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. >> The app is a great resource where you can stay connected to First Colony Church. Thank you for joining us today. We are glad you're here. ? ? ? >> Thank you for joining us today. We want to let you know about a few items of interest. First, go to our website, firstcolonychurch.org, and go there often. You'll find links to our worship services; Bible study options; onlinegives; and our podcast, Anchor Point. You can also download our church a app. Just search for "First Colony Church of Christ" on the App Store or on Google Play. The app is a great resource where you can stay connected to First Colony Church. Thank you for joining us today. We are glad you're here. >> Kevin: Good morning, First Colony, how are you doing? It's good to be in the room with you guys. I don't know about you guys, but I've just been excited to be here. If that's not how you're feeling, you can share some so much my energy. I got a lot of it this morning to give. Did you know that on the date March 11, 2020, the Houston Rodeo made an announcement they will be closing the Rodeo and ALL the events that were supposed to happen after that? That was a year ago it happened; a year. My question: how are you doing? It's been a year that we have been living in a different world, and it's just kind of hard. You know, some of us have adjusted and moved on. Some of us have been adjusted and are little worn out, and if you're like me, I have been in both those places many times, just like an up-and-down roller coaster. But the good news is the body of Christ is the one place where it doesn't matter if you're up or down. You can find a place where you feel welcome and this is your home because the body of Christ is the one place where the head is God; and God knows ALL of our thought. He knowing exactly what we need in every single moment so this morning He has been waiting for us to show up as His body so He can minister to us. So our job as the body is to play our part, whether that's worshiping ; whether that's encouraging somebody else you see today; caring for somebody this week. Play your part in the body. That's encouragement to tall of us. Let's stand together and begin with that and sing some songs together, okay? >> Richard: Amen! God is good! (this is Amazing grace" playing) >> Richard: We're here to lift up the name of Jesus today, amen? Here we go! ? >> Richard: ? All that You've done for me ? God is faithful! If we don't know anything else, we should know that, that one thing. God is faithful. We've seen Him do things before. We just trust God. We believe You're capable and will do things again, whatever it is that we're needing in our lives, amen? ("Do It Again" playing) >> Richard: That's something we can cling to this morning, amen? Great is Your faithfulness. >> Richard: Your promise still stands. ? Never failed me ? >> Richard: Amen. Thank you for worship something with us this morning. You may be seated. >> Corey: Good morning, church! Whoo! I'm so glad we have a God that has never fail us yet. Goodness gracious. I want to share a thought with you today about a monkey trap. There is a very rare monkey they wanted to trap and had a hard time catching it so the hunters and trappers decided they would watch the pattern. As they went, they learned he loved a particular fruit. They got a glass jar and put the fruit in the jar and waited. And they waited. But one day he came and stuck his hand in the jar and he grabbed the fruit and couldn't get his hand out of the jar because his stand was stuck. They were able to get a net over him and capture him. I wondered as I was anything about it, reading the story, we have an enemy that knows our patterns and he watches us and lays a trap for us. When we stick our hand in the jar, we're stuck. Wouldn't you like to be unstuck? The Bible says that all have sinned come short of the glory of God so we all have stuff that can get us stuck. But it also says that we can confess our sins. He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse from all unrighteousness. He's faithful to get us unstuck. God bless you. >> Kevin: We're going to go ahead and move into time of communion right now and so Tom is going to come up and help us with that. If you're at home right now, grab the communion supplies you've got. If you're here, we have a cup. If you need one, we have some at the back of the room. So let's commute with God right now. Oh, I'm sorry, tellers, not Tommy. I threw Tommy under the bus for a moment. Go ahead and come on up, guys. Thank y'all. >> Tim: We bid you a very welcome good morning. We're certainly pleased to be with you. My name is Tim, and this is my lovely bride of almost 55 years, Ms. Donna. It's our honor to both lead and share with you in our communion celebration.. For those in the room, we're delighted to be in your presence. For those of you with us online, we certainly bid you a welcome. Our records indicate there are several hundred people who join us each Lord's day morning. We want you to know that you are a part of our fellowship, and we certainly include you in our communion celebration. As Kevin as said, you have a wafer and a cup. Gonna have a prayer for these elements and then after our prayer, we will partake of the communion together. The bread represents the body of Christ, given -- not taken -- but given as a sacrifice for us. The cup, the fruit of the vine, represents the blood that He shed on the cross for our forgiveness. If you'll join me. Father, it's our honor to come before You. Father, we come boldly before Your throne with a sense of gratitude for what You have provided for us in Your Son. We thank You, Father, for His body, a body that He said, Father, came down from heaven that was the bread of heaven. And Father, we want to partake of that because it gives us life. We thank You for His blood, the only blood that was sufficient for the atonement of our sin. Father, we give You praise and glory for that, and we honor Your Son because He willingly did it for our behalf. Father, as this blood covers us who believe, we have the advantage that when You look down on us, you don't see our sin. You don't see our transgressions. You don't see the humanness in us. Father, You see the blood that covers us. You see a forgiven, a redeemed people. Father, we ask that You would bless us with that same ability as we look among our group. Give us eyes, Father, that see the blood, that see the redemption, that see the forgiveness in our fellow brothers and sisters. Father, we know that as we come here in individually to worship, as redeemed people we really make up a community of the redeemed; and it is a blessing to be with folks who have named the Name of Your Son, who have appropriated His righteousness. And Father, as we par fake of this Lord's Supper, par again, we give You thanks. Father, Your plan -- it always was; it is; and it will be till the end of time a perfect plan to bring us back into fellowship with You. We offer this prayer in the Name of Your Most Holy Son, Jesus the Christ. Amen. Now we will partake of the emblems of communion. >> Donna: today I will read from 1 Peter 1:3-9. (reading) ("No Longer Slaves" playing) >> Kevin: All right, we'll pray for the money we take up for God's work and so Tommy Waldron, one of our elders, will lead us in that. >> Tom: Good morning, church. As we pray over our offering today, we just want you to know that giving online is easy and safe and secure. You can click on the link on the screen in front of you. You can text to give. For those that are here, there's boxes in the back of the auditorium and you can leave your gift there as you leave also. We give in partnership with Christ and His mission here in Sugarland, the greater Houston area, and around the world. And so I'm just thankful for the opportunity to pray over this and for your giving. On behalf of the church, thank you for your continued support and your dedication to giving to God's work. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, thank You so much for the abundant way You bless us, Father. We do not deserve the gifts You give us, but we thank You for this means to worship You in the form of giving. Our prayer, Dear Lord, is that the gifts given today will be making a comping Tom impact, ministering to those part of your Body and those who dent know us. We thank You for loving and blesses us the way You to. In Jesus' Name we pray, amen. >> Kevin: Amen. If you're in first through fifth grade, it's time for Main Street Live. If you head through the back middle doors, Joel is waiting for you. Parents, if you haven't checked your kids in yet, check them in at the door. It's a great program made just for you guys. If you're online, we want you to know there's also -- Tiri will put a link in the comment. There's about 50-plus videos Joel has made over the last year that are just AMAZING lessons, about 20 minutes long. If you want to put the iPad on while preaching is going on, kids can have their own Main Street Live at home or at home during the week, you can watch those. Everybody else, let's stand up and greet one another and the say hi and welcome everybody to be here. ("Forever" playing) >> Richard: His love endures forever! Let's sing! Thank you! You may be seated! >> Shane: Thank you, guys. That was fantastic! Hey, everyone! Good morning! I am Shane, and I'm the pastoral care minister here and campus minister of our Foster Creek campus in Richmond. Welcome to everyone here in the building and welcome to everyone watching online! Again, we're so glad you are with us. You also can fill out a Connection card, a Get Connected card or prayer request online. We would love to connect with you and pray with you and for you so feel free to do that. And, you know, our Foster Creek campus, I'm very much looking forward that I can be there next week. It's great to be here this week but just so you know, next week we will begin a seven-week time at Foster Creek with outside worship, enjoying this nice spring weather and doing church outside. We'll have live worship; we'll have kids class just like you to at First Colony. Ronnie's jean will be on the front porch at Foster Creek. If you're interested in outside worship and fellowship -- if that's the kind of thing good for you right now or something you have been wanting to do -- this is a great time. It's the right season. Foster Creek is the perfect campus for it. 10:00 a.m. for the next seven week or so we'll be outside. You're welcome to join us if you're not here so just consider that. Now, let's dive in to today's message. I want to ask you: have you ever felt really stuck? I mean, REALLY, really stuck, like you don't know how to get path the situation you're in? Like you don't know how this will get fixed, all right? That kind of stuck. Maybe it's a tough job situation -- you can't see a solution. Maybe it's one of the many struggles we have all experienced during this COVID-19 pandemic. Has anyone felt stuck at home recently? Anyone felt stuck not -- I don't know how, if I can make those plans because I don't know if I can travel. I don't know, you know, what is happening with school. Anyone felt that? That's a real thing. You know, maybe it's a school or career decision you felt stuck in and you're just not sure which way to go. Speak of school, I would often get stuck in math. That was the bane of my existence and recently my daughter was struggling with a difficult math problem. She said, "I really don't like math." I said, "Well, don't look at me. I despise math. And it hates me." I was no help to her at all, but when we're stuck, we do really need help. We need a safe, trusted person. We can reach out for good guidance and encouragement. What if Ur your stuck situation is a relationship? Something about it is really hard and you feel stuck? Maybe you have a difficult time with your parent or maybe one of your kids or a sibling or a spouse or a neighbor or close friend. Maybe you have been there before; maybe you're there right now in one of those hard, stuck places. You're wondering, "How do we solve this?" "Why don't they understand me?" How can we get help when this is a hard things to talk about? That's a really hard place to be. I want to acknowledge that and hope you're not in that kind of "Stuck" place right now but I know we have all gone through it or will go through those kind of "Stuck" spots and not sure how to get past that and resolve that. If you're in that tough spot, I want to offer you some hope, not false hope, not the pie-in the sky hope or phrases like "God will never give you more than you can handle" or "Hang in there." In certain situations, platitudes will not do. They ring hollow because they're devoid of truth and because, weather sometimes talk is cheap, right? But God's kind of hope, that's not cheap. That's something else. It comes with hard fought effort, okay? It's gritty; it's resilient; it's not afraid to wear its scars. God's hope is precious. You cling onto that hope like you're hanging on for dear life. You know what I'm talking about there because you put your trust in God and you put your hope in Jesus Christ because you know from hard experience He's faithful, like we're saying. But you also know there's no guarantee of comfort, and there are no shortcuts or easy way out of tough situations. So you hang onto hope that true, that real, robust, gritty, authentic, painful but glorious faith-filled God-focused hope. You trust in the hope God give you in His World like Roman 15:13, which says (reading) and 1 Peter 1:3 which says (reading) Ultimately our hope is rooted in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, amen, church? Oh, come on, amen, church? >> Amen! >> Shane: Jesus give fuss hypo. One of the most amazing scenes is after Christ was crucified and buried. What did His follows do? A bunch were hid in that upper room it talks about and imagine what they had been feeling, how stuck they must v felt. They just killed our Lead her, the Guy who was gonna change everything. What will we do now? Do we scatter? Carry on? Lay low? Head out? What do we do? And then Jesus appears. When all seems to be lost, Jesus is right there in our midst all along, and He specializes in resurrection, after all. Their hope was restored but even in that joyful, amazing moment, whether they realized it or not, Jesus was going to give them hope and point them to their mission for the future. And it was in fact going to be a difficult calling. But not one without hope. So we have stories like this all through the Bible and today's story is from our last book in our series on small books, big messages. It's one of those kind of stories too, actually. It's an amazing account of being stuck, I think, in finding a safe place to share our story and of God using the encouragement and wise counsel of others to help direct our path forward, even when it's hard. So let's turn to the book of Philemon. Reading one of these New Testament letter will like this one is like listening to one side of a phone conversation, okay? We just have the one side of the communication, and in this case we have to consider three main people in this story. First is the Apostle Paul, writing this letter. He's writing from prison in Rome. He's stuck himself. It's kind of a house arrest situation, probably. Paul is writing to a guy named Philemon, who is likely a very wealthy guy. He's a member of the church in Collossai in present-day Turkey. It looks as if Paul and Philemon have become pretty close or at least their relationship is strong. It's a good relationship. We also know Philemon's house is where the church met. And finally we have Onesimus, a guy once Philemon's slave who ran away and ended up with Paul in Rome. Then he's a follower of Jesus and saved himself. There's a lot pack into 25 verses, a lot about forgiveness; about being stuck; about needing a friend; needing a safe place to go; and having to face hard reality. Let's open our Bible, our mind, and hearts to receive God's Word as we read. After initial greetings, palm expresses his thankfulness for Philemon, writing to fill non. He says, I'm thankful for the faith and love you have shown for the church. You have refreshed the hearts of the Lord's people. Then Paul get to the point in verse 8 and will pick it up there. (reading) He continues in verse 15 to 18. (reading) Paul could have made some demands here, but he makings a very nice request, and the truth is on his side. He's basically saying, this former slave of yours is now a brother in Christ. He has come to mean so much to me. I'm sending him back to you but asking you, don't take him back as a slave who ran away but take him as a brother in Christ. Whatever is owed on his account, charge it to me. That's actually an extraordinary request for Paul to make at that time. He's asking Onesimus to face his past, literally go back and face his past as a slave who ran away. But now Onesimus has something new, a new identity in Christ. He's not a slave; he's a son. He's free in Christ so he's not stuck like he was before. Whether or not he's ultimately set free physically, he's free in Christ and he has to live out that new identity as one who is free in Christ. Very challenging circumstances here. Paul's also asking a lot of Philemon. He must now re-evaluate his relationship with Onesimus, and you can see how Paul is EVER so gently saying, "Hey, do what is right here, brother. Do what is right." So let me pause and acknowledge slavery is evil and this New Testament story is not trying to justify or excuse slavery are even though Paul's point here -- he's not trying to challenge the practice of slavery because that's not the point of the letter. It's much more personal than that. Paul wasn't trying to minimize slavery, I don't think, and I'm not trying to minimize or swipe under the rug; that's just not the real point of the passage. This letter is a personal calling God is giving Philemon through Paul, and I think there's some very personal applications we can take today as well. Before we get to those, I want to make two quick points I found interesting. One, we don't know the end of the story. We don't know what Philemon did. We don't know if he forgave Onesimus and welcomed him back as a brother. We don't know. Here's another interesting thing: the name Onesimus actually means "Useful." His name in that language means "Useful." So in verses 10 and 11 -- look again. When Paul said, it appeal for you my son, Onesimus. Formerly he was useless to you but has become useful to you and me. Paul is making a clever play on words on Onesimus' actual name there, which I think is really cool. And here's something that jumped out in a fresh way as I read in the last few week. It's the story of a nice Onesimus, who was stuck. So he ran. He needed a safe place, someone to confide in. He needed good, wise counsel. What he found was salvation in the Lord and freedom in Christ, forgiveness and an accepting community with Paul and those who were with him. Okay? But today I want to talk first to those of you who know this feeling of feeling stuck. It's my prayer you have a safe place to go also, a place to find Ken urgement and wise counsel -- the encouragement and wise counsel. A friend, mentor, small group leader, an elder, a parent, maybe, counselor, or one of our support groups, our Celebrate Recovery ministry. It's meeting Friday night in the courtyard outside, 6:30:00 p.m. You are welcome to come and find out how to get unstuck with us as we continue on our journey. But, you know, sometimes a good Christian counselor or mentor, an elder -- I hope you have a place to go, a good friend. Sometimes even a preacher will do, okay? It's just like God provided that safe place for Onesimus. He can provide a safe place for you to receive encouragement and wise counsel; but that's not all. It's so good that Onesimus found salvation. He found a safe community. People to accept, encourage and teach him. Here's the thing: for reasons not spelled out in the text, the Godly counsel he receives from Paul was to go back, face his past, and do the hard thing. So again, there's no guarantees and we don't know how it ended up. We don't know if his circumstance could improve but we know Onesimus has a new identity now. He was free in Christ, even as a slave; and he was being called to go through the struggle rather than run away from it. You know, we have been in that place. I don't know which one you are right now, but you could be like Onesimus. You know, you have. In that difficult place, feeling stuck, maybe desperate? Or you could be like Philemon. You know, we have known people we need to forgive or been asked by God to do something really hard, maybe to buck against our natural inclination or to buck up against the culture around us. And he's saying, do the hard thing here. Or maybe you're like Paul right now. You know someone who needs a friend, who needs encouragement, who needs healing and counsel and a second chance. Which one are you these days? Like I said before, if you need a friend, I hope you will reach out and push past your reluctance or your fear or your pride or whatever it is that holds you back from saying, "Hey, I need help right now. I need a place to go." For the rest of our message time, I want to highlight three ways we often get stuck. You know, we have all been there. It's a fact of life that we'll be there again sometimes. I want to give you a little warning. Depending where you are right now, one of these three points may be a challenge to you. If so, I'm sorry; but I'm not sorry because God wants you to get unstuck, right? He want you to get unstuck. So here's three ways we can get stuck and how to get unstuck out of them. First is sun resolved relationship issues. So many things we can talk about here but will think of one instance. Let me speak frankly about those times -- for example, maybe a marriage is stuck in some way. Just know this can apply to any significant relationship. For the sake of illustration, let's use a marriage situation. Maybe you need help with something and one of you is reluctant to get that help. You know, it could be an addiction problem; it could be something important that you both just don't see eye to eye; you just can't resolve it. It could be a parenting issue; it could be finances;; a communication issue; or something about a conflict you can't seem to resolve. Whatever the "Issue" I'm talking about those times when, yes, there's a tough issue -- we have those from time to time in our marriage and relationships. On top of that you feel stuck like you can't figure out how to get past it. Maybe that's because the issue is just a really hard one. You know, there's just some issues that are not easily resolved. Maybe one of you feels like your spouse is not letting go of some things and not forgiving; or maybe it might be you really need some help and reluctant o get help. Either way, you're stuck. This is a really hard place to be, okay? So let me just talk real talk with you. This is tricky; I don't have a magic wand here. Through my experience personally and through pastoral care ministry with other, I have seen some things and want to offer some honest thoughts with you about this. First, I think we need to know in our relationships when we're stuck we need to know the difference between a demand and a request. The truth is that demands are rarely effective if at all; but requests should be always allowed in our important, significant relationships, okay? It's tricky -- like I said, it's not three easy step to make a difficult marriage request -- you know, there's not like a flow chart. To complicate matters further -- you know, what I think is a request may seem like a demand to my lovely, beautiful, wise, and wonderful wife who is always right. But seriously, like -- one person's request can feel like another person's demand so what do I do about that? Well, here's the thing: I have some homework to do. It's my responsibility to learn how to best make requests to my wife. I have to learn and study her and learn, how can I most effectively communicate request that are important that I have for my wife? That's my responsibility. You know, I can't give you a definitive list of what makes something a request but it's more about heart and attitude than technique -- although there are some fouls you can make. You know, many of them you wouldn't know. Here's the thing: demands are more about trying to control and flexing our power. When we demand, we speak out in strength and with power. A request, on the other hand, comes from a posture of vulnerability. It's an invitation to intimacy and connection, even if it's about a hard thing. A demand says "You must do this for me." A request says, "I need this. Can you give it to me? Will you please help me?" It's incredibly vulnerable, but in marriage and all our vital relationships, you know, we have to be willing to go beneath the surface, to open ourselves up to a messy process at times. In the way of Jesus, you know, it's the way of the cross that calls us to find freedom, to find new life through vulnerability and sacrificial love, not power and demanding to get our way. So I know it's messy. I -- do not make this out as a simple thing. We all deal with unmet expectations, sometimes unreal wristic expectations and you have to talk about those and it's messy. You could be dealing with requests that have been made for years and those requests are unmet. That's hard. It can be really, really tricky. I'm not saying it's easy, but we have to know the difference between making demand and making requests to get unstuck sometimes. And then check your heart first; pray and ask God to reveal to you anything YOU need to see more clearly about YOU. And then make your request with love and respect with humility, with tenderness. Sometimes the best request is simply, "Honey, I really need to get some help with this problem" or "We need help with this problem. I don't see how we can get past it on my own. Will you help me find the right resources and steps to get this help? Would you please help me get past this?" Now, when you're the one on the receiving end of this kind of request that you're likely to feel like it's a demand, right? I wonder, how did Philemon feel about Paul's letter? Did he feel it was a request or demand? It was pretty polite but Paul was going "Do the right thing, here." Either way, you have a responsibility if you love this relationship and you're committed to it, to try to lower your defense and pray and ask God for discernment and humility; and if after that you feel like you want to deny the request -- and you may have reasons to -- but I want to ask you please first count the cost. The cost benefit is not some easy, you know, everyone sees it the same way; but you need to count the cost, not just for you but for THEM. Don't just defend your position but ask yourself, what does this mean for them? Seek connection; seek to understand what is their need in this? Ask God to reveal something to you there. Consider the cost of refusing the request. What's the cost to you, yes; but what's the cost to you and the relationship? It is sticky; it's tricky; it's messy; it's got to be done sometimes. Remember, we don't know the end of the story. Philemon could have said, "No, I'm within my rights; I demand punishment; I want to receive payback; I want justice; I want my rights upheld." But Paul was win visiting him to go beyond what is right into what is good. He was inviting him to go beyond justice to grace through vulnerability into deeper relationship. All right, is it getting kind of heavy in here? Yes. it's heavy stuff. It's okay, though. We find ourselves at these hard, stuck places sometimes so check your heart; pray; make the request; receive the request; pray; check your heart. Be willing to get help from a safe, trusted source because if you're gonna kind of improve and change the way you're relating, you've got to get help sometimes. That's true for me and in the past was the guy reluck cant to get help -- but you know what? When I finally asked for help, when I got help, I shared northbound these struggles. I found out it was actually than I thought -- its wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I mean, I thought it would be awful and it was really hard -- okay, I'm not going to lie to you -- but it was also freeing and liberating and took me to a better place in the end. And so you can do it, too. Good job. Reach out and ask for help. You can. So that's hundred resolved relationship issue. A second way we often get stuck is unconfessed sin or unrepentance. 2 Corinthians 7:10 tells us while would worldly sorrow brings death, God brings no death. Perhaps today some are stuck because you're not allowing yourself to grieve your sin. You're not grieving your sin with God. You simply need to understand that not just in your head but really deep in your heart the truth of 1 John 7:9. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves; but if we confess our sins and walk in the Light, God is faithful. He will forgive us and by the blood of Jesus will purify us from all of our sin. Confession and repentance is so often undervalued and misunderstood but so necessary and vital for us all. The Westminster Shorter Cat schism has a great definition it's on the screen now. (reading) Repentance is a gift from God. It's an invitation to turn away from sin and turn back towards God and it's fueled by the spirit of God at work within us. Repentance like a man walking in one direction and he suddenly realized, "I'm going the wrong way." So he stops, turns around, and he goes back the right way. All right. We have heard that, maybe, before. Okay, let's say the guy is on a bicycle. Tony, how do we sign bicycle? Everybody? Poke? Got it? Bicycle? He's on the bicycle, same process. He realizes "I'm going the wrong way," he stops and turns around and goes back but guess what? It takes longer, doesn't it? Let's say the guy is in a car. All right? It's going to take him longer to come to a stop and turn -- hopefully otherwise he's gonna flip, right? He's gonna turn around and what if he's on a narrow road? It's a 64-point turn. Then he has to go back the right way. It's gonna be the same process of realizing I'm going the wrong way, stopping; and turning and going back the right way; but it will take longer. It will be a little more effort and will be a little more work. Well, now imagine that the guy is Pilateing a supertanker on the ocean. It takes him miles to slow the ship down if he realizes he's got to go the right way because he was going the wrong way. Even to make the turn, it's immense turning around and the super tanker and then has to get so long to get up to speed going the right way. For some of our sins, it's not too hard to turn around. We stop; you know, we realize it; we turn around; we walk the right way. But some like the bicycle or the car, they're a little more difficult, right? It takes little more time. Some of our sins have she normous moments in our lives. They do a lot -- it takes a long time to turn around. We might not even be aware they're sin source might be kind of -- they may be so deeply engrained in us, we're not willing to recognize them as a sin or rebellion against God; but God can work patiently with us. He's slowing us down and may put thing in your path to slow you town. I can tell you, that's usually not a pleasant experience, but He's slowing you town so you can go through the turn and back to the new direction. You know, in our awareness and acknowledgment in sin in our lives can come suddenly, gradually; and the desire may take longer still, the desire to go back the right way; but I pray for you today that it comes quickly. But even if you're like the super tanker right now in something in your life, God continue work with that. Hear this, God can do something with this. Just soft season your heart and ask Him to help you start make the turn and reach out for help. Ask someone for some help. Start that turn now the sooner the better. Obviously the lesson here is also don't get our sin habits up to supertanker size in speed, right? That would be a helpful thing in our lives. But whether you're on the bicycle, the car, the supertanker, please know, again, we are here to help. as a church, we exist to help people turn back to God and starts those of us here in this room, those watching online. It starts with you. Well, finally, very briefly, here's the third way we're often prone to get stuck and also another one -- if I haven't poked in at you yet, this will get you: unforgiveness. Let me just mention a few things, stuff I bet you have learned and probably learned the hard way like I have. If you're stuck in unforgiveness, the prisoner -- who's the prisoner? You are. If I'm stuck in unforgiveness, the prisoner is me. I'm the one set free whenever I make the choice to forgive. Now, it's true that the act of forgiveness may also give some freedom and blessing to the person I'm forgiving as well; that's absolutely true; but it's also true that unfortunately that forgiveness does not always lead to reconciliation. You don't always get that. You can be free of unforgiveness, okay? The relationship may change. Sometimes that's necessary, but you in your heart and life can be free. You know, however it went down in the end with the rise union of Philemon and Onesimus, my, wouldn't you like to see how that goes? Give that letter to Philemon. You know, here's one thing I know: the only way both of them would truly and fully set free is if both of them forgave one another. Something tells me that's probably what happens. C.S. Louis once said, everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea, until they have something to forgive. It's like, you know, forgiveness is a great idea for YOU, right? (chuckling) Well, we're called to do the hard work of forgiveness because it's the heart of the Gospel and the example of Christ to all of us. Unresolved issues; unrepentance; unforgiveness, alm of these can get us real stuck, real fast. I'm glad that our Good Father has given us a way out, aren't you? There's a way out of all these things. We can be set free. We are forgiven so we can forgive. We can stop; we can turn our ship around; head back to God. We have been given a second chance and many more chances besides that. We can go through the messiness, through the brokenness. We can be vulnerable, if we choose to. We can swallow the lump in our throat, lay down our defenses. We can do that hard thing. We can admit our weakness and admit our fault, confess our sin. We can reach out and we can ask for help. You know, God can take our brokenness and mess and make a beautiful mosaic out of all of it, mending us back together in the way only He can do by His love, grace, and resurrection power. He's the God of bringing things back to life. My friends, I wish all of these things for you today. Tommy will come back up and pray us out. As he's walking up, let's close by saying the final verse of Philemon, 25, together. Let's say this in unison. There you go. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Let's say it loud and proud again. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen, church? Led us, Tommy. >> Tommy: Pray with me, please. Heavenly Father, we come before You, thanking You for the great God You Are. Father, we pray for anyone this morning that may not feel Your love and presence in their life. We pray that they will see You and know You greater. Your Word tells us You will never leave or forsake us is; and Father, for that, we are abundantly thankful. Father, this morning we come before You and know You accept us wherever we are: happy, thriving, hurting, broken, or in need. Father, You meet us right here in this place. We want You to know that our hearts, that You want to hear our heart so we cry out to You today, Father. We lay it at Your feet and we know You hear each and every one of us. Father, give us wisdom to see Your plan for our lives, our prayer is that our hearts will be ready to respond. Father, our prayer is that we are never too busy to see the doors You are opening and opportunities You are putting to make a kingdom impact. Father, we pray that we will NEVER limit or under estimate how You can change people's lives. We stand ready with eyes wide open and pray we will see where You are leading us to serve. Fathers give us more servant-minded heart to see a need and respond. I pray we will search earnestly for those in need and those around us who are lost and searching for You. Give us a heart of love, grace, and forgiveness. My prayer is we will be slow to speak and quick to listen. Father, there is nothing we can do by works to earn Your love for the grace. May we extend the same grace and mercy You do to us to everyone. May we love the way Jesus loves and forgive the way Jesus forgave. Our prayer is over our impact we can make in this world. I pray we will all yearn to have heart that are looking to love, looking to serve, looking to forgive. Father, forgive us for our missteps and thank You for Your love for us that knows no end. In Jesus' Name we pray, amen. >> Kevin: Amen! The most exciting part of the morning, announcements. I know you have been waiting for this all morning long. If you didn't know this, we have classes back at 9:45 so before this service, there's stuff for adults in the gym; stuff for children and students down in the education wing. So you're more than welcome to come join us in that. Then also our Easter services are coming up on Easter. We will have three different services. One will be at 7:00, another at 9:00, and another at 11:00. I found those times odd. I don't know about you. Thank you for that laugh. Ask your neighbor. All right, but the first service at 7:00 will be a sunrise service. Speaking of sunrise, next week -- not Easter -- next week is daylight saving time so certain will spring forward in your locks. You can change your clock or move to Arizona. Both he Wally inconvenient. Those are your options; don't show up to church at the wrong time. We want you to know we have a cool opportunity, Second Mile Mission serves Fort Pend County. We partner with them throughout the year. They're do it can a clothing drive children to adult so it's time to do some spring cleaning in your houses. Go through and anything that's gently used that you can donate whether it's shoes or clothing, bring that in a sturdy trash bag. You have three weeks to do this because on the 28th, we will be collecting it all. Bring all that in a sturdy trash bag. You can drop it off if you want to leave it in your trunk and pop the trunk. Somebody will come pick it up from you if you want to have that exactless delivery -- contactless drively. God's kingdom will not be stopped. There's nothing happened this last year or next year that can stop what God is doing. So keep persevering. Hold on tight to God and His promises, and let's encourage each other with one more song in that truth. Everybody please stand and let's sing one more. ("This is amazing Grace" playing) >> Richard: Yes! Hey, thank you for worshiping with us today! You are dismissed!