Everyone Welcome

Sabbath School and Church

Church In Person or On-Line

Everyone is welcome to attend the worship hour. It starts at 10:45 a.m.  

We broadcast Church live on youtube.com. Church will start at 10:45 AM.  Go to youtube.com and search for "greeley sda".  Click on the circle with the church picture.  You may need to choose the "Live" tab.

OR click on the "Sermons" link in the menu selections above to access the services. (On a phone or tablet the menu selections will be in a button that looks like three bars at the top of the screen.) Select "Live" in the tabs.

Weekly Church Meetings

Wednesday - 1:30 p.m.  Midweek study 

Sabbath 4:00 - p.m.  End Time Events with Shawn Korgan

Food for Thought

“Trains and Christ’s Coming” - “You also must be ready because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect Him.” Luke 12:40 (NIV)

My cousin recently sent me an email to let me know about the steam engine train coming through Greeley. Since we both come from a train-oriented family, he thought I might want to go see it. Our grandfather worked in the Santa Fe office building in Topeka, Kansas. Our uncle worked for the Santa Fe railroad riding a test car all over the United States testing track. He found it very interesting when our daughter moved to Tehachapi, CA, which is near the train track known as the Tehachapi Loop. The track there makes a complete circle and loops over itself. It is considered quite an engineering feat to get up over the mountains. Our uncle said he had been over it many times.

As my cousin and I were emailing our train memories back and forth, Jerry and I remembered something in our lives with a train many years ago. Jerry’s sister had been killed in a car accident the summer before we got married. I was planning to ride the train from Topeka, KS, to Greeley so I could be with Jerry and attend the funeral. When I arrived in Greeley, I expected Jerry to be waiting, eager to meet me. But Jerry was nowhere in sight! He had been looking at a train schedule based on standard time, but we were on daylight saving time. Because of his miscalculation, he was very late. He remembers me standing there looking very forlorn and lonely. (I obviously did forgive him!)

This story just reminded me of Jesus’ second coming. Perhaps we have last day events fixed just a certain way in our minds. We believe “this” has to happen and “that” has to happen a certain way. We have His coming fixed on our “standard time” way of thinking. But Jesus has said that He will come “in such an hour when you think not.” (His “daylight saving time” way.) Let’s make sure we are ready and waiting any time – all the time.

I am reminded of the hymn “We Know Not the Hour.” A few lines say: “We know not the hour of the Master’s appearing, yet signs all foretell that the moment is nearing …He will come, let us watch and be ready.”

Sharon Oster

“Saved” - “He saved others,” they said, “but He can’t save Himself.” Mark 15:31 NIV

Years ago Jerry and I were visiting some church members in their new home. Their old home had been completely destroyed by fire. Awakened in the middle of the night, they had barely escaped with their lives. Nothing had been saved; however, I noticed their wedding picture sitting on a table. So I asked how they happened to have that. “Oh,” they said, “there is a story behind that. A firefighter rushed into our burning house and saw the picture. Thinking she could at least save that, she grabbed it and ran outside with it, saving it for us.”

Many years ago one Fall day a neighbor was burning trash in his big garden plot next to my parents’ house. The fire was soon out of control and had spread to the bushes and shrubbery in front of our house. My mother quickly realized what was happening, called the fire department, ran outside and grabbed the hose and had the fire mostly out by the time the fire department arrived. Only the front of the house was scorched and had to be replaced. I am thankful most of the house was saved as I was a baby sleeping in a back bedroom.

There are stories in the Bible about things being saved and people being saved. When the Israelites were preparing to take the city of Jericho, Joshua sent two spies to visit the city and ascertain something of its strength and resources. They were in great danger, but Rahab hid and saved them at the peril of her life. In return for her kindness she was given a promise of protection when the city should be taken. (Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 483) When the walls of Jericho fell, only Rahab and her family were saved because of the promise of the spies. (PP, p. 491)

When taking the city of Jericho, the Children of Israel were instructed not to keep anything for themselves but “all the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred to the Lord and must go into His treasury.” (Joshua 6:19) Achan disregarded this command. When confronted, he confessed what he had chosen to save – silver, gold, a beautiful robe. He said, “I coveted them and saved them” (Joshua 7:21) and he and his family lost their lives.

Mrs. White tells us that our character is “the only treasure we can take from this world to the next.” (Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 332) I recently read a book (The Other Side of Orion) where the author felt Jesus might save some earthly treasures for us. Perhaps – but my family is the only earthly treasure I hope is saved with me in heaven. 

How important that we spend daily time with Jesus as we are told “Christ is of no value to us if we do not know Him as a personal Savior.” (Desire of Ages, p. 389) How thankful we can be Jesus didn’t save Himself but died to save others – you and me.

Sharon Oster

“God Was So Good” - 1 Thessalonians 5:18: “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (NIV)

After watching the damage and flooding from Hurricane Helene, especially to N. Carolina, I was reminded of the flood my family experienced when I was a child. But I never think of that time without also remembering my dad’s amazing attitude.

The year was 1951. I was five years old and very tired of rain. Nearly every day that Spring and into Summer it had rained – relentlessly. The rain came down and the Kansas River was coming up. Unfortunately, my parents and both sets of grandparents lived on the low side of the river in Topeka, Kansas. We also had a family-owned grocery store not far from the river. If the levees broke, we were told to expect a few inches of water in our home and a few feet of water in the grocery store. My dad put the major articles of our furniture on cement blocks. He and my grandfather worked feverishly at the grocery store trying to get as many things as possible out of the water’s reach.

Then in the middle of the night, the final warning came. There was a loud pounding on the door and a car was going down the middle of the street, loud speaker blaring, “Get out! Leave Now!” We heeded the warning, put a few things in our car, and we left for a friend’s house on higher ground. I remember lying in bed that night listening to the siren blow over and over again, signaling that the levees had broken and water was pouring into our home and business.

The authorities had been wrong on one point, however, -- the volume of water. Instead of the three or four expected inches, we had over five feet of water in our home and the water was over the roof of our grocery store! Of course, the store was a total loss and our home was not too far behind. My mother vividly remembered my dad chopping up her piano with an ax so they could get the front door open. When I was finally able to see our house for the first time, I remember stepping over the buckled wooden floors and then standing at the top of the basement stairs. The water in the basement had not yet been pumped out (for a reason I no longer remember) and I knew that all my dolls, dollhouse, and other toys were in that muddy, murky smelly water.

My parents were able to get low-interest government loans and with hard work, determination, and God’s help, over the next six months they put our home and business back. Through the years I’ve heard my parents talk about “the flood” many times. In fact, everything in their lives either happened “before the flood” or “after the flood.” My dad would always relate things in a matter-of-fact sort of way. There was never any bitterness, just a factual this-is-what-happened. But then he would always end by saying, “God was so good to us!”

I used to question that, but my dad would explain. “Yes, God was good to us. Business was so good at the grocery store after that, that within a few years we were able to pay back every one of those government loans. God was so good!” My dad is no longer living. But someday – before very long – he will be able to thank Jesus personally for being so good to us!

Sharon Oster

“Following” - “Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.’” Matthew 16:24 NIV)

Jerry and I enjoy watching our little neighbor boy – maybe three years old – who lives in the corner house across the street from us. He loves to “help” his dad with yardwork. (I am sure his dad hopes this continues into his teen years!) When his dad edges the lawn, the little boy has his own play edger. He follows along, so carefully – so precisely – it really is amazing. His eyes never leave the edge of that lawn, and he follows all the entire way. Then comes the lawn mowing. The little boy has his own play lawn mower and again follows along closely behind his dad, back and forth over the entire lawn.

Jerry once mentioned to the dad how we enjoyed watching this. His dad said that sometimes he starts the yardwork when the little boy is taking a nap. But somehow the boy hears what his dad is doing, runs to the garage for his lawn equipment, and begins “helping.” As I was thinking about this, it reminded me of some Bible stories as well as our need to follow Jesus.

I have always enjoyed the story of Ruth. Because of a famine in the land of Judah, Naomi and her family went to live in the land of Moab. Naomi’s two sons married Moabite women, but before too long, both sons as well as Naomi’s husband died. When Naomi heard there was now food back in the land of Judah, she decided to return there, telling her daughters-in-law to go back to their own mothers’ homes. One daughter-in-law chose to do that, but not Ruth.

Ruth said, “Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee; for whither thou goest, I will go; . . . thy people shall be my people, and thy God, my God.” (Ruth 1:16) Because of her willingness to follow Naomi’s God, she later married Boaz, gave birth to Obed who was the grandfather of King David. (This Bible verse – Ruth 1:16) – was made into a song “Whither Thou Goest” and sung at our wedding.)

Mark tells us about Jesus calling some of His disciples and their willingness to follow. (Mark 1:16-20) Luke also says referring to the first disciples, “So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed Him.” (Luke 5:11)  Matthew did the same. “He [Jesus] saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. ‘Follow me,’ He told him, and Matthew got up and followed Him.” (Matthew 9:9)

There is a hymn “I Will Follow Thee” and the first few lines say: “I will follow Thee, my Savior, . . . Where Thou goest I will follow; Yes, my Lord, I’ll follow Thee.” May that be the desire of each one of us.

Sharon Oster