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[MUSIC]

>> 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: Well, good morning, 

church.  How are you?  Is 

everybody doing well today?  I 

want to read a quick scripture 

to you in Psalm that says:  See 

him in your presence.  Know 

this, God is God.  He made us, 

we didn't make ourselves.  We're 

his people, his well-tended 

sheep.  Then it says:  Enter 

with the password.  Do you want 

to know what the password is?  

Thank you.  So let's all stand 

together and worship God who 

alone is worthy, amen. 

("Good God Almighty")

>> Richard: Do you agree with 

that?  Jesus in the morning.  

Jesus all day long.  Amen!  

Nobody but Jesus makes a 

difference in our lives. 

("Stand In Your Love")

>> Richard: Yes, there's no 

place better to be than in the 

love of God, amen, church.  

Let's all be seated as our 

communion leaders come forward 

to lead us all in communion.  

>> Good morning.  I'm Bob Gowens 

and this is Ryan Davis.  He will 

be doing the scripture reading.  

We're so thankful to lead you in 

celebrating the Lord's Supper.  

Pray with me over the bread that 

represents the body of Christ 

and the cup representing the 

bloods poured out for our 

forgiveness of our sins.  Let us 

pray.  Almighty God, our 

heavenly Father, we give you 

thanks for the gift of salvation 

you gave us through your son, 

Jesus Christ, by his death and 

resurrection.  We often and 

present ourselves to be holy, 

living sacrifices in your 

kingdom.  May we receive this 

bread and the cup that is a 

symbol of the body and the 

saving blood of Christ and our 

allegiance to his kingdom.  As 

we partake, may we remember his 

cruel and humiliating death, but 

even more so, his triumph and 

resurrection.  In the name of 

Jesus, our savior, amen.  Let us 

partake together.  

>> Today I'll be reading from

Ephesians 6:13-18

Therefore put on the full armor 

of God, so that when the day of 

evil comes, you may be able to 

stand your ground, and after you 

have done everything, to stand. 

Stand firm then, with the belt 

of truth buckled around your 

waist, with the breastplate of 

righteousness in place, and with 

your feet fitted with the 

readiness that comes from the 

gospel of peace. 

In addition to all this, take up 

the shield of faith, with which 

you can extinguish all the 

flaming arrows of the evil one. 

Take the helmet of salvation and 

the sword of the Spirit, which 

is the word of God.

And pray in the Spirit on all 

occasions with all kinds of 

prayers and requests. 

With this in mind, be alert and 

always keep on praying for all 

the Lord’s people.

\M "Graves Into Gardens" \M

>> Shane: Amen.  What a 

fantastic son.  There's nothing 

better than Jesus, amen!  I 

mean, he's the only one who can.  

What a the great song.  As we 

pray over our offering, you can 

give online, text to give, give 

in the boxes at the back of the 

room.  Let's continue with this 

worship as we offer all to our 

king, Jesus.  Our Father in 

heaven, we acknowledge you are 

the greatest giver, Jesus is the 

greatest gift.  There is nothing 

better than Jesus.  We pause 

here to acknowledge that and 

just to soak up in the goodness 

that is you, God.  We want to 

become generous givers.  We want 

to be like you in that way and 

be generous.  We pray that this 

goes to your kingdom from here 

in our county to all around the 

world, God, that all come to 

know you.  We pray this in the 

mighty name of Jesus.  

>> Joel: Amen.  Good morning.  

It's good to be with you all.  

Here at First Colony, we love 

kids.  I like to make a visual.  

This bag is feeling deflated.  

How many of you are feeling 

deflating.  Maybe you look at 

the news or the weather or the 

weather for the next five 

months.  Maybe you're a little 

deflated.  Maybe you want to go 

somewhere, do something, make a 

difference in this world.  It 

really doesn't do much when 

you're deflated.  Today I want 

to talk about hope and hope is 

an interesting word.  It brings 

together two words, one is 

trusting in God and one is 

waiting expectantly.  If I was 

going to inflate this myself, 

it's going to take a while.  

Just so you know, I swam 

butterfly in elementary for a 

swim team.  Then when everyone 

got good, I quit.  Then I 

shifted to playing the trumpet 

in sixth grade and when everyone 

got good, I quit.  I have some 

fairly decent lungs.  My 

question is with five breaths, 

do you think I'm going to blow 

this up?  I'm going to try.  

Tell me if you think I can.  

Thank you, sonny, buddy.  You 

might have a part in this in a 

moment.  Here we go.  

[Blowing]. 

>> Joel: It's taking a while.  

Ah!  Head rush.  Okay.  Yeah, we 

got this.  All right.  Enter 

scripture.  So the verse that I 

have for us today comes to us 

from Isaiah 40:31 and it says:  

But those who hope in the 

Lord -- are you hoping in the 

Lord -- will renew their 

strength.  They will soar on 

wings like eagles.  They will 

run and not grow weary, they 

will walk and not be faint.  You 

know what's amazing, when you 

take a step back and you're 

hoping in the Lord and you're 

trusting in him, check this out.  

[Blowing]. 

>> Joel: That's one breath, 

that's two breaths.  Ba-da-boom 

ba-da-bing.  The question is:  

Do you think that verse is true 

and we can soar in the Lord?  

What do you think?  Remember, I 

was trying to get off this 

stage.  Let's see, we have 

Sonny, Anthony, Keith.  You're 

in the splash zone.  I don't 

know where it's going to go.  

Are you ready?  Look at that.  

Sonny and Keith.  Way to go, 

guys.  Ultimately, I want you to 

know -- thank you, sir.  Sonny 

O'Keizy.  Give him a hand.  He's 

an actor.  Some day I'm going to 

use you in a video if that's 

okay.  Bottom line, we need to 

hope in the Lord.  When you hope 

in the Lord, you're inflated and 

you can soar on wings like 

eagles.  Thanks very much.  

>> Shane: All right.  Thank you, 

Joel.  I'm hoping for a T-shirt 

canon next week.  Kids grades 

one through five, Ms. Danel is 

at the back to take you to Main 

Street live.  Walk with her to 

the chapel.  To our guests, 

thank you for joining us.  We're 

so glad you're here.  We hope 

you fill out the Q.R. code.  If 

you want to fill out the 

physical card out.  If you bring 

that to the new here start here 

room across the lobby, we would 

love to meet you.  Bring us that 

card and we have a book we would 

love to give you.  Everyone 

watching online, this is a great 

time to say hi on the chat and 

we would love to get to know 

you.  At the end of this service 

we have a prayer time.  This is 

a wonderful time.  Our 

Shepherding elder couples will 

come up.  You can pray with them 

or right where you are with a 

friend or family members or 

anyone you want to pray for.  

That is a great blessing of a 

time at the end of the service 

we'll have together.  Let's all 

stand now and have a little bit 

of a fellowship greeting time.  

[Indistinct chatter]. 

\M "Every Giant Will Fall" \M

>> Richard: Yes, church, nothing 

is impossible with the Lord.  

You may be seated. 

>> Ronnie: Thanks so much, 

Richard and team.  Thanks for 

leading us to very, very well.  

Good morning, everybody.  Glad 

to see you.  Welcome today to 

our second church here at the 

First Colony Church of Christ.  

And to our online worshippers, 

we're glad to have you as well.  

Let us hear from you.  Next 

Sunday of course is the July 4 

weekend.  Next weekend is 

actually July 3.  We'll have a 

little different schedule next 

weekend.  We just want to remind 

you of that.  Next weekend, July 

3, we're just going to have one 

worship service at 10:00 a.m.  

Next Sunday is July 3.  How many 

services are we having?  Just 

one.  This little light of mine.  

That service is at 10:00 a.m. 

Sunday.  After that service 

we'll have some food available, 

some food trucks available.  You 

can pay for your lunch and 

everybody is invited to stay and 

enjoy lunch.  I think it will be 

a nice time for those of you who 

are in town.  We are continuing 

with a message series from the 

New Testament book of Acts 

called:  Spirit, mission and 

drama.  Today we're going to 

take a look at all three of 

those, the spirit, the mission, 

and the drama.  The book of Acts 

is one of the rare New Testament 

books, it's not so much didactic 

or message teaching, it teaches 

us the first story of the band 

of followers who had been given 

such grace and such an amazing 

mission and purpose and never 

had a bigger assignment been 

given to a less-qualified group 

of people, but they're on the 

move and the march and the 

Lord's church, it is growing and 

thriving.  How in the world did 

they do it?  First of all, 

they're empowered by the Holy 

Spirit.  Where the spirit is, 

there's life.  Second of all, 

they had a message of grace and 

truth.  An incredible message 

that could not be restricted by 

the human boundaries of race or 

culture or even sin, that sin 

can be forgiven.  And also they 

are empowered by the truth of 

the resurrection.  The 

resurrection changes everything 

and so filled with the spirit 

and absolutely sure of the 

reduction of Jesus and the 

promise of the reduction for you 

and me, they took the message of 

Jesus forward.  That's not to 

say everything was rosy.  They 

had some challenges, they had 

some problems along the way.  

Today we're going to read about 

one such challenge in Acts 15.  

You probably never heard too 

many sermons on Acts 15.  I 

don't know that I have.  It's a 

longer story of a theological 

controversy.  That's the name of 

today's message:  A controversy 

of large proportions.  But hang 

with me.  We're going to walk 

through this quickly and briefly 

and I think you'll see the 

significance of it because this 

movement of grace is facing a 

hijack attempt.  And the easiest 

thing for those first church 

followers, for the first church 

leaders to do, hey, just give in 

to the loudest, whining voices.  

That's one way to lead, right.  

You just give in to the loudest 

voices.  That's all you do.  

They said, that we cannot do.  

So point number one.  Let's talk 

about a little drama here.  The 

question is how is salvation 

received?  Ah, because there's a 

little twist coming. 

Acts 15

Certain people came down from 

Judea to Antioch and were 

-- you got that, from the mother 

church in Jerusalem and coming 

to Antioch --

teaching the believers: “Unless 

you are circumcised, according 

to the custom taught by Moses, 

you cannot be saved.”

Now, don't let that verse throw 

you here for a moment.  They're 

actually saying, unless you 

follow the entirety of the 

ceremonial law of Moses, you 

cannot be saved.  Whoa!  So 

you've got to become a Jew first 

before you can become a 

Christian.  Acts 15, we're about 

to see a meeting between the 

Jerusalem church and the Antioch 

church.  The Antioch church is 

primarily gentile and Paul and 

Barnabas were ministering there.  

They were troubled by these 

people coming from Jerusalem not 

authorized but teaching that in 

order to be saved, mind you, you 

must follow the ceremonial law 

of Moses.  Well,

This brought Paul and Barnabas 

into sharp dispute and debate 

with them. 

So Paul and Barnabas were 

appointed, along with some other 

believers, to go up to Jerusalem 

to see the apostles and elders 

about this question. 

All right.  We're going to have 

a sit-down meeting. 

The church sent them on their 

way, and as they traveled 

through Phoenicia and Samaria, 

they told how the Gentiles had 

been converted. 

This news made all the believers 

very glad.

When they came to Jerusalem, 

they were welcomed by the church 

and the apostles and elders, to 

whom they reported everything 

God had done through them.

Then some of the believers who 

belonged to the party of the 

Pharisees stood up and said, 

“The Gentiles must be 

circumcised and required to keep 

the law of Moses.”

Ronnie, does this have any 

application to us?  It does.  So 

let's continue to read under the 

heading of

Mission: God’s Grace is for all!

This threat is going to be 

addressed. 

The apostles and elders met to 

consider this question. After 

-- should the gentiles be 

required to keep the law under 

Moses.  There is the moral law, 

thou shall not kill or steal.  

But it also had civil and 

ceremonial components.  And the 

ceremonial law, you could read 

about especially in the Old 

Testament in the book of 

Leviticus and elsewhere.  There 

are ceremonial things in lessons 

that were fulfilled in Christ 

and those ceremonies were 

designed to maintain a Jewish 

culture because the Jews were 

not God's favorite but God's 

chosen people.  They had the 

scriptures, they had the 

messages.  It was through the 

Jews that the kingdom would 

ultimately be fulfilled.  So 

these ceremonial laws made the 

Jewish people a unique, unique 

people with their own customs, 

their own culture.  They were 

taught not to intermarry.  You 

could become one to them, but 

they were to protect their 

cultural and the ceremonial law.  

Well, the apostles and he woulds 

met to this consider this 

question.  After

much discussion, Peter got up 

And addressed them.  You're 

about to hear from Peter, 

Barnabas, Paul, and James.  I'm 

not going to read it all.  And 

all four of them will bring a 

similar message and here's the 

message.  Everybody, God is at 

work in the gentiles.  God has 

shown that he's at work in the 

gentiles.  We've seen it.  We've 

experienced it and then it was 

controlled and prophecied in the 

Old Testament.  Peter got up

and addressed them: “Brothers, 

you know that some time ago God 

made a choice among you that the 

Gentiles might hear from my lips 

the message of the gospel and 

believe.

God, who knows the heart, showed 

that he accepted them by giving 

the Holy Spirit to them, just as 

he did to us. 

You remember that.  That's the 

whole story of Cornelius, right. 

He did not discriminate between 

us and them, for he purified 

their hearts by faith.

Now then, why do you try to test 

God by putting on the necks of 

Gentiles a yoke that neither we 

nor our ancestors have been able 

to bear?

No.  Listen up, you're about to 

hear the very last recorded 

words in the Book of Acts from 

the apostle Peter and they are 

great words. 

No! We believe it is through the 

grace of our Lord Jesus that we 

are saved, just as they are.”

The whole assembly became silent 

as they listened to Barnabas and 

Paul telling about the signs and 

wonders God had done among the 

Gentiles through them. 

Peter says, God is at work among 

the gentiles.  He is bringing 

them to faith and Christ.  Paul 

and Barnabas say, God is 

attesting to this through signs 

and wonders and miracles.  And 

then James makes an appeal. 

When they finished, James spoke 

up. “Brothers,” he said, “listen 

to me.

What Simon -- Simon Peter --

Simon has described to us how 

God first intervened to choose a 

people for his name from the 

Gentiles.

The words of the prophets are in 

agreement with this, as it is 

written:

I'm not going to put all his 

quotation up there, but what he 

does is he goes back to the Old 

Testament prophets and says, 

it's there in scripture that God 

wants to bless all nations from 

the promise of Abraham.  And now 

what God is doing, he's creating 

the church, which is one people 

made up of believers from all 

walks of life, just as God 

intended.  You see, the Old 

Testament story is our story 

completed in Christ.  Then he 

says in verse 19: 

“It is my judgment, therefore, 

that we should not make it 

difficult for the Gentiles who 

are turning to God.

One for time. 

“It is my judgment, therefore, 

that we should not make it 

difficult for the Gentiles who 

are turning to God.

Let me re-read it and maybe 

tweak one word.  It is my 

judgment, therefore, that we 

should not make it difficult for 

the outsider who's turning to 

God.  And in every generation, 

churches must have the courage 

and the wisdom to ask, are we 

making it unnecessarily 

difficult?  Let's keep the 

mission on point.  Peter, 

Barnabas, Paul, James, they're 

all saying, oh no.  You don't 

have to become a cultural Jew 

before you can come to Christ.  

The message of salvation in 

Christ is one of grace through 

faith.  And, my friends, as my 

buddy Jason said this past 

Wednesday night at our uplift 

service, you're not the 

exception to that.  God's grace 

is not for everybody but you.  

Ronnie, you don't know my story.  

No, I don't, but God's grace is 

for you.  And all are welcome to 

Christ by faith.  And then, how 

they communicate this, you'll 

see the spirit at work through 

his church.  Let's skip down to 

verse 28.  So the apostles, the 

leaders who met, we're about to 

send out a letter to everybody, 

the Jewish component of the 

church, the gentile component of 

the church.  Here's what they 

say: 

It seemed good to the Holy 

Spirit and us -- notice what 

didn't happen.  What didn't 

happen was one person going away 

in a corner.  You have a 

plurality of church leaders 

coming together, people of good 

hearts and minds and they 

wrestle with the scriptures, 

they wrestle with what God is 

doing and they say:  It seemed 

good to the Holy

Spirit and to us not to burden 

you with anything beyond the 

following requirements:

You are to abstain from food 

sacrificed to idols, from blood, 

from the meat of strangled 

animals and from sexual 

immorality. 

You will do well to avoid these 

things.

Listen what happened here.  To 

maintain peace between Jew and 

gentiles, James and the other 

church leaders suggested a 

concession and a compromise.  

Gentiles don't have to become 

Jews in order to become 

Christians, but he did say, I 

need you to pay attention to 

four actions here.  One sexual 

immorality, that is part of the 

moral code we embrace anyway, 

but it is assumed in the gentile 

world that could occur.  No, you 

need to stay a thousand miles 

away from that.  And then there 

are some other practices.  Look, 

he'll say the law of Moses has 

been taughten for years and so 

many have been taught the Jewish 

faith and are coming to Christ.  

There are certain practices that 

have been vulgar to them.  Would 

you avoid food offered as an 

idol sacrifice, the meat of 

strangled animals and blood.  

What he's doing, without going 

into detail on that, notice 

what's happening.  On one hand 

they are protecting the church, 

they are protecting the message 

of grace from corruption.  And 

they're also protecting the 

church community from 

fragmentation.  And he says to 

the gentile component:  Look, 

you don't have to become a 

cultural Jew in order to be a 

Christian, but at the same time 

would you be willing out of love 

and concession to care for the 

Jewish segment just the way we 

do?  So the ceremonial law, 

look, you're not obligated to 

that.  The moral law, avoid 

sexual immorality, but would you 

be willing to make some 

concessions here for the purpose 

of fellowship, not theology, but 

sociology, fellowship.  So a 

couple of observations under 

point 4.  Here is the first one: 

Protect The Message Of Grace 

Through Conviction.

That's what these wise church 

leaders did.  Again, let me 

quote verse 11, the apostle 

Peter: 

We believe it is through the 

grace of our Lord Jesus that we 

are saved, just as they are.”

What this does, what this 

Jerusalem council does is it 

settles once, for all, that a 

person can be a Christian 

without a connection to Judaism.  

What that means is the Christian 

invitation, the gospel 

invitation, it's not limited by 

race, by economic status, by 

education level.  It's not even 

limited by your past and your 

struggles and your flaws and 

your sins.  You can repent and 

come to Christ.  And the 

deepest, darkest thing removed.  

And a new beginning, the spirit 

of God poured out on you.  May I 

simply remind you of the gospel 

message.  What that means is the 

full measure of God's curse that 

I fully deserve and you fully 

deserve, it was poured out on 

Christ.  And then, when you come 

to Christ and place your trust 

in him, you're baptized into 

him, the righteousness that 

Jesus gained by living a perfect 

life is now yours.  That 

perfection is credited to you.  

And the curse that belongs on 

your head credited to him, a 

double exchange municipal his 

righteousness is yours.  The 

curse we deserve is his.  Now, 

this debate going on in Acts 15 

was about the Levitical law, the 

ceremonial law.  Some gentiles 

had been told, if you really 

want to become a real saved 

person, you need to become 

culturally Jewish.  But the 

church leaders said, no.  No 

longer should these Levitical 

laws, these ceremonial laws be 

required of believers, not at 

all.  If you wanted to keep some 

of them, that's fine.  Just as 

long as you understand it's 

cultural.  But if you're a 

believer, it's no longer 

required, no longer binding on 

the conscious of a Christian.  

He said, Ronnie, I get that.  

Why are you belaboring that?  

Because here's something critics 

of Christianity will throw in 

your face a lot.  And I've heard 

it quite a few times over the 

last 10 years or so.  Are you 

ready?  It comes like this.  You 

Christians say you believe the 

Bible.  You don't really believe 

the Bible.  You just pick and 

choose.  You pick those things 

you want to follow.  Choose 

those things you want to follow 

and then reject other things.  

You pick and choose what to 

believe.  And then they will go 

to the look of Leviticus, to the 

ceremonial law that says there 

are certain things you could 

touch and not and certain things 

you could eat and not, certain 

things you could wear and not.  

Critics will say, see, what the 

Bible says, you should wear this 

and not that or eat this or 

that.  It's there in the Bible, 

but you don't follow it.  You're 

so inconsistent.  You just pick 

and choose.  But the Bible 

itself says there are certain 

parts of the Bible, certain 

parts of the scriptures, that 

are no longer authoritative.  

Yes, the book of Leviticus and 

the other ceremonial laws, they 

were authoritative in their 

time, but they're not 

authoritative today.  And there 

are certain parts of the Bible 

that just do not fit anymore.  

They are not for you now in the 

Christian era because the 

authoritative Bible itself tells 

you it's not binding.  And if 

the authoritative Bible itself 

in the New Testament tells you 

there's part of the Old 

Testament that's no longer 

binding on you, then you're not 

picking and choosing.  Last of 

all, 

Protect The Community Of Faith 

Through Concession.  

They protected the purity of 

their faith.  They protected the 

message of the gospel of grace 

by conviction and they said, 

we're not going to bend on this.  

We're not just going to give in 

to the loudest voice.  But at 

the same time, there was a 

willingness to make a concession 

and a compromise when they 

could.  And they just said in 

their official letter, look, you 

gentile Christians, you don't 

have to obey the ceremonial law, 

but would you be willing to make 

some concessions to avoid 

certain things that just so 

offend Jewish consciences.  And 

they were absolutely, those 

church leaders were absolutely 

unwilling to compromise the 

truth of the gospel at the same 

time they were so anxious to 

maintain Jewish-gentile 

solidarity in the one body of 

Christ.  I mean, for those of 

you who think, church life 

should be completely full of 

tension, that's just not 

realistic.  There have always 

been points of tension where 

people have to discuss and work 

things through.  But once they 

hammered in salvation by grace, 

they were then prepared to be 

real practical on protecting the 

unity of the spirit.  As Martin 

Luther would say of the apostle 

Paul, he was strong in faith and 

absolute in love.  An absolutely 

reed when it came to 

non-essentious, but an iron 

pillar in essentious.  You know 

what happened, the entire group 

of churches that received this 

teaching were encouraged, 

benefitted, strengthened, and 

they responded well.  Hey, may I 

just be real practical with you 

here for a moment.  I hope 

you'll be the kind of person who 

has both conviction and a 

willingness to make a 

concession.  I hope you're not 

the kind of person who lives by 

the:  It's my way or the 

highway, mantra.  If that's you, 

I'm sure you're a joy to live 

with over the long haul.  Martha 

and I have been married almost 

42 years and there are certain 

convictions I bring to the 

marriage.  I'm going to church.  

She might say, well I'm tired of 

it, I'm not going.  That's fine.  

I'm going to church.  I'm going 

to love and honor the Lord.  I'm 

going to seek to follow the 

scriptures and love our kids.  

And, honey, I'm going to love 

you whether you want me to or 

not and love you the way I 

believe Christ would want me to 

love you.  Those are some 

convictions that I have that are 

strong.  You know, I have some 

requests over the years.  A lot 

of requests.  By the way, 

pre-marital counseling, I'll 

often teach a couple, one of the 

best words you will ever word is 

the word request.  Not a demand 

or an ultimatum.  You're stating 

what you would like to have but 

place it in that other person's 

corner.  I have a lot of 

requests over the years.  

Sometimes strong requests.  

Martha the same way.  We've had 

to learn how to make some 

concessions, some compromises.  

Somebody says, well, a 

compromise, that's just the kind 

of thing where nobody really 

gets what they want.  That's not 

true.  What's the old story 

about each wanted part of the 

orange so somebody cut it in 

half.  They said, see, that's a 

compromise, people only get half 

of what they wanted.  One person 

wanted the rind to use in a 

menu.  The other person wanted 

to eat the orange.  They can 

both get what they value through 

a little wise concession and 

compromise.  So Martha and I get 

married.  She grew up in a home 

where -- she grew up in the 

south, just like I did, in 

Tennessee.  But her family 

eating style was a little 

different from mine.  My mom was 

a great southern cook.  If you 

couldn't fry it, she'd find a 

way to fry it.  One of the foods 

that I ate often growing up was 

okra.  I loved okra.  And I grew 

up loving okra, the way the good 

Lord intended it to be, which 

was fried.  I didn't know there 

was another way to make okra 

than fried okra.  Martha and I 

get married and you have to have 

green vegetables.  I no longer 

eat fried foods, try to stay 

away from them with the 

occasional exception of a french 

fry along the way.  Martha loved 

okra and had eaten okra and 

never ate fried okra.  She grew 

up eating boiled okra, if you 

can imagine such a thing.  It 

sits on a plate and just moves 

by yourself.  You don't have to 

eat it.  Just inhale and down it 

goes.  That's boiled okra.  She 

would -- she liked boiled okra 

with maybe some stewed tomatoes 

in there.  Several of you are 

shaking your head like this.  

That's what I would do.  She 

drew the line at fried okra and 

I drew the line at boiled okra 

with stewed tomatoes.  Just 

cannot go there.  We have to eat 

some green vegetables every 

night.  Can we do something 

about this okra thing?  Yes.  So 

we do roasted okra.  So she 

slices it long ways.  Puts it on 

a pan.  Dribbles olive oil over 

it.  A little salt, a little 

pepper, some red pepper flakes 

as well to really make that 

thing sing.  Put it in the oven.  

Roast it.  The longer you cook 

it.  The better it is.  She 

calls them okra fries.  And that 

concession has done wonders for 

our marriage.  We can enjoy 

okra.  We can have a great 

conversation.  You say, Ronnie, 

that's a simple illustration.  I 

know it is.  But you read Acts 

15, it's a wonderful life lesson 

that, yes, we all need rock 

solid pillars and we drive them 

deep into the soil of God's love 

and truth.  And we also have to 

have the spirit of flexibility 

and compromise and concession.  

And the early church did that.  

Not theological concession, 

sociological concession.  Not 

detrimental concession, but 

relational and fellowship 

concession.  Without a 

willingness to make concessions, 

life is just much more difficult 

than it needs to be.  Your small 

group is much more difficult 

than it needs to be.  Your 

church life will be much more 

difficult that it needs to be.  

Here, this early church, Acts 

15, was not a display of 

weakness.  To the contrary, it 

was a great display of both 

strength, wisdom, and maturity.  

And the reaction, people 

rejoiced.  All right.  God bless 

you, my friends.  Thank you for 

being with us today.  Now we 

want to take some time to pray.  

Let me ask our worship team to 

be coming back up here.  Let me 

ask our elder couples to take 

their places down front, please.  

Let me ask you to go ahead to 

stand and getting ready to pray.  

You're welcome to pray right 

where you are.  You're welcome 

to come down here and pray with 

our elder couples.  Go ahead and 

stand.  Those of you with us 

online, there is someone there 

ready to pray with you this 

morning as well.  I want to say 

just a word here before we pray 

and ask you in your time of 

prayer, make sure you're praying 

in an ongoing way for our 

nation.  You know, this past 

Friday, in a landmark decision, 

our Supreme Court sent the power 

to legislate abortion back to 

the state level.  I don't view 

abortion solely as a political 

matter.  I know it's been 

politicized.  I believe it's a 

moral and spiritual matter.  

Abortion is intentionally 

terminating the life of an 

unborn child.  And God creates 

life, expects us to protect it.  

And every human life from 

conception to death has 

God-created worth.  So I would 

invite you and urge you to pray 

that God will guide our nation 

into an even deeper commitment 

to honor the commitment of life 

and to strengthen families 

because families are the 

foundation for a flourishing 

nation and society.  My prayer 

is that people of all ages, 

races, and religions will find 

compassion and care and grace 

and truth from the people of 

God.  All right, everyone, it's 

an honor and a privilege to 

pray.  Let's do so now.  

[MUSIC}

("How Great Thou Art")

>> Richard: Well, Father, we do 

declare that you are great, that 

you are a mighty God, you are 

God and there is no other.  We 

worship you today.  We thank you 

for hearing our prayers.  We 

pray that you would be with us 

as we go out of this place, that 

you would bless the families 

that are represented here and we 

give you all the praise, the 

honor and the glory in Jesus' 

name.  Amen. 

>> Shane: Amen.  You guys go 

ahead and have a seat.  Those 

praying, feel free to continue 

to pray.  That's fine.  I'm 

going to close us out with a few 

things to bring to your 

attention.  Just as Ronnie 

mentioned, one 10:00 a.m. 

service next week.  No Bible 

class hour and the children's 

programming will be just what we 

have during the worship service.  

The Main Street live will 

continue.  After worship we'll 

have lunch, we'll have barbecue, 

we'll have ice cream, we'll have 

a did you thinking booth with 

Ronnie in it.  I'm just kidding.  

I was just making sure you were 

paying attention.  Some of you 

were winding up getting ready.  

It's going to be great.  A great 

opportunity for fellowship and 

intentional Christian community.  

Let's get together after that 

one 10:00 a.m. service to get 

together and enjoy that 

intentional fellowship time.  

Registration is open for summer 

camp for all kids who completed 

grades two through five.  You 

can sign up online.  It's a 

great camp, camp ten:10.  If you 

want the early bird price, do 

that by end of day tomorrow so 

you can get that price.  Big 

ideas for young minds.  The good 

old library reading time, we 

have something even better.  A 

story time for moms and their 

preschool children.  Games and 

activities and stories.  You'll 

hear how simple childhood 

stories can be used to teach big 

ideas about the truth, about 

faith, about God, about proper 

real-world feelings, about so 

many things.  Story time is 

geared to 3 to 5-year-olds.  

Drop-ins are welcome.  That's 

10:00 a.m. on Tuesdays this 

Tuesday at F100 at the main 

entrance doors.  Check that out.  

It's good.  I want to talk about 

arms of hope.  The annual family 

mission trip.  That's going to 

take place for families with 

kids aged 5 and up.  It's 

affordable and close to home, 

but high impact.  Our teams just 

got back from an arms of hope 

trip and this one will be good 

for a family trip.  You can sign 

up online there.  Hey, church, 

it's so good to be together.  I 

can't wait until next week.  

Let's not leave like we came.  

Let's allow this singing and 

fellowship to change us.  As we 

go into the mission field, let's 

remember that king Jesus is on 

the throne and we're following 

him.  Let's stand and sing this 

song. 

("Every Giant Will Fall")

>> Richard: Thank you, church, 

for worshiping with us today.  

You are dismissed. 

>> 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.