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.    >> 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 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. >> Shane: Well, hello, everyone! Welcome to worship at First Colony Church of Christ. You know, God's Word proclaims 1 John 5 that God has given us eternal life through His Son Jesus. Whoever has the Son has life; amen, church? We're here because we believe Jesus gives us life full and good; so let's stand and sing and celebrate the eternal life we have because of Jesus. >> Richard: God is faithful! ("Fires" playing) Here we go! >> Richard: We serve a faithful God, don't you agree, this morning? He is worthy of all of our praise. He's worthy of all the glory and all the honor. There's no one like Him on this earth. ("Raise a Hallelujah" playing) >> Richard: Yes, some people raise a banner. We raise a hallelujah, amen? You may be seated, church. >> Joel: Well, good morning, everyone. It is so good to be with you this Sunday morning. All right, well, you know I don't know how many of you younger people are familiar with red lights, green lights, and yellow lights; but just to review, green means go. Yellow in Texas has a different meaning than everywhere else. (Laughter) Basically yellow means clear the intersection or caution, not speed up. And then red means stop. Well, you know, the interesting thing is that when we respond to Christ, when we become a Christian, the Bible gives us things that we're supposed to do -- children, obey your parents. There are some things the Bible doesn't actually talk about and so we kind of look at Scripture and say, "Which way should I go on this?" Those are challenging and even when you're a mom, dad, or grandparent, there's always little things you're still trying to figure out where God wants you to go. But then there's also thing that the Bible is VERY clear on and it says "Don't do this." And so we have our little stoplight system. The interesting thing is that even as a Christian, sometimes when we're going along, we still make mistakes or we still choose to do the wrong thing. And so today we're talking about sin and the Bible verse I want to refer to is 1 John 1:9. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now, interestingly, sometimes we get things wrong. The things we weren't supposed to do, we do; the things we were supposed to use caution on, we do; and the things that we were not supposed to do, we cautiously proceed. What do you do in a circumstance like that? When we make mistakes, when we do wrong, the cool thing about God is that 1 John 1:9 says if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Pretty sweet, huh? Yeah, you like that. I like that, too. All right. So then that takes us to our scenario where we are trying to -- hold on -- see if we can get that in there the proper way like so. Bada boom; bada bing. That's what we should be doing. All right, remember to trust in the Lord. Obey Him and do what is right. When we mess up, confess our sins, and He will cleanse us. Thank you very much. (Applause) >> Shane: Thank you, Joel. As Albert and Isabella Faraone lead us in communion today, let's prepare our hearts and minds to remember what Jesus has done for us. Let's reflect on just the meaning of Jesus' sacrifice and rejoice because we're here because of His grace, amen? So you guys lead us. >> Albert: Well, good morning, church! My name is Albert Faraone, and this is my daughter Isabella. We're so thankful to be able to lead you today in our Lord's Supper. Please pray with me over the bread, which represents the body of Christ, given for us; and the cup representing the blood, poured out for our forgiveness of sins. Please, please pray with me. Dear Heavenly Father, what a privilege to gather here this morning to worship and share the love and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ. When so many are in despair and live with uncertainty, You are here. Lord, we thank You and pray for the many that have no voice or have lost hope. We take this bread and juice as a symbol of Your sacrifice, Your body broken for us. Let us take these elements together in the Name of the True Healer, Jesus, our Lord. Let us partake together. >> Isabella: I will be reading from Romans 8:26-28. (Reading) ("This I Believe/The Creed" playing) >> Richard: Why don't we all stand together and worship the Lord? ¶ Yes, we believe, we believe ¶ >> Richard: You may be seated. >> Shane: Thank you, guys. Well, as we pray for our offering in just a second, we want you to know we're so glad to partner with you and we partner together with God to spread the Message of Jesus from right here in Fort Bend County to places around the world. So thank you for giving and thank you for joining together to send the Message of Jesus wherever we can. So let's pray. Before we pray, let me say you can give online. It's safe, secure, and simple to set up. You can text to give and there are offering box in the book of the room. Now let's pray. Father God, we ask You to use these offerings to Your glory. We ask You to help us to be generous givers just like You are, God, that we can work with You and be in partnership with You to make a difference in this world. We thank You that we are given the blessing and opportunity to join Your calling to bless this world and to share the Message of Jesus. This we believe in the Name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. ¶ >> Ryan: Hey, First Colony, I'm really excited for the Connection Group sessions. We have so many group options for you and hope you will find a rhythm of gathering with people and having an opportunity to grow in your faith. We've got neighborhood groups that meet in homes. There are great on-campus options. We have online groups. There's men's and women's group and care groups. I hope in all of that you will find just one group that's a really good fit for you. We have made it easy. Just go on the website and look at the Connection Group catalog. You can do that online or in the lobby. Then fill out a quick response form. We'll follow up and match you up to a group. So take a look at all the groups that are available and get connected. ¶ >> Shane: We have lots of great groups. You can get that catalog online or in the lobby right there. Also, we'd love to connect with you. You have a digital Connection card. Just look at the QR code in front of you. You can clerk in there and get prayer requests or give prayer requests. You can find out how to get connected or reach out to us. We would love to connect with you. You can go across the lobby to the "New Here? Start Here" room. We'd love to get to know you and help you find a spot here. If yourself a kid first through fifth grade, you're welcome to join Mr. Joel across the lobby to the chapel and have Main Street Live. Parents, if you have not checked in your kids, there's a kiosk, right there and really quick. You can check them in at the kiosk. Everybody else, while they're going, let's stand and greet one another with a time of fellowship. ("Your Grace is Enough" playing) >> Richard: You may be seated, church! >> Ronnie: Thanks so much, Richard and team. Didn't they do such a great job leading us in that last song? (Applause) It was fantastic. And you know, it doesn't just happen. They actually have to rehearse and plan and they do a fantastic job. Good morning, everybody! Great to see you those of you right here in the room. Welcome to our second service today here at the First Colony Church of Christ. And to those of you watching us and joining us online, worshiping with us online, we welcome you. Some of you are local, and many of you aren't so wherever you may be, we're grateful to be partnering with you today in your spiritual journey. We are in a message series from the New Testament book of 1 John. Obviously inspired by the Holy Spirit through the Apostle John, who wrote five New Testament books. The title of this series is "Walking in the Light" and the feel of today's message is "Confession is Good for Your Soul." Now, you have heard that phrase and it's actually true. Confession is really good for your soul. Somebody says, "Well, isn't that just a Catholic thing?" No, it's a Christian thing, and it's a practice, a spiritual discipline, that's been embraced since the beginning of Christianity. But for some reason, for some reason, we do not welcome the privilege and the gift of confession -- perhaps, I mean, it's a wonderful invitation. It's a wonderful invitation and practice and gift, an absolute privilege. Confession helps us learn from the past without being chained to it. Confession helps us grow from our past without being handcuffed to our past. Confession opens the door to that forgiveness feeling and to the freedom of grace. The Apostle John writing 1 John has a couple of concerns. On one hand, he's concerned that people in the day of grace would live without restraint. On the other hand, he's concerned that people would beat themselves up needlessly and without mercy. And we all get that. It's a tension. It's not something you ever just solve. It's a tension is what it is. On one hand, he's concerned about people living without restraint; on the other and he's concerned with people beating themselves up. So confession, then, is a gift and a privilege. Now, we'll read some Scriptures, some of which we read last week. 1 John 1, beginning verse 7. "But if we walk in the light" -- notice we're not living in rebellion but walking in the light is not synonymous now with perfection. He will talk about that here in a second. "If we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another." We're in this together. "And the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin." The idea is it's almost like not purified but purifies, keeps on cleansing us like eternal -- you turn on the windshield wiper and they just -- you turn it on once but they just keep going. The blood of Jesus, His Son, keeps us pure as we walk in the light. “Now, if we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is just not in us.” Somebody says, "Now, Ronnie, how would you define sin?" Culture doesn't define sin for us; God does. A sin is any thought, action, or word that falls short of God's will. God is perfect and anything we do that falls short of His perfection is sin, all right? There you go. The Bible will even use some word pictures. One word picture is that of an archer. Just imagine an archer, bow and arrow, takes and aims at the target; but the archer misses the mark. Maybe he misses it just a little bit; maybe he misses it a lot but misses the mark. The Bible said that's sin where we miss the mark of God's will. That's why we need Christ. That's why we need a Savior. Verse 9. "But if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just. He will forgive us our sins. He will purify us from all unrighteousness." Somebody says, "Now, wait a minute, if we walk in the light, His blood keeps us pure. Why, then, do we need to confess our sins?" "Is our relationship with God just sort of like a ping-pong game?" You know, in; out; in; out -- make a mistake, you're out; confess, you're back in. No, Your blood purifies; but yet he says, confess your sin. Why? I'll come back to that in a moment. God's faithful and just. He'll forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. “If we claim we have not sinned, we make God out to be a liar, and His Word is not in us." Let me go back to verse 9, the key verse of the morning. "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." Let me put a definition of confession on the screen. Confession is the naming of our weakness and failures of God and trusted others so that we may enter into God's grace and mercy and experience His ready forgiveness and healing. Now, if the blood of Christ keeps us clean, why are we, then, taught to confess? Bible students for years have understood 1 John 1 here to be emphasizing what you might call fa middle with corral forgiveness, a relational forgiveness, family-style forgiveness. Let me use an illustration with my wife Martha. We have been married 41 years and three weeks. In those 41 plus years of marriage, I've had to apologize once or twice along the way. Or a thousand times or more. Now, even though I had done something -- or maybe she had done something. You know, she's not perfect -- even though I may have done something to strain our relationship, and I had to apologize. I had strained our relationship but hadn't severed it. She remains my wife; I'm still her husband; but the relationship had a little tension because maybe I wasn't paying attention to me and I needed to make an apology -- or she needed to make an apology. It's the same way in our relationship with God. We come to Christ and we are in Christ. We're baptized into Christ. The forgiveness of justification, right? Bible students? But then we continue to grow in the Lord. And it's the growth of sanctification. The Lord says when we have those times where our relationship, it's out of sync, you don't need to hydroplane or play pretend. Yes, we're forgiven when we come to Christ and we stand in His grace; and yet along the way as we walk and mature, we pay attention to ourselves and to our growth. It's the confession of relationship. Let me give you a picture of it. Do you remember in John 13 the upper room where Jesus in humility washes the feet of His apostles? You remember this? You remember He came to Peter, and Peter did not want Jesus to wash his feet. You know, he just felt unworthy. John 13, beginning verse 8. "’No,’ said Peter, ‘You shall never wash my feet.’ Jesus answered, ‘Unless I wash your feet, you have no part with Me.’ ‘Then Lord, not just my feet but my hand and head, everything.’" Jesus answered -- listen to this -- "Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean." And Bible students over the years have understood Jesus here giving us a beautiful analogy that the bath is illustrating the forgiveness of justification. Washing the feet illustrates the forgiveness of sanctification. We're not baptized every Sunday, every day. We come to Christ. We're in Christ, but many times we need our feet washed, and we coming back to the Lord repeatedly allowing Him to wash our feet. You know, one cynic one time said Christians keep talking about revival or something. “Why don't you folks get revived and stay revived?” Somebody said, "Why don't you get a shower and get clean and stay clean?" The reason you need to keep coming back and allowing yourself to be washed is you walk around in a dirty world. If we deny our sin, we make God out to be a liar. We're playing pretend, and if there's one thing we do not need to do in the church, it's just be a group of pretenders. So confession is that spiritual practice that allows us to enter into the mercy and the grace of God regularly for cleansing -- listen -- for renewal AND to be postured to go forward in such a healthy way. Now, let me give you a little coaching on confession -- not that I'm an expert at it -- but let me give you five words to describe the practice of confession. Number one: Confess regularly. Don't wait for if big scandal. Without confession, we tend to erode our contours of reality. So confess regularly. Secondly, confess thoroughly. Don't rationalize your own sin. Don't minimize it. You may not be 100% to blame in a particular situation, but own your part of it. For those of you who are athletes, back when you were playing competitive sports, you remember on Monday it was film day; and the coaches would have you review game film. And every good move, every mistake, every missed assignment was highlighted. Confession is simply paying attention to my game film and reviewing it because if we don't, here's what happens: Jesus one time told a story about a guy walking along and He didn't have a speck in his eye. He didn't have a little ember in his eye. He had a log the size of a canoe. But what's he's doing? He's going around, trying to point out the little speck of sawdust in your eye because he's not paying ANY attention to himself. Jesus says it's not that you shouldn't be helping others. You can help others, but you've got to pay attention to yourself. Confess regularly, thoroughly. Thirdly, specifically. In the words of Cornelius Plantinga, Jr., sin has a thousand faces, and if I just generalize and hydroplane over it, well, it's one thing to do that. It's another thing to pay specific attention to my particular bents. Naming our sins is the confessional counterpart to counting our blessings. It's important to count your blessings and also to name where there's been a specific wrong. And a couple of questions to ask would be these: why did I do that? Why did I embellish that? Why did I lose my cool in that situation? Secondly, what was the result? What was the benefit of that falsehood or that escapism or that angry outburst? Again, you're not beating yourself up over this. You're just asking these questions calmly and in grace for the benefit of growth. And when confession is done well, yes, there's a little bit of pain and awkwardness involved. There's a certain amount of pain there but not never-ending pain. It's something, it's the kind of pain that gets your attention so that you can move forward in a productive way. And then fourth, confess mutually. James 5. "Therefore, confess your sin to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed." Now, this type of confession where we confess to another person is a powerful, powerful tool for those strongholds in our life, for habitual, repeated, stubborn sins. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, no person is so alone as that person alone in their sins. Mutual confession is not easy. The Bible doesn't give a lot of specific how-tos there. It could be humbling, but we need to remember the church -- we are ALL fellow strugglers, and I wish I could say that, you know, everybody is a good confessee and would be good to talk to. It's just not true. You need someone who is confidential and wise and mature. I've had a lot of people make confessions to me over the years, and you need to know I am always available. I'm a vault, and Martha and I do not discuss those things. If I can be a friend to you, I want to do so with a couple of clarifications. You have my assurance of confidentiality unless you're in danger or someone else is in danger. Mutual confession can be such a gift. But last of all, confess confidently. We know we confess our mess. It's not like God doesn't know. As I mentioned last Sunday, God deals with us not only the basis of what He knows about you. He knows everything. When you make a confession, He's not shocked or surprised. He deals with you on the basis of what you confess and acknowledge and release to Him. We can know what His reaction is going to be. He's already told us. He'll respond with grace and forgiveness. 1 John 2 says, "My dear children, I write this to this you so you will not sin but if anybody does sin -- here's what you need to know -- we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He's the atoning sacrifice for our sins, not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.” What's he saying? So much you read that and think, "John is just giving people permission to sin." No, he's not. He's giving them permission to confess. You don't have to give people permission to sin, okay? Hello. We do pretty good job of it without giving anybody permission. John's not giving people permission to sin. He's giving people permission to confess and repent and keep moving forward and stop playing pretend with themselves and others and with God. Confession ALWAYS acknowledges that grace is greater than the sin and God gives grace to the humble. He opposes the proud, but He gives grace to the humble. My friend, you can never not sin. You're going to. I'm not saying you plan on it. I'm not saying you try to get good at it. I'm saying we seek to walk in the light. Steve Brown has a book in which he has a little chapter in there called "Teaching Frogs to Fly." He said there was a guy who thought he could actually teach his pet frog to fly so he would take his pet frog and kept flowing it up in the air, trying to teach the frog to fly. Then he would take it and throw it up against the wall. Finally that frog met its demise because frogs, no matter how much pressure you put on a frog, it's not going to fly. No matter how much pressure you put on me, I'm not going to lead a sinless life. You can put pressure on me all day long. I'm a frog who cannot fly. What that means is I have to regularly apologize to my wife, apologize to you, apologize to God. I don't want to be a good -- did don't want to get good at being a sinner. I want to walk in the light. If I could take a pill that would remove all of my faults today, I would, but here's what we can do. Rather than being a big group of pretenders and looking to just find fault with EVERYBODY, we can pursue humility, pay attention to ourselves, and be really good confessors. Don't miss what John just said here. He's giving us permission to repent and to apologize and to move forward because confession breaks that stronghold of self-justification. Confession is a way of admitting the problem and identifying the problem and saying "I made a mess here and can't clean it up on my own. I'm not able. This is not some do-it-yourself project. This is not a self-help project." "Lord, I need Your grace. Holy Spirit, I need Your help. YOU are the Great Physician of our souls;” and, you know, in Christ we have a dual nature, do we not? We have a sinful nature that's there. We fight against it. We have a Holy Spirit nature that is there and try to grow in that. But if we're going to make progress in this fight, let's be honest with ourselves and be honest with at least one other person in your world. Let's be honest with God. There is no healing when you're hiding, okay? Now, the great thing is we can confess confidently, knowing how God's going to respond. Here's the beautiful thing, too: We're not just pursuing being cleansed. The reminder is not only are you cleansed, not only are you clean, but you're useful. Some of you have convinced yourself because of something that happened in 2005 -- you know, I'm just, "I don't think I'm qualified to serve in the kingdom of God." That's just not true. The ONLY vessels God can use are broken ones that have had to make confession before. It's like Isaiah when he stood before the Lord and he was humbled and broken and he said, "Woe is me." But God reminded him of his grace; and what did Isaiah say? "Well, then, here I am, Lord. If You can use somebody like me, here am I. Send me." God bless you, my friend. God bless you as you lean into the gift and privilege of confession claiming the healing and grace and mercy of our great God and allowing Him to use you powerfully in your family and vocation and community and in our church. All right. We're going to pray. Ed Haire, would you please make your way up with here? Ed will lead us in prayer and as Ed is making his way up here, I want to remind you in just a couple of hours, we'll have a funeral service here for John, who was such a good, fine man and friend to our church and friend to children and family. John passed away a few day ago, and we expressed to his family our sympathy. We will celebrate his life and faith at 2:00 in the Worship Center. There is a Bible phrase that we try to embrace as a church when it comes to members of this church graduating to glory. Here it is: Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. All right, Ed, come lead us, please. >> Ed: Will you join me for prayer? Heavenly Father, we love You. We come before You as sinners, saved by Your grace. We worship You as our Creator, the One and Only True God and source of all goodness. We see the majesty of the mountains, the vastness of the plains and the oceans, the beauty of nation, and know they are Your creation. You Are Light, and there is no darkness in You. We thank You that we have been able to gather freely this morning to worship You in fellowship with one another. We know throughout the world Christians are being persecuted and killed, and we pray for their safety and rescue. We offer our love to You during this worship time and our gratitude to You that You loved us so much that You sent Your One and Only Son to teach us; and through His sacrifice on the cross, we are saved from our sins by His Grace so we can have eternal life. We pray that we always love one another and live lives in the light of love rather than the darkness of hatred. We pray for the sick and those in pain. We ask that You be with them and doctors and nurses who are overwhelmed with helping them and dealing with death daily as emergency rooms and hospitals are filled with those suffering from the COVID virus. We pray that You be with us as we go forth from this worship service. Be with us always and we pray this in Christ's Name. Amen. >> Shane: Amen. Thank you for that prayer, Ed. Well, we get to have a great close today because today is a great day because we have two baptisms today. We get to witness two people being born again into Christ. First we'll have Harper Greer, daughter of Makenzie and grandparents Richard and Jill. She will be baptized by her mom Makenzie. And I think that's happening now but while we're waiting, let me just do a few -- let me make some notes of stuff coming up. First, we have Bible classes for all ages at 9:45. There's an online Bible class called The Conversation at 12:30 following this service if you're watching online. Know that we have these bobble classes for all ages. You can register for women's studies now open. You can see, find your class at a website near you -- "at a website near you." It's in your hand on your phone. Find it on the website, people, okay? I hope you're laughing with me and not at me. Come on. We're off script. FriendSpeak training is September 11. You can register for that on a website near you. And also our fall baby dedication day will be September 26 during both services. It's time now. Registration is open to register for that if you have a baby to dedicate. We love doing that and is found on the same website so near you that you expect believe it. And then we have First Conversations Intensive, a four-week Zoom intensive beginning September 7 from noon to 1:00. Registration and information is on the website as well. So now we get to enjoy seeing new life come. Makenzie, go ahead. >> Hi, my name is Makenzie and this is my daughter Harper, turning 10 on Tuesday. Harper wanted to be baptized this year into Christ. She is ready to be baptized. She is such a servant heart and loves giving to others and I just know she was sent here to do God's work. I know she's ready. Harper, do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and died on the cross for your sins? >> Yes. >> With that confession, I will baptize you in the Name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit for the forgiveness of your sins. (Applause) >> Shane: Amen! There is nothing better than that. The only thing better than a baptism is two baptisms. We have Brynley Marrie, daughter of David and Lyndsey, baptized by her father, David. We're glad to witness this new birth in Christ. Go ahead, guys. >> Hi, this is Brynley Marrie, a sweet young lady with a big, big heart. Recently she's just been convicted in a big way to give herself over to the Lord. She felt there was a gap in her life and she felt the only way to fill that gap was to confess Jesus as her Lord and Savior and be baptized today. Today she will give the profession of faith to you guys today. Brynley, do you believe Jesus is the Son to have God? >> Yes. >> Do you believe Jesus died and was resurrected? >> Yes. >> Brynley, do you confess your sins today and ask God to be your Lord and Savior for the rest of your life? >> Yes. >> Because of your confession, I baptize you in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit for the remission of your sins. (Laughter) Hold on. She's ready! (Applause) >> Come on, Dad! >> She's ready! I baptize you in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit so you may receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. >> Yes! (Cheers and applause) >> Shane: Brynley, that is the right spirit. That is the way, "Get me in there! Let me get this, Jesus." So good. So good. Well, let me just remind us one more time that we have the funeral for John who is graduating to his family home. The funeral is at 2:00 today and will be streamed from the home page like you normally access like right now. Also keep in prayer some others who have lost loved ones -- you know, the Black family. Jack Hall, who plays acoustic guitar, his dad Wayburn died a few week ago. We pray for you and appreciate you. And also, we're praying for Freida Keizer and you guys. There's a lot of people who are experiencing illness, a lot of it COVID -- some of it not -- let's keep people in prayers. Know if you're sick and need prayer, please contact us. We love to pray FOR you and WITH you whether it's COVID or something else. We want to be with you and pray for you. Let's all stand with one last song before we go out and live the life of Jesus in our community. ("Your Grace is Enough" playing) >> Richard: Aren't you glad for that today? Church, you are dismissed. Thank you for worshiping with us today.