Opening Prayer:
Heavenly Father – As we gather here, this afternoon, we ask that Your Holy Spirit help us to and guide us in worship. Replace our sorrow with Your joy. Let the words from our mouth, and the feelings of our hearts, offer praise and thanksgiving unto You for having the privilege and blessing of Jimmy Don Bolin in our lives. May this service glorify You, honor my dad, and comfort all who mourn with us this day. Holy God, we know from Your Word, that when two or more are gathered that Christ is with us. Jesus, please place Your hands in ours and help us to feel Your presence and Your peace. Reveal Yourself to us, so that all may leave here differently than from how we walked in. This we pray in Your Holy name… Amen!!!
Between Specials:
Explain the blue yarn in the bulletins. Tie them on; ask people to pray for us and to thank God for those they had and have in their lives.
Sermon:
Friends, we have gathered here to praise God and to witness to our faith as we celebrate the life of Jimmy Don Bolin. We come together in our grief, acknowledging our human loss. Once again, I pray God may grant us grace - that in our pain- we find His comfort, in our sorrow- we feel His hope, in our death- we experience a Christ-like resurrection.
On behalf of the family, I thank you for being here today, for all who were at the viewing last night, and for the prayers that have been covering us through this difficult time.
I could share a multitude of stories about my life with Dad. We, each, could testify about different seasons in Dad’s life where we were personally touched and altered by the experience and/or the man. But rather than reminiscing on those things, I hope to honor dad, and glorify God, by sharing with you just a few characteristics of my earthly father and how they helped me to better understand our Heavenly Father.
1)Jimmy Don Bolin was a man who truly lived by a code. We have laughed and talked about this “cowboy code” he lived by. But to be honest, this code was realistically simplistic. Dad prided himself on being a man of his word. Jesus is recorded saying in... (Read Matt.5:33-37). Dad felt that a person’s worth could be measured by whether their word was their bond or not. He would often ask, " If a person’s word was no good, then what did that person truly have?" My dad believed that every human being needed to embrace this understanding; but even when others didn’t, it didn’t sway him from living his code. And I ask you who are present here today, isn’t that what God does? Isn’t God faithful to be who God is even when we are unfaithful to live by God’s code? By my dad being a man of his word, God used him as a visual reminder, a physical manifestation, for me, to the faithfulness of God.
The last few days have turned my world upside down. But because of the example my dad set, I know that I can still count on God’s Word and God’s promises. Nothing this world can throw at me, or at God, will ever cause God to falter! We know this is true for over 2000 years ago, humanity through the cruelest form of evil, evil that was intentional in effecting people physically, spiritually, and psychologically, known as Crucifixion, at God; and yet God never faltered. Rather, God did the unthinkable by responding to that evil with love! And because of this, we can know that the worst thing in life, death, is not the last thing! Today, I offer all here the comfort in knowing that God’s promises are extended to my dad. That horrific wreck he suffered was not the last thing he experienced! The last thing my dad experienced was his spirit being committed unto the hands of the living God!
2)Dad was a true servant. The Apostle Paul defines for us in ...(Phil. 2:3-4 READ). Every one of us here, family and friends, knew we could count on dad. He was our rock in times of uncertainty and an indestructible force for us when we were weak. My aunts, and my wife, are all much older than me; and yet when it last snowed - he called to tell them he was on his way to drive them to work. That was just one way that my dad exhibited servanthood. Another was through his intentional efforts of working harder not smarter. You see, the more my dad did for others, the more he grew in patience and wisdom. As dad expressed his love to us through his actions, God continued to reshape his heart. What dad taught me about God through his servanthood is this: if I want to grow in love of God and neighbor – I must serve another. For it is in service that one’s heart becomes pliable. If any of us is going to have a heart formed after God’s own heart, we must be willing to let our hearts become pliable by loving and serving each other.
3)Dad was my best-friend. There wasn’t anything about me, or should I say any part of me, dad didn’t accept. From praying over ever meal in public together, to me being angry enough to want to dip snuff and cuss, it didn’t matter - he was there and true to our relationship. You see, my Dad always wanted the best for me, and for all of us. He would go to the extreme to make this possible. Now, I’m not saying that he always agreed with my actions or my way of thinking, but dad loved me enough to let me learn from my mistakes and was there to offer counsel, to offer wisdom, and to just simply experience life with me. And daddy loved me too much to let me stay in a negative rut of life. Friendship like this is a true gift!
Dad helped me to grow in my own understanding of what a personal relationship with Christ look like. Because having a friendship with God is a gift. I don’t see how anyone can say they have salvation, or understand salvation, if they lack a friendship with God. Now, God does not always agree or accept my ways of thinking or doing. But my brokenness doesn’t suffer the relationship. For God wants the best for me, for all of us! And Christ went the extreme to prove God’s desire to be in relationship with humanity. And whenever I need counsel, whenever I need wisdom, whenever I need someone to just experience life with me – God is always present to do just that. My relationship with God, through Christ, is a relationship of love. God loves me, and God loves you, too much to let us stay in the negative rut of life. His pursuit for us is as constant as the air we breathe. in the Gospel of John, (John 10:10 read) we see that a true friend offers abundant life to another. My dad made our family more abundant by the way he loved and treasured each relationship, just as God treasures each relationship with us.
4) I could go on and on, but I will simply highlight one last characteristic of my dad. This characteristic can be found in John 16:12-15 (read). Dad always had a saying, “What’s mine is yours and what’s yours is mine!” There was nothing my dad owned, nothing that dad possessed that wasn’t extended to the family! When he would tell Cheyann that he had to be number 1, not Jason, not me, but him; dad was actually saying to Chy that she was number 1. That was true for each of us. We were number 1 to him and he wanted each of us to know just that.
If you are here today and had the privilege of dad say to you, “I love you”, you need to know that wasn’t just words. Let me see if I can go to the extreme to make my point… I will need you to have a spirit of charity and cooperation. If my dad looked at you and said, “At 4 o’clock this afternoon I am going to whip your ass,” friend you better be ready for a fight! In the same manner, when dad said he loved you, it was matched with the same determination, the same tenacity, and the same passion. Everything that made Jimmy Don Bolin, Jimmy Don Bolin, was offered to those he loved and respected.
You see, I know this first hand because the place my wife and I built was, actually, more of dad’s dream than ours. And because he was able to live his dream with us, my dad allowed me and my family to live out God’s calling on our lives!
I have shared these characteristics with you to show you that God can and does work within the heart of an individual who wasn’t at the church every time the church doors were open. But because my dad had made his peace with God, God fulfilled God’s word in dad’s life. Remember, Psalm 37:4, “Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” My dad’s heart desire was to have and be family. He treasured his time with each of us and yearned for our fellowship together, in much of the same way, I believe, that God yearns for a relationship with each of us.
So, I’ll close this time of worship by asking this congregation a few simple questions:
How, friend, is your life helping your spouse, your children, your grandchildren grow in their understanding of God?
Are you showing them how to have hate, hell, and discontent OR are you showing them how to live faith, hope, and love?
Thanks be to God our dad showed us the latter!
I offer this to you in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit… Amen!!!
Closing Prayer:
Lord, I pray for my family this day, asking for your favor and blessings to be poured out upon us. When sorrow washes over us, share with us the gift of memories. When emptiness feels our souls, flood us with friends and family that will remind us of Your love and presence. As for all who have gathered this day, I ask that Your word would touch each one and that no heart will be made harder, just more pliable to be reshaped by You. Thank You for the grace you shared with us through the life of Jimmy Don Bolin, and the grace the indwells within us through the presence and power of Your Holy Spirit. Guide us and strengthen us as continue this final leg of dad’s earthly journey; this we pray in the name of Jesus Christ, Your Son , our Lord and Savior… Amen!!!
