April 2017

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Monday to all! We have a beautiful day and I hope your Monday is going as well as our weather. Our celebration of the Lord’s Supper yesterday and our worship reminded us of the greatness of God. His great love and great power have provided for our salvation and life. I hope the message yesterday from Luke 20 helped us all begin to pray to be people of courage in the face of corruption. Jesus courageously opposed the evil and corrupt religious leaders of His day. We too, at times, must stand against corruption as we proclaim God’s truth. May we be people who are strong and courageous as we live for the glory of God.

We will have a pot luck dinner this Sunday, April 30th, after morning worship. At this Pot Luck, we will have a quick discussion of the upcoming Hymn Sing and Testimony Night that will take place on Sunday night, May 7. I hope at the Hymn Sing on May 7th many of you will share the story of how you came to Jesus. Begin planning about how to share your story in less than 10 minutes. I believe that hearing each other’s faith stories will be a major witness and encouragement to all who attend the hymn sing. I am really looking forward to these two events!

We will have a church work day at the East Madison building on Saturday morning, May 6th.

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Monday! Remember Jesus is risen indeed! Our Resurrection Sunday celebration was wonderful yesterday. Our Savior paid the penalty for our sins and rose from the grave that we might believe and know Him. Believing in Jesus may have been something of a quiet and growing understanding in your life. Or faith may have come when we were at our very lowest and Jesus spoke our names and changed our sorrow to joy. Or it may have been a dramatic conversion from skeptic to believer as we understood that Jesus has risen and He truly was alive! What matters is that each of us as individuals have believed in Jesus as Savior and continually submit to His rule in our lives.

We will be observing the Lord’s Supper next Sunday during our morning worship service.

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Sisters and brothers,

Happy Monday to all! I hope everyone got to enjoy the beautiful weather we had this weekend. We had a great day yesterday worshipping together! Thank you worship band for your leadership. We take you guys and gals for granted. We are blessed to have you! I hope the message was helpful as we learned how to better handle rejection. Jesus knew rejection when Jerusalem’s leaders chose their own fame, power and stuff over Him. They missed their opportunity to know real life by not embracing Jesus as King and Messiah. Jesus did not respond with rage at their rejection but with tears and love. We should respond with tears and love for those rejecting us or rejecting the gospel. We should remain focused on God’s love and God’s purposes for us when rejected. Don’t respond with depression and despondency. You cannot control how other people react to you. However as believers we can by God’s power keep moving ahead by loving others and focusing on Jesus.

I also want to say a special “Thank You” to our deacons, Brian Butterfield and Jason Donaldson. They do so many things to serve East Madison that most people don’t even know about. I appreciate these men so much for their service to the Lord and His church. Also, adults, if you are not a part of Jason’s weekly Bible Study at 9:30 AM on Sunday morning, you are missing out!

This is the a special week as we look forward to celebrating the resurrection of Jesus. Remember tomorrow night, April 11, at 7:00 PM we have a presentation from “Jews for Jesus” called “Christ in the Passover.” You don’t want to miss this! Then on Friday night, April 14, at 7:00 PM we will have a joint Good Friday service with Sovereign Joy here at East Madison. I hope you are planning to be part of these special events that will help us focus on the importance of Jesus’ death and resurrection.

Also, remember that we are having an Easter brunch on Easter morning as we celebrate Jesus’s resurrection. This will take the place of that morning’s Bible studies before our worship gathering. There is a sign-up sheet on the table in the foyer for a list of items we need for the brunch.

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Monday to all! We are in the season of remembering Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection. We remember the price Jesus willingly paid to forgive our sins. He was “like a sheep led to slaughter,” but we know He willingly went there to pay the price of our redemption. Though it looked like evil men were in control of events, they were not. God was orchestrating all the events to bring about our redemption. Jesus died and rose again! He was stronger than the grave, sin, and hell itself. Yesterday we looked at how Jesus was making a statement that He was Israel’s and the world’s Savior and Messiah when he entered Jerusalem on a peaceful donkey. The time for subtlety was over! Jesus’ action boldly told who He was and His disciples rejoiced in this. We learned for us that there is a time for caution and a time for bold action. There are times in our lives when we have to boldly proclaim in Jesus that “salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven whereby we must be saved” in spite of opposition all around us. May God grant to each of us the boldness and power we need in those times.

Again, remember the two special events happening next week. We will have a presentation from “Jews for Jesus” called “Christ in the Passover” on Tuesday night, April 11, at 7:00 PM. On Friday night April 14, we will have a joint Good Friday service with Sovereign Joy here at East Madison also at 7:00 PM. I hope you are planning to be part of these special events that will help us focus on the importance of Jesus’ death and resurrection.

Also, remember that we are having an Easter brunch on Easter morning as we celebrate Jesus’s resurrection. This will take the place of that morning’s Bible studies before our worship gathering. There is a sign-up sheet on the table in the foyer for a list of items we need for the brunch.

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church