Church Blog

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Monday to all! I hope your week has started well as you serve the Lord wherever He has placed you. Yesterday was a good day to worship the Lord and be together as His people. We sang of His greatness and read from His Word about the greatness of God and the greatness of His salvation. We looked in Ephesians 1 and thought about all the resources God has provided us to walk with Him and live for His glory. Everything we need to live for God we already have in Christ Jesus. We just need to continually ask God for the wisdom and insight to know how to utilize and appropriate those resources. We can grow in the hope to which God has called us. We can grow in understanding the riches of being a part of His people, the church. And we can continually grow in understanding the immeasurable greatness of the power of God and how that power enables us to live victorious Christian lives!

We begin the new small intensive discipleship group for those interested this Wednesday, September 20, at 6:30 PM. There is still room for you if you are interested in being a part of this study.

September is the month we take a special offering for the ministries of the Minnesota/Wisconsin Baptist Convention. There are some offering envelopes and prayer calendars on the table in the foyer. If you would like to know more about the ministries this offering supports, go to mwbc.org and click on the link to the state mission video. (You will also see a really handsome young man related to Carla Ray in that video!)

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Sisters and brothers,

Happy Monday to all! I hope your day is going well. Yesterday was a good day to be together as God’s family. I hope the message encouraged you as you realize that as believers, we have everything we truly need in Jesus Christ. We have every spiritual blessing in Christ kept safe for us in the heavenly realms. God sought and chose us and made us His own because of His wonderful grace. We are holy and blameless in His sight because God views us through the lens of the blood of Jesus. He sees Jesus’ righteousness counted toward us because Jesus has taken our sin. He chose us to be adopted as His children. He purchased us from sin and death for Himself through the blood of Jesus. We have forgiveness, the putting of our sins as far as the east is from the west, through Jesus. And these things God gives lavishly to us who hear the gospel and believe it. He is not some God who gives enough just to get by, but lavishly pours out these spiritual blessings on us! How can we not seek to live every moment for this gracious God and seek through our lives to give Him continual praise? How can we not seek to share this grace with those God places in in our path?

We will begin the new small intensive discipleship group for those interested next Wednesday, September 20, at 6:30 PM. There is still room for you if you are interested in being a part of this study. We also have a men’s small group that meets on Saturday morning and a ladies group that meets this Saturday and every other Saturday. Call or email Annette Juhlin or me if you need any details about any of these small groups.

If the recent hurricanes and other natural disasters have put in you a desire to volunteer when these disasters occur, there is a disaster relief training on Monday, September 18 at Trinity Baptist in Reedsburg, Wisconsin from 5:30 PM to 9:00 PM. Contact me for more information.

We will have a pot luck luncheon this Sunday, September 17, after our morning worship. Bring enough food for you family and a little extra for any guests we will have.

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Tuesday to all! I hope you had a relaxing holiday yesterday. (I know some of you even had to work on Labor day. I am sorry about that!) Sunday was a good day as we worshipped the eternal King of the universe together. He alone is the true and living God who sought us to forgive us and give us eternal life. We praise His name! I hope the message helped us to deal with the fears that all of us face from time to time. We can acknowledge our fears to God and take them to Him and He will deliver us from all our fears. The all-powerful God loves us and is watching over us as His children!

I want to remind the youth of the lock-in next Friday, September 15, here at the East Madison building. Also, the Called-Out Conference is coming up on October 13-15. This will be a time of growth and fun and I encourage our youth to go. Talk to Damon or Megan Tolhurst for details on either of these events.

There will be a short meeting for those interested in being a part of the new small intensive discipleship group this Sunday, September 10th following the morning worship. At the meeting, we will be trying to find a night that works for all who are interested in being a part of this study.

We will observe the Lord’s Supper this Sunday, September 10th during our morning worship service.

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Sisters and brothers,

Happy Monday to all! It was great to be together yesterday and worship our glorious and mighty Lord Jesus. We learned that God is pleased with us as we walk in humility before Him, love Him, and seek to serve Him. Jesus Christ, the first and the last, the One who died and came back to life never to die again knows all about us. Jesus knows His children’s enemies. Jesus knows His children’s sufferings. Best of all, Jesus knows His children’s glorious future! He is for us and not against us! Our God is a good Father seeking to help us when we struggle and pick us up when we fall. We can and we do trust Him!

Please keep the people of South Texas in prayers as they suffer through the devastating effects of Hurricane Harvey. Southern Baptist Disaster Relief will be helping in recovery efforts. Many of you might not realize that Southern Baptists Disaster Relief is one of the nation most effective groups in helping in disaster recovery. It is staffed almost totally by volunteers from SBC churches around the country who go to areas of disaster at their own expense to help. Dave And Jeanne Wedekind coordinate these efforts in our area. If you ever would desire to help, I can put you in touch with them. Here is a link to SBC Disaster to find out more about their work: https://www.namb.net/send-relief/disaster-relief.

Please let me know soon if you are interested in being a part of the new small group beginning in the fall that I am leading. This group will focus on following Jesus more closely and then being able help others grow in their faith.

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Monday and happy eclipse day to all! I hope you safely got to experience the splendor of today’s eclipse which, if I understand it, will not happen again in the United States for another 100 years if the Lord tarries. Yesterday, we got to experience some wonderful time together as we worshipped the One whose splendor will totally outshine all other splendors of this universe combined. It was great to be back with our brothers and sisters yesterday worshipping the One whose radiance is greater than all! We sang of His greatness and His salvation. We learned from His Word to spend much time gazing into that Word so we can comprehend a little of that splendor and become like Jesus. We learned to be quick to hear His Word and quick to hear others. We learned to be slow to speak and slow to become angry. We learned that nursing anger and reacting in anger does not produce the righteous life that God desires. God’s methods are not the methods of anger and hatred but of love and truth. We learned to be quick to put into practice God’s Word and not just simply intellectually understand it. If we just hear it but it does not change us, we live self-deluded lives. God’s Word is meant to change us by giving us control over what we say so our words will be beneficial and helpful. God’s Word is used by His Holy Spirit in the lives of believers to empower us to minister and reach out to the outcast and hurting. God’s Word is also used by God’s Spirit to enable us to live holy lives and bring much glory to God.

I hope some of you have you been thinking and praying about being a part of the new small group beginning in the fall that I am leading. This group will focus on following Jesus more closely and then being able help others grow in their faith. We plan on beginning sometime in September so if you are interested in being a part of this more intensive small group, please let me know soon.

I want to thank Kevin Huddleston and Jason Donaldson for preaching for me while Carla and I were away. It is good to know we have men among us that can teach and preach God’s Word effectively. I believe part of my job as pastor is to equip more of you to be able to do that.

I have been having some computer problems so some of you might not have received my July 31st email. I apologize for that and hope I have that solved. If you know anyone who has usually receives this weekly email but is not getting it, please have them contact me.

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Monday to all! I hope your morning has gone well as we all enjoy this comfortable summer day. Being with the people of God yesterday and worshiping the eternal God of the universe who gave Himself for our redemption was wonderful. I am encouraged and strengthened when we fellowship and worship together. I want to thank our worship band for leading us to focus on the greatness of God. I know many of the band was gone but David, Annette, Barb and Ron did a great job leading us. I hope the message helped us all to see that we can trust our lives and all our treasures to God because we see that God gave His greatest treasure, His only Son dying in our place, for us! God asks us to do for Him what He has already done for us. Trust your life and all your treasures to Him today and every day.

Please be thinking and praying about being a part of the new small group beginning in the fall. This group will focus on following Jesus more closely and then being able help others grow in their faith. If you are interested in being a part of this more intensive small group, please let me know.

I also want to thank today those who work with our children in Sunday School and worship. Deanna faithfully teaches preschool children every week the love of Jesus and the truths of God’s Word. We then have people who step up to the plate and provide childcare weekly for those too young to be in Deanna’s class and too young (and possibly too wiggly) to be in worship. Also, we have those who provide the children a special children’s worship time twice a month. Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” I want to thank all of you who help with our children in any way for you are truly investing in eternity when you care for children.

For those who are sick, on vacation or away for other reasons, remember you can always listen to the messages preached on Sunday on our website: embclife.org. The messages are usually posted a few days after they are preached.

You all are great! Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Sisters and brothers,

Happy Monday to all! Hope your day is going well. We had a wonderful day yesterday in worship, fellowship, and learning together. I hope the message from 1 Samuel 17 helped us deal with discouragement that comes to all of us by remembering this: God enables His children to be victorious even in the most difficult of circumstances. God has prepared us for whatever battles we face today and He will enable us to walk in victory with Him. Just as He gave David the strength and power to defeat Goliath, He will give us the strength and power to defeat whatever giants we find in our paths as we walk with Him.

We serve a giant-defeating God!

Youth, remember youth canoeing at Lake Wingra tomorrow, July 18 at 4:30 PM. If you did not pick up a waiver, they are available at the church building.

I want to again thank all who helped us conduct our 5 Day Club outreach to children. The word of God was shared and we pray it took deep root in the lives of the children who heard it. I want to thank Jody and Maria for helping host this event and all of you who prayed for this outreach.

We will be starting a new small group in the fall for those who desire to deepen their walk with God and help others also do this. If you are interested in being a part of this more intensive small group, please let me know.

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Monday to all! We celebrated in worship that we serve the Lord Jesus Christ who died for us and rose physically from the grave never to die again. By Jesus taking His life up again He proved He alone is Lord who will reign forever and ever. We examined the evidence of the empty tomb; the evidence of the Old Testament Scripture that prophesied His dying and rising again to rule and reign forever; the evidence of skeptical people who had to be shown that Jesus was alive and the evidence of the continuing witness of the church who proclaim Jesus lives even when His children might face persecution and death as they proclaim that Jesus lives. We challenge skeptics to look at the evidence and see for yourself if the evidence points to the bodily resurrection of Jesus, because if it is true, Jesus is what life is all about. Yes, Jesus is alive! He is our life and we want others to know this life in Jesus and share in it.

Remember to be praying for 5-Day Club held for children ages 5 to 12, beginning this afternoon, Monday, July 10 and lasting through Friday, July 14. It will be held from 3:00 PM to 4:30 PM daily through Friday. It is not too late to invite children and their parents, who are always free to attend with their children, to the 5-Day Club.

We will have a Pot Luck dinner this Sunday, July 16 after worship service.

Love serving our Risen Lord with God’s family at East Madison and I love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Sisters and brothers,

Happy Monday to all! It great to worship with the family of God and adore the great King of the universe. He is worthy of all our praise! We looked at Jesus laying down His life for us by taking the judgment that we deserved. Jesus ushered in a new covenant with God and giving us access to God through His sacrificial death. We saw the witness of the centurions and those who stood with Jesus during the most dangerous event in His life. We also asked ourselves where were Jesus’ closest friends, His apostles, during this time. They believed the wrong things about Jesus and thought He would be a worldly, conquering King. They did not understand that He was sent to be a suffering and dying Messiah. They believed the wrong things about Jesus and had a crisis of faith. That helped us to see that we needed to continually seek to understand God as He really is instead making Him into something we want Him to be. We need to continually try to understand God’s Word as it really is instead of what we want it to be. If we see Jesus as He really is, we will see absolute true beauty.

Remember the 5-Day Club that will be held for children ages 5 to 12, Monday, July 10 through Friday, July 14 from 3:00 PM to 4:30 PM daily. I encourage you to invite children this age to the club. Parents are always free to attend with their children to see what is happening. Please be praying for this outreach and all who will attend it.

Ladies, remember Ladies Night Out Summer Concert at Olbrich Park Botanical Gardens Tuesday, July 11 from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM. Bring a friend!

Remember that our Pot Luck will be held Sunday, July 16 instead of July 9 because the Rehoboth Ethiopian special events weekend.

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Monday to all! It was great to be back with the family of God at East Madison yesterday. I pray yesterday’s sermon helped all of us be more certain in our salvation that comes to those who see Jesus as King dying for our sins. There are those who mourn for Jesus’ death on the cross, who but do not understand its significance. There are those who refuse to believe and mockingly reject its message. And then there are those who receive salvation and forgiveness as they come to see the Savior-King dying for them and believe in Him. The thief on the cross believed and called on Jesus to remember him. Jesus’ message to him was “Today, you will be with Me in paradise.” The thief on the cross had a lifetime of sin forgiven the moment he believed in Jesus as King. The moment you believe in Jesus as your King and call on Him, a lifetime of your sin will be forgiven.

Remember to pray for Emily and Kelsey as they serve at Hands of Hope in Janesville this week. Also pray for Annette and Tricia as they help serve as sponsors alongside them.

Most of you know the church was burglarized last week. I have been visiting with reporters today about this and there might be some news on about the break-in on the local news on three local stations. I sent a quick text to ask some of you to pray for me when I talked with reporters. I also know many of you pray daily for me. Thank you for praying. Pray that God would use this event and any stories that are aired about it to the glory of His name.

5-Day Club will be held for children ages 5 to 12 Monday, July 10 through Friday, July 14 from 3:00 PM to 4:30 PM daily. I encourage you to invite children this age to the club. Parents are always free to attend with their children to see what is happening. We have some printed invitation that will be available Sunday for you to give to children or families that might be interested. Please be praying for this outreach and all who will attend it.

I want to thank Jason Donaldson for preaching for me while I was away. Also, I want to thank many who stepped up when we were presented a possible way to minister to the community while I was gone. Even though this event did not happen, it was wonderful to know that you all were willing to do the work to make it happen while your pastor was away. Way to go East Madison!

We will be having the Lord’s Supper during our worship next Sunday, July 2.

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church