Happy Monday, April 9, 2018 church!

Sisters and brothers,

Happy Monday to all! Yesterday was a great day to worship our great God. I am so thankful for our worship team! They do a wonderful job in leading us. It always amazes me how the songs and the messages fit together, though we normally don’t make any conscious effort to do that. We don’t choreograph our worship services. There might be a few times I want a certain passage to be read or a certain song to be sung, but most of the time Pete and I work independently on planning worship. He chooses the music to be sung and the Scriptures to be read before I preach. I work on preaching God’s Word. However, many times it seems like God does choreograph the services and I am amazed!

Yesterday we looked at surviving and thriving in difficult times. How do you go through very difficult times and encourage others going through very difficult times? We saw that focusing on our sure salvation in Jesus Christ helps believers cope with difficult times. We saw knowing that the sufferings of believers do indeed have purpose can also help strengthen believers during difficult times. We also realized that this great salvation in Jesus truly fulfills God’s entire Word and knowing this empowers us to deal with difficult times. The living hope found in Jesus Christ truly provides strength to face all the difficulties of life!

It was so wonderful to have Peggy back with us yesterday. Peggy wanted to me to thank all of you for your prayers for her while she was sick. She also wanted me to tell you that your prayers worked! We thank God for you Peggy, that you to continue to teach us about our powerful Savior!

We will be having the Lord’s Supper this Sunday during worship.

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church