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Baptist Message

"Helping Louisiana Baptists Impact the World For Christ"

God’s grace is our hope

By Jeff Ginn In the early 1900s Los Angeles, California was rapidly growing. To supply the city with needed water, a massive, concrete dam was built in the mountains above the city. The St. Francis Dam was finished in 1926. Once the reservoir filled, the seemingly indestructible dam held back more than twelve billion gallons of water. Almost immediately upon its completion, cracks began to appear in the massive wall. Fissures widened. Seepage grew. The engineers and architects were aware of these issues, but they felt that these faults were in keeping with a dam of this size. They further believed that there was time to correct the problems. But two-and-a-half minutes before midnight on March 12, 1928, the St. Francis Dam catastrophically failed. Hundreds of lives were lost as a wall of water and debris swept down the St. Francisquito Canyon. It remains the second greatest loss-of-life disaster in California history behind only the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire. Small fissures and cracks should not be ignored. Left unattended, they widen. They threaten the integrity of the very structure they populate. What’s true for concrete structures is equally true for our lives. Small cracks in our character cannot … [Read more...]

Four opportunities for you and Christ’s church

By Waylon Bailey I write “Lagniappe” to give you a little something extra every week. Sometimes I write about what’s happening soon or how the church is doing. Today I want to write about opportunities you and I can take to be a blessing to others. Here are my four things. First, be intentional about looking for opportunities to share Christ with other people. The Apostle Peter gave us this exhortation, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15). Peter’s words indicate that many of these people may be challenging our faith and hope. The Apostle saw this as an opportunity. We should respond not as to a challenge but as to a tremendous open door. Make your response with gentleness and respect. Second, deliberately pray for close friends and acquaintances to know Christ. Make it a habit to call their name before God. Pray that God would bless them in every way. Third, invite someone to something. We have many ministries where people would have an interest. Encourage them to come, or even better, ask them to attend with you. Life is so difficult and challenging that many people know they need help. … [Read more...]