Funeral Robert Dwyer
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Good after noon my friends.
I am very sorry to gather with you under these circumstances this afternoon.
We know that as long as the Lord Jesus delays His coming, death will visit our lives. And until that time we wait and we trust the Lord, we wait for the very hope that those before have endured and now enjoy in His presence.
I had the pleasure of meeting Robert several years ago at a wedding, what I remember was he was a nice, genuine man, what you see is what you got.
You look over the course of his life and we know he was a hard worker. He worked and volunteered and helped others for many, many years.
He was one you were thankful to have crossed paths with along the way..
The Apostle Paul said that of the believers at Philippi,..
3 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you,
He remembered their love, support and kindness which they showed to him through years...
We as well remember the love, the help and compassion of others.... For your dad and grand-dad, you will not forget his love, help and all the ways he blessed you along the way of life here.
And that is part of the joy we have with the gift of memory, we can look back at all those things we laughed and found great joy in....
Death does’t take those things from us and for Bob, it doesn’t take him from us either.
I know he was a believer, and for the believer it is not goodby, its only good night, For our joy comes in the morning.
This reminds me of Jesus in John 11. There Jesus gets word that a dear friend is dying, Lazarus. And even though Jesus is asked to come… He delays His travel that the glory of God might be revealed.
On the fourth day after his death, Jesus makes his way to Bethany, to the town where Mary, Martha and Lazarus lived and coming close to the house Martha runs out to him.......
21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.”
Do you hear her words… Lord if you had been here my brother wouldn’t have died.
You see what they knew and loved about Jesus. They believed he could stop death in His tracks but they didn’t understand yet just how much He could effect their lives.
In the midst of her sorry, Jesus tells her your brother will rise again...
And Martha acknowledged that, she said I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day..
She knew the resurrection would raise him in the future, but listen to what Jesus says next...
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
It is here that Jesus identifies two things we need to pay attention to today
He tells her I am the resurrection and I am the life.
To be life tells us that He is the one who is entirely in control of life. He gives life.... And the life he gives is both Physical and Spiritual....
Physical life… Paul tells us in Col 1:16
16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.
He is the very agent of creation. The one who brings life and enables it to life day in and day out… God planned for each of us to come into this world, and at the perfect time He allowed our entrance.
But not only the physical life, He is the one who gives Spiritual life… Jesus told His disciples that He is the way the truth and the life in John 14:6
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
So when Jesus tells Martha that he is resurrection and the life… he is telling her she doesn’t have to worry about death, because he was in control of it all.
Then His question was simple.. Do you believe this...
Bob believed this and as such, we know he is not gone from us, He has just changed locations. He has entered a new house, the dwelling of God ...
Jesus reminded us of this in John 14:1-3
1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
What did Jesus say, this is the night before the crucifixion? I go to prepare a place for you.
You see Jesus was going to the cross to finish the work of God.
The redemption of all mankind, that man would no longer linger in doubt or worry. His work makes the way complete.
Jesus has prepared a place for each of us who believe and have received the Lord Jesus as our Lord and Savior.
Martha and Mary believed this.. and then Jesus asked where have you laid him..
They took him to the place and Jesus asked them to roll the stone away..
43 When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” 44 The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
Jesus spoke and called Lazarus to come out,, and He came...
Why… Because He is the one who is life...
All those who trust and believe will experience that same life and come out of the grave the day Jesus calls..
So what do we do today...
Let me take you back to John 14:1
1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.
IN the midst of all that was happening and was about to happen in a few hours as Jesus was arrested he told his Disciples to keep on believing.
Just as they believed in God, they were called to believe in the Son
Today we have a choice, the choice to believe. Not just knowing God in the head, I know he is real and existed...
But to no him in our heart, to know that he came, lived and died for the sins of the world, was buried and rose again on the third day.
And the life He embodies now we can enjoy when we receive Him as our Savior and Lord.
Bob knew and believed in Jesus… Do you today. He is our hope for life and the resurrection.
Pray