Funeral Of John Barclay Series

INTRODUCTION

DESCRIBE HOW GOD VIEW'S DEATH AND HOW WE VIEW DEATH.

At a memorial service, you may hear people talking among themselves or to the family members whose loved one has passed, and you might hear them saying such things as it was quick and unexpected, or he lingered a long time in pain. You might overhear words like this might be devasting to this family going forward because he was the glue that held the family together, or you may hear this family is strong and I sure they are going to pull together. You might hear conversations about how loving this person was to the very end; or you might hear in the end the sickness took a toll on their interaction with everyone.

And to be honest with you, expressing your sentiments to each other and to the family is part of the grieving process. But I never want us to leave out the God part of the grieving process. We need to know what God has to say about the death of a person who has given his life to the Lord. And the Lord makes it very clear what He thinks about one who has died and who knows Him as their Savior. Let me read: Psalm 116:15 (NKJV) 15 Precious in the sight of the LORD Is the death of His saints.

And if the Lord were walking the aisle of this church today talking to family and friends, He would be telling them how precious it is that John came home to live with me on October 14, 2021. “Precious” that an unusual word to use at a memorial service. And in fact, I don’t think I ever heard it used at a memorial service. Now in the hospital, in the birthing unit, “precious” is a probably a common word choice. But not at a memorial service!

So, in the time that I have today, I want to share with you why John’s call to His heavenly home is so precious to Jesus. And “precious” is the perfect word to use at a memorial service.

2 Point #1

SEES GOD FACE TO FACE

Precious is John’s death because now He now sees God face to face. John came to know the Lord at a young age attending church at Siver Creek Baptist Church with his parents. He was baptized there, and he served the Lord from that church for many years. Many of you may recall that John had a great voice, sang bass, and would sing at weddings, funerals, and church services. You might not have known that John played the piano. Listen, churches need more men who can play the piano.

John started coming to Bala Chitto Baptist Church a little while after I got here. We just hit it off. And Bala Chitto discovered quickly that John was a Baptist boy that could really cook. So, I believe that it was Obie Simmons who put John in charge of our tomato gravy for the once a monthly church wide breakfast. It was such a hit and our attendance on breakfast Sundays increased and so our worship service on those days increased. I was hoping it was my great preaching, but I knew it was the tomato gravy. When we had dinner on the grounds everyone requested that John make his chicken and dumplings. You could hear people asking one another as they waiting to be served, now which one did John Barclay bring. I don’t care if you had his recipe, it never came out like John Barclay’s. His was always the best!

John ministered to Bala Chitto even though he was unable to come. It was John Barclay that got Patsy Cade to come serve as our pianist when he found out when we didn’t have anyone. And he sent us a good one when he sent us Ms. Patsy and she served faithfully until her death. When I went to visit John, the first thing he wanted to know was how are all the people at Bala Chitto. I think John knew everyone on this side of the county and how they all related to one another. And he always remembered to put a check in my hand for the church when I was leaving.

As I said, his illnesses prevented him from coming to church the last few years, but on Sundays, John had church. He would get up early on Sunday morning, turn on the TV set and watched preaching until the football games came on. Oh, John Barclay liked a good football game.

As I stand here today, I have no delusions of grandeur. I know if Beck and the family could have gotten Jimmy Swaggart, or John Hagee, or John Hagee’s son to do the memorial I would be sitting down there with you guys today. But fortunately for me, they were unavailable. He loved those preachers and many times when I would show up at John’s house, he was sitting watching them on TV.