Angie Kennedy
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Opening Welcome and Prayer....
I will Rise - Chris Tomlin
Message.....
Again, thank you all for being here this afternoon.
I truly believe that Angie would have been so blessed to know and feel the love you have poured out for her and her family today.
These days are never the ones we want to see take place, but it is necessary, it is a must as long as the Lord Jesus delay’s His coming…
But even in the midst of death, there is joy, there is peace and there is hope for our lives today.
Now, you might be there today and say, Pastor, I really do not feel like we have any of this.... and right now I get it, it is hard to comprehend.
But as the days move past today, it might be in a few days or maybe even a few weeks, we will begin to see the joy, the peace and the hope.
But they will come…
And as we celebrate Angie today, I want to tell you exactly why I believe this and why you can too...
1. Joy....
Why can i talk about joy in the midst of death? Why can I talk about joy in the midst of sorrow? Jesus...
Life will always contain experiences that will make us sad or heartbroken, but having Jesus in our life is the most meaningful experience that produces true joy.
What is true joy my friends.... True joy is walking in unwavering faith with our Savior, the Lord Jesus. I know Angie had faith...
Now I am not talking about faith in the sense of believing something would or wouldn’t happen, that is part of faith. But the faith I am talking about it faith in Jesus.
Angie’s joy and happiness wasn’t defined by her circumstances or the anything of the sorry, it was defined by Jesus.
She knew Jesus.
Do you remember the night that Jesus was born in Bethlehem? The angel came to the Shepherds and told them.. Luke 2:10
10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
The angel was proclaiming that the one who would change the world had arrived, Jesus was the reason the world could rejoice.
I know Angie rejoiced in Jesus. Why? She knew him and loved him, She had placed her heart into His hands and long time ago when she had received Him as her Savior.
Her relationship with Jesus brought joy into her life and allowed her to sustain that joy as she walked alongside of Him.
There is a truth we must consider as we walk in this world, where does our joy come from? Circumstances, stuff? Or a Savior?
The things of this world can bring momentary joy, but it is fleeting, it will not last.
But the joy found in Jesus produces a host of other blessings in this life, and it is not determined by what we have. Instead the one we have in our heart
Paul tells us in Phil 4:4
4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.
We can rejoice, find joy in Jesus because of all that He is and all that he has done in our life.
She loved her Savior, that is a joy.
There is a lot that makes us happy and blesses us, and I know 3 other things that brought her great joy… Isaiah, Malaki and Elaina...
She loved you three with a deep love, She treasured you as good gifts from the Father and she wanted the best for you.
I remember when each of you came into her life and she was blessed to be called your mom. And if there is anything I want you 3 to hold on to, it is this...
You mother loved you..... and never forget Jesus loved you.
I am so thankful that John Wesley and i got to baptise you just a couple months ago and she was able to witness that event, I know it filled her heart with joy.
There are many things that made her happy in this life, her family and Jesus are the two top things I can tell you.
Now lets move on and talk about peace...
2. Peace....
Peace is a very unique animal…
Peace is really the freedom from the effect disturbances have in our life, some might say it is tranquility.
Peace is the inward response to the outward events around us our lives. It was laying it at Jesus feet...
Over this several years, I have seen peace in Angie’s life just in the way she has walked in this world with her children.
The night before Jesus Crucifixion, he warned his disciples that there would be trouble in the world they lived. Life would be far from perfect… at times hardships might abound, seem like there is more of them than anything else.
But Jesus told his disciples to be encourage…why, Listen to Jesus in John 16:33
33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
So where is our peace? It is with Jesus. he is the source of peace.
This world had been turned upside down because of sin. We see it all around us, this happens or that happens and we know clearly God never intended any of that to take place.
But sin entered the world and it forever changed the world. So in spite of that, in the midst of suffering, difficult times we are simply called to take on Jesus.
In fact, remember, Gal 5:22 tells us that joy and peace are part of fruits of the Spirit that are available to everyone in Christ as they walk and live correctly.
C.S. Lewis writes, “God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.”
So her relationship with the risen Savior helped to produce peace in her life.
Listen to Paul remind us why this relationship is so important...
1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
The peace of God begins with our life in Him. Remember Jesus died for the sins of all mankind. We were guilty in front of God because of our sin, and Scriptures tell us “ All Have sinned ...” Romans 3:23
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Could we settle that sin, no, not even possible, But Jesus could and did. He took our punishment, laid it down on the cross and died for the sins of the world.
So taking our guilt, sin and shame, He being the sinless, perfect son of God, his righteousness was extended to us, it justified us in front of the Father.. Made us right in front of God.
What is the by-product of that… peace. Why.. We are no longer guilty before God… We are at peace.
That peace allows us to walk in this world not worrying about tomorrow because we trust the one who holds tomorrow.
Our peace is found in Him, and I know Angie trusted him. She had peace in her life and her hope that was founded in Jesus Christ.
Jesus gives us peace because He is peace...
Now the last thought, we have talked about joy, and we just finished peace… the last portion of Angie’s life I want to share with you is her hope.
3. Hope...
Here is what means the most to us in days like this one.... Hope is what carries us day to day...
Hope is the ability to trust and not doubt, knowing what awaits each of us in Christ Jesus.
The word Hope in the Greek language is defined as “an eager, confident expectation.
You have heard me say because of Jesus, his death, burial and Resurrection, and the life he invites us to live in and with him, the outcome of the lie we have is a living hope.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
Remember the work of salvation isn’t ours, it is solely God’s. He knew our need and sent His Son Jesus to be our propitiation, our atoning sacrifice for sin. All of this was because of His mercy and not our efforts.
He caused us to be born again, but this new birth is overflowing with hope. That eager, confident expectation...
What am I confident about, that all those who die in the Lord are with Him.
Paul tells us that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
Angie may have departed her life here a few days ago but please know she is not dead. The body stops but the true portion of us that makes us alive, the soul made that Journey to his presence.
She is alive, safe and in the presence of almighty God, that is our hope.
The expectation is that when we leave with this world, we will see Jesus just like she had..
You see for the Christian it is not good bye, it is only good night, our joy will come in the morning
All we wait for is our departure or His return.
Now we know it is sad for us here to witness these days but I tell you my friends these days will not last forever, I know this because Jesus promised he is coming again.
13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.
Encourage each other with these words.
Jesus loves you and wants you to live for him until this days comes...
On that day, those who are already with Him, he will bring back and raise their bodies perfect and eternal as He is eternal.
Those who are still here, He will change in an instant making us just like him as well..
But together we will be with the Lord forever… This is the expectation we wait for...
Jesus is our joy, our peace and our hope. Angie had all of this because simply she had Jesus.
Can you imagine what that day will be like, listen with me… as Mercy Me describes it....
I Can Only Imagine - Mercy Me
Close in Prayer
