God is My Shelter

MESSAGE. “The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him.” Psalm 28:7

Painful experiences help us to trust God more. There are many verses in the Bible that refer to God as our shield. I encourage you to look them up and read them. Here are a few of my favorites. “He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart” (Psalm 91:4). “Thou art my hiding place and my shield: I hope in thy word” (Psalm 119:114).

“For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly” (Psalm 84:11).

MINISTRY.

Ooltewah church Communications department just printed a fresh church newsletter. To access the e-version  click here or click on the picture.  Thank you, Aaron Hall and your team, for sharing with us awesome photos and important ministry updates. You’ll notice that the emphasis in this Newsletter is on OAKS. During the last week of September our students were participating in a week of prayer. Pastor Matthew Shellenberger was inspiring OAKS kids to Stand for Jesus. At the final meeting pastor Matthew invited the students to fill out the response card. Over one hundred of them responded to the call. Close to thirty students expressed a desire to start Bible studies. Praise God for every decision. Thank you, Matthew, for your inspiring leadership. Now we’ll need volunteers who would be interested in studying God’s Word with the students. Please, contact pastor Matthew or me if you want to be a part of this exciting ministry.

Also, our students need a new roof over the gym. This is a major renovation project where we need to come together and by God’s grace raise $170,000 US. OAKS is our mission field and I’m grateful for your support of this need.  You’ll find more details and photos in the Newsletter.

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Men’s Ministry is going full speed. Here is an excerpt from Edymar Penagos’ latest email:

“We had the opportunity to put God’s religion into action right after the breakfast. Mrs. Byrd, who is 92 years young, lost her husband a little while back. She has been trying to move out of her home and into an assisted living facility. This was a monumental task and praise God for connecting her to David Denton. After working for several hours, we put a huge dent in what needed to be done and we will be back for a 3rd time to finish. See attached pictures.

Guys, Mrs. Byrd texted David afterwords and her words just made my heart melt. She was very grateful and to quote her, “you and your helpers live the “word”, you are true Christians”. In a world where words seem to be losing their meaning and used for hate, action is even more important. Love in action can not be debated, it can not be misunderstood or used to hate. No matter how nicely spoken words can be, love is action. So without action, there is no love.”

 

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We’re proud to be a participating team in this year’s “Out of the Darkness” suicide awareness and prevention walk in Chattanooga. Join us! We’d love your help meeting our fundraising goal or simply to walk alongside us (for free) this Sunday, October 7 at Enterprise South park. Lucas Patterson, Ooltewah Community services director, is spearheading this program.

Walk Date: 10/07/2018
Walk Location: Enterprise South Nature Park – Chattanooga, TN
Check-in/Registration Time: 12:00 pm
Opening Ceremony/Walk Begins: 1:00 pm
Walk Ends: 2:00 pm

Click here for more information. 

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PRAYERS. Please remember the Leavitt and Williams families in your prayers as they are grieving the loss of Martha Williams. The Memorial service for Martha is this Sabbath afternoon at 4:30 pm followed by a reception. Everyone is invited to attend.

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RESOURCES. Tithe and Offerings online giving page is available on our church website www.ooltewahchurch.org. No transaction fees are charged. It is easy and convenient. You can do it on your computer or using an application on your phone. The AdventistGiving app is available to download for both Android and Apple phones.

Our services are being streamed via YouTube. Search for Ooltewah ChurchMedia channel on YouTube. Archive of the past services is also on that same channel. You can easily find the channel by clicking the SERMONS tab on our church website.

FROM MY HEART. This week our daughter Stacey and our grandson Pierce came for a short visit from Florida. As you can see by the photos below, Pierce was helping me with some landscaping work around the house, with a sermon preparation in my home office, and was teaching me how to live happily on a fully vegan diet 🙂