When we fully believe the love of Christ heals all wounds, then our life and our church become an instrument for God and of God. When our life and church become an instrument for God and of God we have a mission for God. Each of us has a part to play in helping people lead better, fuller, more holy, and more devout lives. When we fully believe the gospel, great things start happening. Tragically, we don't have more people in the Christian faith. Even more tragic, we don't each have an individual mission we have accepted from God. In the Southwestern United States, during the region's formative years in the 1800s, a mission was both a building and also a group of missionaries. Can you imagine the impact and excitement a little group of people could have in your city or neighborhood if everyone in the group had the zeal of a missionary? Another definition of the word "mission" is the meaning associated with a course of sermons and services designed to quicken the faith and zeal of Christians or to convert unbelievers. Who gets quickened today? Religious fire and fervor sometimes come out in a church service with a lot of vocalizing of Amen's and hallelujahs. But the fire and fervor of the Christian faith must also come out in what the church does in the world. The evangelical fire that only stays in the church sanctuary does not help the work of God as much as letting the Light of Christ's love burn brightly in the world outside the church walls. Love must be taken to others who are not in church. Our mission should be to let Christ's love burn within us outside the church walls.
Wednesday, January 5, 2022
Tuesday, January 4, 2022
Our Greatest Weapon Against Evil
The most important job a communicator of the gospel has is to help the receiver of the communication connect gospel truth to everyday life. In our reality, Satan attacks every person's life. When a person is disconnected from others and disconnected from God, Satan takes advantage of this lack of connection. When people lead disconnected lives, everyday life easily turns into chaos. Connected lives are fruitful lives. Connected persons live life on purpose, for a purpose. Disconnected lives are full of problems. If our heart is connected to Christ, our faith is unshakable. When our connection to Christ via the Holy Spirit is unbreakable, we would forever walk in the glory and grace of his presence. However, our faith is not strong and our connection to Christ is weak. When our faith is weak, our connection to Christ becomes weaker, and we end up in this downward spiral of losing what little faith we possess. For persons who are Christians, Satan tries to attack our connection to God by using adversity, pain, and suffering to weaken our connection to Christ. As Satan attacks, connections begin to fade, and there is backsliding. We must counter-attack Satan with prayer, meditation, humility, and an open heart to Christ's redeeming love. A melted heart kneeling before the Cross is our greatest offense against the evil one.
Monday, January 3, 2022
Hospice Chaplaincy Through The Eyes Of A Retired Hospice Chaplain
Written by, Dr. Danny V. Ray
Several years ago someone asked me, “Preacher what is a
Hospice Chaplain?”
After having the opportunity to serve as a hospice chaplain
for Hospice of Tift Area for seven years and Bethany Hospice for two years, I
learned that hospice care is much more than treating pain, suffering, and
symptoms. If I was looking for words to describe some of the things I learned
there would be words like empathy which is the ability to understand and share
the feelings of another. One of the most important things anyone can ever do
for those who are terminally ill is to reach a place of understanding and
caring. Another word is the word sympathy and one must be careful with this
word. Those who are terminally ill wants you to understand but not to pity
them. With that being said, the greatest gift I believe God has given to me is
the spirit of compassion.
To be compassionate is to be so caring for the sufferings of
others that you are willing to suffer with them. As I study the life of Christ
I see Him as one who had this type of compassion. I believe that is why he had
to go to the mountain places to get away to refuel and strengthen himself for
service. I have called this refilling your bucket. I remember one time feeling
so empty and weak that I went to my Director and told her that I needed a day
to go and refill my bucket. Her reply to me was, “go you know what you need to
do.” I believe one of the greatest illustrations of being compassionate is
given in John’s Gospel chapter eleven verses thirty-two through thirty-five,
where we read the story of Lazarus. (Then when Mary came where Jesus was and
saw him, she fell at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here,
my brother had not died. When Jesus, therefore, saw her weeping, and the Jews
also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled,
and said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see. Jesus
wept.) Though He appeared to have arrived late He was there providing the
ministry of presence (Being There). Notice what those who saw Him cry said,
“Behold how he loved him!”
Now to answer the question, “What is A Hospice Chaplain?” A
hospice chaplain is one who cares when no one else takes the time to care, to
love those who everyone else has written off because of their lifestyle, to cry
with those who are crying, to hurt with those who are hurting, to just be
present with a listening ear maybe even not having to say one word, just being
there to represent a spiritual presence. I have spent Christmas Eve with
families who were hurting, sitting with them, as they say, goodbye to their
loved ones. I watched as they cried and have cried with them. Being there not
so much because it was my job to be there, but being there because I wanted to
be there with a hurting family. I suppose Theodore Roosevelt said it best,
“Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care.”
I have cared for so many in the nine years that I served as
a hospice chaplain. Being there, representing God, and His spiritual presence too
many who would have never had a relationship with Him if chaplaincy had not been
provided. In the nine years that I served, I made many friends in our service
area. I have stood by the bedside, and at the funeral home and helped with many
funerals to these families. I would dare say I probably preached three hundred
or more funerals for families who allowed me to walk through the deepest of all
dark valleys with them.
I have been out of the full-time hospice chaplaincy for
several years now. I use the term burnout as I felt I needed a break from
seeing so much death and suffering. In the time that I have been away, I have
used hospice services with my mother and have stood by the bedside of our
church members and their families as loved ones died. We live in the land of
the dying and the only hope we have to offer is the hope of Christ. As a
chaplain I never tried to teach people how to die, I always prayed to be able
to teach them how to live. Jesus said in John’s gospel chapter eleven verse
twenty-six, “whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest
thou this?” I believe it.
I may one day soon if God opens the door walk back into
hospice chaplaincy. While I have enjoyed being back in the church and the
pulpit, I must share the truth there is nothing like taking the church into
places it can’t go to represent God’s presence, I love the Hospice Chaplaincy
Ministry as well as the opportunity to serve as a pastor.
Our Encouraging God
What a mighty God we serve!
What a creative Creator we serve!
What a utilitarian God we serve!
Paul is bound in chains but the very
chains that are supposed to keep him quiet and stop a religious revolution are
encouraging others.
Your chains, your difficulties, your
problems, your traumas can be used by God if you let Him.
The burdens you bear can be dedicated
to God.
When you truly turn the chains and
burdens put upon you by Satan into a renewed dedication to serving Christ then
the incredible will happen.
Sunday, January 2, 2022
Opening Your Heart
You can think or say the words "Lord Jesus, please come into my heart." However, just because you say these words does not mean that you mean them. Too often, people want Christ in their hearts solely for an emotional benefit for themselves. To have His love in you and to sense His presence you must open the door of your heart. Your reason for opening the door of your heart must not be connected to you and what you need. Your reason for opening the door of your heart must be because you have seen the Savior, that you love Him, and that you are willing to surrender all you have and are to Him. You can think or say the words "Lord Jesus, please come into my heart." However, just because you say these words does not mean that you mean them. Too often, people want Christ in their hearts solely for an emotional benefit for themselves. To have His love in you and to sense His presence you must open the door of your heart. Your reason for opening the door of your heart must not be connected to you and what you need. Your reason for opening the door of your heart must be because you have seen the Savior, that you love Him, and that you are willing to surrender all you have and are to Him.
Saturday, January 1, 2022
Opening Your Heart
You can think or say the words, "Lord Jesus, please come into my heart." However, just because you say these words does not mean you mean them. Too often, people want Christ in their hearts solely for an emotional benefit. To have His love in you and to sense His presence, you must open the door of your heart. Your reason for opening the door of your heart must not be connected to you and what you need. Your reason for opening the door of your heart must be because you have seen the Savior, that you love Him, and that you are willing to surrender all you have and are to Him. You can think or say the words, "Lord Jesus, please come into my heart." However, just because you say these words does not mean you mean them. Too often, people want Christ in their hearts solely for an emotional benefit. To have His love in you and to sense His presence, you must open the door of your heart. Your reason for opening the door of your heart must not be connected to you and what you need. Your reason for opening the door of your heart must be because you have seen the Savior, that you love Him, and that you are willing to surrender all you have and are to Him.