Because of You

Hey, you guys ready to worship Jesus? Stand to your feet, welcome to the house of the Lord. Let's sing it together, come on. We magnify his name. Come on, sing it with me, sing. ♪ Your word is a lamp unto my feet ♪ Sing. ♪ Your way is the only way for me ♪ The front. ♪ It's a narrow road that leads to life ♪ ♪ But I wanna be on it ♪ If you wanna be on this road, sing it out, sing. ♪ It's a narrow road but the first you'll smile ♪ ♪ It's a good enough promise, are you ready? ♪ ♪ I'll take you at your word ♪ ♪ If you said it, I'll believe it ♪ ♪ I'll see how good it was ♪ ♪ If you started, you're completed ♪ ♪ I'll take you at your word ♪ The front. His word is above everything. ♪ The wind is blowing and the chaos fell in line ♪ ♪ All I know is I've seen it in my life ♪ ♪ It's a narrow road that leads to life ♪ ♪ But I wanna be on it, yeah ♪ ♪ It's a narrow road and a tiny life ♪ ♪ In front of the water, I'll take you at your word ♪ ♪ If you said it, I'll believe it ♪ ♪ I'll see how good it was ♪ ♪ If you started, you're completed ♪

♪ I'll take you at your word ♪ ♪ If you said it, I'll believe it ♪ ♪ I've seen it all in a way, yeah ♪ ♪ If you started, you're completed ♪ ♪ I'll take you at your word, yeah ♪ ♪ What you want, it's always been good ♪ ♪ And you'll never fail, skip the list that you know ♪ ♪ You said your love, never give up ♪ ♪ You said you're crazy, it's always enough ♪ ♪ You said your heart will never forget or forsake me ♪ ♪ Who believes that today, sing it ♪ ♪ And you said I'm safe, you call me yours ♪ ♪ You said my future's full of your hope ♪ ♪ And you'll never fail, and I know you'll never ♪ ♪ And you'll never fail, you will never fail yourself ♪ ♪ And you said your love, never give up ♪ ♪ And you said you're crazy, it's always enough ♪ ♪ And you said your heart will never forget or forsake me ♪ ♪ Only though you were crazy, no, and you said I'm safe ♪ ♪ You call me yours, you said my future's full of your hope ♪ ♪ And I know you'll never fail, I know that you'll never fail yourself ♪ Come on church, you ready? Let's go! ♪ I'll take you where you want to go, and send it all to me ♪ That's right! Let's see how good he was! You will finish what he's done! Oh, I'll take you where you want to go, and send it all to me That's right! I've seen it now and again, over and over again And I know you'll never fail, I know that you'll never fail yourself

I'll take you where you want to go, and send it all to me Cause you've always been good And you'll never fail, you'll never fail yourself You'll never fail, you'll never fail yourself You'll never fail, and you couldn't have promised You'll never fail, I'll take you where you want to go Leave some! Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ My hope and peace, nothing but the blood, nothing but the blood, for my future, this I plead, nothing but the blood, I plead the blood, I plead the blood of Jesus, for heaven and earth. I plead the blood of Jesus, My shield and my shelter, It's my defense and I claim it over and over again, my shield and my shelter, It's my defense and I claim it over and over again. My shield and my shelter, It's my defense and I claim it over and over again. I plead the blood, I plead the blood of Jesus, Lord let me know, I plead the blood of Jesus. You know when the enemy comes knocking at your door, if he sees the blood of Jesus applied to your life, he has to flee, he can't, he can't visit, he can't stay, he's not welcome, amen? How many of you are excited about Jesus today? Come on somebody, hey, you know, when you look at the last two weeks, we had snow, we had ice, we had terrible weather, and today look at the house of the Lord, come on, praise the Lord, everybody's back, amen? Good to see all of you, I want to give you a minute, welcome, introduce yourself to three people right now that you've not met yet, real quick, I'm going to give you a chance, move around, find three, introduce yourself real quick, and while you're doing that, I want to say thank you to everyone joining us online today, man, you guys are our special guests, God bless every one of you, again, we couldn't do what we do without the support of all of you, not just here in person, but you that watch online, thank you, hey, good seeing you as well, we're also very grateful for those that are incarcerated, thank you guys for getting your iPads out, getting your devices out, tuning in, you guys are awesome, we appreciate it, and we believe that today God has a word for every single one of you, I would encourage you to share the link if you have a social media platform, just take a minute, share the link, because people are being born again every single weekend from

our online audience, so thank you for that, we love and appreciate all of you. Good to see you in the house of the Lord today, amen, amen, praise the Lord, praise the Lord, good to see everyone out, so thankful for each one of you, a couple of things I want to say today, if you are visiting the church, maybe this is your first time, let's give it up for our first-time guests, by the way, Revolut, show some love, all first-time guests, welcome, we're so thankful, God bless every one of you that are here, make sure that before you leave the premise today, grab one of those connect cards, you'll find those in the seat back right in front of you, or behind you, but if you'll grab one, you'll just fill it in, drop it in one of the baskets as you're exiting the auditorium here, just drop it in there, and if you have any prayer requests, we'd love to hear about that, and then one other thing I'll say is, every single weekend we have multiple people coming to Christ, and I'm so grateful for that, not only in person, but online, and so I want to give some instructions, if today you make Jesus the Lord of your life, which would be amazing, amen church? It would be incredible, if you make Jesus Lord of your life, make sure that you pick up one of our Bibles, we have a Bible that we want to give to you, and inside that Bible is next steps, it's things like water baptism, discipleship, it talks about the journey, and we want to walk with you, so make sure you pick up one of those Bibles, and maybe you've been coming, maybe you've been saved, and you've not gotten your Bible yet, grab one today before you leave, and we would love to celebrate that with you. There's something else I wanted to share, just this weekend, anybody ever heard of RCA, Revolution Christian Academy? Yep, I know, several of you have, and we have an amazing school, incredible school board and principal and teachers and TAs and assistants, and we're grateful for every single one of them. But today, I want to recognize the athletic department. We have an awesome athletic director, Kristen Stray, come on, let's give it up for her. She does an amazing job, volunteers all of her time, volunteers all of her efforts, and they had a banquet. But this weekend, the basketball team, the RCA basketball team, had their tournament,

and you know what? They won the championship. Come on, let's give it up. There they are. Yeah, so thankful for all the coaches, the cheerleaders, the cheer coaches, all of you that have been involved and part of this, thank you so much for that. I know this year, when they started their team, they were a little concerned because they said that most of their players were new, but man, they just took off and started playing hard and got better as the year went on and finished up eight and three. So again, let's give it up for all those guys. Yep, so grateful for RCA. Real quick today, before we move on into the message, I want to share, the Bible says that to make the vision plain, to write it down, to let the people know so that they can run with it. And so, we feel like that God's given us a vision for 2026, and I just want to remind you. We talked about it back in December, but one of those things for 2026, we're praying, and I want you to pray as well, that we're going to see 2,000, at least 2,026 people born again through this ministry. Amen? How many of you will continue to pray about that? Believe the Lord for that. We need to continue to keep that before us, and we're believing that God's going to allow that to happen. Also, we're right now in the middle of putting together this launch team for our re-entry program. That's for men and women who have been incarcerated or being released, and we're trying to put something together, and it's going to be a re-entry program for those individuals to get back into society. The role of the church here, really our purpose and our goal, we're going to provide discipleship

for those individuals. Amen? And we're going to need help, but we also need your prayer. We need your faith, your generosity in doing that. Another thing, we're believing God that He's going to allow us to plant another Revolution Campus. Amen? It's somewhere in the surrounding region, and so please keep that in mind. There's a lot of things that's coming. We'll continue to keep you updated on those, but through your generosity, through your prayer, through your faith, I believe that God's going to allow us to do that. Amen? How many of you believe God will? Come on, let me hear an amen. A big amen if you believe that's going to happen. Also, 2026, we're also believing that God's going to allow us to complete this building project. How many of you believe that? It's looking pretty good. It's coming along, and I think they've given us some dates, Devin, July maybe, that's what we're hoping for. But anyway, it's going to be awesome. God's going to allow us to continue to grow and do what He wants us to do. Right now, I want to pray, and we're going to move on in the service. Let's all pray. Father, we thank You so much for this day, this Sunday morning that we come together corporately as the body of Christ to lift up the mighty name of Jesus, Lord. And that's really our desire, and that's the goal, Father, is that You be exalted, that You be honored, that You be lifted up through our worship, through the Word, through song. Father, whatever it is, God, let You be honored.

Father, we just love You so much and appreciate every person that's here today. We pray, God, a blessing on the remainder of this service, Father. Let Your Spirit fall. Let the lost be saved. Let the sick be healed, and let those who are in captivity be set free in Jesus' name. And everybody say it. Come on, help me. Amen. Amen. Let's go. Good morning. I'm Alec, and welcome to Revolution. If this is your first Sunday with us, we are excited you're here. Please stop by the Connect Hub. Our team would love to meet you personally and give you a welcome gift. If you're watching online, say hi in the comments. We'd love to hear from you. We'd love to hear from you. We'd love to hear from you. We'd love to hear from you. We'd love to hear from you. We'd love to hear from you. We'd love to hear from you. We'd love to hear from you. Please stop by the Connect Hub. Our team would love to meet you personally and give you a welcome gift. If you're watching online, say hi in the comments. We'd love to hear from you. We'd love to hear from you. We'd love to hear from you.

We'd love to hear from you. We'd love to hear from you. Join us next Monday for our monthly Fam Interest Meeting where we will come together and discover how we can make a meaningful impact in the lives of children and in families in our community. Join us at 6 p.m. in Room I. Join us next Sunday for a special service as we celebrate the dedication of children to God. It's a meaningful time for families to unite in prayer and commit to raising their children in love and in faith. If you would like to dedicate your child, there's still time to register. Visit our Church Center app today. It's that time again, time to get those kids out of the house and onto the soccer field. Registration is open for our spring season. For more information on registering your child or if you'd like to volunteer, visit the Church Center app. or website. Registration will close on February 28th. Hey, Revolution Church. Are you ready to get connected? Join us for our Connect One Luncheon happening the last Sunday of every month during our third service in the pavilion. Hear from Pastor Pacer, enjoy a meal, and meet some of our leaders. Don't miss it. Sign up on our Church Center app or website, and we'll see you there. Hello, my name is Maryann, and I'm RCA's Preschool Department Head and Lead Teacher for the two-year-olds.

I'm excited that this year our preschool will run year-round. Current students can enroll now. New students can enroll starting February the 25th. Both current and new families secure your student's place early, as space is limited. Go to our website, www.rcmaryville.org, for more information. Second Chance Prom Ministry 2026 selection event is coming up on Saturday, February 28th, starting at 8 a.m. at the Broadcast Campus. If you or someone you know of any age is in need of formal attire, accessories, and or services for their formal event, we are here to fill that need at no charge. Male and female attire is available for proms, dances, military balls, weddings, or any formal event. And volunteers, males and females, we can't do it without you. Whether it's helping shop during the event, set up and tear down, alterations and more, we need you. Our goal is to make everyone feel amazing on their formal night. Attendees and volunteers register now at riorevolution.com. We know our church is constantly working for God. So if you didn't get time to write all of those events down or add them to your calendars, no worries.

Everything you just watched is available on our website or in the Church Center app. Thank you so much for being with us today. Enjoy the rest of service. All right, welcome to the 10 o'clock service. You get the youth pastor today, so y'all better bring some energy in the house. Who's glad to be in the house of God right now? Come on. That's what I'm talking about. People that love Jesus and love to be in the house. Well, my name is Grant. I have the privilege of being the youth pastor here at Revolution Church. Okay, so I'm gonna put a shameless plug in, all right? You're gonna get something from me. I get the chance, okay? We meet on Wednesday nights. When? Wednesday. If you are a teenager in the house, I see some of you. If you know teenagers, please, please bring them. We love them. We have amazing volunteers here at the church. We actually have a higher ratio of volunteers than the national average for our youth group. So we have some, yeah, give it up for them. They're fantastic. Love them. And speaking of the number of salvations,

and this is amazing because it was on nights that I didn't even speak. We have seen 30 teenagers give their life to Christ already in 2026. Come on. Praise God. Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. Well, it is always an honor to be on this stage and to join together with our pastor, to join together with our church and share a joint message. Literally, I didn't say this in the first service, pastor, but one of the teenagers was here late last night with us. We went to Winter Jam with about 50 people in a bus and we got back super late and she was waiting on her ride to get here, but she was just asking about, wait, you have an office here? Like, what do you do? Like, what does that mean? Like, I thought you just put something in chat GPT and you got up on the stage and then shared what it gave you. No, no, no, no, no. That's not how it works. I love that we have a pastor, that we have a church that works together on our message. We pray over it. We say, how is this good for our body? And I love that our pastor leads us that way.

You guys agree with that this morning? Amen. So last week, pastor started our series we're in right now called Make Your Mark. And my favorite point from his message last week was your mark is left on the things that you touch. I don't know if anybody else felt like you were looking at your phone screen a little bit more this week, looking for those fingerprints, like pastor was talking about, your glasses, things like that. But you leave your mark on the things that you touch. And our theme verse that pastor shared is Isaiah chapter 41 and verse nine. You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth and called from its farthest regions and said to you, you are my servant. I have chosen you and not cast you away. And that is what pastor introduced to us last week. And we're gonna continue in that series today. So I wanna open up first with one of the craziest and wildest stories of my life. Something that happened to me on a pontoon boat. Yes, I said pontoon boat. Who's been on a pontoon boat? You've been out there relaxing on the water. We long for those days of 90 degrees to be out on the pontoon boat, right?

And you're normally not wanting to go fast when you're on the pontoon boat, right? You're just there to relax, you're there to chill, you're there to have a good time. We hit up Calhoun's down there in Lenore City and get some food and we hang out. But this particular time was about 10 years ago and the ladies were all hanging out at my parents' house and all the guys went out on the pontoon boat, right? Real manly, you know. Just hanging out, you know, talking, having a good time. So we're out there and if you've ever been Fort Loudon Lake, they've got barges that come through sometimes, right? We've got the big barges that carry the real heavy, real big stuff. But this time, there was one moving through the water and it was coming towards us all of a sudden. And in that moment, you're like, should we run away from it? Should we? We can't go sideways. This wave, this massive wake and this massive waves were behind it. And I'm not talking about just a little bitty like what normally comes from a boat. I'm talking about big time waves and we had to make a decision and we were looking at my dad as the driver of the boat like, what are you going to do? Like, how are you going to handle this moment right now? He turned to hit it head on. He said, that's what they tell you to do is hit it head on so we're going to do this. And I'm sitting on the bench, Chesney, I don't know if you, where you were. You were there, right? My brother was there with us. The guy was on the drums today. We're out there on the boat and I'm sitting sideways on the bench and y'all, it was like a movie. I mean, the pontoon had a cover, right?

You guys have seen the pontoon boats that have the covers on them. They're about eight feet tall, right? I can reach up and pretty much touch it, okay? We didn't just hit the wave. We went into the wave, okay? I mean that the front of the boat did this and I slid as fast as I could back because I saw what was about to happen from something that you, like you see at IMAX movie theater, okay? The wave, we went into it. The wave went over the top of the cover of the pontoon boat, y'all. On the other side of it, you have one of those moments where you're like, we're alive. We didn't die. We made it. The whole boat was soaked. I mean, not just a little bit wet, I'm talking drenched and we all just kind of laughed once we caught our breath and realized we didn't die going into a wave that was massive. But keeping in that line of thinking of a massive wave happening, of a massive wake coming from something awesome and huge, I want to go to our scripture today from Philippians chapter one. This is Paul talking to the church in Philippi. Philippians chapter one starting in verse three. Paul says, every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God. Whenever I pray, I make my requests for all of you with joy. For you have been my partners in spreading the good news about Christ from the time you first heard it until now. And I am certain that God who began the good work within you will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. So it is right that I should feel as I do about all of you. For you have a special place in my heart. You share with me the special favor of God, both in my imprisonment and in defending and

confirming the truth of the good news. God knows how much I love you and long for you with the tender compassion of Christ Jesus. What a powerful statement. Did you feel the heart of Paul just reaching out to these people? And if you read all of his epistles, he's thankful. Every single one. When you go through Colossians and Ephesians and Galatians and Corinthians and all these letters, he's thankful. But there's something different about the church in Philippi that he really pointed out. Every time I think about you, man, I thank God. There's something different about what we have together. There was a mark that was made so strong that every time he thought about them, he said, I thank God for you. So today my focus on this Make Your Mark series is called Because of You. Everybody say because of you. And I hope you have those people in your life. Rafa that sings came up to me after the first service and he said, a lot of times we think about the negative people in our lives, but it's such a nice, refreshing and powerful thought to think about the positive people in our life that says because of you or if it wasn't for you. And Paul had that kind of relationship with this church. You see, the church in Philippi was the first church that was planted in Europe. That's wild to think about, massive continent of Europe. This was the first church planted there. And they had supported him through all the great things and all the hard times. If you read the rest of the first chapter, it talks about that somebody was supporting him with finances and they were still staying in the relationship no matter the oppression from their government, where they were, no matter if he was in prison, they were still staying connected and they had been marked.

Because church, living for Jesus means that what you leave behind you makes a stronger mark than what was before you. It makes a wake. It makes a wave. That if you look back, just like like that barge, just like that moment that we had, that it had such a strong power that it was affecting everything behind it. Because if our life and our church follows the direction of the Holy Spirit, the weight that we carry will leave that massive wake changing everything behind us and in the rest of our history and our testimony. Because here's the truth, church, as I'm praying and thinking and studying this week, I listen to pastors that I trust and people that I trust and seek the Lord. One of the most powerful statements that I heard and it hit me really hard, as I think it's about our day and age, Jesus did not save us so that we could be sensations. He saved us so we could be servants. Because that's our day and age, church. Amen. That's our day and age. We want the likes, we want the views, we want the attention, we want the pat on the back, we want the good job, we want the awards. He saved you for an opportunity. I don't know if y'all saw a few weeks ago

when Pastor preached his message about opportunity. Pastor, I came up to the altar before you even gave the altar call because it hit me hard enough, the opportunity that God has given me that I don't deserve. Think about our Savior. Think about Jesus before he was a give of his life. He could have been talking about, man, you remember when I rose Lazarus from the grave? You remember all the good things that I did? You remember when we fed all those people? You remember when I healed that person when I did this and I did that? Like a lot of people might be remembering before their life is over, going down memory lane. What did Jesus do? Took off his robe, got on his knees. In a position that most people in that day and age, you didn't even know their name, the people that would wash your feet. You wouldn't even look them in the eye. You probably wouldn't even say thank you. But Jesus, King Jesus, knew they needed to see what it was all about. That the greatest among you will be a servant and a slave for the kingdom of God. Because our goal as Christians and as a church is not to stand above others, but it's to help others stand.

That is our goal and that is our aim. It's not so that I can climb the ladder as Pastor talked about last week. It's the opposite, that we descend and we get low so that others can stand up and see the glory of Jesus Christ, amen? So let me ask a question that I hope gets you thinking. Who's made their mark on this church? Think about it. When you think about because of you, because of them, or if it wasn't for them, who are those people? I asked that question in our staff meeting this past week and it was amazing to hear all the different staff people talk about over the years from the beginning of the church almost 20 years ago to today. All of you and a lot of you are sitting in this room. I look out and I see you. Your impact has been made for the kingdom of God. Your mark has been made. All the people that have worked with special needs and with kids, come on, and the Connect and the Welcome and the parking team and the people doing the cameras and the praise and worship. And especially those unseen, I wanna say thank you to the elders and the deacons and the prayer team. One of my favorite songs right now, I didn't show this in first service, but one of my favorite songs right now is by a guy named Ben Rector. It says, someone must have been praying for me

because I'm doing a lot better than I ought to be. Sometimes I close my eyes and I can't believe someone must have been praying for me. So I wanna say thank you to those people that have made a mark over the two decades on this church. No matter if you're seen or if you're not seen, thank you. You have joined in in the work for the kingdom of God and we are who we are and we do what we get to do because of you. Church, if you agree, can you give them a round of applause? Just thank those people. We love you, thank you. Thank you so much. So what about our own personal lives? I've thought about my personal life a lot this week and the people that made their mark on me. They're gonna be here next service and I'm excited for them to be here, but my parents, my dad and my mom, my dad teaching us how to work hard and that you don't sit down until the job is done. Anybody ever had a dad or a boss like that? I had a dad like that, right? Even sometimes when you're eating your lunch, you're still standing up, right? Work hard. All those mornings that we would be getting ready for school and we'd see him come from the back of the woods because he had been praying back there for our family. He had a little spot that he had dug out,

not just for candy. we had a lot of fun back there, but he would go out there in the mornings and pray, leading us in the word of God, still to this day, checking on me. I knew I was gonna get a message this morning from him, and I got it before I left the house. A man of God that checks on me and pushes me and challenges me and loves my wife and loves my daughter, making a mark. And my mom, you mamas in the room, God sees you. God sees you mamas doing the things that nobody celebrates you for, maybe not even your husband. Doing those things for those kids, for your husband, for your family. Guys in the room, I hope you get the chance to catch your mama praying for you. The day that I got filled with the baptism of the Holy Spirit, I was at a conference called Winterfest. Teenagers like Winterfest, yeah, it's great, yeah, we love Winterfest. It's coming up, but Jensen Franklin was sharing a message, and he said, some of you don't even realize that you have praying mamas. Some of you don't realize how often your mama calls out your name, how often your mama is on her knees, how often your mama is anointing your bedroom, how often your mama's doing things for you.

And I realized in that moment the power of what God had been doing in my life in the background. And I got out in the altar and started praying for the Lord, just thanking Him and praying for the Lord to fill me and use me. And right there in a ballroom in 2005, I received the baptism of the Holy Spirit in Cincinnati. And now we're getting the chance 21 years later to take the kids back there to do evangelism, Jimmy. We're getting the chance for God to do that. But I think about those people that have had their impact on my life. I think about my grandfather, and I've been emotional this week just thinking about him. I'm emotional now, because, whew. Oh man, Jesus has a plan for your life, y'all. You grandparents, Pastor David said a few weeks ago that his mark he wants to make now is on his grandkids more than ever. And let me tell you something, if it wasn't for my grandfather, the drummer wouldn't be up here this morning that you saw and worshiped with, and this young man wouldn't be standing here that you're hearing right now. Because in kindergarten, you're not, they're not too young to get them started, y'all. I don't know if you got kids or grandkids, invest in them. Make the mark in them no matter how young they are.

Every day for an hour, he would take five-year-olds, put an hour time clock, I remember it was an apple, it was a red apple time clock, and sometimes when he would walk away or say, hey, practice this for five minutes, me and Chesney would. I think he did it more than I did, I'm just kidding. But taking the time to invest in us, the word of God, taking us to recitals at the University of Tennessee, we didn't even know what a recital was, we just knew he was gonna give us Krispy Kreme donuts after. That's all we cared about, right? Super healthy. But the investment he made, my grandmother on my mom's side, that was my dad's dad, my grandmother on my mom's side was a giver and a fighter for her family, man. She was that grandmother that was in, it was a holiday, everybody was at the house. Anybody ever have a grandmother like that? If granny said, be there, you said, what time and where? Right, you showed up, she was a giver. She's on her deathbed from her third round of breast cancer, and we're all singing and praying and just loving on her. She's on her deathbed and she leans in, it was before Tiffany and I were getting ready to be married, and she leaned in and gave me a hug and she said, I want you to know that I got you and Tiffany a TV for your house, it's at my house, don't you dare let nobody take it if I die.

That TV's still in our bedroom all these years later because she was a giver. I think about Coach Thompson at North Middle School, he encouraged me more than anybody I'd ever had as a coach. I was so skinny and so small, I couldn't even wear the boys' basketball shorts for middle school basketball team. I had to wear girls' basketball shorts. I was literally in the team picture as all the guys and all that, and then here's little Grant on the other side, but he encouraged me and he challenged me with quotes like, Grant, I'm gonna give you the green light, I trust you, but you gotta go. I trust you, but you gotta take the shot, you gotta go. So much that years ago I was in the movie theater and he said, attaboy Redmond, smacked me on the behind, I didn't even see who it was. I was a little bit nervous, but I actually, I knew who it was because I knew his voice and I knew what he'd done in my life. He's still invested in my life 22 years later. We still talk to each other, still pray for each other. I think about Mr. Clinton, our PE teacher, Highland Park Elementary School, he was so encouraging and so helpful to every single kid, no matter who they were, no matter their background. He had the word can't with a big X on it at the end of the wall, and he would challenge us to slap that every day when we came into PE

and to slap it every day when we left. Showing us you can't. do it. Don't you think you can't do it? I think about Dr. Skip Jenkins at Lee University, theology professor, hardest class I have ever taken. I mean difficult. The scores, you teenagers and college people in the room, midterm, final. That's it. Got graded on nothing else and he said if you don't write for at least 90 minutes on the midterm you're probably gonna fail. A lot of fun. But I love that guy. Here's why. He actually made relationships with you. He played football with us. He literally played against the intramural college kids. He came out and played football with us. He came to our dorm room, played Halo and drank Mountain Dew with us, right? This guy was incredible. He was an Ohio State fan. I know we got some over here on this side of the room, okay? But when Tennessee beat Ohio State in the Sweet 16 when I was in college, I got the picture printed off. I got to class early and taped it on the front of the podium before he could walk in that day. He made relationships with us. He actually cared about the people he was investing in. I think about our amazing ministers in the Rio Network. Y'all, don't we have some amazing leaders in the Rio Network? Can we give them a round of applause? They're truly incredible. Pacer was the first person that we met when we came to Rio 23 years ago. So welcoming, still the same to this day as he's ever been. So welcoming, so loving. He introduced me to Josh and I still stayed at Youth Group. I still came back, right? So God was there. But I love all the Hepperle's and all the different people at Rio that gave me a chance. Then I went on a mission trip in 2004 and I told my grandfather, I don't think I'm gonna do piano anymore. I think I'm too cool for that. I think I want to play ball. I think basketball is my thing. It was invented for ministry purposes. Google it, not right now. Basketball is the greatest sport in the world, in my opinion. I know it's a football day, but I told my Papaw, I feel like I'm done with this. And he said, I remember a lot of things he said, but this specifically stands out. He said, son, who knows what God will do with this in your life. The next summer, I go on a youth mission trip with this guy named

Steve Hepperle back at the Rio Central Church, and it was just Rio, and my life was never the same again after what I saw in the gospel, what I saw that Jesus could do in people's lives. And Ashley Hepperle was also on that mission trip, and you guys that have been in the church for a little while know that she led worship. And she said, hey, we need a piano player. Came back, I was on the praise and worship team the next Wednesday. And all these years later, it led me through ministry, and it led me to this moment. It led me to be right here. I also have a friend who's a bishop now in the Church of God. His name is Ethan West. I'm shouting him out on purpose. He's preaching that right now up in Kentucky at his church. That was with me so much through my times in college. I hope you have a friend like that that prays with you, that laughs with you, that goes through the hard times with you. When Tiffany and I were struggling a little over 10 years ago financially, having miscarriage, he was in Oak Ridge at the end doing ministry. He said, I'll be there in 30 minutes. Drove from Oak Ridge, stood in our living room, grabbed both of us, hugged and prayed over us in that moment. Made a mark on my life because of him. And then as I reference her, my beautiful, amazing wife Tiffany, that she leaves a mark on people so strong that last week, one of our youth leaders said they were going through something. They said, I had a thought, what would Tiffany do in this situation? And again, just like I talked about, I catch her praying for me. She probably prays for people more on a daily basis than I do, as crazy as that sounds. Praying for people at her job, praying for people that work with her, praying over these girls, praying over our leaders, praying over the church and our family. She made a mark on my life. The reason I was attracted to her was because of her worship. Any youth praise and worship, it's here or there. They're either really excited or they're just there. Is that right? Am I doing that right? Is that the pose? Yeah. But this young lady, I'm up there playing the piano, right, and I'm not singing it. Well, I was singing at this point, playing and singing, and I see Tiffany just lost in the moment. It's something I've never seen from any other youth girl there, and it drew me to her. Her heart was marked

for Jesus. So today you might say, Grant, I don't know what I have to offer to somebody. I don't know if I can make a mark on somebody's life. You don't know my past. You don't know what I've done. I just have these reasons why I really don't want to serve other people, you know. This is just not for me. Let me read some people to you from the Bible that would say this, don't disqualify the author who is writing your story. Don't disqualify the author that's writing your story. You might not like the chapter. You might be like, mmm, God, I don't know. if I like this chapter right here. God, I don't know if I wanna turn the page, or maybe you're ready to turn the page, you're like, I just want something more, I just want something different. Let's listen to this list of people from the Bible, and either their situation or their excuse. Abraham was old, Elijah was suicidal, Joseph was abused, Job was bankrupt, Moses had a speech problem, Gideon was afraid, Samson was a womanizer, Rahab, a prostitute, Noah became drunk, Jeremiah was young, Jacob was a cheater, David, a murderer and an adulterer, Jonah ran from God, Naomi was a widow, Samaritan woman was divorced multiple times, Peter denied Christ openly, Martha worried too much, Zacchaeus was small and money hungry, the disciples were called quote unquote ordinary men, they fell asleep while they're supposed to be praying for Jesus, and Paul, the Pharisee who persecuted Christians. See church, I'm here to encourage you today

that if God can use those people, if God can use a skinny white kid from a north city, he can use you, each and every one of you. All of them. And I hope you heard yourself in that list to recognize God can use them, he can use me. Because here's the truth church, God's not asking you to be the boss. I think that's our mindset a lot of times when we hear pastor or people talk about serving, about going out and expanding the kingdom of God, you're like I don't wanna be in charge Grant, like that's not me, I don't wanna be the boss. He's not asking you to be the boss. He's asking you to lead by example. That's where he wants you to be. Because here's the difference, bosses just make sure that things get done, leaders make sure that things grow. And we need more of those people in the church today. I wanna show a graphic right here that this is in my mind every time that people think about leadership and when they say the word boss. I thought about this last week when pastor was preaching his awesome message and I didn't make this. Just so you know, you can Google this. Here's the difference. Bosses are sitting up above everybody, right? I don't have to do the dirty work.

You were made to do the dirty work. I'm just here to be in charge. I'm just the one that's got the plan. You pull me, you take us where we're going. Look at the bottom. Who does that look and sound like on the bottom? Does that sound like pastor? I literally did not put that on the graphic. That just is the graphic when you search boss versus leader. That's what a leader does. A leader says I'm fine, you can put me in the front. Give me the front of the rope, I'll do it, let's go. They literally say I will be the one that helps carry the weight. I will be the one that helps preach the gospel, make disciples and serve the community. Pastor doesn't want everybody to stand up here and preach. We need people to do all of the other things, y'all. How are our little kids gonna know who Jesus is? How are they gonna be protected if we don't serve them? How are the special needs families gonna be loved and shown the purpose of Christ if we don't do it? I'm not just talking about once a year that you show up and you do something and it's amazing. I'm glad we do that. But if there's been a mark of Jesus on your life, you'd be willing to get in front and say I'll take it. I'll do it. I want the wake of Jesus to be so strong

that people are like us in that boat and they're like oh man, how are we gonna respond to this moment right now? And the wave of Jesus' love is so strong because of your willingness that it overtakes their life and it changes everything. So the first because of you today, I've got three of them. I'm following what Pastor does. We're following an example. It's easier to remember the three things. Because of you, Jesus, I have a life more abundantly, an eternal life. That is our first reason. It can't be because we wanna feel good about ourselves or because oh God, you saw me. I served on Tuesday night with CR. That means we're good, right? No, because you love Jesus so much. You saw what he did for you, how he marked you and you're willing to go for him anywhere. The permanent love of Jesus cannot be erased. The mark that he makes will stay strong no matter what. The things of this world, as the song says, will go strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. Amen? All the other stuff is in pencil or in dry erase. Jesus is permanent. It's a seal. My life has changed because of Jesus. Paul talks about this in Ephesians chapter one, verse 13.

It's a beautiful scripture. Let's read that. He says, you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were what? but you are marked in him with a seal that is the promised Holy Spirit. That when you receive Jesus, you are marked, you are stamped, you are sealed by the Holy Spirit that makes you wanna go, that gives you those words to say, that shows you that opportunity that says, hey, you see that person right there? Go ask him how they're doing. You see that opportunity? That's for you. You're almost like, you feel him pushing you from behind. If anybody's ever had that experience, I've had that experience where it's something like so loud in your brain, you've gotta get it out. And I pray that happens for you today. So because of you, Jesus. The second one is because of you, Influencer, in our life, I can be more than I was before. Because those people in your life did stuff they didn't have to do so that you can do stuff, you get to do stuff you didn't deserve to do. All those people behind the scenes in your life, all those Influencers, and I hope you're thinking about them right now.

I hope there's memories flooding back to people in your family, people in your school, people in your job, people in your church that have influenced your life and made you wanna take steps, giving you strength. You have a chance to be an Influencer, church. We're standing at the Winter Jam concert last night with the youth pastors. They call the youth pastors backstage and we talk and get to see some people and then we pray. It's awesome. But this guy, he speaks all around the world and I've seen him a couple of times. And he was talking about some stats and encouraging us but also challenging us. He said nine out of 10 Christians will never lead somebody to salvation in Jesus. That's what all make us go. And we should say that. I didn't hear anything else he said the rest of the night. That literally stuck in my brain. I put it in my notes real fast. Nine out of 10. You know how many it takes? Just one. Just one. It just takes one of us, one of you, just reaching out to one person. Just one. We don't have to be in front of thousands.

Just one. Just one person that you show the love of Jesus. You really care about them because you have been marked by Jesus and others and now it's gonna multiply. That's how the multiplication happens. So last, because of you is because of you, God's creation, I will answer the call and serve. One of my favorite speakers, his name is Josh Shipp. He talks about to youth leaders and teenagers all around the world. He said every child is one caring adult away from being a success story. Just one. Everybody say just one. Because here's the fact, you might be the only one. You might, and I'm not just talking about students. I'm talking about every single person. Don't give up on that brother. Don't give up on that sister. Don't give up on that son, that daughter. Don't give up on that coworker because God has placed you there. He's marked you. He's given you the opportunity. All you gotta do is step into it and say I'll do it. I will go. I will be the one God. I don't even have a clue what it looks like. I just know that you've marked me so now I'm gonna take that step out and serve them.

Because when it's all said and done and your life is over and we've all been to funerals, what do they talk about? They talk about the memories of that person. You remember when he did this? Remember that time that she did that for me? What's gonna be said of you and of me? Because of you, I knew Jesus. Because of you, I was able to hear the gospel in a jail cell. Because of you, I was able to grow in Christ. I was able to get a job. Because of you, now I am in ministry. Because Jesus talked about it. When your life was over, the mark that you made. Matthew 25, verses 34 through 40. Listen to this. This is Jesus talking about the end of it all. He said, then the king will say to those on his right, come you who are blessed by my father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. Listen to how simple this is. We make sharing the gospel, we make doing things for Jesus so hard. Listen to how simple this is. I was hungry and you fed me. I was thirsty and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger and you invited me into your home. I was naked and you gave me clothing.

I was sick and you cared for me. I was in, does that sound like our church? I was in prison and you visited me. Then these righteous ones will reply, Lord, when do we ever see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you something to drink or a stranger and show you hospitality or naked and give you clothing? When do we ever? never see you sick or in prison and visit you. Listen to how powerful Jesus's words are right here. And the King will say, I tell you the truth. When you did it to how many? When you did it to one of the least of these, my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me. You were doing it to me, Miss Patty. All the meals are worth it, sister. Everything's worth it. Son or daughter of God in this room, you have an opportunity to impact just one in a moment you may not even realize. We're at the concert last night and there's a young man, he's in his 20s now, which is wild to me because he was in our youth group a decade ago. His sister's coming to our youth group now, but I hadn't seen him in a while and he came to the concert. He was in the Marines, I mean, he's a hardcore kid, strong, you know, tough.

He came over to me and he hugged me and I just felt the Holy Spirit say in that moment, hug him longer. Speak to him that God is gonna grow things in the desert, even though he might be in the desert right now. And as I'm hugging him and praying for him, y'all, this is not me bragging. This is just showing you the example of when you just take a moment for the Lord for one. I felt his tears on my hands as I'm hugging him last night. And then one of the people gets up and starts talking. It was actually the same guy that said that nine out of 10 stat. He got up in front of the whole arena and he started talking about suicide. And the young man that was sitting next to me started talking to me about how he had been dealing with those things, how he had tried to kill himself last week. Y'all, it's just one. It's just one moment, Mitch. It's just one moment, y'all. Students, it's just one moment. Mom and dads, grandfathers, grandmothers, every single person that we don't care what you do, but we're challenging you today as a church. Let's take a step and be willing to say, God, if it's just one, I'll do it. It's just one.

Let's do something in the room, if we can, as I get ready to close. Would you raise your hand right now if you would say, Pastor Grant, I've thought about somebody in my life that impacted me for the better. Would you raise your hand? So, look around. Look around at all of the individuals that took the opportunity to impact one. One. Now let's do something even more powerful. To reiterate what I said earlier, that being a Christian doesn't mean standing above others. It means helping others stand. If somebody led you to church, somebody led you to the Lord Jesus, somebody has led you in discipleship, would you stand up in the room right now? Look at that. Look at all the people standing up because somebody took the time to be a servant for Jesus and say, you are worth my time. You are worth my efforts. Powerful, church. Look at all the people standing because somebody said, Jesus, you made a mark on me. Somebody else made a mark on me. Now I'm passing it on to the next generation. If we could have everybody stand, please.

So, here's my challenge to you this week. And don't leave. We got something we're gonna finish with right now. Please stay locked in on this moment. But my challenge to you this week is if somebody has impacted your life, I want you to call them, if you still can, text them, message them, or even better, if you could do it in person, in person, tell them, because of you, I am what I am. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be who I am, where I'm at, what I've got. I'm going to. I'm gonna call those coaches, those teachers, tell my family, my family's gonna be here, my parents' next service, because of you. So, if we could have the prayer team come up at this time. I want us to stay locked in on this moment, church. The praise team always prepares and leads us in a song as we close. That's our last moment. Not just when I ask you to stand up. Our last moment as a church, we desire for all of us to worship and pray together as we finish out our service. Maybe the Holy Spirit will speak to you during this song. But I have two challenges right now for our altar time together and our last song together. If you say, Pastor Grant,

I need the mark of Jesus on my life. I need my life to be changed by his love. Everything else has failed. me, everything else is gone, crap in my life. I need Jesus to save me. I want that seal. I need the Holy Spirit to speak to me. I need counsel. I need comfort. I need strength from Jesus. I not only want when my life is over to be with Jesus in heaven, but I need abundant life that he talks about now. Please, please, please come up to these altars. Pray with our prayer team. They're ready. We're ready for Jesus to have that mark on your life, amen? And secondly, if you say, Pastor Gray, I want to make a mark on somebody's life. I feel a stirring. I remembered teachers. I remembered family members. I remembered people in my life that have made an influence on me and what it did for my life. Now I want to be the one. There's an old song we used to sing back at Rio in the mid-2000s that said, I want to be the one you know that you can count on, God. I want to live the life worthy of the call. I want to show the world a God of love and mercy. God, let me be the one. I will be the one. Because the reason you're literally in this room right now is because somebody answered that call. It's because somebody said, I want to make a mark for Jesus. That's how the world changes. I know we can do it, church, because God is with us in it. Let's pray. Jesus, I love you. Thank you so much for this time, Lord. You deserve all the attention. You deserve all the honor and glory and praise. Thank you, Jesus, that you seal us and you mark us with your love and the Holy Spirit, and thank you that you've given us this opportunity in 2026 when people are buying more Bibles than ever, searching more than ever, coming to church more than ever. God, draw us to the opportunity. You are the author. You are the author, and you're writing our story, and there's something coming in this next chapter that's going to blow our mind. Help us receive it, Lord. We love you. We praise you. Thank you. In Jesus' name, let's worship, church. Narrow as the road may seem, I'll follow where your spirit leads. Broken as my life may be, I'll give you everything. I hear you call. I am available. I say, yes, Lord.

I am available. Here I am with open hands. Counting on your grace again. Less of me and more of you. I just want to see you move. I hear you call. I am available. I say, yes, Lord. I am available. I hear you call. I am available. I say, yes, Lord. I am available. Here I am, here I am, you can have it all, you can have it all. Here I am, here I am, you can have it all, you can have it all. Here I am, here I am, you can have it all, you can have it all. Here I am, here I am, you can have it all, you can have it all. Here I am, here I am, you can have it all, you can have it all. Here I am, here I am, you can have it all, you can have it all. You can have it all, you can have it all, you can have it all. You can have it all, you can have it all, you can have it all. I really mean it. I hear you call, I am available. I say, yes Lord, I am available. And Lord, we are available. And we just thank you that you've allowed us to be your vessel and be your people. And God, we just ask that in this room, that there would be something new stirred up. That there would be a new willingness in this room. And God, I pray that there would be nothing and no plan of the enemy that could stop the works that you have planned. And God, I just pray for healing in this room, in our families and in our homes. And God, I pray that we would begin to rise up and raise our kids. And call on our parents and call on our grandparents and maybe the ones that don't know you, Jesus. And God, I just pray that we would begin to have an influence with the people that we know and that we love most. And God, that there would be a boldness and a fire in this room. And that there would be no shame of speaking of you in our houses anymore. And God, I just pray that the prayers that go on at the dinner table, God. I just pray that your fire and just who you are and what you've called us to. And who we're supposed to be for you, God. Jesus, that it would just be so prevalent in our homes.

And God, I just pray that the places that we go. God, I just pray that there would be a boldness and something so true and so willing and so able. God, I just pray that what you have planned on each and every single one of our lives. Whether we feel it or whether we don't. That we just give you our yes. And we say, whatever you need, Lord, I will do. Wherever you send me, wherever you want me. My obedience will follow and my word will be true. And God, I just pray that that would be set in our spirits today, Lord. You are the King of our hearts and the Lord of our lords. And God, we just love you and we thank you for who you are. Hey church, one final thing as you leave today. We got your lunch down at the pavilion. Soup and Chili, it's a youth fundraiser for our mission trips. Please, please, please, even if you're like, I don't know. like soup and chili. Just go down there and give some teenagers some money to go share the gospel of Jesus, right? We love y'all. Have a great week. Be blessed.