First Presbyterian Church Of Baton Rouge

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

You were made intentionally. God did not create you at a transcendent unknowable distance when he formed you in your mother’s womb. Making his presence known, God has spoken life into your being from an up-close and intimate distance. He knows every intricate detail of the body he fashioned for you, and he creates good.#CovenantalRelationships #Genesis #created #godcreatedtheworld #imageofgod #sermon #worship #firstpresbyterianbr #creator

God’s answer to suffering is not an explanation. But a person. Jesus Christ. Christ who took up flesh. Christ who died. Christ who is risen. Christ who will come again. To set all things right."But remember this: if God is in it with you, sharing your suffering, it is also true that you are in it with God, sharing His redemptive activity and His victory. It is by the travail of the soul of Christ, by the age-long sufferings of God, that the world is moving on to its ultimate redemption. 'With His stripes we are healed.' Hence what suffering does, when it comes one day to you, is to give you a chance to co-operate with God." (James Stewart, 1941, Edinburgh, Scotland)

For at the core, Christ is about an invitation to change. He’s about the dawning of freedom. We don’t have to stay stuck where we are. We don’t have to stay stuck as we are. We don’t have to stay mired in shame, wracked with guilt, wandering in futility and just plain sick of ourselves. We can move from where we are. We can move into him. Jesus offers us freedom to move along a way of life, hope and peace. He issues an invitation to join him. To change roads from one way of life to another through walking in his way, the Way.

Sir, we wish to see Jesus. That’s a lovely thing to say. But questionshave to be asked in reply. Do you wish to see Jesus as a tourist or a disciple?Do you want to see Jesus as a detached observer, or will you submit yourlife to him? Do you demand that you stay independent and solitary, alwaysin control, or will you risk dying with him? Will you let your ego be buriedin order that you might rise in a new life of love and giving and worship?Knowing the path Jesus had to follow, knowing the path he calls you tofollow if you would be joined to him, can you still make the statement theGreeks made? Is it the desire of your heart to say, with all your heart, “Yes,we wish to see Jesus.”

When Martha said, “Lord if you had been here, my brother would not have died,” Jesus replied with a theological assurance. “Your brother will rise again.” He engaged Martha about the future resurrection of the dead, and astounded her with the news that he, himself, is resurrection and life. Jesus answered Martha with confidence and hope. He knew what was going to happen.  

From God’s view, death is not nearly as big of a problem as unbelief. Distance and time pose no obstacles to the purposes of the Creator who entered his creation. External conditions and events, even death, are not our main dilemmas. The inner darkness, the estrangement from the Father, and the enslavement to sin are the greatest threats to our eternal life. To the family and disciples, Lazarus seemed irretrievably gone. “But to Jesus, Lazarus had not even come close to leaving the Son’s custody or domain.” For Jesus has all authority over life and death. Death may seem to steal life from us. But death cannot steal a life from Jesus. Our Christ is greater than death. Only unbelief can separate us from Jesus and his eternal life. That’s why he asked Martha that crucial question. “I am the resurrection and the life. Do you believe this?”