Church Blog

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Monday to all! We had a good day of worship and fellowship yesterday.  It was wonderful to be able to worship the great and only God of the universe and think about His faithfulness, His very essence, and His glory and might. We then looked from Matthew 18 about a very serious and grave subject.  We saw how it is every believers’ responsibility to seek to restore those who are straying.  Matthew 18 tells us to go to a person who is straying and speak to them face to face before we go to anyone else.  If face to face meetings don’t bring about a restoration, we are to take two or three other neutral people who walk with God and have spiritual discernment and go again to the brother or sister who is straying.  If, after going with a small group, there is no returning to the Lord, we are to take this to the congregation.  If the person still does not listen and return to the Lord, we are, as Jesus said, “let him be to us as a Gentile and tax collector.”  We learned even this drastic step, along with all the previous steps, was meant to restore the person back to fellowship with the Lord and His people. Why is this true?  It is true because a person who refuses to turn from sin has something desperately wrong in their life.  Sometimes, it can mean the person who does not repent has not been saved from sin.  If you are not saved and then continually being saved from sin, you are not saved. The drastic step is to cause the person to see the destruction and deadliness of unrepentant sin and realize that he or she probably either does not know the Lord and needs salvation, or that there is something desperately wrong in their walk with God. It is our responsibility to search for the straying little ones and do all we can to restore them to the Lord and His church.     

The ladies Bible study of Philippians continues Wednesday evenings at 6:30 PM.  If you have any questions, contact Carla. 

Midvale Baptist Church has invited anyone to a WMU event at their church on Saturday, October 5 from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM. D’anna Shotts, missionary to Nigeria, will be speaking.  If you are interested in attending, let me know so I can let them to know to help them plan for lunch on that Day.

On Sunday evening, October 13, we will have hymn sing, sharing of testimonies and campfire beginning at 6:00 PM.  The last time we did this, it was a wonderful time of worship, sharing and getting to know each other.  I hope you will make plans to attend.  

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Sisters and brothers,

Happy Monday to all! As we worshipped through singing and celebrating the Lord’s Supper, we focused on the great grace and mercy of God.  God demonstrated this great grace and mercy to us in the sacrifice of Jesus. Jesus willingly gave His life on the cross so anyone who will believe in Jesus could be forgiven and given eternal life.  How great is the God who has saved and redeemed us!  We then considered from Matthew 17 and 18 how important the little ones are to Jesus.  Little ones include children, people no one may care about, and those whom others look down on and despise.  These little ones are valued and loved by Jesus.  We ourselves are among those little ones! Also, we are to care for the little ones.  Jesus calls us to be like the little ones in childlike humility and dependence.  Jesus calls us receive the little ones and to protect the little ones from things that cripple them.  And sometimes, Jesus calls us to search for the little ones when they go astray.  Jesus call us to embrace childlike dependence and humility toward Him.  Jesus calls us to continually love and care for the little ones among us. 

We will be having a potluck luncheon following our morning worship next Sunday, September 29. Bring enough food to feed your family and a little extra for our guests.

The ladies will begin the second half of their study of Philippians this Wednesday evening, September 25 at 6:30 PM.  If you have any questions, contact Carla. 

Midvale Baptist Church has invited anyone to a WMU event at their church on Saturday, October 5 from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM. D’anna Shotts, missionary to Nigeria, will be speaking.  If you are interested in attending, let me know so I can let them to know to help them plan for lunch on that Day.    

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Monday to all! Yesterday we thought about the greatness of God and seeing Him through the eyes of faith.  Our worship team led us in singing about His glory and greatness.  The chorus to “Behold, Our God,” invited us to: 

Behold our God seated on His throne
Come, let us adore Him
Behold our King—nothing can compare
Come, let us adore Him.

The message from Matthew 17 helped us to see that from time to time glimpses of Jesus’ glory reveal what we will experience eternally as we live forever with Jesus.  Too often we simply focus on serving God in this life for what we may seemingly get out of that now instead of serving Him because we love Him and want to live for His glory.  What happens if a child or spouse die or if a horrific crime is committed against us or someone we love.  There are tragedies and events that happen in this life that will never make sense on this side of eternity.  These kind of tragedies will not fit into a shallow understanding of God’s goodness.  Only in the light of God’s ultimate triumph and destruction of evil when Jesus returns will some things be working to the good of those who love the Lord.  Because of this, we do need to continually remember to love God supremely and live with eternity in mind when evil is destroyed and where Christ reigns forever. 

The Church Council will meet Wednesday, September 18, at 6:30 PM.

We will be observing the Lord’s Supper in our morning worship next Sunday, September 22.

The ladies will begin the second half of their study of Philippians on Wednesday evening, September 25.  If you have any questions, contact Carla. 

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Sisters and brothers,

Happy Monday to all! We had a good day yesterday as we considered from Matthew 16 the Savior who suffered for us and calls us to bear our own crosses and be willing to suffer for Him.  We see Jesus revealed as Messiah, but He is not the kind of Messiah most expected.  Jesus is Messiah who sacrificed and suffered for us.  Jesus suffered in our place so we could be forgiven and be counted righteous in God’s sight.  But that does not mean we will not suffer in this life.  In fact, suffering is a part of the human condition because all people suffer in this fallen world.  Also, there will be some suffering endured because we name the name of Jesus.  Jim Dennison pointed out that when we suffer or others suffer, we can question at times why God allows suffering.  But we can never accuse God of not understanding our suffering, because God the Son entered our suffering by becoming a human being.  Then, ultimately, Jesus knows our suffering as the One who suffered the humiliation and pain of the cross while dying so our sins can be forgiven.  Edward Shillito helped us see this in the poem he wrote, “Jesus of the Scars.”  He ends his poem with these words:

“The other gods were strong; but Thou wast weak;

They rode, but Thou didst stumble to a throne;

But to our wounds only God’s wounds can speak,

And not a god has wounds, but Thou alone.”

Ladies, you are invited to lunch at noon this Saturday, September 14 at the Daisy Café & Cupcakery, 2827 Atwood Avenue.  Contact Carla Ray for more details.

The ladies will begin the second half of their study of Philippians on Wednesday evening, September 25.   

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Tuesday to all! The worship team of two lead us in a wonderful time of worship and taught us a new song based on the Nicene Creed.  Thank you, Pete and Damon!  However, even though the two of you did an excellent job leading, we did miss all you other guys and gals on our creative worship team!  We are truly blessed by God for every member of our team and should not take them for granted.

As we looked at Matthew 16:1-12, we thought about the timeless truth to not allow our position, status, privilege or love of any sin to keep us from the love of Jesus.  We thought about the danger of raising questions just to question and seeking evidence that we do not intend to act on if we find that evidence, like the Pharisees and Sadducees did at the time of Christ.  They kept asking for signs but denied the miraculous signs and irrefutable teaching of Jesus that were right in front of their eyes.  It was not the lack of evidence that kept them from believing.  It was their own unwillingness to let go of their position, their status, their privilege, and their sins that kept them from believing.   If anything keeps you from knowing, experiencing, and living in the love of Jesus, you have traded your soul for some worthless scrap!    

The ladies will begin the second half of their study of Philippians on Wednesday evening, September 25.  If you have any questions, contact Carla. 

We will be starting a membership class this Sunday, September 8.  This class is designed to help understand what church membership at East Madison is about.  It will last four to five weeks and be held during our Bible Study times on Sunday morning at 9:30 AM.  Adults and older youth are invited to join us.  The class is for those new to East Madison or those who simply want to explore what we are all about.  I will be teaching the class so feel free to contact me with any question about the class. Some  have informed me of their interest, but, even if you haven’t, you can just show up.  We will meet in the classroom down by the restrooms.

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Sister and brothers,

Happy Monday to all! We had a good day yesterday focusing on the grace, mercy, love and faithfulness of Almighty God. From Matthew 15, we learned Jesus shows Himself to be the Savior of even those who may seem far away. Who do you think is far away from God?  Do you consider certain groups of people to far from God and beyond the love and salvation offered through Christ Jesus?   No persons and no groups are beyond the love of God.  In fact, they may be closer than the nice people you know, the people who are just like you and me. Will we desire for God to help us know how to go to those people who desperately need Jesus?  God calls us to go to those people to share the gospel message of life and deliverance.  God calls us to bring wholeness and blessings to those whom we may have ignored in the past. Jesus shows Himself to be the Savior of even those who may seem far away.

We will be starting a membership class on September 8.  This class is designed to help understand what church membership at East Madison is about.  It will last four to five weeks and be held during our Bible Study times on Sunday morning at 9:30 AM.  Adults and older youth are invited to join us.  The class is for those new to East Madison or those who simply want to explore what we are all about.  I will be teaching the class so feel free to contact me with any question about the class.

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Monday to all!  We had a great day together as we worshipped our great God and gathered at the Lord’s table to remember Jesus.  The worship team helped us to prepare to come to the Lord’s table as they introduced us to the original song written by Ron Roberts, “Lord, To Your Table, I come.”    We learned from Matthew 15 about the difference between ritualistic and real religion.  Real religion, true faith in Jesus, places God’s Word above human traditions.  Real religion focuses on the internal above the external.  Jesus did not come to give us ritualistic but real religion and true faith.  Jesus provides us with His Holy Spirit who enables us to obey God and love others, even when they do not love us. Jesus came to provide us with a true relationship to God that changes us from self-centered persons to people that lead lives of loving God supremely and loving our neighbors as ourselves. True faith in Jesus changes us from the inside out and rejects false and shallow traditions. 

We will have a potluck dinner after worship next Sunday, August 25^th.  Bring enough food for your family and a little extra for the guests who attend worship that day.

We will be starting a membership class on September 8.  This class is designed to help understand what church membership at East Madison is about.  It will last four to five weeks and be held during our Bible Study times on Sunday morning at 9:30 AM.  Adults and older youth are invited to join us.  The class is for those new to East Madison or those who simply want to explore what we are all about.  I will be teaching the class so feel free to contact me with any question about the class.

We have a new childcare signup sheet for the next three months and we need some volunteers.  All our childcare workers need to have had a background check on file with EMBC.  The safety of our children is of primary concern to us. If you can help us out, please let me know.  If you haven’t yet had a background check on file with EMBC, we can work on getting that done if you would like to help. 

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Sisters and brothers,

Happy Sunday and happy Lord’s Day to all!  Believers all over the world will meet today at different times and places celebrating the resurrection of our Lord Jesus.  Thus, we call this day the “Lord’s Day.”  Jesus is the One who died in our place and the One who conquered death never to die again.  Jesus our Lord gives to all who believe in Him eternal life.  He alone is worthy of all our worship and we lay our lives down in surrender to Him. 

As we looked at Matthew 14, we considered the two great miracles of that chapter, the feeding of the 5000+ and Jesus walking on water.  We learned Jesus gives His children impossible tasks to show He is God of the impossible.  It is a false teaching that God will not give us more than we can bear.  God often gives us more than we can bear to cause us to depend on His presence and power.  There is nothing He cannot enable us to do or bear!  God wants us to see that His strength is enough even when our strength is gone.  We saw that Jesus gives His children impossible tasks to show He is God of the impossible.  We learned that Jesus often puts us in overwhelming circumstances so His children will know His presence and power.  Is there some impossible thing in your life that you cannot do on your own, but you know needs to be done?  You have tried repeatedly to do this impossible thing, to break some habit or addiction, to accomplish some task that you believe God wants you to do? If there is something like that that you cannot and have not accomplished, Jesus is able to do that if you will just rely and turn to Him. 

Next Sunday, August 11, Dr. Leo Endel, Executive Director of the Minnesota/Wisconsin Baptist Convention and Pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church, Rochester, Minnesota, will be preaching in our worship gathering.  Leo is a great friend of mine and Leo is an excellent teacher and preacher of the Word of God.  I am excited that he will be with us. 

We will be starting a membership class on September 8.  This class is designed to help understand what church membership at East Madison is about.  It will last four to five weeks and be held during our Bible Study times on Sunday morning at 9:30 AM.  Adults and older youth are invited to join us.  The class is for those new to East Madison or those who simply want to explore what we are all about.  I will be teaching the class so feel free to contact me with any question about the class.

We have a new childcare signup sheet for the next three months and we need some volunteers.  All our childcare workers need to have had a background check on file with EMBC.  The safety of our children is of primary concern to us. If you can help us out, please let me know.  If you haven’t yet had a background check on file with EMBC, we can work on getting that done if you would like to help. 

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Monday to all!  Yesterday, we sang about our glorious and mighty Savior God who has made us His own and Whom we serve.  From Matthew 14, we considered that we are to be people who thirst for, seek after and speak the truth to every generation regardless of the consequences.  Christians are to be people of the truth.  We are to speak the truth in love whether people agree with us or disagree with us.  We are to speak the truth if those around us embrace the truth and us, or if those around us reject the truth and us.  We are to speak the truth if people in power embrace it or if people in power reject it.  We are to speak the truth if the Republicans are in power and we are to speak the truth if Democrats are in power.  We are never so closely to align ourselves with one political faction that we cease to speak the truth to all in power and thus cease to be people of the truth.  Speaking the truth is more important than achieving political power and believers must never forget this!    It might cost us greatly to speak the truth, as it did John the Baptist, John Huss, William Tyndale, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Martin Luther King, Jr. and others who have paid for speaking the truth with their lives. All truth is in Jesus, who is truth itself, who alone is “the way, the truth and the life.” We must never forget that the truth will ultimately prevail and the truth truly does set free.   

We have a new childcare signup sheet for the next three months and we need some volunteers.  All of our childcare workers need to have had a background check on file with EMBC.  The safety of our children is of primary concern to us. If you can help us out, please let me know.  If you haven’t yet had a background check on file with EMBC, we can work on getting that done if you would like to help. 

Our sign team is meeting tonight as we work to update our sign.  Pray God would give us direction as we do this. 

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Happy Monday to all! It was good to be with God’s family at East Madison
yesterday and spend time worshiping our great God and encouraging one
another. We thought about embracing God’s kingdom from Matthew 13. One of the themes of Jesus’ ministry was the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is right now here and is growing. We looked at the opposition to the Kingdom. We thought about the continual growth of the Kingdom that comes steadily and silently. God’s Kingdom grows by relying on the power of the Holy Spirit and not through human governments or political power. We looked at the ultimate worth of knowing Jesus the King and being a part of His Kingdom. We realized that ultimately the only citizenship that matters is being a citizen of the Kingdom of God. There will come a day where every human beings eternal destiny will be determined on whether he or she embraced or rejected Jesus as Lord and King. Yes, it is true that God’s ever-growing Kingdom continues in this world until its fulness is completed by the return
of Jesus Christ.

I want to thank Damon for preaching for me while Carla and I were in
Oklahoma celebrating Carla’s parents 60th anniversary. (I listened to your
message, Damon, and you did an excellent job!) Carl and June, Carla’s
parents, have set a wonderful example of having a very good marriage and we are so grateful to them for that example.

We are working on updating our sign. Pray God would give us direction as we do this.

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church