Church Blog

Sisters and brothers,   

Happy snowy Monday to all! Yesterday we looked at Luke 19. In that chapter, Jesus looked at Zacchaeus and invited Himself to Zacchaeus home. Also in Luke 19, Jesus told the parable to His disciples about faithfully serving Him as we wait for His second coming. We saw in this passage from God’s perfect Word how we should be looking and anticipating His second coming. Jesus is coming again physically and bodily to earth and He will rule and reign forever. Until the day that this happens and as we patiently anticipate that great day, we are to be faithful until He comes. We are to be faithful by seeking the salvation of the ruined and lost around us just as Jesus sought to seek and save the lost. As we patiently anticipate that day, we are to labor diligently sharing the gospel that has been entrusted to us and investing in the lives of others who need Jesus. Faithfully be on mission with God as you anticipate Jesus’ return.

We will have a Good Friday Communion service on Friday evening, April 3, 2026, at 7:00 PM. Also, on Resurrection Sunday, April 5, we will have an Easter Breakfast at 9:30 during our regular Bible Study hour and a Resurrection celebration service at our regular worship time of 10:45 AM. Invite a friend!

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! It was wonderful to worship our great God with all of you yesterday. It once again revealed to me that we need one another. Gathering with the people of God is not something we can take or leave. It is essential for us to continue to live faithfully for Jesus. It we neglect being with the people of God, it is starving our own souls. From the beginning as God gave Eve to Adam, He has told us that it is not good for man to be alone. The book of Hebrews emphasizes our need for one another in Hebrews 10:23-25. “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. ²⁴And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, ²⁵not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”  We not only meet for ourselves and other believers. We meet to influence those around us-our children, our extended families, our coworkers, and our neighbors- to believe in Jesus and confess Him as Lord. When we do not make being with the people of God a necessity, we say to the world that Jesus is not important in our lives. We treat Jesus as an add-on instead of Lord. Make being with the family of God a priority in your life because no one can truly live for Jesus if it is not.

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 in Genesis 29 and 30, we looked at how God worked through Jacob’s dysfunctional family of four wives and twelve children to accomplish His purposes. We saw that despite their competition, envy, and jealousy, God was working to accomplish His purposes through their lives. Do you think because you have or had a dysfunctional family that God cannot work for, in, and through you? God uses us though everyone of us is messed up by our sin. God works despite those things. However, that does not excuse our jealousy and envy. Jealousy and envy should not be part of the lives of believers. The Holy Spirit wants to enable us to live in love and peace, not jealousy and envy. Jealousy and envy in any situation create greater conflict. Jealousy and envy spills over into the lives of those closest to us. By God’s power and grace, we can stop the vicious cycle of bitterness, jealous, envy, and unforgiveness and life can be better. God the Father sent Christ Jesus His Son to enter our pain and take it upon Himself! Even as Jesus was suffering, Jesus set an example of forgiveness when he cried out, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”  Wecan also by the power of God forgive. God can empower us to overcome. In our pain know this: God works in the lives of those who feel lonely and unloved. God remembers them. God works in dysfunctional families to bring His love and salvation.

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!

Brothers and sisters, 

Happy Monday to all! Yesterday, we shared in communion and remembered Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross for our forgiveness and salvation and His presence with us right now. Then from Genesis 29, we saw how God directed Jacob’s steps to exactly where Jacob needed to be. We also saw how God disciplined and trained Jacob through Jacob’s sufferings, difficulties, and trials. We saw that difficulties, sufferings, and hardships grow us to become more like Jesus. I wish we did not have to go through these sufferings to grow but know that we often grow more in our sufferings than in times of comfort. Also, as my son Nate has been teaching me as he has preached through Job: God will not waste one second of suffering in our lives! God will use every second of our sufferings for His glory and our good. Even though we do not like it much, God uses difficult things in our lives to teach and discipline us. I do not like hardships and difficulties, but I also know that I want to be more like Jesus to show the world how great God is. I do want my life to bring glory to His name.God uses the difficulties of our lives to make us increasingly more like Jesus.

Next Sunday, March 1, after morning worship we will have a potluck luncheon. Bring enough food for your family and a little extra for any guests we might have with us.

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! It was wonderful to worship with you and remind ourselves of the greatness of our God and King. Then, we looked at Genesis 28 to the lowest point of Jacob’s life and found that God met Jacob there to give him new direction and a future. We learned that the dream Jacob had of the presence of God and a ladder reaching from heaving to earth was a vision of Christ Jesus. In John 1, Nathaniel had just confessed from his very first encounter with Jesus, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Jesus spoke to Nathaniel these words, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? And he said to him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.’”Jacob’s ladder, where Jacob saw angels ascending and descending to heaven and back, is Jesus. Jesus is the bridge between Holy God and sinful man. Jesus on the cross reveals how anyone who would meet God must come. He or she must come through Jesus Christ and His sacrifice for us on the cross. Jesus is Jacob’s ladder. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. Jesus is the one through whom we must go to know forgiveness and a relationship with Holy God. If we will go through Jesus, no matter what the failures of our life are, we can be forgiven and saved. God meets us at the lowest points of our lives to provide for us His presence and a future.

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 rejoiced in worshipping the One who gave His all for us and saved us by His grace alone. Then we looked at Genesis 27 and learned that we must do God’s will in His way. We saw how favoritism and family division wreaked havoc between Isaac, Rebekah, Esau, and Jacob. Family division hurts everyone. We learned also that we must not use deceptive means like Rebekah and Jacob to achieve certain ends. Yes, you can achieve what you want to achieve by underhanded and sinful methods. But what you will lose by those methods will be far greater than what you will gain. You might reach certain goals and appear to be successful. However, you will not realize and know joy in that success. We also began to understand how we must not only seek to please God and do His will but also must obey His ways and methods in serving Him. We looked at the problem with wrong desires and appetites. They can cause faulty judgments about God’s will. Even our desire for success in what is right can often lead us to employ wrong methods and plans. Sinful actions to achieve good results are never justified. Wrong methods to achieve certain results lead to divisions among the closest of friends and relatives. However, despite human failure and sins, we need to always remember this: Sinful human conniving and activities will never hinder God’s purposes from prevailing.

Sharon Bahl is in rehab as her broken hip is healing. She is at Oakwood Village East Rehab Center on American Parkway if anyone can pay her a visit. We are thankful to know that she is doing better.

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! Today we praised the Lord who is our rock and our Redeemer, who by His grace has allowed us to belong to Him forever. Then, we again looked at Genesis 26 and saw that the blessings of God upon Isaac’s life could not be thwarted whatever opposition came about. It is the same ultimately for every believer. God will pour out his blessings upon his children, and nothing can stop that from happening. That does not mean that there will not be difficulties and unforeseen circumstances. It also does not mean that those blessings will always be material blessings. It does mean that we will often simply move away from contention and strife with others over personal and meaningless issues. As we follow God and do His will, God’s blessings will eventually be acknowledged even by our adversaries.As Allen Ross wrote, “The confident faith of God’s people will triumph over worldly antagonism.” No one can hinder God’s blessings from ultimately being poured on His followers.

Sharon Bahl is in rehab as he broken hip is healing. She is at Oakwood Village East Rehab Center on American Parkway if anyone can pay her a visit. She will be there for a while.

We will have a Superbowl party on February 8 beginning at 5:00 PM. Bring food and snacks for this time of fellowship as we watch the big game together.

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! It was good to be worshipping with the East Madison family yesterday. From Genesis 26, we saw a passage that showed how Abraham and Isaac had similar paths in life as God worked through them. We saw both the strengths and weaknesses of a father passed down to the son. We learned how God faithfully communicates His promises to each generation. We also were instructed that we need to hold tightly to God’s Word and promises. One way we can do that is by guarding against repeating faithless acts of those who came before us.Most importantly, we learned how God worked despite their human weaknesses to bless the whole world through the descendants of Abraham and Issac. God worked in both father and son to bring about His purposes. God works through weak and imperfect human beings to bring salvation to the world.

Please pray for Sharon Bahl. She fell Thursday night and fractured her left hip. She had surgery and they put in a partial hip and had to put a plate in over the bone so she cannot refracture it again. She is at Meriter Hospital and will have to go to a rehab center at some point. Sharon, we love you and we are praying for you.

We will have a Superbowl party on February 8 beginning at 5:00 PM. Bring food and snacks for this time of fellowship as we watch the big game together.

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 was a glorious day as we worshipped our eternally loving God, witnessed Abri’s confession of faith in Jesus as she was baptized, and remembered the great sacrifice of Jesus by observing the Lord’s Supper together. From John 3:16 we saw the truth that God’s love for us gives hope. Hope is found in Jesus today. When we come to trust in and believe in Jesus, hope forever is born. We only need to acknowledge that we need Jesus and cry out to Him to save us. As we trust Jesus to save us and learn to trust Him more fully day by day, we will find, even in the horrific circumstances of life, rest and hope. We find it as fulfillment of God’s Word which says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

Today, we remember Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the life he lived and the death he died seeking to help our nation fulfill its highest ideal that all men are created equal. It is right for us to honor such a man of character, conviction, and courage who called our nation to become a more just society.

We will have a potluck luncheon next Sunday, January 25, after our morning worship. Bring enough food for your family and a little extra for any guest we might have with us.

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 the eternally valuable God who saved us from our sin and its consequences. He alone is our greatest treasure. Then, as we looked at Genesis 25, we thought about holding on to the eternal realities of life. We saw two brothers, Jacob and Esau, and saw what each valued. Esau valued the immediate satisfaction of his appetites and desires. Jacob valued what was forever, real, and eternal. Do we value what is truly valuable in life? The things most people value are, in the eternal scheme of things, truly valueless. Fame, youth, beauty, possessions, prestige, and power will not last. That old cutlass supreme I cherished as a young man has become a toaster by now. But family, children, and the people that we have invested our lives in will live forever. Also, forever we will be in the presence of the Savior who loved us and gave Himself for our salvation. Hold on to eternal realities even amid unforeseen difficulties. Hold on to eternal realities by never trading them for temporary pleasures. Value above all God Himself, His promises, and eternal realities.

We will observe the Lord’s Supper next Sunday, January 18, 2026, during our morning worship gathering along with witnessing a believer follow the Lord in baptism.

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