First Presbyterian Church of Baton Rouge

Psalm 107 gives us hope that we’re not locked into wandering and futility forever. We don’t have to be prisoners of the past. Nor do we need to despair over the future. We’re called to cry out to the LORD I AM exactly where we are hurting. And in the process to offer ourselves to him, broken as we are, to go wherever he leads us.

Psalm 1 is a wisdom psalm. It contrasts two life trajectories. One denies the end is coming and believes we can figure out lives ourselves. It flows along with all the glitter and worry and concerns of those with no roots in the reality of God. It’s a life that withers with nothing to show for it. Ultimately, it’s a desert. The other is a life drawing from the deep wells of God’s Word. We drink th...

How can we be sure we that we are serving our Savior and now ourselves? Exalt the Lord and not yourself. Listen to the Lord. Focus on what he wants.

Giving is meant to open up response. To open up love. To keep relationship going. Our God is a god of exchange. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit have been giving of themselves to each other from eternity. Our faith tells us that the world exists in the overflow of their love.

Our mothers bear us for pain and for death. Jesus bears us for joy and for endless life.

We have to set our course. To turn from darkness and make for the light. We sail on toward the heart of the sunrise. We believe into Jesus, propelling towards him. We sail up the bright river of life, making for the Source as we worship Jesus our Dawn.

Christ Jesus is the Desire of the Nations, the Christmas Star shining in the dark, the savior who comes to take us from death to life.

O Key of David that opens and none can shut, come and unlock our weary hearts once more! O Root of Jesse uniting and undergirding all of us, send your nourishing life through us again. O Shoot of Jesse, who restored the promise, come again and make all things new, beginning with us!

God sent his Word into the world. His wisdom, his Son, grew to be a man who walked among the fiery suffering and blazing anger of a rebellious world. He came to save us. Yet, we rejected him. The rebel heart of man declared the wisdom of God to be foolishness. But you know the story. One more move from the King, the wisdom of God to take the worst that we could do, killing the Son of God, and turn...

Once you know that Christ has set you free from slavery to sin, you’ll come to realize that true beauty, true worth, is only found when we take hold of his instructions, take hold of the call of sanctification and pursue it with courage and by his power. Only then does the law which once condemned become a guide to life. You’re not saved by your works, thank God, but he has saved you to work by hi...

Ten meaningful steps you should use to cooperate and participate in what God wants to do in your life. But in the end, this is more God’s work than our work. May he keep on with the process of making you like Christ. That’s sanctification, the holy-making of his people. May God work the gospel through you thoroughly. You have lots to do to work with him in this. But ultimately, this is God’s deal....

If you have entrusted yourself to Christ the light, you are children of the light and of the day. He has awakened you. Perhaps he is calling you awake this very moment. Calling you back from darkness. Calling you out of the night. The dungeon doors are open. Light is shining. Won’t you get up and go to him? Trust that it is worth it to leave the smothering dark and fly into his arms. Take up anew...

"So we will always be with the Lord." How do you feel about that? How do you feel about being gathered from wherever you are to meet the Lord in his triumphant return? How do you feel about being in his presence always? Do you long to be gathered in his arms? Do you thrill to seeing all things ordered and arranged around the rule of our King Jesus? Are you eager for him to return to set all things...

Do you want the vision of possessing your body in dignity and holiness, in clean forgiveness and integrity? Do you want the vision of living quietly, working for a living and living within your means? Reach out to Christ Jesus. Confess your sin and ask forgiveness: he will restore you. Offer your life to him to live a different way. He will lead you. Call one of your pastors or church leaders. Let...

How does someone else's faith and love for Christ make us live for him? To help new believers grow in their faith, we must consistently pray for their spiritual growth.

Paul’s passion for his Thessalonians has raised some important questions for us. Have we accounted for the reality of the Evil One as we conduct our lives? What are we planning to offer before the Throne of Christ? And are we living with real gospel expectations of what life in the world for Christ’s people will be like? Right answers to these questions directly open us to abundant joy, a vivid li...

There is a profound mystery going on when someone tells us the story of Jesus in their own words. We hear it from their voice. Maybe they tell it simply, or haltingly, or even with some parts missing. But as they speak we hear another voice. The voice of God speaks in our hearts. Something resounds inside us. The Spirit moves us. We find we believe. As we believe, energy and joy flow inside us. So...

God sent a great earthquake, which shook the prison to its foundation. The doors flew open and their bonds released. But Paul and Silas did not immediately flee the jail. They waited to meet the jailer. He was terrified at what would happen to him if his prisoners escaped. Paul shared with him the gospel, and the jailer became a believer. That night the very essence of the church of Jesus Christ w...

The deal with idols is that they always disappoint. And then, even as they are disappointing us, they demand payment. Ask the addict; the pain pills slave. Or the woman who idolized the power of her youth beauty and now sees it fade. Or the man who traded his family for the once in a lifetime opportunity, again and again. Or ask the couples who looked to each other for all meaning and purpose. The...

The church in Thessalonica was only a few months old. Paul had been forced to leave the city before he had taught them and led them into maturity. In a city of 100,000 or more people, there were perhaps only a hundred Christians. Thessalonica was a harbor town. And a trading town. All the vices were in full bloom: sex trade, gambling, swindling, drugs. All kinds of pagan religious practices appear...

We know there can be no split between faith and works. Works without faith are cut off from the source and fail to enter the grand vision of God’s purpose for the world. Faith without expression in love is a narcissistic piety that would scare anybody with a brain away from the church. We serve a God of magnificent love, a Creator who passionately tends his creation. We serve a Christ of infinite...

If you want the comfort of knowing the future, you’re going to have to lay down your arms. You’re going to have to lay down your demands that the future serve you. God calls us every moment to repent. To get over ourselves. To surrender to his mission in trust that his future will occur. That change alone leads to refreshment. To breathing the air of heaven amidst the noxious fumes of the world. T...

Purpose, deep, fulfilling purpose comes from worshiping, serving and loving the King through offering myself to him anew every day. To do whatever I do for him.

What is justice? What is Biblical justice? What is social justice? Does social justice=Biblical justice? A Christian approach to social justice

What is Critical Race Theory? Problems with Critical Race Theory Excursus on Robin DiAngelo Conclusions and book recommendations