Bible Study every Wednesday evening, 7: 30, via Zoom  starting up again October 28, 2020                                                                                                                                                                                           WKDW-FM radio program, Northport, FL. 10-11 AM, Sunday mornings                                                                                                                                                                     Webcast services this Sabbath, 2 PM from Vero Beach   

                                                                                                                                                                                        

           Pastor’s Letter, October 23, 2020

 

 

 

                                      

                                 Ok Ok; Let’s Go !!!

 

                                                                                            Let’s Go!!

There were many memorable moments for those who attended the Feast in Rapid City but the ones that grabbed my attention the most were the final minutes prior to the opening night service when animated fellowship was going on. As has been customary, the song leader went on stage and announced that services would begin in a few minutes. Typically, brethren are exuberantly excited to talk and talk until the last possible second and sometimes be so involved with each other that they do not stop interacting until well past starting time….but here it was different.

The song leader announced to the roughly 400 brethren that services would start in a few minutes and very quickly there was a silence in the auditorium as everyone scurried to sit down before they were expected to. The mindset of the crowd was, Ok! Ok! let’s go! Let’s get on with it. Let us begin the Feast!! …And so they did. 

WHY were the brethren so eager to listen? (more so than perhaps most other years). Was it because brethren had missed so many church services due to the virus that they were bound and determined to never take a church service like this one, for granted? Perhaps the audience response to immediately sit down was a     reflection of brethren highly valuing the privilege of meeting together now. 

Attendance at the Feast held steady for all 8 days. A scripture that came to my mind that reinforced the apparent mind set of the crowd was Ecclesiastes 5:1-7 “Keep your foot when you go to the house of God, and be more ready to hear.”

Vik Kubik wrote in his post-Feast letter to church members and ministers alike that this fall festival was anything but routine yet God’s hand was definitely behind his people. Scriptures such as Hebrews 13:5 take on additional meaning for all of us when we see how true this really was. Here are some of Vic’s comments and observations:

Dear fellow servants of God,

Living in a troubled world with so many unknowns, we take comfort in our God who protects those who draw nigh to Him. One of my favorite scriptures through any tense moments in the Church or personally has always been Isaiah 41:10:

“Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”

We not only take comfort in these words—we rejoice in them.

We are returning to our regular routines after the recently completed Feast of Tabernacles. In the history of the United Church of God, this was the most challenging year in terms of preparing for the Feast. In a normal year we have around 60 sites around the world, and this year it was fewer than 30 due to COVID-19 complications and impact.

Less than two months before the Feast, sites were being canceled—which created an immediate need to search for new locations. The hand of God opened up additional sites at the last minute, plus within two weeks of the Feast we had to change to another venue at Rapid City. A number of small satellite sites were developed at the last minute to accommodate local needs. There were over a thousand daily webcast connections to the two official webcast Feast sites.

 

When we consider where we are the course of end time prophecy, I think we are sobered because so much current information that dominates today’s news is reflected in the broad spectrum of Bible Prophecy. This should serve as an additional prod on us to spiritually reset and run anew. (I Corinthians 9:24-27).

 

Special congratulations to Maria Lucas who was baptized this Feast at Daytona Beach by Rick Shabi.

Last Sabbath in Ocala, it was great to host several visitors from NE Florida that Cort Greenfield has been involved with and they are most welcome to return.

 

This coming Wednesday we will resume weekly Bible studies. However, we will not have a study on the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving nor Wednesday December 23.  This coming Wednesday we will be in Ezekiel 38 and 39 and possibly wrap up our in-depth study of end time prophecy.

This Sabbath we will have live speakers in all 4 churches. Lonnie Mooneyham will be in Tallahassee, Bob Orosz will be in Vero Beach, Stan Braumuller will speak in Ocala and I will speak in Ft. Myers. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Runners Take Your Mark" by Dru Bloomfield - At Home in Scottsdale is licensed under CC BY 2.0 "Runners Den Classic 2011: On your mark" by Dru Bloomfield - At Home in Scottsdale is licensed under CC BY 2.0.   On Your Marks…100m women’s bu Lim CK is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0  On your marks by D H Parks CC BY-NC 2.0 "FINISHES - Longford Marathon Events 2018" by Peter Mooney is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

"On your marks!" by Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0"On Your Marks" by D.H. Parks is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0