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. >> Grant: Well, good morning and welcome to the First Colony Church of Christ, where it is our mission to honor God and to lead people into a growing relationship with him. My name is Grant Wright, the outreach minister. We're honored to have you here to join us in worship as we get to start a new series about adjusting our attitude. We're excited to jump into that series today. Go ahead and stand as we enter into this time of worship. >> Richard: God is good, amen. \M "Great Things" \M >> Richard: Yes, our God only does great things, amen. Faithful through every storm. \M "How Can I Keep From Singing" \M >> Richard: Thank you for your worship, church. You may be seated. >> Grant: What a wonderful time to worship. We're going to enter into communion. If you're with us, get out your packets or at home. Doug and Janet Calvin will be leading us. >> I'm Doug Calvin and this is my wife Janet. We are so thankful to be leading in the Lord's supper. Please pray with me over the bread which represents the body of Christ. Given for us the cup representing the blood he poured out for the forgiveness of our sins, let's pray. Christ is the final sacrifice. Christ has replaced the imperfect and has died for each of us. Lord, we thank you for your broken body. We pause to see your power. We see your wisdom. We pray for understanding and strength to follow you. We give thanks for your grace and we rejoice having been washed by Christ's blood once and for all. We are strengthened by your word, having been given a path to follow for our future. We acknowledge and accept your love and commit to reflecting that in our actions and in your actions towards us. Love exceeds all in this world. We now remember your love, your sacrifice, and your grace that has made us clean. In the name of Jesus Christ, our savior, amen. Let's partake together. >> Good morning. This morning's scripture reading is found in Acts 2:43-47 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were bei ng saved. >> Grant: It is good to be a rescued one. We are about to pray over our offering. If you are here, we have giving bins at all the exits. Church, thank you, guys. I love the partnership we have in church and in life and the scripture that Janet was reading about the church that gathered daily to share the bread and to fill the needs and that sold land and possessions to provide for one another. This is the beautiful gift that we have with the body of Christ. As we bring our offerings, thank you all for providing for those in need. One example in our mission work, we support Santos and Jessica in our mission work. Jessica was diagnosed with cancer. We were praying for her. Because of what we do in our missions and your giving, we are able to help her out for her treatments. Let's take this offering before the Lord. Father, you are good. Your love endures forever. All that we have is yours. Father, we give our lives, lay them at your throne. We see to live is Christ and to die is game. Help us more each and every day. We pray this in the powerful name of Jesus. >> Joel: Good morning, everyone. It is so good to see you here. I have Quinton assisting me. I cascade, Quinton, what do you want to be when you grow up? He said, I want to be a ball. What if you get thrown in the backyard, how would you tell your owner? He said, I would have a mouth and tell them. Quinton loves sports and that's why he's helping me out. What do you have here? What does that have to do with, maybe even Thanksgiving. How are we going to make this work? I'm going to challenge Quinton to throw two cups taped together, nothing special. Throw your cups as hard as you can, see if you can get them to Ms. Trinity. The trick is like a baseball, as you throw it, I want to see if you can spin it so much that it goes up before it goes down. Really hard. All right. Good throw. That was nice. Pretty good. Good job, good job. [Applause] >> Joel: What is our verse in Isaiah 40:31. Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary and walk and not feel faint. When you think of Thanksgiving, some people are like Thanksgiving is a holiday for those having a good time and life is going well. When you think of it, Thanksgiving is the time when the pilgrims said, I can't believe we made it through that last year. Thank you, God. The same with us, would you have thought that the last two years would have been like they were? Praise the Lord. This is a time to give thanks. How do we lift up as opposed to going down? I have four rubber bands and I'm going to spin them around my cup. I don't think I can get it to Trinity, but I can to Ray. There is a special way to shoot rubber bands. Look at these people duck. Do you think I would hurt you? It did go up. I can do it over and over. You can try this at home and that's my point. The message is we can spin and spin but the in our own strength, when we don't hope in the Lord, we go down, but he renews our strength and we go up. [\M\M\M] >> I want Thanksgiving to be different. I don't want the holiday that takes heaps of planning and multiple trips to the grocery store, only for it to just come and go. This year, there's not a hug I'll receive, not a door I'll walk through, not a person I'll visit that will be taken for granted. I want Thanksgiving to be different. In times past we would say the obligatory Thanksgiving prayer, hold hands, bow heads, fight eager appetites. This year, I want to feel the hunger, the eagerness to thank God for what we once hardly noticed, a quiet gratitude in our hearts for all the small things God's granted us. Whether the whole family is together, whether there's one seat or two left empty, if our table is full and abundant or feeling the sting of a hard year, whether we've seen deliverance through all things or received strength despite hard things, we will give thanks. When all is well or nothing looks right, if we've gathered with many or sit in quiet solitude, by the grace of God, we will raise our hands to the one who gives and takes away. So I come to the table on this special day and give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, His steadfast love endures forever. that is how we make Thanksgiving different. >> Grant: Amen. Give thanks to the Lord for He is good. We get to do that today for sure. All right. Our first to fifth graders, it is time for Main Street Live. You can head over to the center and the chapel. This is a kid worship time, a great time for first to fifth graders. Parents, you can head over to the chapel and get them signed in. For all of you whether you're a guest or a member, you can fill out a connection card. If you're online, fill one on online. If you're here, scan the Q.R. code. You can let us know about ministries you're interested about or give us your prayer request. Our staff prays for those every week. If you're a guest, thank you for joining us. We have a room right across the lobby called new here, start here. After service we would love it if you came there and answered questions and we have a little gift for you as well. Church, it is time for our fellowship greeting. Tell us what the Lord has done for you. If you're online, jump in the chat box, we'd love to hear from you as well. [Indistinct chatter] \M" Your Grace Is Enough" \M >> Richard: Thank you, church, today for your worship. You may be seated. >> Ronnie: Well, that's just terrific, Richard and team. Let's thank our praise band for leading us so well. Fantastic. Great singers and musicians and they serve us beautifully. Good morning, everybody, great to see you. To those of you in the room, welcome to our second service. To those of you online, we welcome you as well. Let me thank you for your response to last Sunday's mission Sunday. You gave above and beyond that. As of now almost $200,000, $195,000 you gave already to missions. That's fantastic. Thank you for that and you'll have an opportunity to continue to do so here through the end of the year. I want to make a couple of recognitions here. I'm going to ask you to stand, Quinton and Addie Smith, children of Joel and Melinda Smith. There they are. We want to celebrate with Quinton and Addie. I want to start a brief two-week series called attitude adjustment. Let me put an image on the screen. This is an image of an attitude indicator. If you've been in an airplane cockpit, there is an altitude altimeter, but this is an attitude adjustor. If you want to change the performance of the aircraft, you change the attitude of the aircraft. Let me put another image up there. Now this plane is in a nose-high attitude. It is climbing. If you want to change the performance of a plane, you change its attitude. You know where I'm going with this, don't you? If you want to change the performance of a person, you change their mindset, their attitude. Again, a positive, upbeat, Godly, hopeful spirit goes a long way in beautifying your soul and encouraging other people and creating a positive atmosphere and environment. You just don't want to be the kind of person who brightens a room by leaving. That's not who you want to be. You want to be the kind of person that brings an atmosphere into that family, that group, that room. And please don't get me wrong. I'm not suggesting that we go through life wearing rose-colored glasses. God's people should not be naive or gullible. We should have a wide spirit of discernment. The Bible teaches us to hate that which is evil. The Bible tells us if someone sins against you, you go to that person and point it out. We're not to be blind to evil. We're not instructed to never say anything bad about a situation. Everyone, there is another side to this coin. Our daily personal attitude to our life should be primarily one of optimism and joy and good will. The Bible says rejoice in the Lord always. Do all things without complaining and arguing. I will read a scripture here in just a moment that says I want you to find the good and think on those things. I am asking you to stop obsessing over every storm and begin to see the sunlight periodically. Accentuate the positive. Why don't we put a muffler a little bit on our voices of sarcasm and insult and more generously compliment virtue and effort. Again, I'm not saying that all criticism should be silenced. Growth comes about through correction. Strength comes when appropriate times of repentance. And wise is the person who connects mistakes pointed out by others and change their course of action. I am asking that we turn from perpetual negativism that so permeates our culture these days and speak of one another's virtues and not just their faults. Lean into some optimism instead of just pessimism. Let your faith exceed your fears. Remember, cynics do not contribute and skeptics do not create anything healthy. Do you need an attitude adjustment and if there was an attitude indicator on your soul, what would it read today? The great thing is we can change your attitude. What is your attitude? It is a mindset. It is a way of looking at things. It's your mental and spiritual and emotional response to the circumstances around you. All right. I've got six quick points. Number one. A good attitude is the active embracing of faith, hope, and love. That's what attitude is. You take the big three, the glorious trifecta, and not just faith, hope, and love on a shelf. Oh, I had faith 40 years ago. Four times in the Bible it says this, righteous people live by faith and the active embracing of -- if you think what faith, faith that is of essence is saying I know where I came from, I know who and what I believe, I know why I'm here and where I'm going. What does hope do? It rejects that jaded, chronic, negativity that refuses to believe in the good of anyone and love, that sense of security. God loves me and I have the privilege of spreading His love into the lives of other people and bringing out their best. Faith, hope, and love, what a spirit and an attitude. Let me put these four statements on the screen. You embrace faith, hope, and love, I know God loves me. I know God wills good for me. I know God has a plan for me. I know God will bring me through. You know, every time you look at a cross you see a vertical beam and a horizontal beam. The vertical beam is our relationship with God with and the horizontal beam, our relationship with others. Jesus reconciles us to one another. There is no reason for people of different nationalities or ethnicities to be separate. We're reconciled to one another and we're reconciled to God. Listen, everyone, it's that vertical beam that gives stability and a solid substance to the horizontal beam. It's the vertical piece that if it's not stable and secure, it doesn't provide stability for the other piece. It will wobble and shape. Our attitude is rooted into that vertical beam, our relationship with God first and foremost. No matter what comes your way, even death itself, death cannot separate you from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. Here is the second thing I want to say. A good attitude is one of your greatest assets. A good attitude can take you place as where you wouldn't go otherwise. It's like a booster rocket. Now, attitude isn't everything. Don't make it more than it is. You still need competence, you still need skill to get things done. All things being equal, a person of equal skills and competencies, that attitude will take you farther and higher. Thirdly, a good attitude is chosen. It's not just given. It's chosen. Listen to this scripture from Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things. In other words, he's saying this is not going to come by genetics. This isn't just body chemistry. You look for the notable and the beautiful and you choose to think on these things. You allow your attitude to be shaped. Let me give a little caveat disclaimer here. If you find yourself under chronic ongoing depression or with anxiety issues, chronic anxiety, go see your doctor. Go see a therapist. So I'm not talking about that. But for many people, your negative attitude is a choice they've made to focus in that direction. Now, our attitudes are influenced by other people, by what we read and hear, but here's what I'm saying. I'm saying an active mindset needs to be greater than a passive mindset. We take responsibility for our attitude. Our attitude will not just take care of itself. We look for the it good, the beautiful, the noble, the true, the high, and we think of those things. We put on the glasses of faith, hope, and love. The passive mindset is defined by the assumption that life just sort of happens to you and you're not responsible. But an active mindset means you own your attitude. You own your choices. You own the process. You own what you can control. My friend Derek Aver says it like this, own your 20 square feet. Want to know what that looks like? There it is. You own your -- I can't control my circumstance sincere, you know. If you still think you can control other people, you need to kiss that mindset goodbye. And if you really want to wear some people out just say, you know, I'm not going to be impacted by your drama, I'm just not. You own your 20 square feet. You care about other people, you minister to them, but you own your 20 square feet and seek to control your mindset and attitude. If you do that, it will rub off and it will influence some others. Here is a fourth point. A good attitude shows up in down times. It shows up in down times. A good attitude shows up when you have negative feelings because you're not going to let your feelings and emotions drive the day. Here's what you will find is if you choose good actions, it will actually feed good attitudes. It's like a circular things. Good attitudes feed what? Good actions. And good choices and actions then feed good, strong attitudes. Also at times when you have to face mundane detail s. Let's face it, not every day is thrilling. Not every day is a lot of fun. It's said if you like 70% of your job, that's fantastic, but 30% of your job is going to be tedious and difficult and mundane. When you get married, so much of marriage is lived in the routine, right? You know, if I've ever done pre-marital counseling, I often ask the young couple, can you find yourself joyful on Home Depot days? When you have tasks around the house that you have to get done and we've got to go to Home Depot and see what we can do. The mundane and the ordinary. That's when attitude shows up. And then in times of adversity, you see, attitude gives you no advantage during good times because during good times, everybody has a wonderful attitude. When things are going my way, my attitude is fantastic. But it's when adversity comes and that's when your attitude becomes a true difference maker. Are you family with the name Victor Frankel? He was a deeply interesting man. A psychiatrist, a philosopher, a prolific author and the believer in therapy through meaning. His world view was shaped by the fact that he was a Holocaust survivor. From 1942 to 1945 he lived, or rather, just existed in four concentration camps, including the infamous Auschwitz. What he experienced there left an indelible mark on his life. When they first took him, they took his wedding ring, shaved his head, he was separated from his family. Among his writings is a book that a lot of people will say should be on everybody's top five list. It's not a long book. It's called "Man's Search for Meaning." Listen to this. We who lived in concentration camps can remember the people who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a person but one thing, the last of human freedoms, which is to choose one's own attitude in any given set of circumstances. To choose one's own way. Otherwise, what are we? You're just like a west Texas tumbleweed, blowing about. We're people who belong to God. We're people of faith and hope and love we believe God loves us. He wills good for us. He will see us through and even death itself will not separate us from his love. Very quickly, number five, a good attitude helps you reset from a setback. A good attitude helps you reset from a setback. Here's the thing, setbacks are inevitable. Everyone will have a setback. Setbacks are inevitable, but they are forgivable. Now, here's the bad news. You do know that you cannot rewrite history, don't you? You do know that your life does not have a rewind button on it. The good news is our God has the ability to take your worst mistakes in life and turn them actually into a pathway for something good. Mistakes are inevitable setbacks, they are inevitable, but they are forgivable and God can use them. Now, these mistakes come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. You know, we've all been at dinner parties and people will say, hey, why don't you tell one of your more embarrassing moments. We can all do that and chuckle. It was a silly mistake. And we can laugh about it. But there are some mistakes, choices, setbacks that are monumental and they may have some bitter consequences for a while, forgivable, God can use you, but they're significant. Whether or not you can walk through those setbacks with faith, hope, and love, I think of the apostle Peter who failed Jesus at the time Jesus needed him the most. And yet, three days later, who was the first apostle to whom Jesus appeared? Peter. As if to say, you're mine. We can move forward into a new beginning. And six weeks later, it was Peter who stood on the southern steps of the temple and preached that inaugural message of the resurrection of Christ and the birth of a new and eternal kingdom. And I don't care what failure has occurred in your life. It doesn't have to have the final word or ongoing word. God is willing to forgive and use you again. That's what happened to Peter, what happened to you. It can only happen and will happen because of God's amazing grace, this unleashing. This bursting forth of undeserved generosity and kindness from God. If you can put on the lenses to see that, you can reset and rebound from a setback. You know, somebody says experience really is the best teacher, isn't it? No. No. Experience is not the best teacher. Evaluated experience is the best teacher. When you evaluate and reflect upon your experience, now it's turned into insight. Here are a couple of things you need to do as you evaluate your experiences. One, identify the role that others played in your setback. You say, Ronnie, I thought that as a Christian we shouldn't be into just blaming other people for my choices. I'm not saying you assign 100% of the blame. I am saying when you ended up in that ditch or had that setback, whether it was small or larger, more than likely you did not end up in that setback totally and completely on your own. Someone else played a part in it. Here's the thing, if you identify that and name it, you won't forgive those people or that person because you can only forgive a person who bears part of the blame. If you name it and acknowledge it. What you're going to do is you're acknowledging it so that you might release that person. You can't forgive someone who don't shoulder some of the blame, but you also have to look right here and say Grant was responsible for 99% of my setback. I have to own my 1%. What did I bring to the table? What can I learn here? My friends, put on the lenses of faith, hope, and love. Have that attitude that God is for you, God forgives, God can use. There is a new tomorrow and beginning, faith, hope, and love. And you can reset from a setback. Last of all, very, very quickly. A good attitude expresses gratitude. It's an important reminder on this Thanksgiving week. You do know what worship is, don't you? Worship is expressing Thanksgiving. Looking to the God, father, son, and spirit saying, you've been incredibly good to me and I want to express my Thanksgiving to you. Thanksgiving should be expressed. People say you grew up in a family that didn't express. You're in a if you family now. You say you had a dysfunctional father. You have a good, new father who can help. Worship is all about expressing Thanksgiving. Here is a scripture from Luke 17:11-19 Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. Leprosy was a debilitating disease, took your body one digit and limb at a time. It was thought to be contagious. If you had it and you had a family and you contracted leprosy, you were taken away from your family. You became a social outcast. Here we have 10 lepors. They call out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” Now, here's what. He didn't heal them and then say, go show yourselves to the priests. He said, go, show yourselves to the priests. And the Bible says what? And as they went, they were cleansed. And that's the principle all through the scriptures. Remember in the Old Testament when God's people were going into the promise land? God said, I want the priests to lead the way. I realized the Jordan River is at a high stage. When he puts his foot in the water, the river will part and you will walk across on dry land. We've all seen rivers flooding. Had I been one of those priests I would have said, Lord, why don't you just part the river first, then I'll take a step of faith. Don't make we take a step of faith before you act. Right here Jesus said, go, show yourselves to the priests. They could have looked at one another and said, well, we're not healed. Why should we -- as they went and once they took a step of faith, God honors your faith. I can't predict what he will do, but I know when you walk in faith in hope and love, good things happen. So one of them came back, verse 15. When he saw that he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him and he was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.” He got another blessing. All 10 received the blessing of leprosy cleansing, but this one former lepor got another blessing because he came back to worship. By the way, what you're doing today, either online or right here, it's an expression of thanksgiving. There are other places you could be or things you could be doing. When you choose to worship the Lord with his people, it is an act of thanksgiving. Now, let's play a little imaginary game for a moment. Let's take that lepor who had been cleansed and who came back to say thank you. Fast-forward 20, 25, 30 years. He's been cleansed, he is reunited with his wife. His kids grow up and grandkids. It's been 25, 30 years. He's walking along and he sees Jesus again. Do you think it would be okay, even though it's been 25 or 30 years for that lepor to walk up to Jesus and say thank you. Would that be okay? To praise him, honor him, express thanksgiving, to bow down in humility, even though it's been 20, 25, 30 years, would it be okay to go back and keep saying thank you to Jesus? Answer, yes. Everybody in this room has something to be grateful for. Our great God has done wonders in your life and mine. Here's what Satan wants to do. He wants to take your eyes off what God has done and is doing and promised to do. Just like a lepor was healed, we keep going back saying thank you, thank you, thank you. I've never been cleansed of leprosy, but I've been healed of something far worse, my sin. And the wages of win are eternal death. But years ago God saved me among all miracles has used me. And he is worthy of my regular running back saying in a loud voice or a soft voice, you are worthy of every ounce of praise, every sacrificed penny, you're worthy of it all. So, everybody, we've got lots to be thankful for this week, but most of all let's give thanks for our wonderful savior through his atoning on the cross, he provided us the forgiveness of sins, the promise of eternal life, and an ultimate purpose for living every single day. Now, Steve Williams is going to come up here and lead us in prayer, but before he does, I want to read a scripture that I read earlier, but this time I want to read it from a version called the message. Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent God bless you, everybody. Steve, come pray over us. >> Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for this time, time that we can come together and just hear your word powerfully preached by Ronnie and the words that he has used to really -- for us to think about and to use throughout the week. We thank you for the fellowship and this presence. Heavenly Father, we come to you and we want to be surrounded by your word. We want to be surrounded by cross-like followers. These are the moments you have designed to ensure we are mentally renewed. We are thankful, father, for your love, your beauty, pureness, and righteousness can be seen in all circumstances. Lord, we pray that you do what you may with us so we can have a heart like and for Jesus. It is this where our desire is to please you with our thoughts by making a daily decision to only follow you. Lord, forgive us when we fall. Allow the world nature to become our god. Father, we pray that our hearts and minds are fixated on scripture and what's good. We pray that your Godly word will mold and fix and use us in Christ. That we know this is what you long for and this is what pleases you. Lord, we also pray for our nation right now, that our Godly mindset will penetrate the world desires where every knee will bow in your name and the world will love you with all their heart, their soul, their strength, and their mind. This is this prayer that we pray in your precious son, Jesus. Amen. >> Grant: Amen. Thank you so much, Steve. Church, there are a ton of great things happening at the First Colony Church of Christ. Let me make sure they're on your radar. Every Sunday at 9:45 we have classes for all ages. Something awesome has happened. We now have every room in this entire church filled birth through adults during that hour. One of the pieces to this is the new group for college aged. F107 is a great group. If you have kids that are away or home for the holidays, make sure they know about this group. If you're online, we have stories from the field mission series coming up at 12:30. Stay on the live stream. This morning we get to hear about Cucuta, Colombia. We get to hear what our church is doing. There is a grief support group, this is a fantastic group, for anybody who has experienced the loss of a loved one. Again, a three-week group led by Dr. Virgil Fry in the gym starts next week. If you are interested in our church and knowing about us and getting membership. We have a new member info session. You can RSVP online. We would love to have you with us. For the ladies, we have a women's ministry ornament exchange. We have food and ornament exchange. Go on to the the website. Let's be the ones sent on mission for him. Let's stand as we get to close in one last song. \M" Your Grace Is Enough" \M >> Richard: Thank you, church, 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.