Sunday, October 03, 2004
A quintessential country church welcome: 10-3-04
LOVE AT TINNEY CHAPEL. Senior Pastor Rev. Duncan Graham began a series of sermons today on the topic of love at the quintessential country church! Today's primary scripture is I Corinthians 13, and the Pastor's sermon may be viewed by scrolling past the Chapel News and Class News sections below.
Photo by David Stanton.
CHAPEL NEWS TODAY:
CLAUDE W. GIFFORD REVELATION TODAY
DISCUSSION GROUP BEGINS THIS WEEK
On Tuesday evening, 16 Truth Seekers at Tinney Chapel UMC will begin the “Claude W. Gifford Revelation Today Discussion Group,” a series of 22 evenings (and lots of homework reading) devoted to The Apostle John’s Apocalypse.
Each Tuesday evening of revealing discussion will begin at precisely 6:30 p.m. and end at exactly 8:00 p.m., in mid-sentence if necessary, so that participants can plan their busy schedules around the event.
There will be no breaks and no hosted refreshments. This unique discussion event features three informal divisions at the end of week # 7 and week # 15, at which time new members may join the group by providing sufficient advance notice for printing additional copies of the text.
The 1,000-page text will be printed in segments for each of the three informal class divisions: Chapters 1-7, chapters 8-15 and chapters 16-22. A fee will be charged for each segment of the text to offset printing expense. For more information, contact facilitators Joe Dan Boyd or David Stanton.
GOALS OF THE REVELATION DISCUSSION GROUP INCLUDE: Read about 50 pages of text each week, reduce the mystery of Revelation’s language, understand Revelation through other Bible references, gain perspective on time & place that produced Revelation, discover new meanings to basic principles of Christianity, to relate Revelation to our lives today and tomorrow and to experience Revelation via our own Christian love & fellowship.
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CLASSES TODAY:
SUNDAY SCHOOL CLASS TOPICS:
WISE ONES, Frankie Brewer: Leaving A Legacy.
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LADIES BYKOTA, Peggy Boyd: Forgiveness, A New Leap.
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TINNEY CHAPEL MEN, Bill Knoop: The Case For Christ, a study by Lee Strobel.
OVERCOMERS: Jenna Nelson: CHARLES STANLEY STUDY: FEELING SECURE IN A TROUBLED WORLD! (This is a multiple-week study.)
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YOUTH: Stephen Graham: Journey Through The Bible (Quiz) Continued.
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CHILDREN: Linda Hallman: In The Beginning.
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PAIRS & SPARES, Joe Dan Boyd: 2 Timothy 4: I’m All Upon The Altar.
Pairs & Spares Class Handout is below:
MOMENTS OF TRUTH (Life lessons # 237)
Take home lessons from studying 2 Timothy 4 and related Scripture:
1. Paul is prepared to die the death of a Christian martyr shortly after completing this letter, and he uses the analogy of having lived his life as an offering on God’s altar. Our challenge is to respect his unique example of a focused life, lived in service to his Master.
2. Paul’s message is that, since God looks over our shoulder, we are to preach the Word without ceasing, even when it appears that few want to hear it and that fewer still are receptive to it.
3. We are warned of those who will turn their backs on Truth to have their ears tickled with the latest new fad. Our challenge is to accept the hard times along with the good and keep the Word alive.
4. We are encouraged to regard our Walk with Christ as the only fight worth winning, the only course worth running and the only faith to be kept. Our challenge is to remember that!
5. Paul affirms the justice of Christ’s judgment and His eagerness to award the crown of righteousness that is laid away for those eager for His next appearance. Our challenge is focus on the imperishable nature of that crown, which is repayment for the works of each believer.
6. Paul reminds us that, when all others forsake us, the Lord stands with us and strengthens us to do His Will.
TODAY’S DATE: 10-03-04
Pairs & Spares
Sunday School Class
Tinney Chapel UMC
Winnsboro, Texas
ASSIGNMENT FOR NEXT SUNDAY: 10-10-04
REVIEW ROMANS.
Afterwards, reflect upon these things:
1. Sin.
2. Salvation.
3. Sanctification.
4. Sovereignty.
5. Service.
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MORNING SERVICE, 9:00 A.M.
Greeters: Bob Deitering & L.R. Kemp.
Soundman: Steven Graham.
Ushers: L. R. Kemp & Bob Deitering.
MUSIC
Pianist: Pat Hollingsworth.
Songleader for hymns: Senior Pastor Rev. Duncan Graham.
Songs: Glory To His Name, Higher Ground, Because He Lives (dedicated to Jacob Dillon Hodges), Just As I Am.
Praise song leader: Micah Brown (with guitar).
Songs (approximate titles): Lord I Lift Your Name On High, I Could Sing Of Your Love Forever, Altogether Wonderful: Here I Am To Worship, Shout To The Lord, More Of You In My Life.
Morning Prayer & Lord’s Prayer: Pastor Duncan Graham
LITURGY BY ASSOCIATE PASTOR GENE MILLER:
Call To Worship
Offertory Prayer
Doxology
Gloria Patri
Apostles Creed
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CHILDREN’S SERMON TODAY:
Pastor Duncan Graham’s sermon today was about FAITH, and he began by mentioning the parable Jesus told about mustard seed in Luke 17. There, the Pastor said, the Apostles asked Jesus to increase their faith. But Jesus told them if they had faith only of the magnitude of a tiny mustard seed, then their prayers would be sufficiently empowered to move a mulberry tree.
The Pastor then referred to a man of modern times who decided to put that parable to the test, and prayed that a tree would be moved. When the tree was not moved, the faithless man said: “I knew it wouldn’t work,” proving the point of the man’s lack of faith. “Of course, even if we have much faith, we are not to take pride in it,” cautioned Pastor Graham. “If we did that, we would be tempted to perform miracles just to impress other people. Meanwhile, we should remember that if we have a little faith, God will do great things through us.”
In his closing prayer, the Pastor called upon the Lord to do great things through us all according to our faith.
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TODAY’S ADULT SERMON:
Senior Pastor Rev. Duncan Graham began by announcing that he would be preaching on the topic of love for the next few weeks.
“We need to express love: The giving of love to one another,” declared the Pastor. “Notice I did not say receiving love. Rather, I said giving love. Look in any Bible Concordance, and you will likely find that hardly a book in the Bible fails to mention love.
“Of course, this stems from the fact that God loves us,” added Pastor Graham. “He loved the world. Love of this type is not dependant on someone loving you. Love keeps on loving even when it is not returned. That’s the purest form of love.
“In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul talks about how God will use us and our gifts,” the Pastor explained. “When we realize that God is doing something through us, Paul kind of bursts out and says something like: Wait a minute, I’ll show you a better way.”
Here, the Pastor mentioned his primary Scripture for today: 1 Corinthians 13:
1 "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, 5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; 6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; 7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. 9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. 11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. 13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity."
---King James Version of the Bible
“Love is the greatest thing in the world,” declared Pastor Graham. “Without love, God would not have saved us, and He would have destroyed the world long ago. He loves unconditionally. Notice in today’s Scripture how Paul describes love. Then he compares that description of love with his own actual attitude as a child, which was pretty much the opposite. He’s telling us not to be childish about love, but rather to seek perfection by imitating Christ. Paul gives us a plan for coming to a place we have never been before: Learning to love.
“And love is a choice,” stressed the Pastor. “It’s not a warm, fuzzy feeling that you respond to. Yet, we live in a time when the more prevalent attitude is that I will love you as long as you are worthy. Such an attitude is contrary to Scripture. It’s contrary to what God wants. A child, of course, is a totally selfish creature that is totally dependent on parental care for survival. Children do not share, and are prone to temper tantrums to get their way. In time, they learn they must yield, compromise and sometimes allow others to have their way.
“One important message of love is to take no offense at wrongs done,” added Pastor Graham. “Have you never done anyone a wrong? Have you never been wronged? In each instance, we all have been there. Perhaps not intentionally. When walking in love, we are not free to write people off because of perceived wrongs done to us. That’s not the character God wants.
“How many of you are always satisfied with the way things are going in the church?” asked the Pastor. “None of us are. People don’t always appreciate our wonderful, glorious words of wisdom. Paul’s better way is always to walk in love.”
Pastor Graham told a humorous story about marriage, in which a wife is asked if she had ever in their long married relationship considered divorce? Her answer is an interesting version of no: “Murder, yes; divorce, no!” It is a story intended to dramatize the difficulty and the sometimes-humorous reality of always walking in love.
The Pastor also told a story about an auction of paintings, most of which were known to collectors as great masterpieces of art. This was a story with an O’Henry twist. The auction’s surprise message is delivered by the eventual dramatic reading of the will of the owner of this wonderful art collection. The auction begins on what seems a normal note. The first painting auctioned is not one of the well-known masterpieces. Rather, it’s what appears to be a mediocre painting by an unknown artist. But the painting is of the owner’s beloved son, and no one bids on it except a servant in the owner’s household who had loved and served the beloved son. None of the art collectors considered that painting worthy of a bid. When the servant’s modest bid is announced as the winner, a surprise clause in the owner’s will declares that whoever buys the painting of the beloved son is to be given all the priceless masterpieces! In other words: For whoever “buys” or accepts The Beloved Son, the auction is over!
In his closing prayer, Pastor Graham asked the Lord to teach us to love The Beloved Son and His children, whom we have seen, and even to love our enemies as The Son did. And when the auction is over, the Pastor prayed that we may be found to have accepted The Beloved Son.
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BIBLE READINGS TODAY:
Readings for eighteenth Sunday After Pentecost: Lamentations 1:1-6; Psalm 137; 2 Timothy 1:1-14; Luke 17:5-10.
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