ZÉÄwxÇ [ ÄÄá. OLD News and Outreach. Does it Work? November, Volume 23, Issue 7

Transcription

1 ZÉÄwxÇ [ ÄÄá g Volume 23, Issue 7 November, OLD News and Outreach N of the Golden Hills Seventh-day uggets Adventist Church Does it Work? When we work out questions and thoughts about the church and our life with Jesus, there seems to be one, really basic question: Will it make a real difference in my life? Does it work? I wrestle with this personally when I come to my morning worship time; if I m counseling others, and every time I prepare a sermon. Does it work? Is what I am learning and sharing making a difference in my life? Or, am I just sharing a theory? Sabbath, Nov 4 Following worship Sunday, Nov.5 Monday, Nov 6 November Sabbath, Nov. 11 Children s Church Potluck Fellowship Hall Daylight saving time change Pathfinder TLT Food Collection Pathfinder Campout Honoring Veterans & Fellowship Hall Do we just come to church because we feel the need for social interaction and our friends are there? Is it just out of a habit we have always done it, so we just keep coming? Or, are we renewed and energized as we spend some time together looking at and worshiping Jesus? I can t answer this question for anyone else, but I can share what God has done in my life. I can say with certainty that it makes a difference in my life it works when I am able to set aside my agenda and engage with God s plan. When I am just asking Him to add His blessing to the life I have worked so hard to create rather than aligning my life with His desires, it generally stagnates. It all depends on who has control of me. Am I insisting on maintaining control or am I willing to let Him be in charge? Recently I have been struggling with some thought patterns that have plagued me much of my life. As usual, I Continued on page 2, column 1 Tuesday, Nov 14 Church Board Meeting 7:15 PM Education Annex Sabbath, Nov. 18 During Worship Thursday, Nov.23 Communion Celebration Sanctuary Thanksgiving Tuesday, Nov. 28 Ministry Leadership Team 7:15 PM Education Annex 6:30 PM 6:30, PM 6:00 PM Nov.6, 20 & 27 Pathfinders Nov. 6 & 20Adventurers Prayer Meeting Gold Nuggets will be published eight times this year; monthly, except for combined Summer and December- January issues. All readers are welcome to submit items for this publication. Inclusion and form are a function of space and timing of receipt. Next month s deadline will be Sabbath, November 18. As always, you may give items to me in person, leave messages on my machine at , or send by e -mail to JudyLCarr@aol.com.

2 From the Pastor, continued from page 1 started fighting against it praying for my victory over this; trying to bring to mind Bible verses I was familiar with, working to avoid circumstances that would trigger these thoughts. I was doing everything I knew to do to fight against this and change what was happening to me and it was only got worse. I remember thinking If I can t beat this, I shouldn t be a pastor! If it s not working for me, how can I tell anyone else how to make it work for them? Daylight Savings Time ends, Sunday, November 5 at 2:00 AM. It was at that point God finally broke through my misguided thinking. It was like God was telling me this was His fight, not mine and as long as I was trying to fight it, I would fail. The conviction then came to stop fighting, and just focus on connecting with Jesus. I then prayed asking forgiveness for thinking I could handle this. Then I asked God to come in and do whatever He wanted to do with it. Some thoughts came to me about a couple of changes in where I was focusing which I said yes to. For the first few days, I didn t notice too much difference. I still found myself slipping into the old familiar thought patterns with the corresponding feelings of failure and worthlessness. 16 Kaitlyn Jones 22 Colleen Turner November Birthdays But after a several days of following God s suggestions, I realized those thought patterns were starting to lose their attraction. And, in those times where I did fall back into them, rather than beating myself up, I was simply confessing it and moved on confident of God s forgiveness and healing. As long as I was fighting the problem myself, even after asking God to make me stronger so I could gain the victory I was focused on and consumed by my problem. Rather than going away, it loomed up bigger and bigger. When I allowed God regular access to my mind and heart, I was becoming more confident in His power and love and I saw the problem in the perspective of God s victory He had already won the battle and was now making it a reality in my life. Continued on page 5, column 1 Gold Nuggets 2

3 This month, the Golden Hills Community Presence Team is thankful to all who helped make the Sand and Ice Melt Bottle give-away project a success. These bottles were distributed in our community with invitations to the Pale Horse Rides Series. Service in our Community Twelve Secret Agents We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it. Nevertheless... Numbers 13:27, 28, NRSV. God had described Canaan as flowing with milk and honey (Ex. 3:8). Had God exaggerated? A firsthand report would prove helpful, so Moses selected 12 secret agents to spy out the land. See what the land is like, and whether the people who live in it are strong or weak, whether they are few or many,... and whether the land is rich or poor, and whether there are trees in it or not.... And bring some of the fruit of the land (verses 18-20, NRSV). Big assignment! These undercover agents spent 40 days scoping out the land. Upon completing their mission, they returned, as Moses had asked, with a sampling of fruit. They had found one bunch of grapes so enormous that they put it on a pole carried on the shoulders of two men. (The Hebrew word to describe the pole indicated that it was quaking and/or bending under the weight as the men hiked back to camp.) They also brought back some pomegranates and figs. They returned with a majority and a minority report. Every one of the spies agreed that the land truly was productive. God hadn t overstated matters. Canaan was fertile. They proudly showed off the fruit. Can t you just imagine various people sampling the grapes, pomegranates, and figs? It takes a mountain of work to make this project a success. From ordering the supplies, to designing, printing and attaching the labels, to mixing the filler, to moving the boxes of finished product to the fellowship hall, to drivers who volunteered their time and cars, to the people who knocked on doors to make the community contacts. To these and more, I trust that you were blessed. See more pictures and read more about this effort in the Pathfinder column on page 4. But there the accord stopped. The majority account indicated that the Amalekites, Hittites, Jebusites, Amorites, and Canaanites occupied the land. All the people living there were huge, but the gigantic Anakim also lived there, so dwarfing the Hebrew scouts that the 12 men felt like grasshoppers! Caleb and Joshua s minority report espoused a confident viewpoint: Let us go up at once... for we are well able to overcome it (verse 30, NRSV). The Lord is with us (14:9). Minority reports are often troublesome and even of questionable value. So, it s not surprising that the peo- Continued on page 4, column 2 Gold Nuggets 3

4 Pathfinders Although not in these pictures, thanks also goes to the Pathfinder leaders who responded to the call for help and generously gave up their own program time to loan and support the members of their units. Stuff from a Bible Buff, continued from page 3 ple rejected this minority report. They even demanded the death of the two dissidents. YHWH flew into a rage... again. Moses... again... argued Him out of His pique. God relented... somewhat. Caleb and Joshua would enter Canaan. The other spies died shortly from a plague. The rest of the masses would die en route, except for the children. None of us need be a Pollyanna, but negativism in the face of God s leading, is especially demoralizing and can have far-reaching fallout. Let us shun it! What do you see in the pictures here? I see young people who weren t afraid to get a little dirty who didn t think the job was too big who worked together to fit into a bigger picture who offered hands and feet to make the Mission Possible. ~ R. W. Coffen Bible texts credited to NRSV are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. Yes, I see not just the future of our church, but the missionaries in our present church. Many of these same missionaries assisted with distributing the bottles they filled to strangers who live in the houses surrounding our church. Some announcements may not make the newsletter deadline. See for the latest information. Gold Nuggets 4

5 From th e Pastor, continued from page 2 It is working just like God said it would through Jesus and the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Then Jesus said, Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light. (Ma hew 11:25-30, NLT) I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people declares the L. For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more. (Jeremiah 31:33-34, NIV) I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impuri- es and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. (Ezekiel 36:25-27, NIV) I can say without hesitation, God has made an incredible difference in my life not because I am in any way special or holy (I m as sinful as you are) but because He is faithful, powerful, and loving. Stop fighting the evil in your life and trust God do what He has promised to do. Asking Him to take over the fight He has already won, makes a lot of sense to me and it works! ~ Pastor T. Martinsen Gold Nuggets 5

6 Golden Hills Seventh-day Adven st Church 3005 Golden Boulevard Bellevue, Nebraska Gold Nuggets 6