August 10, 2024

Rick Gilliam

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Prayer....

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My dear friends...

Again thank you for coming and sharing your love for Rick with Sherry and their family. I know that they are so appreciative.

Can i be quite frank....

I hate death… and I am looking forward to the day when it will be no more. That day when Jesus returns and we will no longer be effected by it.

I know each of you have been blessed to know Rick, his family and for some of you, like me to be able to call them friends.

I have been privileged to be Rick and Sherry’s pastor. Too minister with them and as of late too them, which has been an honor.

I could tell you so many things today about Rick. I know he loved his wife, Sherry. I know He loved his children, their spouses and especially his grandchildren.

And he has so many friends, Many of you dear people he had the joy of growing up with, playing ball with and spending time with for the last 60 + years.

Each of you have stories, many wonderful precious stories of your time with Rick that you will never forget. I have even heard a few of them, .... some of them, I will have a hard time forgetting… right - Marty and Dipper (HA)

Memories my friends I think are a precious gift the Lord gives us to cherish and hang on to special moments, like the memories of the people around us that mean to much to us..

But I want to tell you something special, I want to tell you about the one Rick loved more than anyone else…that was Jesus.

I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Rick loved his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In the last 21 years, we’ve had some deep spiritual conversations. I know Rick loved Jesus.

There is nothing better than that… And I know Rick walked daily with the Lord.

Thursday, I asked Sherry if she could tell me a favorite passage, and she told me John 14…

And I will tell you, that’s one of my favorites too. I like it because it is encouraging, its full of love and it tells us how to make it to the Father’s house as well.

Consider the setting of John 14, they (Jesus and the Disciples) are in the Upper room, which was part of John Mark’s home. The Upper room is a special place and for all that we know, we are fairly certain it still stands today in a ancient part of the city.

But it is here, the night before the crucifixion and Jesus tells his disciples

John 14:1–3 ESV

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.

I think about this passage and maybe you’ve heard me talk about it before, for me it never gets old.

They are in the Upper room and the disciples don’t know what the next day held, that day is the whole reason Jesus came into the world. It was the day for Jesus be crucified, put to death, the Lamb of God for the sins of the world.

And Jesus knows all of this, and he sets out on encouraging the disciples.

Guys, do not let your hearts be troubled. Don’t let, don’t allow the situation you are soon going to wrestle with bring turmoil, worry and heart ache into your life.

Just as you have always trusted the Father, Keep trusting in me as well.

Stop right there.....

Life throws curve balls at us, things that we never expected, but when they show up at our door. What do we do?

We keep trusting the Father and the Son…

Rick’s faith never wavered, I never heard him going about complaining, His faith persisted in God. Why? His trust was not in himself, it was in God.

What we believe about God in both the good and bad times defines who we are and what we will do when we suddenly find ourselves in the valley.

But look at what else Jesus says… John 14:2...

“In my Fathers house are many rooms, if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?”

This is one of the most beautiful images of Jewish life. Sons never departed their father’s homes. The home was just extended, built onto so that it could accommodate this new addition to the family...

As the son was betrothed to a young lady, the father would lead the son in working, building onto the house, making a place for the son and his new bride.

And what is Jesus saying here?

“In my Fathers house are many rooms, if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?”

I am going to prepare a place for you… Jesus of course is speaking figuratively.. He didn’t need to add onto the Father’s house, but He did need to complete the work, the mission of the Father.

Jesus would restore the broken pathway to the Father by laying down his life, allowing Himself to be crucified for the sins of the world.

And Jesus death, burial and resurrection forever ensured that all who came to Jesus by faith, would not die, but have everlasting life.

You see man couldn’t get to God on their own, their own merits, their own good works.. nothing secured that journey.

Without a doubt, Rick was a good man, but that personal goodness wasn’t enough to satisfy the wrath of God, to outweigh sin..

You see, there is a scale in life, Like the scales of Justice . Our Sin always outweighs our good, moral, righteous ways.. The only thing, the only things that balances the scale is the blood of Jesus.

Rick knew Jesus and there was a time in His life were Rick came and asked for forgiveness, asked to have eternal life. And when he did that by faith, Jesus saved him.

The Scriptures declare all who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved...

Rick had been saved…

And look at what else Jesus says in that passage.

John 14:3–6 ESV

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. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Jesus had to go away, He had to die, be buried and on the third day rise again for Salvation to be complete.. This act would complete the work of the Father..

But remember that next line… and if I go away, I will come again..

We know from the testimony of Scripture that Jesus after the resurrection appeared to the 12 and to more than 500 over the course of 40 days following the resurrection.

Then Acts 1 tells us that He ascended to back to the Father. He is taken up in the clouds, and while the disciples watch Him disappear from their sight. Two men in white apparel stood in their midst … and listen to what they were told.

Acts 1:11 ESV

11 and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

Oh did you hear that.. This Jesus who was taken up from you will come again in like manner..(my para-phrase).

Jesus left to prepare a place for us., this He did like I said, through his Death, Burial and Resurrection.

That is complete, The father’s house is ready and complete providing a place for every person who dies in the Lord.

Now I say die, because for right now, this life is the proving grounds, it is the point of transition to the next life.

Mankind enters this world in a veil of flesh.. and this flesh is temporary. It cannot last forever, but the soul of man, it does live forever, it is eternal.

You are called to make a decision in this life, while there is still time because a day will come when we least expect it and what we do here determines the destination in the next life.

Rick, he had met the station master a long time ago, he had secured his ticket for heaven.

The other morning, int he early hours, after a long battle - well, He arrived at that city, on the other side of the river. And he entered the city and house of His Lord.

How do I know this?

Well, I have told you, He knew Jesus.

The Apostle Paul reminds us that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.

Wednesday morning Rick departed, His soul let what was here and made that journey there.

And Rick is there in the presence of our Lord, in the greatest city ever established, the city of God!

As certain as I am of my own salvation, I am certain of Rick’s.

Its all because of Jesus.

You see, we think we can make it on our own, as if we can find the way ourselves, but Jesus says in verse 6 something I want to make sure each of you know...

John 14:6 ESV

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Did you hear that, Rick I think would want me to tell you… do not be fooled by just good works, a moral life, honestly, etc...

Those are not enough… The only way to the Father is Jesus..

He is the way, the truth and the life...

But listen the story doesn’t end there.

Jesus said if he went away, he could come again, to receive us unto himself, that where he is we maybe also… what is Jesus saying..

Understand, where is Rick today..heaven. 100%

But this body, the substance we could touch, identify, that grew sick and stopped.

Well, we will take it and lay it to rest today. And it will rest. No pain, suffering, nothing to brother it.

But when Jesus returns, it will all change my friends...

In 1 Thess 4:13-18 , listen to the Apostle Paul..

1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 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. 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.

There is coming a future day. We often refer to this day as the Rapture of the church.

This day Jesus will return and when He returns in the air the trumpet will sound and the dead in Christ will raise.

When Jesus returns, all those who have gone before us, they return with the Lord.

Paul says, what the dead in Christ will rise.. Rick will be reunited with a perfect, resurrected body, whole and well...

And for those still living during that day, well they will be caught up together with those who have risen from the grave and together we will be with the Lord forever.

This is the day we look forward too, the day when we all will be together with the Lord forevermore.

Oh that will be a day my friends.

But today, I want to encourage with this final word, Rick is not gone, He was allowed to go ahead of Sherry and his other family members to see Jesus first.

He is alive, D. L. Moody the great old Preacher of the Second Great Awakening said....

Tell what D.L. Moody said… there will be a rumor that I have died, but i will you on that day I will be more alive than I have ever been..

Today I want to ask you, Do you know Jesus as your Savior?

If you do not, I want you to know you can before you leave today and Rick would be honored to know you did on this day..

I would be happy to meet you hear in this altar.

I love you, I know Rick and Sherry does as well,

Lets pray