First Presbyterian Church Of Baton Rouge

Christ wants us to open the doors of our hearts and lives not just to let him in, but to let him out! To let him go forth from us to care for his little ones. To bring the gospel to the lost ones. To bring healing love to the broken ones. This door opens both ways and Jesus wants not only to come in, but then to lead us back out into the dawn of his kingdom as it rises across the globe. "Running Hot Revelation 3: 14-22 Gerrit Dawson

The clamoring to exalt the self as center is all around us. The evil one himself seduces us to believe we need no savior and we need no Lord. He tells us to say I am glorious in myself. I deserve it all. This is me. But our tender Lord and Savior Jesus tells us a better story. Find your glory when you are taken into my story. I am the glorious one and unlike the Accuser, I share my glory with those who are mine. "Keeping Faith" Gerrit Dawson

“You’re a great church,” said Jesus to the Ephesians, “But. I have this against you. You have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember. Remember from where you have fallen. Repent. And do the works you did at first. For I have so much more for you: I want to take you all the way back to the original purpose of mankind. To be in the garden of paradise with me and one another. To eat of the tree of life. To be filled with everlasting life and to be together into eternity. Remember your first love.” "Remember Your First Love" Gerrit Dawson

Questions that lie underneath what John wrote in Revelation. Questions asked of both believers and unbelievers. 1) Is this the way it’s always going to be? 2) What if I got it wrong about Jesus? 3) How is this all going to end? Revelation 1: 4-10 Gerrit Dawson

We are called to be a part of God's masterful restoration work. To be the Repairer of the Breach and the Restorer of Streets to live in. Isaiah 58: 6-12 Gerrit Dawson

Let us make the leap of faith, from despair to hope. Jesus is risen. This changes everything. Then, now and always. "Then, Always and Now" Gerrit Dawson Luke 24: 36-49

For when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba, Father!” So you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God (Gal. 4: 4-7). The wondrous news: if you trust in Christ, you have been adopted in him. You are now a restored son or daughter of God. This is who you are. Redeemed out of lostness and wrath into the peace of your true home. Christ Jesus is your savior and he is your brother. And the Spirit lives in you. He breathes through you, lifting you towards your Father. We share blood with the Son and breath with the Spirit. By circulation and respiration, we belong in the Triune life. You belong to the Father.

Jesus fully entered our human condition. He suffered, labored and was even tempted as we are, though he did not sin. Yet, he took the full consequences of human sin as if he himself had sinned! He identified with our lost and forsaken condition to the point of making our sin fully his own, as if he himself had become sin and been condemned. "Utterly Redeemed" 2 Corinthians 5: 17-20 Gerrit Dawson

The truth is that, at the very same time, you are more sinful than you will ever know. And more loved than you can ever imagine. Psalm 51: 1-7 "Hopelessly Fallen and Mortally Wounded" Gerrit Dawson

God made me. Such a simple statement. Yet so profound. I am not self-generated. I am not an accident. I am not a product. I am a creation. Designed. Intended. Given. Brought into being by Another. This very foundational Biblical identity marker points me away from myself in order to understand who I am. God made me. He created me out of the overflow of love that he has in his very being as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God is love. It is in the nature of love to bring forth more life. "Created, Called and Claimed" Psalm 139: 13-18 Gerrit Dawson

The quest to reclaim Scriptural identity, our true identity, is thrilling, daunting, interesting, challenging and transformative. Why does it matter?

It is true that God wants us to be grateful. And it is true that God wants us to benefit from being grateful. And it is also true that God knows we cannot be truly grateful at the core of our being unless something changes.

The servant was frightened of the new king. He feared losing the money the king gave him for safe keeping in a bad deal. So he did not play to win. He played not to lose. Any coach will tell you that’s the surest way to lose. We are accountable. The king is coming back to ask what we did with what he gave us. The measure will not be as much about how well we did as whether we got after it in the first place. The minas in this story were given in the same amounts to everyone. What is it that every person who belongs to Jesus gets in the same measure? It’s not gifts: our gifts differ. It’s not circumstances or length of life, physical strength or mental agility: those all differ markedly. What do all those in Christ receive? The blessed Holy Spirit within our spirits. We receive the mystical union with Christ. Meanwhile Luke 19: 11-27

Who IS your neighbor? Let your compassion guide you. Which wounds break your heart? Go there. Which beaten souls tug at your soul? Go there. You can't go everywhere. But if we started with tending the wounds which pierce us with compassion, what a difference it would make. We continue our sermon series on the parables focusing on the Good Samaritan. "Stopping Along the Way" Luke 10: 25-37 Gerrit Dawson

Your Father wants you to stretch forth your hands and speak to him. He does not play hard to get. Speak to him. See him smiling. Urging you into the party. Try on these incredible declarations. Walk through the days thinking and acting as if it were so: You are always with me. All that is mine is yours.” When Being Good Isn't Enough Luke 15: 25-32 Gerrit Dawson

The father strained his eyes down the foreign road for any sign of his son. If we were to step into this story that Jesus told and began to consider that the Father was waiting for us now, would that be enough to get us to our feet? We may be able to slop the pigs in a foreign land for a long time if we do not believe there is any other choice, if shame prevents thoughts of home. But what yearning homeward is awakened when we discover that God our Father waits for us? God, our loving heavenly Father, watches every moment for any sign of our return. He is ready to embrace us even in our filth. He wants to love us through the shame and call us his own dear children! He waits longingly for us to realize he is there. So is it time to get up and start down the road toward home in God? "The Lost Son" Luke 15: 11-14 Gerrit Dawson