Our heavenly Father, we thank you that we can come into your presence anytime but especially when our hearts are weighed down with sorrow.
Father, you know the grief that’s experienced by the ____________family and_______________ friends and the need they have of your comforting presence and the strength that can only come from You and Your word. Grant that each of us might look to you as we wrestle with the loss of one who means so much to us and help all of us to realize afresh that there is more to life than what meets the eye.
And allow us in our time here today, to hear a message from your word with an open heart that we might respond in a way that’s pleasing to you.
For we do ask this, in Jesus name, Amen.
Song
My name is _____________, for those who do not know me I am the pastor of the ________________.
On behalf of the family, I would like to welcome you as we have gathered here together today in this memorial service to remember _________________.
Thank you for being here today. I am sure that the family recognizes that you don’t have to be here.
Jesus once said, “let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:17-19 ESV).
Your presence today shows your love in deed, but do not let it end here today. One week, one month, from now this family is still going to need you
Your presence today is an affirmation of your love and support for them.
Although they may not remember every word shared today, they will remember your presence here for the rest of their lives.
Many of us can remember a time in our life, when on a dark night we stood outside and looked up into the sky, and saw literally millions of stars.
They were beautiful; they looked like diamonds on black velvet.
But today, many of us live in the city, and because of the many bright lights we are not able to see the beautiful stars anymore. BUT LET ME ASSURE YOU, THE STARS ARE STILL THERE!
I want to assure this grieving family today, GOD IS STILL WHERE HE ALWAYS HAS BEEN.
He has promised us, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”
Perhaps the emotional glare of this moment has blinded our eyes temporarily, but God is still where He always has been.
As we gather here in this beautiful chapel to remember the life of this precious one I know that many of you are dealing with mixed emotions.
1) On the one hand, there are emotions of great sadness. Sadness not for _________ because he/she is in a far better place, but sadness because we have lost a dear loved one.
2) But on the other hand, there is great joy knowing that because of the relationship that ___________had with the Lord Jesus Christ that he has already been in His presence.
For the scriptures say in:
2 Cor. 5:6-8, “So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. 7 For we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.”
And for the Christian there is no greater joy than to be in the presence of the One that loves them like no one else can.
So today:
• It’s not a day of mourning but a day of celebration.
• It’s not a day of regret but truly a day of rejoicing.
• Today we come to remember the life of ______________and reminisce over all the special moments that we had with him/her.
I have personally talked to___________and know that he knew the Lord as His Savior.
I personally knew he had a relationship that carried some wonderful promises found in John chapter 14:1-6.
Let me read that portion of scripture to you.
As I read these verses slowly please allow these promises to penetrate your mind and heart.
John 14:1-6 "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And where I go you know, and the way you know." 5 Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?" 6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
In these six verses the Lord makes some wonderful promises to the Believer.
The first promise to Christians is that…
I. We Don’t have to Fear Death.
There are some folks that literally fear death.
Illus: We are told that wonderful singer, Doris Day, feared death so much she would not allow anyone around her to talk about it.
There are many today who fear death.
Illus: A pastor received a telephone call from a class mate that he attended school with. Many of her classmates had passed away and she realized she might be next. She asked the pastor could he talk to her about the fear she had of dying.
He said, “I will be glad to talk to you about death because the good news we Christians do not have to fear death as a believer.”
Illus: Many are afraid to go to the doctor because they may hear some bad news. But we Christians do not have to live in fear of death.
Illus: A sick man turned to his doctor, as he was preparing to leave the examination room said,
• "Doctor, I am afraid to die. Tell me what lies on the other side."
• Very quietly, the doctor said, "I don't know."
• "You don't know? You, a Christian man, do not know what is on the other side?
• The doctor was holding the handle of the door; on the other side of which came a sound of scratching and whining, and as he opened the door, a dog sprang into the room and leaped on him with an eager show of gladness.
• Turning to the patient, the doctor said, "Did you notice my dog? He's never been in this room before. He didn't know what was inside. He knew nothing, except that his master was here, and when the door opened, he sprang in without fear.
• I know little of what is on the other side. I know my Master Jesus Christ is there, and that is enough."
Jesus tells us, "Don’t let your hearts be troubled"
We are troubled when we don’t know what is going to happen when we die, but Jesus has taken the fear out of dying.
WHY?
BECAUSE He has conquered the grave and death so there is no need for us believers to fear death.
He has said to us, “BECAUSE I LIVE YE SHALL LIVE ALSO.”
Illus: I love that song that WE HEAR OFTEN AROUND EASTER TIME, “DEATH COULD NOT HOLD HIM IN THE GRAVE!!!”
Death to us believers is no more than changing our address.
Rev 1:17-18 "Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last. 18 I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore.”
Do you know what the best news you will ever hear?
• Death had no hold on Him (Jesus) nor does it have a hold on us.
• Because Christ conquered death there is no fear for the Christian because through Christ we also conquer death.
We are Troubled when we view death as an end instead of a beginning.
2 Cor 5:1 "For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."
______________life is not over, as a matter of fact, it has just begun. _____________has shed-
• The temporary for the eternal,
• The tarnished for the spotless,
• And the passing for the everlasting.
Yes our earthly bodies die, however our heavenly bodies endure for eternity.
I. The First Promise to Christians is that We Don’t have to Fear Death.
II. The Second Promise is Jesus Prepared a place for Believer’s in Heaven.
What has He Prepared?
Rev 21:4, “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away."
Wow! Can you imagine if there was such a place that we could move to on earth.
There is no such place, but the Lord has promised us HE HAS PREPARED SUCH PLACE FOR the believer.
___________and he/she had a nice home to live in, but today what God has prepared for him/her there is not a home on this earth can come close to what He has NOW PREPARED FOR HIM/HER.
WHAT KIND OF PLACE IS IT?
IT IS A PLACE OF NO MORE TEARS!
Heaven is a place where the hurts and disappointment of this world have no more sting.
1) Where the frustrations of life are replaced with unspeakable joys.
2) Where the pains of life are not permitted and the failures of life control us no longer.
3) A place with no more pain.
4) Heaven has no handicap parking places.
5) There are not any pharmacies and prescriptions to fill.
6) Heaven doesn’t have hospitals, nursing homes, or rehabilitation centers.
7) The days of aches and pains for __________________ are over.
8) The trips to the doctors have ceased,
9) All his/her pain has ended.
The Lord has promised us in John 14 that heaven is a place for us Christians…
When it comes to death…
I. We Don’t have to Fear Death.
II. He has prepared a Place us.
But there is a third promise in John 14….
III. He Personally Will Receives Us.
John 14:1-6 "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And where I go you know, and the way you know." 5 Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?" 6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
Now I want you to imagine this, the moment that ___________ took his/her first step in Heaven the Lord was right there to welcome him/her.
The first image he/she saw was the Lord Jesus Christ.
He was there with His arms wide open to receive him/her into that great mansion that He has prepared for all His children.
1) And for _____________he/she has experienced a love that we cannot even understand. That is why we call this place HEAVEN!!!
2) A love that forgives every failure that he/she had in his life.
3) A love that mends the hurts only he/she knew.
4) A love that understood every feeling that he/she had.
5) It is an unconditional love that completely satisfies the longing of his/her soul.
Illus: I have driven down many streets but I have never driven down a street that was named “HEAVEN LANE” because no place like heaven exist in this life.
But one day we as Christians will walk down the streets of heaven.
Illus: As the song writer said, “WHAT A DAY THAT WILL BE.”
Illus: Thomas A. Dorsey knew what it meant to find God’s presence even in the worst of times.
Dorsey is the composer of the world’s best-known Gospel song--just one week after he experienced two personal tragedies.
In August 1932, Dorsey was scheduled to be the feature soloist at religious services in St. Louis. Because his wife Nettie was pregnant, Dorsey had reservations about leaving her behind. "Something was strongly telling me to stay," he recalls. Yet, commitments had been made and he knew people in St. Louis would be disappointed if he canceled. So Tom Dorsey left for the revival service. During the performance the next night in the steaming St. Louis heat, a messenger from Western Union approached Dorsey on the stage with a telegram. Puzzled, Dorsey opened the envelope and read the four devastating words: "Your wife just died." He rushed to a phone and called home, only to hear it confirmed: "Nettie is dead."
Dorsey quickly returned to Chicago. There he learned that just before his wife died she had given birth to a boy. Later that night, the baby died.
Dorsey now had to deal with two losses, two funerals. "I buried Nettie and our boy in the same casket," he says. "Then I fell apart."
During this painful time, one of Dorsey’s friends made arrangements for him to use a local music school’s piano. There, alone with his thoughts and a piano, Dorsey describes what happened: "I sat down at the piano and my hands began to browse over the keys. Then something happened. I felt as though I could reach out and touch God. I found myself playing a melody, one I’d never heard or played before, and words came into my head -- they just seemed to fall into place: ’Precious Lord, take my hand,/Lead me on, let me stand,/I am tired, I am weak, I am worn,/Through the storm, through the night/Lead me on to the light,/Take my hand, precious Lord,/Lead me home.’"
In John 14 God has promise us as Believers we don’t have to…
I. We Don’t have to Fear Death.
II. He has prepared a Place us. He
III. He, personally, Will Receive Us.
But there is one more thing that John 14 teaches us…
VI. THERE IS ONLY ONE-WAY TO ENTER HEAVEN.
Jesus said to Thomas "Thomas you say you don’t know the way to heaven but you do, I am the way, the truth, and the life."
More than anything ___________understand that he/she is the SINNER AND CHRIST IS THE SAVIOR.
He/She understands that Christ came to take away the sins of the world and that included him/her.
He understands that the greatest promises given to mankind can be found in three simple verses:
John 3:16-18 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 18 He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
Today ____________is in a place that we can’t imagine and experiencing a love incomprehensible.
Conclusion:
_________would often say to family and friends to come see him.
Today _______________desires that all of his/her family friends will come to see him/her in his/her new home.
However, there might be some of you today that have never given thought to your eternal future, but today you are asking yourself, “Where would I go if I were to leave this world?”
And I would like to take just a moment to share with you some scriptures that explain the promise that ________________would want me to.
This is the last thing I can do for____________, share these scriptures with his/her family and friends that I believe he/she would like for me to share with you today.
1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
2 Romans 10:13, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
I know if you are not saved today I believe ____________would like for you to CALL UPON THE LORD SO THAT YOU CAN COME AND SEE HIM/HER.
Do this…I know he/she would like for you to do this and I know the Lord Jesus would. HE LOVES YOU!!
Before I close, please allow me a few more minutes to personally express some thoughts about him/her.
Personal comments
Illus: Our life is somewhat like a movie. At the end of the movie these words appear…THE END!
But for ____________, life is to BE CONTINUED in a better place.
Before going to the cemetery let’s close in prayer…
Dear heavenly Father we once again thank you for this life. We thank you for all the lives that he/she has touched and the memories that he/she has left.
And now Father, we ask that You comfort the many family members and friends that have gathered here and help us to always remember the frailty of life. For it’s in your Sons precious name we pray, Amen.”
