First Baptist Shreveport

God is doing something more important than the divisions and hierarchies we create.  In Luke 14, Jesus tells a parable about a banquet and reminds his listeners:

"For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted." (Luke 14:11) 

We can look at this story in two ways: a strategy to get ahead or a way of life.  But when it comes to the Kingdom of God, we don't approach with arrogance but with humility.  Not false humility because God knows our hearts, but with true humility. 

How do we do this?  We must practice. 

How often do you feel slighted and how hard is it to let it go?  Are there tasks you feel are beneath you?  Are there people you feel are beneath you? 

Practice makes permanent.  Asking these questions can be a first step.  We can ask God to show us where we are being prideful. 

The way of Jesus is true humility. Let's practice this kind of humility- this is what God desires in us and from us and for us.

The book of Thessalonians is a playbook for being a Christian in a world you don't really understand anymore.  We live in a volatile world full of complexities and anxieties.  The three plays Paul gives us in the Thessalonian playbooks are:
1.  Work Hard - this glorifies God
2.  Love Well - the best thing about the church is the love that God teaches us
3.  Hope Always - hope is a light that no darkness can quiet

There are no circumstances- ordinary or extraordinary - that would unseat Jesus from His throne.  Work hard, love well, and hold on to hope. 

Who do you trust? 

Proverbs 3:5-5 tells us to "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight." 

In the story at the beginning of Mark 2, friends bring a paralyzed friend to Jesus- lowering him through the roof demonstrating an audacious faith.  Hopefully we all have friends like this. 

When Jesus saw the paralyzed friend, he told him his sins were forgiven.  The onlooking scribes responded with a narrow and rigid faith based in tradition and the past.  We can be like that too! 

The paralyzed man faces a leap of faith in Jesus as do we.  Trusting in Jesus is the way for us to find life. 

Have you taken that leap?

The stoning of Stephen is one of the saddest and most tragic stories in the New Testament.  Stephen preached a sermon, retelling Israel's story to Israel's leaders but in the end, they took him out of the city to stone him, laying their coats at Saul's feet. 

Stephen reflects Jesus in his life and in his death, echoing words and actions of surrender and forgiveness. 

Stephen "fell asleep-" an apt euphemism for believers as we will experience new life, but we are to be witnesses.  God uses this suffering to spread the gospel and giving perspective to our own faith journeys. 

Stephen's death was a key event that spurred on the missionary movement.  God has a mighty power to take terrible events and to do something NEW.

God is able to work out of even the most difficult circumstances- out of pain and even out of death to do something new and to bring about life and hope and God's purposes. 

A prayer for us as we navigate our own difficult circumstances:  God please... redeem this somehow.  Lead us forward in hope.

Jonah preaches a five word sermon to the Ninevites summed up in one word: “Overthrown!” 

And then Nineveh repents.  But Jonah was not happy.  In fact, he was filled with unbelievable loathing! 

Jonah was angry because the world was not conforming to his expectations.  His biggest mistake? 

Jonah was rejecting the grace upon which he depended.  Jonah is angry at God because of his great love. 

But the grace we receive from God is connected to the grace we give others.

Jonah is like the older brother in the story of the prodigal son.  Are we ever like this?  Heal our Jonah hearts, Lord. 

Will you preach grace to others?

Jeff and Ryan share highlights and stories from their recent trip to Ukraine to visit and connect with Baptist pastors in Kyiv and Life Church in Kovel.  

God's first command to Jonah is to arise, to take action.  But Jonah, not afraid of the cost or the travel, is filled with fear and loathing for the Ninevites. 

Jonah had a heart issue- hating his enemies.  But Jesus tells us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.  There is a modern temptation to "follow our hearts" and "chart our own paths," but we cannot flee from God.  And God will never leave us where his grace cannot sustain us. 

When God is calling us to do something, there's only one good answer:  Yes.  Are you listening?

Paul writes about our hope as adopted children of God in Ephesians 1 like this: "...may the eyes of your heart be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you..." 

Being in the family of God comes with privileges and hope is for today!  God is with us, his hope changes everything and alters how we live.  We are not to live as worriers but as confident believers, knowing God will help us in all things.  We have an irrevocable inheritance in Christ.  When we falter, we can cry out to God and say, "Lord I do believe, help my unbelief!" 

Our God is a powerful, resurrecting God. Do you know THE HOPE?  Are you living as if you know the hope? 

✳️ Special thanks to Dr. Scott Bryan for preaching while Pastors Jeff and Ryan are away.  We appreciate you!  Keep Jeff and Ryan in your prayers as they make their way home, church!

It's easy and natural for us to make snap judgments.  But favoritism is a denial of Jesus and a personal insult to Christ.  Every person is made in the image of God and deserves kindness and honor. 

"Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it." Hebrews 13:2

Let's replace our quick judgements with what God says about those around us.  Let's jump to kindness and to service - letting the Spirit overrule our human judgements.

In a disturbing passage recorded in Matthew 7:21-23, Jesus tells us that not all of us who call him Lord will be known by him. 

In light of this warning, how can we live with confidence?  This passage is a bookend of the Beatitudes which offers assurance, but we actually need both assurance and a challenge. 

Following Jesus and his teaching is not the default path of life. The gate is small and the path is narrow. 

Additionally, this warning means that we can be infiltrated by wolves in sheep's clothing.  But Jesus tells us we will know people by their fruit.  We can evaluate our lives by our fruit as well. 

KNOWING JESUS and being KNOWN BY JESUS is what matters.  We must hear Jesus' words and act on them. 

Are we in a house with a solid foundation? Are we on the narrow path? 

What are you doing this week to know Jesus better?  Let's keep our eyes on Him.