Radiant Basics 2026 - Week 4 - Caleb Richardson

So what do we plead for? Look and keep going.

We plead on Christ's behalf. Be reconciled to

God. He made the one who did not know sin to

be sin for us so that we might become the righteousness

of God. Guys, this is pretty much straight up.

Let me tell you, Jesus loves you. He wants your

life. He wants it to change. He doesn't want

you to live in this darkness anymore. And so

I plead with you. I appeal to you on behalf of

Jesus. I want you to know my Savior. I want you

to know him. And so that's the motivation. That's

what's driving us as Radiant Church. As we go

outward. See, God has given us. He's made us.

ambassadors. An ambassador doesn't live in the

country. He doesn't live there. That's not where

he's from. But he represents something to another

country. He says, if I'm a U .S. ambassador,

I represent U .S. to whatever country that I'm

an ambassador to. God is saying, you belong to

me and you represent me wherever you go into

this world. And you are his official representatives.

And he makes his appeal through you and me. Now,

let's go to John chapter 20. And I love this

John 20 · chapter mention

because there's Jesus talking to his disciples.

And let me give you a little context to John

John 20 · chapter mention

chapter 20. We're going to start in verse 21.

Think about the disciples for a minute before

we look at this text. They have spent three years

of their life with Jesus. They have lived kind

of like a big family together. They know each

other inside and out. They have watched Jesus

teach. They have watched Jesus heal many people.

They've watched Jesus confront the legalistic

religious leaders. They saw him love the outcast.

And even questioned Jesus loving those who were

the outcast. Right? They watched Jesus feed the

hungry. And they experienced this great rejection

in their lives because they followed Jesus. And

they watched Jesus weep over those who had hard

hearts toward him. And they watched Jesus experience

the worst possible death. And now Jesus has just

risen from the dead and he's come to them. And

he's shown them proof of the resurrection. He

says, look, I'm alive. And this is what he has

to say to them. And this is, look at verse 21.

And Jesus said to them again, peace be with you.

As the Father has sent me, I also send you. And

after saying this, he breathed on them and said,

receive the Holy Spirit. Okay. Pretty profound

moment. It's like a relay tag and track. But

it goes, Father has done a lap, and he's dropped

it to the Son, and the Son has done a lap, and

now he's dropped it to you. It's a tag. Boom,

boom, boom. Now finish what I've called you to

do. Now in Acts chapter 1, go to verse 8. Jesus

Acts 1 · chapter mention

has some final words. to his ambassadors. And

these words apply to us too. But he says this

as he's just about ready to leave. He says this,

but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit

comes on you and you will be my witnesses in

Jerusalem and all of Judea and Samaria and the

ends of the earth. He's got his team together

and he says, I know you can't do this in your

own strength. But you're going to receive power

when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. To do what,

church? To be a witness. We'll unpack that in

a minute. First of all, if you are in Christ,

you are alive in Christ by the Spirit. That's

how it happened. It's one of the things we always

talk about when we talk about baptism. That baptism

is a picture of identifying with what Christ

did for you on the cross. When he died for you,

he took all of your sin upon himself. He became

your substitute. We call it substitutionary atonement.

He atoned for your sin. This is a picture of

death into the water. He didn't stay dead. Jesus

didn't stay dead after he suffered for you. He

rose again three days later, conquering Satan's

sin as death. And the same spirit that raised

Christ from the dead lives and dwells within

us as we are followers of Jesus. We're in Christ,

meaning we identify with his death, his burial,

and his resurrection. Meaning the power of God

lives there. It's in you. That's why Jesus said,

it's better for me to go. And I'm going to send

my spirit to dwell within my people. The spirit

lives in you. And has given you a new life with

new desires and new purpose. Does it mean you're

perfect yet? No, that day's coming. But for now,

you are different. He's given you something different.

It's a work in progress, right? But you are born

again. Like, dead to alive in something new.

New identity. The picture is a new identity of

you. Now, you have a new vertical relationship

with Jesus. You do. You may not be utilizing

it the way you need to, but it's there. We can

talk to God. We have this relationship vertically

with Him. And church, we say this all the time,

it must affect your horizontal, but how does

it do that? Well, it has this vertical relationship,

involves the indwelling Spirit of God in you.

It does. Years ago, my very first... ministry

position i was called a youth pastor i didn't

know he wasn't even married at this point and

didn't know what meant to be lead anything but

i was a youth pastor and in a church and this

this church was putting on a weekend event on

evangelism how to share your faith and i was

super stoked because i i loved honestly loved

people and i wanted people to know my jesus and

i was like this is really hard how do you share

and so i was like oh this would be sweet And

so, how do you lead people to Jesus? And so,

as I sat into this like three -day, whatever

it was, conference seminar on how to share your

faith, I realized that it was all built on a

strategy to get people to pray a prayer. By the

way, that's not even in the Bible. And then the

second thing, it was like a sales tactics 101

combined with a network marketing thing. everybody

been to one of these and i remember sitting there

going we're just feeling so frustrated and disillusioned

with like this isn't right this is weird like

i'm supposed to go over and try to break in and

figure out a way to have a conversation with

you so i could get you to believe like a certain

way like amway and funny thing is i was just

coming out of you ever hear mel luca i bought

in and realized it was so stupid, and I didn't

do it anymore. And I felt like I was at a Melaleuca

training time. But it was how to share your faith,

and I wanted to tell people, I just wanted to

tell people about Jesus, and I wanted them to

experience the love that I experienced, but that's

not what was being taught. Nowhere do I ever

remember... The role of the Holy Spirit being

talked about in that training. In fact, we never

talked about the Holy Spirit. It's like we were

missing the third part of the Trinity. We understand

the Father and the Son, but no Holy Spirit. That

was the background that I kind of came out of.

And I was realizing, like, what is up with Acts

1 .8? And so... Probably because we probably

didn't do that, but probably because we were

like really didn't want to get close. You know,

there are certain people that have certain weird

stuff and they call it the Holy Spirit and that's

bad theology. So we're just going to run over

here and act like it doesn't exist. See, the

same spirit that was a part of giving you new

life lives and dwells in the believer. Do you

believe that? See, you and I are to have a spirit.

led and in spirit empowered life that is in the

bible what's it look like i have to share this

quote with you um from a guy named richard loveless

about what it means to live a spirit -led life

okay and it's up on the screen and i'll just

slowly work through it i think it's up there

we should continue to walk throughout the day

in relation in a relationship of communication

That's like talking to the Lord. Before you go

any farther, just look at that first sentence

and look at me. Do you talk to the Lord like

he's right here? That's what he's saying. We

should have this continuous daily relationship

of communication and communion with the Spirit

mediated through our knowledge of the word. Okay,

what's he saying first? If you want to know how

to... to interact with the Spirit that lives

within you, it starts right here. It starts in

your knowledge of the Word. God's Word and the

Spirit do not contradict themselves. In fact,

they must match. Or you're listening to the wrong

Spirit. They go together. So His primary way

the Spirit speaks to you is actually through

His Word. Relying upon every office of the Holy

Spirit's role as a counselor mentioned in Scripture.

We acknowledge him as the illuminator of truth.

What's the role of the Holy Spirit? To illuminate

you of truth in his word, right? All right, where

am I at? Illuminator of truth and the glory of

Christ. Here's another piece of this, and now

I'm picking this apart. But as the Spirit of

God's work in you is not only to help you understand

this, but it's to promote Christ. It's to make

him known. okay so to illuminate that in your

life we should look at him as a teacher a guide

a sanctifier a giver of assurance concerning

our sonship and standing before and our standing

before god helper in prayer you ever go to pray

and just go god i don't know what to say ask

the holy spirit to help you pray help you pray

And then it says, and as one who directs and

empowers our witness. Okay. Acts 1 .8 again.

And you will receive power when the Holy Spirit

comes upon you. You will be my, you will be my,

you will be my what? Witnesses. Where is your

power to share Jesus with people? Where does

it come from? The Holy Spirit. Two things I want

to point out here. One is you will receive power

when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. Being filled

with the Spirit is both a one -time event and

an ongoing experience. Now, if you want to look

at some different scriptures on that, you can

look at Ephesians 1, verse 13 to 14. We're not

Ephesians 1:13–14

going to take time for that. Or Ephesians 5,

18. But here's the idea, that when you become,

when you're in Christ, the Spirit lives and dwells

within you. But then there's also this point

where the Spirit that's living and dwelling within

you is empowering you by His Spirit. Because

they both are at play. It doesn't mean like you

have a second thing. It means that the Spirit

already lives in you, and the Spirit now empowers

you. The Spirit that lives within you empowers

you to be His witness. in my experience i said

this to my wife she goes is that your experience

yes it's my experience but in my experience one

of the tell signs that the holy spirit breaks

into is is that the holy spirit breaks into your

heart and begins to break your heart for people

that they would know jesus if something happens

in you goes man i care about my those those that

don't know what i have so What do we do with

that? Caleb, the Spirit of God lives in you.

He must empower you. It's like weird almost.

What do we do with this? One word. You pray.

Let's unpack that for a minute. You pray. You

pray for the power of the Holy Spirit to be upon

you. To do His work through you. To give you

an example of this, years ago when I was doing

Young Life as an area director, I started this

habit, I was challenged, that every time I'd

walk into West Valley High School, it was the

primary high school in Fairbanks that I was a

part of. And every time I'd walk into that school,

I realized, like, Lord, I don't know what I'm

doing. And I need you. I need you to empower

me today. and so i begin to pray before i ever

walk to the halls of that school now i'm coaching

at colony high school and i do i do i do it there

too before i walk into the doors of the school

i say lord by the power of your spirit will you

empower me to be a representative of you wherever

i go i don't got it all figured out but i know

this pray and pray daily And you pray, and you

pray that God's word in this, like, okay, how

do we pray? We pray all the time in every situation

you can think of. But how about in the morning

when you wake up to read your Bible, the first

thing you say, Lord, teach me. Lord, by your

spirit, empower me to understand, to illuminate

this text. I say, I need to know. I need to be

changed. I need to grow. Spirit, will you do

it? Okay? Pray and ask God to show you your sin.

Ooh, I don't want to talk about that. You need

it. God's in the process of cleaning us and changing

us, and the Holy Spirit will illuminate you,

your mind, as you present yourself, humbly surrender

to him, saying, God, I need help. I know I'm

broken. But if he reveals to you a brokenness

in your life, a sin in your life, what do you

do with that? You give it back to him. You give

it back to him. You say, I need your help. What

else do you pray? You pray for boldness. You

pray, God, I am scared. I don't want to go talk

to my friend. Well, God, will you give me boldness,

but will you also give me opportunity? I want

to reflect Jesus to them, and I don't know how

to do it today. So I'm weak, and you're strong,

and so I ask for boldness. Part of the problem

with this, though, is we're so selfish, right?

So ask the Holy Spirit to deal with your selfishness.

I'm always just looking at my needs. God, will

you help me with that? Holy Spirit, will you

do a work in me? Holy Spirit, will you direct

me today? I was praying for an opportunity as

we walked in the building yesterday to set up

and try to figure this space out. And I said,

Lord, before we ever came in, I thought, well,

if I'm preaching on this, I better start having

this same attitude again, right? I was like,

Lord, give us an opportunity. Well, lo and behold,

the custodian that was here. One conversation

after another, he needed encouragement. It became

very evident to me. He was somebody that, I won't

go into all the details, but he was at one point

in Kazakhstan and ended up being kicked out of

the country by Muslims, and he ended up here,

and he speaks really, really poor Russian, and

the first person he starts talking to is Josiah,

and Josiah jumps right into Russian. And then,

I didn't know how many of you guys speak Russian,

by the way. I was impressed. Jared started speaking

Russian. And so did Justin. And I was like, what?

I'm the only one that can't. But here's the thing.

He needed encouragement. And we got to be that

part. I don't know all the things that's going

on in his life, but it was very evident, wasn't

it, Jared? Pray and ask God to direct you. Ask

the Holy Spirit to direct you. You are a conduit

through which the Holy Spirit flows. So. Second

thing. Second thing that flows out of verse 8

to me is be a witness. Now, what's a witness?

That's a question. What is a witness? Churchy

people should, you know, I may have a church

answer, but just in every day, what is a witness?

I mean, it tells the truth, okay? There's more

to it. What do you think? Huh? Yeah, you replay

what you've, can I just say experienced? What

have you encountered? You're a witness at a car

accident. What do you tell the trooper? What

you saw. That's all they're asking here. Okay?

So share your experience of the gospel. You know,

and you don't have to have all the answers. You

don't have to have everything figured out. You

simply share what you know. Right, Adam? Are

you brand new with Jesus? What do you share with

other people? What you know. That's it. Share

what he's accomplished in you as a witness. Share

your sin and share his grace and share his transforming

power. Okay, so don't just share your sin. You

share your sin to point to the grace that you've

experienced to show how God is changing you because

of his grace. You get to share that. Share. And

the biggest thing is, can I just tell you my

story? You know one thing about telling your

story to somebody? They can't argue with it.

It's your story. I want to close this way today.

We're going to actually close in a time of prayer.

You know, it's interesting. In Acts 1 verse 14,

Acts 1:14

right after the disciples receive, they see the...

instruction by jesus what you see is the church

gathered together about 120 they're gathered

together and what are they doing they're praying

and i think this is really important because

this is the first thing you see the church do

and when in their prayer i think what you see

is this picture of surrender that god i can get

this figured out they're probably overwhelmed

They were probably like, wow, we just went through

the resurrection and saw this, and now this?

Like, what do we do? And they were like, we're

going to pray. We don't know anything else. And

so you see a church doing this, and as they pray,

and so I think this is a good place for us to

start. I wrestled with this all week, and so

I'm not going to make this super awkward for

you, but I am going to ask you to talk to the

Lord today. I'm going to ask you right where

you sit. To have a conversation with the Lord.

And you can do it quiet. I wanted to make it

so we could all talk out loud. And be pretty

cool. But we're just going to do it. I'm going

to ask the band to come up. And we're just going

to. We're going to close this way today. Let

me say this. Before we get to these prayer instructions.

When we're done praying. And we begin to sing

together. There is communion in the back. And

we do communion every week. To be reminded. to

come back to the good news of Jesus. That his

body was broken for me. His blood was shed to

me. And as you go take communion today, I want

you to think about what has been given to you,

and not just in Jesus' death and his resurrection,

but also in the empowering of the Spirit in your

life. Here's how I want to pray. I'm going to

just ask the band, I've asked them to come up

because of... I want Josiah just to kind of play

quietly. I want you just to bow your heads. But

before you do that, here's something I think

I found to be helpful. You don't have to do this,

but I encourage you to. You need to pray with

a surrendered heart. Whatever you do, pray with

a surrendered heart. And so for me, a lot of

times when I pray with a surrendered heart, I've

just got my hands open. And whatever it is, I

kind of picture. My life, whatever the issue

is, is I hold it out before the Lord and I say,

God, it's yours. And so I'm just going to walk

us through some different prayer cues. And the

rest of the time is you and God. And so I'm going

to pray. I encourage you to bow your heads. Just

don't be distracted by anything else. Just talk

to the Lord for a minute. You can open your hands

before him if you want. Before you do anything.

In asking God for anything, I want you to just

ask the Holy Spirit to reveal your sin. Just

take a minute and think about what it is that

is separating you from God or has separated you

from God. If there's sin that comes to your mind,

I want you just to lay it down at the feet of

Jesus. He paid for your sin. I find sometimes

when I confess my sin, oftentimes the Lord gives

me direction of what I need to do. Maybe you

need to go to somebody and seek forgiveness today

from them as well. But know that the Spirit's

job is not to bring condemnation, but to bring

conviction. And if He's convicting you, release

it and surrender it to Him. Take a minute now

and just ask the Holy Spirit to empower you to

be a witness. Ask the Holy Spirit to give you.