News of Hope July 2014 - Hope Adventist Fellowship in Moore, OK
Transcription
News of Hope July 2014 - Hope Adventist Fellowship in Moore, OK
1 2 July 2014 NEWS OF HOPE Interview with a Missionary Story by Misty Wilson I recently sat down with the president and co-founder of R3 Missions to find out what being a missionary is all about. I’ve heard the term missionary and I always think of men and women out in some remote village in Africa or on some island with a name I can’t pronounce preaching the “Good News” and passing out Bibles to people who may or may not even understand English. But, the R3 missionaries are not traveling to remote locations they are in big cities, like Dubai and London and countries we’ve all heard of, like India and the United States. Even in small homegrown communities like Moore, Oklahoma. I think our church would agree with me when I say I’m glad R3 made it to our community. Sebastien Braxton and his team arrived at Hope in May and their presence has 1 What’s Inside Health News touched each member of our church. Sebastien says one of his most memorable times spent at Hope is our last Sabbath together with the sermon regarding home. “Seeing so many fathers, grandfathers and uncles kneeling before the altar, many in tears, praying for the Lord to use them to present Christ to their families and to see their role in the shape of the church, society and nation.” He says, “what makes this mission in Moore significant is that it is in America. We hear stories of mass conversions and exponential growth in the developing world and we write it off as something that only happens there. We say that because we believe that the success is due to the poverty, government corruption, or the culture. Thus, if we can see the Holy Spirit move here, in the 2 A Note From Our Pastor 2 Match & Find 3 SDA History, Pt. 1 4 Dear Church Members… 5 5 Recipe of the Month 7 developed world, then we can trust the issue is not so much the location as much as the servant.” To Sebastien and R3, location is irrelevant. It is the person, the servant of God, which is the key. The young person, in particular that will be redeemed and revitalized to spread God’s word throughout the community in which they live. R3 stands for Redeeming. Rational. Radical. This is not only their name but as Sebastien put it, Story continued on page 6 July 2014 South Asia Health Expo Health News Long Thanh Health Expo was the first health event organized by the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Vietnam for the purpose of exposing the general public the Adventist lifestyle. This was held on 8-9 December 2013 in Phuoc Thai high school and clinic. This was the first time the church conducted a program in a government place. The opening ceremony held on December 8th at 9am was officiated by Pr. Tran Thanh Truyen, Executive Secretary of Vietnam Adventist Mission. Each participant enjoyed a series of health screenings such as BMD (Bone Mineral Density), BMI (Body Mass Index), body fat analysis, blood pressure, glucose and cholesterol test (optional) where all the data was reported by a computer and then presented to the doctors who provided health counseling for each participant. The Health Expo emphasized the 8 principles of healthy living namely, NUTRITION, EXERCISE, WATER, SUNLIGHT, TEMPERANCE, AIR, REST & TRUST in Divine power, also known as NEWSTART. The event also included hydrotherapy demonstrations and the anti-stress chair message where people enjoyed a time to relax. The children had their own corner with health activities and crafts also. Altogether these services were provided to 357 people, and each was given a gift. You can view more photos of this event at their website. A Note from our Pastor The Holy Spirit & Revival In the last days God says, “I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. In those days I will pour out my Spirit even on my servants, men and women alike and they will prophesy.” Acts 2:17,18 NLT God has promised to pour out His Spirit in these days!! Before Jesus ascended to heaven He gave some critical instructions to His disciples saying, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:8 NKJV Prerequisite for the Promised Blessing “These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication.” Acts 1:14 NKJV It was by…confession and forsaking of sin, earnest prayer, consecration of themselves to God, that the early disciples prepared for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of 2 Michael Smith .Pentecost. The same work, only in greater degree, must be done now” Review and Herald, Mar. 2, 1897. The Bible often uses agricultural terms when referring to the Holy Spirit… Pray for Rain God’s Promise – “Ask ye of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain; so the Lord shall make bright clouds and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field.” “He will cause to come down, the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain,” Zechariah 10:1; Joel 2:23. (emphasis added) Farming 101 – In the East the former rain falls at the sowing time promoted germination. The latter rain, falling near the close of the season, ripens the grain, and prepares it for the sickle. “The early rain is also applied to a preparatory personal experience prerequisite to receiving the latter rain. As a result of the early rain experience of the individual, the heart is…” Emptied of every defilement and cleansed for the indwelling of the Spirit. Continued on page 5 July 2014 Match & Find Which One? David said, “God will be with me.” Find and circle the stone that hit the giant’s forehead. Bible Lesson • What part of the Bible is 1 Samuel in? • What book of the Old Testament is 1 Samuel? Read 1 Samuel 17:2-11, 16, 40, 45-50 2 Saul and the army of Israel gathered together. They camped in the Valley of Elah. They lined up their men to fight against the Philistines. 3 The Philistine army was camped on one hill. Israel’s army was on another. The valley was between them. 4 A mighty hero named Goliath came out of the Philistine camp. He was from Gath. He was more than nine feet tall. 5 He had a bronze helmet on his head. He wore a coat of bronze armor. It weighed 125 pounds. 6 On his legs he wore bronze guards. He carried a bronze javelin on his back. 7 His spear was as big as a weaver’s rod. Its iron point weighed 15 pounds. The man who carried his shield walked along in front of him. 8 Goliath stood and shouted to the soldiers of Israel. He said, “Why do you come out and line up for battle? I’m a Philistine. You are servants of Saul. Choose one of your men. Have him come down and face me. 9 If he’s able to fight and kill me, we’ll become your slaves. But if I win and kill him, you will become our slaves and serve us.” 10 Goliath continued, “This very day I dare the soldiers of Israel to send a man down to fight against me.” 11 Saul and the whole army of Israel heard what the Philistine said. They were terrified. 16 Every morning and evening Goliath came forward and stood there. He did it for 40 days. 40 Then David picked up his wooden staff. He went down to a stream and chose five smooth stones. He put them in the pocket of his shepherd’s bag. Then he took his sling in his hand and approached Goliath. 45 David said to Goliath, “You are coming to fight against me with a sword, a spear and a javelin. But I’m coming against you in the name of the Lord who rules over all. He is the God of the armies of Israel. He’s the one you have dared to fight against. 46 “This very day the Lord will hand you over to me. I’ll strike you down. I’ll cut your head off. This very day I’ll feed the bodies of the Philistine army to the birds of the air. I’ll feed them to the wild animals. Then the whole world will know there is a God in Israel. 47 “The Lord doesn’t save by using a sword or a spear. And everyone who is here will know it. The battle belongs to the Lord. He will hand all of you over to us.” 48 As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly to the battle line to meet him. 49 He reached into his bag. He took out a stone. He put it in his sling. He slung it at Goliath. The stone hit him on the forehead and sank into it. He fell to the ground on his face. 50 So David won the fight against Goliath with a sling and a stone. He struck the Philistine down and killed him. He did it without even using a sword. 104 0310724996_activitybook_int.indd 104 Big, Bigger, Biggest 10/23/12 10:41 AM Goliath was much bigger than David! Circle the picture that is bigger than the first one. 102 0310724996_activitybook_int.indd 102 3 10/23/12 10:41 AM July 2014 Oklahoma Seventh-day Adventist History, Part 1 What type of Box Tops clipper are you? Excerpt from the Oklahoma Conference, submitted by Johnny Flores Seventh-day Adventist work was started even before Oklahoma became a state. With the state’s population booming after the land run on April 22, 1889, God was already there. In 1888, as a result of evangelism by two German preachers, Pastor Schrock and L.R. Conradi, Kansas became the second largest conference in the denomination. Because of a severe drought and plague of grasshoppers, some Seventh-day Adventists, moseyed on down to the Oklahoma territory. If you have been collecting them for One of the early settlers, H. G. Parkview, the deadline is in October. Buxton of the Chandler Company, There is a box in the front foyer to drop was a Seventh-day Adventist. He in your Tops. Parkview and I thank you in wrote to the Advent Review and Sabbath Herald with an invitation, advance for all your help! -Julie Russell which appeared in the May 3, 1892 issue. “Two railroads run parallel through it (the Territory) about 30 miles apart, affording easy access to Please help me in most of the towns. To any who may congratulating our be sent here to canvass, I would Pastor, Michael Smith suggest that two could, by taking the lines of the two railroads, soon work on his ordination this over most of the territory and would, Sabbath, July 5, 2014. I think, be justified in the effort, thus preparing the way for the living We, as a preacher. This is going to be a magnificent country for raising fruit, congregation, are vegetables and small grains and good blessed to have for raising corn. Wood and water are Michael and Holly at plentiful and good. We hope Hope. You are in our someone can come here or be sent to help us in the truth as we believe prayers and our these two territories can be made a conference.” hearts! Stay tuned for another installment of Oklahoma SDA History in the next News of Hope… Art icle II. The 4 July 2014 A Note From Our Pastor continued from page 2 Most Urgent Need As the members of the body of Christ approach the period of their last conflict, “the time of Jacob’s trouble,” they will grow up into Christ, and will partake largely of His spirit. It is the latter rain, which revives and strengthens them to pass through the time of trouble. Testimonies Vol. 1, p. 353 Practical Application 1. Take a close inventory of your life. Remove every hindrance by confession, repentance and humility. Surrender our will to God and die to self, Gal 2:20; 5:24. The Spirit can never be poured out while variance and bitterness toward one another are cherished by the members of the church. Envy, jealousy, evil surmising, and evil speaking are of Satan, and they effectually bar the way against the Holy Spirit’s working. Ye Shall Receive Power, p. 301 2. Pray daily for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. 777, the worldwide Holy Spirit prayer fellowship. 3. Join Seventh-day Adventists praying seven days a week at 7 a.m. or p.m. for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit’s power and presence. The key to unlock the promises of God is prayer. Jesus promised the Holy Spirit and the disciples unlocked the promise as they prayed in the upper room before Pentecost! Daily Pray and claim this promise found in Luke 11:13. “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” Thank You!!! Ernie Wilson would like to extend a big thank you to those Deacons who have been doing a wonderful job maintaining the grounds around the church. A special thank you to Dan and Pat Trine who have made our flowerbeds look beautiful!! Dear Church Members, In April of this year, I was contacted by Alexey Novoselov, the President of the West-Siberian mission of SDA in Russia. He is a very close friend of my parents. Novoselov was their pastor and baptized them in Russia in 2012. He told me about people in Nyagan, the city in the Near Polar region of Siberia. They are building an SDA Church. For a long time, since 1998 our brothers and sisters were gathering in different apartments to worship. They didn't have a permanent place of worship. In 2012 they found out that there was a piece of land for sale. They gathered their finances and bought the land. Construction started with the blessing of the General Conference of SDA. People were dedicating their vacations, finances and weekends to build their church. They set a date on when they will open the doors of the church to the members and visitors. They chose September 27, 2014. But, they are still a long way from completion and need our help to finish the job. Our elders and board members have approved the adoption of the SDA Russian church of Nyagan. This is our Sister church. This is the only SDA church in this region! If you would like to help, you can make a donation by placing it in the box in the foyer or you can mark your tithe envelope to donate to our Russian sister church. This will be an ongoing process and I do believe that we can show our brothers and sisters our giving Sprit. If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact me. Sasha Larson 514-0836 or sashalarson78@gmail.com Thank you!!!!! Missing Members Please keep the following members on your prayer list… Judy Lowe, Steve Nelson, Haag Family, Rios Family, Covell Family, Bronson Taylor Family, Braxton Family, Tommy Duvall, Karel Duvall, Ralph & Brenee Taylor, Stephanie Stevens, Tate Family, Goble Family, Houser Family, Tannehill Family, Nate Byerly Family, Seth Byerly Family, Williams Family and Nickie Mowles Family. 5 Russian church brother from Serbia, living in Canada laying tile in the sanctuary during his visit to Nyagan. July 2014 Story continued from page 1 Sebastien believes, “many in the church have “the philosophy of everything we do. R3 is a experienced this revival and will continue to stay movement. It is a movement that is emerging strong with the Lord and definitely be active in His from a dream. A dream that we, as the youth ofwork.” “However,” Sebastien says with a smile, the church, could be that generation that sees “there are always wheat and tares unfortunately, Jesus return in our lifetime.” R3 combines and we just pray that the tares are very low in innovative approaches to spiritual awakening number in this church!” Many of our members went with traditional forms of evangelism. “We want out and visited the community with the R3 to utilize every God-given gift and means to missionaries and made some real connections with draw others to surrender their all to Christ.” Way people who are genuinely interested in what they back in 2012 while speaking at a youth had to say about God and his message. Sebastien convention in Cape Town, South Africa, hopes that after the missionaries have all left Moore Sebastien Braxton was preparing for a message that the church will remain excited about on the Power of One, the power of unity. He evangelism and reaching out to its community. “We said he had recently read an article about how also hope that many of the Bible studies that we Delta Airlines employees, out of gratitude to the have generated will be followed up by various company for giving them a raise when the church members that would lead to decisions for company value dropped, decided to pull the Christ. Most importantly, we want to be changed. monies together ($30 million) to purchase a Changed more into Jesus’ likeness.” Sebastien and Boeing 737 for the company. Sebastien says, “I the other R3 members raised their own funds to thought to myself, Jesus did more than give us a come to Oklahoma. He says what drives all of them raise, He gave us life! And so the idea was to spend their own money to bring God’s message born.” Then, he says, “Candis (Braxton) and I to Moore is, “that we have all experienced the prayed together to ensure that God was power of Jesus’ love, His gospel and His word and leading us and to seek who He would have we believe that if others experience the same, they help us with this idea.” The idea was born, but would also be changed and join the movement of now it was time to test the idea. “Jesus says in taking this gospel to all the world in this generation.” Revelation 3:20 that He stands at the door and Sebastien says, “for us, money is a means to do knocks. If any man will open, thus, it is up to God’s work in blessing others.” I think for many and each individual in the church to open their sometimes for myself, it is hard to look at your hardhearts and homes to the Spirit and the Word for earned money as God’s money. But, the way I look revival and reformation.” Referring to Hope, at it, I wouldn’t have this money if it weren’t for God’s blessing in my life. R3’s goal is not to raise more money, but to create opportunities of service for young people who want to do the Lord’s work. The mission has been to India and will be headed to Germany and Scotland in September and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates in October. But, Moore won’t just be a blip on their radar, we will be a community redeemed and revitalized. We will remain in their prayers and on their hearts. Sebastien closed the interview with this, “see what the Lord did at Hope by watching the Oklahoma Mission videos on our youtube channel (R3 Missions). Pray about what Jesus wants our youth to do to further His kingdom in anticipation of His soon return.” Personally, I feel their presence here at Hope has Pastor Michael Smith and the R3 Missions team in the changed us and will continue to change us as time sanctuary at Hope Seventh-day Adventist Fellowship, marches forward. We will anticipate your soon May-June 2014. return, R3, and will pray for you on your travels. 6 1 2 July 2014 Recipe of the Month Ingredients For lemonade with sugar: Pour boiling water over sugar, stir until 1 ½ cup sugar sugar is completely dissolved. 1 ½ cups boiling water Add optional hibiscus flowers if Optional: For pink lemonade add 1-2 you want them. Set aside. tablespoons dried hibiscus flowers 6 cups cold water Juice lemons and strain out seeds and pulp. In a large pitcher combine sugar water (strain out hibiscus flowers if using), lemon juice, and water. Optional: fresh mint leaves for garnishing Add ice and lemon slices. Garnish with mint leaves and serve. 6-8 lemons (enough for 1 ½ cups of lemon juice) plus 2 lemons cut in half lengthwise and sliced 1/8 inch thick Preparation Tips: Optional: For lemonade with agave nectar, reduce the amount of water by 1 cup, and add to 1 ½ cups of agave nectar. Set aside. Homemade Lemonade For sugar-free lemonade sweeten with stevia. Give your lemonade a fizzy update with sparkling water. Also, try substituting frozen strawberries for the ice cubes, for an extra taste sensation. Prep Time: 15 Minutes 6 servings Difficulty: Easy Birthdays JULY Mark Campbell Jennifer McMains Larry Nossaman 3 3 3 David Jennings 6 James Daman 7 Charlotte Fuchs 8 Adrian Angala Valerie Huebsch 12 12 Katie Johnson 13 Samantha Covel 17 Hope Seventh-day Adventist Fellowship 77 1426 NE 12th St. Moore, OK 73160 405.799.2220 hopeadventistfellowship.org Shannon Rios 20 Samantha Smith 23 Russell Gerling Elizabeth Saner Steve Tresca 24 24 24 Faith McMains 25 Jaedyn Watts 25 Johnathon Johnson 26 Ashley Clark von Riese 29 To tithe online, scan the QR code with your smartphone or go to hopeadventistfellowship.org.