Sisters and brothers,
Happy Monday to all! Yesterday in the message, we looked at the world’s best advice. The world’s best advice was given by Jesus’ mother, Mary, in John 2. Jesus was at the wedding feast honoring marriage and family. The first social act of God in Genesis was creation of the family when God presented Eve to Adam. The first miracle of Jesus in the gospels was a miracle honoring marriage. At that feast, the couple ran out of wine. This would have resulted in complete humiliation for this newly wedded couple unless something was done. Mary wanted to stop this humiliation from happening, so she approached Jesus with the problem. Then Mary gave the best advice ever given to those serving the guests at the wedding. Mary told those who were serving to do whatever Jesus told them to do. Jesus told the servants to fill the huge containers that were used for ceremonial washings with water. Jesus then told them to take a draw of those containers to the master of the feast. When these servants did what Jesus told them to do, they witnessed Jesus’ first miracle, the water becoming superb wine! These servants witnessed that first miracle that protected a young couple’s marriage. From this we learned that the best thing any of us can ever do is to do whatever Jesus tells us to do. The best advice anyone can ever give another person is to do whatever Jesus tell them to do.
I know this time of social distancing has been difficult for many of us. It is difficult not to be able to meet as a congregation physically and only conduct worship virtually. However, we will come out of this! Pray for the church council as we begin to think about how we can wisely proceed in coming out of this time of social distancing. We will have to change some of the things we have taken for granted in the past, at least for a while. We will have to avoid handshakes, hugs, passing offering plates, and other things. We will have to be more careful in other areas as well. We need God’s wisdom so when the time comes to begin meeting together physically, we will have a plan in place.
I want to thank you for your faithfulness in giving to the Lord during these difficult times. We are receiving offerings in a couple of ways. You can mail offering checks to the church address at the Milwaukee Street address below. Also, you can give your offerings online at the embclife.org website by clicking the “Give Online” tab on the homepage.
Remember to keep praying continually for each other.
Love being your pastor!
Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church