Sisters and brothers,
Happy Monday to all! It was wonderful to be able to still worship outside together on a beautiful fall day yesterday. As we look at John 16:16-33, we saw how Jesus transforms the sorrows and tragedies of the lives of those who believe into triumphs. We learned how the greatest injustice anyone ever faced in history was the crucifixion of Jesus. However now that injustice has been transformed by God into the very thing that provides for our justification, forgiveness, and redemption. We should always remember Jesus transforms sorrow into never ending joy. Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection transforms every need we have by unleashing the resources of heaven to meet those needs. Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection even transforms our failures into peace and victory. If God can take this greatest injustice and transform it in triumph, He can take my and your greatest sorrows, tragedies, and yes, even failures and transform them into triumph. Jesus Christ transforms the tragedies of life into triumphs.
A few weeks ago during our Sunday morning worship gathering, we prayed for Theresa’s brother who was in the hospital with complications from Covid. Theresa informed me that her brother died last week. The funeral was last weekend. Please keep Theresa and her family in your prayers during this heartbreaking time.
We have restarted weekly Bible Study on Sunday mornings at 9:30 AM. I want to encourage each of you to be part of one of these small group Bible studies if possible. There is a new class for adults and teenagers that gives a general overview of God’s Word and gives overviews of specific books of the Bible. David Juhlin will be teaching this class. Also, Jason Donaldson’s class for adults and teenagers continues in depth teaching looking at the book of Daniel. There are also classes for grade school children and preschool.
We will be reaching out to our neighbors on October 30 at 3:00 PM with a “Trunk or Treat” event. We will ask people to dress in costume and hand out candy and treats to the children of our neighborhood. We will need a lot of cars, people, and treats to pull this off, so we ask all of you to be involved. You can start now by bringing your candy and treats to the church building in preparation for this even. For more information and to sign-up to help, contact Grace.
Remember to keep praying continually for each other.
Love being your pastor,
Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church