Video Transcript: Pondering the Word -- Module 1

I had a seminary prep who said, I wrote this book so that you can ask some stealable stuff. And I think what I'm trying to do here, too, is the same thing that that teacher of mine did for me, when he said, you know, take this book, it's stealable stuff, you just go right ahead and use it. You don't even have to give me attribution. That's kind of what I want to try to do for you also. 

And so I have chosen some messages that I have preached over the years that, that focus on some of the issues of chaplaincy, that I want us to be really aware of. And so that's what I'm going to be doing today, as I minister with you. And as I seek to give you some understanding of how I looked at the whole concept of chaplaincy. 

The first one is a funeral message that I did for a dear friend of mine, I had been a member of his church. I had been the pastor of his church had been a member of my church, I guess it however you want to talk about that for some years. And when he died, he had asked that I do his funeral. And he wanted me to use Psalm 23. And so I'm using that in honor of his request. And as a part of that, I want you to see how I was trying to address the family who had lost a dear father, grandfather, even great grandfather, because that's dad had gotten very aged, and was just a marvelous servant of God. 

And so I put together this message for the funeral. And I want to share it with you as well. And his name was Don. And so I'll be referring to Dan from time to time, and it's, it's about my friend, and what I had to say about him at his funeral.

As I said, he requested that I use Psalm 23. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in one. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his namesake. 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. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows. Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

 In the Scriptures, the word soul is a very common one is first used with God breathed into this person that he is made from the dust of the earth. 

And in Moses as he breathes into the breath of life, and the person becomes a living soul. 

And in the Bible, the word soul often refers to what makes us human. It's the seat of our value system. It's the place where we are most fully human. It's how we differ from animals. It's a part of us there that soul is a part of us that that interacts with God. But something happened to mankind. 

Our first parents fell into sin. And one of the things that happened to us is that our souls shrunk like a balloon that loses its inflating air and shrinks to a limp, useless piece of latex so the soul of mankind went limp and lifeless. Now we need God to once again restore our soul. 

In Psalm 23, David, the shepherd King ponders the great truths about his God and he says that God is a shepherd. He does things for us the sheep like a shepherd, taking care of his flocks, and he says, God restores my soul. God breathed the breath of life into it once again. He makes the soul what it was meant to be. 

Today, we're gathered here in this place of mourning. And the question we need to be asking ourselves And oftentimes in a time of grief, this is where the question gets asked most profoundly, has God restored my soul? And so I'm asking you is God restored your soul? Have you had the experience of God breathing his breath of life into you? What is it that you cherish, as you sit here with me today? 

In the book of Ecclesiastes, the Bible tells us that it is better to go to a house of mourning that house of feasting, it says For this is the way things turn out for people. And so here we are. And we are to lay the fact of death to heart. Fourth is where we will all be at one time or another. And contrary to the bumper sticker that says that the one who dies with the most toys wins. 

The issue when you die will be what sort of soul do you have? Do you have one that's limp and lifeless? Or will yours be a soul restored? By the breath of God? If you scratch beneath the surface of your life today, what do you find? What is it that makes you tick? What what do you cherish your response to that will tell you a great deal about what your soul is like, for if in your heart, if in your heart, you cherish the things of this world? You know, as well as I bet it won't be long before everything you cherish is obsolete. What makes you tick? What gets your engine roaring? What is it that you desire, deeply desire, more than anything else desire.

If you discover that your soul is empty, you need not despair. For today, God is calling you to receive from him a restored soul, a restored soul.

 And I think that if we look back at the life of Dan, we see that that God has been at work in him to restore his soul over many decades in his life. You who knew him, well know that Dan always was ready to tell you that he wasn't always a devoted follower of Jesus. And yet, when God began a good work in Him, God continued to carry it on until the day of Dan's death. That's the wonderful thing about a soul restored by God. 

It isn't all done in a moment. It takes every day of your life from the time you turn to Jesus to the day that you die, and you enter heavens glory for God to restore your soul. 

Sometimes when I observe people who are solely cisely, people who are busy at many things, but whose real life force is really what I would call static and isn't going anywhere. When I observe people were followers of Jesus, I see people every day are being changed from what they were to what they can be, in Jesus, you and I saw that in Dan, every day, there was something a little bit more like Jesus in him. A person whose soul is being restored, has a life that's dynamic, and one never knows what new thing God is going to bring about in their life. 

Because God changes what we cherish and what we value. God's takes people from a life characterized by greed and, and seeking to get all they can for themselves. And he turns them into people with generous hearts. And you know, very well Dan was a generous man. He did a great many things for His church here. 

He was a man who wanted to offer the skills that he had in leadership and the faith that he had to help this church be all it could be before the face of God, because He knew that that's what God had done for him. He had received and he wanted to give.

God takes the people whose souls he's restoring, and he turns them from people who laugh at the wrong things to people with a genuine warm sense of humor, time live, love to tell these funny little stories and, and there were times when I would bait him with questions about why this certain road couldn't run on a straight course through the city where he had been mayor for many years. And was he the one that had planned it this way? And the answer, of course, was not and he would launch into a story of how it all came about and I'd love to do that with Dan, because he would have these stories to tell. And always he would show his heart his warm heart, full of the desire to use the gifts God had given him. 

God takes people who would apart from him value grasping for all they can and turns them into people who volunteer their time and gifts for others. Dan was an avid volunteer, especially here in this congregation, Dan was an active volunteer, he often used his woodworking skills, to design and install lots of the things that we have around us here. He used his leadership skills to serve on the committee who brought me in and another man to this place, he was a man with a servant's heart. I cherish the years that I had to know my dear friend Dan. 

God turns us from an apathetic attitude toward others to a love for the people around us, that drives us to do things for their good. Dan years in public office demonstrates his desire to, to do things for the good of the whole city that he was in charge of. It was a gift from God in his life. He had a sense of leadership that made him want to use that gift for the good of those that he loved and not a soul is pride that steps on people and puts them down. 

So as we lay Dan his body to rest the question for us all is his God restored my soul? Is he in the process of restoring my soul? God's present with us here today? God is close to all of us. He's wondering, are we willing to humble ourselves before him and let him lift us up? Nobody is perfect in this world. And that's why we look for the world that is to come. 

Because there are souls will be fully restored. As it is, you and I right now, we're flawed people but God. God wants to be restoring your soul today and every day, until you also make that final move from this life to the life that is to come. Dan would often remind those who are around him, especially those of you who are his children, his grandchildren, Dan made a lot of strides toward the wholeness that God desires for all of us. He made the strides as a person who followed the Good Shepherd Jesus, and you to now today are called by God to respond to the call of the shepherd in your life. 

Don't put it off. Instead, I encourage you to find the faith that Dan had and to join me and all countless others around the world who confess Jesus Christ is our shepherd who restores our soul.