October 2016

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Monday to all! Yesterday we had a wonderful day of worship, food and fellowship. We gathered and sang praises to God and worshipped Him with His Word. We looked at how materialism robs us of the abundant life that God wants to give us. It robs us by stealing from us the joy of the now. It robs us of the joy of helping others with the blessings God has entrusted to us. Materialism robs us of preparing for eternity. Materialism robs us of making Jesus and His kingdom our chief desire. Materialism promises much but delivers very little. Don’t build your life upon wanting more and more money and things. Invest in eternity by seeking first God’s Kingdom and using what He has entrusted to you to help others and extend His kingdom.

We will be celebrating Thanksgiving as the family of God on Sunday, November 13 at 6:00 PM. Bring family, friends and neighbors! There is a sign-up sheet in the foyer with a list of the things we need for the meal. All who were at the pot luck yesterday know how wonderful an average meal is at East Madison. Think about how great this Thanksgiving feast will be on November 13!

Love being your pastor!

Bob

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Monday! “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it!” (Psalm 118:24, NIV). Remember that we have to choose joy. We can rejoice in the day the Lord has given us no matter how difficult the circumstances. Focus on His presence with you and His love for you. Focus on the truth that as a believer He is working in your life to conform you to the image of His Son, to make you in your character like Jesus.

Yesterday we learned to seek to avoid hypocrisy. We learned that hypocrisy was more than just having inconsistencies from time to time in our lives. Even though believers are redeemed, we are still weak human beings and we will fail to follow the Lord as we should from time to time. We often forget that we not only need Jesus to save us from our sin generally, but we need Him every day to save us from our sin and ourselves. We need a Savior every single day! We also need each other! We need to be transparent with each other when we are being inconsistent so we can help each other be more consistent in following Jesus. Therefore, hypocrisy, in its rawest form, is acting like we believe something but never truly practicing what we say we believe. Hypocrisy is acting like we don’t have inconsistencies. It is acting like we have it together and hiding our struggles from others. We are to avoid hypocrisy because Jesus told us everything hidden will ultimately be revealed. We avoid hypocrisy because we must care more about God’s opinion of us than people’s opinions of us. We avoid hypocrisy because it leads to self-righteousness which causes us to think we do not need Jesus to rescue us from sin. We don’t want to act like we are followers of Jesus. We want to truly know Jesus and follow Him!

Love being your pastor!

Bob

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Monday! I pray your day is going well and you will have a great week! It is my prayer that we will walk with Jesus and thus see the world as He sees it! When we open our lives to Jesus, He enables us to see things as they really are. If we close our lives to Jesus, we can never see the world as it is. Our vision will always be tainted because, as Proverbs 1:7 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” Also, if there is a blockage in our lives which impedes our walk with God, it will also taint our seeing the world as it really is. Paul writes in Ephesians 4:29-32 to remind believers: “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” Living a life practicing the truths from these verses enables us to see from God’s perspective.

I am glad to be part of God’s family and share joys and burdens. We got to share a wonderful joy as we witnessed Ben and Abby become husband and wife this weekend. We also shared some burdens in knowing that Jean had to be taken to the hospital. Also, if that wasn’t enough for one family, Patti also had to be taken to the hospital this morning. Pray for Jean and Patti. Pray also for Barb and the rest of the family during this time. I will update you as I have new information. I am glad that we can share burdens and pray and care for one another as God’s family.

We will be observing the Lord’s Supper this coming Sunday, October 22, during our morning worship.

Love being your pastor!

Bob

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Monday! It was great to worship with you yesterday and sing about God alone being God. “Who is like the Lord our God, who is seated on high, who looks far down on the heavens and the earth?” (Psalm 113:5-6, ESV). There is none like Him and none beside Him. We learned that God calls every one of us to talk to Him. We learned prayer is so simple that the youngest believer in Jesus can talk with God. Prayer is not just for the spiritual elite but for every child of God. God wants to answer our prayers and wants to give us good things that will help us live for His glory. We should not give up when heaven seems silent when we pray, but shamelessly persist in praying for the good things that will bring God glory. We also learned that God is in no way reluctant to answer our prayers and that there is never an inconvenient time to approach God. We learned that the best thing God can ever give us is the gift of His presence, the gift of His Holy Spirit being with us whatever we might face. What a privilege we have to talk to the Eternal God of the universe because of what Jesus has done for us! What a privilege to ask Him for anything we need to live for His glory! We have the privilege to come to God’s very throne through Jesus Christ!

We are blessed to be celebrating some weddings soon among our church family. Marriage is one of God’s great blessings! God thought of marriage when he said that a man shall leave his father and mother and be united with his wife and the two shall be one flesh. Marriages centered in Jesus Christ reflect the love Jesus has for his bride, the church. Pray for these couples as they begin their lives together in marriage, that they would always center the lives and marriages in Jesus.

Continue to pray each other as you think of one another.

Love being your pastor!

Bob

Brothers and sisters,

Happy first Monday in October! The Supreme Court of the United States begins its yearly session on this first Monday every year. As for me, I am glad Almighty God is never “off session.” The Judge and Ruler of the universe is always on the throne. As a just judge, He judged us guilty as charged for our sins, but then had His only begotten Son, Jesus, pay the penalty for our sins when He died on the cross in our place. All who will accept this payment for their sins by believing in Jesus and trusting their lives to Him, are justly declared not guilty. Hallelujah! As the Chris Tomlin song says,

I’m forgiven because He was forsaken,
I’m accepted because He was condemned.
I’m alive and well,
His Spirit lives within me,
Because He died and rose again.

Amazing love, how can it be?
That You, my King would die for me?
Amazing love, I know it’s true
It’s my joy to honor You
In all I do, I honor You

It’s my prayer that together in all we do, we will honor Jesus.

Love being your pastor and serving our great Savior with you!

Bob