Church Blog

Sisters and brothers,

Happy Monday to all! Yesterday as the people of the risen King, we learned from Romans 2 about God as perfect and righteous Judge. We learned that God judges the self-righteous hypocrisy of the supposed moral person. We also saw God renders perfect judgment to those who seek His glory and to those who are self-seeking. And we learned that God judges based on the light to which each individual has been exposed. God in Christ Jesus renders perfect and impartial judgment upon every human being. However, we learned that none of us by our own merit could pass the righteous judgment of Holy God without being condemned. That is why Christ Jesus took our condemnation in His own body and suffered the punishment for our sin. Those who believe in Jesus know Jesus is the Righteous Judge. Jesus, the One who gave His life for us is the One whom we will stand before in judgment. We remembered that “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? ³³Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. ³⁴Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us,” (Romans 8:32-34, ESV). Those believing in Jesus have nothing to fear because we will stand before the One who died in our place and took our judgment upon Himself.

Next Sunday, May 29, we will have our 10:45 AM worship service in parking lot, weather permitting. We will also observe the Lord’s Supper during next Sunday’s worship.

Pray for Connie Boss’ sister-in-law, Alice, who has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. She has received three doses of chemo. Pray for God’s healing touch and for her to experience His comforting presence.

We are giving out baby bottles for each of us to collect offerings between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day for the CareNet Pregnancy Center of Dane County. Your change, checks and cash make a difference. (If you do write checks, please make them out to CareNet Pregnancy Center.) When you fill a baby bottle you are helping to provide life-affirming resources to those facing unintended pregnancies through the ministry of CareNet Pregnancy Center.

We will have a called business meeting on June 5 to vote on the bids for seal coating and repair of the parking lot.

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! I pray your week has started well. Yesterday as we worshipped our greater Redeemer and Lord, we learned from Romans 1 about our great need for rescue and salvation. Often people wonder why they need to be saved. Romans 1 reminds us of the great danger every human being is in outside of Christ. God’s wrath, His holy hostility to all evil, all sin, has been revealed. We see sin as just some kind of mistake or error in judgment. However, God’s Word reveals that sin is destructive, deadly, and damning. Sin is a vile poison that destroys our relationship to God and our relationships with each other. Sin is war against a holy and good God. Because God is holy and God is love, God hates sin. God has a continual and holy hostility to this poison of sin! Sin was so horrific and evil that the only way it could be forgiven was for God’s Son to pay for it by dying in our place on the cross. Every person needs rescue from sin. We need a Savior, a Rescuer. Jesus is the only One who can rescue us. Jesus will rescue us as we trust Him and call on Him. We only need to acknowledge our great need. Holy God rescues us through faith in Jesus from the evil that has captured the hearts of every human being.

We are giving out baby bottles for each of us to collect offerings between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day for the CareNet Pregnancy Center of Dane County. Your change, checks and cash make a difference. (If you do write checks, please make them out to CareNet Pregnancy Center.) When you fill a baby bottle you are helping to provide life-affirming resources to those facing unintended pregnancies through the ministry of CareNet Pregnancy Center.

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 celebrated the wonderful grace of God who provided for us salvation and forgiveness in Jesus Christ. From Romans 1 we saw that God gives right standing and true hope to us if we will believe in the Lord Jesus. Right standing and hope does not come through behavior. It does not come through keeping religious rituals. Right standing with God and hope centers in the person of Jesus Christ. Right standing and hope extends to great and small of every nation. Right standing and hope comes through faith in Jesus alone. Quit trying to be good enough to be accepted by God. Quit thinking you must earn his love and favor. God loves you and provides you with salvation if you will believe. Trust Jesus to save you. God provides salvation through Jesus Christ to anyone who believes in Jesus.

The ladies are planning a get together on Thursday, May 12, at 6:00 PM at Monty’s Blue Plate Diner, 2089 Atwood Avenue, Madison, Wisconsin 53704. This is the first time for a long time for the ladies to have a fellowship time together. Ladies, we hope you can attend this time of fellowship.

We are giving out baby bottles for each of us to collect offerings between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day for the CareNet Pregnancy Center of Dane County. Your change, checks and cash make a difference. (If you do write checks, please make them out to CareNet Pregnancy Center.) When you fill a baby bottle you are helping to provide life-affirming resources to those facing unintended pregnancies through the ministry of CareNet Pregnancy Center. 

Thank you to all who were able to come Saturday for the workday. We were able to accomplish many needed tasks.

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 from Genesis 11 and 12 we saw Abram risked everything on the promises of God. Abram left family, country, success, and security at God’s Word. We saw that we can know God is moving and working when it seems He is silent. We learned that God uses weak and suffering people like us to show His great power. We understood God calls believers to join Him in His mission of blessing the world. We too, like Abram, can risk everything on God, knowing His promises will be fulfilled.

We need your help! We are having a workday at the church building this Saturday, May 7, at 9:00 AM. We have projects that need to be done to ensure the safety of anyone who is on our campus. Make plans to be here if you can. If you could let us know if you are planning to come, that would be helpful.

The ladies are planning a get together on Thursday, May 12. Details are coming!

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! From Genesis 11 yesterday, we learned of the efforts of mankind as people sought unity based on human authority, human achievement, and human pride. We saw efforts at a unity without God and without submission to Jesus Christ as Ruler and Lord. Human beings were created to live in relationship and dependence on God. We were created to bring glory to God and live for Him and His glory and not ourselves. Our desire to make a name for ourselves and be independent of God is the root of all sin. It was the sin of Adam and Eve in the Garden and the sin of the people building this city and tower. This is the sin of pride and the sin of the devil himself. Genesis 11 and the incident of the confusion of languages teaches us this timeless truth: Mankind united-apart from submission to Jesus Christ as Lord-results in confusion and destruction. Because of this, we earnestly pray this prayer written by Rob Smith:

Reign, King Jesus. Reign in mercy. Hear us now, we pray.
Reign in power for your glory, reign in us today

We are planning a workday at the church building Saturday, May 7 at 9:00 AM.

Remember to keep praying continually for each other. 

Love being your pastor,

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Easter Monday to all! What a fantastic day of worship we had yesterday. Worshipping with Emmanuel in two languages was so wonderful! We celebrated the resurrection of our Lord. As Pastor Jose said, all other religions have dead founders, but we have a living Savior, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ conquered death and is Lord of all. Because Jesus rose from the dead, this changes everything! Jesus takes the mess we make of our lives and the waste laying all around us and make it a beautiful structure. Jesus takes broken and ruined lives, hopeless and helpless lives, and make them brand new. Jesus takes the ruins of our lives and bring beauty and poetry from them. Always remember His Word will not fail and His promises will be kept! Remember a tomb that is empty never to be occupied again!

This Sunday will be the last Sunday to give to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions. Special offering envelopes are provided on the table in the back of the sanctuary to support the spreading of the gospel across our continent. Give as the Lord leads.

We are planning a workday at the church building Saturday, May 7 at 9:00 AM.

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! This week, Holy Week, is the week we remember the events that remind us Jesus alone is the hope of all the world. We remember Christ Jesus entering Jerusalem on a donkey’s colt proclaiming He was Israel’s and the world’s Savior and King. We remember His confrontation with hypocritical religious leaders whose religion was nothing more than empty rituals. We remember His giving us His supper to remind us that He gave His body and shed His blood so our sins could be justly forgiven, and we could be right with God. We remember the cross and Jesus dying in our place, taking in Himself the punishment we deserved for our sins. We remember the borrowed tomb in which Jesus was buried. And we remember Jesus is stronger than death in that He rose from the dead physically and bodily. Jesus forever conquered death! Jesus conquered death for you if you will believe in and receive Him. Take time this week to think deeply about all these things and to adore and love the Savior of the world.

On April 15 at 7:00 PM, we will have a joint Good Friday service with Midvale Baptist Church, 821 S. Midvale Blvd., Madison, at their building. Join us in this time of worship with our brothers and sisters at Midvale on Good Friday.

Resurrection Sunday is coming next Sunday, April 17! This is the great day of celebration for believers as we rejoice in worshipping our Savior who conquered death. We will begin our celebration of Resurrection Sunday with an Easter Breakfast at 9:30 AM in our basement with our brothers and sisters of Emmanuel Church. Then at 10:45 AM, we will have a joint worship service in Spanish and English with Emmanuel Church. Plan to join us for this great celebration.

Pray for Donald Smith as doctors have had to change his treatment plan. The treatment Donald has been receiving is becoming less effective and they are looking at other options. Donald, Deanna, and family, we love you and will keep you continually before the Lord in prayer.

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 had some crazy things happen. Some of our Bible Study leaders were sick and missed. Our sound system was down, and we had to adjust to this during our morning worship. But despite all that, God’s children met, worshipped our great God and Savior, and enjoyed being the family of God gathered. We learned from Genesis 9 how believers should respond to temptation and sin. We learned we should never overestimate our own strength to resist temptation but humbly depend on the Holy Spirit who lives in every person who believes. We also learned that we are never to rejoice in the failures of others or use their failures as an excuse for us to sin. We learned that as long as we are in these mortal bodies, we will be tempted to sin and will sometimes fall into sin. As Mark Dever wrote, “I often tell my congregation that when it comes to battling sin in our lives, the difference is not that non-Christians sin whereas Christians do not. The difference is found in which side we take in the battle. In other words, a Christian will sin, but then he will turn to God and His Word and say, ‘Help me fight against sin.’ A non-Christian, even if he recognizes his sin, effectively responds, ‘I want sin more than God.’”  Christians respond to sin by continually confessing and turning away from it.

We will have our annual business meeting next Sunday, April 10, following the morning worship gathering.

On April 15 at 7:00 PM, we will have a joint Good Friday service with Midvale Baptist Church, 821 S. Midvale Blvd., Madison, at their building. Join us in this time of worship with our brothers and sisters at Midvale on Good Friday.

Resurrection Sunday is coming on April 17! This is the great day of celebration for believers as we rejoice in worshipping our Savior who conquered death. Because Jesus rose, all who believe in Him will also conquer death and rise. We will begin our celebration of Resurrection Sunday with an Easter Breakfast at 9:30 AM in our basement with our brothers and sisters of Emmanuel Church. (There is a sign-up sheet with things needed for the breakfast in the foyer.) Then at 10:30 AM, we will have a joint worship service in Spanish and English with Emmanuel Church. Plan to join us for this great celebration.

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 an exciting day with all that was happening! We shared the Lord’s Supper together. We sang about our wonderful, merciful Savior. We witnessed the beginning of a new congregation of Christ’s followers in our midst. And we learned from Genesis 9 that God graciously entrusts mankind with caring for the earth and those people made in God’s image. We thought about the value of each person. Each person is worth more than all the stuff in the world. We learned that we are to value each human being the way God values them. Christians need to be the first to say, “We will not be part of the culture of disrespect that we find all around us. We will not denigrate or defame others because they disagree with us. We will respect and cherish the image of God we see in every person.”

We are excited for the beginning of worship services for Emmanuel Church. It was exciting to see so many new people in the building and hear the worship of God’s people and the preaching of the gospel in Spanish. If you know someone whose primary language is in Spanish, invite them to Emmanuel’s Worship at 9:30 AM here at the EMBC building.

We will be adjusting the beginning of our worship time starting next Sunday, March 27. East Madison will begin worship at 10:45 AM instead of 10:30 AM.  This will give the two congregations time to fellowship for a few minutes and get to know each other. Next week, Jose Marco will also be preaching during East Madison’s worship time.

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, it was wonderful to celebrate our oneness in Christ and worship the true and living God together. In our worship, we looked at Genesis 7 and 8 how God cared for Noah and his family during and after the flood. We learned about God’s care for all who trust Him. We discovered God brings us through the storms of life. We learned that God cares for us in and after the storms of life.  And we saw how God’s people respond to God’s love and care by worshipping Him and surrendering our lives continually to Him. During life’s most violent storms, God always provides and cares for those who trust Him. Trust Him in your storms today.

We will observe the Lord’s Supper during our worship gathering next Sunday at 10:30 AM.

Our Hispanic mission, Emmanuel Church, will begin having worship services next Sunday, March 20 during our Bible Study time at 9:30 AM. Some of the children of those adults attending will join our Sunday School classes during this time. Pray for Jose and Mary Lou Marco as they take the next step in reaching Hispanics for Christ in our community. We are so excited to be part of this gospel outreach!

Remember to keep praying continually for each other. 

Love being your pastor,

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church