Church Blog

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!

tombobray@gmail.com	Mon, Aug 31, 2:29 PM (10 days ago)
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Brothers and sisters,

Happy Monday to all!   Yesterday was great worshipping the eternal God and singing about the hope we have in Jesus and what He has done.  That hope is certain!  We thought from Hebrews 5 and 6 about our need to continually grow as believers.  Continued growth enables us to fully embrace hope every day of our lives.  Growth is a sign of life and health.  If there is no growth, something is seriously diseased in our spiritual lives.  Also, sometimes no growth is a sign of no real spiritual life.  Believers are to seek to grow. We grow as we put into practice what God teaches us.  We grow as we build on the fundamental truths of faith in Jesus.  We grow making sure we have truly put our faith in Jesus.  We grow as we ask God to increase our hunger for Him, His Word, and His glory.  Growing enables us to continually live in His hope no matter the circumstances of our lives.

We will be observing the Lord’s Supper next Sunday, September 6, during our morning worship at 9:00 AM.

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.

We provide an offering box for you to deposit your offerings when we meet in the parking lot. If you would like, you can mail offering checks to the church address at the Milwaukee Street address below. Also, you can give your offerings online at the embclife.org website by clicking the “Give Online” tab on the homepage or you can click this link directly:  https://give.idonate.com/east-madison-baptist-church/give

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 had a wonderful day of worship.  We considered from Hebrews 2 Jesus as not only the Son of God, but also the Son of Man.  It was necessary for the Creator, Sustainer, Redeemer, and King of the universe to become a man so that we would be saved. God the Son became the Son of Man.  Jesus took on flesh because it was necessary for Him to be made a sacrifice for our sins.  Without this great condescension of the Son of God, we could not have been saved. Hebrews 2:10 reminds us: “For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation (Jesus) perfect through suffering.”  Jesus could not have become our Savior without His sacrificial death on the cross. Then we sang about this from the song written by Damon Tolhurst and Ron Roberts, “The Enigmatic Christ.”

His countenance is brilliant white, but He put on flesh like mine
Not to hide within His radiance, but so His Light would shine
We are not of human kin, yet He is Brother now to me
Through the Father God, Who made us all to be.

He is Lord, He is the Christ, and yet He’d be our Sacrifice.
Perfect Man and Holy Son came down from God to make us one
Not to be just God and King, but even Shepherd of the lost:
For every rescued soul  He paid the cost.

He came to us with empty hands, no treasure stored on earth.
But what He came to offer us is a gift beyond all worth.
He waged the war on evil,  yet He had no armory.
His weapon was His life,  laid down for me.

He had no sin or shame to shun,  no bondage to release,
Yet in our place He suffered all:  His grief has bought our peace.
He had no rank or status, and He claimed no earthly throne;
But by His death the Crown is His alone.

What a Savior we have, One who suffered for us in our place and One who runs to help us when we cry out to Him when we are tempted and suffer!

We want to congratulate Jessica Pokrandt and Sean Bull as they became husband and wife yesterday afternoon. Mr. and Mrs. Sean Bull had a beautiful wedding in the midst of social distancing, crowd limitations and Covid 19.  God worked His wonderful miracle of making a family yesterday. 

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! It was good to be able to take the Lord’s Supper yesterday during our time of worship.  We are all part of the one body of Christ which He bought with His own blood.  We remember Jesus as we take the Supper and worship the One who has made us into the one family of God.  The message from Hebrews 1 encouraged each of us to gain a greater understanding of Jesus our Savior. Jesus “is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.” Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord whom we follow created, sustains, redeems, and rules the universe. Jesus will reign forever and ever, and every knee will bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.  We must always be growing in our understanding of who Jesus Christ truly is.  We learned that God’s revelation in and through Jesus brings to fulfillment all His promises in the old covenant. God’s new covenant in His Son Jesus is final and complete. 

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! We worshipped the true and living God who alone deserves from all living creatures praise and worship.  We began our journey through the letter to the Hebrews by looking at an overview of the book and its main themes.  We saw so clearly that Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, is greater than any created being or any created thing.  Christ Jesus is greater than all including angels, prophets, and priests.  Christ is greater than the old covenant and any other religion.  Christ is the final and full provider for the salvation of the world. Because Jesus is greater than anyone or anything else, no force in all the universe should hinder us from receiving the forgiveness Jesus has provided and spending our lives following Him.

We will again meet in the parking lot next Sunday, July 5, 2020 at 9:00 AM.  We will be observing the Lord’s Supper during our time of worship. We will provide individually wrapped juice and wafers for all celebrating with us.  For those of you who cannot join us physically, we encourage you to watch the livestream or the recorded video and get some crackers and juice and join with us virtually in celebrating the Lord’s Supper.  We also want you to know how much we miss you and look forward to when you will be able to worship with us physically.

We began meeting for prayer time Sunday night’s at 6:30 PM in our parking lot.  We had a wonderful time last night praying.  We hope maybe some more of you will join us in the future.

I want to recommend a website for those of you with children or grandchildren who are looking for resources to teach them of Jesus’ love and God’s truth.  The website is the work of one of my lifetime friends, Charlie Bancroft.  It is called Valued by God (https://www.valuedbygod.com/) and it reaches out to children and to those with special needs.  It has all kinds of resources to help children know the love of Jesus and understand His ways.  You can also download the app for your phone or tablet.

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 on Father’s Day, we had a wonderful service worshipping our great God and thinking about how to be the fathers God would have us be.  The importance of a godly father in someone’s life cannot be overestimated.  The Bible teaches that a child is truly disadvantaged when Dad, for whatever reason, is not around.  In fact, fatherlessness is seen a one of life’s greatest misfortune by Almighty God.  It is such a great misfortune that children who are without fathers hold a special place in the heart of God.  We learned some characteristics of a godly father.  Godly fathers are faithful.  They seek first God’s Kingdom and make Jesus’ church a priority. Godly fathers are available.   They spend much time with their children.  Godly father are tough and tender teachers.  They know God has entrusted them with teaching their children the ways and Word of God.  They know they are not to be their children’s best buddy, but their dad who is tough when he need to be tough and lay down the law, but also tender when his children have been crushed emotionally and need dad to show them love.  Godly fathers are hopelessly in love with their wives, and their children find security in knowing their parents are committed to each other until death parts them.  Godly fathers are emotionally involved with their children.  And finally, Godly fathers are repentant.  They acknowledge and turn from their sins and receive God’s forgiveness provided through Jesus.  They willingly admit to their children and their spouse when they blow it.  They understand God will move heaven and earth to help the man who turns from his sin.  They see God’s grace and mercy override their mistakes.  They are fathers who pattern their lives after our perfect Heavenly Father.    

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!  Next Sunday morning, June 28, we will begin our worship service at a new time.  WE WILL BEGIN AT 9:00 AM IN THE PARKING LOT.  We hope this helps us be a little cooler.

I want to thank you for your faithfulness in giving to the Lord. We provide an offering box for you to deposit your offerings when we meet in the parking lot.  You can mail offering checks to the church address at the Milwaukee Street address below. Also, you can give your offerings online at the embclife.org website by clicking the “Give Online” tab on the homepage or you can click this link directly:  https://give.idonate.com/east-madison-baptist-church/give

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! God again gave us a beautiful day to gather outdoors as His people and be the church.

The message yesterday dealt with the Bible’s teaching that every person is made in the image of God and reflects the glory of God.  The message challenged each of us to turn from and stand against the evil of racism.  We can no longer act like racism is a problem that was solved in the 60’s.  We must continually repent of any racism that creeps up in our minds and hearts.  We should seek to stand against racism as it raises its ugly face in our nation’s institution.  Why? Because, first, it dishonors our Savior who died for people from every tribe and language and people and nation. Second, because we know every person is made in the image of God.  God sees that one human being is worth way more than all the stuff in the world.  Jesus said in Mark 8:36 “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?”  One person, one man, woman, boy or girl is worth more than all the stuff and fame of the world. We should see each other in that way and understand that each person somehow reflects the image of God and should be treated with the utmost respect. Third, we should see every person as a person who needs to come to know the love and forgiveness of God.  We should see every person as a person for whom Christ died and who without Him will perish.  God graciously entrusts believers with caring for people who are all made in the image of God. Our Lord Jesus expects us to turn from and stand against racism.  God help us to do this today and every day.

We again apologize for the failure of the livestream yesterday.  Here is a link directly to yesterday’s recorded service:  https://youtu.be/caPuiWKdBPc. 

I want to thank you for your faithfulness in giving to the Lord during these difficult times.  We are receiving offerings in a few ways.  We provide an offering box for you to deposit your offerings when we meet in the parking lot.  You can mail offering checks to the church address at the Milwaukee Street address below. Also, you can give your offerings online at the embclife.org website by clicking the “Give Online” tab on the homepage or you can click this link directly:  https://give.idonate.com/east-madison-baptist-church/give

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! It was wonderful to be worshipping physically with you yesterday!  Gathering and praising God together with you and being able to proclaim His word to you personally lifted my spirit immensely.  I hope those of you who joined us by Youtube.com on livestream or watched the service later were also blessed. (Here is a link to the EMBC YouTube channel where you can watch yesterday’s service or tune into to watch next week’s livestream: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3rJ-oFvSS-9W-iWf6Wcvnw).  In the message, we learned from Mark 12 and John 13 that Christianity is all about relationships.  God sent Jesus to earth and to the cross for us to mend our broken relationship with Him.  God did for us what we could not do for ourselves.  As we respond to the love of God, each of us seeks to love God back with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind.  We seek to love Him supremely above everything and everyone else.  Then as we love God supremely, we love our brothers and sisters in Christ as Jesus has loved us and live in community with them so the world will see us this and know that we are Jesus’ disciples.  Finally, because we love God supremely and live in community with each other, we are also filled with love for our neighbors. Who is our neighbor? Our neighbors are anyone whom God places in our paths whose need we can meet in Jesus’ name.  All around us are our neighbors who need to know the love of God and be drawn into these relationships. Following Jesus is all about our relationships: with God, each other and those whose needs we can meet in Jesus’ name.

We will continue meeting this Sunday, June 14, in our parking lot at 10:30 AM.  (I think yesterday went well except I need to remember to put sunscreen on the top of my head.)  We ask that you bring lawn chairs for the members of your family to sit.  We will continue to practice social distancing as we meet outside.  We will also provide virtual worship and provide a live feed to our services. In case of inclement weather, we will only live stream our services. If you have a fever and/or other symptoms of being ill or have been in contact with a person who has tested positive for Covid 19, we ask that you stay home and worship with us virtually. Also, we support anyone who feels like you need to stay home to protect your health. Please pray for me and the church council as we continue to adapt to this changing crisis and work out details.

I want to thank you for your faithfulness in giving to the Lord during these difficult times. We are receiving offerings in a few ways. We provide an offering box for you to deposit your offerings when we meet in the parking lot. You can mail offering checks to the church address at the Milwaukee Street address below. Also, you can give your offerings online at the embclife.org website by clicking the “Give Online” tab on the homepage or you can click this link directly: https://give.idonate.com/east-madison-baptist-church/give

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, as we worshipped, we considered what happens when God says “No” to some of our prayers.  Paul experienced this in 2 Corinthians 12 when Paul asked God to remove the “thorn in his flesh.” God told Paul “No” to this request. Instead, God said to Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:9, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” God told Paul that in Paul’s weakness, God power would be shown to be perfect, sufficient, and enough. There will be times when we will pray for something and God will not give us what we ask.  In these times, we often do not understand what God is doing.  God sometimes allows the continuance of struggles and difficulties for His glory, the furtherance of His kingdom, and for our good.  Will we trust God when he says “no” to changing the circumstances of our lives?  Will we trust God when that thing we pray for does not happen?  Do we believe that God will bring about greater things through His “no” to our prayers and to His continued allowance of struggles and difficulties?  Whatever we face, we know God promises His ever increasing and all-sufficient grace to help us when he says “no” to our prayers. Will we believe and trust Him even in this?

Our church will begin meeting physically, the Lord willing, starting this Sunday, June 7. On June 7, and probably for a while, the plan is to conduct outdoor services in our parking lot.  We will have people parking cars appropriately distanced from one another. We ask that you bring lawn chairs for the members of your family to sit in front of your vehicles.  We will continue to practice social distancing as we meet outside.  We will also provide virtual worship and begin to provide a live feed to our services. In case of inclement weather, we will only live stream our services. If you have a fever and/or other symptoms of being ill or have been in contact with a person who has tested positive for Covid 19, we ask that you stay home and worship with us virtually. We realize some of you are concerned with meeting in this manner because of health issues. We support you if you feel like you need to stay home to protect your health. Some of you might not agree with how we are proceeding but know, as best we can, we are trying to do what we believe is God’s will and best for His people.  Please pray for me and the church council as we continue to adapt to this changing crisis and work out details.

Please remember to pray for our city and nation during these tense days.  Pray for justice and then peace to be better established.  Pray for the rage to decrease and forgiveness, love, and mercy to increase.

I want to thank you for your faithfulness in giving to the Lord during these difficult times.  We are receiving offerings in a couple of ways.  You can mail offering checks to the church address at the Milwaukee Street address below. Also, you can give your offerings online at the embclife.org website by clicking the “Give Online” tab on the homepage or you can click this link directly:  https://give.idonate.com/east-madison-baptist-church/give

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! It was good to have Pete lead us in virtual worship yesterday. We appreciate you, Pete! I pray that the celebration of the Lord’s Supper reminded you that the Lord is near.   We looked at one of the most beloved passages of hope as we looked in John 3:16. Jesus is our hope and the hope of the world. God’s love for us provides hope when hope can be found nowhere else.  God loves us and proved His love for us by giving Jesus to die and then rise again for whoever will believe.  This offer is open to all.  This offer frees those who will believe from perishing. This offer to all who will believe provides us with the life of knowing the one true God and to love and live for Him.  Jesus came not to condemn but to rescue us from condemnation. This is the hope of all who will believe.

Our church will begin meeting physically starting June 7. On June 7, and probably for a while, the plan is to conduct outdoor services in our parking lot.  We will have people parking cars appropriately distanced from one another. We ask that you bring lawn chairs for the members of your family to sit in front of your vehicles.  We will continue to practice social distancing as we meet outside.  We will also provide virtual worship and begin to provide a live feed to our services. In case of inclement weather, we will only live stream our services. If you have a fever and/or other symptoms of being ill or have been in contact with a person who has tested positive for Covid 19, we ask that you stay home and worship with us virtually. We realize some of you are concerned with meeting in this manner because of health issues. We support you if you feel like you need to stay home to protect your health. Some of you might not agree with how we are proceeding but know, as best we can, we are trying to do what we believe is God’s will and best for His people.  Please pray for me and the church council as we continue to adapt to this changing crisis and work out details.

I encourage you to take advantage of virtual meetings with other believers during this time.  We need each other! I continue to be grateful for the virtual meetings taking place with the ladies on Saturday morning and the prayer meeting on Sunday evening. 

I want to thank you for your faithfulness in giving to the Lord during these difficult times.  We are receiving offerings in a couple of ways.  You can mail offering checks to the church address at the Milwaukee Street address below. Also, you can give your offerings online at the embclife.org website by clicking the “Give Online” tab on the homepage or you can click this link directly:  https://give.idonate.com/east-madison-baptist-church/give

Remember to keep praying continually for each other.

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church