The Gate

09/05/2026

This Sunday, we’re gathering in Hubs! 🏠 Click the link in our bio to find a Hub near you and get connected. Then next Sunday, September 13 at 11 AM, we’re taking church outside for our Annual Labor Day Picnic at Veterans Memorial Pavilion! Bring a dish to share and come ready for a beautiful day together! ☀️🌿🧺🤍

09/04/2026

09/04/2026

BOLD GENEROSITY – Episode 3: You Can't Out-Give God

"You can't out-give God, but you'll grow every single time you try."

BIG IDEA
God invites you to try to out-give Him. You'll never win, but every attempt stretches your faith and sets you free.

KEY POINTS
• Malachi 3:10 is the only place God says "Test me," and it's about generosity.
• You choose the scoop; God matches the measure (Luke 6:38).
• Firstfruits giving, not leftovers, is where the overflow begins (Proverbs 3:9-10).

SCRIPTURES
Malachi 3:10 · Luke 6:38 · Proverbs 3:9-10 · 2 Corinthians 9:8

TODAY'S CHALLENGE
Pick a bigger scoop. Whatever you planned to give this week, in money, time, or kindness, add one notch, then watch what God does.

REFLECT
1. What size scoop have you been using? Be honest.
2. Where have you already seen God show up after you gave?

PRAY
Lord, I take You at Your word. I'm going to test You with a bigger scoop, not to get rich, but to get free. Fill my barns so I can reach further.

You're better than yesterday, but not near as good as tomorrow. So make today count.
http://maketodaycountlive.com

09/02/2026

It's almost here. 📖

The Always Advantage: Consistency Meets Your God-Given Style.

Consistency isn't a personality trait. It's a decision. Most of us aren't missing talent or time — we're missing the daily decision to show up on purpose, as the person God actually designed us to be.

Reserve Your Copy Today!
https://www.alwaystyle.com/the-always-advantage

13 commitments for exactly that. Launching this week. Watch this space. 🙏

09/02/2026

"Bold generosity doesn't wait for abundance. It creates it."

BIG IDEA
In God's economy the open hand comes first and the overflow comes after. Don't wait for abundance to be generous; generosity is how abundance begins.

KEY POINTS
• The widow gave her last meal first, and God kept her jar full through the famine (1 Kings 17:13-14).
• The Macedonians put "extreme poverty" and "rich generosity" in the same sentence (2 Corinthians 8:2-3).
• Withholding feels safe but leads to lack; giving freely leads to gain (Proverbs 11:24).

SCRIPTURES
1 Kings 17:13-14 · 2 Corinthians 8:2-3 · Proverbs 11:24 · Philippians 4:19

TODAY'S CHALLENGE
Stop waiting for the jar to be full. Today, give something from the jar you have: money, time, energy, or a word, and give it first.

REFLECT
1. What "someday" condition have you attached to your generosity?
2. What is actually in your jar right now that someone else needs?

PRAY
Father, I'm done waiting for someday. Show me what's in my jar, and give me the courage to pour it out first. You are my supply.

You're better than yesterday, but not near as good as tomorrow. So make today count.

08/31/2026

BOLD GENEROSITY – Episode 1: The Heart Behind the Hand

"Generosity isn't measured by what leaves your hand. It's measured by what never leaves your heart."

BIG IDEA
Generosity begins in the heart, not the hand. God isn't measuring the size of the gift; He's delighting in the joy of the giver.

KEY POINTS
• Giving is decided in the heart before it ever leaves the hand (2 Corinthians 9:7).
• Nothing you own is yours; you're simply handing back what came from His hand (1 Chronicles 29:14).
• Overflow doesn't come from a big account. It comes from an open heart (Luke 6:38).

SCRIPTURES
2 Corinthians 9:7 · 1 Chronicles 29:14 · Luke 6:38 · Proverbs 11:25

TODAY'S CHALLENGE
Before you give anything today, ask: "Reluctantly, or with joy?" If it's reluctantly, pray first, then give anyway, and notice what happens to your heart.

REFLECT
1. When was the last time giving made you smile? What was different about that moment?
2. What would change if you truly believed everything you have came from God's hand?

PRAY
Lord, give me Your heart for the people around me. Make me a cheerful giver, not a reluctant one. Everything I have is Yours.

You're better than yesterday, but not near as good as tomorrow. So make today count.
http://maketodaycountlive.com

08/26/2026

“A light under a basket doesn’t stay hidden. It goes out.”

KEY TRUTHS
• Jesus didn’t say you should be light. He said you ARE. The only variable is placement.
• Fire needs air — and the air a believer’s fire needs is witness.
• A hidden light doesn’t just fail to help people. It fails to give God credit.
• Nobody quenches a fire on purpose. You quench it by covering it and walking away.

LEADERSHIP REALITIES
• You cannot pastor, parent, or lead out of a covered flame.
• Everyone near you is trying to warm themselves at a fire you’ve kept under a bowl since spring.
• Timothy’s fire went low and God didn’t disown him — He told him to fan it. Do that for your people too.

PRESENT-TENSE CHALLENGES
• Name your basket: Professionalism. Timing. Relationship. Humility. Keeping the peace.
• You built it yourself, out of good intentions — which means you can lift it any time you want.
• A basket you leave on long enough stops feeling like a basket and starts feeling like the ceiling.

ACTION STEPS
• Say your basket out loud today and call it what it is.
• Lift it one inch: say one true thing about God in the exact room you’ve been protecting.
• Fan the coals daily this week — air, use, speech. You’re not starting over, you’re reviving.
SCRIPTURES: Matthew 5:14–16 • Luke 11:33 • 1 Thessalonians 5:19 • 2 Timothy 1:6 • John 12:35
You were never in danger of being too bright — only of going out so slowly nobody noticed. Lift the basket and make today count: better than yesterday, not near as good as tomorrow.

08/24/2026

“Your life is already preaching. The only question is what.”

KEY TRUTHS
• There’s no such thing as not preaching — only preaching on purpose and preaching by accident.
• Your words are the sermon; your life is the credibility that buys them a hearing.
• You are somebody’s only edition. For many people you’re the one they’ll actually open.
• The shining isn’t something you generate — it’s what contrast looks like from the outside.

LEADERSHIP REALITIES
• You teach two curriculums: the one you announce and the one you model. The modeled one always wins.
• Your team will forget your vision statement. They won’t forget how you treated someone who couldn’t help you.
• Integrity is an argument nobody can answer — you can dismiss a doctrine, not a twenty-year track record.

PRESENT-TENSE CHALLENGES
• What did your life preach this morning — in the car, at the counter, at your own kitchen table?
• Some people you’ll never out-talk. You can only out-live them.
• There is no neutral square on your calendar. Every one is preaching something.

ACTION STEPS
• Name the gap: where does your life contradict your message loudest? Say it to God without spin.
• Close one inch of it today — the apology, the check, the tone of voice on the fourth question.
• Do one ordinary task this week consciously “in the name of the Lord Jesus.”
SCRIPTURES: 2 Corinthians 3:2–3 • Titus 2:7–8 • 1 Peter 3:1–2 • Philippians 2:15 • Colossians 3:17
You can’t stop the sermon — you can only decide what it says. Preach on purpose and make today count: better than yesterday, not near as good as tomorrow.

08/21/2026

MAKE TODAY COUNT • LIVE VIDCAST
“Sometimes you have to lose what you were looking at to see what was behind it.”

KEY TRUTHS
• When the tree came out, the sky came into view. Nothing was added — something was taken away, and we could see.
• The sky was always there. The temporary was standing in front of the eternal (2 Cor. 4:18).
• Loss didn’t create the view — it revealed it. Same yard, same spot, completely different horizon.
• Paul’s losses weren’t bad things — they were his credentials, the tallest trees in his yard (Phil. 3:7–8).

LEADERSHIP REALITIES
• When your team loses something, everybody stares at the stump. Your job is to be the first one who looks up.
• Stand in the sawdust and say: “Look at all that sky. What do we plant here?” That’s not denial — that’s vision.
• Vision is just perspective, out loud.

PRESENT-TENSE CHALLENGES
• Job didn’t get a new God — he got a new view of the God who was there all along (Job 42:5).
• God’s new thing is already springing up — the question is whether your eyes have adjusted to notice (Isa. 43:19).
• The empty spot isn’t just where something died. It’s where the light gets in.

ACTION STEPS
• Name your tree — the season, door, or plan that came down. Honor it, and stop staring at the stump.
• Name one thing you can see now that you couldn’t before. Say it out loud — that’s your new view beginning.
• Plant something in ground that finally gets sun.

We lost the tree. We found the sky. God doesn’t waste an empty spot — not in my yard, not in your life. Make today count: better than yesterday, not near as good as tomorrow.