven, heaven is a manifestation of only manageable, unimaginable dimensions of excellence that we have never, ever seen here on earth. Our God is a holy God. But the holiness of God has nothing to do with mediocrity. The holiness of God has nothing to do with field disorder or chaos. It has nothing to do with holiness, godliness, or righteousness.
And so within the church and the body of Christ, we must, because God told us that we are so we are. He has ordained us to be the head, another tale. And one of the prime purposes for that is that we should be a model that other people will learn from. That when people want to see how things ought to be done, they will learn from a child of God manifesting the attributes of God, the righteousness of God, the integrity of God, the loyalty, faithfulness of God, and also the excellent spirit of God.
So by his observation, he discovered that a man or a leader that doesn't have a good taste personally will have a lot of issues presiding over an environment where a standard of excellence has been put in place. Give him time, the standards will drop. Give him time, the structures and systems of excellence that have been put in place will not be compromised, and many of them will become no longer existent after some years. Do you carry the spirit of excellence? Some little signs will show. It has nothing to do with money, even though money will enhance the manifestation of excellence.
One of those time-tested signs of excellence is neatness. Neatness and neatness begins with you. Personal hygiene. Man builds his environment. It is not the environment that moves the man. What you see today in Dubai was created by man from the scratch, from the scratch. And from what I have seen clearly from the Lord, from the investigations I've carried out personally, it can be done in Nigeria in less than four years. I thought someone would say amen.
There are certain words often used to describe excellence and environments of excellence, performance of excellence, products of excellence, service of excellence, people of excellence. Words like excellent, world-class, five-star, premium, quality, fantastic, perfect, first-class, distinction, magnificent, marvelous, a masterpiece, extraordinary, ultimate, outstanding, superb, awesome, wonderful, spectacular.
In the Amplified Bible, First Kings chapter 10, verse 4-5, it says, "When the Queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, she saw other things." So beyond our spiritual content, our spiritual endowment, our spiritual values, there is something more that the world needs to see in us and through us. And that is why one of the reasons why we can look forward to the righteous being in power, not just to make the environment an environment of godliness alone, but also an environment of excellence.
He said that when she saw the wisdom of Solomon and the house, the palace which he had built. So the palace wasn't there, he built it. The food on his table. And what does this tell you? People are consistently observant about everything they see about you and around you. Your appearance, the way you keep yourself, the way you smell, how neat you are. Then the things connected to you. People are very, very observant. If you have a shop, it's not about the shop being so big. Excellence will manifest at any level in life. Neatness will manifest at any level in life. And that is why you see someone sharing a room, you will still see the spirit of excellence in that person at that point in time.
She saw the house that was built, and that has to do with the design, the exceptional design, the appearance, things like space, because space is one of those attributes of excellence that comes from God. When he was talking about the promised land in Exodus chapter 3, verse 7 through 8, he said, "And I will bring you into a good and special land." When you are talking about a place of excellence, you are talking about a place that is comfortable, extremely comfortable, not tight, not choking, free and spacious. And you see a lot of these manifestations, a lot of these attributes in the location of Dubai. Everything being done, optimum space is given in the design of that facility.
And what else? The seating of the servants, the court officials, the attendance of his waiters, and the attire. Not the attire of the king, now, the attire of his waiters, his courtiers, the way by which he went up to the house, the temple of the Lord. And then what else did she notice? The many offerings he sacrificed by fire to the Lord. One of the things that comes with the spirit of excellence is some measure, you know, some measure of a giving spirit. And because God has also ordained you to be a model, to be the head, another tale that people can learn from, that people can, you know, use as a benchmark. You need to be conscious of these attributes. And it begins with the infrastructure.
One of those things you see in such environments, five-star environments, is the excellent quality of their infrastructure. The excellent quality of the infrastructure in, in some places like Dubai, that I'm going to use as a point of reference. The bus stops are so comfortable. So comfortable are bus stops that are air-conditioned and they are consistently maintained and cleaned up, not just once a day, in some instances, twice or twice a day. The excellent quality of the furnishing and finishing of the facilities, the excellent quality of every product they have to offer. And you are going to observe that an institution, a brand that is operating with the five-star spirit, these are the brands that will recall a product that comes from their platform for just a minor fault that has been noticed with a considerable number of that product that has been sent out.
The excellent quality of the service they render, the excellent quality of the, don't just rendering the service, the excellent quality of the service being rendered. Then the excellent quality of every equipment they use, every equipment they use. And you know why we need to understand this so well? Without this understanding, you can frustrate your leader wherever God puts you. Because you know, you may be privileged to have a leader with a spirit of excellence. And if you don't have a spirit of excellence, you will consistently argue, criticize, and sometimes stand against money being spent in order to put things in place in the order of excellence. Because for selling equipment, you could have up to a hundred different options that will still, at least, serve the basic purpose of the equipment. But they have different levels of quality. And sometimes, most times, the higher the price, the greater the possibility that that particular brand has better quality than the others.
The excellent quality of every equipment that is being used, the excellent quality of their instruments and messages of advertisement. Even the business cards that are printed and given to members of the staff of such an organization. You discover that there is a minimum, there's a standard. As long as that business card carries the brand name, that five-star quality that that brand platform stands for must be seen in everything that is coming from the platform. Invitation cards coming from that organization, that platform must manifest and radiate excellence. Your publicity banners must manifest excellence.
Then, like we saw a dimension of excellence, the awesome beauty. Now, the beauty of the facilities, the environment, the beauty of the environment, the beauty of the lighting system, the beauty of the lawn, the beauty of the flowers. These are all details in the realm of excellence. Then you look at, you begin to see the beauty of the rooms in, in the location, the offices, including the restrooms. The corporate and quality dressing of the staff and managers. The awesome beauty of their, the beauty and quality of their official uniforms. The security men, the waiters. The beauty and quality of official uniforms. They matter.
So if you are here and you are listening to this message, and you have been confronting someone at the workplace who wants to introduce things on the level of excellence, this message is meant to bring you to conviction. And rather than oppose, support. Support such persons. The new Nigeria we have been yearning for is going to be a place of excellence. Praise hear the Lord.
And there's some, you know, right from the airport, right from the airport, you can tell whether a location is a place of excellence or not. Your airport is a reflection of your standard of excellence in that location. The excellent packaging of their products, services, and programs. You know, sometimes we are concerned about the quality, and then we'll take for granted the issue of packaging. And that is one of those things I appreciate, appreciate so much about certain nations like America, that gives so much attention to premium quality and premium packaging. There are some products, beyond the product itself, what was used to package it, you are tempted to keep it because of the quality and the beauty of the packaging.
So I try to round it all. The packaging of their gifts, packaging of their souvenirs, packaging of refreshments. These things matter. It matters the excellent way they present whatever products they have to offer. It matters the cups. And for those of you who are wives, the cups your husband uses, the quality of that cup matters. If you can afford it for six people, but at least you can afford it for one, and that is your husband. So the presentation also matters. The way things are presented, it matters a lot.
Then the flawless maintenance and neatness of the facilities. One big challenge we have in this part of the world is the maintenance culture. Neatness, flawless maintenance and neatness of the facilities. Next, you'll see the VIP treatment accorded everyone, not just the VIPs that come there. Maximum satisfaction and comfort is offered to every guest, no matter their age, no matter their status. And one of those things you would observe in such an environment, there is no limit. They always want to improve and give you something better than what you had before. So they are sensitive to know your preferences, or if there is something more you would have wished for, and they will go ahead and put it in place. They consistently offer, seek to offer everything any guest could ever dream of or ask for.
And I say, as a plus to this very key, the quality of hospitality. You teach these people there, the staff, the officers are warm, respectful, cautious in receiving and relating with all guests, not just those they perceive are the VIP or special guest. Then also the peaceful and serene atmosphere. So people must be trained to conform with the right standard. And then the maximum safety of lives, maximum safety of lives, property, and visitors' belongings, visitors' belongings whenever they are in that place. The maximum safety of people in that environment. The universal appeal of the services and products. So foreigners from any part of the world, they feel at home, they feel comfortable, wiped in that location. And lastly, the 24-hour accessibility. 24-hour accessibility to the place, round the clock, at reception, on phone, and string service. And then if perhaps you are living right there, you can call for the attention of anyone at any time of the day. Some five-star institutions must, some institutions must operate in this order.
[Music]
So in closing, some attributes of excellence met. They've been highlighted in these examples I gave. One, consistent outstanding performance. Two, perfect and flawless. Three, highly durable. Highly durable. Anything you are pushing out should be something that will last. Durable, rugged, and therefore quicker and faster. And then user-friendly. Six, safer and health-friendly. More than ever before, people are more conscious of their health. And so in the spirit of excellence, whatever you are doing, you must have this in mind. Your location must reflect this as well. Premium quality. Eight, neatness, decency, and hygiene. Nine, hospitality and royal treatment. Ten, beautiful appearance. Eleven, quality packaging. And then twelve, well-maintained and up-to-date. Praise year the Lord.
So I close by pleading with us that, for instance, in the realm of neatness, decency, and hygiene, your sense of excellence, your sense of excellence can be put to test where you live, where you work, your business premises, your dressing, your personal hygiene should manifest neatness, decency, and hygiene. In an environment of excellence, things are decently and neatly arranged. Cleaning should be done as often as necessary, as often as necessary. We should place a high premium on the safety and hygiene of our products, our services, and business environment. There should be no offensive smell. There should be no offensive smell. And God will help us in Jesus' name.
[Music]
You.