NLC News September 14 2022

September 15th, 2022

September’s Memory Verse
“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” II Timothy 2:15

THIS COMING WEEK:

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18
8:30 a.m. GROWTH CLASSES

Video series on Galatians in Room 111

9:30 a.m. CONNECTING POINT (Dining Room) and Connecting Point for Kids (Rm 101)
10 a.m. WORSHIP - NLC Kids & The Crew (Jr/Sr High)

Otto Ekk preaching - celebrating 33 years of mission in Portugal and Brazil

5:30 p.m. LIFELINE Young Adult Growth Group
6:30 p.m. REGIONAL CELEBRATION OF OTTO & MARJORIE EKK'S MISSION WORK IN PORTUGAL

Featuring Bruce Enns, Executive Director of Multiply; Portuguese desserts after program

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20
6:00 a.m. MEN'S BIBLE STUDY - THE BEATITUTDES - Dining Room
9:00 a.m. LIFE WOMEN'S BIBLE STUDY - ELIJAH: FAITH & FIRE - Room 114

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21
2:10 p.m. GOOD NEWS CLUB - Jefferson Elementary
6:00 p.m. WORSHIP REHEARSAL - Gym
6:30 p.m. PRAYER GATHERING - Room 113
6:30 p.m. RAISIN DAY WORSHIP - RoseAnn Vuich Park

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22
5:30 p.m. CELEBRATE RECOVERY - Join us for DINNER - Dining room
6:30 p.m. CELEBRATE RECOVERY - Worship / Teaching / Small Groups
RAISIN DAY FESTIVITIES

FRIDAY-SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 23-24
RAISIN DAY PARADE/FESTIVITIES - Downtown/RoseAnn Vuich Park

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 25
8:30 a.m. GROWTH CLASSES

Video series on Galatians in Room 111

9:30 a.m. CONNECTING POINT (Dining Room) and Connecting Point for Kids (Rm 101)
10 a.m. WORSHIP - NLC Kids & The Crew (Jr/Sr High)

Pastor Mark preaching - You Belong Here! series on Ephesians

11:00 a.m. GRAB & GO MEALS - Eat in or take it to go
5:30 p.m. LIFELINE Young Adult Growth Group

We will be celebrating Otto & Marjorie Ekk's 33 years of missionary service in Portugal and Brazil!

Program in the Gym
Followed by Portuguese desserts in the Dining Room

church calendar link

Giving at NLC

Total Offerings Received Last Week (9/11):........$8,752
Offerings Received in September:.................... $16,860

NOTE: A new budget will be presented for a vote at the Member Meeting, Oct. 2nd

TRY OUT THE AUDIO/VISUAL TEAM!

Let Carolyn Ehoff or Phyllis Enns know you can help.
You will be blest!

Sponsorship opportunities are available. Please visit the website above.

Prayer

Thank the Lord Eugene Enns has returned home and is recovering from a delicate brain surgery. Marjorie Elrich has also returned to Palm Village healthcare to recover from surgery after 19 days in St. Agnes Hospital.
Praise the Lord that JR & Janet and Glen & Peggy are strong enough to be present in church on Sunday mornings! What a blessing to be together.
Good News Clubs began with more children than expected! 49 students attended the first session Wednesday with half the group wanting to accept Christ or recommit themselves to him.
Open Gate has 18 residents including several children. We thank God for this partner and ask the Lord to strengthen the residents for new steps forward in their lives of faith.
Give God thanks for providing for Otto & Marjorie in their work as missionaries over 33 years, and pray for the growth of disciples there.
Pray for Stan R. Isaac as he has begun the cancer ministry God laid on his heart several years ago. Together Living with Cancer (TLC) meets every other Sunday evening in Kingsburg.
Keep the NLC staff in prayer as we work together to transform lives through Jesus. Jessica and Joanna are leading ministry to children, Pastor Steve leads ministry to youth, Henry leads the worship and tech teams, and Elaine and Kelly and Joe support all these ministries administratively and over the facilities.

The Lesson of Ephesus

The letter to the Ephesians, which Pastor Mark is preaching on, was sent to Christians in Ephesus, a city in what is now the country of Turkey. Ephesus was a major city in its day before its seaport was silted in and could no longer by dredged for shipping traffic.
The story of how the Gospel came to Ephesus is written in Acts 18-20. It involved people like Aquilla & Priscilla (a husband wife teaching team), Apollos, and the Apostle Paul. Others like Tychicus and Epaphras were converts from Ephesus who went on to plant churches in nearby cities. Timothy became a pastor in Ephesus, and eventually the Apostle John and even Jesus' mother, Mary, came to live in Ephesus. It was a hub for the growth of the church in the first two centuries after Christ's death and resurrection.
Ephesus laid claim to one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Temple of Artemis, built 500 years before Christ. Today you can barely tell it was ever there. It's huge marble stones were toppled by conquerors and eventually used to rebuild other buildings, including a church in the name of John the Apostle. After an earthquake and the closed harbor, the city of Ephesus was almost entirely abandoned. Later conquerors expressed surprise to see that Ephesus had become just a small village. Over the last 100 years the old city has been excavated and rebuilt into a beautiful archeological site. You can walk its streets and enter its buildings and get a taste of what it once was.
Christians however, have virtually vanished from the region. In Turkey there are only 0.3-0.4% of the population to be known as Christians. It seems the Church needs to be planted again in Turkey. It is a reminder to me of the old adage, "God has no grandchildren". Every generation must choose to follow Jesus and share the Good News with those around them, no matter that the culture around us changes. Either we live and share the Gospel or it dies out.
I am grateful that New Life Community has chosen the challenging path of living out and sharing the Good News in Dinuba as we find it, and ourselves in it, today. We are not preserving the buildings of the past to stand as archeological witnesses of those who have lived and shared the Gospel before us. We are utilizing the tools at hand to expand the Kingdom of God today and ensuring that those who will pick up that same baton, children and youth, will do that same as their day of living and sharing the Good News is already dawning.