Pioneer Offices Closed  —  

for New Years December 31 to January 2.

 

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, 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.)
Offering for January 4, 2025

Pioneer Operating Budget

The first Sabbath of the New Year is an opportunity to press the reset button of our lives, goals, and relationship with God.

If you keep a prayer journal, take it out sometime today and reflect on how God has led in your life and your family’s life. During this self-evaluation, ask God what changes you need to make for the coming year. Then pray for the Holy Spirit to give you strength to transform each area of your life that needs a fix. Jesus emphasized the great principle of life when He said, “But seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Matthew 6:33, NKJV).

The key word is FIRST. Many people seek the kingdom of God, but they allow the cares of this life to dominate and consume them so they don’t have anything left to give to God. Let’s put Christ and His kingdom first. Jesus didn’t say not to ask for other things such as happiness, security, success, or even money.

When God comes first, He will reorder our lives and show His power by blessing us in all ways according to His purpose. Sometimes He may even bless us through trials. Let’s ask God to empty us of self and fill us with the Holy Spirit each day of this year so we can do what He wants us to. North American Division Stewardship Ministries 

North American Division Stewardship Ministries

Pioneer 2024 Contribution Statements

Contribution Statements for 2024 will be emailed to you toward the end of January 2025. Please ensure that your email address is current. Should you have any questions regarding your email, please contact the church office. If you require a paper copy of your statement, please notify claudia.sowler@pmchurch.org.

AdventistGiving Online (AGO) Contributions

 Your faithfulness is very much appreciated. To ensure that your donations are properly credited to your account, when contributing through Adventist Giving, please log in under your name, instead of contributing as a "Guest."

Spanish Sabbath School Class

 Sabbath School is the perfect setting to rediscover the power of Bible study and prayer. In one of the most diverse campuses in the nation, we aspire to allow all our church members, students, and guests to study and learn in their language. To further this, we are establishing the Spanish Sabbath School Class so all our Spanish-speaking brothers and sisters can join us in learning together in our weekly Sabbath School. With that, please grab your Spanish sabbath school lesson and join us starting Sabbath, January 4, 2025.

Something in Common Sabbath School

Something in Common Sabbath School presents "Marriage Oneness" by Tim Lundy and Robert Lewis

  • December 28 - Sexual Intimacy and Marriage Oneness
  • January 4 - Roles, Responsibilities and Marriage Oneness
  • January 11 - Family, Friends and Marriage Oneness

Everyone is welcome each Sabbath at 10:30-11:30 in Pioneer Room 141.

Care for Cuba

A group of students from Andrews University are preparing to embark on a life-changing mission in March of 2025. They will engage in evangelism, health care, and community outreach in Cuba. This mission trip has been going on for 11 years, and the impact has been tremendous, thanks to your help. Would you support this mission once again by donating right here in your church or give at www.careforcuba.org/donate? Thank you for your prayers as they prepare to send off students to serve and share Jesus!