DISCLAIMER:  This text is not a verbatim transcript.  Communication Access Real Time Translation (CART) is provided in order to facilitate communication credibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings.    >> You can also download our church app. Just search for "First Colony Church of Christ" in the App Store or on Google Play. The app is a great resource where you can stay connected to First Colony Church. Thank you for joining us today. We're 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. >> Shane: Hello, everyone! Welcome to this time of worship at First Colony Church of Christ! Good morning; welcome. 1 John 1:3 says what great love the Father has for us that we should be called children of God, and that is what we are. You know, may this time of worship that we enter in together now, may it orient our hearts toward God, okay; and let's proclaim His goodness and His great love for us now so let's all stand and sing now. >> Richard: Yes, we are children of God, amen? ("Your Love Awakens Me" playing) >> Richard: Yes! The love of God awakens our hearts, amen? (Applause) ("Reckless Love" playing) ¶ There's no shadow ¶ ¶ No shadow ¶ >> Richard: Yes! Yes, what an amazing God we serve! Amen, church? You may be seated. >> Joel: Well, good morning, everyone. It is so good to see you all here today. And it's a beautiful day, isn't it is a beautiful day? Who goes what is coming, but it's a beautiful day. All right! Well, speaking of who knows what is coming, picture going to McDonald's, and there is a symbol of all the toys that you COULD win in your Happy Meal. And typically the dad is like, "Oh, I hope we get that one; that one looks like a lot of fun." You don't know what you're going to get, and everybody opens their Happy Meal and find out that it wasn't the toy that they anticipated. The cool thing about God is that God gives good gifts; and my verse for the day is James 1:17: "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming from the Father of Lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change." So God doesn't give us the bait-and-switch and say "Hey, do this and I've got this; oh, surprise, it's all changed." No; we know that through God we have the gift of salvation. You have to turn and respond to that, but we also know that God gives you gifts, talents, and abilities, even your life experiences. Some are good; some are bad. They're essentially gifts where there is no variable. I wanted to think of something where there was a variable, and sometimes variables can let you down. So I have the amazing wand. ¶ Dun-dun-da-da ¶ The amazing wand. You could get a yellow; green; blue; red one. What color do you think our amazing wand is today? Anybody excited? (Imitating drumroll) It's child-proof. I need somebody to help me open it. Let's see -- ah, got it. So I'm curious -- what color do you think is inside? >> Red. >> Joel: Yellow? Yellow? Red? Green? Blue? All right! Well, that about covers it. One of you is gonna be right. Well, the interesting thing is, you know, if I could pick I would want purple; but let's see what color we have. >> Red. >> Joel: What?! Who picked red? Way to go! Look at all those hands. Yes, good job. So, but this is the amazing wand, and there are variables with the amazing wand. Let's suppose you didn't want red and you're not happy. "Oh, come on, man!" "Wait; there's more." Did you know that? There's yellow inside, too! It's like cool! "Oh, man, but I didn't really want yellow; I wanted blue!" What do you think? Think we might get a blue? Oh, yeah! Look at that! Isn't that sweet? Blue is good. That means -- anyone? Anyone? >> Green. >> Joel: Green! You're paying attention. That's awesome. Now, since this is the amazing wand -- and magicians, illusionists like to use wands -- there's another one inside. It's not purple; it's black. But you know, the interesting thing is that gifts that we get down here -- for example, Joel's Christmas gifts as kids -- to this day, I don't have any of those. I only remember ONE of my kid Christmas gifts. I mean, I got Legos and things like that but don't remember anything specific, except one year I got a "Star Wars" AT-AT. Guess where it is? It's probably at a junkyard -- who knows? Maybe it's melted down. So gifts like -- that -- (Laughter) -- can sometimes disappoint. But the point is that God gives good and perfect gifts and so we need to trust Him. That starts with salvation; but then that continues on through life. My prayer for each of you is that you would trust God with the gifts that He gives you and that you would multiply those and focus on thing that are eternal. Thank you very much. (Applause) >> Shane: Thank you, Joel! He's a wizard, that Joel. (Laughter) As Chad and Andi St. Jean come up here to lead us in communion, let's prepare our heart and minds to remember what Jesus has done for us and what that means. Let's rejoice because we're here by the grace of God, amen? So you guys go ahead and lead us. >> Chad: Good morning, church. This is my -- I'm Chad St. Jean and my wife Andi, and we're honored and privileged to lead you in our communion this morning. Let's pray. Father God in heaven, we just -- we're just grateful for Your many blessings, Your good gift that come down for us. Father, this morning as we prepare our hearts, we prepare our mind to participate in communion and recognize Your sacrifice. Father, 20 year ago we saw an earthly sacrifice, and we are just grateful for our first responders who ran towards danger; and yet nothing compares to the sacrifice that Jesus gave for us, for dying on the cross to promising us eternal life. Our hope is in You. As we take the bread, may we remember Your body taken in sacrifice and as we take this cup remember the blood that was shed and gave us a pure life in Your eyes. Father, we're grateful for that. We thank You for all this in Your Son's Name. Amen. Let's partake together. >> Andi: If you will read from me Psalms 30, verses 3 through 5. (Reading) ("His Mercy Is More" playing) >> Richard: Why don't we all stand together and continue to worship the Lord? (Applause) >> Richard: Thank you, church. You may be seated. >> Shane: Just rest in that. His mercy is more than you can imagine, amen? Well, thank you, guys, for leading that. That was so wonderful. You know, God has called each of us to join His mission in this world, to bring His mercy to others, okay? So we, as the gathered family of God, get the privilege of joining Him in how we serve and how we give and in how we live to spread the message of Jesus from Fort Bend County to all around the world where we have mission partners -- anywhere you go, really. We want to say thank you for giving and will take our offering now. Thank you for joining and partnering in God's mission together. That's, that's a really good thing. We want you to know you can give online. It's secure, safe and simple to set up. You can text in the building and in the building can put offer offerings in the box in the back. Let's pray for our offering now. Father God, we ask You to use these offerings for Your glory, to expand Your kingdom of love and mercy around the world; that people will know Your mercy and Your love. God. Work through us to be Your ambassadors of Your kingdom as King Jesus reigns and works in us. We ask this in the Name of King Jesus. And the whole church said amen. Amen. We would love to help you get better connected here as well. Scan that QR code that's in front of you and can find out how to get in the group; get in a class; find a ministry team to connect in here; get prayer; whatever -- however you want to connect here. Go to our "New Here? Start Here" area across the lobby, and we would love to visit and get to know you better. If you're a kid from first through one through five, it's time to be released to Main Street Live. Mr. Joel is standing in the back, and you can start heading that way now. Parents, you can go check them in. There's a kiosk right there, a simple, quick check-in. If you have not done so, follow Mr. Joel, and you will see that. Everybody else, let's stand and greet one another during this fellowship greeting. ("God So Loved" playing) >> Richard: Sing! ¶ Oh ¶ ¶ Oh ¶ ¶ Oh ¶ ¶ Can you see His open arms ¶ ¶ Yes, His amazing love ¶ >> Richard: Thank you, church, for your worship today. You may be seated. >> Ronnie: Richard and team, thanks so very much for leading us so well. Good morning, everybody. Glad to see you. Welcome today to the First Colony Church of Christ, to our second service. So glad to have you with us. To those of you watching online, we welcome you as well! I would like to just encourage all of you this fall to engage, connect, reconnect as much as you possibly can. Parents, I encourage you to have your children a part of our Children's Ministry here. We'll even ramp back up with some mid-week offerings beginning September 22; and parents, I encourage you to have your teens involved in our Student Ministry as much as possible. Again, these invitations are there for you, and we're looking forward to, I think, a really, really good fall. I would like to recognize a few folks this morning, first of all, some new members. Aldo Saenz and his wife Sonia, would you please stand? In they are right there, children Aldo Jr. and Samantha. (Applause) Yeah. Very, very good! Welcome! So thankful to have these believers as a part of our church family. Also, a recent baptism, Isaac Pace, son of Andy and Stephanie -- there you are -- baptized last Sunday. (Applause) Fantastic. We're in a message series from the New Testament book of 1 John. Here's what he will do. There will be times, as you walk through this book, it's like he's got his arm around you; he's consoling you; he's encouraging you. And there are other times you will feel like, "Uh-oh, he is kicking me RIGHT in the seat of my pants!" Well that's what the Holy Spirit does, right? The Holy Spirit brings conviction, getting your attention of something that needs to be adjusted and changed. What else does the Holy Spirit do? Bring comfort and encouragement. And you know, I need -- I need both. There are times I need that arm around me, saying, “It will be okay. We'll get through this together." There's love, grace, and mercy. And there are times I need that kick. I need that conviction. Brian Cochran is a preacher, writer, and he talks about a conversation that he had with a relative of his who grew up going to church, grew up in a Christian faith; but somehow he had this mindset that his faith didn't necessarily need to influence his lifestyle. His lifestyle was anything BUT Christian, but he called himself a Christian. He told Brian these words. He said, "Look, I like to sin, and God likes to forgive." (Laughter) That's our dynamic. Is that a pretty good attitude for a child of God? I would say no. Is it true that God loves to forgive? Absolutely! Is it true that Christians still sin? Absolutely that's true. In fact, reading through 1 John, you remember chapter 1. He said, “If we deny that we have sin, we make God to be a liar.” We're deceiving ourselves. That's just not sane. So let's walk today through 1 John 3, the first ten verses, under the title "We are children of God." I want to show you four characteristics, four features of a child of God. Here's the first one: We are unique people, uniquely loved. Unique people uniquely loved. 1 John 3:1. "See what great love the Father has lavished on us." Here's the apostle John saying, "Gang, I know you know this, but you got to step back and take a fresh look at God's amazing, crazy, abundant love." It's not a love that you've ever experienced in another realm. This is the love of God who needs nothing, willing to sacrifice for someone who is unlovely. And when I am at my worst, the love of God is there. See this love that God has invented and how it is lavished on us -- listen -- that we should be called children of God. That's what we are! Hey, everybody say this. Repeat after me: I am a child of God. Say that with me: I am a child of God. Say it one more time with boldness. I am a child of God! He says, and that's what you are. It's not what you're trying to be not "hopefully, someday I will get to that status." "See this amazing love that has been lavished upon us, that we should be called children of God." Martin Lloyd Jones wrote these words: "You know what, though? We're all full of complaints and unhappiness. And these are partly from our own faults, partly from what others do to us, and partly what the whole world just does to us. But much of our unhappiness can be traced back to this." You ready? Here it is. "We don't view yourself ourselves as children of God. We don't relate the individual part to the whole. We do not put them in context. We live too much with the things that are immediately in front of us, putting EVERYTHING into the larger context of our standing as a child of God and our destiny as children of God." Now, listen, not a one of us deserves this love. Some don't want it or think about it, their status; but it's true. As Mark Batterson has said, you can base your identity on a thousand things; the degrees you have earned; the position you hold; your salary; your trophies; your hobbies; the way you look; the way you dress. But if you base your identity on ANY of those temporary things, it's ALL a house of cards. It has NO solidity to it. There's only one solid foundation, and that is your identity in Jesus Christ. Today the Lord is asking you afresh, "Will you take what YOU think defines you and leave it behind? Will you take what YOU think defines you and jettison it and instead let God define who you are?" You know you are? You are unique person and lavished upon you is a unique love. Secondly, as a child of God, you are eternally destined to Christlikeness. Eternally Destined to Christlikeness. Dear friends, now -- not someday – “now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known, but we know when Christ appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." Now, the first thing you notice out of that Scripture is that you will never be any more of God's child than you are right now. Now, you will experience more. There will be changes -- someday you'll get a new body. You know, my sister Gail passed away back in February 2014, and I just remember when she died I was sad on one hand; but on the other I said, "It is time for my sister to get a new body." She didn't become more of God's child when she died in February 2014. That's who you are today. That's who you are right now. But it's interesting here in John's writings. Someday we'll see the Lord face-to-face, and he said there's some mystery to it. Now, what is interesting is that John, unlike the apostle Paul, doesn't necessarily emphasize the fact of our heavenly reunion and describing heaven. He simply says it like this: You're going to be like Christ. In other words, it's more about what you become than what you get. Quite honestly, I'm looking forward to that because there are so many days I'm fed up with me. It's like, "I can't believe I've been that petty or self-centered, and I'm, I long for the time when I can jettison these pathetic weaknesses and compromises and no longer have to deal with the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eye and the pride of life, stupid comparisons and competitions." John says that's what you're going to be. You're already a child of God, and here's what I need you to do. I need you to start now really pursuing Christlikeness. Someday it will be there in haul of its boldness, but how about today instead of looking around the world, fixing your phase on how everything out there needs to be different. How about let's start with you? Let's build a better you. The love of God is your foundation. Who are you as God's child? Uniquely loved, unique people; eternally destined for Christlikeness. It's here's the third quality out of four: As God's children we are determined to please Him. We are devoted to pleasing our Heavenly Father. Verse 3: "All who happen this hope in Him purify themselves, just as He is pure. And everyone who sins breaks the law. In fact, sin is lawlessness." You know what lawlessness is. No respect for boundaries. Lawlessness when it comes to sin is disregarding God's decrees and commands. I know people like to make fun of that, like to mock it. Some people even like to celebrate their sinfulness. "Okay, so I won't be voted Christian of the Year." It's really nothing to mock. It's nothing to celebrate. Sin would be those activities that are VERY hurtful to yourself. Now, they may not feel that way in the short term. They're VERY hurtful to you. They're VERY hurtful to the people around you. And they are offensive to God. Now, "People" magazine a few year ago made a “sindex” -- you have heard of an index – this is a "sindex." It was part serious, part tongue-in-meek survey from readers about sin. It was published as a "sindex" and asked people to come up with sins. You define them and tell us what is serious or non-serious. Sins like murder; child abuse; spying on your country were big deals. Swearing, illegal videotaping -- not serious. Parking in a handicapped space was a BIG one, whereas unmarried living together was fine. Another big one was this: cutting line. You're at the Apple Store waiting, and somebody cuts in line. That's a big one. And the people who filled out the survey estimated that they partially would sin about 4.64 times a month. Hmm. God defines what's sin is, and I don't. He does. So I am either under God, or I become my own god. Some of you like to be your own god or you're under God and under His decrees from Scripture. I mean, you want to just a refresher on how different God's values may be. The world tells us to be happy we've got to be rich. Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit; they will inherit the kingdom of God.” The world says, “Hey, you're really happy when you just don't care, when you don't have a concern in the world.” Jesus said, “Really? Blessed people are those who DO care and they ARE concerned. They mourn and will be comforted.” Worldly know-it-alls say, "Hey, you have to be strong and powerful to be happy." Jesus said, "Blessed are the humble and meek. They will inherit the earth." Culture says, "To really be happy you have to have all of your sexual fantasies fulfilled." Jesus said, "Blessed are the pure in heart. They will see God." The world says, "Oh, how happy are those who just, you know, you're true to yourself and you buy into the ‘I'm okay; you're okay’ morality." Jesus said, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for My righteousness. They will be filled." The world says, "Oh, how happy are you not when you start a fight but you end it and you end it without mercy." Jesus says, "Really? Happy are those who show mercy and blessed are the peacemakers. They will be called children of God." American culture says, "You're happy when everybody considers you nice and everything you post, you get all likes." Jesus said "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, and blessed are you even when people revile you, persecute you, say all manner of evil things about you for My sake, for your reward in heaven is great." John says sin is a reality. It's lawlessness. It's disregarding God's decrees and commands. Verse 5: "But you know that Jesus appeared so He might take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin." Verse 6. "No one who lives in Him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen Him or known Him." Listen, Jesus came and Jesus died not just to change our record and our status, not just our standing. He came also to change our character. He invites us to follow Him in such a way that you are the salt of the earth; you're the light of the world; you're a city on a hill; your light shine and it's a powerful influence in our world. Here John is sounding the alarm of the mindset that says, "Hey, I like to sin. God likes to forgive." Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as God is righteous. The one who does what is sinful is of the devil because the devil has been sinning from the beginning." You want to rebel against God? Get in line. He was the first. "And the reason the Son of God has appeared is to destroy the devil's work, to destroy the work of rebellion and opposition against God." "No one who is born of God will continue to sin because God's seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning because they have been born of God." Now, you read this and say, "But now, wait a minute, elsewhere in 1 John, John has said if we deny we have sin, we're self-deceived. And if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive." And he says "If we do sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous, who intercedes for us. So how do we, as God's people, deal with our own sin?" And the answer is from the book of 1 John. You pay attention to those times when you need a warning and you pay attention to those times when you need assurance. There are times when you stand on the precipice of presumption and arrogance and lukewarm-ness and disobedience to the Lord. Do you know what you need to do? You need a fresh awakening. You need conviction from the Holy Spirit. You know the difference between conviction and condemnation, don't you? A spirit of conviction is the Holy Spirit convicting you that something is amiss; something needs to change; and it CAN change under God's grace into a better, better future. But that spirit of condemnation doesn't come from the Holy Spirit. Sometimes it comes from your own heart. John will actually talk about that in just, you know, a couple weeks' time. Sometimes it come from the devil himself, whom Jesus called the slanderer. Sometimes, though, you stand over here on the precipice of presumption. You've got this arrogance. I like to sin; God likes to forgive; sin is no big deal; and there's no pursuit of holiness. There's no intent to walk in the light. And what do you need to do? You need to run afresh to Jesus Christ, the Propitiation, and to see again the wonder of God's love. Let the conviction of the Holy Spirit bring you into a better place. But there are other times you stand on the precipice of despair. How could God ever use somebody like me? Can God ever get past my past? What should I do? Answer: the same thing. You need to run to Jesus Christ, the Atoning Sacrifice, again; and He is the antidote to arrogant presumption. He is the antidote to despair as well. So John will warn against hypocrisy and call you back from the precipice of presumption. He will also remind you of the incredible advocacy and love of God and call you back from the precipice of despair. Let me put some statements up here on the screen. Our transformation begins now. The work of God in our life, you know, to use Biblical terminology, sanctification, which is that process of becoming more and more like Christ. We'll never be perfect. Sometimes it's three steps forward, a step back. My life is a constant journey of repentance; confession; apology; running over and over to the grace and mercy of God. That's the Christian life. But our transformation begins now. And sin must never, ever be minimized, ever. It is destructive for you personally. It is destructive for the people around you. It's offensive to God. There is a better way, and allow God's seed to grow in you. The seed of God is there. What do we do? We water it. We nurture it. Keep putting yourself in places where the seed of the Holy Spirit can be nurtured and watered and stirred up, okay? And that is why, for example, the Bible tells us that as brothers and sisters in Christ, there will at times be someone who is overtaken in sin. I mean, they've gotten off track. They're a prodigal to one degree or another. What does the Bible teach us? It teaches us to go. There's a seed in that person. There is a seed of spiritual life in that person, and we go; we encourage; we water; and we seek to bring that person back to full health. Next I got a little question for you here. Am I making excuses or making progress? Fighting sin is life-long. It just is. But one of the marks of legitimate faith, it's not perfection. My goodness. It's just that I fight. I get up off the mat. It's direction; it's progress; and sometimes I'm gonna need people to help carry me along; but I fight anything that dims my sight of Jesus Christ as my Glorious Savior. Fight anything that diminishes the fullness of the Lordship of Jesus in my life. Fight anything that threatens to replace Jesus Christ as my Supreme Treasure. Gang, we have to do our part, you know? This is not a let-go-and-let-God. We do our part. God helps. Spiritual growth all is both of me and with God. We partner with Him under the Holy Spirit. N.T. Wright, a great Bible teacher and scholar, describes how we avoid sin on one hand and embrace the way of Christ in another. He said, "Imagine you're walking along and turn a corner. There's an animal there that is incredibly frightening." He said, "Imagine an angry rhinoceros. How would you feel about that if you came across an angry rhinoceros? What would you do?" Answer: you'd turn and run. I have never come across an angry rhinoceros but 10 or 12 years ago I was playing golf one Friday evening at dusk. It was hole 9. It was already really getting dark and should have gone in. I hit an approach to the green. It rolls down to the left. I walk down to my ball and hear something. I sense something. I turn and about 5 feet away from me is an alligator 9 feet long with its mouth open, hissing. You say, "Ronnie, did you finish that hole?" (Laughter) No, I did not. I donated that golf ball, by the way, to that golf course. I turned and I ran, and N.T. Wright says, "That's the mind set you got to have about a lifestyle of greed or lust or envy or jealousy or any kind of sinful pattern." But then he says, "Imagine you've not seen someone in a while." As a parent, I've had this. Maybe you can. You have a child, and they have gone away, maybe for study abroad program. They have been gone three, four, or five months. And, you know, you're able to text, maybe call; but you've just not seen them in a few months. And then there they are at the airport, and it's ALL you can do to just, you know, you don't want to embarrass them. It's all you can do to keep from RUNNING to that child. "I am so glad to see you again! So glad to have you home." N.T. Wright says THAT is the mindset you have. You chase after the Lord Jesus, the new life, the better decisions He's offering you. We're not perfect. That's why we need a Savior. But neither are we gonna live out here on the precipice of arrogant presupposition, content to wallow in mediocrity or actually even “less than.” We are children of God. There's one more feature I will just touch on it because it introduces where we're going next week. We're bound in love to one another. We're bound in love to one another. That's interesting to me how John finishes this section of Scripture, all right? Verse 10. This is his summary: "This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are." Okay? I would like to be. "Anyone who does not do what is right is not God's child." All right. So anyone who has no interest and in following the Lord -- okay. Regardless of the sign you put -- you know, you can put a sign around me that says "Olympic athlete." Is that an accurate description? No, it's a sign. It's a tag. It's not a reality. So who's a child of God? "Anyone who does not do what is right is not God's child." You think John would stop there because that summarizes what he has said so far. He doesn't stop here because he knows if he stops there that we will miss THE most common way we miss practicing righteousness. See, many of us think that to be righteous is all about my one-on-one connection with God. John says, “Oh, you want to know who is a child of God is? They seek to do what is right, and they love their brother and their sister.” Hmm. In other words, my love for God goes through you. Your love for God goes through me. Who's a child of God and who is not? Anyone who does not do what is right is not God's child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister. But that brother or sister's not ideal, not perfect. You don't -- I get that. So John will start here next week and talk to us about one of the most difficult assignments you will ever have, which is not to love one another, you know, from 36,000 feet; but to love one another up close and personal. You are a child of God: lavishly loved, eternally destined. And because of that, the love of God calls you, compels you to follow the Lord; to pursue His righteousness; to love one another as we're bound together in the fellowship of the Spirit. What's God saying to you this morning? Where is the Holy Spirit stirring you in your heart? I know He stirred mine as I read through these Scriptures. For some of you, it may be time to take an initial step, coming to the Lord. We are eager to help you take that step. For many of us, though, I mean, the journey with the Lord is a regular time of hearing afresh, having to the touch of the Holy Spirit, sometimes an encouraging touch, sometimes a convicting touch but always pointing us to the grace and renewal of our Lord and Savior. Bob Gowens will come up to lead us in prayer, and one of the things he will pray over is our nation. My goodness, 20 years ago yesterday, 9/11/01. 20 years ago today, our church gathered at our old facility over on Sweetwater Boulevard and we just gathered and we prayed. We'd been knocked to our knees, and there's an old statement that says, "When life knocks you to your knees, you're in a perfect position to pray." Someone was once asked -- a child said, "Do you know God's address?" And a person answered wisely: "I do know God's address. At the end of your rope, that's where you find the Lord. That's His address." We needed to pray 20 years ago today. We still need to pray today. So Brother Bob, would you lead us? >> Bob: Will you join me in prayer? Our Father in heaven, may Your Name be kept holy and Your will done on earth as it is in heaven. We are aware of our own weaknesses. We are needy of You because we struggle with dark forces that try hard to divide us and gain more ground against us. We ask that Your Holy Spirit fill us with love and unity among the believers in this congregation and across the nation. We ask that You help us to set aside our differences and look to the greater cause, Your cause. Lead us to live a life of love. We know that this is only possible through the Power and influence of Your Holy Spirit. We ask that You cover our nation with Your mighty hand. Yesterday our country remembered a very difficult day in our history. We were reminded of the suffering of those who lost their live and those whose lives were shortened because of this act of violence. We pray for those who were left behind and who have endured the pain of losing loved ones in such a terrible manner. We pray for those who, through military action, have lost their live and since then had to continue to bear that loss. We pray for Travis Wolf and Cana Mathis, young members of this congregation, both of whom have recently joined the United States Navy. Keep them safe and bring them back home safely. Thank You that You are rich in mercy and full of grace. Thank You that You Are forgiving and merciful. Thank You that You are strong and mighty. Thank You for Your great love for us. Shine Your face on us. You alone are worthy. We praise this in the Holy Name of Your Son Jesus. Amen. >> Shane: Amen. Thank you, Bob. It's been a great day of worship, of fellowship, of digging in God's Word. I have a few thing to remind us of. One of all these things will be a next healthy step for each of you. There will be something in here for you so let me go through them. We have Bible classes for all ages at 9:45 so take advantage of that. We have some great classes right now. There's also an online adult Bible class. Those watching online, they will have that at 12:30 p.m. so just hang out a little bit. That will be -- stay right where you are watching online and that will play there. There's also a half-day women's Bible worship this Saturday. You can still register on the website to take part, ladies. So take advantage of that. Connection Groups are starting up. For our fall season on the website, find a group that's a good fit for you. You can talk to some folks at “New Here? Start Here” in the lobby to find out about groups starting this fall. We have a new Member Info Session next Sunday at 9:45, the hour before this one. You go across the lobby to “New Here? Start Here.” If you have thinking of joining or becoming a member or want to know more about the church and how to connect to be a part of what we're doing for God's glory, we would L ore to get to know you better and talk to you about that so that's next week at “New Here? Start Here” in the lobby. Student Ministry has a back-to-school brunch next Sunday in the D-wing at 9:45. Middle and high school students, that's for you. The full schedule starts September 22 with classes for kids; students; adults, something for everybody on September 22. Finally, I want to encourage all married couples to think about take advantage of the Marriage Night livestream.