Happy New Year, Louisiana Baptists. I trust that you have entered this New Year with great anticipation for what the Lord may do in 2023.
What comes to mind when you hear the word, “daily”?
Routine or habit comes to my mind. As does frequency and importance.
When you think about it, there are things we do daily because they need to be done. We get up, clean up, eat up, show up and more. There’s a reason we do things daily.
During my address at our annual meeting, I said, “We need to return to a New Testament Normal—the kind we read about in the Book of Acts.”
- Acts 2:47—“Every day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.”
- Acts 5:14—“Believers were added to the Lord in increasing numbers—multitudes of both men and women.”
- Acts 5:42—“Every day in the temple, and in various homes, they continued teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.”
- Acts 16:5, “So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers.”
Daily!
Do you see that word, “daily?” Daily the Lord added to their numbers those who were being saved.
As we begin this New Year, I urge you to do at least these three things daily:
- Pray daily for the Lost.
- Seek opportunities daily to evangelize the lost.
- Expect people daily to be saved.
Let’s daily be a sowing people. Let’s daily be a proclaiming people. Let’s daily be a praying people. Let’s daily be an expecting people. And, if we do that, then will come the day, by the hand of the Lord, that daily we will be a reaping people.
Would you dream with me again about having a Louisiana that has a culture of evangelism? Our state is known for our culture. May we get to a point in the not-too-distant future when it will be said of us as Louisiana Baptists that we have a culture of “daily” evangelism.
