Chosen by God | Through the Church

Starting a five-week series today called Through the Church, Through the Church. What we're going to be looking is that God has a plan to be accomplished in the greater Tampa Bay area in your family, in your life, and it's to be accomplished through the church. We're going to see how the church is God's plan to accomplish His mission on the world today. I'm going to roll out a lot of fresh vision, ideas, new strategies that God has given us. It's going to be a great series. And if you're taking notes today, I want you to write down the title of today's message. It's simply chosen by God. I want to instill in you some confidence today that you are chosen by God, that the church is chosen by God. No matter your issues, no matter your inadequacies, that you are chosen by God. How many know that everybody likes to be picked? Everybody likes to be picked. I don't know if you remember PE growing up where you had to sit there. It was a very harsh thing in school where you had to sit there and be lined up and they would choose two team captains. Come on, how many remember this world? It was painful, wasn't it? I was never chosen as a team captain. If you were one of those people that were like always chosen because you were so good, let me tell you, we don't like you. All right? I just remember those moments. And I would work on my prayer life because I'm sitting there and I don't have to be chosen first, but how many know you don't want to be chosen last? So I'm praying the entire time and I was most of the time chosen towards the last. I remember one time I was chosen and it was not like a great experience. This was a middle school dance that our Christian school put on. Now, when you think of awkward Christian school that we were like the top of that awkwardness, and then they put together this dance that's like weird. I mean, you're dancing to old Christian music. It's odd. And so one of the ideas they had during this dance is that they would line up in this ballroom, all the guys on one side and all the girls on another side. And as they line them all up, they would count down from 10 and the girls would walk across just for this one dance. And they would ask any guy they wanted to dance with them. I don't know where they came up with this crazy idea, but I knew in that moment I was in trouble because there was this girl that was a grade ahead of me. All right. And she had like a thing for me, but she was like legitimately, I know this isn't like correct politically to say she was crazy. And she had this like weird obsession. Okay. I didn't have a lot of girls liking me back then, but this girl really, really liked me. And as soon as I heard the idea about this, I go, oh no, she's going to make a scene. And so they start counting down from 10. I'm praying.

I'm kind of hiding. It gets to five. True story. She starts darting across the ballroom floor in front of everybody. I'm hiding by my friend. I'm like, no. And she pulls me and drags me. And she's a grade ahead of me, way taller than me. Just kind of dragging me there. I was chosen. I was chosen for all the wrong reasons in that moment. I want to instill in you some confidence today. God has chosen your life for something significant. You might not have ever been picked by men, but you have been appointed by God for something significant. And the more you understand that you are chosen by God and set apart for something great, you will live your life different. You will live with confidence knowing that God is for you. And if he is for you, there is an assignment on your life and there is purpose ahead of you. So many of you are looking at your life through the lens of what you have done and the lens of what you have gone through. But I want to change your perspective to say there's another lens to look at your life moving forward through the lens of what God can do through a life that is fully submitted to him. And the more you submit your life to him, the more you will watch this plan roll out in a beautiful way that will actually change the world. You were chosen by God. We're going to look at our main passage for this series in the book of Ephesians chapter 3. We're going to pick up in verse 7. Paul is writing to a church and the church is called the church in Ephesus. It's this thriving port town that is beautiful. It is one of the largest cities in the ancient world. Now you can visit Ephesus. It's like a bunch of ruins. But back then it was a thriving city that had a church planted in it that was growing rapidly. And Paul gives insight on what the church is all about. And this is what this whole series is going to do. Because some of you are even questioning, like, why do we show up? Why are we here? Why are we gathering? This church is going to, this series is going to help you with all of that. Chapter 3, we're going to pick up in verse 7. Paul is talking about his own story first and he says, I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God's grace given me through the working of his power. By the way, anytime you're used by God, you realize, man, you're just but a servant to the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's not my power, not my ability, not my influence, not what I got together. It's a gift from God. And then look at verse 8. He says, although I am less than the least of all the Lord's people, this grace was given to me to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ. And by the way, the more you study about him, the more you'll realize there's boundless riches in knowing Christ.

And to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God who created all things. You got to think God's plan, God's purpose was hidden in ages past, but now it's being revealed. How will God reveal it? Look what he says. His intent was that now this is how it's going to be revealed through the church. Why don't y'all say that with me? Through what? Oh, come on. Help me at every campus, even across Pinellas County. Through what? The church. He says, this is how his plan is rolled out through the church. The manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms. There's wisdom, there's ideas, there's things that God wants to do that he's going to roll out, but he's going to roll it out through the church. Yes, through the church, according to his eternal purpose that he has accomplished in Christ Jesus, our Lord. We see through this passage that God's plan is rolled out through the church. His global body, not just Radiant Church, we're talking about the Capital C Church, that there is a necessity for the life of a believer, for the salvation of a region, that God raises up a church. It was happening in this church in Ephesus, where they're impacting this region. And it's my great desire that Radiant Church would not just be a place that people attend, but would actually be a movement that would transform the Tampa Bay area. For the glory of God. If you don't know our story, Katie and I, we started as youth pastors in Pensacola. We were running a little youth group there in Pensacola,

when God spoke to us about starting the church. We didn't know where this church was going to be. We prayed about three different cities, and we were believing God like he would show us. And then we came across an article that highlighted Tampa as an unchurched city. It was from the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau of Religion. They put out this report, and the Tampa Bay Times, you can Google the article, it's still there. The Tampa Bay Times put this article out that said, Tampa was ranked 51 out of 52 of the most unchurched cities. So it was Las Vegas, Nevada, Tampa, Florida, and then Portland, Oregon was the most unchurched. And I looked at those like, I'm not moving to Vegas or Portland. Tampa it is, for the glory of God. We got sunshine in the books, and it's gonna be great. So as we felt this call, we said, man, could the solution to this region be a local, life-giving, spirit-filled church to transform it? That's what God's intent was, for communities to be changed through the church. So if you don't know our story, we packed up our life 13 years ago. This is a little picture of our family. This is moving day, and on moving day, that was my wife and I, and then that's our baby, that's our oldest, who first service, she was sitting in this front row down here. She just turned 14 years old now, and there she was in there. And you can't really tell, but between Katie and I, right there below on the ground was our demonic dog. That dog has gone on to not be with the Lord. I know that for a fact. The dog went to hell, I promise you. He was born a sinner, and he died a sinner. He never was redeemed, and he's just where every cat is at,

because that is, there's no way. You know how they say all dogs go to heaven, not that one. But we packed up our life, and we moved to Tampa, and it was never glorious. It was never beautiful. You look at the church now, and you're like, oh man, it's got it all together. Those early days were rough. We didn't have any place to meet. Only place we could find was a run-down dollar theater in South Tampa. Sat 190 people in these green, smelly seats. There was soda from the movie theater the night before all over the floor. Every time you walk, you just stick to the floor. And I remember preaching. It was maybe two weeks into this church. I'm preaching. There's commotion in the back. I'm thinking the Spirit of God is convicting someone. They're gonna run down to the altar. It wasn't the Spirit of God. It was a mouse had dropped from the ceiling, right on top of a lady in the back. They're all freaking out. You know what you do in a moment like that as a preacher, just once you know the behind the scenes? You dismiss the service. You're done. There's no way to recover that. I remember after the service, I just packed up. I went up the street to KFC and sat with a bucket of chicken by myself. Just depressed.

God, what are you gonna do? But God marked it. God used it. We were chosen by Him, and through the church, by God's grace, it has now grown, and now we have 12 campuses around the Tampa Bay area reaching thousands of people. We've seen so many people that were addicted set free, and so many people that are lost are now found, and so many marriages that were broken apart come back together. And it's not because we got it all together. It's because God's intent from the very beginning was that through the church His plan would unfold. And I want to give you a little glimpse of the behind-the-scenes. We're not this good. Like, when you look at upstage on the stage and the strategy, and you're like, man, they launched these campuses. They're so cool. And by the way, I got a big announcement for next Sunday. Can't give it away, but huge announcement. It's coming up. When you look at this, none of us are this strategic. None of us are that smart. I was a C student at best. That was my life growing up. I broke the record for our Christian school for the most detentions in one year. That's your boy right there. And then the 11th grade year, before the year was out, a month before, I get expelled from Christian school. Your boy's got a record. But God's used my life. And I want to give you hope today to the fact that God wants to use your life for something amazing. Look how Paul, as he's writing this passage, he describes his own life. Now, this is mind-blowing, because if we looked at Paul today, we would think he's like these social media celebrities out there, and they got it all together, and they know the Bible so well, and their life is just perfect. And look what Paul says about his life. I am the less than the least of the Lord's people. I'm the less. I am less than the rest of them. When you see all these great people, they know Bible more, they know this stuff more, and a lot of you guys would think of that about yourself, but you would disqualify yourself. But Paul looks at it as the very reason God chose his life. Paul knows something that we need to know. And here's what I want you to get today. Our issues don't determine our potential.

God does. And if you look at your issues, and if you look at your upbringing, and if you look at your failures, and you think there's no way God can use you, I want you to know you don't know the God that I serve. Because our God that I serve calls us in spite of us. Despite us. Despite our issues. And he's not letting those things limit us, because what I have found is the reason God uses broken people is that he uses us so that we don't get all the credit. Look what it says in 1 Corinthians. Brothers and sisters, think about what you were when you were called. Sometimes it's good to look back. Some of you, you just think, you're like, man, I got it all together. No, you don't got it all together. You're only a product of the grace of God. We look back to when God called us, we were broken, messed up, lost. I don't know about you, I'm grateful God called me. He says, look back. Not many of you were wise by human standards. Not many of you were influential. Not many of you were of noble birth. And some of y'all would look at your life and go, because I'm not those things, I'm not wise, I'm not influential, I don't have a great family tree. Guess what? You would disqualify yourselves. But Paul says, but God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. This is who God picks. This verse always makes me laugh because last summer they did this little moment in our service, if you were around last summer, where they honored me for 20 years of full-time ministry. So to do it, they had this video of all these pastors that were friends of mine talking. And I hadn't saw the video until that morning. Well, the video started with a friend of mine, Pastor JJ from Orlando. He preached here a few weeks ago, blew it up, unbelievable. And so he started the video. So I'm hearing him, he goes, here's how he started the video. He goes, if God can use Aaron, God can use anybody. I'm sitting on the front row and I'm like, what? And then he quoted this passage, 1 Corinthians. He says, you know, God uses the foolish things of the world to profound. I'm sitting there, I'm like the weak things of the world. I'm like, and he keeps going on and on. And I told them after the service, true story, I go edit that video, take his part out. I get it, but come on, don't shame your boy here. That's like weird. But I think it's important for us to realize it's true. It's true that not all of us, that we don't have it together. Like we should, we're, we're not as good as we put on

social media. And the reality is, is that's okay because that's who God uses. We can celebrate that. God uses the least he uses. the broken. He uses the poor. He uses those from bad family upbringings. And here's what I've learned. God uses our weakness and brokenness so that in the end, he alone receives the glory. How in the world are you gonna see that situation turn out for the good? You know how? Because God's gonna step in and he's gonna get the glory. You're from a broken home. Your grandparents were divorced. Your parents were divorced. And now you're in a marriage and they're gonna go, there's no way it's gonna survive. You're gonna go, guess what? Despite what I've been through, I'm surrendered to God. And the new situation starts with me. And guess what? It's not because I've been raised the right way. It's because I have a God on my side that if he's working in my life, he can turn it for the good and only he gets the glory for it. That's the good news. The good news is that we submit ourselves to God and he gets the glory despite our imperfections and what we are. So what do we do? We understand that we are called by God to do something amazing. And I want you to lean into it in this series because hear me out, Radiant. You are called by God and for God. You're called by him and for him. And here's the reality. Until you submit to that calling, nothing in your life will make sense. You have so many things that are pulling for your attention, pulling for your focus, pulling for the drive of what you're gonna make your life about. And my challenge for you is submit yourself to the call of God. God is calling you to something significant and nothing in your life will make sense until you submit yourself to him. So what is God calling us to? Well, he's calling us to what the mission of the church is. Because remember, everything God wants to accomplish is through the church. Through the church. So what is the mission of Radiant Church? Well, it's the Great Commission, but we broke it down into three parts. What is the Great Commission for us? It is that we move people towards Christ. So we're reaching people. We're moving them towards community. We're connecting them in the body of Christ and towards their calling. We're gonna help equip you to be who God's called you to be. This is the mission of your church, but it's also the mission of the church of Jesus. Globally, we're called to move people towards Christ, community, and their calling. So let me make this very personal for you, because when I say you're chosen by God, this is what I mean from it, and I want to break it down. And then over the next four weeks, we're gonna take it even deeper, and it's gonna be a very challenging and helpful series for your life. Number one,

write it down in your notes. I am chosen for a relationship with Christ. I am chosen for a relationship with Christ. Our first calling and our first assignment is to Jesus. The most important thing you will ever do with your life is not attend church, not get the right friends, not serve people. The most important thing you will do with your life is to submit your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. It is not about finding success or finding significance. It's about surrendering and giving your life over to Jesus that can save you from your sins. This is the primary importance. And you can't bypass this. We live in a world who has a deep spiritual hunger right now. Have you seen it in our world? People are craving spirituality. They're craving God more than ever. The problem with it is you can't access that by any other way other than Jesus. You go on TikTok, they'll tell you all these different ways you can become more spiritual, more connected with God. But you're bypassing the process, and the process is not through some random worldly strategy. The process is to take up your cross, follow him, and by faith we submit our lives to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. This summer we had a fun experience with my kids. Went on a little trip with them, and on this trip they were able to get scuba certified, my two oldest ones. Now, I've been certified for years. I love diving. I've gone all over the world and dive. It's like one of my favorite things to do. But I've always dreamed about doing it with my family, and my wife will not get in any water where there's a shark ever possible. So she's out in that deal. But my two older girls, I said, hey, would y'all be interested in getting scuba certified? They're like, yeah, let's do it. Let's go dive. Let's go see some sharks. Let's go see some turtles. And I go, well, you got to take a class. They go, well, that's not fun. And I was like, but that's the process. So for two days they sat in front of a computer, and they took the courses, and then they had to get in the pool, and had to do all the training. And I remember they came back, they're like, oh, it's so boring. It's so much work. I'm like, but that's the process. You don't get to the end game without the process. So I'm like, okay, I'm going to do it. And they're like, When it comes to a relationship with God, you don't get there by avoiding the steps that it takes to get there. And the process to a relationship with God is submitting yourself to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

The Bible says salvation, the salvation for your soul, is found in no one else, for there's no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved. Listen, there's a lot of great practices out there. There's a lot of great ideas out there. There's a lot of things that can calm your mind for a little bit. All of those things are secondary than submitting yourself and saying, no, I call on the name of Jesus Christ. And by that name, I am saved. This is how your soul is saved. The Bible tells us this way. Paul, again, chapter two of the book of Ephesians. We're gonna be a lot in the book of Ephesians this next month. He says, for it is my grace that you've been saved. What is grace? The same grace Paul just talked about, the grace that calls you. When I say you're chosen by God, it's his grace that calls you despite who you are. So you got your life messed up. You're in sin. Great, aren't we grateful for the grace of God that saves us in spite of us? He says, by grace, you're saved. Through faith, he says, it is not of yourselves. It is a gift of God, not by works so that no one can boast.

Like nobody can brag about their spiritual life. Look how I got it all together because we are saved by the grace of God. He says, for we are God's handiwork created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. I love this verse, but a lot of us only quote verse 10. I'm created by God to do good works. I'm gonna do something with my life. And you don't realize that only happens when you go through the process. You gotta be saved by grace first. You gotta actually submit yourself to the lordship of Jesus Christ. Hear me out. We have a problem in our churches today because people believe that because they go to church, they're a Christian. Being in church does not make you a Christian. I wanna help remove this idea out of your mind. I'm in the room. I sing the songs. I listen to the message. I must have secured my spot in heaven. That's a lie because being in church doesn't make you a Christian. Being in Christ does. It's very different because you can be in the room and separated from God. And my concern for the body of Christ globally

is we have a lot of people that come to church that have not submitted themselves to the lordship of Jesus Christ. They're in church, but not in Christ. And there's a big difference between the two of those. So my challenge is let this be the time of your life where you don't just get in the room, but you get in Christ. And you say, God, transform me from the inside out. I give every part of me to you. As you submit yourself to the lordship of Jesus Christ, that's where salvation comes. And that's when your life is forever changed. Can I hear a good amen today in Tampa Bay? The Bible says in Philippians chapter three, Paul says, whatever regains to me, talking about this idea of moving towards Christ. And we're gonna talk about this a lot next Sunday, by the way. He goes, whatever regains to me, now I consider them lost for the sake of Christ. The most important thing you're ever gonna do is lean in and grow in that relationship with Christ. It's started by grace, and then you grow in that relationship. He says, for whatever is more, I consider everything a loss. Everything else, building a great business, getting social media followers, getting married, everything else is a loss

because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, like just knowing Jesus more. That's the goal, that's the aim. For whose sake I've lost all things. And by the way, you should have lost some things when you gave your life to Jesus. There should have been some friends that didn't come with you. There should have been some lifestyles that you left behind because following Jesus should cost you something. And he says, I consider them garbage. Now, by the way, that word garbage is a really bad and poor translation. Let me tell you what the actual Greek says about this word. It's the word dung, poo-poo. Now, I bet you didn't think on your bingo card for 2026, you'd hear your pastor say his dog went to hell and poo-poo in the same Sunday. You're welcome, I've been gone for six weeks, I'm ready. He says, everything in my life is poo-poo, it's dung, it's mess compared to the what? That I might gain Christ. That's the perspective we should have is that everything else is a loss, that I might know God more and more and more. And let it be said of your life that your number one ambition is not your career, is not your relationship, is not even your family, but your number one ambition is that you might move towards Christ

in a life-giving, real relationship with him. Can I hear an amen today across Tampa Bay, amen? Here's your. next steps in this. My question is for you is, are you really saved? Like, have you? I didn't ask if you're in church. I asked if you've submitted your life to Jesus. Your next question is, have you gone public with water baptism? You go, Well, as a baby, I had this moment. They sprinkled me. That's great. But the Bible says you should repent and be baptized. That's the process. So there is there's a moment where you become conscious of your sin and you repent and you now say, Okay, now that I'm saved, I'm going public in front of my church family. And it's not enough just to be private in this thing. You've got to go public. And let me tell you, baptism does not save you. We are saved by the grace of God. But baptism is a public declaration that you have given your life over to Jesus, and you don't need to keep it yourself. Our next opportunities in two or three weeks from now, you can sign up on our website. I want you to go public with your faith and say, I have given my life to Christ. And number three, are you intentionally growing in this? Are you actually growing closer to Christ? This is what this whole series is about. This is what next Sunday is about. I'm going to challenge you. I'm moving deep in your relationship with Christ. Number two. First of all, I'm chosen for a relationship with Christ. Number two. I'm chosen for a community of faith. We are chosen for a community of faith. Anything significant you're going to do in your life is going to be done on a team in a community. You don't see Olympic athletes training alone. You don't see Navy SEALs training alone. You don't see championship teams training alone. The harder the mission, the more essential the team. And when it comes to your spiritual growth, God has not left you alone. He puts you on a team called the local church, and it is through the church that you are developed into what God has called you to be. And there's a lie out there that says it's just you and Jesus. And let me just tell you, that is a lie that will destroy the future of your walk with God. Because if the enemy

can get you isolated, he's already got you mostly beat. He just gets you alone. Don't worry about them. Don't let them speak in your life. Don't let them say something about you. Don't let them challenge you. And then what does he do? He gets you isolated. And how many times have we seen people time and time again, they raise their hand, they're sincere in giving their life to Jesus. And then it fades out. Why? Because they never got connected with the body of Christ that actually is used to develop that faith in their life. That's why Paul says his intent was now how does this work through the church? It's through the church that God has put this this system together, this body of Christ together, that the manifold wisdom of God should be named known, you will know more about God, you will be developed as you're connected with the church. You can write it on your notes this way, because we you can start alone. We can start alone. But we are only sustained together. There's many people that start this walk of faith, and never sustain it because they never get the right friends in their life to help sustain it. This is why groups are massively important, that you have community around you to connect with you, to challenge you, to help you grow in your faith. Paul goes, let's go to the next chapter, chapter four of the book of Ephesians. So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors, the teachers. This is church leadership. This is this is the eldership of the church. This is your location, pastor. This is the systems we put in place that God himself put in place. To do what? To equip his people for the works of service. So the church leadership exists to help you walk in the call of God for your life. So that the body of Christ may be built up. So we're not weak. We're not we're not sitting there at surface level. We're built up until we've reached the unity of the faith. I don't know about you. I don't think we've reached the unity of faith yet. So we got a lot of work to do. And the knowledge of the Son of God and become, what is that next word? Mature. Mature. This is the goal. The goal of you being a part of the local church is your maturity. So we're in the church. We're obtaining the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. This verse talks

about this is the model that God gave us. He says you get saved. You get planted in a church. Someone equips you for the work of ministry and God builds you up and helps you become mature. Hear me out. I understand the pushback about church, but the church isn't perfect and it's never meant to be, but it's still God's plan for your maturity. And we have to be okay with the fact that the church isn't perfect. You have to be okay with the fact that your pastor isn't perfect, that your small group leader isn't perfect. None of us got it together. And if there was a perfect church, please don't show up because you would ruin it. Because every single one of y'all got issues. But the church was never meant to be a place with perfect people gathering. It's a group of saved people by the grace of God that are now becoming mature in who God's called them to be by working with one another to be who God's called us to be. So my questions for you is, are you planted in your church? Like, I understand you show up some Sundays, but are you actually planted here? Are you connected? This is why we do open house once a month and we give an opportunity for you to get planted, get connected, because then you can take the next step is I'm not just planted, I'm involved in my church. Like I'm involved, I'm giving, I'm serving, I'm attending, I'm like involved in it. We do marriage conference, we're showing up, we're gonna do groups, I'm gonna be part of this thing. Why? Because I'm involved in the life of the church

because that's where true growth happens. And then the third part of this is, am I leading in the church? There's some of you, you've been around for decades as a believer. God's done substantial things in your life. You know the things of God, and yet nobody's been impacted for it. And my challenge for you is it's time to step up. It's time to be who God's called you to be. We need people who are disciples that are making disciples of Jesus Christ. And the way we do that is for people to get off the sidelines and onto the front lines and say, I'm not just gonna be part of this thing, I'm gonna be a leader in this thing. And watch how God can use your life to make a massive difference in somebody else's life. Check out this one story of a girl who said yes to the call of God. My name is Rachel Lucas, and I've been attending the Hillsborough campus with my husband for the past four years, and it's our home. When it comes to attending church, to us that means being involved in more than just the Sunday experience. When we're both looking for community and we're looking to be known by people and to have other people know our story,

we feel like groups is where that happens the best. I was a little nervous to join the intercessory prayer group initially because I wasn't the most confident praying out loud, but I knew that I could. And just hearing how other people prayed and how they received me was really comforting. And after a period of six to eight months, they had reached out to me to ask if I wanted to lead. I've always felt a call to lead and to facilitate small groups because I know the impact that they've had on my personal faith journey. I wouldn't be where I'm at today without other people stepping up and leading groups. And so God has placed it on my heart to do it for the next generation. Discipleship to me is when you're not only learning the ways of Jesus, but living the ways of Jesus and then reproducing that in other people. So in our small group, there's this girl named Jazlyn who's been really curious about discipleship, asking what that means and what that looks like. Through our time together, she has been faithful to meet and ask really great questions. And I've seen her even be able to bear fruit in her life where she's now confident in praying over people who she never would have prayed over before. You don't have to be qualified in every spiritual discipline to be able to teach someone else what you have learned.

God will show you the way. He will lead you by his spirit. Being in a group makes the church experience more personal. There's so much joy that happens when you get to see other people fall in love with Jesus more and understand the gospel personally. And as a group leader, you get to facilitate being in the room. You get to invite people in and create a space where they can feel safe, where they can feel heard and known and seen. There's so many different walks of life and believers are in different stages. And it encourages you to continue to want to connect and want to be a part of something bigger. I don't know about you, but I'm grateful for people who say yes to the call of God on their life, to say, I'm not just gonna sit on the sidelines, but I'm gonna do my part to take what I've learned and help disciple other people. And my challenge for you is to take this next challenge and go all in with leading a group this next semester. You go, Aaron, you have no clue of what I've gone through in my life. Let me just tell you, if God can use Paul and if God can use me, I'll tell you God can use your life and he can use you and will help you. If you'll take the time and you tap that tag right in front of you,

we'll help equip you over this next month. And maybe that's helping you find the right material. Some people use the sermon deep dive material and that's content from Sundays that takes you a little bit further. We'll resource you, whether it's a group that's an activity group or whether it's something maybe for moms or couples or maybe just a Bible study in our church. We're actually changing the name from. radiant groups at Radiant, to Radiant discipleship groups, because we believe all discipleship at our church happens in the context of these relationships that are built at Radiant Church. So I want to challenge you. Don't just sit on the sidelines. This is your semester. Some of you, God's done unbelievable things in your life. It's time for you to use what God's done to now impact other people's life. You are chosen for a community of faith. The last one, we'll close with this one, we'll be done pretty quick, is the third one, is that you are chosen for a calling that truly changes the world. There's something supernatural that God wants to do in you and through you. A calling that changes the world. The first two that we talked about on this list are about you.

You have a relationship with Christ. You have a community of faith that God puts you in. It's beautiful. But the third one is now we have a calling that actually needs to go out of this room and change the world around us. I don't know what it is in your life, but I'll tell you, our world is very broken. Our world is messed up. And what they need is they need the church to be mobilized, to be equipped, that as we come together, we can't forsake this gathering. This gathering really matters. That as we come together, we get refreshed and we hear from God's word and we worship together. We encourage one another. We make friends with one another. But it doesn't stop with us. We have to then go out into a lost and dying world and bring Jesus to them. That's what God wants to see happen. Remember, it's through the church. This mystery is made known. And as you go out, we should impact the world around us. This is the call of the church. I remember growing up in the church, we had a lot of services. I don't know if you grew up in the 80s, 90s. It was like Sunday school, Sunday church. We had Sunday night church.

I don't know anything about no Sunday night church. Then we had Tuesday night prayer meeting, Wednesday night youth group, Friday night revival. We were in church all the time. And we missed the point that we were gathering for us, but we didn't realize we were gathering to get filled up, to go out and go change the world. Hear me out, Radiant. We are saved to be sent. God chooses your life, draws you into a relationship with Jesus Christ, plants you in a community of faith, so that then you can go out and be sent out into a lost and dying world and bring the hope of Jesus Christ to them. Jesus says, as you sent me into the world, talking about to the Father, now I send them. You're ambassadors of Christ. Everywhere you go, when you go to the gym, when you go to your workplace, when you go to your home, everywhere you go, you represent Jesus and you bring the hope of Jesus to that situation. God calls us to the church, and then we become the church, and then we go out and we advance the church. That's the call of our lives, because it is through the church that God accomplishes his plans in a lost and broken world.

You go, well, they've got so many issues. You're the solution to that issue. You go, I really wish God would reach my work. That's why he put you there. I wish God would fix my family. That's why he put you in the middle of it. I wish God would fix my school. That's why he puts you in that class, because you are the hands and feet of Jesus. You are the church. You ever hear people say this? I wish the church would do X, Y, and Z. Let me just let you in on it. You're the church. You're the solution. Whatever's broken in our world today that we wanna see fixed is not gonna happen because some agency or some organization puts it together. It's gonna be because the church of Jesus Christ got its act together, got united, and say, we're gonna live on mission to move this generation towards Christ, towards community, and towards their calling. And together, like the church in Ephesus, we can change the world because it is through the church that God's plan is accomplished in the world today. Aren't you glad to be part of God's plan? Woo! Let me end with this. I know many of you look at your own selves

in moments like this and go, there's no way God can use me. Let me just let you know, God doesn't look for the most qualified. He looks for the most available. And you go, Aaron, you don't understand my past, and you don't understand what I've gone through, and you don't understand what I'm going through. Open yourselves up to being available from God and watch how he'll use your life. Last story, and we're done. I became a youth pastor when I was very young. I mean, I was so underqualified, and I shouldn't have got the job they asked me to take on this youth group, and I felt like there's no way I could. The youth pastors that had gone before me there were these dynamic communicators and leaders, and so when they asked me, I said no at first, because one, I didn't like teenagers. I thought that was like a qualification. And they said no. It doesn't matter if you don't like him. I was like, all right. So I remember the first week I took the job, I was so overwhelmed with the idea that God would choose me. And I remember calling my youth pastor, who preaches here every year, Pastor Richard. I remember calling him and I've shared this story. He's shared this story before,

where I called him and I was just crying. And I go, Pastor Richard, I don't think I can do this. I'm not a great preacher. I'm not good at this stuff. I can't lead well. I don't have the experience. I'm not like you. And by the way, all those feelings, I still feel all the time. Every time I come up on the stage, I feel like there's no way I'm qualified. I don't know what I can do. What can I offer them? There's no way. The enemy still plays in my mind. And these words from Pastor Richard come to my mind every time. This was, I don't know how many years ago, but he goes, Aaron, I felt the exact same way when God called me. And I asked my pastor, I said, there's just no way I can do this. And my pastor looked at me and he said this phrase. He says, Richard, if God called your life, nobody can do it better than you. He said, so Aaron, if God called you to be a youth pastor, then he believes nobody can do it better than you. I've lived by that phrase since that moment. Every opportunity I'm given, I don't know how, I don't know why God's called me, but I believe it. That if God called me,

then he believes nobody can do it better. I've got five kids to raise. I have no clue what to do, but I'm continually encouraged that if God called me to it, then nobody can do it better than me. I'm gonna be a godly husband and I don't know how to do it, but if God called me to it, nobody can do it better than me. I've got a church to run that I have no clue what I'm doing, but I believe that if God called me to be the pastor of Radiant Church, nobody can do it better than me. And if God called you to that family, and if God called you to that workplace, and if God called you to those children, and if God called you to that neighborhood, nobody can do it better than you. Don't doubt the call of God. He will equip you to accomplish what he has assigned you to do with your life. Come on, church, are y'all with me today? So close your eyes all over the room. I know it went long today. That's what you get for six weeks, all right? Just take a second. Can you ask the Holy Spirit, what is he challenging you with?