THIS IS US | Your Rhythm Determines Your Direction

Review:
Over the last few weeks, we've been talking about what it really means to belong to a church family.

God created you to belong.

He didn't just save you from something, He saved you into something.

When you gave your life to Jesus, you didn't just get a Savior. You got a family—a Family with a Mission.

That's why we've said: church isn't something we attend. It's who we are.

We've learned: We Grow Better When We Grow Together

And Wednesday we learned: Don't just Make a Difference. Be the Difference.

But here's the question we will answer today: How do we actually LIVE all of this?

This Is Us should not just be a series you heard. It should become how you live.

- You don't just READ the vision. You RUN with it. And God has given this church a Vision....

- We want people to Know God. We want people to Find Freedom. We want people to Discover Purpose. We want people to Make a Difference.

- Our Vision gives us direction >> it tells where we're going. But if we're all going to run in the same direction, we also have to be aligned while we're running...

- Paul is describing a group of believers moving together. That's what our Values help us do. They show us how WE live while we're pursuing the Vision...

- We Love God.
- We Love People.
- We Pursue Excellence.
- We Choose Joy.

--These are the shared convictions that shape our culture and help us move together.

- But there's still something missing: you can have a Vision and never get there.

- You can have Values written on a wall and never live them.

- So how do we actually move?

- Paul is saying "Do it. Then do it again. And again. And again." That's a rhythm.

- A rhythm is a repeated pattern that creates movement.

- The things you do repeatedly are taking you somewhere whether you realize it or not.

- What you repeatedly do determines the direction you eventually go.

YOUR RHYTHM DETERMINES YOUR DIRECTION.

- The whole FX picture is:
--Our Vision tells us where we're going.
--Our Values help us live together while we're going.
--Our Rhythms keep us moving in that direction

- You can know where you're going and still never get there.
- You can believe the right things and still never live them.
- Eventually, what you repeatedly do determines where you eventually go.

-- Rhythms matter --they're not just four sayings we put on a wall>>they're how we actually live the Vision.

- Do these again and again and again, and they'll keep moving you toward the person God wants you to become—and keep moving us toward the church God has called us to be.

1. START WITH GOD

- If Jesus had a rhythm of getting alone with the Father, we need one too.

- Start your day with God.

- Start your decisions with God.

- Start your relationships with God.

- Start your problems with God.

- Start your finances with God.

- Before you react—Start With God.

- Before you make the decision—Start With God.

- Before you call everybody else—Start With God.

- Before you try to fix it yourself—Start With God.

- Don't give God what's left. Give God what's first.

- As you end each day ask yourself "Did I Start With God?"

- The language here is movement. Go on.

- Don't stay where you are. TAKE YOUR NEXT STEP!

- Everybody has a Next Step.

- Your Next Step may be giving your life to Jesus. It may be baptism. It may be being filled with the Holy Spirit. It may be joining the church. It may be getting into a Group. It may be getting serious about your devotional life.

Your Next Step may be forgiving somebody. It may be dealing with something that's been keeping you in bondage. It may be going through Growth Track. It may be joining the Dream Team. It may be sharing Jesus with your Next. It may be becoming a giver. It may be stepping into leadership. It may be starting to coach somebody.

Whatever it is: God always has a Next Step for you.

- I'm not asking whether you're perfect. I'm asking whether you're moving.

- Celebrate the last step you took then ask yourself "What's my Next Step?" Because yesterday's step can't become today's stopping place.

- There are people in your life who need to experience what you've experienced.

- Your Next is the next person God has placed in your life to Xperience Jesus through you.

1. Write down their name.
2. Pray for them.
3. Love them.
4. Invite them.
5. Celebrate their Next Steps.

- Ask yourself every week:
Who's My Next?
Who am I praying for?
Who am I loving?
Who am I inviting?
Who am I helping come to know Jesus?

- “What God gets TO you should eventually get THROUGH you.

- Be one of the faithful who are Coaching Others!

- You can be gifted and still need a coach And Aquila and Priscilla didn't stand in the back criticizing what Apollos didn't know.They took him unto them. They got close enough to help him grow. That's coaching.

- A coach is someone intentionally helping another person take their Next Step with God.

- You don't have to know everything. You just need to know something about following Jesus that can help somebody else.

- Somebody needs what you've already learned. Somebody needs what God has already brought you through. Somebody needs the Scripture God already taught you. Somebody needs the wisdom you've already gained.

- Have coffee. Have conversations. Pray with them. Encourage them. Challenge them. Walk with them. Help them take their Next Steps of Knowing God, Finding Freedom, Discovering their Purpose and Making a Difference!

- Ask yourself every month: Who am I Coaching?

- The church God envisioned doesn't work because the pastor does everything. It works when: EVERYBODY DOES THEIR PART.

- So don't leave here just knowing four Rhythms, let them be four things others can see in our lives.

Regularly ask yourself these four questions:

1. DID I START WITH GOD? >> Before I start my day. Before I make the decision. Before I react? Have I sought God?

2. WHAT'S MY NEXT STEP? >> Am I moving forward?What's the next thing God is asking me to do?

3. WHO'S MY NEXT? >> Who has God assigned me to reach? Who am I praying for? Who am I loving? Who am I inviting?

4. WHO AM I COACHING? >>Who am I intentionally helping take their Next Step with God?

- Now imagine a church where everybody Starts With God, where everybody keeps Taking Their Next Step, where everybody has a Next they're reaching, where everybody Coaches Somebody. You wouldn't just have a church that grows. YOU'D HAVE A CHURCH THAT MULTIPLIES.

- This is Us!