October 2018

Happy Monday, October 29, 2018 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

Happy Monday, October 29, 2018 church! Read More »

Happy Monday, October 22, 2018 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

Happy Monday, October 22, 2018 church! Read More »

Happy Monday, October 15, 2018 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

Happy Monday, October 15, 2018 church! Read More »

Happy Monday, October 8, 2018 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

Happy Monday, October 8, 2018 church! Read More »

Happy Monday, October 1, 2018 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

Happy Monday, October 1, 2018 church! Read More »