September 2020

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Monday to all! Yesterday was a great day to worship our God, the One from whom all blessings flow, as is every day! We looked at the human tendency to look with nostalgia on the good old days. The problem is that the good old days were often not that good at all.  We tend to remember the good things and forget the struggles of the past.  The writer to the Hebrews in Hebrews 9 was confronting some who wanted to go back to the ritual and religion of the of the old covenant.  Hebrews 9 revealed that the old covenant was completely fulfilled in Jesus! The way of Jesus is superior to the old, and every other belief system. The way of Jesus replaces the old covenant. Jesus now has brought complete and total forgiveness for those who believe. Those who believe have unlimited access to Holy God through Jesus Christ right now. And one day, Jesus will appear. Jesus will come back physically and bodily to bring the fullness of salvation to all who are eagerly waiting for Him. Complete forgiveness for sin and free access to Almighty God comes in and through Jesus Christ alone. Believe in Him. Trust your life to Him and live every day in His presence and for His glory.

If you are interested in either a short-term small group Bible study at the church building with appropriate social distancing and masking, or a short-term virtual Bible study, send me an email this week with your interest and preference.

Please join me in praying for our city, state, and nation during these difficult days.  God’s people need to intensely seek His help, His justice, His mercy, and His peace in these times.

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 we worshipped our great God and learned from Hebrews 8 that we are under a new and better covenant through Jesus Christ. The old covenant revealed to us that we could never achieve God’s favor through performance.  The old covenant revealed we could not keep God’s law because of our innate sinful nature. The old covenant revealed that the animal sacrifices of the old covenant could not provide for complete forgiveness.  The old covenant revealed those imperfect priests of the old covenant could not bring Holy God and sinful men together. However, there is a new and perfect covenant!  The new covenant reveals what we could not do for ourselves, Jesus does for us! The death of Jesus in our place on the cross provides complete, total, and forever forgiveness. As our risen and perfect forever High Priest, Jesus completely bridges the gap between sinful man and Holy God.  Some people see Christianity like the Pharisees and scribes saw Judaism in the time of Jesus. They see it as toilsome, burdensome, and joyless.  They see it as a list of rules for you to keep to hopefully make you right with God. But that kind of Christianity is not real and will never work. All our rule-keeping will not make you or me right with God. God’s Spirit and Jesus’ church do not invite you to toilsome and burdensome religion. Today, God’s Spirit and God’ church are not inviting people to follow Christ to do something for Him. God’s Spirit and God’s church invite you to come to Christ because Jesus has done everything for you!

If you are interested in either a short-term small group Bible study at the church building with appropriate social distancing and masking, or a short-term virtual Bible study, send me an email with your interest and preference.

We are receiving during September the State Missions Offering.  I believe in the work we do to advance God’s Kingdom in Wisconsin and Minnesota through this offering.  If you  want to learn more about this, go to  https://www.mwbc.org/state-missions-offering/ and watch the video on that page. Offering envelopes are available at our worship gatherings or you can write a check and designate it to “State Missions.”

Please join me in praying for our city, state, and nation during these difficult days.  God’s people need to intensely seek His help, His justice, His mercy, and His peace in these times.

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 worshipped together by reading God’s Word and singing praises to Almighty God. We worshipped together by sharing the Lord’s Supper to remember the price Jesus paid for our forgiveness and salvation.  We worshipped together by hearing about Jesus as our forever perfect Mediator and High Priest. What a great Savior and forever High Priest we have! We have a perfect High Priest who offered the perfect sacrifice of Himself so that all who believe can be counted perfect through Him. There is none like Him. Jesus is better than all others. Jesus is superior to the Old Testament religion of Israel. Jesus is superior to all other religious systems and all other priestly castes. Jesus is better, greater, and higher. Jesus is the only way to God. Jesus can save completely those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to intercede for them. This should cause us to believe in Jesus following Him as Lord and then seek to draw near to God daily through Him. Jesus Christ alone makes possible the reconciliation of sinful man and Holy God.  

I mentioned yesterday that we are talking up during September the State Missions Offering.  I believe in the work we do to advance God’s Kingdom in Wisconsin and Minnesota through this offering.  If you  want to learn more about this, go to  https://www.mwbc.org/state-missions-offering/ and watch the video on that page.

Please join me in praying for our city, state, and nation during these difficult days.  God’s people need to intensely seek His help, His justice, His mercy, and His peace in these times.

Remember to keep praying continually for each other.

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Sisters and brothers,

Happy Tuesday to all! I hope all of you had a great Labor Day weekend. It was kind of a bummer that we did not get to meet Sunday because of the weather. I also know there were glitches with the livestream.  I know the video without glitches is posted on our YouTube channel. (The direct link to Sunday’s video is: https://youtu.be/Wpzy7oYeQgA.) 

Even when we meet virtually, we can still worship! One of the songs Pete led us in reminded us that God never changes and is forever faithful to those who believe in Jesus. The message from the final paragraph of Hebrews 6 reminded us that God always keeps His promises. God’s character will not allow Him to do otherwise. Numbers 23:19 tells us, “God is not a man that He should lie, nor a son of man that He should change His mind.  Does He speak and then not act?  Does He promise and not fulfill?” What God speaks, He does! What He promises, He fulfills! God’s promises to forgive our sins, give us eternal life in Jesus, to never leave those who believe, and every other promise God has made to us will be without fail kept! You can depend on God to keep His promises to His people.  His promises are sure.  If you have never had anyone keep their promises to you before, God will without fail keep everyone of His promises to you. You can trust Him. He will not fail you. God’s promises to those who believe in Jesus provide us with a continual, sure, and steadfast hope.  

We are still planning on meeting in the parking lot through the month of September. HOWEVER, BEGINNING THIS SUNDAY, SEPETMBER 13^TH, WE WILL CHANGE THE TIME FOR SUNDAY WORSHIP BACK TO 10:30 AM. Also, we have rescheduled observing the Lord’s Supper for this upcoming Sunday, September 13, during our morning worship at 10:30 AM.

The goal of leadership is to try to begin meeting indoors in October. However, that is not firm as we seek to be flexible in dealing with Covid 19. Whenever we begin to meet indoors, we will still have to practice social distancing, no hugging or touching, and the wearing of masks while indoors for the foreseeable future. We would appreciate any suggestions or feedback you might like to share on these issues. Also, we ask you to be patient with leadership as we try to proceed in a wise and God-honoring way.

Please join me in praying for our city, state, and nation during these difficult days.  God’s people need to intensely seek His help, His justice, His mercy, and His peace in these times.

Remember to keep praying continually for each other.

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

All,

Due to the rain and wind, there will be no parking lot service this week – we will be live streaming only at https://youtu.be/CTsxAUXc-n4

Also there will be no prayer time this evening.

Hopefully we will be back in the parking lot next week!