Steven Betts Funeral Service
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Steven Betts Funeral Service
Steven Betts Funeral Service
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress,
My God, in whom I trust!”
For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper
And from the deadly pestilence.
He will cover you with His pinions,
And under His wings you may seek refuge;
His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark.
You will not be afraid of the terror by night,
Or of the arrow that flies by day;
Of the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
Or of the destruction that lays waste at noon.
A thousand may fall at your side
And ten thousand at your right hand,
But it shall not approach you.
You will only look on with your eyes
And see the recompense of the wicked.
For you have made the Lord, my refuge,
Even the Most High, your dwelling place.
No evil will befall you,
Nor will any plague come near your tent.
For He will give His angels charge concerning you,
To guard you in all your ways.
They will bear you up in their hands,
That you do not strike your foot against a stone.
You will tread upon the lion and cobra,
The young lion and the serpent you will trample down.
“Because he has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him;
I will set him securely on high, because he has known My name.
“He will call upon Me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will rescue him and honor him.
“With a long life I will satisfy him
And let him see My salvation.”
Steven Betts is a man who was/is greatly loved by many. This has been made so strongly evident by the outpouring of support and the great number of messages that the family has recieved stating as much about Steven.
Wether it is as a son, brother, his service in the Marines, his dedication as a uncle, his care and generosity as a friend/ or even to strangers, or his work for veterans rights, we remember Steven well today.
Because of all the good that you knew and remember and the cherished relationship that so many had with Steven at one point in time or another, today, as many of the past days have had, carries with it a sense of broken-heartedness.
However, as Steven throughout much of his life brought joy and comfort to others in the midst of his own suffering, I desire to do the same this morning on Steven’s behalf.
The Word of God says:
The Lord is near to the brokenhearted
And saves those who are crushed in spirit.
If we would look unto the Lord today by His grace then even through such grief we would know the LORD is there, and that would carry a comfort and healing all its own.
It carries a significant comfort to those who belong to the LORD Jesus.
First because we know His presence here with us to carry us through,
But also and perhaps even more so, because we know that those who die in the flesh that are in the LORD are truly in the LORD in the fullness of His presence.
The Word of God says:
we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.
Oh Steven knew much of bodily suffering - but no more
and at the same time - to know suffering and then have it no more is enough to fill one with abounding joy in itself,
But to be in the presence of the LORD, to be at home with the LORD, to know the glory and pleasure of the LORD.
What a thought, what a hope.
From scripture we do believe that this life is not it..but that their is such a true hope.
The Word of God says:
Psalm 24:18
For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.
Friends, our hope in Christ is certainly not in this life only. Our hope is not merely to get us through a moments suffering or a time of grief, our hope is in life, it is in the overcoming of death. Our hope is in the resurrection.
But what of now? What is it to now live in such hope?
First I desire that your suffering not be done in hopelessness, but rather with the fixed hope that is in Christ Jesus -that blessed hope of eternity.
Second I desire that as this life has enough of a load and enough suffering of it’s own, that religious aspirations don’t add a further burden but rather the grace of Christ grants a present rest.
The Word of God says:
“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
The yoke was a piece of equipment made to help you carry a load. The problem was in the time of Christ that the “religious yoke” that the pharisees were putting upon the people was heavier than the load itself. Thus it wasn’t a help but more rather it was more of a burden.
This is not how the yoke of Christ works.
In the work of Christ, we find not the requirment of our own merit, but we rest in the faithfulness of His.
in the work of Christ, the resting of Steven, the seperation from suffering is found not in himself but in the grace of Christ,
For you and I, the hope to carry on, the comfort to comfort with, and the peace beyond all understanding is found not in the strength of ourselves, nor in the ability or understanding of self, but in the work and presence of Jesus Christ our LORD.
And so, in honor of Steven who so often thought of others in the midst of his own suffering and sought to comfort them, hear theses words,
Steven is at rest,
God is ever present,
and our hope of the resurrection is true and certain in Christ Jesus our Lord.
May the love of our Savior Jesus, comfort you all during this time and may His Word be a refuge for each of us as we continue to grieve during this season. - Amen.
Internment Message
Internment Message
Be strong and let your heart take courage,
All you who hope in the Lord.
Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”
So now as the Almighty has seen fit to take unto Himself the soul of our departed beloved Steven Betts, we commit Steven’s body to this place prepared for it; that ashes may return to ashes, dust to dust, and the imperishable spirit be with the Lord as we looking forward to the resurrection in the last day, and the life of the world to come, through our Lord Jesus Christ, at whose second coming in glorious majesty to judge the world, the earth and the sea shall give up their dead; and the perishable bodies of those who sleep in Him shall be changed, and made like unto His own glorious body; according to the mighty working whereby He is able to subdue all things unto Himself.
Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.