Church Blog

Sisters and brothers,

Happy Monday to all! I want to thank Mark Millman for preaching for me yesterday. Mark is a good friend to East Madison and works hard all over the state to see places where new outreaches can start and to encourage pastors and church planters. Also, thank you Pete for helping everything to run smoothly with worship team members and myself being gone. I also want to wish all the moms a belated “Happy Mother’s Day.”  I hope each of you had a great day. I know for some, Mother’s Day can hold sadness because of the loss of a mom, because some want or wanted to be a mom but that has not happened, or some other very personal reasons. I hope each of you that might be in that situation felt a special sense of God’s loving presence.

We will be celebrating the Lord’s Supper during our worship time next Sunday morning, May 16, 2021. Hopefully, we will be able to meet outside in our parking lot.

During the weeks between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, we are participating with CareNet Pregnancy Center of Dane County in the Baby Bottle Campaign to help support this wonderful ministry. Baby bottles will be available next Sunday for you to take. We ask you use these to collect on offering which we shall take to them after Father’s Day. Also, if you would like to pick up a baby bottle before then to start, just stop by the church building during the week.

We will be concluding our virtual Bible Study of the book of Galatians this Wednesday, May 12^th at 6:30 PM. We will be studying Galatians 6.

Remember to keep praying continually for each other.

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Monday to all! Yesterday we worshipped our great God and Savior and realized eternity itself will not exhaust the worship He deserves. We thought from John 8 about how we should respond to those “guilty as charged” by looking at how Jesus responds to the guilty. We saw that Jesus refuses to join the self-righteous crowd seeking to humiliate those deserving condemnation. We also observed Jesus challenges self-righteous condemners with their own sinful lives. We noticed Jesus affirms the dignity of those who have sinned by refusing to condemn and offering forgiveness and a new start. WE ARE TO BE LIKE JESUS, knowing that every single one of us is “guilty as charged” before the Holy God of the universe. Jesus can say to us as the “guilty as charged” that we are not condemned, and we too can turn our backs on sin and seek to sin no more. Why can Jesus say this to us? Because Jesus paid the penalty for our sins, dying on the cross in our place, so that we, and every sinner who will look to Him, could be justly forgiven. Jesus withholds condemnation guilty sinners deserve so they might receive His just forgiveness and be saved from sin.

We will be continuing our virtual Bible Study of the book of Galatians this Wednesday, May 5^th at 6:30 PM. We will be studying Galatians 5. If you would like to be part of this study, let me know so I can add you to the email list to send you the weekly link.

Remember to keep praying continually for each other.

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Sisters and brothers,

Happy Monday to all! Yesterday we looked at John 7 and Jesus’ great invitation: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. ³⁸Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”  Jesus is the one who quenches the thirsting of our souls. Coming to Him is the way to find true and ultimate satisfaction in life. Jesus saves and forgives us, and Jesus provides all who believe with His Holy Spirit to strengthen, comfort, guide, empower, protect, and sustain us. The Holy Spirit will never leave or forsake those who believe in Jesus. The Holy Spirit provides a never exhaustible source of life to those who will accept Jesus’ offer and come to Him. Jesus invites those thirsty for true life to quench that thirst through Him.

We hope to be able to meet outside beginning next Sunday, May 2. Watch for details in Saturday’s worship order email.

We will be continuing our virtual Bible Study of the book of Galatians this Wednesday, April 28^th at 6:30 PM. We will be studying Galatians 3 and 4. If you would like to be part of this study, let me know so I can add you to the email list to send you the weekly link.

Remember to keep praying continually for each other.

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Monday to all! Yesterday in worship we worked our way through Psalm 107 and confessed together how we can cry to the Lord in our trouble, and He ultimately delivers us from our distress. The message from John 7 helped us to learn that nearness to the truth of God does not ensure understanding of the truth of God. We learned that speculations about the truth of God does not lead to acceptance of the truth of God. We also learned that religious elitism leads us away from God’s truth. The way to know truth is to believe in Jesus and be willing to do God’s will. If that is true in our lives, we will continually grow in understanding God’s truth and God’s ways. We will continually grow nearer to Jesus Himself. We saw that any person willing to do God’s will increasingly understands the truth of God found in Jesus Christ.

We will be continuing our virtual Bible Study of the book of Galatians this Wednesday, April 21st at 6:30 PM. We will be studying Galatians 3. If you would like to be part of this study, let me know so I can add you to the email list to send you the weekly link.

Here is a link one of my favorite worship hymns at this time, “The King In All His Beauty”: https://youtu.be/odKxftGhVRE. I hope you enjoy it also.

Remember to keep praying continually for each other.

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Sisters and brothers,

Happy Monday to all! Yesterday as we worshipped and celebrated the Lord’s Supper, we considered our Savior and the price paid for our salvation and for us to live in community with Him and one another. Then from John 6:60-71, we thought about following Jesus when it is unpopular to follow Him. We thought about following Him at the times we struggle understanding His instructions and His ways. We thought about continuing to follow Jesus even when someone we know turns their backs on Jesus and no longer follows Him. We confess with Peter that Jesus alone has words of eternal life. So, whatever comes our way in the days ahead, no matter how much we might be ridiculed, mocked, opposed or misunderstood, we will follow Jesus. If we want God’s life, real and eternal life, we follow Jesus no matter what comes our way.

We will be continuing our virtual Bible Study of the book of Galatians this Wednesday, April 7 at 6:30 PM. We will be studying Galatians 2. If you would like to be part of this study, let me know so I can add you to the email list to send you the weekly link.

Remember to keep praying continually for each other.

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Monday to all! What a fantastic Resurrection Sunday we celebrated yesterday! How wonderful it was to sing praises to the risen Christ! How wonderful it was to read from the Scripture about this most important event in history remembering Jesus’ complete victory over death! How wonderful it was to witness George Linde and Lauri Skille confess Jesus as Lord in baptism! The message from 1 Corinthians 15 reminded us of the continual hope we have because of the bodily resurrection of Jesus from the dead. It may have looked bad on that Friday afternoon almost 2000 years ago after Jesus was crucified and buried in a borrowed tomb. But now on that following first resurrection Sunday, Jesus broke the chains of death over mankind by rising physically and bodily from the grave never to die again. Jesus ripped the gates of death off its hinges so that all who believe in Him will not perish but have everlasting life. Jesus Christ’s bodily resurrection provides the sure foundation for our faith.

We will be beginning a new virtual Bible Study of the book of Galatians this Wednesday, April 7 at 6:30 PM. If you did not join us for the last virtual study and would like to be part of this study, let me know so I can add you to the email list to send you the weekly link. 

We will have our annual business meeting on Sunday April 11 right after our morning worship. We will provide a zoom link for all who want to join us virtually on that day so we can receive your feedback.  

Remember to keep praying continually for each other.

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Sisters and brothers,

Happy Monday to all! We had a great day worshipping yesterday! It was wonderful to hear from Dave Germann the special, “Glorious Day.” Also, his testimony was so encouraging about how one of East Madison’s early members who is now with the Lord, Peggy Blum, witnessed to him as a young man and planted the seeds of the gospel in his life. As we worshipped through Scripture readings, songs, and the proclamation of God’s Word, we thought about the triumphal entry of Jesus. We considered that we, along with believers from every age, need to boldly proclaim Jesus as King, Savior and Lord. There will be those who will seek to silence us by mockery, intimidation, economic pressures, and, sometimes, even persecution. We must pray for boldness so that these things would never stop us in proclaiming Jesus as King, Savior and Lord to our generation.

We will be having a Good Friday service this Friday evening, April 2 at 6:30 PM. We will be gathering physically and virtually. I will send out the worship order and link for this later this week.

We are looking forward to celebrating Resurrection Sunday by seeing George Linde and Laurie Skille confess their faith through believers’ baptism this Easter Sunday, April 4. What a great way to proclaim the truth of Jesus’ resurrection!

We will be beginning a new virtual Bible Study of the book of Galatians on Wednesday, April 7 at 6:30 PM. If you did not join us for the last virtual study and would like to be part of this study, let me know so I can add you to the email list to send you the weekly link.

We will have our annual business meeting on Sunday April 11 right after out morning worship. We will provide a zoom link for all who want to join us virtually on that day so we can receive your feedback.

Remember to keep praying continually for each other.

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Monday to all! Yesterday we worshipped our Almighty Creator who is the very breathe of life. We learned from John 6 how Jesus is the very bread of life. We learned that we are not to be searching simply for the food and sustenance for this life, but for the food that gives eternal life. We learned that Jesus is the very source of eternal life. Jesus’ flesh was broken, and His blood was shed so we could receive Him as the only sacrifice acceptable before Holy God to provide forgiveness for our sins. Jesus provides ultimate satisfaction by giving true and eternal life to those who receive Him.

We are planning a Good Friday service on Friday evening, April 2 at 6:30 PM. We will be gathering physically and virtually. Details will follow in next week’s email.

We will be baptizing on Easter Sunday, April 4. If you are interested in being baptized, contact me, and let us talk about what baptism is and who should be baptized. 

We will have our annual business meeting on Sunday April 11 right after out morning worship. We will provide a zoom link for all who want to join us virtually on that day so we can receive your feedback.  

Remember to keep praying continually for each other.

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Sisters and brothers,

Happy Monday to all! Yesterday through the message from John 6 and the songs we worshipped through, we considered the surpassing greatness of our God. In John 6, we see the apostles of Jesus in two humanly impossible situations. Through these, Jesus wanted to show them how great He is and who He is. Jesus also wants them to learn to follow Him whatever He might lead them to do. We learned that there are temptations in both our weaknesses and in our successes. Sometimes in our weaknesses, we are so focused on us and our limitations and our lack of resources that we forget that whatever God calls us to do, He will enable, empower, and resource us to do. God works through our weaknesses to show His mighty power! Sometimes when God has used us and we see great successes, we can forget that it is God who has worked and allowed us to be a part of what He has done. We can gain an inflated opinion of ourselves in those successes. So, the question always is whenever some great need or opportunity presents itself to us, “Does God want to meet that need or opportunity through me or us?” This question is the only one that matters. No matter how great our weaknesses or limited our resources may be, if God wants to use us to meet certain needs, He will provide the provisions and manpower that we need to accomplish what He wants to accomplish. God will show through weak people like us how great and powerful He is. God works in impossible situations to show His children His mighty power that enables them to do whatever He leads them to do.

We will be baptizing on Easter Sunday, April 4. If you are interested in being baptized, contact me, and let us talk about what baptism is and who should be baptized. 

Remember to keep praying continually for each other.

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Monday to all! From John 5 yesterday we discovered Jesus invites us to scrutinize His claims. The religious leaders of Jesus day wrote Jesus off and did really examine Jesus’ claims. They rejected the witnesses of John the Baptist, the witness of the works of Jesus, and the witness of God the Father through the Scripture. They refused to check out His claims. Why? Because they cared more about impressing their fellow man than seeking the truth of God! Do not do what they did. Examine the evidence for His historical life and for His resurrection from the dead never to die again. Seek the affirmation of God and not men and women. Look at the lives of those who have truly followed Jesus and those who even died because they believed in Jesus. Jesus invites you to examine Him, to check Him out and see if He and others can back up His claims. Following Jesus is not a “blind leap of faith.” Faith is involved but it is not blind faith based on no evidence. Following Jesus is based on reliable, historical, reasonable, and verifiable evidence and truth. If you have not checked Jesus out to verify His claims, check Him out today. Trustworthy witnesses verify Jesus as the only Lord and Savior of the world.

Do not forget to spring forward an hour next Saturday night, March 13 before you go to sleep.  Daylight savings time is beginning.

We will be baptizing on Easter Sunday, April 4. If you are interested in being baptized, contact me, and let us talk about what baptism is and who should be baptized. 

Remember to keep praying continually for each other.

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church