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. >> We are bless to part in partnership with Second Mile to help when their food runs low. Second Mile Mission and First Colony are partnering with Santa's Exchange as we have a toy drive. We serve resident of Ford Bend county and have the opportunity to serve toys to over 5,000 children. ? ? ? ? >> Grant: Well, good morning and welcome to the First Colony Church of Christ! And our live stream services today as we gather to worship Jesus, our King! As we get to come before God and praise Him as the Prince of Peace, Emmanuel, God with us. Let us rise this morning as we lift the honor and praise that He is due as we sing and worship Him today. Richard? >> Richard: Amen! (my Soul magnifies the Lord" playing) >> Richard: Here we go! >> Richard: My soul! >> Richard: Yes! My soul magnifies the Lord! I love that phrase! We cannot magnify God enough. We can't make Him big enough. He's bigger than anything we would try. ("The Way" playing) >> Joel: Good morning, everyone! You may be seated. Welcome to those of you watching online. Welcome to those of you here in our audience. It's great to see you all. Just a reminder -- moms and dads, we do have Children's Programming available for pre-K and our nursery students as well so come on back. Well, today we're doing something a little different. I don't know if any of you have heard the story of the three trees. I live in one of those neighborhoods that goes all out for Christmas lights, and we're trying to think of a way we could share the Gospel with our neighbors. And we came up with the idea of making a little movie with our neighbor kids and theming our yard to the three trees. So the verse that we wanted to get across -- if you could pick one Bible verse to share with your neighbors, what would it be? Mine is 1 John 4:10. Here in His love not that we love God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be a p ropitianion, a sacrifice for our sins. So check it out. >> Many year ago in a far away land, kind of like our pecan grove, there were three little trees. The little one looked up at the stars which looked like diamonds in the sky and thought. >> When I grow up, I'm going to be a great treasure chest. Hold most valuable treasure in the whole wide world. >> The second little tree look willed at a bayou and thought -- >> Some day I will be the greatest ship. I'm going to carry kings across the sea. >> Good job! >> The third tree looked around and thought -- >> I want to stand right here, the tallest tree in the world, point people to heaven. >> After many years, some would cutters came. The three trees thought -- yea! This is the time where our dreams come true! The wood cutters looked at the trees and began to cut them down and carry them away. The first tree was gradually formed into a feed box. ,"h, man! I'm not happy. I'll never be able to hold great treasures." The second tree was taken to a shipyard. "Yeah, this is it!" The tree thought. But then it was formed into a boat, a stinky, smelly, fisherman's boat designed to just catch fish! The third tree was pretty tall but was lifted into broken beams. "Aw, man! Hmm." Years later when the feed box had forgotten its dream, a strange man and strange woman arrived in the dead of night. The next thing the feed box knew, it was being cleaned out and a precious Baby was being laid inside it. The man said to the woman -- >> I wish I could make a crib for Baby Jesus. >> But the mother looked up and said, "This manger is just perfect." The little feed box looked up and realized it had become the greatest treasure box of all time. 30 years later, the little fishing boat sat dejected on the edge of the sea when a bunch of people climbed in it as they sailed across the lake. The man in the front of the boat fell asleep. A huge storm came out of nowhere and began to attack the boat. "Wake up, Jesus!" They said. >> Peace, be still! >> Wow, that must be the Son of God! >> Three years passed. Something was wrong. The third tree could hear angry voices yelling suddenly. Soldiers grabbed the beam and formed a cross. An innocent Man was forced to carry the cross through the angry crowd. It felt cruel and harsh. There on the hill, Jesus was crucified for the sins of the world. A soldier looked up and said -- "Surely Man was the Son of God." But He didn't stay dead. On the third day, Jesus was raised from the dead and that is why we celebrate Christmas. Joy to the world. The True Gift of Christmas is that. The little tree held the Greatest Treasure; the mighty tree held the King of Heavens and Earth; and the tallest tree points all the world to heaven. 1 John 4:10 says, this is the love, not that we have loved God, but that He has loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice. I hope you enjoyed the story of the three trees. (Applause) >> Grant: Thank you, Smith family, and neighbors on the street for that great video. Well, this is the second Sunday in the Advent season and so Advent simply means a notable event or person that is coming so as Christians we are celebrating the coming of the Christ, the Messiah, the Newborn King, the One Israel had been waiting for, for generation and generation. So each Sunday lead willing up to Christmas, we're gonna have a special reading and candle lighting as we remember this special time of year. The Potthoff family will lead us today. Thank you so much. Michael? >> Good morning. Today we relight the candle of Hope, remind something us of the Great Hope we have in Jesus. As we light the second candle of peace, let us prepare our hearts for the coming of Christ, remembering to give our cares and concerns to Him. >> I'm reading Isaiah 9:6-7. (reading) >> Grant: Amen. The Potthoffs will also lead us in communion time. If you're at home, get your Mondayon elements. If you're here, if you don't have a packet, they're in the back. When you're finished, put them in the bag, baskets at the end of the aisle, or throw them away on your way out. Let's enter into our time of communion. Michael? >> Michael: I want to introduce myself, Michael Potthoff, my wife Ruth, sons Luke and Joshua. We're thrilled to be here this morning. This morning as we take time to celebrate the Lord's Supper today, we'll pray over the bread, which represents the Body of Christ; and pray over the cup, which represents the bloodshed for our sins. Let's pray together. Father, we love You so much. In this time that's been very chaotic for us and full of uncertainty and full of fear and just a lot of chaos this year, Father, we know that You Are our true source of peace. We know we can lay everything at Your feet. And Father, during this time we thank You for sending Your Son to break His body, to shed His blood for our sins. We pray this morning that as we consider You and thank You for Your sacrifice we remember in all things You Are our true source of peace. It is in Jesus' Christ most Holy and Precious Name we pray, amen. >> Ruth: Okay, we'll read again for communion Colossians 3:15-17. (reading) >> Richard: Why don't we all stand together as you finish communion. ("O Holy Night" playing ] >> Richard: Truly He taught us. >> Grant: Greg Stirman, an elder here, will lead us in our offering prayer. You can go ahead and have a seat. Thank you, Greg. >> Greg: Good morning! This is our offering time, and we acknowledge that our offerings are also part of our worship to God. They are never taken for Granted and are always prayed over. We want you to know that giving online is safe, secure, and simple to set up. Click the link on your screen, or you may also text to give. There are also giving boxes as you exit the auditorium this morning. Thank you for your partnership in the mission of Jesus in this world. Let's pray for our offering together. Father, You Are the Giver of all Good Things. Will You bless these gifts and multiply these resources that You may be glorified? May we be good stewards to use these offerings to advance Your kingdom locally and in the foreign missions we are engaged with. We thank You for the gift of Jesus as we pray in His Name. Amen. ? >> Grant: Powerful words that give us hope and peace in this Advent season. Well, it's time for our fellowship greeting so let's go ahead and stand, say hello to the folks that are around you. If you're online with us today, you can sign into the chat bar and say hello. We'd love to see you. ("Jailbreak" playing) >> Richard: Thank you for your worship today! You may be seated! >> Ronnie: Thank you so much, Richard and team! Good morning, everyone, so glad to see you today. Welcome to our second service here's at First Colony Church of Christ. We are glad to be off injured reserve and have a good, clean bill of health and into here with you. I'm so thankful you're here and to those of you watching online, we welcome you as well. My thanks to Kyle and Shane for the extra work they have done over the last few weeks. Let me just remind you that we would love to hear from you and pray for you. You can communicate with us via our church app or through our website, and it would be our joy to pray for you. And let me just go ahead and say merry Christmas from Martha and me, from our family to you, to our church staff here. We wish you a very happy Christmas season. Well, our theme for this Christmas season is "A Weary World Rejoices." The phrase is from the song "O Holy Night." It's a we're we world, and we have reason -- weary world, and we have reasons to celebrate. Merriam-Webster made the announcement on Monday that the word of the year is "Pandemic." No surprise. Right up there at the top also is the word "Unprecedented." Because "Unprecedented" has been used in unprecedented ways with unprecedented frequency throughout the year to discuss everything from voting to hurricanes, certainly to a pandemic. And in the midst of the weariness, listen to these words from Jesus out of Matthew 11. One of the great, great invitations from Scripture. (reading) this is Jesus speaking. (reading) Now, Jesus has the resources to back up a bold invitation like that. I couldn't say that, and you would think, "Can anyone really say come to Me?" That's a little megalomanical, egotistical statement unless you can back it up >> and Jesus has the goods. He said, "I want you to coming to Me. All you who are weary and burdened," (coughing) Excuse me -- "And I will give you rest." This is one of many invitations from our Lord. Martha, would you hand me that water? I am fine. (chuckling) I may cough a little bit today but if so, that's okay. Nothing contagious -- you know, I'm all good. Don't feel sorry for me. He'll just sort of get through this and I've got my water. I've got a cough drop here if I need it. Let me put a photo of a statue up here on the screen, the Christ the Redeemer statue from Rio, standing over the city as if to say "Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened." Here's the good news: the real Jesus is more than a statue, more than a symbol. He is the real deal, the Living Lord and Savior -- excuse me -- and he is speaking to you today, dear friends. And for those of us who may be burdened by weary conscience, for those of us who are keenly aware of our need for a Good Shepherd, the Lord invites us afresh. Reading from Matthew 11, starting verse 20. (reading) Now, we're working towards this wonderful, beautiful invitation, but let's see the context. Jesus began to denounce -- excuse me -- the towns in which most of His miracles had been performed. Why? Because they did not repent. And he said, (reading) (continuing to read) >> Ronnie: Everybody knows about Sodom, legendary for sexual perversion and rebellion against the Lord. If Capernaum and Sodom had seen and heard what you have seen and heard -- (coughing) -- it would have remained to this day. But I tell you it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you. Let me put simply a map of the Galileean region and north shore of the Sea of Galilee is ground zero for the ministry of Jesus. Capernaum, Chorazin, Bethsaida. All the wonderful deeds Jesus had done had been written, the world couldn't contain them all. Jesus said, I'm inviting all of you to come to Me, but just because I invite, many of you just say no. And it's not like you say no because you don't know. You have seen and heard and been surrounded by spiritual, gourmet experiences. How many of you know that you can grow up in Capeernaum and just because you grow up in Capernaum doesn't mean you have a soft heart towards Jesus? How many understand you can be surrounded by gourmet spiritual and religious experiences and just because you're surrounded by gourmet spiritual experiences that doesn't mean you have a welcoming spirit towards the ministry of Jesus Christ? So I'm asking you today -- not have you grown up in the Bible Belt or heard of Jesus, not have you had some gourmet experiences all around you; but have you welcomed Jesus Christ into your life as your Lord and Savior? You know, there are lot of folks, they love to put stock in their experiences and who they know and they've gotten real picky when it comes to their spirituality. All of us need to run with humility towards our Great God and King. So Jesus looks at Capernaum and Bethsaida and Chorazin and challenges them because they didn't is have a repentant spirit. Don't think repentance is something we do when we first come to Christ or something we do only when we've had a major moral failure. No! Repentance is the ongoing, DAILY, beautiful spirit of a Christian that says, "Word of God, Holy Spirit, as You point something in me that needs correcting and adjusting, I want to do that." Because, listen, gang, that's where the fun and the joy is. That's where the growth is. That's where the development is. As we go deeper into the kingdom life, as we go stronger in the way of Jesus, and the spirit of repentance is not a negative guilty thing. To the contrary! It's this beautiful wonder from God that where we have the beautiful privilege of -- well, what is it Jesus said? "I am the Good Shepherd, and My sheep, they pay attention to My voice." And when there's a nudge here and a broad there, My sheep listen to that, and that's a beautiful thing. Well, Jesus continues speaking here, verse 25. He says -- (reading) >> Ronnie: In other words, He's talking here about He's inviting all to come to Him but some people still-arm Him; and it almost sounds like He's saying here that the smart and educated do not come to Him. That's not what He's saying. Our Lord is not condemning intelligence. If you're intelligent, that's a gift from God. He is condemning intellectual pride. It's not intelligence that shuts people out of the kingdom and can be inch lacteal pride -- inch lacteal pride. It's humility that gets us in the kingdom. The Apostle Paul was a brilliant, highly educated scholar who brought that intelligence and learning with him in his service to Jesus. Intelligence is a gift from God. But if it's perverted by pride, it becomes a barrier to God. Jesus said, I'm inviting all but just like the book of Romans will say, some people that, professing themselves to be wise, they're really too wise for their own good and they become foolish regarding spiritual matters. And then Jesus says, verse 27 -- a profound statement here. (reading) >> Ronnie: So here we are in this Christmas season, and we celebrate Jesus Christ, the Son of God; God in the flesh. Listen, Jesus here in this statement we just read, He's saying "I am the exclusive revealer of the Father in heaven." There are not many ways to God. I am the exclusive revealer of the mind and heart of God, and if that is true -- and I believe it is -- we bow down and we worship Jesus Christ. We adore and praise Him and honor Him. If we don't believe Jesus' claims, then we need to let go of any foolish notion that He was "Good Teacher." Because His claims are bold. And as we will see again next Sunday, they challenge us to embrace the scandal of particularity, the scandal of exclusivity, where Jesus said "I can am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one womans to the -- comes to the Father but by Me." You see salvation is this wonderful combination of God reveal Himself to us and humble hearts receiving that revelation. All through the Bible, you find this mantra that God indeed gives grace to the humble and He opposes the proud. Now we come to the beautiful invitation, verse 28. Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Notice what He says. "All of you who are weary." All of you. I've had people say, the Bible talks about election. Am I one of the elect? If you know you're weary and burdened, you want to come to Jesus, He invites you, ALL who are weary and burdened. You know the taint of sin. You know the brokenness and distance from God. You know what it's like to walk around in a dirty world and no one loves you like Jesus. And HE invites you, weary and burdened one, to come to Him and find rest. Throughout the Bible that word "Rest" is synonymous for all the beautiful things God brings us: our salvation, our refreshing in the Holy Spirit, the promise of eternal rest to come; and this is what Jesus invites us to receive. Then He said (reading) You know what a yoke is? It's that wooden frame fitted over the shoulders of an animal to harness them so they could plow. When you were yoked, met morefully, it meant you were under submission and connected to another. You were put in a place where somebody else is controlling you. Jesus said, this is no bait and switch. I'm inviting you to come to Me and will find real life here, but you need to take my yoke upon you. You need to learn from Me. Learn the revelation of Truth that I bring to you. I'm your Savior; I'm your Lord; I'm your Teacher; and before He ascended, what else did He say? I'm sending the Holy Spirit, who will guide the apostles into all truth. We have the Word of God. We have the Scripture. Jesus said, take My yoke upon you, learn from me, walk with Me in the school of discipleship and we will walk together. A lot of believers want to be elevator Christians. You hit the button, it does all the work and take you. He said Jesus invites us not to be elevator Christians but stairway Christians where we get with Him; we walk with Him, learning from Him; and involved in the school of discipleship. And then Jesus says, I am gentle. I'm humble in heart. In Me you will find rest for your souls, for My yoke is easy. My burden is light. Isn't that interesting? It's an oxymoron. A burden has some weight to it but He said it's light because I'm always carrying the heavy end and it's light because your reward far outweighs the weight. It's light when you compare it to the burden of disobedience and rebellion. Guilty, broken, tired, confused, purposeless. Come to Me. You take on My yoke. Walk with Me. Learn from Me and you will find rest for your souls. Let me put a statement on the screen. I believe the answer to weariness is outside. This comes from a theologian named Dr. David Wells, a theologian, professor, and author. He employs the terms "Inside God" and "Outside God." He said the Lord is within us. We live in a postmodern age, and a lot of folks like to baptize their own intuitions. "Follow your heart; follow your dreams; just follow your intuition." He said, it is imperative that you pay attention to the outside God. This is what he says. This is why we must keep coming back to the first principles. The most basic of these is the fact that God is there, and He is objective to us. He is not there to conform to us. We conform to Him. He summons us from outside of ourselves to know Him. He says, you come to Me. We do not go inside of ourselves to find Him. We're summoned to know the Living God on His terms. He is not known on OUR terms. And this summons is heard in and through the Word of God. It is heard IN and THROUGH the Scriptures. It is not heard through our own inner intuitions. I believe the answer to weariness is when we run to God, to Jesus, Who's outside of us and calling us to hear Him and follow Him. And I ask you to do that in a fresh way today with that spirit of humility, spirit of ongoing repentance to the Lord. You speak, Lord. I'm listening. With this ongoing sense of praise that Jesus Christ is Who He claims to be, and He exclusively reveals to us the way to God. And he exclusively makes that reconciliation and redemption possible. Hall lieu gentleman! What a Great Savior Jesus is! hallelujah! Here the invitation from Jesus Christ to you and me. : come to Me. Just listen to your own intuitions -- you will wear yourself out. Listen to the Truth that the Lord gives to you and me in His Words. We live by His promises. We run to Him. We take upon -- we take His yoke upon us, and there we find rest for our souls. Thank you for being with us today. We love you. We're praying for you. We love to help. Again, you can contact us and we're happen I to provide Bible study resources. We have lots of information on our website, but you just know when you're ready to take a step of maybe having a Bible study with someone; you would like to have a personal conversation; you're ready to take the step of baptism -- we can make that happen and would be our joy to do so. All right, everyone, we want to take a moment here as we wind down our service and play together. Greg Stirman, one of our elders, will come back to lead us in prayer. Just know that I love you. I'm praying for you, and thank you so much for being with us today. Gregg? >> Greg: Thank you, Ronnie. Let's pray together. Father, thank You for the Gift of the Prince of Peace. Mighty Savior, Your Son, Jesus Christ. May we receive His peace as our world is challenged with fear; illness; crisis; and chaos. Father, we pray for wisdom for those who seek. Will You provide clarity and direction? We pray for healing for those who are ill and suffering. Will You provide relief? Father, we ask for comfort for those who mourn and are lonely. You have promised Your Spirit to be their comfort. Father, amid the challenges of this year, we look to You; and we praise You for the wonderful Gift of Your Son, our Hope, the Prince of Peace. We pray in the Wonderful and Mighty Name of Jesus, amen. >> Amen! Thank you, Gregg! Let me highlight a couple of holiday events coming up. Next Sunday is our big Care and Share Toy and Food Drive so make sure it's on the calendar. This is a fantastic event we host every year. The toys go to help support our Santa's Exchange event we host at the building and there's great time to volunteer that week leading up in the evenses as well as on that Sunday. You can find the volunteer information online. All the food we give goes to help Second Mile mission, and this is a season in where food pantries, the food supply is down; so they have given us some specific items that we can give to help them at this important time of need. It will be a little different. Normally we fill this stage with all the toys and food. This year we're gonna have big boxes set out on the front porch so if you're coming in, you can just drop them in the label bins on your way to worship; or if you want to drive through, you can do that any time next Sunday, 8:00 to 11:00, going to be a great Sunday for our Care and Share drive. Also, let me talk about Connection groups. Connection groups are the heartbeat of this church. It's what makes it go and our leaders of connection groups are some of the most important leaders that we have at this church. As we think about next year, we know we're gonna need new group. We know some may have already started organically and may need some resources, but Ryan Bien, our Connection Minister, will have a interest meeting. That will be this Wednesday night at 8:00 online. You can go to the home page, register for that. Ryan will contact you and he would love to see you at that Connection group leader interest meeting. Of course, Christmas is around the corner so mark calendar. We're having our traditional Christmas Eve candle light service. The normal times -- 3:00 and 5:00. Great event for the whole family so make sure that is on your agenda for Christmas Eve this year. And lastly, we have our Service of Remembrance, a fantastic event that's hosted by Dr. Virgil Fry, remembering loved ones during this season on December 20, a live stream event only. After the 20th, you can find it on demand. Church, know we love you. We're praying for you and specifically this week, we are praying that the Prince of Peace would walk closely with you during this season. All right, let's go ahead and rise and sing one last closing song together. >> Richard: All right, let's sing! (my Soul Magnifies the Lord" playing) >> Richard: Thank you for coming today! We'll see you next time. You are dismissed!