“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,
whose confidence is in Him.
They will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit (Jeremiah 17:7-8).”
While in darkness we get confused and disoriented. We readily put our trust in those who offer us their way out. King David experienced his fair share of anxiety, sorrow, and pain. Just because he loved the Lord doesn’t mean his life was easy. David wrote Psalm 56 while fearing for his life, and in Psalm 56:3, he shares the key to overcoming danger and difficulty: “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you [God].”
Fear turns into faith when we place our trust in God. Turning to friends, family, and experts is not a bad thing, but turning to God is the best thing. Our perspective changes as we stop focusing on how big our problem is and start looking at how big our God is. Like David, we’ll find that our faith grows as we remember God is for us, praise God’s goodness, and recall His promises (Psalm 56:3-4, Psalm 56:9-11).
As we prepare to celebrate July 4 let us ask ourselves who we trust. A politician? a preacher? a blogger? or the only One who can keep us safe and free, the Almighty God of the Bible?
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This Sabbath, July 3, I invite you to celebrate God’s goodness to the USA not only during our worship services, but also in the afternoon, at 6 PM in the Fellowship Hall, where dinner will be provided for you. After the meal there will be a concert followed by Singspiration. Everyone is welcome to attend.
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Last Sunday many of you came to help with the work bee at school and a kitchen renovation project at church. Here is a brief report and photos from Shelly Caswell: “OAKS had a strong turn out for our summer workbee Sunday. Many families came to join the fun as we assembled new furniture and cleaned out old closets. Thank you to all the kids who carried chairs and old equipment and to the adults for the grunt work that was required to get the building ready for the new school year. OAKS feels so very blessed to see such strong support from our church community. Only 44 days until school starts!”
At that same time a few tough men were removing old and rotten kitchen cabinets. If any of you had doubts that the kitchen needed renovation you should have to come last Sunday to celebrate this project. Old kitchen furniture and cabinets served their purpose well for many years, but the time has come when they need to be replaced. Thank you, all who came to help!
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The church board had a meeting last Monday night. Among many important items the Board put a strong emphasis on our preparation for the September Evangelistic meetings. The opening night of the meetings is September 10. I invite you to start praying about your part in this ministry to our community. If we are Christ’s disciples we’ll be leading others to Him.
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The Board expressed sincere appreciation to Rita Rogers, who served as church treasurer for about 10 years. Rita was an example of a faithful leader and an administrator. Presently Rita is considering a new role of leadership for our church. I’ll keep you posted.
We are grateful to Aaron Brewer, who served as Finance committee chairman for the last two terms. Aaron will continue serving as Building committee chairperson. We need his full concentration on this immense project.
For many years Nancy Smiley was our Greeters’ coordinator. For many visitors coming to our church she was a symbol of a smiling and hugging church. Nancy loves to serve, and I am happy that she’ll continue to be on the deaconesses team. Thank you, Nancy
Steven Bremner is our beloved church leader who needs time to recover after his surgeries. We’ll continue daily prayers for Steve as he continues weekly treatments. We certainly want Steve on the elder’s team as soon as his health improves.
We’ll all miss Lupina Haney who was leading the Season of Change. This was one of our most active ministries. Covid19 put a pause on their activities last year. Thank you, Lupina, for being an inspiration to many ladies in our church and in our community. We’ll always consider you a part of the Ooltewah church.
Prayers for Lisa Patterson who is taking the Season of Change under the Women’s Ministry wing. She is putting a team together to restart regular meetings and activities.
Please pray for the new leaders who are starting their term this week. These are the servants of the Lord willing to serve God’s church.
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I am excited to share with you that Young at Heart resumed their monthly lunches. We will be having our first event on July 7, 2021 @ 1 p.m. at Thai Chili Asian Bistro located at 9203 Lee Hwy #12, Ooltewah, TN. Please contact Willis Adams at 937-609-3070 for additional details.
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Don’t forget to register your kids for the church Pool Party scheduled for July 11. Learn more here. Register here.
VBS info and registration links are here.
Online Giving and weekly church bulletin links are right here.
Happy Sabbath! Happy 4th of July!
See you tomorrow.
pastor Peter
Ooltewah Seventh-day Adventist Church 