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 are glad you're here. >> Kevin: Good morning, everybody. So glad that you guys are here. You guys get the award for being here and finding your seat on time. You can laugh at everyone that comes after you. I am glad to be here. I was gone and I officiated my brother's wedding in Tennessee. I got to officiate the wedding which was really fun, but I realize coming back today how much I enjoy worshiping with you. God takes the Israelites out of Egypt and he's in the wilderness and provides manna, bread, from heaven and it says have what you need but don't save it for tomorrow because it will go bad and you won't enjoy it. The point is you can depend on me every day. Find me and you will find what you need on a daily basis. That's why we're here to remind ourselves and put ourselves in a posture that we can depend on God. As we worship and pray, that is where our focus should go to. Stand up and let's start off. >> Richard: God is faithful, amen! \M "Forever" \M >> Richard: Amen, church. You know, it's in this season that I have realized that drummers are people too and they need vacations. Secretly every now and then we go without a drummer so you can hear the piano. We are going to go with a new song. It's an older song and I told Kyle we would go with it. It's an old song "I can I keep from singing." \M "How Can I Keep From Singing" \M >> Kevin: Again, thank you for leading us in that. Right before the Israelites get taken to the wilderness by God, he has them have a dinner, a feast, called the Passover where they take in the lamb, the bread, the wine as a preparation for the journey that they're about to make in haste. God gives them what they need for the journey. And thousands of years before, Jesus says you are going to do the same thing, but I am the bread, the lamb, the wine. That's what we're remembering today is we need God and he is good for it. Thanks for leading us. >> Dear heavenly father, we come to you this morning and we pause our lives just briefly to remember. We remember the life that you gave on the cross. The excruciating pain not only physically but spiritually. We remember the body that was broken and the blood that was spilled for each and every one of us, that we just have the opportunity to live with you forever. We thank you for Christ, we thank you for that suffering, we thank you eternally for that sacrifice. As we take these elements, I pray we do so in a manner that is worthy. In Christ we pray, amen. >> Reece: Today I'll be reading from Acts 10:39-43 (NIV) “We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a cross, but God raised him from the dead (on the third day and caused him to be seen. He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” \M "Jesus Paid It All" \M >> Kevin: So the Israelites have this feast where they take in what they're going to need for the journey and as they exit, God actually somehow makes the Egyptians give the Israelites some of the gold they needed for the journey. I can't help but think that was some of the gold melted down into the idol. The gift that God gave them turned into the thing that they worshiped instead of God. That's part of the discipline and joy of giving. It's our way of saying, God, we still believe you're God for it. Let's not only ask God to work in our hearts, because that is a hard discipline to have, but that he blesses us. Lord, thank you for blessing us. I still have a hard time trusting you sometimes. Please work in me and persuade me that you are good and someone I can trust. We pray that you come alongside in our spirit and we see your kingdom done here on earth it's it is in heaven. >> Brandon: My name is Brandon and I'm taking over for Joel. If you are watching the Astros, you know that our relief pitcher had done a good job. This week we have the world series coming up and we're excited about it. I thought for a lesson I would show you how to throw some pitches. I'm going to bring up my son to help me. Unfortunately this season he had to be the Boston Red Sox. I'm going to strike out the Red Sox. In baseball, they can throw a pitch 105 miles an hour meaning the batter has 0.4 seconds to decide whether he's going to hit this ball. All the pitcher needs to do is make the ball move just under the bat to strike him out. If you're throwing a ball, you have your fingers on the seams and you can make it go towards the bat and slide off the barrel. If I'm going to throw a changeup, the last fingers are going to push it outside the ball and I can move it to his bat and drop it underneath. And you also saw Valdez do this, a curve ball. If I put I fingers on it and twist, I can make it drop just before his bat. I have a video of a player on the screen. You can see this comes from the same spot and in the curve ball, you can see where his fingers are. You can see both balls at the same time and how much different movement they have and then the curve ball drops in. In 0.4 seconds they have to decide whether they will swing or not. That's why they're checking their swing. The world and the devil, they're throwing curve balls and at the last second it's going to change and we have to make decisions and it's hard to make decisions without God leaving. In John 14:27 it says do not be troubled or afraid. If we have God on our side, we can hit those pitches that from the outside it looks difficult to hit. Thank goodness we're not playing on Tuesday, because I know the Astros will do a lot better than we will. >> Kevin: That's good. We're so glad you're here. If you are a guest, we want you to feel welcome. We have a desk in the lobby for you. There is also a Q.R. code. You can scan that and fill that out. Besides that, we're so glad you're here. Children, if you're first to fifth grade, you can head back with Joel. He has an awesome time planned for you. Why don't you stand up and say who you think is having a better season, the Astros or the Texans. Stand up and let everyone know what you think. \M "Sing Wherever I Go" \M >> Kevin: Thank you, church, for your worship. You may be seated. >> Ronnie: Fantastic. Thank you so much, Richard and team. Good morning, everyone. How are you doing today? Good, great to see you. Welcome to our second service hear at the First Colony Church of Christ and those of you online, we're glad to have you as part of the service. There are people who would love to chat and pray with you. It would be our joy to do so. I've got on my shirt. There you go. It's fun to live in Houston. It's a great city and fun to pull for your team. And speaking of team, we have some new members joining our team and church family today. Let me ask the Thompson family to stand. There they are, Justin and Allison and their four children Kaylen, Corben, Carter, and Chloe. Let's welcome them. So glad to have them. Very good. Some of you may or may not know that Justin is the executive director or president, I'm not sure of the exact term, head guy, head person of lifeline chaplainsy. This family were missionaries in Peru for 11 years and actually during their missionary tenure there actually came back and were guests here at First Colony Church a time or too. Fantastic people and so glad to have the Thompsons as part of our church family and glad to have you and may the Lord bless you and keep you. We want to conclude a series out of 1 John. Get that Bible ready. We're talking about God confidence. Walk with me and check me and make sure I'm telling you the truth today. We are in the last four verses of the book of 1 John. Now, the apostle John in this letter, he's been coaching us, teaching us, pastoring us, pushing us, but above all, he's assuring us and nurturing our souls. My outline is simple because the apostle John did it for me. He's going to use the little phrase we know, we know, we know, we can be confident. His three-point outline, I'm going to walk with him. All right. Here you go. Here is my very first point. We know that God guards our souls and grants us innocence. Now, here is the way the apostle John says it. We know that anyone born of God -- that's you -- does not continue to sin; the -- doesn't continue to walk in it. Now, I am a Christian and sin will always have a presence in my life, it always will. I have to fight it until the day the Lord takes me home and you will too, not just sin, but also repentance is in my life and maturity and growth. And when he says someone born of God, they don't continue to sin or continue to live as if there's no God, Jesus, lordship, you get that. Earlier in the book of 1 John he says if I get to the point that I have no sin in my life, that's blatantly false, you're a liar saying that, you make God out to be a liar. You remember I told the story of a college girl and a Bible study and she said I know that I am God's child, I am God's daughter, I am a child of the king and at the same time, I can't get a date. Both of those things are true. They're both true. In the book of 1 John he reminds us of so many things that are both true. It is true that I will wrestle with sin until I go to heaven. It is also true that God's guarding my soul and we have a great sense of security and assurance. We know that anyone born of God doesn't continue to sin, but the one who is born of God, that's Jesus, keeps them safe and the evil one cannot harm them. As Eugene Peterson said, the God begotten or God protected, Satan can tempted us, discourage us, distract us, he cannot claim spiritual victory over us. As believers, we aim high. We want to honor the Lord. We want to please the Lord and sin or disobedience, misbehavior either in word or attitude or action, it's not to be accepted or expected. When it happens, I need to confess. When you see it in me, you should intercede for me. Sin is considered out of character, a distortion and we should never view sin as an acceptable part of life in Jesus. We do not honor Him by casually mopping up intentional disobedience with his shed blood. So John says we aim high, but positionally we stand there cleansed, secure, assured. Earlier in 1 John 2 he said it like this. My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. And that is good news. What that does is grants us not a hope so, but a know so posture. It grants us this sense of assurance and, get this, an innocence. And a sense of innocence before the Lord is a motivator for energy and power. A sense of innocence results in in a sense of freedom knowing that I'm always going to wrestle and sin and fall, but I have an advocate. I have Jesus Christ the righteous one. I can get back up fully forgiven, assured, secure, practically I'm going to aim high, but positionally I can't get any higher. I'm seated in the heavenly realms. So you remember, when you stumble, you give in, God won't condemn you, he'll convict you, get your attention, but it's a sorrow that leads to life, to new life. Now, again I want to put up four words on the screen before I move to the next point just to remind you of at least four temptations, four battles virtually all of us will face until our dying day. Here is the first one, selfishness. And if you're going to remove the blockage of selfishness, you must actively surrender your life to the Lord and say, I want your way, not mine. Bitterness, bitterness occurs and bitterness will block your spiritual life when you hold on to a hurt that's either legitimately or in your imagination caused by another person and instead you must live a life of forgiveness. For some of us it's rejection. There is a seed of rejection planted at some point and you've got to discover and accept God's acceptance of you in Christ. And evil thoughts, where you allow yourself to be exposed to unholy things, media, whatever it is or you speak lies over to yourself or you listen to lies about yourself and you fight that by constantly being around the church, the word of God and the scriptures so that God's truth is speaking over your life. God is guarding your soul with his grace, truth, and he wants us innocence. Second thing John says: We know that despite Satan's worldwide influence, we belong to God. Despite Satan's worldwide influence, we belong to God. Verse 19: We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. Both, they're both true at the same time. The whole world is under the evil one, but not everyone. We're God's children and there's God's children all over this globe. Now, this principle just reminds me that something will always need to be fixed in this world. And if you want to blame someone and our culture loves to blame, you've got to blame the evil one. When will all things be made right? Now, don't get me wrong. As believers, we seek to be salt of the earth, light of the world, do good things. There are pockets of righteousness and goodness. There are so many good things going on in the world, but this world is never going to be fixed until Jesus comes back. Sometimes someone will move to Houston and drive a lot around the city on the north side of town and say I've lived here two or three years and I-41 is under construction. Do you have any idea when construction will be complete on I-45 north? Yes, I know when construction will be complete on I-45 north, when Jesus comes back. When Jesus comes back, it will be done. Well, when is that person, when is that group, when is this world -- the Bible says one of the reasons you need government to protect the innocent and punish evil-doers is because this world lies under the evil one. One of the reasons you need Shepherds in the church is because there are wolves in sheep's clothing. One of the reasons you need parents in a family is so the parents protect their little ones and the messages coming into their hearts and minds and direct them in a good way. This world lies under the evil one and it's broken, but not you. You belong to God. God's at work and his purposes will prevail. Don't you be dismayed or discouraged. As Jesus would say in this world you will have some trouble, but you be of good cheer because I have overcome this world, my purposes will see you through all the way to the finish line. We know that in a world of lies, we have a source of truth. Here is John's third we know. Now, as I read this passage, I want you to be listening for the word true. He's going to use the word true three times. We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. He's brought information to us and it's been revealed to us. We didn't deduce it on our own. It's been information brought to us. And we are in him who is true by being in his Son Jesus Christ. That's how. He is the true God and eternal life. We can only know the true God, he says, through Jesus Christ and this Christ given understanding, it's brought to us by Revelation, not conjecture, not a survey, not popular opinion. And Jesus teaches us how to think about God. He came and he did what? He affirmed the Old Testament scriptures and then he taught and then he said through his apostles I will guide you through all truth so we have the holy scriptures. What does God think about money or sex or marriage or relationships? That information has been revealed. How do we come to God? How do we have our sins forgiven? What's the promise of eternity? We wouldn't just figure this out on our own. This information has been revealed to us. It's not open to modification or debate. It's been given and revealed. There is a theologian named David Wells who has a book "Out of the Whirlwind." He says we are summoned to know God on his terms and only on his terms. He is not known on our terms and this summons is heard in and through the word of God. It is not heard through our intuitions. In other words, if you're looking to find God, you don't just look in here, not at all, you become a Christian and have the Holy Spirit, but God is outside of you and revealing himself to you and we respond to him. So John says, gang let me remind you, pursue what is true and in in verse 21 he says: Dear children, keep yourselves from idols. Keep yourselves from -- watch out for the curve ball. Watch out for the change up. Watch out for the splitter. Watch out for those things that are just illusions and look to the real. Now, some of you when you hear the term "idol," you think of something like this, an image. And some people do carve -- they have carved gods out of wood or stone, but it's also possible to carve a god out of philosophy or science or religion or our own imagination. And you know what idolatry is, it's worshiping anything other than the one true God or worshiping God as less than he's revealed himself to be or worshiping God in a way that the Bible forbids. So we worship God according to the scriptures. We worship the God of the scriptures. And if you want to keep yourself from idols, here is a little secret. You do that by worshiping God. Your time and energy has to go somewhere. You keep yourself from idols by worshiping the Lord and you've got to keep doing it. You know, I have to pay attention to idols in my life just like I have to keep filling my car up with gasoline. I can't do it and say it's done. I have to go back. Or just take a shower and stay clean or dusting under your bed and saying it's done for a lifetime. John says there are many illusions and false allegiances out there. Stay with what's true and what's been revealed. Now, some time ago I read an article. I can't remember by whom. I don't have the name. The article is called "A Case Study" and the title is "No Big Deal." The guy who wrote this was a church leader and he says this. She is in our church and the family wants me to meet her because she wants to move in with her boyfriend who makes no claim to be a Christian. I thought, this ought to be fun. I call and leave her messages and she doesn't return, but finally she returns my call after my third attempt. She knows why I'm calling and she tries to laugh it off and she says, I can't believe my parents are making such a big deal out of this. She laughs nervously. Well, I appreciate you taking the time to talk to me for a few minutes, but I have to ask you, do you think it's possible that you have this backward? She said, what do you mean? That instead of making a big deal out of nothing, is it possible that you're making nothing out of a big deal? Well, more nervous laughter. Well, it's really not a big deal, she says. Well, do you mind me telling you why I think it is a big deal. She sighs and tells me all the things she thinks I'm going to say. I interrupt her with a question. I say, have you thought about how much you two moving in together is going to cost you? She said, you mean the apartment? I said, no, I'm not talking about money. I'm talking about other things. For example, the way your relationship with your parents right now. That relationship is frayed, strained, stressed. She said, yes, that's true, but that's their problem. I said, what's this going to cost your future marriage. She said, I'm not sure we're going to get married. I said I know that and if you follow statistics, odds are you won't get married. But how much is this going to cost your future husband? What price will he have to pay for this decision? She says, I need to stop and consider that. I need to count the ways that this decision is a big deal because it's costing her more than she knows. Here's what I suggest. If you're willing to pay a price, then this must be really important to you. It must be a fairly big deal if you're willing to go through all this. She's silent and I take her silence as reflection and then I get to my point. I say, when I see the sacrifices that you're willing to make and the fact that you're willing to ignore what God has to say about all this in scripture, it seems to me that you have turned this relationship with your boyfriend into a god. What do you mean by that? I said, a god is what we sacrifice for. A god is what we ultimately pursue. From where I sit, you have the Lord God on the one side and your boyfriend on the other side saying something else and you're choosing your boyfriend over God and the Bible calls that idolatry and it's actually a pretty big deal. She said, I never thought about it like that. Dear children, he says, and he says this not in a condescending way, but that as a pastor, he says, I love you. Keep yourself from those illusions, those curve balls and those change-ups that are meant to be deceptive. In pursuing what's true, let me coach you here and remind you of some things that I believe will nurture your soul. I ask you to continue to commit to unconditional worship. What that means is we praise God in good times and in sour times. We praise God when things are going well and not so well. Sometimes we're more than happy to praise God on days of sunshine, but we want to disengage and withdraw when things are difficult. God is worthy of our praise at all times ask it is in those sour moments -- you know, this morning I couldn't help, but this Wednesday we'll have a funeral here for Cathy Womack, but this morning it was her daughter Mary, her husband Mack, and today what they brought was an absolute sacrifice of praise. And include God in your daily life. Not little compartments. Today you're in your church world, but tomorrow in your office, on the phone, in the classroom, wherever it is, we include God in our daily lives and we seek to be obedient. The greatest sacrifice is this humble heart that we want to serve with enthusiasm and humble obedience. The Lord roams the earth looking for hearts open to him that show reverence to the Lord. It is appropriate that we approach God with awe and reverence and joy. Now, let me tie a little bow here on the book of 1 John. One of his overall themes is recorded in 1 John 5:13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. So that you may know. And throughout this letter he's given us little indicators, you know. For example, moral, relational, doctrinal. He says morally, God is at work in your life because you see it because you want to please him and honor him. No, you're not perfect, of course not. No one is. But you lead a life and you're growing in the sense of I want my life to count for Jesus. I want my life to reflect his warning and values. And relational, you love one another. You have that heart that says I want to be gracious, I want to be merciful, I want to reflect the love of God, but doctrinal, you believe in the one true God as revealed in Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, born of Virgin Mary. His death means something. He is the atoning sacrifice of our sins and he is the giver of eternal life. You belong to Jesus. Sometimes you say, well, the moral test, I certainly can't score 100 on that and the relational test, I will score 100 there, but the doctrinal test, that's where we put our faith and one writer from 150 years ago said this, for every look you give to your own life, take 10 looks at the grace and the mercy and the cross and the shed blood and the resurrection of Jesus Christ for you. All right. Let me put quick phrases here on the screen. Here is what John is telling us and reminding us of for the past several weeks. Fall in love with Jesus. No one will love you more than Jesus Christ. He is worthy of our worship and service. Serve God through relationship. You get to love him and serve him and nothing beats being used by the Lord. We love him, why? Because he first loved us and respond to all sin with new life. When you stumble and fumble, beat yourself up incessantly. Come to grace and mercy. Claim that grace and mercy and protect your heart from going back. Protect your heart from those idols and love God by loving one another. Someone says how can I show my love for God? One of the primary ways is showing the love to the people who mean so much to him. God bless you, everyone. Those of you online, we would love to pray with you, talk with you, help you take the next step. To those in the room, same thing. We'd love for you to take the next step. Know that we care. We love you and would like you to be more engaged in the life of our church family. Everyone, let's pray together. Tom is going to come up and lead us in our time of prayer. >> Thom: As Ronnie mentioned, Satan cannot gain control over us if we don't want him to. I was in South Dakota this week. If you are baseball fans, let's do that. South Dakota, if you remember the will league World Series, they have a pitcher. I was up in South Dakota and the pitcher had only one hit against him in all the tournament games. One hit. I'm up in South Dakota. We're watching Astros while I'm up there. I'm a big baseball fan and I said to the people in South Dakota, because that was pretty special for them. I said, how does this kid -- no hitter. If I'm a little leaguer, if I'm closing my eyes, I'm going to get a hit. They couldn't see his pitch. So when Brandon made that example with Gerritt Cole, that was phenomenal. There is a major league player or two or three or four that wear him out that can hit every pitch. There are some players for their highest average can see his pitches. Maybe that slight finger to the slide means a curve ball. They can see it. As phenomenal as that is. Listening to Ronnie today, we can see Satan's pitches if we want to. He has given us the ability and the skills to see Satan's pitch coming down. If we look at his pitch, he has equipped us not only to see it but to hit it out of the park where no one else can. He has given us the skills to do that. Any batter can tell you they have the confidence and the skills to do it. We are 10 times that with what God has given us in skills if we realize and know and do it. Let's pray. Father, we love you and we serve you. We know, Father, that in a world of lies we have the source of truth. We know that. Father, we pray that we have the innocence and assurance of our protection. We are released from selfishness and bitterness and evil thoughts. Father, we ask you to help us commit to unconditional worship to serve you in all things and ways but to walk in total confidence that you have equipped us. We are totally equipped. There is nothing we should fear but to gain the joy and the happiness and at the end of the day we are the winners. You have assured that we win and you have assured that we win them all because we have your peace and your love. We serve and love you. Help us to go forth in gratitude in all things and ways, amen. >> Kevin: So the classes are going back right now at 9:45. I want to highlight ones that you should know about. An international class, an English-language class. If you have an international partner, I want you to know about it. This last class they had was the biggest. If you're only at 12:30, Kyle is going to have the conversation. Stay right there. All the other children and adult classes are going on, they're amazing. The service for Cathy Womack is going to be Wednesday at 2:00 right here in this room. If you want to come and celebrate her life, that would be appreciated. On a positive note, we have the pumpkin patch party happening on Friday. It is the largest party in all of sugar land. I need you to think about your cute grandchildren. Think about them and walking up to a trunk and instead of a treat they get tricked because there is no candy. We need this to happen. We need 40,000 pieces of candy. You have until Wednesday to bring it. That would be awesome so we have no tricks but only treats. So let's stand and sing another chorus together. >> Richard: On the count, one, two, three. \M "Forever" \M >> Richard: Church, thank you for worshiping with us today. You are dismissed. [\M\M\M] >> Thank you for joining us today. We want to let you know about a few items of interest. First, go to our website, firstcolonychurch.org, and go there often. You'll find links to our worship services, Bible study options, online giving, and our podcast "Anchor Point." You can also download our church app. Just search for First Colony Church of Christ in the App Store or on Google Play. The app is a great resource where you can stay connected to First Colony Church. Thank you for joining us today. we are glad you're here.