“Live on Mission” by Pastor Daniel Floyd

Welcome to Gateway Church's podcast.

Wherever you're tuning in from, we hope you're encouraged by today's message.

Well, welcome to church, everyone.

How are we?

Come on, let's put our hands together for Jesus one more time.

What a great day to be in the house of God.

You're the ones that love Jesus a lot.

Came through the weather.

You get to heaven first.

I don't know if you know.

They'll be.

I'm kidding.

It's theologically incorrect, just joking with you.

I want to say hello to all of our campuses, everybody joining us online, of course, or on demand later in the week, or our gateway gatherings, of course, our prison campuses.

And I'm going to give a big shout out to the men and women in uniform serving around the world that join us online.

Come on, church family.

Let them know that you love them.

Thank God for you.

We are in this series called This Is Us, but as you saw, two weeks from now, we're going to begin a brand new series called Fool's Gold, and we're going to be walking through the book of Ecclesiastes.

We're going to talk about the things that really matter in life.

But at the end of the day, what is it that really matters?

And let's give our hearts to that.

And so I'm excited to kick off that series.

Then it'll be almost time for Thanksgiving, everyone.

And then welcome 2027.

Just like that it goes, right?

So make sure that you are engaged and apart.

Next week we'll conclude the series.

This is us, talking about our values, what we value as a church.

So you don't want to miss that.

But I'm excited about today.

We are in part four, but the third part of our purpose, which is live on mission.

And so we're going to jump into that.

Before we do, let's pray together.

Ask God to speak to us and let's open our hearts.

Father, we come before you today just with open hearts and open minds, saying, speak to us.

Holy Spirit, would you do work in our hearts?

Would we be challenged today, encouraged today, convicted where we need to be?

And Lord, would we grow because we were in your presence?

We believe your word has the power to change us from the inside out.

And so do that today by your spirit.

And we ask this in Jesus' name.

Everyone said, Amen.

Amen.

So if you missed any of the series, quick recap, you need to go back and watch week one and two and uh three.

Um, but we've been talking about what is the purpose of the church, and then how does that inform our purpose as a church here at Gateway?

And uh we in week one looked at the Gospels and the Book of Acts and just saw Jesus over and over as like, hey, your responsibility is to go and make disciples.

But at the end of the day, that's what he wants is us to go and make disciples.

So we had to define disciple and gave it this definition.

It's someone who is moving to deeper and deeper levels of commitment to Jesus and to the thing he's building, which is his church.

He said, I'll build the church, the gates of hell will not prevail against it.

And so the idea is that you are in this progressive moving motion of becoming more committed to Jesus.

And how many of you know that if you've been walking with the Lord any amount of time, that happens because you take steps.

It's step after step after step, and sometimes it feels like two steps forward and three steps backwards, and then you but it is the mo this is the process of growing to become a disciple.

And so we said, how are what language will we give it here at Gateway?

And we gave it this language, which is we lead people to know God personally because God wants every lost person saved, and to grow in faith because he wants every saved person pastored.

Because just because you accepted Christ doesn't mean you've dealt with all your yesterdays, and you've got to deal with those so that you can be developed.

And that's what he wants.

This is growing in faith, it's pastoring and developing you into maturity.

We talked about that last week.

So finally, you can live on mission.

Everything is downstream from knowing God personally.

You can't grow in faith until you know him personally.

And you can't live on mission until you know him.

Matter of fact, I would propose everything in your life is downstream from you knowing God personally.

You can't be the dad you need to be, you can't be the husband you need to be, you can't be the parent, the student, whatever it is, unless you know God personally.

And so from there we want you to mature.

From there, we want you to be on mission for Jesus.

That is the purpose of the church.

Are y'all with me?

So they want to talk to you about live on mission.

I love this quote from a theologian by the name of Christopher Wright.

He says this it is not so much that God has a mission for his church as that God has a church for his mission.

Let that settle in for a moment.

Here's what that means it's not so much that God built the church and then gave it a mission.

It happened in reverse.

God had a mission.

The Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.

It's his mission, and then he built a church to propel that mission.

So we're not an organization first.

We are a mission first.

And the mission is the mission of Jesus.

And the church, when the mission is over, we'll be done with.

You know, in heaven, we're not gonna have small groups and serve teams.

Are you all with me?

Worship team, right?

Because the mission, the church will be done, it'll be finished with what it was used for.

That was to ultimately get us around the throne, saying, holy, holy, holy is the one who is seated on the throne, right?

So that's what we're talking about.

So I want to propose that your life live to the fullest is when you are engaged in that mission.

That our job isn't to go, God, here's what I want to do with my life, you come bless it.

It's to say, God, what are you doing in the earth?

I want to join you there.

And whenever you decide to join Jesus in his mission, and I'm not saying you have to, you know, resign from your job and quit.

I'm talking about as you live your life, as you are in the things God has you in, the places and the spheres of influence, that you would live on the mission of Jesus.

And I would propose that that is the fullest life you can live.

That is the life of fulfillment, that is the life of purpose.

That is the life when you're living for something that is bigger than you and beyond you.

And so why don't all of us live that?

Well, I think there's one simple reason is because the gravitational pull of life and of our flesh is towards selfishness.

You don't ever drift into, you don't ever, you just drift into selfishness.

Are you following me?

You don't have to get up in the morning and be like, today I'm gonna be selfish.

I'm committed to it.

Why?

Because we naturally drift.

It's the gravitational pull of life.

Matter of fact, in our culture, we we have things like, I wrote, I wanted to read these.

We we take selfies, we practice self-care, we buy self-help books, we work on self-esteem, we admire people who are self-made, we do self-promotion on social media, we use self-checkout at the grocery store so we don't have to talk to people.

And we have so much stuff that we pay for self-storage, renting a room for the things that we don't have room for.

We have more things about self, and the irony is that we're less satisfied than ever, more anxious, more depressed.

So just maybe we're looking at the wrong thing.

Maybe the goal of life is not to just have your eyes looking at you, but that you would have eyes that look up and out to the needs of others.

Now, hear me say this before we move on.

Self-care isn't bad.

Jesus rested, Jesus ate with friends, Jesus got away, Jesus retreated, all that is good.

Self-care is not sinful, self-worship is fatal.

Self-care is not sinful, but when life becomes about worshiping me, that's fatal.

It'll rob your joy.

It'll steal the good things out of your life.

This is why Jesus said this in Mark chapter 8.

Mark 8 · chapter mention

He said, Whoever wants to save their life will lose it.

But whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will actually save it.

Can I tell you something?

Write this down if you're the note-taking type.

If not, write it down anyways.

The kingdom of God is upside down and backwards to the kingdom of this world.

Everything about the kingdom of God is upside down and backwards.

Because the world says if you want to gain your life, then preserve it.

Watch out for yourself, take care of yourself first.

Jesus says, if you want to gain your life, give it away.

And when you lose it, when you give it away, when you stop making it about you, when you stop nasal gaving or gazing at your navel.

Is that right?

That's when you actually find life.

That life isn't found when it's just about me and pleasure and what I want.

Life is found when I give my life away.

If you want to find your life, lose it.

And if you'll lose it for me in the sake of the gospel, Jesus says you'll actually find what life is really all about.

Because the gravitational pull is towards selfishness.

And here's the thing about gravity that you don't have to fall into selfishness.

It'll pull you there.

The only way to fight it is to resist it.

The moment you stop resisting selfishness is the moment you have moved towards selfishness.

Because no one accidentally stumbles into generosity.

No one stumbles into putting needs of others before the need of yourself.

No one stumbles into that.

We don't live by on mission by default.

We're not wired that way.

Our flesh is constantly pulling us away from it.

We have to live on mission by decision.

And so I want to show you three things today that I believe the Bible shows us that helps us intentionally fight against the gravitational pull of selfishness.

If you're with me, say amen.

You're like, I didn't come to hear how selfish I am.

Sometimes you need to.

Number one, what should help us against that gravitational pull is our motivation, and this is our motivation.

Heaven.

Why would I spend this life giving my life away, and I want to propose it's because of heaven.

Look what Paul wrote to Timothy in 1 Timothy.

He said, Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant or to put their hope in wealth.

Time out real quick.

Some of you are like, this verse doesn't apply to me because I'm not rich.

Well, by the world standards, if you got here in a vehicle, you're in the top 3% of income earners in the world.

Just so you know.

If you built a house just to hold your cars called a garage, if you have so much food that it doesn't fit in one fridge, so you have two.

If you have a whole room in your house that simply holds your clothes, called a cloth.

Okay, y'all get the point?

Are y'all with me?

Okay, so this verse applies to everybody, alright?

He says, Don't be arrogant and don't put your hope there.

So the Bible isn't saying you shouldn't have and you shouldn't be blessed.

It's not saying that.

It's just saying don't put your faith in that because it's so uncertain.

The market's up today, it's down tomorrow.

The job is here today, it's down tomorrow.

The deal works, and now the deal falls through.

It's uncertain, but put your hope in God.

Because he's the one that richly provides us with everything, and he provides it.

Listen to this for our enjoyment.

There's some really horrible theology out there.

It's just like God doesn't want you to enjoy this earth.

It's simple, it's awful.

You should just live like the scum of the earth on the bottom of some of the soup.

But that's not what Paul told Timothy.

He said, God is provided richly so you can enjoy it, just don't anchor your faith in it.

And he says, command them to do good.

So it's my job to command y'all today.

Command them to do good, and here's how to be rich be rich in good deeds.

Be rich in the way that you live your life, the way that you treat other people, and be generous and willing to share.

And he says this, watch this.

When you live this way, not putting your hope in stuff, being rich in good deeds towards other people, he says, in this way, you lay up for yourselves treasures as a firm foundation for the coming age.

So that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

Paul says, Timothy, make sure they know this.

The life that's truly life, if they really want to live, the way you live it is through giving yourself away.

The way you live it is not putting your eggs in the earth basket completely.

And he says, when you do that, you're storing up for yourselves treasures in heaven.

The book of Matthew says, store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where moth and rust.

It's like, what is that word?

I'm from, I grew up in East Tennessee, y'all.

Where they don't destroy, where thieves don't break in and steal.

He says, in other words, he says, you can't keep it all, but you can send it ahead of you.

In the way that you live.

Be rich in good deeds.

And so heaven is our motivation.

Not just heaven one day, but heaven today.

One day I will stand before God, but also is heaven coming in and through my life today?

Isn't that what Jesus prayed?

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Some of us are so worried about getting out of earth to heaven that we're no good to the earth.

Just like, well, I just hunker down, and one day Jesus will come back, and we can just all leave here, and the trump will sound, and the dead cross will rise first.

I believe all that, but we have a mission to accomplish while we're on the earth.

I love, yeah, if we're gonna clap, let's all do, okay?

This is a summary of a quote by N.

T.

Wright, a theologian.

He says, This the question isn't whether we'll make it to heaven.

If you know Jesus, you're making it to heaven.

But whether heaven is making its way into us.

And watch this, and through us, into the world.

That's the point.

Is that heaven would make its way into us, and then through us, into the world.

And here's the reality, everybody.

What you store up in heaven is really gonna matter one day.

Because I don't know if you know this, but your life is gonna be under review.

In 2011, Drake, don't listen to his music, made this phrase real popular, YOLO.

You only live once.

It's wrong.

It's really yolk.

You only live twice.

You live here, and then you live after this life.

And when you stand before God, there'll be one or two judgments that you stand before.

The Bible tells us.

Revelation 20, there's a great white throne judgment, and that is the judgment of destiny.

That is where what that's the question here is what did you do with Jesus?

And if you don't know him today, you'll get the opportunity to know him, but you'll stand before that, all of us will.

What'd you do with Jesus?

And the only good answer is I surrendered my life to him.

But then, believers, you'll stand before another judgment called the judgment seat of Christ.

The word for that in the original language is bima, and the word bima is not a courtroom judgment.

The word bima is the idea of an awards podium like you would see at the Olympics.

And so this is a reward judgment.

And the question that'll be answered there is what did you do with what I gave you?

Did you store treasures in heaven?

Did you use the gifts and talents I have given you to make a difference in the lives of others?

Did you promote the gospel that I entrusted to you to give to other people?

What did you do with what I have you?

And here's the deal: the Bible says that he will wipe away every tear from our eye.

My personal theory is this is that he'll be wiping the tears away because we'll be crying, wishing we had done more with what he gave us.

So heaven is our motivation.

I want him to give me a bunch of crowns because those are the ones that I'll lay back at his feet.

But he comes with rewards.

Romans tells us, look, I am coming now.

Revelation 22, I'm sorry, look now, I am coming with rewards, and I will reward those for what they have done.

Your relationship with Jesus is secure by faith.

Your reward has a lot to do with what you do.

And so heaven is our motivation.

Are you with me?

Say amen.

Not only does heaven motivate us, but also another motivation is the love of Christ.

It says, for Christ's love compels us, Paul writes to the Corinthians, because we are convinced that one died for all.

How many of you are grateful for Jesus?

And therefore all died.

And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves.

So this is the whole reason Jesus died for us, Paul says.

So that we don't live for ourselves any longer.

But what do we live for?

But for him who died for them and was raised again.

So it's no longer I, Paul just said this way it's no longer that I live, but this life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who died and gave himself up for me.

It's why Paul could write to the Corinthians that if I die, it's gain, and if I live, it's Christ.

Because I'm no longer living for me.

I'm living for Jesus and for his mission.

Number two, what can keep us from the gravitational pull of selfishness is this is our impact because we were made for more than me.

I'm made for more than me.

I'm made for more than me.

You're made.

You are wired for purpose.

I don't know if you know that.

The scripture says that you are God's workmanship, created in Christ to do good works.

That He determined beforehand for you to do.

Before you were ever born, before you ever thought in your parents' mind, you were a thought in the mind of God.

And he has a purpose for you, and you'll never be fully fulfilled until you're living out his purpose in your life.

That's where true fulfillment comes from.

This is even proven in psychological and psychology service circles.

I don't know if you ever heard of the guy by the name of Viktor Frankel.

He was a Jewish psychologist who was in Auschwitz in the concentration camp.

And he observed that the people that survived the concentration in the camp the best were not the strongest.

The people that survived it the best were people that had something to live for beyond that.

Family that was still alive, a purpose, a calling to finish.

Those were the ones that survived it.

So much so that he started a whole school called logotherapy around this idea of life is about purpose.

But as a culture and sometimes as Christians, we've bought in more to Freud's idea, which is life is all about pleasure.

And the thing about pursuing pleasure is that it's just never enough.

Why?

Because the line keeps moving.

Well, whenever I get to this stage, then it'll be good.

And then the line moves.

It's a mirage.

Our family vacations as a kid was going seeing grandparents for the most part.

We lived usually seven, eight hours away.

And my parents lived, my grandparents both sided, one side in Carolina, South Carolina, one in North Carolina.

And we would drive down these straight roads, because Tennessee is a little more mountainous, so these flat roads, and whenever it was beating hot in the sun, I'd see a puddle out there as a kid, and I'd be like, why can't we catch that puddle?

Finally, my dad told me it's a mirage.

It's not really there.

And that's what chasing pleasure does.

It's not really there.

Chasing purpose, that leads to fulfillment.

You were wired for purpose.

You were wired to make a difference.

You were wired to live a life that is beyond you.

And that's where world fulfillment is found.

And so, how do you make an impact in the world around you in your everyday?

Let me give you four really practical things, real quick.

Are you with me?

Number one is this live attractional.

Live an attractional life.

Live a Matthew 5 life.

You're the salt of the earth.

You're a city on a hill.

Don't put the lampstand under cover.

You know, don't keep the salt in the shaker.

Why?

Because this is what happens.

In the same way, let your light shine before others that they may see your good deeds.

And what?

It'll glorify your Father in heaven.

Can I tell you something?

You know what an attractional life is?

It's a life that just simply lives the fruits of the Spirit.

I mean, if you just live the fruits of the Spirit in your everyday life, you walk into the office or you walk into school or you go into your dorm room and you're just living out love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentle.

Are y'all following me?

That's so counter to the culture when everybody else is living out anxiousness, anger, hate, debate, criticism.

It's an attractional life.

You'll stick out like a light, a city on a hill.

You'll be salt in this world that it desperately needs.

You don't have to walk around with a bullhorn to make an impact.

Please don't.

Got enough weird things and people call them Christian things.

Are y'all with me?

Just live an attractional life.

Live Jesus.

Be the very best follower of Christ you can be Monday through Saturday, and that will be an attractional life.

Why?

Because you will be like water to a parched soul.

So live an attractional life.

Number two, easy way to make an impact.

Live compassionate.

Live compassionate.

Step out of your shoes for a moment and consider what it is to be in somebody else's shoes.

Live with a heart of compassion.

You may know the story of the good Samaritan, right?

The man was beat up, left in a ditch.

A priest, Levite, religious people came by, they all avoided him.

Then the Samaritan comes by, and Jews and Samaritans had no love lost for each other.

They were racially against each other.

But yet in the story, Jesus says the Samaritan is the one that took care of him, bandaged him up, gave him a place to fed him, took care of his needs.

And then Jesus asked this question which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?

And the expert in the law said, the one who had mercy on him, and Jesus told him, then go and do likewise.

A man that he was at racial tension with.

You know what it means?

Is that you just don't get to love the people you like?

And how can you reach people if you don't love them?

How can you reach people if you see them as an enemy and not someone created in the image of God that needs the cross and the gospel and the reality of the empty tomb?

See, to this man, the priest and Levite, this man was a problem to avoid.

But to the Samaritan, it was an opportunity for healing.

You just gotta determine how you're gonna live life.

Live with compassion.

Live with an understanding that I haven't walked in your shoes and I don't know what life is like in your shoes, but I'm gonna have compassion towards you.

You can't reach a world you don't love.

Number three, live present.

I love this.

One of my favorite verses by Paul is says, To the Jew, I became like a Jew to win the Jew.

In other words, he's saying, if I was with Jews for the sake of the gospel, then I would refrain from certain meats.

And I would follow their customs.

And he goes, even though, he goes, though myself, I'm not under the law.

He said, I don't see myself under the law, but I would submit myself to that for the sake of the gospel.

And then he says, so as to win those who are under the law to those not having the law, which talking about the Gentiles, he said, I became like one of them not having the law.

But then he he characterizes this and he says, Though I am not free from God's law, but I'm under Christ's law.

So what Paul is saying is when I was with Jewish people, I would submit myself to some of the things that they believed so that I could reach them.

And when I was with people that didn't have any law or didn't have any room with God, he goes, I didn't lower my convictions.

You can do both.

You can have compassion for people and not lower your convictions.

Let me say it this way: you can be in the world, but not of the world.

To love people that are not like you doesn't mean you have to agree with everyone.

We bought this lie that love is agreement, acceptance is agreement.

No, it's not.

I can stand firm on the love of God and the conviction of the scripture, and at the same time put my arm around somebody that I don't agree with that isn't like me, and let them know that Jesus loves them.

Plus that I became all things to all people.

To the weak I became weak, to win the weak.

I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.

And this is why I do it.

I do this for the sake of the gospel that I may share in its blessings.

Paul goes, I'm so concerned about the gospel.

I'm so concerned about people meeting Jesus that even though I wanted some barbecue, I didn't need it when I was with the Jews.

And when I was hanging out with drunkards, I didn't get drunk.

Because you can stand on conviction and you can love people well.

You can do both.

Don't believe the live culture.

Number four, live ready.

Live ready because you live that kind of life, and here's what's gonna happen.

But in your hearts, revere Christ as Lord.

Always be prepared to give an answer for everyone who asks.

You live that kind of life, you're gonna get questions.

How do you do that?

How do you have peace when you're going through what you're going through?

How do you still have joy?

And I know your story.

How is it that you don't seem to get all flustered at everybody?

How do you when they ask you to give the reason for the hope that is in you?

And listen to me, church.

Look at this.

But do this with gentleness and with respect.

Don't win people to Jesus.

Do it with gentleness.

Do it with respect.

Your impact will pull against that gravitational pull.

And here's what happened.

I go through this, and a lot of you are like, I need to do that.

But we fall into the one-day trap.

Ah, when the kids get out of the house, when I get out of college, start my own family.

Whenever I get this business off the ground, then I'm really gonna start looking at life through this lens.

Whenever I it's the one-day trap, can I remind you though?

That you don't know what'll happen tomorrow.

What is your life?

It's just a mist.

One translation says a vapor that appears for a little while and then it vanishes.

It feels like a lot of time, but you got a little bit of time to live on the purpose that God has for you.

Alright, number three.

That'll pull, help us pull against the gravitational pull is our participation because you were gifted on purpose.

At some point you've got to move beyond knowledge to action.

At some point you've got to move from the stands and get on the field.

Are you all with me?

And you've been gifted to.

You're hardwired for it.

You have a spiritual gift.

Matter of fact, Romans chapter 12 says this for just as each of us has one body with many members, so he's talking about the natural.

Romans 12 · chapter mention

He's using this metaphor.

We have one body and it's got a lot of members, right?

I got toes and I got fingers and I got arms and I got legs and I've got a neck and I got a head.

I got many members, but it's still one Daniel.

Y'all tracking with me?

And these members do not all have the same function.

They don't all work the same.

They got different jobs they're supposed to be doing, and when they work, it's wonderful.

So in Christ, we, though many, form one body.

So all of us, every campus online, all of our church family, we're all one body, one functioning body.

And each member belongs to all the others.

So I don't know if you know that.

You may not even like it, but you belong to each other.

And we have different gifts, charismata.

We have different graces on our life.

According to the grace given to each other.

Some of you think about what I do on the weekend and go, I could never do that.

It's because you don't have the grace for it, but you do things I think I could never do that.

Because you have the grace for it.

You've been given the charismata.

God's given you gifts.

And here's the deal: when you don't use your gift, a part of the body suffers.

A part of the body suffers.

Your gift is needed.

Your gifts, let me say that if you've never heard that in a church, your gift is needed.

Not out of guilt, not out of shame, not out of, well, that's what I gotta do.

I'm you know I'm a member, I gotta check the box.

No.

Out of, I've been reconciled to God, and so now I have the ministry of reconciliation, and I am Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through.

This is the scripture, by the way.

This Corinthians, God was making his appeal through me.

What an amazing opportunity.

What a wonderful gift that God would so entrust me with the message of reconciliation, that he would entrust you with the message of reconciliation, and we get to be God's mouthpieces.

Wow.

In the earth.

And so we serve, we use our gifts in service to him.

Not just outside the church as we make an impact, but inside the church.

Your gift is needed.

And your posture is God, use me however you want to use me.

It's what Jesus said, right?

Or Mark 10, 20, 45.

For even the Son of Man didn't come to be served.

If anyone could have come into the earth and been like, right here, everybody, feed me, take care of me.

But it doesn't say that he didn't come to be served, but he served and he gave his life as a ransom for you.

For me.

And I hear things in the church.

Can I challenge you a little bit before we close?

I hear things in the church like, well, I'm not I'm not called to that area.

Where's that in the Bible?

The Son of Man came to serve, not be served.

What if Jesus had been like, Father, I'm that cross thing.

It's I don't know about that.

What if he'd been like, Peter, James, and John?

I'm not mentoring them.

One's a hothead, the other one's arrogant.

Where did that become part of our thing?

I'm not called to serving kids.

I thought we were all called to serve the house of God.

To say, God, use me wherever you want me.

Put me in the game, coach.

You're the king, I'm not the king.

You're the coach, you're the play caller, I'm not the play caller.

You just tell me what to do, and I'll go do it.

You put me in wherever you want to put me in, and then I'm gonna serve the Lord with gladness.

Amen, everybody.

I'm gonna serve him with gladness.

I'm gonna give of myself to make a difference and impact in the lives of others.

Even if I wasn't a pastor, this would be true because it's a core conviction, I believe, from the scripture.

But the Floyd family, we build the house of God.

That's what we do.

We get to the end of my life and go, I gave it to building the house of God.

And so since the kids were old enough, Owen and Faith, the little ones aren't there yet, but Owen and Faith, since they were old enough, they've been serving.

Around fifth grade, they could start serving in kids.

When we were in Virginia, and then as they got older, they served in different areas of worship.

And Owen, we'd end up serving in like during high school, we served first-time guests, like just greeting new people to the church.

And every time they came in the office in the morning and they were on their way, I'd be like, Where are you serving today?

And then I'd say, What do we do?

Don't forget, Psalms 100, verse 2.

Psalms 100:2

We serve the Lord with gladness.

So I don't know how your morning was, I don't know how your attitude is right now, but it needs to switch because we serve the Lord with gladness.

Because I don't have to serve, I get to serve.

I don't have to give, I get to give.

I don't have to show up, I get to show up.

I don't have to drive in the rain, I get to drive in the rain to be in the house of God with the people of God and serve King Jesus.

Because I've been reconciled to God, and now I've been given the ministry of reconciliation to everybody else around me.

As though God was making his appeal through me.

That's true for you.

And at the end of the day, what you store up in heaven is really all that'll matter.

Enjoy what God gives you here.

Paul told the wrote to Timothy, tell them to enjoy it.

Just don't put hope in it.

And be willing to live beyond yourself and give yourself away.

I love what he wrote.

One last verse, 1 Thessalonians.

Paul said, For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we glory in the presence of the Lord Jesus when he comes?

He goes, What is all this about?

Our hope, our crown, our joy?

And then he answers it with a question, is it not you?

Paul's joy, Paul's crown, Paul's hope was the people.

And may that be true for you as well.

That your joy, your hope is the people that your life touches during this life.

Because you can't keep it all, but you can send it ahead by what you store up in heaven.

Let me close with a thought.

You know, if you were overseas somewhere in a hotel and you were told you can get whatever you want while you're here, but you can't take it back home with you.

Do you think you'd spend all of your energy packing the hotel room out with stuff that you purchased?

Or do you think you would wire ahead back home all the things that you wanted?

And a lot of us live in the hotel room of our life.

And we're just feeling it, feeling it, feeling it.

We're not sending anything ahead.

The story goes of a guy named Howard Hughes.

One of the richest men that lived in the time in the 70s.

He died in 1976.

And his his body was at 90 pounds, his hair and nails were so grown out no one recognized him.

The FBI had to use fingerprints to even identify him.

He died alone with$2.5 billion fortune and no real will.

Ended up getting split between 22 cousins.

This is the picture of a life lived putting everything in the earth basket.

The contrast to that is this: it's a guy named Robert Moffat, a Scottish gardener.

In 1817, he sailed to Southern Africa as a missionary.

He and his wife Mary served for nine years without seeing any visible fruit.

Nine years.

Can you imagine nine years and you don't see any movement?

And in one of the saddest seasons, Mary asked a friend back in England to send them a communion set.

They didn't have a single convert.

But she believed they would need it.

It took two years to arrive.

Two days after it came, the first group of African believers sat down with the Moffits to take the Lord's Supper.

He would go on to translate the entire Bible into their language.

And on a trip home from Britain, he took a crowd.

He told a crowd, I've seen the smoke of thousands of villages, villages whose people are without Christ.

And a 25-year-old named David Livingston was in that room, and that one sentence sent him to Africa, and David Livingston was one of the most impactful missionaries to Africa.

Robert Moffat's life illustrates something very different from what can I get out of life.

But he was oriented around what can I give to life.

Now, good chance God's not calling you to Africa.

But he may be calling you next door.

Or he may be calling you to the cubal across the way.

And he's probably calling you to the dorm room next to yours.

Matter of fact, I would propose if we can't go next door, why do we get on a plane and go?

Just a question.

So, man, the gravitational pool is gonna pull you.

As soon as you walk out the door today, the gravitational pull is gonna pull you.

Me, mine, what I gotta do, what I gotta get done.

And all I'm doing is challenging you to live your life for eternal impact.

To live your life on mission, to get on a team, to be a part of serving others.

What are we gonna do as a church?

We're gonna create an easy way for you to discover your gifts, find your place, serve on a team.

Serve your church, serve outside your church.

Serve my cities coming up on October 24th.

A great opportunity one day to go make a difference, to give a cup of cold water in Jesus' name, to live attractional.

That'll be an attractional day, everybody.

We're gonna go out and live an attractional life.

We're gonna live compassionate that day.

We're gonna live present with people, stepping into their needs and into their world.

And you know what?

There's gonna be moments where people go, why are y'all doing this?

Oh, I'm glad you ask.

Let me give you an answer for the hope that lies within me.

His name is Jesus.

That's what it's all about at the end of the day.

So, what are you living for?

I hope you're living for a life of eternal impact on the mission of Jesus.

I hope your eyes will get out and up to see around how God wants to use you to touch lives.

I hope that something in your heart will stir.

I'm gonna get off the sidelines and get in the game.

I'm gonna stop being a spectator of Gateway Church.

I'm gonna be a participator in the mission of Gateway Church.

Those are two very different church experiences.

One says, What can I get out of it?

One says, What can I give into it?

I pray you'll choose the second.

Will you pray with me?

Every head bowed, every eye closed.

Maybe you're here today.

And early when I talked about the two different judgments, that everyone will stand before the great white throne and give an account of what they did with Jesus, that's stuck in your heart.

Because you're not confident.

You're not confident that heaven is your home.

You're not confident that your sins are forgiven.

You're not confident that you have a relationship with Jesus, an authentic, real, you know him personally.

And if that's you, I want to give you the opportunity to take that step of faith.

You don't have to leave this place wondering, guessing, hoping so.

Maybe your good will outweigh your bad one day.

You don't have to live that life.

You can live with confidence, knowing that Jesus has reconciled you to God.

And it happens by you taking a simple step of faith.

And so, if that's you today, we're gonna pray in just a moment to express that faith that you want your sins forgiven, that you're making Jesus the Lord of your life today.

Before we pray, I just want to know who I'm praying with.

And so in a second, I'm gonna count to three.

And when I do, you shoot your hand up high enough and long enough for me or the pastor at your location to see.

No one's gonna come to you or embarrass you.

And I just believe as you shoot your hand up, that's kind of your first step of faith, saying, God, this is me.

I'm coming to you today.

So on three, you shoot your hand up high.

One, two, three.

Just lift it up high.

God is speaking to you.

I see in the very, very back.

God bless you.

Just keep them up.

God bless you.

Incredible, you can put it down.

Church, let's pray this together out loud for the benefit of those who just lift their hand up.

Just say, Jesus, I need you.

I ask you to forgive me of all my sin.

I believe you died for me.

I believe God raised you from the dead.

Today I make you my Lord and Savior.

Thank you for a brand new beginning.

In Jesus' name.

Everyone said a big amen.

Amen.

Let's put our hands together and celebrate those who made that decision.

Thanks for joining us today.

If you'd like to connect with us, text Connect to 71010 or visit gatewaypeople.com.

We hope you have a great week.