 Good morning and welcome to church. He's ready. Who else is ready to worship this morning? Yeah, amen. Yeah, let's go Well father, we thank you for the privilege that we have to worship God Remind our hearts this morning of the blessing that it is to come into your presence Lord. We come Ready to give you praise to give you worship Lord our hearts are ready to worship this morning We recognize your greatness in the sanctuary Lord We shake off the heaviness of the week every distraction I silence in the name of Jesus and Lord. I thank you for who you are We set our attention and our affections and our focus on Jesus the one who seated at the right hand of the father Jesus you worthy of our worship. We love you. We bless you in Jesus name The sound of the Savior's robe as he walks into the room Where people pray where we hear praises he hears There is a sound I love to hear is the sound of the Savior's robe as he walks into the room Where people pray where we hear worship he hears Praise Allah sing his praise Allah Sing his praise Allah Sing his praise Your presence that's here Jesus all across this room just open up your hands with me and close your eyes and Take a minute to just recognize the presence of God the word says that Wherever his people are gathered wherever they sing his praise. He's there in the midst Jesus we just take a minute to recognize your presence. I hear to just sing some songs Lord We're here to bless your heart. We're here to tell you just take a moment and just sit Praise the rise whether it's just your great or your beautiful or in the bridge just begin to tell I know you say voice to sing that bridge again We're just gonna lift it to the Lord his praise that he's worthy He's holy and that he's never left us and forsaken us But God praise and our love for the Lord this morning God we give you our love we give you our praise Give you the honor and glory that's due your name because you alone are worthy of it Receive it receive it this morning from your children and your people in Jesus name. Amen Amen, you can go ahead and have a seat if you would radiant church. My name is John. I'm Campus pastor here in Richland, and we're gonna Continue worshiping and continue in our service with something that is so Impactful and such a part of the culture and DNA of radiant church. We're gonna have child dedications and I think First of all, one of our core values is that we're family-oriented we're word-centered spirit-empowered Family-oriented kingdom focus and mission motivated. So those are our five core values. And so there is a Biblical mandate for family and for children and Psalm 127 says they're actually gift from the Lord And I think it's so significant that as we're kind of all experiencing this Impactful and and quite radical shift in our Supreme Court and in our Government and in the protection in the lives of the unborn. Yeah, we it's great. It's incredible We're so grateful for that We're so grateful that God's moving and I believe it's really a sign of of revival that's to come But I think it's also incredibly Timely and impactful that we're going to have children dedicated to the Lord on the very weekend that that took place here at radiant church And so we don't baptize infants It may come from a background Maybe you're visiting and we're not here to say you shouldn't or you can't what we see in scripture is people are baptized It's a decision they make subsequent to salvation to receiving Jesus but in the Old Testament Hannah gives birth to Samuel and she brings him to church She brings him to the temple and she has the leaders and the people in the church bless Samuel for the work of the Lord and so that's what we're going to do And we have some parents who are going to bring their beautiful children up here And we as a church and as a leadership are just going to pray and we're going to believe God's Blessing and favor to be upon them and their family. So when I call their names I'm going to ask you to just give them a round of applause and then they're going to line up here in the front And we've got quite a few today because we're building this church the old-fashioned way So I'm going to put my readers on so I have a 86 percent chance of getting the names right here We go very professional. Okay, Austin and Jenny Beef is if you would bring up Jaden to the front here and line up. Let's give them a round of applause Ryan and Kate tomorrow if you'd bring up Baylor Ryan to the front Thank you Daniel and Alexa Dorn if you'd bring up Marissa Naomi reasoner Sophia and Ruth May to the front here they come Danielle Evans if you'd bring up Aria Marie to the front well and Rachel Evans if you'd bring up Leon James To the front here comes Leon Chris and Megan foe if you'd bring up Jameson John to the front Adam and Morgan Hammond if you bring up Hadley May and Olivia Rose Here they come Tyler and Rachel Johnson if you'd bring up Forest Lee to the front there they are Kevin and Sarah not been if you'd bring up Tyler Joseph to the front here comes Tyler Nate and Kristen Rybal if you'd bring Brooks to the front here they come and Last but not least Tyler and Kate Rominger if you would bring up Griffin Jay to the front. Let's give them all a big round of applause We're my way around here Again, we're excited We're honored to partner with you as you dedicate your children to the Lord There's something so impactful about making this decision and having your children be Brought up in the house of the Lord and then the ways of the Lord And so it's our honor is radiant church to partner with you and to celebrate What God has done in your families and so I'm gonna ask you some questions as mom and dad I just want you to respond with we will with God's help and then at the end we'll pray So first I want to ask to you as parents Consecrate yourselves to the Lord today to help your children walk out the plans and the purposes God has for them If so say we will with God's help Secondly, are you making a decision today to dedicate your children? Recognizing that according to Psalm 127 they are a gift to you from the Lord if so say we will with God's help Lastly, do you accept the responsibility as parents to teach and to train your children in the ways of righteousness? That they would love God love God's word and love God's people if so say we will with God's help and Congregation I'm gonna ask you it's a church. We're a body of believers to you as Those who are worshiping with these families promise to pray for them come alongside of them and help them and their Children walk in the ways of the Lord if so say we will with God's help I'm gonna ask you if you would to just extend your Hands towards these families and these children and we're gonna pray for them father right now. We recognize Like every single child is a gift from you God that you are the giver of life You are the author of life and God your word says that these children were known by you Before they were even in their mother's womb and God you knew them you called them You have given them plans and purposes already and God we speak to their lives We speak to the destiny and callings you have for each of them right now God we declare David's God and Daniel's esters and roots are coming up those who would make an impact in the kingdom of God with righteousness and grace and truth God and we surround them with our prayers and we say God let your hand of Mercy and grace be upon them God and we ask that every single parent would have the wisdom and have the grace and the Ability by the Holy Spirit to teach and train them in the ways that they should go and your word says in Proverbs when we do as they grow old They will not depart from it and we stand on that promise in Jesus name Amen, amen last thing and this is important. We have a tradition here at radiant church based on the greatest children's movie of all time where we have Mufasa showing off Simba on pride rock to the Congregants that have gathered so if you guys want to can our physically able you can raise your children up and let's give them all a huge round of applause Amen Amen congregation if you would stand on your feet and as they go back to their seats make sure you give them a high five tell them Congratulations say hello to a few people around you when we'll continue with our service Welcome to radiant church. Hey, let's give another round of applause So our families that are here this morning with us. Thank you so much It's beautiful. It's beautiful. Well, again, everyone. Welcome to radiant church We exist to lead people to become radiant disciples of Jesus Christ My name is Tim and I have the joy of serving as one of the pastors here And if this is your first time here or your first time in a very long time We're just happy that you are here with us before our first time guests in the seatback pocket in front of you You'll see a QR code feel free to scan that We're just gonna ask for some basic information so that we can stay in contact with you and for those who a little bit more extroverted We invite you to fill out that communications card make your way at the end of the service to guest central We have a special gift that we want to give you just to show you that we appreciate you for being here with us Hey church, let's give a round of applause for our first time guests as well. Thank you so much For being with us today today Awesome well at this time I want to invite the ushers to come forward to receive today's tithes and offerings now We have been in this fundraising campaign called Kingdom Builders as a church We are mission motivated and we believe that our giving can advance the kingdom of God And I want to give you guys an update just in the last couple of weeks you radiant church as a family united has given $750,000 to Kingdom Builders That's specifically going to India so that we can build a school to help brother Abraham Thank you so much for your faithfulness and you're giving now the goal is 800. All right So if you have a $50,000 check, please make it up. No, um, but for real though The goal is 800. We are almost there now Let me remind you some of you may hear this the first time the original goal was 300,000 Look how much you've given Praise God for his faithfulness as a church We want to say thank you so much for your generosity believing that your kingdom dollars Actually goes so that souls can come into the kingdom amen amen So I'm just gonna pray for us that God will continue to use us as a church to be generous To the work that he's doing. Let's pray father again. We do love you. We thank you for today Holy Spirit give us cheerful hearts to give to you God you've given so much to us And so we just joyfully give back everything that you've given to us God We pray that you would prepare us even as we hear the word of God being preached today from pastor Garrett Holy Spirit Fill him. Thank you for bringing him to our church the blessing that he's gonna be and the blessing that he is We now are ready to hear from you. It's in Jesus name that we pray and everyone said amen Everyone welcome to radiant. My name is Preston and I'm Jackie and this is radiant news Being water baptized is the outward proclamation of a decision to follow Jesus if you're a Christian But you've never been water baptized consider. This is the next step in your journey We're hosting water baptisms at our weekend services on Sunday July 31st in Portage and Richland and we encourage you to register The radiant city vision is moving ahead and we are so encouraged by all God is doing through your faithfulness and generosity Check out this special radiant city vision Hey guys pastor Sean here, and I am so excited to tell you what is happening right now at our radiant city center location Back in September 21 We launched our prayer room where we now host 15 prayer meetings a week and broadcast five of them online We're continuing to optimize this space with additional video technology and infrastructure So that we can launch our Sunday morning services here and continue to host our weekday prayer meetings seamlessly We're so excited to be able to bring weekend services to the heart of this city beginning in the fall Thank you so much for your continued partnership for helping us build radiant city You can find all this information and more at radiant.church last weekend. That's it for us. Thanks for following There it is I've been waiting for that intro for weeks now for my opportunity because I Don't it just gets me going it gets me going. Good morning. Beloved. How you doing? Awesome, my name is Garrett and I have the privilege of serving as one of the pastors here at radiant church It is good to be with you this morning. I want to extend a special welcome to our family in Portage, it's good to be with you as well. I am excited about today I have been fired up. I've rewritten this sermon 37 times maybe 38 I don't know somewhere in there, but I have the incredible honor today to Teach the next installment of in our wind and fire series and I have titled today Something very masculine Very very masculine all the men in the house are gonna get excited about this Just right off the bat you're gonna see it and you're gonna get fired up like gladiator It's called disciples and dandelions. Come on. You see, yeah You're you are excited if you're brought your Bibles today hold it up Hold up your Bible. Let me see the Bible because this is encouraged me Portage. Hold it up there, too I love it. I love it. I love seeing you bringing your Bibles to church Acts 11 is where I will be teaching out of today starting in verse 19. It says this Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen Traveled as far as Panisha and Cyprus and Antioch Speaking the word to no one except the Jews But there were some of them remember that some of them Men of Cyprus in Cyrene, and you know, I just got let me pause there I did not intend on pausing there, but I just I'm a Bible teacher and I have to stop Because right now in America, we have a major epidemic We have a major epidemic and its infection is in the church I'm not talking about the season that we've gone through but we're still kind of in but the tension We don't know how to deal with yet and all of like should we say something should we not should we talk about this? I don't know. It's the awkward thing in the room right oftentimes, but this says something that I want to point out it says men of Cyprus men of Cyrene Now I'm not wanting to point this out at the exclusion of anyone, especially women But I'm wanting to point something out here. We are about to see a major event take place in the book of Acts a major event that has its effects and recourse on our lives here today and I believe I Strongly believe that a major reason for the event that we are about to read about that We are about to see that we are about to begin praying for I believe a major Catalyst to this event is because there were men of Cyprus and men of Cyrene who stood up in a culture that didn't want men to stand up and they preached the word of God and I believe that God is calling us to do that men and So men I'm calling you To stand up We've been sitting for too long We've been hiding in man caves for too long. I Hate man caves if you have one. I'm sorry. I don't like it I don't like it because you're not called to have your own room separating from your family So you can do what you want when you want to play video games all day There's a reason why we laugh at the movies where we see a grown man arguing with a 12-year-old because it's ludicrous and Some of us are doing that I believe God is calling us out today Out of the man cave and back to the forefront of our family where we lead well Where we lead strong where we actually do what Pastor John said train up our children in the way that they should go when they're 18 go like Some mom and dad can get their beach house, you know Their lake house on goal or any I don't know it. I'm just go Lord send you I'm Joe. I'm joking, you know, but I Believe that I believe that God is calling men of Richland Men of Portage Men of Kalamazoo men of Plainwell, Otsego battle Creek Grand Rapids I believe that God is calling men to stand up So he says men of Cyprus and Cyrene on Who coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists also? Preaching the Lord Jesus and the hand of the Lord was with them in a great number who believed turned to the Lord The reports of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem and they sent Barnabas to Antioch When he being Barnabas came and saw the grace of God, he was glad now. I love this because Barnabas was intimidated by What was happening there and not happening where he was in Jerusalem? He wasn't in competition with these people. He celebrated with these people. He didn't know them They hadn't been in class with him. They didn't go to the to the Barnabas School of Ministry He was excited. It said he was glad he was excited. So he celebrated and and so it says And when he came he saw the grace of God He was glad he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord was steadfast purpose verse 24 for he being Barnabas was a good man Full of the Holy Spirit and of faith now I want to mention I want to make a special note here says he was a good man full of the Holy Spirit and faith Listen, you don't get the Holy Spirit because you are good Please hear this You don't receive the Holy Spirit because you are a good person The Holy Spirit is given to you and he begins to make you good Goodness is a fruit of the Holy Spirit in the life of someone who follows Jesus Okay Galatians 5 verse 22 you should check that out later on. I don't have time and a great many of people were added to the Lord so Barnabas Went to Tarsus to look for Saul and when he found him he brought him to Antioch for a whole year They met with the church and taught a great many people. What was happening there? they began discipling and Antioch the disciples were first called Christians and in these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch and one of them named Agatha stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there will be a great famine over all the world This took place in the days of Claudius So the disciples determined everyone according to his ability to send relief to the brothers living in Judea and They did so sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul as a whole Acts 11 is devoted to a major Foundational event of the early church. This is true both ecclesiastically meaning as it pertains to the church and Missiologically as it pertains to the mission of the church and it starts off We didn't read it, but it starts off with verses 1 through 18. Okay with the Apostle Peter Reporting to the church at Jerusalem. What happened there in the previous chapter acts chapter 10 and that event that the Apostle Peter is reporting on and about is an event that actually inaugurated the early church's mission to the rest of the world to the Gentile world immediately following this we come to verses 19 through 30 and and and and it says and basically what happens I should say is we are brought to ground zero of the mission that Peter started Unfolding and it's unfolding in a city in a place called Antioch And the way by which we get to Antioch and the way by which this incredible global mission Begins to unfold in this place called Antioch is completely Providential it says because of the persecution that arose over the death of Stephen Disciple, I'm sorry. Yeah, Stephen disciples of Jesus fled great distances for their lives and Similar to how the seeds of a dandelion are scattered by the wind Disciples of Jesus were scattered by the persecution in their land Some as far as Cyprus and Cyprus was about 250 miles away and and it included a boat ride Some as far as Venetian Venetian was about 190 miles away. I Dug in deep and because I'm a Bible nerd and I like to read on this stuff and go deep into it I like to look at maps and stuff like that and and so I started looking at these distances and and then I dug deep into Commentaries and most scholars actually Conclude and and they're almost in full agreement that it took uber over eight months to get everyone to Phoenicia Okay, and to the island of Cyprus uber was built just by this one event but seriously Really think about this because we read These texts and we are so distant from them and we are so removed from them that we actually Don't realize everything that Happened and we don't realize all the energy that it took in and all of the pain that probably and had to take place When these kind of things happened think about this think about how far they fled Think about how long it took Think about how arduous it was for these people physically spiritually emotionally Think about the fear the worry the uncertainty that these people carried as they scattered as they fled for their lives and Yet it was in these conditions It was in these conditions It was this place and those people and these circumstances that God used to launch this mission and Antioch was the perfect setting for it the perfect setting for the early church to begin its mission to the Gentile world You see Antioch was the third largest city in the Roman Empire There are roughly 500 to 800,000 people in the city of Antioch It was it was third only to the great City of Rome and to the great city of Alexandria Antioch was a significant port city along the Orantees River and it had a had a strong trading and Strong commerce market. Okay. It had fertile lands. The lands were were known to grow great Great producting and great groceries. Okay Antioch was influential. It was influence and it was advanced for its day and then there's another Biblical reality woven into the fabric of Antioch that is nothing less than providential and it is this fact Antioch had a large established Jewish community present. You see verse 19 part B said they spoke the word of the Lord to no one except the Jews. This is how it started and as I As I studied this week and as I prepared this week and as I tried to step back from the text and build a Panoramic image if you will of what was taking place in Antioch the Holy Spirit kept bringing to the forefront of my mind this one particular verse From Romans Romans chapter 1 1 verse 16 the apostle Paul says for I am not ashamed of the gospel For it is what is the gospel is for it is the power of God for salvation For some No, for everyone remember this word everyone for everyone For everyone for everyone who believes but this is why I said it's providential because it says to the Jew first But also to the Gentile What a wonderful word the apostle Paul used there everyone everyone Everyone if you look up everyone in every language it means everyone. It's amazing how that works Everyone there's no there's no translation needed everyone Everyone what a wonderful word the apostle Paul used there because what we find happening in Antioch is the gospel is going out to and it is reaching everyone Jews and Gentiles it is reaching everyone, but also What a wonderful word for us today for those of us who feel Or think or maybe have been told that there's something about us that actually rules us out that it's for everyone But us it's for everyone, but me Wrong family wrong background wrong history wrong side of the tracks wrong education wrong language wrong culture wrong decisions Wrong job wrong neighborhood wrong place wrong skill set wrong time wrong insert The wrong that you have been told or you have felt or you have thought here, but then But then like our brothers and sisters in Antioch We hear the gospel the good news that says everyone who believes Everyone who believes I want to go back to our text and I want to zoom in quickly on three particular verses verses 19 through 21 Just to read it one more time to bring it back to our attention. It says Now those who are scattered because of the persecution that arose over Steven traveled as far as Venetia and Cyprus and Antioch Speaking the words and no one except Jews now. Here's where I really want to hone in But there were some of them men of Cyprus and Cyrene Who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists also preaching the Lord Jesus And the hand of the Lord was with them and a great number who believed turned to the Lord Now this passage it takes us actually back into Acts to a few to to Acts chapter 8 Acts chapter 8 verse 1 It brings us back to this because this is what it's speaking about Acts chapter 8 verse 1 says and there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem and They were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria now get this except the apostles So let's do a quick recap. Let's let's let's put framework around all this real quick acts 1120 said some of them Acts 8 verse 1 said except the apostles Except the apostles I Want I want I want that to stick out in your mind today And I want you to leave realizing what took place at Antioch today You see because I find this interesting. I find it interesting that this great thing takes place And the apostles aren't even there The trained professionals Aren't even there. They're not even there What we see Happening in Antioch. Let me be just a little bit more specific the revival that took place in Antioch The church that was started built in Antioch This was not Peter and John being sent to Antioch to preach the gospel This was not Philip and James being sent to Antioch to preach the gospel This was not powerful technical preachers and prolifically trained pastors Being sent to Antioch to preach the gospel This was not them our text teaches us that this was unnamed men and women of God Christians With no church planning experience and No cemetery degree. I mean seminary degree. I say that every time Seminary degree, I'm sorry. No seminary degree. They had no stage. They had no mic They had no smoke. They had they had no place to meet. They had no programs. I mean They didn't even have an actual plan in place all they had was Jesus So they preached Jesus to everyone To everyone, but why everyone why? Because everyone who believes Everyone who believes I Don't know if you know this but This goes against every Western church strategy and growth model today This goes against at all I mean if you want to grow a church or if you want to plant a church today get a good communicator some good musicians a good place to gather and Set some good programs in place and you're pretty much good to go You're pretty much good to go and it doesn't hurt if you get some of those tall inflatable tube guys just sit out front in the parking lot and Do this whole thing and you put the name along the sides. It looks like he's wearing merch or something like that Yet, I don't know. We just read it None of those things were present at Antioch None of them were Understand church, none of these are bad None of these are bad. In fact With the right heart and the right intention. They are all in fact good They are great They are awesome, but beloved. I don't want us to miss this this morning Instead of professionals places and programs at Antioch what we find are some people Some people It was just some people verse 20 Some people who fled for their lives and ended up in a place called Antioch and these some people were so in love with the Person of Jesus They were so consumed with Jesus Jesus wasn't actually he was actually enough for them They were so in love with Jesus they would start one of the greatest revivals and churches in the history of Christendom they were in love With Jesus. Are you getting this portage? Please help me like we're quiet over here in Richland Please help me portage like portage. Come on. Help me. I don't know if you're getting this. I'm because I'm talking about ordinary nine to five men and women disciples of Jesus Christians preaching the gospel to everyone Preaching the gospel to everyone in verse 21 says the hand of the Lord was with them all and a great number of Them turned to the Lord because of it ordinary nine to five Men and women of God who just so much loved Jesus that they wanted to tell everybody They met about Jesus in other words that church at Antioch was a church where disciples were making disciples Disciples were making disciples. You see they were like dandelions Dandelions and the fact that wherever Wherever they were blown to they planted their seed in the soil and their seed was the gospel of Jesus For it is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes it is Now This is where acts 11 confronts the majority of the Western church today And I don't know if you heard me, you know about two months ago preach But I mentioned that I like I just I have a little bit of a confrontational spirit in me like I Confronts and You can just make this is actually when you might want to just look at the person next to you and say he's gonna do it He's gonna do it Lord help me this may come as a shock to you But sorry that I'm not sorry It's not pastor Lee's job to love your neighbor. It's your job. Please hear me. It's not pastor Lee's job to reach your neighbor It's your job. It's pastor Lee's job like every pastor's job To help you to counsel you to train you to equip you to encourage you to pray for you, but Make no mistake as a disciple of Jesus as a Christian verse 26 and In Antioch the disciples were first called Christians as a Christian. It's your job God didn't put pastor Lee on your street He put you on your street. I didn't put pastor Lee in your place of work. He put you in your place of work He put you in your place of work. So as a Christian It's your job and just so you don't think fake news Exclusive today Let me just let's just turn in our Bibles real quickly to the book of Ephesians chapter 4 Ephesians chapter 4 starting verse 11 Says this and He being God being the Lord he gave so when it says he gave what comes next are the gifts that he gave He gave the apostles the prophets the evangelists the shepherds also means pastors and Teachers so he gave them what did he give them for a pastor here? I'm about to tell you to equip the saints for the work of Ministry for building up the body of Christ until we all Until the pastoral staff. No, no, no, no, no until we all until we all Attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God To mature Manhood that in the Greek means a full grown bearded man bless Me oh Lord To the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ so that we may no longer be children. I Don't know about you, but I turn on social media and all I see is children today Grown-up children Going to stores and I hear people arguing over stuff acting like three-year-olds having tantrums on the floor because mom didn't get him a gumball this time Tantrums children, but here scripture says he is calling us Out of that an Intumaturity so that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine Can you feel the winds of doctrine in our culture today? Can you feel them can you sense them? Can you see all of the doctrines blowing about that are carrying our brothers and sisters away and things that have nothing to do with the Gospel putting according to things that have nothing to do with the gospel Carried about by every wind and doctrine by human cunning by craftiness and deceitful schemes rather speaking the truth in love We are to grow up. I hear the spirit of God saying radiant. It's time to grow up It's time to grow up In every way into him who is the head into Christ from whom the whole body joined and held together by every joint With which it is equipped. How does that get equipped? evangelist pastors and teachers Equipped when each part is working properly. I Don't know about you last night. I slept on this shoulder wrong and this arm was numb It wasn't working properly for like the first half an hour Like it just like I was like I Looked like one of those way of you guys in the shower. I was like come alive, you know I feel like we have a lot of parts in the church that aren't working correctly It makes up the body It makes the body grow so that builds itself up in love Now that we've seen my My confrontation if you will In scripture, let me just poke a little bit more I want to be fun. It's not the pastor's job to pray for the city the church the nation and the world For you hear that It's not a pastor's job to pray for you It's your job listen We will always pray for the city the church the nation and the world here at radiant Likewise, we will always pray for you in your situation and your needs and what you're going through and even your cat Pastor John loves to pray for cats Bring to him all your cats Okay, Jay-Z Speaking for every single pastor here and I didn't ask I'm just doing it We truly consider it an honor to pray for you and with you we love it. It's it's my favorite thing to do I love to get to pray with you. I love to get to pray for you We love doing it and we take it seriously, but understand It's not because we are pastors. It's not because it is our gift It's not because it is our calling but because we are Christians and it's our responsibility as Christians of pray as Christ prayed It's for all of us it's for every single one of us to do we are to pray just like Christ Prayed the word Christian. I don't know if you know this when you break it down When you break the word down the I a in What that means is it means belonging to the party of belonging to the party of what preceded the I a in so belonging to the party of Christ That's what Christian means. I belong to the party of Christ. I am one of his people Okay, and so it is our responsibility as Christians to pray and this is why we have The radio city city center. This is why we have a prayer room where we gather Monday through Friday 8 a.m. Noon and 6 30 But listen make no mistake. This is not a time and a place For pastors to pray. This is a time for us to pray It's a time and it's a place for us to gather to cry out to God For a move in this area just like he moved in Antioch. I Love what dick Eastman said. He said in no other way Can the believer come become as fully involved with God's work, especially the work of world evangelism as in? intercessory prayer There is no greater thing. This is the biggest part and so I Love that you pray at home, but something happens when we gather together in an upper room and we cry out to God We sing and worship We fall on our faces and we so in tears so that we may reap enjoy Something happens Something happens and so I want to Poke all of you and say get to the prayer room men Get to the prayer room start leading there I would love you men to join me Mondays at 8 a.m. Every Monday 8 a.m Join me Join me Join me Join me Understand beloved like we see happening in Acts 11 with the church at Antioch Radiant church exists to make radiant disciples of Jesus But please note that we do not exist so pastor Lee can make or will make radiant disciples of Jesus But so radiant church meaning the people of Radiant will make radiant disciples of Jesus That doesn't exclude pastor Lee from making radiant disciples that includes all the pastors and all the staff But it also doesn't exclude you The point is this it's not pastor Lee's job To make your neighbor your co-worker your boss your classmate your friend your family or your cat a Radiant disciple of Jesus. It's your job It's your job Beloved like a dandelion fills fields with more dandelions so disciples of Jesus are to fill the earth with more disciples Which should not surprise us because remember what Jesus's last words were before he ascended in Matthew 28 verse 19 go Go go get on the move go therefore and make disciples of all the nations He didn't say hey pastors go make disciples of all the nations. He said no no no go my disciples go go and make Disciples of all the nations but pastor Garrett. It's great. I Like it. I hear you But you don't know my neighbor You don't know my boss. You don't know my co-worker. You don't know my uncle Darrell if you knew my uncle Darrell their mess and Angry and I'm just gonna be real. They're evil, but pastor Gary. You don't know you don't know my place of work You don't know my city. You don't know my neighborhood. It's dark. It's difficult. It's evil You know that may be true I may not know all of those facets and all those details and all those inner workings of everything that you have going on in your life I get that so I'll give you I'll give you that one. You can have that one on me have a participation trophy for the day Okay Those may be true But can I tell you something? If not too bad. I'm going to anyways Antioch was no garden of Eden Antioch was no garden of Eden Antioch was a place that was known for literally its dark luxurious immorality It was a place that would discuss most of us today without vile it was and yet This was the place and those were the people that God chose to use the some of them The some of them to do this incredible work that we marvel at and we named churches after today So I say to you that this is the place and these are the people And these are the circumstances. Let me say it again This is the place and those are the people and these are the circumstances which I believe God is going to do and another Incredible work in and with just like he did at Antioch right here in this place and at this time But here's the caveat. Here's the thing You you you you have to do it just like some of them did it Because the hour that we are in right now is the perfect setting for it There's this little tick-tock thing going around it's on Instagram too and it's this voiceover that people put over the workout that they're doing 75 hard and all these kind of things. It's it's great, but the voiceover says this it says It says you can never get upset But about the results you didn't get By the work that you didn't do church We can't get upset About the results that we're not getting By the work that we're not doing He said go into all the world and preach He said proclaim the good news and in the gospel mark the word is proclaim the good news Proclaim the good news Proclaim it Beloved God wants to use everyone God I'm sorry God wants everyone to come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ But understand he is not looking for professionals to help make that happen He is looking for some of them He's looking for some of them He's looking for unnamed unnoticed unfollowed on Instagram Men and women he's looking for disciples Christians to help make it happen And I believe that when some of them step up here like some of them stepped up there What happened in Antioch it will happen in Richland it will happen in Portage It'll happen in Plain Wall outside go it'll happen in Battle Creek. It'll happen in Grand Rapids It will happen in your city and maybe I didn't name I Live in Augusta it'll happen in Augusta It'll happen in your neighborhood It'll happen with your neighbors. It'll happen in your place of work It will happen in your family. It will happen in your school. It will happen in you on your campus because again This is the place And those are the people and these are the circumstances That God is saying to each and every one of us every single day go Go Go So my question for you today is Deep down inside of your heart Are you or are you not ashamed of the gospel? Are you or are you not? Are you scared of the backlash that someone might say to you? Are you scared of someone filming you and putting it up on the internet? Are you ashamed of the gospel? I'm not I stand with Paul Because I believe I don't just think I Believe I know that it is the power of God for salvation For everyone who Believes I believe more now than ever That everything that we are going through everything we are facing all of the pressure That we are experiencing daily and all of the noise and all the traffic that's coming into our heads and our minds and consumes Us and is pushing us back. I believe that we sit in a perfect environment just like Antioch was a perfect environment. I Believe that God is Looking to his church saying Will you be some of them in the midst of all that? In the midst of all that turmoil and confusion and chaos Will you be some of them some of them Will you stand with me? I really hope and pray that you hear and you see even me as I point my finger that you see it all Not as an accusation But an invitation I'm not accusing condemning But I am drawing a line in the sand Saying it's time for us to get back to what we are called to do to begin with I Don't want anyone to feel condemned today, but I want everyone to feel challenged today And I want everyone to feel convict today because as I wrote and as I prayed and as I studied you can ask my wife even 20 minutes before we preached before I preached I was in the back going I hope no one gets like too pushed by this like Instead of encouraged they the enemy breeze lies on to it like I don't want that What I want is all of us to stand up and Be who we're called to be and do or call to do we are called to make disciples We are called all of us in this room if you are in Christ you are called to make disciples of Christ You are called and we want to help you And so if you don't know what that looks like you don't know where to start let us help you There's a lot of us around let us know we have a lot of awesome things in place to help you grow and Help you walk in the fullness of your calling right where you're at right now. And so let us know Come and talk to us. I Want to invite our prayer team and ministry team up to the front and as they begin to come up if If you don't even know the Lord you just are you feel far from the Lord Yet you feel this tug on your heart you feel the Holy Spirit saying hey, and you're one of them. I Just I don't want to What I want to do is I want to actually to ask you to do me a favor And I want you just to if you're feeling led by the Lord to say I surrender my life And I feel the Holy Spirit this this nudge in my heart this pulling this gripping of my mind I feel something happening inside of me I want you to do something. I just want you when I just miss in two minutes to come to the front and Talk to one of our prayer partners right here. Let us pray with you. It will be the greatest decision. You've ever made in your life Also, if you're in this room today, and you're saying like hey pastor Garrett, I want to step up But I need prayer. I need some courage. I'm pretty beat up. I'm pretty defeated. I'm running on empty Let us pray with you if you if you have sickness in your body if you're sick if you're discouraged If you just need a an adrenaline shot of hope, let us pray with you seriously Let us pray with you prayer changes everything Changes everything Let me pray Jesus. We love you. We thank you for your word today Lord, I pray that all of us Would take this mandate seriously and we would go into all the world that we would go into all the world where you have us Into our city Into the grocery store into our place of work that we would take a stand in our families and we would make disciples of all the world Preaching the good news the gospel of Jesus Christ Lord, I pray that we that our lives As we look back on them that we would see a field full of disciples a fieldful Lord We would see family members and we would see co-workers and we would see people that we just met in the store and we would see Just tons and tons of people Lord for you are worthy of it. Lord. You were deserving of it So Jesus I pray for strength and courage in this room that as we leave here today that we know that we are not leaving But we are going we are being sent as messengers as carriers are witnesses of Your gospel of your good news For it is the power of salvation for everyone who believes Lord the grass withers the flowers the flowers fade, but your word stands forever We rest in that today in Jesus name. Amen. If you need prayer for anything, please come up You were dismissed. See you next week. Go into all the world