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'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: Well, good morning, everybody! Welcome to First Colony Church of Christ! Good morning! Good morning to everybody watching online as well. So glad to have us together. You know, we are called to be shaped to be like Jesus; and through worship and studying God's Word today, we get to do that now. So let's stand, sing, and let's sing to our Great God! >> Steve: Good morning, First Colony! ("Almighty God" playing) >> Steve: He is a Mighty God! >> Steve: A Mighty God! Amen. ("The Way" playing) >> Steve: Please be seated. >> Wade: All right! Good morning! Good morning, everyone! So I'm not Joel and I'm not Corey. I'm the third string. So we've been talking about love the last few weeks, and today is no different. When I think about love, I think of 1 Corinthians 13, talking about verse 1 how if we do things to others, if we talk to others and do it without love, then we're like a loud noise, a clanging cymbal, just speaking words. So, you know, I start thinking about bubbles. What's in bubbles? Air. That's right! Just like our voices are giving air. So -- but we're to give with love, and when we do that, when we give with Jesus in our heart and give with love in our words -- maybe when someone is being mean or hurtful -- it makes a difference. Not only does it make a difference, it give light and warmth. So right here I have some bubbles but I also have some love juice. So I'll -- (bubbling sound) -- put some love juice in there, add some love. And we don't just add the love to things. Like I said, we add warmth and light to our actions and to the way we talk to people when we do love. And when we do that -- whoo! Yea! (Laughter) Whoo! See, that's the reaction you get from others as well. When you show love at school and at work and at home when maybe someone hurt your feelings or someone is angry with you and you show love, you get that kind of reaction that you have Jesus inside. And so I'm sure you want to see it again, though, right? Whoo! All right. So when you go out this week -- it's pretty cool. I'm supposed to try you don't try that at home. (Laughter) Okay. But do try giving love in your words and your actions this week; and when you do, you're gonna be doing God's good works through those actions. So hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Thank you. (Applause) >> Shane: Thank you so much, Wade! That's awesome. Well, Mike and Nancy Calvert will lead us in communion today. This is our chance to remember what Jesus has done for us and His grace and rejoice. Because of Jesus we're saved, amen? So let's prepare our hearts and mind for communion. >> Mike: Good morning. I'm Mike, and this is Nancy. We're very thankful for all of us for celebrating the Lord's Supper this morning. Will you pray with me over the bread, which represents the body of Christ, given for us; and the cup, representing the blood He poured out for the forgiveness of our sin. Let's pray. Dear Father, please block every thought from our minds at this moment except thoughts of Jesus and His life; thoughts of the broken and mangled body on the cross; thoughts of the blood that poured out of Him, covering our sins and redeeming us. May our every thought and meditation throughout this celebration be focused on His life; His love; His sacrifice; and Your love in sending Him. We pray this through Jesus. Amen. >> Nancy: I'm reading this morning from 1 John 4:13-16. (Reading) ("Good Good Father" playing) >> Shane: Amen! Thank you, Steve and team! Thank you so much! (Applause) We're going to take our offering now and are so thankful. Thank you for giving. Thank you for partnering with us, and we want you to know that last weekend we had a group of 35 members go to Arms of Hope, a Christian care organization that assists children and single mothers in need. So we support Arms of Hope each month and these 35 that went, you guys that went, thank you so much. They work with on building projects. They did programs that are fun for the moms and the kids. So great job, you guys. Thank you for taking part in that mission! This is just one of the many ways in which we work together and give together to support God's mission in this world. As we take our offering, we want you to know it's simple, secure, and safe to give online. You can also text to give. In the building, you can put your offering in the boxes in the back of the room. Would you please pray with me as we take our offering today? God, we ask You to use these offerings, expand Your kingdom, let the Word of Christ go out. Let us be Your ambassadors just like the Arms of Hope group and others in ways You want us to use the church. We ask You use these funds. We ask these in Jesus' Name. Amen. ¶ >> Fall is here. We are excited for the opportunity to serve our community with this year's Pumpkin Patch Party. Such a great opportunity requires great support. We're asking you to volunteer so that EVERY family can have a great time together. If you would like more information about how you can get involved with our Pumpkin Patch Party, visit our website. ¶ >> If you would like more information about how you can get involved with our Pumpkin Patch Party, visit our website. (Bell rings) >> Shane: All right! Go on the website and sign up to volunteer, give candy. We'd love -- that's another great opportunity for us to come together and accomplish God's mission in our community. If you are new here or recently coming to attend or watching online, we would love to get to know you better. There's a QR code in front of you. Fill out that digital Connection Card. We'd love to connect you to a group or service team, just to get to know you better or answer your questions. You guys here can go to the lobby right across the lobby, the "New Here? Start Here" room. We would love to get to know you and answer your questions and get to know you better. Now, if you're a kid from grade 1 through 5, you can go with Ms. Nancy who's in the back. She's got a FANTASTIC Main Street Live! It's a time to have that worship time together. Parents, if you have not registered, it's a quick and easy login at the door of the chapel that will take you one minute. Everyone else, let's stand and greet one another during the fellowship greeting time. ("This is Amazing Grace" playing) >> Steve: Sing with me! >> Steve: Yeah. All He's done for ALL of us! ¶ All that You've done for me ¶ >> Steve: Amen, church. Please be seated. >> Ronnie: Thank you so much, Steve and team! My goodness. Didn't this group just -- didn't they do a fantastic job leading us in worship today? (Applause) Just, just terrific! Good morning, everyone! So glad to see you to those of you right here in the room. We welcome you here to First Colony Church of Christ; and to those of you watching online, we welcome you as well, wherever you might be. Buenos Dias. Bonjour! Buon giorno! Guten Tag! So glad to have you with us today. We're celebrating today one of our members, a fantastic person. She is watching first service. I believe she will be watching here as well. Her name is Helene Lamp. Many of you know Helene, a remarkable person. This weekend, she is celebrating -- get this -- her 100th birthday. Isn't that fantastic? (Applause) Yeah. I mean, not just applauding longevity but applauding just the way she approaches her life. She's absolutely an inspirational person; and let me tell you: You're sitting around today in this room a number of VIPs -- very, very inspirational people. We're in a message series from book of 1 John under the theme "Walking in the Light." Our Bible text today is from 1 John 4:7-21. If you're at home, get that Bible or get that digital Bible. In the room, do the same. We'll be walking through this section of Scripture. The title of today's message is “The Life-Shaping Reality of God's Love." If I were to say, "God loves you and we're called to love one another," you're like, “I have heard that a gazillion times in my lifetime. I get it.” What can we say, and I'm not sure there's anything I can say; but as you open your heart to the touch of the Holy Spirit, we can come again with a sense of awe before the incredible life-shaping reality of the love of God for you and me. You know, last two or three weeks I've opened up the message by, you know, giving you a little trivia quiz. I think I will do the same today because when people think about love and talk about love, we write about it; we paint about it; we certainly sing about it. Songs about love are, you know, in abundance. So to give you a quick trivia quiz -- here we go. Whitney Houston had a hit song worldwide number one called "I will Always Love You." Who wrote that song? Dolly Parton. Everybody knows that. The Beatles -- you know, a lot of love songs -- one of their top ones -- in fact -- and initial Ed Sullivan show. I believe this was one of their songs. It has this lyric to it. "O please say to me you'll let me be your man." The name of that song is? "I Wanna Hold Your Hand." Anybody here heard of the Beatles? Let's go, people. All right? Make sure -- you know, you need to be teaching your children about John and Paul and the Bible. It's also important to teach them about the Beatles, okay? That's important things. What three words come just before this little phrase in a love song? What three words come before this phrase? "Land That I Love" is from a song written by Irving Berlin in 1938. And the name -- what three words come just before? "God Bless America." There you go. "Land that I love." Hmm. Love. God loves you. God loves me. We're to love one another. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Heard that. But it is VITAL that we do not get to the point where we have a cavalier mind set for this mountaintop issue calling topic from the Lord. You know, in the book of 1 John, he gives us some trademarks of a Christian. We have gone over these last few weeks. You know, he highlights three: A doctrinal test meaning we, as believers, confess Jesus Christ. It's not that we don't just deny Him; we confess Him. We buy in. We follow Jesus Christ. God's Son. And then he gives us the moral test that as believers, we seek to walk in the light, to follow the Lord and His moral commands. And then there's the relational test. We love one another. And he says, you can sort of look at your life and, you know, the doctrinal test, moral test, relational test. "How am I doing in my discipleship here?" Now, contrast those three trademarks by our contemporary culture's trademarks of a Christian. Ask anybody today, "Hey, what are the trademarks of a Christian?" And here's typically what you'll get. You ready? Here you go. Two. Number one: "Periodically show up or check in with the church." And number two: "Don't create a big public scandal." So as long as you periodically check in -- Christmas, Easter -- and don't create a big public scandal -- gang, we can raise the bar on that. We can raise the bar on that and we can embrace this teaching from Scripture that in view of all that God's done for us, we can make a faith response to Him. Today I want to share with you three ways that God's love transforms us. And, you know, again when I talk about love, we give this definition. Love is self-giving for the good and joy of another. Sometimes I might feel it; sometimes there may be emotion there. Sometimes not. But it's action. It's self-giving for the good and joy of another. Okay. Three ways God's love transforms us. Number one: I grow in my love FOR God. We grow in our love for God. In other words, God's love for US grows OUR love for Him. 1 John 4:7. (Reading) Dear friend, let us love one another, for love comes from God. And everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. And whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. Now, twice in this section of Scripture you'll see today you'll see the phrase "God is love." It does not say "Love is God." God is love. HE defines it, and here's what we cannot do: Bring our human view of love and impose that upon God. And people do that all the time. You'll hear someone say, "Well, if God's really a God of love, how can this happen?" Or "Why would He allow that?" Or "What about this or that?" God defines love, and He's not subject to human definition. And the full extent of His love for you and me was shown not just in creation but in redemption. You know, the old English word for "love" is "charity" and we sometimes scoff at that. It sounds patronizing, condescending. Charity is love in the pure form of a gift to someone who is undeserving and cannot repay. I don't want to be a charity case. But actually, we are, and the word "charity" is one of the best descriptions of this love that God invented, God's incredible love for you. Verse 9 says, "This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. And this is love, not that we love God but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." When you step back and you take into account eternity and if you believe the Bible and you take into account the fact that we are all under an eternal death sentence on our own; and so not because we were deserving but out of HIS great love and mercy, He comes to us, and He's the atoning sacrifice for our sins. What does that mean? He satisfied His own righteous anger. It would be like the bank paying off the mortgage that you owe them. He comes; He pays the mortgage that we owe Him. His death is completely satisfying. And it says here, you want to know God's love for all time? Exhibit A is God acting for us and sending Jesus Christ as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. I want to show you a little video of a mom who adopt two little girls. She and her husband adopted these two precious little girls, and she's interviewing the older one. So just watch this. >> When I was still a baby and I was four years old, I got so big and still a baby, right? And when the time you show her -- and when you see me, I was four years old. And we was very excited to meet you and our daddy. >> Aw! >> And we love you guys and we want to be here for you and Daddy. >> Aw! And I was very excited to meet you, too! >> I love you. >> I love you. >> Well, do you know what happened to my heart? >> What happened to your heart? >> The first time I saw you, my heart fall in love with you. >> Your heart fell in love with me? Aw! My heart fell in love with you, too. >> Ronnie: “When I saw you, my heart fell in love with you." Why would we love God on our own? I don't know. On my own without God reaching to us, here's what I would know about Him. The Bible said the heavens declare the glory of God. I would know there is a powerful Creator out there. I would know that there is a Designer out there; but I wouldn't know His Name; and I wouldn't know that He knows my name; and I wouldn't know His love for me. And what does God's life-shaping love do for us? It grows my love for Him! Secondly, it grows my love for one another. It grows our love for each other. There's a Canadian author. He is not a believer. He's a well-known author, Douglas Coupland. He sort of coined the phrase "Gen X" a few years ago but had this to say. "My secret is that I need God, that I am sick and can no longer make it alone. I need God to help me give because I no longer seem to be capable of giving; to help me be kind, as I no longer seem capable of kindness; and to help me love as I seem beyond being able to love." God's love grows my love for others. Now, the Apostle John said this -- verse 11. Listen to this: "Dear friend, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another." Now, notice he gives a reason. He doesn't just say "love one another." He gives a rationale behind it. What's the rationale? We're God-centered. We're Christ-centered. He's not saying "Love one another because that's good for society. Love one another because that's a utilitarian, good --" No. SINCE we are recipients of this incredible love, let's love one another. And then he said, "No one has ever seen God." Interesting. "But if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us." Sort of like Wade's pyrotechnic illustration up here earlier. John says, no one's ever seen God, but you want to make God visible? You do something that the world just doesn't do, and that is you return good for evil. You forgive 70 times seven. You go the second mile. You love one another with the love of Jesus Christ. And THIS is an incredible privilege that we get to love people. And you say, "Well, now, Ronnie, you know Christians sure don't bat 1.000. I know a Christian who, you know, did this; didn't do that. Listen, that's why we need a Savior. We don't bat 1.000.” Listen -- I will say this. You take the love that Christians demonstrate across the board. If you were to extract that from the world, this world would be a poor place. You just think about our nation, for example. So many of our first colleges and universities were founded by Christians who loved people enough they wanted them to have an education so they could take care of their family. The printing press was invented by a Christian because he want with us to be able to read and the first book he printed was the Bible. So many hospital started out as Christian alms houses. The Red Cross was founded by a Christian who thought we should love our enemies even in time of war and was given a Nobel Peace Prize. My point simply is this: God's people no, haven't batted 1.000, but have been loving -- not a perfect people -- but love changed the world. And as I said earlier, you look around this room and can tell you one VIP, one very inspirational personal story after another of self-giving actions for the good and joy for another. Now, let me put some phrases up here on the screen because let's drive this home and make this very relationally applicable, just in a local church setting. Up here on the screen, please. How do we love one another? And here he's talking not just about loving the world but loving your brothers and sisters over the long haul. Love will have to look like humility from time to time. Humility is that willingness to take the first step at reconciliation, take that first step of service. Humility is being very honest about your weaknesses and seeing your strengths as gifts from God to be used not just exclusively for you but also for the good and the benefit of others. What about this next one? Withholding assumptions. You're either going to -- because you're not going to know everything. You can either assume the worst or assume the best. If you go around assuming the worst, you will wear yourself out and eat yourself up. It's like acid. Inner acid. Withholding assumptions. I'm not saying you're naive. I'm not saying you don't need to have conversations from time to time, -- and those times where there's a gap, you can assume the worst or assume good, noble motives, even though you may not be privy to everything. What about this third one? Expectations with grace. Hey, listen, we all have expectations of one another; and I have expectations of you. You have expectations of me. We have expectations of each other. Sometimes those expectations get disappointed and shattered. People are flawed, and since churches are made up of people, churches are flawed. And in the deepest recesses of your heart, what do you expect from your brothers and sisters in Christ? Do you expect them to bat 1.000? If we're very, very honest, we often set much higher standards for OTHERS than we do for ourselves. We give ourselves a lot of leeway because we judge ourselves by our motives, by our good intentions. We judge others by that very concrete thing we can point to in that moment. We'll judge others by their blooper reel. We judge ourselves by our highlight reel. And when you're disappointed by a brother or sister in Christ and you want to say, "Well, how dare they?" Or "They should know better than." Or "What were they thinking when?" That doesn't mean we let each other off the hook. That does not mean we don't hold each other accountable. It certainly doesn't mean we don't disciple one another to maturity in Christ. The point is our need to address our own emotional readiness to handle disappointment. Remember, people will let you down, but don't let it get you down. Let me say that again. People will let you down -- and will, I don't mean that in a cynical way. We have heard the cynics. You never accomplish anything through cynic saying. "Oh, you can't trust anybody." I don't mean it like that. There will be times you will see the worst moment in some of the finest people you know. People will let you down. Don't let it get you down. You take the love of God to you that you have received, and you pass it all on with initiative. You take it and you pass it along with initiative. I told the story of the time I forgot a wedding. This was 25 years ago. I forgot a wedding one Saturday. I was supposed to be at a wedding one Saturday at 10:30 at -- Martha and I were sitting around the house. We have houseguests, and -- 10:30 the phone rings. This guy says, "Ronnie? Are you coming to the wedding?" "Oh, the wedding. I forgot it. I completely forgot the wedding." It was about 45 minutes away. I said, "Martha, grab my electric shaver." I got dressed so quickly, hopped in the car, started driving there, shaving along the way. I expected to be bombard with harsh words. I deserved everything. When I got there, the people were incredibly kind to me. They were incredibly gracious and in fact, the pride came up and said, "Ronnie, I'm so glad that you were late today. Because I was late -- not as late as you are." (Laughter) "I was late and you've taken the heat off. Thank you so very, very much for doing this." And the groom said, "Hey, always wondered what story I have to tell about my wedding down the line. Now I know. Thanks for the story." As I'm driving back -- you know, we had, you know, a portable phone back in the day. I called Martha and she said, "Well, was there blood everywhere? Was it just a terrible scene?" I said, "You wouldn't believe how gracious and kind --" and I mean, what a boneheaded mistake to make! And just a few days after that, I'm meeting one of you -- one of our church members -- for lunch. And the guy stood me up. We're meeting at a Mexican restaurant. I'm there, waiting and waiting and with waiting; and 30 minutes later I call. He'd forgotten. And I let him have it. (Laughter) No, I didn't. You know why I didn't let him have it? I took the love that had been poured out on me and passed it along to somebody else. The love of God will shape your life. It will grow your love for Him. It will grow your love for one another. And finally, last of all -- and this may be surprising in the passage of Scripture what he has to say -- it grows our confidence. Our confidence. This is how we know we live in Him and He in us. He has given us His Spirit. We have the Holy Spirit. By the way, everybody, that's one of the reasons why you stay in the Word of God. You don't have the mindset that says, "Well, you know, I've read that 30 years ago and I have been going; I can't learn anything new." No, the Word of God is the sword of the account spirit and the Holy Spirit is always massaging you in fresh ways. The Word of God doesn't change but might change in its application to you today versus you two year ago. We are people of the Spirit. We've seen and we have testify that the Father sent His Son to be the Savior of the world. And if anyone acknowledges Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. Listen to this great phrase: "We know and we rely on the love God has for us." God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God and God in them. All right. Keep listening. He's about to tie this together and let us know of something everybody in this room would love to get rid of. You'd love to jettison from your life. He will talk about something that everyone in this room would love to have in abundance. Verse 17. "This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment." Anybody here want to have confidence on the day of judgment besides me? In this world we're like Jesus. “Really? I'm like Jesus?” Yeah, you are loved from above and are like Jesus because you distribute that love. “There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” Okay. Perfect love drives out fear. We all know what fear is. We fear the future. The ultimate future for all of us is death and what happens after death. Even for believers, there can be this sense of apprehension because we all know we've not batted 1.000. We all have regrets. In the book of 1 John, what did he say? "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves." That's why as believers we confess our sin, acknowledge it. So my goodness, as I know that someday I will stand before the Lord, how in the world with my imperfections can I have ANY degree of confidence? Answer: If you're looking at your imperfections, you can't have any degree of confidence. The only way you can have confidence is you're looking at the PERFECT love of God for you. I am weak. He is strong. I am imperfect. He is perfect. He loves you with a perfect love. You know, somebody said year ago -- I give credit if I could -- "God could have saved the world with one drop of Christ's blood. But He would have shed every single drop of it just for you. You." How can I have confidence? I have confidence by looking back at the cross and what God has done for us in Christ, completely undeserved, abundant; and in those moments where I fear, I look not to myself but God's love assures me that my future fears are misleading that He will love. We look to the cross; we look to God's eternal statement of commitment to us, His promises to love and to forgive. But listen, there's something else here in this passage. I'm not reading something into it. You want greater confidence in the Lord so you need to look to God's perfect love for us. But he says also that God's love is made complete in us. Hmm. And you complete the love of God when you put it in action. That's right. We gain confidence by putting our money where our mouth is. We gain confidence by putting our actions where our ambitions are. In other words, as long as the love of God, as long as I'm a black hole for it -- it just stays right here -- I don't think you're gonna be filled with the kind of confidence you could. But when you take the love of God and you think, "I'm going to be passing this along. I'm going to love in easy ways and difficult ways. And you know what? The Holy Spirit begins to remind you, "You're walking in the step of Jesus. You're doing what Jesus would be doing if He were here. You're not taking the easy way out. You're walking in His steps, and that's an incredible thing." A few years ago, one of our teenagers here came up to me. It was a guy in Boy Scouts. Help said, "Mr. Ronnie, I've got a Boy Scout assignment. I'm supposed to do work on this "Of God and Country" badge and supposed to do something religious. Can you give me a couple of religious things to do? I said, "Yeah, I can do that.” “As a preacher, I'm often in a place and somebody will find out that I'm a preacher and will say, ‘Ronnie, could you do something religious?’ Typically in a situation like that, I take up an offering is what I do.” “In lieu of that, I've got a couple of suggestions for you. I said, number one, we have a member here, a 90-year-old woman in our church -- a member -- and she's in this nursing home over here. I want you to go see her. I want you to visit with her.” He said, "Okay, I can do that." “I'm not through. I want you to visit her and see her with the love of Jesus. And that's different. You can go see her, or you can go see her with the love of Jesus. You can go see her and you can sit there like a knot on a log, make her ask you every question and check off something for your ‘God and Country’ badge.” “Or you can go see her with the love of Jesus, meaning you will see her. She wasn't born 90 years old. She wasn't born in a nursing home. I want you to see her as a little girl. I want you to see her as a teenager your age. She was a mom, a wife, a grandmother. I want you to see her in those stages of life and get to know her. I want you to read the Bible to her. I want you to pray with her before you go. I don't want you just going to see her in the nursing home. Anybody can do that. I want you to go see her in the love of Jesus and touch her heart." He said, "I can do that." “Here's my second thing. For one month, I want you to stand in the lobby and hand out worship programs.” "I can do that." I said, "I don't want you just handing out worship programs. I want you in the lobbying handing out worship programs the love of Jesus, and there's a difference. You could stand out there like a robot. Here you go. OR can you smile?" "Yeah, I can show a smile." "When people come in I want you to think of in terms of being John the Baptist." I said, "John the Baptist was charged with helping to prepare people for an encounter with Jesus. Ander usher or greeter does that. I want you to stand out there, not just hand out worship programs. I want you to hand out worship programs the love of gee us. I want you to see every person that comes by you. Look in their eyes. Breathe a little prayer over them for the day." Gang, we can do this. We can raise our children in the love of Jesus. We can love our spouses with the love of Jesus. We can go to our work in your cubicle or wherever it may be and bring the love of Jesus to the table. You can go to that classroom with the love of Jesus. We can just go through life or we could embrace this incredible privilege and honor of receiving and cherishing and worshiping and boasting in the love of God and taking it and passing it along. All right, everybody. If you thought my main point was be a loving person, that's not my main point. My main point is get connected with Jesus Christ. Run to Him, not from Him. Let me close with this: God's too wise to make a mistake. He's too loving to be unkind. If you're going through a trial, I want you to remember that someday God will make it plain to you and right now you might be in a situation you cannot fathom or reason; but when you stand in God's tomorrow, the love of God will explain everything that needs an explanation. The Bible talks about the four dimensional love of God: How wide is God's love? It's to all who would believe, who would repent and believe. Red, yellow, black, white, ALL precious in His sight. How long is His love? From eternity past to eternity future. How high is His love? High enough to put you in the heavenly realms and write your name in God's Book of Life. And how deep is His love? Deep enough to reach the deepest pit of sin and brokenness and find us there. God is love. And when you think, watching online, when you think you are beyond redemption, you are not. Has something happened to you that you cannot understand? Trust Him. Trust His love. Do not run from the God of love. Run to Him today in a fresh way. God bless you, everyone. Thank you for being here and being with us. My friend Don Payne will come couple now and lead us in prayer. Don? >> Don: Good morning, church. Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, thank You for this Lord's Day and another opportunity to praise Your Name in song, through prayer, and hearing the teaching of Your Holy Word. Lord, every day we see this world seemingly captured by hate, strive, division, violence, where compassion and empathy seem in short supply. Many of us here today and watching now have experienced the power of evil that is forever changed our lives. But Lord, we are Your people; and You are our God. So I ask Your Holy Spirit to touch every heart in this room and every heart watching from around the world. Remind us that You have given us the power to bring change to the world one soul at a time, and that power is the power of love. Your Son Jesus told us that the world will know we are Christians by our love so now we pledge to You that our love will be, will continue to be the great influencer in our lives -- not politics; not greed; not hate; not racism; or anything that should NOT be controlling our mind and actions. Let us show the love of Jesus to family members; friends; coworkers; and even people we don't know and people who may not look like us -- not only with word or speech but mostly with actions and in truth. So we will take the lead and show the world the life-shaping and the life-changing reality of God's love. Guide us, guard us, and protect us every day, Lord. We love You, and we are so grateful to You. In Your Name we pray, amen. >> Shane: Amen. Thank you, Don. As we close today we have a few things to draw to your attention, okay? So first we have Bible classes for all ages at the 9:45 hour and want you to know especially about the Young Adults class. It's a great class with fellowship and discussion. They meet in F100 by the main entrance doors in the lobby. Kyle will teach on truth the next few weeks so that's a great one to check out. There's also an online adult Bible class at 12:30 so you guys watching online, hang on where you are where that class will start at 1:30. Remember to get your tickets, volunteer to serve, and donate candy for the Pumpkin Patch Party coming up. You can go to the website to see how to do all of that. Student Ministry Fall Retreat is October 29 through 31 with registration online. Please do that. Finally, I'm told this is a Baby Bottle Boomerang so I will throw it out there. It will come back to me, right? Probably not but what it will do is we have ten of these left. Next week's the last week so I need ten of you in this service right now to go and get those bottles when we're done and fill them with coins and $100 bills -- and bring them back next week. Next week is the last drop-off week, okay? There's also an online donation site you can do but want to bring the ten bottles back next week, okay? We have had a great morning of fellowship, worship and seeing Jesus in all His majesty as our King. Now we're called to go out and into the world as His ambassadors. What will the Holy Spirit do through you this week? What is He calls you to do for His mission as you go out those door into the mission? Let's stand and sing one more song before we go on God's mission. ("This is Amazing Grace" playing) >> Steve: Y'all have a great week this week! Cool weather! Be blessed! You're dismissed.