“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?... “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’”

Matthew 25: 37 & 40

Earlier this week I was walking through the hallways of a local nursing home and came across a woman who appeared to be in distress.  She kept crying out, “Help me! Help me!” but no one was stopping to assist her.  I was busy and had several places to be that morning, so I was about to do the same until the Holy Spirit nudged me.  

Responding to God’s prompting, I stopped, looked at the woman, and not knowing what I could offer her to substantially change her situation I said, “Ma’am, can I help you?” She immediately stopped crying out, looked at me and responded, “I would like to get up out of my chair.”  I quickly explained that as a chaplain I could not help her with moving from her wheelchair, but that if she’d like, I could pray for her.  She thought for a moment and then replied, “Yes, please.”  We both proceeded to bow our heads and I offered a short prayer.  Following the prayer this woman looked at me with the most sincere gaze and stated, “Thank you!”  She then ceased crying out and calmly sat in her chair for the remainder of my time in the unit.  

Our work for Christ can’t be limited to kind words and warm gestures, but it shouldn’t neglect them either.  Sometimes they are the catalyst to a deeper conversation about Christ.  Other times they are an end in themselves.  Either way, let us not neglect our calling to others.  Sometimes the simplest actions are not simply good deeds, but holy moments of service to both our fellow man and our Lord Jesus Christ.  

The interview with a Christian organization usually begins with the question: “Please tell us about your salvation experience, your testimony.” The answer I heard recently was, “Well, there has never been a time I was not a Christian.  All of my family has gone to the same church since before I was born. I have always been Christian. My walk deepened as I read my Bible. I strive to learn more.” Imagine the squeal of brakes in the minds of the believers sitting with this sincere, kind, sweet soul. The conversation continued, “Has there been a time when you would say you came to Christ?”. The answer “No, I haven’t had that experience…”

If there is no death to the old self, how can there be new life?

2 Corinthians 5:16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; ESV

This is a season of rejoicing over Springtime…new life. The old must pass away. Good Friday has to be. The old self must be put to death. Sunday has come…the resurrection brings life.

On Easter, the payment for the old self has been paid. It is redeemed for God’s glory. Your soul has been redeemed. It is time to celebrate and live in that new life!

Romans 8: 9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.

As a chaplain, it is really important to have the 23rd Psalm memorized. I’ve been working on this recently. This Psalm is the go to for the grieving and the dying. 

But as I have been reading through it, I was struck by how it should be a psalm for the living and the hopeful. 

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.  He makes me lie down in green pastures. 

As I’m walking through the dailies, remembering that He is my shepherd is powerful! Not only when I’m grieved but when I’m just living. How many days do we have a desperate desire to lie down in green pastures at the end of the school or work day? When we walk with him, we shall not want. 

He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. 

As we go through joy, pain, happiness, loss…all of it can get overwhelming with busyness and uncertainty of what to do with the little free time that is left. A moment with him in his word, prayer, or worship can fill us up and rejuvenate our souls. 

He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. 

When we are tempted with an angry outburst, that extra cookie (or ten), another drink, or other things maybe we shouldn’t doing our even be looking at. He is there with us whispering words of truth and love to guide us into His way.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. 

We are never alone. Even when the world is scary, uncertain, unpredictable…We know we can trust in Him completely. Because he is a good shepherd. 

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; 

Who else but the Lord could lead people to forgive the greatest atrocities to the point of being willing to share a meal with someone they have every right to hate, but grace says no. 

You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 

To the point where those who are the least of these can stand before a crowd or write a devotion to share of His great goodness and love. 

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

We, at Living Legacy Church, quite frequently express our delight and thankfulness for the many good teachers and those competent to preach God has equipped us with . . . and rightly so, we are greatly blessed in that regard. But “equipped” suggests being prepared and furnished with the necessities required for an undertaking, a work, a mission. We ought not rest, comfortably assuming all is well in our little church because we enjoy such a group of solid teachers - God’s teachers teach to make disciples, and disciples are student . . . and students study. A great old Puritan tells us ~ 

"Poor Christian, be not dejected, because you see yourself out-stripped and excelled by so many in other parts of knowledge; if you know Jesus Christ, you know enough to comfort and save your soul. Many learned theologians are now in hell, and many illiterate Christians in heaven." 

  ~ borrowed (and tweaked a bit) from John Flavel

Very true, but we must also consider ~

“We are dealing with God’s thoughts: we are obligated to take the greatest pains to understand them truly and to explain them clearly.”

~ D.A. Carson

If we are Christians, then we ought to love God’s word, the Bible, we ought to love to spend time there . . . we ought to love to spend time in the Bible because Jesus is there, because the same Holy Spirit who wrote the Bible dwells within us, because the Bible is God’s own revealing of His truth. That means that we ought to go beyond reading our scheduled several chapters every night, go beyond hearing a sermon once a week, go beyond attending a weekly Bible study - if you are a Christian and love God’s word, then there ought to be some attention given to private, personal study, to doing the work yourself to understand Paul’s letters and the Old Testament prophets and the teachings of Jesus better, more accurately. Not to gather and know more information - but to draw closer to Jesus, Jesus as He truly is, and with the desire to serve Him more devoutly. 

“Some persons think they can know God by means of their own human reason. But reason is a blind ally spiritually. It has always been the great minds exercising their powers apart from the Word of God who have produced the great heresies. Some think they can discover God by listening to a so-called ‘inner voice.’ But the voice is often nothing more than an expression of their own inner desires. Quite a few think that spiritual truths can be verified by supernatural events or miracles. But the Bible everywhere teaches that even miracles will not lead men and women to understand and receive God’s truth unless they themselves are illuminated by the Bible (“If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.” Lk 16:31). I believe that we can state categorically that there is no knowledge apart from Jesus Christ and that there is no knowledge of Jesus Christ apart from a knowledge of the Bible.”

~ James Montgomery Boice

I have never been a fan of New Year Resolutions.  I tried it in my younger years; but I found by mid-February most, if not all, had been set aside and old habits ruled the day.

Last week I heard part of sermon while driving to an appointment.  I heard enough of the sermon to realize goal setting for believers in Jesus Christ is a helpful tool in our spiritual growth. The unspoken advantage of goals over resolutions is the assistance of the Holy Spirit to reach success. The sermon was based on Micah 6:8 The speaker used the New Living Translation:

O people, the Lord has told you what is good, 

and this is what He requires of you:

to do what is right,

to love mercy, and

to walk humbly with your God.

I arrived at my appointment but the words that I heard were foremost in my mind. What I heard on the radio can be goals that I can set; they are goals that will help me to grow spiritually; and that spiritual growth happens with the promised help of the Holy Spirit. God is so good to clearly tell what He expects of us.  Three items and He is done.  Do what is right. Love mercy. Walk humbly with God.

The LLC Women’s Bible Study is studying the 7 statements in the Gospel of John where Jesus uses “I AM” statement to teach who He is. We are currently studying where Jesus identifies Himself by saying, “I AM the Good Shepherd”. In the study guide there is a lot of material about the sheep and often the description is not complimentary.  But one thing they do great…they listen to their shepherd’s voice. They follow their shepherd. I pray that God will richly bless the LLC sheep (friends and members of Living Legacy Church) as we spend time in His Word. It is there our Good

Shepherd speaks to us. He has some things to say to us in Micah 6:8. How are we doing at hearing His voice?

"It's the most wonderful time of the year..."

I bet you could hardly read that without singing it. It is Christmas time! A time where the world, whether they recognize it or not, seems to stop and celebrate the birth of Christ.

My favorite Christmas story, other than THE Christmas story of the Bible, is "A Christmas Carol", where the old cranky Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by 4 ghosts and turns from an "odious, stingy, mean-hearted man" to "as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man as the old city ever knew". 

The final step of that transformation was the realization that, after death, he is no longer able to interfere in the welfare of man. He learned that, for all his wealth and power, once he was dead, it was good for absolutely nothing. And, at this time of year, perhaps most of all, we should be concerned with the well-being of others, especially the poorest among us. 

This sentiment seems universal during this time of year. Toys are given away for free, people spend time and money to light up their houses, friends and family gather and copious amounts of food are shared, and this is all done often. But where does this sentiment come from? Why does it even exist during this time? Is it not because of the shining, inexhaustible, undeniable, overriding example of Christ? 

And while we can certainly learn from Mr. Scrooge and apply the lesson of "being sure to love those around us with an unselfish love while we're traversing this planet" to our lives, as a Christian we don't need to be haunted by 3 Ghosts to learn that the riches contained within this world, are temporary at best. 

Jesus says as much in Matthew 6:19-21:

19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

Mr. Scrooge could have saved himself a restless night of terrifying ghostly visits if he had just read his Bible. 

And while it may be "the most wonderful time of the year", it's the most wonderful truth that for the Christian this feeling doesn't come only 1 month a year. The feeling that permeates every corner of this month, for the Christian, can be lived every day of every year.