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. [Music] >> 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. >> Welcome to the worship service of First Colony Church of Christ. We're so happy you're here with us. Hello to everyone online and in the building. Whatever you have going on in your life this week, you are invited to come to this time of worship. You may have things going on, but we want you to know that this is a community of believers and you are invited to come as you are. Come and experience the love of God, the Father, be strengthened and get new life in Jesus Christ. Let's all stand and worship together. >> Richard: Amen. Our God is good. We're doing something different this morning, as you can see. I thought I would pull out something I haven't done in a long time. I think you know right away. ("How Great Thou Art") >> Richard: Do you believe that this morning? Our God is a great God. Faithful and true. Worthy of all our praise. Amen. ("What A Beautiful Name") >> Richard: Yes, amen. What a powerful name it is. You may be seated. >> Good morning. This beautiful creature is my daughter Hope. [Applause] >> Give her a hand. She's my eye candy. Hope loves to play games to the point where the rest of us are like, no, no more. One of the games we play is Headbanz. This is a picture and she has to try to figure out what's there. She says am I a, am I a -- and then she has to guess ketchup. She is wonderfully and fearfully created. Instead of having the world saying who they are, that they will listen to who God says she is. She's not ketchup, but she is beautiful inside and out. She is wonderfully and fearfully made. [Applause] >> She is made in the image of God. In the world we live in, our kids need to know that they are made in the image of God, that nothing someone says about them can determine who they are because they are perfectly made by the God of heaven who loves and created them. She is a masterpiece. And he who gave his only son. That we shall not perish, but live in everlasting life. >> Ryan: It's time to take commune I don't know together. Greg and Peggy will be leading us this morning. If you're at home, get your supplies out. When you came in if you didn't pick up communion, we have some at the back of the room. Thank you so much for leading us. >> I am Greg and this is my wife Peggy. We are honored to lead you in communion. Peggy will lead us in prayer. >> Will you join me in turning our minds towards the cross and Jesus' sacrifice. Father, what a wonderful God you are and what an incredible plan you had that would redeem us. So as we remember, as you've encouraged us to, we take this bread that represents Christ's body and we take the fruit of the vine that reminds us of his blood that was so cruelly taken but so generously given. What a name he had. Man of sorrows, what a name. Ruined sinners to reclaim. Lord, he -- father, he has reclaimed us and restored us and he renews us. As we take this today, may we remember his tender compassion and take it to everyone else that we encounter. Join me in taking the bread and the fruit of the vine. In Jesus' holy name we pray, amen. >> Our reading this morning is from Luke 6:35-36 This is of the new living translation. "Love your enemies! Do good to them. Lend to them without expecting to be repaid. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked. You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate. ("King Of My Heart") >> Richard: Why don't we all stand together and continue to worship the Lord. ("King Of My Heart") >> Richard: Let's sing that chorus one more time. Thank you for your worship. You may be seated. >> Ryan: It's time to collect our offering. We want to thank you for your generous donations that support the ministries that we do here locally and around the globe. You have the option to give online. You can text to give. Those are safe and easy to set up. Here in the building we have collection boxes at the back of the room that you can place your contributions in. Pray with me, please. God, we thank you for your goodness and, Lord, for all the ways that you provide for us and take care of us. God, we want to give generously today and we give faithfully and we ask you to use this offering to help us as we share the message of Jesus in our community. We pray this in his holy name. Amen. >> Why do bad things happen to good people? >> How do I know that the things in the Bible are true? >> How do you know that God is listening to you? >> Why did Jesus get baptized? >> What do we do when talking about faith with non-believers and those of different religions? >> Why does he let some people go to heaven and some not to go to heaven? >> Why do I have to follow the Bible? >> Why does it seem like God answers some prayers and doesn't answer others. >> Apologetics, a $5 word that has nothing to do with apologizing. Apologetics is the explanation of your faith using logic and evidence. It is one of the most important tools parents can equip their children to have a confident faith. Grassroots apologetics, GAP, equips parents with the tools to answer questions to their families. When your children ask questions like this -- >> Did Adam and Eve have belly buttons? >> -- you'll be ready. Look online for details and how to sign up. >> I love that video. A great opportunity for kids and families. I have a 9, 5, and 4-year-old. We love GAP. You can scan for a connection card. There is a spot to learn more about programs. There is a place to put down your prayer request and we'll pray with you this week. If you're a guest here, thank you so much for being with us. Come to new here start across the lobby. Our team would love to talk to you and answer your questions. There is a gift you can pick up. It's time for Main Street Live. Mr. Joel is at the back of the chapel. Parents, if you have a grade one to five child, you can go to the back and get started. Let's do our fellowship greeting. If you're here greet your neighbor. If you're online, say hi in the chat box. [Indistinct chatter] ("Stand In Your Love") >> Richard: Amen. Thank you so much for worshiping with us today. You may be seated. >> Kyle: Yes. Good morning, everyone. Thank you to Richard and our team for a great worship set. Good morning. So good to see all of you. My name is Kyle and Ronnie is out today and I have the honor of bringing the word of the Lord to you and I'm very thankful to do that. For those of you who are here joining us in person, thank you. Thank you for coming today. If you're joining us online, we're so glad that you have joined us as well. We are all together, even though we're apart. That is a good, good thing. When I was a kid, someone I greatly respected became surprisingly vulnerable to me. They had been traumatized by the death of someone they loved. They were distraught and in a surprise move they opened up their grief and sadness to me. I was extremely puzzled. I had no idea what to do or what they expected of me. But I did my best to say something that I thought would help. So I said probably what you said in a situation like this that Jesus would bring them some comfortable. Now, that statement did absolutely nothing to help the situation. In fact, they responded to my kid-sided pastoral care almost immediately with a question that haunted me for the next two decades. You probably know what it is. The question is this: What if Jesus isn't even real? I did not expect that question. I certainly did not expect to find myself in a moment of apologetics because my education about Jesus thus far in my life had been primarily limited to some famous Bible stories and some ethics training. So I offered what I thought was the best response, at least the best response that I could offer. And I just said this, Jesus is real. You can find him in history books. Now, their response back to me was as quick as the first one. They said this: That doesn't mean he's real, though. That question -- those questions and that conversation did more to harm my faith than anything since. Because it opened a door to doubt, a nagging, creeping doubt. And my guess is that you probably know about doubt. You've probably come to know doubt differently than I did, but I would guess that doubt is as real to you as anything that you experience. It's good, though, to be here even if you do doubt, a time of worship and music and fellowship and community probably gives you a break from the paralysis of doubt. But you know this, doubt will return. It will find a way back into your life. If you're like me, you are looking for a way to fight those doubts. So we're going to do three things today to give you a way to fight back. First we're going to tell you the origin of doubt. You might actually be surprised by this. Second, I'm going to show you Jesus, the transcendent savior, exalted, majestic. I'm going to show you why he has power over your doubt and why that is. Third, I'm going to give you a solid step to battle doubt, to give you a path forward. This is a good next step for some forward motion. I'm going to give you a way to fight back today. First let's talk about doubt. Where does doubt find its origin? The answer to this is really simple and probably surprising. Doubt comes from God. In fact, God created us with the ability to doubted and, in other words, said differently, our doubt, your doubt does not surprise God. That explains us. We're going to go to Genesis 1. Now, we face a fairly large temptation when we look at Genesis 1. This chapter has seen a fair share of interpretations and by default we are thrust into some of those preconceived interpretations that might trend on viewing Genesis 1, the creation story, as a story of science. Or it might trend on viewing Genesis 1 and the creation story as a story of history, but Genesis 1 was not written to be a story about science or a story about history. Rather, it was written to be a theological statement. Its primary goal is to communicate something about the nature of God. So let's pause our scientific interpretations and our historical interpretations of this sacred chapter and let's see its theological significance here by letting it answer a couple of really important questions. The first question is what does Genesis 1 say about God? And the second question is this, what does it say about us? We're going to answer both of those. What does it say about God? And this is critical. It says that God actually gives permission for all reality to exist. That statement seems elementary, but it gets its force from why Genesis 1 makes its statement to begin with. To do that, we're going to have to do a small history lesson on what this elementary history lesson means. Let's buckle up. About 600 years before the birth of Jesus, the people of God, the Israelites, they were refugees in Babylon. They were taken from their homes. They were marched as prisoners of war. Now, at a time when the great empire of Babylon had seemingly dashed the dreams of the Israelites and at a time when the great empire of Babylon had seemingly dashed the dreams of the people of Babylon, when God gave a reason to doubt, the people needed clear, substantial, solid hope. They needed a way to fight doubt. They had been ripped from their homelands, from the land of promise. They were led as prisoners of war to another empire. Their holy city, Jerusalem, destroyed. The temple of God, completely destroyed. Here were their questions. How could God let this happen? Is he even real? Does he even care? You've asked those very same questions. It was in this horrific season of doubt then that the stories of Moses become the bedrock for God's people for, the story of Genesis and Exodus and Leviticus and Deuteronomy. These prisoners of war gathered the oral stories into books, the stories that Moses had recounted years before the event of them in Babylon. They put these stories into books and they made sure that the story of Moses, that these books of Moses, began with the definitive statement about God, told through the story of creation. And this story, this theological statement, was a way to fight doubt because it declares that the God of Israel is the Lord of all creation of all of life, that all reality, everything, gets its permission to exist from God. And -- this is critical -- that even their situation as refugees in Babylon existed because he allowed it to. What does Genesis 1 say about God? It says that God gives all reality, even the reality that we don't like. He gives it all permission to exist. Here's what Genesis 1 says about us. It says that we are created with purpose and that is a doubt-fighting statement. Let's read together from Genesis 1:26-28. I'm going to be reading from the new English translation. Listen to this. You know these verses. Then God said, "Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness, so they may rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move on the earth." 27: God created humankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply! Fill the earth and subdue it! Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that moves on the ground." Genesis 1 says that we were created in the image of God. Now, we are image bearers. That sounds incredibly poetic, but what in the world that does that mean? Genesis does not give us a bullet-point definition, even though we wished it would. Clear picture of this definition, though, when we listen to God's very prohibition against image making. Let's listen to the second of the 10 commandments from Exodus 20: 4-5. You should not make for yourself an image of anything from the heaven above or the earth beneath or waters below. You shall not bow down to them and worship them because I the Lord your God am a jealous God. What an interesting commandment and prohibition. Well, God evidently knows something about us. We are evidently not immune to image making. Later in the book of Deuteronomy, Moses reminded the Israelites of this temptation. He reminded them of their experience at Mount Sinai where they were first to receive the 10 Commandments. Their experience of God was evidently awesome, thunder and lightning. The voice of God was so terrifying that the people of God asked Moses if they could leave. God was personal in this moment and he was speaking to them, but he was also overwhelming and people wanted to remember it and make an image of it. If it was us, we would want to take a selfie. I want you to read to you from Deuteronomy. You saw no form out of the fire, therefore, watch yourselves very carefully so you don't become corrupt and make for yourselves an idol and an image of any shape, whether formed like a man or a woman. God was clear, humanity was not nor are we given the right to be image makers because only God has that right. And God did, indeed, make any image of himself. He made you. He made me. He made all of humanity. We are the only creatures in all of God's creation that disclose something about the very nature of God. Now, we aren't God. We are not God. Don't misinterpret this as some humanistic notion of religion. You are like God, but you are not God nor are you a God, but you are his image. That means that you are created with purpose. And that purpose is this. It's to bear his image well. This is what Genesis says about us. Now, all of that is foundational as to how we know that God created his image bearers with the ability to doubt. I want you to listen to how the writer of Ecclesiastes 3:11 said. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. No one can fathom what God did from beginning to end. Did you catch the tension in that verse? We were created with an innate knowledge of the transcendence of God and eternity itself. You can easily discern, do this right now, that there is more to life than our own circumstance. But we were also created with a finite knowledge of history and time. We cannot make our longing for more match what we currently see. We have an eternal discernment with a temporal deficiency. We know, yet we do not know. And right there at the intersection of those two things, right there, is where doubt is born. God knows that. That's why he created you that way. Here is the gospel. There is a reason for your doubt and it's this so we would discover that only God can match our doubts and our doubt with truth. And this is where Jesus comes in because Jesus is the answer to our doubt. Turn with me to Colossians 1:15-17 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things and in him all things hold together. He, Jesus, is the true image bearer. He is the only one who got it right. There are no doubts with him, it is all truth. And he sinks perfectly with how Ecclesiastes describes us, this temporal deficiency. He supersedes this with two ways. Both mentioned in Colossians. Everything you can think of was created by Jesus, through Jesus, and for Jesus. Second, he is supreme over all creations, he is the source of all creation and extreme over all creation. All the things that stoke the fire of doubt in your life, the thrones and dominions and rulers and authorities, all of those bow at the feet of Jesus. Nothing threatens Jesus. This is not really surprising to us, though. We know this, right? We have eternity in our hearts, but what we lack Jesus completes. Our ignorance of time, our temporal deficiency is solved by Jesus and this is how. This is from Colossians 1:17. He holds all things together. Jesus does this. In fact, the original language of Colossians 1:17 puts this verb, to hold, in the perfect tense. Now, you don't need to know much about language, but I'm going to tell you that you need to know this because this is critical. By using the verb in the perfect tense, the apostle Paul who wrote this made this verb a time-traveling verb. In other words, he didn't just limit it to the past tense. He didn't just limit it to the present tense or the future tense. He used the perfect tense because it encompasses all three. It covers all of them. It covers the past and the present and the future. In other words, it can be said like this. Jesus held all things together. Even when you didn't think he did. Jesus is now holding, right now, all things together. Even in the midst of your doubt. And Jesus will hold. He will continue to hold forever all things together. Even when your future feels uncertain. Only Jesus stands in both of these realities. Only Jesus stands in eternity while standing in time. What a mind-blowing truth. Listen to how the writer of Hebrews states this. This is from Hebrews 10:12-13. When he, when Jesus, had offered for one time -- I'm sorry, when he had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, it's referring to the crucifixion, when he had done that, verse 12 says he sat down at the right hand of God. In other words, he's sitting in eternity. That's what it means. Verse 13 says this, though, since that time, since Jesus was crucified and resurrected, since that time, listen to the words here, he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. In other words, he is still subjected to time. He's waiting. He's waiting for the hands of time to complete their turning. What a massive, amazing statement about Jesus. So, yes, image bearers, we are created with the ability to doubt, but we are created with that ability so we can know Jesus as the one who solves those doubts. Jesus is the logic of all of life, the prism through which reality makes sense. But just knowing this doesn't mean our doubts are erased, introspection, education, information, those things don't always lead to useful resolutions. You know this. We are constantly refined in the crucible of life, of crises, of unrealized expectations. Remember, we have eternal discernment with a temporal deficiency. We know and yet we don't know and we are created that way. What is the next step for us? I promised you a good step forward and I'm going to give it to you. How do we break the paralysis of doubt and find some true, meaningful, forward motion? Well, we have to do this. We have to change the question we ask ourselves. Let me explain this. The easiest question to ask in the midst of heavy, crushing, paralyzing doubt is this. They're always the why questions. They're the easiest ones to ask. You've asked these. Why did this happen? Why am I feeling this way? Why did they make that choice? Why didn't I do something different? Why did they have to leave so soon? The glaring problem with the why questions is we don't often have the answers. Remember, we have a temporal deficiency. We can't fathom the ways of God from the beginning to the end. Research into human behavior actually shows our tendencies in this regard. This research shows us something else about ourself. It shows us that when we don't know the answer to the why questions, we actually invent answers that feel true but aren't. You've done this. I've done it. This tendency has two fatalistic consequences. The first is it fuels an incorrect bias. Further research has actually shown that we often ignore contradictory evidence because of our own feelings. We hold fast to things that are wrong even when we know they aren't. That's the first. And the second fatalistic consequence is this, inventing answers to the why questions that feel true but aren't actually fuels negativity and rumination. We find ourselves more depressed thinking about these questions. There is no weapon to fight doubt because we're too busy cooking in it. We need to change the question. We need to stop asking the why questions and start asking the what questions. Asking why questions? Nominally productive, but the what questions, they give us traction. They give us forward motion. They give us a way to fight doubt. So instead of asking, why did this happen? We can ask this: What are some things I can do to feel unstuck? Instead of asking, why am I feeling this way? Maybe we ask, what are the situations that are making me feel this way? What do those situations have in common? Or instead of asking, why couldn't I turn this relationship around? Maybe we ask this, for the glory of God, what can I do to minimize bad trajectories in other relationships? ? What questions, not the why questions, but the what questions, allow us to focus on solutions rather than problems, on truth, on the gospel, rather than doubt. They give us permission to embrace our creation as image bearers, to be fruitful laborers. To identify our propensity for doubt, while enjoying -- yes, while enjoying the leading of God and finding satisfaction in the supremacy of Jesus. I want to ask one of our elders, Greg, to join me on the stage. He is going to pray for us in a moment. Listen to me, doubt will never leave until we are in the glorious presence of Jesus. But we don't have to give them any more of our attention. We are, you are, image bearers of the creator of the universe and we are following the true image bearer. Let's fight doubt to the glory of God and bear his image well. This is forward motion. Let's pray together. >> Will you pray with me, please. Father, we are thankful to have been able to gather here this morning to worship you. You are worthy of our praise. We ask that you provide healing to those who are ill and in need for you are our great position. We look for your wisdom. May they find it in you. Father, there are many across the world that have lost friends and loved ones. Will you provide comfort to them as you have promised and may they sense your presence as they are comforted. Lord, we have been anxious. We have experienced division. Will you as the prince of peace bring your peace and heal our land. We thank you for the wonderful gift of Jesus and pray in his name amen. May the peace of Christ be with you. >> Ryan: Thank you so much, Greg and Kyle, for those encouraging words. Remember at 9:45 a.m. on Sundays we have classes for all ages. You can get information about that here and online. There is the deep calls to deep at 12:30. Delta is for high school students. You can sign up for that for once a month. You can go to a special retreat. Women's Bible studies are starting soon. We have so many good options. Look at the online groups. Just a lot of great things for you to check out in women's ministry. Go online. Joy boxes can be returned on August 15 or August 22. Then we have meet, eat, and greet coming up in September. You can look online and sign up for a group in your area. This is a great opportunity to get back together and know some people. There is some online options for that as well. The last thing is we're starting a new series next week called walking in the light. We hope you will join us. Thank you for being here today. We hope you have been encouraged by God in whatever facing you in the week ahead. Know that you are loved and with God's strength you've got this. Let us stand and sing one more song. ("How Great Thou Art") >> Richard: Thank you for worshiping with us today. You are dismissed. [Music] >> 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.