Invocation texts
Psalm 100 A psalm. For giving thanks.
1 Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.
2 Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.
3 Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his [1]; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.
5 For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.
Rev 7:16-17
Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."
Invocation
(Personal remarks about the deceased)
Message
Psalms 90
1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations.
2 Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
3 You turn men back to dust, saying, "Return to dust, O sons of men."
4 For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night.
5 You sweep men away in the sleep of death; they are like the new grass of the morning--
6 though in the morning it springs up new, by evening it is dry and withered.
1 Timothy 1:17 17
"Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen."
Yes, it is true! God has no beginning! He has no end! There never has been a time when God was not, nor can there ever be.
Eternal, as it relates to God means = Without beginning of days or end of life.
Hard to grasp isn’t it... Everything we see has a beginning...
We had a beginning, we call it our birthday. Our marriages have a beginning, We call it a wedding. This city had a beginning, this state had a first day of existance, this nation celebrates a beginning every 4th of July.
Everything has a end as well. I know how much longer I have a car payment. I know how much longer to expect all the items I have under warranty to last - until the day after the warranty expires.
Some of you have funeral plans pre-paid because you know there is an end. If you have ever paid or received "child support" you realize it will one day end. Even this message will come to an end... eventually.
We hear of the end of life often.
A 40-year-old husband and father playing a hot game of basketball sits down pale, cold, clammy. He holds his chest and slumps to the floor. He has come to the end of his days.
An Alaskian Airliner with 290 souls aboard flies at 370 miles an hour, taking each person to their next goal, their next destination, and their next stage in life. Then a heavy two-foot piece of metal called a jack screw - which has been wearing away metal fragments for years - slips and the flat metal elevator flaps uselessly in the wind. The great airship noses into a dive and there is no next goal, next destination and next stage of life.
A good man, a friend, a father, a husband complains of blurry vision and a tumor is diagnosed. And all too soon he too is gone.
This is the way of life for man. There is a beginning and an end. There is always a beginning and an end.
But not with God!
Psalms 90:2 says "Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God."
God is eternal. God is without beginning and without end. And here is the eye-popping mystery - God created us "in his image".
The phrase "in his image" does not refer to our physical makeup or our appearance. It isn’t about our natural good looks or our native intelligence. It isn’t about the ability to construct and create 100 story buildings, mighty machines of war, complex systems that compute incomprehensible ciphers, or great societies and civilizations.
No, it refers to something much more personal, much more intense and real. Much more than mere skill or quick wit.
"In His Image" refers to the simple fact that we were created to be eternal too. Like God. For everlasting and everlasting. God made us to share all of life and eternity.
The only reason that we have lost this immortality is because of an "evil" called sin. A rebellious, self serving, desire to be our own God - giving no allegiance or love to the one who made us.
This sin is a caustic acid that etches our soul with death. It is to us what rust is to metal, what mustard is to a silk tie, what scars are to a lovely face, what blood and broken bones are to a person.
Paul tells us that we all die because we all sin. So what is the answer. It is my friends, Jesus Christ. He came that all might live through him.
I began this message with the seventeenth verse of 1 Timothy. It spoke of the timelessness of God. But what Paul tells us leading up to this verse is important too:
15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners--of whom I am the worst.
16 But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.
17 Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Changes the power of this verse doesn’t it!
Listen to me: The way of man isn’t supposed to END in death. The way of man is to share eternal life through Jesus Christ with God Our Father.
Our friend learned that many years ago. Don’t grieve for him. He is with God. Grieve for us. We lose his presence and we will miss him greatly. But he is with God and where he is we will someday be through God’s Son, Jesus, our savior.
Yes, there is a beginning and there is an end to most things in life. But God made an exception in King David’s case. He made an exception in the case of Peter and Paul. He made an exception for the thief who repented on the cross. He made an exception for Butch O’Leary. He gave them all eternal life.
God wants to make an exception for every person.
The Alaskian Airliner nosed over and dropped like a rock. It fell seven thousand feet towards the ocean. Then the pilots were somehow able to pull it out the dive and flew straight and level for nine minutes.
According to a Senior Alaska Airlines Pilot who has listened to the tape recovered from the black box a pastor’s wife on the airplane got on the intercom and explained the message of hope through Jesus Christ.
Her voice is on the tape recording during these last minutes of the plane. God gave 83 passengers and 5 members of the crew one last chance to become an exception to the rule of death and to join him in eternal life.
Perhaps these nine minutes are God’s attempt to reach you. I urge you to consider carefully the ways of man and the way of God.
Our friend that we say goodby to today did and we who share his faith know that he now dwells with God.
Closing Prayer
Committal Service
Psalms 23
A psalm of David.
The LORD is my shepherd,
I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
1 Corinthians 15:51ff
Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed-- in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory."
According to the eternal plan,
The body returns to the earth as it was,
And the spirit to God who gave it.
Of all that is material we way,
“Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust”:
But to the spirit we cry:
“Now you are free,
Free from pain and sickness and sorrow,
Free from all physical handicaps,
Free to dream and sing and work and love.
Free to greet old friends and new
And Jesus Christ,
And to adventure with them forever.”
Therefore we say,
Goodbye, goodbye until tomorrow.”
Prayer
