Church Blog

Sisters and brothers,

Happy Easter Monday to all! Jesus is risen indeed! We passionately worshipped our risen Lord yesterday and rejoiced that He provided for our forgiveness and conquered death for all who will believe. From Luke 24, we looked at the continuing witnesses to the physical and bodily resurrection of Jesus. We looked at the continuing witness of the empty tomb, the continuing witness of Scripture, the continuing witness of skeptics, and the continuing witness of Jesus’ Church. We saw that if God does not give us exactly what we ask for in prayer, it is only because He something better for us in the future. We see so much hypocrisy and evil among Christians and God’s church today. However, we have a perfect Savior, One who rose from the dead never to die again. We follow Jesus despite all the failures of believers. Yes, we are given something so much better than having temporary blessings on earth and being a part of some worldly kingdom that will one day pass away. We are a part of the eternal Kingdom of Jesus Christ. We have a King who conquered death never to die again and we will reign with Him forever. Christ’s bodily resurrection establishes that He will rule and reign forever!

Our annual East Madison business meeting will be held on Sunday, April 16, 2023, after our morning worship.

Remember to keep praying continually for each other. 

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Monday to all! Yesterday, we worshipped our great God and remembered the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. We sang about the crowd on that Palm Sunday proclaiming Jesus as the King who comes in the name of the Lord and shouting “Hosanna,” which means, “Lord, save us,” as He entered Jerusalem. We learned that Jesus continually deserves praise. We saw in Matthew 21 Jesus making the claim that He is Israel’s and the world’s Savior and Messiah and He deserves worship. We saw Jesus confronting the hypocritical and unjust religious leaders of the day with His claims. We saw that Jesus did not come as a conquering general kind of Savior. Jesus did not come as a political revolutionary. Jesus came as a humble Servant who willingly gave His life to provide forgiveness and eternal life to us. Jesus came gently and riding on a donkey’s colt. Yes, Jesus was confronting injustice and evil, but confronting it with truth, love, and non-violence. While other leaders think people should die for them and their cause, King Jesus died for us so that we might be forgiven. Yes, we too, like Jesus’ followers on that day, cry out “save us, Lord” to the only One who can.

We will have a joint Good Friday service with Midvale Baptist Church at East Madison Baptist Church this Friday, April 7, at 7:00 PM. We will celebrate the Lord’s Supper together as we remember Christ sacrifice for our forgiveness.

Also, we will have our annual Easter Breakfast this Easter Sunday, April 9, 2023, at 9:30 AM before our Easter worship. There will be no Sunday School. Please bring enough food for yourself and a little extra for any guest we might have.

Our annual East Madison business meeting will be held on Sunday, April 19, 2023, after our morning worship.

Remember to keep praying continually for each other. 

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Sisters and brothers,

Happy Monday to all! Yesterday was a wonderful day of praising and thanking the Lord. From James 5, we saw the people of God, the church, should be known as a people of prayer. Because of this, let us pray when we or others suffer. Because of this, let us always pray and praise God for His goodness. Because we are a people of prayer, let us ask God in faith for His healing of all kinds and believe that He will answer those prayers. Also, let us as God’s people in humility confess our sins to one another and share our struggles as we seek to become more and more and more like Jesus. Let us seek the wanderers who have been among us but now are going astray to bring them back to Jesus and His people and save them from death. If we are a true people of prayer, we will see God’s power flow among us and through us! God’s people, the church, need to continually be people of prayer, praise, and power.

Plan on inviting someone to our special Easter services on Good Friday, April 7, at 7:00 PM and/or our Easter service at 10:45 AM on Resurrection Sunday, April 9. The Easter season is a time when many people are more open to invitations to come to church. Also, most studies reveal people are more likely to come to worship when a friend invites them. Who could you pray for and invite to church this Easter season?

Emmanuel Church will be holding a block party on the East Madison lot on Sunday evening, April 2.

Remember to keep praying continually for each other. 

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Monday to all! We sought to “Behold Our God” and worship Him alone yesterday as we met. Then from James 5, we looked at how believers should patiently deal with injustice. Injustice is something that we do need to stand against so that it might be corrected. But we need to stand against it in the right way. We stand against it in love and in truth. We do not use evil, violence, or unjust means to correct injustice. We stand against it, not truly for ourselves, but for those around us who come after us. We stand against it in nonviolence and love, even praying for those who commit injustice. We make sure we are not part of injustice. We refuse to hoard wealth and blessing God has given to us. We stand against injustice by justly paying for service and those who work for us. We stand against injustice by using God’s blessings, not mainly for our comfort, ease, and pleasure, but for the good of others. Finally, we realize that all the injustices of this life will not be corrected until God’s great day of judgment when every wrong will be righted. Believers patiently wait for the just God of the universe to right every wrong at the soon return of Christ.

The Easter season is a time when many people are more open to invitations to come to church. Also, most studies reveal people are more likely to come to worship when a friend invites them. Who could you pray for and invite to church this Easter season?

Remember to keep praying continually for each other. 

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Sisters and brothers,

Happy Monday to all! We worshipped yesterday through singing and Scripture reading, through offerings, celebrating the Lord’s Supper, hearing the Word of God taught and proclaimed, and obeying God in whatever He communicated to us by His Spirit through the Word. From the last section of James 4, we learned that success in life comes only when we acknowledge that our lives are in God’s hands, that we are here to serve him, and that we must submit ourselves and ambitions to serve Jesus Christ. We learned that planning our lives without seeking God’s direction and will is the height of arrogance. As we plan our lives seeking God’s will, we need to ask ourselves some questions. First, we ask ourselves if we have considered how short life truly is. Second, we ask ourselves if we have considered our responsibility to our fellow man. And finally, we ask ourselves if we have considered success in life comes only when we submit our lives and ambitions to Jesus Christ. If we will submit to Jesus Christ and His plan for us, we will find life, joy, peace, purpose, and success. God’s people humbly acknowledge that our lives and future are all in God’s hands. And God’s people humbly and willingly submit to Him.

We will have a potluck luncheon following our morning worship next Sunday, March 12. Bring enough food for you family and a little extra for any quest we might have.

Remember to move your clocks forward an hour on Saturday evening before bed. Daylight savings time start next Sunday, March 12.

Please keep praying for Kathy McElmurry;

Remember to keep praying continually for each other. 

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Monday to all! Yesterday we worshipped our glorious Christ who took our sin upon Himself and gives His righteousness to all who believe. We looked at James 4 and thought about ruthlessly dealing with our personal sins. Our sins and selfishness bring confusion and disorder among the church, the people of God. But if God’s people will humbly submit to God and daily turn from our sin and selfishness, God’s unity and oneness can prevail. If we submit to God and resist the devil and the sin and selfishness he wants in our lives, the devil will flee from us. We can truly be the people of peace and the peacemakers that God intends. We will be ready and available for God to use us for His glory.

We will be observing the Lord’s Supper in our morning worship next Sunday, March 5.

I want to encourage you to see the movie “Jesus Revolution.” It is a telling of the Jesus Movement revival of the 1970’s. Carla and I saw it Saturday and were inspired and encouraged. Here is a link to a review of the movie. “Jesus Revolution” is a well-told true story starring Kelsey Grammer (denisonforum.org).

Please keep praying for Kathy McElmurry’s recovery.

Remember to keep praying continually for each other. 

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Sisters and brothers,

Happy Monday to all! Yesterday we praised our great and faithful God, the only God and Ruler of all there is. Then from James 3, we learned the difference between earthly wisdom and heavenly wisdom. Earthly wisdom centers around me-my comfort, my pleasures, and getting what I want. Earthly wisdom is manipulative and desires for me and my team to win and you and your team to lose. Heavenly wisdom centers around glorifying God, bringing His people together, and building up others. The question for all of us is: which wisdom is guiding us? All of us can sometimes see both in our lives. We can be like Peter who one moment boldly confesses faith in Jesus as the Son of God and the Savior of the world. Then in the next moment when Jesus tells the apostles He will face the cross, we can have a worldly wisdom which does not deny self or accept hardships and sacrifice. The worldly wisdom does not understand suffering is a part of following Jesus. All of us need to lose our own personal agendas, deny ourselves, take up our cross daily, and follow Jesus. Heavenly wisdom glorifies God, brings His people together, and builds others up. Which wisdom, Godly or earthly, is guiding you today?

Please keep praying for Kathy McElmurry; Remember to keep praying continually for each other. 

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Monday to all! As we worshipped together, we adored and praised our great God. He alone is God and there is none other in all the universe who deserves our praise. Then from James 3, we saw the power of our words. Our tongues, our words, without the help of God’s Spirit, can bring great ruin and destruction. Our words can be extremely hypocritical. But there is an answer for us to have words of life and encouragement. It is Christ in us. It is daily being filled with God’s Holy Spirit and filling ourselves continually with God’s Word. Our words and speech are powerful. They do not have to be destructive or hypocritical. Within ourselves, we will never be able to be consistent in our words. But, by the power of Jesus who lives in every believer, our speech can be affirming, encouraging, and life giving. We can keep the pesky little tongue under control through Jesus’ power in us. The words of believers controlled by God’s Spirit bring praise to God and encouragement and strength to others.

Please keep praying for Kathy McElmurry as she recovers from her stroke. Kathy is now in a rehab center close to her home in Aberdeen, SD.

Remember to keep praying continually for each other. 

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Sisters and brothers,

Happy Monday to all! We had a wonderful day of worship together as we sang about the great faithfulness of our Lord Jesus, who is our Rock and our Redeemer. Then as we continued to look in James 2, James confronted us with the relationship of faith and works. In this section, James is not asking if we are saved by faith. James knows that faith in Jesus alone saves. But James is asking, “What kind of faith saves?” Claims to faith in Jesus need to be backed by an ever-changing life. Faith in Jesus can’t be seen, but the evidence of a changed and caring life can be seen. We must back up our claims to faith by walking with Jesus and loving and caring for others. True faith in Jesus changes lives. False faith produces only words and never a changed life. True faith reveals itself in good works. False faith is as dead as a corpse in a coffin. True faith in Jesus reveals itself by actively loving God and serving others.

Please keep praying for Kathy McElmurry as she recovers from her stroke. Kathy is now in a rehab center close to her home in Aberdeen, SD.

Remember to keep praying continually for each other. 

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Monday to all! We celebrated the Lord’s Supper and considered all that Jesus did for us as He died on the cross and rose again so we could have forgiveness and eternal life. Then, as we studied James 2 yesterday, we saw that God is no respecter of persons. A person’s outward beauty, wealth, race, social standing, or fame holds no sway in how God looks at people. We also should see people as God sees them, without being a respecter of person and without being influenced by beauty, wealth, race, social standing, or fame. God does not see the way people see. We look at the outward and seek to determine their potential. We are like Samuel the prophet looking for a new king for Israel. “But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart,” (1 Samuel 16:7.) And since we cannot see anyone’s heart, we are to not ever look at a person’s beauty, wealth, race, social standing, or fame in determining how we treat them. We are to treat each person we see as a reflection of the image of God and as one for whom Christ died and whom without Him will perish. Therefore, believers seek to recognize the image of God in every person. Believers seek to keep the royal law that loves and is merciful to all around us no matter their social or economic status. We all know how short all of us fall from living this way. We thank God that through Jesus our sins are forgiven and can keep on being forgiven. We also know that by the power of the Holy Spirit who lives in us, we can love more purely and live more and more like God wants us to live. Believers in Jesus seek to see every person as made in the image of God and loved by Him.

We will have a potluck luncheon after worship next Sunday, February 5, 2023. Bring enough food for your family and a little extra for guests who might join us.

Continue to pray for Kathy as she recovers and is in rehab.

Below is information and prayer requests for missionaries we support. Remember to keep praying continually for each other.

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church