Celebration of Life | Ever Love
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Introduce Myself
Introduce Myself
Good afternoon everyone!
Thank you for having me here today. My name is Josiah King, I have the privilege of serving as one of the Pastors at Brainerd Baptist Church located On Cloud Springs Rd and also in Chattanooga.
Today, I also have the privilege to walk with you through the Memorial and Celebration of the life of Ever.
I want to make myself available to you. If you have any questions or would like to talk about anything beyond our time here, please know that I will be here today as long as I need to be, or would love to meet with anyone at a later time.
Opening - The Teacher Called Death
Opening - The Teacher Called Death
(Jim Henry, “The Teacher called Death”, CSB Funeral Sermon, 930.)
Teachers play an important part in the human experience.
All people in one way or another, for better or worse, are affected by the teachers in their lives.
Some of these mentors are parents.
Some are in our school systems.
Some are brothers and sisters.
We all know that these teachers even played a big role in Ever’s life.
Some are classmates.
Some teachers are found in the church.
Teachers impact our lives from the cradle to the grave.
There is one teacher that we do not like to listen to. But this teacher raises our awareness about one of life’s most important mysteries and realties.
The teacher’s calling card is marked death.
It is said that a mediocre teacher tells.
The good teacher explains.
The superior teacher demonstrates.
The great teacher inspires.
The death of a loved one become a teachable moment. Let’s listen while God’s Word speaks to us about Death: “And Just as it is appointed for people to die once–and after this, judgement.” (Heb. 9:27)
Life, when it is brief, is a reminder that all of us can be recalled at any time. Life is transitory. “Yes, every human being stands as only a vapor” (Ps. 39:5). Since we have no guarantee of how long God chooses to grant life, we must maximize the opportunities God gives us. Count every blessing. Bless every day by counting.
Let’s first talk about the Joy in this life...
I. Joy (in Life)
I. Joy (in Life)
Today, we come together to remember the life of Kieran Ever Mckai Love. He was born to Domitina and Ovidio on June 9, 2006 in Dalton Georgia.
Ever was raised by loving parents, Steve and Robin Love alongside his siblings AJ, Joey, Stevie, Angela, Miriam, Debbie, Raymi and his cousin Marrisa.
Ever was a young man who loved everything from horseback riding to sword fighting his siblings. Ever liked pirates, Spiderman and SpongeBob.
He had a contagious laugh that would brighten anybody’s day.
*STORIES*
“From what I’ve heard, Ever was quite mischievous. When his parents or one of his siblings would try to tell him to stop doing something, or tell him something he didn’t like, he’d plug his ears with his fingers and look away and ignore them. He was so determined to chew his shirt that one time he even put his head down in his sand bucket at the beach to slyly chew on his shirt without being discovered.”
Coming from a large family and being a middle child myself, I can tell you from experience that Ever had to be quite determined to fend off his siblings! Being part of a large family can be a lot of fun. With siblings always around, there is no shortage of fights to get into or friends to play with.
“Ever always loved to pick on his siblings, but nonetheless, He was very much loved and adored by everyone who came across his path.”
The Pain in death is a sad reality of this life we live...
II. Pain (in Death)
II. Pain (in Death)
Many people wonder why death happens.
Why does someone have to pass from this life to the next?
What happens after death?
Where do we go and what do we do?
It is painful, and at times unbearable to watch a family member, a loved one, or a close friend pass away.
As a follower of Jesus Christ, I believe and follow the Holy Scriptures that He gave us as the guide for understanding the joys and pains in this life.
The Scripture says,
We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, concerning those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who have no hope.
Why do they not have hope? Because the scripture says,
when he takes vengeance with flaming fire on those who don’t know God and on those who don’t obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will pay the penalty of eternal destruction from the Lord’s presence and from his glorious strength
There is no hope because they did not know God, and the scripture says that those who do not know God, “will pay the penalty of eternal destruction from the Lord’s presence and from His Glory.”
In this life, there is not hope for today, nor hope for tomorrow apart from God. There are struggles in life to overcome pain, addictions, and bad habits.
But the scripture does not stop there! We have hope for the future...
III. Hope (for the Future)
III. Hope (for the Future)
*Scripture goes on to tell us in
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, in the same way, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.
Those who believe in Jesus have hope for His future coming.
Believers in Jesus have already passed from death to life. That’s over. That’s done. The passing from death to life is over.
They already have eternal life guaranteed to them. Eternal life can’t stop. Followers of Jesus don’t see death. They don’t taste death.
Their bodies do die but that’s why the Bible frequently treats death as sleep. When Jesus returns, the trumpet will sound, the believers who have died will be raised imperishable and they will be changed.
The bodies die but their souls don’t die. We passed from death to life when we repent of our sins and choose to acknowledge Jesus as King and Ruler over our life.
We have eternal life. Eternal life is unbroken and unending in life.
For we say this to you by a word from the Lord: We who are still alive at the Lord’s coming will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangel’s voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
When we put our faith in Jesus we can have hope! One day, we will be joined in heaven with those who have gone before us!
The Bible says in Philippians 1:23, For those who believe in Jesus, to be “Apart from the body is to be at home with the Lord.”
In 2 Corinthians 5:8, the writer Paul loved the thought that he could never die.
R.C. Sproul used to say, “I’m not afraid of death, I’m afraid of dying.”
I know exactly what he means.
We have the death issue fixed,
but this dying thing, what will that be like?
I want to say to you on the basis of this text, that for those who follow Jesus there will be not one millisecond of broken fellowship with Jesus. That’s amazing — not one, because we will be joined with Him.
https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/death-is-not-the-end-of-life
Conclusion
Conclusion
Friends and Family of Ever,
while I did not know Ever,
I want to make a plea to you on his behalf. This does not have to be the last time we have with Ever. We have great hope that Ever is with Jesus today.
“Paul reminds us in the scriptures that if we believe in the gospel, we also believe in the Second Coming of Christ! This topic is more comforting to us in our loss than that of the resurrection; it’s the true hope that only we as followers of Jesus have. The scene he describes causes us to pause in our grief to anticipate the future. Funerals (pg. 65)
if you will bare with me for just another moment, I want to share some scripture with you that offers this hope and anticipate of the future:
Then we who are still 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.
Therefore repent and turn back, so that your sins may be wiped out,
If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
As we gather today to celebrate the life of Ever, Let me ask you, has there been a time in your life, when you have committed to follow Jesus? Did you, as the Scripture says, confessed with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believed this in your heart? Have you repented of your sin and turned to Jesus for the Salvation of your soul so that you would spend eternity with Him?
If not, let me encourage you today, that we have great hope that Ever is with Jesus today. Let us use the passing of Ever from this life to the next, to be the teacher that we all need. Let us check our eternal soul with our creator. If you need to, Confess and Repent today and ask Jesus to save you from eternal separation from Him.
*Pray at the end, a Prayer of Thanksgiving for Hope*