MESSAGE. “Acting on faith isn’t always easy. It calls us to step away from what is comfortable and safe and … look into unknown and unfamiliar circumstances. Maybe it’s a challenge to surrender our finances to God’s control, a career change, a move overseas, or waiting patiently on the Lord for the right spouse. It may be forgiving an offender or risking something for the sake of integrity or purity. Whatever the case, when God nudges our heart beyond what we can manage and manipulate on our own, we have an opportunity to act on the faith that we profess to believe.” (Joe Stowell)
Tomorrow morning I will continue my sermon series entitled “Spiritual Building Blocks.” We will study together the importance of growing in faith. “The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.” Luke 17:5-6
MINISTRY. Here are a few highlights from this week:
I was very pleased to see a great turn out for the January Board meeting last Monday. One of the key votes that night was an approval of our church’s partnership with SALT for 2019. SALT, a partnership between the It Is Written ministry and Southern Adventist University, is a fresh and dynamic evangelism training program. You can learn more about SALT by visiting their website http://salt.training/ This will be an excellent opportunity for our church to be actively engaged in local evangelism. You will be hearing more about the upcoming programs and events in the next few weeks.
Last Sabbath night the Pathfinder Club had their “lock in” event. I heard from some of our Pathfinders that they were very happy with the activities. Good job, Aaron and your team!
With all the rain on Wednesday night I was not sure if anyone would show up for the prayer meeting. Many of you proved that I had “little faith” that night 🙂 We had a good number of prayer warriors and an excellent study on Evangelism and the Holy Spirit.
That same night pastor Matthew was invited to speak at one of the classes at SAU. Isn’t it great that not only do we benefit from Southern Adventist University resources, but as a church we can also enrich their program.
On Thursday morning I was invited to speak at the Garden Plaza Assisted Living for their Week of Prayer meeting. It was nice to see how one of our new members, Patricia, was greeting and meeting all those who attended the meetings. She is actually the one who came up with this initiative and is inviting and scheduling the local pastors to speak. We will miss Patricia for the next couple of months as she is heading to Africa for a mission project.
On Thursday afternoon Lupina invited dozens of widows for the first Season of Change event in 2019. Here is a short message from her: “This was Season of Change celebration of birthdays. Walmart created our Fall, Summer, Winter and Spring cupcake cakes. The Christmas tree became a Birthday tree. Seven new ladies and over 60 in attendance. Our speaker, Nicole Daniel, gave us some helpful financial information. We had salad, vegetables and Company Casserole.” Here are a few photos for you to enjoy:
PRAYERS. Leland Zollinger is recovering well after his fall last week. I had a good visit with him last night at Erlanger downtown. He is very appreciative of your prayers.
Sondra Chilson’s heart procedure went well. When I talked to her on the phone she sounded weak, but I could still hear some positive notes. She was kept at Memorial for a night and is expected to be discharged this afternoon.
We will continue our prayers for Mike Haughee and Larry Otto as they are preparing to start their cancer related treatments.
Happy Sabbath. I hope to see you tomorrow morning.
Peter
Ooltewah Seventh-day Adventist Church 