Pictured is Captain Josh Ziegler, a U.S. Army Chaplain
“I’m
an Army Chaplain; I spend all week talking to people who hate God,” said
Captain Josh Ziegler. “Some know ‘Jesus’ only as a name they use as a curse
word. We all have the need for Jesus. God has called me to be his ‘presence.’”
Ziegler
spoke at Sandhills Assembly Church (AG) in Southern Pines, N.C., on Sunday, May
21, 2107. He is an Assemblies of God Home Missions pastor appointed as chaplain to the U.S. Army. He
serves at Fort Bragg but plans to relocate to
Ft. Jackson, S.C. He and his wife celebrated
19 years of marriage in August 2016.
During a previous visit to
Sandhills Assembly Church, he described his work with young soldiers as “youth
ministry with guns” and his overall mission as “spiritual leadership for the
Army Family.”
“I
was saved early and called into the ministry at age six,” said Ziegler, a
preacher’s kid from Lower New Orleans. “I was filled with the Holy Spirit at
age 10.”
Associated
with the Assembly of God denomination all of his life, Ziegler entered the Army
as an enlisted person and has served as an Army Chaplain for eight years. He’s
now an airborne chaplain.
“I’ve
been to Iraq, Afghanistan, the Philippines … ,” he said.
Ziegler
said his mission as a military chaplain involves three things: 1) Nurse the
living, 2) Care for the wounded, and 3) Honor the fallen.
He
has assisted soldiers and families in bereavement.
“Chaplains
work among the troops, wherever the troops are, but chaplains do not use
weapons,” he said. “We don’t pick up weapons. We’re not supposed to.”
Ziegler
spoke on “Surrendering to the Authority of God.”
“In
inadequacy, I remember singing ‘All to Jesus I surrender,’” he said, repeating
some words to the hymn “I Surrender All.”
He
read Matthew 7:21-27 (NASB):
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord,
Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father
who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did
we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your
name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew
you; depart from Me, you who practice
lawlessness.’
“Therefore everyone who hears these
words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his
house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew
and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been
founded on the rock. Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on
them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain
fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house;
and it fell – and great was its fall.”
“God
is the Almighty Lord of the universe,” Ziegler said, stressing that the name of
the Lord is powerful but that not all who use his name follow him. “Christians
can’t be fair-weather fans. There is wisdom in surrendering to God.”
He
read Luke 22:39-42 (NASB):
“And He [Jesus] came out and
proceeded as was His custom to the Mount of Olives; and the disciples also
followed Him. When
He arrived at the place, He said to them, ‘Pray that you
may not enter into temptation.’ And He
withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and began to pray,
saying, ‘Father, if You are
willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.’”
Jesus
is our example of surrendering to God, he said. Jesus humbled himself and did
not desire pain, though he knew he would suffer.
“Jesus
prayed for God’s will,” Ziegler said. “Jesus prayed, ‘Change me.’ Whose will
are you accomplishing? If you were recording your history today, would it say that
when times got tough, you relied on yourself? Are you relying on Plan B? Sometimes
His Plan isn’t too fun. When we’re out of God’s presence, we begin to find
another god.”
We
will experience trouble, Ziegler said.
“We’re
going to experience loss in this life,” he said, noting that when people ask
him what military life is like, he replies, “It’s about transition and loss.”
“In
this life, there’s not going to be [we’re not going to get] a new body – but
there’s a transition coming,” he said. “In my world, we expect to die on a
battlefield.”
There
is life after loss, Ziegler said.
He
read Romans 12:1-2 (NASB):
“Therefore I urge you, brethren,
by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice,
acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
And do not be conformed to this world, but be
transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will
of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”
“When
life does not make sense, God’s plan is still in effect,” Ziegler said. “He’s
faithful. … God doesn't have to say ‘yes’ [to our requests].”
Surrender
is closely related to defeat, he said.
“When
I surrender, I lose the ability to be in control of my life,” Ziegler said.
“When we surrender, we will experience loss.”
Surrender
to God is our only option and surrender can be scary, he said.
“When
we surrender, we experience loss,” he repeated. “But when we surrender, we
experience freedom.”
------
During a sermon on Sunday, July
31, 2016, Chaplain Josh Ziegler delivered this message to the congregation at
Sandhills Assembly Church:
“We have a passion for souls,” he
said, “I have to live my belief out loud. Whatever you’re in, live for Jesus
Christ. … I rub shoulders with people who are worldly. We live in a pluralistic
environment.”
As a chaplain, Ziegler performs
support for people of “like faith.” He said he tries to witness by showing
Christ in his life.
“God didn’t send me into the
army to tell everybody what they’re doing wrong,” he said, adding that he
believes Jesus is the solution to the world’s problems.
Once, when his mother learned he
was going to deploy, she told him she was going to pray that God would get him
out of that deployment. He told her to rather pray that he’d be a good soldier.
He referred to various ministries,
even a “ministry of warfare”: Isaiah 40:28-31.
On June 26, 2013, Ziegler made
his first jump with the 82nd Airborne Division. His jump went well until he was
about 100 feet from the ground.
“A rogue wind slammed me to the
ground,” he said.
He broke his hip, labrum,
injured his bladder and knee, and tore muscles in his stomach.
Lying in a hospital bed, he seemed to hear God
say to him, “I am the same yesterday, today, and forever.”
Ziegler said, “God, I can’t be a
chaplain if I’m broken.”
God seemed to say to him,
“You’ll be what I want you to be.”
He still qualifies physically to
remain as an army chaplain.
He referred to Paul’s “thorn in
the flesh,” 2 Corinthians 12:7-9 (NASB):
“Because
of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me
from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of
Satan to torment me – to keep me from exalting myself!
Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that
it might leave me. And He has said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.’ Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my
weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.”
“This
morning, Jesus is still the solution,” Ziegler said. “After the accident, I
kind of walk funny . . . I’m not the same, today. I’ve become more aware of
God. There’s coming a time in all our lives that you’ll wear out this body.
God’s grace is enough.”
He
listed three points: Jesus
is ever-present; his
Grace is enough; and where
sin exists, God is at work.
When
God calls, go where he calls you, Ziegler said.
“I’ve
not been restored to full health,” he said.
He
said his father used to say, “Man’s dreams are small dreams; God’s dreams are
big dreams.”
Ziegler
asked the congregation to pray for soldiers, that they would turn their hearts
to Jesus.
“Southern
Pines is a coveted place where soldiers want to live,” he said. “Love them, be
a friend, hear their stories.”
Ziegler
prayed that relationships in families would be restored and that emotions would
be touched.
“Lord,
you’re the solution to our troubles . . . in Jesus’ name,” he prayed.
