The Joy of Knowing Jesus | Through the Church

Take out your notes, we are containing our series called Through the Church, Through the Church. We are looking at how through the church, God wants to build your life and help you walk into the purposes and the plans that he has for you. We are looking at this whole series through the verse, the passage in Ephesians chapter three. So I want you to take your Bibles, open there. We're gonna be deep into the book of Ephesians today. This whole series is all through the book of Ephesians, but we're in Ephesians chapter three. We'll pick up in our key verse. Paul started it last week saying, listen, I'm the less of all the apostles, the least of all the people that God should use, but aren't you grateful that God doesn't use us because of our talents, because of our upbringing, because of who our parents are? He uses us because he gets the glory only. Can I hear a good amen today, church? And then he says that now his intent, talking about Jesus's intent, was that now through the, oh come on, help me at every campus, through the what? Through the church. That's the whole idea of this series, that through the church, that his manifold wisdom should be made known

to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. What is he telling us? He's saying that it is through the mission of the church that he accomplishes what he wants to accomplish in a region. So that's why the church is vitally important to your life, but it's also vitally important to the communities God's called us to reach. The mission here at Radiant Church, that we exist to move people towards Christ, community, and their calling, as we believe this is the great commission in 2026 language. Like, hey, we're moving people towards Christ. We're seeing people get saved, going to the depths of God, into the community of faith, where real life change happens, and into the calling that each of you have on your life. And we're gonna lean into the first one today, this idea of moving people towards Christ. I wanna talk to you for a few minutes today about the joy of knowing Jesus. My great passion and desire, as you hear this message today, is that you would be re-captivated with the joy of knowing Jesus. You can miss out on a lot of things.

Don't miss out on the joy of knowing Jesus. I had a painful experience the other day that I'll share with you as the church. Katie and I were with the kids. We were dropping Katie and one of the kids off to get their doctor appointment. And as we go and drop them off, I'm in the car waiting, and as I'm waiting, I have this moment of depravity where I sit there and go, I'm so hungry, I need a treat. You ever have those moments where you're just like, I just need something sweet, just something sweet. I try to eat clean, try to eat a little healthy, but just sometimes the flesh is powerful. And so I have three of my kids in the car with me, couple of them were with Katie. There's a lot of us, all right? And as we're in the car, I said, hey, we're gonna run up the street to go grab something. I go up the street, and there's a Wendy's right there. I go, I'm gonna go through the Wendy's drive-thru. You know you're depraved when that's the solution. As I go through the drive-thru, I'm always looking around,

making sure nobody can see me, nobody can judge me, just trying to be subtle about this. I go through, I order my Frosty right there. You gotta also order a little bit of fries, because how many of you know you gotta dip the fries into the Frosty? I know, I know, I know. Some of y'all are gonna leave to go get your food right now, but hold on. So I order my food. The kids want something. I tell them we're on a budget, can't happen, so. So. So. True story, okay? I get to the door to where they're now gonna bring the food out to me, but my van, I'm driving Katie's van, it's a little to the side, so I'm waiting there, and while I'm waiting there, I thought, you know, I'm just gonna turn it off for just a second, so I push the button and turn off the car. Well, then they go and they bring me their food, I pay, they bring the food, I'm sitting there,

and while I'm sitting there, I go to turn the car back on, and it says there's no key in the car. It's in Katie's purse in the doctor's office. Now, I don't know if you've ever had this moment. You can't move the vehicle. I'm Googling what I can do, the drive-thru line's backed up, and these teenagers have to get out of the place. Like, I don't know if you've ever had this moment where the system goes up. They're getting out. They're asking everybody to pull back, you know, and as they're exiting, they're reversing out of the single-file drive-thru line. While they're doing this, the heavens open and it starts pouring rain. So for the next 15 minutes, I'm sitting there just in the drive-thru line as these poor teenagers are running food out to people in the drive-thru, manually taking their orders, running it back and forth, and I'm sitting there, I have a moment where I just go, do I eat my Frosty now? I think I just caved, just watching them. They're judging me. None of them are coming to the church after this moment. I'm slowly removing my Pray First bracelet to remove any identity.

I have to get Katie an Uber. She shows up to the thing about 15 minutes later. It's the most embarrassing thing that's happened to me in years in the drive-thru line. This is like the Lord's way of saying, that's what you get, you know what I mean? But nothing was moving forward. I had it all ready. I had my food, I had the vehicle. We had gas, I had the kids. But without the key, it's pointless. Y'all with me? It's the same with your walk with God. You can be in the church. You can have everything you think put all together. You can have your Bible. You can have the underline. You can have the whole thing. Without Jesus, this whole thing's pointless. You're missing out on the whole purpose if you don't realize that Jesus is what it is actually about. And I wanna help you in this to move towards that relationship with Christ because you have to recognize it takes intentionality to grow in what matters most in life. And if you're not intentional to say, you know what? I'm making sure that the primary focus of my life is about that I'm growing in my relationship with Jesus Christ, then you will miss out on what life is all about.

If you ask 100 Christians, what is the primary thing that Christianity is all about? Many people say so many different things. Well, we're gonna help the poor and we gotta reach out to people and we gotta have good community and we gotta be a part of church. All those things are great. The primary thing, the number one mission of your life is that you might know Jesus. And what I wanna help you with today at every one of our campuses is let you know you were created to have a vibrant, real relationship with the God of the universe. Paul gives us this challenge in Ephesians chapter three. He says the intent is that through the church, the manifold wisdom of God would be made known. And then he gives a prayer for the church, the church in Ephesus that I believe is the prayer for all of our lives today. He says it this way. He says, I pray that out of his glorious riches, he may strengthen you with the power through his spirit and your inner being. First of all, I love how Paul starts with the inner being of you. It's not about what you post on social media. It's not about how you look like you got it all together. It's about the inner being of your life. That inside of you, the inner being,

that you might know these glorious riches. So what is that glorious riches? Verse 17, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts and he dwells in our hearts through what? Through faith. And I pray that you, you radiant church, being rooted and established in love, may have power together with the Lord's holy people. And this is my prayer for you as we explore the joy of knowing Jesus, that you would be able to grasp how wide and how long and how high and how deep is the love of Christ. And to know this love that surpasses knowledge and that you may be filled to the measure of the fullness of God. Look at those words, that you may know him and be filled up to the measure of the fullness of God. And then verse 20 is that famous passage. We use it for our whole capital campaign we're in right now. It says, now to him who's able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine according to his power that's at work within us. Everybody wants the immeasurably more and we don't realize the immeasurably more comes out of an overflow of knowing God and be filled with the fullness of him. But let's not go for the immeasurably more and miss out on the more of knowing Christ first. He says, and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever and all God's people said, amen, amen.

Hear me out, write it down in your notes this way because the goal of every believer is to know God and to be filled with his fullness. If you were to make your life about one aim, may it be this, that your goal would be to know God and to be filled with the fullness of him. Can I just say it with all love, smiling right at that camera, you're all filled with something. You're all filled with something. Some of you, you're filled with rage. Some of you are filled with ambition. Some of you, you're filled with drive. Some of you are just filled with a lot of the world. Some of you are filled with spirituality and trying to do things right. But my goal as your pastor is that through the church. You'd be filled with Jesus. What's possible with a church that's filled with Jesus that goes out into a lost and dying world? That's what'll change the world. That's why Paul says that passage that we looked at last week, let's look at it a little bit deeper. He says, what is more, I consider everything is a loss. Everything. It's not pointless, but it's pointless in comparison to what? To the worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. That's how you know you're being moved towards Christ. That the primary ambition of my life is that everything else is secondary to Jesus.

Whose for his sake I've lost all things, I consider them garbage. I told you last week that word garbage is a bad translation. It actually is the word poo-poo. Dung. It's the idea, it's the lowest of the lowest out there. Everything else is that I might gain Christ. That's my desire for your life, that you might understand and be grasped with how important it is that Jesus consumes every area of your life. In the book of Colossians, it talks about the supremacy of Christ, about who he is. He says it this way, for in Christ the fullness of the deity lives. So in Jesus, we see the fullness of the deity in bodily form. And then look at this, now it connects it with you. And in Christ, you have been brought into fullness. So you find that satisfaction when you find it in God. Because hear me out, you're trying to find satisfaction in something, and those things in the world can't satisfy. Because you all know what it's like to go, if I just get in this relationship, I'll get satisfied. And you get in the relationship and you realize that doesn't satisfy. If I just get to this level financially,

then it'll satisfy. If I just get my student loans paid off, it'll satisfy. And then you get there and you realize, whoa, whoa, whoa, what I was going for can't fill me because you're looking at the wrong thing. That's why I wanna change our pursuit. It's not after that stuff, it's after him. Because St. Augustine said it this way, that Christ is not valued at all unless he is valued above all. And I pray over your life that Christ is not an add-on to your already busy life, but that he would be the pursuit, the aim, the drive of everything you do. Why do we do events here at Radiant Church? Why do we do services? Why are we trying to launch campuses, why? Because we wanna raise up a group of people that first and foremost, their primary ministry is to move towards Christ. That we might know him, that we might have a relationship with him. So I wanna tell you about the joy of knowing Jesus. Three things that I've found in this passage that is so significant for us to understand why it's such a joy to know Jesus. Number one, it's the joy of knowing Jesus because it's a life of faith. It's a life of faith.

Going back to my horrible Wendy's experience, I had everything except for the key. And when it comes to the car, it just doesn't move without the key. And when it comes to your life, you cannot move forward in this relationship with God without faith. Faith is that key. So he tells us in the passage, Ephesians chapter three, what does he say? So Christ may dwell in your hearts through your good intentions. Is that what it says? No. May Christ dwell in your heart through your generosity. No. May Christ dwell in your heart through your positive vibes, dude. Just think the right thing. No, no, no. It's not what it says. Here's how Christ dwells in your heart. It happens through, let's say it out loud, what? Through faith. Through faith. So it happens through faith. This is a life of faith. It's where you take a moment and you say, I don't understand it all, but I'm putting my life in his hands, and why?

That's an act of faith, and that's where Christ dwells in our hearts. Write it down in your notes this way, because anything significant in God's kingdom is accessed through faith. This is how we experience all that God wants us to experience, because we're living a life of faith. So your salvation starts with faith. That's what faith is, Hebrews tells us. It is confidence in what we hope for, assurance about what we do not see. And the world doesn't understand this. The world does not understand that you put your hope in him, but where is he? Why can't you see him? I need tangible. No, no, no. We start this thing in faith. We start this thing saying we're trusting God, even when we don't understand it all, but here's my challenge for you is don't just start it in faith. Continue to live it in faith. This is the joy of. knowing Jesus, that I surrendered my life to him, and now he's in charge, and as he's in charge, the rest of my life should be marked with what the start of my spiritual life started with,

which is faith. That's what he tells us in Romans chapter five. Look at this. Since we have been justified through faith, that word justified, let me give you a cool definition. Justified means just as if you never sinned. So we've been justified. Like when you give your life to Jesus, it's as if you had never sinned before in your life. Before the eyes of God, you were looked at totally pure. How do you experience that? Through faith. So we put our trust in Jesus. We have peace with God. Why can we have peace with God? Because we're right with God because of Jesus. And then look what he says, through whom our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we now gain access by faith into the grace in which we now stand. Look at this passage. It's beautiful. You start in faith, then you gain access by faith into a life that now you stand in faith. Christians, look at me. At every location, your life in following Jesus should be marked by faith in everything. It started, I wrote it on this way. We are saved through faith, and now we stand in faith. In every area of your life.

So you started this relationship with Jesus, how? Through an act of faith. And by the way, if you've not been able to make that decision, you can today. You're not too far gone. You're not too broken. You're not too sinful. One act of faith, putting your trust in Jesus by the grace of God, saves you for an eternity. That's a big deal right there. But don't just let it start your walk. Let it sustain your walk. So you get a bad diagnosis. I'm standing in faith. Why? Not because of what the doctors told me, but because of who controls my life. I gave my life to Jesus. I have a joy. I'm knowing Jesus. And you know what? If God allowed this pain to go into my life, if he allowed this trial in my life, then I realize he's a good God, he's a good Father, and he's in charge, and he's gonna work it out in my life. So I have joy in knowing Jesus. Why? Why? Because I start this thing in faith, and then I sustain it in faith.

Let me just look right at the camera, because there's somebody. You're going through the worst season of your life. You're going through a massive amount of pain. Let me just tell you, press into Jesus more than ever before. Why? Because it is in that faith, it is in that trust that you realize you serve a good God, he is faithful, he is the author, and he is the perfecter. He has not left you. He's a good shepherd that's gonna walk with you, even through the most difficult seasons of your life. Can we take about 10 seconds and just give God some praise for the fact that he's good and he's faithful. So the joy of knowing Jesus starts with, it's a life of faith. No wonder it's so much fun, because it's filled with faith, it's a journey. Here's your second one, it's a life of depth. Meaning there are things that you don't know about God yet. So here's the issue. The issue happens in every relationship. Where you think you're in the relationship long enough, you just know what to do. So, by the way, this upcoming Friday, Katie and I will celebrate 16 years of marriage. 16 years, 16 years.

It's been such a joy. And here's the problem in this, is for either of us to think that we just, we know what they want, we know what they're gonna do. You gotta realize you're always learning about them. So for instance, the other day, I was putting some stuff away in the house, and I realized for the first time in 16 years, there is a specific way that you're supposed to put Tupperware away. I didn't know this. I didn't realize that that was in her mind, but was never conveyed to the rest of us. And so she's there, she's like, I cannot believe one of these kids put it away. I was like, yeah, that's crazy. It's wild they would do that. So I'm learning this, because you gotta realize in every relationship, there's always more to learn. Which by the way, just a little relationship advice, that's why you're always going on dates, always asking questions, why? Because you can always go deeper in the relationship. By the way, it's the same with your relationship with God. My big concern is that we get stagnant to think, I've been doing this for years, decades, I know what there is to know about God. Can I just tell you with all love as your pastor, you haven't scratched the surface to the depths of God.

There's more of God for you to know than you know right now. And our desire is that through our life, that we might know the depths of God. Look what Paul says. He says, I pray that you being rooted and established in love, may have power together with the Lord's holy people to grasp, oh, this is what we want. We wanna grasp how wide and long. And high and deep is the love of Christ. May that be the case for our lives, that we can know the depths of him. And then to be filled with the measure of all, the fullness of God. Look what he says, the fullness of God. When it comes to our lives, that this would be our pursuit in every day. May I be filled just a little bit more with Jesus. Just a little bit more of him. Chapter four, look what he goes on to say as he challenges the church. He says, then we'll no longer be infants tossed back and forth by waves. And this is some of your lives. Because you've shut, listen, you've settled for the shallow. And I'm calling you deeper. Where he says, you're an infant tossed back and forth by the waves,

blowing here and there by every wind of teaching and cunning and craftiness. You see one stupid TikTok video and your faith goes, oh, I don't know what to believe anymore. Get some roots down deep into the love of God. He says, instead of speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head that is Christ. Don't you want to be part of the mature body of Christ? That's the whole part of this series. That's why I talked about discipleship groups last week and challenged you to grow deeper in these things so that we might become the mature body of Christ. And here's what I've learned, is that you've got to be rooted in God's love, but you were only built up through the church. God builds you through the local body of believers. And that's why we're surrounded by the church. We're in the church. We're connected with groups. And while we're in this, what happens? We're sharpening each other. We're challenging each other because you are called to grow. Let me just say it this way. Let me give you a little illustration of a swimming pool. You got a swimming pool here. You look at the swimming pool. Let's just connect it a couple different ways.

One, it's your spiritual walk. So that's your body, your walk with God. But it's also the body of Christ, the church as a whole. This is a swimming pool. So if you see it from the top, it looks like one body. But if you see it to the side, there's a shallow end and there's a deep end. This is every Christian, but it's also every church. Every healthy church should have a shallow end where we can invite people into the depths of God. So people have, you know, we have running groups and pickleball groups and ways for connecting. We make a lot of jokes on the stage and we're laughing about cats and all that. Some people are just like, well, I just don't understand. Why are you not more serious? I'm like, can we please just have a little bit of a shallow end once in a while to where we can have a little bit of fun. I can make fun of myself and talk about Wendy's and all that kind of moment. But the goal of all of it is that you won't stay in the shallow end, but you will get into the depths of God, into the deep things of God. The problem with some Christians is the longer they're around, they get to experience the depths of God and all they want to do is swim in the depths of God while there are people in the shallow end

that God's called them to reach. And so let me just tell on two ends, you can't just stay in the depths. You can't just stay in and go, I'm just gonna be this monk that just separates myself and just dives in. Why? Because there's people that God's called you to disciple, to pull into the deep. You can't also be the person that stays in the shallow end. It's the kiddie pool. Like kiddie pools are great for a three-year-old. You're a 30-year-old. And you're splashing in the kiddie pool. Like, what are you doing for your Bible reading plan again? I'm just a Psalm-a-day again. You've been following the Lord for 20 years. It's time to get into the depths of God. But also don't be that person. Like a healthy church, by the way, is that we have entries into the shallow end and don't despise those people, don't look down on those people. There's gotta be ways to bring them in and then we bring them into the depths of God and then we train people up in how to live in the depths of God and then they can go back into the shallow end and reach people for the glory of God. This is a healthy church,

but it's also a healthy life for you. And as we live in this way, that we would be challenged to understand that as you're connected with the local church, we're gonna have events that are shallow end and deep end. We're gonna have Sundays that are gonna be filled with some shallow end stuff and then take you into some bit of the deep end with God. Be okay with it. This is the mission of the church, which by the way, we do have some major events coming up. Let me just give you these. We're about to close it out, but by the way, tonight, across all of our campuses, we have four of our campuses, we have fight night. Come on, men. We're gonna have some fun. So that'll be five o'clock. And again, we're gonna challenge men. This is a great way for you to invite friends that are disconnected from the church and we're gonna take them into the depths of God. By the way, we have a women's night. I'm not leaving you women out. We got Lisa Harper coming to Radiant Church, ladies and gentlemen. And so I think it'll be at like five or six campuses. We're gonna pack those out. Ladies, you'll always show up in force.

So put that date on your calendar. And then August 23rd through the 28th, that's our week of prayer and fasting. And I'll tell you, you don't get any deeper than waking up at 6 a.m. and fasting and coming into a Radiant Church location and praying. And we'll do it at multiple of our campuses. I think almost every campus will have prayer and fasting at 6 a.m. And if you can't join us in person, jump online. Why do we do all this? Because there's the depths of God that he wants you to know. He wants to pull you deeper. Don't just settle for the shallow. Go into the depths of knowing God. It is a joy to know Jesus. Why? Because there's always more to know. Always more. Number three, we'll close with this one. It's a life of impact. I love this. The joy of knowing Jesus, it's a life of faith. It's a faith journey. And you're gonna have to continue it in faith. It's a life of depth. There's always more to know. But it's also a life of impact. Meaning God does something unique inside of you that if it's real, will impact the world out there today.

It will impact them. I think of the early apostles when the church was started and the religious leaders were trying to shut them down. I don't know if you ever had those people that just say, you're too vocal about your faith. You're too passionate about your faith. You don't need to tell everybody about it. If you're really, really knowing God, eventually the people around you are gonna notice. And they'll try to shut you down just like they try to shut these early Christian leaders down in Acts chapter four. They called them again and commanded them not to speak or teach in the name of Jesus. In our politically correct culture today, many of us would shut our mouths and go, I guess we just can't talk about Jesus because it's gonna offend somebody. But Peter responded this way. What is right in God's eyes to listen to you or to him? You be the judges. As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard. I'll tell you, you wanna know when you truly have an experience with God is that you go out there into that world and you can't help but telling everybody else about it. It impacts the world around you. Give you a little illustration before we close today. My job for you is that you would get

into the depths of knowing God. That you would get filled up with him. Every Sunday, you come in here and worship and you get filled with the depths of God. You go to your radiant discipleship group and you're getting filled with the knowledge of God. And then you go into your workplace that by the way is so dry, so empty. And what do you do? You pour out into a world that is lost and dying. And you know what they need? They don't need empty, help me out. Thank you, Bobby. They don't need empty, shallow Christians. Because some of you, you're going I wanna make a difference but you don't have anything to give. So how do you get more to give? You get into the depths of who God is. That you might know him. And then watch what happens when you go and you raise up those kids and you're pouring out inside of them. What are you pouring out? You're pouring out what's consumed you on the inside. Some of you, your kids are getting the wrong thing poured into them, why? Because you're consumed with the wrong thing. Let us be a group of people that are consumed with the fullness of God. That we are so filled that we can't help

but pour out into our workplaces, into our neighbors, into our friends, why? Because there's boundless amounts of God. And I'm pouring out into it. And by the way, we know when you're empty too. We know when you're dry and here's the solution. It's not to just keep pouring out and be frustrated. It's to say, no, I'm leaning in. I'm going to men's night. I'm going to a group. I'm going to lean into worship. And why? I'm going to get filled up again. Because the God that we seek is a God that fills us up so that we can go into a lost and dying world and pour out the love of God to them. Come on, can we give Him some praise today, church? Do you believe it? What I have learned is that the more you fall in love with Jesus, the more you start to fall in love with the things Jesus loves. And Jesus is very clear about what He loves. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. There are lost people. There are children. There are teenagers, there are co-workers, there are neighbors that you are in contact with that don't know Christ yet. And the more you get to know Jesus, the more he's gonna wreck your heart

for those people who are far from him. That's my great desire, is that you would live a life of impact. What is a life of impact? That I care about what Jesus cares about. And Jesus cares about the one. He cares about the one. He cares about your lost friend, your lost family member. He cares about them. So my challenge for you is before we close out this message, is that as we draw near God, who's that one that he's putting on your mind? Maybe it is that child that has walked away from the faith. Maybe it is a co-worker that you work with and you know they're hurting, but you don't know the right approach to bring it up to them yet. My prayer for us as a church is that through the church, you would be moved towards Christ, and then you would be compelled to reach that person far from him. Spend time with Jesus every day. That's my goal, is to spend time with him every day. And through that, I make a list and I update that list every month. Mine's about five people. It fluctuates four to five people that I'm praying for every month that God would grip their heart and see their soul saved for eternity.

And I'm not asking you to make a list of four or five. I'm asking you to make a list of one that by the time this year is up and the next four months that God would use your life as you get filled to the fullness of God, to say, God, help me be used to reach that one. And I'm believing we're gonna rejoice together. So I just want you to take a second, write down that name, and then we're gonna pray for people today. Who's your one? Who's the one that doesn't know Christ yet? That as you're consumed with him, God will use your life to pour out his love to a lost and dying world. All right, you wrote it down? You got it? Commit it to prayer. And as you're filled to the fullness of God, as you draw closer to him, watch how God will use your life to see their lives transformed. Let's just take a moment before we transition the service. We're almost done. Just close your eyes all over the room and let's ask God, help us to know him more. Let's practice the sermon today. God, help us to walk into the depths of knowing you. Just take your hand right over all over the room

and put it right over your heart and just say, God, would you grip our heart with a fresh desire to know you more? God, help us that it would be our great aim to know you in a real, in a vibrant way. Forgive us. Come on, just ask him right now. Forgive us for the idols we put in our heart that we put over you. Forgive us for the pursuits that we've had that are not you. We pray right now that we would lean into following you more than ever before. In Jesus' name.