Honor Your Father and Mother

MESSAGE: What a difference it makes when parents can delight in the caring love of their adult children, having their needs met and enjoying regular contact. With Christ’s wisdom to guide us, and in the strength of his Spirit living in us, we can honor our parents as God calls us to. My parents provided care to both of my grandmothers when they were not able to take care of their physical needs. My Dad’s mother had cancer when she was 86 years old. My parents took her into their home where she stayed over a year before passing. My grandmother from my Mom’s side spent her last ten years in my parents’ small apartment when she died at almost 94. It was not easy for my parents, but their loving care helped me understand what honoring your parents is all about.

I pray that we learn to appreciate our parents at any age. Even if they have already passed we can honor them with Christ-like living.

Come tomorrow to Ooltewah church and we’ll study together the fifth commandment.

MINISTRY. “GCC Camporee at Cohutta Springs was once again an amazing experience for our Pathfinders. The theme this year has been DO SOMETHING and the Ooltewah kids have done just that. The Camporee time was spent participating in fun activities, learning new honors, and worshiping together at the evening meetings. Our service project was to cut up old jeans to make shoes for people in Uganda who so badly need them. Everywhere we went we were challenged to get involved and stand up for Christ and Do Something for him and for others. Sabbath afternoon we supported a member of the Collegedale club who chose to publicly commit his life to Jesus and was baptized in the lake. God kept the rain and storms from messing up our program and the weather was beautiful right up until 7pm Saturday. The rains came down and the floods came up and we made the tough decision to bus the kids home early. The end may have been damp, but the camporee was a blessed time that we will not soon forget. Thanks be to God for another amazing Pathfinder year. Thank you to all the people who help to make this ministry happen.” – Cory Goss

Men’s Ministry is mobilizing our guys to grow in spirit and in service. Here is a brief report from Edymar:

What a wonderful weekend full of God and fellowship. My cup is full. For those who were able to make it to the breakfast, thank you! I also wanted to throw out a special thank you to all those who show up early to cook. I want to thank Steve Kulik, Fred Turner and Jackie Rose for doing a bang-up job this past Sunday! We had biscuits & gravy, scrambled eggs, loaded tots, fruit with cottage cheese, yogurt, muffins and juice. A feast indeed!

In addition to feeding our bodies, Fred Turner presented food for our souls. Thank you, Fred, for a powerful devotional about seeking the will of God. I was not able to hear the devotional myself, as I was at the nominating committee meeting at that time, but I heard wonderful things from the guys.
As Christians, there is nothing more important than seeking and following the will of God. My friends, there is only one way we can make sure we are doing this daily and that is to spend time with our Lord and friend. Please make every effort to spend time with God before you start your day. For most of my life, I had not done so for various reasons. Being too busy, too tired or whatever. After about 4-5 years of doing so regularly, I realize I can not afford to neglect that precious time. I am here to talk and share if any of you have any questions on how I started and what it has done in my life. It WILL change you.
“Teach me, Lord, the way of your decrees, that I may follow it to the end. Give me understanding, so that I may keep your law and obey it with all my heart. Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight. Ps 119:33-35.”
As a final note, Mrs. Dominique K. Brandt from Habitat for Humanity came to share more about their organization and a new project in our area. She is currently meeting with local churches and church leaders (SDA and others) to grow participation between our organization and theirs. After the presentation, I could tell the guys were excited because of all the questions that were asked. This evening, the church finance committee and the board will be discussing and voting on our church’s involvement as there is a monetary obligation that comes with time commitment. I believe this would be a wonderful way to become more involved in our local community.”

The Reformation Today Bible seminar continues tonight and Sabbath at 7 pm. I’m very encouraged by your participation and support.

The Health Rally with EW Dempsey is tomorrow afternoon from 2 to 5 pm in the Fellowship Hall. A meal will be provided for the participants.

Blessed Sabbath day to you,

Peter