Sisters and brothers,
Happy Monday to all! Yesterday hopefully found for you and your family some time of worship and encouragement after quite an eventful week last week here in Madison. As we began to work our way through the book of Daniel, we thought about wise living in a hostile culture. We learned that God enables his people to live for His glory even in the most hostile of circumstances. We learned to focus on living in the present and not in the past. We learned to not compromise those things essential to our identity in Christ. We learned to recognize that God provides people of good will that help us remain faithful to Him in difficult circumstances. And we learned to see the sovereign hand of God working among us for His glory and His purposes even when it seems like evil has triumphed. The church of Jesus, His people who have been born again into His Kingdom, are promised that the gates of hell will not prevail against us!
We will be beginning some new short-term small groups on Wednesday evening, September 19th. Both these studies will take place on Wednesday evenings at 7:00 with locations to be announced. The new women’s group will be a Bible study on prayer using the film the “War Room.” The men’s study is from the Conquer Series and entitled: The Battle Plan for Purity. It is a discipleship study for men on how to walk with God and triumph over the temptation of pornography. It is said that up to 63% of Christian men struggle with the temptation of internet pornography. This study provides understanding of and help in overcoming those temptations. Even if you might not struggle with the specific temptation of pornography, you will learn some principles about overcoming other kinds of temptation. I encourage every man that can to be part of this study.
We will also begin soon a new short-term DVD Bible Study on Sunday mornings at 9:30 AM for older youth and adults called “The Clash of Kingdoms.” In this DVD study facilitated by Damon and Megan Tolhurst you will “discover how Paul communicated the Good News of Christ to Philippi, a Roman colony that worshipped false gods. Can you live the message as Paul did while he encouraged the church in Philippi to consider itself a colony of heaven, not Rome? Consider your citizenship and the message you convey to the world as Ray Vander Laan takes you deeper into the culture of ancient Philippi.”
Continue to pray for the Juhlin’s in the passing of Annette mom’s, Bonnie Mullholland.
Love being your pastor!
Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church