(This transcript was generated by AI. Apologies for any inacuracies)

Today, if you have your Bibles with you, we're going to start with Matthew chapter 28.

We're going to talk about stepping into our calling, stepping into our God-given assignment.

Matthew chapter 28, verses 18 through 20, the Bible says that Jesus came and told his disciples, I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth.

Says, therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you and be sure of this, I'm with you always, even to the end of the age.

So here, Jesus gives those first students or disciples, that's what a disciple is.

It's a student, it's a follower of a teacher and these are the disciples of Jesus and they're followers of Jesus.

And he says, here's what I need you to do, I'll need you to go and baptize people, identify them as Christ followers or as followers of me and then teach them all the things I have taught you and teach them to obey these things, step in to these things.

You know, God's got a great plan for each and every one of us.

No matter whether we're a toddler over in the nursery or we're a full-aged adult right here in this room, God has a plan for your life.

And many people go through life and they never discover that God-given design that God has given them, and they're always in search or in need of fulfilling a God-sized hole, let's call it, in their heart.

And that God-sized hole in people's heart begins with a personal relationship with God through Christ Jesus.

That will begin to fill that hole.

It's about a relationship.

Your Creator created you for a relationship.

And He created to guide you in that relationship and raise you up in that relationship and do great and mighty things in you and through you in that relationship.

And there's no better place to discover that relationship in life than when you're a young kid.

And that's why we're looking for servant leaders.

We want servant leaders that begin to pour in to young people at a young age to help them discover who God is so they don't get confused by the world.

Come on somebody.

Help them discover who God is and live out that God-given design each and every day of their life.

There's a lot of things competing against you and against young people.

There's a lot of things trying to tell them who they are.

And we live in a day and age where it gets diluted in who they are because there's so many things coming at them through social media, through news media, through people having opinions.

And what we strive to do here at Valorous Church is carry them to the truth, the truth of God's Word, and then begin to talk to them about who God says that they are.

And as they begin to learn about who he is, they begin to learn about what he says about them.

And our hopes and prayers is that, you know what, it don't take them 32 years like it did me to discover who they are in Christ Jesus.

Come on somebody, they'll discover it at a young age and God begin to do great and mighty things through them.

But today I'm going to talk about fulfilling your calling.

I'm going to talk from one of my favorite passages of scripture because there's some things that need to be deposited into these young people that also need to be deposited into us for us to fulfill our God-given calling.

And it's found in the Bible in 2 Timothy chapter 1 as Paul is giving a young Timothy, a new uprising leader, some instruction about about leading, about being who God has called him to be.

And this is what Paul tells Timothy in this letter beginning with verse 3 of 2 Timothy chapter 1.

He says, Timothy, he says, I thank God for you.

He says, I thank the creator for you, the God I serve with a clear conscience, just as my ancestors did.

He goes on to say, night and day, I constantly remember you in my prayers.

I long to see you again, for I remember your tears as we parted, as we separated ways.

And I will be filled with joy when we are together again.

How many of you know it's great to be with the people that you love dear in your heart?

Come on.

He says, I remember Timothy.

He says, I remember your genuine faith, for you share the faith that filled your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice.

And I know the same faith continues strong in you.

This is why I remind you, Timothy, to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid hands on you.

For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, of love, and of self-discipline.

So never be ashamed to tell others about our Lord, and don't be ashamed of me either, even though I am currently, I'm in prison for him.

With the strength God gives you, be ready to suffer with me for the sake of the good news.

For God saved us and called us.

He reminds Timothy, for God saved us and called us to live a holy life.

He did this not because we deserve it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time, to show his grace through Christ Jesus.

And so there's some principles laid out in this letter, in this passage, in the introduction of this letter, as Paul begins to speak to young Timothy about fulfilling his calling.

And these are principles that need to be deposited in each and every person, from young to old, in order to fulfill your God-given design.

And the first one is this, the principle is this, to stir up faith in your heart.

Stir up faith in young people's heart.

We're here to stir up your faith.

Each and every time we do a service here at Valorous Church is to stir up your faith in God, so that your faith in God will begin to master your life.

And the Bible says that we're going to raise up young leaders.

The first and foremost thing we need to do is begin to deposit this faith in them, this faith in God in them, and then stir that faith up.

Look what Paul tells Timothy again in 2 Timothy chapter 1, verse 5.

He says, I remember what?

Your genuine faith.

For you share the faith that first filled your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice.

In other words, this faith has been passed down for multiple generations.

And the Bible says it's genuine, and he says, I know this same faith continues in you.

So the question should be, what is faith?

And the Bible gives us an answer for what faith is.

And faith is this.

It says it this way in Hebrews 11, verse 1.

It says, faith is the confidence.

Everybody say confidence.

We want to instill confidence in young people.

We want to instill confidence in every person that comes in here that's broken and the world has shaken them.

Faith is confidence that what we hope for will actually happen.

It gives us assurance about things we cannot see.

So the Bible says that faith is hope for that things will actually happen.

So faith means that we tell people what is going to happen eternally with their life.

We tell people about the good news of Jesus came to rescue humanity from their sin to live in an eternal relationship with a great God.

We tell people about the future beyond death and decay.

We tell people about the future beyond the calamities that happen to them in life.

But faith is assurance that, you know what, I'm going to get through this.

And guess what?

Those things that we talk about, those good things are actually going to happen.

And so you got to deposit faith in people because the reality of it is they live in a world that tries to suck the life out of them.

And the only way they're going to get up and get through some of the challenges in life that come their way is deposit faith in them.

So how do we deposit faith that God's going to do what he says he's going to do?

Can I tell you the best way to model it for your kids?

It is to live out what you say you believe.

In other words, you know, kids tend to to follow a model much more than they do the words that come out of your mouth.

In other words, oftentimes kids are a reflection of what parents really believe.

In other words, you know, and they can get off track and they can be influenced by others and sometimes they do get off track and they're influenced by others, but the faith that we model and the faith that we live out can get deposited in our kids and if they do get off track they can get back on the right track because they've watched that, you know what, you actually believe something, you're assured of something, and they've watched your life go through some things, come on somebody, to get to the other side, and if you really want to deposit faith in people, I invite you to be a good model.

Come on, I invite you to be a good model.

In other words, faith is the action part of what you say you believe.

Faith isn't just lip service, faith is life service.

And what I mean by that is, do you actually believe that God is who he says he is?

Do you deposit that in your kids by your life's actions?

Let me give you an example.

We say that God is our provider.

Do you actually believe that?

Because faith takes action towards what it believes, come on.

And it models for their kids that God is their provider too.

That something else isn't just providing for them, but we believe that God provides for us.

I remember when my son was just like five years old, I chose to model that we, my family, Kim and I, believe that God provides everything for us.

And from the day he was born, you know what, God began to get a hold of my heart to be a part of the person that contributes to the kingdom, that gives to the kingdom financially.

And I was intentional.

When my son was growing up, I'm talking about when he was three years old, I was intentional to show him, I'm writing a check to the kingdom of God, to the church each and every month, because God is our provider.

And the reason I'm showing him this is because I wanted him to see God's provision and believe God's provision.

So I could build his faith that God was his provider too.

So I model what it looks like.

Do you really believe that God is a forgiver?

Then model for your children that God is a forgiver in spite of their sin.

In other words, step in and be a forgiver.

Begin to forgive people as you have what the Bible says have been forgiven.

And if we truly believe that God is a God that redeems us in spite of our past, in spite of what we've done, in spite of our mistakes, in spite of us getting off track, in spite of us missing the mark of God's glorious standard, then let's live like forgiven people and be people who forgive and don't hold grudges.

Come on, somebody.

I'm talking to you how to model faith.

Because we talk a big game about who we have faith in.

But the reality of it is, I'm telling you right now, young people are watching what you do, not just what you say.

Is your life in discord?

Do you live every day like you got faith in something else besides a good God who's going to step into all circumstances and all challenges in all situations?

Or do you model anxiety?

Do you worry about everything instead of truly worship a God, instead of worrying about everything?

Because I'm telling you right now, you want to plant faith in somebody's heart.

Talk about the good news of who Jesus is, but live your life in such a way that it models who he is.

It's one of the most powerful ways to plant faith in people.

We're a church who lives by faith in the Son of God, in Christ Jesus.

And we believe in a holistic ministry, in a God who restores people holistically.

Yes, my body is decaying.

Yes, my body is falling apart, but my hope is not in this body.

My hope is in the body to come.

So I live in this flesh, in putting faith in the Son of a resurrected Jesus Christ.

Come on somebody.

And I don't just depend on here and now, I depend on what is still yet to come.

In other words, I get up with audacity each and every day to keep on keeping on, in spite of what is decaying.

Because I believe in resurrection.

And again, I believe in the resurrection to come for humanity.

And I believe that God's going to do what he says he's going to do.

And so again, let's be a people who don't, we don't disarm the good news of Christ, but we live out the good news of Christ in such a way that it deposits faith in people.

Listen to what Romans chapter 1 verse 16 says.

It says, the gospel is what it is the power and to salvation for everyone who believes.

In other words, my faith is the forerunner of someone else's future.

Let me read it again.

Romans 1 verse 16 says, the gospel, it is the power and to salvation for everyone who believes.

So how do people begin to believe?

They hear the words of truth.

They watch someone else model what it means to live a life in the truth.

Come on.

And so my faith is the forerunner to someone else's, to someone else's future in Christ Jesus.

We have a responsibility to spread the good news, to go into all the world and make disciples.

But the greatest way you make a disciple, a student is to begin to live out what it truly means to surrender your heart to a father, to a great God who is for you and not against you.

And he is who he says he is in all circumstances, in all situations.

And so we have to deposit of faith in people.

If I'm gonna be successful in my calling or help others be successful in their calling, I have to build a fire underneath people's passion.

Build a fire under people's passion.

And again, I can't do everything for someone.

I can't do everything for my child.

But what I can do is as a parent I have a responsibility to build a fire underneath their passion.

In other words, they have to do something with their life.

They have to submit to the authority of God with their life and get on track and take steps towards the goodness of God.

Come on.

But my responsibility is to create an environment or build a fire underneath their passion.

That's what we try to do as a church.

I can't do it for you.

I can't live the changed life for you.

I can't make the commitment for you.

But what I can do is create an environment for you to make the commitment, get in on the game, and take a step towards the greatness of God with your heart and with your passion.

It's an invitation to say, hey, step into it.

Look what Paul says to Timothy, 2 Timothy 1, verse 6.

I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you.

It's our responsibility to begin to discover how these young people are wired at a young age and then figure out what God has made them passionate about and what gifts he's given them to be successful for his kingdom.

It's our responsibility to get into their world and begin to discover how God speaks to them.

Everybody don't learn the same way.

People have different learning styles.

And again, it's really important as a parent or as a leader to recognize that everybody on your team, they don't always learn the same way.

They don't always react the same way as everybody else does because of their gifting or their wiring or their passions.

Bible says this in Proverbs 22 verse six, says, train up a child in the way he should go.

And when he is old, he will not turn for it.

This word here in Proverbs 22 six is basically train up a child in the way they should go.

And that means according to their shape, their learning style, according to the way they are bent or wired by the creator.

It's not just a direction.

It's you as a parent, train up a child in the way they should go.

That means you need to examine how God has wired them, how he has created them, how he has shaped them.

And you have the responsibility to begin to nurture that, fan that into flame, and then help them discover the goodness of God.

And when they're old, they will not turn away from that.

Another passage when it talks about children is Psalms 127 verses three through five says, children are a gift from the Lord.

How many of you know that today?

Children are a gift from the Lord.

They are a reward from him.

In other words, they're a gift from God.

And they're simply on loan to parents.

As a gift from God, they belong to him.

The Bible says children born to a young man are like arrows in a warrior's hand.

What does this mean?

This is an analogy.

How joyful is the man whose quiver is full of them, has lots of them.

He will not be put to shame when he confronts his accusers at the city gate.

And so here it says children are like arrows in a warrior's hand.

Again, the writer is using an analogy that they would have understood in the day of this writing.

But simply what he's saying is children are wired differently.

They are built differently.

Just like the arrows in a warrior's hand that day was not something you went down to Bass Pro Shop and bought and every one of them were alike.

No, arrows in this day were different weights.

They had different shapes and they were different sizes.

They would go out and get sticks and they weighed different.

And the warrior would spend time with the various arrows to figure out when he pulled his bow back how far that arrow would shoot, how short that arrow would shoot.

Would it go to the left?

Would it go to the right?

In other words, the arrow in a warrior's hand that day had to be spent time with.

So when it came time to use the arrow, come on, he knew the arrow.

He knew the arrow in his hand and that arrow would bring him a victory in his older days.

The Bible says, you know what?

Kids are a lot like that.

Kids can help grow the kingdom of God.

If we would spend the time to understand their word, their weight, how they are shaped by a great God, and then we put them in their hand as we spend time with them, we shoot them.

And whenever we shoot them, they hit the target and do great and mighty things for the kingdom of God.

And they bring victory in the kingdom.

So this means we have to learn to listen to our kids, not just talk over our kids.

We have to learn to listen to what they're saying.

I didn't say let them dominate every conversation.

You're to teach them, you're to coach them.

You're to listen to their heart.

And again, that's really what we're looking for in kids ministry.

Valorous kids here is people who will care enough to listen to the hearts of young kids and begin to love on them and nurture them in a Christ-centered way and begin to say, no, this is the way, walk in it.

I want to shape you in this way through your wiring, through your gifting, through the way God made you.

I want to get you on the right track.

No, no, no.

Don't get off track and go in the wrong direction.

Hey, hey, we're here to deposit faith in you to do great and mighty things.

We want to understand you.

We want to build you into greatness.

It's about raising up the next generation, pouring into the next generation.

It's not just building everything for my comfort.

You know, one of the things that God has really placed on my heart over, you know, the last year or two is this, is, hey, you know what, Valorous Church, we need to leave a legacy.

We need to be, Valorous Church is long after I leave here.

Come on, somebody.

And if you really believe that in your heart, you invest in what is still yet to come.

You invest in kids' ministry.

We spend millions of dollars on young people.

Come on, somebody.

It's not building a monument for our own self.

It's building a place and a space where young people can know God provided for the people who went before me, and he's going to provide for us too.

It's a space and a place where we live out our faith over and over again.

And we believe God for great things.

We fight through adversity.

We work together.

We don't, you know what?

Just switch teams every time somebody has a disagreement.

Come on.

We model.

We model.

Hey, you know what?

God called me to it.

I'm going to stick to it.

I'm going to walk.

Then we find out their bitterness and we say, you know what?

Don't run from God.

Step into God.

God has a great and mighty plan for your life.

We discipline our kids.

We set environments for them to do great and mighty things, but we have to pay attention to their wiring, how they're wired.

I probably learned different than you.

You know, you probably learned different from me.

We all have all these mixed bags in the way we learn.

And again, you know, maybe we learn by somebody kind of showing us how to do something with our hands.

Maybe we learn by listening.

Maybe we learn by looking and reading with our eyes.

Maybe we learn by, you know, by the way we touch and feel.

All these are vital things to discover how kids learn.

And no matter what their educational level is, they still have a learning ability.

And the truth of the matter is, we have to get into their world and begin to help them learn.

It can be more difficult sometimes with some than it is others, but it's really important for us to step in.

And again, we're not catering to their fallen nature, but we're building their faith in who Jesus is and helping them become all God's created them to be.

Come on.

And so if we're really going to develop people, help people step into their calling, we have to build a fire under their passion.

Then lastly, I wrote this down, is we have to help them focus on the right target and hit it with their life.

Listen to what Paul says, 2 Timothy 1, verses seven through nine.

For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.

He says, so never be ashamed to tell others about our Lord.

And don't be ashamed of me either, Paul says, that even though I'm in prison for him right now, with the strength God gives you, be ready to suffer with me for the sake of the good news.

For God saved us and called us to live a holy life.

He did this not because we deserve it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time, to show his grace through Christ Jesus.

And so we have to help them hit the target of living a holy life, of helping them understand some key things about the gospel, the good news of Christ.

Number one is Jesus came to pay the penalty for their sin, for they're missing the mark of God's glorious standard.

He loves them so much, he doesn't hold that against them.

He comes in and forgives them.

But not only that is he come in and forgive them, he gives them the gift of the Holy Spirit to begin to guide them and coach them every step along the way so they can live a set apart life, a kingdom lifestyle in a world that will begin to try to keep them off target.

So what is the target?

We want every person to hit with their life because I'm a firm believer.

Jesus didn't come to forgive you of your sin, your misses in life, so you could keep missing.

So you could just keep on going in the wrong direction.

He's too good of a God to let you to continue to miss with your life.

And so he coaches you to greatness how to hit the target, how to live a set apart life, a holy life, how to grow in your faith, how to begin to move away from a sinful lifestyle to a lifestyle that is being sanctified or set apart by him in a great and mighty way.

And it says this in Matthew 6 verse 33, it says, seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and everything else you tend to worry about in life will be given to you as well.

Can I tell you something?

That's the target we want people to hit, to seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and not teaching them to worry about all these other things because he'll add those things as well.

Come on somebody, but we can model for them what it means to live, seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, because I can tell you right now, all the other things I tend to worry about in life, God adds them to my life as well.

And I don't have to keep on worrying because I'm here to worship a risen savior that's gonna do what he says he's gonna do.

Even though the Georgia Bulldogs lost last night, I'm still seeking first his kingdom and his righteousness.

Come on, a ball game ain't gonna change who Jesus is.

Come on.

One year ago, this weekend, I was laid flat on my back in a hospital, just went through two neck surgeries.

And God spoke to my heart when I came out of the first surgery before I went into the second surgery while I was underneath anesthesia.

And he said, I am your healer.

I am Jehovah Rapha.

I stand on this stage right now to declare to you that God is who he says he is.

Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness.

And all these things you tend to worry about, he'll add to your life as well.

Let's be a great model of faith.

Come on.

Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness.

God planted a vision in our heart to build a campus for his glory.

I'm here to declare to you it was a 10 year journey, but most of you, you didn't give up on what God says and you still haven't given up on what God says.

And God is doing what he says he will do.

Come on, somebody.

You see, we're not just keeping a bunch of babies over there.

We're raising warriors, faith warriors, kingdom warriors that believe God over the challenges, over the breakups, over the mishaps, over the valleys and on the mountaintop.

My friend, if God is touching your heart this weekend to get involved here at Valorous Church with young people, birth through fifth grade, then I invite you to follow that nudge, step in to what God is saying after this service today and go out in the atrium and see those folks at the table or grab your connect card and check off.

I want to volunteer, write your name legibly, your phone number legibly, your email legibly, come on somebody, on that card and somebody will get in touch with you this week to tell you how you can get involved.

But I can tell you right now, God's not just calling one of two of us to look after 200 babies and 200 children or 800 children or maybe even one day this is the children's building, come on somebody.

God is calling some of us to step in to his kingdom work and commit our life to it day in and day out and let's see what God can do.

Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and he'll add all these other things unto your life as well.

Let me pray for you today.

God, you're an amazing God.

I thank you for every man, woman, boy and girl here.

God, I thank you for stirring our faith today.

God, I pray you'd light a fire under people's passion and God, you would help them hit the target with their life.

God, let us be a church about building the kingdom, about expanding the kingdom, about raising up kingdom warriors.

God, I pray if there's one here today that's never submitted their life to the authority and the forgiveness of Jesus, may today be the day of their salvation.

God, you don't want to save them for them to sit on the sidelines and go to heaven one day.

You want to save them to activate their faith in the good things that you have for them to do for the rest of their life.

And so God, if you're here today and you've never surrendered your life to Jesus, say, God, I pray today that you would move in and change my life.

God, I admit I'm a sinner and I'm in need of a savior.

His name is Jesus and I need him to save me from my sin, from my misses.

But God, I also need you to move in and rearrange my life and help me have a kingdom focus and live a kingdom lifestyle.

And so God, I pray you would encourage me all the days of my life in my faith so that we can bring up there, down here, your kingdom to earth as it is in heaven.

Till God, thank you for the gift of salvation.

His name is Jesus and it's in his name we pray.

Amen.