DISCLAIMER: This text is not a verbatim transcript. Communication Access Real Time Translation (CART) is provided in order to facilitate communication credibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings. >> 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 -- 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 item 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 link to our worship services, Bible lessons, 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. >> Richard: Good morning, everybody! We are so glad that you're here this morning for our worship service. Those of you that are at home watching online, we are glad you're here as well. The Psalmist in Psalm 63 says "I've come into the sanctuary to see Your power and floor." Anybody ready to see the power and floor of God this morning? Let's all stand up because we want to worship God and see His power and glory! ("All Because of Jesus" playing) >> Richard: Here we go! >> Richard: Aren't you glad! It's all because of Jesus! He is a faithful God; faithful Creator Faithful Father; faithful Friend. (“This is Amazing Grace" playing) >> Richard: Thank you for your worship this morning. You may be seated. I want to welcome Joel Smith to the stage. >> Joel: Well, good morning, everyone! Here in the church building and those of you watching online, it's great to see you all today. Today I want to challenge you with this: it is possible for your eyes to deceive you? You just kind of see things and maybe you're not really looking at things. So I have something right here and I want you to think to yourself, "Okay, which one looks bigger?" Some of you may say, "This may be a foreshadowing of the elections." But then some of you may say, "Now, wait a minute; check that out. Which one looks bigger?" Hmm. Very interesting how your eyes, it would appear the blue is bigger. However, when you put them together, they're the exact same size. Pretty cool. Well, the point that I want to make, Proverbs 3: 5-6 says "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. Be cautious of leaning on your own understanding in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight." Trust in the Lord and look to Him. >> Richard: Thank you, Joel. You're stunned. (Laughter) Nothing blew up. We want to right now take a few minutes to take communion together and we love sharing communion together as a church, amen? Whether we're here in this building or at home. So if you have your bag of elements, that's also where you will put your trash and you can put it on the bin at the end of the pew or trash receptacle on your way out. >> Doug: good morning, my name is Doug Calvin, and this is my wife Janet; and we will be leading today, everyone, in the Lord's Supper. We will be taking the bread and that represents Christ's body, given for us. And we will be taking the cup, and that represents His blood for the forgiveness of our sins. Let's pray. Dear Lord, Your mighty Name reigns on high. We pause to remember Your Good News and Your Sacrifice offered for all. We thank You for dying for us and deliver us from sin. Your love surpasses all that we comprehend and we now have hope. We remember Your broken body and Your bloodshed for us. You open the door of possibility that we, Your church, would be used by our most powerful God. Your great love encourages us to share; to persist; and to serve. Now in and the future forever and ever. We ask for the strength through the power of the Holy Spirit as we strive to continually bring glory to you. It's in the Name of Jesus Christ that we pray. Amen. >> Janet: Good morning. Today's Scripture from God's Holy Word is found in 1 Peter chapter 5, verses 6-11. I'll be reading from the NIV translation. ("Cornerstone" playing) >> Kyle: Hey, everybody. Welcome again to the First Colony Church of Christ. Welcome to those of you who are joining us online. It's a good day to be together, amen? It really is. First, let me thank you, those of you here and those to have you viewing online, thank you so much for your continued generosity for the sake of the Gospel here at First Colony. It's been such a blessing to see those gifts being used and such creative ways during this season so thank you. I want to let you know there are three ways you can give this morning, and I want to share those with you now. The first is you can give online. All you have to do is text the word "Details" to the number that is on your screen right now. It's safe, simple, and secure. You can go ahead and do that now whether you're at home -- the second way you can give is continue to mail in your offerings. People have done that, and we're so thankful for that as well. The third way, especially for those in the house today you'll notice that there are four giving receptacles in our Worship Center at each of the four entrances. You can place your offering in any of those on your way out. Again, let me thank you so much for your continued generosity and remind you that you're not giving to the church; you are giving through the church and it's such a blessing to see how the Lord is using those gifts. Let's pray over our offering together this morning. Lord Jesus, we thank You for this moment in time. We thank You for allowing us to share communion together; to share worship together; to listen to Your Word; but Lord, we are so thankful to see how You are energizing us and moving us to continue to be invested in the Gospel. We ask You continue to bless us; to be able to allow us to give more generously than we have. We know that's the truth in Your Word and thank You for that and for watching that happen in our live be we love You, trust in You for all things and pray for the gives and offerings given. In Jesus Name, amen. Hey, every, we have a fellowship greeting so if you're in the house, go ahead and stand up -- that's okay -- stand up and say good morning to somebody around you and look back there at that camera in the back and just give everybody at home a big wave. Thank you so much for being here! ("Rescue Story" playing) >> Richard: We want to teach you a new song that you may have heard on the radio. It's called "Rescue Story" and I want to remind you that God is our rescue story; amen? >> Richard: How many of you believe that this morning? >> Richard: You may be seated. >> God is love. For God so loved the world, the whole world -- not just my world. God so loved every person in this world and sent Jesus to teach us what love looks like. (speaking native language) >> Since gods so loved us, we also ought to love one another. To love every person; every nationality; every background; every history; every soul. Because in life, we find faith; hope; and love; but the greatest of these is love. >> Ronnie: Indeed. Good morning, everyone. To those of you watching online; to those of you right here in the room, my name is Ronnie. We're glad to have you here with us today at First Colony Church of Christ, and we would like to hear from you. You can access our Connection card via our app, or you can click on the link there on our live stream page. And please send us a prayer request. It would be our joy to pray for you and over you this week. Well, this morning's message is called Fix Your Eyes on Jesus." Let me just put up a photo, a photo of Eliud Kipchoge from Kenya, described as the greatest marathoner of the modern era. He's won 12 of the 13 marathons he's entered, and he can run the 26.2 miles in just a little over two hour. I mean, it's really, really staggers. It's here's where I'm going: the Christian life is a marathon. It is not a short sprint. It is a marathon of endurance. Jesus Himself said, "The one who perseveres to the end will be saved." It's important to start and start well, but it's also important to finish well. And in this room and online, we're at different place in the journey. Some of you are at the beginning point. Some of you are thinking about, deciding, evaluating the evidence and becoming a Christian. I urge you to take that step. You've heard me say before, "You don't learn how to swim and then jump in the water. You don't learn how to ride a bike and then get on one. You don't --" you know -- just decide you will be this incredibly mature Christian and then you start the journey. You start by faith. And you will grow because of your commitment." You will grow TO your commitment in Christ. Some of you, you're in the journey and asking, "Can I sustain this? Can I carry this on. " Some are closer to the end, you know? We're maybe in a later season of life and we're asking, "Can I finish well? I want to get this across the finish line." Well, we run the marathon Christian race; and by the way, a little side bar here. This Covid-19 thing, it's a marathon and then some. It's a triathlon. We thoughts, "Hey, we finish the run." We thought, "Okay, we're kind of done." No, they hand us a bicycle and then the swimming coming up. I don't know how long this thing will face. We will face it as people of faith, and the Lord will see us through. Now, let's come back to the marathon image of the Christian life. Now, we're going to read today from Hebrews chapter 12, three verses -- and this is, I think, just a rich, rich teaching. Here we go, beginning with verse 1. I'll stop for a moment. What he's doing here is asking you to acknowledge that you're not the first person to have faith. We all stand on the shoulders of men and women who have served and honored the Lord before, and we need to pay attention to them because they are witnesses saying, it can be done. This is how you live your life. You live it by faith, by trusting and following the Lord. You know, Hebrews 12 looks back to what? Hebrews 11. And the hall of Fame of faithful. Because of those men and women, some of whom experienced incredible, miraculous deliverances; but also, Hebrews 11 will say, because of their faith, some of them were hounded; chased; disenfranchised; martyred. Some of them lived in caves. The Bible will say "This world was not worthy of them." But they all lived by faith, and you stand on the shoulders of people that you can read about in the Bible -- listen, you also stand on the shoulders of people you know who are few years ahead of you, a generation ahead of you. Maybe it's a parent or grandparent or an older person you have admired and watched, but you stand on their shoulders, and there are others cheering you on, saying, "I ran the race, and I believe that you can and that you will, too." And since we're surrounded, we're not alone. We're not the only one to believe. We're not the only one to seek the Lord first. Since we're surrounded by an incredible array of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. It's a running analogy and you get this. If you're a runners you don't run with a lot of extra gear. You want to jettison as much extra stuff as possible so that you can be aerodynamic. Now, Martha and I, years ago back in the `80s, a friend of ours traveled to Europe a lot and he would come see us and say, "Ronnie and Martha, you guys ought to go visit Europe." We would say, "Oh, we could never afford anything like that 37" He said" yes, you can. Here's a book you need to read. How to see Europe on $30 a day." So we bought the book and sure we are -- Martha is in her 20s and I'm 30. We go to see Europe on $30 a day. It could be done but is not for everybody. You travel with a backpack and it's got to be an incredibly light backpack and you're going to stay in private homes, really nice people along the way. You have a travel by train. The advice of the book written by a Yale law professor by the name of Arthur Frommer said, you take your small backpack and here's what you do at first. You back the absolute least you think you will need, and then remove half of it; because it's incredibly important that you travel light. Let me ask you something: what's weighing you down right now, maybe unnecessarily? Is there a sin that's easily entangling you? Is there some baggage that can be removed? Well, as you partner with the Holy Spirit, you can pay attention to that; but you also need to be aware all of us have experts say three to four blind spots that we are completely oblivious to; that those closest to us, if we were to ask, might give us some insight. I do know that virtually every person in this room and everyone online, at one point or another -- and maybe today -- you're dealing with mishandled anger and bitterness. Some of you are carrying some unnecessary guilt that the Lord wants you to release to Him. And quite often, what is it that weighs us down, the sin that is so easily entangled? Listen carefully. Sometimes our greatest weakness is actually the flip side of one of our greatest strengths. You see, sometimes our great strengths, they have a dark side to them that if we're not care wonderful, our great strength can become a weakness if it's untamed; if it's untrained; if it's uncontrolled. Classic examples would be Sampson. Sampson loved the Lord. He was a conqueror and wanted to conquer every philistine he encountered and he did, but he was a he man with a she weakness and he wanted to conquer every woman he encountered as well. And then along came Delilah, who conquered him and brought about disarray in his life. Here's what I'm suggesting: identify what may be weighing you down and tripping you up right now and don't be surprised if it's the flip side of one of your strengths. If it's not the flip side of one of your passions, a really good passion in life. You see, you might be a very strong, goal-oriented person with a lot of drive; but on the other hand, you can also drive right over people and even cut corners to get to that goal. Maybe the Lord's given you the ability to talk and you're just this incredible communicator; but you also know how to work the angles in a shady way and you know how to man nip hate and you know how to deceive maybe without a bold-face lie. Then there's the person who is incredibly stubborn; hard to derail -- I mean, that can be a good -- this person is incredibly determined and hard to derail and don't give up easily. But on the other hand, they can be unnecessarily stubborn and even disobedient when God's way doesn't fit their way. Or you may be the kind of person, one of your strengths is you're gentle and easy-going and warm, you're I to like and love being loved and like being liked. When it's time to speak the truth in love, you sort of shy away because you love to be loved. Thank God for your strengths. You might be an incredibly logical and disciplined person, but you're so logical you tend to box out the Holy Spirit and God's readiness to do wonders in your life. Thank God for your strengths. But ask God to show you, maybe, the flip side, the dark side of those strengths; that if not tamed become weaknesses. We pray the prayer: Lord, search me, O Lord, search my heart. Hebrews here says, we want to run this race, and it's important that as you run, you become aerodynamic and jettison the baggage and let us run with perseverance, the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. The One who starts and finishes it. Notice that little phrase "Let's run with perseverance." You know what that is, don't you? Have you heard the word "Grit" lately? Grit. Back in 2010, Richard Davis wrote a book called "The intangibles of Leadership" and talks about this quality of grit that often goes overlooked. Grit is passion and perseverance over the long haul. This is the person who played hurt and if you ever played sports, you know there's a difference between playing injured -- you can't really play injured. If you have an athlete not willing to play when they're just a little sore and hurt, you're not going to get much done. A person with grit, a Christian with grit, they play hurt. They expect obstacles. They're not shocked when difficulties and obstacles come, and they have this mind set that "I will relentlessly pursue and persevere. I'm not going to easily give up." That's not to say I won't be wise and say sometimes it's wiser to stop here and go here. But I'm not going to be easily derailed. I'm going to go through it; around it; over it; and it's not just on me. God will help me. This are other people and other resources there. This mind set of grit." The Bible said if we're going to run the Christian race, we'll have to have some grit. You can't just be shocked at obstacles and difficulties and give up too easily. People will disappoint you. Circumstances will be against you. Grit. Remember the book -- you read it and you read it to your kids and grandkids. "The Little Engine That Could." Right? There were children on the other side of the mountain, but the train is broken down. They can't get toys and food to the children on the other side of the mountain. Ah, but they ask some strong, beautiful engines to help out, but they say no. But then there's this small, unimpressive engine that says "I'll do it. I'll volunteer. I'll pull the train to the other side of the mountain for the children to get their toys, to get their food." You remember the little train painstakingly working up the mountain saying what? "I think I can." "I think I can." "I think I can." And then descend into the village. "I thought I could. I thought I could. I thought I could." And we read that story to our children to encourage them to have a degree of self-confidence; to be willing to help out; to persevere; but as Christians, what? We don't just have self-confidence. What was it last week when Kim Brigham by way of video was talking about us about fatherhood? He said the Scripture that stayed with him for years, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Lord God, I think we can. I think we can. I believe we can. I believe we can. And then on the other side -- I knew, Lord God, I knew we could; I knew we could. I knew we could. Everybody admires this trait, and what this means is we're gonna suit up. We're gonna show up. We're going to do the next right thing and we're going to leave the results to God. Okay? Now, perhaps this is a little bit of a minor point, but you have your race, and I have mine; and one way and one sense, they're all the same. Our race is to trust and follow Jesus. But your assignment in life isn't always my assignment in life. You know, some of your assignments as parents won't be my assignments, and I can't run yours. Sometimes I might be envious and think "I'd like his race or her race." You run your race. It's the only one set before you. And let us run this race with perseverance, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. I'll come back to that in a moment. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, he scorned its shame, and he sat down at the right hand of God. Beautiful imagery throughout the book of Hebrews. One of the key themes is Jesus Christ, via the cross, has completely atoned for our sin, our guilt, our shame. His work is complete, and that's why He sits down at the right hand of the Father. Oh, He's still interceding for us, but in terms of His atoning work, it is finished. Your guilt has been atoned for, paid for. The work is complete. And then he says, verse 3 -- He says, consider Jesus. In other words, compare your assignment to Jesus. Compare your race to His, and even Jesus faced opposition from circumstances like you would -- even -- who could oppose Jesus? Consider even Jesus, whose raise wasn't always easy. Your race will not always be easy either but is worth it. The Lord is with you. Don't lose heart. Don't give up Let me put four little phrases up here on the screen: look back; look ahead; look up; look around. Look back to all the people on whose faith shoulders you stand and be thankful for them and be inspired by them. They have now received their award and cheering you on. Then look ahead to the joy that is ahead of you because it is there. It's worth serving the Lord. It is. That's why the Bible says you know that whatever you do for the Lord is not in vain. One of my faith here railroad heroes is Corrie Ten Boom. We have been to her home in Harlem, the Netherlands. She, her sister, and even her father were arrested and imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp -- why? Because they harbored and protected Jews during the Nazi regime. She lost everything. She lost her sister. But after the war, she spent her life traveling the world, telling anyone who would listen this liberating message that God taught her in the midst of unspeakable evil and unimaginable loss. Here's the message: with Jesus, the absolute worst may come your way; but the absolute best remains. And let that encourage you. If you look back, you look ahead, the best does remain -- and look up. You know, Tina Wallenda, a member of the famous flying Wallendas, this high-wire walking act and they have been around for years. Tina is a strong Christian and uses this illustration in his Christian life. My grandfather taught me, if I was going to succeed on the high wire, it was important that I not be looking around at people and let that be my fixation. Certainly don't be looking down at the ground or the wire. He says, you find an immovable, solid, stable object, and you fix your gaze to that solid, stable, object. He said, in my life, that's Jesus Christ, and that's what the Hebrew writer says. You fix your phase on Jesus, not this, not -- you know, checking this, looking around -- what was it? What does everybody think? You fix your phase on Jesus. What does that mean? His grace. His truth. And the word literally means that you may have to push away some weeds, some camouflage. It won't always be easy. You'll have to intentionally say "I am rooted on this immovable reality, Jesus Christ, in my life." You say "Oh, Jesus is so yesterday. He's so yesterday." Yeah. You're right. His cross was yesterday. With ongoing implications for you right now. His resurrection was yesterday with ongoing implications for you right now. The pouring out of the Holy Spirit was on some yesterday. He is still being poured out with ongoing implications for you today. The inspiration of the Holy Scriptures -- that was so yesterday. But as Jesus has said, heaven and earth may pass away; these words will not. With ongoing implications for you right now. Look back; look around; look up; and look around. Look around. Look back; look ahead; look up; and look around. Let me put an image on the screen. You see, you're not the only one in the race. Some decisions, they're just too difficult to figure out alone. Some trials and losses, they're just too hard to pear alone. Some temptations are too hard to resist alone. And this world is too evil to resist pessimism alone. I've got one more image for you. This is not of an Olympic champion but one of my favorite Olympic stories. It happened in Mexico City on October 20, 1968; and this runner's name is John Stephen Akhwari from Tanzania and actually came in last in the Olympic marathon. Over an hour earlier, the Ethiopian runner had won the gold medal of the 1968 Olympics -- but here you see John Stephen Akhwari. Most of the spectators were gone, but then they heard a siren. The attention turned to the feat and in came John Stephen Akhwari for that final run around the Olympic stadium. His leg is bandaged; it's bloody; but he finished the race. The few people there stood and applauded and after crossing the finish line, someone dared to ask, "Why didn't you quit? You were badly injured. You had taken a fall earlier. Why didn't you just quit and give up? You're over an hour past the other runners coming in." And he said something that has made this man heroic and legendary. He said, "My country did not send me 7,000 miles to start this race. My country sent me 7,000 miles to finish it." And so it is with our great God. God did not send His only begotten Son. God did not pour out His Holy Spirit. God has not given you one blessing and opportunity after another just so we'll START the race; but He's given us Jesus, the Holy Spirit, one good gift after another, so that we might finish. You know, as you read the Bible, here are some ways I like to remind you that we are all equal. We are ALL equally created in God's image. We are ALL equally loved by God. And we are ALL equally stained and tainted by sin with a sinful nature. And we are ALL able to be redeemed through the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ and we are ALL invited to run this good, noble, purposeful race by faith. Everybody, the keyword is not perfection. You're not going to get there. But it's progression. Keep running. Stay at it. So here's what I want you to do today. If you have already started this race, re-up. Rejoin. You know, last night I did a wedding and every time I go to a wedding I tell Martha, "Honey, I re-upped." Every time I come to church, I just re-up on running the race, laze up those shoes, everybody and get in the game. What's your assignment? Jettison some baggage you need to release to the Lord -- mishandled baggage and angerness, release to the Lord. Run with perseverance, with it from, with one another, this race set before us. All right. Now, don't leave us. We've got a baptism coming up, and I want you to see that and be encouraged by it. Right now, one of our elders, Doug Calvin, will come up and pray over us. Then I'll introduce our baptism. >> Doug: Dear Lord, we pray to an Almighty God; to an ever lasting God; holy; holy; holy. We center our attention on You for all around us. We see error and confusion. We see those who call evil good and good evil; who put darkness for light; and light for darkness. Many are wise in their own eyes. We hear around us "Listen to what I have to say." "Follow what I think." "Act like I act." But we, we will follow Jesus and only Jesus. We ground ourselves in Your Word; in Your Commands; and in Your plans for each one of us; for You have given us a mission, one of unity and one of love. The floor You have given me I have given to them that they may be even as one. Help us put Your mission first in every moment of every day. But certainly it won't be easy. We must persevere, and we are so thankful You have sent the Holy Spirit. Help us to step out and turn trials into opportunities. Help us to see the uncertainty; the trouble; the worry; the conflicts as God's opening to people's hearts and their minds. It is times like these that God's people thrive and stand out; and when the Good News of Your death and resurrection is most powerful. Give us strength. Give us power. Give us courage to follow You by fixing our eyes only on Jesus. It's in His Name we pray, amen. >> Ronnie: Doug, thank you so very, very much. And now, please give your attention to our baptistery because Andrew Lees searchr has the privilege of baptizing his youngest son Bower into Christ. >> Good morning, church! My name is Andrew and this is my son Bauer, and Bauer accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior and is ready to be baptized. This is an exciting day for Bauer, for his family, for his church family, and Erin and I just want to take a minute to say thanks to all that play such an important role in his First Colony experience. Bauer has been anxious for months and months to get baptized and because of Covid, it's been a bit delayed; and we told him we could have gone in the back yard and strike while the iron's hot; but he was insistent on doing the baptism here at his church home. I think that is a testament to the community that is here; the relationships that are here; and so we just want to say a thanks to the Ministry Staff, his teachers, and his friends in the investment you made in him. Bauer, today is an exciting day and we celebrate with you. What we celebrate today is not so much about anything you have done or accomplished. It's more about what Somebody has done for you and your decision to accept that Gift. Bauer, God gave His One and Only Son for you. In His Name, Jesus is above all other names. You are laying claim to a faith in a Risen Savior and a faith founded on actual historical event, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. And so this morning, two questions for you: one, do you believe that Jesus was sent by His Perfect Father to live and to die and to be raised the lead day later? >> Yes. >> Do you also believe the power that raised Jesus from the dead is available to you through the Holy Spirit if you allow Jesus to be Lord of your life? >> Yes. >> Based on that confession, I'll baptize you in, Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit through the remission of your sins. (Applause) >> Ronnie: That is just absolutely fantastic, and we celebrate with Bauer and his father Andrew, his mom Erin; his brothers Lincoln and Lawson. God bless you, everyone. Thank you for being with us today. Just know that we love you, we're praying for you, and specifically I'm praying for the big three in your life: faith, hope, and love. Remember, the greatest of these is love. God bless you.