Speaker

Dwight K. Nelson

Since 1983, Dwight Nelson has served as lead pastor of the Pioneer Memorial Church on the campus of Andrews University. He preaches on the “New Perceptions” telecast, teaches at the theological seminary and has written some books, including The Chosen. He and his wife, Karen, are blessed with two married children and 2 granddaughters.

Offering

Saturday, March 11, 2017
Program: 
As We Begin
Most Lovely Lord Jesus • Hermann Schroeder
Praise
Holy Is the Lord • This Is My Desire (Lord I Give You My Heart) • Speak O Lord
Prayer
Sharon Terrell
Tithes & Offerings
Arioso • Johann Sebastian Bach
Baby Dedication
Cyrus Salvador Virchel presented by Gary & Athina Wood with José Bourget
Bible Reading
1 John 2:3-6 NLT
Worship in Music
Wayfarin' Stranger • Traditional / Barry Milner
Sermon
“STORM: Finding Jesus in the Gathering Dark”—7 • Dwight K. Nelson
Connect Card
I Would Be Like Jesus • 311
As We Depart
O Lamb of God, Unspotted • Johann Sebastian Bach

“STORM: Finding Jesus in the Gathering Dark”—7
www.newperceptions.tv

 

  • Storm
    • James Hunter: “We say we want renewal of character in our day, but we don’t really know what we ask for. To have a renewal of character is to have the renewal of a creedal order that constrains, limits, bind, obligates, and compels. This price is too high for us to pay. We want character but without unyielding conviction. We want strong morality but without the emotional burden of guilt or shame. We want virtue but without the particular moral justifications that invariably offend. We want good without having to name evil. We want decency without the authority to insist upon it. We want moral community without any limitations to personal freedom. In short, we want what we cannot possibly have on the terms we want it.” (The Death of Character: Moral Education in an Age Without Good or Evil quoted by Gordon Bietz in Southern Columns Spring 2016)
  • Walk and Talk
    • Genesis 5:21-24
    • Hebrews 11:5
    • Ellen White: “In every phase of your character building [i.e., growth is taking place] you are to please God. This you may do; for Enoch pleased Him though living in a degenerate age. And there are Enochs in this our day.” (Christ’s Object Lessons 332, emphasis supplied)
    • John 15:5 à John 5:19 à John 5:30 à John 14:10
  • Credo
    • Hebrews 2:13—“‘I will put My trust in Him.’”
    • When you walk by faith, you will be like Jesus.
      • “By faith Enoch walked with God” (Genesis 5:24) 
        • “By faith Jesus walked with God” (Hebrews 2:13)
      • “By faith Enoch pleased God” (Hebrews 11:5) 
        • ​“By faith Jesus pleased God” (John 5:30)
    • Ellen White: “Enoch kept the Lord ever before him, and the inspired word says that he ‘walked with God.’ He made Christ his constant companion. He was in the world, and performed his duties to the world; but he was ever under the influence of Jesus. He reflected Christ’s character, exhibiting the same qualities in goodness, mercy, tender compassion, sympathy, forbearance, meekness, humility, and love. His association with Christ day by day transformed him into the image of Him with whom he was so intimately connected. Day by day he was growing away from his own way into Christ’s way, the heavenly, the divine, in his thoughts and feelings. He was constantly inquiring, ‘Is this the way of the Lord?’ His was a constant growth, and he had fellowship with the Father and the Son.” (Review & Herald 4/28/1891)
    • Mark Labberton: “I started to read the New Testament just as I was about to enter college. With very few assumptions, and with no theological or spiritual commitments, I simply picked up the Bible and began to read. I read and reread the Gospels, and then the whole New Testament. . . . I was by no means sure there was a god, nor was I sure that this text and its apparent claims were true or relevant to some possible divine being. It simply seemed to me that a literate person should be acquainted with the Bible, and so it all began.”
    • “I came to discover that what Jesus offered was in fact the antidote to smallness: the kingdom of God. The smallness that pervades much of our natural human enterprise, whether it is business, education, politics, or religion, was the problem of a shrunken heart and mind. By contrast, the kingdom of God—life under the reign of God’s grace and truth in Jesus Christ—expands and unleashes our heart, mind, soul, and strength for the profound purposes for which we were made.”
    • “To my utter surprise, the Bible proved itself to be clear to me, even though I knew almost nothing about it. What the Bible made plain was that I was loved, sought, convicted, called, and redeemed by the true and living God who came to save the world—including me—in Jesus Christ. The clarity of Scripture was not an abstract principle; it was an apt description. . . . Over time, it has formed my spiritual genealogy and biography.”
    • “However urbane and cosmopolitan, skeptical and doubting, or poor and broken people may be, God’s Word speaks with authority and power. Just as water will always find its own way, so the Bible’s ‘streams of water’ do the same—finding their way into parched and thirsty lives to bring new life. . . . It’s not simply the clarity of comprehension for which Jesus calls us to be ‘perfect,’ but a life that looks increasingly like the life of the Word made flesh. This is the final test of the Bible’s clarity: Can people read our lives and see the life of God in us? This is the perspicuity [transparency] that God has given us in the Bible, a clarity that is meant to be readable in part through the unfinished lives of those who read and trust it.”
    • “The clarity of our faithful Bible reading is meant to show up in the clarity of our faithful lives.” (Christianity Today Jan/Feb 2017)

 

When you walk by faith in the Word,
 you will be like Jesus in the world.

 

(Flyer, TV, Google search, name of person who invited you, etc.)
Free Bibles

The lost and found ministry at PMC has placed a table in the Main Lobby (Narthex) containing Bibles which have been in lost and found for more than a year and not been claimed. Some have names on them and some do not. You are welcome to take a Bible for yourself or a friend.  Please read and enjoy, For other lost and found item, there is a cupboard in the lower lobby welcome center where these items are kept. You can ask during the week for a secretary to help you check if your lost item is there.  After items have been in lost and found for more than three months they are sent to Neighbor to Neighbor so be sure and check on your items soon after you lose them.

Fellowship Dinner

There will not be a fellowship dinner this Sabbath.

Offering for March 30, 2024

Pioneer Operating Budget

I remember it like it was yesterday. I got a call from a close friend saying that they had gotten an incredible job in an incredible city that would be their dream come true. I celebrated with my friend, while also feeling the sting of pain from my own disappointment from recently being rejected from yet another job for which I was qualified, but not hired.

Disappointment and rejection can be hard things to deal with. One thing that God taught me and my family during that season of our lives was that though it may not be “my turn” for the blessing of my dream job, it is always “my turn” to serve God and those around me by doing my best, no matter what position I’m in.

One thing that has blessed me and many others during tough times is the support local churches offer to those who are struggling just to make it. I’ve been in small group Bible study where other members prayed for me and supported me in many ways, both with physical and spiritual needs. Today’s offering will go to support our local church budget, which supports ministries that are the heartbeat of our church all week long, not just on Sabbath. “The Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive’” (Acts 20:35, NIV).

By Heather Thompson Day

North American Division Stewardship Ministries

Strength to Keep Going: A Multilingual Worship Celebration

The Andrews University Haitian Association and the Groupe Francophone D'Andrews invite all to participate in a special, multicultural worship experience on April 13 in the Seminary Chapel. Sabbath School at 10:30 AM, divine service at 11:45 AM. Join us in praising God in English, French, and Creole! Children and families welcome, as well as language learners.

BSHS Non-Perishable Food Drive

Our Pioneer students from Berrien Springs High school are holding a non-perishable food drive, the proceeds of which will go directly to the Feeding America Charity to help people with food insecurity. Please visit PM church’s welcome desk on the second floor by the front entrance to the sanctuary from March 25-30 to donate your non-perishable goods to people in need.

RMES Kindergarten Parent Night and Kindergarten Visitor Day

Parents with students who will be 5 years old by Sept. 1, 2024, are invited to come meet our Kindergarten teacher on April 2, tour the classroom and school, enjoy refreshments, meet other Kindergarten parents, etc. Kindergarten age children are invited to visit our Kindergarten classroom on April 3. They will enjoy singing and worship, physical education, Spanish and music class, along with outdoor play time. Please call us at 269-471-3225 to let us know you are coming!

The Center for Adventist Research Book Sale

The Center for Adventist Research Book Sale is back! The 2024 Spring book sale begins April 2 with hundreds of used Seventh-day Adventist books, pamphlets, periodicals, audio-visuals, and Ellen White books for sale. There are also many phonograph records for sale.

The books are competitively priced and will be less costly than at the various online sources for Adventist used books. We accept cash, checks, and credit/debit cards. The sale begins April 2 and will conclude on April 16. The sale hours will match the Center’s public hours: Monday to Thursday 9 AM to 7 PM, and Friday 9 AM to 1 PM.  For more information, you may call the Center at (269) 471-3209 or email car@andrews.edu.

Lebanon Mission

This week the PMC Youth Missions team has been conducting the week of prayer on two campuses in Beirut, Lebanon. They are sharing the theme "Faces Around the Cross" with students at Middle East University and Adventist secondary school in nearby
Bouchrieh. The team has presented 4 chapel services a day, starting at 7:30 AM. The 11-member team of Andrews students and PMC members has been learning a lot as they serve in this challenging mission field. Your prayers and support of PMC Youth Missions are indispensable.

Quiet Activity Bags for Kids in Church

Pioneer warmly welcomes young families! Quiet activity bags for children are available to borrow, enjoy, and return each Sabbath morning. Select a larger bag for 1 to 3 year-olds or a smaller one for 3 to 9 year-olds. Pick up a bag in the Narthex or the organ side front entrance lobby. Return as soon as finished so others can enjoy.

2nd Annual Community Messiah Sing

Community Messiah Sing - The Eau Claire SDA Church is celebrating the sacred glory of the Easter season by hosting a inter-faith Community Messiah Sing-Along. You are invited to this Christian sing-along in celebration of the death and resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ. We will sing the Easter portion of Handel's Messiah to the recorded “accompaniment” of a Baroque Chamber Orchestra featuring the type of instrumentation the original performance of Handel’s Messiah oratorio had. We will of course conclude the rejoicing with the "Hallelujah" Chorus. Come join us on Saturday, March 30 from 4-6 pm at 6562 Naomi Road in Eau Claire. Bring a Messiah score if you have one or one will be provided. Light refreshments will be served afterwards in the Fellowship Hall.

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