DISCLAIMER: This is being provided in a rough-draft format. Communications Access Realtime Translation (CART) is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings. >> Thank you for joining us online today. We want to let you know about a few items of interest. First, go to our website, firstcolonychurch.org, and go there often. We have a unique page dedicated to resources for you during this season. You'll find links to our worship services, Bible study options, online giving; and our new podcast, Anchor Point. You can also download our church app. Just search for "First Colony Church of Christ" in the App Store or on Google Play. Every link is there. The app is a great resource where you can stay connected to First Colony Church. Anchor Point is our new podcast. We are posting a new episode every weekday. In addition to finding our podcast on our website and the church app, you can find it across all podcasting platforms. Our Children's Ministry is posting a weekly kids' online Bible lesson. Be sure to check that out. And our Student Ministry is creating lots of daily content on Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook. Be sure to follow them. Thank you for joining us online today. We are glad you're here. >> Thank you for joining us online today. We want to let you know about a few items of interest. First, go to our website, firstcolonychurch.org, and go there often. We have a unique page dedicated to resources for you during this season. You'll find links to our worship services, Bible study options, online giving, and our new podcast, Anchor Point. You can also download our church app. Just search for "First Colony Church of Christ" in the App Store or on Google Play. Every link is there. The app is a great resource where you can stay connected to First Colony Church. Anchor Point is our new podcast. We are posting a new episode every weekday. In addition to finding our podcast on our website and the church app, you can find it across all podcasting platforms. Our Children's Ministry is posting a weekly kids' online Bible lesson. Be sure to check that out. And our Student Ministry is creating lots of daily content on Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook. Be sure to follow them. Thank you for joining us online today. We are glad you're here. >> Ronnie: Good morning, everyone! You are at the right place and so welcome! We're so glad to have you with us today for this live worship experience from the First Colony Church of Christ in Sugarland, Texas. We love to hear from you. Chat with us, let us pray through you through the online features, and we encourage you to participate fully in today's worship experience. So let's get started! ("Blessed Be Your Name" playing) >> Richard: Did you catch that line? My heart will choose to say/blessed by Your Name. ("Way Maker" playing) >> Richard: It's who You Are Yes That is who You Are >> Richard: Our God is a way maker, even when we don't see it is! He is working, amen? I want to welcome Joel Smith, our Children's Minister, I understand, who is the highlight of our service. >> Joel: (Laughing). Well, Jesus is the highlight of the service. I get to have a little fun in the process. All right! Well, it's good to be back with you all today. Howdy doody. I wanted to talk about grace, and grace is a big word that we often utilize mainly in church; and basically, it's God's riches at Christ's expense. You say, "What's Christ's expense? What does that mean?" You have to go to the Garden of Eden and creation. God created Adam and Eve and gave them one rule. I have just, like, a nut or a boat here in my hand. I got a handful of them. What did Adam and Eve do? They dropped it. They failed. God actually established laws, rules for us to follow, throughout the Old Testament. And sometimes people did great, but eventually, they dropped it. And the interesting thing is that we keep dropping God's laws; but you remember grace -- God's riches at Christ's expense. Well, the cool thing is that Christ kept the law. He was tempted. He was tested. He endured so much that He kept the law. So what I will do is take ten little nuts here and tie them in a circle. This red line represents Christ. He kept the law. Now, the interesting thing is as an individual, Christ has done this. Christ's expense is He kept, law, died for our sins, and was raised. You can know that and it really makes no difference until you respond. As you can see, even though Christ kept the law, we're still not keeping it. Well, what is so cool is that grace comes in when we turn and respond and follow Jesus. And He keeps the law for us. And God sees Him instead. So check this out. All I did is I added one little nut on this side of the same string, and watch this. It never drops. It never drops all the way. Check this out. Isn't that cool? It's so much fun. (Chuckling) God keeps us. That is so awesome! So grace -- God's riches at Christ's expense -- is even more than that. God's also giving us the power and the desire to do His will. We can follow God. We can do what He wants us to do because of grace. So boys and girls, I want you to think about that as you go through life, even when you make a mistake. God has you in His hands, and that is grace. >> Richard: We want to enter into a time of communion now. >> Jose: Buenos dias. Am I on? Good morning, church. Buenos dias. I wish you were here so I hear you say it back to me in your Texas accent. This is our time where we have to put Romans 12:12 into action -- be patient in affliction, joyful and hope, and fervent in player. We are going to participate in communion and I am going to pray. Maria is going to read from the Bible. If you haven't done so, I encourage you to get some bread, get the elements, get some bread, get some juice; so after Maria reads, we can all participate in communion. You can do that. I am going to read, before I pray, I am going to read from Romans 5:1-9 so this gives you time to get the emblems. This is from Romans. Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have gained access by faith into His grace in which we now stand. And we are in the hope of the glory of God, not only so but we also glory in our sufferings because we know that sufferings producers convenience. Perseveres, character, and character, hope. Hope has not put us to shame because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. You see, at the right time when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for righteous person, though for a good person someone may possibly there to die. God demonstrates His love for us in this while we were still sinners. Christ died for us. Since we have been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through Him? While we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to Him through His death -- through the death of His Son. Reconciled we should be saved through His life. Not only is this so but we also boast in God through our Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, although we are not physically together, we come to You in spiritual unity to remember Your Son's sacrifice for us on the cross. The sacrifice allows us to be reconciled to you and to have a relationship with You. We take the bread that represents Jesus' body, and we acknowledge and remember that it is by His stripes that we are healed. And as we take the juice that reps His blood, we acknowledge and remember that it is His blood that cleanses us from all unrighteousness. Thank You for pouring on us such great love and grace where all we have to do is believe that Jesus died on the cross to pay for our sins. May we always be guyed by the Holy Spirit in what we say and do and may we always choose to be Your disciples. Father, we thank You; we love You; and it is in the Name of Your Son Jesus that we pray. >> Maria: Today's Scripture reading is from Romans 4, verses 3 through 8. Let's partake with communion. ("His Mercy Is More" playing) >> Shane: What a fantastic song and great message to take into our heart. Good morning, everyone. Before we take our offering today, we want to say thank you for your continued partnership in the mission of Jesus Christ and want you to know giving online is safe, secure, and it's actually simple to set up. You can click the link that says "Give online now" on your screen or text to give. I also want to note today that among our many ministries that our offerings support and fuel is our international missions, of course; and if you have been listening to our Anchor Point podcast for the last week or so, you may have heard several messages from our overseas missions part ins and church leaders. And tomorrow, a new podcast is going to drop from one of our elders in our church in Uganda. So tune in wherever you get your podcasts and search for Anchor Point. I know you will benefit from hearing these messages from overseas. So that is a good blessing and great thing to check out. Let's pray over today's offering now. Father God, we thank You for these offerings. We ask Your blessings today over all of our overseas mission partners; and everywhere in the world where the message of Jesus is going out even now. May these funds be fuel for ministry and missions everywhere from here and Fort Bend County to wherever our mission partners are to wherever Your work is being done, God. We pray it will be used to further Your kingdom and the Name of Jesus. We pray this in Jesus' Name. Amen. Now we want to congratulate our seniors who are graduating during this most unusual of years and so here's a message from one of our Student Ministers, Kevin Porter. >> Kevin: Good morning, church! We have a special message that we want to give to our senior class right now. This is the craziest time of your life, most likely; and you can ask any adult that's older than you that it's not just because you're only 18. This is a nuts time. And so what we want to do right now is we say we see you guys. This Sunday would have been our typical Senior Sunday. We would have had a slideshow of pictures and your future plans. We would have had tables set up in the lobby about everything that your life has been filled with up to this point. We would have had a dinner tonight where we would have gotten together and celebrated and encouraged each other; and we would have heard blessings. And we would have received some pretty special gifts at the end of that time. I want you to know we're still going to do as much as we can when it comes to senior celebration things later on in the summer, but that doesn't fix everything, we know. We know that it doesn't fix the trips that you're missing. We know it doesn't fix senior friends at the end of the school year. We know it doesn't fix graduation. We know it doesn't fix the uncertainty of what is next; and so we just want to say we're here with you guys. We know that you're suffering in a really unique way right now, and we love you. We're praying for you guys, and we're gonna walk with you into this next season, no matter what it looks like. We're just so sorry for you guys. So may you be blessed in the midst of the suffering by our God, who -- He has a specialty at doing just that. We love you, and we hope that you guys will lean into the Lord during this time. ("The Lion and the Lamb" playing) >> Give thanks for the good days -- when the traffic lights all turn green; when promotions come and bad habits are broken. Give thanks for warm meals and the company of friends. Give thanks for undeniable blessings and clear direction; when the music floods your soul and the worship songs flow without effort. Give thanks for coffee and clothing and hope that the two never mix. Give thanks for the mother who battles daily in prayer; for the father working three jobs; for the brothers and sisters who build blanket forts and read bedtime stories. Give thanks for sons and daughters and ALL our family who remind us of what truly matters. Give thanks for the stranger who holds the door open and the lifelong friend who holds you when life is broken. Give thanks for the hard days; for the phone call that brings life crashing down; for jobs lost and friendships fallen into conflict. Give thanks for the anger that reminds us we are human and the tears that express more than words can ever fathom. Give thanks to the pain is overwhelming -- your energy spent; your spirit fallen; and your only option is to fall to your knees before your Holy Father and cry out, "God, please! Help me." For in that moment His power is made perfect. His love is made evident. He becomes your strength, your comfort, and your salvation. Give thanks for the power of redemption from Genesis to Revelation; for the endless promises of a God who would rather sacrifice His Son than give up on His children. For nail-pierced hands, for brilliant dawns, for the cool touch of rain in the simplicity of a quiet day. For all things great and small, let us give thanks. >> Ronnie: Well, indeed give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His love endures forever. Again, we're so glad to have you with us today. My name is Ronnie, and welcome to this live worship experience from the First Colony Church of Christ. As you may know, we have -- our plan is to be online possible through the month of May, but this week we plan to give you an update. I don't know those details just yet, but we will update you to our future plans and will plan for that to be on our website through our church-wide e-mails this week. We're in a message series call "Timeout, Experiencing God in Life's Disruption" and this has been a disruption affecting all of us in different and unique ways. The title of today's message is "A Testing Timeout." Whenever I do a wed, I will say something like this, for better or worse; richer or poorer; sickness and in health. That's a pretty good picture of the life in general. There are good times and then there are bad times, difficult times. But, listen, those difficult periods allow us to experience God in new and unique ways and actually have the potential to catalyze your own personal growth and maturity and character. Whenever we go through the big three: a trial, a test, a temptation -- and deliver all uniquely different. They congeal together at times, but whenever we go through a trial, a test, or a temptation, we can experience God in a fresh way and mature and grow. But, listen, it's not automatic, and it will not just happen. You know people who've gone through a difficult stretch of time; and they come out on the other side mature, softer, wiser, more empathetic towards other people; and you've known people who have gone through a similar experience and circumstance and come out on the other side: mad at you; mad at God; mad at the world; cynical; bitter; angry. Listen, there's a lot riding on how we go through times of testing through seasons of trial and temptation. Let me ask you a question here: do you believe in the devil? If you were to gather a group of debaters together, theology debaters, say, "Do you believe in the devil?" Oh, you'd get many different answers and points of discussion. But if you were to ask, "Do you believe in evil?" You would immediately get a unanimous yes. The tone of the conversation would change. "I have experienced, seen and read about it." Abuse; slander; violence; racism; theft; hatred; malice; false accusations; murder; trafficking. No one would deny the presence of evil. And the Bible teaches us -- and I believe the Bible -- if you put a "D" before the word "evil," you will find the source of that; that behind all evil and behind the problem of evil is a devil problem. That doesn't make humans without accountability; but the Scriptures also teach us that behind human engagement there are spiritual forces of evil; and we face that. Let's read a passage of Scripture where Jesus faces a time of testing and temptation. From Matthew chapter 4. Let me stop there for a moment. Some of you beat yourself up unnecessarily and you say, "Oh, my goodness. If I were just a more godly person; if I were more spirit-filled; if I were spirit-led, I would never face these temptations." Listen, THE most pure person, THE most Spirit-led person ever, Jesus Christ, faced temptation relentlessly. When you make a decision that you plan to live boldly for Jesus Christ, trust me, do not worry. Satan will come find you. But as you'll hear later in this message, greater is the One who lives within you than the one who opposes you. (Continuing to read) I guess so. I get hungry after 40 minutes and after 40 days and 40 nights, Jesus is hungry and here at a time when He's alone, isolated, hungry, tired -- by the way, when you're isolated, hungry, tired, or at times in a season of abundance -- whatever it might be, the tempter comes to us and he comes to Jesus and he says, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread." (Continues to read) Jesus quotes the Scriptures because as you know, Satan's primary M.O. is "Don't listen to God; listen to yourself." That is Satan's go-to method. The primary method is not to levitate people off a bed and twirl their heads around; his primary method of attack is deception, deception. So Jesus says -- (Continuing to read) Satan's temptation is still so relevant and comes to us all. Listen to your appetites. You want it? Take it! You desire it? Make it happen! Why say no! You be in charge of you. You're hungry; eat. What's wrong with turning stones into bread? There's nothing wrong with a little bread. But there's something very, very wrong in allowing Satan to set the agenda. Jesus sees through it; He simply says no matter My appetite, what I listen to and feed on first and foremost is the Truth of God. And then the devil -- verse 5 -- took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. (Continuing to read) In other words, he takes Jesus up and said, "Go ahead, throw Yourself off the top of the bell tower here at the First Colony Church of Christ. You won't get hurt. God loves you. If God loves someone, no difficulty will ever come into your life." Jesus said no. (Continuing to read) You trust God. You honor God. You know that He's for you. But you don't test Him. Whatever you do, done have a relationship with God that is if/then. "God, if You do for me exactly what I want, THEN -- and only then -- will I honor You and worship you." You don't throw down the test. You make a decision. Lord, here's my decision: You've already proven to me that You're for me; and here we are on this side of the empty tomb and exhibit A, for all time of God's love for you, is the cross of Jesus Christ, the empty tomb of Jesus Christ; and it's just not right for us to throw down the gauntlet and say "Oh, God, if You really love me, then --" you know, fill in the blanks. He's proven His love so here is our challenge. Here's my challenge to you. You don't test God. You make a decision, and here's that decision: I'm going to suit up. I'm going to show up. I'm going to do the next right thing, and I'm going to trust God for the results and the details in my life. And again, verse 8. (Reading) That third temptation was the devil saying "You want people to honor you? Let's take a shortcut. You just honor me, and I'll make it happen; whether it's right or not, let's get practical. Let's just be expedient, avoid the cross and the high road and I will make people honor you." Jesus said, "Oh, my goodness, no. You worship the Lord only and Him alone do you serve." There's an old ancient prayer of believers called the breastplate prayer that goes like this. God, I will choose You and Your Way first. Lord God, I will choose You and Your Way last. And I will choose You and Your Way always. And when the test and the temptation comes, it says, just do what feels right to you. I live by the Word of God. And when the tests and temptation comes that said, "Are you sure God loves you? You lost that job. You had this difficulty. Your car didn't start." Oh, no; I don't test God. I trust Him, and He's proven His love for me; and when it comes to worship, you worship the Lord God only FIRST, last, always. You don't get sidetracked. You run hard after the Lord Jesus Christ, and you stay close to the people who are doing the very same thing. Let me put some statements up here on the screen. First of all, the pull of the flesh, the world, and the devil is very real. The pull of the flesh, the world, and the devil is very real. Now, for centuries, believers have spoken of the three enemies of the soul; and you would be wise to make sure that you are not naive to these three enemies and how at times they congeal together. My flesh. I want what I want when I want it. My flesh, my desires -- they're sort of like toddlers. "I want it now. I want it right now." It's not reasonable. And your flesh and mine wants what it wants when it wants it. And we have to train it and teach it. And then the world just -- the voices around us, the flow and the drift of culture -- can war against our soul and the health of our soul. And then the very real presence of the spiritual forces of evil who works in conjunction with our flesh and with the world. And so when you sense opposition to your love for Christ, when you sense opposition within and without to the kind of woman you want to be -- the kind of man you want to be serving the Lord -- yes, that pull is very, very real. But you're not alone. We'll get there in just a moment. Second phrase I would like to put up here is this: at what price would you disown the holy and high call of God upon your life?" At what price? You know, Jesus had not just these opportunities but other opportunities to take the shortcut and to disengage from the high road and disown the holy call of Father God upon His life. It came at a price. He was not willing to pay that price. What about you? There was a book out a few year ago that talked about our mission and our shadow mission. Our mission and our shadow mission. And our shadow mission is NOT 180 degrees from our mission. You know, your mission in life, generally speaking, is very, very clear: to love the Lord your God with your heart, soul, mind, and strength; to love your neighbor as yourself; to take your abilities and resources and gifts and use those to enhance God's work so that your life -- it's not just about you -- but your mission, it's caught up in the work of God and benefit of His peep. You love God and you love the people tangibly, practically, who mean so very much to the Lord. But my SHADOW mission is not that I'm anti-God, anti-Jesus. It just revolves more about me; and rather than being blessed to be a blessing, I'm just blessed to enjoy. Are you following your mission or your shadow mission? Thirdly, where the Spirit leads, the Spirit helps. You weren't alone. Jesus wasn't alone. Even though Jesus won the battle of sin at the cross, he won the battle of the cross on His knees and even Jesus had the help of His Holy Spirit. We cannot deal with temptation on our own and cannot deal with the heaviness of trials and tests on our own. We cannot resist the desire to compromise. We cannot break addictions in our own strength. You know, the Bible said the Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. You just got to acknowledge that. What I want to do, what I would love to be able to do -- I'd love to say "I'll never have another cynical mind set again. I'll never seep s say the wrong thing again." No, listen, my flesh is weak. My spirit is willing but my flesh is weak so I need help; and I must acknowledge and ask and say -- and just tell the truth. "Lord, I am weak. I'm willing, but I am weak, and I need the help of the Holy Spirit day by day. So I won't have that cynical mind set. I won't have that chronic mouth that's negative. I won't be a drain on the people around me. Help me to be a force to lean into my mission -- not just a self-centered shadow mission." And when you acknowledge God is the source of your strength, watch and see what happens; and you know what? God has resources. God has resources. His people. As you lean into the Lord and lean into the fellowship of the church and the fellowship of His people, even in online ways -- oh, my goodness, there is a strength transfer that is tangible and real. Now, it's also important not just that you ask the Lord for help but you pay attention to your own environments. If you don't want to fall, then stay away from slippery floors. If you don't want to fall, stay away from slippery places. If you don't want to get stung, stay away from the beehive. And there may be certain environments, certain atmospheres, certain people; certain groups of people. You do know that not only is strength transferable, but attitudes are transferable as well -- good ones and sour one. I learned a long time ago that there are some people, the less time you spend around them, the better you're going to be because they're gonna drag you down. The Bible says that you want to be wise -- you walk with wise. You want to be foolish, then hang around foolish people. You want to be hopeful and joyful, lean into high-road purposes of road? Lean around people who bring that out in you. You want to be sour? And cynical and disengaged? Embrace that mind set. You say, "Ronnie, I'm just trying to be an influence." Maybe you can be, but watch yourself so that the influence doesn't go the opposite direction. Listen, ask for help. Make sure you're in good environments. And let me tell you something you already know: you're better than that. YOU have an aim and an ambition to lean into your mission as a woman of God and as a man of God. And you need to know you can overcome anything that's pulling you downward, large or small. It can be a negative attitude. It can be an addiction -- because greater is the power that is within you -- that's the Holy Spirit -- than the power that is coming against you. And greater is the power of the encouragement of Godly people than the negative pull against you. James chapter 1, verse 12. Listen, Jesus was tempted. You will be, too. And the Lord will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you can handle. And as -- in every temptation that you handled well will strengthen you for the ones down the line. And you're going to see the grace of God; the work of God take root in your life in beautiful, beautiful ways. Now, before I close, going to Joel Smith's lesson earlier, when Jesus faced temptation, that's not just a role model, practical lesson for us. It's very theological. It's crystal logical. It's rooted in grace. It's important that you just not see Jesus facing and defeating temptation as an example for us. He faced and defeated temptation not just in that desert experience but all through His life so that when Jesus Christ went to the cross, He went to the cross as the sinless, perfect, Lamb of God without blemish, tempted in EVERY single way as we are, yet without sin; and as you've heard me say many times, you may not feel worthy to be God's son or daughter, but Jesus Christ is absolutely worthy to be your Savior. The Lamb without blemish. And because of His sacrifice for us, not only are our sins forgiven, but something else wonderful happens. We're justified. Jesus Christ lived an absolutely perfect life, and we get credit for it. That mean we stand before our Heavenly Father with an identity. You have royal blood in your veins. You're God's daughter. You're God's son. You can lift your head and come boldly to His throne of grace; and what His grace does for us -- if you'll embrace it, it will do a great work. It will not only cleanse you and forgive you and give you assurance, but it will do that catalyzing work in you so that you lean not into your shadow mission of "You know, what's the least I can do to honor the Lord?" No, no; you lean into your mission. "God, here I am. Use me for Your great cause and work. God bless you, everybody. Remember, he is FOR you. He's WITH you. He's WITHIN you, and greater is He than is you than he in this world coming against you. We serve a great God. Lean into Him and His grace and lean into His mission for your life. Okay, in just a moment I've got some good news for you about a couple of Connection groups. We've got a great video to close our service but first, let's pray together. Lord God, I thank You that whatever task or trial or temptation we face, it's not bigger than Your sons and daughters. It's not bigger than you. And I ask You now, Lord, for a fresh, filling of the Holy Spirit to give us hope, to give us blessing, joy, the mind of Christ so we might follow in His steps. In His Name do we pray, amen. Now, as we continue church online, we want to help you connect with groups of people for community and relationships. We're starting a couple of new online Connection groups that will be meeting regularly for Bible study and hang out together. All you need is your computer or mobile device. For more info, go to our website and there's a sign-up form for online Connection groups. You can also just press right now the Connection card button and select Connection groups. And we will follow up and we'll help you get started. Okay, we're going to finish today with a virtual choir, a lot of singers from right here at First Colony and Foster Creek getting together and honoring our Great and Majestic God with a song called "Awesome God." God bless you, everyone. God is an awesome God He reigns from heaven above With wisdom and power and love Our God is an awesome God (Women join in as men continue singing) Our God is an awesome God He reigns from heaven With power and wisdom Our God is an awesome God Our God is awesome He reigns from heaven With power and wisdom Our God is an awesome God Our god is awesome He reigns from heaven With power and wisdom Our God is an awesome God Our God is an awesome God He reigns from heaven And power and wisdom Our God is an awesome God Our God is an awesome God He reigns from heaven With power and wisdom Our God is an awesome God When He rolls up His sleeves He ain't just putting on the ritz (Our God is an awesome God) There's thunder in His footsteps And lightning in His fists (Our God is an awesome God) And you know He wasn't joking When He kicked 'em out of Eden It wasn't for no reason That He shed His blood His return is very close And so you better be believing that Our God is an awesome God Our God is an awesome God He reigns from heaven above With wisdom, power, and love Our God is an awesome God Our God is an awesome God He reigns from heaven above With wisdom, power, and love Our God is an awesome God And when the sky was starless In the void of the night (Our God is an awesome God) He spoke into the darkness And created the light (Our God is an awesome God) Judgment and wrath He poured out on Sodom Mercy and grace He gave us at the cross I hope that we have not Too quickly forgotten that Our God is an awesome God Our God is an awesome God He reigns from heaven above With wisdom, power, and love Our God is an awesome God Our God is an awesome God Our God is an awesome God He reigns from heaven above With wisdom, power, and love Our God is an awesome God Our God is an awesome God Our God is an awesome God He reigns from heaven above With wisdom, power, and love Our God is an awesome God Our God is an awesome God He reigns from heaven above With wisdom, power, and love Our God is an awesome God Our God is an awesome God He reigns from heaven above With wisdom, power, and love Our God is an awesome God Our God is an awesome God