First Presbyterian Church of Baton Rouge

My deep prayer for your life is that you will know Jesus Christ more truly so that you can distinguish what matters in life from what trivializes, or distracts, or leads astray. I want your love to abound for each other to deepen through knowledge, the kind of knowledge that lets you discern trash from treasure, false narratives from the true story, loving focus from selfish or prideful pursuits.

In Paul's apparent humility of Philippians 1:1-2, is powerful subversion of the world order. Paul’s very identification as a slave of Christ declared to Rome “You’re not the boss of me. 

Looking away from ourselves to the LORD I AM makes us shine. It’s like the way sunlight hits the water and makes it shimmer. Light makes a rather dull creek look like a ribbon of gold winding through green woods. We get lit up by the radiance of God. Our lives are warmed from within. Our words and faces sparkle with hope and peace.

I am in the grip of Jesus. He has laid hold of me and raised me from death to life. He has lifted me from the illusion of lack to the truth of his sufficiency. I am not left to figure out life alone. As I surrender to Christ, he guides me. He will take care of everything.

Jesus ran for joy, He ran for a reward. His reward was him “being seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” This is where he fixed his eyes. It was the vision of this finish line that carried Him through the suffering and shame. It was His goal! He had told His disciples “That where I am, there you may be also.” What is our goal? It is Jesus Himself. He is our goal.

For Paul and Silas, nothing dished out by angry Pharisees or ignorant Romans or shipwrecks or starvation could take the place of who he saw and what he heard on that Damascus road. Jesus Christ had gone through all Paul had faced in the area of suffering and mistreatment, and far worse – to the point of crucifixion. Jesus had Paul’s heart, and nothing – no fear or anxiety of any kind – would be ab...

The story of a girl who has been possessed and exploited but the victory is hers through Christ.

In the strange places into which God may send you, in the small starts that tempt you to disappointment, in every area of life be comforted that your God numbers your days, he counts your tears, and he’s close enough that he numbers every hair on your head. No one can thwart his purpose in the world and nothing can thwart his good purpose for you.

Our primary mission field is our daily life. That’s where we’re sent. Sent into our families. Sent into our schools. Sent into our work, our neighborhood, our clubs, the shops, the restaurants as agents of Christ. We carry his name and his love everywhere we go. This is the point of life. What exactly are you supposed to say and do this week? You can ask the Lord to show you. And when he answers,...

Men, we have hearts for Jesus. Younger men and boys want to see and share such a heart. They see all around them people who live for revenge, for respect, for taking, for grabbing. They need to see some men who are living a different way. They need to hear us have the courage to name the name of Jesus and give God the glory for what he’s done in our lives. Are you building into a young man? Are yo...

It works like this. We bring that part of us that is pierced or pulverized to Jesus and find a channel opens in his speared side to take us in. Blood to blood. Humiliation to humiliation. Scar to scar. We come and he receives us. 

A trajectory was being set in the early church of the 1st century, and God was protecting his church from hypocrisy because the mission is that important. God takes sin seriously because the world desperately needs a sanctified church. Sin doesn’t have to be dramatic to bring about death. A little bit of poison getting into one’s digestion system over time will bring about the same. Death is death...

The name of Jesus is the only name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. For millennium, countless Christians can testify that when they called on his name in faith, the Holy Spirit moved, and the power of God began work in their lives. The gospel continues to go forth. It began in Jerusalem, quickly overflowed into Judea and Samaria, and has now impacted you and me 6,880 miles a...

The more we daily release our minds and hearts to Christ, the more we will change. Someone may ask, “What happened to you?” We will say, “This Jesus of Nazareth came into the world with signs and wonders and teaching like never heard before. He came to save humanity. But we put him to death. We couldn’t stand that much light. But God’s plan would not be thwarted. I crucified Jesus. The Spirit rais...

To the Christian struggling with compromise and sin, the Spirit was given that you might be made holy, to refine you like gold. To the Christian who fears for her salvation, the Spirit was given that you might be held fast in the grip of God the Father and to testify in your weakness that you are his. The one who perhaps doubts the existence of God, doubts the existence of this God, or doubts that...

The path of Christ is uncomfortable, but you do not walk on that path alone. For he prays for you that your faith may not fail and he gives you his Spirit beyond measure. He has not run the race to bark at you to run faster. He has given you all you need.

His heart beats. He breathes in. He took one breath, And put death to death.