Paul Fordyce Funeral
Paul Fordyce Funeral • Sermon • Submitted
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· 8 viewsThe trip only becomes worth it when we have made the choice in Christ. Then days like today are symbolized by The crossroads of tears of grief and tears of joy.
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Transcript
As a deer pants for flowing streams,
so pants my soul for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?
My tears have been my food
day and night,
while they say to me all the day long,
“Where is your God?”
These things I remember,
as I pour out my soul:
how I would go with the throng
and lead them in procession to the house of God
with glad shouts and songs of praise,
a multitude keeping festival.
Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation
Song
Opening Prayer
Paul Lemuel Fordyce, 79, of Washington, WV died Friday January 17, 2020 at his residence. He was born on February 9, 1940 in Parkersburg, WV a son of the late John Franklin and Iva (Allen) Fordyce.
He was a 1959 graduate of Parkersburg High School . He served in the Army National Reserves for six years. He retired after thirty-eight years from DuPont in 2000. He was a member of South Hills Golf Club (where he played on the DuPont Golf League), Fairlawn Baptist Church, Pioneer Antique Auto Club, Good Guys, and NSRA (National Street Rod Association). Paul enjoyed buying and working on cars. He attended annual car shows at Myrtle Beach, SC, Pigeon Forge in Louisville, KY, Columbus, OH, and Detroit, MI. He was also a member of the ATA (Amateur Trapshooting Association) in Vandalia, OH and was recognized for 50,000 registered targets. He enjoyed buddy shooting for a number of years and attended annual state shoots in West Virginia, Ohio, Virginia, Maryland, Indiana, and North Carolina.
Paul is survived by his wife Ellen Vannoy Fordyce (whom he married on December 28, 1962; sisters Pat Gandee and Genevieve Stephens (Mike); sisters-in-law Mildred Fordyce and Shirley Digman; and numerous nieces, nephews, and great and great great nieces and nephews.
In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his brother William "Bill" Fordyce; brothers-in-law Jack Gandee and Fritz Digman; sister Irene Riggens (Dave); and in-laws Russell and Cora (Wigal) Vannoy.
Men like Paul are the men I admire. The men I try to learn from. I do this because of what I am told in scripture. Take for instance Leviticus. When was the last time you heard an expositional message on
“You shall stand up before the gray head and honor the face of an old man, and you shall fear your God: I am the Lord.
This passage tells us that honoring those with gray hair is tantamount to honoring God. That is echoed in passages like this.
Gray hair is a crown of glory;
it is gained in a righteous life.
Proverbs 16
The glory of young men is their strength,
but the splendor of old men is their gray hair.
Proverbs 20:
Men like Paul are to be respected. I truly respected the man.
But, what was not to respect. This was a man that loved his wife. He was married to Ellen for 57years. From high school until today, their love would thrive. He loves his Caroline. He was dedicated and concerned for her welfare and safety.
He loved winchester guns and old cars. I still remember watching the show Overhaulin and watching them build this dodge, then low and behold, here it comes pulling into our parking lot at the church. Paul had won it. I asked how he felt when that happened. He seemed so calm about it. He was always so even.
He leaned over to me and said “I almost peed myself”. I thought that was even more funny because I did not expect that from him.
Song
Ellen shared with me that Paul loved to shop Home Depot, Lowes, Rural King for something just because somebody will need it. As a matter of fact, when he would take her shopping at places, he would always tell her that if she didn’t buy something he wouldn’t bring her back. He said you have to make the trip worth it. In his mind, you should come back with something. I want to honor that today.
Today, I want us to talk about making the trip worth it. About making life worth it.
I want to talk about the aspect of Paul’s life that I admire most of all. I admired his love for Ellen, I admired his love for guns and cars.
But, I admire his faith the most of all those things. His faith was quiet and sure. It did not waiver. I know toward the end of his life here on earth he worried about not being back at church. He missed his faith family and we missed him.
However, how was his life, the trip worth it? What gives us hope today? What gives Paul hope today?
As a deer pants for flowing streams,
so pants my soul for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?
My tears have been my food
day and night,
while they say to me all the day long,
“Where is your God?”
These things I remember,
as I pour out my soul:
how I would go with the throng
and lead them in procession to the house of God
with glad shouts and songs of praise,
a multitude keeping festival.
Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation
“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. And you know the way to where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
You see Paul desired to know he would one day reach this place Jesus had prepared for him. Friday morning, he made it there. He had made a crucial decision. He accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior.
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
2 Peter
The Lord desires your salvation today as well.
This world is constantly throwing promises at us. It is trying to convince you that a purchase from it. If you purchase its goods, we get this
Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
Because the worlds goods will not ultimately help you on a day like today.
Instead make the trip worth it. Choose the things of God that will last.
I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.
I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.
“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”
Matthew 7
To make it worth it, build your house on the rock, That rock is Jesus Christ.
Why is this so important? Because on this day, a day of loss, you need more than worldly possessions and worldly answers to hang onto.
We need a promise that says “I have prepared a place for you”. A promise that says, “I will come back for you” “I will take you there”.
You will need a promise that says
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.
We need a grief with hope, we need a life with hope.
1 Thessalonians
We need a decision that makes the trip worth it.
Paul is enjoying the right purchase, the right choice. He chose Christ.
Where will your hope come from? What will you bank on?
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
Choose Christ.
Today we reach a strange crossroads for all of us. We have reached a crossroads of tears. Tears of grief and tears of joy.
Tears of grief at the loss of a loved one and a friend. The life we loved to witness.
But also the tears of joy in knowing that where Paul is today,
And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
Why would we not want him to experience this? We miss him, we will always remember him but, his trip was worth it.
Revelation 21:
He experienced great love with Ellen, He experience passions with guns and cars.
But today, the best part of his life, the best choice he made is that he is in a place with no tears and no pain. God today wipes away his tears and seeks to comfort ours.
When this life is over, what will be your destination? Who will be your comfort? Where will you find the worth of life?
John
He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
I respect Paul’s life but I admire and seek to emulate his faith. I want to know at the end of my life “that the trip was worth it”.
Do you?
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Pray
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Graveside
The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, behold, I am about to take the delight of your eyes away from you at a stroke; yet you shall not mourn or weep, nor shall your tears run down. Sigh, but not aloud; make no mourning for the dead. Bind on your turban, and put your shoes on your feet; do not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men.” So I spoke to the people in the morning, and at evening my wife died. And on the next morning I did as I was commanded.
Ezekiel 24:15-
We do not get over loss like this, we get through loss like this. We know God has plans ahead for us beyond this moment. We get up, get dressed, put on our shoes and begin to move forward. Through the pain, we trust God, we obey God, knowing the trip was worth it.
We now commit Paul Fordyce to the hands of a loving merciful God.
Let us pray.
Announce the meal
