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.)
MORE than MORE+ Discipleship Experience
Pioneer Commons

What we experienced at the MORE+ Conference was a wonderful start. Reformation/Discipleship is the indispensable follow up to any such revival experience.
Come and fan the flames of revival.

On Wednesday, April 16 we begin a 7-Session Discipleship Journey using an interactive curriculum created with Pastor Don MacLafferty, participants will experience seven principles of discipleship in fresh ways.

Register by April 11

Pentecost 2025
Pioneer Memorial Church

We invite you to join us at Pioneer for an in-person evangelism training event from Friday, April 4, to Saturday, April 5. This is open to all Seventh-day Adventist churches in the North American Division. We encourage every member—pastors, teachers, young adults, and students—to participate. The event will feature keynote speaker Mark Finley. Additionally, there will be breakout sessions available in both English and Spanish. The King's Heralds will provide music during the Friday evening service, both Sabbath worship services, Sabbath afternoon, and the evening concert. Don’t miss this opportunity to be equipped and inspired for impactful evangelistic ministry as you prepare for Pentecost 2025!

Register

Lebanon Mission Vespers
Pioneer Youth Chapel

Our Pioneer Youth Missions team has just returned from Beirut, Lebanon. Come to the mission vespers at 6:00 PM on Sabbath, April 5, to hear the testimonies, see the pictures and be inspired by what God is doing in the Middle East.

Offering for March 29, 2025

Pioneer Operating Budget

Jesus shared the parable of the talents to illustrate our relationship with Him and purpose in life. The three servants were each given talents according to their abilities. In the end, two were commended for investing their talents wisely, and one was not.

The parable teaches us that we need to use the talents we’ve been given to grow God’s kingdom and for God’s glory. We shouldn’t hide or neglect them. God rewards those who act in faith by investing what He has given. He gives us the responsibility to manage our time, talents, treasures, temple, and testimony.

What belongs to God? For time, it is one-seventh of our week; for talents, we must use them and double them; for our treasures, one-tenth; for our health, we must care for our bodies because we are the temple of the Holy Spirit; and for our testimony, we must tell the story of what God has done for us and how he is transforming us.

God has committed these things to us; how we invest them reveals whether we can be entrusted with eternal riches. By using and growing these talents, they develop in us Christ-like characters and He then multiplies what He gave to us.

Why not ask God to help us manage His gifts? 

North American Division Stewardship Ministries

Easter Devotionals

Pioneer Women's Ministries invites you to join us for 10 days of devotionals leading up to Easter (April 11-20). Together, we will consider what various individuals present at Christ's arrest, trial, and crucifixion might have thought and experienced. If you would like to receive daily text teasers and emails with the full devotional insights, please text the word "CROSS" to 269.281.2345.

Help Us Connect by Sharing Your Sabbath School Details

We are creating a master list of all Pioneer Sabbath schools. If you are a teacher/coordinator of a Sabbath School class that meets outside the sanctuary, please email your name, class location and meeting time to Melchizedek Ponniah at melponniah@gmail.com

Howard Series Presents: The Katinas

The Katinas have traveled the globe with the mission of hope and love at the heart of their vision. Who you are, where you’re from, what you believe, it does not matter.  The love of Jesus Christ is a gift for us all. Through their music and their actions, the Katinas strive to embody this love. Please go to howard.andrews.edu to purchase your tickets.

Lamson Hall Upgrades with Maranatha

From May 11–June 8, 2025, Maranatha Volunteers International will be working at Andrews University to update the Lamson Hall residential rooms and suite bathrooms. Please consider volunteering and letting your family and friends know of this opportunity. All individuals (including local) should sign up at the Maranatha website: https://maranatha.org/volunteer-opportunities/.

Master Guide Club

Do you want to complete your Master Guide Program? If so, please consider joining the Master Guide Club that meets weekly on campus to help you complete the requirements.

For more information or to join, please visit cye.org/toolbox