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Mission Possible
Urban Decay - Angels in the Inner City
DVDs
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Speaker
Dwight K. NelsonSince 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, November 14, 2015
Program:
As We Begin
More About Jesus I Would Know • John Sweney
Praise
Prayer
Adrianne Magsipoc
"By the Word of Their Testimony" Baptism
Korollos Abdelmalak with Rodlie Ortiz
Children's Story
José Bourget / Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven • Timothy Waugh
Worship in Music
Capriccio • Kevin McChesney
Sermon
“Mission Possible: Urban Decay—Angels in the Inner City” • Dwight K. Nelson
Connect Cards, Tithes & Offerings
Hymn
I’ll Go Where You Want Me to Go • 573
As We Depart
O God, Faithful God • Johannes Brahms
More In This Series
“Mission Possible:
Urban Decay—Angels in the Inner City”
□ This World of Pagans
· The daughter of Bertrand Russell: “His whole life was a search for God. . . . Somewhere at the back of my father’s mind, at the bottom of his heart, in the depths of his soul, there was an empty space that had once been filled by God, and he never found anything else to put in it.”
· Bertrand Russell: “There is darkness without and when I die there will be darkness within.” (Mysticism and Logic)
· His daughter: “I would have liked to convince my father that I had found what he had been looking for, the ineffable something he had longed for all his life. I would have liked to persuade him that the search for God does not have to be vain. But it was hopeless. He had known too many blind Christians, bleak moralists who sucked the joy from life and persecuted their opponents; he would never have been able to see the truth they were hiding.” (In Philip Yancey’s Vanishing Grace, 32-33)
□ His Love for Pagans
· Exhibit A—God and the pagan king
§ Genesis 20
· Exhibit B—God and the pagan city
§ Jonah 4:11
§ Clark Pinnock: “. . . the book of Jonah stands in the canon to testify to the universal salvific will of God.” (A Wideness in God’s Mercy 28)
· Exhibit C—God and the pagan city
§ Jeremiah 51:44-45
§ Revelation 18:4
· Exhibit D—God and the lost city
§ Luke 19:35-42
§ Desire of Ages: “While the westering sun was tinting and gilding the heavens, its resplendent glory lighted up the pure white marble of the temple walls, and sparkled on its gold-capped pillars. . . . [which] caught the splendor of the setting sun, shining as if with a glory borrowed from heaven. Jesus gazes upon the scene . . . His eyes fill with tears, and His body rock[s] to and fro like a tree before the tempest, while a wail of anguish bursts from His quivering lips, as if from the depths of a broken heart.” (575)
· Exhibit E—God, Giuseppe, Sonya and the pagan city Bergamo, Italy
· Exhibit F—God and the pagan city
§ Acts 18:9-10
§ NASB: “Do not be afraid any longer.”
§ Prophets and Kings: “In every city, filled though it may be with violence and crime, there are many who with proper teaching may learn to become followers of Jesus. Thousands may thus be reached with saving truth and be led to receive Christ as a personal Saviour.” (278)
The question is:
Are you willing to go?
Pioneer on Vimeo
Blood Drive
Celebration of the Cross
Please mark Sabbath, October 3 (9:00/11:45 AM), for a joyful celebration of the Lord's Supper as a worshiping community. While we will participate with actual emblems of bread and wine, because of the pandemic the elements will be prepackaged for your safety. These packaged elements will be available for your pickup at the church office the week before (Monday, September 28 through Sabbath, October 3). On-site worshipers will receive the packaged communion elements upon arriving for worship Sabbath morning.
But how will we celebrate foot washing? We're inviting every worshiper and family to experience Jesus' example in John 13 by washing each other's feet that Friday evening where you live. If you would like someone with whom to share this foot washing, you may either invite a friend to join you or please call Claudia Sowler (269-471-3134) for arrangements. Why not make this foot washing a part of your Friday evening worship as we gather across this community to welcome the Lord of the Sabbath into our homes at sundown?
Then Sabbath morning through music, prayer, the reading, and preaching of the Word ("American Apocalypse: How to Train Your Dragon—By the Blood of the Lamb") let's throw wide our hearts to the Christ we love to worship. "Do this in remembrance of Me" (Luke 22:19).
4th Quarter Lesson Study Guides
The 4th Quarter Lesson Study Guides are ready for you to pick up at the church office during regular business hours.
Sabbath School Class to Study "Experiencing God"
Pioneer's Bible Journey Sabbath School class will be using the Experiencing God: Knowing and Doing the Will of God (Study Guide) next quarter, beginning October 3. If you have always wanted to read this book, which has changed so many lives, you are welcome to
join us by Zoom. The class meets each Sabbath from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. The 270-page study guide, which is conveniently divided into 12 weekly lessons, can be purchased at Amazon.com for $15.99. For more information and to receive the Zoom link each week, please contact Jane Thayer at thayerja@andrews.edu.
Make a Difference as an Online Chat Host
Are you friendly and do you enjoy social media? Then, we have a great opportunity for you to be involved in ministry. Through streaming its services on Facebook Live and our website, Pioneer Memorial Church reaches thousands of people every single week. We’re looking to build a new team of local moderators/hosts for our online chat experiences. You could do this from your home. For more information contact Rodlie Ortiz at rodlie.ortiz@pmchurch.org.
Thank You!
Thank you to all those who helped in any way to promote and support our July 23 Red Cross Blood Drive. That includes the Pioneer pastors and staff and especially the Pioneer Safety Committee who helped us establish COVID-related safety protocols and procedures with the Red Cross for the drive. Thank you to those who recruited someone to give, promoted the drive, helped set up, take down, register participants and
provide refreshments after donations. And, a SUPER SPECIAL THANK YOU to those that Gave The Gift Of Life by donating precious blood. We had one of our most successful summer blood drives ever despite the COVID virus (or, maybe because of the COVID virus). Less people away at camp meetings and traveling and vacationing? Just a hunch. Our next blood drive is scheduled for October 20, 2020 and again on February 24, 2021. Be well and God Bless! -Larry Ulery
Love on the Move
Over the summer and fall of 2019 Pioneer underwent significant physical renovation—including a new roof and a major Sanctuary makeover. During the same time congregation leaders engaged in multiple conversations about our missional renovation—how does a faith community like Pioneer seriously engage and impact the people around us for Christ? From this dialogue emerged a fresh new expression of our Pioneer mission: "Love on the Move."