Church Blog

Sisters and brothers,

Happy Monday to all! Yesterday we celebrated the wonderful grace of God who provided for us salvation and forgiveness in Jesus Christ. From Romans 1 we saw that God gives right standing and true hope to us if we will believe in the Lord Jesus. Right standing and hope does not come through behavior. It does not come through keeping religious rituals. Right standing with God and hope centers in the person of Jesus Christ. Right standing and hope extends to great and small of every nation. Right standing and hope comes through faith in Jesus alone. Quit trying to be good enough to be accepted by God. Quit thinking you must earn his love and favor. God loves you and provides you with salvation if you will believe. Trust Jesus to save you. God provides salvation through Jesus Christ to anyone who believes in Jesus.

The ladies are planning a get together on Thursday, May 12, at 6:00 PM at Monty’s Blue Plate Diner, 2089 Atwood Avenue, Madison, Wisconsin 53704. This is the first time for a long time for the ladies to have a fellowship time together. Ladies, we hope you can attend this time of fellowship.

We are giving out baby bottles for each of us to collect offerings between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day for the CareNet Pregnancy Center of Dane County. Your change, checks and cash make a difference. (If you do write checks, please make them out to CareNet Pregnancy Center.) When you fill a baby bottle you are helping to provide life-affirming resources to those facing unintended pregnancies through the ministry of CareNet Pregnancy Center. 

Thank you to all who were able to come Saturday for the workday. We were able to accomplish many needed tasks.

Remember to keep praying continually for each other. 

Love being your pastor,

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Monday to all! Yesterday from Genesis 11 and 12 we saw Abram risked everything on the promises of God. Abram left family, country, success, and security at God’s Word. We saw that we can know God is moving and working when it seems He is silent. We learned that God uses weak and suffering people like us to show His great power. We understood God calls believers to join Him in His mission of blessing the world. We too, like Abram, can risk everything on God, knowing His promises will be fulfilled.

We need your help! We are having a workday at the church building this Saturday, May 7, at 9:00 AM. We have projects that need to be done to ensure the safety of anyone who is on our campus. Make plans to be here if you can. If you could let us know if you are planning to come, that would be helpful.

The ladies are planning a get together on Thursday, May 12. Details are coming!

Remember to keep praying continually for each other. 

Love being your pastor,

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Sisters and brothers,

Happy Monday to all! From Genesis 11 yesterday, we learned of the efforts of mankind as people sought unity based on human authority, human achievement, and human pride. We saw efforts at a unity without God and without submission to Jesus Christ as Ruler and Lord. Human beings were created to live in relationship and dependence on God. We were created to bring glory to God and live for Him and His glory and not ourselves. Our desire to make a name for ourselves and be independent of God is the root of all sin. It was the sin of Adam and Eve in the Garden and the sin of the people building this city and tower. This is the sin of pride and the sin of the devil himself. Genesis 11 and the incident of the confusion of languages teaches us this timeless truth: Mankind united-apart from submission to Jesus Christ as Lord-results in confusion and destruction. Because of this, we earnestly pray this prayer written by Rob Smith:

Reign, King Jesus. Reign in mercy. Hear us now, we pray.
Reign in power for your glory, reign in us today

We are planning a workday at the church building Saturday, May 7 at 9:00 AM.

Remember to keep praying continually for each other. 

Love being your pastor,

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Easter Monday to all! What a fantastic day of worship we had yesterday. Worshipping with Emmanuel in two languages was so wonderful! We celebrated the resurrection of our Lord. As Pastor Jose said, all other religions have dead founders, but we have a living Savior, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ conquered death and is Lord of all. Because Jesus rose from the dead, this changes everything! Jesus takes the mess we make of our lives and the waste laying all around us and make it a beautiful structure. Jesus takes broken and ruined lives, hopeless and helpless lives, and make them brand new. Jesus takes the ruins of our lives and bring beauty and poetry from them. Always remember His Word will not fail and His promises will be kept! Remember a tomb that is empty never to be occupied again!

This Sunday will be the last Sunday to give to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions. Special offering envelopes are provided on the table in the back of the sanctuary to support the spreading of the gospel across our continent. Give as the Lord leads.

We are planning a workday at the church building Saturday, May 7 at 9:00 AM.

Remember to keep praying continually for each other. 

Love being your pastor,

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Sisters and brothers,

Happy Monday to all! This week, Holy Week, is the week we remember the events that remind us Jesus alone is the hope of all the world. We remember Christ Jesus entering Jerusalem on a donkey’s colt proclaiming He was Israel’s and the world’s Savior and King. We remember His confrontation with hypocritical religious leaders whose religion was nothing more than empty rituals. We remember His giving us His supper to remind us that He gave His body and shed His blood so our sins could be justly forgiven, and we could be right with God. We remember the cross and Jesus dying in our place, taking in Himself the punishment we deserved for our sins. We remember the borrowed tomb in which Jesus was buried. And we remember Jesus is stronger than death in that He rose from the dead physically and bodily. Jesus forever conquered death! Jesus conquered death for you if you will believe in and receive Him. Take time this week to think deeply about all these things and to adore and love the Savior of the world.

On April 15 at 7:00 PM, we will have a joint Good Friday service with Midvale Baptist Church, 821 S. Midvale Blvd., Madison, at their building. Join us in this time of worship with our brothers and sisters at Midvale on Good Friday.

Resurrection Sunday is coming next Sunday, April 17! This is the great day of celebration for believers as we rejoice in worshipping our Savior who conquered death. We will begin our celebration of Resurrection Sunday with an Easter Breakfast at 9:30 AM in our basement with our brothers and sisters of Emmanuel Church. Then at 10:45 AM, we will have a joint worship service in Spanish and English with Emmanuel Church. Plan to join us for this great celebration.

Pray for Donald Smith as doctors have had to change his treatment plan. The treatment Donald has been receiving is becoming less effective and they are looking at other options. Donald, Deanna, and family, we love you and will keep you continually before the Lord in prayer.

Remember to keep praying continually for each other. 

Love being your pastor,

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Monday to all! Yesterday we had some crazy things happen. Some of our Bible Study leaders were sick and missed. Our sound system was down, and we had to adjust to this during our morning worship. But despite all that, God’s children met, worshipped our great God and Savior, and enjoyed being the family of God gathered. We learned from Genesis 9 how believers should respond to temptation and sin. We learned we should never overestimate our own strength to resist temptation but humbly depend on the Holy Spirit who lives in every person who believes. We also learned that we are never to rejoice in the failures of others or use their failures as an excuse for us to sin. We learned that as long as we are in these mortal bodies, we will be tempted to sin and will sometimes fall into sin. As Mark Dever wrote, “I often tell my congregation that when it comes to battling sin in our lives, the difference is not that non-Christians sin whereas Christians do not. The difference is found in which side we take in the battle. In other words, a Christian will sin, but then he will turn to God and His Word and say, ‘Help me fight against sin.’ A non-Christian, even if he recognizes his sin, effectively responds, ‘I want sin more than God.’”  Christians respond to sin by continually confessing and turning away from it.

We will have our annual business meeting next Sunday, April 10, following the morning worship gathering.

On April 15 at 7:00 PM, we will have a joint Good Friday service with Midvale Baptist Church, 821 S. Midvale Blvd., Madison, at their building. Join us in this time of worship with our brothers and sisters at Midvale on Good Friday.

Resurrection Sunday is coming on April 17! This is the great day of celebration for believers as we rejoice in worshipping our Savior who conquered death. Because Jesus rose, all who believe in Him will also conquer death and rise. We will begin our celebration of Resurrection Sunday with an Easter Breakfast at 9:30 AM in our basement with our brothers and sisters of Emmanuel Church. (There is a sign-up sheet with things needed for the breakfast in the foyer.) Then at 10:30 AM, we will have a joint worship service in Spanish and English with Emmanuel Church. Plan to join us for this great celebration.

Remember to keep praying continually for each other. 

Love being your pastor,

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Sisters and brothers,

Happy Monday to all! Yesterday was an exciting day with all that was happening! We shared the Lord’s Supper together. We sang about our wonderful, merciful Savior. We witnessed the beginning of a new congregation of Christ’s followers in our midst. And we learned from Genesis 9 that God graciously entrusts mankind with caring for the earth and those people made in God’s image. We thought about the value of each person. Each person is worth more than all the stuff in the world. We learned that we are to value each human being the way God values them. Christians need to be the first to say, “We will not be part of the culture of disrespect that we find all around us. We will not denigrate or defame others because they disagree with us. We will respect and cherish the image of God we see in every person.”

We are excited for the beginning of worship services for Emmanuel Church. It was exciting to see so many new people in the building and hear the worship of God’s people and the preaching of the gospel in Spanish. If you know someone whose primary language is in Spanish, invite them to Emmanuel’s Worship at 9:30 AM here at the EMBC building.

We will be adjusting the beginning of our worship time starting next Sunday, March 27. East Madison will begin worship at 10:45 AM instead of 10:30 AM.  This will give the two congregations time to fellowship for a few minutes and get to know each other. Next week, Jose Marco will also be preaching during East Madison’s worship time.

Remember to keep praying continually for each other. 

Love being your pastor,

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Monday to all! Yesterday, it was wonderful to celebrate our oneness in Christ and worship the true and living God together. In our worship, we looked at Genesis 7 and 8 how God cared for Noah and his family during and after the flood. We learned about God’s care for all who trust Him. We discovered God brings us through the storms of life. We learned that God cares for us in and after the storms of life.  And we saw how God’s people respond to God’s love and care by worshipping Him and surrendering our lives continually to Him. During life’s most violent storms, God always provides and cares for those who trust Him. Trust Him in your storms today.

We will observe the Lord’s Supper during our worship gathering next Sunday at 10:30 AM.

Our Hispanic mission, Emmanuel Church, will begin having worship services next Sunday, March 20 during our Bible Study time at 9:30 AM. Some of the children of those adults attending will join our Sunday School classes during this time. Pray for Jose and Mary Lou Marco as they take the next step in reaching Hispanics for Christ in our community. We are so excited to be part of this gospel outreach!

Remember to keep praying continually for each other. 

Love being your pastor,

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Sisters and brothers,

Happy Monday to all! Yesterday as we worshipped, we looked from Genesis 6 at the catastrophic judgment God brought on the world through The Flood. God revealed through Genesis 6 that He would not tolerate evil forever. Though the Lord is more than patient with sinful human beings, the Lord’s patience is limited. God will not continue forever to be merciful to sinners who will not turn from self-centeredness and evil. The Scripture says, “Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call on Him while He is near.”  All of us, for the first time or for the hundredth time, need to turn to Him and call on Him today! We also saw that the wickedness of men grieves the heart of a holy and loving God. God takes no pleasure in the destruction of sinful men but seeks for them to turn to Him and live. And just as God grieves over the evil of human beings, His children should also grieve over the ruin and death that sin causes among us and to those all around us. We also finally saw that just as God was merciful to Noah and his family, the Lord looks for those to whom He can be merciful. God is just and His justice will compel Him to destroy evil. But we see even in this, Almighty God as ultimate judge is merciful to those who will trust Him.

I want to thank all of you who give so much of yourselves in serving the Lord at East Madison. We have so many who volunteer and work behind the scenes to help us be able to be on mission with God. I consider it a privilege to work beside all of you.

Next Sunday, March 13, Daylight Savings time begins. Do not forget to move your clocks ahead one hour on Saturday before you go to bed.

Our Hispanic mission, Emmanuel Church, will begin having worship services on Sunday, March 20 during our Bible Study time at 9:30 AM. Some of the children of those adults attending will join our Sunday School classes during this time. Pray for Jose and Mary Lou Marco as they take the next step in reaching Hispanics for Christ in our community. We are so excited to be part of this gospel outreach!

This song has been an encouragement to me lately and I would like to share it with you. It was written by Bob Kauflin and Keaton Bunting, and is called, “My Soul Will Wait.”  It can be found here: https://youtu.be/e4brmgdJvBc. I hope it encourages you as much as it has me.

Remember to keep praying continually for each other. 

Love being your pastor,

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Monday to all! It was wonderful to worship our great God and be with His children yesterday. We learned from Genesis five, looking at Adam and his descendants through Seth, about sin’s penalty and God’s gift. We learned fallen mankind still bears the image of God, even though that image has been marred by sin. We learned fallen mankind finds hope in the birth of each new generation. We saw fallen mankind is reminded of the curse and penalty of sin, which is death. We discovered those with faith look forward to freedom from the curse and penalty of sin. And we saw that fallen mankind sees glimpses of life without death. We see in Enoch a glimpse of what it will be like in the last generation of Christians alive when Christ returns. That generation will not see death but will be changed. 1 Corinthians 15:51-57 reminds us: “Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, ⁵²in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.”  Death will not have the last word. Life in Jesus will have the last word. Death will be swallowed up in victory. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

 Remember to keep praying continually for each other. 

Love being your pastor,

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church