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 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 great resource where you can stay connected to First Colony Church. Thank you for joining us today. We're glad you're here. >> Richard: Good morning, church! Is everybody ready to worship the Lord this morning? You know, the Bible tells us in Psalm 145:3 the Lord is great and deserves all of our praise. Other translations say the Lord is great and greatly to be praised. So let's all stand and give God all the praise that we can give Him, amen? He is worthy! ("God So Loved" playing.) >> Richard: Here we go! >> Richard: Yes, do you believe that this morning? For God so loved the world He gave His One and Only Son; that whoever believes will not die, will not perish, but have everlasting life. Let's continue to worship. ("We Praise You" playing.) >> Richard: Come on, church, let's give Him praise! He is worthy! You may be seated as we prepare to take communion together. >> Amen. Get your communion cups out. When the Israelites are about to head off out of Egypt on the wilderness journey to the Promised Land, they had the first Passover; and God says, take the Lamb and eat it so that you would have energy for the journey. Take the Lamb in so you have what you need to make the journey; and then thousands of years later Jesus at Passover said, "Take this, which represents Me," the Lamb in, "So you have what you need for the journey." This is why we do this every week. Let's pray. Thank You so much for being the Lamb that provides what we need for the journey. Without You, we do not have what we need but with You have all that we need. We thank You so much for that and ask for Your blessing as we take the bread that reps Your body as we take the cup that represents Your blood. Lord, we believe we have all that we need in You. It's in Jesus' Name we pray, amen. Go ahead and take the bread and cup. Here's a Scripture. >> Matthew 28:16-20. (Reading.) ("King of My Heart" playing.) >> Richard: Why don't we all stand together and continue to worship the Lord? >> Richard: Let's sing that chorus one more time. >> Amen. >> Grant: Thanks to that. Let's time to pray over our offering but before we do, but let me remind you that if you're online, it's safe, secure, and easy to set up. If you're here, we have giving bins at the exits; but church, thank you for being the body of Christ as we come together and give our offering to our King. Let's pray over that this morning. Father, You Are good. You Are good, and Your love endures forever; and we are privileged to be called Your own. We are privileged to be children of the King; and Father, we remember You as we take communion what a grateful children we are to our Father. Father, we have victory in You; we have triumph in You. Our joy comes from You so with that joy we come with all that we are and have. We give You our time; talents; possesses; lay them at Your throne and say, use this for Your glory and for You and Your kingdom. We pray this all in the Powerful Name of Jesus. And all the church said amen. >> Joel: Amen! Well, good morning, everyone. It is so good to see you all here on this beautiful Sunday morning. So guess what? This week is Vacation Bible School, and we're really excited. A lot of work has been done, and our VBS this year is a water theme. Picture the concept of dropping a stone into a smooth lake and the ripples that go beyond, making waves. We want to make waves for Jesus. Now, our verse this year comes to us from John 7:38 that says "He who believes in Me, as Scripture has said, from his in most being will flow rivers of living water." And this VBS, we want to flow Christ's water to our neighbors and people who come. And so I have an illustration here which I think is pretty cool. Basically I'm putting water in, and we're pretending this is living water like so. And the thing is, is that we want our water to flow into the lives of other people. Now, sometimes, though, it's hard to get that water flow out into the lives of other people. I know; isn't that weird? Don't you look at that and say what?! It's that water tension, right? All right, well, so our goal as a believer is to not hold on to the water for ourselves but to let it flow out. And that's why I wanted to challenge you. In a moment, I'm going to pray for all of our leaders who are serving in ANY manner what you decorated; you made food; you're teaching in a class; whenever you're serving, we're going to pray for you. But I'm also going to pray for the KIDS who were here who are attending VBS because most likely if you're in church today, you believe in God, and you have that living water inside of you. And we probably have 50% of our neighbors who we don't know if they believe in God or not. And so I want to challenge you kids to be missionaries in your classroom. Follow what the teacher says; be an example; talk to your friends; ask them "What did you think of that story? Do you have living water inside of you? Do you know how to get that?" That's my prayer for you. So now in first service, normally you do this with a volunteer. You have a volunteer stand here and you put the water over them. I try and I put my head under it and that same thing happened first service, which is the weirdest thing. But, you know, there are verses -- the goal is we want our water to come out and be a blessing to those around. If you have any part in VBS, I don't care what it is, would you stand? And students who are going to VBS, I want you to stand, too. Would you stand as well? We're going to pray for you. Good job. Thank you. Way to go. All right. Dear Heavenly Father, I thank You for each individual here and the fact that You have filled us with Your living water, which is something that we want to share with those around us. And Father, I pray You equip our leaders equip our children to share Your living water and this VBS week would be incredible as we point to You and that they would know they could make waves for Jesus. We pray these things in Jesus' Name. Amen. >> Shane: Need a volunteer? >> Joel: Ready? Mostly. But, you know, the goal is it would all come out. (Laughter.) On top of someone but not get them totally wet. Thank you, Shane. On that, I better leave. (Laughter.) (Applause.) >> Grant: All right; Shane trusts Joel a lot more than I do. As always, thank you, Joel. We're excited about VBS. All right. So this is a great time if you're a member or guest to go ahead and fill out a Connection card for us. There's cards in the back of your seat. If you like the digital, you can scan that QR code. If you're online with us, just click that “Connect Card" button. We'd love to hear from you and know you're here and hear your prayer requests. Our staff prays for you by name every week, and if there's ministries you want to learn more about, let us know about that as well. If you're a guest with us this morning, thank you so much for joining us. If you made it over from our movie end of the moon last night and came to join us, thank you so much for that as well. We're excited to have you with us. We've got a special room called "New Here? Start Here" across the lobby and after service we invite you to come over. We have a gift for you and staff and volunteers that would love to meet you and answer questions and see you there. All right, it is time for Main Street Live! release so if you're in first to fifth grade, head back to the center aisles doors right here. This is an age-appropriate kid worship service. Parents, if you haven't signed your kids in, go to the chapel and get them signed in for Main Street Live! For everybody else, it's time to stand up and this is our fellowship greeting. Say hello to the folks around you; maybe ask them what they're up to this summer. If you're online, it's a great time to jump in the chat box to say hello. We'd love to know you're here with us. ("From the Day" playing.) >> Richard: Thank you, church, for your worship! You may be seated! >> Kyle: Thank you, Richard and team. By the way, give our team and all our Sunday volunteers another round of applause. (Applause.) We are so thankful for them. Sundays wouldn't operate without them. Well, good morning, everybody. Good morning. Good morning. My name is Kyle, and it's good to see you. It's an honor to be here. Let me welcome those of you in person again and let me welcome those of you joining us online. We have some new members to introduce to our church family this morning, Matt and Jennifer McKenzie. They sit in this area, I was told -- oh, they're over here. And you saw Matt on stage and their daughters Cadence and Caroline. (Applause.) We are so thankful for their presence and for their time with us here this morning. Anybody else as excited about Vacation Bible School as I am? I am fired up, y'all. My family's already set our alarm for tomorrow. We're ready to get up and get after it. I love VBS and will be here. My daughters will be here and it's -- we're super excited. Be praying over our time the next few days, praying over our kiddos and over our teachers and group leaders. Everybody that is involved, it takes an army to do that. We are in a message series here on Sunday mornings called "Acts: Spirit, Mission, and Drama." We are covering the book of Acts and today will be in Acts 14:8-22. If you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn there. We'll be there in just a moment. We are in the first church-planting, globetrotting trek of Paul and Barnabas. They take three of these trips in the Book of Acts. We're still in the first. By the way, if you want more information about the trips that are in the Books the Acts of the Apostles, I have a recommendation of the book. It's called The Untold Story of the New Testament Church by writer, author, and speaker Frank Viola. Let me give you a synopsis of the book. It weaves the Acts of the Apostles together with Paul's epistles in a chronological fashion and gives you this really dynamic "You are there" approach to the book. In fact, it's one of the most influential books I have ever read. I encourage you to pick that up. Viola, in his book, describes the city where Paul and Barnabas travel in their first so-called missionary journey. They are in the region of Galatia. Let me give you a little bit of information about these cities from this book. The cities are full of superstition and false gods. The people who live in these cities are impoverished. The cities themselves are dirty and they're smelly and they're unsafe. They're full of disease and full of malnutrition with extremely low life expectancy. In other words, this region in the cities of these trips, especially the first trip, these are not idyllic places to visit and really makes us wonder if we're gonna be honest, it makes us wonder why these two guys, Paul and Barnabas, bother to go there in the first place. So with that in mind, I want to introduce you to John Chau. I think we have a picture of John. John began to follow Jesus in the year 2008 when he turned 17 years old. He called himself -- and I love this phrase -- he called himself "an apprentice of Jesus." Isn't that great? That's what he called himself. Soon after he gave his life to Jesus, he took his first missionary trip and it was on that missionary trip where he realized that the Lord had placed a burden on his heart to be a missionary. And it was also during that time where he learned of the Sentinelese people. They're one of the world's last unreached people groups. They live on the island called the North Sentinel Island off the coast of India. This island has been called the most dangerous island in the world because the people have killed anyone who has ever attempted to make contact. The people live in isolation and lived that way since the beginning of human history. I want you to think of the things you learned in school about the history of the world. Any one thing, the Sentinelese people know nothing of that world and the empires that have risen and fallen. They know nothing of the wars that have been won and lost. They have resisted contact with all outsiders. And no one on the outside of this island knows their culture or their language or their history. Once John Chau learned of these people, he felt God leading him to make contact with them with one purpose in mind: to share the Gospel with them. So he spent the next nine years of his life in preparation to do just that and earned his undergraduate degree while living in the dorm and had a picture of the island taped to his wall so he saw it every day. He took linguistics courses, hoping that would help him decipher their language. He took cold showers in anticipation of a life without hot water. He earned his certification as a wilderness emergency medical technician to provide the Sentinelese with basic health care and received as many vaccinations as he could to protect the lack of immunity of the people. He had laser eye surgery because he didn't want to worry about contact lenses and learned to disciple young men while coaching a soccer league for immigrants and worked in an after-school program for at-risk kids in Tulsa, Oklahoma. After he graduated college and got his first real job, he lived off of $30 a week, $30 a week, saving the rest of his income specifically to fund his mission. He did that for nine years and did this while thinking and praying of the Sentinelese people. He had a couple of plans. Plan A was this, to make contact with the Sentinelese people, to live with them as long as it took to learn their language to eventually share the Gospel with them. And John knew that plan could take decades. And plan B was this. Plan B was what would happen if the people didn't welcome him. He knew the last time any outsiders had made contact with the Sentinelese people were in 2006. They were killed. And he knew that was a real possibility. By November 2018, all the preparations had been made. There was nothing more for him to do except approach the island. That's what he did. He hired a local fishing boat to take them and approach him, to make an approach towards the island; and then he rode to the island in a kayak. When he got to the North Sentinel Island, he brought fish and gifts and told the islanders in the English language his name. “My name is John Chau, and Jesus loves you." While he was there, the islanders shot at him with arrows. He left his kayak there and his back in his kayak and swam back to the fishing boat. In his pack was his passport so he knew once he got back to the boat he was stuck. There was nowhere he could go. That night before he fell asleep, this is what he wrote in his journal. "I'm scared. There. I said it. I'm also frustrated and uncertain. Is it worth me going on foot to meet them? Now they have attached me to the gifts. Lord, that You will be close. If You want me to get shot or even killed with an arrow, then so be it. I think, though, that I could be more useful alive; but to You, God, I give all the glory, whatever happens." The next morning, November 16, he awoke, and he wrote this in what would be his final journal entry because he was going to love his journal with the captains of the fishing boat because he knew whatever happened to him, whatever happened, whether he lived or died, he may never see his family again. This is what he wrote: "Mom and Dad, you guys might think I'm crazy in all this, but I think it's worth it to declare Jesus to these people. Please do not be angry at them or God if I get killed. Rather, please live your guides as obedience to whatever He has called you to, and I will see you again when you pass through the veil. This is not a pointless thing. The eternal lives of this tribe are at hand, and I can't wait to see them around the throne of God, worshiping in their language, as Revelation 7 states. I love you all and pray none of you love anything in this world more than Jesus Christ. Soli Deo Gloria." Then he signed his name. A few hours after he wrote these words on November 16, 2018, John Chau was killed by the Sentinelese people. He died a martyr, and his body was buried on the shore of the island. I want us to read one verse from today's text. It's actually near the end of the story. We'll cover the context in a moment, but it's worth reading now. This is from Acts 14:19. (Reading.) They pelted Paul with rocks and boulders and dragged him out of the city, presuming him to be dead. We have to ask this question again: why would anyone do this? Why would anyone do what Paul and Barnabas did? Why would anyone do what John Chau did? Why would Paul and Barnabas leave the comforts of their lives? By all accounts, Barnabas was a fairly wealthy man, and Paul was on a trajectory to have academic prestige. Why would they leave that for unsafe cities? Why would they do that? Why would they leave that, to risk their lives for people who would ultimately try to kill them? And why would John Chau do this, embarking upon what many called, before he took his trip, as a death sentence mission to the world's most dangerous island? Why would these guys do that? Here's why: because they knew three critical things about Jesus that make it worth it all, three things. I will show you what those three things are and what they knew. We will use our text as a template; but really, you can use any text about Paul to show and to prove these three critical things. Here's the first thing: they knew what Jesus had done. Why would they do all this? Because they knew what Jesus had done. Let's look and see how this text opens from Acts 14:6-7. But Paul and Barnabas found out about a threat to their lives in Iconium so they fled to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbe and surrounding country -- look at verse 7 -- where they continued to preach the Gospel. That verse, verse 7, this is not an innocuous statement. These guys weren't mere travelers but had purpose, and that purpose was fueled by the Gospel, by the story of what Jesus has done. But has He done? The greatest answer to this question is found in a story from the Gospel of Luke, 18:15-17. We'll zoom in on this interaction between Jesus and His disciples and some moms and dads. You know what Jesus has done? Let's read this together. This is Luke 18:15-17. "Now, people were bringing their babies to Him, to Jesus, for Him to touch; but when the disciples saw it, they began to scold those who brought them." Verse 16. "But Jesus -- I loved this -- called for the children, saying, let the little children come to Me and don't try to stop them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth; whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will never enter it." What's going on here? Let me give you some background. There is a high infant mortality rate in this era in which Jesus lived, high infant mortality; and the parents of these kiddos brought their children to this holy Man, to Jesus. They don't know much about Him other than what they have seen. They don't know the Gospel story like that. They know He's a special Guy. They think -- they hope -- that His blessing on their lives will extend their lives and give them a chance for survival. Jesus blessed them, but He did something else here. He did something that these moms and dads, they couldn't quite understand. Jesus gave them the kingdom of God. The moms and dads didn't understand this for a couple of reasons. This was not necessarily the blessing they wanted. They wanted something that would extend the lives of their children. This is a little confusing. But the second reason why they didn't quite understand it was when they heard this phrase, when they heard the phrase "the kingdom of God," when they heard that phrase, they immediately thought -- and they knew this -- that phrase meant one thing, a community of righteous law followers. How could babies receive this kingdom? How could they receive this kingdom? Babies cannot follow the law. They're helpless. They can't do it. They're not even respected in that culture because so many of them die so quickly. These babies, these children, they were obviously unworthy and unable to earn bonus points for living morally and living righteously; but none of that mattered. None of that mattered. Jesus still gave them the gift of a lifetime here, gave them a gift of a lifetime without rules and regulations. In essence, by giving them the kingdom, He gave them freedom. He released them from expectations that they would never be able to meet anyway. Paul and Barnabas knew this. In fact, they knew more and knew what these parents didn't know. They knew that with the death and the resurrection of Jesus, this gift of the kingdom of God was certified. This is the Gospel; this is the Gospel, and this is what propelled these guys. I want you to listen to what they stay later in Acts 14:15. If you're there, you can skim down. They said this to the citizens of this city after these citizens confused them and mistook them for being gods. Listen to what Paul and Barnabas said. "We're bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the Living God, Who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them." In other words, the Living God requires nothing. This is some breaking news here: the Living God does not require your worship. The Living God does not require your service. The Living God creates things. He creates things. You have nothing that He needs, but you have everything that He wants. THIS is what Jesus has done. By His death and His resurrection, He frees us -- frees us -- to live righteously; and we receive the kingdom of God. He frees us this way, not because we're compelled to live in certain ways but because we want to. The amazing, astounding love and grace of Jesus is so compelling that we WANT to live the right way. We WANT to love others the way that we love ourselves. We honor marriage the way it was created to be because we want to. We value human life from the moment of conception, knowing that God wonderfully makes us, because we want to. We do all of this because we want to. This is the gift of freedom. This is the gift of the kingdom of God. God is not in the business of making you do ANYTHING. This is the first thing that Paul and Barnabas knew about Jesus. This is the first thing that pushed them into unsavory places. They knew what Jesus has done. The second thing they knew is they knew what Jesus CAN DO. They knew what Jesus can do. I want you to listen to this great interaction in Lystra and one of my most favorite stories in this entire book from Acts 14:8-10. Listen to this. "In Lystra there sat a man who was paralyzed and had been that way from birth and never walked. He listened to Paul while he was speaking, and Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be held;" and verse 10, "Called out, stand up on your feet. At that, the man jumped up and began to walk." Look at that. Paul SAW that the man had the faith to be healed. What an amazing phrase! We aren't told exactly how this happened. We're not told exactly what it was that Paul saw from this man, but here's what I imagine. Here's what I think happened. As Paul was sharing the Gospel with the people in Lystra, this man, paralyzed from birth, sitting on the ground, for the first time in his life, tried to stand. I think he took Paul at his word. I think he believed everything Paul was saying. I think he thought that his legs would work for the first time. I think Paul saw that, validated his response, and with the power of Jesus, he healed him with an amazing miracle. This man in this small town, known to have never walked, is jumping through the streets. What an amazing sight, the miracle of healing. I want you to listen to how author Calvin Miller describes the miracle of healing in his book Miracles and Wonders. It's an amazing thing. A miracle of healing sends the power of God into that strange inner world of 98.6-degree darkness. There, beneath the surface of our personalities, lies a cosmos of gristle and pulsating tendons of ventricles and spongy glands of rubbery pipes and cartilage when a miraculous healing occurs. God enters this soft and unseen world. The amino acids then stand to attention, nuclei bow in preparation for the coming storm of renovation; and God's miracle visits the dark, warm world of biology. That happened to this man. And to people who thought that coincidence was the grease behind the workings of the world, Paul brought the power of God. He revealed to these people a glimpse, just a glimpse, of heaven where pain and where tears are erased. This is what Jesus CAN do. He can bend the natural laws of our world, giving us a glimpse into the new world into which we will one day be born. THIS is what Jesus can do. THIS is what Paul and Barnabas knew about Jesus that propelled them even further to do things they never thought they could do. Here's the third thing they knew about Jesus: they knew what Jesus WILL do. Let's return to the first verse that we read in our time together this morning from a few moments ago. We'll add some context. We read Acts 14:19. We'll start in verse 18. Let's read this together. "Even with these words, Paul and Barnabas was trying to communicate they weren't gods. They were telling the crowds this, even with these words, Paul and Barnabas had difficulty keeping the crowd from sacrificing to them. But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and after winning the crowds over, they stoned Paul, pelted him with rocks, dragged him out of the city, presuming him to be dead." Look at the change in the crowd between verse 18 and 19. This adoring crowd in verse 18, the crowd that believed Paul and Barnabas to be Greek gods, in verse 19 turned against these guys. The crowd who wanted to sacrifice to Paul and Barnabas were now willing to sacrifice them. And this man, this Paul, THIS guy -- Paul, who once earlier in this book used violence to persecute, who watched with approving eyes as rocks and stones hit the body of another disciple in Acts 7 -- this Paul, this man is now the same guy in Acts 14 whose body is receiving that very same violence. And get this: the God who earlier healed the paralyzed man does not heal His servant Paul, at least not in the same way, not with the miraculous changing of molecules and atoms. But He does heal him in another miraculous way, and it's in that very moment, I think, where Paul learned what Jesus WILL do. Paul's almost dead, lying on the ground. His body bloody; dirty; eyes swollen; bruises all over him; it's that guy that received something unexpected. Let’s read Acts 14:20 together. This is great one, y'all. "But when the disciples gathered about him" -- let's read that again. "But when the disciples gathered around him, he rose up, and he entered the city. And on the next day he went on with Barnabas to Derbe. The remnant of believers in this city, those not part of this fickle crowd, gathered -- that's all they did. They gathered around the lifeless body of Paul and a miracle occurred. It wasn't the miracle of restored molecules, but it was the miracle of a restored community. This small group of disposals in an antagonistic city gave Paul the strength to not retreat but to go back into the city where he was attacked. THIS is what Jesus will do. He provides a family where there's vacuum. He provides strength where there's weakness. He provides healing in the disarray, and He does this through you, through the community of believers. It's not always the renewal of our broken bodies, but it is the renewal of a broken heart; and Jesus will do that FOR you EVERY SINGLE TIME. This is what Jesus will do. These three things, knowing what Jesus has done, what He can do, and what He will do -- these are the things John Chau knew in 2018. And these are the things that Paul and Barnabas knew in A.D. 48, and these are the things that you and I know here in 2022. We know what Jesus that has done; we know what He can do; and we know what He will do. These things provide the wind at our backs. It's a faith in the work of Jesus that makes us believe that Jesus, He really is worth it. It's the faith that propelled Paul to the next city and to the next when he could have easily abandoned his mission the moment he stood on his feet again. A few months before his death, John Chau wrote this in his journal. Our prayer leader, if you would join me on the stage, please. John wrote this: "I believe that the measure of success in the kingdom of God is obedience. I want my life to reflect obedience to Christ and to live in obedience to Him. I think that Jesus is worth it. He's worth everything." And He really is. He's worth it all. >> If you would, please bow your heads and let's pray. Almighty God, Heavenly Father, we're so grateful to You for Your love and grace and mercy; and the provisions You make for us, Father. Even in the hard times, Father, what many people are going through right now, help us as we read Your Word; and may we read it daily and reflect upon it and meditate upon it day and night. To realize these stories are real life so when we face these same things, Father, the difficulties, whether it has to do with finances or health or threats or the unknown, which is quite fearful; help us to realize that we can turn to You. Help us to realize, Father, that You gave us the armor to put on -- the helmet, the shield, the sword, the belt of truth, the feet shed with preparation. But You don't describe anything on the back. It's all about the front. So help us never to turn our backs on You, never turn or backs on the faith but to always face everything with the strength that comes from prayer with You, meditation with You, constantly keeping You in our heart and minds and souls with all the strength that we have to pray throughout the day. In every way, regardless of what comes, Father, and to pray with faith. And may we, like the sermon we just heard, realize what Jesus can do, has done, and will; what You will do; and have that confidence and that strength and that courage; that when people surround Russ, where we go, surround people to help us rise up again, get back with the purpose You have given us and the vision we have for our lives, whether we're eight or 80. What we see in life at the age of eight and if we make it to 80, turn around and see how we lived our lives. May it be all about You and Your will for us. As we pray daily, Father, we want to know what You want us to do; what You would have us to do. Just like the ones in the Old Testament and David always came; and he said, "Lord, what would You have me to do?” We seek Your guidance so give us that strength; help us to maintain our faith; help us to look for ways, Father, to be active in our faith; to always serve You; to know that regardless of what happens You have it. So we place our faith in You, Father, and we thank You so much for Your Holy Spirit. Help us to bear the fruit of that Spirit, Father, and realize the great joy that we have in all the good things that we have in life; that we're thankful they're this good, regardless of how bad someone thinks they may be. May we live active lives with You and when it comes time to depart this earth, we commend to You our spirit just like our faithful Lord, Jesus Christ, did. It's through His Name that we pray; amen. >> Grant: Amen. Thank you so much for that. All right, church. Let me make sure you guys know what is on the calendar. We have a lot of great things going on here at the First Colony Church of Christ. Of course this week is our VBS so make sure that you're praying, praying, praying. Volunteers, thank you all for being on mission this week to our own little ones here at the church as well as the community. So let's be praying over those volunteers, the work they're doing. So VBS ends in kind of a capstone event that will happen right here Wednesday night 6:30. Everybody is invited. This is called Fam Blitz. We are going to have grandparents, aunts; uncles; your neighbors; if you weren't involved in VBS, we still want you here. Fam Blitz is a fun event. My whole family will be here. They divide up this worship center into teams. We do these interactive game that are like Nickelodeon style type games and it is way too much fun. It gets loud; it is a lot of good energy in the room. So make sure you're here. It's a fun night with no class or Uplift. Everybody is in here for the fun festivities of Fam Blitz and will see you at 6:30 Wednesday night for that. Coming up in a couple of weeks on the 26th is a special class that is a homeschool spotlight. This will be 9:45 in the gym. This is specifically folks that want to learn more about homeschool or new connections, what families a part of First Colony are doing this. Or if you want to figure out how to get started or see some other different ways of learning. So if that's for you, we'll have this elective class, Homeschool Spotlight, on the 26th. Mamas that are here with young kids, kind of preschool age, we have a special series coming up called "Big Ideas for Young Minds." Think maybe story time at the library except even better. So our very own Missy Edgmon will lead this Tuesday mornings, 10:00 a.m. You will come up here. There will be songs; games; stories; activities, just a really unique time of telling stories but with some Biblical themes and Biblical world views to help us all. So make sure that's on your calendar that will start at the end of the month on Tuesday mornings. Church, we also want to take a second to pause and send our sympathies and our prayers to Ms. Irene Amada and her friends and family. She passed away this Wednesday. Irene was a great member of this church and a friend to many of us here. I've known her since I was in elementary school, just a dear lady; and today we're gonna have a celebration of her life in the chapel at 2:00. Everybody is invited. Let's keep her friends and family in our prayers this week and celebrate our life at 2:00. Church, we love you guys; we're praying for you this week; and let's close with one more song here in worship. >> Richard: Let's all stand. ("God So Loved" playing.) >> Richard: Thank you, church, for worshiping with us today! You are dismissed!