 For God so loved the world that he gave his own son That whoever believes in him should not pay much but have eternal life Good morning everybody And it a fun day. I'm in a good day when you get to dedicate children So we just want to say hi to everybody We know that many of you are family and friends and guests of the parents who were Dedicating their children. We also want to say hello this morning to our portage campus Come on everybody can we put our hands together and say hello to our family and crew over there? And I want to invite you to open your Bibles with me to John chapter 3 for those of you who are joining us in your brand new We're in the middle of a series entitled 316 and we're looking at maybe the most famous Bible verse of all time John 3 16 and we're digging down deep below the surface from what Maybe is common for us to take a verse like this and to really really dig down deep into it because here's what I know Is when we are familiar with something as we are familiar with John 3 16 sometimes we miss meaning behind it So what we are doing in this series is we're taking thought-for-thought idea for idea out of this Very popular verse because this verse more than any other verse in the Bible is the encapsulation of the entirety of the Bible It's the encapsulation The consolidation of everything about who God is Who who he is what he wants to do and who you and I are and so John 3 16 We're gonna start there this morning, and we're all going to read it together if you have your Bibles Thank you for bringing your Bibles If you don't have your Bible, it's gonna come up on the screen, but let's say it all together out loud ready Begin for God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life and I grew up Memorizing that verse the first time because I went to an Iwanas program and The reason why I went to the Iwanas program is because they had two things I was very interested in as a 10 year old 11 year old boy number one They had sports and they had girls and so I got on the Baptist Church bus and I went to Iwanas and They were giving away badges and things for memorizing the the Bible and I memorized John 3 16 I memorized out the King James though. How many know it's holier when it's the King James For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son now Whosoever shall believe shall not perish but have everlasting life. Ha, you gotta you gotta say it like that But it doesn't matter whether it's the NIV the ESV the new King James The message is the same that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son And this morning we're gonna pick up on part 3 where we left off last week week number one We talked about for God. Who is God? Last week we talked about the fact that he's so loved What is love and how does God love and what are the implications of that love for you and I and This morning we're gonna talk about this. He's so loved the world So the title of this message this morning is the world and when you came in this morning There was on your seat a kingdom builders card like this I want you to take that I want you to just hold on to it because we're gonna talk about it at the end of the service But I want to draw your attention to John 3 16 where it says that God so loved the world What do we really know about the world? I mean we we everything that we do know is connected to the world But when we back up and we telescope out and we really think about what we know about the world How we view the world and how we see the world is radically different than how God sees the world our experience our limitations our Greater than obviously what God knows and what God sees when he thinks about the world When we think about the world It's interesting to realize that about 200 years ago or maybe three four hundred years ago most of the world's population thought that the world was flat and now today because of science because of Mathematics because of some very brilliant people and because of some very courageous people who pushed against an old idea We know that the world is round now. There's still a few holdouts last year. I got my haircut by a flat earther And they tried to convince me while they were cutting my hair that the earth was flat and I'm like bro I took science. I'm out. I I know that the earth is round I've flown to India over and art or over the Arctic Circle I know how this whole thing works and it's like no, it's a conspiracy the world is really flat We all laugh at that idea now, but you know a couple hundred years ago. Everybody assumed that Everybody thought if you went west you ended up in India or you went off the end of the earth and so now over time because of things like Technology because of science because of travel because information is accelerated so much Things have drastically changed in the world that you and I live in even in our Generation you and I live in a generation where everything has changed just in a very short window of time It used to be when I was young Which was a long time ago But when I was young we used to have this thing called long-distance phone calls anybody else remember long-distance phone calls You want to call somebody you had to make a long-distance phone call and they charge you extra for long distance For those of you who are under 30. Let me just explain to you There was a time when our phones were mounted on the walls They were avocado green and you didn't push buttons. You went Shaking Shaking Ta ta ta ta ta ta you had to start all over and better remember that and the phones had cords to them We had a 30-foot cord so that if you wanted to talk privately with your friend or whatever you drew I mean there was always a cord going down the hallway and you're in a bedroom It's like who are you talking to nobody? I'm back. How are you doing? The idea of cell phones were you carried around a cell phone? I mean That was like back to the future stuff It's interesting. We used to pay extra for long-distance phone calls now I can sit in a coffee shop with my cell phone and Skype brother Abraham in New Delhi, India for free That's their lead. Thank you so much. The people radiant a glorious wonderful people He and I'm in a coffee shop drinking a latte talking to him for free The world's changed. Do you know that about 100 years ago? If you want to cross the Atlantic Ocean, it would take you weeks on a ship And now we can get on an airplane and be in there be over in Europe in about five hours Used to be if you wanted to go to the other side of the world like India, Australia, it would take you up to nine months Now it can take you you can go anywhere in the world in less than 24 hours Used to be we had language barriers Because somebody spoke a language you didn't understand The best you could hope for was to have a translator But now we have apps on our phones called Babel that you can speak into in whatever language pick the language You want to translate and it will spit it back out to you in your known language? The world has changed When you and I think of the world that you and I live in this is what we think of To put that picture up, please on the screen This is what we think of The world that is spinning the globe that is spinning Round world big blue marbles continents oceans Mountain ranges We know that on this planet there are billions and billions of people But from our vantage point we can't see them all Let me talk to you for a second about population because this this just blows my mind as of this month November 2018 the population on our planet will reach 7.7 billion people 7.7 billion people It's interesting that since I was born I was born in 1971 But since 1970 the population on the planet has doubled Just in the last 48 years Do you know that it took from Adam at creation until the year 1800 For the earth's population to reach one billion people From the dawn of creation until 1800 so think of it in these terms from Adam and Eve to Laura Ingalls Wilder It took that long to get to the first billion and Then after the first billion it took another it took another 130 years for the population of the earth to double again so that by 1930 We reached two billion and then it was another 30 years to reach another billion So three billion in 1960 then is shortened to 15 years for it to reach four billion And then another 13 years for it to reach five billion so in 200 years of time The earth's population didn't double didn't triple but seven Times it multiplied by seven times in 200 years what took thousands of years for it to reach even the first billion It's fascinating. Do you know that right now? They tell us that there are more people alive on the planet roughly about 7.7 billion people If you take all the human beings who've ever lived up until the year 1900 and you add them all up They still don't equal the number of people that are alive on the planet right now all at the same time I mean there's a lot going on on this planet on our planet. We have a birth rate of 270,000 people a day and a death rate of 156,000 people that die We have 6500 spoken languages a hundred and ninety five national boundaries that distinguish sovereign nations And if you are a white American you represent less than 20% of the world population For God so loved the world He so loved the world Here's what I know is if God loved the world when he said that when he sent Jesus into the earth and around you know The first century AD The population of Jesus's time on the globe on the earth was about 250 million people not even a quarter of a billion people if God so loved the world then how much more does he even love it now Because there's more image bearers. There are more people on the planet that he loves by billions There's more of the outpouring and the expression of God's love now than there ever has been why because there's more people See because when you and I see the globe which I just put up here on the screen for us to get a visual This is how we see the world, but let me tell you this morning how God sees the world. He doesn't see it like this He sees it like this See when God sees the world He doesn't see a globe. He doesn't see masses. He doesn't see populations when God sees the world. He sees the one He sees the one He sees you Sees me He sees people on the other side of the world That are living right now with out technology Huts made with sticks dirt floors burning elephant dung for fuel in the backside of India and You and I may never know them But God sees them just as much as he sees you and he knows them And not only does he see them and know them But what we saw last week is that God loves them so loves the world. It's easy to Get an idea about the world and just kind of get this big kind of mass multitude Faceless nameless population just a group of people. It's easy to look at a crowd But you know, it's powerful about the way that God sees the world as he sees the one He sees every individual uniquely. He knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows every hair on your head He never knows every thought in your mind. He knows every pain in your past He knows every molecule in your being. He knows your greatest fear He knows your greatest failure and he still loves you He knows his purposes that he designed for you. He knows the plans that he's had for you from eternity past He knows what's gonna happen tomorrow and he still loves you and he doesn't do that for one He does that for every one How in the world does God do that? I mean, it's fascinating. It's it's mind-boggling to think about But when God sees the world, he sees the one you and I pass by people every single day People that we work with people that we go to school with people that we pass people that we park next to in parking lots people that we stop at stoplights with and what's Easy for us to do is to see people as props in the play of our life It's like oh you just see people have you ever stopped at a stoplight looked over at somebody and caught eyes with them? How many know that can be uncomfortable you kind of like oh hi You're staring a little bit too long or One of the things I like doing the car is I like to sing praise and worship music and so I'll get fired up I'm the best drummer in the car because I like playing a string Going for especially some songs and the other day. I was like doing that I was like doing thing I looked over and there is a guy to staring at me. It's like what is going on? I just looked them on But you know most of the time we just kind of give people blank stares It's because oh yeah, you're there and it's impersonal But when you look at somebody, I want you to next time you see somebody that you don't know You just randomly even on your way home today Many of us are gonna go out to eat when you're in a restaurant. I want you to look around just think for a second Don't stare, but just think for a second God's intimately involved and God ultimately loves Every single one of these people they all have a story and They don't just have a story that they have lived they have a story that God has written What would happen if we were able to see like God sees? Because we don't but what if what what would happen if our hearts changed to be able to see like God does you see Jesus was God in the flesh and he came to us and he lived his life like us But yet he lived it differently because when he saw the multitudes He didn't see like we see he sees like the father sees Matthew chapter 9 it says he saw the multitudes and he was moved with compassion Jesus had a way of seeing that was distinctly different and it got him in all kinds of trouble When God sees he sees the world. He sees the one. What is the one? Well? He sees the lost one every lost one because when we come right down to it when God looks at the planet He sees a planet that he created good that we made bad And he sees a planet filled with 7.7 billion people who are spiritually dead have no way of fixing ourselves the only answer is the cross That's why God so loved the world that he gave his son so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life He sees every single one of us and what does he see he sees us as we are the lost one John 3 16 doesn't say that God so loved the church. It says he so loved the world Why does he love the world because the world is the one that is lost that is the reason that he sent Jesus the church isn't Somehow secondary to the world We're just the ones in the world who heard the news and have been radically changed and saved by the love of God And we've been clustered together as the family of God But God still sees the one That is lost. I want you to turn with me over in your Bibles to Luke chapter 15 Normally, I would just put it up on screen, but I want you to actually see this feel this touch this in your Bibles And by the way, if you didn't bring a Bible to church With you, I know some of you are like on your smartphones and you're following you version and that's fantastic I love technology, but man, you need to have a paper Bible. You need to have some and by the way get a good one Here's a little public service announcement by the way Man go get yourself a real Bible. I'm not talking about one of these old paperback things I mean go get goatskin gold gilded get a good translation and bring it to church so that you can read it underline mark it up Brought to you by the American Bible Association. Okay, so in Luke chapter 15 It says in verse number one that sinners and tax collectors were coming to Jesus And it says at the end of verse number two that he was receiving sinners and the religious leaders were mad at him for it Because he was receiving sinners because they saw themselves as righteous Man, we got our act together We got our church clothes on and we don't sin and we're not like the sinners those tax collectors who are sellouts They've sold out for money and sinners are people that do things that they know God doesn't want human beings to do and the religious leaders saw themselves by their own behavior as justified before God They thought we're right before God were God looks at us and he says yeah, that's my team That's team God there, but that's team sinner over there and they were mad at Jesus because Jesus was receiving sinners They were coming to Jesus by the droves What was different about Jesus? Then all the other religious leaders of his day because they sure weren't flocking to the the Pharisees What was different about Jesus? He loved them He loved them. He didn't coddle them. You'll never see Jesus pick somebody up who's a sinner and say oh, it's just wonderful Just keep doing what you're doing. No, he gave them he met their needs He personally liked them he engaged with them and then he told them. Hey, there's a better way go and sin no more But the religious leaders were like I can't believe he's receiving these sinners and The sinners were coming to Jesus because they liked them. How many know we typically spend time with people that like us We don't spend time with people that hate us unless we have to Thanksgiving Nobody in this room I get it. Okay So they're mad at Jesus Or they're mad the religious leaders are mad at Jesus But sinners are flocking to Jesus and Jesus takes the occasion to say I want to share with you How God sees the lost one and He tells two parables says in verse 3 says he told them a parable What man of you having a hundred sheep if he has lost one of them Does not leave the 99 in the open country and go after the one that is lost until he finds it when he's found it He lays it on his shoulders rejoicing And when he comes home, he calls together his friends his neighbors and he says rejoice with me for I found my sheep That was lost and just so I tell you that there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who need no repentance Jesus says look You want to know why I'm receiving sinners It's because I came not to condemn the world John 3 17 But I came so that through me the world might be saved. I didn't come for the righteous. I came for the lost one Where were you when Jesus found you you may be here today and say well, I'm not a Christian I've never I've never stepped over that line of faith. Well, then I want you to know I'm just forewarning you Jesus came for you But as for me and as for anybody else in this room probably a lot of us in this room who become Christians We need to be so careful that we are not caught up in our world view being shaped by how Righteous we are that we forget the reason that we're righteous and it has to do with Jesus who came because he saw and he loved the one and I was the one He says look at which one of you are like a shepherd if you have a sheep now If I've got a hundred sheep, can I just be honest? I'm probably not going to do a headcount We just took a trip to Israel and took 40 people and It was hard enough making sure we had all 40 people back on the bus It's like is everybody here if you're not here raise your hand. All right, everybody's here good. Let's go Sheep have you ever seen sheep that kind of wander around? Crawling all over the place if you have a hundred of them I mean, how do you know when one is missing? I mean 99 would be pretty close But do you know what I discovered about shepherds is that shepherds actually know every one of the sheep? Personally know they know them their distinguishing marks. They know Their sound they know their tendencies just like you know kids And a shepherd would know when one's missing and a sheep knows the sound of the voice of the shepherd And will only follow the shepherd a Lot of times if a shepherd dies they have to slay all the sheep because that sheep will not follow another shepherd And so here he says is you want to know? Why I seek the one who's lost It's because God is a shepherd and he is not content with status quo God is not satisfied with 99 out of a hundred Because God places incredible value upon every single one. He doesn't see a mass He doesn't say yeah, that looks about right. He knows every one When we remember that God sees every one every lost person on the face of the earth When God loves every single lost person So loves them that if it was just you if it was just them he still would have sent Jesus just for them Then that shows us the value that he places look at when he finds the one he says he rejoices There's more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents and comes home See God's posture in heaven when somebody said cries out to God and says God I believe in Jesus save me forgive me for my sins. God's not in heaven with his arms folding going well It's about time you came to grips with that God's like come on Party time. Whoo. I mean how many angels are in heaven and they go crazy Rejoicing I don't know what it's like there and if you get uncomfortable with a loud exuberant church Don't go to heaven because it's gonna be wild, baby There's gonna be a guy over there in a b3 organ go Gabriel's gonna be Improvising in jazz on that trumpet and I just know that I know that I know that there's gonna be some electric guitar in heaven Because eternity is a long time without rock and roll And the angels are gonna be a choir that rejoice over one one One Because God when he sees the world he sees the one that's lost. Oh that we would see the ones that are lost and care oh That we would see the one that we work next to that we go to school with that we live next to and That we would let God move our hearts to love them The way that God has loved us. I know that there's right now and in our world Especially in our nation there are a lot of debates going on around borders And I know in this room there's people on both sides of that argument. I don't care what side you're on I think nations whichever side of the argument you're on nations have Have to figure out what's appropriate as far as defending your borders and allowing people and I get that we need that But here's my concern My concern is when as Christians in North America If we become more concerned about defending national borders Which is appropriate? But we have zero concern About kingdom borders Because you realize Jesus said unless somebody's born again, he can't enter into the kingdom of God we ought to be massively concerned about The multitudes in our world that have not heard the gospel yet and had an opportunity to enter into the kingdom of God And if we're more fired up about the political disputes Then we are about the fact that on our planet right now There are 3.8 billion people who are not in proximity to the gospel that right now If you were to line up lost men and women who don't believe in Jesus have never heard of Jesus If you were to take them and line them up on the equator of our planet toe to heel that you could make 48 Lines around our planet with people that do not know Jesus in our generation There are more people alive on this planet than have ever been alive There are also more lost people on our planet than there have ever been in history and God is not indifferent God says I know the 99, but do you see the one? Will you go to the one do you notice that the shepherd puts the one on his shoulders? And it's because the lamb has been broken the lamb has been injured the lamb has been attacked The lamb has been abused and he could not make it to the shepherd the shepherd had to go to him And that is what the cross is all about. We couldn't get to God because of our brokenness We couldn't get to God because we were injured we can't get to God because we don't know and instead of God Saying that's fine. I'm happy with the 99 God says I'm gonna go to you and he came to us and he rescued us and he saved us and he lavished on us a Love that you and I can't even comprehend And we need to love like he loves We need to love like he loves and be willing to go be willing to do whatever it takes because God sees the one But he also sees the one hope which is the church He sees the world he sees the ones that are lost and he sees the the one hope those who once were the lost have now Become the found and he says ah the carriers of hope He realized that you and I Have a message the gospel the good news of Jesus Christ and so I don't know I don't know how to I don't know how to define the gospel Well, we're saying it every week together for God so loved the world that he gave his son That whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life, you know Billy Graham preached one message in his life John 3 16 and Led hundreds of thousands and millions of people to go from being lost to being found Here's what I know is our world right now. There are a lot of people who say that's an old-fashioned message that's outdated message and We've heard all kinds of promises about how we've evolved beyond that how we've become more sophisticated But our world has become worse people are more lost more isolated and more hopeless than they've ever been before I think we need a revival of the old rugged cross I think we need a revival of the gospel message because it is the power of God unto salvation And we're the ones who are the carriers of it though one hope the one hope We don't want to fossilize you see Jesus when when he left this planet He gave you and I a mandate Matthew 28. He said all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me therefore go into all the world and Make disciples of all nations Baptizing them in the name of the Father the Son and of the Holy Spirit Teaching them to observe all things that I've commanded you and behold I am with you always to the ends of the age in Matthew 24 Jesus promised he said this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world to all people as a Testimony and then the end will come Jesus gave us a mandate all of us if you're if you're saved today you have a mission It's called the Great Commission It's because we're called to do it together with Jesus the Great Commission is the last thing that Jesus said How many parents in this room know when you leave a house the last thing that you said is the most important thing clean the room Hey, we're gonna be going all night clean your room. How many parents are when you come home. It's like did you clean your room? No, I Told you clear. Oh, I didn't really know how to clean a room exactly Did you want me to organize the room clean the room back in the room? I was waiting for you to come back and clarify Jesus said go in all the world. I'm fearful Jesus is gonna come back and he's gonna be like What did you do? I told you to go in all the world. Yeah, but I really know if you meant that Was that more like, you know spiritual was that like I'm on Twitter. I mean, I'm kind of missional on Twitter No, I told you to go. Do you realize that two-thirds of God's name is go? And if you do it backwards two-thirds of his name backwards is do Go and do do what do what he did Tell people the good news the gospel see in America. We walk around gone I'm just really not sure what my purpose in life is What am I supposed to do? Jesus saved me. I really feel like I'm called to do something big. You are it's called go Big sign go go where anywhere a carrier of a message of hope wherever you go take that message Be a missionary to your workplace Tell people be a missionary downtown Kalamazoo serve Be a missionary in our generation as a young person is chosen not to defile themselves, but to live for Jesus radically counter culturally Be a missionary get on an airplane and go someplace Don't wait around for your purpose your purpose is to go most of the time We will figure out our destiny along the way, and we won't know it until we arrive there What we want God to do is drop down a special little kid It says here's your special little life, and here's what I've planned out for you, and you're gonna arrive safely here God your goal in life is not to arrive at death safely Your goal is to leave a footprint on this planet in this generation by living radically for Jesus because you once were the Lost but you've now become found and now you are the one hope of this world because Jesus in you is greater than he That's in this world We're called to be witnesses On our planet right now. There's 1500 people groups. I've never heard the gospel that represent 58 million people 3.2 billion people in this world are people that live in people groups with little or no access to the gospel How many remember that thing that Jesus said where he said Love your enemies anybody remember that raise your hand if you remember that half of us are like I refuse to you because I know what goes with that You know why Jesus told you to love your enemies Let me rephrase it. You want to know why Jesus told me to love my enemies It's because he already loves them See it's easier for us to think about them, but God says I love you And I love them We were just in Israel Pastor Caleb met up with one of his friends who's working in the Middle East as a missionary doing some crazy stuff one of the things that they're doing is Bringing medical triage to People on the northern border that are in Syria where there's civil war going on Isis is based in Syria And so they've gone on to the battlefield and they're treating whoever needs treatment Who've been left behind on the battlefield including Isis soldiers in the name of Jesus And he tells the story he says yeah, we've literally treated Isis warriors who have been left for dead by their comrades and We bring them into our tents and we minister to them We share the gospel with them we heal them up and they've had Isis soldiers tell them You know three days ago if I was strong enough, I would have cut your head off But you've loved me so much I Believe that Jesus is the Son of God and gotten saved under their medical tents You know that Iran Is one of the most closed nations But behind the Islamic wall People are having dreams and visions and visitations from Jesus where there's their Muslims and they're having dreams about Jesus saying I am the way the truth in life and Muslims are converting the fastest growing church in the world is the Iranian church and it's illegal It's because God's love will not be boxed out God loves to go into hard places. We're great. We're sinned as much more about grace does much more about That's why we're passionate About the season that we're in with kingdom builders Normally when I talk about Churchwide initiatives and things that we're doing that include finances those of you who attend here You know that I'm very careful I I typically will never talk about those things in my message. It's always before Or on announcements or things because I don't want there to ever be a sense that I'm trying to manipulate people to give anything But I felt specifically for this weekend in this message. I needed to Share what I just shared in order to communicate the why behind kingdom builders So I'm just gonna take a couple minutes to do this if you're a guest listen You're sitting in our living room. This is family conversation for a minute But many of you know that missions is a big part of what we do here at Radio Church We support missionaries all over the globe and We've realized we need to in the next 20 years of our church. We need to up the ante There's more people to reach which means we got to put more emphasis and more energy into it We have missionaries. I think in 33 different nations of the world we give almost a half a million dollars every every year to world missions and One of the things that we've Dreamed of is in the next year. How can we better communicate with our missions? How can we? How can we take people from Radiant Church, whether it's Portage or Richland? Southwest Michigan and more campuses as they come How can we get people to go on mission our dream a dream that I wrote down in 1999 in my journal was God I dream of a day when every single month We're taking groups from Radiant Church on short-term mission strips around the world 12 12 teams a year maybe more and In order to do that we've realized that we needed a point person to do that never the last four years a Great couple from our church has been missionaries in Haiti Serving on the front lines, and they've recently been back for a little while I cornered him in my office, and I said Joel we need a point person for missions And he said I totally agree, and I said I think it's you and he goes whoa And so this morning I want to announce and introduce to you our first Missions pastors here at Radiant Church Joel and Amy Dore that would you guys stand up? And they're gonna be helping lead teams which all fits into Kingdom Builders Kingdom Builders these catalogs that you guys have had contain All of our outreach all of our church expansions buildings missionaries that we support Projects that include the big give and over the last couple weeks. We've been sharing with you about the big give Which is part of Kingdom Builders next weekend We're gonna take our big give offering, and we need to raise $300,000 in order to plan a radiant church in Guadalajara Which we introduced to you in order to adopt six hundred underprivileged students at Woods Lake elementary in our own city and The third thing that we are doing is we are joining forces with a ministry called one hope in a project called the Lumiere project and Lumiere project is this the most unreached one of the most unreached areas of the world is French speaking Western Africa It's sandwiched between the Muslim North and the Christian South It's the most one of the most unreached areas most of Africa has been reached French speaking West Africa has not and So we are joining forces with them over the next couple of years this year We're gonna sell a hundred thousand dollars in their ministry to plant 3000 churches in French speaking Africa and then through them distribute The word of God to every single child in French speaking Africa this year Isn't that awesome? So those are our three projects for the big give the big give falls under a greater category called Kingdom Builders Kingdom Builders is what we're gonna do the rest of the year our total For Kingdom Builders you'll look at the end of it if you read it is $1.8 million that's our dream goal to raise in church. We have about 5,000 people that attend this church So that's not insurmountable That's everybody doing their part 1.8 million 300,000 of that is the big give so we're gonna next week We're gonna take our big give offering and 300,000 whether it comes in before or a little bit after towards big give The first 300,000 is gonna go towards these these three projects and then the other 1.5 million is gonna go towards funding All of the other projects in Kingdom Builders over the next 12 months We're gonna ask everybody who calls Radiant Church home to bring two things with you next weekend Number one is I want you to bring your big give offering Jane and I've already written our big give check It's listen and this is above our tithe we give our tithe for the Support of the local church right here and at Portage But God calls us to give tithes and offerings and our offering is our big give offering that we're gonna give and then We're gonna ask you to bring a second thing. We're gonna ask every one of you who calls this church home To take this commitment card, which is a Kingdom Builders commitment card And we're gonna ask you to pray and ask God this week Above and beyond what we give in our tithe Lord Stretch our faith to reach the one and What are we what are you calling us to commit? Towards this goal over the next 12 months Over our big give offering we're gonna give our big give offering But then we're gonna commit and you can do weekly you can do monthly you can do a one-time thing Whatever it is. We're gonna ask you to fill this out pray over and here's what I'm asking you to do I will somebody asked me how much should I give and I can't answer that question You need to pray and ask God and say God What number would you put in my heart? That I can participate in seeing the Kingdom of God expand through all these projects in the past We've had building projects. We've had missions. We've had camp registrations all these things We're not doing that anymore. We have tithes and Kingdom Builders Kingdom Builders covers everything That's why we need everybody to make a commitment to some of you are able to make large commitments Some of you are able to make small commitments, but it's large to you We're not asking for equal gifts. We're asking for equal sacrifice and we're not asking for ourselves We're asking for the world. We're asking for the one We're asking for the lost in our city in our nation and in the nations of the world We're asking all of us to be the one hope that he's called us to be So next week bring two things big give offering and your commitment cards We're gonna present them to the Lord put them into a box as a commitment We're gonna pray over them and we're gonna believe that God's gonna open the windows of heaven over our lives And we're also gonna believe that God's gonna open the doors of evangelistic opportunity to the nations And let me tell you what we're gonna do. We are going to change the world together One person at a time. Would you stand up with me? It's amazing how you can spend 575 on a coffee at Starbucks and It has zero eternal value But you can take 575 and add it up over the course of a month and invest it into reaching people and it will make an eternal difference What I'd encourage you to do is buy the coffee and give So that you're awake to see the fruit Because I really believe we're gonna make a difference together Do you guys believe that? I'm gonna invite you guys and before we dismiss. I want you to just give me 30 seconds because you may be here today And you're the one You might be watching me online and you're not right with God Jesus isn't waiting for you to get better Jesus is waiting for you to receive the gift of salvation that he paid for It's a free gift invite him into your heart and if you're here today, and you're the one you say, you know what? I'm broken. I need to get my life right with God in a moment I'm just gonna invite you when everybody's leaving and there's lots of people leaving you fight through the crowd come up to One of our prayer partners and just tell them today. I need to get right with God. I I have a need Today you may be here and say I'm a Christian, but I'm just going through a battle I want you to know God cares about you because You're one of his kids and whatever you're going through He is the answer and we believe in the power of prayer together So whatever you have need of prayer for today When I say amen and we dismiss I just want to invite you to come we'll take a few moments and we want to pray and agree with you Because here's what I know is I know that he's a god who sees the one And he knows everything about you and he's crazy about you And he's ready to use you to make a difference in the world. Let's pray together Father, thank you for loving us sending Jesus Father, thank you for the plans and purposes you have for us and the grace you have for us I pray that you would set a fire on the inside of us to love like you love to have a sense of urgency Like you have a sense of urgency to be motivated to be Sacrificial in the way that we live our lives to be sacrificial even in our giving Lord set us free from materialism Set us free from selfishness and help us to rise up and be the one hope in our generation the church of Jesus Christ send us from here today to be salt and light in Jesus name amen and amen