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Baptist Message

"Helping Louisiana Baptists Impact the World For Christ"

FIRST-PERSON: Gaining altitude – WMU celebrates 135 years of SBC missions

By Sandy Wisdom-Martin According to an insect identification database, 647 types of bugs and insects are found in Alabama. Some downright scare me. I looked at images of each until I located the entry most resembling the flying insect I watched from a chair on my back deck. I believe it was a common whitetail skimmer dragonfly that captured my attention. I can’t be totally sure since there are 5,000 species of dragonflies. I’m comfortable with that guess since the common whitetail is prevalent in North America. The behavior of the dragonfly drew my interest. It dipped below the top of the deck railings. Then it kept circling inside the deck over and over again because it thought it was trapped by the rails. Only by gaining altitude could it break free from perceived captivity. Watching the dragonfly provided a good lesson. Often, we are caught in a continuous loop, unable to rise above self-imposed limitations. Gaining altitude would enable us to see a larger picture and view things in new and different ways. It was 135 years ago when 32 delegates from 12 states endeavored to gain a new perspective and caught a vision for how God wanted to work in their midst. Woman’s Missionary Union was birthed. Those who have gone before … [Read more...]

Baptism to discipleship

By Steve Horn ALEXANDRIA, La. - Some years ago, I was on a follow-up visit with a friend, and we were visiting a gentleman who had recently prayed to receive Christ. The man had not yet been baptized, and we were going to talk with him about doing so. … [Read more...]

Inexplicable peace

I don’t consider myself a worrywart, but there are times when I can work myself into a little frenzy. I think, “What if this happens? If this happens, then that will happen, and this can happen.” … [Read more...]

Truth, sexuality and gender

According to the American Civil Liberties Union, a new Indiana law that prohibits teaching on human sexuality to children in pre-kindergarten through third grade is designed to “control what youth can and cannot read, what they can and cannot learn, and — most troublingly — who they can and cannot be.” … [Read more...]

Remember the Titans

I was a doctoral student at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary when the Conservative Resurgence was launched at the 1979 annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in Houston, Texas. … [Read more...]

Thankful thoughts on the ministry of Charles Stanley

By Steve Horn ALEXANDRIA, La. - We learned Tuesday of the passing of Charles Stanley. We all have our memories of this Southern Baptist iconic leader. My earliest memories of him are his familiar voice on radio and television. In my town, he was about the only Baptist on the radio. I never met Dr. Stanley, but I do have an occasion where our paths intersected in a most God-ordained way. While I was pastor of Highland Baptist Church in New Iberia, my administrative assistant alerted me one morning that I had a couple, not members of our church, who desired to see me. They lived down the street from the church. After a few minutes of conversation about who they were and common people that we knew, the woman pulled out a book, and asked, “Do you believe what is in this book?” The book was Charles Stanley’s Eternal Security: Can You Be Sure? I confessed to them that I had not read the book, but I knew who Charles Stanley was, and based on the title, I was reasonably sure that I believed what was in the book. This middle-aged couple went on to tell me that they had picked up the book in Wal-Mart simply because of the title. The woman had read the book in one evening. The husband had read enough of it the next morning, and now … [Read more...]

God is moving in our midst

It’s no secret that we live in a very dark and confused world. The Left is pushing their genderless agenda down the throats of schoolchildren across America. … [Read more...]

He has risen: Easter’s offering of hope is not an empty promise

By Will Hall, Baptist Message executive editor ALEXANDRIA, La. (LBM) – In Jericho, during His journey to Jerusalem for that last week before His crucifixion, Jesus declared to Zacchaeus His very nature, His very character, His very purpose for becoming fully God and fully man. Critics had questioned Jesus’ going into the home of a sinner, but after Zacchaeus repented, Jesus explained that “the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). Indeed, “Jesus saves” is the quintessential quality of His very being. Importantly, the promise of salvation is to both the lost sheep of Israel as well as other sheep “not of this fold,” meaning Gentiles like you and me (John 10:11-16). This is to fulfill the promise of Isaiah 49:6 that Jesus will “raise up the tribes of Jacob” and “restore the preserved ones of Israel” as well as be “a light to the Gentiles,” extending salvation “to the ends of the earth.” Moreover, it is no small matter that the promise of salvation was fulfilled on the cross and the fullness of salvation was completed in the tomb. Instead, the empty cross is a reminder that you and I don’t have to be crucified to pay for our sins. The Bible tells us that “God demonstrates His own … [Read more...]