First Presbyterian Church Of Baton Rouge

Jesus zeal for his Father led him to enter the city and bear the reproach of disappointing all those awaiting a military messiah. He who loved the Father with all his being would be slandered as a God-hater and a blasphemer. Jesus’ passion for his Father would lead him to take a heap of shame on his Father’s behalf.

The gospels recount historical events in Jesus’ life. But Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are not mere reports. Something else happens when we read that record in reliance on the Holy Spirit. These events from two thousand years ago become charged with present power. We meet the Jesus who lived then right now. These stories have immediate potency.

God designed our souls for Jesus. Not just a divine Father, and not just a human friend, but God himself in human flesh. God himself, in the person of his Son, becoming one of us — God with us, as fully God and fully man, in one spectacular person.#beautyofchrist #firstpresbyterianbr #sermon #revelation #lambofgod #lionofjudah

Do freely more than is asked because you do it for Jesus. Serve the ones who demand, assign and expect. Do the work with joy knowing that only Jesus is the boss of you. He asks that you serve as a gift to him. With a good will and a great joy, do whatever you are asked and more. It all counts. It’s all for him. That’s the secret. Serving Jesus makes you free in every situation. 

Our call is to mutual submission, to yielding the privilege of self-determination to the other. This will make for maximum joy in a marriage. But it’s not just about us. Not even mainly about us. It’s so that we who are blessed to have a mate can show the world what sacrificial, redeeming love truly looks like. Our marriages were meant more for holiness than happiness. They are meant for witness than secret satisfaction. Spouses are a splendid gift from God. But the work we put into our marriages is our gift to Christ Jesus, the true bridegroom of every man and woman. 

What are you willing to wait for? It’s been said that you tell what you really care about by what you spend your money on, but I would argue that it’s even more telling to know what you’re willing to wait for. So many of us, myself included, are more than happy to wait for worldly things and then expect immediate answers when the Lord places us in a season of uncertainty. There’s a reason why it’s repeated constantly in Scripture, so take a note from Simeon and Anna. Wait on the Lord. #waiting #firstpresbyterianbr #sermon

What power is there that can ever bring sanity andhealing to such a terrible world? Go to Bethlehem, and crouch in wonder at the crib of an innocent babe, and you will find that all the titanic might within the heart and mind of fallen man will be tamed, and he too will become a little child.#christmas #watchmen #firstpresbyterianbr #sermon

In Christ Jesus is life, and that life is the light of all. His light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. So, we join our hearts as our choir sings the ancient words, “Break forth, O beauteous, heavenly Light, to herald our salvation!”

It’s essential that we understand two things. One, our distinctiveness. Two, our mission. All of humanity lives plagued with darkness. We cannot see clearly who God is. We grope and stumble and sometimes do terrible things in the dark. But God has ever been calling his people out of darkness and into his marvelous light (I Peter 2:8). That makes us different. There is light where the people of God live.

When we allow our anger to simmer in our hearts for more than just a moment, it begins to seep into our very souls. We drink the poison and the bitterness it creates is sin. The Lord wants us to know that if we do this, even if the anger seems justified in the moment, we give an opportunity to the devil. We need to trust the judge of the earth to do rightly. Pray the Psalms and give your frustration to the Lord. #newself #sermon #worship #ephesians4 #firstpresbyterianbr #fyp

In your thoughts. Be renewed. Refresh your thoughts by recalling who Jesus is and who you are in Jesus. Gather in honest, joyful community with other believers. Remind each other of the story. Lift up your hearts and voices. Renew your commitment. Renew your mind according to the truth, for the truth is in Jesus.#renewyourmind #injesus #commitment #sermon #worship #ephesians4 #firstpresbyterianbr

The church gathered re-adjusts us to the reality of God week by week. When we learn of our share in the work of ministry, we begin to view not just church life but all of life through this lens. Everything that matters requires that we serve the work that makes the vision come to be. This can be keeping house, raising a family, living a profession, landscaping, accounting, teaching, leading, cleaning. When serving the work of Christ through his church gets in our blood, we realize that we can do our whole lives for his sake. It’s all ministry. And therefore, it’s all the adventure of journeying with Jesus in the company of these saints he’s given you.

The church is the model to the world of how people from all different backgrounds, ethnicities, and even political ideas can share the one cup of salvation, and break bread together as members of the one body of Jesus. It’s why on the Sunday we celebrate the Scottish roots of our faith, we rejoice that there are Presbyterians all over the world, including millions in South Korea, millions in Africa, even a million in Mexico. That’s why we all affirm our faith joyfully together.#onefaith #humility #gentleness #spiritofunity #unity #firstpresbyterianbr #sermon #ephesians4

Paul repeatedly uses the word “mystery” to describe what we have received in Christ’s riches. These are riches that weren’t made clear to previous generations, but are revealed now – that Jews and Gentiles are not just junior and senior partners to each other, they are ‘fellow heirs’, completely equal and organically united in the Body of Christ. Our names, and the names of people from many tribes and nations are engraved into the crucified and risen hands of Christ, nations and groups that have historically been at odds with one another may be reconciled and forgiven at the cross. X – the cross - marks the spot of this treasure.#ephesians3 #unitedinchrist #firstpresbyterianbr #sermon #worship #xmarksthespot #fathersonholyspirit