July 2019

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Monday to all!  Yesterday, we sang about our glorious and mighty Savior God who has made us His own and Whom we serve.  From Matthew 14, we considered that we are to be people who thirst for, seek after and speak the truth to every generation regardless of the consequences.  Christians are to be people of the truth.  We are to speak the truth in love whether people agree with us or disagree with us.  We are to speak the truth if those around us embrace the truth and us, or if those around us reject the truth and us.  We are to speak the truth if people in power embrace it or if people in power reject it.  We are to speak the truth if the Republicans are in power and we are to speak the truth if Democrats are in power.  We are never so closely to align ourselves with one political faction that we cease to speak the truth to all in power and thus cease to be people of the truth.  Speaking the truth is more important than achieving political power and believers must never forget this!    It might cost us greatly to speak the truth, as it did John the Baptist, John Huss, William Tyndale, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Martin Luther King, Jr. and others who have paid for speaking the truth with their lives. All truth is in Jesus, who is truth itself, who alone is “the way, the truth and the life.” We must never forget that the truth will ultimately prevail and the truth truly does set free.   

We have a new childcare signup sheet for the next three months and we need some volunteers.  All of our childcare workers need to have had a background check on file with EMBC.  The safety of our children is of primary concern to us. If you can help us out, please let me know.  If you haven’t yet had a background check on file with EMBC, we can work on getting that done if you would like to help. 

Our sign team is meeting tonight as we work to update our sign.  Pray God would give us direction as we do this. 

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Happy Monday to all! It was good to be with God’s family at East Madison
yesterday and spend time worshiping our great God and encouraging one
another. We thought about embracing God’s kingdom from Matthew 13. One of the themes of Jesus’ ministry was the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is right now here and is growing. We looked at the opposition to the Kingdom. We thought about the continual growth of the Kingdom that comes steadily and silently. God’s Kingdom grows by relying on the power of the Holy Spirit and not through human governments or political power. We looked at the ultimate worth of knowing Jesus the King and being a part of His Kingdom. We realized that ultimately the only citizenship that matters is being a citizen of the Kingdom of God. There will come a day where every human beings eternal destiny will be determined on whether he or she embraced or rejected Jesus as Lord and King. Yes, it is true that God’s ever-growing Kingdom continues in this world until its fulness is completed by the return
of Jesus Christ.

I want to thank Damon for preaching for me while Carla and I were in
Oklahoma celebrating Carla’s parents 60th anniversary. (I listened to your
message, Damon, and you did an excellent job!) Carl and June, Carla’s
parents, have set a wonderful example of having a very good marriage and we are so grateful to them for that example.

We are working on updating our sign. Pray God would give us direction as we do this.

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Monday to all!  We had a great day yesterday in worship.  Lydia Delikat shared with us about God’s calling her and her fiancé  Ben to go to an unreached people group.  She challenged us to have a greater vision of taking the gospel to the world.  The need in so many places is so great and the number of those taking the gospel to those places that desperately need to hear the gospel is relatively small.   Thank you, Lydia, for reminding us of God’s call for us to take the gospel to all peoples, nations and languages.  We also thought from Matthew 13 of how our spiritual vision and capacity is either improving or declining.  We learned the principle that those who respond to truth receive more truth and those who reject truth become more and more deceived.  When we believe and receive God’s truth, we are enabled and empowered to receive more truth.  When we receive and believe God’s truth, our lives have purpose and count for what is eternal.  All of us need to ask God to make us open and ready to receive whatever truth He might say to us whenever He might say it. 

We will observe the Lord’s Supper next Sunday, July 14, during worship.  We will have a Pot Luck luncheon after the morning worship on July 21.

Congratulations to Grayson and Edie Doss on the birth of their daughter on Saturday, July 6.

Love being your pastor! 

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Sisters and brothers,

Happy Monday to all!  I want to thank all who helped while I was gone, especially David Juhlin and Hans Stennes-Spidahl for preaching for me.  It is good to know there are those who can step up to proclaim God’s truth if I have to be away.  I listened to both of their messages and both were faithful to deliver clear, Biblical messages from God’s Word. 

It was good to be back with God’s family at East Madison yesterday.   Thank you, worship team, for helping us to praise our great God. We sang one of my favorite hymns yesterday, “Before The Throne of God Above,” by Charitie Bancroft.   The second verse is my favorite. 

“When Satan tempts me to despair,

And tells me of the guilt within,

Upward I look and see Him there,

Who made an end to all my sin.

Because the sinless Savior died,

My sinful soul is counted free,

For God the just was satisfied,

To look on Him and Pardon me,

To look on Him and pardon me.

The subject we considered from Matthew 12 yesterday “The Point of No Return” was a difficult subject.  It reminded us of the dangers of persistent and stubborn unbelief.  If you continually resist the wooing of God’s Holy Spirit and deliberately refuse to receive and follow Jesus, you are in great, great eternal danger.  Today, if you hear the voice of the Holy Spirit, you need to respond and believe in Jesus.  Do not ignore that  wooing.  Do not resist that wooing.  Do not think that you can respond in your timetable.  You need to respond while God is speaking and believe in Jesus, because “today is the day of salvation.”  Please, if God is calling you to salvation today, don’t ignore His Holy Spirit.  Today, all who come to Jesus will receive forgiveness and life. If we will respond, “God the just is satisfied, to look on Jesus and pardon us.”  I am so grateful for this great salvation!

Love being your pastor! 

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church