Psalm 24:1: The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it. The journey of generosity begins with realizing that this life we possess is a gift. The air we breathe, the water we drink, the earth that provides us food, and the fire that keeps us warm were all here before we arrived. Our planet, third from the sun in our solar system, is vast and rich in resources. Fish inhabit the seas. Thousands of species of birds soar through the ...
I was startled to see in the mist what I first took to be a boat floating offshore. The predawn light was dim enough without the fog, and I strained to see just what it was that floated on the perimeter of my visibility. My brisk walk carried me through a ban of angles. At one point I thought the black object at the front was a person leaning out of the boat. I thought it strange that a small boat would be floating still and soundless near the shore. Only when I had passed ...
Up early on my 60th birthday, I find myself very grateful for the most important aspects of my life, the living Lord Jesus and loving family and friends. Every day I am trying to stay focused upon the task God gave me almost 17 years ago, helping God’s people shine like stars here in the Crescent City. I rehearse this task often in response to questions about my work and the role God has given me. This specific calling is fully aligned with the over-arching goal of my ...
Dear friends of First Baptist New Orleans, Resurrection Day is coming Sunday, March 31. This is a day when every Christian should be in worship celebrating the resurrection of Jesus and thanking God for our hope in this life and the next. My message will be about the Empty Tomb that Peter and John discovered that first Easter morning and what it means for us today. EASTER WORSHIP will begin at 10:45 a.m. This is a permanent change for our Sunday Morning Worship time. SMALL GROUP BIBLE ...
Where do you go when you die? The patriarchs of Israel died in the presence of their families, and their deaths were recorded with some detail. “Gathered to his fathers” is a phrase used six times in the Old Testament, all in the first five books. It describes what happens when a person dies. The phrase is used in reference to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and Aaron. I did not know of the lively discussion among the rabbis about this phrase until ...
Baptist Crossroads has been under the capable direction of Bob Brian for almost five years. During that time we have completed the low-income housing initiative, building 90 homes in partnership with Habitat for Humanity and Baptist Community Ministries. We have launched and developed the Bunny Friend ministry under the umbrella, Peace on the Playground. That exciting work continues to bear fruit. We explored a number of educational initiatives, the most extensive being the effort to secure a ...
Disciple in Motion Hebrews 6:10: God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. This verse tells us that we show our love for God by helping his people. This is our proper and true motivation for the Care Effect ministries. God’s people are those who know and love him. That would include the brothers and sisters who serve with us in the work of the Lord at First Baptist ...
Newtown and Bethlehem By David E. Crosby, Pastor First Baptist New Orleans Christmas Eve, 2012 Christmas may seem out of place this year. How do we proclaim joy to a world that is so full of grief? The killings at Sandy Hook school are an unspeakable horror. No explanations can satisfy the mind or calm the heart. We stand before it mute and paralyzed. Echoes of gunshots and cries of grief are all that we hear, and the world is full of spent casings and dead children. Any effort to ...
Spending During the Holidays By David E. Crosby, Pastor First Baptist New Orleans December 1, 2012 I am drinking my coffee at the breakfast table on the morning of December 1, 2012, and wondering how my friends at First Baptist New Orleans will spend their money this Christmas. Already we have more food than we can eat, more clothes than we can wear, more toys than we can play with, more cars than we can drive, more houses than we can live in, and more stuff than we can ...
The world may be going to hell in a hand basket, but the Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony refused to accept this as their ultimate reality. The first governor elected under the Mayflower Compact died along with half the population of the colony in that first cruel winter. William Bradford was elected to succeed him, and he declared that the struggling community would celebrate the traditional English Harvest Festival in the fall of 1621, the first “Thanksgiving” on these ...