First Presbyterian Church Of Baton Rouge

To our orphan hearts in a brutal world, Jesus has come. The Son of God has undertaken sin and death on our behalf. “Because I live, you will live also.” He has returned now to heaven, but we are not on our own. He has sent his Spirit to dwell in us. And this world’s madness will not have the final say. “I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you.”

Betrayal hurts. And it hurt Jesus. It troubled him, agitated him in heart and soul. But rather than turn aside to protect himself, Jesus sailed right into it. When Judas had gone out, Jesus declared, “Now is the Son of Man glorified.” By giving himself to be delivered, handed over, to death, Jesus would be delivering to us the way to everlasting life. He took all our betrayals and made the consequences his own possession. He carried them in himself until we killed him entirely. But in so doing, he enacted the great reversal. Betrayal rends. But love mends.

On the last night, you do only what matters to you. You show who you truly are and what means most to you. Our God in the flesh, Jesus Christ, stripped and knelt, he poured, he washed, he toweled. He served. Who is like our God? John 13: 1-15

Transformation only happens in community. Unless we move beyond where we reach day to day, there will remain pockets of need that are never addressed. So the church, as a community of believers doing life together, organizes to reach the city.

When I put my hope in the gospel of Jesus, something happens. Peter says I get made new. I get born out of dead despair into a living hope (I Peter 1: 3-4). For God places his own Spirit inside me. He connects me to an eternal spring of hope. He taps me into the peace that passes understanding. He gives me assurance that my hope is not in vain. It is real. But all this treasure of hope is just a foretaste. It’s the appetizer of the fulfillment God will bring in redeeming his whole creation.

For whom can you pray Psalm 38 this week? My iniquities have gone over my head; They are too heavy for me… I am ready to fall. Do not forsake me, O LORD! O my God, be not far from me! Make haste to help me, O Lord, my salvation! There is no soundness in my flesh I am feeble and crushed Do not forsake me, O LORD! O my God, be not far from me! Make haste to help me, O Lord, my salvation! My friends and companions stand aloof from my plague. Do not forsake me, O LORD! O my God, be not far from me! Make haste to help me, O Lord, my salvation!

Jesus will roar through his church and the people will tremble their way back home. To tremble before the Lion is to be full of joy. To fear the Lion and the Lamb is to fear absolutely nothing else.

Let's talk together. How do you approach God in prayer? Honestly?

If you truly seek God, you will find him. You will realize you've found the answers to all the great questions of life. John 8: 28-36

Acts 2 tells us we are to be devoted. Devoted to the apostles' teaching. To fellowship. To the breaking of bread. And to prayer. Acts 2: 42-47.

Regarding Worship: The question is not “Did the music work for me today? Did the preacher interest me?” The question is, “Did I engage the pattern today? Did I encounter the God who calls, convicts, converts and sends me in Jesus Christ?” That’s worship that transforms. Over time. Through encounter. Through laying down the lines of the pattern along which God calls and redeems and sends his people. Too much, too much, too much? No, give me more!