February is coming upon us which means

Valentine’s Day is near, and stores will be cluttered with chocolates, balloons and greeting cards. Then, we will be able to buy all these sweet little nothings for the special people that we love. While Valentine’s Day is a celebration of love, we certainly know that there is so much more to it than giving someone flow-ers or a “be mine” candy heart once a year.

Love is such a compli-cated word with so many different meanings, but certainly, the Bible gives us the clearest understand-ing of what love is. In the first letter of John, The Bible says, “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love” (I John 4:7-8). Interestingly, we usually think that our

knowledge of God is based upon our understanding of scripture; however, John points towards a different model for understanding who God is. As children of God, we show that when we experience His love, we are able to love others. When we are able to truly love others, it is then we know the true character of God. For example, imagine the knowledge of God that a mom gains as she loves and takes care of her child. She learns how God pro-

continued on page 1

Knowing God by Cary Fisher

Silence is Trust at Work

The purest faith has to be tested by silence in which we listen for the unexpected, in which we are open to what we do not yet know, and in which we slowly and gradu-ally prepare for the day when we will reach out to a new level of being with God.

—Thomas Merton

INSIDE

Get Rick Quick page 3

Who Do You Really Love? page 4

Taste & Inspiration on page 5

What’s happening? see pages 6 & 9

Our Church Family page 7

Kid’s Page on page 9

For the members, family and friends of the Downey Adventist Church

Children’s Sabbath

February 15th will be a special Sabbath. This is the Sabbath closest to

Valentine’s Day and we will be celebrating love; love for our fam-ilies and friends, love for our church family and of course love for Jesus.

This will also be a Children’s Sabbath. We look forward to hearing from the chil-dren and their views on love. This is one way our children learn leadership skills and we can show our support for them as

they grow and develop. If your child would like to be involved, please contact Pastor or Bill.

Also, the Pathfinders will be delivering the flow-ers that you have pre-ordered. Please take this opportunity to not only support

the Pathfinders, but show some brotherly love to some people at church.

There will be a fellowship luncheon after the service. =

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tects and provides as she does the same for her little one. So, my prayer for all of us is to comprehend a power of love that is far greater than anything a holiday can pro-duce. As we care for each other, we understand that love ultimately comes from God, because we know that God is love.

As we look at our sermon calendar for February, we will start off the month with a three week sermon series called “True Love”. This series will follow the famous love chapter of 1 Corinthians 13 which show all the attributes of what love is. For February 1st, the sermon title is “True

Love: Starts by Being Nice”. On the 8th, the title is “True Love: Continued with Forgiveness.”

On February 15th, we

will have a special Sabbath surrounding Valentine’s Day. The children will be leading our service. This is a great opportunity for them to learn leadership skills and for how to share their love for Jesus. The service will wrap up with a sermon titled, “True Love: Completed through

Selflessness.”

After we finish this series, we will start our Spring small groups with a “kickoff” weekend. On

February 22nd, we will consecrate the different small groups with prayer, and my sermon will be titled “The Decisions That We Make”. This will be the first topic of our small groups with a

message on how positive or negative choices affect our lives.

Our theme for the small groups is called CREATION Health which is about living a bibli-cally based lifestyle in order to be as healthy as possible. CREATION Health is a phenomenal resource created by Florida Hospital, a Seventh-day Adventist hospital sys-tem. CREATION Health is an acronym which stands for C-Choice, R-Rest, E-Environment, A-Activity, T-Trust, I-Interpersonal Relationships, O-Outlook, and N-Nutrition. I find this program gives us a balanced program for liv-ing as healthy and happy as possible. I am person-ally very excited about this

small group series because of its practical and poten-tial life-changing aspects. I hope all of us are able to participate in one of our groups, and this topic is definitely suitable for us to invite our friends.

See you when the church gathers. =

WE

D

ID

IT

The Latest Word V 26 N 02

BILL AUMACKresponsible for this

LINDA AUMACKcopy editor

LAURA LUNApaper distribution

CARY FISHERpastor

address mail to: Downey Seventh-day Adventist Church9820 Lakewood Blvd.Downey, CA 90240office: 562.869.6013fax: 562.622.1691 downeychurch@gmail.comwww.downeychurch.com

distributed monthlyissue date: Feb. 2014 copyright 1992-2014

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love

comes from God.

“

”

Knowing God (cont. from page 1)

February 2014

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be honest, I was a little relieved, because speak-ing in front of the church always makes me nervous. But my feelings changed after hearing the words shared by others. Their words encouraged me. The testimonies were genuine and heartfelt and helped me to remember that it is helpful, even necessary, to constantly remember and dwell on the blessings of life rather than difficul-ties. So as I sat in the pew, I felt a little disappointed that I had declined to par-ticipate. But you know what? God really does work in mysterious ways, because I’ve been pray-ing about my article for this month, and I felt God say to me I still had an opportunity to participate by sharing my thoughts in this article! Yay!!! So here goes.

I am happy and thank-ful for God’s unconditional love and for the fact that He continuously forgives my sin and gives me new chances. My words do not seem to capture my thoughts on this subject. Maybe that’s why a pas-sage from the book of Lamentations is among my favorite portions of Scripture. “I remember my affliction and wander-ing [and other stuff!] . . . and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and

therefore I have hope. Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morn-ing; great is [His] faith-fulness.” (Lamentations 3:19-22.) I don’t know about you, but I really do need a new chance each morning, and I am grateful that Scripture reminds me that God is faithful to me according to His promise.

Secondly, I am happy and thankful for my church family at Downey and the fact that I can go to church each week. What a huge blessing that is to me! The

situations or trials of the previous week are seem-ingly erased or swept away when I am with loving, caring people who come to worship the Lord. And after quiet time in the wor-ship service and hearing teaching and encourage-ment from God’s word, I am refocused and feel prepared to face the week ahead. There is nothing like it in all that the world has to offer. And on the

rare occasions I miss attending church due to illness or vacations, I feel a small

void until I

return. I honestly cherish my church and my family there. The friendships I’ve made and the people I’ve met at the Downey church are irreplaceable.

There you have it. That’s what I hope I would have shared. I have a little plaque that hangs on the wall right next to my shower. I see it each morn-ing, and it reads, “Get rich quick. Count your bless-ings.” Not a bad philoso-phy, wouldn’t you agree?

=

February 1Cary Fisher

True Love: Starts by Being Nice

February 8 Cary Fisher

True Love: Continued with Forgiveness

February 15Cary Fisher

True Love: Completed through Selflessness

February 22Cary Fisher

The Decisions That We Make

Worship Schedule

The Word & You

by Linda Bewley Get Rich Quick

God’s word says, “Enter his gates

with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations” (Psalm 100:4-5).

I missed the boat! Well, actually I missed an email from my pastor inviting me to be among a few people to share with our church family something for which I am grateful or thankful. When I learned that I did not get the email, Pastor and I decided that maybe another time would be better for me to share. To

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We use the word Love with great abandon.

We love pizza. We love our dog. We love our favorite TV show. We love our local sports team. Occasionally we even love people. We love our spouse. We love our sib-lings. We love our parents.

The strange thing about English, is we have one word to express all these different kinds of love. I don’t know about you, but I think the love for pizza, the love for my brother and the love for my wife are all very different. Yet I only have one word to express all these different feelings. It’s my under-standing that Italian has something like 18 words to express different types of love. I don’t speak Italian, so I can’t verify that. But it would make sense that a romantic language would have more than one word for love.

The Koine Greek (Koine means common) that the New Testament is written in has several words for love. Eros which denotes a sexual type of love (the English word erotic is derived from this word). Although this word not used in the New Testament.

The noun storge is used for family love. There was also the very common word philia for brotherly

love. Philadelphia is the familiar English derived from this word.

The noblest form of love was agape love. William Barclay describes as agape like this. “Agape has to do with the mind: it is not simply an emotion which rises unbidden in our hearts; it is a principle by which we deliberately live.” This is a type of love that is unconditional. Agape love is uncondi-tional love. It is a choice we make to love another person whether they love us back or not. It means that you choose to love someone even if he is your enemy! Agape love is not based on emotion at all. In fact, it may be contrary to our every emotion. It is an act of the will.

The other types of love are pretty easy. Anyone can experience romantic love. Criminals and gang members experience broth-erly love. There’s nothing uniquely Christian about that. But unconditional love, that’s something that you don’t see very often.

Agape love presents a real challenge for us Christians. It is tough to live out because it’s hard to love someone who

doesn’t respond to you in the way you would desire. And all of us are going to have certain individu-als—sometimes even at church—that we have to struggle to love. And yet, God’s word is very clear: Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God. Now, you couldn’t find a more clear com-mand about what we’re called to do as followers of Jesus Christ. Jesus “agape loves” us and commands us to “agape love” others.

One way to help us love people who don’t love us back, is to “fake it until you make it.” Yes, that’s right, fake it. No that doesn’t make you hypocrite. It means that you’re

an adult following God’s command, even when you might not feel like it. C.S. Lewis agrees and gives the same advice. In Mere Christianity he writes, “Do not waste time bothering whether you “love” your neighbor; act as if you did. As soon as we do this, we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will pres-ently come to love him.”

So who do you need to REALLY love? =

by Bill Aumack Who Do You Really Love?

Agape has to do with the mind: it is not simply an emo-tion which rises unbidden in our hearts; it is a principle by which we delib-erately live.

William Barclay

Do not waste time bother-ing whether you “love” your neighbor; act as if you did.

C.S. Lewis

February 2014

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Be sure to keep up with the latest news by signing up for the Wednesday email. You can sign up here www.downey-church.org/Signups.html or send us an email at DowneyChurch at gmail dot com and we’ll add you.

Genesis 25 focuses mainly on the genera-

tions of Abraham. He had many sons, two of them being Isaac and Ishmael. Isaac had two sons. The older son was Esau, the other was Jacob. Jacob loved his brother very much.

Esau was a skilled hunter. Jacob, a quiet guy that liked to stay home. He also really enjoyed eating the animals that his brother brought home from his hunting trips.

One day Esau came back from one of these trips so tired and weak from lack of nourishment that he was willing to sell his rights as firstborn to his younger brother Jacob for the price of a bowl of lentil soup and some bread that Jacob had just prepared. This was very important because when Jacob got the blessings from his father, Isaac, that were originally to go to his older brother Esau—Esau

had murder in his heart. Even for his own brother.

Now, this month’s recipe we submit is a very tasty one containing sev-eral nutritious ingredients including lentils and is pretty good if we do say so ourselves. But this, nor any other that we’ve ever tasted YET, was so good that it would entice some-one to trade it for their inheritance.

We hope you enjoy this recipe and we also continue to encourage you, our church family, to have fun in the kitchen and eat healthy.

God bless you!!!

Ingredients1/2 cup quinoa

1 1/4 cups water, plus 2 cups

1/2 cup lentils

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1 lime, zested

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 green onions, chopped

1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro leaves

DirectionsPut the quinoa in a

sieve and rinse in cold water. In a large micro-wave-proof bowl with a cover, add the rinsed qui-noa and 1 1/4 cups water. Cover and microwave on high for 9 minutes. Let it sit for 2 minutes then stir. Quinoa should be tender enough to eat, but with a

little “pop” upon biting.

Put the lentils in a sieve and rinse in cold water. In a saucepan, simmer the lentils in 2 cups water until the lentils are tender, but not mushy, about 30 min-utes. Drain and cool.

In a small bowl, whisk the mustard and vinegar together, and drizzle in the oil to make an emulsion. Add the garlic powder, lime zest, and salt, and pepper, to taste.

To assemble the salad: In a medium salad bowl, mix the quinoa, lentils, green onions, and chopped cilantro. Top the salad with the dressing, toss to coat and serve.

Enjoy! =

Lentil Quinoa Salad

Taste & Inspiration

Pilar & Phillip

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

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5:30 pm sunset

5:37 pm sunset

5:43 pm sunset

9:30 am S.S.

9:30 am S.S.

9:30 am S.S.10:50 am Worship Pastor Cary12:30 Luncheon

3 pm Pathfinders

9:30 am S.S.10:50 am Worship Pastor Cary

Visit www.downeychurch.orgS.S. – Sabbath School

C.S. – Community Service

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10:50 am Worship Pastor Cary

3 pm Pathfinders/Adventures

10:50 am Worship Pastor Cary

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7 pm Band Practice

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Downey Adventist Church

7 pm Women’s Prayer Group

7 pm Band Practice

5:24 pm sunset

9 am Pathfinders/Adventures

7 pm Women’s Prayer Group

7 pm Women’s Prayer Group

7 pm Band Practice

7 pm Women’s Prayer Group

7 pm Church Board

5:49 pm sunset

7 pm Band Practice

9 am Pathfinders

7 pm Band Practice

February 2014

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February Birthdays David Martinez – 2Issac Diaz – 5 Mark Jackson – 7Akeem Meade – 7Jasmine Huinquez – 9 Irene Garcia – 11 Victoria Zamora – 11Sheila Bathgate – 13 Maggie Zamora – 15 Ellis Perry – 19 Teresa Miranda – 22 Donna Morgan – 24 Armando Cabrera – 26 Kevin Williams - 28Letty Duran – 29 Susie Duran – 29

If your birthday is left out in the monthly newsletter, please contact the church office so we can put it in.

Upcoming EventsThursdays - 7 p.m. Women’s Prayer GroupFridays - 7:00 p.m. Band Practice

Feb. 2 - Pathfinders / Adventurers @ 3pmFeb. 3 - Pathfinders / Adventurers @ 9amFeb. 14 - Valentine’s DayFeb. 15 - Children’s SabbathFeb. 15 - Fellowship LunchFeb. 15 - Pathfinders @ 3pmFeb. 16 - Pathfinders @ 9amFeb. 17 - President’s Day - Office ClosedFeb. 27 - Church Board @ 7pm

The Latest Word deadline is the 5th of the month.

Coming Soon

Mar 1 - Small Groups BeginApr 12 - Celebration SabbathApr 19 - Easter Sabbath May 31 - SGA Chorale

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The Latest About

Our Church FamilyDue to publishing

schedules, this news is a bit dated, but we want-ed to inform anyone that might not have heard yet. We lost two won-derful women at Christmas. Linda Miller Fernandez passed away Christmas eve, and Antonia Flores Vierna passed

away Christmas morn-ing. Our hearts are heavy, but we rejoice that they

both knew Jesus and we have the promise of seeing them again. Please remember both families in prayer as they deal with their loss.

Laura Luna has start-ed as our church secretary. So when you contact the office, please be sure to say hi to Laura. We would like to thank Hatzuko for her service as church sec-retary. She decided it was time for her to move on to other things. We wish her well and she will still be around at church.

If you have any Church Family news, please contact the church office so we can get it into the newsletter. =

Volunteers NeededThank you to everyone who has been saving Box

Tops for Education. That is greatly appreciated.

For the Box Tops for Education, please save the Box Tops coupon.

Please give your labels to Linda Aumack. Thank you for your support! =

We need writers to write articles for The

Latest Word. If you have some ability as a writer and would be willing to submit some articles, please let us know.

We would be open to some different writing schedules. You may have an idea for a regular series, that would be great. You may have a few ideas for a short run or something that would happen a couple of times a year, that would be

cool too. Or you may have one article that you would like to write and submit, that would be welcomed too.

Please let us know if this sounds interesting to you. You could be part of the team that works on the best church newsletter.

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February 2014

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February 2014

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Downey-Florence Seventh-day Adventist Church9820 Lakewood Blvd., Downey CA 90240

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DATED MATERIAL

Ponder This...

= “Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith let us to the end dare to do our duty as we under-stand it.” —Abraham Lincoln

= “If I am not in God’s grace, may God put me there; and if I am, may God so keep me.” —Joan of Arc

= “Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.” —Robert Heinlein