Lord willing, this Sunday morning I’ll finish our summer preaching series “THE MISSION.” I have thoroughly enjoyed walking with you through a journey of self-understanding in light of our “in Christ” identity: Who am I? Why am I here? What has God called me to do? When I subtitled the series “a revolution of heart and mind,” I was hoping that all of us would be Spirit-awakened over the days of summer to a fresh delight in our life mission for Christ.
Let me say that another way: you matter! And that’s the grand theme that I’ll be taking up this Sunday. God cares about your future, and in fact has written every chapter of your story. When Jesus said, “It is finished,” He meant it.
Isn’t that good to know with all the “unknowns” all around us? Isn’t that good to know in an age when many people have concluded that we can’t “know” anything with certainty? Isn’t that good to know with powerful Irma brewing just to our south?
To quote the great theologian TobyMac: “I always feel like I am in waters over my head. I always feel like I’m more aware of my need than I’ve ever been in my life. I grew up in athletics, and I feel like I was taught my whole life to say ‘give me the ball, I’m going to score the game winner. I’ve got this.’ The wiser you get and the more life you live, you realize, for lack of better grammar, ‘I don’t got this.’ I have a desperate need for God. It’s beyond me.”
Friends, if you’re like me at all, even though you realize that “you don’t got this,” you desperately want your life to count. You want your legacy to matter. You want your kingdom influence to far outlive your short lifespan. I’ve got some good news for you: God wants that too! He has made a way for “right now” to matter forever.
So that’s what we’ll take up Sunday morning. Come expectant. Come to give. Come to serve. Come to love and be loved.
I’ll see you Sunday. So don’t sleep in: there’s too much good stuff going on at First Baptist Paducah!
Pastor Charles
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