First Presbyterian Church of Baton Rouge

Interaction with the world, even enjoyment of its good, is not what undoes us as Christ’s people. Our over-identification with the world is not simply because we have common cause with the affairs of the world. Rather our failure to lift up our hearts, to see Christ in heaven and give thanks is what undoes our mission and compromises our witness. As citizens of the City of God, we may participate...

Why would a good God allow suffering? Why would we be joyful amidst suffering? What can suffering do to us?

On Sunday, July 19, we welcomed to the pulpit our former associate pastor Dr. Alec Flynt. Arden and Alec and their three children (Caleb, Elizabeth Gray and Lydia) moved to Mobile in 2013 to plant Covenant Presbyterian Church in Mobile, Alabama. Watch Alec's message on God's sovereignty.

The reason we are given such a privileged title, "Priests of the LORD," is so that we may proclaim God's mighty acts of mercy toward us to the world. We have been called in order to be sent. We are the ones who get to make the connection between the Triune God and the world of lost humanity.

Welcome George Gillam! George is a graduate of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He is licensed to preach by the United Methodist Church. George currently works as the Operations Manager at the UpLIFTD. Thanks to a grant from our Session, George also works part time in urban ministry under the auspices of First Presbyterian Church and Whitney Alexander. His experience as a prisoner in Ango...

When you come to Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, you have as much of Christ as you ever will. He has made sure of that. The question is how much of you have you given to Christ? Is there room in your boat?

Isaiah envisioned the redeemed people as being the result of God's own gardening efforts in the world. The LORD calls us "the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I might be glorified” (60: 21). The LORD is both the gardener and the ground in which we grow. He nourishes us with his life so that we become what we were made to be. God is the garden itself: “In him we live and move and h...

Before blame and shame, we let tears be tears. We just agree that this isn’t right. And then before our emotions are corrupted by an angry agenda, we embrace. And we say, “I am in this with you. We’re together.” Because the steadfast love of the LORD never ceases. He calls a people to himself, and then sends us to suffer alongside the suffering. In a thousand, thousand ways, from that place of tea...

Delight is a word full of pleasure, surprise and laughter. Delight can make you belly laugh or even feel for a moment that you’ve tasted heaven. If we knew God’s delight, what would change in us?

God had simply had enough of the corruption and the resulting affliction and pain of his people. He realized, “They can’t do this on their own. They can’t clean this up. They can’t fix themselves. I’m coming down. I’m coming down there myself.” And so God suited up for battle. He took off his fancy royal robe and for a moment his mighty arm was bared. Then he put on his armor. But the LORD’s warri...

Found. That’s a strong word to those of us in exile. God seeks your company. He knows where you are. And he wants to bring you home. But you’ve got to be willing to let him find you. We can be exiled so long that we don’t even want to be found. We just want to stay diminished and alone. That’s a spiritual hazard. God’s view of you is this: You are Sought Out. I came to seek and save the lost. So g...

What do we learn from Naomi about being a faithful mother? Be Hopeful. Be thoughtful. Be vulnerable. Be grateful.

Do you ever say to yourself, “I don’t count among the LORD’s people. I’m not sure he accepts me. I don’t think the future looks good for me”? To YOU, the LORD says, “Don’t say that anymore!"

What do you look like from a God’s-eye view? What is God’s opinion of you? What is God’s desire for you? These are all identity questions. In fact, they’re the ones that really matter. God sees truly. God sees all the way through. God sees me as I am. His view is the only one that matters because he is the Creator. He is the one who alone sees according to Reality. Because God is Reality and Truth...

There’s no going back. Jesus is risen. Death is defeated. One man has shown himself to be Lord of life and death, Lord of all the cosmos. Once you know that, you can’t return to the old game of living just for yourself. You can’t think again that the point of your life is about being the you you dreamed up for yourself. It’s about shaping your life to love Jesus by knowing him for who he is and th...

Mary turned round and saw Jesus. He spoke her name. And her tears were turned. He speaks your name as well, deeply into your heart. Jesus is the great turner of the tears. Jesus lives again. Arise!

Jesus plunged farther, died deeper, was crushed finer than we can imagine on Holy Saturday. This quiet service reflects on five psalms that sustained Jesus in this time.

Interactive Service of Shadows: Participate at Home! Wherever you are, you can take an active part in our annual Holy Thursday Service of Shadows. Here’s what to do: secure four candles, a lighter, bread, and a cup of juice/wine. Watch and listen as we move through the story of the passion. Wait for the signal to light and/or extinguish candles, and for the time when we can all take communion in o...

Joseph just wanted to honor his slain master. He just wanted the cruel shame to end. So he was willing to sacrifice politically, socially, personally to give Jesus a proper burial. And what a difference it has made! If Jesus had been dumped in a mass grave, there would have been no empty tomb to point out on Easter. If he had been discarded in an unfindable place, the resurrection would have seeme...

Joseph of Arimathea was a member of the Sanhedrin council. For political reasons he had to keep his loyalty to Jesus hidden. So why did he risk his position to approach Pilate? Only love could have made him do it. All he cared about was honoring Jesus in his burial. Too late to speak. Too late to stop them. Lord, I tried to work quietly behind the scenes. But I was only protecting myself. For what...

The key to surviving the uncertainty of these days? The net that holds us when huge crevices in our future keep opening up? The way we face illness, death and life in a new era? We look to that man on the cross and know him to be the Son of God who is with us always. We cry out to his Spirit to come through our locked doors and besieged city with ample supplies of love and grace to get us through....

That King of the Jews had something. A light. A peace. A trust. Even beaten to a pulp he radiated beauty, He seemed more a man then than I’ll ever be. Authority from above he claimed. From above but flowing from within. What is truth? I had mocked him. But he was unfazed. “My kingdom is not of this world. I have come into the world to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens...

Oh Lord, the words said that I can never get back!

Judas fascinates us. He's an enigma. He meets a horrible fate. He's a key player in Passion Week. What motivated Judas?