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Trading For Something Better

(Funeral for saved 58 year old male.)

As we come to day, we gather to celebrate________'s gain and to remember the life of one we had to give up to the Lord. We had no choice in the matter. Life and death are in the hands of God.

I know his mother well enough to know that when he was born into this world, she must have given him to the Lord. The Lord allowed his family and friends to have him for over 58 years, now the Lord in His infinite wisdom has taken our brother from us.

He was young----life never ceases to have its mysteries. There are so many things we do not understand now, because we look through a glass darkly, but one day, we will be face to face with our blessed and wonderful Savior, we will see more clearly than we do now. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 13:12, " For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face." Many people were taken out of this life just after birth, in infancy, in childhood, or in the teenage years, but God was gracious enough to allow him to live for over 58 years in this present life.

I appreciate the friendship I had with our departed brother. He was a pretty quiet fellow, but when he had something to say it was worth hearing. He was not a man of many words, but one of quality words. The Bible says of the fool that he utters all his mind (Prov.29:11). ______ was certainly the opposite of that declaration.

I appreciate his warm smile, his generous heart, and his faith in Christ that he so clearly manifested the last years of his life. I feel as though, in giving up him, that I have had to give up a "good friend." To many of you it is a brother,

a cousin, a nephew, or an uncle. He will be very much missed but precious memories shall linger on in our minds as long as they operate properly, throughout all of your life.

His mother is not able to be here today, but our heart goes out to a woman who is very ill herself. She has grieved much over his departure from this life, but God is helping her through His sustaining grace to deal with this "deep valley" in her life. She will soon follow her son to heaven or to what a songwriter called, "The Land of Perfect Day."

Ken’s family stuck by him and supporting both him and his wife in very difficult times. I praise God for this very close knit family.

I feel the Lord would have me to speak to you for a few minutes on a very unusual subject. The subject is this:

Trading For Something Better

1 Cor. 15:55 says, "Oh death where is your sting, Oh grave where is thy victory?"

The Christian should not look at death as some ugly monster who comes to snatch us out of this life. Death is the corridor through which we pass from this life to the next life. In death we lay down our physical form, leaving it behind to day and go back to dust, while our soul and spirit goes on to be with the Lord in eternity. Death is simply the separation of the soul and spirit from the physical body, the house, the frame in which we now live.

I read once of a little girl who entered a cemetery at dusk. An old man who sat at the gate said to her, "Aren’t you afraid to go through the cemetery in the dark?" The little girl said, "Oh no, my home is just on the other side of it." When our brother left this world just the other day, his home was on the OTHER SIDE of death. Death was like a corridor which ushered him into God’s eternal glory.

There is a popular gospel singer by the name of Jake Hess who sings a very unusual song called, "Death Ain’t No Big Deal." For us who are left behind it is, but when it comes to the saint of God that departs, they are glad and joyous about going home to be with the Lord.

What kind of trade has our loved one made in leaving us for the heavenly country? God gave me several thoughts I want to share with you.

I. He Has Traded The Temporal For the Eternal

Everything that you and I see are perishable. The Bible says even the rocks one day will melt with fervent heat. The things we see are temporal but the unseen things are eternal.

Because Ken died as a Christian, when he gave up to go to be with the Lord, he entered into an aspect of his salvation he did not know before. You and I are not as saved as we are going to be. Let me explain that:

Salvation has three aspects or is in three tenses:

As to the penalty of sin, we are as saved as we ever will be.

As to the power of sin, we are been saved from that daily.

As to the presence of sin, that is yet future.

He has a life now without even the presence of sin being there in the holy place called heaven.

As Abraham we serve the Lord by faith, but when we see Jesus.

We serve the Lord by faith, but won’t it be a day when we can see Him as we serve Him.

Beginning 5 years ago he began a battle with cancer. It will not bother Him any more.

He said, "goodbye" here but "hello" over there.

God gave him and his a very nice trailer home in which to live, but now He is in a roomy, heavenly mansion that is beyond human description or full comprehension.

He is not floating around in outer space, he has a temporal body until the day of resurrection.

No smog, no polluted waters, it is a perfect environment. Man is ruining the earth little by little.

Wars are raging around the world. But there is nothing like that in the heavenly country.

I would encourage you today to be happy for our departed brother.. Thank God, he is at rest. We should rejoice that God has healed Ken and given Him a heavenly home that will be his forever. He is "far better" off that he was in this life.

Prayer:

Funeral Service By Dr. Tom Walker

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