Good to Great in God's Eyes

Today is Sunday and I heard an incredible sermon and I want to share the highlights of it.  It was entitled Good to Great in God's Eyes and it had two headings besides the introduction and the conclusion.  The two headings were as follows:
THINK GREAT THOUGHTS
READ GREAT BOOKS
The first thing you need to do is to define your definition of great.  The preacher put it this way: When you're seventy years old and you think "I have lived a successful life" what would you have done to get to that point?
The next thing you need to do is find out why you want to be great.
There are three kinds of Christians:
Nominal
-I say I'm a Christian
Good
-Others can tell I'm a Christian
Great
-They go beyond themselves
That was the introduction.  After that was the great thoughts, and that is by no means a light matter.  You can train yourself to think positively, and you need to.  The media is constantly bombarding you with negative, and your books do that too, if especially if you are not aware.
The last was reading great books.  Those who read the truth are likely to live it out.  Great Christians read great books, historically.  Great books impact your life, sharpen you mind, inflame your heart, and develop your skills.
The conclusion is this: Those who dream of the internal impact in the Kingdom of God, who envision crossing the finish line as one of God's great saints, are motivated to do whatever it takes to be used powerfully by God.
In the end, the very end, don't you want to be one to whom God says, "Well done, good and faithful servant."?  Wouldn't it be awful to hear Him ask, "Why didn't you do what I asked?"
This mostly came from the notes of the sermon today; it's not my own, and it's a little stilted.  But I enjoyed it and I hope you learned something.
God Be With Thee 'Till We Meet Again