Several days before I am due to go on a trip, I begin to plan and prepare for it. My executive assistant briefs me on what my responsibilities will be. My travel assistant goes over flight and hotel arrangements, as well as alerting me to departure and arrival times. I decide the messages I will give and the clothes I will wear. I make arrangements for my pets to be cared for and my home to be secure in my absence. And to make sure nothing is forgotten or overlooked, I make a checklist that I continually reference. Preparing to leave takes time, thought and energy. The Bible teaches that all followers of Jesus are to plan and prepare for a “trip.” The trip is not only undertaken when we move to Heaven following death, but it is also a very unique one that will take place at the end of human history as we have known it. We are told that believers in the last generation will not experience physical death, but will be caught up in what is called the “rapture”… the “snatching away”… to meet Jesus in the air and be reunited with loved ones who have died in Christ and have gone before us. It will be the trip of a lifetime—a trip that is out of this world. Are you ready? Read John 14:1-3; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 1 … [Read more...]

By Danny Mann If you're looking for a concise theme to Matthew’s Gospel, it would have to be “The Gospel of the Kingdom.” Matthew’s message is quite clear - the Good News message of the Kingdom has stepped out of the shadows and now is in plain view. But it wasn’t the kingdom the Jews were looking for. They were looking for an earthly king. This is why the Jews flocked to Jesus on Palm Sunday. Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem is immersed in imagery of the Messianic king. The Jews wanted freedom from the Romans. They wanted a King on a throne in Jerusalem. They wanted their own kingdom. Which is why this message of the Kingdom of Heaven is so important. Before Israel ever had a king, they were meant to view God as their king. They were meant to follow - His rule and pledge their allegiance to Him and to His purposes. Israel rejected God when they demanded to have a king like their surrounding nations (1 Samuel 8). Though they had moments of faithfulness and glimmers of hope, Israel never fully embraced what it meant to be God’s kingdom. When you jump forward to the New Testament, Israel was still stuck in the rut of an earthly kingdom. However, God had greater plans. God’s plans were … [Read more...]

By Tommy Middleton Romans 6:9 “We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again …” The resurrection of Jesus Christ was the first and only resurrection of its kind, ever. There were other “raisings” recorded in the Bible, but they were mere resuscitations. People were raised back to life, BUT not in a glorified body as was Christ. Instead, each was returned to the original corruptible state, which meant they would physically die “again,” except, then, it would be permanent. Jesus was raised in a glorified state, alive indeed, but death had lost its grip, its sting, its power! -- HE has conquered the unconquerable—the grave (2 Cor. 5:1-9). -- HE has crushed with His death what had and has crushed every life before and after Him—sin (1 Cor. 15:54-55). -- HE has taken away the deepest fear of man—the fear of death (Heb. 2:15). The resurrection of Jesus stands as the most significant and profound event in human history. He has risen and dies no more, AND for all those who trust in Christ for salvation, we have been raised with Him and ONE day, like Him. He is risen! HE IS RISEN INDEED! Amen and HALLELUJAH! Tommy Middleton is the director of missions for the Baptist Association of … [Read more...]

In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. — Luke 2:8 The third act of Luke’s account of Jesus’s birth occurs on a hill outside of Bethlehem. Now most people don’t realize this story did not take place in December. It was probably in the spring, close to Passover. It was very likely that these shepherds were taking care of sheep that would soon become the Passover lambs. Now you have to know something about shepherds to appreciate what is going on in this story: -- Shepherds were the lowest rung in the Jewish culture. -- Shepherds took care of dirty and smelly sheep, so the shepherds were dirty and smelly–and there was no deodorant back then to take away the stench. -- Shepherds were the outcasts of Jewish society. So if you were going to have a party, guess who you would not invite? Isn’t it interesting that God chose to make His announcement of the Savior’s birth not to the political leaders in Rome, not to the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem, but to these smelly, dirty shepherds? Look at how it came about: “An angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly … [Read more...]

By Jack Graham … he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. —Philippians 1:6 There are many churches these days that avoid talking about sin. It’s not a “feel good” topic. But sin is a critical topic if we want to be effective servants of Christ and to grow spiritually. So let me address one of the big questions before we go any further. People frequently ask me, “Can sin cause me to lose my salvation?” And I’ll tell you what I’ve told them, “Absolutely not!” You cannot sin your salvation away. You see, when you asked Jesus to forgive your sin and made him Lord of your life, he began a “good work” in you. And he promised to complete that work within you! But beyond salvation, God is also at work to help you deal with the issue of sin in your life on a daily basis. You and I desperately need this because sin will remain a reality in our lives this side of heaven. But we can overcome. We see this clearly in some of God's choicest saints. Men like Simon Peter and Paul admitted to the sin in their lives. But listen, sin was not a pattern in their lives! And that’s the difference that Christ made in their lives! Will you let Jesus do the same for you? He wants to! Let … [Read more...]

By Craig Beeman As Easter approaches, it is a good time to consider the question, "What would your life would be like if Jesus had not been raised from the dead? What if Jesus had just performed miracles, talked a lot about the kingdom of God and spoken about how much His Heavenly Father loves us? Sure, He still would have been praised for these things by those who followed Him, and he would have been held in awe by them until the day He died. After that there would still be fond memories of a man who was a good man. There would be memories of His childhood and some of the things He said. But, eventually some of the things He said and did would be forgotten, even by His most devout followers. The truth is, at some point in time the memories that did exist would be in the minds of those who knew Him best and no one else. That would be the end of His story. Two thousand years later, you and I would have not been impacted by His death -- an ordinary type of death, then and now, not unlike anyone else’s in time. Maybe, just maybe, some of what He “supposedly” did would have been passed down through time. There are always some who hold on to beliefs they can only have through faith or through stubborn … [Read more...]

By David Lane WALKER —“20,000 eggs from a helicopter,” said the younger pastor from another church in our association. I questioned, “What?!” in my head. Someone had told me all the younger pastors were Calvinists. I don’t know if he was a Calvinist, but he was crazy! While we’ve been putting our eggs out with a wheel barrow, they’ve been using a helicopter. Maybe that’s why we had a hundred people at our egg hunt last year and they had a thousand! There were about ten churches at the meeting and I committed Judson. “We’re all in!” I said. “Just don’t put me in the helicopter dropping eggs.” I did something “non-mid-fifty years old” in a “warrior dash” last fall and broke my wrist. I have a big scar on my arm to prove it – which makes a great witnessing tool: “Look, I broke my arm, did you know the world is broken?” So I am semi-crazy already, just an older crazy. This would not be the first “crazy” event I had experienced with this younger pastor and some of the other church leaders gathered in the room. Last August, Livingston Parish flooded – all of it. News reports claimed a rainfall of about three times the volume of Lake Pontchartrain. It was a crazy time and these were the same churches who came … [Read more...]

By Carlos Meza SHREVEPORT – During the Louisiana Baptist Convention Evangelism Conference in Ruston, I was challenged and encouraged to step up my pace in spreading the Gospel of Christ, especially by the messages of Gevan Spinney, pastor of First Haughton and also LBC president, and Evangelist Bill Britt, both calling us to be urgent in sharing the Good News. That night I had borrowed a Gideon’s Bible from my room, and I did not realize how this seeming “chance” occurrence would provide a divine opportunity. After the session and arriving at the hotel, the owner and his assistant were in the lobby – as if waiting for someone. They noticed the hotel Bible in my hands, and I explained how I had borrowed it for a meeting, and that piqued their curiosity about where I was from and why I was staying at the hotel. This opened the door to share about my being a pastor and attending an evangelism conference “at the church with the big steeple” (Temple Baptist Church). As we chatted, I sensed in my spirit, inspired by that night’s messages, the need to tell them about Jesus. Seeking some common ground, I talked a little bit about what I knew of “Ghandi,” and used this part of our conversation as a jumping off point … [Read more...]

But the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac's herdsmen and said, "The water is ours!" So he named the well Esek because they disputed with him. -- Genesis 26:20 The capacity for knowing God and exemplifying Christlikeness is made possible when we're brought into circumstances that cause us to exercise our faith. God often uses adversity to conform us to the image of His Son. Our walk of faith requires us to emulate Christ in every area of our lives. Yet we often miss the importance of attributes like kindness and gentleness. Nothing quite tries the measure of these attributes as do conflict and quarreling. But God calls us to a higher standard. He calls us to trust Him in the face of opposition. Isaac settled in the Valley of Gerar, the place where the Philistines had previously stopped up the wells during his father, Abraham's time. Isaac's servants began unstopping the wells and discovered water. Not once, but three times. The first two times, they quarreled with the herdsmen of Gerar over the wells, but the third time Isaac moved along. Although the well was rightfully his, rather than insist on his rights, he forfeited the comfort and wellbeing it would have provided him and his family and went on his way. Isaac was … [Read more...]

Yesterday, my wife met me in my office, as is our normal Wednesday routine, to walk to our church Fellowship Hall for our regular mid-week meal, prayer, and Bible study. Churches across the world have similar Wednesday gatherings. She showed me an alert that she had just received that a church bus crash occurred in Texas. This morning, we know that 13 people were killed. This is incomprehensibly awful in every way. Too many questions and not nearly enough answers! I wanted to pray for this pastor. I could not imagine myself in similar circumstances. On average, I preach about 30 funerals a year. He, very likely, is about to preach 13 funerals in a very abbreviated space of time, while at the same time preach to a whole congregation of grieving members. I wanted his name, so I went to the church’s website. His name is Brad by the way. Pray for Pastor Brad every chance you get in the next weeks. But, in my search for his name, I noticed something else on their website that immediately grabbed my attention. Obviously on their website long before the crash yesterday, was a web banner at the top of their homepage promoting their Easter Sunday services. The banner declared, “Death Could Not Hold Him.” And, that is how we as … [Read more...]