Lucy Silver Funeral

Lucy Silver Funeral

2 Tim 3:10 But you, Timothy, certainly know what I teach, and how I live, and what my purpose in life is. You know my faith, my patience, my love, and my endurance.

2Ti 3:11 You know how much persecution and suffering I have endured. You know all about how I was persecuted in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra

INTRODUCTION

Good morning! I am Pastor Jerry Underwood, I am pastor of Southpointe Church here in Fort Smith. And I know that you maybe are wondering where did this guy fit into the picture.

Well, I was the Associate Pastor At Evangel Temple and I had the privilege of meeting this wonderful lady. Sister Lucy. We became friend she was so sweet to me and I could not help but to just love her with my whole heart.

And I would like to thank the family for giving me this honor to minister at Sister Lucy home-going celebration.

We are all here this morning to celebrate the life of Lucy Silver.

I am sure that many people have came by and visited with the family because Mrs. Lucy meant so much to them.

She’s part of their memory. There are many people here this morning who have probably have something from their lives where Mrs Lucy was involved. You see, we all have memories.

Mrs Lucy’s Obituaries has been in the paper and that obituary is sharing memories.

Obituaries are a unique pieces of writing. It is a 2 inch wide column of words.

We try to record the entire life of a person within that 2 inch wide column of words. We attempt to remember. We try to highlight our memories.

All condensed down to a couple of inches in some newspaper. What can we really learn about someone from an obituary?

1. Where they lived.

2. Where they died.

3. A few interests.

4. Their survivors.

It’s hard to capture all the memories we have of one person’s life in a few inches of newspaper.

It’s hard to find the essence of a person in an obituary.

1. What made them tick?

2. What shaped them?

3. What made up their life?

4. How did they approach life?

We don’t find those things in an obituary. But we find them in the life she lived. In the life that she lived we have those memories of what made Mrs. Lucy.

As I was recalling my own memories of Mrs. Lucy, I was drawn to the life experiences she shared with a Biblical character.

I know there are comparisons between Mrs Lucy’s life and the life of women in the Bible.

But I think her life was more in parallel with a prominent male Bible figure.

Apostle Paul, most Bible scholars believe the last writings we have of Paul is the book of 2 Timothy.

Paul wrote a very personal letter to Timothy. He touched on subjects that were very important to Him. And he wrote 2 Timothy as a man who knew his time was near.

There’s a couple of verses Paul writes to Timothy. In those verses was Paul way of trying to get Timothy to remember what he’s seen in Paul’s life.

Those verses are My test this morning 2 Timothy 3:10-11. Paul was telling Timothy You know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, the persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me and I endured it all.

That was Paul’s obituary. That was his life. An obituary couldn’t capture Paul’s influence on Timothy. Paul told Timothy, “You know all about me...”

You see, It was Paul’s life, lived in living color, that made the memories.

We can’t sum up Mrs Lucy in a few inches in the newspaper or a short service this morning.

But our memories are made up of watching her live. And that life she lived is a joy to celebrate and lessons to remember.

When we think about what Paul wrote brings memories of Mrs Lucy’s life.

There’s so much they shared in common. Paul said You know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, and my persecutions, sufferings.

I saw much of Mrs Lucy’s life in those words. Memories to remember her by. To me Apostle Paul is saying I don’t need a lot of words but just watch my life.

Mrs. Lucy was always quite around my wife and I but her life said volumes.

Mrs. Lucy was an Encourager.

That trait came about because of how she saw people. She saw the good in all people and she wanted to encourage them to be everything God created them to be.

Apostle Paul wrote the entire books of 1 and 2 Timothy to encourage his spiritual son, Timothy.

And as Paul gets ready to leave this world, he still wants to encourage him. That was a mark of Paul’s life. He was an Encourager.

Mrs. Lucy was an Encourager. It was that way around me I never notice her being a woman of many words but the atmosphere around her just make you feel good.

And that’s encouraging. Not just a feel-good-for-a-few-minutes encouragement. Mrs. Lucy’s encouragement was life-changing encouragement.

I would venture to say that every person in this room received encouragement from her. 1. That’s what we’re here to remember this afternoon.

A Godly woman who could make anybody feel they could conquer the world. 3. We’re here to remember the contagious encouragement of this wonderful lady. Mrs. Lucy was an encourager.

Mrs. Lucy was an Endurer.

Paul endured many things. Beatings,Shipwrecks, Snake bites, Abandonment, Hatred.

Yet he never lost his faith. He never gave up on God.

Mrs. Lucy never gave up. She never lost her faith. She never turned her back on God. She took the things that came at her in life and ran to God.

She had a faith that came from a real relationship with a real God. That was with her every step of the way. She endured.

Mrs Lucy was an Enjoyer.

She enjoyed because she loved. She was one of the most loving people I ever knew. She loved.

We say that about other people. They love people. But Mrs. Lucy really loved people. She enjoyed people because she loved people. That’s Mrs. Lucy’s obituary to me.

Her life. 1. She encouraged. 2. She endured. 3. She enjoyed.

One final thing I want to say: I want to go back to the the text I started with:

2 Timothy 3:10-11. You know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra, the persecutions I endured.

That’s what I read earlier. 2 Timothy 3:10-11. But there is a little more to verse 11 it ends like this. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them.

Mrs. Lucy trusted in the Lord. Through all the good times and all the bad. She trusted the Lord. Because she knew Jesus would rescue her from it all.