Brothers and sisters,
Happy Monday afternoon to the church dispersed! We gather to worship on Sunday and we are the church gathered. But we are as much the church when we are dispersed throughout Madison on Monday morning. As the church dispersed we are the presence of Jesus, who lives in everyone who believes, to those who surround us. Never forget God wants to work through you this day wherever you might be and whoever you might be with.
We had a great day as we studied God’s Word in Bible Study at 9:30 AM and as we gathered to worship Jesus by singing His praises and listening to His Word proclaimed at 10:30 AM. I hope you are part of both of these Sunday morning events. We missed those who could not be with us yesterday and we pray you are doing well. The sermon dealt with the passage in Luke 4 about Jesus and how he overcame temptation. I hope you learned things that will help you whenever you are tempted to believe the devil’s lies about the shortcuts he offers us. When Jesus saves us, He gives us His Spirit and His Word and we can overcome temptations that come our way. But the thing that I am most grateful for as I think about this is that Jesus overcame temptation! He was in all ways tempted like every one of us, but completely resisted temptation and was without sin. He overcome every temptation! Because He overcame every temptation, Jesus died as the perfect sacrifice for our sins and can completely save those of us who have fallen to temptations who will come to God through Him! You and I do not and will not overcome every temptation, but because Jesus did, we are forgiven, we are saved! I say, “Thank you Lord for saving a wretch like me!”
I am grateful for those who serve us weekly. We have Bible Study leaders and small group leaders who prepare and work hard to help us learn God’s truth and become more like Jesus. We have people who work continually with our children and youth to show them the love of Jesus and lead them to follow Him. We have ushers who weekly welcome people, help people who need their help during our services, and lead us in the giving of our offerings to God. We have a praise team who work hard and weekly give of themselves to help us adore our great God. We have people who help us to be on mission with God in Madison and around the world. I want to say to all of you who serve, “Thank you!” I love serving the Lord with you! God calling me to be your pastor is a great privilege and I pray that I will never take it for granted.
Have a great week brothers and sisters,
Pastor Bob