“In Thy presence is fullness of joy”

My dear friends,

The Sabbath Day is approaching in a few hours. I invite you to set aside any task or trouble that may keep you away from the presence of God. Listen carefully and you will hear God’s heart beating. His heart beats joyfully because He loves us. What about us? Can we say along with David, “In Thy presence is fullness of joy”?

Tomorrow is the Adventurer Club Sabbath. I am looking forward to seeing many of our children march to the front of the church and lead in our service. The Adventurer Club will participate in both services. My Sabbath sermon will be Part 3 of the “The Secrets of the Kingdom of God” series. It is based on Matthew 13:44-46.

Tomorrow night is a special program for the church youth. Here is an invitation from the Youth Ministry Leader: Youth and Young Adults, join us Sabbath, February 14, for an early supper and a vespers program. Supper will be served beginning at 3:30 p.m. followed by a drama performance by Destiny Drama Company from Southern Adventist University at 4:30 p.m. Later in the evening, the Youth and Young Adults will be meeting at SuperFly for some trampoline fun! Come and enjoy food, music, a drama performance and fellowship.**Please note: although all are welcome to attend the vespers program and supper will be geared toward ages 13 and up**

The Nehemiah fund is climbing up. The church bulletin report shows $80,000 plus! Thank you, church, for assuming responsibility for the physical condition of the Lord’s House. We don’t want to pass the needed repairs on to the shoulders of our children. I pray that very soon we’ll see a new roof on our church, new windows, front doors, new church pews in the sanctuary, and, of course, new outdoor signs directing people to our church.

On Tuesday night the church Board worked on a document outlining the new church financial philosophy. We are definitely not the largest church in the area, but with God’s help we are able to support many ministries and programs. Our church departments, utilities, office needs, staff payroll, ongoing repairs, tuition assistance and OAKS allocations come ONLY from your donations marked “CHURCH BUDGET”. The document makes a provision for “percentage based allocations” to the church ministries in place of the monthly “set amounts” distributions. This approach will prevent our church from creating a larger deficit in those months when we don’t reach our planned “combined budget amount”. I have no doubts that we all recognize the need to support our ministries and various departments. If you have not yet tested the goodness of the Lord by contributing to the church budget I encourage you to do it at least for the month of February. See for yourself how the promise of God in Malachia 3:10 will be fulfilled in your life:

“If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour  out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it.”

Your prayers are need for Bradley Hyde. Last Wednesday night he shared with the group that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer.  The doctors are reviewing his treatment options. Let us uplift Bradley and Sylvia in our prayers, remembering that “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all.” Psalm 34;19

Happy Sabbath to you,

Pastor Peter