Anita Manis Service Message

Be Comforted

The New International Version Chapter 1

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5 For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.

Let us take a few moments to reflect on the richness of Anita’s Father, her elder brother Christ, her Holy Spirit.

We are not hear to talk about someone who is dead.

Anita is alive, because Jesus is alive.

Anita’s family has been dear to me for close to two decades now.

And over that period of time Anita was always there, overseeing the story of her family. A true matriarch, it wasn’t long before I dropped the Mrs Manis line and just started calling her Grammy. Because why wouldn’t you? This was undoubtedly my favorite thing about Anita. Her ability to gather people around her and make them feel loved and cared for. When you look at her legacy there is strong roots of this running through her family.

There are also strong genes running in the Manis line and all of her children, grands and greats carry little pieces of Anita’s appearance with them.

Stronger than DNA and the gift of hospitality however is the iron cord of faith that has been passed down to her family.

I have never seen Anita functioning in any context that was not 1. Pouring into her family 2. Pouring into her church 3. Pouring into her community

Anita lived her life like a drink offering. Poured out for the sake of another.

This room is full of people who were touched by Anita.

Consequently this room is full of people who have been touched by Christ.

You see Anita knew who her Master was.

And I can say with confidence that she would want you to know him too.

All of history hinges on the arrival of a man in Israel 2000 years ago who proclaimed “Good news! The kingdom of heaven is near! Repent and believe the good news!”

The people hearing this message would have been gripped with this word “Good News” as oppression, sickness, and death surrounded them on all sides.

As Jesus walked amongst Jews and Gentiles he showed them that their greatest need however was not freedom from rulers, or healing to their bodies, but the need to be reconciled to God because of sin.