Tinney Chapel Today

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

Holy Communion was served this morning.

Pastor: Rev. Duncan Graham

Greeter: Roger Schneider.

Sound: Bob Deitering.

Ushers: Gerry Privette & Roger Schneider.

Music:

Song leader: Angela Wylie.

Piano: Pat Hollingsworth.

HYMNS:

Great Is Thy Faithfulness, Take Time To Be Holy, Sanctuary, Amazing Grace.

Special Music by Tinney Chapel’s quintessential choir, directed by Pat Hollingsworth, featuring solo by David Stanton:

The Cross Of Love With You are My King & Lamb of God.

Singing in the choir today: Ronny Ellison, David Wylie, Derrell Hollingsworth, David Stanton, Linda Hallman, Josie Garrett, Christi Noble, Stacey Stanley, Molly Stanton, Alice Deitering, Angela Wylie, Bobbie Hollingsworth, Emmaline Hallman, Wanda Hardin.

Call to Worship & Opening Prayer

Morning Prayer & Lord’s Prayer:

LITURGY

Offertory Prayer

Doxology

Gloria Patri

Apostles Creed

CHILDREN’S SERMON:

Tinney Chapel Pastor, Rev. Duncan Graham, began today by asking the children: “Are you a sinker or a floater?” They didn’t know, so he passed on a hint: “What happens when you get in water: Do you sink or float?” Then, more generally: “How many of you out there are sinkers? Floaters? OK, we have some of both! But that’s kind of a loaded question. Suppose I had Charles Brewer’s Number Three washtub out here, full of water: If I put a spoon in that water, would it sink or float? Sink? That’s right.” Just then, an unidentified voice asked: Plastic, wood or metal spoon? At this, the Pastor changed tactics, and asked the children what would happen if he put a lead fishing weight in there: Would it sink or float? “What is lead?” asked one of the children, which evolved into a discussion of fishing techniques, old and new, before the Pastor started his message for the children.

“I want to tell you a story, “ said Pastor Graham. “One time, Jesus had been teaching the multitudes, and when He finished, he went out by Himself into the mountains to pray, sending the Disciples ahead of Him in a boat to cross the Sea of Galilee. While they were going, in the middle of the night, He came walking toward them on water. He was a floater! They got scared when they saw Him, thinking they were seeing a ghost. But, Jesus said, Be not afraid, it ‘s me!

“Peter cried out, Lord, if it’s You, then command me to come to You on the water, and He said: Come,” added Pastor Graham. “And, so Peter got out of the boat, stood on the water, and was going toward Him. Suddenly, Peter got to looking around, and saw how high the waves were, how rough the waves were. The wind was kind of high, and it was blowing, blustery, and so Peter looked at all this, and suddenly realized: My word, what am I doing here? This is something: I’m going to be a sinker. About that time, sure enough, Peter started sinking. Jesus grabbed Peter by the hand, pulled him up, back on top of the water again, and asked Peter: Why did you doubt?

“Now, the point is that there are times in life when we all try to float, and times in life when we find ourselves sinking,” explained Pastor Graham. “And, we realized that we have to have help, and that it will only work as long as we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. If we take our eyes off Jesus, that’s when we start sinking. What I want you to realize at this point in your life is that, if you keep your eyes on Jesus, thinks are going to be well, even amidst stormy times when the waves are trying to overcome you or the sea is trying to swallow you up. That’s the time to keep your eyes on Jesus.

“Let’s pray. Gracious, heavenly Father, we thank you for these young lives,” began Pastor Graham. “We ask, Lord, that You bless them abundantly and always be with them. But, help them, Lord, to always remember to keep their focus on You above all else. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.”

ADULT SERMON:

Tinney Chapel UMC Pastor, Rev. Duncan Graham, chose as his sermon title, “Wrestling With God,” which was based on Genesis32:22-32

“Jacob wrestled, according to the understanding of many, with God, virtually all night long,” began Pastor Graham. “I’ve thought about this quite a bit over the years, and have wondered many times if this was really God that Jacob was wrestling with. First, what does it man to wrestle? Was he literally in bodily contact and struggle, trying to put the hammerlock, or something like that, on God? What, exactly, does it all mean? Are we talking about something that happened in the physical sense? Or the spiritual sense? You look at all these things, and you begin to wonder just exactly what went on there that night. What happened between Jacob and God, the Almighty God?

“If you think about God as being omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent, then you wonder: How could this be that (1) Jacob would wrestle with Him, literally, and (2) how would it be that God could not immediately overcome him in an instant? Obviously, we know that if God is all-powerful, He could do whatever He wanted to, in a moment’s time. He could vaporize Jacob, for that matter, with just a thought. So, what was going on here? What’s happening?

“Obviously, if God is all-powerful and present everywhere at all times, for Him literally to have been in that one place at that one time, He would have had to have taken on the form of a man or an angel, to wrestle with Jacob, and be there with him, while He is also present in all the other places in all of His vast Creation,’ suggested the Pastor. “So, again, the questions that arise in the mind when we consider these things! Well, Jacob, according to what we read here really continued all night long with this wrestling match. And just would not quit and would not give up, until, finally, we read in the Scriptrue, where The Man says to him: Let me go because it’s daybreak. This has gone on all night long!

“But, Jacob says to Him: No, I won’t let You go until You bless me,” adds the Pastor. “And, so, The Man says: What’s your name? This is significant because, here again, if this is God—present in this being---then we know that God knows his name already. So, He is asking the question for a purpose. The question He asks is what is your name? Jacob says that his name is Jacob. Then He says: Your name will no longer be Jacob, but now it will be Israel. Now, the name, Israel, literally means: Struggles or strives with God!

“So, it becomes significant not only in the fact that Jacob himself has been striving with God, but that Israel as a nation will continue to strive with God from that point on, I suppose, until the return of the Messiah, “ added Pastor Graham. “Because, in many ways, I think they still strive with God, even today if you look carefully at that nation and what goes on with them. It’s a continual striving.

“But, what we find here is that this name has changed, in that he has striven with God and has overcome,” added the Pastor. “Or, has won the goal, or the blessing or the place that he was seeking after, all along. If you remember the story of Jacob, you realize that Jacob, from his childhood on, has desired that blessing and that covenant with God that normally would have gone to what we consider the firstborn. That is to say: It passed from Abraham down to Isaac, who was the firstborn of his wife, not his maid servant, Hagar, but his wife, Sara. It passed from Isaac down to Jacob, who was the second born. But he had the desire for that blessing, that covenant, that relationship that, evidently, Esau didn’t have. Esau means hairy, and hairy Esau seemed to take that covenant and that family heritage very lightly, in that he was willing to give up his birthright for a bowl of porridge, on the one hand.

“Then, of course, Jacob and his mother also saw to it that he also got the blessing of his father, kind of undercutting Esau on that particular score, there, but Esau didn’t seem to care as much about these things, initially, as did Jacob,” explained Pastor Graham. “Therefore, Jacob was constantly striving to be sure that he got these things. Now, that represents, in some sense, a relationship with the Almighty God that was important for all of these promises to take place. And, so Jacob, through all of this, received these things, while Esau did not.

“Now, as Jacob leaves Beersheba, and the land of his family at that time and goes back to his mother’s relatives, namely Laban, and all of that group, back up north toward Haran, he goes again and strives with his Uncle Laban over many years in order to gain, first of all, marriage to his beloved Rachel, and to acquire herds and flocks,” added Pastor Graham. “Also, Leah was thrown in there, along with their maid servants, etc., and so, through them all, Jacob had 12 sons that became, of course, the 12 Tribes of Israel.

“With all that as a background, we see Jacob constantly striving with men throughout that period of time, beginning with Esau, beginning with fooling his father, and continuing with Laban,” added the Pastor. “And, all that striving went forth, that Jacob involved himself in, until he acquired what he had desired so much. Then, on his way back, he stops again at the place where you will recall he had that dream where he saw God at the top of the ladder and the angels going up and down.

“He had placed a pillar there, and anointed it with oil and called it Bethel, meaning the House of God,” emphasized Pastor Graham. “And he does the same thing when he comes back. He stops at the same place, sets up another rock, anoints it, and again calls it Bethel, or the House of God. So, through all of this, we see Jacob struggling with God and man, and overcoming.

“Now, the issue for all of this today is for you and I that we need, always, to keep in mind: We need to struggle with God,” added the Pastor. “We need to struggle with God in order to gain the blessing. It’s not that God wants to withhold it from us. But, I believe what we really see here is that God is testing to see how persistent that a person will be in order to gain his blessing. God will never give His blessing to the person, or persons, who are not willing to struggle and strive for those blessings.

“Once you have struggled and striven, for all you are worth, all those blessings become all the more precious,” said Pastor Graham. “All the more desirous. But, until you do, until you do that striving, you will never receive the great blessings. You see, Jacob gave himself totally to the task of struggling and striving. He knew that, tomorrow, he would face his brother Esau, and had probably heard by this time that his brother, Esau, was coming with 400 men that belonged to him. And, Jacob might have thought, probably did, that they were coming to wipe him out, pay him back for taking his blessing and his birthright. Actually, Esau was coming out to welcome him! Jacob didn’t know that!

“But, he knew this: He knew that he needed that blessing of God in order to see it through these difficult times and struggles,” added Pastor Graham. “So, he would give himself to it. I am reminded so much of the time that Jesus told about the unfortunate widow, and you can read that story in Luke 18 beginning in verse 1, and the interesting thing is that, Jesus began that narrative of the unfortunate widow by saying that He was teaching men that that they ought always to pray and never give up!

“Always pray and never give up,” emphasized the Pastor. “You know, so often, we are accustomed, maybe, to running to the altar, or quickly uttering a prayer at home, or something of that nature, that might last a minute or two, and we’re gone! We tend to think that God will say yes or no, and we are very often quite willing to accept no. I am going to suggest to you today that we ought never to necessarily be willing to accept no. If it’s not something that’s an abomination to God, then we ought never to accept no.

“We ought to strive with God in prayer,” declared Pastor Graham. ‘We ought to wrestle with God in prayer until we get the answer that we are seeking for. If you look at the history of the church in the world, you will find, time and time and time again, that the great moves of God only came after much travail in prayer. And that ought to tell us a great deal about what God desires, and requires, of us if we are going to experience the greatest blessings of God in our lives or in the lives of others around us that we see needs in, in the world.

“I've so often heard people, although not as much now as many years ago, indicate that, well, I’m just suffering for God: If God wants me to suffer, then I’ll just suffer. As though God is putting all kinds of illness and sickness upon us just in order to see us suffer! That God seems to be a God Who takes great pleasure in watching people suffer. And yet, the Word tells us that Jesus took stripes on His back for the healing of our disease and our sickness. Why in the world would He take those things on His own back if He wanted us to suffer?

“Or, we see Jesus saying the thief comes but for to steal and kill and destroy, but I have come that you might have Life, and have it more abundantly,” emphasized the Pastor. “If He wants us to have Life, and have it more abundantly, then shouldn’t we be willing to travail in prayer to overcome all the obstacles of the enemies and the things that so easily beset us? In order to enjoy that wonderful abundance of Life that tells us He came for us.

“I believe that Jacob’s story is told to us for the purpose of showing us that we need to wrestle with God ourselves,” concluded Pastor Graham. “Each of us, individually, and all of us together, need to wrestle with God in order to see that His great works come to pass on our behalf! Jacob becomes a nation, in a sense. The nation of Israel. Jacob has many, many blessings bestowed upon him. And, when you consider even the miracle that one of his sons would go down to Egypt to be prepared for the time of famine in order to keep Jacob and his family alive and well-cared for, you have to realize that God has a way and a means and a plan for taking care of those who have travailed with Him.

“We, dearly beloved, have been called through Jesus Christ to travail with God,” he added. “It won’t come easily. It will require the very greatest and deepest that we have within us. But, we can be overcomers in the Name of Jesus Christ. Just as Jacob was!

“Let’s pray: Oh, gracious, hevenly Father, today I pray that You will fill us with a great desire, a great desire to be overcoming people. The great desire for the blessings of God that only He can give. The great desire to experience a life that reflects the Glory of God in this world. Teach us, Lord, to strive and struggle effectively, persistently in the Name of Jesus Christ. Amen.”

CLASSES TODAY:

SUNDAY SCHOOL CLASS TOPICS:

WISE ONES, Frankie Brewer: Meeting Human Needs.

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: Elijah & Elisha.

REMNANT, Joe Dan Boyd: Spiritual Disciplines, Characteristic # 3 of Becoming A Healthy Church by Stephen A. Macchia. The Remnant Righteousness handout is below:

Life Lessons # 276 from studying Characteristic # 3 of Healthy Churches, “Spiritual Disciplines,” via Stephen A. Macchia’s Becoming A Healthy Church.

1. We expect & use resources to encourage & equip all ages to develop and maintain personal rhythms of daily spiritual disciplines.

2. Our relationship with God always impacts directly on our relationships with others.

3. We support one another in relationship by always being available in confidence, and by interacting only in positive, uplifting ways.

4. We understand the value of walking with Christ, and expect to be taught to nurture a personal & reflective devotional life.

5. We expect accountability via small groups.

6. We seek godliness via faithful living, prayer, study of Scripture, display of the Fruit of the Spirit and doing everything in love.

7. We seek to live lives of obedience, imitation and discipleship.

8. We participate only in choices that attend to our souls & enhance companionship with God.

9. We remember that we are spiritual beings having a human experience.

10.We nurture ourselves both as doers of the Word and as being in Christ.

11.We tune our ears, find the time, & learn to listen for God’s Voice in order to respond to God’s Love & Word in silence & solitude.

12.In quiet submission, we seek to learn from Christ how He wants us to live our lives.

13.We seek immersion in meditation, contemplation, reflection and journaling.

14.We seek lives of balance and moderation.

15.We seek the Heart of God & Mind of Christ.

16.Via prayer, study & reflection, we boldly seek improved communication with God.

TODAY’S DATE: 08-07-05

<>

ASSIGNMENT FOR NEXT SUNDAY: 08-14-05

Study Parental Discipline via Proverbs 10-31. This includes the following Proverbs, listed below in the order we will discuss them:

Proverbs 22:6; 29:15; 20:30; 22:15; 19:18; 29:17; 13:24; 23:13-14.

Afterwards, reflect upon these things:

1. We are to start a child in the right direction.

2. If done correctly, the child will adhere to that training when old.

3. The word translated "child" comes from a Hebrew word that can refer to the whole age range of children from infancy to young adulthood.

4. The King James Version says, "Train a child in the way he should go." The New Revised Standard Version says, “Train children in the right way.” Which do you prefer?

5. However, the Hebrew construction can also be interpreted to mean, "Train a child according to the way he goes." What do you think of that?