Church Blog

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Monday to all! We had fun yesterday as we celebrated with a pot luck and baby shower the baby that God is giving to Edie and Grayson. Isn’t it wonderful to be part of a church family? We missed all those who could not be with us because of the weather. We know you missed being with us.

As we worshipped, we learned a little bit more about God’s gracious presence with His people. Because of the sacrifice of Jesus, our sins can be forgiven if we trust in Him and we can by Jesus have a friendship with Almighty God. We learned that we live in a day of mercy where God is continually offering His grace to sinners who need it. God mercifully puts off punishing sin to give sinners time to turn from their sin and trust in Jesus. But we learned also that we must never mistake God’s patient mercy to sinners as an endorsement of sin or an unwillingness by God to judge sinful people. In fact, God has already judged sin in Jesus. When Jesus died on the cross for us, God was declaring us guilty as sinners and placing our judgment upon Jesus. That is why we must trust in Him because in Jesus our sins are already judged. Believe in Him today and sin will be forgiven. But if people will not believe, they need to understand that justice delayed is not justice denied. God will ultimately do away with evil. God will ultimately right every wrong. God justice is perfect and God will without partiality do away with all evil and injustice. That includes evil in every person who has refused to accept the sacrifice of Jesus. Either your sins will be judged in Jesus and you will be forgiven, or you will have to pay for your sins by eternal separation from God’s goodness. Today, in the day of mercy and grace, don’t neglect to respond to God’s grace offered to us in Jesus.

As we continue to emphasize prayer for renewal and awakening for 40 days, keep up your praying! Jeremiah 33:3 (NIV) reminds us of God’s promise: “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.”

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Sisters and brothers,

Happy Monday to all! I pray your week has started well and I pray your week will be prayer-filled. Our “40 Days of Prayer” emphasis is a little over halfway done and I believe God is moving and answering many prayers. I have started a “Thank You” journal to keep track of answered prayer. Keep up the praying. If you have missed a few days, start up where you left off and use the prayer guide until you are finished. Keep praying!

It was great to worship with God’s family yesterday at East Madison. Ron Roberts’ special was a great reminder of the power of prayer. The prayers of others for us makes a difference in our lives and our prayer for others makes a difference in their lives. I hope the message on the importance of marriage helped all of us focus on loving our families more and cherishing our spouses. Marriages built on God’s truth and sustained by His love bring much glory to God and happiness to people.

Also, we thank the Lord for all the guests that came our way yesterday. Even though there were many, you all were very welcoming to them. Thank you! When God gives us guests, we always need to go out of our way to welcome them. We step out of our comfort zones to meet and welcome them. We seek to offer to help them find their way around our building. We seek to get to know them. Remember when you were new to East Madison or some other church and how awkward that was. Seek to be a bridge to help people feel welcomed. It has been shown that developing strong relationship is probably the most important reason people become connected to a church.

There will be youth roller skating at Fast Forward this Saturday, February 3 from 12:30 to 4:00 PM. Youth will meet at East Madison at 12:30 PM. Admission is $6.00 with a $2.00 rental fee for skates and $3.00 for rollerblades so bring enough for admission and the rental fee and for any snacks you might purchase. Invite a friend!

There will be children’s worship this Sunday, February 4.

This Sunday, February 4 after worship, we will have a pot luck and an all-church baby shower for Edie and Grayson Doss. Celebrate the child God is giving to them by showering them with gifts they will need for their baby. Edie and Grayson are expecting a girl and are registered at Babies R Us and Amazon.

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Monday to all! It was great to study and worship with the people of God at East Madison yesterday. We learned about spiritual leadership and the fantastic privilege and responsibility it is. All of us are spiritual leaders to someone. Be a spiritual leader who seeks to love God supremely. Be a spiritual leader who seeks the spiritual vitality of God’s people. Be a spiritual leader who seeks the salvation of those who do not know Jesus. Be a spiritual leader who desires above all for the glory of God. Pray also for those spiritual leaders God has place over you. Pray for me as your pastor to be a man completely surrendered to God that will help you follow Jesus more closely. Pray for other spiritual leaders of East Madison that lead people in any way to be men and women who love God and seek for His glory. Pray for the spiritual leaders of other congregations and the spiritual leaders of our city, state and nation. Pray that they will be men and women who love God and people and show forth the character of Christ to those around them. Pray for spiritual leaders who fear only God and will speak God’s truth to every person from pauper to president.

Sunday, February 4 after worship, we will have a pot luck and an all-church baby shower for Edie and Grayson. Celebrate the child God is giving to them by showering them with gifts they will need for their baby. Edie and Grayson are expecting a girl and are registered at Babies R Us and Amazon.

Keep praying and seeking God together, especially during our “40 Days of Prayer” emphasis. If you forget and miss a day, don’t get discouraged! Just pick up from where you stopped and keep praying! God is moving among us!

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Sisters and brothers,

Happy Monday to all! We had a great day yesterday! If you missed the Bible Study time at 9:30 AM, you missed something special. Jason Donaldson was sick and could not be there. (We pray you are better, Jason. We missed you!) However, God was present. The adults who were there began to talk about their experiences with “40 Days of Prayer.” I have heard many reports from people who said that God moved among them as they shared! The adults present told me that they left with a sense of expectation and optimism about how God was moving and working at East Madison! As we worshipped after Bible Study, we sang about how great and glorious our God is and His great salvation! Thank you worship team for leading us in His praise. The message focused on never, ever taking God for granted! We serve too great a God for us to give Him less than our all and our best. We need continually to seek to passionately and wholeheartedly submit ourselves to Him. We can rest in His steadfast love seen in this: “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” We should always in fearful awe seek to understand and honor the Lord’s holiness and His great name. We are here to submit and serve God and center our lives around Him and never seek to reduce Him to anything less that the absolute Lord and Ruler of our lives.

Keep praying and seeking God together, especially during our “40 Days of Prayer” emphasis. God is moving among us!

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Monday to all! Yesterday was a good beginning to our “40 Days of Prayer” emphasis. I sensed God moving among us as we learned from God’s Word how to be a people of prayer, praise and power. If we want God to truly work through us, we have to seek him in prayer and praise. We have to acknowledge our powerlessness apart from His Spirit moving among us. We have to have faith and believe that God is a God who can answer prayer, who wants to answer prayer and who will answer prayer! God desires to answer the prayers of His people who seek His glory and His will. God wants to show His power among His people and in the communities where He has placed His people. His people need to be completely humble and willing to share their struggles with their brothers and sisters. His people need to acknowledge that we want to see what God alone can do among us instead of what we can produce by our vain human efforts. We must be people of prayer and praise in order to see His power! Last night as we met together for prayer at the Juhlin’s, it seemed as if we are doing just that! Let’s keep up the praying, praising, and seeking God individually and collectively! In the 40 days ahead, remember to use your “40 Days of Prayer” guide as we as a congregation join in intensive prayer for a fresh move of God’s Holy Spirit across Wisconsin and Minnesota. I anticipate God moving among us in powerful ways as we pray together as the family of God at East Madison and as the family of God in the Minnesota/Wisconsin Baptist Convention.

Ladies, you are invited to meet for lunch Saturday, at 11:30ish on January 13 at Cracker Barrel. (Lois and Carla recommend the Coca-Cola chocolate cake!) Invite a friend!

We will have a Business Meeting on Sunday evening, January 14, 2018 at 6:00 PM.

Below is some information and some prayer requests for some of those missionaries we support.

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Monday to all! Yesterday was a good beginning to our “40 Days of Prayer” emphasis. I sensed God moving among us as we learned from God’s Word how to be a people of prayer, praise and power. If we want God to truly work through us, we have to seek him in prayer and praise. We have to acknowledge our powerlessness apart from His Spirit moving among us. We have to have faith and believe that God is a God who can answer prayer, who wants to answer prayer and who will answer prayer! God desires to answer the prayers of His people who seek His glory and His will. God wants to show His power among His people and in the communities where He has placed His people. His people need to be completely humble and willing to share their struggles with their brothers and sisters. His people need to acknowledge that we want to see what God alone can do among us instead of what we can produce by our vain human efforts. We must be people of prayer and praise in order to see His power! Last night as we met together for prayer at the Juhlin’s, it seemed as if we are doing just that! Let’s keep up the praying, praising, and seeking God individually and collectively! In the 40 days ahead, remember to use your “40 Days of Prayer” guide as we as a congregation join in intensive prayer for a fresh move of God’s Holy Spirit across Wisconsin and Minnesota. I anticipate God moving among us in powerful ways as we pray together as the family of God at East Madison and as the family of God in the Minnesota/Wisconsin Baptist Convention.

Ladies, you are invited to meet for lunch Saturday, at 11:30ish on January 13 at Cracker Barrel. (Lois and Carla recommend the Coca-Cola chocolate cake!) Invite a friend!

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Sisters and brothers,

Happy Tuesday and Happy New Year to you all! I hope you had a great weekend and got to relax and enjoy bringing in 2018. It is hard to believe that it is 2018! Sometimes I feel old realizing I have lived in two different centuries and two different millennia! However, as we worshipped together this Sunday, we realized that we serve the God of the universe who makes all things new! God loves to grant new starts and new beginnings! No matter how bad we may have blown it yesterday, today He offers us forgiveness and a new start. We can be new creations, new and redeemed human beings, if we trust in Jesus as Savior and Ruler of our lives. Also, now we can have new starts every single day even in the midst of horrific circumstances because “the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is His faithfulness,” (Lamentation 3:22-23, ESV). These new starts do not depend on our circumstances, ingenuity or abilities. These new starts only depend on the character of God, on His steadfast love that never ceases and on His mercies that never come to an end. Also, we know God will ultimately recreate this sin-corrupted creation. There will be a new heaven and a new earth. In this re-creation, there will not be one trace of evil, there will not be one trace of rebellion against the good and perfect Creator God. There His redeemed children will worship and serve Him forever! Yes, God does make all things new!

Next Sunday we will begin a journey with our brothers and sisters across Wisconsin and Minnesota as we begin “40 Days of Prayer.” Prayer and devotional guides will be handed out that will help you spend some time the next 40 days asking God to give His people, His church, a fresh outpouring of His presence and power to do His work. I hope each of you will participate. I anticipate God moving among us in powerful ways as we pray together as the family of God at East Madison and as the family of God in the Minnesota/Wisconsin Baptist Convention.

Our Disciples Path Wednesday group will resume this Wednesday, January 3rd, at 6:30 PM.

We will have a Business Meeting on Sunday evening, January 14, 2018 at 6:00 PM.

Love being your pastor in 2018!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Brothers and sisters,

Merry Christmas to all! I pray you have a wonderful day as you celebrate “God Came Down.” Jesus, God the Son Himself left the glory of heaven to be born in a barn and save us from our sin. Yesterday was fantastic as we worship and were challenged by Nate Ray, sermon, “The Christmas Story: In the Middle of a Mess” Nate wrote:

Oftentimes because many of us are so familiar with the Christmas story, and it can feel sentimental and nostalgic. We need fresh eyes to see it anew with all of its shock value. We need to remember the Christmas story wasn’t nice and clean and tidy, but that Jesus was born in the middle of a mess. Jesus’ kingdom comes as Jesus came: in the middle of a mess.

When we look at the Nativity, the Nativity not only pictures Jesus’ birth: the nativity pictures the way of Jesus, the way Jesus’ kingdom breaks into our lives, the way Jesus’ kingdom breaks into our world, and Jesus’ very methods. It is not just serendipitous that this happens to be how Jesus was born. This is God’s chosen entry point into our world, and when you look at Jesus’ life and ministry, and then the ministry of his earliest followers, you see this is the gospel story! God plops right down, in the middle of the mess; the mess of the world and the mess of our lives.

When darkness looks as if it has won the day; when the powers seem their most powerful; when hope seems the furthest away, light enters – unnoticed with the exception of those on the margins of society – born to poor parents, in a place where no respectable child would ever be born.

In the darkness, light enters, His name is Jesus, and He changed and is changing the world.

“In (Jesus) was life, and that life is the light to all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

(John 1:4-5)

THIS is the good news of the gospel!

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for coming and meeting us in our darkness and our mess and continually bringing Your life and light to us!

Next Sunday, December 31st, we will only have a worship service at 10:30 AM.

Love being your pastor this Christmas!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Sisters and brothers,

Happy Monday to all! What a wonderful day we had yesterday! The worship music was wonderful from Emily and Annette Juhlin’s prelude as we came to worship, to the original songs we were introduced to and worshipped with written by our own worship team, and to the beautiful harp offertory by Abby Longmore! I thank God for the many gifted people at East Madison who are using those gifts to the glory of God. It was also so good to introduce Leslie Harrison as our newest member! I hope the message challenged all of us to make the best decisions we can make by determining to seek and do God’s will just as Joseph did in Matthew 1. Doing God’s will requires sometimes doing difficult things. Doing God’s will requires an openness to the leading of God’s Holy Spirit by prayerfully and carefully seeking to know God’s specific direction. Doing God’s will often not be understood by others. Ultimately, however, doing God’s will is what is good and pleasing and perfect. God’s ways are always right and His will is always best!

This Sunday, Christmas Eve, December 24 we will only have a Christmas Eve worship service at 10:30 AM. Join us and invite a friend. Oftentimes people will come to worship on Christmas Eve when they might not attend any other time of the year. This is a time to plant a gospel seed in their lives. Pray for and invite family, friends and acquaintances who do not regularly attend worship to attend this Sunday at East Madison. Church family, do your best to go out of the way to greet and welcome all our guests this Sunday. I have asked my son Nate, who will be with us, to preach the Christmas Eve message. I believe Nate has a gifting especially to communicate God’s great news to the young adults of this generation. I know I am biased, but I believe we all will be blessed by his message.

If you have not yet given to the Lottie Moon Offering for International Missions this month, you can still do that. There are envelopes and prayer guides if you need them on the table in the foyer of the church building.

Love being your pastor and celebrating Jesus Messiah, the reason for the season, with you!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Monday to all! I hope you are having a great day! Yesterday we were reminded in the lighting of the advent candle by Deanna and Abri that Jesus came to give us peace because He is the Prince of Peace. The message from Isaiah 9 reminded us that because “a Child was born, to us a Son is given” we can have hope in the deepest darkness. When life is so dark that you cannot seem to see the hope that Jesus provides, we must choose to see by faith what we can’t see in our lives or circumstances. We also must make sure the enemy of our souls does not rob God’s children of the hope we have. Believers can be robbed of the hope that we have. We can forget that God does have a preferred future for all of us. Things for God’s children will get better no matter how difficult it is right now. Hang on to hope in Jesus! Draw near to the people of God when hope seems to wane to help remind yourself of true hope we possess because we are God’s children. The world only has only counterfeits to hope. Jesus alone is the hope of the world and apart from Him there is no real or lasting hope. Rest and live in Jesus, the hope of the world.

It is two weeks until Christmas! On Christmas Eve, Sunday, December 24 we will only have a Christmas Eve worship service at 10:30 AM. I have asked my son Nate, who will be with us, to preach the Christmas Eve message. I know I am biased, but I believe you will be blessed by his message.

Remember we are taking up the Lottie Moon Offering for International Missions this month. There are envelopes and prayer guides if you need them at the church building.

Love being your pastor!