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 link 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're glad you're here. >> Ryan: Welcome to the worship service of First Colony Church of Christ! We're so glad you're with us today! Hello to everyone online; and as always, it's great to see everyone here in the building. You know, in life you will face all kind of trials and opposition, and that can be discouraging; but we have the power of the Holy Spirit leading us and guiding us to respond in faith and hope and in love. So we're here to celebrate that today. We're here to be inspired by His Spirit. Let's all stand together and worship. >> Richard: Amen! God is faithful! ("Jailbreak" playing) >> Richard: Here we go! >> Richard: Yes! Thank You to the Lord Jesus! Making us free, when we were once caught in our sins. New creatures, new creations. No longer having to live in fear. ("Stand in Your Love" playing) ¶ Yes, I'm standing in Your love ¶ ¶ Faithful is our God ¶ >> Richard: Thank you for worshiping with us! You may be seated! >> Joel: Well, good morning, everyone! It is so good to see you all here today. Thank you for joining us here and if you're online, thank you for joining us online. So sometimes when I'm out in the lobby, people like," what are you going to do? What are you going to do?" Well, I have cherry Kool-Aid and coffee. They're like, "You shouldn't have worn a white shirt to do that!” Oh, whoopsie daisy. Well, you will hear about a white robe later in the service. I think it's THAT way. If you're supposed to go across the way, there's a restaurant that serves Italian food. I'm simple. My favorite meal is spaghetti and sausage and cannot tell you how many times no matter how hard I try, I'm carefully eating my spaghetti -- and what happens? You get spots on your shirts, and I have even worn like spotted shirts. And then you're like, "I know I did good." You look down and have a couple spots. And the thing is that there are things that stain and leave a mark. They leave a permanent mark. Sometimes you're able to get it out; sometimes you're not. Sometimes your clothes are ruined, which is kind of sad. The verse I want to focus on today comes to us from 1 Corinthians 6:11. Before I read that verse, the verses above it talk about sins and uses ugly words. People are mean. People are immoral. People take advantage of people. Those are labels which stain. We were sinners. God made the world; we broke it; we stained it; we broke it. Those words stick. But then the cool thing is that Jesus came; He died on the cross; He rose again; and we have the respond to respond. When God looks at us who trust and follow Jesus, He sees Jesus' covering over us, not the stains of sin. So the verse is, it talks about verse 10. These things describe what you once were, but now you have every stain washed off. Now you have been set apart as holy. Now you have been pronounced free from guilt in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ through the Spirit of our God. Dun-dun-dun-dun. This is real coffee. I made it upstairs. That is cherry Kool-Aid. The cool thing is you can just brush it off. Now, it will come off, which is cool. You have to wipe it off and so forth. You can see I have a little coffee stain -- interesting. I rubbed it a few times. But the cool thing is as a believer, we are covered with Jesus Christ, and that's what God sees, is clean, spotless lives; and that is our mission as a believer. Thank you very much. Have a wonderful morning. (Applause) >> Ryan: Thank you so much, Joel! Terry and Lynn Aven will lead us in communion this morning so if you're at home, you can get your communion supplies ready. Here in the house get your communion packets out. If you weren't able to pick one up on the way in, some are available at the back. Terry will lead us in prayer. >> Terry: Good morning. I'm Terry Aven, and this is my husband Lynn. Jesus knew it was the day before His crucifixion when He met with his disciples for the traditional Passover meal. He said something unexpected. Instead of saying, "This is the unleavened bread that reminds us of our hurry from Egypt to flee slavery." Instead of saying "This is the wine that reminds us of salvation from God." He took the bread and He said, "This is My body." He took the wine and He said, "This is My blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many." Pray with me. Dear Lord, we meet together, all of us helpless without Your sacrifice of Your body and Your blood. We thank You this morning for this lavish, mysterious gift. And all God's children said amen. >> Lynn: I will be reading from Matthew 21:18-22. The words will be on the screen if you would like to follow along. (Reading) >> Lynn: May God bless the reading and hearing of His Word. ("Who You Say I Am" playing) >> Ryan: Well, it's time to collect our offering. One of our elders, Warren Cates, will lead us through our offering time and prayer. >> Warren: Let's pray over our offering today. As we pray over our offering today, please know that giving online is very safe and secure. All you have to do is click on the app on your screen or on your app, or you can simply text to give. For those in person today, there's a giving box that is towards our exit, and please know that we give to partner with Christ. We want to further His mission in the world but mostly want to thank you for giving. Please pray with me. Father in heaven, we thank You today for Your blessings that You have given us all. Father, I pray for our congregation today. Lord, may we all give with gladness and sincerity and these offerings are out of love. We experience your blessings every day. Your blessings are always given to us freely and with ultimate love. Father, You loved us all of the way to the cross. May we love You enough to give You what is already Yours. Bless these tithe and offerings today. We love You, Father. It's in Jesus Christ's Name we pray. Amen. >> Ryan: Amen. It's time for Main Street Live and want to invite kids first to fifth grade to participate in this time of worship with our Children's Ministry. If that's you, you can meet Mr. Joel. He's waving at the pack and he'll take you over to the chapel. Parents, if you didn't get a chance to check your kids in, we'd love to have your family participate. Just go with Joel, and he'll help you get started. As we -- go through our service this morning, we're just, uh, so glad that you're here. If you're a guest, really excited that you joined us today. We'd love to have you fill out a Connection card; and if you're watching online, you can to that by clicking the "Get Connected" button. We'd love to follow up with you to get to know you this week. Here in the building, we have a church app that you can download called First Colony Church of Christ. Download that to your smartphone and will have a chance to click the "Connection Card" button on there. When you fill that card out, you will have a chance to tell us about church programs you're interested in, anything you'd like to learn more about. We'd love to follow up with you. There's also a spot to fill out a prayer request, and we've got a group of people that would be honored to pray for you this week. So guests and members, go ahead and tell us your prayer needs. We will pray here. I also want to invite guests to our New Here/Start Here room after the service. We would love to meet you and answer questions with a free gift. We hope to see you at New Here/Start Here later today. It's time for the fellowship greeting so you can stand and say hello to one another this morning. If you're watching online, we're glad you're with us. Go ahead and say hi in the chat box! ("Unstoppable God" playing) ¶ Unstoppable God ¶ >> Richard: Thank you for worshiping with us today! You may be seated! >> Ronnie: Richard and team, thank you so very, very much for leading us so well. Good morning, everyone. For those of you in the room, those of you in the house, so very, very good to see you. For those watching online, we're glad to have you with us today as well. Every Sunday, I appreciate so much Joel Smith and his wonderful lessons for children and adult. Today, he was particularly spot on in what he had to say to us. You know, our Ministry Team across the board, just a fine group of men and women; and what they do for our children, what they do for our students, it's really great work. If you need to find out more about our Children's Ministry or Student Ministry, please let us know because we want to help you and be a resource and be a support to our families here. Today we're continuing with a series called "When in Doubt" and the today's message is "Seek God in the Garden of Evil." The Barner Group surveyed a number of Americans, and far and away -- and here's what they said. If you could ask God any question, what would it be? And far and away the number one response was this: why is there pain and suffering in this world? And it's a fair question. How can we reconcile the greatness and the goodness of God? How can we reconcile God's sweeping control over all things the current existence of such horrors of cancer; famine; mass shootings; abortion; violence; hatred, worldwide terrorism? God, is anyone paying attention? And the problem of evil, it's the problem of pain and suffering and not just a philosophical or intellectual issue. You have felt it in your chair. You have felt it in your home in your family. As I have said many times, ALL of us will face a day where we're saying, "God, why me? Why this? Why now?” And the debate about the problem of evil has only intensified with the advances in technology because now even though something may not have happen in your back yard, you get news notification of it; and whatever is going on in the state; in the community; the nation; the world; it's right in front of you. Let me put a statement on the screen. God is good, love, and powerful; yet evil exists. And there are people out there. There are a lot of folks. This may be where you are who have said, "I can't reconcile this." God is good, loving and powerful; and yet there is evil. Why? It's a conundrum. It's a problem. Secondly, evil exists in many forms and in many mysteries. Many forms -- for example, there's moral evil, what we can do to one another. There's natural evil that include natural disaster, diseases, genetic defects. I believe there's supernatural evil, actual demonic forces that exert resistance and opposition to the will of God and seek to impact and influence your world and mine. And with all of our questions about evil, we can say, "Well, you know, Ronnie, haven't you read the story of Adam and Eve and the fall of Satan?" Yes. I know all that. But at some point, this goes back into God's lap. God, how could You let it happen? It's not like, you know, this didn't happen on Your shift. It happened on Your shift. So if somebody is making that bad decision, could You not have orchestrated a different outcome? Evil exists in many forms and in many mysteries, and today I really wish I could hand you a nice, crisp single sentence that answers this question. I wish I could hand you a nice, crisp, single Bible verse that ties a bow on the problem of evil. I cannot do that. I can give you some protect perspectives but our knowledge is limited, our mind and fallen, and just because we can't understand some things fully -- as high as the heavens are above the earth, God's ways are above ours. Even though we cannot understand something fully doesn't mean we can't understand something partially and arrive at some true perspectives. But the complete, full resolution has not been revealed by God, but there are some thing we can know. Let me put a Scripture here on the screen, John 16:33, a quote from Jesus. (Reading) No one can accuse Jesus of false advertising. "In this world you will have trouble." Not a single one of the early followers of Jesus would have been shocked when bad things happened to good people. They fully expected bad things to happen to good people because Jesus says, "In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." So why? How? What are some explanations for evil in the world? Let me give you some perspective. Again, I can't give a single sentence and tie a bow on it. Here are some perspective. One is the free will explanation. Evil is the unfortunate result of human free will; that God loves us; He does not want us to be robot; and evil is the by-product of that freedom that God built into the fabric of the universe, even in the angelic realm. There was an opportunity to choose, and free will is built into the fabric of humanity. But simply, God is really, really good and loving; but this world can be terrifyingly free. How many of you have experienced pain and suffering because of the choice someone else made? They lied about you; they hurt you; they betrayed you; whatever. They made a choice and caused pain and suffering on your world. How many of you have complicated your own world by choices you have made? Anybody here done that besides me? Sure. The Bible calls us sheep. That's not a compliment. Sheep are pretty dumb animals. We all like sheep have gone astray. This past week, Missy Edgmon sent me video of a sheep stuck in a ditch. Thankfully someone came along and rescued the sheep. Isn't that wonderful? And then what happened next? Watch this. So there we are. Poor little sheep, stuck in the ditch; but thankfully a good Samaritan is there – “Oh, I'm free!” (Laughter) Whoa! We all, like sheep, have gone astray; so the problem of evil does exist because freedom exists. Choices have consequences. People can choose. People can choose very, very poorly. Now, I don't think this is the complete answer to the problem of evil, but it sheds a little light. It's part of the perspective. Here's another one: a soul-making explanation for evil, that evil is a necessary condition for a world in which we overcome obstacles and struggles in order to develop and to have stronger souls, if you will. In fact, many higher-order qualities, many high-order good such as self-sacrifice; endurance; courage; compassion for the oppressed; compassion for the poor -- that's not even possible unless we have to overcome evil. You can't help some poor if there's not some poor. This model points out that God sometimes allow the condition of suffering to improve us. I think this perspective sheds a little light on the problem of evil. Does it completely resolve it? No. Free will, soul-making. Here's another explanation: the eternal hope explanation, that God has promised that evil and suffering -- listen -- He's promised it's only for a finite period of time in human history and that He uses it -- listen carefully -- to display His own glory, grace, and His own purposes. He uses pain and suffering and evil as a dark canvas, if you will; and on that dark canvas He paints His goodness, His glory, His grace. He is merciful. There's sin, but He'll forgive it. There's wrong, but He redeems it. He will bring an end to it all. All evil has an expirer racing date. Here's another explanation: what simply call faith in trust. This is a perspective that says, look, I'm not gonna try to answer this. This is a complex issue. Rather, I'm going to affirm what I know that God is good; God has everything under His divine control; and He is to be trusted, despite life's trials and difficulties. Here's another perspective called -- I call it limitation explanation. As one scholar would say, we are in no position to judge God. I would consider it presumptuous to judge God for what He does. C.S. Lewis called it putting God in the dock. “Dock” is an English word for "witness stand." He said people love to put God in the witness stand and we judge him; we question Him. Do I have the right to put God in the dock? I think you do. God invites us to ask questions. God invites us to even lament, if you will, to cry out to God and say this is not the way it's supposed to be and to feel that, not just for ourselves, but to have the kind of tender, compassionate heart for others where we say, "God, look at what she's going through. Look at what he's going through. Look at what they are going through. This is not the way it's supposed to be. Can You do something about it?" Sometimes when we say, "God, can You do something about it?" the response is, “Yes. I'll partner with you.” You help to be a part of that solution. My friends, again I wish I had a nice sentence with a bow on it that would fully resolve this. I can give you different perspectives but when it's all said and done, there are mysteries that are inexplicable to me, to you. They are beyond our comprehension. Mysteries greater than our answers, mysteries that stretch our faith, mysteries that force us to turn to God. You know, there's a book in the Old Testament, the book of Job, which is all about the problem of evil. When the book of Job gets to a final conclusion, God basically asks Job a lot of questions, saying, you know, when it's all said and done, were you there when I created the universe? Were you around when I did this, when I did that; when I fashioned animals; were you there? No. There are things too wonderful for you to know, and as I mentioned last week, there will be times you will be so frustrated because you're looking for a reason or trying to reason something away. You'll not be able to. You can only trust it away -- and not a blind trust, a reasonable trust. And you allow what you do know about God to inform and influence you in those mysterious areas. Again, this is not intellectual or philosophical. For some of you right now, you're in a season of life and want to say to you, I do not know why that loss, why that hurt has come to your world. I DO believe and know that God loves you and cares for you as if you were the only person in this world. If you were -- as if you with the ONLY couple in this world. And if you can lean into that with a mustard seed of faith, I believe you will get through this in better ways than right now you can even begin to imagine. I have looked more than one person in the eye over the years and said, "You WILL smile again. It may not feel like it today, and we will lament, and we will protest to God today; but I do believe you will smile again." Let me put another statement up here: God uses evil. He can use evil to demonstrate His goodness. God's not the source of evil. He'll permit it at certain times in certain ways. It's not like we're just, you know -- when I talk about free will it's not like God is saying, "Okay, y'all are in charge." He permits a measure of free will. He also engages and intercedes and He is at work. And God can actually use evil to demonstrate His goodness. The classic example is that wonderful Old Testament character of Joseph, who was sold into slavery by his brothers. Then he was falsely accused of rape and then thrown into prison. While in prison, he helped a fellow inmate, and that fellow inmate forgot about him. But eventually Joseph was released. Joseph got his life back through God's providence and hand in matters. Joseph was placed in a position of power and influence and benevolence. He was in a posture of caring and helping, and the very brothers who had sold Joseph into slavery stand before him and at first those brothers had no idea and that ruler was. Then they realized, oh, my goodness, we're standing before the very one we sold into slavery. And here's Joseph's statement to them -- Genesis 50. As for you, you meant evil against me. But God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, just as they are here today. God didn't cause it, but He used it; and God can reign over it and bring good out of it and only God. Only God can take the demonic, horrific experiences and weave and thread them together into a very, very good plan. Here's another statement: God promises to eternally overthrow all evil. It does have a finite expiration date. Revelation 21 says this: in describing new heaven and the new earth and describing your eternal heaven, nothing evil will be allowed to enter. To quote C.S. Lewis, he said “Heaven works backward. Nothing you lost will ever feel lost. You'll get it back and then some and nothing evil will be allowed to enter.” One writer described our eternal home saying that when we look back on every pain and every difficulty and every experience will meet with evil, it will simply feel like one night in a cheap hotel. Having said that, that doesn't minimize the tears and heartache you feel today or remember recently or you know is on the horizon. Now, here's a question that comes about: if indeed evil, at least partially, has occurred because of freedom of choice, then when we get to heaven, are we just gonna be robots there? I mean, if we still have, you know, freedom of choice and a measure of free will, could someone mess up heaven by making bad choices? And I think that's a VERY, very fair question. And the answer is nothing evil will be there and not even that possibility. You know, the Bible teaches that our salvation has three phrases, three phases or stages. We are justified, sanctified, and glorified. Justified -- we're forgiven and declared righteous. That's where you are today. You can't if any more justified than right now, can't be any more saved than right now. We're being sanctified, growing and maturing in Christ. But there's coming a day when you will be glorified. You will have a new nature. The book of Revelation describe there is it as being in white robes -- somebody says, white is not really my color. You'll like it, okay? It's a vivid picture that says there will be nothing tainted, fallen, not even that possibility on you. Well, will I be a robot? You will make all sort of choices. What wonderful adventure will I embrace today? What fantastic conversation will I enjoy today? What over-the-top experience will I have today? There will be no night there, no tears there. All the former things will have passed away. You will be making one fantastic choice after another, but it won't even be on your radar to choose that which is distasteful and wrong. The story of the Bible end with God's grand purposes crashing into a wonderful, new reality. Here's another phrase for the screen: Jesus is the ultimate answer to evil. Maybe I should say the Ultimate Answerer. I don't have a simple statement to tie a bow on it but can present to you Jesus Christ as the Ultimate Answer to every wrong. Roman 5 says this: therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man -- Adam -- and death through sin and in this way death came to all people because all sinned -- but the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of that One Man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! You say, well, it's not fair that because of Adam, one person, everybody gets cursed. Well, is it fair that because of One Person, Jesus Christ, everybody can be blessed? Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man's sin: the judgment followed sin. It brought condemnation. But the gift followed, the Gift of Jesus, followed many trespasses, yours and mine, and it brings justification. John Stackhouse is a fabulous theologian and writer. I have great respect for him. He says this: if Jesus is the human face of God, as Christians affirm, then human beings have a God who cares, a God who acts on their behalf even to the point of self-sacrifice, and a God who is now engaged in the complete conquest of evil and the re-accomplishment of universal shalom for all time. If Jesus is truly God revealed, then we can trust God in spite of the evil all under us and in us. By the way, somebody says, why doesn't God remove all evil today? Well, be careful about that prayer because you know there's some evil that's a part of you. And if you say, "God, remove all evil right now;" well, my friend, we're not going to make it to the coffee pot out there, okay? Jesus is the answer to the problem of evil in me for sure. Last of all, what's our personal response as believers to evil? I really do believe our response is faith, hope, and love on a personal level and on a congregational level. Did you know the Bible never tells you that you should be able to explain evil? But it DOES call you to put a dent in it; and the Bible DOES call you to overcome it and resist it. Romans 12 is a section of Scripture where it's talking about returning evil for evil and how people do it all the time; but we are asked, and we're told if your enemy is hungry, feed 'em. If your enemy is thirsty, give them something to drink. You do the counterintuitive Jesus thing. Romans 12. Don't let evil conquer you. You conquer evil by doing good. You put a dent in it. So until Christ's return, our job is to overcome the inevitable evil with good and look forward to the day when God will eradicate it. I can't eradicate it now. I can't fully explain it now, but I can help to put a dent in it. I can resist it. I can overcome it. Personally and congregationally. But it won't just happen. But let me remind you of some ways you're putting a dent in evil right now. In Nepal, human trafficking is rampant and so many young women have been -- have been -- you know -- taken captive in the sex trafficking industry and you say, "Well, what can I do about that? I don't live in Nepal." No, but your dollars and cents go there; and you're putting a dent in evil in Nepal and in human trafficking as we partner with the ministry there that does a fabulous job in rescuing these women; and not just rescue them but then teaching them the gospel, teaching and helping them to become followers of Jesus Christ. You know, 24 years ago, there was not a church among the Angoli people in you began do, not one, and now there's 17 churches in Uganda, all possible because of your energy; your prayer; your sacrifice; dollars, and cent. Can we completely eradicate evil in Uganda? We make a dent. One of those churches a few year ago after we experienced a hurricane here, they took up a special offering for US and sent us a special offering of $21.96. You know, in Haiti right now, there's a lot of the false belief, cultism in Haiti, because of your presence there, a lot of our folks have been there to Haiti personally. Because of the funds set and partnership there, at least three schools are meeting right now with children, so many children taught; clothed; taught reading, writing, and arithmetic, yes -- but taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We can't completely and eradicate evil, but we can make a dent. We can resist it. We can be overcomers. When was the last time you went to our medical center? It's massive. It's a city. I have live here over 35 year. Whenever I go to the medical center, I still -- you know, have to bring out my maps, GPS, find my way; and when I walk in a building, you know, I get lost in the maze. Can you imagine not living here? Receiving a diagnosis that just makes you shake in your boot and you come from another state -- maybe a small town. Then you come to the fourth-largest city in America to a medical center that's massive and you get there and feel all alone and you're looking at pain and suffering and evil right between the eyes. And you fill out a form and you say, "Yeah, I am connected to the Church of Christ." All of a sudden, the wonderful people at lifeline chaplaincy, compassionate church, hear about you. Somebody comes to your room and pray with you and you're not alone. You're in a mega medical center in the fourth-largest city and you have a brother or sister pushing back the darkness -- not eliminating it and not trying to explain it -- helping to push it back a little bit. Don't be overcome by evil. Be an overcomer. If you're here today and just feel overwhelmed by guilt and shame, you don't have to be in Jesus Christ. Take the sin you have done and run to the cross. Take the sin done to you and run to the cross, forgiving. If you have been like that goofy, silly sheep where you been your own worst enemy and jumped back in a ditch, run to the cross and run to some people who can encourage you. You don't need to wallow in guilt and shame. Jesus didn't go to the cross for you to wallow in guilt and shame, and there's a lot to be angry about in the world, but don't be absorbed by anger. We've all known people we love and care about and they just get bitter and ANGRY and they just can't see straight; and God wants you to see straight. He want you to be able to function and not go through the world bitter but the kind of person who can be an ambassador of faith, hope, and love. And lean into that hope, my friends, the hope that we have in Jesus Christ; the hope that says even the worst things, God can take them and weave them together in something for good; hope that says the wonderful things that are mine that are actually, truly mine as gifts of God, they cannot be taken away. Your treasure is your relationship with Jesus Christ, and THAT is not susceptible to ANY destructive force in this world. What shall separate me from the love of God? NOTHING. Nothing. You lean into that hope, too, that tells you every ounce of pain, every ounce of suffering, it's real. Those tears are real, and ounce of evil, it does have a shelf life. And your best days are yet to come with the Resurrection, with a coming world, a new heaven and a new earth set free and no evil there. God bless you. I love you. I pray for you. I wish for you every good thing in Christ Jesus. Warren, would you please make your way up here, please, and lead us in our time of prayer. >> Warren: Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, holy is Your Name. We pray all nations know that You're the Sovereign Lord and all nations know You are holy. The heart of You seek You rejoice and find a place of peace and love in Your family. We look to Your strength and worship You pap may each of us be a person after Your own heart and pray your trust and will be done in each of us. Keep our eyes on You and our ears open so we know we are Yours. We thank the Holy Spirit for walking with us every day. Father, we thank You for caring for us, loving us and providing for us. We rejoice in Your gentleness and you're always near. We praise You for meeting our daily needs. May we seek Your kingdom and life of righteousness that is only found in You. There are many in our church today and church family seeking Your help for one reason or another. We ask You wrap Your arms around them and give them the kind of love and comfort that only You can provide. We acknowledge we sin daily. There would be no hope without forgiveness of sins, that You provided Your Son. We love You and we hope and live for the eternal life You give. Father, help us be rid of all bitterness, rage, and anger that sometimes overcomes us all. May we take on a Christ-like attitude of being kind and compassionate to one another as we are forgiven in Christ, may we have the forgiving spirit for other in our daily lives and bring to others what we have received thud You. We are thankful for the life that Christ gave up as an offering and sacrifice to You. Father, keep the evil one away from us. We pray that You protect us from temptation. We know that strength comes from You, through You to resist temptation and end endure trials without fail. Yours is the power and the glory forever and ever. It's in Jesus Christ's Name we pray. Amen. >> Ryan: Amen. Thank you, Ronnie, for that inspiring word. We hope you're encouraged by his message today. A few things to highlight as we close. Remember, on Sunday at 9:45 a.m. we have our Bible class time, our adult class meet in the gym; and then we've got kids' programs from birth all the way through 12th grade in the Education Wing. Our online class called Online Conversations streams at 10:00 so we hope you will take advantage. Baby dedication is on May 9 and this is the last Sunday to sign up your baby to participate in the program. So make sure you do that this week. VBS is back this Sunday, and we're so excited to be able to have VBS this year. It will be June 14 through 16. We will have a lot of kids that sign up so, church, we really need you to help make this event happen. We hope you will participate as a volunteer. It takes a big group of volunteers. You can go online to the VBS website to register to be a volunteer. Then the last thing -- if you have been watching online for a while, if you have been attending in person for a while as a guest, I want to personally invite you to our New Member Info Session. We'll do it online on Wednesday night, May 5, at 8:00 p.m. It's a great opportunity to learn more about our church. There's no string attached. You will hear about our vision and our mission; what it means to be a member here. We'll talk about next steps for being more involved and ways you can really make the most of your experience here at First Colony. Go to our website and register for the New Member session. I hope to see you online there on May 5. Well, thank you, again, for joining us today. As Ronnie says, we love you and are praying for you. We pray you go this week just knowing that you have God's Spirit with you and going in faith and hope and in love. You can make an impact. You can make a dent and know that Jesus has already triumphed over all the obstacles for you. Let's stand and sing one more song before we go. ("Unstoppable God" playing) >> Richard: Unstoppable God! >> Richard: Amen! Jesus is Lord! Thank you for worshiping with us today! You are dismissed!