Sisters and brothers,
Happy Monday to all! Yesterday as we celebrated the Lord’s Supper, we thought about how Jesus saves us from our sin, our deadness, and our condemnation. Outside of Jesus we are not going to be condemned, but are already condemned and need to be rescued. We needed a Rescuer, a Redeemer, to save us. Jesus is the one who rescues us from sin and its eternal consequences. Jesus going to the cross to die in our place and rising from the dead made a way for us to be rescued. Taking the Lord’ Supper together helps us to regularly remember this.
We then considered from John 18 how we can handle the crises all of us will face in life. We contrasted the way Jesus handle the crisis of His arrest with how Peter handled the crisis of Jesus’ arrest. We can do what Peter did and react emotionally in our own strength. But that only leads to cowardice and failure. Or we can do what Jesus did. We can trust God whatever comes knowing He is directing our steps. We need to learn from the old spiritual we sometimes still sing, “I am weak but Thou art strong, Jesus keep me from all wrong.” We need to pray, “Lord, I can’t do this on my own. I am weak. I need your Holy Spirit to empower me to live for your glory. I need your Holy Spirit to help me to trust you when an unexpected crisis comes, and I want to react instead of waiting on you to lead me. Help me walk close with You that my life may bring glory to Your name.” Believers can weather any crisis when we remember God knows a crisis is coming and we trust Him to calmly lead us through whatever we face.
I want to thank everyone who donated to and participated in the “Trunk or Treat” outreach on Saturday. It was a tremendous success, and it was a lot of fun! We had a number of children and families come from the neighborhood and from outside the neighborhood. Also, we learned from this first “Trunk or Treat” how to improve on future events. I want to give a special thanks to Grace Donaldson who coordinated the event.
Do not forget to turn your clocks back an hour before you go to be on Saturday evening as Daylight Savings Time ends.
Remember to keep praying continually for each other.
Love being your pastor,
Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church