Brothers and sisters,
Happy Monday to all! We had a great day together as we worshipped our great God and gathered at the Lord’s table to remember Jesus. The worship team helped us to prepare to come to the Lord’s table as they introduced us to the original song written by Ron Roberts, “Lord, To Your Table, I come.” We learned from Matthew 15 about the difference between ritualistic and real religion. Real religion, true faith in Jesus, places God’s Word above human traditions. Real religion focuses on the internal above the external. Jesus did not come to give us ritualistic but real religion and true faith. Jesus provides us with His Holy Spirit who enables us to obey God and love others, even when they do not love us. Jesus came to provide us with a true relationship to God that changes us from self-centered persons to people that lead lives of loving God supremely and loving our neighbors as ourselves. True faith in Jesus changes us from the inside out and rejects false and shallow traditions.
We will have a potluck dinner after worship next Sunday, August 25th. Bring enough food for your family and a little extra for the guests who attend worship that day.
We will be starting a membership class on September 8. This class is designed to help understand what church membership at East Madison is about. It will last four to five weeks and be held during our Bible Study times on Sunday morning at 9:30 AM. Adults and older youth are invited to join us. The class is for those new to East Madison or those who simply want to explore what we are all about. I will be teaching the class so feel free to contact me with any question about the class.
We have a new childcare signup sheet for the next three months and we need some volunteers. All our childcare workers need to have had a background check on file with EMBC. The safety of our children is of primary concern to us. If you can help us out, please let me know. If you haven’t yet had a background check on file with EMBC, we can work on getting that done if you would like to help.
Love being your pastor!
Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church