Faithful to SCRIPTURE Creative in MINISTRY Passionate for OUTREACH Offering CHRIST to ALL

Non-Profit Org. U.S. POSTAGE PAID

Tifton, GA Permit No. 77

Good News! May 13, 2020: Issue 163 Rev. Chip Grantham, Senior Pastor / Rev. Robby Paulk, Associate Pastor

First United Methodist Church 107 12th Street W.

Tifton, Georgia 31794

Tifton First United Methodist Church

OUR CHURCH STAFF Rev. Chip Grantham, Senior Pastor Rev. Robby Paulk, Associate Pastor Dr. Pat Bennett, Music Director seniorpastor@tiftonfumc.org associatepastor@tiftonfumc.org musicdirector@tiftonfumc.org MaraDare Day, Recreation Director Annie Paulk, Children’s Director/Education Aaron McCalvin, Youth Director recreationdirector@tiftonfumc.org childrendirector@tiftonfumc.org youthdirector@tiftonfumc.org Lauren Fresh, Preschool Director Sissy Martin, Church Hostess Harris Tucker, Media Director preschooldirector@tiftonfumc.org Kendra Gannaway, Church Pianist Becky Rogers, Church Organist Debbie Minton, Church Secretary Melanie Raines, Financial Secretary churchsecretary@tiftonfumc.org financialsecretary@tiftonfumc.org

If you need a pastor, please call:

Chip Grantham (cell) (706) 570-3330

(Home) 388-0646

Robby Paulk (cell) (229) 251-8609

Church Office Contact Info: (Email) churchsecretary@tiftonfumc.org (Phone) (229) 382-6100 (Fax) (229) 382-4092

Web Page: tiftonfumc.org Activity Center: 382-4644 or 5582 Dial-A-Prayer: 382-2484 Church Office Hours: Closed Until Further Notice

MEMBERS: Cindy Wright (healthcare worker), William Byrd, Louise Hetzel, Ron Evans, Sunny Pflug, Janet Conner, Peggy Royce, Ann Garrett, George Lindstedt.

LONG-TERM PRAYER: Charlie Griffin, Sara Davis, Betty Douglas, Arlette Mouat, Roger Hobgood (Lavonia’s son), Hoyt

Vance, Christine Kennedy, Kent Taylor. SHUT-IN: Gerald “Jake” Herring, George Fricks, Billie Tucker. TIFTON HEALTH/

REHABILITATION CENTER: CYPRESS POND: Diane Jackson, Louise Kent, Wyolene Walker MAPLE COURT: Hannah Kent,

Mary John Reinhardt. LEGACY VILLAGE: Hazel Lawson, Harry Barrineau, Virginia Gudal. BRADLEY PLACE: Joyce Starrak.

SOUTHERN OAKS: John Mallory. MAGNOLIA MANOR: PRUITT HEALTH-MAGNOLIA MANOR: Frances Harris. THE

LEGACY: Henrietta Heyerdahl AUTUMN LEAVES OF SUGARLOAF: Jane Blasingame. MILITARY: Danny Stabak (deployed to

Afghanistan) George & Tiffany Alexion’s brother-in-law, Aubrey Collins (deploying to Afghanistan). FRIENDS & FAMILY: Family of Emma Phillips (From Leesburg, she was struck by a car while riding a bike and later passed as a result of injuries sustained), Jordan West (son of Joe and Joy West who is a healthcare worker), Billy Hurt (Debra Moorman’s Brother), Clark Dickens (Lisa Reinhardt & Michelle Shaw’s father), Brandon Brown (Sue Minter’s friend), Thelma

Etheredge (Scott Monfort’s Mother), Dennis Lehmann (Ruth Lee’s brother), Amy Taylor ( Carloyn Kightlinger’s friend), Carol Grasser (Steve Pearman’s sister), Rev. William Jerdan (Bonnie Sayles’ brother), Elena Kang (Carolyn Kightlinger’s great niece), Jan Bailey Sheppard (Judy Herring’s sister), Tommy Burton (Richard Burton’s brother), Frances Hutto (Kevin Hutto’s mother), Sandra Stone (Hope

Vance’s mother). PLEASE REMEMBER to call the church office with an update on those you’ve placed on the prayer list OR if you are admitted to the hospital so we are aware of your hospitalization and to keep our prayer list accurate.

WORSHIP SCHEDULE - SUNDAY, May 17, 2020

11:00am: Traditional Worship Rev. Chip Grantham

10:00am: Contemporary Worship Rev. Robby Paulk

(Service will be Live Streamed on the Church Webpage, Facebook and YouTube)

Text to Give TFUMC Give $(any dollar

amount) to 73256 Standard text message rates do

apply.

Ways to Give

Give Online At

www.tiftonfumc.org/giving

Mail a check to Tifton First United Methodist

Church 107 12th Street W. Tifton, GA 31794

Upper Room Devotionals are available and sitting outside the church office door for anyone who wishes to stop by and pick one up. If you are homebound or in a high risk group, contact Pastor Robby to have one delivered. His number is listed below.

Jack Applewhite Annslee Bassett Adylein Hunt

Boone Utley

Colby Gann

Hannah Walker

Emily Golden

Julia Ryland

Spencer Shaw

Lizzy Connell

Congratulations to our Class of

Not pictured: Logan Crosson, Owen Manning, Kaden Marshall and Sara Spradley.

Colossians Part-1 We are beginning a two-part series going through the Letter to the Colossians. The idea is not original to me. The credit goes to our youth pastor, Aaron McCalvin. I am simply adapting the idea to this format and expressing it in my own words. Colossians is an important lesson for us because Paul explains in it what the new life in Christ looks like. In his other letters, like Galatians, he goes into more detail, but Colossians is a succinct statement of Paul’s idea of the Christian life and the reason behind it. I invite you to join me over the next two weeks as we take a deeper look into this book of the Bible. I encourage you to read it all the way through before you start reading the devotions, and then reread the section highlighted in each devotion. I pray that God of grace will give us understanding as we journey together. - Pastor Robby

Day 1: Faith, Hope, and Love (Read Colossians 1:1-8)

Studying the Bible can be difficult because there is the everyday-English definition of words and then there can be a more nuanced, biblical definition of the same words. For instance, when we say we hope for something, we do so with the possibility that what we hope for might not come true. We may say, “I hope I get a raise.” We may be quite sure we are getting that raise, but there is still the possibility it will be denied. Biblical hope is different. Biblical hope is certain hope. Our inheritance in Christ is as certain as the goodness of our God and therefore, our hope is more expectant waiting than mere optimism.

Our faith is in Christ Jesus. Because of our belief in the great love shown to us in Him, love is the result of that faith. We have been so love, therefore we love others. Hope is the fuel that keeps faith and love running. Paul was pointing out to the Colossians that their hope wasn’t merely in something that would come in the future, but that they were also experiencing that future hope in the present. That hope was not stagnant, but was “bearing fruit and growing.” Ever since the Colossians came to know that hope, it was spreading to other people and was making a quantitative difference in the life of believers. They were forever changed by the hope that came from that faith and the love it produced. Do you know what you actually have hope in? Has that hope made a measurable difference in the quality of your character? How is faith and hope being expressed as love in your life? Not simply love to the people you would naturally love, like your family, but love to the stranger, the other, and even the enemy? Ponder these things today as you grow in grace and understanding.

Day 2: Markers of Growth (Read Colossians 1:9-14)

Report cards used to be fairly easy to understand, but nowadays we need a key to decipher our kids scores. We used to be graded on a simple listing of subject areas like history, science, and the three “R’s” of reading, writing, and arithmetic (that’s math). Depending on the grade level and subject, you could get a percentile score, a letter grade, or an easier code than is usually used today. I remember getting an “E” for excelling, “I” for improving, and “NI” for needs improvement. While we should be very careful about the faith growth of others, we can and should make a self-assessment of our own growth. I want to be careful using the metaphor and make sure you understand that I am speaking metaphorically and not literally, but we can score our own spiritual growth. Are we excelling or do we need improvement? What areas should we grade our self on?

In this passage, Paul gives us to marks by which assess our spiritual growth. They are “bearing fruit” and “increasing in knowledge of God.” Paul says that bearing fruit is living a life that is pleasing to God. We could look to Galatians 5 for ideas about what that fruit looks like. We bear fruit when things like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, and self-control are all identifying marks of our character. This is seen in practical ways when we excel at doing good towards those who are members of the Christian community or when we act in ways that are above reproach by those outside the community. A life that is pleasing to God is seen in being the peacemaker, when we do our work like it has an impact on how others see our God, and when we act selflessly instead of selfishly.

The knowledge of God is what helps us make the right choices that are required in those behaviors we label as “bearing fruit.” Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, and self-control are as much choices as they are virtues of character. I can choose to have a joyous spirit in spite of my circumstances instead of being downtrodden. I can choose to fly off the handle at someone, or I can choose to control my emotions. We make these choices as we grow in our knowledge of God through our relationship with Him. Let me put this in a more understandable way. I have spent over 16 years with Annie, therefore I know what is pleasing to her based on the knowledge of those years. I can therefore make choices that make her happy. In the same way, as we spend time with God privately and in the corporate life of the Christian community, we grow in our knowledge of God. We are therefore equipped to make choices that are pleasing to Him.

Unlike those grades we got in school that required all of the effort to come from us, the power to see progress in these markers of Christian growth come to us from the Holy Spirit. That doesn’t mean they are autopilot, our participation is certainly required, but it is by the power of God that we grow. How amazing is that? We are not expected to grow in our faith using only the power of our broken human nature, but we participate in the infinite power of the Divine nature. Here’s a question for you to think over, how do we participate in that nature? How do we work alongside the Holy Spirit to bear fruit and grow in our knowledge of God? If you have prayed today and read the passage for this text, you may have done that already. I will leave you to work on those questions and if you get stuck, you know how to contact me.

Day 3: The New Creator (Read Colossians 1:15-23)

Paul says that “all things were created through...and for [Christ].” John wrote, “ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.” These and other New Testament authors are clear to point out that Jesus is Immanuel, God with us. As such, He is the very same God that is Creator, and therefore Jesus was at the beginning of creation. It was in His image, the Image of God, that we were created. However, that image is broken by human sin, and all of creation is broken along with it. Therefore, if we were try to live a life pleasing to God apart from Christ, we would fail miserably because we are sinners by our very nature.

There is no repairing that nature. It must be put to death. Good news though, in Christ, the truly diving and very human Jesus, that nature has been put to death. It is by faith we have joined Christ in His death and our baptism is not merely symbolic, but is a real participation in that reality. Since we have joined Christ in His death, we have also been raised to new life in Him. Paul says that, “He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead…” Jesus was first in creation, being there at its beginning. He is also first in new creation, again heralding it into being. Our role is still the same, to be His image bearers, which means to reflect His nature into the world. We still have the choice that humanity had at the beginning. Do we choose to define right and wrong ourselves or do we choose to “continue in faith” by growing in the knowledge of God and bearing the fruit of right living? Will we live the life of the old nature that is ruled by death or will we live new life in Christ, which leads to eternal life? You see the Gospel calls us to more than the world can offer, not less. At the center of all the “more” that the Gospel calls us to is Christ Jesus. Do you believe that in Christ we are offered more than the world can offer? Do you believe that anything you might give up in order to bear the fruit of right living and grow in the knowledge of God doesn’t come close to the value of what you gain in Him? How will your life bear witness to that belief today?

Day 4: Sharing Experience (Read Colossians 1:24-2:5).

I grew up before smart phones and two-day Prime delivery and somehow I am able to adult like I know what I am doing. I say that jokingly because there are many things I experienced growing up that I want my children to experience. I want them to learn the lessons that we hard earned by the generations before us and passed on to me through the adults who raised me. A major part of that experience is my growth in faith. In this passage, Paul is letting the Colossians know that his ministry is to pass on the lessons taught to him and his experience with Christ so that they might have their own experience in Christ and grow in their own faith. He wants them to know this has not been easy, but that he is engaged in great effort daily on their behalf and on behalf of other Christian communities towards that end.

Our experience of life lessons and our experience of faith growth is not just for ourselves, but is also for the benefit of others. We can, and I believe we are called to, share our faith others. We can share it with our children, family, friends, and even complete strangers. This should not be an afterthought, but should be an intention effort on our part. However, we must remember that the power to do that does not come from us, but comes from the Holy Spirit within us. Do you believe you have the Holy Spirit in you? The Bible says you do. What experiences of faith do you have to share? How will you share them this week?

Day 5: Not a Philosophy, But Fullness (r ead Colossians 2:6-15)

There are people who love to spend lots of time interpreting prophesies in scripture. There are still others who pay way too much attention to numbers or look for riddles in the text to find some hidden secret meaning. Worse still, there are people who try to reason away any restriction given to us in the word of God. They try to have the ethical teachings without the moral component or holiness requirements. Yet, maybe even worse, there are those who believe everything the Good Book says, but they add on to it with culturally, historically contextual human traditions that are really more about a false sense of self-righteousness and controlling others.

The people of Colossae were facing all of this. Almost all of them had converted from pagan religions and a few were Jewish believers in Jesus. They were under all sorts of cultural, political, and familial pressures to alter the good news about Jesus Christ. Paul wanted to make clear to them that they were not ascribing to a new philosophy or trading one man-made tradition for another. When they came to faith, they were approaching none other than the Living God Himself who was incarnate in the very real Jesus of Nazareth. Because of this, they were not simply adopting a set of thoughts, but were experiencing a real change of who they were deep down in side. On top of that, there was a real change in their relationship with the One True God and the outcome of their entire future.

It is way too common that faith becomes an idea instead of being our reality. Our participation in our church family is treated more like that thing we do when we have nothing better to do than an act of worship and devotion to our Redeemer. Have you really experienced new birth through faith in Jesus? What pressures are you feeling that prevent you from growing in your faith? What would it take for you to overcome those pressures?