Church Blog

Sisters and brothers,

Happy Monday to all! Yesterday, we worshipped God who never changes and who is our Rock and our Redeemer. Then as we continued to worship by looking at 2 Corinthians 13, we saw the difference between true godly strength and weakness. In 2 Corinthians, the Corinthians looked at Paul’s method of relying on the power of God rather than human methods as a weakness. The Corinthians assumed that if you had power you used it. Often, true strength means you refuse to use power even when it is within your capacity to use it. Paul was not trying to be the dictator of the Corinthian church. Paul by the power of the Holy Spirit was working with them in gentle and persuasive ways to help them believe in and follow Jesus. The Corinthians were used to seeing in Corinth self-promoting people, who through flashy, manipulative, and strong-arm methods sought to dominate people. Jesus is not like that, and neither were Paul or the other apostles. They refused to promote themselves or the gospel with those kinds of methods. However, just because they were gentle did not mean that God’s power was not present and working through them. There are things that seem weak but actually have great power. Jesus’ crucifixion seemed like weakness, “but to us who are being saved it is the power of God,” (1 Corinthians 1:18).Believers need to understand what God’s strength truly means. God’s strength happens as we continually examine ourselves so God’s strength might continually flow through us. God’s true strength becomes reality among us as we, His people, seek unity in Christ. From 2 Corinthians 13, we see this eternal truth: God’s weakness far surpasses the greatest human strength.

Remember to bring your baby bottles back on Father’s Day, June 15, for the CareNet Pregnancy Center of Dane County. CareNet has a wonderful ministry of saving lives and helping women and families.

On Sunday June 29, weather permitting, we will hold an outdoor worship service followed by a picnic on the property. There will be no Bible Study on that morning.

Remember to keep praying continually for each other. None of us know fully the burdens our brothers and sisters in Christ might be carrying.

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Tuesday to all! I hope Memorial Day was meaningful as we thought about those who gave their lives in defense of our country. Sunday, we learned in our worship that our worth comes from God’s love for us that was revealed most graphically “at the cross.” Then from 2 Corinthians 12, we learned to differentiate between true servants of God and false teachers and self-centered leaders. We learned what healthy churches should look like because nobody wants to be in a troubled church. Healthy churches are where true communities of Christ based on love for Jesus, each other, and the lost world, happens continually. We need to guard ourselves from being self-centered persons. We need to be a person who seeks to continually center our lives in Christ. We need to seek to have a discerning spirits so we can see whenever false teaching and division might be happening. We need to learn to differentiate between true servants of God, who genuinely love and care for others, from false teachers who live self-centered lives full of selfish ambitions. We need to seek and facilitate true Christian fellowship based on a life of continual repentance and avoid divisive disunity.True servants of God seek the glory of God and true unity of the people of God.

We will be having a potluck luncheon after our worship gathering next Sunday, June 1. Bring enough food for your family and a little extra for any guest we might have join us.

During the weeks between Mothers’ Day and Fathers’ Day, we will be passing out baby bottles for us to collect offerings for the CareNet Pregnancy Center of Dane County and the wonderful work they do in saving lives and helping women and families. Take a bottle and fill it with an offering to be brought back on Fathers’ Day.

Remember to keep praying continually for each other. None of us know fully the burdens our brothers and sisters in Christ might be carrying.

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Sisters and brothers,

Happy Monday to all! The subject of yesterday’s sermon was hard for many of us. We looked at 2 Corinthians 12 and thought about the struggles of life that do not seem to go away. We pray about these things and, instead of finding relief, we become frustrated because the prayer seems unanswered. There are times when we beg God to do something that we think is necessary for our survival and flourishing and it seems like God is doing nothing. Paul wrote about one of those times in his life in 2 Corinthians 12. Paul was suffering from something unnamed, a “thorn in the flesh.” Paul prayed his heart out for it to be removed, but God told Paul the thorn would not be removed. We, too, pray our hearts out for some pain or struggle to be removed. But after a time, it becomes clear that God is not going to change that circumstance. Why? It is not because God does not love us and wants us to suffer. It is because God has something greater that will come about from us living with that thorn. There is something good that will ultimately happen for us, for His people, and for those we love that would not come about if he delivered us from that thorn. We might not understand at the time what God is doing. We might not even understand it in our lifetimes. But we do understand that if God does not give us specifically what we ask, He will give us something far better in the long run. One of the greatest things God can give us right now is not some answer to prayer for a miracle or relief from our suffering. One of God’s greatest gifts is knowing God’s very presence and power in our lives that comes to us in our struggles and weaknesses. So, in faith we offer praise to God. We, with Matt Redmond, proclaim:

Blessed be Your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there’s pain in the offering
Blessed be Your name

Blessed be the name of the Lord.

During the weeks between Mothers’ Day and Fathers’ Day, we will be passing out baby bottles for us to collect offerings for the CareNet Pregnancy Center of Dane County and the wonderful work they do in saving lives and helping women and families. Take a bottle and fill it with an offering to be brought back on Fathers’ Day.

Remember to keep praying continually for each other. None of us know fully the burdens our brothers and sisters in Christ might be carrying.

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Monday to all! Yesterday as we worshipped, our hearts were “filled with a thousand songs proclaiming the glories of Calvary.” As we looked at Paul writing of all his experiences and struggles as he served Christ from 2 Corinthians 11, we saw him boasting about what God was doing in all his struggles. We saw the difference between wrong boasting and right boasting. We asked ourselves, “What are we boasting about today?” Are we like a self-deluded eleven-year-old who thinks he is one of the great three? Are we impressed by the famous people of the world who have done nothing? Do we boast in abusive and self-promoting leaders who promote themselves and seek others to follow them instead of seeking for people to follow Jesus? Do we boast about our ancestry, pedigrees, and lineages? Or do we boast correctly in the grace and power of God as He reveals Himself though our struggles and weaknesses? We might impress people through our wrong boasting, but we bring no glory to God and do not impress Him. What should we truly boast about as we live? We are to boast in the grace and power of Almighty God as He reveals Himself through weak people like us.

During the weeks between Mothers’ Day and Fathers’ Day, we will be passing out baby bottles for us to collect offerings for the CareNet Pregnancy Center of Dane County and the wonderful work they do in saving lives and helping women and families. Take a bottle and fill it with an offering to be brought back on Fathers’ Day.

Remember to keep praying continually for each other. None of us know fully the burdens our brothers and sisters in Christ might be carrying.

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Sisters and brothers,

Happy Monday to all! Yesterday it was wonderful to join with all creation in praising the Lord. Then from God’s Word in 2 Corinthians 11, we saw the need for discernment in differentiating between the Lord Jesus who saves from many false Jesus’s. In our day, many name the name of Jesus but proclaim a different Jesus than the crucified and risen Jesus of Scripture. They teach and preach a self-help Jesus. They teach a Jesus who burdens with ceremonies, rules, and regulations. They teach a Jesus who is only a moral example. They teach a Jesus who does not call us to turn from sin and embrace Him. They teach Jesus who is not the only way but simply one way among many. Those who teach and preach a different Jesus sometime even think they are true servants of the living God when in fact they are serving Satan himself. The Jesus these false teachers proclaim is not the true and living Savior. Know the difference between the living Savior and worthless imposters. Do not be impressed with the style of someone’s teaching or preaching over the content and substance of their teaching. Do not be fooled by those who proclaim a Jesus who wants to make us successful and prosperous now without pointing to the future. Do not forget that Jesus and the apostles chose hard lives of taking up their crosses over the fame and comfort of the world. Be a person who continually grows to recognize true servants of Christ and reject false teachers and their teaching. Continually grow in understanding of Jesus as revealed in Scripture and reject all false imposters of Him.

Remember to keep praying continually for each other. None of us know fully the burdens our brothers and sisters in Christ might be carrying.

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Monday to all! Yesterday we worshipped Almighty God and focused on the beauty and majesty of His creation and the grace of His redemption toward us. Then from 2 Corinthians 10, we looked at the spiritual battles Paul faced as he sought to carry out the Great Commission to reach people with the good news of Jesus. From this we realized we, too, are in true spiritual battles. We saw that God has provided us with spiritual weapons to fight and win those battles. We don’t win those battles by deceit, manipulation, or other worldly weapons. We realized that the victory has already been won for us in Christ. We reminded ourselves that greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world. We win those battles one by one and deal with opposition by not seeking the destruction of our enemies but seeking to destroy false teaching and ideas. We saw we can deal boldly with opposition by using spiritual weapons and not weapons of the world. We understood that we can deal boldly with opposition by recognizing wrong understanding and thinking. We realized that we can also deal boldly with opposition by seeking God’s glory in the area of service He has assigned to us.We learned this timeless truth: Believers face intense spiritual opposition which will be overcome through the spiritual weapons God has provided.

If you have not given to the Annie Armstrong Offering for North American Missions, you still have time. The envelopes for that offering are at the back table in the sanctuary. You can make your check out to East Madison and then we will forward all that is given to Annie Armstrong on to where it needs to go.

On Thursday, May 1, East Madison will host the spring meeting of the Greater Wisconsin Baptist Association from 9:00 AM until 1:00 PM. You are invited to come and join this meeting.

Remember to keep praying continually for each other. None of us know fully the burdens our brothers and sisters in Christ might be carrying.

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Sisters and brothers,

Happy Easter Monday to all! Jesus is risen! Jesus is risen indeed! It was a wonderful weekend of worship as we worshiped together on Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday. We considered that Jesus was a different kind of King. Jesus was the King who died for His subjects. Jesus gave His life so we could be forgiven and live eternally with Him. Then yesterday, as we celebrated the resurrection of Jesus and His conquering death forever, we looked at the apostle Thomas from John 20. Thomas was known as “doubting Thomas.” Thomas’ voicing his doubts to his fellow apostles gave us one more convincing proof that Jesus physically and bodily rose from the grave. We learned that it is not wrong to doubt. It is only wrong to not work through our doubts. We are not to stay in doubt. When we doubt, we need to be careful not to isolate ourselves from other believers. Other believers can help us work through our doubts and all the difficulties of life. We are not to be afraid to be honest about our doubts. We need to share them with those who can help us work through them. We also need to be a church where people can ask challenging questions when they doubt. We never want to be place where people are told to not ask challenging questions. Also, we should realize we can trust the witnesses of God’s Word. It is reliable and true. Jesus calls us to battle through our doubts to sure confidence in Him as the resurrected Lord.

If you have not given to the Annie Armstrong Offering for North American Missions, you still have a few weeks. You can make your check out to East Madison and put it in the Annie Armstrong envelops and drop it in the offering plate. We will forward all that is given to Annie Armstrong on to where it needs to go.

On Thursday, May 1, East Madison will host the spring meeting of the Greater Wisconsin Baptist Association from 9:00 AM until 1:00 PM. You are invited to come and join this meeting. There are a couple of special reasons you might like to attend this meeting. Dr. Leo Endel, the Executive Director for the Minnesota/Wisconsin Baptist Convention will be with us. Leo is retiring at the end of June after serving the MWBC for more than 23 years. Many of you know Leo and might want to see him at this meeting. Also, a representative of Alliance Defending Freedom will talk to us about making sure a church’s by-laws and constitution protect churches from liability. The schedule is as follows:

  9:00 AM   Refreshments and Networking
10:00 AM   GWBA Spring Meeting
12:00 PM   Lunch
  1:00 PM   Dismiss

Remember to keep praying continually for each other. None of us know fully the burdens our brothers and sisters in Christ might be carrying.

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Monday to all! We remember at this season the events of the last week of Jesus’ earthly ministry. Let us consider all Jesus said and did on that week. Jesus proclaimed Himself as the servant King and Messiah as He entered Jerusalem in the triumphal entry. Jesus then taught for a couple of days in the temple amidst the growing hostility of the religious leaders. Jesus celebrated the Passover with His apostles and gave it new meaning. Jesus told the disciples that His body would be broken and His blood shed for them and that believers of every age are to take bread and wine regularly to remember this sacrifice on our behalf. Jesus, in anguish as He faced the cross, would on that night pray that the cross be removed from Him if that were possible. Then convinced it was not possible, Jesus willingly surrendered to the cross knowing it was the Father’s will for Him and the way of forgiveness for us. Jesus went to the cross and suffered in our place and died for us. Jesus was buried in a borrowed grave that could not hold Him because Jesus rose from that grave never to die again. Jesus today and forever is our living Savior! We worship Him as the only hope of the world and the only way of salvation.

Our Good Friday service will be held this Friday, April 18, at 7:00 PM. We will partake of the Lord’s Supper during Good Friday service.

On Easter, Resurrection Sunday, we will have an Easter Breakfast at 9:30 AM. Our Resurrection Sunday celebration and worship will be at 10:45 AM.

Good Friday and Easter are a season where unbelievers are more open to invitations to worship. Who might you invite to worship and hear about Jesus on Good Friday, Easter, or both?

Remember to keep praying continually for each other. None of us know fully the burdens our brothers and sisters in Christ might be carrying.

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Sisters and brothers,

Happy Monday to all! Yesterday, we praised our great God and gloried in our Redeemer. Then from Luke 18, we saw Jesus marching toward the most challenging task of His earthly life. Jesus marched toward the cross where He would take the punishment for our sins upon Himself. We learned from Jesus’ example to not put off dealing with the demanding situations we have in life. As we deal with those demanding situations, we are to seek the leading of God’s Spirit. As we do this, we are to walk toward and not away from those difficulties knowing that God will see us through them. We do not have to be a victim of the difficult things we face in life. Through Jesus we will be a victor! We also learned that as we walk toward the difficulties in life, we do not want to miss opportunities that God places in our paths. As Jesus was walking to Jerusalem and the cross through Jericho, God brought a blind man that Jesus could heal. When Jesus did heal this blind man, this man began to follow Him. When we take advantage of unexpected opportunities even amid our difficulties, God will work in mighty ways. God will use us in those opportunities that come as we walk toward difficulties. God may even give us a loyal friend to help us along the way.

The annual business meeting of the East Madison Baptist Church will be held next Sunday, April 13, 2025, following our morning worship.

Our Good Friday service will be on Friday, April 18, at 7:00 PM. We will partake of the Lord’s Supper during Good Friday service. On Easter, Resurrection Sunday, we will have an Easter Breakfast at 9:30 AM. Our Resurrection Sunday celebration and worship will be at 10:45 AM. Good Friday and Easter are a season where unbelievers are more open to invitations to worship. Pray about who you might invite to worship and hear about Jesus during on Good Friday and Easter.

Remember to keep praying continually for each other. None of us know fully the burdens our brothers and sisters in Christ might be carrying.

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Sunday to all! When we worshipped together, we considered from 2 Corinthians 8 the blessings of being generous. We learned generosity in giving inspires others to be generous. We also saw that generosity in giving results in increased generosity. We learned that generosity in giving inspires praise towards God and spurs growth in others. Generosity is not costly. It truly rewards us with many blessings. True generosity enables us to live happier and more contented lives.

Good Friday and Easter are a season where unbelievers are more open to invitations to worship. Pray about who you might invite to worship and hear about Jesus during on Good Friday and Easter.

The annual business meeting of the East Madison Baptist Church will be held on April 13, 2025, following our morning worship.

Remember to keep praying continually for each other. None of us know fully the burdens our brothers and sisters in Christ might be carrying.

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church