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Baptist Message

"Helping Louisiana Baptists Impact the World For Christ"

Easter Reflections: Day 9

As Easter approaches, the Baptist Message team invites you to pause daily from the hustle and bustle of life to focus on the days leading up to Easter or Resurrection Sunday. Join us in this challenge to read through the Gospels to get a greater understanding of Jesus’ birth, ministry, death and resurrection. Day 9: Luke 15-16 (NKJV) ========================= (Luke 15) The Parable of the Lost Sheep 15 Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him. 2 And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, “This Man receives sinners and eats with them.” 3 So He spoke this parable to them, saying: 4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ 7 I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance. The Parable of the Lost Coin 8 “Or what woman, having ten silver [c]coins, … [Read more...]

Louisiana Baptist Disaster Relief teams leave for Nebraska

Two Louisiana Baptist mud out teams are responding to a call for help in the wake of the recent flooding in Nebraska. The team of two from Lake Charles left Monday, March 25, and a team of 12 from Eastern Louisiana Baptist Association left Wednesday, March 27, for Fremont, Nebraska. They are expected to remain there a week. Heavy rain and melting snow caused rivers to reach historic levels in early March across Nebraska, including Fremont. Road closures from the flooding made it impossible to enter and leave Fremont, which is about 35 miles northwest of Omaha, was blocked for more than a week, and nearly 1,000 homes and 100 businesses in the community were damaged, according to KLKN-TV news station in Lincoln, Nebraska. Louisiana Baptist state disaster relief director Gibbie McMillan said nearly 250,000 people were displaced from their homes in areas damaged by flooding in areas of the Midwest. He said 125,000 of those cannot return to their homes. “Pray for the will of the people to survive a disaster of this magnitude,” McMillan said. “And we pray they will know t and knowing that through it all God will sustain his people.” … [Read more...]

Why we envy bi-vocational pastors

By Joe McKeever “Because (Paul) was of the same trade, he stayed with (Aquila and Priscilla) and worked; for by occupation they were tentmakers” (Acts 18:3). “I had a right to be supported by the churches,” said the Apostle Paul.  “But I did not exercise that right, but supported myself.”  (I Corinthians 9) Some churches pay their ministers enough to allow them to quit their “day jobs,” as we call them, and devote their full time to the service of the church and the work of the Kingdom. Other churches cannot afford that privilege.  And some churches and pastors choose the dual arrangement for reasons of their own. I remember the day when my church began paying me full time.  It was like dying and going to Heaven, I thought.  For the first three years of our marriage, while pastoring a small church and then attending seminary, I worked in the production office of a cast iron pipe factory, worked in the office of a trucking line, and worked in the office of a soft-drink bottling company.  Suddenly, all that went away when a church called me as pastor and paid enough to live one. I loved the idea of being able to serve the Lord and His church 24/7. All around us, however, are ministers–pastors and other positions … [Read more...]