Gpa's funeral

Nathan Pellegra

Selected Passages • Sermon • Submitted a year ago

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Opening song

Welcome and Scripture Reading Lindsey Dyer

Song 2

Good Words- Nick Daniel

Reflections from A Granddaughter- Erica Jones

Song 3

Finding Hope in God’s Word- Nathan Pellegra

Closing

It is an honor to stand before you today and share with you some hope from the never-changing, all-sufficient words of God. You have heard a great deal already about the life of Art Disney, my grandfather. You have heard and experienced the same joys that we have in knowing and loving this man. We all have our memories of him that would fill up this room with paper if we wrote them down. What I would like to do is point out for you a very important aspect that we need to remember. Let me summarize with one word: - Miracles.

A miracle can defined as “ a surprising and welcoming event that can only be explained by divine agency.”

1. One could say it was a miracle that he found a forever love with his wife and our grandmother, Jeannie Disney. Their love overflowed into the lives of their children and grandchildren so much so that we ourselves longed to find a love like they had. In that previous generation, marriage was not a by product of a bad hangover or a fad that one lost interest in. Marriage was precious and the one whom you loved, you loved unconditionally, for as long as you both lived on this earth. Their marriage was a miracle because God gifted them to one another and we watched our grandmother leave this world full of love for him and him for her. When we watched them show off with their professional waltzing skills, it was two people madly in love and completely committed to each other as husband and wife.

2. The second miracle that can only be described as a work of God is that he survived 5 kids, 12 Grandkids, and 23 Great grandkids and 1 Great Great grandkid on the way. This is what we call multiplication in the wonderful world of Disney! These were not distant relatives. They were co-habitants. Each son or daughter in the Disney family at one time moved back in with Art and Jeanie into their home, no questions ask. They sacrificed their own free time to attend events, awards, and celebrations. They cried with us, laughed with us and in the end, left a legacy of what families are supposed to do…love one another to the point of exhaustion. And let me tell you one night at a Disney Christmas and you are exhausted!

3. The third miracle was a medical one. As you know, my beloved grandfather was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer which eventually led to him having his pancreas, spleen and a portion of his stomach. He lived the next 23 years of life, dependent on insulin injections and determined to not allow cancer to ruin his day. Those 23 years, God gifted him time, time with his wife, time to love his family.

4. The last miracle is my focus of today. Its the miracle of new life in Christ. Jesus said in John 11:25

“I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies,”

Jesus spoke these words in the setting of one of his greatest miracles, the miracle at the tomb of his good friend Lazarus. Jesus had reached this point in his earthly ministry that he was revealing to those who would listen of his power and authority as the Son of God. He walked on water, fed 5,000 people by multiplying a few loaves of bread and fish but what He did at the tomb of Lazarus was one of his greatest miracles to this point in his ministry. Lazarus, his friend. Friends and family had gathered to mourn his passing, much like we are gathered to day. Jesus wanted the people there to see his power, particularly Lazarus’ sisters Mary and Martha, as well as his disciples. Jesus got word that Lazarus died and he did not rush to be with the family. This shocked his disciples and they considered it strange. But Jesus had a plan. When Jesus arrived to meet the family, his friend Lazarus had been dead in the tomb where his bodied was embalmed and at rest. Jesus’ plan was to speak life in to Lazarus and rise him up from death.

In a prayer to the Father, he states that he was doing such a miracle so that those who were in attendance would believe in Him as the only Son of God. What happened next is nothing but an act that goes against all natural law and reason. Jesus had those in attendance to roll away the stone and Jesus said three words, “Lazarus, come forth” Now Jesus was not some insane man who talks to dead people. His very words to Lazarus would effect a powerful response and life would enter into him again. The deceased Lazarus would experience his heart beating again, his blood pumping again, his muscles stimulated again. Lazarus, still bound in the burial clothes, proceeded from the grave.

When you consider Jesus words, “I am the resurrection and the life” in light of this miracle, there are few very important things for us to consider this afternoon.

HIS AUTHORITY AND RULE: Jesus speaks intimately with his father showing us that he is God’s Son. He acknowledges the event that had yet occured was already planned by the Father to display the authority and power of Jesus the Son. This should be important to us because we see that Jesus is not just a mere man, he is claiming to be the Son of God and as the Son, we can read elsewhere the one who the Father would give all dominion and power. To summarize Jesus, as the Son of God, has been given rule as the Eternal Son of the Father.

HIS AUTHORITY CONFIRMED BY MIRACLE: He demonstrates that power and authority by speaking verbal words and those words placing life back into his dead friend Lazarus. I might invite you to come forward and try and speak words of life into this lifeless body but it would be to no avail. Jesus’ power was manifested in the fact that He spoke life into existence.

HIS AUTHORITY FORESHADOWED: This resurrection of Lazarus was only a pre-curser to the better resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Lazarus’ death only had significance because Jesus raised up a dead man. Lazarus would eventually succumb to death again later in life. Jesus on the other hand, died after suffering upon the cross, but his resurrection, the greater miracle did far more than Lazarus’. Jesus died on the cross and rose from the grave to accomplish a historical victory over the enemy that we all dread in our lives....the enemy of death. With the resurrection of Jesus Christ, he guarantees new life in Him to all who believe. This is what he says agian in John 11:25,

John 11:25–26 (NASB95)

25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”

In other words, Jesus’ death and resurrection is the pathway to eternal life even when a person dies. Death has been defeated by Christ and new life is found in him alone. You have heard testimony from our family that our grandfather Art believed in Christ for his salvation. Therefore, the fourth miracle of grandpa’s life was a new life in Christ. That new life in Christ is described as a someone who once was “dead in their trespasses and sins against God and they have been spiritually raised from the dead. This miracle is why we can have hope today.

The Bible describes a person who has been given new life in Christ as experiencing peace. You can imagine being sick for 23 years with cancer and its effects can bring distress. Losing the love of your life and going grocery shopping alone can bring loneliness that many of us cannot understand. Even though he had such a loving family, that does not being lasting peace.

New life in Christ is described in the Bible as giving a person, “peace that surpasses all understanding.” Miracles happen and they surpass our understanding which is why peace through salvation in Christ is a miracle. As you reflect on Art’s life, I hope you might understand such a peace in Jesus name. There is no substitute in the world that quiets the troubled soul. No earthy remedy exists even though people search for it for a lifetime. It is found in Jesus Christ because He is the resurrection and life. As Jesus said, even if you die, a person who believes in Christ will live for eternity.

John 14:3-6 (NASB95)

John 14:3–6 NASB95

3 “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 you know the way where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

Moon river