Last Sabbath of October 2021

 

Dave had the lesson discussion to begin our day's service with.  

This is the time in which everyone can share their thoughts on the lesson topic. 

Praise Time was led by Karen and accompanied by Bonnie and Aase and it was so lovely to hear the duo of piano and organ again.  

Thank you so much for sharing your talents with us.  We enjoy it.

The program went along so nicely with Jerrie Lou telling a wonderful old story of a water bottle and a dolly arriving at the place they were needed at just the right time. 

Dave shared On a Hill Far Away in song while playing his guitar. It was really good to hear him sing and play again.  That song is still full of inspiration and love.

Rich shared the Bible reading and prayer and it is always good to hear his voice!

Lori got up to speak and started with this beautiful smile setting the tone for the rest of the service... hope, encouragement, and exuberance. 

Lori called her Sermon Title  Face to Face

She began with Titus 2:11-14.

Then a quote from CS Lewis  " If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, then most probably explanation is that we were made for another world."

She went on to share about face recognition technology that is in our world today and it matches a human face with a digital image against a data base of faces, but God really gave people that amazing ability from creation.   We can see a person once and recognize that face later on.

Lori shared a story from her work in the field of speech pathology and working on a case of a man who had a motorcycle accident which left him with a brain injury.  This man could speak and comprehend language but one of his problems from this injury was that he lost his ability to recognize faces or picture the lay of the land in his mind.  

He could no longer recognize his own brother by his face... he needed to hear his voice. How sad a situation for him.

God gave us a wonderful gift and it is also very sad that in dementia people often lose this ability to recognize their family or close friends. 

In Selected Messages 3:316 it reads, 

"God's greatest gift is Christ, whose life is ours, given for us.  He died for us and was raised for us, that we might come forth from the tomb to a glorious companionship with heavenly angels, to meet our loved ones and to recognize their faces, for the Christ-likeness does not destroy their mage, but transforms it into His glorious image. Every saint connected in family relationship here will know each other there."

We won't have face agnosia. We will KNOW.

You might want to look up Desire of Ages p 786 and 787 to read the quote about what death is to the Christian.

Lori encouraged us to not focus on the time of trouble but to spend time thinking of eternity.

OHC p 285 and 286 is another good place to read Mrs, White telling about the atmosphere of heaven.

Do you enjoy God?

Do you cultivate a relationship with Him? Matthew 7:21-23 helps us remember what He told us about knowing Him.

When He comes in the clouds will you be able to recognize Him, KNOW Him?

It will be so wonderful to be embraced by Jesus and see Him face to face. \

Lori had sharing time here to have people share what they were looking forward to in Heaven.

Then the service ended with a Sandy Patti song video We Shall Behold Him. 

So thankful for this church service and that we can recognize each other. 

Sabbath with the Pastor and Tammy- Oct 23rd

Welcome to Orchard City SDA Church!

 Church, these days, starts with a group time discussing the past weeks lesson.  It usually proves to be very interesting with one person leading the discussion and many others joining in with their thoughts and findings from their study. 

This last quarter of 2021 is from this guide. 

There are many other ways to go over the same Bible texts and questions and it usually enhances the learning. 

Bruce Cameron, a lawyer, has a very nice study guide online.  http://sabbathschoollessons.com/

Derek Moore has a good group lesson time on Hope Channel.  His printable guide is good to use for discussion time at church. 

These are just two ideas.

Praise Time with the Reflections team was very nice and lead to the children's story by Doug L and then to the the Special Music time which was Come Home, It's Supper Time by the Reflections Team with Denise playing ukulele.  She chose this piece of music as it is her mother's favourite.  It was beautifully done. 

Someone ( I think Heidi) made a nice few changes to the decorations in the church to reflect the autumn scenes outdoors.  It looks warm and cozy. 

Tammy was the well spoken platform person tying all the bits and pieces together nicely. 

Phones are up front lately as our bulletins are on there now.  So you might see someone reading from their phone when they are announcing the next item. Thank you so much bulletin typers.  We are very happy for this work you do each week. 

 

Doug telling the children's story.  A surprise one for Liza!  Doug had some great photos showing at church of Liza's 60th birthday ride of 60 miles for this momentous occasion!

Thank you for playing this, Denise. ( the ukulele) and to the others for playing and singing too. 

It is nice to see Pastor Josue preach using his Dad's big Bible. 

Showing the Zoom people the text. 

What a sermon it was this day. Have you ever had tunnel vision? Like about an idea or a surprise party like Pastor Josue did. He shared the story of their plan to go to a restaurant to pick up food for supper but when he got to the restaurant he happened to see some of the people he was getting supper for, sitting there at the table. He thought it was pretty rude until he noticed more friends and family there and they hollered out SURPRISE to him. 

He only thought of getting supper to take home to these people but there was a different idea which was even better. 

Luke shares the story of two daughters. Two families hurting. One was 12 years old the other had been to Dr's and having a medical problem for 12 years. 

One died before he got there,  the other was healed as she crawled on the ground to get to The Healer. She touched His hem and was healed. 

12 is mentioned 162 times in the Bible. 

It is a complete number. 

Both daughters were 'unclean' in that culture but Jesus touched both of them and made them 'clean' and acceptable so they were restored to their 👪 families.

Taking a story from the Bible and finding so many comparisons in the story within the story is like Pastor Josue called it - a sandwich. 

There are 34 times in the Bible where Jesus touched someone.

Let Him touch you. 

Let Him change you. 

Don't be resistant just because you thought something was a certain way. 

Let yourself get rid of tunnel vision. 

Let Jesus touch you and change you. 

Autumn Time at OCC - October 16th

 Lori had the SS lesson sharing time and these lessons in Deuteronomy have been interesting. 

If you need a quarterly lesson book ask someone and they will help you find one online or in paper. 

 Reflection Team had Praise Time and Special Music. 

Joel on the percussion and Todd playing the bass along with Keith playing guitar and singing and Denise playing piano and singing with Heidi singing also. 

Story Time shared by Dave... 

A story from his own memory story book. 

The message of the morning was shared by Ken Fox who lives here in Kelowna and has come to OCC several times before.  Berniece, his lovely wife, joined him and it was so nice to have both of them worship with us. 

He started by telling us a little of his life as a child and his growing years and education. 

He always wanted to know more of the character of Jesus and was able to attend Bible studies of that nature as a middle aged man. 

Ephesians 1:3 was used early in the sermon as he told us about God comes to us as a Saviour not only to us, but to the whole world. 

A saviour does something for you that  you can not do for yourself. 

The story was shared about his brother who was in a bad way and needed someone to find him and help save him.  It was his parents - his family. 

Hebrews 1:3 was another text shared 

Verse 4 is a proactive statement of God's intent.

We are to be part of His royal family. 

Holiness is an attribute of God.  We can never be holy or be God. The only way is by having a relationship with God. 

Here he told the very interesting story of  Marie, daughter of Louis the 16th part of the royal family of Burden, France.

Who wants to serve others, loving others more then we love ourselves? 

We can answer in our own hearts. 

Thank you for coming to OCC.

Pastor Appreciation Day October 9th 2021

 A lovely service at OCC today. 

It was almost a full church spaced appropriately, but so wonderful to have people at church again. 

Sabbath School lesson was led by Alex.  

This quarters lessons are from Deuteronomy. 

We were so happy to hear of the first reading of two special people joining our fellowship. 

Shirley and Joe... welcome!!

Praise Time  was with Tammy and friends. 

Special Music was brought by Julie and Jeff... so nice to have them here again. 

Pastor Josue spoke words for the church service to remind us that friendship is where most relationships start and everyone has need for friends. 

One story Pastor shared with us was about this man who waved his hands and called out "I love you!" each day on a busy street corner. 

Look it up and hear Johnny's story. 

Lori brought up flowers and a card for Pastor and Tammy for Pastor Appreciation Day.  

Lori had a very heartfelt message to go with the gifts. 

One thing mentioned in the message about Pastor Josue was his visiting people near their birthdays and bringing along a treat for each one. 

If you have not received your cake just wait it will be coming. 

It is not such a big cake as it looks here but it is nice to share with a friend or relative or put some pieces in the freezer for later.

Just a special recognition. 

Thank you, Pastor. 

 

And as he says... he is bringing you your vitamin C !