Celebration of Life for Katie and Grace Adair

Introduction

Today is a hard day. These past few days have been hard days.

The tragedy of Katie and Grace leaving this earth at such a young age is heart breaking.

It’s heartbreaking not only because of their age but because of their impact.

Everyone is in this room (and in the overflow rooms) because of a lasting impact of love, kindness, and joy brought to our lives by Katie, Grace, and Adair family.

While today is a hard day it is also a day of celebration.

That same impact that makes today hard also makes it possible today to celebrate the impact and legacy of Katie and Grace.

A legacy that many will go their whole lives and not have such an impact.

Some would say that today is hard because Katie and Grace didn’t get to live a full life, but look around. A full life has nothing to do with age and everything to do with who you are as a person.

We are able to celebrate because of two sisters who lived abundant and meaningful lives. What gave them that kind of abundant life didn’t stop on December 15th. It amplified!

Katie and Grace lived abundantly because they know Jesus and Jesus knows them!

In John 10:10 Jesus says, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that [you] may have life and have it abundantly.”

Katie and Grace both came to a realization in their lives that sin was not a foreign outward force, but rather a state of being that keeps all of us separated from God.

Our sinfulness steals our joy, kills our hopes, and destroys our futures. They both realized they were sinners, separated from God and in need of saving.

Early in their lives, they placed their faith in Jesus and recognized that He was Lord of their lives and able to save them from sin.

At that very moment, they were saved from the penalty of sin. As they walked faithfully with Jesus and grew in their relationship with Him they were being saved from the power of sin, and on December 15th at the very moment they walked into eternity and met Jesus face to face, they were saved from the presence of sin!

Katie and Grace had lived and still live abundant lives because they know Jesus and Jesus knows them!

Friends I don’t have words to physically bring Katie and Grace back to us, no one does. But this morning I can share with you how you to can go to where they are.

I want to share briefly with you today a message of Eternal hope that brings peace, comfort, and relief even in the midst of deep sorrow. I want to share with you about Jesus and a funeral he attended for a friend he lost tragically.

John 11:17-27; 33-36; 38-44

3 Lessons we can learn about Eternal hope in Jesus.

1) Jesus Declares He is the Resurrection and the Life. (v. 17-27)

Only Jesus has power over sin and death. Only Jesus can give life eternally. Only Jesus saves us from the sin that separates from God and rescues us from death to life.

We think of life and death in terms of the physical but in reality life and death are eternal, spiritual states. Only Jesus can bring someone from death to life. Only Jesus can save us from the sin that destroys our lives.

Only Jesus can say and mean, “Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.”

What does it mean to “believe”?

This doesn’t mean you give acknowledgement to his existence. It doesn’t mean you give a nod to his morals or goodness.

It means you place your full trust and faith in Him. It means you surrender to His Lordship. It means you walk in a continuous relationship with Him and let Him shape your life and legacy.

This kind of belief is active. It’s like realizing your desperate need for a parachute while jumping out of a plane. You can talk about it all day long, but you don’t truly believe until you take a leap of faith and fully rely on Jesus to save you.

When Jesus asks, “Do you believe this?” he’s asking do you trust me?

Martha gives the only true answer of someone who truly believes, “Yes Lord; I believe (trust) you are the Christ (Messiah, Savior, Anointed King).

If you want to have eternal hope and experience abundant life like Katie and Grace, you have to trust that Jesus is who He says He is. You have to trust that Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life.

2) Jesus Cares About Us. (v.33-36)

Jesus is not some distant being who is unable to sympathize with our hurts and our loss.

Jesus cares deeply about you. He cares deeply about what your going through this very moment. He cares about the weight and heavy hearts we all bear.

At the funeral of the tragic passing of a dear friend, He wept with the others. He knew was would soon take place, but it didn’t keep him from sharing in the hurt and the grief at the loss of a friend.

Jesus cares about your hurt and your pain, but He is also able to bring hope and comfort. He able to walk with you and bring light and hope to dark times.

While I’ve been spending some time with the Adair family, one of the things I’ve noticed is that they are relying on the grace of God to live out and hold to the promises of 1 Thessalonians 4:13-15.

1 Thessalonians 4:13–15 ESV

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.

The Bible here doesn’t say to “not grieve.” Of course there is grief, but in the grief there is hope. That hope is in the promise that Jesus cares. Jesus cares about Katie and Grace. Jesus cares about the Adair family. Jesus cares about all of us gathered in the room. And Jesus cares enough that when He returns He will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep.

If Jesus is going to bring them with Him, then that means they are with Him now!

To be absent from the Body means to be present with Christ (2 Cor. 5:8)

Therefore we have eternal hope because Jesus cares.

Jesus wants to rescue you from your sinful state of being and give you life and peace with God because He cares about you.

3) Jesus Prepares Us for Life in Him. (v.38-44)

As we close I want to look at a series of events that Jesus physically demonstrates but is spiritually wanting to work out in your life.

First Jesus removes the obstacles between Himself and Lazarus’ body. (v. 39)

Next, Jesus overpowers excuses with His own glory (v.39-40)

Then, Jesus awakened belief in God by connecting those who hear to the glory of God (v.41-42)

Next, Jesus calls Lazarus by Name to come from death to life. (v.43)

Then, Lazarus responds to Jesus calling His name by moving towards Jesus (v.44)

Finally, Jesus calls for the old signs of death to be removed because Lazarus has new life in Jesus (v.44)

Friends we are here today to celebrate the life and legacy of Katie and Grace Adair.

They are who they are and have had the impacts they have had because they gained eternal hope in Jesus by placing their trust and faith in Him.

Jesus had removed the obstacles between them and Himself by dying on the cross for their sin.

He overpowered the excuses of this world by shining His own glory into their lives.

He awakened their belief through their hearing of God’s glorious Good News.

He called them by name and they responded by moving towards Him in faith and trust.

He was at work in their lives removing the old signs of death as they were faithfully walking in New life in Him.

While Katie and Grace may have left their temporal bodies on December 15th, today, they are fully alive in Jesus with Jesus.

CLOSING AND RESPONSE

Friend, you are here today to not only celebrate the lives of Katie and Grace Adair, but you are also here to hear God’s Glorious Good News that though you are spiritually dead in sin and in desperate need of a Savior, Jesus cares about you so deeply that He gave His own life on the cross to pay the penalty for your sin so that you might have a way back to life in Him and with Him.

Sinfullness steals, kills, and destroys but Jesus came so that you may have life and have it abundantly.

Just as Jesus called Lazarus by name, and called Katie and Grace by name, He is calling you by name today to place your trust and faith in Him. If you will commit your life to Him and believe in Him you to can realize the promise Jesus makes when He says, “Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.”

If you are here today and you need to place your faith and trust in Jesus and want to do that right now, I want to ask you to do three things:

Take one of the decision cards from the pew in front of you and fill out your name and phone number, then check the box that says “I am making the decision to follow Jesus as my Lord and Savior.”

Then I want you to simply bow your head and pray this prayer, “Lord Jesus, I am a sinner in need of a Savior. I believe you are the resurrection and the Life. I believe you are the Son of God who paid the penalty for my sin on the cross and then rose again three days later declaring your power over sin and death. I believe that you care about me and therefore I place my trust and my faith in you. Today Jesus, as you have called my name I step out in faith toward you to walk with you in new life. Jesus, you are Lord. Please forgive me of my sin. Thank you for saving me. Thank you for loving me. AMEN”

If you filled out a card and you prayed that prayer from your heart as an expression of placing your faith in Jesus, then the last thing I ask is for you leave that card in the seat where you are sitting as we dismiss in a moment so that I can follow up with you about that very important decision.

It was important to the Adair family for you to hear the Good News of Jesus today because the Good News of Jesus was so important and foundational to Katie and Grace.

Friends, we continue to walk in hard days, we do not mourn like those who have no hope, because we know our hope is in Jesus. That is how we can mourn and rejoice at the same time, knowing that our Lord holds us by His righteous right hand and in our weakness He gives us strength. May the Lord bless and keep you and may His face shine upon and be gracious and give you peace.