First Presbyterian Church Of Baton Rouge

Your sins have been nailed to the cross. This grace is free. You can’t earn it, buy it or manipulate it. But it ain’t cheap. Colossians 2: 13-15 Gerrit Dawson "Nailed to the Cross"

Your faith has propelled you in a journey into Christ. Along the way, watch out for deceit. Deceit wants to steal your joy. It wants to raid your assurance. It wants to capture your freedom and throw you off course. Colossians 2: 5-12 Gerrit Dawson "Walking in Christ"

Lord Jesus Christ, Mystery made known, Savior of the outcasts, Christ in us, the hope of glory, Treasure of wisdom and knowledge, Live in me. Colossians 1: 24-2: 3

In Christ, God turns himself to humanity In order to turn humanity to God. Reconciliation = The Wonderful Exchange

This is what happens when people discover the divine Kingship of Jesus. They don't get lost in a lot of swirly ideas theological debates. They get moved in the core of their beings by a love that envelops them. They meet the Force at the center of the universe and realize that he is personal. He showed himself to us as the man Jesus Christ. He is the source and the goal. He is the point of life right now and the final destination of all things. He is our God and King. If you don't know him, go before him in prayer and ask him to take you as his subject, to be your personal king and most intimate savior. If you do know him, show your loyalty to the King. Leave off your rebel thoughts, your seditious actions and give yourself ever more wholeheartedly to his service. Be faithful so that you can with your whole heart and mind point to the man on the cross and say, "That's my King!"

"He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son” (Col. 1: 13). From this one verse, we learn that we are those who have been transferred from one spiritual address to another. We no longer live in the DD, the Domain of Darkness, but now reside KBS, in the Kingdom of the Beloved Son. "Living KBS" Colossians 1: 13-14 Gerrit Dawson

The Apostle Paul tells us there are four ways we can walk worthy of the Lord: 1. Bearing fruit in every good work 2. Increasing in the knowledge of God 3. Being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might 4. Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you Paul prays for a life of growthful joy for his beloved church. He knows there will be trials to endure and enemies to face, resistance to overcome and a long journey to undergo. But none of those obstacles can prevent growthful joy, daily strengthening and increasing knowledge. What he prays, he also prescribes. Ask God specifically that we might bear fruit in every good work, increase in the knowledge of God, be strengthened with his might and live in joyful thanksgiving for the inheritance he has secured for us. Pray it for each other, and let’s live it daily. "Walking Worthy" Colossians 1: 9-12 Gerrit Dawson

We cannot escape the defeats that will come our way. BUT we can make choices. We can try to live in denial. Or anger. Or live drugged. Or just fake our way through. OR we can sail straight into the truth. And behold the God who suffered the Great Defeat in order to secure final victory. Jesus Christ declared, “I am the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore” (Rev. 1: 18). The one who calls on that Lord shall be saved. Saved from despair at life’s defeats. Saved from sin that undoes us. Saved from final death. Saved from hate. Saved from frustration, anger and regret. Saved into faith in Christ and love for all the saints. Saved into eternal hope. Reason for Hope Colossians 1: 1-8 Gerrit Dawson

The LORD, he is God. It is he that made us, and not we ourselves. It is he that made us, and we are his. It’s quite a blow to learn that I actually cannot become anything I want to be. It’s shocking to come face to face with the truth that I do not create my own life. It can even be infuriating at first to learn the truth that I am not my own. I do not exist just for me. But I am something much more. I am a beloved child created by the LORD I AM. I don’t have to make my whole life. I can drop the burden of trying to manufacture my own happiness. I can be relieved of learning by trial and stupid, destructive error the way to life. I can stop feeling so alone and crushed and hopeless. I am not my own. Hallelujah! I am the LORD’s. His name is in my heart. And, as Isaiah said, my name is graven in his hands (Is. 49: 16). He bears me as his own and marks me as belonging to him. We are in relationship together. We Are His! Gerrit Dawson

If you show up, if you worship, if you go to the stay-retreat, if you join a small group, give your tithe, serve on a team, bring your kids to youth group, if you do all of these really mundane, ordinary things that we might just label, “participating in the life of Christ’s body,” then something amazing is going to happen to you- you are going to grow deeper in Christ.

Animosity, confrontation, confusion. from cable news right down to our kids' classrooms, Christians are waking up to a world very different from the one we once knew. We are quick to blame everyone else from Hollywood to Washington, but it is not the culture's fault God is sidelined. If God is missing from the conversation, then it is because his people have failed to represent him there. Christians have been far too silent for far too long, retreating out of fear of offending someone or the unpleasantness of stepping outside our comfort zone. When Christians have spoken up, too often it has not been in ways that honor Jesus. We have inserted our own opinion, obscuring the beauty and trutH of the gospel in favor of our political, ideological or personal agenda. It's time for us to embrace our calling as Christ's ambassadors. To do that, we must be equipped to engage the world in ways that bring the mind of Christ to bear on the matters of the day.

What happens when Christians doubt? Is that possible? Do Christians ever doubt? And if so, what do I do with those thoughts? "To the Doubters" John 20: 24-29 Derek McCollum

Your prayers are heard by the God of the universe; the god who created YOU. It is amazing to think that this almighty, powerful god wants to hear from you. Rather than thinking about how or what to pray, let's think about for whom to pray. Pray for ALL people. Not just for those we know and love, or for those who love us, but for even those unlike us. Maybe even for someone who doesn't like you at all. We are also called to pray for our LEADERS. No matter how good or bad a leader may seem, Paul calls us to pray for them all. Remember, Paul wrote these words as he sat in a prison cell, put there by Nero; one of the most heinous leaders of the ancient times. 1 Timothy 2: 1-6 Jim Solomon

How do you know you have eternal life? I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life (1 John 5: 13).

God's love is unique in that it is not like the world's love. The world's love is often self-centered and self-serving, where God's love is self-sacrificing; yet we need to surrender to his kind of love.

Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning. Is John saying that everyone is a child of the devil? Most of us admit to exemplifying his characteristics at times.The heart of this passage is not to have us stewing over who is a child of the devil and who is a child of God. John’s point is those who are born of God will not make a practice of sinning. Their new nature is one of righteousness and love. "Righteousness and Love: Natural for a Believer" Darin Travis

God's care comes in many forms. He cares enough to break your bones in order to capture your heart. 1 John 2: 15-17, 27-29

The first i the 1 John sermon series based on 1 John 1: 1-10.

Jesus opens doors. He also declares that he himself is the door. He’s the way into relationship with his Father. He’s the passage that takes us out of ourselves and into God’s life. As we pass through Christ, he scrubs us clean of our sins. As we give our lives over to him, he pours his everlasting life into us and through us. So Jesus said, “I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture . . . I have come that they might have life and have it abundantly” (John 10: 9-10). The Door No One Can Shut Revelation 3: 7-13 Gerrit Dawson