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: Well, welcome, everybody, to First Colony Church of Christ! Good to see everybody this morning! Welcome, everyone online! We're glad to have you watching us this morning. You know, we're given a fantastic opportunity right now, right here, because when we gather in the Name of Jesus, and we ask the Holy Spirit to come and breathe new life into us -- to speak truth into us -- the Holy Spirit does come. And we have a chance to be impacted and to draw closer to the Lord. So what will the Lord do in your heart and in my heart this morning as we sing, as we study, as we pray? Let's find out. Let's all stand together and sing as we begin. >> Richard: God is good, amen? ("God So Loved" playing) ¶ Can you see His open arms ¶ ¶ Yes, His amazing love ¶ >> Richard: Yes, for God so loved the world He gave His One and Only Son, amen? What an amazing God we serve! ("Great Are You, Lord" playing) >> Richard: Come on, church; fill this house. ¶ All the earth ¶ >> Richard: Amen, church. Amen. You may be seated. >> Shane: Amen. How good to pour out our praise to our Good Father! As Robert and Stacy Beasley come up for communion, I want to read the story about a surgeon who said he needed to operate on a little girl and needed O-negative blood and they didn't have enough. He asked the little girl's twin brother, who had O-negative. He explained to him it was a matter of life and death. That little boy thought for a good, long time; and then he said, "Okay." And he said, "Goodbye" do his parents. The surgeon said, "I wondered why he said good-bye." When they went to take his blood and got finished taking the boy's blood, the boy asked the doctor, "When will I die?" because he thought it was a matter of life and death for him, that it was gonna kill him. Thankfully both kids are fine, but of course we have a Savior who bleed for us, who gave us a blood transfusion we needed and who died in our place and was willing to have His life given for ours. We will celebrate and remember that now and Robert and Stacy will lead us. Thank you. >> Robert: Good morning, church. My name is Robert Beasley, and this is my wife, Stacy. We are privileged to be able to share and celebrate the Lord's Communion with you this morning. So let's pray together to thank God for the broken body of His Son, represented by this bread; and for His blood poured out for our forgiveness, represented by this cheese. Let's pray. Almighty God, who created us and this amazing far-flung universe, You invite us to commune with You. We are so grateful for that. You are not a far-off God but are close and near to us. We thank You that You made us in Your image to love and to enjoy You and Lord God Almighty, we are so sorry we reject Your love and goodness; how often we do that; but we are so thankful that even before You created us in this universe, an incredible love and compassion. You already had the cross and resurrection planned. This was according to Your foreknowledge that all who call on Your Name may be rescued and live eternally in Your goodness and love. We thank You, Father, our creator, and the one who reveal Himself to us. We thank You, Lord Jesus, who is God our Reconciler, our Redeemer. We thank you, Spirit, who opens our mind and our heart and makes us see straight; who assure us deep down in our hearts that You are faithful, God; that sin and death are definitely not the end; and we thank You, First time, You are the deposit we enjoy now, guaranteeing what is to come. In all this is to the praise of You, Lord Jesus, with us, God; and we praise You that You are now here among us as we remember Your great love for us. In Your Powerful Name we pray, amen. We take communion together. >> Stacy: I will be reading from Acts 2:21-24. (Reading) ("Miracles" playing) >> Richard: Why don't we all stand together and continue to worship the Lord? >> Richard: He is the God of miracles, amen? Church, you may be seated. >> Shane: Amen. As we take our offering now, I want to say that we partner together and we partner with God to accomplish His mission in this world, to be a light in our community in Fort Bend County and the world. You may notice the flags as we prepare for Mission Sunday in a couple of weeks where we prepare with many place in the world to spread the Good News of Jesus. As we take our offerings, we want you to know it's safe, secure, and simple to do. Use the QR code, give online, or text to give. If you're in the room, there's offering boxes in the back if you need to place an offering in those. Let's pray together now over our offering time. Our Father in Heaven, we praise You because You Are Almighty God. You are great and so good to us. We want to be good steward of what You have given us and good stewards of our ability and resources. We want to be a part of the life-saving, soul-saving mission of Jesus in this world so that others may come to know Him and love Him more deeply and follow Him as we're trying to do together, God. May You use these offerings to do just that. We pray this in Jesus' Name. Amen. >> Joel: Amen! Well, good morning if everybody! It is so good to see you all and we have something cool in store for you today on the kids' spot. All right well, I start with my Bible verse, coming to us from 1 Corinthians 2:9. It says, "Eyes hath not seen nor ears heard; neither has it entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for them that love Him." Now, when I was a child, I used to daydream about being a superhero. I'll be honest: I still day dream about being a superhero. On occasion I will imagine what would be my one super power. If I could pick any super power, which would it be? Let's just say that daydream continues for a long time. Well, I have a little illustration here, which I think is pretty cool; and the interesting thing is that I have this cool item. Now, you're probably like, "Okay.” I will show you, first of all -- because this is a cool one. Do you see anything in here? Nothing? All right. Now, how about let's start with the bottom. See anything in there? Nothing. Now how about -- you see anything in here? No? Let me look at the camera so you can see as well. All right, very good. Now, what about in here? Do you see anything in here? Hello? Testing; one, two, three. All right. So the Bible verse says that the eye hath not seen; nor the ear heard; what God will do through those that love Him. Do you love God? >> Yes. >> Joel: Yes, we do. Really cool. This is what is cool. You want a super power? I do, too. But do we want a super power? We'll look at Scripture and men and women in Scripture -- and some of them weren't even the greatest people. For example, we have Gehazi. I don't know if you remember the story, but his town was surrounded by people going to kill them. He was scared to death and then God opened his eyes? And he could see legions of angels around. There were a number of people in chains and the chains just fell off. Do you think you can break a chain, you're super strong like Hulk or something? Then people said they couldn't even talk, and yet God had them talk before kings and rulers and gave them what to say. Then there was a boy who had just a few loaves and officials and he gave it -- fishes and gave it to God so it was multiplied -- silverware -- into food. THEN there was another guy, Elijah, and he outran a chariot in the wilderness, almost like one of those Baja racers. Then there was another guy who took ferocious lions and played with them like kitties; pretty amazing. Then there was someone else who was lame and was made to walk. Then there was someone else who actually was bitten by a poisonous snake and latched onto his finger; and people said, "Dude, you're dead." And he said, "Oh, let me tell you about Jesus." And I think that will do for now, but the point is that in Scripture, we see where God did amazing and supernatural things through people who were really good but also through people who made mistakes along the way. But the key is that they loved God, and we know that when we love God, we obey His commandments. So you want to do something great for God? Love God; obey His commandments; and I can't wait to see what God does through you, whether you're a grandparent or whether you're a newborn baby, be utilized of God. Thank you very much. (Applause) ¶ >> Shane: Yes. Please. (Applause) Many thanks to our Pumpkin Patch volunteers and those who provided candy. Thank you. For our Children's Ministry team, you did fantastic. We see you there. You're great. You guys are all great. (Applause) >> Shane: So if you're a little new here or have been here for a little while and you want to deepen your connection with other believers; if you want to follow Jesus together in community; if you want to find a way to serve together, we want to connect with you. If you're interested in becoming a nerve of our church or studying about Jesus, just come out to the "New Here? Start Here" room in the lobby. We would love to answer questions and connect with you. Fill out the QR code. If you go to that whether you're watching online or here in the room, okay, we would love to connect with you. If you're a kid grades one through five, go with Main Street Live! just across in the lobby. If you need to check your kids in, go to the kiosk. It will take only a minute. Everybody else, we will stand and have a fellowship greeting. I want to know the all-important question: candy corn, thumbs up or thumbs down? Tell your neighbor. Do you like the candy corn or not? Let's have fellowship greeting. ("House of the Lord" playing) ¶ Shout out Your praise ¶ >> Richard: Sing it out, church! Sing it out! ¶ We shout out Your praise ¶ >> Richard: Yes, thank you church for your worship today! You may be seated. >> Kyle: Thank you so much, Richard and team. Good morning, everybody! How we feeling about the Astros? (Murmurs) Kind of; maybe? Bless your hearts. Bless your hearts. Hopefully we get a treat tonight and no tricks. Well, good morning to all of you. My name is Kyle, and let me welcome all of you here in person to the First Colony Church of Christ and to those of you online, a very special welcome to you as well. We have a new member to introduce to you this morning, Jenny Sanders. Let me see if Jenny is here. We're seeing some -- right here. Everybody welcome Jenny to the church this morning. (Applause) Welcome! Welcome, Jenny! We introduced some new members as well in our first service, Bill and Mary Oberle and Soumya Juvvadi. If you know them, welcome them to our family. Ronnie is out today, and it's an honor to share the Word of the Lord with you this morning. The book, “Voyage of the Dawn Treader" is book number two in C.S. Lewis' children's series "The Chronicles of Narnia." The whole series tells stories driven by the Gospel through adventures of children in the fantasy world of Narnia, a world with talking animals and evil queens, wars, mythological characters; and the like. And there's also -- and you know this -- there's also a talking lion in this series. You remember his name? It's Aslan. He's the powerful king who comes to the aid of the young children in their quest. I will tell you about one of those interactions in “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.” there's a young boy named Eustis; and Eustis is NOT a nice kid. His quest in Narnia goes from bad to worse when he steals a gold bracelet; and because of that theft, he's transformed into a dragon. Eustis becomes the outward manifestation of his inward self; and he realizes at a critical point in chapter 6 that he is, in fact, a monster. As the story progresses, Eustis the dragon thinks that the only way he can transform back into a boy and remove the brace let is by helping his fellow travelers. And he's wrong, of course. That doesn't work, and he realizes this, especially as he and his friends are ready to set sail in their ship, the “Dawn Treader.” He realizes he can't go because he's a dragon and the ship will not hold him. So he's lonely and he's depressed and he's sad -- until he meets Aslan. Aslan asks Eustis the dragon to follow him into a well with clear and clean water; and Eustis senses the water in this well would held him; but Aslan requires that Eustis undress before he enters the well. And he's a dragon and not wearing clothes. He said he should shed his skin. Eustis the dragon starts to scratch deep to his scales until his whole skin peeled from him. He felt liberated, seeing this nasty lump of scales on the ground; and he stepped into the water, only to realize as soon as he stepped in the water, his scales returned. So he scratches at himself again, removes the scales, steps back in the water; the scales reappear. He does it again -- this happens for three times. That's when Aslan intervenes and says, "Eustis, you will have to let me undress you." So Eustis tells the story of his transformation to his friends, and out of desperation he let Aslan do so. Here are -- I will read to you the masterful words of C.S. Lewis in “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.” Here are the words from Eustis: “The very first tear he made was SO deep that I thought it had gone right into my heart. And when he began peeling the skin off, it hurt worse than anything I've ever felt. The only thing, the only thing that made me able to bear it was just the pleasure of feeling the stuff feel off. And there it was, lying on the grass, ever so much thicker and darker and more knobbly looking than the others had. And there I was, as smooth and as soft as a peeled switch and smaller than I had been.” “Then he caught hold of me. I didn't like that much, for I was very tender underneath for it had no skin on; and he threw me into the water that became perfectly delicious. All the pain had gone from my apartment, and then -- arm, and then I saw why. I turned into a boy again.” That's probably no surprise that this passage was Lewis' attempt to include a story about baptism into his books because baptism is essential to the faith of EVERY person who believes in Jesus. So for the next few moments, while we're together, I want to talk about baptism; and I have three specific goals in mind. We'll run through these rather quickly. Here's the first goal. I want to share with you what it is, what baptism is. The second goal I want to share with you is what baptism means. And then the third goal is I want to share with you what to do about it. Let's hear the Gospel this morning. If you have your Bibles, I want to invite you to turn to 1 Peter 3. Our text comes from 1 Peter this morning. 1 Peter is a letter written by the Apostle Peter of Jesus. He wrote this letter with a very specific purpose in mind. It's to explain the significance of Jesus' suffering; His triumph over that suffering; AND like Jesus, how His followers will triumph in spite of their own sufferings. It's important to note here that Peter's writings and teaching on baptism is part of this central point. The context of Peter's writings on baptism begins in 1 Peter 3, where -- it's a rather interesting text if you're reading it -- Peter writes Jesus -- and he uses this word -- Jesus suffered for sins once for all by being put to death. But His Resurrection and His Ascension were His proclamation; though He suffered unjustly, He was clearly victorious. And Peter writes with some rather tricky language that Jesus' Ascension was something like a victory march, even over those who committed evil in the time of Noah. Now, you can see Peter's mind working here as he writes this because he writes the passage about Noah. And it reminds him of how Noah was saved. So in 1 Peter 3:20, Peter says that Noah and his family were saved THROUGH water. As he writes that phrase, it reminds him of baptism. So he writes about it. This is where we find what baptism is. So I want you to listen and read along with me from the Word of the Lord. This is from 1 Peter 3:21-22. Peter writes (Reading). >> Kyle: That's the text. Peter's teaching on baptism here, though, begins with a phrase you probably caught; that at first it sounds a little confusing. He begins his writing on baptisms by saying this phrase: "baptism now saves you." And that's an interesting phrase because isn't it Jesus that saves you? Right? Why would Peter write something like this? Well, Peter seems to realize what he had written so he amends that opening statement with three successive phrases so as to not be misunderstood. We'll look at each of those phrases this morning as we determine what baptism is. Let's start with the first one: Baptism now saves you, number one, NOT the removal of filth from the body. Now, to make sure that he's not misunderstood, he writes that there is nothing redeeming about the water. It does NOT remove filth from us. It's not a bath. Our immersion into water is not a bath, but his language here, his language is actually deeper because he uses a specific word translated as "filth" that actually has a double meaning. It doesn't just mean physical dirt but also means sin. We do not emerge from the waters of baptism as perfect. If the waters of baptism had mystical power and change us, change people in an instant and make us perfect, it would transform ALL of us into demi-gods, infallible, immune to sin, dictator of our own world. This is NOT, this is NOT the gift of baptism; but if it doesn't remove sin, you're already there. Then what's the point? What's the point? Why do it at all? Well, Peter speaks into that with his second phrase. So let's build them together. Baptism now saves you, not the removal of filth from your body -- but here's the second phrase -- but the pledge of a GOOD conscience before God. The language here reads like a contractual agreement, something that denotes willingness by one party and a favorable response by the other party. Peter writes that baptism is a contractual agreement whereby we willingly follow Jesus AND we will continue to do so, whatever the circumstances. THAT is an incredibly significant phrase. Peter’s audience had endured serious, serious sufferings, those sufferings -- you have been there -- to tempt them to no longer follow Jesus. Peter, with this phrase, reminded them of the contract into which they entered. Their baptism, YOUR baptism, and my baptism is a pledge, of faithfulness. Peter, though, realizes that even his second statement needed amending because he sees just like you that if baptism is an agreement that WE don't break, then baptism is just a one-sided affair; that God actually does nothing in this contractual agreement; that if it were an engine of sorts, you would be the gasoline and that is just NOT true. Peter knows this so he keeps writing. So let's build these successive statements again. Baptism now saves you -- the first -- not the removal of filth from your body; number two -- but the pledge of a good conscience before God; and now the third phrase it saves you THROUGH the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The efficacy of baptism water doesn't find its power in our ability to sustain our side of the contract. It finds its power in the Resurrection of Jesus. The greatest significance of baptism is that it is the very moment that you admit publicly that you are powerless to save yourself; that you are not the gasoline in this engine. You can't raise yourself from the dead. You can't do it. Peter is not just spitballing here. He understood, Peter understood the redemptive power of Jesus' Resurrection. His own denial of Jesus -- you remember that? He denied Jesus three times? It was that own denial, his own denial of Jesus, was forgiven; and then he was restored and loved and empowered by Jesus AFTER, after Jesus' Resurrection. Peter is not making a subjective statement here. He lived firsthand the redemption offered by a Resurrected Jesus. It's Jesus' Resurrection that secured His victory over the angels and the authorities and the powers that Peter mentions. Every horrible thing, every divisive thing, every operative of evil in the created world -- all of it -- bows to Jesus. This man who suffered for sins IS victorious; and our faith in His Resurrection secures our victory as well. And THAT is what baptism is. So let's look at what it means now. Peter actually tells us what it means in the next few verses so if you're still there, we're gonna read from 1 Peter 4. There is an unfortunate break between these two chapters but the thoughts continue so let's start reading from 1 Peter 4:1. (Reading) "Therefore" is an important word. That word "therefore" is critical. You know what it means. It means "for this reason." We can't overlook that word because right here, right here in these verses, is where we discover that baptism is THE objective response to an objective reality. We don't receive baptism -- we aren't baptized because Jesus was baptized. We receive baptism because Jesus suffered. Baptism is OUR objective response to this objective reality, and it's this way for two reasons. Here's the first: baptism is how we agree to suffer well. Said another way, baptism is how we agree that suffering is unavoidable. We're all guilty of this, by the way. We all self-medicate because we think we can escape suffering. We want some version of Christian nirvana. We want to believe in Jesus, but we don't want to ever hurt. Peter flips this thinking on its head, encouraging us to see baptism as the way that we face suffering head-on. We welcome it. We accept it. And we do this because we know that our Savior, OUR Jesus, did the very same thing; and He has beaten it. We arm ourselves with this same attitude through baptism. And the second way that baptism is our objective response to this objective reality is that baptism is how you and I share Jesus' resolve. Let's listen to Peter's words here. Those who suffer in the body are done with sin -- let's read that again. Those who suffer in the body are done with sin. What a monumental statement to make in Scripture. Don't misunderstand Peter's words, though. He's not saying that you and I will forever live sinless lives; but he is saying that sin will no longer be our master. Nonbelievers in the first century had little tolerance for those who followed Jesus. Nonbelievers in the first century assumed that believers were horrible people; they were social gadflies who refused contemporary entertainment; they did not attend Roman theater or violent gladiator contests. They did not participate in adulterous relationships. They did not participate in the worship of politics -- yes, the worship of politics. That sounds familiar. All of these things were normal in Roman society. Yes, they were ALL normal. Believers did not participate in these things; and because of their abstinence from normal sinful activities, believers in the first, second, and third centuries became to be seen as traitors. They were persecuted. Peter actually says as much in the next few verses in this chapter. The letter of Hebrews in the New Testament tells us that somebody believers actually lost everything they owned because they followed Jesus. Those who are baptized are choosing to suffer in this life because they have chosen a life of obedience over a life of sin, sharing not Jesus' perfection but His resolve. Baptism is our declaration that while we are not -- we are NOT immune to distractions -- we do desire a deeper devotion. And THAT is what baptism means. So we have seen what it is, and we have seen what it means. Now let me share what to do about it. The title of this message is called "The Invitation." Many of us share church experiences where it was common to publicly extend an invitation to follow Jesus at the end of a worship service. Some of our church experiences called this -- remember? “The Invitation Song.” Remember that? Or the altar call. I want to offer you the invitation today. It goes like this: for those who have received baptism, who have been baptized but have lost or never understood its significance, I want to invite you into deeper times of study and fellowship and community. Do not ignore our public appeals to you to join a Bible class or a Connection group or a mission opportunity, a ways to serve, a ways to give. These appeals, they're all designed not just to enhance our church community but for you to experience again the reason you followed Jesus. You received baptism to suffer well; to share Jesus' resolve. Let's do this together. Let's do it together. And for those of you who have never received baptism, those of you who have never been baptized, let me invite you to reframe your perceptions. You may have flirted with faith, attended church, stood on the sidelines; but you've never really bought into this idea of baptism. You probably said to yourself things like, "You know, I'm a good person. I attend church. I give. Why should I be baptized?" And you know, maybe you bring lots of reasons not to do this. Maybe it's a prior religious experience or maybe you're just being stubborn to fault. Let me invite you to ask yourself another question, not why but why not? The question is not "Why should I be baptized?" That's the wrong question. The question is: "Why shouldn't I be baptized?" The question is NOT "why?" It's "Why not?" Is there any good reason to not do so? After hearing these precious words of Peter, I don't think there is. I want to invite Kyler Cole to the stage, who will pray with us in a moment. Some of you have some restless spirits from hearing this today. That's good. You're not feeling restless because of any power I have. You're restless because of the Power of the Word of God. It's sharper than ANY sword; it cuts; it exposes, just like the claws of Aslan. Let it and accept these invitations today. Kyler, pray over us, please. >> Kyler: Please join me in prayer now. Almighty God, we give You honor and praise today. Thank You for being our Good Father and providing all we need in this life. We rest in You today, O Lord. We thank You for the message today reminding us we all have a personal decision to make about Jesus. Your Word is Truth, and we believe in Your promise of salvation through Jesus Christ. We celebrate His sinless life and perfect atoning sacrifice that covers all our sins. Help everyone who hears this today to have a response to it. For baptized believers, give a recommitted hard and clear conscience through continual repentance. For those considering baptism, give them a full understanding of Your will for their lives. Your Word says that Jesus stands at the door and knocks; and thank You that You want no one to perish. We thank You for Your patience. Most of all, thank You for providing us a way to spend eternity with You through our confession and baptism of Jesus Christ. It's in His Name that we pray. Amen. >> Shane: Amen. Thank you, Kyler. What a wonderful day to gather together and worship and fellowship and grow. We have more opportunities now as well. We want to highlight a couple things before we close. First in case you didn't know, we have Bible classes at 9:45, the hour just before this one; and today I will highlight real quick our family Bible class. It's a multigenerational class where kids attend with their parents and participate in the class together, led by Charlie Onstead. They're studying the Apostles Creed right now. Check that out or adult classes or students or kids at the hour before this time. If you want to know more about that, meet in the lobby. I would love to talk to you about small groups or classes and different offerings as well. There's also an online Bible class for those watching online. It will start at 12:30. Today we're featuring story from the mission field from one mission partner in Nepal. That's because we've got Mission Sunday coming up in a couple of weeks so this is a great opportunity to see about the work we're partnering with in Nepal. That's right. Mission Sunday is November 14. Please mark your calendars, everybody. Be praying about that mission offering coming up, which is always a great offering to support our mission efforts. Speaking of calendars, next Sunday is Daylight Saving, the good one, where we fall back an hour. So enjoy that. Remember still to come next Sunday. We'll see you well rested next Sunday. Thanks for joining us today, everybody! It was so good to be together as a church family. The last couple of hours we have been here this morning, we have been on the mission field. Our hearts, we have to ask, are we receptive and open to what God want to speak into our lives? Now we go to the mission field as we represent Jesus. As we exit the doors, we enter the mission field. Let's stand and sing one more song before going on mission. ("God So Loved" playing) >> Richard: Praise God! >> Richard: Thank you, church, for your worship today! You are dismissed!