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. >> 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. >> 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 givings; 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. >> Richard: Well, good morning, church! Let's all stand together and worship the Lord! He is faithful, amen? Here we go! ("Good God Almighty" playing.) >> Richard: Sing it out, church! >> Richard: Yes! Give God a praise, everybody! (applause) He is good God Almighty, faithful God, faithful King! ("Way Maker playing.) ♫ Who You Are ♫ ♫ that is who You You Are ♫ >> Richard: Our God is worthying amen? Way maker, promise keeper. Amen. Church you may be seated as our communion leaders come forward to lead us in communion. >> Philip: Good morning. My name is Philip Houston; this my wife Heidi, and we'll lead you in communion this morning. Please pray with me. Thank You, God, for this morning; thank You for all the blessings You have given us and thank You for this time and opportunity that we have to come together as a church body, not just here but all over Your world; to think and to remember the ultimate act of love and sacrifice that You gave, having Your Son Jesus die on the cross for our sins. Open our hards and be with our minds as we partake of the bread that represents His body broken on the cross and as we drink from the cup that shows the blood that was spilled for our sins and on our behalf. It's in His Name, in Jesus' Name we pray, amen. >> Heidi: (reading) Matthew 16:24-27. ("Rescue Story" playing.) >> Shane: Amen. Thank you, you guy. He never gave up on us, amen? He will never give up on us. As we continue this time of worship, celebrate He didn't give up on us and He gave His only Son for us in communion; now we think of our offering and how we have been given a priceless gift that can never perish, spoil, or fade. We have that inheritance so we give out of a sense of "Have to" but "Get to" give with frat Tuesday. You can give to online or text to give or offering boxes in the back of the room. However you give, let's give gratefully and joyfully. Let's pray together now. Father in heaven, we ask that You take these offerings, God; that You would use them. God, we ask You would use them to advance Your kingdom and acknowledge every good gift comes from You, God. We ask You increase in us a generous spirit, God, that reflects Your heart. Make us givers like You Are the Good Giver for the us, God. We thank You that we get to participate in this offering as a worship to You. In Jesus' Name we pray, amen. >> Joel: Amen. Good morning, everyone. It is so good to see you all here today. We're going to do a math problem, but before we do, I have a self-addressed, stamped envelope that I mailed on Tuesday. I will give it to Ms. Houston. You can verify that it's sealed. >> It is. >> Joel: Does it look legit? >> Yeah. >> Joel: Any sneak approach inside? No. All right,s Hayes, we're calling on you today, Ms. Hays. What I need is a three-digit number and the only rule is that you can't have like 999. It has to be different numbers. Whatever you want, tell me your number. 248. I have two; I have four; and I have eight, all right? Good? No one touched the envelope? Did I talk to you before this? Did I talk to you before this? No, I said hi but other than that said nothing. I didn't slip anything on you. All right. So this is an illustration that God is in control and God's plans will be accomplished. No matter what is thrown out at you are it may be something that you don't like, but God's plans will be established no matter what. They just fall into place. So what I will do is I want to subtract this number and will reverse it. In order to reverse it, this is a shawl number -- I will go eight, four, two. Part of the reason Ms. Houston, I picked you, is because you know math. You can help me if I'm in trouble. (Laughter) To get to two, I've got to cross out my four, make that 12. That's going to be a four. Can't do that; got to cross that out; that will be a seven. 13. That's nine. And add those two together -- I'm sorry, subtract those two and is a five. The next component is add this number but will reverse it again. I have a four; I have a nine; and I have a five. All right, you add this up. We have 9 -- that's 18 -- carry a one -- that's nine. That's 10. All right. So open your envelope. Dun-dun-dun-DUUN (piano plays notes) It does say 1089. I'll show you. There's nothing else inside the envelope. There's not like lots of numbers. Now, you're probably say, "So what? I'm not impressed." (Laughter) This is where it gets impressive. So I'm like, okay, what is the Bible verse that is at that location? Well, there's no chapter 10, verse 89. The only place you can go is Psalms, and in Psalms 108:9, it says this -- but before I tell you, think about this. What's go on in our country today? We're worried about wars. We're worried act politics. We're worried about all these thing and saying, "Man, how is this going to work out?" This is the same thing that the did realites were going through, the Israelites, worried act mean bully that would get them and attacked them. There were times when they killed them, but this is what God said in Psalms 108:9. Moab is my wash basin; upon Edom I cast my shoe; over Philistia I shout in triumph. He's saying, you know what? Don't worry about these guys. It's okay. My plans will be established. It doesn't matter what number you pick, it will always come out to the same ending. The best picture of that is in Easter. Here is Satan saying, "If I can just kill Jesus, boom! I will mess it up! Yeah, that's what I will do, throw these things out and you will never know what to do." And boom, God is victorious. So follow God; trust Him; and know that even when you go through yucky things, His plans will be accomplished. Thank you very much. (Applause) >> Shane: Amen! Thank you, Joel. That was a much neater lesson this week. (L(Laughter) from the mind of Joel Smith, a great guy. Thank you, Joel. We're so glad everyone is here today especially if you're a guest. Thank you for being with us. We would love to connect with you. Everybody there, there's a QR code -- even online. You can scan and fill out our Digital Connection Card. Also you in the room can go to "New Here? Start Here." We'd love to visit you, answer questions, and get to know you. You can to that after service. If you're online and say hi in the chat, we'd love to get to know you better, too, so welcome, everybody. Kids grades 1-5, I do not see -- is there a children's minister person coming to the pack? Greg, who will lead the children -- okay. Yes. I think he will. You have been drafted, Greg. (Laughter) Wonderful, nice man right there. He will lead kids grades 1 through 5 to the chapel across the lobby. Parents, you can go and check your kid in with the kiosk there. So if you guys, kids, can walk to the chapel for Main Street Live! We'll give them just a second. Here comes Joel; he's coming. It's all good. Now, everyone else, let's stand and greet one another. Tell someone, are you a math person or not? Come on. "House of the Lord" playing ♫ oh, oh, oh ♫ ♫ Oh, oh, oh, we shout out Your praise ♫ >> Richard: Thank you, church, for your worship today! You may be seated! >> Ronnie: Thanks so much, Richard and team. We do appreciate that. And good morning, everyone. Glad to see you. To those of you in the room, we welcome you today to the First Colony Church of Christ. And to those of you worshiping with us online, we welcome you as well. In our first service today, we welcomed some new member into our church family, Justin and Kelly Moran and their children, Austin and Rebekah. Let me also say a thank you to you, to our church family, because of your response to last week's clothing drive. For the second year in a row, we completely filled a Second Mile Mission truck from back to floor. (Applause) from front to back, from floor to ceiling. So thank you all for your response and your help. That's right; fantastic. Two weeks from today is Easter Sunday. We'll have three service on Easter Sunday -- 7:00, 9:00, and 11:00. 7:00 a.m. courtyard service. Then 9:00 and 11:00 are right here in the Worship Center. Next Sunday is Baptism Sunday from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. that if you would like to be baptized outside a church service -- you can be baptized any time and we're happy to help. We will set aside next Sunday from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. and you come here -- you, however old you might be -- and your children if they're of age and they know what they're doing. We'll be here. Our staff member and some other folks will be here. We would be honored to receive you and help you take the next step of Christian baptism. Then afterwards, one of our elders will lead you in a time of communion and talk to you about your next, next steps. And then we've got a baptism class. One was held earlier today and another baptism class next Sunday at 9:45. It's not mandatory that you go to that class before your baptism, but it's a helpful one. Shane Gage will teach that. It's located in the gym and will be at 9:45 next Sunday. Don't worry about trying to find the room; you just walk in the gym. Signs will point you where you need to go t to go. Let me put another photo up here, and, you know, we have not taken up a special offering. We have just simply been distributing funds that you've already given, but we have distributed funds to a couple of churches in Europe that are hosting, taking in, serving Ukrainian refugees. Here's a photo of about 30 Ukrainian believers. They are at a Christian camp that has some money invested to help care for these refugees, some church members in Europe. You need to know that believers in Europe are stepping up to help Ukrainian refugees and some of your financial gifts have gone as well. More will be sent as needed. You know, there's an old adage that says in a general rule in helping, it's only helpful if it's helpful. It's only when it's helpful. So anyway, we're grateful we can serve and help. We're in a Bible teaching series from the New Testament Book of Acts called "The Spirit Mission and tray Drama." Hopefully you have a Bible with you or go to your Bible app. The title today is "A Hero Named Stephen." You know, heroes are people who prioritize a cause, a great cause, over their own welfare. Now, the term "Hero" might be used frivolously from time to time, but there are very real male and female heroes in our past and in our present. The Bible says that we would do well to imitate our leaders, to Tim Tate their faith, to look at people who are heroic and imitate them. Stephen is one such hero. He doesn't get a lot of press in the Bible, but he is a formidable character, sort of a transition character in the early church from Peter to Paul. He wasn't an apostle, but he was a servant; a strong preacher; and for those of you who grew up in Sunday school, you know this -- Stephen was the very first Christian martyr, the very fi firstperson to die for the cause of Christ. It's a cause worth living for and is a cause worth dying for. Lest you think martyrdom is obsolete, one out of every eight Christians lives under intense persecution in our world. Well, come with me today to the Book of Acts, chapters 6 and 7, and we will fly over this story. I find it inspiring, heroic, if you will. Acts 6:8. "Now, Stephen, a man full of God's grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people. But opposition arose." Hey, you do know that when it comes to Christianity that if you're going to be a player, if you're going to carry the ball, if you will, you need to expect to get hit. Don't be shocked by it. "Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen as it was called, Jews of Cyrene, Alexandria, as well as the provinces of Cilicia -- by the way, its primary city in the region was Tarsus. Know anybody from Tarsus? You do, Saul of Tarsus. A number of people are in opposition to this great Statesmen preacher, teacher Stephen; but they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke. They argued with him but could not overcome it. So then since Stephen is speaking the truth and they can't do anything about the truth, they go low. "They secretly persuaded some men to say, we have heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God. So they stirred up the people. They stirred up the elders and teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin." That would have been their Supreme Court, the highest court in Jerusalem. "They produced false witnesses." Aren't you grateful that you live in a tame where things like that don't happen anymore? " these false witnesses testified, this fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law. For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place, this temple, and change the customs Moses handed down to us." So they couldn't win an argument with Stephen. He's not being argumentative; he's just teaching the truth. So they go low. They attack him; they hire people; they persuade people to come in with misrepresentation, compage racings, with personal attacks. Verse 15 is astonishing. "And all who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel." By the way, that's only occurred one other time in the Bible and it was Moses. Isn't it interesting? They accused Stephen of being anti-God, anti-temple, and antiMoses. And now here he is, in some sort of display -- there's not a halo over him but somehow, some divine appearance showing God's divine favor upon Stephen. Here's the first thing I want you to write down today: Our faith is priceless, but it is not price-less. If you're going to serve the Lord in any way, if you're going to be the kind of person who takes initiative and accepts responsibility, it will come at a cost. It may simply be criticism or whatever but will come at a cost. If you're going to serve the Lord, there will be a price. You can't always hit the easy button and sit in the comfy chair. I'm not saying you go out looking for trouble; I'm not saying you go out looking for opposition and persecution; but if you're clear and bold in your values and your faith, it will find you. Somebody says, "Well, now, do we really live in a time of persecution?" Here's the way I define persecution. Any time there is social; political; relational; physical; financial pressure exerted upon you in an attempt to get you to compromise your Christian values and your faith, that's persecution. You better believe it happens today. It's adult peer pressure. So what does Stephen do? They accuse him of being anti-God, antiample, antiMoses. He has a chance to defend him, but listen carefully: He does not defend himself. I'm not saying he doesn't speak. He's about to present the longest sermon, the longest speech in the Book of Acts, longer than Peter's Pentecost sermon. Don't worry; we're not going to walk through it line by line; but I want to give you his two main points. First of all, your view of God reflects your ignorance of your own history. His critics were saying God is at work in us and only through us; and he says don't you know that God is always been at work outside of Palestine? He's done great work in Mesopotamia. He's done great work in Sinai. He showed His power and glory in Egypt, and He's not relegate to one place or to this temple. He's calling people now from ALL nations to come to Him. Secondly, he says, your rejection of Jesus is just typical for you. It's consistent with your own history. Just look at your ancestors. You rejected Joseph. Joseph was sold into slavery by his fellow brothers. Moses wanted to lead our people out of slavery. What happened then? He was rejected twice. The first time somebody said,? Hey, Moses, who made you prince and king over us? The second time they whined and fumbled against him almost every day "Oh, why did we have to leave Egypt? Take us back to Egypt." And so here's his punch line Acts 7:51: "You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still incircumcised. You're just like your ancestors." Ever anybody said "You're just like your dad or your mom"? You're just like your ancestors. This is not a compliment. "You always resist the Holy Spirit." "Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered Him, murdered Jesus -- you who received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it." Unless you think Stephen is being too harsh, remember, these are the same people, many of whom who voted to execute Jesus. So they have been hard-hearted; they resisted the three years of the ministry of Jesus; they have been resisting now for five to seven years the ministry of the apostles; so they're hard-hearted; they're resisting; they're misleading the people. Hey, by the way, let me just pause and ask you something: When someone speaks truth to you and it cuts and it offends -- and by the way, just because you're offended doesn't mean you're right -- do you listen? Are you open? You can either soak it up or shut it out. Members of the Sanhedrin have no idea how blessed they are to have someone speaking the truth to them. Grace and truth. Hopefully they will respond. Hopefully they will soften their hearts and turn to the Lord. But unfortunately, verse 54, "When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed gnashed teeth at them but Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God." This is the only time of the New Testament where Jesus is pictured standing at the right hand of God, usually seated. Bible scholars wonder about this; most people say -- and I think it's true -- He's standing -- you know, Stephen stood for Jesus. Jesus stands for Stephen. I believe Jesus is standing; He knows what is about to happen; He's activated; and He's ready to welcome Stephen home. Stephen say, "I see heaven open, the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." The second thing I want to highlight is the message of Jesus brings both conviction and comfort. Conviction before, before comfort, too, my friends. God gets our attention by telling us the truth; and Stephen spoke grace and truth to the Sanhedrin. You do know that truth without grace is just hopeless. It's just, all it is, is just law. It's hopeless. But grace without truth is just sentimentalism. So verse 57 "At this, they covered their ears and yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at Stephen. They tracked him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their kepts at the feet of a young man named Saul." Now we're introduced to the future apostle Paul. By the way, why were they laying their coats at his feet? So they could throw harder. "While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." Just a little side bar here. Sometimes you will hear someone say, "You should only pray to God the Father. Father, Son, Holy Spirit. You should only pray to God the Father." Nobody told Stephen that. "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." "Then he fell on his knees and cried out, Lord, do not hold this sin against them." Sound pretty familiar, doesn't it? At the cross? "Father, forgive them; Father, forgive them." "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." When he said this, he fell asleep. Hey, let's not hydroplane over this. Let's not just pretend like this is only for Sunday School. We're taught as Christians to be full of grace and to not get into mud wrestling matches. Do you know how hard it is to be falsely accused, to be mistreated? And then to have the wherewithal -- is this even possible, to have the wherewithal to pray, "Lord, forgive them. Lord, do not lay this sin to their charge." How in the WORLD can you do that? The only way you can do that, my friends, is if you are tunnel and not a wall. It's the only way. You got to be a tunnel, not a wall. You see, if you're a wall and every slight, every offense, every wrong, even every perceived wrong, it just hits you and it stays there; it either sticks or it just eventually slides down to the bottom of the wall, and it petrifies and decays and it stinks. You're absorbing it all. But if you're a tunnel, that junk goes THROUGH you to the Lord because the Lord says "I need you not to engage in escalating hostilities. I need you not to return evil for evil. I need you to return good for evil and if there is any justice or retribution that needs to be repaid, I will handle it," says the Lord. "Justice is mine, says the Lord." Now, listen, if that were on a Hallmark card, I wouldn't give it two cents. If that were from a statue or a monument somewhere, I wouldn't give it two cents. But when the Living All-Seeing All-Knowing, Powerful God say, I pay attention "And justice is mine," says the Lord. But you got to be that tunnel. In other words, you don't need to tarnish your testimony. You don't need to tarnish your witness and your influence by engaging in tit-for-tal low-road behavior. We can return good for evil; we don't need to mud wrestle. People are watching. Your children are watching. Your grandchildren are watching. Your friends are watching. We got to imitate the character of Christ. Stanley Jones was a well-known missionary. He was criticized; he was attacked; and he got MAD. He decided he was going to write a letter in response and let his critics HAVE it! And so he did. Before e-mailed that letter, he allowed some of his wise friends to review it. One friend wrote three words: Not sufficiently redemptive. In other words, you have to give people room to be redeemed and reclaimed and for relationships to be rebuilt. Hey, there's a third thing I want you to write down, and that is the death of a Christian is the crowning moment of their life. That's true for Stephen. It will be true for you and me. It will be the crowning moment of our life. You say, "Well, Stephen was a martyr. He lost." He didn't lose. His martyrdom doesn't mean that evil people won or that Satan won; it means Satan lost. It means there are Christians the globe over, in past and in present, who will choose death over defection. We need to remember and be inspired by their conviction that they would rather die than deny Jesus Christ. The death of a Christian is the crowning moment of your life because for you to be absent in the body is to be present with the Lord; and precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. And the moment you close your eyes here, you open your eyes in glory. There will never be a moment, Christian friend, when you are away from the Presence of the Lord; to be absent in the body is to be present with the Lord. Here's a fourth thing I want you to write down: We never know the impact of our testimony before others. We just don't know. Many Bible students believe it's Stephen's martyrdom that was so instrumental in the conversion of Saul of Tarsus. It softened his heart; it raised questions. I know this -- later in the Book of Acts when apostle Paul gives his testimony -- read in Acts 22 -- he mentions "I was there when Stephen died for the Lord. I heard Stephen say, `I see the Lord standing. I see the glory of the Lord. 'I heard Stephen say, "Lord, do not lay this sin to their charge." You never know whom you may be influencing, often without knowing it. Sometimes your influence shining in your success, but often it shines in your duress in times of difficulty. Here's the last thing, number five: We never know what God can use to advance the Gospel. We just don't. Our God is a WISE and Creative Missionary, and He wants the message of salvation, the message of salvation in Jesus, to get out. You just never know what God can use to advance the Gospel. Think about this in the early church. Here they are. One of their leaders has been murdered, and THEN an incredible amount of persecution breaks out. Try marketing that, folks. That's not good church marketing. Steven's been murdered, persecution is breaking out against all who name the Name of Jesus Christ. So uh-oh, I guess the church is gonna be in shambles here, right? I guess it's gonna fold. It will see a terrible day. Not at all. NEVER underestimate the heart and the wisdom and the Providence of our Great God and what He can use to propel the Gospel. Message forward. Acts 8:1. "And Saul was there, given approval to his death. And on that day, a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and" look at this "All except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. And those who were scattered preached the Word wherever they went." Starting here, you're going to see an explosion of the church geographically; ethnically. How does that happen? They have been in Jerusalem. They sort of have been bottle-necked in Jerusalem. So how does God advance and propel the Gospel forward? Answer: The murder of a really good man and increasing, escalating persecution and opposition. Only the apostles are staying in Jerusalem; everybody else is spreading, but they're not spreading and hiding. They're spreading and witnessing. They're spreading in their teaching. They're spreading in their living for Jesus Christ. And all of a sudden now you're going to see the church continue to thrive. Sometimes God will use incredible times of peace, and sometimes God will use times of pain and persecution, but He is a wise and creative evangelist. You know, God can use a bad back as an avenue for the Gospel to spread. God can use a divorce as an avenue for you to have a conversation with someone about Jesus Christ. God can use someone who's prone to depression. God can use a bad, a really bad decision you made as an opportunity for the Gospel to advance. God can use your love for basketball. I mean, my goodness; how many basketball coaches have influenced people in tremendous ways? God can use your bpm knee or the loss of a job. One of the best definitions of outreach I have ever heard is this: Ordinary people doing ordinary things with Gospel intentionality. Your dog can be an opportunity for the advancement of the Gospel. You take your dog for a walk. You see people; you stop; you chat; you talk. Getting a pacemaker can be an opportunity to advance the Gospel. Talk to Gary McLaughlin about it. He had a pacemaker there and before the surgeon does the thing, "We play music in here. What kind of music do you like?" He said, "I like Christian music. I want to hear contribution music." "We'll see if we can put on Christian music." One of the other medical workers said, "I can LOVE that song!" And started singing along to the song. And one of the other medical workers, one of the nurses said," oh, yeah, I love that song, too." Gary said, "I'm lying there and wanted Christian music going and all of a sudden there's a little quartet just singing right along with the music. And those in the room who were not believers got serenaded that day." You mean to tell me God used the murder of a good man and escalating opposition to do something good? My friends, all thing work together for the good of those who love the Lord and are called for His purpose. Now, I hope when you reflect on the story Stephen he will become your hero, too. He is inspiring. He was a tunnel; he wasn't a wall. He was full of grace and truth, bold when he needed to be bold; but he had the spirit and mind set that said, "Lord, here am I; use me. I'm willing to take initiative. I'm willing to accept responsibility. I'm willing to accept hardship." If your assignment is not to the comfy chair, I'm yourS. Use me. Here I am. Now, before I close, I want you to be aware of this. Every day, 13 Christians worldwide are killed because of their faith. Every day, 12 church building, Christian churches, are attacked. Every day, on average, 12 Christians are unjustly arrested or imprisoned, and another five are abducted. These are numbers from the 2021 World Watch List. The president of that group says this, "You might think this is all about oppression." No, no, you don't need to think of it that way. "You need to think about it in terms of Christian resilience. With these numbers, you would think that God's people are suffering so much that the church would be dying and dwindling and that Christians would be keeping quiet, losing their faith, turning away from one another. But that's not what is happening. Instead, in living color, we see the Truth of God as recorded in Scripture where He says, even in the wilderness I will make a way. Even in a desert, I will make a way." God is at work in His people, and we get to be just part of that. And nothing beats being used by the Lord. Troy, be making your way up here. Let me remind you that persecution comes to you as well and any time there's fizzable; financial; social; relational; financial; political pressure placed on you so that you will step into the shadows, that you will lose your clarity so that you will compromise your Christian values and witness, that's Persian cushion -- persecution. You be strong and courageous. It's worth it. God bless you, everybody. Thank you for being with us online as well. Know that we love you and care. Troy is going to come and pray boldly over us. >> Troy: Thank you, Ronnie, for bringing a great word this morning. Church, would you pray with me? Lord, we thank You for this reminder this morning about how You do have everything under control, Lord. But You use us to bring about Your plans, Father. So this morning we reflect on the lesson and the things that You have brought to our attention that we should imitate, Lord. We look to Stephen this morning, and we ask that in our lives You would bring us the wisdom of Your Spirit, Father. Lord, that we would be reminded of our history with You and how You brought us to where we are in our lives and would give us the boldness to speak out and act on our convictions that we have but to remember we always need to have compassion on others. Lord, help us to not be a stiff-necked people, resisting Your Word and the Holy Spirit but to be obedient to the Word in our hearts. We recognize the value of Your Priceless Gift to us, the gift for all men, that we have the right to be children of God and spend eternity with You. Lord, be with each and every one of us in this time of financial, political, and social unrest; and help us to keep our eyes on Jesus as our Sole Provider and Counselor and Savior. In Jesus' Name, amen. >> Shane: Amen. Thank you, Troy. Well, just a few things as we close today. First is in case you didn't know, we have Bible classes for all ages at the hour just before this one, 9:45 to 10:45 for kids, students, and adults. We have places where you can dig into God's Word together in Christian community. That's a wonderful, apostle thing. For those of you watching online, we have an online class at 12:30 to check out so hang on where you are and will begin at 12:30. Second, ladies, remember the Shawna's Table cookie and fellowship event is this Saturday morning from 10:00 to noon. The cost is $45. Register online so go and do that so they can get ready for that Saturday morning. The Movie under the Moon -- this coming Saturday is a great opportunity, okay? We want to be a presence at sugarland Town Square and tell people about our community. This week from 5:00 to 7:00 before the movie, there's a chili cook-off. Hey, everyone at church, if you can come, take part. Be there. Let's represent and make this a great event in our community, okay? So there will be music; there will be game; there will be chili tasting; what's not to like, right? If you can, be with us this Saturday, Sugarland Town Square, 5:00 p.m. on ward and hope to see you there. Finally, what Ronnie said about Easter is April 17, three services at 7:00, 9:00, and 11:00. Then next week we have a baptism class at 9:45. We would love for you to join us if you have not been baptized or have questions about that or if I can help you in anyway. Come meet me in the classroom in the gym at 9:45 for the baptism class. I'd love to visit with you there. Then Baptism Sunday, next Sunday afternoon, 1:00. Anyone that comes in to the lobby and wants to be baptized are welcome. We'd love to serve you in that way. Well, we get to be ordinary people doing ordinary things with Gospel intentionality and in the Power of the Holy Spirit this week so church, are we ready to go and be sent to do that now? Let's do that -- yeah, and sing one more song first. Let's stand >> Richard: Amen, let's stand! ("Good God Almighty" playing.) >> Richard: Let's sing it is, church! Thank you, church, for your worship today! You are dismissed!