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February 25, 2023 sabbath school and church part one
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in this episode, you will hear the Sabbath school church part one aired February 25, 2023.
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Series Introduction: Sabbath School and Church
00:01:34
Speaker
We present the first of two episodes called Sabbath School and Church. This time you're going to hear Sabbath School and Church part one, and the next podcast will be part two, the concluding part. So here's part one now. Enjoy.
What is Discipleship in the New Testament?
00:02:01
Speaker
of man, wasn't he? Okay. So Walt opened in prayer with us, for us. We're gonna take a few minutes and we're gonna look at session six. That's our focus today and we're talking about the disciple and then we're gonna talk about the most neglected part in evangelism.
00:02:27
Speaker
And it might surprise some of you. Did you know that over 261 time it appears in the New Testament, the 27 books, that it talks about the word disciple? And disciple is the most common word that is associated with Jesus.
00:02:48
Speaker
So if that's associated with Jesus, won't it be associated with us also? I believe so, I believe so. A disciple which literally means a learner. In the New Testament, the term follow, that's what Jesus did. He helped his disciples to learn about his mission and his work. And that's what we've been doing the past
00:03:10
Speaker
Well, six sessions and that's six consecutive weeks, but together learning some of the techniques of ministering and sharing and things to do and not to do and knowing that we're all gonna learn as we move forward, right?
Identity and Worldview Shaped by Discipleship
00:03:26
Speaker
I like this. Bible disciples follow Jesus in a way that shapes their identity, worldview, and their way of life.
00:03:40
Speaker
the way of life. Discipleship, ministry, begins to create in us a way of life. We just cannot be about business as usual, especially in the days in which we live today. It's a way of life, it's a way that we practice, it's a way that we think. Everything about our day should be based on ministry. Lord, what is it for me today?
00:04:07
Speaker
Walt, I was thinking of the lesson, as you were sharing with us, that you brought out many good points, and we could almost turn it into a lesson today, but you think about work and being active. And our work that we have as Christians in our world view should be about ministering to others. That is our call, that is our goal. So I want you to think about something before we venture into this weekend as we've gone out. How many of you have gone out already to share?
00:04:33
Speaker
Okay, Pam's group has. I think that's the only one, and that's good. I like self-starters like that. We probably would have launched it last week, but I was gone for two weeks, and I'm looking forward to hear what you have to say to us.
Humility and God's Strength in Ministry
00:04:47
Speaker
But a true disciple of God will never be conscious of his own limits or weakness. We'll ever be conscious. We need to understand that we are weak vessels without him.
00:05:01
Speaker
Such an attitude leads them to a greater place if we think this way, to a greater reliance upon the strength and wisdom of God. So when you're going out, our greatest strength is realized when we feel our knowledge is weak.
00:05:22
Speaker
You know, when I go out door-to-door, when I go visit someone, there is something inside of me sometimes, and I think, I am not qualified to do this. And I don't know if that's the devil's voice or just the feeling that, you know, as you grow up and you learn about things, that you know your limitations, but all of that can be set aside if we recognize that we are weak vessels. But we are strong.
00:05:46
Speaker
If we lean on him and we trust in him and as we go to that first encounter coming up here this week or maybe even today, some of you are planning maybe to go out to visit those on your list.
00:05:59
Speaker
that our greatest strength is realized when we feel and acknowledge our weakness. So don't be fearful. Don't feel like you do not have the capability to do this. And so, as we move ahead and venture out to reclaim our wayward members and our non-attending members,
00:06:17
Speaker
Remember that statement, friends. So like Paul says in 1 Corinthians, and my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of men's wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit of power. So it's the spirit of God that's going with us and before us, and we're praying for those people that we're going to visit that the spirit of God will be in them. So if you have that right combination, I see great success.
00:06:46
Speaker
And sure, some are not ready. Some may say, I have no interest. But as the Holy Spirit works on them, we'll see great things happen.
Engagement and Preservation of Church Members
00:06:57
Speaker
So let's talk about the very important portion, the growth cycle. Do you remember the growth cycle, what it is? Prepare, plant, cultivate, harvest. What's the last one? What is it, Jeff, did you?
00:07:18
Speaker
It's preserve. One of the most neglected parts of the call cycle is the preservation. It's to preserve our members. How many times have you had an evangelistic series, brought 20 people into the church, and a year later, many of them are gone?
00:07:38
Speaker
It doesn't have to be that way. It does happen sometimes. Sure, some people weren't really ready, but oftentimes there's some things that we miss as a people that we can do to do better at this. You think of a farmer. If a farmer was to plant a crop and the crop comes to its full fruition and the corn is ready to be harvested and he left it there, what would happen to it? It would rot.
00:08:01
Speaker
He would harvest it if he had fruit or other vegetables. You either would can them or you would freeze them or you would dry them. You would do something with them to prepare them so you could sustain the value of the life of that fruit and vegetable for some time. So that's what we need. The subject today is really about that just to talk about those because as we're going out, our goal is that they come in, right? And I think we can be better prepared for our members coming back
00:08:31
Speaker
to be able to welcome them in and to develop a great friendship with them because Satan, oh, how he wants to have them come back, but he also wants them to leave quickly. So keep that in mind as we're reaching out to these individuals. As they're coming back into our churches, we have a greater work
00:08:49
Speaker
once they come into our church. I don't know if any of you are familiar with the Navigators organization. It was developed in 1933 by a man named Dawson Troutman. And I liked what he did in his training when he trained Christian brothers and sisters to go out and work.
00:09:09
Speaker
His particular emphasis on was very simple, to share their faith. But he had a scenario developed very early on when the founder was asked to visit a sailor. His name was Les Spencer. And to share God's words, soon Spencer was asking another man to be taught by troutmen. So Spencer wanted troutmen to do his work, even though he wanted to pursue a soul. And you know what he told him?
00:09:37
Speaker
He says, you teach them. Oh, you teach them.
00:09:42
Speaker
And you know what I'm saying to you today? You're gonna have help from all of us, because we're a team, we're working together. But now it's your responsibility to teach them when they come back. It doesn't end that you sit in the pew and you say, Bonnie and Bob and Bill are back and it's so wonderful when you leave them there. It's not supposed to look like that. Remember, the one thing that's neglected as they did these studies is to preserve our members as they have come back or as they have come into the faith.
00:10:11
Speaker
So we have a lot of work moving forward. So that's why what we're doing here today is not gonna end. We got a year together, because we're gonna bring this to a full fruition, and we're gonna see that we're gonna be able to not only bring those people back as God works with them, but we're going to be able to minister to them and help them grow in the faith. So our response again, I think what I was gonna say here is one of the most neglected part of evangelism in the call cycle is preservation.
00:10:42
Speaker
You know, we can go to them, we can plant the seed, we can till the soil, we can water the soil, but if you leave them there, there's gonna be a problem. So think about the challenge. When those people come back, oftentimes they're coming out of a lifestyle that's different than your lifestyle.
00:10:59
Speaker
They may be struggling with the vices in this world, drugs and alcohol, but they're feeling a calling of God. And they're gonna need each one of us to come very close to them as they come back. They'll need spiritual counseling. They'll need a lot of prayer. They'll need fellowship. So when they come back, we have to do things different. So what can we do? As they return,
00:11:24
Speaker
and you adopt them as your brother and sister. I'm just going to throw it out here. What do you think that we can do with them as they come back? And there's a microphone there, Pam. I'll grab it. I don't know if you want to speak. I'm not saying you speak for, but what can we do for them as they return? Check one, two. It's on. What can we do as they return? Can we invite them home for a fellowship dinner?
00:11:57
Speaker
Include them, maybe invite them to a church social, like tonight. What else can we do? Oh, it's on now. Anyone else? Idea? What else can we do? Pamps, because I guess we're live. Sit with them in church. Oh, I like that. Yeah, sit with them in church. How hard, you know, our
00:12:25
Speaker
traditional seating's right over there. You know, I don't have a problem moving, but Debbie loves to be in front. So if you're going out as teams, spouses, be willing to change your spot if you gotta go sit with someone. I know it feels different, it's uncomfortable, you might be a back sitter and all of a sudden you see they came up here and sat up front.
00:12:46
Speaker
Go sit with them, and that is powerful. When they know that you're with them in the church service, they feel like they're part of a family because they're new. They're walking into a family that maybe they don't know anyone here but you, so make them feel, Walt, what do you have for us? Well, I'll say this. The other thing that you need to do is be friendly.
00:13:17
Speaker
don't go to people that come to church and treat them as guests or visitors, treat them as guests. There should be special. I know after 40 some years of wandering around and doing all kinds of things, nobody came to my door and said come back. God did. And I watched online for a while and finally came in, tripped over that step on the end of the hallway
00:13:47
Speaker
where you go out into the parking lot. Yeah, that was my entry into that. But one person that week said hi to me. You're the only person that talked to me that week. And I think we have to be everybody, not just the people going out. Everybody has to be there and be friends to me.
00:14:12
Speaker
Thank you, Walt, probably the second most important thing, or maybe on the top of the first. When I came into the Seventh Day Adventist Church, I lived in Colorado, by myself, left my home in my early 20s, all alone, met the Lord, came to my first Sabbath that day at that church, and I was overwhelmed with kindness.
00:14:35
Speaker
Unbelievable, I thought, you know what? My family's not here. They're not here to celebrate the fact that my life was changed, but my church family made me feel important. They made me feel as though, like, Lord, it's okay right now, I'm hurting that, I lost my family, but I regained a special family. You're special, friends. You're special to those that are coming in. You may not know it. You may not be the extrovert, the one that always goes up the people, but what does it take?
00:15:06
Speaker
to go up and say, you know, we're so glad to see you here. My name is Mike. Your name is? And they'll feel like they're welcomed.
00:15:14
Speaker
So yeah, thanks for sharing that. That's very important. Anything else as we're moving forward here that we can do as our friends return to the church here in Holly. Be over friendly. You won't scare them away. I don't think you can over friendly anyone. So the idea is to kindly deal with them.
00:15:37
Speaker
My mother-in-law tells a story. You know, God rest her soul. I love her and miss her dearly. She loved the Lord with all her heart. And this happened, I think it was 1980, a year before I came back here to Michigan and joined the First Front Church.
00:15:54
Speaker
There were three men that came into the church. Now, this is just post-70s, you know? Long hair, that kind of stuff. These guys came in, and sister, their hair was longer than yours. It came down to the middle of their back. They walked into the church and they had jeans on and a T-shirt on, and they just didn't fit into the suit and tie culture. But my mother-in-law went up and embraced them and hugged them and welcomed them to the church.
00:16:24
Speaker
And now, I'm trying to think of his last name. He's a pastor in the Michigan Conference, one of them. The other two are in the church.
00:16:34
Speaker
Rocker, Pastor Rocker, and his wife wrote the cookbooks. He was a gentleman that had the long hair and he tells a story that, you know, that really impacted his life that he was accepted coming into the church that the way he looked. So what I'm saying, if they don't look like you, that's okay. Just embrace them, love them. God will clean them up. It's not our responsibility to clean people up.
00:17:01
Speaker
If they want recommendations, we can share those with them in the right spirit. But we need to deal kindly with them as they come in. And we need to help them understand and educate them about the Christian life. So as you're mentoring our members that come back, mentor them in your homes like we talked about. Bring them home for lunch, encourage them. Larry, let me get you a mic, Larry.
00:17:35
Speaker
all I wanted to say was that Dan Rocker was the pastor of the Wyoming Church, and he had over 200 people at the concert that we put on. Praise those, 200. Over 200.
00:17:51
Speaker
Do you see what happens when you love someone? Maybe that day, if my mother-in-law wouldn't have embraced them, they may have been back out in the world. I don't know. You know, God's bigger than me. He sees before, but I really believe our encounters with people impact them, and it can change their destiny if we're just willing to be friendly and kind to them. Thanks for sharing that. You know, Jesus, he modeled Christianity. What did he do? He brought the people along with them.
00:18:21
Speaker
Bring these individuals along with them, include them in everything that you can think of. If you even have to overwhelm them a little bit, they'll tell you, hey, I can't do this now, but let them know you care. We don't wanna lose them. They're gonna be some of our greatest strengths in the church as they come back. Because when God gets a whole of a heart and they're converted, and they see the fire in the church, they're just gonna kindle that fire more, and the church is gonna be on fire more. That's what we're looking for. We got 12 months.
00:18:51
Speaker
to see these things come to fruition, and I believe they will, friends. If we take the right attitude, and if we're consistent with our visitations, and if we have a specific plan moving forward, and I just want to make a note here, make sure when you're going out,
00:19:06
Speaker
Have a sheet of paper in the car. I was going to put the form together, but we're all a little different. I thought of doing something on Excel, and I thought, you know, not everyone uses a computer. I thought of using a hard copy. Not everyone, maybe like a hard copy. They might have put notes in their phone. Do whatever it takes to take good notes. You know, I visited with Bob today. Bob said he would love to come back, but he feels that he wouldn't be welcome because he's still smoking.
00:19:32
Speaker
Bob come to church, just don't light up in church. Whatever you say to him, we're gonna work with ya. Sometimes we push people away because they're still dealing with these things in their life, but God wants to create in them a new way of life. Every one of those three men I believe were smoking at that time as they come back to church, but they came each week. Three, four weeks later, Larry, Dan cut his hair.
00:19:57
Speaker
A couple months later, he had a suit on. I mean, not that that matters. I mean, you could have long hair and not wear a suit and love Jesus with all your heart. I get that. And then Dan became one of the top cult porters in the state of Michigan. Then he went out to do other missionary work, and he'd come be the top cult porter again, and then he'd go out and do some other missionary work, and then he'd come back and be the top cult porter again. I knew someone to know, Dan. Thanks, Larry. Amen.
00:20:30
Speaker
Yeah. He said unto them, feed my lambs. This was a work in which Peter had but little experience. Peter, one of Jesus' disciples. But he could not, he tells us in Review and Herald, this was 1892, but he could not be complete in Christian life unless he learned to feed his lambs. Oh, do you feel complete in your Christian life?
00:21:02
Speaker
That's just a question for you to ask yourself. I have found the only time I feel complete in my Christian walk is when I'm sharing my faith.
Peter's Experience and Christian Growth
00:21:12
Speaker
There's something about it that there is a void in my walk is when I'm not sharing my faith. And Peter had but little experience in doing this, but when he learned what it meant to feed the lambs, his experience just blew up.
00:21:30
Speaker
Do you want your Christian life just to expand? To experience? It doesn't matter how old you are. Oftentimes, we think, because I'm this old, I can't do that. No, no. Challenge yourself and allow the Spirit to fill you, and you'll see you'll do things that you've never, ever thought you could do. So, friends, next week,
00:21:56
Speaker
We're gonna wrap up the training session. We're gonna have a little Q and A time, too, and then we're gonna have some testimonies as folks are going out. But before we close with a couple statements, I wanted Pam to come up. Pam, do you have a microphone? I'll get it from Larry. Oh, right there, right there. Look at that. Come on up, Pam. Pam and her group, Petra, Pam and Jessica, they had already gone out. Praise the Lord.
00:22:24
Speaker
These are what you call overachievers. No? But Pam is going to share with us. You know, I don't know what the story's about or what your experience is, but from week to week, we're going to have some of these to encourage us to keep the fire going. So Pam, tell us about some of your visits or one of your visits. Well, first of all, I am not an overachiever. But Petra and Jessica and I felt strongly about getting started.
00:22:52
Speaker
And so when we got our list, we made the mistake of not looking at a map. So I suggest before you get started, look at a map and kind of schedule your visits around from one to the next to the next. Because we did a lot of back and forth.
00:23:18
Speaker
We the first week we went out we really only had one encounter And it was a good encounter because the first thing she said was don't give up on me. Oh, amen and Then the next week Was a little disheartening because the person when we asked if we could pray with them said no, I don't feel good which I Get it
00:23:47
Speaker
But we did pray for her in the car. We prayed before we went out. She talked. Pam, can I just interrupt you just real quick? When she said, I don't feel good. Physically. Was she talking about, oh, physically she doesn't feel good. So she didn't feel like she was unworthy of prayer. She felt physically, okay. But before we got out of the car each time, we prayed as a group.
00:24:15
Speaker
We found that there was quite a few people on our list that we couldn't find, find home. And there was a couple of people that didn't live at the address anymore. And we gave them our little present anyway. No, what was your little present? Help us out. We took loaves of bread. Okay. Okay, small loaves of bread. And we did make one visit
00:24:44
Speaker
that probably should have been visited a while back, because I didn't realize that person had been sick. And they were so appreciative of us coming. I'm going to stop here for a minute. So some where the addresses were not correct. What are you doing to pursue those wrong addresses? I'm not sure. Patrick was checking into that. OK. So we'll put a system together where we can at least follow up. Yeah.
00:25:15
Speaker
We, at one place, we forgot to ask how long they had lived there. And the other one, that we didn't have the address, they had lived there for two years. So we learned as we went. And just a little bit of a testimony. When I was getting ready to meet Petra and Jessica,
00:25:45
Speaker
And I was leaving the house, and most of you know that my husband's not an Adventist. He said, well, what are you doing? And I said, and I was in a hurry, I'm going to save souls. Amen. You just shook his head. But isn't that what we're doing? We're going to save souls. Seeking the lost. Thank you, Pam. I mean, that's, I mean, for a first time out, right? Is that one visit or two times out?
00:26:17
Speaker
How long do we have folks? We've got another 10 months left. You've already gone through a part of your list. But realizing that you need to go through the list more than once. Once and what do you mean? Let me give you this mic, because this is all good information. So when we were there, we did ask them if we could visit again.
00:26:43
Speaker
And I don't think one visit is adequate. And so we agreed as a group that we would wait a few weeks and then visit these people again.
00:26:57
Speaker
Yes, if you remember back when we did some role play, you will be able to identify those individuals most of the time that will embrace you back at their front doorstep. And that's important. This is not a one-time visit. Now, if I was going to sell you something,
00:27:15
Speaker
And you didn't show much interest that first time, but you didn't close the door on me. Do you think I'm going to be back? Absolutely. Our goal is for continuous visitations. If you're not frustrating them or they're getting upset at you, you need to continue.
00:27:30
Speaker
to be there to meet their needs. You need to look around their house like we talked about. We need to encourage them and say, hey, next week I come back, I have something that, based on our conversation here, I wanted to bring back and share with you. So that gives you another visit opportunity. And then when you give it to them, just say, hey, in a couple weeks I'll come back and follow up and see what you thought of this. You need to build a chain of relationship experiences. And it might be 10 months before they say, you know what, when's your church service start?
00:28:00
Speaker
They might be here. So, yeah, it's not one visit, folks. Even if you feel that you're not sure if you should go back, you need to go back, and you need to pray even harder and fast for them so that you can go back. Pam has a thought. Well, one of the things is...
Building Relationships with Returning Members
00:28:15
Speaker
Oh, it's gone. No. So, yes, we need to go back and see them again, but we didn't go there and say, we'd really like you to come back.
00:28:30
Speaker
No. We went and said that we missed you. And we didn't, we left it open. We didn't say, oh, we want you back. We just left it open. Yeah, and that's not our open. What you did was exactly right. We're here, we missed you. I know it's been a long time that probably someone has touched base with you. We apologize for that. But we're here today to say, is there anything that we can do to meet any needs that you may have?
00:28:57
Speaker
physical needs, structural needs, spiritual needs, education, anything that we can see around as we're asking questions, we need to build that relationship. No, by no means do we go and say, hey, I want you in church next Sabbath.
00:29:12
Speaker
It takes time to build this relationship back. And I think we all know that, but I'm glad you brought that up just to help coaches as we're going forward. And each week, as we share these stories, this will help us grow and understand some of the pitfalls, understand what works best, what doesn't work best. And we're gonna learn from each other, so we will keep this going. Might be a little segment each week that we will do to have this fire keep burning, but any questions before we go out, we got a couple minutes.
00:29:42
Speaker
couple minutes before we go out and Visit is there something that's just burning in your heart to say Mike. I don't know about this or that or anything You all feel confident. That's good
00:29:57
Speaker
You're all excited about doing it. I know Jeff and I are excited about doing it. We got an appointment Thursday to go out and start our visitation. It doesn't have to just be on Sabbath. It's gonna be any day during the week. Again, pick those times that are respectful for the families and be there. Well good, if there's no questions, I just praise the Lord that everyone is excited about doing this and thrilled about the fact that this church is gonna continue to grow
00:30:26
Speaker
and that we can be a part of that. Let us pray together. Father in heaven, thank you for what you're doing in our own personal lives. And we thank you, Father, that what you're doing for our church as our family has come together with a mission to reach those that have gone astray for a while.
00:30:51
Speaker
Lord, thank you for Pam and her group's testimony this morning, and how they diligently have gone out already. Lord, bless those individuals. Bless all those that we're gonna come in contact with these next few months. Lord, may we develop relationships. May they see the love of Jesus in each of us as they come through these doors one day, as what we've talked about today. Help us to preserve your flock, Lord. Help us to preserve what's here today.
00:31:18
Speaker
May we love each other, may we be kind to each other, may we just embrace your truths together in Jesus' name, amen. Thanks, Pam.
00:32:03
Speaker
Excuse me. No, you're all right.
00:33:27
Speaker
I got set up for Friday night.
00:33:54
Speaker
. .
00:34:21
Speaker
I'd invite you to take turning your hymnal to hymn number 600. Hold fast till I come, sweet promises given to all who believe. Behold, I come quickly, mine own to receive. Page 600, please.
00:34:49
Speaker
Sweet promises given to all who believe.
00:34:56
Speaker
Behold, I come quickly, my own to receive. So fast till I come, but danger is great. Sleep not as do others. Be watchful and wait.
00:35:22
Speaker
Hold fast till I come, sweet promise of heaven.
00:35:30
Speaker
The kingdom restored to you shall be given. Come enter my joy. Sit down on my throne. Bright crowns are in waiting. Hold fast till I come.
00:35:57
Speaker
We'll watch unto prayer with lamps burning bright. He comes to all others, a thief in the night.
00:36:14
Speaker
He is near, we know not the day as spring shows as summer is not far away. Hold fast till I come, sweet promise of heaven.
00:36:39
Speaker
The kingdom restored to you shall be given. Come enter my joy. Sit down on my throne. Bright crowns are in waiting. Hold fast till I come.
00:37:06
Speaker
Yes, this is our hope, tis build on His word, the glorious appearing of Jesus, my Lord. A promise is all, it stands as a sum. Behold, I come quickly.
00:37:35
Speaker
Hold fast till I come. Hold fast till I come, sweet promise of heaven.
00:37:47
Speaker
The kingdom restored to you shall be given. Come enter my joy. Sit down on my throne. Bright crowns are in waiting. Hold fast till I come.
00:38:15
Speaker
The way we're gonna do that is by walking with him. 574, oh master, let me walk with thee in lowly paths of service free. 574.
00:38:34
Speaker
O master, let me walk with thee in lonely paths of service free.
00:38:49
Speaker
Tell me thy secret, help me bear the strain of talk, the fret of care.
00:39:06
Speaker
Help me the slow of heart to move by some clear winning word of love.
00:39:21
Speaker
Teach me the wayward feet to stay and guide them in the homeward way.
00:39:39
Speaker
Teach me thy patience still with thee in closer, dearer company.
00:39:54
Speaker
in work that keeps faith sweet and strong and trusts that triumphs over all.
00:40:13
Speaker
in hope that sends a shining ray far down the future's broadening wave.
00:40:29
Speaker
In peace that only thou canst give with thee, O master, let me live. If we could go back a few more pages for the beauty of the earth, for the glory of the skies, 565.
00:41:13
Speaker
For the beauty of the earth, for the glory of the sky, for the love which from our birth
00:41:30
Speaker
over and around the slice. Lord of all, today we raise this our grateful song of praise.
00:41:48
Speaker
For the joy of human love, brother, sister, parent, child, Friends on earth and friends above, Pleasures pure and unniefiled,
00:42:12
Speaker
Lord of all, to thee we raise this our grateful song of praise.
00:42:26
Speaker
For the gift of thy dear Son, for the hope of heaven at last, for the Spirit's victory
00:42:50
Speaker
Lord of all, to thee we raise, songs of gratitude and praise. Because we want to praise Him, 560, let all things now living.
00:43:26
Speaker
Let all thanks now living a song of thanksgiving to God the Creator triumphantly raise.
00:43:42
Speaker
who fashioned and made us, protected and stayed us, who guided us unto the end of our day.
00:43:59
Speaker
His banner o'er us, His light goes before us, A pillar of fire shining forth in the night, Till shadows have vanished and darkness is banished, As onward we travel,
00:44:29
Speaker
From light into light. His law he enforces the stars in their courses. The sun in his orbit obediently shine.
00:44:51
Speaker
The hills and the mountains, the rivers and fountains, the deeps of the ocean proclaim him divine.
00:45:08
Speaker
We should be revoicing our love and rejoicing with glad adoration. Us all, let us race till all things now living unite in their series.
00:45:43
Speaker
And we should be able to do it because he leads us. 537, he leadeth me, O blessed thought, O words with heavenly comfort brought. 537.
00:46:12
Speaker
He leadeth me, O blessed thought, O words with heavenly comfort brought. What ere I do, where ere I be? Still tis God's head that leadeth me.
00:46:52
Speaker
Verse 4, please.
00:47:01
Speaker
And when my task on earth is done, when by the grace of victory's won, even death's call may I will not flee, since God through Jordan nadeth me.
00:47:26
Speaker
He leadeth me, he leadeth me, by his own hand he leadeth me. His faithful follower I would be, for by his hand he leadeth me.
00:47:59
Speaker
Welcome you welcome you all to the holly seventh the Adventist church and welcome everyone online watching Your bulletins we I'm doing the welcome and announcements right now, so our announcements for today Our Vespers program will be starting at five o'clock tonight here at the church So take note of that five o'clock here, and then immediately after Vespers We are doing a church social at my house So you can come
00:48:27
Speaker
from here straight down to my house. My address is in the bulletin with my phone numbers. If you need to call me, if you get lost or whatever, Google it, put it on your phone, it'll take you right there.
00:48:40
Speaker
I will try to have my dog kind of out of the way, but if he comes out, he barks at you like he's a terrorist. But just don't pet him. Let him come sniff you. After he sniffs you, he'll wag his tail and he'll be fine. But if you put your hand on Adam, he kind of gets a little sketchy around you. But I'll try to keep him out of the way. Just make it a little easier because the barking dogs get scary. I get it. So I think everything else basically is per the bulletin.
00:49:06
Speaker
And then we're going to have Anthony come up. She's got AJ in action. But before that, I'm going to do her call to worship. And this morning, I was doing my devotions. I was reading through the book, reading at the end of Luke, the last couple of chapters in Luke. And a verse struck me. I was like, wow, that's a pretty good one. It's in Luke chapter 24, verse 45, where the Bible says that, then open he their understanding that they might understand the scriptures.
00:49:37
Speaker
speaking of Jesus, he opened up their understanding. They just did their walk to Emmaus and he told them everything beginning with Moses. And they just didn't really grasp it all until like Jesus opened, he had to open up their understanding. And that's our prayer today and our call to worship today that, have you got so well that he would open up our understanding, that we would understand the scriptures. He's got the power to give us understanding so we should come to God and have him give us understanding of the scriptures.
00:50:07
Speaker
So I'm going to have our prayer, and then after that, Anne will come up and do A.J. in action. Father in heaven, Lord, thank you for granting us the permission, Lord, to honor, or the joy of being able to come to church on the Sabbath day, Father, on your holy day. Father, as we were here, we were asking, Lord, that you would, as you did for the disciples on the walk to Emmaus, Lord, that you would give us understanding of the scriptures.
00:50:30
Speaker
They would help us to see you clearly in their scriptures and that you would put in us, Father, greater love for you and for your word. Today in Jesus name I pray, Amen. Good morning and happy Sabbath.
00:50:53
Speaker
I bring you greetings from your school, Adelphi and Junior Academy. We have been having a very busy year. This morning I'd like to share with you some of the school events that we had going on in the months of November and December. So we're going to take a little trip back in history here. And also some of the fun things that we do in my classroom. This year I have grades kindergarten through sixth grade.
00:51:17
Speaker
We have a lot of fun. We do a lot of intense schoolwork with math and reading and science and social studies, but we have fun too, and I want to share some of those things with you this morning. One of the things we like to do
00:51:32
Speaker
is go out and take care of our older people in our church. They're an important part of our church family. And sometimes, it gets hard to get out there and take care of the yard work. So we went over with Peggy Hoffmeyer's house in November, and a beautiful day in November, and helped her with her yard work.
00:51:51
Speaker
And she's always fun to go over there. She loves seeing the kids and likes to make them cookies and things like that. And if she has a profitable apple year, we get to pick apples too. But as you can see, the kids are hard workers, but they like to have fun with it too. And so we had a lovely afternoon over there raking her leaves and visiting with her and just enjoying a nice day outside, enjoying the wonderful fall weather that we had.
00:52:21
Speaker
Our next big event after that was our Golden Leaves Banquet. Many of you were able to attend that. Here the kids are working hard making the table favors of the pumpkins and.
00:52:33
Speaker
That's always fun to get together for lunch in the gym. And you can see that the kids are eager for that delicious Thanksgiving-themed meal that our wonderful home and school moms prepare. And I want to say a special thank you to our home and school leader, Kristin Wittenbach. She did a fabulous job organizing this. And we just had lots of fun coming together. So the food is yummy. The fellowship is good. But the highlight, I think, is the program that the kids put on.
00:53:02
Speaker
afterwards. And on my class, we've been studying creation. And so the kids were sharing some songs and some memory verses that they had from that. And then the older kids put on an excellent skit about the history of Thanksgiving and the pilgrims and the Indians. And then we all came together afterwards for the Adelphian theme song.
00:53:28
Speaker
After that, we still had two days of school that we had to have before we got out on Wednesday for Thanksgiving. And so in both the kindergarten room and the upper grade classroom, we just spent two days focusing on Thanksgiving. And that was lots of fun. They learned a lot. They had a lot of fun. And you can see that they're proud of the projects that they created.
00:53:52
Speaker
Once we got back from Thanksgiving, it was time to focus on Christmas, and many of you also came to our Christmas concert in December. The kids were sharing with us skits, focusing on the birth of Jesus, and then many musical selections.
00:54:10
Speaker
And then, we didn't just share here with you. We also took it to one of our church members at Wellbridge of Grand Blanc. Many of you know Deedee Bishop, and she was thrilled to have us come and visit. We made her cards, and we shared that with all of her friends there at Wellbridge, and the kids put on portions of their Christmas program for them. And then, we also got an opportunity to witness to the staff there. They were having a Christmas party, and they invited us to come down and sing a couple songs for their school Christmas party.
00:54:37
Speaker
So our school nursing home Christmas party So anyway, we enjoyed Whitney's witnessing for Jesus at Wellbridge that day and one of the kids said afterwards, this is fun We should do this more often. So I think we will do that at least one more time this school year And I'd like to say a big thank you to our music teacher. Mrs. Rebecca white. She does a great job with our kids and
00:55:03
Speaker
You're going to be missing us here in a couple weeks because we're going to take our show on the road to a couple of our churches and witness to them as well. So please pray for that as we have preparations underway with the programming and the messages that we'll be sharing at those churches.
00:55:23
Speaker
Here we are at the last day of school before Christmas break. We get to come together as a school and have a party that our ninth and tenth graders planned for us. Our essay actually it's eighth and ninth grade this year. And we want to say a big thank you to our essay moms there. They made the meal for us and the theme was candy land which of course the kids loved.
00:55:45
Speaker
even the big kid there called the pastor attended. And we just play some games, have good food, they do an awesome job of decorating, and we have fun together on that day before we go our separate ways for Christmas. So that wraps up November and December, but then when we got back, my classroom had filled up their marble jar for the second time, and that means we get to have a fun activity known as our ice cream social.
00:56:13
Speaker
And so we kicked off our ice cream social with making a mummy. And the first mummy there is Jamie. You probably can't recognize her, but maybe you can see the second mummy there is Micah. And it was quite a feat, let me tell you, for him to hold still for as long as it took for them to wrap him up as a mummy. So good job, Micah.
00:56:35
Speaker
Then after we played some games with balloons together, we divided up into teams and we did a round robin where they did nine different activities, kind of like minute to minute games. And so it's fun team building and just active type hand-eye coordination games there that they enjoyed. And then after we spent about 45 minutes playing games, they got to have their delicious ice cream Sunday.
00:57:04
Speaker
So we're about halfway full with the marble jar now, and so we'll have to wait and see what happens the next time we fill it up.
00:57:14
Speaker
Kindergarten is one of the most fun things that we do at AJA. So I'm thrilled that we started our year with five kindergartners and we're looking forward to a couple coming next year as well. The program is really hands on. It's theme oriented and the kids get to do lots and lots of activities throughout the day. As you can see down at the bottom with the little halos on, we do have wonderful
00:57:42
Speaker
Angels in our class this year, they're a fun group of kids that we enjoy working with on a daily basis.
00:57:50
Speaker
Here you can see that they are, I don't know if you can see, but they're wearing little ant antennas on their head that they made because they're studying the letter. Can you see the letter that they're making? The letter A, that's right. So that's like one example of stuff that we do every day. Lexi in the middle there is showing one of our last Bible studies that we did on the little boy who brought his lunch to Jesus.
00:58:16
Speaker
and he multiplied it and fed the 5,000 people so she has the five loaves and two fishes in her little basket that she made out of Play-Doh. And then Hawk and Lexi are practicing some of those hand-eye coordination skills. The whole class actually is working together in a bucket brigade to move water from one
00:58:36
Speaker
area to another. So they have lots of fun on a daily basis. Everything as I said is theme oriented. Here we have Remy. Our book for the week was Mama Panyo's Pancakes from Africa and there he's flipping some pretend pancakes. In the middle we had just finished studying the Arctic and
00:58:59
Speaker
Hawk is using simulated snow. It's actually shaving cream to practice writing some things. And then we also had a unit on careers, and Nathan there has a puzzle where he can make different careers. So there's a little example of some of the theme-oriented things that we do. So we love Visitor Day because Visitor Day is where
00:59:21
Speaker
All of the kids in my classroom get to have a kindergarten day. It's like a kindergarten round up. So we invite our visitors that want to come to school maybe the next year. And we have a theme day. This year it was bears and teddy bears. So on the left hand side there we're getting ready to go on a bear hunt together with that classic book that's out there.
00:59:44
Speaker
I'm on the right, Gavin and Elijah, they're showing off their teddy bears that they were using for the day and they made teddy bear headbands. And then Ellie and Aubrey are playing bear bingo there and Michael is showing off the yummy bear treat that we got to make for snack that day.
01:00:06
Speaker
And then we had a round robin again where we were just doing all kinds of activities with alphabet and numbers and fine motor skills that all had to do with bears. And it was a really, really fun day.
01:00:20
Speaker
Valentine's Day just happened as well. And I turned that into a STEM day. STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and math. We did about 10 different experiments with Valentine-themed things. So the kids got to practice making hypotheses. And then we did an experiment. And they had to write down their observations and the things that they learned. And they had a really fun time doing that.
01:00:47
Speaker
So here's some more things. They were building a tower out of the candy hearts to see how tall that they could build it and see what happened when warm water mixes with food coloring.
01:00:59
Speaker
So this is just a little snapshot of some things that happen at our school. We couldn't have our school without you and your support. So we really appreciate our church family. You support us in many, many ways with finances, with prayers, with physically coming to school and helping out with maintenance things. So please thank you. Keep supporting us. We are raising kids for the kingdom.
01:01:31
Speaker
I would invite you to take your hymnal and turn to 522 and let us stand as we sing our opening hymn. My hope is built on nothing less. My hope is built on nothing less.
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Speaker
blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand.
01:02:27
Speaker
This seems to bale his face Thy breast on his unchanging grace In every high and stormy gale My anchor holds within the veil On Christ the solid rock I stand All other ground is sinking sand
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Speaker
His soul is common, and his blood has so poured me in a whelming flood. When around my soul gives way, he then is all alone.
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Speaker
On Christ the solid rock I stand, All other ground is stinky sand, All other ground is stinky sand. He shall come with trumpet sound, O may I then in him be found,
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Speaker
and His righteousness alone, called us to stand before the throne. On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand. Please be seated.
01:04:27
Speaker
This completes the episode of gaining demos and other interests on Joseph weeklands harmonica player podcast. Until next time, have a good one. Bye bye.