 Oh Father we thank You for who You are. We enter Your gates with thanksgiving and we enter Your courts with praise. Father we look at You. We let the stress of the world just fall off the stress of our weak and we fix our eyes on the one who is worthy. Increase our awareness of Your presence all across the street. Just begin to lift Your voice, just begin to even just say the name of Jesus. Oh Jesus we thank You for all too. Give You our praise, God we ask, let this house, God let this house be a house, God not defined by our interests, God not defined by our focus but defined by our praise to You, God that more than God coming and receiving, God that we would come and we would give You a gift, we would lift up the fruit of our voices, God and lift You high. So Father we love You, we praise You in this place, we thank You, God for who You are. You are powerful, You are glorious, You are wonderful, God we ask, God that from this house You would receive praise, You would receive glory, we love You, we love You, thank You. Well church for the next minute or so what we're going to do is we're going to take our place as members of the body of Christ and we give praise to the Lord but also we take our place of authority and we're going to intercede for our brothers and sisters living in the nation of China and you know in universally we're the body of Christ these are unique times but you know we can think it's difficult here, we can think that we're being persecuted, this church is actually experiencing persecution in China. These people are actually experiencing persecution so what we're going to do is we're going to pray and ask for the grace and the power of God to empower the church living in China so if you could pray with me you can stretch out your hands however you want to engage in this moment. Lord right now we stand, God we stand as Your people and we are thankful Father for the body of Christ, we're thankful for the way it strengthens each other, it builds up one another and right now God we take our place and we lift up our brothers and sisters in China, Father those that are experiencing persecution, those that are experiencing difficulty, God and right now we ask, Holy Spirit fill them with strength, fill them with strength, we ask for the church leaders God that you would give them grace today God we lift up those that might be feeling discouraged, might be feeling weary and we ask for an injection God of grace and faith in their hearts Father and as you fill your church God we ask, that you would bring in the harvest in the nation of China right now church just begin to pray this bring in the harvest in the nation of China God we ask for salvation we ask for souls we ask for the gospel of Jesus Christ to go forth in power God for lives to be changed for the sick to be healed for the dead to be raised God for the lost to be saved Father we lift up our brothers and sisters in China today in Jesus name in the church in Kalamazoo, Michigan said amen amen amen amen thank you for praying with us today church thank you for worshiping Jesus in this place I love that this the the heart of this house that we would be a house of praise in a house that lifts up our brothers and sisters around the world but everybody was great worshiping with you today take a quick minute say hi to somebody you don't know and we have a few video announcements hey everyone and welcome to radiant my name is Preston and my name is Jackie and this is radiant news at radiant church we love to help people identify their gifts and turn their strengths into meaningful action so whether your gift is a welcoming smile brewing hot coffee or even discipling this next generation we would love for you to join team radiant register now for our upcoming be radiant class where you'll hear from our campus pastors and you can jump on to a team radiant team and help us build a radiant city sign up at radiant dot church slash weekend throughout the month of october we are excited to be hosting our kingdom builders mission updates at both our richland and port of campuses hosted by pastor joel come and discover how some of our global partners are doing and how we can be praying and lifting them up and you can learn more about it at radiant dot church slash weekend our brand new fall merch collection just dropped online head to radiant dot church slash weekend to shop now we have got so many amazing things going on at radiant during this season so if you want more information about any of the events we just talked about you can head to radiant dot church slash weekend thanks for following along well welcome radiant we're so glad you would be joining with us this weekend everyone watching online welcome we're glad that you would engage with us as well for those of you that do not know me my name is pastor zach i'm the student pastor at our richland campus i get the privilege to get to oversee fifth through twelfth grade it's just an amazing amazing honor just to see what god is doing in this next generation it's uh just special and even for you parents if you're a parent of a senior high student which we break that up for a through twelfth we have a fall retreat coming up in a few weeks and i'll just say i am here in front of you today because god encountered me at a fall retreat as a 12 year old one of the most strategic things you can do in the spiritual development of your child is get them to a camp or retreat we got one more week of registration we would love to see your students there but also just wanted to bring to you guys a really cool update we are in the middle or not the middle we just started our fall groups semester we have a passion for small groups in community here at radiant church we believe that a great small group can make a big church feel small and we have tons of amazing groups that are going on currently in the kalamazoo portage richland plainwell area all over the place and we have more spots so if you want to get plugged in i would encourage you today we would love to see you in a group you can go on our website and get signed up and find more information there but uh today radiant um i would love just to remind us that we have three ways you can give and sew into what god is doing here at radiant church you can give if you're on site we got receptacles in the back of the room you can give online or you can give via text but guys in just a minute we are going to be hearing a amazing update from pastor lee on the radiant city vision it's going to be a great powerful time and encourage you guys get your bibles get your notebooks out and take notes for today because it's going to be a powerful and provoking message where i'd love just to finish this time and pray for us as we hear the word of god and as we give our tithes and our offerings today so lord we love you we thank you god i thank you for what you're doing in this city i thank you for what you're doing in this church and your people here and around the world and god as we give we give in faith god we show our tithe in faith knowing lord that you will take it and you will multiply it you will build your kingdom god in our hearts as well as in the hearts of others and today holy spirit we ask god give us ears to hear god what you're saying father i ask god that we would god be a united people behind what you are doing in our church in our city in our region lord we love you we need you in jesus name amen well happy weekend radiant church it's good to see everybody we want to say hello to portage as well as those who are joining us online come on can we just welcome the whole radiant family this is vision weekend and so here in just a moment i'm going to be giving you and showing you actually a video update of where we stand with the radiant city vision and it's a powerful video i'm looking forward to all of us being able to see that and getting an update of where things are at and how quickly things are moving there's also a powerful testimony in there uh and in just a moment we're going to do that but the first thing that i want to do on this weekend especially on a vision weekend whenever we talk about vision oftentimes we think about vision in terms of what we are going to do together and uh when you came in this weekend hopefully you received one of these cards that says building a radiant city and then on the back of it it has a list of all the things we're going to do together uh all the different things that we have coming up this fall we have pastor jimmy evans that's coming we're beginning a brand new series coming up here in a couple weeks called last day's boot camp we have a very special friend of ours guests that is coming his name is preston sprinkle who's going to come and he's going to share with us it's going to be a powerful weekend i'll talk more about that later on big give is coming christmas eve is coming 21 days of seek is coming although i don't want to mention that because we just got done fasting and so we want to give you a little bit of a break uh the radiant city music album release is coming i mean all kinds of stuff is coming but here's the thing and the reason why we printed this out for you this weekend is for this very important purpose vision is actually far more about who we are becoming than it is about what we are doing and so i want to draw our attention back to the scriptures because the scriptures god's word is where we find our identity it's what where we find our sense of purpose and mission don't get me wrong the things that we do are important but more important in the timeline of things we're in the pipeline of things more important than what we do is actually who we are and who we are becoming and so that's what i want to zero in on this weekend is you and i becoming agents of change difference makers you i believe were created by god to make a difference and how we make that difference together in the house of god together united maturing is so significant and important i want you to turn with me in your bibles wherever you're at to Ephesians chapter four Ephesians chapter four i'm going to read from the niv this weekend which i normally read from the esv but i love how the translators of the niv worded this whole section where paul is breaking down the purpose the mission and the significance of the local church like radiant but churches everywhere throughout all the world throughout all time in all ages the church and here's what it says beginning in verse number one as a prisoner for the lord then i urge you to live a life worthy of the calling that you've received be completely humble and gentle be patient bearing with one another in love make every effort to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace there is one body and one spirit just as you were called to one hope when you were called one lord one faith one baptism one god and father of all who is overall and through all and in all but to each one of us grace has been given as christ apportioned it this is why it says that when he ascended on high he took many captives and he gave gifts to people what does he ascended mean except that he also descended to the lower earthly regions he who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all of the heavens in order to fill the whole universe so christ himself gave the apostles the prophets the evangelists the pastors and teachers to equip his people for works of service so that the body of christ may be built up like a verse 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the son of god and become mature attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of christ and then we will be no longer infants tossed back and forth by the waves and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and the craftiness of people in their deceit deceitful schemings instead speaking the truth in love we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head that is christ from him the whole body joined and held together by every supporting ligament it grows and builds itself up in love as each part does its work so paul is under the inspiration of the holy spirit obviously is talking about who we are as the church we are not an organization primarily we are an organism which means we are a living entity the church is god's agent of change in the earth that is not one member and it's not one entity it is a multi-membered team that is made up of all kinds of people who are different from one another who like a body are linked together meeting at joints held together by ligaments and muscles working together and even though they're different and they're distinct even though they don't look alike and even though they don't necessarily all feel pain the same way or look at the world the same way that when we come together something powerful happens and here's what it is the world changes this is what Jesus meant when he said you are the light of the world why because when the church takes its place as the light of the world the darkness in the world dissipates and it becomes a lighter brighter place you're the salt of the earth we're here to give off the god flavors of god to the world that is hungering and thirsting and is living in a tasteless world this is not one person this is not a small group of people that produced this change god in his wisdom decided when he built his body in the earth to carry on the mission of Jesus he didn't build it around one person he built it around one body one hope one faith one baptism one lord we are a multi-membered body and it's when we realize that and we come into unity and we come into maturity the more unity we have and the more of us that are involved and linked together and are growing as he says here maturing into exactly who Jesus was the greater the difference we make in the world is but unfortunately sometimes we think in terms of difference makers as being rare as being one of a few a few good men and they're and you know the rest of us you know we're we go to church instead of realizing that we are the church so I want you to think about this think about this if a man had a whole bunch of people he pulled them all together and he said I want to build a football team so here's what I'm going to do here's a whole bunch of money I'm going to give you a whole bunch of money I want you to go and I want you to buy footballs I want you to buy jerseys I want you to buy equipment I want you to buy helmets I want you to go down to the football field here's a book all of the plays and all the rules of football and here's four or five coaches I'm sending four or five coaches and got an offensive coordinator defensive coordinator head coach special teams and the punter you know because you can't really put the punter right I mean so the punter goes out with the rest of the team he says I want you to go build a football team and I'm going to show up and when I get there I want to see what you guys have done so he sends them on their way and a couple weeks later he shows up and sure enough they spend all the money they've got jerseys they've got helmets they've got footballs some of them have shoulder pads and they're at the football field but it's only the coaches on the field and about 10 percent of the crowd that the guy sent there are actually on the field playing football and some of the people on the field the coaches and the other players are playing both offense and defense so the the guy walks out onto the field and he says hey he says what's going on why are you where's all the rest of the people he said and they point and they look up in the stands and sure enough the the vast majority of people are up in the stands and they've got their helmet on and they're playing catch with the football all up in the stands they've got their jerseys on with their favorite players and they've got big old buckets of popcorn they're eating hot dogs and 15 dollar pops you know that that's what you get when you go to a Lions game because you're not going to get a win but you can get a pop and they you knew it was coming so and the coach is like why are they all up in the stands and you got the coaches out in the field and they've got the book and they're teaching the plays and he's just like whoa whoa whoa what's going on and they're just like well they're the coaches they're the ones who you know they're the football players of course they're going to play we're just up here in the stands and you know we you gave us money so we're we're eating the popcorn and we're playing a little catch he's like no this is not what I intended it shouldn't be that a few people are playing both sides of the ball it shouldn't be that the coaches necessarily have to be the ones playing we can build a winning team if everybody gets out of the stands and on the field that's where the difference is made and I think that Jesus looks at his church and I'm not just talking about radiant but I'm just talking about the church and he's like he's like just like it says here in Ephesians 4 he says I put grace in every single life I've saved them and I've called them and I've given them a calling that they've received and they've received a a portion of my grace a gift they've gotten a talent they are a significant part of the body think about your body without just one part of it think about your body without a hand think about your hand without a finger think about your finger without a knuckle think about your you know think about your knee when it hurts when I was in college I drove a uh for for a little while a baby blue 1976 Ford Pinto if you don't know what a pinto is it's an improvised explosive device because if you ran into the bad they discontinued Ford discontinued making them because the gas tanks were too close to the back and if it got rear ended the thing would blow up so of course that's what I drove around and you know that was given to me and the hood was held down by a bungee cord one day I was driving down 28th Street and it was a four speed you know a little stick and so I'm driving my stick I'm going down 28th Street in Grand Rapids and all of a sudden I couldn't see the road anymore because my seat rested through the floorboard so it was like bouncing on whatever is exhaust underneath the car so it's like I'm like looking up at the ceiling and trying to figure out how to get this car pulled over so I was able to put like a two by four under the piece that that had rusted out to hold the seat up and I drove like that to Detroit to get my grandfather to spot weld the piece of sheet metal in there and bolt the seat down and then another time I was I was driving and I was shifting so I've got my you know sheet welded floorboard and I was driving and then all of a sudden the whole stick came out of the thing so the only thing I had that would fit in there was my toothbrush so I for several months I drove with a two oral B as my shifter and then no it gets better and then one day the steering wheel came off and it stuck it right back on I don't even know the mechanics of that thing but it just like why is this this should not come off I opened my door somebody ran into the side of it so it made it buckle so then I had to lift up and bam bam pull like about 15 different times for the door to shut then I had had to pump the brakes because I had leaks in the brake lines and I had to I had to pump and downshift in order to stop my car and I had a leaky gas tank ball tires and a bungee that held the trunk closed I know I know it's lucky I'm here today I know but listen that car still worked about 50 percent I want you to think if if your car only worked 50 percent as well as it's supposed to and then I want you to think about the church of Jesus that is a multi-membered body and if it's 50 percent if 50 percent in the church sees themselves as difference makers as significant that I have a part to play that I'm not called to sit in the stands and watch church I'm actually called to engage in church that's where the difference is made because national averages are that about 20 percent of people see themselves as significantly called to serve to become to belong to believe and to be a part of the church the rest of church attendance is made up of people who come and they say I want to receive but I don't necessarily believe that I'm called to make a difference see radiant churches here because 25 years ago Jane and I when we started we didn't have buildings we didn't have lights we didn't have video cameras we didn't have multiple campuses we didn't have stages and we didn't have microphones we didn't have any of that but what we did was we had a vision in our heart we had faith to believe God and we had a small nucleus of people who said yes and they made a difference and you know the the the beautiful thing about radiant church and the church of Jesus wherever it's to be found is it's called and it's hardwired into our very dna to change the climate and the atmosphere of wherever Jesus plants us I want to show you an update here this is going to be a video that's an update on the radiant city vision some of the things that you and I have been a part of over the last several months our downtown building our campus optimizations so many of you have prayed so many of you have given so many of you have sacrificed to make that become a reality and it is becoming a reality you are making a difference and we want you to watch this video because it's going to show you the difference that you indeed are making now that we are in the midst we're right in the middle of the radiant city vision I think people are really excited because they're seeing the vision actually beginning to take shape it's more than just a pamphlet and a dream of this is what we're going to do we're actually beginning to see it take form right in front of our eyes and ultimately we had over seven million dollars committed to the radiant city vision now of the seven million that's actually increased to seven point four million and of that four point six million dollars have already been given so over fifty percent of what we've asked for has already been given to see the radiant city vision come to pass another really neat aspect to see of radiant city vision is uncommitted giving has approached three hundred and thirty thousand dollars so these are people that did not fill out commitment cards that are getting on board mid-year to give to radiant city vision part of the radiant city vision was what we called campus optimization and so richland was in dire need of carpet especially in the sanctuary so that was kind of number one on our list and it looks beautiful we also took down some of the booze that we had our audio visual equipment in we're also in the middle of working with a company who's going to do massive renovation to our kids area for the kids ministry specifically we are actually partnering with other organizations that are coming in and doing site visits and we're dreaming about what the future of kids ministry is generationally as we look at what's happening in our culture but also what's happening in radiant church and blending those things and seeing god inside of that vision so the radiant city vision is also you know really built on creating these multi-site expressions so we already have some campuses that receive past release teaching via video this broadcast suite allows us to be able to create and craft a unique experience is tailored just for those campuses as well those campuses need a different experience than what our online campus might be seeing or what the broadcast campus is actually seeing as well and so we're able to meet these unique campuses in a very focused and intentional way the downtown radiant city center is alive it's active it's kind of like a beehive of activity students coming in students going out uh adding a second year to radiant school of ministry the prayer room morning noon and night is filled with worshipers and people praying and interceding our staff is down here match head is coming online here very quickly the building's beginning to look and feel like the beating heart of radiant church and the radiant city vision we're building our front door almost like the porch into this home of what god's doing and that's matchhead our coffee shop so right now construction is on time believe it or not and we're looking at a fall launch hopefully november we have a team we have the vision and now equipment is coming in staff are being trained and then we're figuring out ways to engage the community as much as construction and more building projects are taking place this space this building is happening right now it's up it's running it's fulfilling the vision of making radiant disciples here in our city it was like the end of last summer and i was looking around and the world just looked like it was kind of going crazy and i was in my prayer room and i really sensed the lord say take your boys to the city center to pray and so i didn't know what the city center was yet i thought maybe there was a community group meeting to pray at the maybe city council meeting so i just looked up on google city center prayer and it was radiant city center i have four boys and we decided that we're going to go to the city center and pray the music starts and i just sense peace the world did not feel peaceful at the time and it was just like this blanket of peace and i was like okay lord we're here now what so i hear in my heart your children are taught by the lord right and i said well yeah your your word says my children are taught by the lord and great shall be their peace and he said repeat that back to me and so i'm sitting and i'm just worshiping the lord and i said lord my children are taught by you i trust you to teach them today teach them what to do and fill them up with peace and so i just started worshiping and music started and i just started worshiping and honestly just got caught up in worship and it was beautiful it was wonderful and i'm having a wonderful time but about halfway through i open my eyes and i look over and my 14 year old son's one has tears coming down his cheeks the other has his hands up and they're being taught by the lord they're entering in they're being aware of his presence but i hadn't seen that a lot and then i look over and my 10 year old and my eight year old have their hands up and they're worshiping and my heart's just captured and their hearts being captured and it was just i i have no control over that but he moved upon them through the people leading them into his presence here and it's just been beautiful life changing we've done well up until now let's stay the course let's finish what god has called us to do let's finish downtown and let's set our eyes on new horizons of new places that god has calling us to go new communities new cities in our region because we're not just building a radiant city vision as a brand we really want to see our region and our city radiate with the love of god to the glory of god come on can we just honor god for all that he's done so every single week we have dozens of students hundreds of people that come to pray and thousands that join us online in our prayer meetings and in our youth ministry here on weekends uh in the middle of the week throughout different groups missionaries around the world you are making a difference you're making a significant difference and here's what i want you to believe with all of all of your heart is that you were created by god to make a difference with your life that's what it's about it's about making a difference but here's what i know about making a difference lots of people can say oh i want to make a difference but making a difference it doesn't matter who you are making a difference always begins by making a decision lots of people want their life to be different they wish the world would be different but the price tag of change becomes too expensive what god calls all of us to do as members of his body all of us together is to be a part of what he is doing in the earth to be a part of what he is passionate about which is reaching people which is going to places where the gospel is never penetrated it is reaching people who right now are crying out to heaven looking for answers it's to reach the person that's around the corner as well as the person that is around the world and all of us are called to that purpose that's not just for the coaches or for the pastors it's not just for the elite navy seal christians it's for every single person who names the name of Jesus you have in your very dna spiritually a difference making gene you just also have to first decide that you are going to be a difference maker you have to make a decision and here's what i know about decisions decisions are always made by two things by what we are convinced of and what we are convicted by these are the decisions that change our life you think about it the person if you're married and you're watching or you're listening the person that you're married to changed your life because you became convinced that you could not live without them and so you marry them and now look at your life the way the place that you are today it's the result of a decision that you made where you went to school think about the decision that you made to follow jesus christ you know that following christ is not the last significant decision that you are going to make with your life now god's calling you to make a decision that i want to be a difference maker i want my life to count i want to leave a mark i don't want to be a snowflake i want to be an asteroid do you guys know the difference a snowflake is beautiful but it just kind of floats through the air and then lands on top of all the rest of the snow and it was beautiful for a moment but nobody knows when it lands and nobody knows when it melts but an asteroid when it hits everybody knows and it leaves a crater an indelible mark that outlives it you were not created to be a snowflake i don't believe in snowflake christianity i believe in asteroid christianity there you go my grandson loves dinosaurs and so he's like dino i'm like yeah asteroid we believe in asteroid christianity where we're making a difference and your life makes a difference but listen none of us changes the world by ourselves we change the world together this is what unity is about and this weekend i want to challenge every single one of us to make three decisions if i if i could have coffee with you just one on one i would ask you i would challenge you no matter where you are at at the spec on the spectrum of spiritual maturity or even unity to be honest i would ask you to make three decisions about your life and what you're going to do with the rest of it i would ask you to belong i would ask you to believe and i would ask you to make a decision to become something to belong to believe and to become three decisions that this weekend i want everyone to make in order for us to become united in a way that we can make a difference because i really believe the best days are ahead of the church including our church in our city in this generation we just have to be people that make the decision think about this for a second the same holy spirit that was in the disciples in x chapter two is the same holy spirit that's inside of you right now if you're a child of god the same holy spirit that took a rag tag band of 120 in an upper room who didn't have cars trains planes they didn't have automobiles they didn't have the printing press they didn't have computers they didn't have seminary degrees they didn't have bank accounts they didn't even have social media or facebook they didn't have smartphones they didn't have any of those things they turned the world upside down how did they do it they were united and they were committed and i believe that the difference that we want to see made in our community in our city in our world is not we're not waiting on heaven heaven is waiting on us to make three decisions and i want to give these to you and when you came in this weekend they also gave you a card that's the the vision weekend and on the back of it is a q r code i want you to take that out and i want you to put it on your lap because in just a moment i'm going to ask you to do something with that three decisions number one i want you to make a decision that i belong to the family of god and i am called to connect and to serve alongside others here's what i'm asking you to do if you're sitting in the stands i'm asking you to come down onto the field i'm asking you to make a decision that i'm going to belong i'm no longer going to be a consumer where church is about me coming and getting something well the worship was great or the message hit me i love all that our kids were blessed yes we want we're going to continue to do that it's not that you don't get the benefit of drawing on that we want you to have that but now what we want you to do is take the jersey and the helmet that god has uniquely given you and we want you to walk down onto the field to the coach and say reporting for duty put me in coach i'm ready to play we want you to make a decision that you're going to belong you see belonging is different than attending attending means i'm in the building belonging says i'm in the family and we need to be part of the family of god and we not i'm not just talking about salvation from a spiritual terminology we need everybody to take one step closer towards the center of the church over the last 18 months we've you know we've had to adjust and we've had to adapt at different times when we met online and we met back in person prior to that 18 month period of time we had uh six services between two of our campuses and online and we had hundreds if not over a thousand people that served on team radion they were greeters ushers worked in the cafe kids ministry youth ministry production sound audio they ministered at the gospel mission they helped park cars in the parking lot they i mean hundreds and hundreds and hundreds if not thousands and so many of you have come back and said all right now where where do we pick back up let's go because the mission of jesus let me tell you something covid did not cancel the mission of jesus it did not put it on pause jesus isn't in heaven biting his nails saying i'm not sure if we're going to be able to finish what we started i did not see this thing coming now jesus has called us to pick up the baton and to run now what's happened is a lot of people have jumped back in and we have amazing team radiant members but we also have some people who've been like well you know it was last 18 months was kind of nice in that i couldn't serve and i haven't really come back to the team and you know i kind of like not you know having to do anything or there's a lot of people that have joined us both online portage in at richland who've joined us over the last 18 months and it's like i love the church but i'm not serving anywhere i want you to hear me say this we need you and i need i want everyone to take one step closer towards the center of being radiant what does that mean in practical terms one thing it's this if you have not already taken the be radiant class which is your on ramp into belonging and then ultimately serving on one of our team radiance we want you to do that we need you to do that we have a lot of people to impact we have a city to affect for jesus and we need you to effectively do that second decision that i want you to make is believe i want you to make a decision that says i believe that i am called to be a giver and see my finances make an eternal difference i believe see this is where conviction comes in i believe that i'm called to be a giver and see my finances make an eternal difference putting god first in your finances second carinthians chapter nine paul writes this here's the point whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully each one must give as he has decided in his heart not reluctantly or under compulsion for god loves the cheerful giver and god is able to make all grace abound to you so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times you may abound in all good work earn every good work do you notice what paul said you have to make a decision i have to make a decision giving is about making a decision if you're waiting for your wallet to like pat you and go hey hey hey we should probably give oh yeah yeah yeah that's like won't happen i remember when jane and i were newly married uh in 1992 we were sitting in church that we were attending at that time and together i mean this is 29 years ago but she made $150 a week i made $150 a week and if you're like that's not very much it wasn't a lot then it's really not a lot today but we were sitting in church and when the offering time came we had i think it was about if we gave what we had committed to giving we had about $20 left over for the next two weeks and i remember confessions of your pastor i thought to myself i hope jane just lets the bucket goes by and when the bucket came by or when the bucket started moving jane pulled out the checkbook and i'm like all right here we go and so i remember we our our check that we wrote was $50 it was $30 tied 10% $10 for missions and $10 for the building fund and i remember thinking to myself $10 is going to make a bigger difference in my life than it's going to make in that building fund and i remember thinking to myself and $10 is going to make a bigger difference in my gas tank than it's probably going to make in the great commission but when jane wrote that check and she handed it handed it to me we put it in the envelope and we prayed over it and we put it in there i remember the Lord just whispered so graciously to me and he said this Lee it has a lot more to do with what it's doing in you than what it's going to do in the world you need to believe that you are called to be a giver and you know what over the next couple of weeks we saw God miraculously provide for us and i realized in a moment that we would never see miracles in our life if we don't allow ourselves to be put in positions where miracles are necessary and god wants to financially he wants to be first in our life and the reason why he wants to be first in our life is number one because when your money is committed to god first then god is first in everything else in your life because money is what motivates everything else in your life if he's not lord of your wallet then he's not lord really at all when they asked uh sam houston who is one of the founders of of the city of houston texas and he was there at the alamo they asked him why he gave so much money to help build the first church in houston texas and here was his answer his answer was because when i got baptized my wallet got wet too and god wants all of us to get in the game and for you that might mean i'm going to start giving to the lord consistently for some of us that might mean i used to but i'm going to get back on the bandwagon for some of us it's i need to make a decision i'm going to put god first financially with the first tenth of my income the tithe which is the malachi three principle i'm going to honor god because here's what it says when we make the decision when we decide what to give not because pastor lee's making you not because somebody's pressuring you but because out of the abundance of your heart you're like god everything i have belongs to you and i'm going to honor you with what you've given to me notice what it says god is able god is able what's he able to do make all grace abound to you so what so that you have a sufficiency at all times for everything and that you can be involved in every good work listen if you've never been a giver i double dog dare you to make a decision this weekend to put god first in your finance finances and not be a tipper but become a tither and to consistently give god here's what's going to happen to you you're not going to lose you're going to win because god's going to open up the windows of heaven over your life and he's going to pour out a blessing on you that you cannot contain and he's going to prove himself able and faithful every single time because he's just that good but you've got to make the decision maybe you've come in the last year or so and you've saw the video about the radiant city vision but you've not had an opportunity to join in with that we need your help to finish what god's called us to do with the radiant city vision not just in downtown but also at both of our campuses and future locations where we're going to take the gospel into communities and we're going to build life giving spirit and power churches we need your help to do that number three decision i want you to make a decision to become to belong and say i'm gonna do more than attend i'm going to be long to believe that you were called to be a giver and that your finances make a difference and number three become more spiritually engaged by growing and going to prayer you're going to become more spiritually engaged by becoming a person of prayer and what i mean by that is i want you every single person who hears me this is not for the five percent this is for every single person i want you to attend one prayer meeting a week a prayer meeting every week yeah we've got 15 of them every single week and i lead three of them in the morning i need company we've got rsm and rsw that's in there we have a faithful remnant of people that are coming in there to pray if you ask me what is my favorite room to be in on any given moment at any given day it's in our prayer room because the presence of god is so tangible there it's transformative it changes you and i want to challenge you to just make a decision guess what i'm going to a prayer meeting well i lead a small group great go to the small group meet at the prayer meeting we got one at 8 a.m noon every day and 6 30 p.m monday through friday i'm just going to ask you to pick one out and if you're outside i can't possibly do once once a week do once a month and if you can't pray for once a month make an appointment with me and i'm going to clear your schedule out because you are far too busy not to pray you are too busy not to pray if you're so busy you can't schedule a prayer meeting that means because i can i can go through your schedule i'm a good auditor it's like oh look at instagram let's look at your screen time oh sheesh i mean let's let's look at your screen time let's let's look at what's on your dvr let's look at how many football games let's let's look at your nap schedule let's look at your taco bell schedule we can find some time in there here's why i'm challenging you i don't want you to come to prayer like this oh pleasantly ask me to come to a prayer man okay i don't know prayer man now i want you to come to a prayer man because here's what i'm going to tell you it's going to happen you're gonna fall in love with it the presence of god because i believe our prayers change things i believe that when god's people come together it's like a holy huddle it is a nuclear reactor that begins to release the glory of god over a city you can't tangibly see it you can't hold it you can't hear it but i'll tell you what given enough time and enough people it becomes a nuclear reactor like x chapter two that begins to spill out radioactive grace and presence of god all over a region that begins to change families change kids solve problems we can either get bitter and cynical because of all the things that are going on in the world we can do that we can take up the mantle of political angst and anger and fight and divide one another or we can do what god says if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray if we will humble ourselves and pray together i don't talk about prayer as often as i do because i think it's just a great spiritual lingo this is it prayer transforms people and it transforms atmospheres cities and generations and i'm calling all all hands on deck everybody i'm calling everybody we want you to make a decision for the next year i'm going to a prayer meeting i'm going to a prayer meeting i'm going to sit there i may not hear anything but i'm going to sing along and i'm going to pray and i dare you to see the change that happens in you the change that happens in your family the change that happens in your city when we pray together now i want everybody wherever you're at to stand with me today it's like pastor why don't we just talk about things that we're going to do because we're going to do a bunch of things but more importantly is who are we becoming i want them to put that Ephesians chapter 2 verse 20 through 22 scripture up for me here's what it says in esv verse 21 in whom the whole structure that's the church being joined together grows into a holy temple in the lord in him you also are being built together to become a dwelling place for god by his spirit this is what we're becoming a dwelling place for his spirit i want everybody to take your qr code card if you have it if you don't it's on the screen it doesn't get any bigger than that well i didn't see a qr code yeah it's orange and it's big and if you will scan this with your phone tonight today if you will scan this card right now it's going to pop you up to our website where there is an entire page that will give you access to several things you can register for the be radiant class and you can say all right i'm going to belong you can make a decision this weekend i'm going to be a giver and you can go to the website and you can set up recurrent giving or you can fill in the information and get ready to give well why do i have to do it maybe it's just accountability jane and i set it up and it just automatically comes out i don't even have to second guess it and then the third thing is it will also show you the schedule of prayer meetings give you directions to the prayer meeting tell you the times in the prayer meeting you can probably reserve a seat at the prayer meeting you might even be able to request a song at the prayer meeting i don't know but we want you there i want everybody to make a decision one decision tonight one decision this weekend going to hear and saying this is my decision this is how i am going to become a part of building a radiant city by becoming a radiant disciple would you buy your heads with me lord jesus today i pray for every single person who calls radiant home that lord we would decide today that we belong that we're significant that we were called to make a difference and lord wherever we're at those of us who are already serving on team radiant plugged in this is home lord let there be a blessing that flows but lord for those who are making that decision for the first time or saying all right i'm ready to step over the line i know i'm needed i know this is where i'm supposed to put my roots down i'm a member i'm a part of the family of god lord would you release blessing on that decision today lord for those who right now are making a decision to be a giver to honor you with their finances to put you first god i'm praying for courage i'm praying for courage today fear would have us hold on to everything that we have complacency would convince us that it really doesn't matter and to just skip over this part indifference would say i don't really care what's going on the other side of the world i've got to take care of myself but conviction says i can change the world by joining with others in giving and god will show himself to be faithful to me in miraculous ways and i want to see and i want to know that god is my provider not a man not a job not my own strength not the not the start market god is my provider and i put him first lord today i pray for courage for people to step over the line and make that decision and jesus lastly i pray that you would call us all to be joyful in the house of prayer lord you're calling us to be a people of prayer praying in a worshiping church lord i see an army i see an army of prayer warriors i see an army of moms and dads businessmen retired men college-age students kids and everything in between gathering in a room black white and brown gathering and lifting up the name of jesus praying and interceding over our city and seeing the angels move and shift atmospheres from the north south east and west and a portal being opened up over kelamazoo in southwest michigan in which the grace of god is dispensed in a generation is altered forever lord help us to see that and to make a decision that i am going to pray seal it right now and before i say amen i want everyone who's listening to me to ask the holy spirit what are you leading me to do in taking one step forward and whatever that is i want you to seal it today by saying your will god not mine your will god yes i will do it i want you to tell him i want you to tell him right now tell him yes god i will do what you're asking me to do now lord seal this moment seal it in our hearts let this be the genesis of change and transformation in us and moving forward to make a difference together united around you jesus i want to invite our ministry prayer team if they would come down in the front and here's how we're going to dismiss this weekend both here and at portage is if maybe there's an area that i i talked about that hits close to home you're just like i need someone to pray with me over this because this is a big deal for me this is a big deal i want to invite you before you leave today to come and get receive prayer maybe today you've come in and you're carrying the burden of something that has nothing to do with i talked about you need a miracle you need a healing you you need a breakthrough in an area of your life you feel alone you feel discouraged or and you can't even think about doing anything else because of the battle that you're in listen thank god there are people who said yes before to be able to be here to minister to all of us and this team is prepared to pray and we want to invite you whatever need you have today if you want someone to pray with you to come down and receive prayer and everybody else go to the qr code i would even encourage you do it before you leave the building make the decision set it up and then let's rejoice together because we're making a difference do you believe that do you believe that do you belong to that are you willing to become what god's called you to be i hope so raise your right hand i solemnly swear no okay it's our lord send us out of here with the joy of the lord the strength of the lord let us be salt and light into our world we pray in jesus name amen amen come forward if you'd like prayer god bless you guys