NLC Connect Aug 3 2023

August 2nd, 2023
by Mark Isaac

connecting you with...
God's Word
- New Month's Memory Verse -

It is God's job to save.
It is our job to unashamedly bring the Gospel to others.
It is everyone's opportunity to believe.
We should have no doubt that God will do his part.
So let's keep doing our part and praying that
those who see and hear the Gospel through us will be ready to believe it for themselves!
At NLC, we transform lives through Jesus Christ.
The Gospel is where it starts.

connecting you with...
What's Happening

TUESDAY-FRIDAY, AUGUST 1-4
10 a.m. - Noon - FOOD TRUCK VBS with partners at Orange Cove Christian Center

THURSDAY, AUGUST 3
5:30 - 8:30 p.m. - Celebrate Recovery Dinner, Worship, Lesson - "AMENDS", Small groups, Solid Rock Cafe

SUNDAY, AUGUST 6
8:30 a.m. - Adult Growth Class: FOUNDATIONS IN FINANCE - Rooms 114/115
9:30 a.m. - CONNECTING POINT (Dining Room)
10:00 a.m. - WORSHIP - NLC CREW - NLC KIDS - NURSERY

Pastor Mark will be preaching the final message in the series "God's Dream Team"
Communion
Benevolence offering (to assist people at NLC who have financial needs)

11:00 a.m. - NLC CREW lunch outing

TUESDAY, AUGUST 8
6:00 a.m. - Men's Bible Study - "Faith in Hostile Times" - Dining Room
10:00 a.m. - Summer LIFT Women's Bible Study - Room 114/115
6:30 p.m. - Healing Rooms of Dinuba, West patio and Library

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 9
All day - Mae Ewert's 101st birthday
6:30 p.m. - Worship Practice - Gym
6:30 p.m. - Prayer Gathering - Room 113

THURSDAY, AUGUST 10
5:30 p.m. - Celebrate Recovery meal and ministry. Testimony night!

SUNDAY, AUGUST 13

Pastor Mark begins a new sermon series on money called: "IN GOD WE TRUST"
Ken & Martha Sawatzky will be sharing about their experience on mission with the basketball teams in Thailand and Cambodia.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 19
9:30 a.m - Noon - Celebrate Recovery offers OPIOD AWARENESS TRAINING and NARCAN KITS - Dining Room

connecting you with...
Opportunities to Serve

Thank you for giving to our Home Resource Center!

Cash donations are needed on an ongoing basis since new items are purchased
to add to the housewares, linens and furniture that are donated.
Want to know more or get in on a delivery or pick-up? Contact Carolyn Ehoff or Phyllis Enns.

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Giving at NLC

Received Last Week (7/30): …….. $6,423
Received this year: ……….……. $372,720
Budget to Date: ………..………... $389,126
Budget Goal: …………….....….....$421,553
Needed Weekly: ……...……………$12,208

NOTE: August is the final month of NLC's fiscal year.

Schools are starting back over the next two weeks. There's so much to pray for, including: teachers who are preparing their classrooms and materials, students who are arriving at new schools and classrooms, parents who are entrusting their children to others, staff and aides who serve in many ways, administrators who set the tone and enable learning, board members who make policies and decisions toward positive learning outcomes, and others like campus mentors (YFC), resource officers (police), tutors, and after-school directors.
Thank the Lord for 12 children who accepted Jesus at our Vacation Bible School, and for many others at the VBS programs we've supported and assisted in Traver, Orange Cove, and Dinuba. Give thanks for Jessica, Joanna, Dulce, and the team who served with her!
Thank God for the positive impact of the SOAR Fresno experience for Dulce and Victor, Jr. Gonzalez. They were able to learn from missionaries and local ministry leaders in Fresno, serving at the Fresno Rescue Mission, Poverello House, Breaking the Chains (human trafficking ministry), and others.
Our church's air conditioners have been challenged this summer! Pray for successful and timely repairs, maintenance, and replacement as needed. And give thanks for our Properties Team members: Dennis Enns, Eugene Enns, and Duane Penner, as well as Joe Ehoff, our church facilities manager.
Pray for NLC friend, Mario, in the local Teen Challenge residential program. Pray for Erick who left his Teen Challenge residential program early and is back on the streets of Dinuba.
Pray for healing for Kristel Salazar who is undergoing tests on a lump.
Keep praying for Mike Naylor, Glen Zimmerman, JR and Janet Southard, and others with ongoing medical conditions and treatments.
Pray for Ruddy & Cristina Anchetta, serving as YWAM missionaries in San Francisco.
Give thanks for the resources God has given us as a church, and ask God what more he would want to give through you as we approach the end of our fiscal year. Pray for leaders as they begin the process of budgeting for our next fiscal year beginning in September.

new sermon series...
IN GOD WE TRUST

The words, "In God We Trust," have been printed, stamped, and engraved on our money in the United States officially since 1955, though it appeared earlier on some coins as far back as the Civil War, and in one case in the 1780s. The US Supreme Court has never ruled on whether such a religious motto violates the 1st Amendment to the US Constitution, but that's not my point in using it as a theme for my messages in August.

For whatever reasons the US government has for continuing to print "In God We Trust" on our money, it can serve as a regular reminder to us that, indeed, it is in God that we trust when it comes to our lives and livelihoods, our relationship to money, and our need for security. It's easy to print such a statement or declare it as a motto, but it's an entirely different thing to live by putting our trust in God when it comes to our needs, wants, and financial decisions.

New Life Community has been offering a course on faith and finances called, "Foundations in Finance", for three years now. Several in our church received training to offer the course, which Ron & Norma Froese have skillfully adapted to our setting in Dinuba. "Foundations in Finance" is aimed at helping families with low income to become familiar with essential aspects of good financial management and set and achieve financial goals that reflect their growing faith in God.

My messages from the Bible will be carrying three important themes taught in "Foundations in Finance": (1) Restoring our Broken Relationship with Money, (2) What it Means to be a Steward of All God Gives Us, and (3) Overcoming Financial Obstacles with Faith. Hopefully these messages and the stories of NLC people will encourage us to grow our trust in God as we steward the money, assets, and resources He provides.