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Baptist Message

"Helping Louisiana Baptists Impact the World For Christ"

Finish your race well

By Jeff Ginn A good start doesn’t guarantee a good finish. I learned that lesson by running distance events in high school. The runners that sprinted the first couple of hundred yards and gained an early lead were not necessarily (nor even likely) to be the ones that finished the race well. This is illustrated well by a couple of world-class milers. The first man ever to run the mile in less than four minutes was Roger Bannister. He did so in 1954. Later that same year, a second runner accomplished the same feat and set a new world record. His name was John Landy. Soon enough those two runners met in a long-awaited duel. It was dubbed the “Miracle Mile.” 100 million people listened via radio to see who would win their match. At the gun, Landy had a strong start. In fact, he led the race until the final curve. Because of the way the sun was set in the sky, he could clearly see his shadow and Bannister’s shadow on the track. He estimated that he was some 10 to 15 yards in the lead. To confirm this, he turned his head to gauge Bannister's position. Bannister took that opportunity to pass him on his blind side. In doing so, he edged out a victory over Landy. A sculpture of the race-deciding moment stands today near the … [Read more...]

A prayer for President Trump

By Steve Horn In our church, First Baptist Church, Lafayette, we have each week a prayer focus called This One Thing. We encourage our entire church to be focused on this one thing of prayer for an entire week. This week, we have asked our church, in the spirit of Presidents’ Day on Monday, to pray for President Trump and Vice-President Pence. Back in December 2016, I had the unique privilege of offering a prayer just before the Louisiana Electoral College formally cast their votes for President. I want to share with you the content of my prayer that day in hopes that you might join me in praying along these lines for President Trump today. Heavenly Father, As the Psalmist declared, “Some trust in chariots and some trust in horses, but we will trust in the name of the Lord, our God.” (Psalm 20:7) We give You thanks today as we should do in all things. We give You thanks for grace upon our nation. We give You thanks for the opportunity to participate in an election. We give You thanks for the election of Donald Trump. And now, oh God, we pray in the spirit of the prophet of old, Zechariah. We pray for favor and union. We pray for unity in our nation and we pray for the favor of God to rest on our nation. … [Read more...]

Turning failure into triumph

By Rick Warren "A man who refuses to admit his mistakes can never be successful” (Proverbs 28:13 TLB). We usually think of failure as something negative. But wise people know how to take advantage of it. They learn from it. They use it as an education. Failure is one of the primary tools that God uses in your life to make you what he wants you to be.How can failure be good? God uses failure to educate us. Mistakes are simply learning experiences. Some lessons can only be learned through failure. The Bible says, “A man who refuses to admit his mistakes can never be successful” (Proverbs 28:13 TLB). If you’re not making any mistakes, you’re not growing or learning. If you’re not taking any risks, you’re not growing. The freedom from the fear of failure is the freedom to grow. God uses failure to motivate us. “Sometimes it takes a painful experience to make us change our ways” (Proverbs 20:30 GNT). Often we change when we feel the heat, not when we see the light. When you fail, God may be trying to get your attention to move you into a new direction. God uses failure to build our character. “We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us—they help us learn to be … [Read more...]

Pursue Christ, pursue contentment

By Steve Horn I read somewhere this week that our society suffers from “inextinguishable discontent.” We are on a perpetual quest for more or better. We want a better job, a better boss, a better wage, or a better retirement plan. We want a better marriage or a better spouse. We want a better car, a better house, and a better wardrobe. Some of us just want a better golf swing. And, we live for “what’s next.” We find ourselves wishing for next weekend, or our next vacation, or our next phase of life. All the while in this quest for better and next, we miss today. We miss now. And we miss contentment. And, we learn from Paul that this is not the life worthy of the call of Christ. Consider the text. In comparison, though, Paul addressed the Philippians that he had learned the “secret to contentment.” Just as is the case with joy, true contentment is found in Christ. Joy and contentment seem to run on parallel tracks. Since Paul used that word, “learned,” we ask the question of the text, “What had he learned? The Connection Between Circumstances and Contentment Here’s the simple lesson: There really is no connection between circumstances and contentment. Look at the phrases of this text: whatever circumstances (v. 11); … [Read more...]

Happy Valentine’s Day

By Waylon Bailey Happy Valentine’s Day! When I think of Valentine’s Day, I often think of a number of passages of Scripture, passages which speak of the love of God and the love of a man and a woman. Of all of these passages, my favorite is 1 Corinthians 13. This wasn’t written for a marriage although it fits marriage beautifully. It was written for the church. It was written about how believers relate to one another. Love is patient and is kind; love does not envy. Love does not brag, is not proud, does not behave itself inappropriately, does not seek its own way, is not irritable, does not keep a record of wrongs; does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. The next phrase may be the best of all, “Love never fails.” It doesn’t mean that love is never defeated. Rather, it means that love doesn’t quit. Love can be counted on. It won’t quit, and it won’t give up. The word for love is the Greek word, Agape. Agape is not a feeling; it is an action. It always seeks the absolute best for another person. When we love as God loves, we look for the needs of others. We seek to do to others as we want done to us. We love … [Read more...]

God shows Himself strong through our weaknesses

By Jeff Ginn The old saying goes, “Everybody loves an underdog.” I think it is because underdogs exceed expectations. They give us hope that we, too, though overwhelmed, can win. On Valentine’s Day in 1992, two Alabama high schools met in a regular season basketball game. They were the Fort Payne Wildcats and the North Jackson Chiefs. The game was hard fought and went into overtime. The refs were calling a lot of fouls that night. Player after player fouled out. Before it ended, the Chiefs, who had a limited roster, only had 2 players on the court. It was 2 against 5 and they were down by 1 point with 5 seconds left. Against those odds, what are the chances? Little to none. The one Chief inbounded the ball to his teammate who streaked down the court with five Wildcats chasing him. He shot a layup and missed, but no Wildcat thought to block out the player who inbounded the ball. He was trailing the pack, got the rebound, and tossed in the winning shot as time expired. The crowd went crazy because everybody loves an underdog. We serve a God who loves the underdog. He glories in exceeding expectations. Often our weaknesses are a platform on which His power is displayed. The story of Gideon in the Bible is a clear … [Read more...]

How God uses grief to help us grow

By Rick Warren “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him” (Romans 8:28 NIV). Grief, loss, and pain are an inevitable part of life. But did you know that God uses these things to help us grow? He does it in three ways.First, God uses pain to get our attention. C. S. Lewis wrote, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain.” Pain is God’s megaphone. We rarely change when we see the light. We change when we feel the heat. Proverbs 20:30 says, “Sometimes it takes a painful experience to make us change our ways” (GNT). Second, God brings good out of bad. One of the most famous verses in the Bible is Romans 8:28: “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him” (NIV). When you experience a loss, it’s an opportunity to grow in character. You can’t control the pain you go through, but you can decide whether it’s going to make you bitter or better. You decide whether it’s going to be a stepping-stone or a stumbling block. You have to remember that even in your pain, God is working for your good. Third, God prepares us for eternity. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 4:17-18, “These little troubles are getting us ready for an … [Read more...]

Don’t be too quick to jump ship

By Steve Horn Chuck Colson writes in his book, The Faith: What Christians Believe, Why They Believe It, and Why it Matters: We cannot treat the local church like a restaurant, picking and choosing from the menu, visiting another whenever we feel like it. Church membership involves making a covenant with fellow believers. It takes time to develop unity with others at any depth, and this never takes place, ever—not at any time or anywhere—without conflict. (P. 155) Here is the essence of Biblical fellowship. If I am in common belief with another, I must protect against all threats of fellowship. The first church faced a threat against their fellowship. Read Acts 6. Immediately, the leadership acted to protect against the threat of fellowship. Have you allowed something to disrupt your fellowship with another who holds with you a common belief? Prioritize Biblical fellowship and make it right! Don’t be too quick to give up and jump ship to another fellowship. Soon will come the time when you face conflict there. The kingdom of God is better served when you apply grace to the conflict. Steve Horn is senior pastor of the First Baptist Church, Lafayette. This editorial first appeared on his blog. … [Read more...]

Imprinting the next generation

By Waylon Bailey Is anything more important than imparting the good news of God to the next generation? This week we had the Evangelism Conference for Louisiana Baptists meeting on our church campus. The theme for the conference concerned imprinting the next generation. What does this mean and how do we do it? Here are some of the highlights I gleaned from the meeting. While God has given the church to help encourage, educate, and disciple children, this is primarily the work of the family. Both the immediate family and the extended family can and must imprint children with a biblical worldview and a passion to live for God. Eric Hankins particularly preached about this subject. He pointed out the truth that children are wired from God to learn from their parents. This truth seems difficult for many people to comprehend, but children want to be like their parents. Eric pointed out that studies commissioned by Coors, MTV, and Anheuser Busch show that the most influential people in children’s lives are their parents. This effectively demonstrates that the family is God’s plan to thwart the sinful culture. In a day in which we assume that children are vulnerable to every voice except the voice of God and the … [Read more...]

Forgiveness behind Angola’s bars

By Gary D. Myers ANGOLA (BP) - The joy seemed so out of place in such a bleak setting -- the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola. But that overwhelming joy on the faces of men who may spend the rest of their lives behind bars spoke volumes about the power of the Gospel. Just a few days before Christmas, a group of faculty and staff members from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and Leavell College made the trek to Angola to celebrate graduation inside the walls of our state's maximum security prison. It was a cold, rainy day. The gray skies over the prison were punctuated by tall fences topped with razor wire -- not-so-subtle reminders about the purpose of this place. Once inside, the security was even more evident. Visitors had to pass through several chambers with iron bars and a metal detector to get inside. I expected all of this, having been to Angola many times to cover events related to the seminary's prison degree program. The joy of the Christian inmates always surprises me. The chapel, simple compared to most of our churches, was brimming with graduation candidates dressed in black robes and excited family members. For me, it was a glimpse at what heaven will be like. Leavell College's … [Read more...]