East Texas Press (Timpson, Tex.), Vol. 37, No. 9, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 2, 2017 Page: 12 of 16
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Thursday, March 2, 2017 | Vol. 37 No. 9 | Faith & Worship | B4
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Sunday was Transfiguration Sunday. In the ancient
church and in many denominations today, Transfigu-
ration Sunday is one of the most important holy days
in the Christian faith. In the ancient world, the earth
was fiat and above the sky was the realm of God (or
gods). So when Moses was called by God to receive
the Torah, he was called to the mountain. Moses
was enveloped in a cloud, and the people saw what
appeared to be a raging fire on the mountain. In our
Gospel Lesson Jesus along with Peter, James and
John ascend the Holy Mountain: The three disciples
see Jesus transfigured and standing with Moses and
Elijah. They hear from within the cloud a voice
which says, “This is my Son, marked by my love,
focus of my delight. Listen to him.” With this holy
day, the Season of the Epiphany ends. Wednesday is
Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of the
forty days of Lent.
I went to Tenaha Methodist this morning to
hear Pastor Matt preach. It was so nice to see so
many friends and to listen to Matt’s thoughtful mes-
sage. I was late for Sunday School, but Fannie gave
me an excused tardy. This was the last lesson in the
quarter; accordingly, we received new material and
will have a new author. We have been in double
digits at Paxton every Sunday this year! We all hope
that Susan, Vera, and Keith are on the mend. Sue has
also been sick, so I took her place to start our worship
service with readings.
This past week we headed to both Holiday
and Lakeside for our monthly ministry. Both minis-
tries were well attended—we had so many volunteers
who read, sang, and visited with the residents. Larry
Terry came to both ministries to play his fiddle. At
Holiday Fannie told some little-known facts about
the Presidents in honor of Presidents’ Day. Nora read
Tenaha, TX
Pastor: Bro. Randy Smith
a book and sang a song. At Lakeside Joyce Hughes
and Emily Taylor brought their harps and played
several selections. Joyce also played the piano and
sang. Nora and sister Jo put their voices together to
sing a song. Laura read three poems. We all had a
good time and enjoy visiting our friends at the vari-
ous nursing centers.
“Whoever you are, in whatever faith you were
born, whatever creed you profess; if you come to this
house to find God you are welcome here.” Paxton
United Methodist Church is an inviting church that
takes to heart the idea of “Open Doors, Open Hearts,
Open Minds.” Sunday School starts at 9:30 and
Worship begins at 10:00. Our email address is pax-
tonumc@yahoo.com. If you would like the weekly
email newsletter about Paxton Methodist you can
send me your email address to the Paxton email ad-
dress and I will add you to the list. God’s Speed!
Tenaha, TX
by Pat Bowden
We had cooler weather for Sunday morning, but we
still had a nice crowd. Our Sunday School atten-
dance has been down lately. We still have members
out sick. There has been a lot of sickness this winter.
Our birthday people this week are: Chris Pilgreen,
Amy Stephens and I had another one. I won’t say
how old I am but my mother lived to be ninety, so
that’s what I’m shooting for. I am thankful for every
day God gives me. We added these people to our
prayer list: Peggy Loller Family, W.A. Parker Fam-
ily, Lich & Woody Schriewer, Veronica Warren and
baby. We had special music from Shelia Hughes,
and also our choir. Bro.Keith took his message from
Mark 5:1 “The Differnce The Master Makes” The
story of the man posessed with demons who lived
among the tombs.. When he saw Jesus, he ran to him.
Jesus cast out the demons and the man was healed.
The people who were there wanted Jesus to leave.
They didn’t understand what had happened. They
were more worried about the loss of the pigs than they
were about the great miracle the Jesus had performed.
We need to keep our hearts and minds on Jesus and
what He is doing in our lives and the lives of those
around us.There is nothing in our lives that God can’t
take care of. We had one saved Sunday morning.
Ollie McDonald joined the church by statement. She
comes from the Methodist. She will be baptized this
Wednesday night. We will also be having our Busi-
ness Meeting that night. If you don’t have a home
church, we invite you to Ramah.
I think you and I would agree with this opening
statement, “God’s power rests upon all believ-
ers!” When is the power of God the strongest in
your life? Look at what Paul says in 2 Corinthi-
ans 12:9-10, “And He said to me, My grace is suf-
ficient for you, for My strength is made perfect
in weakness. Therefore, most gladly I will rather
boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ
may rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in
infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecu-
tions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when
I am weak, then I am strong.” When you are
going through a tough time, when it seems that
everyone or everything is turning against you
then remember that it is the Lord’s strength that
you have to depend on! God says look to Him
and He will show you His power, His purpose
and His plan for you. Satan wants you down,
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disheartened, and in despair; he wants you liv-
ing in sin and feeling defeated. Paul gives you
encouragement to gain your strength in the Lord
and for you to keep on going, for you to stay in
the game, for you to continue on!! Have you ever
wondered, “I am following the Lord so why is all
of this stuff happening to me?” There is nothing
that God allows to come into your life that the
Lord does not want to use for you to grow closer
to HIM!! How many of you have ever thought
God wasn’t listening to you because you didn’t
get what you asked for? Too many times we get
an answer from God: it just wasn’t the answer
we wanted! What God was saying to Paul, and in
turn He is trying to show you, is that even when
He says “no” He is still working in your life.
He says, “God’s grace is sufficient,” because
Timpson, TX
Pastor: Bro. W. Dee Daniel
God’s power is made strong in our weakness.
When you and I come to realize when we are
governed by God’s power of divine grace and
that it is sufficient in our lives, then we can go
through hard times even when we don’t get what
we want! Listen, when we start to depend on the
Lord’s strength because we understand that His
power and strength are limitless and that they
never fail, then we can walk better in this life!
What area of your life do you need the Lord to
work His might, power, and strength in? Are you
willing to turn it over to Him and let Him do it?
If you are looking for a place to worship the
Lord, to get connected, and to feel loved then
we would love for you to come and experience
this through Jesus Christ at First Baptist Church
Timpson. We are located at 712 N 2nd St.
Timpson ,TX
by Bro. Clark Racca
May I ask you a question? Ok, I just did. Why do so
many churches struggle? I mean, I guess it shouldn’t
surprise us because we have an enemy who is work-
ing against us. But still... 80% stagnant, or in decline?
Why? After all, we have the Holy Spirit of God, the
hope of eternal life, and the truth of God, now avail-
able in almost every language, and over 450 English
versions to suit your fancy. Not to mention that we
live in a day and age where travel is so available, and
technology so advanced, that we can talk by Facetime
to missionaries in Africa today, and be there to shake
their hands tomorrow. Yet the church is struggling.
Churches are dying. We’ve never had so much unre-
alized potential. You might think that Christians have
lost their passion. But I don’t see that. They may be
passionate about the wrong things, but most love their
church. And why not? They have deep roots in their
church. Their parents were charter members. They
met and married their spouse there. Their children
grew up in that church’s youth ministry. Their par-
ent’s coffins were placed before this congregation,
and words of comfort were offered by their minister.
They have a pew that they’ve got squatter’s rights
too. Don’t tell me, or them, that they aren’t passion-
ate about their church. Now, it’s certainly true that the
younger generation aren’t as loyal to their church, or
their denomination, for good, and bad. Sometimes
our loyalty to our church or denomination eclipses
our loyalty to Christ, and His Word. But many times
it’s just indicative of the younger generation who
have little loyalty to anything, (incl. jobs, banks,
colleges, stores, or even product lines) I’ve noticed
with many of the younger generation with children
are going where they can find children’s ministries/
ministers, and youth ministries/ministers to cater to
their children’s needs. It’s hard to blame them, but it
does explain why larger churches are growing, while
smaller churches are not. (or, maybe larger churches
are larger because they are growing) But I grew up
in a church of 50 faithful souls, mostly elderly, with
only two, or three, other kids my age... and I would
say I turned out alright. But, I’ve always said, if you
want a church that meets one of your ministry needs
stay and do something about it. Others just blame a
lack of leadership, or poor leadership structure, and
often that can play a part in a churches decline. Or,
maybe you’ve been one of the churches that op-
pose the leader at every turn. If a leader tells them
a truth they don’t want to accept then that leader is
shown the door. How dare he ask me to change?
And thus... for many churches... since they won’t
change... they can’t attract a younger crowd, and as
they age, and die off, their church too ages, and dies
off. How very loyal of them to go down with the
ship? Or, is it selfishness to take the ship down with
them. I’m sure the answer to the question I posed is
multi-faceted.. .but one thing you can be sure of...
declining, or stagnant bodies of Christ have almost
always lost contact with The Head. For whatever
reason they have stopped caring what God wants for
His church. That’s a dangerous place to be. And re-
ally, with all that we have going for us, and with all
that we have to offer, the Church needs to be storm-
ing the gates of hell, “that cannot prevail against it.”
Believer, please don’t settle for anything less.
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Bryant, Jack. East Texas Press (Timpson, Tex.), Vol. 37, No. 9, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 2, 2017, newspaper, March 2, 2017; Timpson, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth899251/m1/12/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Timpson Public Library.