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; 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! So great to see everyone here this morning and hello to everyone watching online. Today's Senior Sunday. We're honoring and celebrating our high school seniors, the class of 2021; and it will be exciting because we have a message from our Student Minister, Kevin porter. Jesus said, come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. So we come together this morning as followers of Jesus, and I just pray that this morning is a time of rest and reJew rejuvenation so let's stand together. >> Richard: Amen! God is faithful! (every Giant Will Fall" playing) >> Richard: Yes! Nothing is impossible with the Lord! It seems fitting on Senior Sunday to sing a song called "The Blessing." Thinking about legacy. ("The Blessing" playing) >> Richard: Yes! Please be seated. >> Joel: Well, good morning, everyone. It is so good to be with you, and those of you who are watching us online, good to see you guys as well. Graduation Sunday. I got a plunger. I know. I know you're excited. I'm excited, too. So this is the kids' spot where we have observable teaching for kids, but adults like it too; and believe it or not, I have an adult who is like, "Can you bring fire like this week? Please? Just some fire?" It's lining, okay. We'll mix fire and mix graduation Sunday. Sound good? There's a fire extinguisher over there because for whatever reason, the special service is the second service; and I'd say about 50% of the time I my illustrations work in second service. So we have fire and I'm batting .500. All right, where are we going in Scripture? You remember Elijah 2 kings. He was an amazing man. God brought him to heaven with flaming chariots, hornses and a whirlwind. We know in James 5:17, Elijah was a man just like us and prayed and got answered his prayers. My first graduation point is: You guys are just like us but live a life of prayer. Then I want to take it even further and in 1 Corinthians 3:13, it talks about your life and you're moving to the next stage in life; but only what is done for Christ will last. The Bible talks about a fire test. Things will burn. I actually have an uncle who lost a home in the Oregon forest fires. The only thing that remained -- I mean, there was nothing left -- except for the foundation. Everything was gone. Metal was melted. But the foundation was there. Your foundation in Christ will last. The things that you build, some of them may fade away. Only what is done for Christ will last. I want to make a whirlwind of fire and remind you of the fire test AND remind you of my verse. I will light this on fire because people are like, "You didn't have enough fire the first time." We have the fire. And if I spin this around, it begins to make a whirlwind. Isn't that cool? >> Yea! >> Joel: I just have fun with that. Yeah. And if I spin it too fast, my little caldron will slide to the side and spray stuff to the area we don't want it to go to, hence the plunger. Here's the verse. Here's like the whole point. 1 Corinthians 3:13 "Because in the day will bring light to the works that you have done and will be revealed by fire. The fire test will test the quality of each person's work." There are only two things that last forever: The Word of God and people's souls. Invest in those. Thank you very much. (Applause) >> Ryan: Thank you, Joel! And thank you for not lighting the stage on fire. Chad and Abbey Baker lead us in communion this morning so if you're at home, get your supplies ready. Here, get your packets out. If you weren't able to pick one up, we have some available at the back. Thank you so much for leading us Bakers. >> Chad: Good morning, church. Abbey and I are thankful to have lead you in our communion time this morning so let's pray together. Father God, You tell us in Your Word to no longer conform to the patterns of this world but to be transformed by the renewal of our mind so we can test and approve what Your will is but then You tell us something hard. You say Your will is always good and pleasing and perfect. Father, if we're honest with ourselves, what we would say to You today is there are many times that our circumstances in life cause us to question whether we believe that Your will is good and please and perfect. Father, even in the garden, Jesus Himself asked if at all possible that this cup be taken from Him; but ultimately, He bent to Your will. Ultimately, He humbled Himself to death, the worst kind of death, death on a cross. He brought love and put it right on top of the law, and He hex changed the grave for grace. It's His very death that brings us life today. Father, it's that sacrifice that gives us the ability to say with passion and with confidence and with freedom that our chains are gone, and we have been set free. As we take this communion this morning, I pray that we remember that freedom as we remember the body of Christ broken for us and the blood of Christ that spilled freely for us. It's in Jesus' Name we pray, amen. >> Abbey: Today I will be reading from 2 Timothy 4:3-5. (reading) ("Christ is Enough" playing) >> Richard: Why don't we all stand together? >> Richard: Thank you so much for your worship today. You may be seated. >> Ryan: Amen. It's time to collect our offering, and one of our elders, Tommy Waldron, will lead us in our offering prayer. >> Tommy: Good morning, church. I just want to start off by saying thank you for your giving on a weekly, monthly basis. On behalf of the church, we continue to be blown away by your generosity, whether your weekly, monthly giving, a planted event like Mission Sunday, or unplanned event like Hurricane Harvey relief. You show up every single time in a big, big, way. We see that, recognize that, and thank you for that. Understand your gifts are not taken for Granted. They are prayed over and they're what allows this church to minister both here locally and around the world. A few quick reminders about giving online: For those giving online today, there's a link on the screen in front of you that you can click on and you can also text to give. Also on the app, there's a link to give. For those in person, we have the boxes at the exit of the auditorium. You can give your gifts in person today if you want to do it that way. Pray with me. Heavenly Father, thank You so much for how much You love us and bless us. Father, we sit here today, Father, and our hearts are full because we know that You have given us more than we could ever ask for, imagine, or deserve, Father; but we thank You. I pray You will give us hearts that want to give back to our church. Give our first fruits. There are so many things we can give TO, and I just pray, Father, we will always focus our giving on Your community, Your church, and Your body. Bless the gifts today, that they will be used to Your kingdom and further Your Word, not only in the Sugarland area but around the world. We love You so much, Father, and it's in Your Son's Name we pray. Amen. >> Kevin: Amen. Good morning, everyone. I'm Kevin and she's Jenna Davis, the two Student Ministers here. It's soup s senior Sunday and we're excited here. >> Jenna: Here at first comeny, our plan is to partner with parent and families in the spiritual formation of students. One way is by walking families as they face life's greatest milestones. Last week we had our baby dedication, dedicating these new babies to God, and we committed to surround them with love and support as they grow here. So this week we actually have the privilege of joining parents on the other side of family life, and we get to bless our seniors. So today we rededicate our seniors to God, just really trusting that God is going to continue the work that He has started in them; and so today we commit to these students they're going to be loved and they are always going to be surrounded by this church family, regardless of where they end up in life. >> Kevin: Hard to believe the bay business on stage last week have already grown up in a short week into senior. (Laughter) It's amazing, the power of God, you know. Seniors, we recognize you today as a church, as men and women. You have been called that already, I'm sure I'm not the first person, but I want to say it officially. That's how we see you guys. What it means to be an adult is to follow God of your own volition, your own desire, not because your parents have done it or because your friends did it or because somebody else persuaded you to. At this point, from now on, it will be because that's the decision that you guys either make or don't. I want you guys to hear this from us on behalf of the whole church. We believe in you guys. It's not because of something that is particularly amazing about you guys, although you guys ARE amazing; it's because of Jesus Christ. Jesus, in you, is what gives us confidence that you're ready to go out these doors into what is next in your life because you will take Jesus with you, and He is ready for whatever it is you're going to face. Therefore, you are ready, even when you don't feel that. You will be because there's really nothing Jesus can't handle, and He put Himself in you for that purpose. We want to tell you guys that and right now will call them up by name. So as I call your name, just come up and will stand up here on the stage. Church, we'll pray for them eventually so, you know, get warmed up in your heart to pray and bless them. We'll do that together. As we call your name, you can go ahead and come up to the stage. If there's parents in the room, y'all can come up, too, and stand behind your seniors. We were joking about this. Don't stand in front of the seniors and protect them but stand behind them because it's even symbolic that you guys are taking a different role in your kids' lives of supporting them as they go forward, as they take the forefront of all that. Seniors, as we call your name, come on up. Hold your applause until the end. I know you can give a rousing round of applause for every one of them but is annoying to wait inbetween each one for applause. Hold the applause until the end. All right, Abbey Baker, daughter of Chad and Ashley; after graduation, she plans to attend Abilene Christian University and study business marketing and management. >> Daniel Edgmon, son of Pete and Missy. He plan to attend Texas A&M to study engineering. >> Preston Fetter, son of Rodney and Tiffany. He plans to study mechanical engineering. >> Mikayla Fink, daughter of Michael and Mary. After graduation, she will attend Wharton county junior college and work towards a career with the FBI. >> Zion Granville, son of Billy and from everyone and will attend Illinois State University to play football. >> Margaret Harper, daughter of Eddie and Katherine. Is help plans to attend Cardiff University in Wales, Eyeded Kingdom, to study archaeology. >> Corey Jefferson, son of Corey and Tamiknka and willon to Langston university. >> Ryan Kennedy plans to attend Blinn college and Texas A&M for business and finance. >> Rachel Lafferty, daughter of Ted and Jennix will go to Florida college and major in music education. >> Kendall McAnulty, daughter of John and Michelle. She plans to attend Abilene Christian University to study interior design and Spanish. >> Garrett Mickelson, son of Kyle and Janell, going to college of engineering at Texas A&M. >> Ryan Reinoso, son of Kenny and Lauryn will attend Texas Christian university. >> Heather Schoen is daughter of Dan and Tammy and will go to Colorado university at boulder for prenursing, speech, language, hearing sciences. >> J.D. Smith is the son of Joel and Melinda. After graduation he plan to attend in business at Houston community college. >> Avery Smith is the daughter of Troy and Heidt and after graduation plans to ahead Harding University to study business marketing. >> Haven St. jean is the son of Chad and Andrea. After graduation, he plan to attend Lipscomb University to study engineering and business. >> Kendie Stacy is the daughter of Dave and Kay and after graduation plans to attend Oklahoma University. >> Sophia Strickland is the daughter of Kyle and Eran. After graduation, she plans to continue freelancing and study digital art. >> Jacob Taylor is the son of Eric and Danel and after graduation plan to attend college. >> Jocelyn Tyler is the daughter of Gene and Julie. After graduation, she plans to attend Blinn college on a music scholarship and then transfer to LSU to study digital marketing and journalism. >> Kevin: You want to give our seniors a round of applause? (cheer and applause) Whoo-hoo! >> Jenna: I would like to invite elders and wives on stage to surround our students. >> Kevin: We will pray for them so if you want to come up, you can stand behind them. I know space is limited. I had forgotten parents were coming up and looked back and shocked me how many people were on stage. Also, anybody else who is a friend or a family member or has ever been a teacher or a mentor or a small group leader of one of these seniors, we're not going to put you on stage because that would be WAY too many people; but if you would stand up, if you have been involved in any of these students' lives from the time they were born until now, stand up right now. (Applause) >> Kevin: Yeah, thank them. All right. >> Jenna: So seniors, we just want you to take a look at all the people who have loved you, supported you, and helped you grow in your life and see how much support that you have had and always will have. >> Kevin: Yeah. Will everyone extend a hand towards seniors or if you're behind a senior, you can put a hand on them. Extend the hand towards them. I will lead them in prayer, but may your heart pray with me as I do this with them. God, we thank You so much for the work You have done in each of the these seniors' lives; and as we see all the people standing up on stage and auditorium, I just think of all the work You have been doing for generations so that we would be at this point that You would be able to take care of these seniors. Lord, as they step into the world, pray they take on the same mantle, that they would be this for any other people in their lives. Go, I pray You give them confidence; that You are with them and therefore there is nothing they cannot handle that life may throw their way. Lord, I also pray You give them all the fruit of the Spirit, that they would be love, joy, all the things that we only supernaturally get through You. God, we love You so much. You have done a good work in making these seniors. Use them for Your glory. It's in Jesus' Name we pray. Amen. Give them one more big round of applause. (cheers and applause) Seniors, y'all can head off stage. Go ahead. >> Ryan: Thank you, Kevin and Jenna, and congrat to all our high school seniors. All right, it is time for Main Street Live so if you're a kid first to fifth grade, you're up. We have an awesome time of kids' worship planned for you. You can head to the chapel. If you were not able to check your kids in today yet, parents, you can head to the chapel, too. Joel will be there to help your kids get started. We also want to remind you that we have programs for children birth up to kinder all morning so that is in the edge Education Wing and you can take advantage of the Children's Ministry opportunity during the service. We'd love to have everyone fill out a Connection card so if you're online, you can click a button on your screen that says "Connection Card" and do it that way. Here in the building, we've got that new way to do that. You'll see a code on the seat back in front of you. You can get your phone and open your camera app or code scanning app and just scan the code. A link will pop up. You press that and will open up the Connection card. When you're filling that out, you can tell us about church programs that you're interested in learning more about. We'd love to follow up with you and help you take advantage of ministry opportunities. You can fill out a prayer request. We really encourage you to tell us your prayer needs. We have a group of people that would love to pray for you this week. And we would be honored to do that. Also, if you're a guest here, we want to welcome you. We're so glad you're here this morning. Please fill out a Connection card so that we can get to know you, and I just want to invite you to come to our New Here Start Here area across the lobby after the service. We have volunteers there that would like to meet you, answer questions you have. There's info about the church there, and we also have a gift that's available for you to pick up. We hope to see you at New Here Start Here afterwards. All right, it's time for our fellowship greeting so let's take a minute to stand, say hello to one another this morning. If you're watching online, so glad you're with us. Say hi to everyone in the chat box. ("Only King Forever" playing) >> Richard: Yes, thank you for your worship today, church! You may be seated! >> Kevin: All right! There's one more thing you can do to celebrate these seniors. Out, there's some display tables that kind of show their life stories and pictures. There's some Bibles in front of those. The purpose is for you to go by and find the seniors you're close to and find your favorite Scripture, under line whatever it is. Then just write a note to is side. It's a journaling Bible so there's spaces to do that. As the seniors go into what is next and they're reading God's Word, they can read our words and be encouraged by that. That's one thing to do after service at the display tables out there. All right! Have you ever thought about how crazy nuts the disciples must have been to follow Jesus? I mean, we think oftentimes about how it was the right decision to follow and that's what we want to do; but let's pause and think about how crazy it was, actually, for the disciples to follow Jesus. Church leaders or at that time synagogue leaders don't like Him. Government leaders don't like Him. Political enemies are at best annoyed with Him, and at worst they want to kill Him. I mean, this Guy is not the, like, ringer you will go after to follow as your leader without good reason. So what was the reason that they followed Him? When you think about it, I'm a Youth Minister. Jesus can never be hired as a youth minister. Before you say something different, "Oh, Jesus comes in, we would kick them out." Think about the interview process. Jesus, we saw You on YouTube the other day, and that whole bit about where You called each other preachers bad names and hypocrites, that's not the peaceful environment we're trying to create in Sugarland. You would say that's a red flag against Jesus as a youth minister. Or "We saw on TikTok the other day, I'm not sure how You did this but made a whip on your own. That was crafty." That's a point in the youth minister's category. But then You chased people through the building because they were selling the best speaker's book. "We're okay with that. What's the big deal? Jesus, red flag." And on top of that, did you see Jesus' Instagram feed the other week? I saw who He liked. I know for a fact that girl is a total -- sinner. And he liked her photo? I can't believe He's associating Himself, His Name, with that person. Right? Jesus isn't exactly a societal role model. My point is not for you to become some sort of rebel. That's not the point. Jesus tell us in other places to live at peace with all men if possible. He said people know we're His disciples by love. It's not about being a rebel. Jesus was a hard guy to follow. The work God called Him to do and He invited His disciples to do was very costly. In fact, when it was time for His trial, people were voting for a terrorist to be released instead of Jesus. I mean, think about that. That's how unpopular the guy is. People wanted to the terrorist to let loose in the community more than they want with Jesus to be let loose in the community. See, Jesus and what He does is more dangerous than terrorism and will has a cost associated with that. Can you imagine a teenager that day and you hear the ruckus in the courtyard and you know what's going on so you're running to be a part of it; and your mom says, "Hey, son, remember, when you get down there, vote for the terrorist, not Jesus." This is the society that Jesus is living in that He is trying to get followers, and yet He's not doing a lot of thing to make Him easy to follow, right? In fact, many made the choice to unfollow Jesus. In John 666 -- I call it the devil's verse because of 666 -- within this one sentence it's the devil's verse because it encapsulates everything Satan want to accomplish in a believer's life. It says this: From this time many of His disciples turned back and no longer followed Him. Why did they turn back? I ask this because seniors, I don't want you to ever turn back. Peers, those ahead of me, I don't want any of us to ever turn back to the temptation that will come -- no turning back. To the trials and the challenges that come, I don't want us to turn back. To the heartbreaks, the disappointments, through unmet expectations, when Jesus doesn't quite turn out to be who you thought He was going to be, how do you not turn back? I can give you a recipe that will absolutely bake up a nice patch of turning back, and it's this: Make Jesus out to be your personal genie. You know, genie in the lamp; rub it; you get three wishes? Jesus has more than that so even better, right? Well, Jesus, I've seen what you have done for those people over there and I would like for You to do that for me. That seeps like a fair prayer, right? Jesus, I read about that person in the Bible where You did that for them. Surely that means You're going to do that for me, too, right? But is that true? Just because we read Jesus doing something in this person's life, whether back then or modern day, does that mean He will absolutely do that for us today? He can. He does. But it's no guarantee. He promises no such thing. He may let you go hungry, actually. He may let you be put in prison. He might even let you die. He's not out to give us our best life. "Kevin, this is a horrible graduation speech. You're trying to launch them out there and be excited?" Well, the truth is the only thing that set us free so I would rather you have healthy expectations of what Jesus is up to and what He's not because it will give you stability throughout life, okay? Jesus Himself is life, so much so that you can be hungry in prison or even about to face death; and you can say that He is enough for you because He Himself is that life. Max Lucado put it this way before he would preach. He said, I would forever be in debt if all Jesus ever did was pay for my sins. Now, before you kind of like say, "Oh, that's what I feel, too," think about it: We're all grateful Jesus has forgiven us so much of sins but aren't you expecting more than just forgiveness of sins? I was hoping He would heal that person in my life that I wanted, sort of hoping Help would give me the job when I needed it, hoping He can help with my friendship when those things came along. Certainly Jesus will do more than just forgive me of my sins, and I believe He will. The problem is you don't get to decide what it is or control it, and this is the rub that many of us come to when we're deciding, "Are we going to keep following or turn back?" The disciple are the example this morning because they had to face the exact same thing and has been this way for anybody who ever want to follow Jesus. They thought that Jesus, the prophesied Messiah, the Descendant of King David, would come along and give them exactly what their life needed, which was to kick the Romans out so they could get back to the peaceful comfort that they were supposed to have as God's people. Right? And so when Jesus said, "Follow Me," and they're like, that's the Messiah, they were all in to follow Him until He goes to His hometown and preaching. He said, the Spirit of the Lord is on Me. What do they do? They throw Him a party? "Wow, how lucky are we the hometown has the Messiah?" No, they try to kill h him. He's not winning the hometown. How will He overthrow the Romans, right? This would be like a President -- take George Bush, governor of Texas, when he ran for President. If he didn't win Texas in the presidential election, we would say he has no shot at the president it is. Jesus not only doesn't have supporters in His hometown, they want to kill Him. And then the Pharisees, the religious lead from Jerusalem and the bigwigs, start to question His company. Tax collectors, Jesus? You're trying to overthrow the Romans? Don't You want to path per support and You're hanging with tax collectors? The Jews and Romans don't like them. Why in the world are You associated with people who can't help you do the thing that I know You need to do to give me the life I want? What are You doing here, Jesus? And it goes on to say things like "Blessed are the poor." "Blessed are the hungry, the weeping, the hated." Really? Blessed are the hated? If you do a quick google search of political revolutions -- which I did over this last week -- all of them never had a situation where their leader was poor, hated, hungry, weeping; and then overtook the most powerful nation in the world. That just doesn't happen. Jesus, how are the words You're saying somehow going to result in the thing I know that I need? Jesus is a hard Man to follow. But man, at the same time, I never saw someone raise somebody from the dead, you know? Like You're hard to follow but kind of hard NOT to follow. And then He healed a little girl, raised from a girl from the dead, then a little boy from the dead, then Lazarus. Then I heard a story where He calmed the raging sea by saying a few words. And then after a Sunday morning sermon, he was able to feed the entire group without the aid of Chick-Fil-A. It's an impossible miracle. We go hungry every Sunday because of it; and yet Jesus was somehow able to feed everybody by this miracle. This Jesus Guy, tough to follow; but He's also tough to turn back from. It's conflicting here. He says this: You want to be My dissame? Pick up your cross, your unfair form of suffering and death, and follow me. It's not the most Rousing speech to drum up followers but He says it. Follow Me. Don't turn back. See, Jesus is not offering us something that is so inherently attractive that everyone just gonna flock to Him. He's not the slam-dunk leader everybody wants to be a part -- whatever they're doing, I want to be a part of that because I know it will succeed. You probably know people in business that you have been in churches over the years. You know these people that whatever they do, they just seem to succeed at it. "I want to be with that guy." That's not Jesus. He's got 12 followers at the end and they run away from Him as He's killed. Jesus is a hard Guy to follow. The outsiders don't like You, Jesus. The insiders don't like You. How are You going to overtake the Roman and give me the life I want? As if Jesus wasn't doing a good enough job of making enemies, He begins to mock religious leaders and the wealthy. He begins to divide families. You don't ever try to divide people if you're trying to have some unifying revolution. He begins to call the king names, and then the worst of all things, He starts hanging out with short people like Zaccheus. Nobody got far hanging with short people. I'm 5'6." I never hang with people below 5'3" -- stop laughing, y'all. Jesus is not the person that you think will make it as a Leader but them, but the reason we have John 6:66, the devil's verse -- we find the reason it was there in 6:55. Jesus said, for My flesh is real food. My blood is real drink. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood remains in Me and I in them. That's a whole new thinking of what it means for Jesus to remain in you, right? Like I just ate Him so there He is. What is He talking about? I got to imagine the people around Imhim were like, "Did you hear that right? Did I hear what He is saying?" The other guy is like, "Yeah, He wants us to eat Him." What is Jesus saying in this moment? Is He talking about cannibalism? And everyone around him, including the disciples, verse 60, said this is a hard teaching. Who can accept this? It's not like hard academically but making my stomach churn because I don't understand what you're saying here. And then instead of explaining it, He is like extra crazy. He doubles down and He immediately says the words that I have spoken to you, they are FULL of Spirit and life. He doesn't say, "Hey, that was just a metaphor. I'll explain that later to anybody who want to know." No, He doubles down. Eating My flesh and drinking My blood, this is full of Spirit and life. Verse 66. "From this time on, many of His disciples turned back and no longer followed Him." Jesus is not exactly giving us the life we want so they turned back. So He turns to His closest followers. "You do not want to leave, too, do you?" Jesus asked the 12. Simon Peter answered, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life." Peter doesn't respond with, like, a wink, wink, "Hey, I know You mean crackers and juice every Sunday from now on. I know You're not talking about that. I know You will be an earthly king and you won't be and that is fine with me." He doesn't know that and yet still says "To who else would I to?" We know Peter doesn't understand this because later on in the story he's in the garden and the Romans come to arrest him and Peter has to be thinking, there's no way Jesus can overtake the Romans if He's arrested. This is what I will go down in history for and he cuts off a soldier's ear with his sword so Jesus doesn't get arrested, right? He doesn't get everything that Jesus is talking about, clearly. And yet he still was following. All he knows, verse 69, is "You are the Holy One of God." I'm not turning back. To whom would I go? Yeah, Jesus, You're the weirdest Dude I know, but You're the only one with life so I'm not turning pack. When You're not making sense, I won't turn back. Even after You died and I hadn't figured out You were coming back, I'm not turning back. Even when I get thrown in prison later on, I'm not turn back. Even when I was faceds with my own death on my own cross, I'm not turned back. And not because if I just hold on long enough I'll get my own Job story, you know? Job, who suffered a lot and then got paid back double everything he had been taken away from at the end? That's not what happens to Peter unless he was hoping for a double portion of wood he got hung on and crucified. See, if you're waiting around and willing to suffer and not turn back because you think Jesus is somehow going to make this life better for you than all the things taken away, that may not happen. You have to find another reason to follow Jesus than because of the blessings He could bring into you ever life. Poor, hungry, weeping, hated; and yet Christ is enough for me. So I'm not turning pack. Peter said, whom would I turn to? Think about this for a moment. If you were to stop following Jesus right now, who would you turn to? Would it be yourself and your own ideas? Some politician or some role model? Maybe another church leader? If if it wasn't Jesus you were following, wherever He leads, who would you turn to, in fact? So I can't control who Jesus heals. So I can't control when Jesus multiplies resources. So I can't expect Him to be a genie in the bottle; but I know He can do those thing so I'm not turning back to somebody else. I don't know anybody who has a shot to do those things so I'm not turning back from the One I know CAN to those things. Instead, I will keep my eyes OPEN, and every year Jesus turns out to not do what I thought He was going to do, I will adjust my expectations of who He is rather than complaining Jesus has not been following me very well. Not because I like every moment of my life but because He's either God or He's not. And if He is God, it doesn't matter whether we understand Him or not. I'm hitching my wagon and going wherever He leads. But lastly, what happens if you turn back? How do you respond in that moment? Where do we go if we have that moment like Peter did where we turn back? You see, Peter start off strong. In fact, he said, Lord, why can't I follow You now? I will lay down my life for You. He is willing to go to death and we know that because he didn't just cut off some random person's ear but a soldier's ear. He was willing to fight in that moment, knowing the risk it would take on for himself. But we also know that a few short moments later he will deny Jesus three time. He turned back from following Him. He left his Best Friend in his Friend's greatest hour of need. How we respond is not so much the question but how Jesus responds when we turn back. He meets with Peter after the Resurrection and we'll find out what will Jesus say to His best friend who turned back from Him? He starts with a question: Why did you do this, Peter? No. He just says: Do you love Me? Oh! Can you imagine your mom or dad after you have disappointed them? You would rather they just spank you but instead say, "Do you love me?" "Yes, like, I love you, I'm so sorry." It's gut-wrenching Jesus asks this question. And the next thing He says is SO amazing to me. He says, "Follow Me." He go back to the very beginning with Peter and don't you know that Peter had to have been thinking that original moment when Jesus found Him and said "Follow Me." When we turn back, Jesus is not interested in some penance that you pay. Jesus just want to get back to what we have been doing so repent and start following Me again. Do you love Me? Good. Let's go. This is the message Jesus gives Peter and think it's for us. If you have somehow turned back, okay. Start following again. Do you love Him? Yes? Follow again. So I will finish with this passage. Jesus puts it this way, because He is giving us encapsulated what it mean to see life through His lens, all right? He says, "Whoever wants to be my disciple -- this is Luke 9 -- must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life --" You know that passage "Seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added to you?" He's giving a priority. Do this first and then these things. Jesus is said, take up your cross for whatever want to save their life, take all these things you need first? You will lose your life. Whoever loses these extra things for My sake for following Him said you will actually save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, everything that we think we could want out of life, and yet forfeit their very self, which is found in following Jesus? Jesus is not here to give you the best version of your life. Trust me. If I was making the rules, I'd do it different. I wish that He would. I have my own times of complaining to God where I wish that's exactly what He would do, but He's not; and I think because that would be a little more like Jesus following us than us following Jesus. But He offers something better. He offers Himself. He is life, and I have to ask myself the question: If I want the thing that Jesus could do for me more than I want Jesus Himself, that means I've got something to learn, which is actually good news because if you could find that Christ is enough without all these other things, wow, you're the most stable human being in entire world. You can make it through anything is Jesus is enough without all the trappings. Take that as a challenge if you want the trappings more than Jesus, you have cool thing to learn that will set us free. So because Jesus is that, no turning pack because there's no life back there, guys. We left that behind. We knew already there was no life. That's why we started following Jesus so don't go back there. Don't go back because He is the Holy One of God or He's not; and if He is, then hitch your wagon to Him. He has the world of eternal life. I will invite Tommy Waldron up to pray for us in a second. The last thing I want to say to seniors: You have what it takes not only because God made you an amazing person but Jesus Christ can handle everything that will come your way the. Your job is to hold onto Him and depend on Him for that. I love you guys so much. Tommy, thanks for leading us in prayer. (Applause) >> Tommy: Will you pray with me. Heavenly Father, thank You so much for loving us the way You do. Thank You for the Gift of Your Son, Who He Was and s is for us and the Gift of Your Holy Spirit. Father, there's so much going on in the world today, a lot of negativity, a lot of uncertainty. My prayer is we will recognize that a deep-rooted relationship with You is where we can find peace; where we can find certainty; and where we can find rest, Father. There and only there. Father, Your Word said You will never leave or forsake us. You know everything about us and the number of hairs on our head. You knew who we were before we were knit in hour mother's womb. Father, thank You for loving us so much for Your yearning desire to know us and be close to us, Father. My prayer for those that don't know You, that their hearts will turn to You and they will find the only true avenue for unfailing love, grace, and stability; and that's through You. I pray those that have already chosen to follow Jesus, that we will not limit Your, Father; that we will reach our hand to You and commit with passion on a daily basis, looking to You for answers, guidance, and direction in our lives. Father, I lift up these high school seniors. I pray that as they leave the homes of their fathers and mothers that they will cling to You in their relationship with You, Father. There are tough times ahead and that's just what life is. Father, as Kevin has said, " You don't promise an easy life and pray through every step of the way they will look to You for guidance and direction. We don't always understand Your plan for our lives, but I pray that in all that uncertainty that they will lean on You and reach out their hand to You and that You will walk with them every step of the way. I know You will. Father, our prayer is You will use us every minute of every day to further Your kingdom. I pray we will never be too consumed with what we have going in our lives to see the doors You're opening and answer Your call. We thank You for loving us so much. I pray we choose to follow Jesus with passion and zeal every day. It's in His Name we pray. Amen. >> Ryan: Amen! Thank you, Tommy! Thank you, Kevin, for that inspiring message. Well, as we wrap up today I got a few things to highlight for you. A remind per on Sunday mornings at 9:45:00 a.m. we have classes for all ages. Our adult class meets in the gym resumes our class called Another Gospel with a couple more weeks of that. For our online cool, Kyle Strickland leads the online class at 10:00 a.m., "The Conversation" every Sunday morning and they started a new series called "Image Pearers: What it means to be human." Hope to see you online for that. Women, there are some summer studies about to start and we have the Women in Apologetics Zoom series that continues. "Speaking the truth is loving" is the topic this week. You can learn more about the Women's Ministry on website. VBS is coming up in June. We're really excited about that. We want you to sign up to register and also to sign up to volunteer. We need volunteers to help out. Along with that, we're really pumped that fan police is back this summer, too. Fam Blitz. It happens the last day of VBS in the evening. I brought my kids last time and we just had a blast; I encourage you to bring your whole family. Even if you don't attend VBS, you can come and have a fun night together. And it's free. What is better than that? All right, well, thank you for joining us today. We pray that God is with you as you go this week, and congratulations again to our graduating seniors. We love you. We're with you as a church family, and we just pray that God is leading you into the next chapter and you continue to follow Jesus faithfully. let's all stand together and sting one more song before we go. ("Every Giant Will Fall" playing) >> Richard: Thank you for your worship today! You are dismissed!