Roommates, Bad Dates, and Soul Mates

Roommates, Bad Dates, & Soulmates-Part 3

Speaker

Dwight K. Nelson

Dwight Nelson served as lead pastor of the Pioneer Memorial Church on the campus of Andrews University from 1983 to 2023. During his time at Pioneer he spoke on the “New Perceptions” telecast, taught at the theological seminary and has written books, including The Chosen. He and his wife, Karen, are blessed with two married children and 2 granddaughters.

Offering

Saturday, September 14, 2019
Program: 
Opening Music
It Is Well • Carrie Grusselle
Songs of Praise
O Magnify the Lord • Who You Say I Am • Bless His Holy Name • 10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord)
Prayer
Lindsey Pratt
Pioneer Baptisms
Jonathan Raveloharimisy and Favour Oluwatosin Adesina with Ben Martin
Children's Story
William Dos Reis
Amazing Grace • Michael Lewis
Worship in Music
Crown Him with Many Crowns • Paul Thompson
“Roommates, Bad Dates & Soul Mates”—3
Dwight K. Nelson with Rebecca Puii Fanai, Alexander Hales, and William Dos Reis
Connect Card, Tithes, & Offerings
Michigan Advance Partners
Hymn of Commitment
Jesus, What a Friend for Sinners • 187
Benediction
Closing Music
Love Divine • John Zundel

“Roommates, Bad Dates and Soul Mates”—3
www.newperceptions.tv

 

» Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

• #1—“Two are better than one” because you have someone to share the . (Financial benefit)

- “Research has shown the financial benefits of marriage. Long-term marriage offers a 77% better rate of return than staying single and total wealth of married persons increases 16% year over year. In other words, the  you are married, the more money you make. . . . [I]f this was the reported returns on a stock growth fund, we’d all be jumping in.” (www.moneyunder30.com/financial-benefits-of-marriage)

• #2—“Two are better than one” because you have someone to help you . (Emotional benefit)

• #3—“Two are better than one” because you have someone to keep you .  (Physical benefit)

• #4—“Two are better than one” because you have someone to help you . (Security benefit)

» A great love story most have never heard . . .

- C. S. Lewis: “We feasted on love; every mode of it, solemn and merry, romantic and realistic, sometimes as dramatic as a thunderstorm, sometimes comfortable and unemphatic as putting on your soft slippers. She was my pupil and my teacher, my subject and my sovereign, my trusty comrade, friend, shipmate, fellow-soldier. My mistress, but at the same time all that any man friend has ever been to me.” (Quoted in Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts 142)

- Les and Leslie Parrott: “If there is a lesson to be gained from this amazing love story, it must be that partners without a spiritual depth of oneness can never compete with the fullness of love that enjoy. Marriage, when it is healthy, has a mystical way of revealing God; a way of  bringing a smiling peace to our restless hearts.” (142)

» The third strand

• Jeremiah 9:24—“Let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know [yada] me, that I am the LORD.”

• Genesis 4:1—“Adam made love [yada] to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant.”

• God takes the same word for “making love” [yada] and declares “That’s what I want in a relationship with you—the between a husband and a wife—I want you to know me like Adam knew Eve.”

• Alan McGinnis: “There can be no intimacy without .” (The Friendship Factor 105)

• Alice Fryling: “[Sex] is an expression of intimacy, not the  to intimacy. True intimacy springs from verbal and emotional communion. True intimacy is built on a commitment to honesty, love and freedom. True intimacy is not primarily a sexual encounter. Intimacy, in fact, has almost nothing to do with our organs. A prostitute may expose her body, but her relationships are hardly intimate.” (www.focusonthefamily.com/faith/three-lies-about-premarital-sex/)

• Don’t miss Adventist Engaged Encounter with Jeff/Twyla Smith (Nov 1-3).

• Ecclesiastes 4:12—“A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.”

- The Third Strand—Proverbs 18:24/John 15:13-14

- #1 Felt Need—How to grow a relationship with God

- Jennifer Schwirzer calls it “going .”

- “A New Way to Pray” (www.newperceptions.tv/newwaytopray)

• R

• R

• R

 

“Jesus, What a Friend for Sinners!”

 

Sunday Music Series with Carla Trynchuk & Elena Braslavsky

 Violinist Carla Trynchuk and pianist Elena Braslavsky will be performing a recital including works by Beethoven, Debussy, and the Jewish Ukrainian composer Meitus.  Trynchuk, faculty at Andrews University, has performed internationally as soloist and recitalist in more than 15 countries.  Braslavsky, formerly a faculty member at The Juilliard School and the Mannes School of Music, currently serves on the piano faculty of the Mozarteum University of Salzburg.  Trynchuk and Braslavsky were classmates together at The Juilliard School. This will be a FREE recital on February 22, at 4:00 PM.

An Acoustic Evening with Sidewalk Prophets

We’re excited to be hosting An Acoustic Evening With Sidewalk Prophets this spring.  In partnership with Great Big Family Productions, we’re hosting a night built around connection, stories, and songs. Because this is a small acoustic experience, seating is limited and will move quickly. If you or someone you know is planning to attend, we encourage you to get seats while they’re still available. The Howard Performing Arts Center is pleased to be able to host Sidewalk Prophets at our venue, however, all tickets will be sold online. Please click on the link to purchase your ticket.

Offering for January 31, 2026

Pioneer Operating Budget

This wonderful world in which we live came from the hand of the Creator in new and pristine beauty. Thus, God declared it was “very good” (Genesis 1:31, KJV). The creation was flawless and perfect. There was no discord in the universe. However, every day since Adam and Eve chose to eat the forbidden fruit in disobedience to God’s instruction, our planet has been ebbing away. We observe the impact of this deterioration in physical diseases that plague humanity, psychological stress that is at its peak, social displacements resulting from broken relationships, and geographical tensions playing out in wars and commotions. But there is hope in the midst of this chaotic puzzle.

In Revelation 21:1-5, John speaks about Christ, the great puzzle solver, who will make a new heaven and a new earth, for the old ones will pass away. In this new heaven, you will find the holy city, the new Jerusalem. And in this city, God “will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (verse 4, ESV). Affliction will not rise again. As C.S. Lewis once said, “Joy will be the serious business of heaven.”

As we give to our local budget today, let us make it our utmost goal to invite others to enroll in the new kingdom of God.

North American Division Stewardship Ministries

CANCELLED: Wind Symphony Winter Concert

 Due to the winter weather and unsafe road conditions, the Wind Symphony has not been able to hold adequate rehearsals in preparation for the upcoming winter concert. As a result, the winter concert, "A British Winter's Night" is cancelled. We hope you will join us for our next event, "Sing Praise! Vespers Concert" on March 6 at 7:30 PM at the Howard Performing Arts Center.

Belong Ministries Thanks You

 We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone who made Angel Tree possible this Christmas. Because of your thoughtfulness and generosity, many of our students/student families experienced a warmer, more joyful holiday season. We extend a special thank you to the Lake Union for their generous support and partnership. We are deeply grateful for your continued giving and support of Belong Ministries and for walking alongside us throughout the academic year to serve and uplift our students at Andrews University.

Love on the Move

 God's Hands 4 Kids, a PMC Grow Group outreach to our community serving foster, adoptive, kinship and guardianship families partnering with Berrien County Department Of Health and Human Services. As a gift to the families served by them and as a gift to the community of ministry leaders and professionals, we will be providing Hope for the Journey, a video conference on Trust Based Relational Intervention - trauma,  on Sunday afternoons in February here at PMC. It is produced by Show Hope. For more information and to register go to our website GH4K.org

Master Guide Toolbox!

Please join us for the next Master Guide Toolbox event at the Andrews University Seminary, February 6-7, 2026! Share with your friends, colleagues, students or in your newsletters! If you have any questions, please contact Cheryl Logan at cjhlogan@gmail.com. Spread the word! 

Introducing Parent Circle: A Sabbath Space for Growing Together

Parent Circle is a new discipleship space where parents of kids ages 4–12 connect, study the Bible, and grow together while their children are in Sabbath School. The resource area features a lending library, as well as support for completing youth and children’s ministry certifications. Join us on any Sabbath, anytime from 10:30-11:30 AM.

A British Winter's Night: Wind Symphony Winter Concert

A British Winter’s Night concert will be an evening of lively traditional British tunes and ballads.  From the popular Vaughan Williams Sea Songs and English Folk Song Suite, to the rousing tunes of the Irish Washerwoman and Country Gardens, this evening is sure to delight! The Andrews University Wind Symphony, under the direction of Denisse Santos-Gooden, will once again collaborate with the Southwestern Michigan College Brass Band under the direction of Mark Hollandsworth. The two ensembles will take the stage at the Howard Performing Arts Center on January 31, 2026 at 8:00 PM. Start off your new year with toe-tapping tunes and swaying sweet melodies! Tickets are available at howard.andrews.edu.