TIARA ROBERTS FUNERAL(JAMES 1:12-18)

PRELUDE- AMAZING GRACE

A WORD OF WELCOME

Dearly beloved; we are gathered here today to pay tribute to our deceased loved one and friend, Tie-rah Fennig Roberts.

On behalf of the family, I’d like to thank you for coming.

My name is Scott Rowe, I am the Pastor at Mount Carmel Church of God, as many of you know And I have been here for a little over a year.

In that short span, I have been able to visit with Tie-Rah a few times at her home.

The last time though was at the hospital, the day before she passed. I remember talking to her, reading scripture to her, and praying with her.

I like to think of today as more as a homecoming and a celebration of life.

As a member of Mount Carmel Church of God she wasn’t just a hearer of the Word she was a doer of the Word.

Tie-rah had a great relationship with God and her life showed much fruit of that.

She helped out at the bean bake,

habitat for humanity

the call food pantry school backpack program,

and she sent many kids to church camp.

Tie-rah was apart of the Lota Psi Chapter, a Sorority.

She loved children and her cats.

She also loved taking care of her yard.

Tie-rah loved to travel too. She visited and lived in a bunch of different places such as

North Carolina,

Chicago illinois,

Houston, Texas,

Israel,

Guam,

Tokyo Japan,

and the Republic of Panama

and of course Celina, Ohio

She also went on a mission trip to Bangladesh which is near india.

A funny story that Barry and Larry shared with me is that while they were over there and doing their customary greetings.

You know, like this is Larry and his sister tie-rah. The thing was that they didn’t hear the word “his”, so all they heard was “Sister Tie-rah”.

So they thought she was a nun like Mother Teresa.

So the pastor their asked if “Sister Tie-rah” could do the closing prayer!

Another story the family shared with me was when she Tie-rah was younger somehow a cigar got rigged and in blew up in her dads face when he tried to light it and everyone got blame but Tie-rah who actually did it!

OPENING PRAYER

SCRIPTURE READING FROM PSALM 23

Psalm 23 ESV

A Psalm of David. 1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. 3 He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. 4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

IN THE GARDEN- PG. 635

WORDS FROM FRIENDS AND FAMILY

MEMORIES- GWEN GERKEN

SCRIPTURE READING FROM ISAIAH 40:28-31

Isaiah 40:28–31 ESV

28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. 29 He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. 30 Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; 31 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

I’LL FLY AWAY PG. 779

MESSAGE ON JAMES 1:12 “THE CROWN OF LIFE”

Tie-rah had a funny side to her but she also had a very stern and serious side.

I am reminded of the story I heard about the famous boxer, Muhammad Ali.

Muhammad Ali was on an airplane ready for take off and the flight attendant asked him to put his seat belt on.

He replied… Superman don’t need a seat belt.

She moved on thinking that he would get it strapped in a moment.

She returned and asked him again to fasten his seatbelt and again he replied… superman don’t need no seatbelt.

Out of frustration, she answers back briskly…

Superman don’t need an airplane. Get the seatbelt on or leave the plane.

Now i’d imagine Tie-rah would of handled that situation much differently.

As she was heavily involved in the airplane industry as a flight attendant and worked her way up to director and manager of purchasing, and even designed different things for it.

Tie-rah had this no nonsense type of attitude.

Barry and the family shared with me a story of someone who got called into her office and it’s usually not good when you get called into the bosses office!

So they went into there, id imagine they were nervous and sweaty palms.

They expected to get fired But, Tie-rah only wanted to know where the coffee was!

Now Sometimes we can think we are invincible and untouchable but, death is no respector of persons.

The Bible says that we are appointed to die once and then the judgment.

We are appointed. This means that we have an appointment. Now we all know what an appointment is....

Appointments are what we do on a daily basis.

We have appointments in which we have to be at work

We schedule appointments in which we have to meet someone for lunch or dinner

We schedule appointments with doctors and so on and so forth.

But this appointment that is talked about here is an appointment that is a bit different.

You see with an appointment with your doctor, you can cancel it but not the appointment that is spoken of here.

This appointment is written in stone. It is a done deal.

And I have to tell you that this appointment is carved in stone even before you were born.

Tie-Rah had an appointment with God that was decided and written in stone before she was even born.

God knew that on Wednesday August 7th, 2024 . Tie-rah had an appointment with him.

Tie-rah’s appointment was already scheduled. Her appointment was right on time because God scheduled it.

God is an on time God.

She fought the good fight of faith and it was time for her to receive her crown of life.

In the book of James, chapter one and verse 12. it speaks on the crown of life...

Let’s read it....

James 1:12(ESV)

12Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.

God helps us through James, by describing for us a blessed person. How fascinating his definition.

It is not what we would expect. It is not a description of high feelings but of a persistent direction in life.

The blessed person is the one who perseveres under trial, says James.

He is not the person who is a stranger to trial. Many think like this – “there is blessedness, and there is trial. The one drives out the other.

You have to plan your life avoiding as many trials as you can because if a trial comes into your life you can’t cope.

It will be goodbye happiness.”

The problem is that this life is beset by trials for us all.

The creation is groaning with the burdens it bears. Mortality is written across all our lives. The news media brings its chronicles of daily pain into every home.

Who knows what the next ringing telephone is going to tell us so Who can escape trials ?

Blessedness comes not in avoiding them but in your response to them – that is God’s message. What is He pointing out to us?

WE WILL HAVE TROUBLING TRIALS

Firstly, we are to see our troubles as trials, that is, we are being tried and tested by our difficulties.

Some people just keep going through the same trial over and over(make circular motion w/ hand

I cant get out of this hole, what’s going on?

Have you ever felt like that? It’s like this, if you failed 9th grade in school, what do you have to do? You have to take it over again.

God is relentless about what you have to learn, so you can walk out the next step in your purpose.

So you can learn the character necessary that the trial was trying to teach you and finish the test

or else your just going to keep going in circles and be like the israelites who wandered in the desert for forty years.

But into our lives comes one trial after another. God is subjecting our faith to various pressures.

This Christian believes in the over-ruling providence of God.

He is one who works all things for our good. He loves and cares for us. When we cast our burden upon him he sustains us.

He will supply all our needs gloriously. That is this person’s faith. Yet there are times when God will place us as Christians in situations where that is so difficult to see.

The Lord Jesus Christ once warned his disciples that they were to especially watch and pray because of coming trials (Mark 14:38).

Have we ever thought of that as a possibility?

That we are facing a time of trial, not in the distant future, but right now.

God is going to put us in his crucible and our faith IS going to be tested.

“Watch and pray” because there are going to be troubles in your family.

“Watch and pray” because there are going to be difficulties in work.

“Watch and pray” because your health is going to be uncertain.

Trials are ahead of us, and they are there by the counsel and foreknowledge of God.

They came into Disciple’s lives and they have come into the life of every single Christian.

There is no way that we can avoid them.

So the first thing James says is that the blessed person is one who is not a stranger to trials.

WE PERSEVERE THROUGH OUR TRIALS

The blessed man endures. In the valley of the shadow of death he keeps on walking.

You can still hear the Lord’s voice, and the sound of his footsteps.

Let’s keep moving,and moving and moving,

walking through this grim land. It is terribly easy to stop. You can always find a hundred reasons to give up.

Many others can be blamed, and you can put down yourself so easily –

I’m a failure.

I’ve done nothing with my life.

Nobody appreciates me.

I don’t fit in.”

I don’t have anyone left

Soon all motivation has gone.

James is saying to us, “Please don’t do that.” Endure ! Keep going through this dark patch, a pilgrim through this barren land.

The sun is beating down and the vultures are gathering. Keep going.

Move on, and move quickly. Remember the teaching of Jesus Christ.

Remember his dying love. Remember those who look to you. Keep going. Keep things going.

THE BLESSED PERSON STANDS THE TEST

So James says that the blessed man is tested, and that he perseveres, and then this, that he has stood the test.

The test ends, and he has come through it. No test lasts for ever. When something is tested and approved that test ends.

There was an encounter with the Lord in which the apostle Peter was asked three times if he loved Jesus.

Three times he had denied him. Three times he was tested concerning his love for Christ.

Then that particular test of Peter’s love ended. The Lord never continued to weary Peter day after day saying to him, “Do you love me ?”

There were to be other different tests. Peter’s faith was tried in new circumstances.

Blessed people can face trials with the hope that they will stand the test.

So the blessed man is one who is tested, who perseveres under the trial, and who stands the test.

IN CLOSING...

THE BLESSED PERSON WILL RECEIVE THE CROWN OF LIFE

God will reward those who persevered through trials and have withstood the test. He will give them the crown of life.

He gives a crown of life to all who have loved him.

That is the reason they kept going and kept serving and kept obeying day after day through the many different tests which came into their lives – they loved him.

Tie-Rah loved God with all her heart, and she has recieved this crown of life for a race ran well. She endured through it all, and finished her course. She is Blessed.

BENEDICTION(CLOSING PRAYER)

RECESSIONAL- IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL

*Graveside Service at Mercy Memory Gardens

Reception Dinner at the Grange Hall