First Presbyterian Church Of Baton Rouge

Natural enemies don’t just start getting along unless something even deeper than human relations has changed in them. We’re talking about the healing of the fundamental breach between humanity and God. This reconciliation occurred in the person of of Jesus. There, God and humanity met in one person. God coming over to man’s side. Jesus lived out the faithfulness to his Father he had eternally as the Son of God. But now he lived it out as truly human. From our side, Jesus God’s Son healed the breach by his obedient life.

There’s no escaping toil. We all have stuff we gotta do. For many, just getting upright, dressed and out of the house is big work. The routine of requirements can feel burdensome. But then we realize that nearly everything we do can be a beautiful work for God. Anything that is good, wholesome, or life affirming, from bathing to writing software, from pulling weeds to driving carpool to running a company can adorn his glory. Instead of thinking, “Dang, I have to . . .” think, “Praise God, I get to . . .”

Paul holds up the Ephesian Christians before God. He remembers their faith and their love. He gives thanks. He asks God to be at work in their lives. He prays for the eyes of their hearts to be open to all they have in Christ. He intercedes with Jesus to give these young believers awareness of the power at work in them. For once they see, they will exult in the Lord Jesus who reigns over heaven and earth. We can pray that way too!

We can clearly see that God has called us to unity.He is more concerned about the unity of the Spirit than he is about the unity of our races or even the unity of our politics. There is a unity that the spirit is capable of producing that will bring us together, if we will allow him.We are different and it's NOT a mistake nor is it a curse, it's by God's design. Our job is to embrace the differences, forbear one another & come together so we can see what wonderful things we can accomplish when we do.

Because Christ makes himself present to us, we must be immersed in His presence. And in turn follow his example of incarnational ministry. Jesus demonstrates that physical presence matters. His is an incarnational ministry and so should ours be. What good would it be to ship money, water, food packets, and Bibles if there’s no one on the ground to physically deliver them? To hold hands, hug and console traumatized people and crying orphans?

Why was God ready to judge Sodom and Gomorrah? Yes, of course, the sexual sin that is so graphically described in Genesis 19 is part of it, but that’s not the root reason. The prophet Ezekiel spells it out for us: “Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them.” (Ezekiel 16:49-50)#holding #praying #judgement #brokenheart #Genesis #created #godcreatedtheworld #imageofgod #sermon #worship #firstpresbyterianbr #creator

Evil doesn’t own more than a speck of this universe. Take your stand with Jesus by whom all things in heaven and earth were made. Though you have not seen him, you believe in him. When you do, you realize just who and what is on your side. Almost everything! The green earth belongs to Jesus. The world still rotates every 24 hours and revolves around the sun every year. Evil cannot stop this. Evil cannot reach to the stars. There remain inexhaustible mysteries around us, below us, and above us.  #narnia #cslewis #sermon #worship #firstpresbyterianbr #creator

Sometimes, we have been so lost that we thought no one could ever find us. Perhaps we thought we had made a home in hell. Regular society seemed closed to us. We could never keep time with respectable people again. But as we remember the story of Hagar, we recall how God found us. We may have tangled our lives into such a mess that a ball of knotted fishing line seemed easy to unravel by comparison. But the LORD saw us. He regarded us. He scooped us up. He cut us free of the unbreakable knots that bound us. He showed us that he loves us. He set us back in community.

God is sovereign. He is sovereign over everything. And it is God who calls us. The Lord said to Abram, “Go.” What an amazing revelation this must have been for Abram having lived in the darkness of the Godless culture of Ur. Abraham had to have asked, “Why me?” Sad to say that ours is a pagan culture as well. The gods worshiped in our culture are just as dominant and demanding. And God continues to “call” his people to be set apart, to be faithful and to obey. And it is God who enables his called ones to respond to his call.

God was grieved in his heart that his creation would not look to him. He yearns to be our God and to care for us as his beloved people. He has made provision for us to be saved from the hell of trying to solve our lives on our own. He has made provision to save us from the hell of his loving wrath against sin. Psalm 95 tells us, “Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” Look, this is the day of salvation. While the ark door is open, come inside. Come to Christ. This could be the first time for salvation. Or it could be that you are a rebellious Christian, holding on to control and a cherished sin, and he calls you, “Get out of the flood waters of rebellion and get back into the ark that is Jesus.” We get in the ark of salvation as we take in Jesus Christ by faith. The door is open. The flood is coming. Dear ones, get in the ark!  #grief #brokenheart #Genesis #created #godcreatedtheworld #imageofgod #sermon #worship #firstpresbyterianbr #creator