We're Third

Yesterday, I was able to visit at Third Baptist Church in Owensboro.  It is a church that I have been familiar with for years.  When I pastored in Ohio County, I even had the opportunity to lead a Bible study there.  But, due to its distance and my own responsibilities I had never been there to worship.

It is a church that has a long and illustrious history.  The historic sanctuary is ornate and intricate in design.  They even have the best mission statement of any congregation I know (Jesus first, others second, we're Third).

The worship was very traditional.  We sang together the old hymns.  The Lord's prayer concluded the pastoral prayer.  There was even a children's sermon that ostensibly was about the Trinity, but seemed to be more of a lesson on making Kool-Aid.

My friend James Byrd, the pastor preached a sermon from the gospel of Luke.  He used the powerful illustration of the words Blaise Pascal (the famous mathematician) always carried with him and were discovered in his coat at his death to structure the sermon.  It is the description of Pascal's conversion:

The year of grace 1654
Monday, 23 November, feast of Saint Clement, Pope and Martyr, and of others in the Martyrology.
Eve of Saint Chrysogonus, Martyr and others.
From about half past ten in the evening until half past midnight.

Fire

'God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob,' not of philosophers and scholars.
Certainty, certainty, heartfelt, joy, peace.
God of Jesus Christ.
God of Jesus Christ.
My God and your God.
'Thy God shall be my God.'
The world forgotten, and everything except God.
He can only be found by the ways taught in the Gospels.
Greatness of the human soul.
'O righteous Father, the world had not known thee, but I have known thee.'
Joy, joy, joy, tears of joy.
I have cut myself off from him.
They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters.
'My God wilt thou forsake me?'
Let me not be cut off from him for ever!
And this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.'
Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ.
I have cut myself off from him, shunned him, denied him, crucified him.
Let me never be cut off from him!
He can only be kept by the ways taught in the Gospel.
Sweet and total renunciation.
Total submission to Jesus Christ and my director.
Everlasting joy in return for one day's effort on earth.
I will not forget thy word. Amen.


What a story.  Perhaps we should carry our story with us wherever we go as well.