Church Blog

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Monday to all! As people of the risen King, together we worshipped our risen Lord yesterday. We took the supper of the Lord to remember the price paid by our Lord that provided forgiveness and eternal life for all who will believe. We looked at John 13 and considered the truth that the people of God should be characterized by complete humility and a willingness to serve others, even in the most menial of ways. Jesus washed the dirty and nasty feet of the apostles. This was a task reserved for the very lowest of society. Jesus’ apostles did not want to perform this task for Jesus or one another. However, Jesus willingly served them by washing their feet. Jesus calls us to serve others in this same way. Jesus told us that serving others in even the most menial of task was the way to be truly blessed. The way to real happiness, the way to real greatness, is not through self-indulgence and opulent living. The way to real happiness and real greatness is the way of service in Jesus’ name to others. Serving others in Jesus’ name flows from our understanding of who we are as we belong to Jesus Christ. Serving others in Jesus’ name will not always be understood even by those closest to us. Serving others in Jesus’ name requires us to serve those who will never appreciate or reciprocate our service. Serving others in Jesus’ name connects us with Jesus as Lord and teacher and leads to happiness. Believers seek to emulate Jesus’ example of continually serving others.

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 as we worshiped from reading God’s Word from Isaiah 25-26, we sang about the more than 10,000 reason we have to praise our great God. We looked at Jesus’ final public sermon from John 12 and learned that accepting Jesus and His Words provide the only avenue to know the truth of God and eternal life. We learned exposure to God’s truth in Jesus without embracing Jesus as truth ultimately will blind you to truth. We learned intellectual acceptance to God’s truth in Jesus without embracing and confessing Jesus as truth keeps you living in fear. We considered rejection of Jesus as God’s truth means rejection of the true and living God. Finally, we saw this great good news, that embracing Jesus as God’s Truth provides forever fellowship with the eternal triune God of the universe. We learned that anyone who will, can believe in Jesus and receive His promise of eternal life.

Congratulations to Michael Manders and Dave and Sue Germann on the recent births of their grandsons!

Put Sunday, August 29, on your calendar. We will be having a church-wide fellowship on that day. It is likely we will be having another Sunday evening picnic at 6:00 PM. Details will come later.

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! It was great to be with all of you yesterday to worship our Lord, who is always good to us and greater than we can imagine. From John 12, we thought about Jesus’ coming glorification through His crucifixion in our place and His resurrection to never die again. By His crucifixion, Jesus was the seed that fell to the ground and died for us. That seed of Jesus’ crucifixion bears the fruit of eternal life for men, women, boys, and girls from every tribe, language, people, and nation who will receive and follow Him. We learned Jesus calls us to find real life by dying to ourselves, following Him, and living for the glory of God. Just as Jesus died in our place, so we die to ourselves and live for Him. We seek for the mission of our lives to be bringing glory to God just as this was the mission of Jesus’ life. Real life is not found inwardly by looking inside ourselves, but outwardly by dying to ourselves and finding life in living for Jesus.

I want to thank Jason Donaldson for preaching when I was gone last week. If you missed last week, you should look on our YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3rJ-oFvSS-9W-iWf6Wcvnw) and listen to Jason’s insightful message from God’s Word.

Put Sunday, August 29, on your calendar. We will be having a church-wide fellowship on that day. It is likely we will be having another Sunday evening picnic at 6:00 PM. Details will come later.

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 as we worshipped, we praised our great redeemer God. We realized in our praise that no one can compare with the greatness of our God. We then looked at the triumphal entry of Jesus in John 12 as He moved to the ultimate purpose of His mission: to die on the cross in our place taking our punishment and then conquer death by rising again. We thought from John 12 about how God is always revealing Himself to us through His Word. We always want to be growing in our seeing our great God as He truly is. We want to make sure we see God clearly and that our sins and prejudices don’t give us a distorted understanding of who God truly is. We don’t want our cultural lenses or wrong expectations to blur our understanding of who God truly is. We always want to keep reading and studying God’s Word so our understanding of God will become clearer and clearer all throughout our lives. We want to always be seeking to understand God more fully so we will always be walking with Him.

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 took time in our worship to share in the Lord’s Supper. In preparing to take the supper, we examined our lives and asked the Lord to reveal anything not pleasing to Him so we might confess and forsake those things. We then examined in John 12 one of the most beautiful demonstrations of love for Jesus in God’s Word when Mary anointed Jesus at Bethany. Mary, motivated by love for Jesus, used her most valuable possession, a vial of ointment worth a year’s wages, a possession that provided for her future, and spent it all on Jesus. She held nothing back in showing her love. We saw the chief priests and Judas Iscariot motivated by hatred and greed whose lives came to tragedy and nothing. However, Mary’s act of love and devotion toward her Savior will be remembered and honored forever. We learned that we as believers should always seek to be growing more and more in love with Jesus so we might follow her wonderful example.

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! We worshipped yesterday our great God, who has no equals and no rivals. We considered the wonderful mercy of our glorious Christ. With Matt Papa and Matt Boswell, we:

“Praise the Lord, His mercy is more.
Stronger than darkness, new ev’ry morn.
Our sins they are many; His mercy is more.

Then from John 11, we saw God works even through any who oppose His Kingdom to provide salvation to any and all who will believe. Jesus causes division when people refuse to believe. The solutions of those who oppose Jesus are to reduce Him to just some teacher or some good man or to seek to get rid of Jesus. But that will never work. We saw leaders seek to end the life of the innocent Jesus to save their political and religious influence and power. However, in spite of what they thought they had power to do, they could not take Jesus’ life from Him. Jesus’ life was not taken! Jesus’ life was freely given so we could be saved. God the Father sent the Son to die in our places so our sins could be forgiven. It was the loving Father’s gift to sinful man. Jesus, God the Son, then willingly laid down His life so our sins could be forgiven and so those who believe can receive eternal life, the life of being with God now and forever. Jesus, then, took His life up again and we raised to never die again. Jesus was stronger than sin, death, and the grave. And yes, Jesus is “mighty to save” any and all who will believe and embrace Him.

We will be observing the Lord’s Supper during our morning worship next Sunday, July 18, 2021.

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! As we worshipped in song yesterday, we focused on how great our God is, that there is none like Him, and nothing and no one who can compare with our God. The message from Malachi 2 focused on us making our marriages a beautiful picture of Jesus and His church. God in the goodness of creation made marriage the first institution. Marriage God’s way is for one man to commit to one woman until death parts them. Sexual activity is only good when it is within the bounds of marriage and any sexual activity outside of marriage is a corruption of God’s good creation. We should do what we need to do to make our marriages all they should be. Spend quality and quantity time with each other simply nurturing our marriages and growing closer to our spouses. Guard our marriages, for Christ’s sake! Guard our thought life and our emotions, protecting ourselves from any relationship that would come between ourselves and our spouses. Guard what you put in your mind so the things you see and read will not be opening yourself up to temptations. Protect ourselves from any relationship, alliance, business agreement, Facebook friendship, or anything else that would harm our marriages. God wants to help us have wonderful marriages and He wants to help us make that happen. God also wants His church to be a place where marriages are strengthened, and married people are encouraged and help. Good marriages picture the love Jesus has for His bride, the people of God, the church. Marriages built on God’s truth and sustained by His selfless love bring much glory to Him and happiness to His people.

Sunday night, July 11, we are planning another get together picnic at 6:00 PM. Bring some food for your family and come and fellowship. We will have no agenda but to visit and fellowship with one another. Invite a friend who needs the Lord or a church home so they could get to know us. If there is inclement weather, our alternate date will be July 18.

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 and celebrated the Lord’s Supper together, helping us to always keep in mind the price paid for our salvation. We then considered from the Scripture the importance of family and especially being fathers. Children are to obey parents in the Lord and all of us, children and adults, are to honor our fathers and mothers throughout our lifetimes. Fathers and mothers are to show and teach their children how to be men and women of God. Families are important to God. Dad and mom, is family your second highest priority next to your relationship to God? Fathers and mothers, make a difference for eternity by making a difference in the lives of your children. Lead your family to walk with God. Families where fathers invite Jesus Christ to rule bring glory to God and fulfillment to parents and children alike.

If you are interested in caring for some of the plants and greenery on our church property, let me know. We probably need a small team that could share this responsibility.

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! It was wonderful to be with all of you yesterday to adore and worship our great God. We thought from the last part of John 10 about the true security of those who belong to Jesus Christ. The enemies of Jesus tried to trap him, but they learned that they could not trap Jesus. We learned from this passage that no one or no force of evil can ultimately trap or harm those who believe and belong to Jesus! Those who believe are safe and secure in Jesus. Jesus’ words testify that Jesus is Savior and Messiah. Jesus’ followers testify to Him, know His voice, and He keeps them eternally secure. Jesus’ works and God’s written Word testify that Jesus saves. Jesus’ followers continuing testimony to salvation in Jesus never fails to bear fruit. Jesus saves and keeps safe and saved all who believe. Do you want that kind of life and security and hope and purpose? Jesus gives it if you will believe. Following Jesus means that we are forever protected from those who would destroy us.

We will celebrate the Lord’s Supper next Sunday, June 20, 2021, during our morning worship at 9:00 AM. Also, next Sunday is the conclusion of our baby bottles offerings for CareNet.

Kathleen Brandenburg’s father’s funeral will be held on Friday, June 18, at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, 5701 Raymond Road, at 11:00 AM.

If you are interested in caring for some of the plants and greenery on our church property, let me know. We probably need a small team that could share this responsibility.

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 was a wonderful day of worship and fellowship with God’s family at East Madison. Yesterday morning, Pete, David, and Annette led us in worship of our great King and Redeemer. Then, from John 10, we looked at Jesus the Good Shepherd, who gives life. The Good Shepherd brings protection. The Good Shepherd offers to us eternal and abundant life. The Good Shepherd lays down His life for us and then takes His life back up again. The life Jesus offers is not meant to be “just enough to get by.” Jesus offers us eternal life, the very life of God, full and overflowing. The life of following Jesus is the best life you can have. Jesus offers it to you today if you will hear His voice and receive Him. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, gives overflowing life to any and all who trust in Him.

We then topped a good morning off with a good evening. Last night, we had a great time at our picnic. Dave Germann and Lee Gander led in a wonderful concert and singalong. God’s people also got to hang out with each other in a way that has not been possible for a long time. It was great to talk to many of you and hear more of how God has lovingly drawn you to Himself and worked in your lives. I had a great time and I think many of you did also. We will do this kind of get-together again soon!

If you are interested in caring for some of the plants and greenery on our church property, let me know. We probably need a small team that could share this responsibility.

Remember to fill up your baby bottles for CareNet. I know we already have had three bottles turned in and taken to CareNet. We will conclude this special offering for this great ministry on Father’s Day, June 20.

Remember to keep praying continually for each other.

Love being your pastor,

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church