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>> 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.  

>> Richard: Good morning, First 

Colony.  How are you doing 

today?  I want to wish you all a 

happy Father's Day, all you 

dads.  I want to read some 

scripture for just a reminder 

how amazing your God and father 

is.  Just as God loves his 

children, so are those who fear 

and worship him.  Are you ready 

to worship the Lord this 

morning?  Let's all stand 

together and worship the Lord. 

\M "Your Love Awakens Me" \M

>> Richard: Yes.  The love of 

God never fails, amen.  The 

steadfast love of the Lord never 

ends.  What a faithful God.  

\M "My Jesus" \M

>> Richard: Amen.  Thank you for 

worshiping with us this morning.  

As we prepare to take communion 

together, you may be seated.  

>> Happy Father's Day, everyone.  

I'm Sam Walker.  These are my 

sons Elijah Walker and Levi.  I 

appreciate you all being with us 

here today.  We're just going to 

pray for the bread and for the 

cup.  Dear Lord, we thank you so 

much for the opportunity that 

you give us to realize just how 

much of a sacrifice that you 

made for us, how much you cared 

for us to send your son and it's 

so much more meaningful to me 

specifically, having my own 

sons, being able to have that 

association in love and not even 

being able to fathom that 

sacrifice that you made 

willingly on our behalf.  Lord, 

as we take this bread and we 

take this cup to symbolize that 

sacrifice, I pray that you just 

allow us to let it marinate and 

resonate on us, knowing how big 

a deal it is for us and how much 

you care for us.  In your name 

we pray.  

>> I will be reading from

Proverbs 3:3-8

Let love and faithfulness never 

leave you; bind them around your 

neck, write them on the tablet 

of your heart.

Then you will win favor and a 

good name in the sight of God 

and man.

>>

Trust in the Lord with all your 

heart and lean not on your own 

understanding; in all your ways 

submit to him, and he will make 

your paths straight. 

>>

Do not be wise in your own eyes; 

fear the Lord and shun evil.

This will bring health to your 

body and nourishment to your 

bones.

>> Please partake together. 

\M "Fires" \M

>> Kevin: We're going to pray 

for the offering right now.  We 

give every week.  There's ways 

you can give at the back, drop 

the check in or give online and 

texting.  I'm reminded on 

Father's Day where my father 

gave me and my brother $20 to go 

see a movie in Tinseltown.  I 

thought I could leave my 

brother, but the reality is my 

dad gave me his money to take 

care of someone else on his 

behalf.  That's why we give.  No 

matter why or what you're 

giving, this all goes back to a 

God who gave to us.  Let's ask 

for God's blessing.  Father, 

thank you for being our father.  

Lord, as we give back to you, 

that is our worship to you, 

knowing that you are good and 

you take care of us and we will 

have all that we need and we can 

confidently give.  We pray for 

blessing on this offering and 

know that you will use that for 

your blessing.  

>> Good morning.  My name is 

Missy Edgmon and I work as the 

women's minister here.  We're 

going to start big ideas for 

young minds.  They're story 

times and I'm going to use 

really simple picture books to 

talk about big ideas.  So I want 

to see who here in the audience 

is 10 years and younger.  Raise 

your hand if you're 10 years old 

or younger.  There are a few.  

You're going to help me find the 

big idea of faith when I read 

this book.  What the Bible says 

faith is the confidence we hope 

for and the assurance of what we 

do not see.  Every time you see 

an example of the little boy in 

here is going to be really, 

really sure he's right about 

something he can't even see.  

When you see that happening, I 

want you to actually say pause, 

say it loud enough that I can 

hear you, and we're going to 

look at it as an example of 

faith.  This is "The Carrot 

Seed" by Ruth Kraus.  This is 

the same artist that did "Harold 

and the Purple Crown."  A little 

boy planted a carrot seed.  His 

mother said, I'm afraid it won't 

come up.  His father said, I'm 

afraid it won't come up.  And 

his big brother said, it won't 

come up.  Every day the little 

boy pulled up the weeds around 

the seed and sprinkled the 

ground with water.  I heard a 

"pause."  It sounded like an 

older pause.  The little boy 

can't see the seed, right, but 

he knows how seeds work.  They 

need space to grow and he's 

going to give it water to grow 

strong, but he can't see it.  

That's faith.  But nothing came 

up.  And nothing came up.  Now, 

this one I'm going to pause 

because he doesn't look like 

he's doing anything here, but if 

you could see the picture 

closer, he's looking at the 

ground and any second something 

is going to pop out of that 

ground.  He's not forgetting 

that there is something under 

there that is typographical, 

even though he cannot see it.  

This is faith too and everyone 

kept saying, it would not come 

up, but he still pulled up the 

seeds every day and sprinkled 

the ground with water.  You've 

got it.  And this is called 

being persistent.  He's not just 

pulling up weeds one time and 

watering it one time and 

watching and saying, I guess I 

was wrong about that.  He's 

actually continuing to have 

faith.  This is something that 

is very persistent to God when 

we're persistent with our faith.  

Then one day a carrot came up, 

just as the little boy had known 

it would.  This is an awesome 

ending.  

When the Bible is talking about 

us having faith, is it foggy us 

having faith in a carrot?  No.  

It's talking about us having 

faith in God.  We can't see God, 

but the spirit of God is all 

around us working all the time 

and for those of us who believe 

in Jesus, the spirit of faith is 

in us.  If we have faith, we're 

going to make space and weed out 

the things crowding the spirit 

of God and we're going to water 

and put in the things that 

strengthen our faith in God, 

like come together with other 

believers and the thing is when 

we see him, he's going to go, 

look at what you let me grow in 

you.  Well done, my faithful 

servant.  Thank you.  

[ Applause ] 

[\M\M\M] 

>> Today is a special day and 

it's bigger than we think, 

because there are many different 

kinds of fathers and they all 

need to be recognized and 

honored today.  Today we honor 

those fathers who consistently 

strive to balance loving their 

wives and children with being 

good, godly workers at their 

jobs.  May you feel the pleasure 

of God.  Today we honor those 

dads who have poor fathers 

themselves, but who have 

committed to never become the 

father they grew up under.  May 

your children continue to be 

guarded from any of the hurt you 

carry.  Today we honor the 

fathers who are older and who no 

longer have day-to-day 

obligations to their children.  

May the family gatherings this 

weekend feel like you could do 

it all over again.  Today, we 

honor the adult children of 

fathers who are absent.  May the 

God of the fatherless become 

your Father in ways you only 

dream of and may you believe 

with your whole heart that his 

leaving wasn't your fault.  

Today we honor men who have no 

children of their own, but who 

father younger men as mentors 

and guides.  May you see your 

important roles as impacting and 

life-changing.  And finally 

today, we honor fathers who have 

passed away.  May their good 

deeds live on through you and 

their careless deeds be 

corrected in your lifetime.  

Today is a special day.  So for 

all the fathers we mentioned and 

even those we didn't, be 

honored, be blessed, and be 

joyful.  We believe that you 

have what it takes to change the 

world, and you're doing it one 

relationship at a time.  Happy 

Father's Day.  [\M\M\M] 

>> Kevin: Yeah, Happy Father's 

Day.  

[ Applause ] 

>> Kevin: We have a couple of 

announcements before the 

fellowship greeting.  One, if 

you're new here and visiting, 

we're so glad you're here.  We 

want to say hi and give you a 

gift.  There is new here start 

here.  You can make your way and 

get any information you want.  

In front of you there is a 

connection card and a Q.R. code.  

Those will get you to a place 

you can get information or ask 

for prayer requests, any of that 

stuff.  After our sermon today 

we're going to be having 

something we've done in the 

past, prayer time.  Our elder 

couples will come to the front.  

If you want to have prayer and 

walk down with the others, know 

that is coming.  That will be at 

the end of our service.  So at 

this point let's have all of our 

kids first through fifth grade 

make your way to the back.  Noah 

is at the back and will make you 

to Main Street Live.  Today I 

had my hot water heater go out 

and my air conditioner go out.  

I was reminded of all the things 

I wish my father had taught me 

to do that I wish I know he 

knows how to do.  Let's stand up 

and greet the fathers all around 

you.  

[Indistinct chatter]. 

\M "Almighty God" \M

>> Richard: Thank you for your 

worship, church.  You may be 

seated. 

>> Ronnie: Fantastic.  Thank you 

so much, Richard and team.  Glad 

to see you.  Really good to see 

you.  To those of you in the 

room, to those of you worshiping 

with us via the online 

experience, glad to have you 

with us today at our second 

service at the First Colony 

Church of Christ.  Happy 

Father's Day.  We honor you 

today.  The message today is dad 

is no joke.  I want to start out 

here in honor of Father's Day, I 

thought it would be a good time 

to explore the pinnacle of humor 

which is a dad joke which is a 

synonym for a really corny joke, 

something that's groan-inducing, 

but you have to chuckle at it.  

Sometimes it's a play on words 

or a pun, but not always.  It's 

a bad joke, a dad joke.  I want 

to show you a video.  But one 

thing is there is something you 

don't know about me.  I was 

obsessed with doing the hokey 

pokey.  Let's watch this.  

>> Why don't cannibals eat 

clowns?  Because they taste 

funny. 

>> I call my horse and sometimes 

mayonnaise. 

>> Ever since we started 

quarantining, I've only been 

telling inside jokes. 

>> Do you know what the problem 

is with twin witches?  You don't 

know which witch is which. 

>> Why didn't the boat dock?  

Too much peer pressure.  

>> I told my wife that her 

husband is like fine wine.  We 

just get better with age.  The 

next day she locked me in the 

cellar.  

>> Which days are the strongest?  

Saturday and Sunday.  The others 

are all weekdays.  

>> What is the first thing a 

taxi says to a wolf?  

>> Joel: I have no idea.  

>> Where wolf?  

>> I ordered a chicken and an 

egg from Amazon.  I'll let you 

know.  

>> My dad was born a conjoined 

twin, but separated at birth.  I 

have an uncle once removed. 

>> What is a pirate's favorite 

letter?  

>> Arggh. 

>> You would think, but his 

first love be the sea.  

>> Every morning I get hit by a 

bicycle.  It's a vicious cycle. 

>> Joel: How many telemarketers 

does it take to change a light 

bulb?  Only one but it has to do 

it during dinner. 

>> How does a hamburger 

introduce his wife?  Meet Patty. 

>> Why did the invisible man 

turn down a job offer?  He 

couldn't see himself doing it.  

>> Do you know what a vampire's 

favorite fruit is?  That is the 

nectarine.  

>> If an athlete gets athlete's 

foot, what does an astronaut 

get?  Mistletoe.  

>> I was wondering why that 

frisbee kept getting bigger and 

bigger and then it hit me.  

>> Ronnie: Some kids gave a card 

that said, you're a better dad 

than your jokes.  We love you 

and appreciate you.  The title 

of today's message is no joke.  

We may live in a society where 

it will be front and center.  

Fatherhood is demeaning, 

masculinity demeaned, 

fatherhood, demeaned.  Often in 

the entertainment industry, dads 

are either portrayed as a 

buffoon or an ogre.  I believe 

that there are plenty men in 

this world who are neither a 

buffoon nor an ogre, but they 

are actually a force in their 

family.  Cherished, leading, 

providing, protecting.  Dads, I 

have great respect for you and 

fathers are incredibly important 

as we partner with mom in 

building a family together.  

Obviously today I can't touch on 

every nuance of a family 

situation, but dad is no joke.  

I want to encourage you.  I want 

to challenge you.  As a father, 

for me, I appreciate being 

encouraged, but I want to be 

prided and challenged as well.  

If I had to summarize today's 

message, three words is don't be 

passive.  Don't be passive.  

Don't lean into a mindset where 

you just sort of give in and go 

along and abdicate your 

assignment in your home.  I have 

four points today.  They all 

come from scripture.  No joke 

dads.  Number one is they love 

in order to build relationship.  

Any kind of relationship, even 

with our children, even with our 

spouse, over the long haul there 

will be 1,001 opportunities to 

say, I'm going to call it quits, 

but it's love that builds a 

relationship over the long haul.  

Reading from Psalm 103.  This is 

going to describe our great God 

and picture him as a 

compassionate father.  Over 250 

times in the Bible, God is 

pictured as our heavenly Father.  

The best-known prayer in the 

Bible, start it with me, our 

Father, Lord in heaven. 

Psalm 103:8-14

The Lord is compassionate and 

gracious, slow to anger, 

abounding in love.

Notice this: 

He will not always accuse, nor 

will he harbor his anger 

forever; he does not treat us as 

our sins deserve or repay us 

according to our iniquities.

Isn't that even better than 

wonderful? 

For as high as the heavens are 

above the earth, so great is his 

love for those who fear him; as 

far as the east is from the 

west, so far has he removed our 

transgressions from us.

Why is he doing all this?  So we 

can have a relationship.  That's 

why.  So we can have a 

relationship.  Without love, 

there is no relationship.  We 

can have mercy and grace and 

abundance of compassion.  There 

can be 1,001 reasons to say, I 

wash my hands of this. 

As a father has compassion on 

his children, so the Lord has 

compassion on those who fear 

him; for he knows how we are 

formed, he remembers that we are 

dust.

In other words, he knows not a 

one of us will bat 1,000.  Not a 

one of us.  As a dad, as a 

parent, let me just encourage 

you to do everything in your 

power not to burn a relational 

bridge with your children no 

matter how disappointing certain 

decisions may be.  Listen, let 

me be very specific.  I know 

there will be times you have to 

exercise tough love.  There will 

be times you have to draw 

boundaries.  There will be times 

you have to have conversations 

and say, I love you and care for 

you, but I can't affirm this.  I 

can't endorse it.  I love you, 

but hopefully you would never 

say to them, I don't want you in 

my life again.  There was a 

young lady one time who did 

something really foolish and her 

parents sat her down and they 

had a gift for her and she 

opened it up.  It was a rock.  

She said, hey, very funny.  They 

said, no, it's not meant as a 

joke.  This rock will evaporate 

before our love for you will 

evaporate.  This rock will 

wither away before our love for 

you will wither away.  We serve 

a great God, a compassionate God 

who has compassion on his 

children.  No joke dads do the 

same thing, same thing.  They 

love in order to build/maintain 

relationships with their 

children.  Secondly, no joke 

dads, they learn Godly wisdom, 

not just to be a receptacle, 

they learn Godly wisdom in order 

to pass it on, to leave a 

legacy, if you will.  Here is 

the classic scripture from

Deuteronomy 6:4-6

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our 

God, the Lord is one. 

Love the Lord your God with all 

your heart and with all your 

soul and with all your strength. 

These commandments that I give 

you today are to be on your 

hearts. 

So in other words, it starts 

with dad, it starts with mom, 

there is a personal conviction.  

I really believe this, in other 

words, these commandments are on 

my heart, personal conviction.  

And he says: 

Impress them on your children. 

Don't just hide your plan, 

impress these upon your 

children. 

Talk about them when you sit at 

home and when you walk along the 

road, when you lie down and when 

you get up. 

In other words, we talk about 

this consistently, 

conversationally.  We're going 

to steer certain conversations 

to outcomes.  We'll talk about 

current events, but what does 

the Bible weigh in on this?  

What is a biblical point of view 

of what is going on.  We live in 

a day of search engines.  Let's 

sit down and see -- check with 

Kevin, Ryan, Shane, somebody 

else I know, check with Missy 

and some really good websites.  

We can sit down with one another 

with our children and say let's 

see what the Bible has to say 

about some of these hot button 

topics.  Junior, little one, 

that's a great question, I'm so 

glad you asked that.  Let's see 

what a biblical world view is.  

Then he says, verse 8, and this 

is a section in this scripture 

that is often overlooked, but it 

is powerful.  He says: 

Tie them as symbols on your 

hands and bind them on your 

foreheads. 

Write them on the door frames of 

your houses and on your gates.

In other words, we're going to 

be conspicuous.  We're not going 

to headache our light and hide 

it under a bushel.  We belong to 

the Lord.  We belong to the word 

of God.  We're passing along 

his -- no joke dads, learning 

Godly wisdom for the purpose of 

passing it on. 

Psalm 78:5-7

Says: 

He decreed statutes for Jacob 

and established the law in 

Israel, which he commanded our 

ancestors to teach their 

children, so the next generation 

would know them, even the 

children yet to be born, and 

they in turn would tell their 

children.

In other words, we're building a 

legacy, a legacy of blessing.  

Dads, let me tell you where it 

starts, okay.  Here is the first 

message you want to drill into 

your children.  Are you ready?  

Here it is.  God is good.  He 

loves you.  And his word is 

true.  If you don't drill that 

into your children, they will be 

susceptible to the very first 

lie uttered in the garden of 

Eden, which is God is not good.  

He does not have your best in 

mind.  He's keeping the really 

good things from you.  

Therefore, you should be your 

own god and write your own 

Bible.  Christian Smith, a 

sociologist with Notre Dame 

University, he says the 

single-most powerful influence 

in the lives of a child or young 

adult is a religious life with 

their parents.  He says, I'm not 

saying parents can control what 

a child does.  We all know that 

can't happen, but it is to the 

advantage of that child, of that 

teenager, that young adult, 

ideally where both parents 

together say, we really believe 

this, we belong to the Lord, we 

pass this along.  He says, speed 

of the parents, usually speed of 

the child.  You don't want a 

glass ceiling there.  We've all 

heard the phrase, you can lead a 

horse to water, but you can't 

make that horse drink and that's 

true.  When it comes to 

children, you cannot force -- 

make my children to love the 

Lord and embrace the Lord.  No.  

But I can lead them to water.  I 

can show them how cool and 

refreshing it is.  When they're 

dehydrated, I can tell them how 

water would actually help.  I 

can tell them, we would really 

enjoy drinking water together.  

You show them what that water's 

done for you.  Do you realize 

you can't make them drink.  I've 

got to take that responsibility 

from my shoulders and put it 

squarely on their shoulders, but 

starting young, we teach, we 

model.  Martha and I years ago, 

we met a couple when we were in 

our early 20s, so a long time 

ago.  They were seasons ahead of 

us.  To show you how long ago 

this has been, they lived in 

another state, but we would type 

out questions for them because 

we wanted them to sort of mentor 

us and teach us.  We were just 

really impressed with how they 

did things.  Then we would put a 

blank cassette tape -- remember 

those?  -- and mail it and ask, 

would you speak your answers on 

to this cassette tape and send 

it back to us.  It was 

interesting.  Honey, you 

remember this.  They would 

answer the question, but before 

they would give us a specific 

answer to our question, they 

would say, as you model whatever 

it was, and every question.  As 

you're modeling, as you're 

modeling.  What about a temper 

tantrum?  Well, as you're 

modeling self control -- okay.  

I get what you're saying here.  

Before I move on, very quickly, 

let me encourage you as a body 

of believers to tap into mutual 

discipleship.  You sometimes 

want to be in groups and be 

friends.  Friendship is good.  

That's great.  But I want to 

encourage you, especially as a 

younger parent, to pursue some 

discipling mentoring 

relationships where you take the 

initiative and you contact 

somebody or you talk to Shane or 

Grant or Missy or somebody or 

myself and say, would you help 

me -- here we are at this stage 

of parenting and we'd like to 

get together with a couple 

who've maybe already been there 

and just talk through some 

things.  I'm not talking about 

getting together every Tuesday 

night until 2025.  I'm talking 

about getting together a few 

times and allowing the wisdom of 

another believer -- I'm not 

saying that believer walks on 

water, I'm not saying they're 

Jesus, but they've been there, 

and you share life and you share 

some questions together.  How do 

we navigate social media?  How 

do we -- all sorts of things.  

Again, it's not just getting 

together for friendships, 

getting together for purposeful 

friendship, mentoring.  

Discipling one another as 

parents, who are tutoring our 

children.  Does that make sense?  

You've got a little bit of a 

dazed look on your face.  Number 

three, no joke dads, they lead 

in order to protect from 

foolishness.  You know, the 

Bible does say that foolishness 

is bound up in the heart of a 

child.  Oh, but my child, 

they're 9 going on 30.  No, 

they're not.  No, they're not.  

They're 9.  All right?  And you 

need to lead in order to protect 

them from foolishness.  The book 

of Hebrews verse 12 says this: 

Endure hardship as discipline; 

God is treating you as his 

children. 

Now, this is a passage that is 

going to talk about earthly 

fathers and our heavenly Father, 

God our Father. 

For what children are not 

disciplined by their father? 

Moreover, we have all had human 

fathers who disciplined us and 

we respected them for it.  How 

much more should we submit to 

the Father of spirits and live! 

They disciplined us for a little 

while as they thought best; but 

God disciplines us for our good, 

in order that we may share in 

his holiness. 

In other words, God's not the 

genie in the Aladdin story.  

Sometimes I'll meet a believer 

who says, I ask God for 

something and I never got it.  I 

thought he was the genie.  Am I 

Aladdin.  Sometimes God will 

allow you to stay in a mistake 

that you made so you'll learn 

something from it and not make a 

bigger mistake next month.  But 

God will discipline us for our 

good in order that we may share 

in his holiness.  And no 

discipline seems pleasant at the 

time, amen.  But painful later 

on, however, it produces a

harvest of righteousness and 

peace for those who have been 

trained by it.

No joke dads are willing to 

engage in the work of training 

and discipline.  And discipline 

here means you're going to meet 

bad behavior head on.  I'm 

specifically talking about 

behavior where there is a lack 

of honor and respect for 

authority.  And you bring 

something unpleasant, something 

that younger person doesn't want 

to experience again.  I don't 

want to go without this, 

whatever it might be.  Something 

that in their juvenile, 

developing brain says, I don't 

really think I should act that 

way again because I don't want 

this experience of discipline 

again.  Sometimes discipline 

includes punishment, but often 

discipline is guiding and 

training.  Again, I'm not 

talking about childish 

irresponsibility, like I loved 

in the video today when that 

child knocked over the glass and 

that wise dad did too.  You 

know, you don't need to 

discipline for that.  But 

willful disobedience.  If you're 

passive and you go along, get 

along, you're passive, the Bible 

says a refusal to correct is a 

refusal to love.  Love your 

children by disciplining them.  

Let me talk about social media 

here for a moment.  You say, 

Ronnie, you got Bible and verse 

on that.  No.  But I've got 

Bible and verse on parents 

raising children.  And I believe 

that as a dad, as a parent, we 

have to protect our children not 

just from the world but 

sometimes from themselves.  That 

kind of protection means as a 

parent we have to be informed, 

involved and in charge.  Do you 

know how many texts your 

children are sending, to whom, 

from whom?  Do you know the 

music they're downloading?  Are 

you familiar with the lyrics of 

that music?  Do you know the 

games they're playing online?  

Ronnie, are you suggesting that 

I should see what's on my 

child's phone and be aware of 

the websites that they're 

visiting?  Yes, yes, yes.  Are 

you suggesting I should know who 

they're texting and who's 

texting them?  Yes.  You say, 

what about a right to privacy?  

We're talking parent-child.  

They're children and you trust, 

but you verify.  You extend 

trust to your children, but 

there's going to be 

accountability certainly when 

they're very young and young 

teens.  And if we don't bring 

that sense of accountability, 

I'm not protecting them from 

themselves.  I'm sure not 

protecting them from this world.  

Again, you go back to some of 

the basics.  The parent-child 

dynamic works like this.  This 

whole idea of parenting is that 

you have someone who is mature 

training someone who is less 

mature.  You have someone who 

ease supposed to be in charge 

and then you have someone who 

needs you to be in charge.  You 

have someone who provides 

oversight and then you have 

people who need that oversight.  

Be engaged and involved there.  

Your children, they may not like 

that involvement, may not like 

those rules.  They may credit 

you came to church this morning 

and heard this message.  Here's 

what you do.  You look them in 

the eye, put your arm around 

them, tell them you love them 

and you say, you know, kiddo, 

it's just really, really tough 

to be you.  I'm sorry.  But 

here's what you want to do and 

have happen.  You want your 

25-year-old version of that 

13-year-old, you want that 

30-year-old version of that 

15-year-old coming back to you 

saying, mom, dad, thank you for 

the blessings, but also thank 

you for the boundaries that I 

didn't like at the time.  Thank 

you for the love, but also thank 

you for the limits as well.  One 

more thing, joke dads, very 

quickly.  We lean into Father 

God's grace for help because we 

all need it as a dad.  We all 

need it in every arena of our 

life.  Let me give a definition 

of grace and put it on the 

screen because sometimes we make 

grace and mercy synonymous and 

they're not synonymous.  Grace 

is God doing for us that which 

we cannot do for ourselves.  For 

example, forgiveness.  I cannot 

forgive myself.  I mean, I can 

forgive myself therapeutically, 

but I cannot forgive myself 

judiciously.  God does that.  

When it comes to parenting, when 

you find yourself in situations 

where you're like, okay, I'm in 

deep water here or I'm in a 

confusing time or a scary time 

or a painful time, it's helpful 

to remember the Lord is already 

there.  He's Emmanuel, he is God 

with us.  And as a parent, you 

have the Holy Spirit helping.  

As a parent, one of God's great 

promises to you, James 1:5.  If 

anyone lacks wisdom -- let me 

tweak that verse.  If a dad 

lacks wisdom, if a mom lacks 

wisdom, let them ask of God and 

he will give it to you in 

abundance.  Then you have the 

blessing of the church.  Again, 

let me say it again.  Lean into 

one another for parenting 

discipling where you seek out 

advice and counsel and tutoring 

and mentoring and help and just 

bouncing helpful ideas and 

praying over one another.  It is 

a fantastic, fantastic thing to 

do.  What a day, everybody.  God 

is inviting you maybe to be the 

good father you never had.  He's 

certainly inviting you to take 

your fathering to the next level 

and he's inviting you to make 

sure that Father God yourself is 

your heavenly Father.  You say, 

wait a minute, Ronnie, isn't God 

everyone's heavenly Father?  No, 

he's not.  He's everyone's 

Creator.  He's not everyone's 

Father, but he can be Lord 

Father as you welcome him. 

John 1:12-13

Says this: 

Yet to all who did receive him, 

to those who believed in his 

name, he gave the right to 

become children of God, children 

born not of natural descent, nor 

of human decision or a husband’s 

will, but born of God.

What does it mean then to be a 

Christian?  It means that 

through Christ you're adopted 

into the family of God and you 

have full access to all the 

rights and privileges of his 

sons and daughters.  Do you know 

who can wake up a king in the 

middle of the night and ask for 

a cup of water?  The answer:  A 

child of a king, that's who.  

And I'm thankful that we have a 

good, good Father, full of 

compassion and mercy.  The Bible 

says he will be the Father to 

the fatherless, if you didn't 

have a good father experience.  

He comes in and he wants to 

reshape and nurture our hearts 

and our souls and he will be 

that good, good Shepherd.  

Everybody, just know, I love you 

and respect you.  Dads, a lot of 

you, you're anything but passive 

dads.  You're engaged, you're 

involved.  If there is a dad 

here watching online, you need 

to hit that reset button.  

You'll be glad you did.  Your 

family will be glad you did.  

Just say no to passivity.  All 

right.  Well, we're going to 

spend a little time in prayer 

this morning.  Richard, let me 

turn it over to you, please.  

>> Richard: Thank you, Ronnie.  

Like Ronnie said, we are going 

to spend a little bit of time in 

prayer this morning, so as our 

elder couples come forward, if 

you need prayer, we want to 

partner with you and go over 

anything.  We can pray with you, 

partner with you, and see God do 

amazing and mighty things in 

your life.  If you're online, 

you can request private prayer.  

Let's all be standing in prayer. 

\M "Good Good Father" \M

>> Richard: Let's pray together 

as we close out our prayer time 

this morning.  Father, we thank 

you that you are good, that your 

mercy endures forever, that we 

can call on you and trust you 

and come boldly to your throne 

because of the blood of Jesus 

that he shed for us.  We can 

call you Father.  Like Ronnie 

said, we can come to you in the 

middle of the night and ask you 

for a cup of water because we're 

children of the King.  We thank 

you for your presence in this 

place today.  Thank you for 

working miracles for the folks 

who asked for prayer.  Giving 

you all the praise and honor and 

glory in Jesus' name. 

>> Kevin: If you're still 

praying, go ahead and keep doing 

that.  Everyone else have a 

seat.  We have some 

announcements.  The first thing 

I want to mention is we have 

classes for everybody.  If 

you're new here and don't know, 

we have adults, teens, children 

classes.  We have the online 

Bible class and Kyle will jump 

online with you.  We have some 

events coming up.  July 4 coming 

up is just a couple of weeks 

away and that Sunday, July 3, 

we're going to have a big 

barbecue.  Like a church 

potluck, but a barbecue.  A food 

truck and ice cream truck.  

Bring some money and stay after 

church and we'll celebrate 

Independence Day.  What Missy 

was doing was an example of some 

training she will be doing.  She 

will be doing big ideas for 

young minds.  Training parents 

on how to read these stories and 

how to have conversations with 

little kids.  It's going to be 

exciteful and fun because 

children's books are great.  If 

you're interested in home 

schooling, there is not 

something you can go to or some 

orientation.  Families who have 

been doing that will be having a 

class on June 26.  If you want 

to know more about home 

schooling and how they 

succeeded, there will be a class 

on June 26.  For Father's Day we 

love you all, and we have a gift 

for you on the way out.  And 

let's stand and sing one more 

song on our way out. 

\M "Your Love Awakens Me" \M

>> Richard: Thank you for your 

worship today, church, you are 

dismissed.  

[ Applause ] 

[\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.