Church Blog

Brothers and sisters, 

Happy Monday to all! It was wonderful to be with all of you yesterday. We shared in the Lord’s Supper to remember Jesus and we gloried in Him as our Redeemer. From Mark 8 we thought about seeing Jesus with clearer and clearer spiritual vision. As we grow in our understanding of Jesus through the Word of God, we will see Him better and better. We all can have wrong ideas and concepts about Jesus because of our cultural or personal perspective. Just as Jesus healed the blind man with a multi-step approach, our vision of Jesus can become clearer. Just as the disciples in a multi-step process grew in their understanding of Jesus mission to serve, ransom, and redeem mankind, we too can keep growing in our understanding of Jesus’ call to serve Him and others. We can grow in that understanding as we deny ourselves, take up our crosses (God’s agenda for our individual lives instead of our own agenda for ourselves), and follow Jesus. We all need to pray that we will see God through His Word as He truly is. Are we allowing Jesus to help us see Him better and better so we will understand Him “more clearly, love Him more dearly, and follow Him more nearly?” Jesus continually works in the life of His followers to help them know Him and His ways better and better.

Remember to keep praying continually for each other. None of us know fully the burdens our brothers and sisters in Christ might be carrying.

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Sisters and brothers, 

Happy Monday to all! It was wonderful to worship with all of you yesterday. We missed those of you who could not be with us. We studied Mark 8 and thought about the difference between slow learning and no learning. The most important necessity for learning and seeking Jesus is wanting to grow closer to Him. If a person wants to seek Jesus, they will find Him and grow in Him. A person might be slow in learning how to follow Jesus, but he or she will learn and grow if he or she desires to learn and grow. So, we need to ask ourselves if we truly are a seeker of Jesus? Do we want to know Him and grow increasingly in our love for Him? Are we among those seekers of Jesus who will be satisfied in every way with Him like those 4000 who even forgot to eat? Are we a seeker of Jesus that often needs adjustments to our thinking to learn better how to know and walk with Him? Jesus will not give up on us. Be careful, however, that you are not among those who refuses to seek Jesus, leaving you forever frustrated and questioning. Will we be among those who want to learn of Jesus or among those who refuse to believe, learn, and grow in Him?

We will observe the Lord’s Supper during our morning worship gathering next Sunday, August 27, 2023.

Remember to keep praying continually for each other. None of us know fully the burdens our brothers and sisters in Christ might be carrying.

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Brothers and sisters, 

Happy early Monday to all! We worshipped our great Savior and sang these words from a song by Joel Sczebel:

“What shall separate us from Your love?
Can years of sorrow break eternal bonds?
Can condemnation ever raise its voice
Against the pardon of the blood of Christ?

Though our journey here is long
This will be our triumph song

Nothing in all the earth, 
Not any height above
Could ever tear us from
Your everlasting love.”

Then from Mark 7, we saw that just as there are no unclean foods for believers, there are no unclean people anywhere that are beyond the love of God. Jesus worked in the lives of the Syrophoenician woman and delivered her daughter from demon possession and then healed a man who was deaf and could barely speak who also was outside of the people of Israel. Jesus was showing all His disciples that He is the Savior for the entire world, not just one group of people. The gospel is for everyone. As the children’s song says, “Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight.” Whoever, whoever, whoever believes in Jesus will not perish but have eternal life. You may be desperate for the touch of Jesus upon your own life or upon someone you love. Keep asking, seeking, begging for the touch of Jesus. No one who truly seeks Jesus will fail to find Him. You might be deeply wounded or know someone who is deeply wounded that needs Jesus’ touch. Know this: Jesus hears the cry of your heart and wants to move in wounded lives. The gospel is for everyone, for the wounded and the broken and the outcast from every tribe, language, people, and language.The gospel is for the entire world. No person is outside or beyond the salvation found in Christ Jesus.

Remember to keep praying continually for each other. None of us know fully the burdens our brothers and sisters in Christ might be carrying.

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Sisters and brothers, 

Happy Monday to all! It was wonderful to worship our Savior together yesterday and realize Jesus is the one reason with gather regularly. From Mark 7 we learned that it is not enough to believe in just anything, but we must believe in what is actually true. Believing in the wrong person or the wrong things can be the most dangerous thing in the world. Believing the wrong things can lead to destruction. It is not enough just to believe in anything. Truth is not a subjective and relative. Truth is objective and unchangeable. If you believe tradition, ritual, and religious words are more important than loving God, others, and obeying God’s Word, you believe the wrongs things and will miss out on what life is all about. If you believe defilement comes from outside of yourself rather than from within yourself, you will never see the need for a Savior who died and rose again to save you from your sin and yourself. Belief that stands forever must be based on the truth of Jesus and His Word.

I know many of us were praying for Mike and Lori as Mike had emergency surgery on Saturday evening. I wanted to report that Mike has been discharged from the hospital and is home. Please continue to pray for Mike and Lori as Mike continues to recover.

Yesterday the livestream for the service for some reason stopped right before the beginning of the sermon. We apologize for the inconvenience. Here is a link to listen to yesterday’s message: https://youtu.be/dteFluCQD18

Remember to keep praying continually for each other. None of us know fully the burdens our brothers and sisters in Christ might be carrying.

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Brothers and sisters, 

Happy Monday to all! As we worshipped and celebrated the Lord’s Supper together yesterday, we again realized only through the sacrifice of Jesus can we come to know Holy God. We come by Jesus’ blood. Then as we looked at Jesus feeding the five thousand men plus their families and Jesus’ walking on the water, we saw Jesus revealing Himself as the eternal Son of God. The disciples saw the miracles but missed understanding through them who Jesus was. We can be like them and see Jesus provisions but not come to know Jesus more intimately. We can miss the main point of Jesus’ blessings in our lives. The main point is that we might know intimately, love passionately, and serve fervently the God who created and redeemed us. We can be like the first two workers on the St. Paul cathedral who thought they were just cutting stones and earning a living. Or we can be like the last man who said, “I am helping Sir Christopher Wren build a great cathedral to the glory of God.” We have a high calling to be on mission with the very Son of God as He builds and establishes His eternal Kingdom. We have God the Father as our Father, God the Son as our Redeemer and Savior, and God the Holy Spirit as our Comforter and Guide. We are on mission with the God of eternity. Do not just see the things Jesus does for you and others. See who Jesus is, love and live for Him, and be on mission with Him in establishing His forever Kingdom. Jesus reveals His identity as eternal God to those who have eyes to see.

We will have a special speaker next Sunday, July 30. Mike and Carolyn Miller are friends of ours that recently retired from being missionaries to Taiwan. Mike and Carolyn also started Hope Baptist Church in Mankato, Minnesota. You are going to love hearing them!

We will have a potluck luncheon Sunday, July 30, following our morning worship. Bring enough food for your family and a little extra for our guest.

Remember to keep praying continually for each other. None of us know fully the burdens our brothers and sisters in Christ might be carrying.

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Sisters and brothers, 

Happy Monday to all! Yesterday as we worshipped in song, we sought to behold the wondrous mystery of Christ Jesus who condescended and took on flesh to ransom us. Then we looked at the martyrdom of John the Baptist from Mark 6. We saw how John the Baptist’s suffering and death points us to the truth that following Jesus sometimes requires sacrifice and suffering. John spoke the truth to those in power and made powerful enemies who plotted to end his life. We learned again in this passage of Scripture that Jesus is the pearl of great price and the hidden treasure in the field. Whatever it cost us to know and follow Jesus, He is worth it! But that does not mean the price to follow Him will be small. There are times today and times throughout the history of the church that believers have paid the ultimate price. We can preach half a gospel that only tells of the good things about following Jesus. Or we can do like our brothers and sisters around the world do as they call others to faith in Jesus. A believer in a place where there is a high cost of following Jesus told a Western believer that in the West you tell followers of Jesus that they need to live for Jesus. But in our country, we tell people who will follow Jesus that they need to be willing to die for Him. Most believers will never be called to die for Christ. However, all of us will be called to sacrifice and suffer for Him as we follow Him. Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:12-13, as he was close to being executed for being a follower of Jesus: “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, ¹³while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.”  That is not the way it should be and not the way it will be when Jesus returns, but it is the way it is. We are not to seek suffering as we obey Jesus, but we are to know that it will sometimes come. I heard Hannah King say, “We are not called to be adversarial to the world or to appease the world. We are called to follow Jesus.” As we follow the One who suffered for us, we will sometimes suffer for Him. Our prayer should be that we will be ready when those times come. Following Jesus who suffered and died for us sometimes requires a willingness to suffer and die for Him.

We will observe the Lord’s Supper during our morning worship next Sunday, July 23.

Remember to keep praying continually for each other. None of us know fully the burdens our brothers and sisters in Christ might be carrying.

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Brothers and sisters, 

Happy Monday to all! Yesterday we sang about our great God and Savior who is worthy of worship and who holds fast to Himself those who believe and belong to Him. From Mark 6, we looked at how Jesus handled the rejection of friends and family closest to Him and how Jesus taught His disciples to process and handle rejection. No one likes rejection. It is hard to be rejected when you share that Jesus saves, the best news ever known about in the history of the world. It especially hurts when you love others, and they seem to keep on rejecting the forgiveness, life, love, and hope found only in Jesus. But do not become so hurt that you stop sharing. Do not become so hurt that you give up on people believing in Jesus. Down the line, some will remember your sharing the gospel with them and will later believe. Some will respond now to the message of life and salvation in Jesus. Keep on sharing Christ no matter what. Jesus is the treasure worth sharing! Believers keep sharing the good news that Jesus saves with those around us even as some reject the good news of Christ.

Remember to keep praying continually for each other. None of us know fully the burdens our brothers and sisters in Christ might be carrying.

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Sisters and brothers, 

Happy Monday to all! Yesterday we worshipped our great King and Savior Jesus Christ who is the conqueror of disease and death. We have seen Jesus showing in these four miracles recorded in Mark 4 and 5 power over nature, demons, sickness, and death. We focused yesterday on Jesus’ conquering disease and death. The Ruler of all creation is greater than all the deadly and destructive forces of this universe. The Conqueror of disease and death will one day destroy those enemies of humanity forever. The last enemy to be destroyed will be death. Arnold Schwarzenegger might not know what happens to his body and soul after death, but all who believe in Jesus know that to die now is to be immediately in the presence of Christ. And we know that when Jesus returns to rule and reign forever, we will return with Him or meet Him in the air and our earthly mortal bodies will be raised to glorious and eternal bodies never to die again. We can praise and thank our great God that Christ Jesus will completely destroy mankind’s great enemies of sickness and death.

Remember to keep praying continually for each other. None of us know fully the burdens our brothers and sisters in Christ might be carrying.

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Brothers and sisters, 

Happy Sunday to all! Today, we worshipped and praised our great redeemer God whom we desire to completely reign over us. Then from Mark 5, we saw a Jesus deliver a man who was completely under Satan’s power and controlled by demons. We saw we could believe Jesus will work mightily in our impossible situations to restore and redeem. We serve a God who “can do what no other power can do.” The God who raised Jesus from the dead can work and act and do what is impossible for any other force in the universe. If you think you are up against and immovable object or an unsolvable problem, trust our great and powerful God who will do the impossible.

We will celebrate the Lord’s Supper during our morning worship next Sunday, June 18, 2023.

Remember to bring your baby bottles back to our worship gathering next Sunday, Father’s Day. If you write a check, remember to make it out to CareNet. We will take the filled baby bottles directly to them after they are returned next week.

Remember to keep praying continually for each other. None of us know fully the burdens our brothers and sisters in Christ might be carrying.

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Sisters and brothers, 

Happy Monday to all! Yesterday we worshiped by singing about and contemplating the wondrous mystery of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. Here is a link to the wonderful hymn we sang yesterday: Come Behold the Wondrous Mystery (Official Lyric Video) – Featuring Matt Boswell & Matt Papa – YouTube. Then from Mark 4, we looked at how to react to the storms of life that will come to all of us. We learned that we can face these storms with faith and confidence in God who loves us. During these storms we need to remember certain truths. Remember if Jesus says we are going somewhere, we will get to there. Also, remember some storms, many storms, happen because God led us into those storms. Remember in the middle of every storm Jesus is in the boat with us. Never forget the Lord always cares for us in whatever storms we are going through. Remind yourself that Jesus is the ruler of all and there is nothing He cannot control. In all the storms of life trust in Jesus. I do not like thunderstorms, and I do not like stormy times of life. But because of this, I know we all can make it through those storms: Jesus protects, guides, and keeps in ultimate safety His children as they go through the storms of life.

Between Mothers’ and Fathers’ Day, we are talking up the Baby Bottle offering to support the CareNet Pregnancy Center. If you have not already, take a baby bottle and bring it back on Fathers’ Day to support this wonderful ministry. If you write a check, remember to make it out to CareNet. We take the filled baby bottles directly to them.

Remember to keep praying continually for each other. None of us know fully the burdens our brothers and sisters in Christ might be carrying.

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church