PASTOR’S CORNER, Rex Petty, Faith Tabernacle Church, Liberal
Several years ago, Reader's Digest received a short story about celebrating a New Year when a father was asked by his daughter if he had a New Year's resolution to which he replied, "To make your mother as happy as I can all year. "The daughter then asked her mother the same question to which she said, "To see that your Dad keeps his New Year's resolution."
It is in this new month of June we realize we are already halfway through the New Year of 2025! The word for "new" in the Bible means better than what has come before. It means something fresh and different. It means an upgrade from what has been. People today quite often say they need an upgrade on their cell phone, meaning they are going to get a better phone with a better camera which is advertised or possibly even get a new car. With a Southern accent they describe this as getting something "more better".
The Bible describes a new and fresh start in II Corinthians 5:17, "If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things have passed away behold, new things have come." Jesus speaks to a man named Nicodemus about a new beginning in life by being "Born Again" or anew or afresh by becoming a Christian (John 3:1-7).
During the Civil War, a young Chaplain named D.L. Moody, who later founded the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, was helping a young man who was badly wounded on the battlefield. The doctor told Moody this young man had to have his leg amputated and that he had lost so much blood, that he would not recover. However, the physician told Mr. Moody if he gave him a little brandy and water he might regain consciousness. After following the doctor's instructions, he found out from another soldier close by how the young man's name was William Clark. He soon regained consciousness and opened his eyes. His face lit up with an unearthly glow!
He asked Mr. Moody for a favor, "Please tell my mother who lives in Chicago I died trusting in Jesus! Moody said, "It was one of the sweetest messages I ever heard in my life!" Later when returning to Chicago D.L. Moody found William Clark's mother and delivered the message from her son. William Clark received a new life from the Lord beforehe died. His Mother's prayers had been answered! This story powerfully illustrates how important it is for us to be busy telling others about the new and better life only Jesus Christ can provide to those who open their hearts and receive Him!
D.L. Moody before he died interestingly wrote his own Obituary: “Some day you will read in the papers that D.L. Moody of East Northfield is dead. Don't you believe a word of it! At that moment I shall be more alive than I am now. I shall have gone up higher, that is all; out of this old clay tenement into a house that is immortal – a body that death cannot touch; that sin cannot taint; a body fashioned like unto His glorious body. I was born of the flesh in 1837. I was born anew of the Spirit in 1856. That which is born of the flesh may die. That which is born of the Spirit will live forever.”
