Church Blog

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Monday to all! I pray that all of us are living in the forgiveness found in Jesus. We learned yesterday that no believer needs to be afraid of truth because all truth is God’s truth. We learned that Christ’s disciples seek to continually understand and live by God’s Word while falsely holy people distort and misuse the Word of God. We don’t have to hide anything as believers. We can be transparent with God, ourselves, our brothers and sisters in Christ, and the world. We can acknowledge where we are struggling and failing as believers, knowing that God forgives those who openly acknowledge and confess sin. When we seek to honestly deal with our sins and not hide them, God will forgive and help us. There is no sin that is greater than the sacrifice of Jesus to pay for that sin. As believers all of us know we have not yet arrived so we do not have to pretend that we have it all together. But those who are falsely holy people seek to justify themselves by distorting and misusing God’s Word. They misuse and distort the Word of God and refuse to call sin what God calls sin. They look down on others and justify themselves in the eyes of men. But God knows their heart and because they are not honest about their sins before Him, their sins remain unforgiven. We learned that we could live in the forgiveness that God provides in Jesus. When Satan accuses us by reminding us of the sins of our past, we remember that Jesus has forgiven those who believe and gives them a clean slate and a brand new start. We praise Almighty God for the forgiveness that is ours in Jesus! We praise Almighty God for the wonderful Savior we serve!

I mentioned a website last week that would enable you to pray for your neighbors. The web address is pray4everyhome.com. You can go to that website and sign up and they will send you the names of five of your neighbors every day so you can pray for them. After you get signed up and they start sending you the names of five neighbors, you pray for them and click on the link that keeps track of your praying. I encourage you to use this tool to pray for your neighbors who need Jesus.

Remember we will be observing the Lord’s Supper in our morning worship next Sunday, February 12.

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Monday! I hope your week has started well. It was wonderful worshipping with you yesterday our great Savior God who searches for the lost and rejoices when they are found! Christianity is the only belief in all the world where God is searching for those who are lost, who rebel against Him, and willfully spurn Him. He wants them to come home to Him, to find life in Him, and to rejoin the family. He is searching for them and longing for their return. He is calling them to “Come home.” When any lost and rebellious son or daughter comes to their senses and starts toward Him, He runs to them, embraces them, cover them with His love, and throw a party! There is none like Him! I pray that each of us would be filled with His compassionate, searching love for the lost.

We will have short meeting this Sunday, February 5, following morning worship to discuss the plan the church council decided upon for staffing child care. We asked all who work in this area or who are concerned about us having quality child care to stay for this short meeting. I also want to thank all those who work in our child care now and willingly love these children in Jesus’ name.

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Sisters and brothers,

Happy icy Monday to all! I hope everyone is doing well and staying safe. It was great worshiping and rejoicing with you yesterday and remembering that we are invited to God’s great party. We are invited to the be part of His Kingdom! We are unworthy even for the invitation, but He still invites us! He invites many to this party whom we can invite, people who are poor, crippled, lame and blind who will be honored guests at His party. We can live our lives continually grateful for this wonderful invitation and privilege of being a part of the great Kingdom of God, serving our great King Jesus!

We remember today Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. King was a courageous man of God who knew that the injustices and evils of racial discrimination must be opposed. He knew our country, which was founded on the principle that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights,” had yet to live up to that principle. He courageously and non-violently fought for this country to live up to this principle. He was jailed many times in his life for his stand for this principle and against the evils of racial discrimination. In fact, he was assassinated while continuing to fight for racial justice. May his example inspire all of us to courageously stand against injustices and for those who are oppressed. May it inspire us to never give up or give in to the evil and injustice that surrounds us even today.

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Monday and Happy New Year to all! Since this is my first “Happy Monday” email of the year, I pray that all of us will grow more in love with Jesus this year, that we will walk with Him, love Him, and seek to bring glory to His name. I pray that our love for one another would grow so the world would know that we are Jesus’ disciples. Finally, I pray our love and compassion for the lost and needy world that we live in will exponentially increase! We are part of Jesus’ unconquerable church and Jesus will lead us to total victory, so we can risk and try and move out in faith in 2017! This is going to be a great year!

Ladies, put noon, Saturday, January 21st on your calendar! The ladies will meet at The Great Dane in Fitchburg (2980 Cahill, Main, Fitchburg, Wisconsin 53711.) Plan on coming and invite a friend!

It would be a good time to start coming to Bible Study on Sunday morning. Jason Donaldson does an excellent job in teaching the Scriptures for adults. You will learn if you attend on 9:30 AM on Sunday morning. We also have Bible Study classes for children and youth that have excellent teachers who love children and youth and teach God’s Word. Also, if you are not in a small group, think about starting to attend one this new year. We have men’s groups that meet on Tuesday evening and Saturday mornings. There are ladies groups that meet on Monday evening and Saturday morning. We also have a ladies group that meets during the day on the weekdays. If you need any information on these, contact me.

Love being your pastor! Let me know if you need something. Looking forward to our next time together!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Tuesday to all! We know many were not able to gather with us Sunday because of the extreme weather. We missed you but we never want you to endanger yourselves in extreme conditions. The message focused on another of the reasons Jesus came, to give us abundant life. He does not give us just enough life to make it, but He grants to us life to the full as we walk with Him and serve Him daily. There is no better life than knowing, loving, and serving Jesus! There is no better life than being a part of His family!

Remember the special events of this week. On December 24, we will have a Christmas Eve service at 5:00 PM. We will have only a worship service on Christmas Day at 10:30 AM with no Sunday School.

On January 1st, there will also be only a worship service at 10:30 AM and no Sunday School. Carla and I will be gone to Oklahoma to visit her parents and other family. Jason Donaldson will be preaching the message that morning. Because of the holidays and the fact that we will be gone, there will be no Pastor’s email the next two Mondays.

Carla and I want to wish every one of you a “Merry Christmas!” We pray you have a wonderful time this season with those you love. We pray for safety for those who are traveling. Most of all, we pray you would experience the presence of Jesus as we celebrate His first coming. We love you all!

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Brothers and sisters,

Happy snowy Monday to all! We had a wonderful day worshipping our Lord and remembering the reasons Jesus came. Yesterday’s message was entitled, “Jesus Did Not Come to Save You From Hell.” It reminded us that Jesus came to save us from something and for someone. He came to save us from sin-its presence, its power and its ultimate penalty of death and the second death which separates us from the goodness of God forever. The angel told Joseph that Jesus would save His people from their sins. All of us need to be saved from sin and freed from its power. We need that initially and we need that daily. We learned that sin is progressive, sin enslaves and sin always leads to death. Jesus came to save us from sin. Jesus also came to save us for Himself, that we might know, love, live for and serve Him. When we come to trust in Jesus and confess Him as Lord, we confess that we are no longer our own king, but Jesus is the King, Ruler, Boss, and Lord of our lives. We are subjects of the King of kings and Lord of Lord and are a part of His forever kingdom. We do not live any longer for our own agendas, but we live for Jesus’ agenda and for His purposes. To know, love, and serve Jesus is what eternal life is all about!

We missed those of you who were not here because of the snow storm. We want you to know that we do not want you to endanger your health when the roads and sidewalks might be hazardous. On those days of snow and ice and other weather events, please do not take chances that might endanger your health to be here. We also want you to know that if you need something during those times, please let us know so we can help you. We are family and we watch out for each other!

I hope you are having joy as we approach the celebration of the first coming of Jesus. Don’t get so busy in the season that you miss the joy of celebrating it.

Remember the special events of the season. On December 24, we will have a Christmas Eve service at 5:00 PM. We will have only a worship service on both Christmas Day and New Year’s Day at 10:30 AM with no Sunday School on those days.

Love being your pastor!

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Monday to all! The first snow of the season was beautiful! Yesterday was a wonderful day to be with the family of God and see beyond Madison to the ends of the earth. Forrest Bohlen helped us see how God is a work in South America and around the world. God’s children join Him in taking the good news to the ends of the earth by praying, giving and going. I hope you took one of the “2016 Week of Prayer for International Missions” guides and will use it to pray for those international missionaries we support. (I used it today to pray for the Copland family serving in Verona, Italy.) Also, be praying about what God would have you give to the Lottie Moon Offering for International Missions. 100% of this offering goes to support more than 3,600 missionaries and their outreaches that takes the gospel to the ends of the earth.

Christmas time will give all of us opportunity to share the gospel if we will be sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s leadership and the people we are around. I hope we will all pray that God would empower us to take advantage of the opportunities to share Jesus during this season. Also, remember to invite people to worship with East Madison this season. Many people are more open to attending worship, especially on Christmas Eve and Christmas. Our Christmas Eve service will be at 5:00 PM and our Christmas Day service will be at our regular worship time of 10:30 AM.

Love being your pastor!

Brothers and sisters,

Happy rainy Monday to all! I hope everyone had a joyous Thanksgiving. We had a wonderful day yesterday. I hope that as we celebrate the first coming of Jesus, we can remember that he came to give us life and life to the full. He came to free us from oppressive religion so that we might love Him and others. We could not gain our forgiveness and be right with God by any religious observance, but we are forgiven and right with God by faith in Jesus Christ. He has paid for our forgiveness and He gives it to all who believe in Him. Remember the love He has for you when He feels far away. Remember also that just because His presence seems far away, He is always near to His children! Remember Romans 8:31: “What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?”

This Sunday, December 4, will be a special day. Forrest and Becky Bohlen will be with us sharing about international missions. Forrest and Becky served in Venezuela and in Chile with the International Mission Board (IMB) and recently retired from the IMB. They are still seeking to work with Hispanics in Wisconsin. Don’t miss hearing their stories this Sunday in morning worship.

Remember, also, we will be having a pot luck dinner after worship this Sunday, December 4.

Love being your pastor!

Bob

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Monday to all! I hope your week has gotten off to a great start. If for some reason it has not gotten off to a good start, rejoice in the Lord anyway! He is our joy, strength and song. As we learned about yesterday, all of us have been blessed by Him and all of us can continually thank Him. We don’t necessarily have to thank him for bad circumstances, but we can thank Him that He will bring good for His children even in the worst of circumstances. We can thank Him that through His blood He has reconciled us to Himself and to one another, so that there is “neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female for we are all one in Christ.” As believers we seek to live in that reconciliation and seek continually to make that reconciliation between all men and women who are in Christ more and more of a reality in our world. We seek to recognize our own prejudices and ask God to give us eyes to see all people as He sees them-men, women and children for whom Christ died to forgive, save and give eternal life.

We rejoice in the 21 shoe boxes that were made and delivered for Operation Christmas Child. Pray for these gifts to provide a strong witness to the gospel as they go all over the world.

Sunday, November 27 during morning worship we will begin our observance of Advent and also will be observing the Lord’s Supper.

Love being your pastor!

Bob

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Monday! It was wonderful to be with all of you yesterday as we worshipped as a church family! Our great God loves us and the best thing we can do in life is to turn from ourselves to Him and discover the life we were created to have. Repentance is not a negative thing, but a wonderful thing. We turn away from our self and find life in the One who created us to love Him and love others. The tragedies of life should cause us to think of our own mortality and of our own need to turn to God. God can stop judging us when we believe in Jesus because Jesus has already been judged in our place and has paid the debt for our sin.

Last night celebrating Thanksgiving as a church family was fun! I want to thank everyone who prepared food and worked so hard so that we could have such an enjoyable evening.

Love being your pastor!

Bob