7/7 Sunday Announcements

​

1. *WELCOME TO HOSANNA! – *If you are a new or returning visitor, please stay after-service and let our Welcoming Team give our welcoming gift of a beige multi-purpose bag, an informational business card, and serve you a meal and a cup of water! Our church lunch is always free for all. It is our joy to serve you! Stay with us after-service to break bread. Fill-out a yellow newcomer’s contact card so that we can keep in touch. We welcome you into this family of Christ’s loving arms and remain here for you as His body to grow and flourish together!
2. *TEMPORARY SUNDAY WORSHIP CHANGE OF LOCATION TO GYMNASIUM AND CHANGE OF START-TIME TO 10:40AM – As the Ezra Chapel and its surrounding area is being repaired from the water and mold damage, we sincerely thank you for your understanding and making it out to the gymnasium/cafeteria today for our Sunday resurrection worship service. As announced last week, DO NOT ENTER THE DAMAGED AREAS and do your best not to use our normal northeast entrance doors. Please enter through the south entrance doors near the Bethany Korean Chapel. Until all renovations/remediations to the water damage are resolved, we will no longer be worshipping in or using these facilities. *Also continue to remember our new worship start-time at 10:40am, altogether with our children and preschool ministry. Seek to arrive around 10:20am to 10:30am to give the Lord and yourself plenty of time to prepare for worship. Pickup a bulletin, pen, and giving envelope. Grab some tea or coffee from the Welcoming team. Pre-read the Scripture text for the message. Greet someone with the peace of Christ. Move forward and leave the rear seats vacant. Silence your cell phones and other distractions. Ensure you have a Bible. Let us honor this Day of Rest created for us!
3. *DISMISSAL (children (kinder to 5th grade) to BCM and preschool worship to rear tables)! – Children, at this time, you are dismissed to Pastor’s Sunny’s children’s ministry – please proceed to the children’s chapel. Preschool worship students, follow Teacher Rachel to the rear tables for your worship to the Lord together.
4. *UPDATES from Bethany Korean Presbyterian Church – *We are continuing our prayers for the youth ministry and the search for a new youth minister. While the search for the youth minister is in progress, any further questions about the youth ministry can be directed to Deaconess Kris Lee, Director of youth ministry.
5. *PRAY FOR NEW STAFF SEARCH PROCESS – We are continuing our prayers for the new staff search and encourage all, with God’s calling, to apply for one or multiple roles with the instructions on the homepage of our website (hosannapc.org). Or, if you know anyone who may be interested, please share the information with them. *Please make sure the instructions are followed and all application materials are submitted. No incomplete applications will be considered for the position. Until the staff roles are filled, there is no deadline for applications. Let us continue our prayers for the Lord’s good and faithful choice servants!
6. *TODAY, MINISTRY TEAM LEADERS (Deacons, Elders, Advisors) meeting, 1:30pm @ open classroom – The Deacons, Elders, and Advisors will gather today. Please pray for our spiritual leaders!
7. *THIS FRIDAY (7/12) AGAPE life group, 6:30pm @ location TBA – We invite all young adults to this Friday’s gathering. RSVP to Deacon Hana or assistant shepherd Jake Jeong in the group chat. Thank you in advance to all those opening their homes for ministry. Pray for our AGAPE ministry of college, postgraduates, and newlyweds, gathering every Friday evening at 6:30pm at various homes, and our shepherds Deacon Hana Lee and assistant shepherd Jake Jeong, as they guide this precious family.
8. *THIS SATURDAY (7/13) HOSANNA PRAYER MEETING, 8:30am @ Gymnasium – We call upon all the prayer warriors to come and cultivate a culture of corporate prayer together, calling out to the LORD in one mind, spirit, and voice. Parents, bring your children and spend some time intentionally praying for them. Let us foster cross-generational praying for our families, our mission as Hosanna Church family, and for the lost world around us in need of Christ!
9. *THIS SATURDAY to SUNDAY (7/13-7/14) KITCHEN MINISTRY! – It’s time again to assist the Bethany Korean Kitchen team for the Sunday breaking bread ministry with food preparations on Saturday (starting 9:30am) and dishwashing on Sunday (starting 12:40pm). Sign-up with Elder Heather.
10. *BEGINNING NEXT SUNDAY (7/14) SEARCH BEGINNING for 2024-2025 DEACON/ELDER CANDIDATES – Beginning next Sunday for an entire month, the prayerful search for potential new candidates for Deacon and/or Elder offices will begin. *Refer to the insert with QR code webpages in your bulletins or paper copies of the ordained officers information at the welcoming table for further details on the Deacon and Elder roles. There are two main ways this will happen: (1) The Board of Elders will directly reach out to potential candidates for prayerful consideration; (2) Interested candidates who prayerfully have a calling from the Lord to serve in these offices can also directly reach out and approach the Elder Board for a time of discussion and prayer. During the search process, let us pray for the Lord to send and appoint His choice servants!
11. ***IMPORTANT UPCOMING CHANGE*** FORMAL CELL GROUP / INFORMAL LIFE GROUP FORMAT STARTING in AUGUST (8/4 [Sun]) – Beginning the first Sunday of August (8/4), Life Groups will no longer be formal weekday gatherings but rather informal gatherings with their current format kept in place or done more casually at the discretion of each Life Group. From the first Sunday of August (8/4), a new formal gathering occurring on Sunday-only immediately after-worship called “CELL GROUPS” will be put in place – a brief time of accountability, biblical reflection, and prayer for at least 30 minutes after-service with your smaller cell group members, as we seek to nurture smaller context cells of spiritual care on the LORD’s Day alongside our larger gatherings and informal weekday gatherings. Please pray for the cell group ministry!
12. *KINGDOM EXPANSION PRAYER – We are moving to pray for a wider vision of God’s Kingdom to expand through the global prayer guide for the persecuted church and persecuted Christians worldwide from The Voice of the Martyrs organization. Today, we are praying for our persecuted Bhutan brothers and sisters in Christ residing in south Asia.

 
**Prayer Topic: Persecuted Christians in Bhutan (south Asia)
 
     Until the 1980s, Bhutan was isolated from the rest of the world by its Himalayan geography, poor infrastructure and poor international relations. In 2008, the country adopted a multiparty constitutional democracy and implemented a new constitution that affords a greater level of religious freedom. Most Christians in Bhutan are of Nepali heritage, and believers are focused on reaching the ethnic Bhutanese with the message of Christ. 88 percent of the Bhutanese people are Buddhists. Approximately 1 percent are Christians. Christians are restricted by federal laws and persecuted by local authorities.
     The king identifies himself as the defender of the Buddhist faith, and the government works covertly to discourage the spread of Christianity. Christians are viewed as followers of a foreign, Western religion. There is no opportunity for the legal registration of churches in Bhutan. Christians often lose their jobs and are unable to find work because of their faith. Many Christians must worship in secret. Though small numbers of Bibles are allowed into the nation legally, the government continues to restrict widespread distribution. Most Bibles must be smuggled into the country from neighboring nations.
 
*The Scripture for today is:
 
And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. (1 PETER 5:10)
 
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (JAMES 1:2-4)
 
Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. (LUKE 14:27)
 
 
Prayer by Pastor Chester:
 
Our Father, we lift up to You our Bhutan brothers and sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ in south Asia. Father, we pray for the spirit of idolatry to be broken in this land. We pray that the Bhutan people will turn from their ways and their false temples of worship to seek Your holy face. Father God, we speak against every stronghold of the government that oppresses and discourages the spread of the gospel. Open channels of widespread distribution of Bibles and safe places where Your missionaries can go to preach, teach, and plant new churches. We pray for the few Bhutan Christians meeting in small house churches and the backyards of their homes – Father, encourage them, hear their worship, be glorified in their praises, and sustain their passion and love for Your Son that grows stronger with persecution. We pray especially you guard the children, the homeless, the widows, the vulnerable youth of Bhutan – Lord, have mercy and protect them from the evil one. Fill us with a greater burden to pray for our Bhutan brothers and sisters. Make us Your house of prayer for all nations. We do not take for granted today Your grace and freedom to gather in worship. Lord, we long for the same in this distant land. In the risen Lord and Savior of the Bhutan people, Jesus Christ’s name we pray, Amen.