First Presbyterian Church Of Baton Rouge

Unfold for us the mystery of grace And make a womb of all this wounded world. O heart of heaven, beating in the earth, O tiny hope within our hopelessness, Come to be born, to bear us to our birth, To touch a dying world with new-made hands And make these rags of time our swaddling bands. Yes, Lord Jesus, you came from the heart of the Father to the crude cratch of our flesh. Now make these rags of time to be but swaddling bands of everlasting life in you.

Accept where God wants you. Believe what God tells you. Celebrate what God gives you.

Will you put yourself in the hands of God? Father, into your hands I commit my Spirit.

There is no need to stay in the dark any longer. No need to keep running. No need to be ducking out on God. When we keep silent about our sin, life dries up. When we confess the truth, we discover anew that God forgives sin. The way to the good life, the life of well being, is to enter this gospel dynamic day by day.

David’s songs are the intersection between what’s going on in his daily life, the deep places of his heart and soul, and the reality of the God he loves and serves. They come together as he writes his prayers with as much honesty and faith as he can summon.

You're NOT in control. The world is not OUT of control. All power is both transient and derived. It comes from God's sovereignty. It's by grant. You don't LIVE here. You LOVE here. Our citizenship is in heaven from which the LORD will come again. You can't make a permanent home here.

There is so much unrest in our culture these days. But God wants to give us rest. Peace. He is holy and powerful. We learn this clearly in Psalm 29. Verses 1-2: Ascribe to the LORD, O heavenly beings, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength. Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness. Verses 9-10: The voice of the LORD makes the deer give birth and strips the forests bare, and in his temple all cry, “Glory!” The LORD sits enthroned over the flood; the LORD sits enthroned as king forever.

David says God is "MY" light. "MY" salvation. He uses a personal, intimate pronoun to describe these truths.

David claims the Lord as his light who exposed his enemies. Even when an army sets up camp and wages war against him, even then, David trusts the LORD who will keep him safe. The LORD, his light, is the solution to his fear. Psalm 27: 1–6 The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall. Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet I will be confident. One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple. For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock. And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in his tent sacrifice

The Creator of the universe offers intimate friendship to us. This is a stunning sentence! He wants to bring us into the circle of trust. To share his heart with us.

This second part of Psalm 25 is where we can put our roots down and get to know even better why Samuel and Paul both called David a man after God's own heart. It's also a place where we can press deeper into Christ and become men and women after God's own heart. Psalm 25: 8-22 Good and upright is the LORD; therefore he instructs sinners in the way. He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way. All the paths of the LORD are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies. For your name’s sake, O LORD, pardon my guilt, for it is great. Who is the man who fears the LORD? Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose. His soul shall abide in well-being, and his offspring shall inherit the land. The friendship of the LORD is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant. My eyes are ever toward the LORD, for he will pluck my feet out of the net. Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. The troubles of

Oh my God I need you now, but don’t answer based on my deserving. Please answer according to your own character; not mine!

Remember me not according to the sins of my youth but according to the LORD's own character. He is merciful.

The gates to God’s presence only open to Jesus, the one who lived with clean hands and a pure heart. We only get joined to Jesus when we open the gates of our hearts to him. That’s once for all for salvation. That’s also every single day of our lives for fellowship and mission. Lift up your hearts! Jesus declares that the gates will open for both of us, if we go with him. He asks us, urges us to lift up our eyes and see him. The King of glory wants to enter our hearts so he can take us with him into his Father’s presence. That’s eternal life that continues now.

Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD, strong and mighty, the LORD, mighty in battle! A powerful reminder of who Jesus is. God's Son who was present at the very Creation.

Gerrit takes a deeper look at the philosophy underlying “critical theory,” more popularly known as cultural Marxism or Cancel Culture. He considers the Christian worldview in comparison and also ways to recognize and respond to this philosophy in daily life. For a detailed comparison, please consider watching his August 9, 2020 sermon, "Walls of Salvation."

The Psalmist, David, recognizes a dirty little secret about us. We find afflictions to be gross. Needy people can disgust us. Don’t dare sneeze in a public place or you will be shunned. If you’ve ever been fired, you know the weird feeling that it seems like people everywhere know about it. The cashier at Whole Foods is not really sure you should be shopping there. The bank teller you’ve known for months checks your i.d. twice. It’s like you have a smell about you. If you’ve ever been dumped by someone, it seems to be written on your face. They get your order wrong at your favorite restaurant. They lose your appointment at the doctor’s office. When we’re crying ugly tears of loss, people don’t want to hug us because we’re all hot and reeking of sadness. We can smell like our sickness or the sweat of our stress. Even our dogs know something is wrong. Affliction can make us repellent to others. And worst of all, we can think we deserve it. We can think God views our suffering as a moral failure. It’s a sign o

After the gut-wrenching abandonment of the first half of Psalm 22, we have a dramatic change of mood beginning with verse 22. Praise and proclamation. Victory and blessing.

It’s almost impossible to read Psalm 22 without thinking about Jesus. He quoted the first verse from the cross, “My God, my God, why have your forsaken me?” And there are another half dozen direct connections between Psalm 22 and Matthew’s account of Jesus’ passion. So this psalm connects deeply to our redemption. It takes us to the inner heart of our Redeemer and what he went through for us.

Welcome to the Introduction to Psalm 22. Jesus knew Psalm 22: The Cry of Dereliction. Mark and Mattheww tell us Jesus uttered the first line on the cross. It's an emotional encounter to imagine Jesus suffering for our sake.