“What We Value” by Pastor Daniel Floyd

Welcome to Gateway Churches Podcast.

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

Welcome to church, everyone.

How are we today?

Doing good?

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

As you just saw, we're beginning a new series.

Next week, if you're new to church, a series is simply a collection of talks around one main idea.

And we're going to be walking through the book of Ecclesiastes and talking about what really matters in life.

At the end of the day, what is what really matters?

And so I want you to be a part of that.

And then we'll be heading right into Thanksgiving, everyone.

Here it comes.

Before I get into that, I want to, if I could, just pastor you through a moment.

Is that okay?

Is that okay?

Okay, good.

Thank you.

As you know, unless you've been uh living under a rock, we're heading into an election season.

And uh I know some of you are thinking, Pastor, I finally got my friend to come today and you're talking about this.

Really?

Just hear me out.

I just want to pastor you for a moment.

Um, because we're all disciples of Jesus if we placed our faith in him, which means that we're not just disciples on Sunday.

We have to be disciples Monday through Saturday.

And I think as a follower of Jesus, according to the scriptures, I believe you have four real responsibilities as it relates to this season, which unfortunately has become so divisive, and I think it grieves the heart of God, should grieve your heart.

But I think you have four responsibilities.

One responsibility is you have a responsibility as a citizen.

Romans 13 tells us, go read it, tells us how we should respond as citizens, wherever God puts us.

And he's put us in a country that allows us to cast a vote, everybody.

And what a gift that is.

What an honor.

And many of you, including my dad, my father-in-law, served to protect that right.

And so, as a citizen, as a good citizen, and Jeremiah told Israel, he said, I want you to pray for the peace and the prosperity of the city, and they were in captivity.

And so we have a responsibility to be involved.

I'm always grieved at how many Christians set out these seasons, and then let's be honest, then you complain all year about what's not right.

Amen, preacher.

Alright.

Second, your highest responsibility is to the kingdom of God, which means that everything you do in life should be through the lens of what does Jesus say.

You're an ambassador of Christ.

Matter of fact, when you surrender to Jesus, you lost the right to have an opinion.

You carry his opinion.

And so you need to look at every issue and go, what does God say about that?

And who gets the most close?

And I know some of you are thinking, well, Pastor, I'm choosing between two evils.

Well, choose the less one, okay?

Number three, responsibility you have is to pray for and to honor whoever wins.

That's what Christians do.

We pray for and we honor, whether you agree with them or not.

And then number four, responsibility, keep your hope in Jesus, not in the outcome of an election.

He is still king, he's still on his throne, and he is working in the hearts of men.

The Bible says he holds the hands of the king in his hand.

All right?

And so keep your hope in Jesus, everybody.

Don't get twisted and bent out of shape.

Jesus is alive, he's sitting on the throne.

There's no emergency meetings in heaven.

Are you with me, everybody?

So let's be good disciples in this season and uh let's represent Jesus well.

Okay?

All right, let's pray together and let's get into the word.

Lord, we love you and we thank you for your word that it's powerful, it's active, it's alive, and it can change us.

And so, would you do that today?

Our hearts and minds are open to you.

Would you speak to us and we pray this in the mighty name of Jesus?

Everybody said amen.

Amen.

I want to talk to you today as we conclude this series about um, this is us.

We've been talking about what does God want for his church?

How does that inform our lives and our church here at Gateway?

And I want to conclude today talking about these things called values, what we value, if you're the note-taking type.

That's the title of the message.

Before we do, quick recap.

We've been talking about what Jesus wants, and it is that we would go and make disciples.

Not a trick question, okay?

That we would go, let's do it again.

We would go and make disciples.

That's what he wants us to make.

We see it all through the Gospels and the book of Acts, and we said a disciple is simply someone that is moving.

You got to be moving.

You can't be stationary and be a disciple to deeper and deeper levels of commitment to Jesus and to the thing he's building, which is his church.

All right.

And we said that we're simply gonna say it this way at Gateway, that we exist to lead people to know God personally because everybody needs to be saved.

We're gonna lead them to grow in faith because everyone that is saved needs to be pastored and developed, and then to live on mission, because our ultimate end as a believer is not another church service.

It's that we would be mobilized to make a difference in the world around us.

Now, here's the deal: you can have wonderful phrases, but if you don't have a culture that carries those phrases, then you're never gonna get anywhere.

You experience culture all the time, right?

I remember when I was a kid and I got to go stay at somebody else's house, which was super rare.

We didn't do a whole lot of sleepovers.

But I would come back and be like, mom, they let their kids eat food in front of the TV.

Or, Mom, they don't really have a bedtime, they just go to bed whenever we want.

And my mom would say these five great words.

That's not how we do it here.

Anyone ever, any parents?

Okay, you're willing to admit, right?

You're like, I don't care what the they found if, and then the the odd the obvious phrase, if they jump off a building, are you jumping off too?

All right.

Well, what was your what were your parents saying?

They were saying this, and this is what you say as parents.

You may not have phrased it this way, but you were saying, this is our culture in our house.

This is the way we do it here.

And even when friends would come over, my dad didn't change.

If it was bedtime, they didn't care, he didn't care who was at the house.

All right, kids, time to get in bed.

And all my friends were like, Yes, Pastor Floyd, we're going.

Because that is what culture is.

No one wrote it down.

It wasn't hanging on the fridge, it was just the unwritten, this is how it's done here.

It was the unwritten, this is us, right?

Because your family had certain values.

And you may not have stated them or put them in a brochure, but you had values, and that's what your parents were trying to hand down to you and were trying to live out in front of you these values that shape what we call today culture.

You've experienced this.

Um, maybe you were dating somebody, and the first time you brought them to meet your parents, before you went, you had this conversation.

Just need to warn you about a few things.

Are y'all with me?

What were you saying?

You were trying to say there's a certain culture in our home.

I just want you to be aware before we get there what's gonna happen.

When you show up at Thanksgiving, that crazy ant that everybody puts up with, you're just warning this person, don't think I'm weird, because they're weird.

Are y'all with me?

Some of you are like, I don't have that crazy ant.

It's because you're it.

Okay.

Just kidding.

Just kidding.

You can laugh in church.

Okay.

You're experiencing culture.

Let me give you one more that you experience during the week, but you can't on Sundays when you go to Chick-fil-A, the Christian chicken.

And you order something, I just made you hungry for it, and some of you are like, I can't even get it today.

And you order it and you say thank you, and it doesn't matter where you are in America, they're gonna say back to you.

See, they've taught you their culture, they've discipled you on their culture, what they say, how they say it.

And culture is shaped by values.

And here's the deal that if it's in your home or it's in a business, or if it's in the church of Jesus Christ, if you're not intentional about culture, you will default to bad culture.

And it doesn't matter how great the purpose is, that we're gonna lead people to know God personally, grow in faith, and make a difference, and live on mission.

It doesn't matter how wonderful all these phrases are, if the culture isn't healthy, they get nowhere.

It doesn't matter how much you put Jackson Hole into your GPS, if your tire is flat, you're not making it to Wyoming.

Are y'all with me?

And you have felt this.

Some of you have been to a church, and before the worship ever started, you knew if you were welcome or not.

That's culture.

Nobody said it, you just felt it.

You've also walked in a place where you thought, man, there's joy in this place.

There's life.

People, there's life in this building.

What are they saying?

They're saying, I'm feeling the culture.

Isn't this what God did with the nation of Israel?

Are y'all with me?

This is what God did with the nation of Israel.

He brought them out of Egyptian slavery, and then he put Moses on the mountain and he gave him what, ten commandments?

What was he saying?

He was saying, in our family, this is how we do it here.

We don't have gods before us.

This is how we keep the Sabbath holy.

This is what we do.

That's what he was doing.

He was taking them out of an old culture, a bad culture, a slave mentality culture, and he was setting them in a new culture.

Then what did Jesus come?

He came and he took culture to another level.

He says, Some of you say that you don't commit adultery, but I say if you've looked lustfully in your heart at a woman, you've already committed adultery.

So he's like, this is how we do it in the kingdom of God.

Are you following me?

And so if you don't define it, you'll default to something bad.

And so today I want to define it.

And these values, these five values I want to share with you.

They're not anything that I came up with.

It's honestly just everything I observed spending time with the team, spending time in the church, visiting every campus, spending time with leaders.

I just listened and it became very clear.

Oh, this is who Gateway's always been.

These are the things that have always been valued here.

And so we're going to talk about this today because values distinguish you.

They set you apart.

Daniel chapter 6, verse 1.

Daniel 6:1

I want you to see this.

It pleased Darius to appoint 120 satraps, so 120 leaders to rule the kingdom, and then he put three administrators over them.

So he had kind of an executive team of three people, then he divided up the 120 between them.

One of these administrators was Daniel.

It's a great name.

See if you're listening.

The satraps or these leaders were made accountable to them so that the king might not suffer loss.

Here's what I want you to see what is said about Daniel.

Now, Daniel distinguished himself among the administrators and the satraps by this.

This is how he distinguished himself, because he had exceptional qualities.

In other words, his life, the way he lived, his behavior was exceptional, and it caused him to rise above everybody else.

So much so that the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom.

Can I tell you something?

When you live a values-based life, you will live an exceptional life.

When you live a life based on values, you will live an exceptional life.

And when we as a church live life based on values, could how many of you know that we as a church don't have values if you as an individual aren't living those values?

Because we are the church together.

And I want to propose too that not only are these values good for us as a church, but if you don't have some for your family, these are good for your kitchen table.

But these values, I want you to think about them through two lens.

One lens is this is who we are as a church.

But I also want you to think through this lens, is this true in my house?

Is this true in my dorm room?

Is this true whenever I'm in the boardroom?

Is this true when I'm out on the golf course?

Am I this kind of person?

Because you can't make culture, you can only be it.

And so who are you?

This isn't great at grammar, but who are you being?

And can I tell you something?

The culture of your home isn't found when people come to visit.

It's found on the ordinary Tuesday night.

That's what you're really passing to the next generation.

It's when the when the squeeze goes on, what comes out, that's really what is the value in your life.

If you're with me, say amen.

All right, let me give you these.

I'm gonna give you three or five, I'm sorry, and then I'm gonna give you three behaviors.

Because values aren't values if you don't live them out somehow.

If these aren't behaviors that end up in your everyday life.

And so if you're the note-taking type, write this down.

If not, write it down anyways.

Number one, value.

We love God.

If you're kicking the tires of Gateway Church, you've got to know this.

We're really in love with God.

Like passionately in love with God.

Like He's the priority, He's the center, He's it.

That's why we're here.

Here's how we define that is we put God first in heart, priority, and devotion.

It's what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 23.

Matthew 23 · chapter mention

He said this, love the Lord your God.

They're asking him, what's the greatest commandment?

And he said, Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind.

This is the first and greatest commandment.

So if we really value this, then it's going to be seen in our everyday life.

It's going to be seen where we prioritize God in our schedule, where we prioritize God in our time, where we prioritize God in our day-to-day.

If we love God, if it's really a value, it's in us, we're passing it to the next generation, we're passing it to people around us, then they should feel that.

People shouldn't be surprised.

Let me say it this way if they found out you passionately love God.

Because it should come out in your everyday life.

Let me give you three behaviors, all right?

Write these down.

Number one is we worship passionately.

It's always been a value of this house that we worship passionately.

How many of you, real quick, are just thankful at every campus for the amazing gift of these worship leaders we have?

The team, I mean, wow.

Above and beyond.

What a gift.

Be praying for our team, by the way.

Part of them are on tour right now.

They had a date in DC last night.

I think they're heading up to Philadelphia or somewhere today.

Um, I'm gonna be taming our giggins to join them Wednesday night in Nashville.

Um, but just pray for them.

They're opening for Tarn Wells and uh leading people in worship all over the United States over the month of October.

So but we worship passionately.

Why?

Because love isn't love until it's expressed.

If someone loves something, you don't have to pull it out of them.

If they love a restaurant, you don't have to pull it out of them.

They'll let you know.

If they love CrossFit, they'll definitely let you know.

Like, it's messing with you.

If you're in love with God, it should come out in the way you worship.

No one should have to tell you to lift your hands.

The Bible says, clap your hands, all you people, shout unto God with a voice of triumph.

Like there's no one should have to tell you to lift your hands, no one have to tell you to sing out, no one should have to tell you why, because when you fall in love with God, you're gonna want to do those things.

That's why loving God is where it starts, everybody.

If you start with do this, do that, do this, do that, then you'll miss the whole point.

But if you'll fall in love with God, you'll want to worship him and you'll want to serve him and you'll want to know him and you wanna be in the house of God.

If you fall in love with him.

So we worship passionately, we pray consistently.

That's why we're gonna start the year again in January with 12 days of prayer and fasting, 6 a.m.

Monday through Fridays, be in the house.

We're gonna seek God in prayer.

Why?

Because we believe God answers prayer.

Like we still believe that He is the God that hears us.

We're not throwing words out into the atmosphere and good wishes, everybody.

We're talking to the God of the universe that has the ability to reach down into situations and heal bodies and restore marriages and bring prodigals back home and save souls.

Come on, bring revival to a nation.

Like we still believe that when we call out to God, he hears us.

So we value loving God.

We pray consistently and reweed God's word daily.

These are behaviors.

This isn't all of them, obviously.

This is just to get you started.

But if you value loving God, it should at least look like this.

It it at a minimum, this should be a part of your life.

If the value is there that we love God.

Here at Gateway Church, you gotta know this.

We love God.

Number two, the second commandment is like it, the Bible said, that we love people.

We have a love for a genuine love for people.

The scriptures say, or the definition I'm gonna give you for this is we treat people with honor, dignity, and Christ-like care.

Jesus continued in that Matthew passage and he said this, and the second is like it, love your neighbor as yourself.

And so then he goes to tell the story, and they're like, Well, who's my neighbor?

If you've been around the scripture, you remember this.

He says, Who's my neighbor?

And then what does Jesus do?

He tells them the story of the Good Samaritan, right?

And so what he is saying in that is everybody's your neighbor.

It's not just the person that lives next to you.

I'm not talking about your housing development.

I'm talking about everybody you come in contact with.

And I think it's brilliant of Jesus that in this moment he decides to use two racially divided people to show who's each other's neighbor is.

So you know what he's saying there is your neighbor is not the one that looks like you, thinks like you, talks like you, votes like you, grew up on the same side of the tracks as you, has the same socioeconomic class as you.

No, he's saying everybody's your neighbor.

And that whoever you come in contact with, you should treat like the good Samaritan treated the person that was beat up in the ditch.

You should have honor and dignity and Christ-like care for them.

Can I get a better amen?

You gotta love people that you may not even like.

Because that's what disciples do.

We love people.

Let me give you three behaviors of that.

Number one is show honor.

This is such a value that's missing in our culture.

The word honor in the what the Hebrew uses in the Old Testament for it and what the Greek uses in the New Testament for it, both have this idea of weightiness or of great value.

Can I tell you something?

Every person you come in contact with in the eyes of God has weight and has value.

Every person you come in contact with.

Can I tell you where the value of really loving people comes out?

Is when they get your order wrong three times.

How do you act?

Because if it's really a value, it's a value when things are going good, and it's a value when things are not going good.

I think this idea of honor has got perverted in the Big C church.

In some areas, it's turned into pastor worship, which no man or woman was designed to be worshipped, only Jesus was designed to be worshipped.

But just because honor in some cases became idolatry, it doesn't mean the value is wrong.

So I've learned over the last year.

Just because something is done wrong doesn't mean it is wrong.

Just because something is done wrong and perverted in some way doesn't mean that it is wrong if it's a biblical value.

So honor should go up, down, and all around.

Honor should go to the barista making your coffee, honor should go to the children sitting around your kitchen table, honor should go to the teachers that are teaching your children.

Parents, you're communicating something by how you talk about your teachers, your child's teachers.

You're either communicating honor or dishonor.

You're communicating something by how you talk about elected officials.

You can disagree with them without being dishonorable.

Hello, somebody.

How about we bring civility back to the culture?

Show honor.

I'll keep going.

Serve with humility.

We love people, we serve people.

The Son of Man didn't come to be served, but he came to serve and offer his life up as a ransom for many.

If that's the model that We're followings, then shouldn't that be the heart of God's people?

Shouldn't that be the value in us that we love people?

We want to serve people, that I'm not walking in going, what can I get out of this?

I'm walking in going, what can I give into this?

I want to serve with humility.

I want to build people up.

Paul told the church, he said, Hey, whatever words you use, make sure that they're building others up and not tearing them down.

That word build in the Greek has this idea of a construction where you are adding bricks, not taking them away.

What are our words with people doing?

If we really value people, we love people, then our words should be adding bricks to their life, building them up into everything that God wants them to be, instead of taking bricks away and tearing them down?

What are the words that are coming out of our mouth that'll really reveal the value that is in our heart?

Value number three is that we choose joy.

That we choose joy, that we choose hope, gratitude, and spiritual confidence regardless of circumstances.

So joy isn't dependent on whether or not your day is going the way you wanted it to.

It's dependent on the Spirit of God living on the inside of us and the attitude that we choose.

My dad told me when I was a kid, Daniel, your attitude is going to turn into your altitude.

But how high you go in life will determine by the attitude you have.

Do you see the glass half empty or half full?

Do you choose joy or is it just happiness whenever things are going well?

It is a choice you make.

Your attitude is your choice.

I love what Habakkuk said.

He said, though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, he's like, things are not going well.

Though the olive crops fail, so he's got like no grapes, he's got no oil to dip his bread in, the fields aren't producing food, there are no sheep in the pen, and there's no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord.

I will be joyful in God my Savior.

When you choose joy, I mean you could you can make your own list like Habaka.

Even though I got the tax bill, even though the hell damaged the roof, even though I got an F on the paper, even though whatever, you can make a whole list yourself and at the end go, yeah, I will rejoice in the Lord.

Because joy is an inside job, everybody, it's not an outside job.

Joy is a matter of your heart.

Matter of fact, joy is a fruit of the Spirit.

So if the Spirit of God lives on the inside of you, you have access to joy, and you get to choose it.

You get to choose whether you put a smile on your face, you get to choose whether you see the positive side of it or the negative side of it.

You get to choose whether you start with, well, the problem is with everything, or start with, I see a way through this.

Are y'all following me?

And this isn't personality.

Some of you grew up in such negative family systems that you will have to break this generationally.

But you are empowered by the Spirit of God to choose joy.

I don't know about you, but when anyone walks into our gateway campuses or encounters a gateway member, I want them to be like, I don't know what they got, but they got joy.

I don't know what they're selling, but I want some of it.

I want people to walk into a joy-filled environment.

It honors God.

It's a biblical value.

I think this is good for your home too.

That you determine in this house we choose joy.

In this house we look for the good.

In this house we practice gratitude.

Three things, three behaviors.

One is cultivate gratitude.

Like make gratitude a discipline of your life.

I think gratitude is the gateway to joy.

And you're like, well, I don't have a lot to be grateful for.

Well, you're breathing.

You have food to eat.

You have clothes on your back.

Come on, somebody.

Like, we can start somewhere.

Start with whatever you got, and all of a sudden you'll feel your joy begin to rise as you begin to express gratitude for the goodness of God in your life.

Well, well, Pastor, I'm sick in my body.

Well, be grateful that you got doctors that caught it.

Be grateful you got a God that can heal.

Are you following me?

Like you can find something to be grateful for.

Behavior number two is carry a life-giving attitude.

Carry a life-giving attitude everywhere you go.

No one is gonna come close to Jesus because you're grumpy.

Or bitter or negative.

That it's not gonna, that is not an attraction to life.

Are y'all following me?

Is this too much for you?

Okay, I'm just I'm gonna shoot it straight with you all the time.

Nobody's gonna come to faith in Christ.

Carry life-giving attitudes.

Well, does that mean you never say truth and heart?

No, the Bible says truth and grace.

So it's all in how you deliver it.

You can deliver it like a jerk and no one will listen.

Or you can deliver it with life-giving attitude and people may take notice.

You can eat a steak at Capitol Grill or at Golden Corral.

It's both meat.

One's just delivered a whole lot better.

Hello, somebody.

You're like, well, I like Golden Corral.

I don't know what to do with you.

That is a horrible experience.

I don't know.

Carry a life-giving everything to everybody.

Number three, remain steady in difficulty.

So I'm not gonna let life circumstances blow me off of living a joyful life.

I'm gonna root myself deep in God's word, deep in a love for God, so that when the winds come, I may bend, but I'm not gonna be tossed around.

I'm not gonna be blown everywhere.

I'm gonna be rooted in a joyful life.

I'm gonna choose joy.

Number next?

This is a value.

We live a generous life.

If Gateway's known for anything besides the amazing worship, it's known as a church that is generous to the nations, generous to the nation, generous to other ministries, generous because it flows out of generous people.

Really, in all reality, Gateway doesn't give to the nations.

You do.

It's the generous people of this church, it's not the organization.

It's because you've chosen to live a generous life.

Millions of people, literally not exaggerating, have been impacted by it.

And so it's a value we cannot lose.

That we live a generous life.

We give freely of our time, talent, and treasure for God's mission and others' good.

It's a value we can't lose.

The Bible says this, that as you go, once you have proclaimed this message, the kingdom of heaven is near.

Then he says, heal the sick, raise the dead, clean those who cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons, and here it is, freely you have received.

So freely give.

How many of you know you've freely received?

You have freely received.

How many of you know you've received redemption?

You've received healing.

You've received, come on, you've received the blessing of God.

Every day you live, you've received the goodness of God.

So what does the Bible say?

Then freely give that.

Freely give that.

We think generosity, we go straight to money.

No, it is a spirit.

It's a life you live.

It's a, no, I'm willing to let you get in line in front of me.

No, I'm willing to let you merge in.

It's in the little things.

Are y'all following me?

I'm living generous.

Let me give you three three principles.

Live open-handed.

Just determine, I'm gonna live an open-handed life.

God, anything you've put in my hand, it's yours.

And anything you've given to me, you can take.

That's an open-handed life.

You know the irony of living open-handed is this?

Is that when you came into this earth, you had nothing in your hand.

Right?

I mean, you were born with nothing, literally.

Anything you got was from your parents or your guardian, like you had nothing.

And then what happens is that we we grow and we mature, and then we begin to receive the blessing of God in our life.

And so we get responsibilities.

That's a blessing.

And we get children, and we get homes, and we get cars, and we get bills, and we get all these things, and it's everything God has put in our hand.

And the blessing of God becomes the very thing that keeps us from living an open-handed life.

Because as soon as God blesses us, too many times we do this.

And God's trying to pry our hands open from the very thing He put in there.

Don't let the blessing of God become the very thing that keeps you from living an open-handed life.

You brought nothing into this world, you'll take nothing out of this world.

So use it all for the glory of God.

Live an open-handed life.

Here's another behavior of this value is that we give sacrificially.

Yes, there is a giving part of this.

The Bible says that where your treasure is, that's where your heart is going to be.

In other words, your heart follows your treasure, not the other way around.

If you never, if you don't believe me, start investing in something and see how often you look at the performance of the stock.

Why?

Because your heart all of a sudden got attached to how well that thing is doing.

And so the Bible says that we're supposed to return the tithe into the storehouse.

That's the local church.

And he says, test me in this and see if I won't pour out a blessing.

And can I just challenge you?

For whatever reason, some of you may have disengaged from this practice in your life.

And it's time to re-engage.

Nothing's on fire.

We're doing great.

We honestly are.

It's not about something we need from you, it's about something that God wants for you.

And that is to live obedient to Him and under His blessing.

It's a biblical value.

Are y'all with me?

Alright.

You got quiet.

Happens every time.

And then we serve beyond ourselves.

In other words, we're just not always thinking about us, everybody.

That we gotta have some times where we're going, I'm gonna get out of my comfort zone and I'm gonna serve beyond me.

Can I take a great opportunity to do this October 24th, serve my city?

So many of you, thousands and thousands of people.

We had to open up more spots that we filled so many up.

I'm so proud of our church.

So find a place that day.

Find a place, your campus, find a place, get a red shirt.

That's out of my comfort zone.

Get beyond yourself.

And maybe get over yourself.

My name's Daniel.

I love you.

Value number five is pursue excellence.

So what do we do?

We honor God by growing, improving, and giving our very best in all we do.

These aren't just good values for a church, they're good values for your home.

One of the very first memory verses, Bible memory verses I remember remember memorizing is this in 1 Corinthians 10, 31.

So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, here it is.

Do it all for the glory of God.

Do it all for the glory of God.

I had the great gift of growing up with a father who thought, if you're gonna do it, you need to do it with everything you have.

You need to do it your very best.

If you're gonna say yes to something, then you do it your best.

If you're gonna mow the yard, Daniel, then we're gonna walk around after you mow the yard and we're gonna look at where we could have done it better.

Some of you are like, well, that's just too harsh.

No, it gave me a spirit of excellence that honors God.

If you're gonna write a small group study, then you better give it your very best, Daniel.

If you're gonna play a sport, you better give it your very best.

If you're gonna do school, you're gonna give it your very best.

Why?

Because we have a value of excellence.

That's how we do it in the Floyd household.

If you're gonna arrange your clothes and put them color-coded, and I don't know why you wouldn't do that.

Doesn't make sense to me.

Are you with me though?

And to be excellent, to whatever you do, to give it all to the glory of God, here's three behaviors you gotta have.

Number one, you gotta grow continually.

Which means you've got to be willing to change.

And here's the thing about change we like change when we initiate it.

We don't like change when it's initiated upon us.

But if you're gonna grow, you gotta be willing to change.

It's what disciples do.

We're becoming more and more made into the image of Christ.

So who we are this year should not be who we are next year.

How well we do things now shouldn't be how well we do them next year.

We should be improving.

We should be distinguished on your job.

Because you're a Christian, it should be better.

You should do it better, should do it with more excellence.

You should distinguish yourself like Daniel.

Well, everybody else just does the bare minimum, not disciples.

Whatever we do, we do for the glory of God.

We're not working as unto men.

Are y'all getting this?

This is how we live.

This is who we are.

This is how we should be as a church.

We should do the very best we can with what we have.

It's not perfection, it's just everything we do.

Let's do the very best with what we have.

We're not talking about extravagance, we're talking about excellence.

Because it honors God.

Are y'all with me?

We should do everything.

We should grow continually, we should execute with excellence and we should improve what we steward.

None of us should want to get to heaven and go, God, I was the best maintainer you had.

Maintained my walk with you, maintained my family, maintained the things that you entrusted to me.

I just maintained them.

No.

We should get and say, Lord, I maximized it.

I did the very best I could.

I gave it my all in honor of you.

So that my life, my values, the culture I build around my life would point people to the goodness of God and to the greatness of the one that I serve.

Doesn't matter how great your vision is for your family, if the culture's bad, it's not gonna get there.

Doesn't matter how great the vision is for a church, if the culture's bad, it's not gonna get there.

Doesn't matter how wonderful the vision is if the vehicle is broke down.

So I'm gonna challenge you on two levels.

How are these values being lived in you?

We all have one we can grow in.

We all have one that's the lowest slat.

You ever seen a bucket that's made of wood?

You know, had wooden slats.

You ever come on, like little house on the prairie?

You got with me?

It's making a comeback on Netflix.

Of all the values, you probably have one that the slat is lower, and that's where the water's leaking out.

And so just take a step.

Just say, God, give me one one action item.

How do I increase that?

I need I don't love you the way that I should.

What's one step?

20 steps, one step that I can begin living these values out, not only in my home, not only wherever God gives me influence, but also how do I live these out in my church?

Because God is taking us great places, Gateway, and He's preparing us for what He wants to do in and through us, and when He does it, may we be people that live these values out every single day.

Alright, I want to give you a very practical next step.

We've been talking for five weeks that disciples are people who are moving to deeper and deeper levels of commitment to Jesus and his church.

And so I want everyone today, I'm gonna invite you to take one next step.

One step forward, one step towards commitment to Jesus.

And so I want everybody to get their phone out.

Come on at every campus, all across the room.

Grab your phone.

Seriously.

Stop playing Wordle.

Grab your phone.

I want you to tap the disc on the seat back in front of you, and it's gonna take you to a link.

So everybody go to that link.

We're gonna all do this together.

If you're on the front row or you're online, you can text the word next, just the word next, to the number 71010.

You'll get the same link.

All right?

When you tap that, it's gonna pull up a page, and the second button on that page says your next step.

I want you to click that.

And then I want you to ask God, which of these next steps are you supposed to take?

So you can fill out the information.

Maybe your next step is simply to attend church on a regular basis.

That church for you has been casual, it's been whatever you can, maybe here, maybe there, maybe sometimes.

But that you go, no, ask for me in my house.

We're gonna be in the house of God every Sunday, no matter what's going on in our life, and if all possible.

Maybe a step for some of you is you've been attending for a long time and you've never joined the serve team.

You've never engaged with your local church to live on the mission of Jesus.

And so you need to take that step.

You need to go to Growth Path, you need to find out where you can plug in and be a part of moving the mission forward.

For some of you, you need to begin or begin again in tithing.

You've let that slip in your life, or you've never taken that full step of obedience.

That's your next step.

For some of you, it's to join a group.

You've come at your campus and you've kind of slipped in and slipped out, and you need to be known.

Somebody needs to know your name, needs to know your life.

It's in community that we grow.

We talked about that in the third week of this series.

So maybe that's your next step.

Maybe for some of you it says, take a step of obedience.

There's something that you know God is speaking to you about.

Maybe it's a relationship to restore, maybe it's uh someone to forgive.

I don't know, but it's just this is personal.

It's like, yeah, God is speaking to me.

I have a step I need to take, and you don't need to tell us what it is, but you just know you need to take it.

And so maybe that's your next step.

Maybe your next step is baptism, and guess what?

You don't have to wait to obey God.

You can do it today at the end of service.

And then finally, maybe your step is to follow Jesus.

And then, of course, the last one you can check.

If you prefer no one to contact you, we won't.

But if you do, we would be happy to.

Whatever you do, just take one step, everybody.

One step closer to Jesus, one step closer to his church.

Will you pray with me?

Every head bowed, every eye closed.

Maybe you're here today, and that last step I talked about following Jesus is the one that you need to take today.

And so, if that's you, I want to give you the opportunity to do that.

Maybe you're here and you'd say, Pastor, I feel like I'm a million miles away from God.

I just want you to know you don't have to live that way.

That doesn't have to be your story.

The Bible says that Jesus came, he lived the life you and I could never live.

He lived a perfect life.

And he died the death that we really deserved.

And he paid for the penalty for all of our sins, all of our issues, all of our mistakes.

And he offers this fresh start, this new life in Christ.

The Bible says if anybody's in Christ, they're a new creation.

In other words, you can have a brand new beginning with God today.

You can know that all of your sins are forgiven, that heaven will be your home, and that you can have peace with God.

Maybe you're here today, and there was a time where you were really walking with Jesus, but you know you've strayed away, and today is the day for you to come back home.

No matter where you find yourself, I want to lead you in a prayer of you just expressing that to God by faith.

And according to the word of God, today will be a day of brand new beginnings for you.

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

And so I'm gonna ask you in just a moment when I count to three to just shoot your hand up high enough, long enough for myself or the pastor at your location to see.

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

And then we're gonna pray together.

And so, with no one looking around, just between you and the Lord, if you'd say, Pastor, that's me, I need a fresh start with God.

Then when I get to three, you shoot your hand up.

Ready?

One, two, three.

You just shoot it up high.

Keep it up all over the room.

I see you in the very, very back.

God bless you.

Keep it up.

See you, young man.

It's beautiful, incredible, wonderful.

You can put your hands down.

Church, will you pray this out loud with me for the benefit of those who just slip 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, Amen.

Amen.

Let's 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.