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Baptist Message

"Helping Louisiana Baptists Impact the World For Christ"

Where the rubber meets the road

By Lane Corley Obedience is where the rubber meets the road in the Christian life. The Wheel Illustration was a tool a friend used to help me grow in my faith. If you’re unfamiliar with it, it is a simple way to help someone solidify the basics in the Christian life, identifying two verses with six topics that are must for believers. It’s the start of the Navigators Topical Memory System. Jesus is the Center of the Wheel. Fellowship, Witnessing, The Word of God, and Prayer are the spokes. But where the rubber meets the road is OBEDIENCE. It’s not enough just to know truth about Christianity. Putting it into practice through obedience is where the Christian life takes off. This is what I found out as I grew in my faith as a young believer. I struggled to make sense of church, as many do. But when I combined what I was learning, with active doing, the lights began to come on. Now, we don’t obey, so that we can be accepted by God. We’re accepted by God, because of Jesus’ work on the cross. We also don’t obey and work in our own power. We’re empowered by a resurrected and ascended Christ, who has sent His Spirit to be present with us as we follow him. The work of Christ and the power of Christ is promised to us when we believe … [Read more...]

Weekend storms hit Louisiana yet again

By Message Staff Violent storms rolled through the state for the second weekend in a row, this time packing high winds and damaging homes in the cities of Leesville and Mandeville as well as Natchitoches Parish on Sunday, April 19. Vernon Parish Sheriff Sam Craft told KPLC-TV that property damage was substantial and numerous power lines were knocked down on the northern edge of Leesville along Highway 171. He reported that there were no injuries in his area that were associated with the storm. A team from the National Weather Service was en route to Leesville Monday to survey damage and determine if a tornado had touched down. East Leesville Baptist Church reported a couple of downed trees and some siding blown off the back of its worship center. Pastor Tommy Kiker wrote on the church’s Facebook page that members of the church were serving others impacted by the storm, and they would continue the response throughout the week. “Thankfully it seems only property damage and no major injuries that we have heard of so far,” Kiker wrote. “Continue to pray for one another and as always as we serve may it be obvious we love God, Love people, Seek the Lost, and Make Disciples!” The Mandeville Police Department reported … [Read more...]

Lone visit to New Hope campus brings salvation

By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer DEQUINCY, La. (LBM) – Kristie Singley came to New Hope Baptist Church in Dequincy searching for a Bible study class to attend on Sunday morning, March 29, and in the process discovered her need for a Savior. Singley arrived on campus only to learn that her age group class met online prior to the Facebook Live worship service. But in the one-on-one conversation that ensued with Associate Pastor Tracy Smith, part of the skeleton crew that helps produce the livestreamed Sunday service, she turned to Christ. The following week, she was baptized in a portable deep basin at the April 5 drive in-service conducted by New Hope. “When I asked Jesus in my life I felt all my sins go away and felt like a new person and a new beginning in my life,” Singley told the Baptist Message. “The day I got baptized was a celebration of the new beginning in my life, a declaration that I give my worries, concerns and everything I have to the Lord so He can guide me and shape me into the person I’m supposed to be.” The baptism came while Singley was still recovering from the pain of losing a child only 30 minutes after his premature birth. She credited her church family for helping her cope with the … [Read more...]