OUR FATHER

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MESSAGE. The gospel reveals God as “a faithful Father.” Many New Testament passages teach this truth. Jesus appeals to our innate sense of what fatherhood should be in order to reveal clearly the kind of Father our God actually is. Though we are born in Adam and inclined towards evil, we understand that good fathers should give gifts to their children. Moreover, we who are fathers, despite our wickedness still give gifts to our sons and daughters. If, despite our sin, we want to bless our families and do right by them, how much more does our perfectly good Father want to bless us? I invite you to find the answer together with me tomorrow morning as I will be sharing the message from the Word of God.

MISSION. It is good to be back home. Galena and I had a blessed experience in Prague where we had the privilege of joining over three hundred Russian speaking Seventh-day Adventists for a few days of spiritual revival. Many traveled from the other countries including Greece, Ukraine, Poland, Germany, etc. I was asked to speak on the power of the Holy Spirit. Slavic people love long messages and day-long services. I am grateful to God for giving us enough energy to go through every day of the meetings. In the next few days I will post more photos on the Light of Hope website and Facebook. But here are a couple:

Two weeks ago, while many of you were having a great time at the Conference camp meeting, our head elder Steve Bremner preached at our own church for both services and officiated the baptism of Pedro Fernandez. Steve studied with Pedro for several months and these studies resulted in the celebration of Pedro’s baptism. Along with Pedro that same afternoon pastor Jose Nieves baptized Pedro’s daughter Angel Kreger. I feel bad I missed this joyous occasion. Below are a few photos from the lake baptism.

Last weekend our youth went camping. Pastor Aubrey shared an exciting report of that camping experience. I am glad that they are back safe; tired, but spiritually charged for their mission in our community.

Tomorrow is the third Sabbath of the month. That means everyone is invited to stay for the church Fellowship meal. Please, bring items from our summer menu 🙂 salads and sandwiches.

I’d like to express my sincere appreciation to the church grounds team. Even as I type this message Chris is mowing the lawn. Imagine doing that in 95F heat. Thank you Chris, Darren, and the Bissells. Thank you Janet Goss and Luda Petrenko for watering the plants. Please, forgive me if I missed someones name here. God bless you for your commitment!

Because of the camp meeting Sabbath we need to catch up on our local budget giving. Please pray about doubling your regular offering amount tomorrow morning. We need to fund our church ministries well! Don’t we feel blessed when we support the work of God’s church? We live in a very troublesome time. We want many others to find Jesus as the only answer to the problems of this world.

PRAYER. I am asking for your prayers for the young and elderly in our church. Please pray that the Lord strengthens our church families. Pray for those that are ill and lonely.

PERSONAL. After the meetings in Prague, Galena and I had a few days off. We refused to drive. For a whole week we simply walked, read books, ate tons of European pastries and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. The unfortunate incident of fatally short-circuiting both of our iPhones in a rented car turned into the blessing of staying away from the rest of the busy world. We relearned how to spend time together without our eyes glued to the screen of our mobile phones. 🙂 Try it for a few days! It is a refreshing and liberating experience.