Tinney Chapel Today

THE CHRISTIAN SERVICE OF HOLY COMMUNION, and its deep roots in the Jewish Passover Seder Meal, were the twin topics of today's Worship Message from Pastor Rev. Duncan Graham at Tinney Chapel UMC. For the past two years, Rev. Graham has hosted a Christian version of the Passover Seder Meal on Good Friday, open to all, at the quintessential country church! Photo by Angela Wylie.

MORNING SERVICE, 9:00 A.M.

Pastor: Rev. Duncan Graham

Greeters: Clay Spears & Roger Schneider

Sound: Bob Deitering

Ushers: Gerry Privette & Clay Spears

MUSIC

Pianist: Jean Anderson for Pat Hollingsworth.

Songleader for hymns: Angela Wylie

Songs: This Is My Father’s World, How Great Thou Art, Freely Freely.

SPECIAL MUSIC

Original sacred songs, written & performed by George Jordan and his Ventura guitar.

"For A While" and "I Always Go Back"

Call to Worship & Opening Prayer

Morning Prayer & Lord’s Prayer:

LITURGY

Offertory Prayer

Doxology

Gloria Patri

Apostles Creed

CHILDREN’S SERMON TODAY:

Pastor Duncan Graham began the children’s sermon today by asking how many ever read the comic strip about Charley Brown in the paper? “How about Linus or Lucy or Snoopy, the black-and-white dog? Do you remember Linus and his Security Blanket? Remember how Linus would get kind of aggressive when someone grabbed his Security Blanket? Sometimes Snoopy would grab the Security Blanket, and Linus would hang on, and go zooming through the air while hanging on to that Security Blanket as Snoopy ran with it. Sometimes Linus’ sister Lucy would try to wean Linus away from it, but Linus resisted, and would put up a fight with anyone to keep his Security Blanket. It was his security. He took it with him everywhere he went.

“You know, it’s entirely possible that one of you might have had a Security Blanket, or a Teddy Bear or a pillow or something else that was your security, something that you always wanted to keep with you, especially when you went to bed, or were otherwise separated from your parents? Research has shown that over half of the children have such an object to hang onto, that those objects are important to them, and that they keep the objects with them always.

“Well, Jesus, one time, and you can read about this in John 14, said that when He went away, He would send to us a Comforter, and that Comforter would be the Holy Spirit of God. And, He assured us that God’s Spirit would always be with us as long as we trusted in Him and accepted that Presence. And so that’s what we are all about today. Always remember that when you get to the time and place in your life when you need a friend, the Spirit of God is with you. Whenever times are difficult and tough, remember that the Spirit of God is with you. Okay? Let’s pray.

“Oh, gracious, heavenly Father, thank You for the Promise. Thank you for the Presence. Thank you especially for the Holy Spirit, for His being called alongside to help us, to be with us forever. Such a great thing, Lord, that no one else has ever done for us. No one else could. But, You, oh Lord, are our Security, now and forevermore. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.”

ADULT SERMON TODAY:

The Pastor, Rev. Duncan Graham, called attention to the two U.S. servicemen in our congregation today: Brandon Irby and Jason Smith, and also reminded us that Brandon and K’Lee will soon be transferred to Germany.

The Pastor’s message today was on the meaning and background of Holy Communion, and his Scripture Lesson was Luke 22:14-23. To view the New King James Translation of today’s Scripture Lesson, click HERE

“As we look at this last Passover Meal that Jesus shared with His Disciples, we see some things that are happening here which are very, very significant in the life of The Church, in the life of that which Jesus is giving birth to at this point in His ministry, that will be culminated on the Day of Pentecost, which we will soon be celebrating. It comes, of course, 50 days after His Resurrection from the dead. But, it is also First Fruits, and it is that First Fruits that we celebrate in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

“But, in the midst of all this, He is doing something very significant here in this Last Supper that He shares with His Disciples. To fully understand this, I think we have to understand something about the Passover Meal. The Passover Meal consisted of at least four cups of wine that would be shared in throughout that meal. First, it would be the cup of Sanctification, which they drank at the very beginning of the Seder, or the Passover Meal, and they all partook of that.

“And, every part of the Jewish Community would partake of that as they were celebrating this Passover Meal, as they had done for the past number, a great number, of years, dating back to their first Exodus from Egypt when Moses gave them instructions on how to partake of this Meal.

“The second cup would be the cup of Telling Forth, the telling about, the re-telling about God’s Deliverance, and a cup of Praise and a cup of Adoration and a cup of Deliverance from the bondage in Egypt that they would be celebrating on that occasion as well. That second cup would be taken after hymns and psalms would be sung at the beginning of the meal, but would be taken up before the meal itself actually began.

“Then, towards the end of that main part of the meal, they would take the third cup of wine, which would be the cup of Blessing and/or Redemption from that bondage and slavery in Egypt, and being sent forth to the Promised Land. The fourth cup would be the cup of Completion, which kind of speaks for itself: The time of God’s Covenant that He had established would be completely finished and be in effect, and their freedom would be secured, and they would be taken unto Himself as His own People, His own Children, and that would be the completion of the Covenant.

"Now, what we need to see, in the midst of all that, these first three cups are what we really celebrate, kind of rolled into one, in our Lord’s Supper. That is to say, what we celebrate, is that, first of all, Jesus has sanctified us. When we come to Him in faith, and remember this, we serve an open table in the Methodist Church, meaning that it is open to any believer in Jesus Christ. We don’t care about your denomination, or if you are on the rolls of any church. As long as you are a True Believer in Jesus Christ you are welcome to the table.

“When we come together, we recognize that we have been sanctified by Jesus Christ by His Shed Blood, by His Body that He gave for us. We have been set free from the evil, and the justice that would normally be meted out to someone who was guilty of sin. We have been delivered from that through these things in order to be truly called to be the Children of God and to be delivered from that bondage.

“We are also Telling Forth. We are Bearing Witness to our faith. We gather around this altar rail, and we Bear Witness to our Faith that Jesus is the Messiah. He is the Christ. He is the expiation or the propitiation or the payment for our sins and for the sins of the whole world. So, we testify before the world, we are giving witness by our actions when we come and partake of these elements, these sacraments, that we believe in, and that we are committed to the fact that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world. So, that’s a Telling Forth, a Praise and Devotion to Him as we come in this meek attitude.

“And then, we come also, recognizing that we have received, freely, at no cost to us, our redemption from sin and death: From the greatest enemy that man ever faces. We have received redemption from sin and death by the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. By the Sacrifices He made for us, by the payment that He made for our sins. So, you see that what we are getting at, from all this, is that we are the People of God, by the Grace of God, delivered unto us by Jesus Christ.

“So, there are Four Promises that the Seder delivered that are meaningful to us today. The first is the Promise that God made: That I will bring you out. That is to say that I will lift your burdens off of you. The burdens of Egypt will be lifted off of you. I will bring you out.

“He is saying to us today: I will bring you out of the bondages of this world, to ultimately bring you to My Very Presence, and My Home in Glory. Secondly, He is saying: I will receive you. That is to say, your bondage will be broken, and you will no longer be subject to the slavery of sin. I will receive you unto Myself. And nothing will be able to separate you from Me.

“Thirdly, He is saying I will redeem you. I have made restitution. I have delivered you from judgment. I have taken you to the place where no one, no one, can accuse you of wrongdoing. And, fourthly: I will make you My People. In other words, I will be your God, and you will be My Children.

“Now, bearing all that in mind, as we come to this table this morning, what we come ourselves to give is, first of all, our humble confession to God. Our humble confession that, Lord, we recognize that we are sinners. We recognize that I, myself, am guilty of sin, and that, as such, I need a Savior. I need Someone Who truly Delivers me from these things that so easily beset me.

“Kinda’ like Paul said: You know, I find that I do that which I would not do, and I do the things that I know are wrong sometimes. But he also says: I also find that I do not do the things that I know are right to do sometimes. So that sin is something that so easily besets every person in the world, but what we find is that a Glorious Savior, Whom we are truthful enough to recognize, that we are not perfect within ourselves. That we are not the only righteous person in the world, but that our righteousness is dependent upon Jesus Christ, and not how wonderful we are.

“There is a misconception sometimes that, well, gee whiz, I am the one who is right, and you are wrong: Therefore, I write you off as being just not as worthy as I am. Yet, the Truth is that we have all fallen short of the Glory of God, and worthy only of death. And, yet, in all His Grace and Glory and Mercy, He delivers us.

“The second thing is that, when we come, after we make our confession to God, is acceptance of the Covenant that Jesus rewrites for us. Because, under the Old Law, that Covenant was dependent on people beginning to live a perfect life according to The Law, and yet the problem was that no one could do it. God recognized this, and he had a plan. His plan was that Jesus Christ would be provided as the Only Perfect Being, whose sacrifice was worthy to deliver us, to deliver you, to deliver me, from the wages of sin, which is death.

“And so, He came, and He died, and gave that Sacrifice that we, too, might accept from Him, the Covenant that would bring us to Everlasting Life. That would bring us into a Promised Land that would be far greater than anything we would ever know upon this earth.

“And, thirdly, we come to make a public statement, and a private statement, of our faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. That faith in Him is the very key that unlocks our Salvation. Faith is the very thing that unites us with the Eternal God of Glory. Without that faith, we have no grounds for being a part of His Suffering.

“And so we come to declare again: I believe in Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God. Conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered and died, crucified, dead and buried, the Third Day He rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

“In other words, our faith is such that this last cup, the cup of completion, that I did not include in that whole scenario, is the cup of completion that will come with His Second Coming. Because when Jesus said, I will not drink this cup again until I drink it new with you in the Kingdom of Heaven, He is saying very simply that the cup of completion is not yet ready to be drunk, but it will be drunk when I claim My Own, and we come into the Fullness of the Kingdom of God.

“There was a fifth cup that was originally poured, and that was the cup that was to be given in the name of Elijah, and that cup was one that Elijah would drink when he came to pronounce the coming, the present coming, of Jesus Christ. And that cup was always left there on the table until Elijah himself would come. And, truly, Jesus has indicated that John the Baptist was, in essence, the presence of Elijah, coming to announce that He was here. But there is yet a return that will come when we drink the Fullness of that fourth cup of completion, that those who have lived and believed in Jesus Christ will be raised unto Everlasting Life.

“So, as we prepare this morning to partake of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, let’s remember the Covenant that was sealed with His Blood and His Body, the Covenant that was offered to each of us who believe in Him, and be thankful.

“Oh, gracious heavenly Father, we come to You this day, we pray that truly the partaking of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ may take on new meaning to us. That it may fill our hearts with the knowledge of a glorious Savior Who has given all, and to Whom we should give all. In His Name we pray. Amen.”

CLASSES TODAY:

SUNDAY SCHOOL CLASS TOPICS:

WISE ONES, Frankie Brewer: Hanging On To God’s Good News.

LADIES BYKOTA CLASS, Peggy Boyd: The Lord’s Faithfulness.

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 Great Commission.

REMNANT, Joe Dan Boyd, Our regularly scheduled First Sunday Healthy Church Study, Becoming A Healthy Church, by Stephen Macchia: This month’s topic: God’s Empowering Presence.

The Remnant Righteousness handout is below:

Take home lessons from studying Chapter 2 (title: Characteristic Number 1: God’s Empowering Presence) in Stephen A. Macchia’s book, Becoming A Healthy Church.

1. This characteristic, God’s Empowering Presence, topped all surveys, no matter how the data was analyzed.

2. We must become attuned to it, and when sensed in a special way, stop and be quiet in His Presence.

3. When we need a lot of love, mercy and forgiveness, we receive it in God’s Presence during worship and are equipped to share it elsewhere.

4. The most visible evidence of God’s Empowering Presence is Love.

5. God’s empowering Presence is cultivated as an ethos (belief system) to be expressed constantly, including corporate prayer in a variety of settings.

6. The American culture of self-reliance challenges the church’s subculture: supernatural reliance on God.

7. The members of a healthy church release their independent spirits into God’s loving care.

8. “Take my will, and make it Thine; it shall be no longer mine.” – Frances R. Havergal

9. A church filled with strong, independent-minded people unwilling to submit to the Holy Spirit, and yield to the needs of others will never become a healthy church.

10. Our independence needs to be used for enhancing the lives of others, especially the downtrodden and needy.

11.“We are beggars helping other beggars find bread.” -----Charles Spurgeon.

12. The Presence, Peace and Power of God’s Holy Spirit produces an environment of health, healing and hope.

13. The values of a Spirit-empowered life must become a priority.

14.The Fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. --–Galatians 5:22-23.

15. Those in a healthy church feel safe & secure to be themselves, are accepted for who they are, and always affirm the strengths of one another.

16. A healthy church promotes discovery of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit in the lives of every believer for building up the Body of Christ and glorifying God.

17. Healthy churches advance the cause of God’s Kingdom (a condition of heart, mind & will) here on earth.

TODAY’S DATE: 05-01-05

The Remnant

Sunday School Class

Tinney Chapel UMC

Winnsboro, Texas

ASSIGNMENT FOR NEXT SUNDAY: 05-08-05

READ PROVERBS 7

Afterwards, reflect upon these things:

1. Beware of any woman with easy morals.

2. Strong men have been slain by such women.

3. The prostitute’s house is the way to death.

4. Beware also of spiritual adultery.

5. False religions are the spiritual equivalents of alluring, attractive prostitutes.