I believe God led me to start RSIM (Raising the Standards International Ministries back in 1999. But it is more than just a man-made ministry and certain more than me or my opinions. RSIM has been and will always be about the believers raising up to the standard of God's Word and God's character and not trying to bring the standard down to the path of least resistance.

God's Word and character is absolute and complete lacking and needing nothing. It is the tendency of mankind who wants to do what is right in His own eyes to seek to justify his actions. The first attempt of doing this is to seek to discredit the messenger or the message that goes against our fleshly desires and lusts of the heart. If we cannot attack and discredit the messenger (God), then we try to attack and discredit the message (His Word). This is done in so many ways today. First by ignorance, because believers in general don't read and don't know God's Word. So they discredit it or shun it away out of ignorance. The second is false spiritual knowledge. These believers give the impression that they are smarter than God and try to explain away the Word by picking the isolated Scriptures of what they believe is for us today versus what Scriptures pertains only to the time it was written. It must be an awesome weight of responsibility to carry such knowledge. RSIM believes and mantains that all of God's Word is true and for us for our correction and Scriptural growth. We do not try to explain any of it away nor do we relegate any portion to "different" time periods. God said it and that settles it. Our job is to meet the Word by faith in the power and guidance of God's Holy Spirit and His grace. We will align our lives to God's Word because the Father refuses to align His Word our lives.

Colossians 3:17 ESV And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV (31) So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

Colossians 3:23-24 ESV Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, (24) knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.

1.  RAISING THE STANDARD OF EXCELLENCE SHOULD AFFECT ALL AREAS OF OUR LIFE: 

**LIFE HABITS, 
**WORK HABITS, 
**PERSONAL HABITS,
**CHURCH HABITS,   

2.  RAISING THE STANDARD OF EXCELLENCE IS AN INTERNAL ATTITUDE WHICH IS MANIFESTED IN THE EXTERNAL  

Let others see Jesus in you. You are the only Jesus some will ever see and the only Bible they will read.

What if you are the only chance some of your acquaintances will ever have to be saved? Are you the light that will guide them? You are saved, and that is great. But how saved are you? In other words by the grace of God you have a home with God in glory, but does your words, deeds, and thoughts look like you belong there? The challenge of a "first impression" for a believer should be a high standard of excellence:

2 Corinthians 3:2-3 ESV (2) You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all. (3) And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

WHAT IS RSIM?
Raising The Standards International Ministries is not a social club. It is a ministry dedicated in calling believers to get back to what the Bible says. It is a call to forsake what is mentally and emotionally desirable in exchange for a pure uncompromising walk with the Lord.

As a young Pastor, I would preach the value of people having the courage of their convictions, if those convictions lined up with Scriptures. The problem is that too many church members who are filled with convictions that needed to be abandoned because they were not Biblical convictions.

I have spent years pointing out the Biblical principles that we should be separated from the world and dedicate our life, our gifts, our time, and our talents for God's use. But the response I get from some believers either by statement or lifestyle is, "I don't know what the Bible says, but I know what I believe."

That statement ends the conversation. Here I was, thinking that the issue at hand was about what the Bible teaches. But in reality it is what the individual wanted to believe emotionally and mentally and had nothing to do with the Scriptures. There is nothing a pastor can do with that mindset, because it stems from an unteachable heart.

Many times I have tried to move the discussion with certain believers to solid Biblical principles and disciplines. But I usually get stunned by the statement, "But we have our own convictions and we disagree with you!"

I try to remind believers that the Father did not send us to preach our convictions, but the Word of God. When I give the Word of God in multiple Scriptures it is not me they disagree with, it is the Lord Jesus Christ and His Word.

Convictions are not the same as truth. They may be, of course, and ideally should be, if they are grounded in the Word of God. But we should never make the mistake of giving our convictions an equal place with God's Word. I think it's safe to say that Hitler and Stalin had their convictions. The Jehovah's Witnesses who knock on our doors have theirs. The Mormons have theirs, the Catholics theirs, and yes, I have mine.

We who are charged with preaching the whole counsel of God must be careful about blending into doctrinal truth our own pet convictions and personal beliefs. That is why I try to back up everything I teach with an incredible amount of Biblical proof and give people an opportunity to respond if they have questions or know of differing Scriptures. It is also why I have always chosen the Word of God over the teachings of any denominational organization.

1. Some convictions are little more than superstitions or pagan beliefs. (Like: Knock on wood). (Yes I can include the sacred cows of Christmas and Easter in this. For those who want to know the truth here there is enough web evidence available).

2. Some convictions are convenient excuses to indulge our egos, allowing us to stand out in the crowd, or to entertain people in some fashion. (Pastors are not the only ones who are called out in the Scriptures to be shepherds and not hirelings). To many believers have "sold out" to the world.

3. Some convictions are merely our refusal to accept something new and different to us although it is an old teaching from God's Word.

4. Some convictions are merely negative, things we hate or oppose, rather than what we should believe from God's Word.

5. Some convictions are the result of ignorance. (This is not being stupid. It is being unlearned. Once taught the truth and it is rejected, now that is stupid and foolish).

6. Some convictions are the result of the opinions of the majority. "They must be right because everyone agrees." I have seen many believers taking "polls" until they get enough people to agree with them about what they are doing or what to do.

So, why does RSIM exist? To be a voice from the Father and say what He says, when the norm is desiring an echo from the world and repeating the same wrong thinking enough that it becomes true in our minds.

Father God, give us the discernment to distinguish YOUR revelation truth from our personal beliefs. God give us the grace to conform our beliefs to YOUR revelation as quickly as we begin to comprehend and internalize it.