Church Blog

Sisters and brothers,

Happy Monday to all! Yesterday we began the celebration of advent (the first coming of Jesus to earth) through our first advent reading and the singing of worship songs thinking about this season. We were reminded in looking at the genealogy, the family tree, of Jesus in Matthew 1 that God always keeps His promises! God kept His promise to Abraham that all nations of the world would be blessed thorough Him. God kept His promise to David the David would have a descendant who would reign forever. God kept these promises through sending Jesus to us. But also through His sending of Jesus, God is keeping His promise to His people that every people group in the world would have representatives worshiping Jesus in His Kingdom. Finally we saw that God keeps His promise that all who turn away from sin and turn to Jesus, no matter what their past, can be a part of a fantastic future! I am so glad we serve a God who always keeps His promises!

Remember we have special booklets, invitations and gift bags available for you to give out to friends and neighbors inviting them to our Christmas Eve Service at 5:00 PM, December 24. Many of you took some of these with you yesterday and I am grateful for that. More are available if you need them at the church building.

The Isthmus Brass concert to benefit the Porchlight ministry to the homeless will be held at the First United Methodist Church at 7:30 PM on December 12. There is no charge for the event but their will be an offering taken to help fund Porchlight ministry.

You are invited to the Juhlin’s Annual Christmas open house. It is open to all on Friday night, December 14, from 7:00 to 10:00 PM. Directions to their house are available at the church building.

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Monday to all! It was great to be with all of you yesterday and worship our great God. We considered God’s greatness. We heard a wonderful new song from our worship team adapted from the Apostles Creed that helped us remember and understand the nature of the God who loves and saves us. Nate Ray preached a sermon from the life of Joseph, the husband of Mary and the step father of Jesus, reminding us that God’s dream for us is bigger than our dream for ourselves. Nate helped us see that in moments of conflict and confusion, God guides His children with words of clarity and direction. Nate helped us see that often our dreams for ourselves are idols that we look too to find life. He reminded us that we truly find our lives in Jesus so we need to make knowing Jesus our goal and not the fulfilment of our dreams. We deny ourselves and take up our cross and lose our lives to Jesus, and thus we find life. We follow Jesus and step out in faith to whatever and wherever God calls us. We don’t know the ending of where that might lead. But as we follow Jesus in faith, we do get to know the God who calls us to follow Him.

During the Christmas season, many people are more open to an invitation to worship and the truth of Jesus than at other times of the year. We are making special packets to give out to friends and neighbors inviting them to our Christmas Eve Service at 5:00 PM, December 24. These packets will contain an invitation to this service and a booklet by Lee Strobel called “The Case for Christmas.” These packets will be available beginning Sunday so plan on taking some to give out to people you know.

Ladies, remember you are invited to a Christmas Concert at the State Capitol next Sunday, December 2. The ladies will meet at the church building at 3:00 PM to attend the concert at 4:15 PM. Following the concert, the ladies will be going to Monty’s Blue Plate for supper. Here is a little more information about this concert.:

Capitol Annual Christmas Pageant! This pageant has been taking place in the capital every year for more than 75 years. Here is a description of it: It’s one of Madison’s best-kept (and no-cost) secrets – the Christmas Story sung through Christmas carols in 4-part harmony by local high-school choirs in the rotunda of the Madison Capitol building. (Emily Juhlin will be singing with these choirs as she is in the La Follette High School choir.) The lights are turned out and the Christmas Story is illuminated in live montages. Each performance lasts 45 minutes. There is limited seating but you can either stand or bring your own chair.

Enjoy God’s glorious presence and the awesome mystery of his birth being celebrated within our state capitol! It’s a wonderful way to quietly pause during the craziness of the season and enjoy the beauty of what Christmas is really about.

Remember to put on your calendar a Christmas tradition at East Madison, the Juhlin’s Annual Christmas open house. It is open to all on Friday night, December 14, from 7:00 to 10:00 PM. Directions to their house are available at the church building.

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Sisters and brothers,

Happy Monday to all! It was wonderful to worship with God’s family at East Madison yesterday! We thought about cultivating an attitude of thankfulness. God children are those who embrace the truth of God and seek to live our lives glorifying God and continually thanking Him. We seek to cultivate a continual attitude of thanksgiving. We can do this because God can take even the worst of circumstances and use it for His glory and turn it to good for His children. We cultivate this attitude of gratitude by remembering certain truths. First of all, God uniquely created each one of us to know, love and live for Him. Secondly, God provides us with everything we need to live. Thirdly, every single good thing in life, every blessing, is a gift of God’s love and mercy. And finally we cultivate this attitude of gratitude by remembering the great price paid for our salvation, the price of the very life of the Son of God. As Paul says in Romans 8, “He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all-how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things,” We can truly live thankful lives for this great and good God.

Next Sunday morning, November 25, my son Nate will be preaching in our worship time. You may remember him from last year’s Christmas Eve service. I believe he has a special giftedness to communicate to this generation. I hope you can be here and maybe invite some younger friends to hear a younger voice proclaiming God’s truth.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving! Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Monday to all! Anatoliy Sapsay from Innovista Ukraine helped us remember that God was for us! God wants good for His people. God does not want us to blindly follow Him but to know and love Him. Anatoliy also reminded us that we are responsible for guarding our hearts. We guard our hearts, first of all, by not forgetting all God has done for us. Secondly, we guard our hearts against empty ideas and philosophies that lead us away from God. Paul reminds us of this same thing in Colossians 2:8: “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.” Then last night we celebrated Thanksgiving as God’s East Madison family. Are you still full from our Thanksgiving celebration? Yes, it was a such good day yesterday as we worshipped God our Savior and spent time with one another, reminding each other of God’s goodness.

Our youth are working on putting shoe boxes of gifts together for Operation Christmas Child. They will be packing those shoe boxes this Saturday, November 17. If you have any donations, please bring them by the church building before Saturday. If you have any questions, contact Megan.

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Sisters and brothers,

Happy Monday to all! Yesterday as we finished looking into the book of Daniel, we saw that believers are involved in a cosmic spiritual battle against the forces of evil. It is not a physical battle using earthly weapons of war but a battle involving the spiritual weapons of prayer, God’s Word, testimonies of faith, love, courage, and perseverance. Prayer is an important part of this battle. As we pray, we join the angels of heaven as they battle the demons of hell. That is why sometimes praying is very difficult and we have to work at it. We learned that the spiritual battle we will endure is a prolonged and intense struggle. We must faithfully persevere until Jesus returns and does away with evil and sets all things right. Ultimately we learned that God’s people in God’s power will courageously persevere in the battle against evil until Jesus comes in ultimate triumph. Jesus will come in ultimate triumph because He has already defeated the great enemy of God and mankind! Don’t ever forget that!

Next Sunday, November 11, we will be celebrating the Lord’s Supper during our morning worship. Also, Anatoliy Sapsay will be sharing about his work in the Ukraine. Anatoliy Sapsay, Director of Innovista Ukraine. Anatoliy is a former manager of the International MBA programme at Kiev Business School and an army reservist. He has overseen growth of Innovista’s work in Ukraine despite the chaos of war, and leads the L’viv hub. Anatoliy worked with Grace Donaldson when she was serving in Simferopol, Crimea, Ukraine. AND TO MAKE IT A SUPER SUNDAY, on Sunday evening at 6:00 PM, we will have our annual East Madison Thanksgiving Celebration at 6:00 PM. There is a sign-up sheet for the food items we need for this celebration on the table in the foyer.

Our youth are working on putting shoe boxes of gifts together for Operation Christmas Child. Please put donations in the back of the sanctuary to help them out. If you have any questions, contact Megan Tolhurst.

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Monday to all! Yesterday we worshiped Almighty God, who is “Emmanuel-God with us.” We thought about seeking Jesus and His rule in every area of our lives and in every situation. We learned that we seek Him by storing up treasures in heaven and not on earth. We invest in what last forever, like knowing Jesus intimately and helping people come to know Him. We learned to seek Jesus by continually making sure nothing (materialism, unforgiveness, or any kind of unprocessed hurt) is preventing us from seeing life as God sees it. We learned that seeking God’s rule in our lives and in every situation should be the primary focus of our lives. If we do that, God will provide every other thing we truly need.

Our youth are working on putting shoe boxes of gifts together for Operation Christmas Child. Please put donations in the back of the sanctuary to help them out. If you have any questions, contact Megan Tolhurst.

Remember to turn back you clocks this Saturday evening, November 3rd before you go to bed. It is the end of daylight savings time. (I don’t think we actually saved any daylight, but simply rearranged it!)

November 11, will be a special day for East Madison. Anatoliy Sapsay will be sharing about his work in the Ukraine. Anatoliy is the director of Innovista Ukraine. He is a former manager of the International MBA programme at Kiev Business School and an army reservist. He has overseen growth of Innovista’s work in Ukraine despite the chaos of war, and leads the L’viv hub.

Also on that Sunday evening November 11, at 6:00 PM, we will have our annual East Madison Thanksgiving Celebration at 6:00 PM. There is a sign-up sheet for the food items we need for this celebration on the table in the foyer.

Pray for each other. There are now and always those among us who are dealing with difficult circumstances personally or in their families, so we need to continually hold each other up in prayer.

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Sisters and brothers,

Happy Monday to all! Yesterday we sang praise to our Redeemer because of His deep love for us. We looked in Daniel 9 at the prayer of Daniel and thought about how his prayer should enlighten our prayer life. We looked at how our reading of the Bible should help us learn to understand better the mind of God and the things that glorify God for which we need to pray. We thought about always approaching God realizing His greatness. God is not our “good buddy” but the One who loves us more than any other and the One who alone is the awesome Creator, Ruler, and Redeemer of the universe. We can boldly ask for His help but should never approach Him with anything less than utmost reverence and respect. We thought about approaching God by confessing our own personal sinfulness and the corporate sinfulness of His people. We will not be sinless as we approach God and so we must always approach Him recognizing that it is not by our own merit that we come to God but by Jesus’ merit. We in humility seek to continually confess and forsake personal and corporate sin. We also remembered that as we pray we appeal to God on the basis of His character and compassion and honor. Our first concern should not be the alleviation of some difficulty but the glory of God. Finally we saw that God answers our prayers on the basis of His love. There is no lack of willingness on the part of God to answer prayers. God longs to hear and respond to those who pray to Him by and through the merit of Jesus, the One He sent to save us from our sin.

We will have our annual East Madison Thanksgiving Celebration on Sunday evening, November 11, 2018 at 6:00 PM. There is a sign-up sheet for the food items we need for this celebration on the table in the foyer.

Pray for each other. There are now and always those among us who are dealing with difficult circumstances personally or in their families, so we need to continually hold each other up in prayer.

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. We had a great time of worship and fellowship yesterday as we looked at Daniel 8. We thought about how at times in our lives, there are very dark days. There are many places in God’s Word given to us to prepare us for very dark and difficult days. We will have troubles, illnesses, tragedies and persecutions as we live in this world and as we follow Jesus. Jesus did not mislead us or tell us that “every day with Him would be sweeter than the day before.” Some days, months, and yes, even years will be very hard and difficult as we seek to live for His glory. We need to understand this because, if we don’t, we can become disillusioned with hard times and maybe even with God. However, God’s Word and promises prepare His people for the most difficult of times and God always provides His powerful presence to lead His children through those times. There will be times our emotions will lie to us and we don’t sense His presence. At those times we have to consciously remind ourselves of God’s promises and presence, because whether we sense His presence or not, God is with those who believe.

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Sisters and brothers,

Happy Monday to all! Yesterday we remembered the sacrifice of God for our salvation. God the Father sacrificially sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. God the Son sacrificially went to the cross and paid the just penalty for sin by dying in our place, the righteous One for those who are unrighteous like you and me. 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NIV) reminds us of this truth: “God made Him (Jesus) who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” Every time we take of the Lord’s Supper we remember this sacrifice and remember Jesus. Then we learned from Daniel 7 that no matter how bad the personal circumstances of our lives seem at the present or how bad we perceive the circumstances of the world around us, those who believe are never without hope! We saw that God’s Word teaches the ultimate failure of sinful humanities empires and governments. We saw that His Word teaches the ultimate triumph of God and His redeemed people. We see a truth that all of us need to hold onto at all times: The saints of God Most High (and that means all who trust Jesus with their lives and follow Him as Lord) through their Redeemer and King Jesus shall receive, possess and reign in Jesus’ kingdom forever and ever and ever! What a fantastic hope belongs to us as believers!

I wanted to thank everyone who came and worked at last Saturday’s workday. We got a lot of things done and it was fun being with each other and doing the work. I want to especially thank Brian Butterfield for organizing the day and working extra by stripping off some paint in the woman’s restroom so we can soon paint those walls.

We will have a pot luck luncheon after worship this Sunday, October 14th. Bring enough for your family and a little bit extra to share with our guests.

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Monday and happy October to all! This is a very Fall kind of day, isn’t it? Pray your week has started well. After an eventful bicycle crash last Monday, being with the people of God yesterday was wonderful! To worship and love God with His redeemed children gathered together is something precious and we should never take it for granted! Although I was physically uncomfortable because of my broken bones, I was truly encouraged just to be with God’s family worshiping the true and living God who has redeemed us from our sin!

I hope the message from Daniel 6 about Daniel in the lion’s den was helpful. We thought about loving God and obeying him even when it requires disobeying the unjust laws of man. When man’s laws interfere with our obligation to supremely love God and/or they dehumanize and destroy human beings, we must obey God rather than men and then be willing to suffer the consequences and penalties of those unjust laws. Daniel knew the consequences of his worship and praying and having no other gods before the living God. But He loved God above all else, even above his own personal safety and was willing to suffer those consequences to the glory of God. Daniel also was able to do that because he lived walking with God daily and knew God’s presence. When the test came, he was prepared because he faithfully walked with God when there wasn’t a test. What was the end result? Daniel revealed God’s power and glory when he supremely loved and worshiped God alone. If we supremely love and worship God alone, we can also be people through whom God’s power and glory will be revealed.

We will be observing the Lord’ Supper this Sunday, October 7 during our morning worship.

Also, this Sunday, October 7th a new short-term DVD Bible Study will begin on Sunday mornings at 9:30 AM for older youth and adults called “The Clash of Kingdoms.” This would be a perfect time to join a small group Bible study especially if you are not currently involved in small group Bible study. It will be held upstairs in the room by the sound booth, where the high school Sunday School class has been meeting.

We have a Fall work day scheduled to do some work on the church property this Saturday, October 6th. We will work from 8:30 AM to around noon. I hope those of you who are able can join us on that day.

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church