Brothers and sisters,
Happy Monday to all! Yesterday we had some crazy things happen. Some of our Bible Study leaders were sick and missed. Our sound system was down, and we had to adjust to this during our morning worship. But despite all that, God’s children met, worshipped our great God and Savior, and enjoyed being the family of God gathered. We learned from Genesis 9 how believers should respond to temptation and sin. We learned we should never overestimate our own strength to resist temptation but humbly depend on the Holy Spirit who lives in every person who believes. We also learned that we are never to rejoice in the failures of others or use their failures as an excuse for us to sin. We learned that as long as we are in these mortal bodies, we will be tempted to sin and will sometimes fall into sin. As Mark Dever wrote, “I often tell my congregation that when it comes to battling sin in our lives, the difference is not that non-Christians sin whereas Christians do not. The difference is found in which side we take in the battle. In other words, a Christian will sin, but then he will turn to God and His Word and say, ‘Help me fight against sin.’ A non-Christian, even if he recognizes his sin, effectively responds, ‘I want sin more than God.’” Christians respond to sin by continually confessing and turning away from it.
We will have our annual business meeting next Sunday, April 10, following the morning worship gathering.
On April 15 at 7:00 PM, we will have a joint Good Friday service with Midvale Baptist Church, 821 S. Midvale Blvd., Madison, at their building. Join us in this time of worship with our brothers and sisters at Midvale on Good Friday.
Resurrection Sunday is coming on April 17! This is the great day of celebration for believers as we rejoice in worshipping our Savior who conquered death. Because Jesus rose, all who believe in Him will also conquer death and rise. We will begin our celebration of Resurrection Sunday with an Easter Breakfast at 9:30 AM in our basement with our brothers and sisters of Emmanuel Church. (There is a sign-up sheet with things needed for the breakfast in the foyer.) Then at 10:30 AM, we will have a joint worship service in Spanish and English with Emmanuel Church. Plan to join us for this great celebration.
Remember to keep praying continually for each other.
Love being your pastor,
Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church