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 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: Hey, good morning, everyone, welcome to this worship time as a spiritual family we have at First Colony Church of Christ! Those of you watching online, welcome to you as well. We're invited now, friends, into the presence of the King of kings and Lord of lord. God's Word said when we're gathered in His Name, His Spirit is here among us; so let's draw nearer to Him. Let's all stand and sing now as we give praise to our King! >> Richard: Yes! ("Only King Forever" playing) Here we go! >> Richard: That's who we trust! >> Richard: Yes, He is the only King forever, the Lord Jesus Christ, the only! He is high and lifted up, amen? And our God only does great things! ("Great Things" playing) >> Richard: Yes! Church, thank you for worshiping with us today. You may be seated. >> Joel: You may be seated. Well, welcome, everyone. It is so good to see you all here today. Now, for those of you that didn't live in the Houston, Texas, area, when I moved here it was really cool. KSBJ, every day at noon, do the Lord's Prayer. Today my verse -- or two verses -- comes to us from the Lord's Prayer. You know it in Matthew 6:9-10, the first two verses, that says, "Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done." That's what I want to focus on "Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done." Now, Christianity, Jesus Christ, is about life change. He's about taking what is up side town and turning it right-side up; but the interesting thing is He didn't do it just to, boom, everything is better; but He actually makes us individuals who can make a difference in this world. What Do I mean by that? All right, as you can see, nothing up the sleeve. Ta-da. All right, so this is the trick. I am going to flip my hand over without spinning my wrist; and what is amazing is you can do this as well, okay? So put your hand down like so, those of you that want to follow along. Your hand is down. Okay, and when your hand is down, it's almost like your focus is down. We want to get that focus up, all right? So the hand is down. Ready? Okay. I will go slow. You're with me? All right? So come over here to your tummy like so and, you know, if you forget and want something to help you remember, you're only half-full, all right? THEN you're going to lift your hand up like so. We have a karate chop -- boom. All right? Now, look at this. I'm totally full. You doing good. All right? Up like so. Lay your hand down. Wait, what?! Mind-blown! Isn't that tweet? I'll do it again. Your hand is facing down, okay? Facing down. All right? And once again, your life, you're just focused on yourself. You don't really care about what is going on in the world around you, but Jesus comes in and He brings life change. Come in like so -- boom. Now you're turning up like so. Karate chop. I'm totally full. Up again. Boom! Isn't that sweet? I think that's really cool. But bottom line: Thy will be done, Thy kingdom come. God's will is going to be accomplished, but the question is: Are you reaching up and grabbing from it and make a difference? What Do I mean by that? I mean, are you living a life where you're choosing to do what is right and bless others by your actions, whether you're a student; whether you clean your mom when Mom and Tad ask; when you show initiative; when you to those thing this, we're bringing God's kingdom down to earth. Thank you very much. (Applause) >> Shane: Joel, thank you. Thank you for not leading us in the Macarena. (Laughter) I was really worried for a second there. Thank you, Joel. So Herb and Alice Butru will leamed us in communion; but let's take a moment and pause. Let's remember what Jesus has done for us. Let's reflect on that and rejoice because we're saved by grace, amen, church? >> Amen. >> Shane: You guys go ahead and lead us. >> Herb: Good morning. My name is Herb Butru and this is my wife Alice. We're glad to be here and lead you in the Lord's Supper together. Let's pray together. Dear Heavenly Father, as we come together in this place, we join with Your people all over the earth who today celebrate and remember that in Your mercy, You sent Jesus Christ; Your only and Eternal Son, to share our human nature; to live and die as one of us; and to reconcile us to You, the God and Father of All. Today, we remember Jesus, broken and blood-stained body as Your ultimate Sacrifice, and we are grateful for Your wonderful Gift of eternal life that is ours through faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Your Son. Through Jesus' suffering on the cross for the sins of humanity, may we also see His outstretched, loving arms of grace and compassion reaching out for us. Thank You, Father, for this precious time of reverent reflection on all Christ did for us at Calvary. We take this bread and this wine in remembrance of You. May we continue to live by faith and with grateful thanks from this day forward. And may we walk worthy of our calling in Christ Jesus and live a life that is always honoring to You. In Jesus' Name we pray, amen. Let us partake. >> Alice: Today I will read from 1 John 5:1-5, New Live Translation. (reading) ("Fires" playing) >> Shane: Well, we believe God has called all of us to be gives; to give generously as we have been given; to bless others as we have been blessed by God; to give of our time; ability; monies; whatever resources God has given us to be part of His mission this world. Thank you for giving today and as we take this offering, we want you to know you can give online. You can text to give. You can give in the offering box in the back. But give online is safe and secure, simple to set up; so we would love for you to participate in this giving as a ministry like we do every week. Would you pray with me now over our offering? God, we give these offerings that they ma be used by You. God, our leadership, help us to be good stewards as we seek to use these resources well effectively and according to Your direction, God. Please increase in all of us the spirit of generosity and partnership of Your mission in this world so we can accomplish Your will and be used by You to do good and bless our neighbors. We ask this in the Name of Jesus. 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 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 Pump Cain Patch Party, visit our website. (bell dings) >> Shane: All right. We really want you to volunteer to donate candy, to -- we would love to have a lot of volunteers sign up for this event, a good event. The bonus this year: The winner of the best costume contest as judged by me will get to come up here next Sunday in costume and preach with Ronnie. I mean -- the sky is the limit, folks. So you just ask Ronnie about that and see how that goes. Really, we wanted everyone involved in Pumpkin Patch so go to the website and sign up there. We would love to help you get better connected at First Colony. So that QR code in front of you will take you to the Digital Connection Card. You can find out about groups or put in a prayer request. We'd love to pray with you. You can find out about our ministry teams so connect with us. There's also great folks in the New Here? Start Here room in the lobby. We'd love to meet you, answer your questions, and connect with you. If yourself a kid grades one through five, it's time to be released to Main Street Live. Mr. Joel is right there, ready to dance the kids right over to the chapel. If you're a parent and you've not just logged them in yet, there's a kiosk. It's quick and easy to check them in. Kids, you go that way for Main Street Live. Adults, let's greet one another with the fellowship greeting. ("Sing Wherever I Go" playing) >> Richard: Thank you, church, for your worship. You may be seated. >> Ronnie: Richard and team, thank you so very, very much. You know, a couple weeks ago they did a song. I said, that was kind of like, it was John Denvereesque. That wasn't but was terrific. Didn't they do a great job leading us this morning? (Applause) just fantastic, Yes. (chattered cheers) Good morning, everyone to those of you in the room. We welcome you to the second service at First Colony Church of Christ. To those watching online wherever you may be, good morning to you. Bienos Dias. Bonjour. Buongiorno. We're glad you're watching with us and actually participating in this worship experience. You know, at 9:45 every Sunday morning we have a slate of Bible classes for all ages, and it's only made possible through robust spirit of volunteerism. I want to thank those who volunteer and serve and help out. That's just fantastic, and we really, really appreciate it. We could not have it happen without you. Let's continue a message series from New Testament book of 1 John written by the Apostle John under the tutelage of the Holy Spirit wrote five books in the New Testament. Today we're in 1 John 5. Those of you at home, those of you in the room, get out your Bible. A print Bible, perhaps for some of us -- maybe the larger print Bible is handy; or your digital Bible. Open, please, to 1 John 5. Our text today is verses 1-12. The title of the message is "As God is My Witness." You know, all of us in the room are familiar with tests, test-taking. We take tests toes certain and determine skills, proficiencies, and whether it might be an academic circles or professional circles; and the purpose of a test is actually to be helpful; to find out areas whereby I may be a little weaker and can strengthen those areas that need to become more muscular. Well, the book of 1 John, the Apostle John gives us three tests. He underscores these repeatedly over and over and over. He says that as believers it's important that, you know, what marks a believe, you need to always be evaluating your beliefs, your behaviors, and your relationships. That's vital. What do you believe, especially about Jesus? Our behavior -- are we walking in step with the Lord according to His commands? And our relationships that love really matters and is God's ultimate command. So let's walk through this passage of Scripture, which has a bit of mystery to it; but I believe it's rich. So under the first heading here, I'm asking the question: Are we passing the tests? What are these tests revealing to us about right beliefs, right behaviors, right loving? 1 John 5:1. "Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well." "And this is how we know that we love the children of God; by loving God and carrying out His commands." So again, let me put this up on the screen. Here's something John has repeatedly emphasized, that as followers of Christ, as believers, we believe in Jesus as the Son to have God. Jesus was a teacher. He's much more than a teacher. Jesus was a good man, much more than a good man. He was a carpenter, much more than a carpenter. Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and as John would tell us back earlier in chapter 2, He's the atoning sacrifice for our sins. In other words, His death on the cross means something. It wasn't empty. It wasn't just a good illustration, a model for sacrifice. It means something. And the death of Jesus Christ has profound and eternal implications for us. We believe in Jesus as the Son of God. come in the flesh. We love fellow believers. We obey and follow the commands of God -- not perfectly. 1 John 1 -- remember going, being back there a few weeks? "We regularly confess our sins. We pay attention and the grace of God is there for us, helping us growing as the Spirit of God, helping us growing us as we mature. "We're saved by grace and you're telling us to obey God's commands?" Listen, grace is not opposed to the effort, and effort is not opposed to grace. Grace is opposed to merit. Grace is opposed to a sense of EARNING but not opposed to effort. Verse 3. "In fact, this is love for God -- to do what? To keep His command? S," to obey his commandments." Somebody said, "I don't like that. I don't like the word obey. It's a terrible word. I hate that word and concept of keeping commands." But gang, it's an absolutely great word if you have a good authority figure. It's a fantastic word if you have a good father and a fantastic word if you have good parents. It's a fantastic word if you will come to understand the nature of God that God is a God of what? Of love and life. And that His commands are not what? The very next phrase -- they're not burdensome. My friend, God saves us from ourselves. It's only a foolish person who would look at the Living, Loving God and say, "No. I'm not interested at all in Your way; I'm doing things on my terms, my way." Obedience is a beautiful thing, but it is profoundly distasteful in our culture -- why? Because we're prone to be selfish and foolish. He said His commands, they're just not burdensome. Now, let's not kid ourselves. Often it's easier to sin than to obey. But I'll tell you something that is burdensome: To go through life fighting God. You want something heavy? You go through life fighting God. The Bible says sometimes there's a cost to following Jesus, but the way of the rebel is hard. Now, when you're obeying God, walking in the light, you're compliant -- it's not that life is simple and pain-free, but it sure is not the same kind of burden that someone who's resistant rebelling against God sets us. "For everyone born of God overcomes the world." He will highlight this three time and will say it three times. "For everyone born of the God overcomes the world. This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our Faye faith." "Who it is that overcomes the world?" I hope it's you. Who it is that overcomes the world? "Only the one who believes that Jesus is indeed the Son of God." Now, what does this mean? We're overcomers; our faith overcomes the world. The world is anything that makes the ways of God seem like a burden. And make no mistake: The forces of this world are out to make the things of God seem irksome; outdated; irrelevant; tiresome; restrictive; and an absolute interruption to the better things you could have if you just did life on your terms. Go back to the book of Genesis, book 1 of the Bible, and the story of the fall. There was only one command, and what's the message from the tempter? "Did God really say that if you eat from that you'll die? He's holding out on you." That's an unreasonable demand; His commandments are murder after all." And what happened? There came this downward pull from the enemy, this voice to make them do what? Resent the Loving, Purposeful, Helpful authority of God. The birthmark of this world is always the same. It's anything that makes you less trusting that God's way is always the best way and the most fulfilling way. You're overcomers. Your faith overcomes the world, not geographically but in terms of a mind set. We conquer the world in the sense that we overcome the world's emptiness of life. Worship of self. Idolatry of material things. Absolute terror in the face of death. And hopeless despair when thinking about life beyond. Faith, though, puts us in touch with the grace of Jesus Christ and leads us to a new birth. Faith is believing that there is absolutely more joy and more blessing to be found in God's grace and God's ways both now and in the future than there could ever be in the ways of this world. And that's what faith is. Faith is banking on God's will always being the best way. So while sin is a heavy burden, sometimes our faith costs us, and the presence of this world is at work full-time, always working the same way, to make you think if you follow the Lord, that's a raw deal, an unconditional fairy tale. John says, though, stay rooted into your faith that Jesus indeed is the Christ, the Son of God. He came in the flesh. He loves you. He die FOR your sins, and we have sins that need to be forgiven because there is a coming eternity, and He's gracious and good. Follow Him and love one another. There you go. Now, he continues in this passage of Scripture that leads me to ask a second question: Are you believing God's own testimony about your Savior, Jesus Christ? This brings us to the matter of witnesses. As God is my witness. We know what a witness is in a legal court of law. A witness is someone who testifies about what they know and saw and heard. John says something -- this is sort of mysterious. A lot of ink has been spilled over these next few Scriptures. Verse 6. "This is the one who came by water and blood -- Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies because the Spirit is the truth." You read that and say, what is that all about? He is saying, God Himself is our witness to the authenticity of the life and the ministry of Jesus Christ. Water testifies. What does that mean? You remember at the baptism of Jesus when He identified with people like you, a sinner? Like you? And like me? And He going in the baptism. He identifies with us and at that moment, do you remember? There was a voice from heaven saying what?" this is my Beloved Son in whom we am well pleased." But John makes it a point. Jesus is more than human. In His blood there was something significant in His blood. His death is witnessed to by God Himself. What happened there? The death of Jesus Christ was no ordinary death. Jesus died a particular kind of death for you. You remember some of the miracles that happened? There was darkness over the land. No solar eclipse, no ordinary darkness -- supernatural darkness. The veil in the Temple was torn from top to bottom. That's not easy to do. At least 30 feet high, 4 feet thick; but that was no problem for God. You know that veil in the Temple that separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple -- it was an area that could only be accessed by the high breast flosh one time a year, high priest one time a year, the day of Atonement. When Jesus died, it's torn. That means you're all priests and all of us have access 24 hours a day to a Gracious and Merciful High Priest. You say, "Ronnie, I'm just not sure I feel worthy to that." You're not, and neither am I; but Jesus is worthy to be our Savior and worthy to be our High Priest. God testifies not just to the water but also to the blood. The vail of the Temple torn, darkness over the land. There was an earthquake. The earth shakes. You remember the Roman centurion was quoted as standing at the foot of the cross, saying, "Truly this man was the Son of God." And not just that, a little miracle that some people tend to overlook and forget -- when that earthquake occurred on crucifixion Friday, many graves were opened, not just any grave; but certain graves of righteous people were opened. The Bible says that they got up. Listen carefully: They didn't get up on crucifixion Friday. The earthquake opened their graves. You know, when they got up and walked through the city ovigerus as a witness ovigerus to the witness of Jesus Christ, they only did it after Easter Sunday morning after Jesus rose first. Jesus is no ordinary carpenter. He's worthy of every ounce of worship and sacrifice, pennies and dollars. And of course the greatist miracle was the resurrection of Jesus Himself. Verse 7. "For there are three that testify: The Spirit, the water, and if blood; and the three are in agreement. We accept human testimony, but God's testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about His Son." You know, I read a story one time about four high school boys who were late to their morning class. There was a test that day. All four of these guys were riding in the same car to the class, and they actually were not real excited about taking that test. First period of the day. So they entered the classroom together; they told their teacher "Sorry we're late. We need to do a make-up exam later in the day. We had a flat tire on the way to school today." And the teacher was sympathetic. She said "No worries. I'll make it up to you later in the day." So later in the day when there was an open period, she brought the four of them in and placed each of the boys in a corner of the room. And she had custom eyed their tests a little bit. The very first question on the test was: "Which tire was flat?" (Laughter) Because she knew, she knew. If their answers were in sync, that was a compelling argument that there really was a flat tire. John is saying, you don't have to believe this. A lot of people don't. But there's evidence, and there's testimony, and the witness of the Holy Spirit has been there -- how do you think Jesus did all of His miracles? He said by the power of the Spirit. And how do we have these witness testimonies? Because the Holy Spirit has inspired the sacred Scriptures. And this is where it's incumbent upon us to deal with this personally because the implications are significant. Verse 10. "Whoever believes in the Son of God accepts this testimony." "Whoever does not believe God has made him out to be a liar because they have not believed in the testimony that God has given about Jesus Christ." And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son, Jesus. Verse 12. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life." Very discriminatory. And he says that in Jesus Christ you have life. You have eternal life. You have it now, right now. It's already started. The abundant life. It's in you. It's there because of Christ. Not in its fullness. We still strag with our own sin, with fallenness; but it's a gift of God and it's a treasure forever. But there is the promise and guarantee of unending eternal life after your physical life is over. Jesus told Martha these words. He said, "I am the Resurrection and the Life." "Whoever believes in Me, though they die, yet they will live." My friends, that's good news, especially when you consider the death rate is still 100%. The guarantee, though, we die physically; but the promise of God is in Christ we live eternally. Sometimes you talk about the assurance of salvation. This teaching also talks about the assurance of non-salvation. Whoever has the Son has life. Whoever does not have the Son does not have life. John says to you and me, do not call God a liar. As God is my witness, believe the evidence. Believe the testimony. Believe the witnesses. The Holy Spirit, the water, the blood, the voice of God. Look at the evidence for Jesus Christ and say yes. Now, before I conclude, I've got one more little question for you here. That is, you know, earlier we read about how the Lord's commands to us, they are blessings. They're not murders. They're not burdens. 1 John 5:3 -- could I have it on the screen? And his commands are not burdensome. Do we believe that? What he's saying is it will be better for you if you do it my way -- not just for you. Think habit the people around you: Your spouse, your children. You can do things the hard way, the burdening way; or the non-burdensome way. He's saying my commands are not arbitrary. They're good for you. And I believe that in faith many times we have to obey before we understand the reason why. Sometimes we have to obey even when we may not understand why. We simply trust the Lord's heart for us, His character, His love; and what good He wants to bring about. That opportunity mean that His commands always feel great. That doesn't mean His commands always feel great and sometimes obedience brings difficulty; but I believe the truth, that His commands are not burdensome. They're good for us. Let me just meddle a little bit here before I wind it down. May I? What about sex? You listen to culture; you listen to the Word of the Lord. I would say to youth, if you want to be intimate, get married. Don't sleep around. Don't string someone along. Get married. What about money? You will go through life thinking it's all yours? Your next investment, your next hoarding? When will you step in to the way of the Lord that says "If you will build your life FIRST around this pole of generosity, you don't have to give it all away -- but first right around that pole of generosity." If you miss that first part, it's kind of like buttoning a shirt. You put that first button in the second button hole, everything is messed up after that. But you put that first button in the first buttonhole, you fall into place. What I would like to say to all of us about generosity is sometimes the question we have to ask is: What could have. ? WHAT could have been done? WHO could have. Helped? How can the kingdom of help been advanced if I had stepped in to generosity? What about marriage? Will you believe the world view or God's view? I know sometimes God's view -- you may say, oh, oh, it's a hassle. It's burdensome. I believe it's good for you that it's the will of God for you to aim to stay together for the long haul. I know it takes two; but would you be willing to do whatever it takes, talk to whomever you need to, pay whatever you need to pay? I believe there's hope. Be willing to be unhappy for a little while as you push through; but whatever you do, you jettison that cavalier approach to marriage. This is holy territory. What about relationships? You just expect everybody to cater to you? Some of the wisest relational advice comes from the Scriptures. James 1. "My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires." Everybody around you wins when you embrace this. How about honesty? The world says, "Hey, create the narrative that fits." No. You be honest. Person of integrity. I read one leader recently who said people always want to talk about vision. Vision is overrated. Give me humility and integrity because often when people talk about vision, they're just talking about their own ego driving something. You give me integrity and humility. And someone who, as Jesus would say, their yes is yes and no is no. You know, Proverbs 3 says this: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight." In other words, God's commands, they're not burdensome. They're for our benefit. They're never arbitrary. Everything God tells us is for our good and the benefit of those right around us. Bible teacher Flannery O'Connor once said, "Reality does not depend upon our ability to stomach it." We listen to someone wiser. Okay. Gang, three times in this passage and complex passage we read today you're described as an overcomer, and that is who you are. You know why you're an overcomer? Because you're a person of faith in Jesus Christ, and your faith in Christ has made you overcome the stain of the world. You're redeemed; you're forgiven; you're heaven-bound; you're an overcomer because your faith in Jesus Christ resists the pull of this world that wants to say "God's ways are not good for you." And you are an overcomer because you love one another and you seek to take that grace and that mercy and distribute it throughout the community. And gang, when we step in to right loving, right living, right believing, our light just continues to get bright per. The salt is so clear and distinctive. God is honored. Everybody, God bless you for being here today. May the Lord bless you and keep you. I hope you will invite the Holy Spirit -- Billy, would you come couple here, please? I hope you will invite the Holy Spirit to touch your heart, to help you analyze your heart; to take a look at where God is pointing you for next steps. All right, everyone. Let's bow together in prayer. Our friend Billy Granville will lead us. >> Bill: Good morning, church. It's great teaching, so grateful that we have ministers that preach the truth with boldness and wisdom and we really cherish that. Let's pray together. Please bow with me. Heavenly Father, we just thank You this morning as we come together as a body of believers, as a spiritual family. God, we're grateful just to have the Word of God, just being taught to us with wisdom and with boldness. So Lord, we reaffirm our faith and confidence in Jesus Christ this morning. We believe in the Name of the Son of God. We thank You for Jesus Christ. We thank You for sending the Holy Spirit by to be with us and to live in us. Lord, we just pray right now, God, that You would help us to be restored in Him and renewed in Him and to receive Your love and life and all the mercy and grace we so desperately need. Lord, we pray You open our hearts to hear and to understand where You're working in our lives, even as we hear the message this morning. Father, we live in really strange times, just a lot of stress and chaos and confusion in this world and our nation. We deal with stuff in our own lives, God. So this morning, Father, we give it to You. You teach us in the Scriptures that to cast all of our cares upon You, all our anxiety and murders upon You for You care for us. Do not be anxious in anything but in everything prayer and petition, Thanksgiving and continue to make our want to be made known unto You. As we pray together and whatever is on your heart right now, let's give it to God. Lord, we give You challenges in relationships, finances -- just the stress and the fear of everything around us -- marriage, whatever it might be, God. Health challenges. We give everyone and everything to You this morning, Lord. We give everyone and we give everything to You. Come into these situations with help. Bring help. Bring breakthrough. Bring wisdom. Bring peace where it's needed. Bring healing. Bring strength and encouragement. Bring Your healing power. So now unto Him who is able to keep us from falling -- that's Jesus Christ, to present us faultless before His throne with exceeding joy to the Only Wise God, our Savior, glory, dominion, majesty, power and forever. Amen. One last thing. Today is Minister Appreciation Day so we're blessed with a wonderful team of ministers at First Colony and want to encourage as a body of believers to show them our love and respect, appreciation and generosity. So let's do that. Amen. >> Shane: Thank you so much. Yeah, today is a great day. We get to close the service with a great blessing because Nora Afan, daughter of Lance and Kayla, will be baptized by her dad now. Go ahead, guys. >> Morning good morning, church. This is my daughter Nora, and she is an awesome girl and made the decision to publicly profess and proclaim her love for Jesus Christ today. If you guys don't know Nora, you really need to get to know her. She's a girl who already has a heart for the least of these. She's a girl who's extremely empathetic and wants to help others. She's a girl whose heart hurts when others are hurting and also rejoices when others are rejoicing. For the last few months or even years we have talked about baptism and what it means to accept Jesus into your heart and let the Holy Spirit lead your life. It's become very clear to Kayla and I she's done that, that she's already dedicatedded her life to Christ and she want to live and love and serve as He lived and loved and served. Nora, I will ask you a very important question I know the answer to but we're excited to hear your public confession of faith. Do you believe that Jesus is and was and always will be the Son of God; that He came down to the earth to die for our sin so we can live with Him in heaven stay? >> Yeah. >> We love to hear that. Now I will baptize you in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. (Applause) >> Shane: How fantastic is that? Beautifully done! What a great deal! Let me tell you about a couple of things before we close. In days you didn't know it, we have Bible classes o for all ages from 9:45 to 10:45 and love for you to -- kids, teens, students; adults. I want to tell you briefly about an adult class called the Journeys. I'm teaching a class about Hebrews in there over in the gym, and if you want to find out more, you're here in the room, talk to me. I would love to tell you more about it. We're learning Jesus is better is what Hebrews is telling us. The question is, are we willing to trust Jesus above all else? So we'd love you to invest in whatever Bible class or group fits you the best. Come talk to us if you'd like to know more. You know, there's also an online Bible class for those of you watching online at 12:30 called "The Conversation." Hang out where you are and at 12:30, that class will start. Everyone, remember to get your tickets. Donate your candy. Sign up to serve at Pumpkin Patch Party. We really want a lot of volunteers to be a great event so you can do that on the website. Today is also the last day to drop off your Baby Bottle Boomerang bottles. If you didn't get a bottle or forgot, you can still go online on our website to see where to donate to this great cause. So please do that as well. Church, I have one final note today. That is today is Ryan bien's last day with us. He has accepted a position at another church he's excited about that seems to be a good fit for him. For that, we're happy for him. We're also sad to see him go. Now, both professionally and personally, I can say -- and so many on staff -- we would say, you know, he's been a fantastic coworker. He's been a great servant of the Lord. He's also a great friend so Ryan, dude, we're gonna miss you. Thankfully they're in the Houston area and would be able to see him around some. What I want you to do is find him in the lobby today, tell him thanks for your service and wish him God speed, okay? Let's do that. So thanks for joining us today. You know, now is our chance as we go out those doors, we go into the mission field. So let's stand and sing one last song as we go into God's mission. ("Only King Forever" playing) >> Richard: Thank you, church, for worshiping with us today! You are dismissed!