Funeral for Eddy Cross

Funeral Service for Clifford Edwin “Eddy” Cross

On behalf of the family and friends, I wish to thank each one of you for being here today… and though today is a very difficult day the holy scriptures makes this promise:

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, 3 though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah

And the bible also says;

,

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Obituary

Clifford Edwin “Eddie” Cross Jr. 74 of Parkersburg, passed away March 11, 2020 at the Camden Clark Medical Center. He was born April 24, 1945 in Parkersburg, a son of the late Clifford Edwin and Mary (Willis) Cross Sr.

Eddie was a Pipefitter and worked out of the Marietta Local 168. He was a Parkersburg High graduate where he was crowned the King of the Sports Carnival and attended West Virginia University on a gymnastics scholarship. He was a champion high diver, a skydiver, water skier and gymnast who was invited to participate in the Olympic Trials.

Eddie was an accomplished musician and started the 1960’s rock-n-roll band The Pastels. He was a member of the Masonic Lodge #3, AF&AM.

Surviving are four children: Clifford Edwin Cross III of Parkersburg, Rebecca Petrosino (Chris) of Fairfield, CT, Zachary Cross (Kylie) of Tuppers Plains, OH and Ricky Cross of Parkersburg, three sisters: Martha Sargent (Howard) of Parkersburg, Joyce Moore of Marietta and Jacqueline Tedrick of Parkersburg. He also leaves behind five grandchildren: Rachael, Susan, Adam, Stephen and Zoey, along with numerous nieces and nephews.

In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his wife Joan (Dailey) Cross in 2013.

Opening Prayer:

Dear heavenly Father, we gather here today to remember the precious life of Eddy. We also gather to say goodbye one last time and celebrate the life that he enjoyed here on earth and thank you for each precious moment and memory that have been had with him. His life has touched so many in so many different ways. We pray that your peace and presence will be upon us during this time and we pray this in the name your Son, Amen.

Message

Introduction:

As we gather here this morning to remember the life of Eddie, I know that many of you are dealing with mixed emotions. On the one hand, there are emotions of great sadness. Sadness not for Eddy because he is in a better place, but sadness because you have lost a dear loved one. But if you are believer, like me, we have a sadness with hope.

There is great joy knowing that when you have a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ that as we leave this world, we enter into His presence. For the scriptures say in:

(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,[a] 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.

“So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. 7 For we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.”

And for the Christian there is no greater joy than to be in the presence of the One that loves them like no one else can.

So today is not a day just aof mourning but a day of celebration. It’s not a day of regret but truly a day of rejoicing. Today we come to remember the life of Eddie and reminisce over all the special moments that you had with him.

But, it is also a day to wrestle with what comes next in our own lives? What comes at the end of ours?

You see when we have a relationship that carries some wonderful promises found in scripture, we face the end with hope. John chapter 14:1-6 state this. Let me read that portion of scripture to you.

"Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And where I go you know, and the way you know." 5 Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?" 6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

I. The First Promise to Christians is that We Don’t have to Fear Death. Jesus said "Don’t let your hearts be troubled"

1) We are troubled when we don’t know what is going to happen when we die, but Jesus has taken the fear out of dying.

a) He has conquered the grave and death so there no need to have any fear in our eternal future.

b) "Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last. 18 I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore.

c) Do you know what the good news is this morning? Death had no hold on Christ nor does it have a hold on us when we trust in Him. We can overcome death through Christ.

d) Because Christ conquered death there should be no fear for the Christian because through Christ we also conquer death.

2) We are Troubled when we view death as an end instead of a beginning.

"For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."

a) Randy has shed the temporary for the eternal, the tarnished for the spotless and the passing for the everlasting.

b) Yes our earthly bodies die, however our heavenly bodies endure for all eternity.

I have no doubt that if Eddie could speak with us today he would tell us to make a choice to follow Jesus. And if you talked with him for a short while you would realize that today he understands what Jesus meant when He said "Don’t let your hearts be troubled". I think trouble is the farthest thing from Eddie’s life right now and it is the farthest thing from a believers mind at the end of our lives as well.

But, Not only can we face death without fear,

II. The Second Promise is Jesus Prepares a Place for Believer’s in Heaven.

What has He Prepared?

And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away."

1) He has prepared A place with no more sorrow or crying.

a) Heaven is a place where the hurts and disappointment of this world have no more sting.

b) Where the frustrations of life are replaced with unspeakable joys.

c) Where the pains of life are not permitted and the failures of life control us no longer.

2) A place with no more pain.

a) Heaven has no handicap parking places.

b) There are not pharmacies and prescriptions to fill.

c) Heaven doesn’t have hospitals, nursing homes, or rehabilitation centers.

d) The days of aches and pains have an end for the believer.

3) A place of Great beauty.

a) Let me give you a small glimpse of what’s believer will see.

18 The construction of its wall was of jasper; and the city was pure gold, like clear glass. 19 The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with all kinds of precious stones. 21 The twelve gates were twelve pearls: each individual gate was of one pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass. 22 But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. 25 Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there). 27 But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. 22:1 And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. 2 In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3 And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. 4 They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. 5 There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever.

III. The Third Promise found in is that He Personally Receives Us.

1) Now I want you to imagine this, the moment that the believer takes their last breath on earth and their first breath in Heaven the Lord will be right there to welcome you.

a) The first image they see is the Lord Jesus Christ. They are Immediately in the presence of the greatest love they can ever know.

b) A love that forgives ever failure that we had in our life.

c) A love that mends the hurts we knew.

d) A love that understood every feeling that we had.

e) It is an unconditional love that completely satisfies the longing of our heart and soul.

VI. The Last Promise is that there is a way, One-way, to Enter Heaven.

1) Jesus said to Thomas "Thomas you say you don’t know the way to heaven but you do, I am the way, the truth, and the life."

a) More than anything I pray we understand this. That we understand that without a relationship with the Savior there is no hope of heaven.

b) That we understand that Christ came to take away the sins of the world and that included ours.

c) That we come to believe in the greatest promise given to all found in three simple verses:

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 18 He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

Our life should revolve around this promise and because of our relationship with the Savior, we will be in a place that we can’t imagine and experiencing a love incomprehensible.

Conclusion:

I know its Eddie’s desire that each one of you have the same relationship with the Savior and many of you do. However, there might be some of you this afternoon that have never given thought to your eternal future, but this afternoon you are asking yourself where would I go if I were to leave this world? And I would like to take just a moment to share with you some scriptures that explain the promise that we have.

1) The first one we have already heard "Jesus said I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father except through me."

a) There is no other way to enter heaven it’s only through a personal relationship with Jesus.

b) It doesn’t have to do with religion i.e. Baptist, Catholic, Presbyterian, etc.

c) It doesn’t have to do with being a good person.

d) It is only about your relationship with Christ. That leads to the second thing Scripture tells us.

2) He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. 13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life,

a) wouldn’t it be great to know that you will spend eternity in heaven? Well, the scriptures say that we can know and that’s through a relationship with Christ

Christ paid the price for us to be saved “8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

3) What must I do to have this relationship with Jesus?

a) We must realize that sin separates us from God. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”

b) Whether it be a little white lie or a lifestyle you know that is not pleasing to God.

We must ask God to forgive us for living that way. “9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

c) We must surrender to Him as our personal Savior.

For "whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved."

Prayer of acceptance

Dear heavenly Father we once again thank you for the life of Eddie. We thank you for all the lives that he has touched and the memories that he has left. And now Father, we ask that you comfort the many family members and friends that have gathered here and help us to always remember the frailty of life. Help us to settle the issue of our eternal destination while time still remains. For it’s in your Sons precious name we pray, Amen.