Albert Bloom Memorial

WELCOME

Good afternoon and welcome to this memorial service to honor the life of Albert “Al” Bloom. Beloved by his son Arron, his family, friends and even his little dog peanut. It is good and fitting to stop and reflect on the deeper things in life at a time like this. The kind of things that so quickly get pushed aside by our many daily distractions.

I remember Al telling me that one of the things that he used to do in order to think on the deeper things in life was to listen to his favorite dynamic preachers as he drove his Semi Truck Over-The-Road. I can’t promise you that I will speak as well as them, but it is an honor to be here with you all to remember Al and honor Jesus Christ who he passionately professed as his Lord and Savior.

I would like to open with the words of 2 Corinthians 1 starting with verse 2 which says:

2 Corinthians 1:2–5 (ESV)

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.

PRAYER

Please bow you head with me in prayer...

HYMN #1: “Homesick”

Arron’s Song #1 : (About he and his Dad)

PASTOR’S REMARKS

When Arron asked me to be a part of this important day he asked if I could teach on a particular passage. I was driving home from out of state at the time and just asked that he text it to me so I would have it later in the week to prepare. The passage that God laid on his heart was from 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. When I finally got to reading it I immediately saw that this is not your typical funeral passage, but as I began to read it I was intrigued... knowing that God works in mysterious ways.

To give us some background, the book of 2 Thessalonians is the second of two letters included in the Bible from the Apostle Paul to a Church that he helped to start in the city of Thessalonica. The Apostle Paul wrote these letters to the “Thessalonians” to help the young church to handle concerns that came up that they didn’t know how to handle. Chapter 2 addresses the concern that through their ancient “social networks” they heard that they had missed something very important. In fact, it was the most important thing that any of us might experience in our lives.

Beginning in verse 1 of chapter 2 it says…

2 Thessalonians 2:1–5 (ESV)

Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way.

For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.

Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?

Now if you read Al’s obituary then you probably know that the events described here were very important to him. Because it says that“He was a passionate believer in Jesus Christ and in end time prophecy and told as many as would listen.” So it seems appropriate, as we remember him today, to continue his mission by considering a passage like this.

And I prepares for this message, three things stood out to me from this passage.

First, we hear the Apostle Paul saying

Do not let anyone shake, alarm or deceive you 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3a

There are a lot of messages that each one of us has to wade through every day. Our information age and social networks are drowning us with new information all vying for our undivided attention and calling us to action. But we must be careful to not be fooled by things in this life that seem and even sound spiritual but are really just selfishness wrapped up in spiritual language.

It appears that here in Paul’s day there were people who were trying to deceive individuals in this Church into thinking that they had somehow missed the second coming of Jesus which is the hope of all Christians. To believe that you missed this would imply that your faith in Jesus was somehow not good enough so that when Jesus came he just passed you by.

The Apostle Paul quickly recognized this for what it was, a horrible lie from our enemy Satan. And believing it would have been a great victory for him. Because not only would this lie have kept these people from continuing in their faith in Jesus, in their disappointment they surely would have stopped reaching out to others with the good news of Jesus. For how could it even be good news if Jesus had already passed them by? How could they share of the love of Jesus when they thought that they were rejected by him.

The Devil had used people to perpetrate this horrible lie because he is the father of lies. In John 10:10 Jesus called him a thief and he said

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

Only the “author of all life” can give life and the abundant life is found in knowing and following Jesus. So.... Do not let anyone shake, alarm or deceive you… because…secondly...

God is still working all things to His intended end 2 Thessalonians 2:3b-4

The point of “end times prophecy” is to bring assurance to the believers as they go through difficult times of doubt and pain. The Apostle Paul then reminds the Church of what God has already said about the second coming of Christ. God gave them his plans and the plans of God cannot be thwarted. There would be a great rebellion and the man of lawlessness will be revealed and set himself up as the ultimate object of world-wide worship. All of these would have to happen first and Paul’s point is that since they haven’t happened, the Church can rest assured that they did not miss Jesus.

And of course the field of Biblical “end times prophecy” is one with many different perspectives. Theologians much smarter than I have discussed and debated the many end time prophecies that we find throughout the Old and New Testament of the Bible. And while there are many different views of he “whens” and the “hows” all Christians agree that Jesus is coming back for us.

Jesus himself clearly promised such things…

John 14:1–3 (ESV)

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 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? 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.

For those of us still here on earth, this continues to be our hope. That Jesus will come again. But you know, Al isn’t waiting for Jesus’ return in the same way we are. The Bible says that there are only two places that a Christian can be.

Either present in the body, so absent from the Lord… that is all of us here today… or

Absent from the body, and so present with the Lord… that is where Al stands right now.

In Paul’s first letter to this same Church he addressed this very thing..

1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 (ESV)

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. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.

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. 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. 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. Therefore encourage one another with these words.

I can’t help but think that focusing on passages like this would have pleased your Dad Arron.

God has given us everything that we need to know about His perfect plan. He has laid it out for us throughout the Bible and if we read, study and believe what God has revealed to us in it… then no lie of Satan will shake us.

This is the last thing that stood out to me from 2 Thessalonians 2. That we…

...not let anyone shake, alarm or deceive us because

God is still working all things to His intended end and

God has revealed to us everything we need to believe in Him 2 Thess 2:5

In verse 5, Paul seems to be rebuking them for not remembering something that he specifically told them. They had what they needed to reject the false claims of these troublesome outsiders but they did not use it.

But of course we can’t be too hard on them, because we have everything we need for belief and behavior too… but we don’t always turn to it like we should. We listen to other messages from the the world around us and start to wonder and then wander away from the good news of Jesus, the Gospel message that teaches us that…

John 3:16 (ESV) “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

This is what Al trusted in. This is what he is now experiencing. And even though we may miss him we should take comfort in the fact that he is enjoying that eternal life right now.

By the end of the chapter, Paul’s concern for the Church is turned to thanksgiving in a similar way because he knows that with this correction...the good work that God had begun in them would continue to bear fruit.

So the chapter ends with…

2 Thessalonians 2:13–17 (ESV)

But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter. Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.

Amen.

Please join us in singing one of Al’s favorite Hymns about meeting Jesus…

HYMN #2 : Sweet Bye and Bye

Sharing Time

At this time we want to open the floor to anyone who might want to share a word or two about what Al meant to them. It could be a special story or meaningful memory or just something that you know will remind you of Al every time you see or think about it. (Room size??? maybe just stand and speak?)

Arron’s Song #2: (One he wrote)

Instructions for graveside?

Benediction

Let us close the service with this powerful benediction from the book of Jude..

Jude 24–25 (ESV)

Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.