Peace in Christ

MESSAGE. I love how The Message Bible reminds us of God’s holy promise and instructs us about what to do when we’re at the end of our rope and negative thoughts are consuming us. We find these instructions in Psalm 55:22,  “Pile your troubles on God’s shoulders—he’ll carry your load, he’ll help you out.  He’ll never let good people topple into ruin.” 

Here we see David complaining to God about the heartache and fear resulting from friends who betrayed him and enemies who were after him. His burdens seemed overwhelming, and in utter despair he poured his concerns out to God. Yet what is so amazing in that in the same breath, we also see him choosing to pile those troubles onto God’s shoulders, committing to trust and believe He would bring victory and help him get through.

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MINISTRY. Corn Roast social was a total success! If you were not able to attend you missed a lot. Wonderful spirit, lots of delicious treats including of course fire roasted corn, and lots of fun activities for children. Thank you, social committee and Men’s Ministry team for your super hard work. I enjoyed every moment of the auction where our church raised $2,500 towards a new home for a family in our community. I trust that by the end of this month we’ll reach our $5,000 goal. If you are willing to contribute please mark your tithe envelope with “Ooltewah Community services.” Thank you, Mike, for sharing your awesome pictures with with. Here they are:

 

and here are more pictures from Aaron and Alisa Hall:

 

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OAKS Week of Prayer helped our students allow Jesus to be the King of their lives. Every morning Pastor Matthew presented important biblical truths in a creative and captivating way. This morning pastor Matthew asked the students to fill out the response cards. Here is a text message that came from Matthew this afternoon: “122 students filled out decision cards. Every single one said they gave their heart to Jesus. 49 have asked to be baptized, and 52 have requested Bible studies. Praise God!”

What a blessing! We will certainly need lots of helpers in giving Bible studies to OAKS students. Please, talk to pastor Matthew if you are willing to help.

 

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Men’s Ministry update from Edymar:

Here we are, headed full steam ahead into the end of September and man, do we have a lot going on!

Haney’s Hungry Hombres (this Sunday):

Please plan to join us for breakfast, event planning and fellowship this Sunday. On the agenda: men’s bible study, Habitat for Humanity project and the father-son retreat. Pancakes, eggs and juice will be provided. If you would like to help prepare the food, please plan to be there at 7:30 am. If not, breakfast start at 8:30 am sharp and will be in the Ooltewah SDA church fellowship hall.

THE BLESSING Father-Son Retreat

Is a weekend of challenge, laughter, relaxation, and bonding with your son and in the company of other fathers and sons. The retreat will be held from Sept 29-Oct 1, 2017 at the Booker T. Washington Group Camp which is only a short drive from downtown Chattanooga. The camp features modern cabins, commercial kitchen/dining hall, and meeting room all within a short walk of Chickamauga Lake and miles of hiking/biking trails. You will love the natural setting and the entire experience!

If you have not already done so, please use the link below to register online. The deadline to register will be 9/28 as we need the final head count to purchase the food. We will discuss this event in more detail at the breakfast this Sunday, 9/24. If you have any questions, please reach out to Lucas Patterson 423-582-1678 or myself Edymar 813-541-2184.

LINK TO REGISTER:

http://blueprintformen.org/?event=the-blessing-father-son-retreat&event_date=2017-09-29

Habitat For Humanity:

Ground Breaking will be on 9/28. I hope you and your family are able to attend this special day. Attached is the family’s bio and specific prayer requests. We will also be discussing this in more detail Sunday morning at the breakfast. You don’t want to miss out!

Corn Roast Festival Recap:

Social Committee did such a wonderful job last Sunday! We enjoyed hot dogs, candy apples, ice cream sundaes, games and fellowship. The Men’s Ministry raised almost $2,000 between the pie toss, Fitbit giveaway, bread sale and goodies auction. A special thank you to Pastor Matt and Pastor Peter for loaning your faces to such a wonder cause. Also, thank you Jenny Spicer for baking the fresh bread, Fred Turner for collecting all the goodies that were auctioned off and Steve Kulik and Mike Hughee for being the auctioneers. It was so great seeing everyone enjoying followship while coming together to raise money for this special cause.

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PRAYERS. Your prayers are requested for pastor David Bissell who was diagnosed with cancer. We’ll have an anointing service in the next few days. I promised pastor David that the whole church would be praying for him daily. God is strong in his help! We are all with you, David!

Ron Malloch is celebrating his 80-th birthday tomorrow. Praise God for Ron’s wonderful life and his passion for the little ones. He is helping a great number of children with Bible studies and educational tutoring. Happy birthday, Ron!

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This Sabbath pastor Matthew is preaching at our church and I’ll be preaching in a Slavic church in Atlanta.

Happy Sabbath, my friends!