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. 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; online giving; and our 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. 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. >> Kyle: Well, good morning! Welcome to those of you in the house; and to those of you online, this is Palm Sunday, the triumphant entry of Jesus, our King, into Jerusalem. I hope and pray that you have great, great worship today and great worship this week as we lead up to Easter Sunday. We'll have more about that in just a few minutes. I'm so glad we're here together. Let's stand here in the house and at home, and let's praise the Lord this morning! >> Richard: God is good, amen? ("The Lion and the Lamb" playing) >> Richard: Yes! A mighty Lion! The Lion of the tribe of Judah! Jesus backs off for nobody, either. He's a bold Lion. We're going to raise a hallelujah to Him this morning. We're not going to let the rocks outpraise us. ("Raise a Hallelujah" playing) >> Richard: Do you believe that this morning? The King is alive! ¶ >> Richard: Yes, give Him a praise offering! You may be seated. (Applause) >> Joel: Well, good morning, everyone. It is so good to be with you this Lord's Day. It's exciting to see faces. It's exciting to see faces I haven't seen in a while so welcome back! It's great to see you. You know, we have one job as believers; and that is to glorify God. We are made to glorify God. We're made to reflect His glory in this world around us, and as I wanted to have an illustration that focused on today, Palm Sunday -- Jesus' entry into Jerusalem, when people were praising Him and shouting Hosanna! Hooray! The King is here! I thought of something interesting: we have the opportunity to praise God, but if we're not praising God, God, the Creator of the Universe, has things like rocks and trees and birds and mountains and sky that can praise Him. And if you remember the story where Jesus is centering into Jerusalem and the Pharisees were really mad at Him and they said, "Hey, stop these people!" Luke chapter 19:40, Jesus responded to them and said, "If these people hold their peace, the stones will immediately cry out." We have a voice. How will you use your voice today, tomorrow, and the next day? I have some rocks here. I'm curious: how do you think rocks would praise the Lord if our mouths were shut? I don't know, but we're going to pour this in and see what happens, see if these guys can praise the Lord. Pretty cool how they overflow. I happen to have a towel just in case we overflow overflow; but it looks like we're doing good, and what is cool is some colors are coming out. That's what is so cool about God, is He is a God Who is creative, made incredible things, and we have the ability to praise Him. Friends, as you go through today, tomorrow, and this week, how will you praise the Lord? Thank you! (Applause) >> Kyle: Thank you, Joel. I want to invite the Stirmans to the stage. Greg and Peggy will lead us in communion. This is a special time together, and I pray the Lord blesses this moment. >> Greg: Good morning, church. I'm Greg Stirman, an elder here at First Colony; and this is my wife, Peggy. She will lead us in our communion prayers. >> Peggy: Let's take time to remember and reflect about this memorial feast. Holy Father, You have spoken to us since the beginning with loving guidance and relational care. You have given us the ability to reason and investigate the cross and empty tomb. You have done this through Your Son's instructive last days on earth that we should do THIS in remembrance of Jesus. And though our memories are faulty and flaky, we see by faith those timbers raised to be an instrument of horror and punishment. We see His sacred head and His perfect life. We see our guilt, our denials, our crimes against You. We see from His head His hands, His feet, a sorrow, grief, and agony flowing down, mingled with such amazing love. Brothers and sisters in Christ, please remember with me what Jesus has done for us. See again that the bread symbolizes His body, broken so we may be whole; and see again the cup reminding us about His shed blood poured out for our healing. Lord, we give You all our adoration and gratefulness for such a Gift, and we partake together now, remembering You and Your Son's precious, priceless Name. Amen. >> Greg: Our reading this morning is the Apostle John's account of the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. It's found in John 12:12-16. I'm reading from the New Living Translation. (Reading) The Word of the Lord. ("No Longer Slaves" playing) >> Richard: Why don't we all stand together and continue to worship this morning? ¶ >> Richard: Amen! You may be seated. >> Kyle: Thanks, worship team. I want to introduce you to Bob Gowens, who will pray for our offering this morning, and he will also lead us in our closing prayer at the end of the service. Go ahead, my friend. >> Bob: This is our offering time, and we acknowledge that our offerings are also part of our whole life worship to God. They are never taken for granted, and they are always prayed over. We want you to know that giving online is easy and safe to set up. Just click on the link on your screen or in your app so you can see how to text to give. Our offerings make a difference to Jesus, His mission in this world; so thank you for giving. Now let us pray over the offering. Our Father in heaven, we offer these gifts to You with thankful hearts and joyous praise. As we give from our financial resources, we surrender our whole beings to You in worship and adoration. May this offering extend the work of Your kingdom in this congregation, in this community, and our mission points throughout the world. In Jesus' Name, amen. ¶ >> Kyle: Hey, it's a new day. Let us help you take the next step in your spiritual formation. Join me for our "First Conversations" intensive beginning Wednesday, April 14, from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. for five consecutive Wednesdays. We're gonna meet in person and on Zoom at the same time. This intensive will walk through our church's study called "First Conversations." You want to know if this intensive is for you? It is if you are one of these three groups of people. If you're a seeker and you're seeking truth or purpose or answers, this intensive is for you. It's also for you if you are seasoned believer, if you're walked with the Lord for a long time but you may need some maintenance. This is a good study for you. It's also for you if you are searcher. If you're searching for good conversations to have about the Gospel and you're searching for people with whom to have those conversations, I'll equip you and coach you on how to use "First Conversations" in any of those situations. Remember, if you're gonna join us in person, space is limited because of health and safety protocols; but I hope you will join me. It's a new day! Let us help you take these next, important steps. You can register online at firstcolonychurch.org. ¶ >> Kyle: Hey, I do want to encourage you to sign up. We're doing this right at your lunch hour; so you can eat lunch and join us on Zoom or bring your lunch here. You can register at firstcolonychurch.org. This is our fellowship greeting, everybody, and it's also the time for Main Street Live. I think Mr. Corey is in the back. Kiddos, if you turn to see him, he'll lead you to the chapel. Hey, everybody, let's stand together and tell somebody, "Go Cougars," all right? ¶ ("Your Love Awakens Me" playing) >> Richard: ¶ Your love awakens me ¶ Hey, thank you for your worship today! You may be seated! >> Ronnie: Richard and team, thank you so very, very much! And good morning, everyone. To those of you in the room, so glad to see you and to have you with us today. To those of you watching online, we welcome you as welt. Next Sunday, of course, is Easter Sunday; and Resurrection Sunday. A little different schedule next week. We'll have three services: 7:00 a.m. sunrise service outside in the courtyard, a capella style. 9:00 a.m., right here, a capella style. 11:00 a.m., instrumental style, right here. Also, remember our -- going on today, our clothes drive, clothes and shoes drive, partnering with Second Mile Mission, and that will be going on until about 2:00 this afternoon so you can still bring some stuff. Now, regarding Easter Sunday, let me just say -- I mean, I mentioned the details, but this is such a beautiful is an. Our theme for Easter is "It's a New Day," and it's a new day, an opportunity for us to do a little self-reflection, see what might need to be jettisoned; and also see what need to be embraced, what could be embraced, what new possibility, the Lord has for us. It is a new day, and because of the cross and the empty tomb, His mercies are new every single morning. Well, our -- today we want to conclude a message series called "Aim to Please." Based on a statement in Scripture that says "Our aim is to please God," and we have been taking a look at ways we can do that. The title of today's message is "Have a Word?" May I have a word about our words? Our Scripture from the morning is from Psalm 19 and will ask you to read this with me. Let's read it aloud and loudly. Here we go. 19:14. (Reading) One more time -- for those of you at home, watching with the cup of coffee, here we go. (Reading) In other words, a follower of God, a disciple of Jesus Christ, we take responsibility for our words, whether they are spoken, written, or signed. Our words are form of worship. Whether those words that are wisely restrained and not spoken or those words wisely articulated. Let the words of my mouth be pleasing to You, O Lord. You know, words really do matter. Words can contribute sometimes to the weakening of a marriage or group or church; but words can also strengthen a group, a marriage, and a church. Let me put a statement on the screen: words are disproportionately and surprisingly powerful. That little, small instrument known as the tongue or that little small keyboard, it's amazing how powerful our words can be. In fact, in the New Testament book of James, James will compare our words to the rudder of a ship. He'll say, "Look at a small rudder, but it can direct and steer a sizeable ship." Some of you vastly underestimate the power of your communication. You vastly underestimate the tone and the atmosphere that you can set in a group or in a family or in a church. Proverbs 18 says this: (Reading). God knows the power of words -- and listen carefully -- so does the evil one. You talk about mouth-to-mouth resuscitation? How many of you have experienced mouth-to-mouth division derision, destruction; and as a believer we are to pay attention to our communication, whether spoken but certainly never let the perceived safety of a computer screen make you think that harsh words don't make a difference. Secondly, our words, they reveal part of our heart. Maybe not the entirety of our heart but part of it. Somebody says, "Well, that wasn't me; I don't know why I say that. How did that come out?" Answer: it was part of you it may be the entirety but a part of you. If I were to go to a well -- let's say I a bucket, go to the well, get some water out. I walk along and you bump into me. I'm going to spill whatever the contents are in that bucket, and as I go through the world, you will bump into me. Other people will bump into me, and something is going to spill out. It might not be the entirety of my heart, but it's a part of it. And your words and my words, they are tattle tales. "That's not me." That's a part of you, and pay attention to it. Jesus said this in Matthew 12. (Reading) Critical heart -- critical words. Judgmental heart -- judgmental words. Worshipful heart -- worshipful words. (Reading) Get ready. (Reading) Some of you vastly underestimate the importance of your words. Some of you don't. Some of you are VERY aware of how influential your words can be. Unfortunately, your words may not be under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. And under the management of the Holy Spirit. There are lot of people who they know they can intimidate and manipulate through their words. They're fully aware of that, but unfortunately, those words are not under the Lordship of Jesus. I believe YOU want YOUR words to be an instrument -- I believe you want your words to be pleasing in His sight. Now, back in the 1960s, Allen Redpath was the pastor of Moody Memorial Church in Chicago and led a weekly group, the Mutual Encouragement Fellowship. He came up with a little acrostic: T-H-I-N-K. He said, before you say anything, you should THINK; and this acrostic, T-H-I-N-K -- represented, you know, a series of questions. Well, I'm going to steal his acrostic and add one word to it. A believer THINKS about our words. So here's a series of question. You ready? Here we go. Here's the first one: are they true? Are our words true? Ephesians 4:25 says this: (Reading). Why do people lie? Usually either to protect themselves or promote themselves. Now, I have in my pocket a golf ball. I have baptized a lot of golf balls in my day. (Laughter) This is a non-baptized golf ball right here. This golf ball represents, if you will, the truth of a story. This is the truth right here. Okay? Now, imagine -- I don't have it up here -- imagine that I have a HUGE beach ball, a multicolored, huge beach ball; and that big beach ball represents the truth once people have talked about it for a while. And the truth, it's in here somewhere; but it's been lost in a sea of generalities; embellishments; exaggerations; misperceptions; emotional biases; blind spots. That's a simple illustration at how facts can be easily distorted, especially when you deal with sensitive information. Everybody in this room, we have all been alive long enough to know there's usually two sides to a story, often more than two sides to a story. Have you heard the other side? Maybe it's none of your business, but never assume that just the first side you hear is the truth. I mean, how many times have you in your lifetime heard something, believed it, only to find out later, "You know, I think I was mistaken there." As believers, we ask, "Are my words true?" And if I'm not reasonably sure, best not to say anything. You know, there's a difference between truth and creating narratives. If I wanted to create a narrative that my wife is a really lazy person, I could. Now, let me tell you, my wife is one of the most non-lazy people you will ever meet in your life. You won't me to create a narrative she's lazy? Here; I can do that. Did you know that not too long ago my wife spent three days sitting in a La-Z-Boy. Who does that? The only time she really got up was just to go to bed or take a nap. Who is that lazy? Three day in a La-Z-Boy, only to get up to go to the bed or take a nap. I should mention that was in November when she had COVID, but I could leave out that detail and create that narrative. I have a friend who is a judge in North Carolina. His name is Chris; we went to college together. After college, he went to Clemson University and got a graduate degree, and then he went to the University of Georgia for law school. He was telling me -- we were together that little over a year ago. "You know, Ronnie, I was never the sharpest stick in the bunch." That's not true; he was really bright. "I was never the sharpest stick in the bunch. I went to the law school at Georgia and had some other thing going on, on the side, so I couldn't give my full attention to it." "Quite honestly, I just barely got through. My two highest grades in law school, I made two Bs while at Georgia law school. But somehow, I went to practice and had a successful practice, and now I'm a judge in North Carolina." He says one of his responsibilities every year is that he sort of welcomes and kind of swears in new attorneys that will appear in his court; and he'll always ask them to introduce themselves -- you know, "Tell us about yourself; where you went to school; your awards; these honors." These young attorneys are glad to say, "Here are my credentials. Here are the awards that I received, etc. etc." And Chris will say, "Now, just remember wherever you're in my courtroom, YOU must always remember that you're standing before a judge who only received two Bs during his entire law school career at the University of Georgia." He says, "Ronnie, I don't really tell them right up front those were my two highest grades while I was at law school.” (Laughter) You know, it's possible to kind of state things that are abstractly true and not be the truth. As Christians, we do not lie to one another; we value the truth. There's an old story of a young man who went to a monk during the Middle Ages and he says, "Sir, I have sinned; I have shared false information about someone. What should I do?" The monk said, "Here's my assignment to you. I want you to gather some feathers. Take a feather and place it on the doorstep of every house in the village." "Then come back to me." So the young man comes back to the monk. "Now what should I do?” “I want you to come back to each house and retrieve the feathers." “I can't do that. The wind would have taken those feathers everywhere.” He said, "Such is the case when you share false information." You cannot retrieve it. It is any wonder that one of the Ten Commandments is you shall not bear false witness? Another one of the Ten Commandments is you do not take the Name of the Lord your God in vain. Somebody said, "Ronnie, I think I have experienced character assassination." No one can assassinate your character. Your character is who you are. They can assassinate your reputation, but God doesn't listen to character assassinations, except for the person who is trying to do it; and He holds them accountable. So I spent a lot of time on this first one, but here it is. My words, are they true? And let me just say this, too: as Christians when we teach, the Bible tells us that God raises the bar of accountability for anyone who dares to teach or speak for the Lord; that it is very important that as a teacher, whether you're teaching children or teenagers or adults, you don't ask the filtering question of "Is this cool? Or is it novel? Or will it please?" "Is this true? Is this from the Lord?" Is this His will to these children; to these teens; to these adults? So believers, we think through our words -- first of all, are they true? Secondly, are they helpful? Ephesians 4:29. (Reading) There it is. Are they helpful? Be good and helpful. (Reading) You know, one of the things we sometimes fail to see is that every person, no matter how sharp they look, no matter how dressed they are, everybody needs encouragement, an “Atta boy," an "Atta girl," not just for things done exceptionally well but for efforts and progress, and it means so much. Our words, are they true? Are they helpful? Thirdly, are they inspiring? Are they inspiring? 1 Thessalonians 5:11. (Reading) Some of you remember Sarah Roberts, wonderful lady, mother of Randy and Steve Roberts. She spent one of the last years in the local assistive places and was a table host. She called her table a positive table. She says, "This is the positive table here. You want to come here; we won't complain about the food; we're not going to complain about the place. We're going to spend our time building others up. That's what we will do right here.” Now, that doesn't mean -- are your words inspiring? That doesn't mean at times you don't have a difficult conversation or can't be the bear for of bad news, but all in all you want to be that kind of person that helps people along in a positive direction. I've told you before about Gordon McDonald's book on restoring your spiritual passion, and in that book he talks about being around people. He says there some people are VDPs -- very draining people. These are the people who can brighten a room by leaving, okay? You get that. And then there are V.I.P.s -- very inspirational people. He says for most of us, if we're not careful, it's easy to drift into being VNPs -- very nice people. We're just very nice people. We don't go around, trying to drain; but neither do we intentionally think, "How can I be a builder and inspirer?" Not just a nice person; not just, you know, a passive puddle of protoplasm -- but inspirational. Think first in your home, in your group, and your church. So our words: are they true; are they helpful; are they inspiring? Number four: are they necessary? Are they necessary? You know, Scripture speaks much about not speaking too much. James 1:19. (Reading) Now Romans 14, an interesting statement to me. Paul is talking to the church in Rome about dealing with disputable matters, matters that are not a clear-cut right and wrong but disputable matters that people are weighing in on in very opinionated ways with a lot of RPMs; and it's creating some tension and division in the church. And Paul doesn't give his perspective on it. He says, these are disputable matters. Love one another. Stop passing judgment. And then he says this in verse 22. (Reading) In other words, not every thought you have has to be expressed. Now, listen carefully: whenever you choose to weigh in with strong opinions on disputable matters, don't be surprised when your influence on vital matters tends to be compromised. Everything we say needs to be true, but not everything that is true has to be publicly said. You know, speech is a part of our daily life, but the Bible said sometimes there's a time to be silent -- for example, maintaining silence when others are speaking. That's just a sign of respect. Being silent and controlling our speech when you have precious confidential information -- and that's just a sign of discretion and discernment. Restraining your words when you're provoked and you count to 10 or count to 100 or 1,000. That's a mark of wisdom. Our words: are they true; are they helpful; are they inspiring; are they necessary? Okay. Are they kind? Proverbs 12. (Reading) 2 Timothy 2. (Reading) "K." Are our words kind? A servant of the Lord must be kind to everyone, able to teach, and be patient with difficult people. (Reading) This doesn't mean that we avoid difficult conversations; not at all. But it does mean in those difficult conversations we realize that the enemy is not necessarily that person but maybe some ideas. You attack ideas. You don't attack people. There's a difference, and Paul here says, "If you're going to be a spiritual leader, you got to be kind. You can't be quarrelsome and mean spirited, attacking people." There may be ideas and things that are untrue that have to be dealt with. Okay. Last of all, here's the letter, the question I'm going to add to Allen Redpath's acrostic, "S:" are our words Spirit-led? James 1:26 says this. (Reading) If you claim to be religious and can't control your keyboard, your tongue, your words, your religion is worthless. So he's saying, "All right, Ronnie, examine yourself, and pay attention to your words." Do I really want to own that? Is that the kind of aroma that I want to create in my family? Is that the kind of aroma I want to create in my small group and in my church? Is that really what I want to do? All right, gang. Let me wind this up, tie a bow on this. What I want you to think about today under this banner of "Let the words of my mouth be pleasing under Your sight." I want you to consider how you can leverage your words for the good of the Kingdom of God. Your words have INCREDIBLE influence -- and listen, God's goal is not for all of us just to, you know, seal our lips. That's not God's goal for us. "Okay. I'll just not say anything, then." No! That's not the goal. His goal is for you to use your words in true; helpful; inspiring; necessary; kind; and Spirit-led ways. God's goal is for there to be an explosion among His people that, you know, the world out there is crazy. It's a slander-intensive world. It's a negative, destructive world. You're Spirit-led. You're under the Lordship of Jesus. You're under the management of the Holy Spirit, and imagine homes where people think about their words. And that their words are beautiful reservoirs of truth and encouragement. And so the Christian question is: is my mouth an instrument of grace? Now, some of you are saying, "Ronnie, that's just not my bit. That's not the way I'm wired, okay? I tend to be sort of a sourpuss, and that's just not the way I'm wired." You know, when my son was young, he thought he wanted to play basketball and he started playing basketball when he was about 5 years old so I had a basketball goal installed above our garage. So right there in our driveway, Ryan and I played thousands and thousands of hours of basketball. As he started getting a little older, I said, "Ryan, you're right-handed, but it's very, very important. You got to learn to go to your left, and you have to be able to go. You won't be 6'7." You have to go to your left as well as you go to your right. You got to be able to shoot the ball left-handed at least a left-handed lay-up as well as you can right-handed.” So every time we play one-on-one, I'm guarding him. I'm forcing him to go to his left and say every day, "You got to dribble the ball hundreds of times with your left hand and practice left-handed lay-ups." You know, it first just feels so awkward. It just feels different. It feels awkward. It doesn't feel natural. And sometimes when we begin to really pay attention to our words, it feels awkward. “It's not really me. You know, if I start trying to change my patterns of speech -- my husband, my wife, my kids are going to look at me like, what are you trying to do? And it's going to feel so different and odd." Push through. I'm challenging you to be a leader. Be a leader in your home. Be a LEADER in your group. Sports teams talk about -- you got to have clubhouse leaders. Every family has to have clubhouse leaders. What we talk about and how we talk about it -- and parents, let me challenge you. Parenting is tough. It is TOUGH, and I am not envious of those of you right now and you've got little ones -- you know, parenting is a challenge. I get that; but your children need you to have those straight forward, awkward conversations; and sometimes you might say, "Well, I don't feel like I have been trained or equipped enough." Often that tends to be an excuse for, "It's just awkward and I'm not sure I want to have the awkward conversation." God will be with you, and if you need coaching, you got lots of people around you; and there's a little thing called the Internet, and you can get on it and even type in, you know, "Help for a Christian parent in having a conversation about" fill in the blank. And parents, your words, it might feel awkward in that moment and your kids might look at you and think I'm a little squeamish -- they will treasure you, and NOTHING will bind you to their spirits more than YOU being part of a reservoir of precious and helpful information. So God bless you in that. May the words of our mouth and the meditations of our heart be pleasing in Your sight, O God, our Rock and our Redeemer. So Kyle is going to come up here and he's going to close our service. Then after that, Bob will lead us in prayer. You know, today is Palm Sunday. Think about all the ways we use our words for good: prayer; praise; encouragement; worship; and on Palm Sunday, as Joel was teaching us earlier, where Jesus said, "If people don't praise Me, the rocks will cry out and praise." Aren't you grateful that we get to be together either here in person or online and praise our Great and Living God? Thank you for being with us today, everyone. Just know we love you; we pray for you; we care; and hopefully we'll see you next Sunday on Resurrection Sunday. Kyle? >> Kyle: Let me echo that again. Thank you for joining us today. I've got a few brief comments. Then Bob will pray over us, and then we'll have our song. The order is a little different today. Don't forget that next Sunday is Easter. We've got a whole slate of services and offerings here. 7:00 a.m., 9:00 a.m., and 11:00. 7:00 a.m. a.m. is our courtyard sunrise service. 9:00 and 11:00 will be here. There will be children's program for 9:00 and 11:00, kindergarten and younger but not for the 7:00 a.m. service. There's also some events at Foster Creek at 9:00 and 10:00 next Sunday, some activities first, and then worship just right after that at 10:00. So we hope that you will engage with us. Invite people to join us online or if they're comfortable, they can certainly join us in person. We've had a great successful season of classes thus far. We're taking a break next Sunday. There are no children's classes or adult classes or student classes, but we will resume the week after so thank you for engaging that with us, and we hope and pray this season will inspire you to join us. At the end of Easter, the following Sunday. Don't forget our clothing and shoe drive for Second Mile mission is today. You have until 2:00 to drop those things off at our porch. We'll be there, ready to receive it. It's okay if you forgot. You can run home and you can come back. And finally, this is the last day to register for our Moving Mountains study. Billy Granville is leading that with a great start Wednesday. There's still room on Zoom so you can still join us and register for that, but today is the last day if you want to get in on that. Again, thank you so much for joining us today. Bob will pray over us and then following that, we'll leave in worship. >> Bob: Easter Sunday is a movable feast, which is determined by the phases of the moon. It changes because it is the first Sunday after the first full moon after March 21. Today is the day of the first full moon. You can go out tonight and see the first full moon. Easter will be next Sunday. Passover is also indirectly determined by the phases of the moon. Yesterday, Saturday, was the first day of Passover week this week. Jesus was crucified during Passover week. Today is known as Palm Sunday in most Christian traditions, commemorating the time as recorded in the Four Gospels Jesus rode adorning donkey into Jerusalem and people laid their coats and palm branches on the road in front of Jesus. This commemoration begins a week which is now known as Holy Week, the week before Easter. I suggest that each of you spend time this week contemplating the events of Holy Week leading to the Lord's Supper; the trial of Jesus; His crucifixion; and most importantly, His resurrection. May this week be a week of contemplation of the events commemorated by Holy Week. I want to leave you with in blessing from Numbers 6:24 through 26. (Reading) Go in peace. >> Richard: Let's all stand together as we go out here in worshiping. ("The Lion and the Lamb" playing) >> Richard: Thank you for coming today. Thank you for worshiping with us. You are dismissed!