April 2018

Happy Monday, April 30, 2018 church!

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Monday to all! It was exciting to worship with you yesterday and see all the children that were present! Children present among us is a sign of life! I want to thank Leslie for working with the little ones during worship and also Grace and all who helped her with children’s worship. Thank you for loving the children that Jesus loves!

We also had a good time upstairs as we worshipped our perfectly just God and thought about the freedom we truly have as believers to serve God and others. We are free to willingly submit to human institutions and even to those with authority over us in the workplace because we have true freedom in Jesus. We do not fear human rulers or institutions but only fear and reverence God. Our final allegiance is always to God alone because He alone is Lord and Savior. We know that sometimes as believers we will suffer for doing what is right and good. We might suffer because we belong to Jesus Christ. That kind of suffering is following the example of Jesus who never deserved any of the suffering that He went through. We can endure this kind of unjust suffering when we might have to endure it because we trust the perfect justice of Almighty God. It might seem like some get away with all kinds of horrific and evil deeds. But no one gets away with evil and wrong forever because of the just God of eternity. God’s justice is fulfilled in one of two ways. Either we accept the mercy and grace of God offered to all by Jesus’ payment for our sins because He suffered in our place as our substitute. Or we endure an eternity of forever being away from the goodness of God because we reject Jesus and such a graciously offered salvation. Thank You, O God, for the salvation provided to all who will believe that is found in Your Son Jesus!

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Happy Monday, April 30, 2018 church! Read More »

Happy Monday, April 23, 2018 church!

Sisters and brothers

Happy beautiful Monday to all! Yesterday, we worshipped Jesus Christ, the One “the builders rejected (who) has become the Cornerstone.” We build our lives on the One rejected by the world. The One rejected by the world is chosen and precious to God. Through Him, we are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and a people that are God’s very own possession. We have been made objects of the mercy of God though at one time we had not received mercy! The very purpose of our lives, the lives of the ones now receiving mercy, is to proclaim the excellencies of Him who called us out of darkness in to His marvelous light. And we know this for certain: everyone who builds his or her life upon Jesus Christ will never, ever be put to shame!

I want to thank those who work with children in Sunday School and those who volunteer for childcare during our worship service. We need you and we appreciate you! Lives invested in children for the Kingdom of God are truly invested in eternity.

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Happy Monday, April 23, 2018 church! Read More »

Happy Monday, April 16, 2018 church!

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Monday to all! Yesterday was a crazy day for us! The bizarre winter weather seems to keep hanging on. Those of us who made it to the East Madison building had a good day of worship, even though we missed those of you who could not be here. However, we have hope because we know spring is coming! The message from 1 Peter 1 and 2 again was about the hope we have in Jesus. We always have hope in Jesus and we need to set our minds on the hope we have in Him. We have certain hope because of his grace toward those who believe. We have hope because of the ultimately valuable price of Jesus’ blood that purchased our redemption. We have hope because of His Word which generates our new births and provides us with nourishment to grow in that hope. We have certain hope as believers! We say along with Edward Mote,

“Our hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness…
On Christ the solid rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.”

Ladies, you are invited to a brunch this Saturday, April 21st at Daisy Cafe and Cupcakery and you can invite a friend! Carla will make a reservation for 11:00 AM. If you’re interested in carpooling, the ladies will meet at the church building at 10:30 AM. Please let Carla know if you plan to attend and whether you’ll be carpooling. If you’re driving, the address to Daisy’s is 2827 Atwood Avenue, Madison.

We will have a pot luck lunch following our worship service next Sunday, April 22. Bring food for your family and a little extra for any guests we might have.

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Happy Monday, April 16, 2018 church! Read More »

Happy Monday, April 9, 2018 church!

Sisters and brothers,

Happy Monday to all! Yesterday was a great day to worship our great God. I am so thankful for our worship team! They do a wonderful job in leading us. It always amazes me how the songs and the messages fit together, though we normally don’t make any conscious effort to do that. We don’t choreograph our worship services. There might be a few times I want a certain passage to be read or a certain song to be sung, but most of the time Pete and I work independently on planning worship. He chooses the music to be sung and the Scriptures to be read before I preach. I work on preaching God’s Word. However, many times it seems like God does choreograph the services and I am amazed!

Yesterday we looked at surviving and thriving in difficult times. How do you go through very difficult times and encourage others going through very difficult times? We saw that focusing on our sure salvation in Jesus Christ helps believers cope with difficult times. We saw knowing that the sufferings of believers do indeed have purpose can also help strengthen believers during difficult times. We also realized that this great salvation in Jesus truly fulfills God’s entire Word and knowing this empowers us to deal with difficult times. The living hope found in Jesus Christ truly provides strength to face all the difficulties of life!

It was so wonderful to have Peggy back with us yesterday. Peggy wanted to me to thank all of you for your prayers for her while she was sick. She also wanted me to tell you that your prayers worked! We thank God for you Peggy, that you to continue to teach us about our powerful Savior!

We will be having the Lord’s Supper this Sunday during worship.

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Happy Monday, April 9, 2018 church! Read More »

Happy Monday, April 2, 2018 church!

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Monday to all! We celebrated the truth of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead yesterday. We celebrated that Jesus arose physically and bodily from the grave never to die again. And today, we celebrate it again! We serve a risen Savior! We have good news that is good news every single day! As Christians we follow Jesus by faith. However, it is not blind faith. There is historical and credible evidence of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. There is an empty tomb. There is the witness of the disciples and apostles who proclaimed this message even though it cost them everything to proclaim Jesus rose from the grave. For many of these early believers the cost was their life! These early witnesses died proclaiming Jesus lives! And today many of us can testify that Jesus lives. We know this not just because of objective evidence of history but because He has changed our lives! He has forgiven our sin and freed us from addictions and oppression. Jesus has given us meaning and purpose as we no longer live for ourselves but for Him who died and rose again! Yes, Jesus lives!

Still celebrating with you Jesus as the “resurrection and the life!” Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Happy Monday, April 2, 2018 church! Read More »