First Presbyterian Church of Baton Rouge

They left their flocks, their usual life, and made haste to Bethlehem. Because they repented. They changed their minds about the comfort of a settled life and went to kneel before the unlikely infant King. And then they told everyone. So it goes around the world and through the centuries. One to one, heart to heart. The glory of God has been revealed in a helpless child lying in a manger. Repent,...

The baby in Mary’s womb was the new David. He was the heir to the everlasting promise. Through Jesus, after all these centuries, the eternal kingdom would be ushered in. No accident then when Jesus claimed his roots in David the Shepherd King as he declared, “I am the Good Shepherd. I lay down my life for the sheep” (John 10). This is the one for whom they had been waiting a thousand years. He wou...

This Advent we’re going to trace the thread of hope that runs through Scripture. It goes all the way back to the first book of the Bible. We’re going to look at some of the prophecies that foretold the coming of a savior to God’s people. Some of these prophecies are just hints, precious clues to which people clung as they waited for God to act. Some are bright proclamations that set our heart sing...

The gospel takes down our walls of self-reliance. It exposes our folly and our need. But then, almost at the same time, the gospel gives us the assurance that God loves us and is with us and will see us through. Weapons of Our War 2 Corinthians 10: 1-6 Gerrit Dawson

You can’t earn it, manipulate it, manufacture it or buy it. You can only receive it. God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Is he stirring you now? Is he recreating life in you this moment? Do you see him waiting in the doorway with arms open wide? Do you see him smiling and shouting out your name, “Get in this house!” Go now. Do it today....

We should all consider giving a form of worship! Darin Travis 2 Corinthians 9: 5-15

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor. So that by his poverty, you might become rich. Once again, Paul has put the whole gospel into one sentence. Think of what he’s saying. You know what grace is. Grace is the story of Jesus. He is the eternal Son of God who lived in the riches of eternity. But because we were lost in sin and death,...

The Christian hope is astounding. Paradoxical. Glorious. God became man. The eternal Son of God took up our humanity. He entered time. He entered the world as one of us. Paul writes elsewhere that in Jesus, God was “taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (P...

The Christian vision of the life to come is unique and thrilling. No other religion or philosophy approaches our hope. We profess, “I believe in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.” What do we mean by that? "Putting Some Color in Death's Cheeks!" 2 Corinthians 5: 1-7 October 1, 2017 Gerrit Dawson

If you had a beam of light from God’s eternal glory, why would you put it in a brittle ceramic jar? That’s exactly what God does. There is a treasure given to human beings: the ability to see who Jesus is and to love him for it. That knowledge lights up our souls into eternity. But we who have such knowledge live in these aging, decaying, limited, frail mortal bodies. “We have this treasure in jar...

If you know Christ, rejoice. A marvelous act of second creation has occurred. The God who said ‘Let light shine out of the darkness’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God shining in the face of Jesus Christ. If you don’t know Christ, ask yourself in this moment, “Is he creating faith in me right now? Is he shining his light and opening my eyes? Will I coope...

Most of us have played checkers in our lives. Well, the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 3 makes several daring checker-like leaps landing on the best play of all: When we look away from ourselves toward Jesus, the veil covering our hearts is lifted and we enter the presence of God. And everything changes. "When One Turns to the Lord" Gerrit Dawson 2 Corinthians 3: 12-18

Whether we live or die we are the Lord’s….forever. Everything is going to be OK. We are in the triumphal procession. We are the fragrance of Christ everywhere and the aroma of Christ to God. What a great and gracious God we have. In this present darkness, He gives us life and victory and calls us to follow Him in the triumphal parade. AMEN! "The Aroma of Christ" 2 Corinthians 2: 12-17 Barry Philli...

Truth and love from Paul's second letter to the Corinthians. We’re called to be doing life together. For this season of our lives, God has placed us together. We’re forming an alternate community to the madness in the world so that the lost and weary can see a better way. The loving life of the church is the witness to the God who is love. We’re called to be a body growing organically. We’re calle...

Yes and Amen! Affirmation and Acceptance. In Christ is God’s Yes. Through Christ is our Amen. In Christ, God's Promises are made Yes toward us. Through Christ, our Amen is made toward God. All God's promises flow through Christ. All our offering of ourselves flows through Christ. "Say Amen Somebody!" 2 Corinthians 1: 18-22 Gerrit S. Dawson

“Because as the sufferings of Christ overflow into us, so also through Christ overflows our comfort (NASB).” The life of Christ flows through his body in the world. That includes the affliction he experienced. And it includes the supernatural comfort of his Spirit. "Comforted to Comfort" 2 Corinthians 1: 1-11 Gerrit Dawson

Are you all in? Will you yield your heart? Stop hedging your bets? Trust that Jesus is the joy of man’s desiring? He is the pearl. He is the heart of what we are seeking inside every other desire. And he is worth everything. "Finding What You Really Want" Matthew 13: 44-46 Gerrit Dawson