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Baptist Message

"Helping Louisiana Baptists Impact the World For Christ"

God has not given us a spirit of fear

You don’t have to look hard to find reasons to fear. We live in a crazy world. I can’t think of a scarier time than the present, quite frankly. The 24/7 news cycle and social media amplify our sense of danger by bombarding us with images of the latest mass shooting, a Chinese hypersonic missile, or yet another strain of COVID. And that doesn’t even take into account our personal triggers. We all know what it’s like to wake up in the middle of the night and be gripped by panic, fear, or anxiety. … [Read more...]

The fruit of kindness in election season

There was a time when kindness was summed up in the act of rewinding a VHS tape. The slogan “Be Kind, Please Rewind” once labeled every rented videocassette case. What does a kind person do? He rewinds his videotape so store personnel don’t have to. … [Read more...]

We need to tell them

The story is told of an attorney who was trying to deliver an important document to a man who was determined to avoid him. The man reasoned that it was a subpoena of some kind, and he went out of his way to dodge it. … [Read more...]

Perkins: Protecting life is no half-measure

In 1858, as he kicked off his bid for the U.S. Senate, Abraham Lincoln gave one of his most notable speeches. The issue was slavery and the question before him was this: Could the nation survive half-free and half-slave? … [Read more...]

FIRST PERSON: How to stay at one church for 32 years

By Louis Husser ROBERT, La. (LBM) -- On a dreary Sunday morning in January 1992, my family and I drove from our home in Picayune, Mississippi, to the little town of Robert, Louisiana. I had been asked to preach in view of a call to be the senior pastor of what was then known as First Missionary Baptist Church of Robert (and later became Crossgate First Baptist Church). I told my wife, “If the church does three specific things we will not be coming back.” In all honesty I am not sure why I accepted the invitation to interview for this position. I was formerly a senior pastor and the experience, to say the least, had been tumultuous and not one that I wished to repeat. On our drive home, we laughed as we discussed the three “forbidden things,” as the church did all three and that I had accepted their invitation to return the very next Sunday! I wanted to build men. My heart burned to teach the word by example and to allow God to work through my human efforts to change the lives of families by building strong men to be the spiritual leaders of those families. The only way I knew to accomplish this was to be in a leadership role as the senior pastor. My confirmation of this call occurred that day at that little church in … [Read more...]

Back-to-school praying

By Steve Horn ALEXANDRIA, La. - Since I was four years old, this time of the year has meant “Back to School.” I have either been in school, Linett’s been teaching school, I’ve been teaching, or our boys have been in school. Many years, more than one of us were involved in school at some level. We’re still “going back to school” with Dru. This is a time ripe for prayer. Let me encourage us to be praying about all things “back to school.” Pray for our teachers — What a mission field they have! Pray for our students — Pray for their physical safety and spiritual safety. Pray for our Baptist College, Louisiana Christian University. Pray for our BCM’s — You know the importance of engaging new students and reengaging returning students in the early days of this new semester. Pray for our churches — Back to school time is prime time in the life of the local church. Ministries that have been put on pause for the summer are starting again. Pastors have been waiting to get through the summer to launch new ministries. Let’s pray for kingdom impact this fall. The Bible tells us to pray at all times and pray for all things. The “all things” right now is “back to school.” In a former community where I lived, a … [Read more...]

Holy boldness

In exile in the wilderness, King David prayed, “O Lord, hear me as I pray; pay attention to my groaning. Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for I pray to no one but you. Listen to my voice in the morning, Lord. Each morning I bring my requests to you and wait expectantly” (Psalm 5:1–3 NLT). … [Read more...]