Tinney Chapel Today

"READ, RECITE OR SING COWBOY POETRY at the Fourth Annual Jim Asbill Brisket Barbecue and Cowboy Poetry Gathering at Tinney Chapel's Family Life Center, Saturday, May 21, 5:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.," advises Dan Lake, photo above, Tinney Chapel UMC Cowboy Poet, and the only M.C. our event has ever had! Read more about this event in Winnsboro Today, our area's great online newspaper, by clicking HERE Photo by Angela Wylie.

MORNING WORSHIP SERVICE, 9:00 A.M.:

Pastor: Rev. Duncan Graham

Greeter: Roger Schneider.

Sound: Clay Spears.

Ushers: Clay Spears & Roger Schneider.

Music:

Song leader: Angela Wylie.

Piano: Jean Anderson for Pat Hollingsworth.

HYMNS:

The Way Of The Cross Leads Home, Higher Ground, I Need Thee Every Hour.

Call to Worship & Opening Prayer

Morning Prayer & Lord’s Prayer:

LITURGY

Offertory Prayer

Doxology

Gloria Patri

Apostles Creed

HONORING OF THE MOTHERS ON MOTHER’S DAY:

Carnations were presented to all mothers present, and some sent home to mothers who were not present today.

CHILDREN’S SERMON TODAY:

Pastor Duncan Graham began by telling the children that he assumed they all realized now that today is Mother’s Day, but he also wondered if they knew what important Christian event is associated with this day. “It’s a very special day in the Christian Calendar,” he explained. “In fact, I’m preaching about it today. It’s called Ascension Day or Ascension Sunday. Do you all know what Ascension is? What it means? Well, this is the day, anniversary-wise, and this is why I have the balloon with the dove on it that says ‘happy anniversary,’ it’s the anniversary of the day when Jesus ascended into Heaven.

“Sometimes it’s hard for us to understand ascending into Heaven, but we all like to play with balloons,” added Pastor Graham. “Do you all like balloons? I thought so. You fill them with helium. Several years ago at one of Rural Life Sundays, we filled a bunch of balloons with helium, took them outside, let them all go up in the air, stood and watched as long as we could as they floated way off to we don’t know where. But it was a lot of fun to watch those balloons rise way, way up in the air.

“If I let this balloon go, it’s going to go right up to the ceiling: There it goes! It rises. That’s exactly what happened to Jesus when His time on earth was done and He was ready to go and be with His Father, He went up in the air like that. The Disciples were there, watching Him. They watched Him just as long as they could, until the clouds hid Him from their sight. And so, they were all impressed when Jesus went up into the air like that.

“So, what we need to remember today is that Jesus is not here on the earth anymore in His bodily form,” added Pastor Graham. “Because He went to Heaven. He just went up in the air, and that’s also what He promises you and me that will happen to us one of these days: We’ll just go up in the air, and it will be a glorious, glorious reunion, and we will just enjoy Life forevermore. Let’s pray:

“Oh, gracious Lord, we thank you for the gift of Life that we have in Jesus Christ. We thank you for the example He placed before us in the things that He did and experienced, so that we might know and understand all about what His promises are. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.”

ADULT SERMON TODAY:

“I’m going to read to you out of the first chapter of Acts this morning,” said the Pastor, Rev. Duncan Graham, as he began his message. “As I have just told the children, this is Ascension Sunday, a pretty important day in the history of the church: One that I don’t think, quite honestly, we hear preached very often. Why? I don’t really know. When I reflect upon my own years of ministry and preaching, I have to confess that I have not often preached on this particular Scripture or topic. But it is one that truly bears a great message to us.

“I’m going to begin reading this morning with the first verse, but the emphasis will be on the ninth through about the eleventh verses,” explained the Pastor, before reading his Scripture Lesson. “Luke, the physician, of course, is writing.": To read the New Living Translation of today’s Scripture Lesson, click HERE

“If you can, imagine for a moment that you had been present on the occasion when Jesus was about to ascend into Heaven,” suggested the Pastor. “I dare say that the Apostles did not know what was about to happen. They were taking a Sabbath-day journey from Jerusalem, evidently, and that means they went, about, close to a mile away from the city of Jerusalem, where they were staying. They went up on the Mount of Olives, where there is today a place that is known as the site of the Ascension. The only thing there is a church that they have built over the spot, as has been done in many of the holy places where Jesus was thought to have either died or was buried or was born and the like.

“At any rate, they have gone up on the side of the Mount of Olives, near the top as far as the Sabbath-day journey would have allowed them to go,” explained Pastor Graham. “And, Jesus is having some of His final words with them there, and that’s where they are when Jesus says to them: You are to stay in Jerusalem. Don’t leave Jerusalem until you receive the promise that My Father has made to you: Namely, that you will be baptized by the Holy Spirit.

“So, they probably, at this point, do not really have a great understanding of what all that means, or what it will do to them or for them or anything else,” added the Pastor. “But, they recognized that something important is going on here. And, it was not uncommon for them to be led by Jesus, walking along as He taught them and told them things. And, so I would suspect they had absolutely no clue as to what was about to happen.

“But, as they are there, and He stops right here at this place, and is giving them this final instruction: You must stay in Jerusalem until you receive the promise from the Father, obviously He has their undivided attention,” said Pastor Graham. “And, as He has their undivided attention, He begins to go up. I’m sure that if we had been standing there, the first thing that would affect your emotions or your thoughts would be a certain awe, a certain surprise: What in the world is happening here?

“And, He doesn’t quit going up, He just keeps going,” added the Pastor. “Until He gets more and more distant, until He passes through clouds and you can’t see Him anymore, and yet you stand there, still striving for all you’re worth, just to see another glimpse of Him: What’s going on? And that’s when two men in white suddenly appear and give something of an explanation. They say, men of Galilee, why do you stand here and stare at what you can’t see anymore?

“Because, in the same way you saw Him go up into the Heavens, He will return again,” emphasized Pastor Graham. “Now, there are certainly many who believe and understand that what that means is that Jesus, when He comes again, will not only descend from Heaven through the clouds and come down to Planet Earth, but also that He will come to the same spot from which He went up. And, the understanding by many, from Scripture, is that when He does, He will touch down on the Mount of Olives. And, when He does, a great rift, or split, between the Mount of Olives and down through Jerusalem will occur. And, at that time, there will possibly be a River that will begin to flow from where the Throne of God will sit on the Mount Zion, the Temple Mount at that time.

“Now, the Mount of Olives is a very important place in so many ways, because you will remember that the Mount of Olives is where the Garden is in which Jesus often went to pray. It’s down toward the lower side of that Mount, but is a very special place where Jesus went to pray, and took His Disciples with Him. And, it’s where He was arrested on the night that He was betrayed and was taken, to be crucified. However, in addition to that, is the Ascension, and the place where He is understood to come back again, to the Mount of Olives.

“It is a site that overlooks the city of Jerusalem, and you can stand up there today, on the Mount of Olives, and see the entire enclosure of the walls of the city in a kind of panoramic view,” explained Pastor Graham. “Perhaps you have seen pictures that have been taken from up there. But, as they are going through this experience, you can imagine what is going through their minds: You know, He’s gone! What do we do now? Oh, my goodness, what’s going to happen to us now that our Leader, our One that we look to, is gone?

“And, you can imagine that there would be a certain insecurity and fear that might grip their minds. And you can imagine they might go away from there very, very sorrowful,” added the Pastor. “That they are suddenly without their Leader. But, if you read on to the end of Chapter One in the Book of Acts, what you will find is that they did not go away from there sorrowful, but they went back to Jerusalem rejoicing because something very significant had just happened.

“And, it bore witness to the promise of something even greater to come in their lives, and in the lives of those they would touch, and in the whole future of the world,” said Pastor Graham. “And, there are three things that I think we need to understand and realize about that time. The first is this. That this was the crowning Seal, if you will, that, first of all, Jesus was not subject to the control or power of death. And, that is to say that, obviously, He had been raised from the dead, and for forty days He had walked with, eaten with, talked with, He had taught, He had shared with His Disciples, and with many others, many things over those forty days.

“And, the Resurrection was already a proven event,” declared the Pastor. “But, if Jesus had just suddenly disappeared, and no one had seen what became of Him, they would then begin to assume that, maybe He had just swooned on the Cross, and maybe He wasn’t really dead, and maybe He has just now gone into hiding, and is not seen because he doesn’t want to be seen, and He dies somewhere as an ordinary man, and somebody buries Him.

“But, because He had a rather public Ascension into Heaven, there could now be absolutely no doubt that Jesus came down from Heaven, and ascended again into Heaven,” added Pastor Graham. “You see, thee were many people in that day and time that didn’t believe in a resurrection from the dead at all, and they would find all manner of ways to explain away the disappearance of the Body or these ‘alleged’ appearances of the Risen Savior to His people. And, so, that being the fact, they have nothing to stand upon to say that Jesus died and never lived again!

“He ascended into Heaven before the very eyesight of witnesses who could attest to the fact that Jesus was raised and ascended to Heaven,” the Pastor emphasized. “Jesus never had a doubt about the resurrection of the dead. He taught it throughout His ministry. Those who came to Him asking questions trying to find some way to discredit His teachings were told that the Scriptures say that God said I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And, He said that what you must understand is that God is not the God of the dead: He is the God of the living. Therefore, Isaac, Abraham, Jacob were all still living beings.

“Or, again, He said Abraham, your ancestor, longed to see My Day and when he saw it, he rejoiced,” added Pastor Graham. “And, they said, how can you, not yet 50 years old, how could Abraham have seen your day? He said, I tell you this: Before Abraham was, I Am. So, He is saying to them, through all that, that there is, indeed, a Life after death, and there is a resurrection of the dead, and He would go on to prove that, and His Ascension was the crowning achievement of all that Jesus had been and had taught through His Journey as a man on the face of this earth. And, so, how could you be anything but joyful when you would see the proof positive that there is, not only Life after death, but that it will be spent in Heavenly Places and Heavenly Realms.

“They had to be joyful because they were about to receive the Promise of the Father,” added the Pastor. “That is to say, they were about to be baptized by the Holy Spirit, or in the Holy Spirit, or with the Holy Spirit. They were about to be saturated, completely consumed, in their life, in their ways, in the things they would say and do, in the Holy Spirit of God Himself. Now, again, I doubt they had much understanding, at that moment, as to what that would be, what it would mean, or how it would come.

“But, it’s as though Jesus went to Heaven and said, OK Father, I’m home: Now, blow Your Breath on My Disciples so that Your Spirit will empower them and cause them to go forth as witnesses to me as I told them, in Judea, Jerusalem, Samaria, even to the utmost ends of the earth. Sometimes I look at us, Christians, in the world today, and I think: Can we really possibly be filled with the Holy Spirit when we are not on fire to just tell about Jesus, to just witness Him and what He has done in our lives, what He has done for us?

“I wonder, how in the world can we sometimes be silent when we have, indeed, witnessed great things at times in our lives that was such a blessing that it could come only from God. Sometimes, I think we need to get up and get going, to just share, just witness, just tell what we have seen God do. How glorious it is. If you had been there at the Ascension, could you have helped from telling the world: I saw Jesus go up. I saw Him go up into the very Heavens. And, what a glorious sight it was. And, you know what He really told me?

“He told me that my job, my vocation, my calling, was not to stand around looking up into the sky all the time, waiting for Him to return, looking to see if I could see just a speck coming down,” said the Pastor. “But, rather, my job was to and tell everybody what I saw and what I heard, what I experienced. And that’s exactly what you hear: They did not build a church on the site. For all we know, they didn’t even mark the spot. They felt that when he returned, He would certainly be visible. Just as visible as He was the day He went up.

“But they were waiting then on the rest of the Promise,” added Pastor Graham. “Realizing that something great was about to happen in their lives. I suspect that, over the next 10 days, they lived on the verge of expectancy. As Scripture would indicate, they were standing on tiptoe, waiting for the further revelation of God’s Gift to them, God’s Promise to be fulfilled. And they went away from there the most victorious, the most jubilant, the most filled people you can ever imagine.

“And, they were just waiting, even if they didn’t know it, they were waiting to turn the world upside down, or should I say, right side up,” emphasized Pastor Graham. “And, then thirdly, we also get a word of assurance there on that day. Two men in white! What we find, Scripturally, is that every time angels appear to men, they generally appear in white, in robes of white, symbolizing purity. We are also told that one day we will have robes of white, of righteousness, that we will wear in the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Heaven.

“They appeared to these Disciples as they stood there gazing into the sky, and I can expect again that it caught them somewhat by surprise, to hear someone speaking to them, and then turn to look, and there are two men who are obviously Heavenly Beings,” he explained. “They weren’t there a moment ago, but suddenly they are. As they say to them: Why do you gaze into the sky? Do you not know that, in the same manner He went up, that He will return again.

“In other words, the Message once again has been reinforced by Angelic Beings that Jesus would come back to Planet Earth. And that is something that will be a revelation to behold. Because He will come in Power! He will come in Glory! He will come to establish the Kingdom of God on the face of this earth for a thousand years. This is the Promise of the Kingdom of God, taking full control over this world and those who are the Called of God, the Committed of God, the Believers in Jesus Christ. To save! To redeem those who are part of the Family of God.

“And that time is a time that we will see righteousness rule and reign. He will be eternally and completely here. And, people will walk in such victory and joy and unity that they have never experienced, without sorrow or suffering, without strife. The Kingdom of God will be a utopia, a paradise, a place and a time where we will rejoice forever. And that is the final message of the Day of Ascension.

“And, know this: No matter how long He waits or tarries: When the Father says, Son, it’s time to go get Your Bride, He will come again. Jesus said to His Disciples on one occasion: Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s House are many rooms, or many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go and prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to My place. Where I am, you will be also. And His Ascension again is the final proof, the Seal that it is True. He can go up, He will come down, that we may go up. Let’s pray:

“Oh, Gracious, Heavenly Father, we thank You so much, and we are so grateful, even though it is sometimes very difficult for us just to understand all the fullness of these things. Lord, we know that, in Your time and Your Place, we shall ascend, just as Jesus did, to be with Jesus, our Lord, into the Heavens. Oh, Gracious Lord, may Your Name be glorified forever. May Jesus Christ be exalted. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.”

CLASSES TODAY:

SUNDAY SCHOOL CLASS TOPICS:

WISE ONES, Frankie Brewer: Living Through Faith.

LADIES BYKOTA CLASS, Peggy Boyd: The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren.

TINNEY CHAPEL MEN, Bill Knoop: Faith for Earth's Final Hour, by Hal Lindsey.

OVERCOMERS, Jenna Nelson: The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren.

YOUTH, Ronny Ellison: Life Lessons from 1 & 2 Peter, by Max Lucado.

CHILDREN, Linda Hallman: The Ascension of Jesus.

REMNANT, Joe Dan Boyd: I Walk The Line, Proverbs 7.

The Remnant Righteousness handout is below:

REMNANT RIGHTEOUSNESS

Life lessons # 266 from studying Proverbs 7 and related Scripture:

1. Chapter 7 of Proverbs is an add-on to the lesson in Chapter 6: Beware of a woman with easy morals, cautions commentator J. Vernon McGee.

2. This Scripture warns that the teaching must be the central focus of the learner’s attention and become a part of his lifestyle.

3. Solomon uses language reminiscent of Deuteronomy in suggesting that we bind these teachings on our fingers and write them on the tablets of our hearts.

4. Lady Wisdom is strongly personified in this Chapter, and we are told to claim kinship with her.

5. All this visual imagery as a learning tool is to help us avoid temptation, particularly sexual temptation.

6. At the same time, we may choose to interpret an underlying theme of avoiding spiritual adultery.

7. Viewed as a featherbrained simpleton is the young man who lacks sufficient heart, or wisdom, to avoid the seductress.

8. Commentator McGee uses the analogy of a young man taking a walk on the wrong street, a bit reminiscent of the old Hank Williams song Lost Highway.

9. The adulteress is introduced as one dressed like a prostitute, suggesting that we are sometimes able to judge danger on the basis of appearances.

10. The brazen, brass, restless, roaming seductress is presented in this Chapter as lying in wait for the inexperienced young man, who is no match for her wiles. The LXX version says she “causes the hearts of the young men to fly away.”

11. The temptress also attempts to convince her prey that she is observant, religious, right with the Lord.

12. Flattery is one of the most effective wiles of the adulteress, and we are warned not to be swayed by it.

13. The encounter between the temptress and the young man is presented as a sales pitch, with the experienced wayward woman able in time to close the sale.

14. In the end, the overwhelmed young man is presented as a calf led to a butcher shop: “As if it were going to a good pasture,” says John Wesley.

15. “She runs a halfway house to hell,” says The Message Translation.

TODAY’S DATE: 05-08-05

THE REMNANT

SUNDAY SCHOOL CLASS

TINNEY CHAPEL UMC

WINNSBORO, TEXAS

ASSIGNMENT FOR NEXT SUNDAY: 05-15-05

READ PROVERBS 8

AFTERWARDS, REFLECT UPON THESE THINGS:

1. Gain prudence.

2. Gain understanding.

3. Knowledge is better than gold.

4. Wisdom more precious than rubies.

5. To fear the Lord is to hate evil.

6. The Lord hates pride, arrogance, evil behavior & perverse speech.

7. Those who seek God find Him.

BIBLE READINGS TODAY:

Readings for the Seventh Sunday of Easter: Acts 1:6-14; Psalm 68:1-10, 32-35; 1 Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-11; John 17:1-11.