the church courier, november 2009

8/14/2019 The Church Courier, November 2009

1/12

On giving thanks

A record of the Pilgrims in Plymouth states that at noon menstaggered by reason of faintness for want of food, yet ere night, by

the good providence and blessing of God, we have enjoyed such aplenty as though the windows of heaven had been opened to us.

In spite of the difficulties, the Pilgrims thanked God for what theyhad.

For many of us, this year may not have been a good one, and the

future may not seem promising. Yetthere is more to be thankful for thanto complain about. And that makesThanksgiving one of the easier sea-sons for Christians to understand andcelebrate.

In this Issue:

Community Plunge 3The Big One 6Pathfinder Campout 9Church @ Work 10

N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 9V OL 1 0 I S S U E 1 1

Thank you God, for mercy sends,For health and children, home and friends,For comfort in the time of need,For every kindly word and deed ...With my heart, I thank you!


2/12

Page 2 The Church Courier

Isn't it amazing how things change with time? Take for instance,

the attitude we have in church regarding kneeling. The ancientGreeks and Romans did not kneel as a part of their worship.

They said kneeling was unworthy of a free man, unsuitable for

the culture of Greece, and appropriate only for barbarians!

Some felt it was an expression of superstition. But God's people

never looked at kneeling as unusual.

In fact, we find in Psalm 95:6,7 "O come, let us worship and bowdown, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. For He is our

God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His

hand." It's obvious the psalmist was expressing a deep rever-

ence for God. In this one verse he used three different words to

express what the attitude of the worshiper should be. First he

used the word "worship," which means to fall down as a sign of

honor to the Lord, giving allegiance to Him. The second wordhe used was "bow." This means to sink down to your knees, giv-

ing respect and worship. And the third word was "kneel," which

means to be on your knees giving praise to God.

So, kneeling in God's presence is a sign of reverence rather than

a barbaric form of behavior. But the important thing to remem-

ber is not our physical position, but to have a humble postureof the heart. Our attitude in worship is farmore important than

the position of our worship!

As you think about all you are thankful for, let's truly reverence

the Creator God who is responsible for all we are and have. He

is trulyworthy of our worship! Yours for humbling ourselves

before the King of the universe, Pastor and Sharon Webb


3/12

Vol. 10 Issue 11 Page 3

The New Port Richey

Church Community ServicesDepartment provides food toan average of 35 families eachweek. With the growing num-

ber ofpeoplein need

offood,thefami-

lies are limited to the numberof times they may return eachmonth.

With this in mind, extrafood had been collected withinthe last few weeks. On theSabbath of September 26,2009 Community Plungetook place. On this outreachSabbath, youth and leaders

from several West Coast areaChurches met at the New PortRichey SDA Church andplunged the community withover 100 full grocery bags offood to be delivered to 30families. In addition, 50 sack

lunches were delivered to acommunity of people that livein tents in a wooded area.

Two nursing homes facili-

ties were also visited wherethe youth sang songs, deliv-ered cards and flowers, andshared the Word of God withthe residents.

Afterward, the youth re-

turned to the Church wherelunch was provided followedby an uplifting worship serviceenjoyed by all. Sebastian, Jer-emy & Joseph, from Apopka,lead in song service and testi-mony, specialmusic wasdone by youthgroups fromNew PortRichey andPort Charlotte,two groupsfrom Port

Charlotte provided thoughtprovoking drama and pastorDiana Halverson gave themessage with the challengethat - we as Gods peopleneed to serve others everyday.There were approximately 125

in attendance participating inthe outreach program commu-nity Plunge.

Community Plungeby Susan Hecht


4/12


We want to welcome our new mem-ber Markley Richards, he was bap-tized in September, he also was one ofthe kids that attended the AmazingAdventure Bible studies. God guideyou always Markley!

Welcome also to Eunice Dawkinscoming from the Bethlehem SDA Church in Clearwater, Florida.

Advertise with Us

If you are a business owner this will interest you.We would like to offer you the opportunity to sup-port our school by placing an advertisement in our Yearbook to bepublished in May 2010.

Your ad in our school Yearbook will reach family and friends of theAdventist Christian Academy as well as other members of yourchurch family. With your support we will reduce the cost of ourannual yearbook.

So if you have a business, please consider advertising with us. Lastyear we had 14 business ads. Included is an advertisement form soyou can read in detail all the information.

If you have any questions or want to see our previous yearbook,

please let us know: Church Office (727) 848-4567, School Office(727) 842-8919, Omayra Rivera (727) 372-0052 or [email protected]

We appreciate your support!

Note: We are offering student ads also, where you can congratulate

a student for the accomplishment of their goals.


5/12


PIXIE PIN-UPSDO YOU KNOW ME?

If you think you know this church member,submit your guess to us, either by phone oremail.You can submit your baby pix by email ordirectly to us. Photos can be black andwhite or color and will be promptly re-turned. For more information please contactus.

October baby was: Alex OrtizClue: With hair or without hair he is good

counting.

Alex recently shaved his head, he is also ourChurch Treasurer.

Our winners were: Aldyth Marshall, Sandra Bishop,

Stan and Martha Getlinger

Thanks for participating!

Clue: Everybodywants him on theirteam.

Think about it

O Lord, that lends me life, lendme a heart replete with thankful-ness! -William Shakespeare

Feed your faith and yourdoubts will starve to death.

Holy Spirit, think through metill your ideas are my ideas. - AmyCarmichael

Without God, our week would

be: Sinday, Mournday, Tearday,Wasteday, Thirstday, Fightday,and Shatterday. Seven days with-out God makes one weak!


6/12


THE BIG SINPART IIIBy Gary D. Grimes

We are incapable of coming back to God ourselves because of our

sinful condition. So God (the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit)start the process of bringing us (sinners) back into fellowship

(relationship) with Him. Heres how.

God seeks us out. He comes after us. Immediately after Adam

sinned we see God walking in the Garden of Eden looking for the

sinful couple. Genesis 3:8-24. The poet Tennyson describes God

seeking sinful man as the Hound of heaven. Like a hunting dog

seeking prey God seeks us out. He is relentless in His search for

you. Describing this search Luke 19:10 says, For the Son of Man

has come to seek and to save that which was lost. The parable of

the one lost sheep emphasizes this Godly seeking. Romans 5:6, . .

. In due time Christ died for the ungodly. Romans 5:8, . . . While

we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:10, . . . If

when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the

death of His Son. . . Look at that love! While we are ungodly,

while we are sinners and while we are Gods enemies He still

comes for us.

When God knocks at the door of your heart you must let Him in.

Open the door. Revelation 3:20. When He knocks this is yourchance to accept Him. This is your golden opportunity. Seize it!

When you open the door the Holy Spirit gives you a desire to love

Jesus. You desire to be with Him in fellowship. You become hun-

gry for Him. You become thirsty for Him. You cant live without

Him. Only God can give you this desire to be with Christ in fel-

lowship.

Continue on next page...


7/12


May God give you...For every storm a rainbow, forevery tear a smile, for every care a promise and ablessing in every trial. For every problem life sends,

a faithful friend to share, for every sigh a sweet songand an answer for each prayer.

THE BIG SINPART IIIBy Gary D. Grimes, cont. from previous page

As with any love relationship you now desire to

spend time with your Beloved. In this case your

Beloved is God, specifically Jesus. This time is

spent in talking to each other. The main way

you talk to Jesus is personal prayer. You can talk to Him in other

ways such as through music, through testifying of His love for you;

through gifts to Him are some other ways to talk to Him.

The main way Jesus talks to you is through your devotional read-

ing of the Bible. You are reading devotionally to get to know Jesus

as your Savior, your Friend, your Creator, your Advocate, and your

example of how to live a victorious Christian life. He can talk to

you other ways too such as nature, preaching and song, but the

most reliable way is through the Bible. Finally, you will desire to

tell others how wonderful He is so they can get to know Him also.

So you overcome the BIG SIN of living your life apart from Jesus

by opening the door of your heart to God so the desire to be with

God can be planted there. Secondly, you communicate with Jesus

through prayer and devotional Bible reading. Thirdly, you witness

for Him by telling others of His great love for them.


8/12


The thankfulheart

If one should give mea dish of sand andtell me there wereparticles of iron init, I might look forthem with my eyesand search for themwith my clumsy fin-gers and be unableto detect them; butlet me take a mag-net and sweepthrough it and nowwould it draw to it-self the almost in-

visible particles bythe mere power of

attraction.

The unthankfu lheart, like my fin-gers in the sand, dis-covers no mercies;

but let the thankfulheart sweep throughthe day as the mag-net finds the iron, soit will find in everyhour, some heavenlyblessings. Only theiron in God's sand is

gold!

-Henry Ward Beecher

Fast and feast

Fast from criticism, and feast on

praise.

Fast from self-pity, and feast on joy.

Fast from ill-temper, and feast on

peace.

Fast from resentment, and feast on

contentment.

Fast from jealousy, and feast on love.

Fast from pride, and feast on humility.

Fast from selfishness, and feast on ser-

vice.

Fast from fear, and feast on faith.


9/12


Fall Back

Its suppose to be that time of the year again,

when the jackets come out of the closet, andmost Americans get an extra hours sleep byresetting their clocks. (Remember? Springforward, Fall back.)

With the clocks turned back, it will be lighter (or at least less dark) in themorning.

So remember, time reverts to standard time at 2:00 AM on the first Sundayof November.

During the weekend of October

16-18, I attended my first Path-finder Campout. Boy, did wehave fun!

We went to CrewsLake and theweather was

great. After mak-ing our tents, weate and ended theday with a beauti-ful devotional. Mr.Pablo, Mr. Blain, and Mrs. Lizhad the devotionals on Sabbathmorning. Later on, some par-ents showed up, including mine.We enjoyed our Sabbath doingwhat Pathfinders do best,having fun.

During our time there we

worked on our shrubs honor.

The highlight ofthe Campout forme was playingmanhunt at night.

What I learnedabout this experi-ence was thatsome shrubs arepoisonous and

some arent.

Thanks to the Pathfinders lead-ers for taking care of us and forthis great experience.

Pathfinders Campoutby Justin Rivera


10/12


Bookmobile is coming toour Church:

Sunday,November 15

11:0012:30 PM

You can order ahead oftime to guarantee thatthey have what you

want: 1-877-55FLABC

Mark your calendars:Mark your calendars:Mark your calendars:

International SabbathInternational SabbathInternational SabbathInternational SabbathInternational SabbathInternational SabbathInternational SabbathInternational SabbathInternational SabbathInternational SabbathInternational SabbathInternational Sabbath

March 13, 2010March 13, 2010March 13, 2010

Please return the participation form toPlease return the participation form toPlease return the participation form to

Martha. If you dont have one you canMartha. If you dont have one you canMartha. If you dont have one you can

get them in the foyer or church office.get them in the foyer or church office.get them in the foyer or church office.

Festival de Otoo Fall Festival

Spanish Christian music festival held inOrlando every year in Fall, where you canenjoy and worship God. This years performers include:Jaci Velasquez and Salvador.

At Calvary Assembly Church, Winter Park, Florida, November 7,

2009 at 6:30-8:30 PM. Admission is $10.00, parking free. Formore information visit http://festivaldeotono.com or contactXiomara Moreta (from St. Petersburg SDA Church) for tickets @(727) 767-4771 or [email protected].

Fight truth decay;

study the Bible daily.

National Bible Week,November 22-29 CHRISTMAS CANTATACHRISTMAS CANTATACHRISTMAS CANTATACHRISTMAS CANTATA

Saturday, December 19

SUNSETS

Nov. 7 ........................................ 5:41 PM

Nov. 14 ...................................... 5:38 PM

Nov. 21 ...................................... 5:35 PM

Nov. 28 ...................................... 5:34 PM


11/12


From the Editors

Blessings are allaround us. If we

look we can seethem every min-ute, every day.

I feel bad when inthe middle of trou-blesome times I

dont recognizethat even littlethings in life are allwonderful bless-ings that God hasgiven me.

Psalm 150 tells uswhat to do aboutall this. "PraiseHimfor His mightydeeds; praise Him

according to Hisexcellent great-

ness."

I will rememberthat every littlething is a blessingthat God grantedme in His infinitelove and wisdom.

Thank Him todayfor all His mercies.

Happy

Thanksgiving!

Omayra

W

h

e

This newsletter is

published monthly

by the NPR SDA

Church. If you

have any com-

ments to make

about the news-

letter, wish to

make a donation,

or wish to submit

an article, please

send it to thechurch or to us.

Contact Us

Alexander Ortiz727-365-2892

Omayra Rivera727-372-0052

[email protected]

NPR Seventh-day Adventist Church6424 Trouble Creek Road

New Port Richey, FL 34653727-848-4567 www.nprsda.org


12/12

NPRSeventhdayAdventistC

hurch

6424TroubleCreekRoa

d

N

ewP

ortRichey,

FL346

53

the church courier, november 2009

Documents