It’s soul-satisfying to come to the end of another day on the mission field in southwestern Romania. While Tom was out delivering Serbian Bibles this morning, Julian, Briana, and I prepared super-stuffed gift bags for the ladies’ conference that happened tonight. Briana did an absolutely excellent job teaching and encouraging the women. I was so proud of her.

“Loving God Even When Life Feels Broken” was the conference theme. Sessions included “Knowing Me,” “Keeping Me,” and “Embracing Me.” Using the imagery of sea glass that was once considered “trash” but which has now been made beautiful by pressure and time, Briana explained how God’s sanctifying grace is most powerfully at work in us when life feels overwhelmingly difficult.

She went on to use the account of Elijah to explain how quickly even strong believers can lose their identity in Christ, opting albeit unintentionally to believe the lies of others instead of the truths of God. As the ladies finished the third session, they were given a piece of sea glass to keep as a reminder of all that they learned. It was a rich and full day and night!

The sunset over the Danube was the Lord’s own icing on the cake. What a majestic Creator! Enjoy.

Another great day in Romania! More food distribution. Time with Pastor Claudiu, Corina, and the kids (including their new baby). The kickoff of the anniversary celebration marking the twenty-fifth year of our ministry partnership with Grace Church. You’ll be glad to know that Tom did a fantastic job remembering and reflecting on the goodness and faithfulness of God over the last quarter century!

Since I blogged about being “happy tired” last night, I thought I’d follow up with a couple of thoughts from my recent sermons on Psalm 23. One of the cool things about being in this part of the world is that you sometimes get to see a real shepherd. And real sheep. My heart is drawn to Verse 3, where I’m reminded that my Lord “restores my soul.” Don’t you just love that?

I’ve been telling God’s people here that we need our souls restored because, like those clueless sheep, we wander. We sin and stray. We lose our way. But we can always run back to the arms of a Father who loves us even when we’re far from home. Our God loves smelly sheep.

We also need a Shepherd because we forget the goodness of God. Settling far too often for lesser things, we often create chaos for ourselves through our own idolatry and rebellion. But, again, God is faithful to deliver us (from us). He is the Father of the prodigal … watching and waiting … running and embracing … kissing and celebrating!

And, my beloved fellow sheep, we need Christ to revive us because we grow weary and depleted. We get tired. We stumble and fall. I can picture a human shepherd tending patiently to the needs of his flock, even carrying a wounded animal that can’t go any further. How much more awesome is the thought of “the Word made flesh” hearing our cries for help, lifting our burdens, and replenishing our joy in Him.

If you want your soul restored, the Good Shepherd is all you need.

Pastor Charles

Have you ever been “happy tired”? What I mean by that is physically exhausted, but spiritually energized because you sense the Lord at work in spite of your human limitations? Happy tired! That’s me right now.

We arrived in Timisoara, Romania, safe and sound. A nice dinner in the historic city center was followed by finishing the trek all the way to Muldova Noua and Coronini late last night.

This morning we were up bright and early shopping for groceries and delivering much-needed food supplies in a few of the more remote areas. We also distributed Bibles in Romanian and Serbian which you helped provide. These encounters included meeting many people from an Orthodox religious heritage, but who are unaccustomed to reading Scripture themselves. Please pray that the Spirit will call these dear souls to Christ!

We also spent quite a bit of time in a new nursing home in Tom Unici’s hometown village. What God is doing there is quite remarkable, most notably building relational bridges with unbelievers in the community. It has been a full but very special day.

I preached tonight, from Psalm 23, in the villages of Radimna and Berzasca. The folks received God’s Word, and your eyeglasses and medicines, with great joy. Thank you for loving and giving.

Forgive me for not writing more, but I must turn in for the evening. I know you understand that.

The saints of the Danube River Valley send you their love. As do I.

Pastor Charles

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

When you live along the Texas Gulf Coast, staring a hurricane right in the eye is not all that unusual. The annual hurricane season is rarely without at least a viable threat or two. But what we’ve observed this week has nearly defied description.

Hurricane Harvey not only slammed the Lone Star shoreline with horrendous and deadly winds, but it aligned with other meteorological phenomena to dump record-shattering rainfall amounts in the Houston metro area. I don’t have to tell you about the widespread flooding and the destruction of more than 100,000 homes, as you’ve seen the footage and photographs for yourselves.

I am so grateful that our church family will be loving our friends in Houston, including a repair and rebuilding ministry in partnership with one of First Baptist Paducah’s former senior pastors, Dr. Kevin McCallon. Please contact our church office if you would like more information regarding how you can help.

Though not the place of his birth, Houston was my father’s adopted hometown. He has spent the lion’s share of the last eighty years there, practicing surgery for nearly half a century. It is my birth city, and where I attended Kolter Elementary School in Meyerland. (I remember Miss Hummel, Miss Davis, Mrs. Kidd, and Mrs. Gerver like it was yesterday.) I’m including a photo of Meyerland, where parts of town were transformed from city sidewalks to rushing rivers. You can see the street signs from our old neighborhood.

I’m also including a photo of Lakeside Country Club in West Houston, where my grandparents were charter members, and a place which I’ve enjoyed many times over the years. As well I’ll include a shot of one of the subdivisions adjacent to my sister’s house. She and her husband never lost their electricity, and their home became a refuge for others who were rescued but displaced.

In just the last few days we have seen our magnificent Creator in action, both in the beauty of a spectacular eclipse in the heavens, and in the fury of a great hurricane at sea level. He is the God of the whirlwind (Nahum 1:3). He is the Lord who calms the raging waters (Matthew 8:27). No falling sparrow escapes His eye (Matthew 10:29). Christ is worthy of all our faith and praise.

Pastor Charles

I’m attending the national conference of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) of the Southern Baptist Convention. It’s a fantastic experience, but it’s jam-packed and I won’t have much time to write today.

I do, however, want to take advantage of this opportunity to ask you to begin praying with me about an upcoming sermon series at First Baptist Paducah: UBERFAITH! Beginning Sunday morning, September 17 we will mine the spiritual riches of James 1 and 2. Please pray with me that the Spirit of God will move dynamically among us as we learn what go-the-distance faith looks like in real life!

If you’ve been feeling a little dry lately, or maybe like your spiritual life is stale or “tired,” this is for you. If you’ve slipped into a slump, or found yourself stuck in a spiritual rut, hold on! Fall refreshment is on the horizon. Never forget that we drink from a well which will never run dry (John 7:37-39).

You are loved, by Christ and by me.

Pastor Charles

Do you think that this just might have been the weirdest offering that God ever received? Five gold tumors and five gold rats! I’m not making it up. Check out First Samuel 6, which I happened to be reading last evening.

A little background … Israel was at war with the Philistines. Israel brought the Ark of the Covenant into the battle. The Philistines were afraid of the ark, because they understood that it represented the power of Israel’s God – so they fought with everything in them and managed to capture it. With the ark in their possession, they dragged it into one of their five primary cities, Ashdod. And not just into the city, but into the temple of their god Dagon. They “set it up beside Dagon” (First Samuel 5:2). The God of heaven and earth was not amused.

The next morning Dagon had fallen facedown – as if kneeling before the ark of the Lord. The Philistines propped him back up. And the next morning it happened again, only this time Dagon’s head and hands were severed. Then a plague of tumors broke out among the people: “the hand of the Lord was heavy against the people of Ashdod” (First Samuel 5:6). As the Philistines moved the ark from city to city in an effort to survive, the tumors would spread among the people wherever the ark landed.

So the Philistines finally decided to send the ark back to Israel, albeit a bit strangely. They put it on a cart and made two cows pull it. I’m not making this up. Here’s how they reasoned: if the cows pulled toward Israeli territory, it was God’s punishment; if the cows took off some other way, then this had all been a terrible mix-up “by coincidence” (First Samuel 6:9). Again, I am not making this up!

Where did the golden tumors and rats (“images of … tumors and images of … mice that ravage the land”) come in? The Philistines put these items in a box on the side of the ark as a guilt offering. Just in case.

Wow! I can barely process this account from the Scriptures. I’m not surprised by God’s judgment in the form of plagues. What does shock me is how the Philistines at times feared Israel’s God more than Israel did. Sometimes I see this lack of fear in my own soul, and sometimes I see it in the evangelical culture at large, and sometimes I see it in my nation. As bitterness divides America, and spiritual darkness encroaches, I grieve over the petty things which seem to occupy the time and attention of the church.

I’m also fascinated by the fact that the Philistines – though they personally observed the wrath and devastation of the Lord – kept insisting on their own inferior god. They knew that God was God enough to feel obliged to appease Him – “just in case” – but they would never bow before Him as Sovereign and Supreme.

Whether it’s Charlottesville or Spain, you and I don’t need to look very far to see that our world is in a heap of trouble, friends. Whether the attackers ride the wave of white supremacy or ISIS caliphate, there is no peace without Christ. Will you and l lift His banner high for such a time as this, or will we pretend not to know that “none is righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3:10). That passage goes on to say: “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

As this once-in-a-lifetime solar eclipse approaches the Paducah area, my prayer for us is that we will see beyond the glory of the heavenly bodies to the Creator of it all: Jesus is Lord! No cheap substitutes. No second best. No idols – golden or otherwise. Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness (Psalm 115:1)!

Pastor Charles

According to our President, the U.S. military is “locked and loaded.” Tensions are mounting here and around the world in regard to the threat posed by North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, whom The New York Times referred to as “a moody young man with a nuclear arsenal.” They got that right. There is no doubt that North Korea’s nuclear weapons program is patently illegal under prevailing international law.

Sanctions by the United Nations apparently aren’t enough to curb the North Korean dictator’s determination to show off his nuclear prowess. Several overt threats have been issued by Jong-un, including one against Guam. Could the North Korean leader really be crazy enough to fire missiles at a U.S. territory? Only the Lord knows. And what role does China actually play in this nearly global conflict? And Iran, despite the 2015 “nuclear deal”? Again, we can study and we can surmise, but only the Lord knows for sure. Apparently China would not oppose the U.S. were we to defend ourselves against a first strike by North Korea. Hopefully that theory will never be tested.

I think it’s safe to assume that North Korea’s desire is to possess a nuclear warhead that can strike the U.S. mainland. North Korea volunteered just this Tuesday that its missiles could hit New York City now. In fact Vice Admiral James Syring told the House Armed Services Committee that we “must assume that North Korea can reach us with a ballistic missile.” If I interpreted his testimony correctly, he also implied that the U.S. is not prepared for that kind of surprise scenario. In his own words, Secretary of Defense James Mattis described that kind of situation as “tragic on an unbelievable scale.”

I think it’s also safe to admit that we have very few tricks up our sleeve when it comes to countering Jong-un’s nuclear development. A scary world? Yes. But North Korea’s power and volatility are nothing new for South Korea and Japan. We have church members living in Seoul. On their last visit to Paducah I was able to hear about their regular nuclear attack drills, which they said tend to fade away as background noise against a threat which is so longstanding.

Let’s face it: there are no quick fixes or easy answers here. Under the earthly dominion of a cruel dictatorship are our brothers and sisters in Christ who are living in North Korea – despite the constant threat of persecution as real as the death penalty. Some estimates claim 10% of the population as underground followers of Christ. Not to mention over 25 million North Koreans who have no choice but to at least publicly support a tyrant. South of the border, South Korea’s capital city is home to ten million civilians. North Korea already has the power to utterly annihilate the 28,000 U.S. troops permanently stationed near the demilitarized zone. And Tokyo’s nine million are within easy reach of a madman.

Under Kim Jong-un, North Korea wrote nuclear weaponry into the nation’s constitution as a “guarantor” of their security. But, friends, you and I have a better Guarantor! Go back and read Romans 8:28-39. Then reread it. Human history will offer us more than a fair share of threats and assaults, but Christ will win. Indeed He already has won! No tribulation “will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord!”

Also check out Hebrews 7:20-25. The ministry of Jesus for us far surpasses that of any human priest. Christ has taken a divine oath on our behalf. He is our surety. Because of who Christ is, we know that God will never break a promise to us. If you ever co-signed for a loan, you became the guarantor of that loan. You accepted the legal responsibility that the debt would be repaid in full, guaranteeing the specific terms of the transaction. So not only is Christ the Mediator of the New Covenant – the one who established it – but He is also the one who has assumed full responsibility to make good on everything that the New Covenant promises those of us who are in Christ.

Ephesians 1:13-14 says that – when you and I heard the gospel and believed in Christ – we “were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.” In Christ we are as safe as safe can be!

It kind of puts the whole nuclear-arsenal-thing in its proper perspective.

Pastor Charles

Over the last two evenings we have experienced what I’ll call “church extraordinaire.” As First Baptist Paducah has strategically invaded the neighborhoods of Paducah, we have seen the Lord use us to minister to hundreds of people in Christ’s name. It took many of you to pull it off, but you made the block parties happen.

It’s too bad that sometimes we Christians are known as “un-party.” Throughout the Old Testament we see God using festivals and feasts to show His people much about Himself. Historically these events were sometimes somber occasions for purposes of soul-searching and reflection, but often the Lord wanted His Beloved to simply celebrate His gracious work on their behalf. To enjoy the moment for His glory.

Check out the Feast of Booths in Leviticus 23:33-44. The Roman historian Josephus referred to it as “the greatest of the Hebrew celebrations.” It ended with a parade, loud music, and a water-pouring ritual – and was likely the backdrop for Christ’s glorious self-attestation as our “living water” (John 7:37-39). We’ve been invited to drink of His Spirit! An ancient rabbi observed: “Anyone who has not seen this water ceremony has never seen rejoicing  in his life.”

We also learn from the New Testament that wedding receptions and related festivities often lasted for a full week! We remember the ultra-celebrative setting of the first miracle of Christ’s earthly ministry. If you and I are supposed to be “un-party,” then Jesus definitely did not get that memo.

THANK YOU for helping us end our “Summer of Service” on such a high note. I am grinning from ear to ear as I write these words. Thank you.

Thank you for cultivating the soil for gospel planting. Thank you for planting gospel seeds. Thank you for praying with me for gospel harvest.

THANK YOU for loving Paducah.

Someone has said that there are three keys to church growth: 1. gathering people; 2. gathering people; and 3. gathering people. I think you get my point. Great job, FBC Family!

I’ll close with this verse from The Message (John 1:14): “The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood.”

Pastor Charles

We’ve totally enjoyed showing Julian his seventeenth American state in two summers: Massachusetts. He’s been a great sport about all of the traveling, new foods, and unexpected adventures. You’ll see a few pics from our journey thus far, including the Statue of Liberty, the Manhattan skyline, and the Monument to the Forefathers in Plymouth. Our one day in downtown Boston was picture perfect.

Joshua has reunited with his cousins, and they’ve been thicker than thieves over the last few days. This year the boys built a fire pit to make the late nights even later. The joys of summer.

I know that you know that this part of our nation feels very “post Christian” in a number of ways, but it’s amazing how many gospel roots just can’t be obscured. Everywhere you go around here, you can discover evidence that this was the cradle of American Christianity.

When Jonathan Edwards came of age in the 1720’s, New England had been settled by Englishmen for a hundred years. The famous Puritan preacher Cotton Mather recorded in 1702 that every aspect of life in early New England reflected significant Christian influence. The region’s spiritual and social history were inseparable in fact. From the time the Pilgrims landed in 1620, it had been assumed by the populace at large that the point of the new land was the building up of a godly commonwealth.

If you haven’t done so in awhile, pray for the people of New England. There is tremendous need for vital evangelical renewal here, and for strong pulpits where Christ and the Scriptures will be heralded for generations to come. Our own North American Mission Board labors tirelessly to this end. O God, breathe new life into America, from sea to shining sea!

I look forward to seeing you all Sunday morning.

Pastor Charles