Sermon Tone Analysis

Welcome & Opening Prayer: Pastor Gary Floyd

Almighty God, Lord of life and Conqueror over death, our help in every time of trouble, breathe Your peace into our hearts, and remove from us all fear of death.

Help us to share in that joy that You have in the homegoing of Your saints, who have completed their pilgrimage through a world that was not their home and have entered into a more intimate fellowship with You.

Strengthen us in our sorrow, and enable us so to hear Your Holy Word, that through patience and the comfort of the Scriptures our hope may be firmly anchored.

And grant us the consolation of Your Holy Spirit, that we may be lifted above the shadows of mortality into the light of Your countenance and the joy of Your presence; through Him who died and rose again and lives forever with You, even Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Special Music: Ralph Gray

Obituary: Debra Henry

Family Remembrances: Brenda Perkins Gifford

Special Music: Video – “Jesus Loves Me”

Scripture Reading: Pastor Gary Floyd

John 14:1-6 New King James Version

John 14:1 “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.

John 14:2 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.

John 14:3 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.

John 14:4 And where I go you know, and the way you know.”

John 14:5 Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?”

John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through Me.

Revelation 21:3-6

Revelation 21:3 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people.

God Himself will be with them and be their God.

Revelation 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.”

Revelation 21:5 Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.”

And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.”

Revelation 21:6 And He said to me, “It is done!

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.

I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts.

Psalm 116:15

Psalm 116:15 Precious in the sight of the Lord Is the death of His saints.

The Message

“God never sees His children die; He simply sees them coming home.”

It is said that when one of his church members was dying, John Watson, the Scottish preacher of Edinburgh, would kneel down and whisper in the person’s ear: “In my Father’s house are many rooms.”

Then, with a contented sigh, the person would “slip away”—entirely unafraid.

There is something about this great portion of scripture which consoles us.

If we could see, only for a moment, just how glorious Johanna’shomecoming was, no one here would call her back to the limits of her aged body.

Even though Johanna will be missed, there is something very appropriate about her departure, even as the author of Ecclesiastes indicated, “There is a time to be born, and a time to die (see Ecclesiastes 3:2).

It is appropriate because…

· she had lived out a full, complete, life.

· she had accepted and known the love of God, family, and friends.

· her house was in order

· she was ready to die

· she was a Christian and she loved God

One person said: “There is nothing more certain than death, and nothing more unsure than life.”

Life in these bodies, and life on this earth is temporal!

The Bible refers to our bodies as tents, and for a little while, a tent can be a wonderful home.

When a hiker is in the mountains, enjoying the wonderful outdoors, a tent can be exactly what he needs when he becomes weary and needs a place to rest and be refreshed.

While tents are wonderful for their intended purpose, a person doesn’t expect to live in a tent forever.

Before long, a person longs “to go home” and live in a house, a structure that is much more permanent and sturdier than a tent.

You remember the scripture we read earlier.

Jesus said: “Do not let your hearts be troubled.

In my Father’s house are many mansions (or dwelling places).

I go to prepare a place for you, so that where I am, there you may be also.”

Tents are good for a purpose and helpful for a season, but they can wear out.

The fabric can become weak and torn and the poles can collapse.

The Apostle Paul, speaking of the confidence possessed by a believer, said…

2 Corinthians 5:1, 6-8

2 Corinthians 5:1 For we know that if our earthly … tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

2 Corinthians 5:6 So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord.

2 Corinthians 5:7 For we walk by faith, not by sight.

2 Corinthians 5:8 We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.

Probably no one has given us a clearer picture of what death means to a mature Christian than John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the United States.

When he was turning 80 years, he was hobbling down the street one day in his favorite city of Boston, leaning heavily on a cane.

Suddenly a friend slapped him on the shoulder and said, “Well, how’s John Quincy Adams this morning?”

The old man turned slowly, smiled, and said, “Fine, Sir, fine!

But this old tenement that John Quincy lives in is not so good.

The underpinning is about to fall away.

The thatch is all gone off the roof, and the windows are so dim John Quincy can hardly see out anymore.

As a matter of fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if before winter’s over he had to move out.

But as for John Quincy Adams, he never was better… never was better!”

With this he started hobbling on down the street, believing without a shadow of a doubt that the real John Quincy Adams was not a body that you could enclose in a casket or an urn or bury in a grave.

He recognized that beyond the temporary physical person on the outside, there is a spiritual and eternal person on the inside.

The flesh dies but the spirit lives forever with God.

When someone we love passes on, there is naturally an element of sorrow.

When you’ve been around someone for many years, that person can become an important part of your life, and you miss them when they’re gone.

But today, beyond our natural sorrow, there is a supernatural joy that comes from knowing:

· the reality of Jesus

· the reality of God’s love

· the reality of forgiveness

· the reality of the new birth

· the reality of Heaven

· the reality of eternity

· the reality of future reunion

Years ago, a church produced a film about missionary work in Angola entitled, I’ll Sing, Not Cry.

It was based on the book, African Manhunt, by Monroe Scott, which recounted Christ’s victories in the lives of Africans.

There was the story of Pastor Ngango (Nah-gone-go), whose beloved wife had dies.

Great numbers came to the funeral, and they wailed in the customary pagan dirge of despair, until Pastor Ngango (Nah-gone-go) stood up by the casket and said, “Stop all this yelling and howling.”

The mourners stood in shocked silence.

“This woman was a child of God.

She has gone to her Father.

I loved her, but today we are not crying, we are singing.”

With that he started to sing, “Praise God,” and the Christians joined him.

It was not a song of despair or fear or sadness.

It was a praise to God, a song of Christ’s victory, a hymn of confidence.

Across the centuries comes the theme “I’ll sing, not cry.”

Weeping may endure for the night.

Our human emotions sometimes need a release.

But joy comes in the morning!