Orchard City Notes: Sabbath at OCC Feb 12th 2022

So nice to see the pretty bulletins at OCC again.

Thank you to the person responsible.

Lesson Title was: Jesus, the Anchor of the Soul

Memory Text: “This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both secure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek” (Hebrews 6:19, 20, NKJV).

Alex's turn to lead the lesson discussion. He used all kinds of ways to help the conversation along.

The white board gets filled up with his printing and drawing.

Following along in the study guide.

Foll

Alex showed Anchor Park the smallest park in town with a huge anchor from the bridge.

Gay shows everyone another drawing with words to illustrate his point.

Thank you for your part in the morning.

Come out and be part of the Sabbath School discussion - you might enjoy it.

Praise Time for music and singing.

So nice of Tammy to invite her dad too join her in leading the Praise Time.

Doug had a little break in January and now is back on duty for a few weeks.

Good thing Todd is helping out on AV.

So nice to be greeted with a friendly voice and smiling eyes.

It is nice to see people saving little bits and pieces of what happens in church.

Alex shining his light during praise time.

It was fun to sing from the Red Chorus book again.

During the church service the anchor was kept under the seat and then after Alex showed it. He certainly brought good things to enhance the lesson.

Beverly shared a story from her time in Hawaii lately with her family and the adventure they went on early one morning.

The happy birthday boy glad his grama came along.

The saw Galapagos sharks with 14 rows of teeth.

Thanks for the story, Beverly. Glad you made it back to Canada and to OCC.

Pastor Josue checking to make sure Jerrie Lou on Zoom can hear him before starting his sermon.

Relationship with Nature.

Psalm 24:1 and 2

All Things Bright and Beautiful - Intimacy with God and nature.

How many of you like nature?

How many of you like camping or glamping?

Pastor used to take a small backpack and a blanket and go on the hike and have a simple camp made.

Then he got spoiled and now wants to have flush toilets and a soft bed at night when camping.

It doesn't matter how you do it but take the time to go out in nature and enjoy the great outdoors.

It is good for your mental health to spent time in nature.

God had such relationship with nature in the Bible.

What experiences can you think of in the Bible that show this?

Some answers from the congregation were:

The stars in the sky with Abraham.

Eagles - how he cares for them and us.

He created humans with His hands out of dust.

The burning bush.

What is the Sabbath for the earth?

Every 7th year was the year of the Jubilee. Sabbath for the land. God said not to work the earth on the 7th year and that poor people should be able to glean what ever grew on it.

The 6th year would grow enough for two years.

Why do we need to take care of the earth?

It will be destroyed in the end anyway Pastor Josue said to his dad when he was younger.

We need to respect and take care of our bodies as they are the temple for God. He lent it to your body to you. Take good care of your body as you also take care of the earth.

When the blind man came to Jesus, Jesus spit on the ground and made clay to put on the man's eyes. There is the connection between nature and God and the person. There are good properties in clay to help purify things in the body.

Look up clay and find out the healing nature of it.

Clay... God created us from dirt.

Pastor was going for a walk with Hudson ( please remember to pray about Hudson's health) and the saw a coyote not all that far away. It was a very beautiful thing to see.

The colours and designs and patterns and varieties God made for us to enjoy.

How can humans connect with nature? Genesis 1:21, And God saw it was good...

Gen. 2:7 Man became a living thing...

Verse 15...Garden given to Adam and Eve to tend it. Man was in it.

How awesome for Adam to communicate with the animals. How does it feel to have a bird land on your hand? Have you felt that? It is pretty cool.

It feels so great to hold a freshly picked tomato that you helped grow by putting the seedling in the ground and gave it what it needed as God gave it what it needed and then you have a delicious tomato. It was God's care that made it.

He does that while the whole time looking after everything else in the whole world. He cares so much for you.

Once as a boy, his dad and Josue were a beach near sunset on a Sabbath. The pink sky and calm water blended to make the love of God evendent to both man and son. The song, "The Love of God is Greater Far" came to mind.

It was like you could pick a pencil from the sky and draw the scene - such a beautiful scene.

Pastor Josue as a kid, his dad and God all connected.

It will all be restored and be healed.

Let's sing, "How Great Thou Art".

Let's remember that we serve and worship the God of the Sabbath and Creation and not the day or the nature.