Sermon Tone Analysis

As we gather here this morning to remember the life of Samantha Martin, we come to remember the great memories that she has left with each of us.

Samantha has left a lot behind, and with that there are a lot of great times, great memories but also a huge whole in our hearts.

There is one that we can turn to to help us with that whole in our heart, that void left in our life.

Let’s open with a word of prayer.

Our Father which art in Heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come.

Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: for this is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever, Pray

Let me say, we are not here to say good bye but to say see you later as long as we believe as Samantha believed.

Obituary

I did not have the opportunity to know Samantha, but have had some great conversations with her mother, son, and other family members that have shared with me about Samantha’s faith.

With Samantha’s faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, she is in a better place today, and if you have that same faith, a relationship with Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior you can one day see Samantha again in heaven, when you leave this life.

In times like these we tend to ask the question why?

You know, like why didn’t God heal her, or why did God allow her to be taken at such an early age?

I am not going to tell you that I have all the answers, but I will share with you some Scriptures that I pray will give you some comfort, and help in these times.

As we are told there in Romans there is nothing that can separate us from the love of Christ, we as people may be separated from the love of others, but there is nothing that can separate us, and nothing that we can do to separate us from the love of Jesus Christ.

Nothing in this world, nothing in our past, in our present or our future, even death will not separate us from the love of Jesus Christ when we are believers of Jesus Christ.

Again I did not have the honor to meet Samantha before she went into the hospital, but I have been told about her relationship with Jesus, and we are given some other promises in Scripture that help us in times like this, and one that can help us is 2 Corinthians 5:6-8

These verses tell us that we here today are in the flesh, in our earthly bodies, and we are absent from the Lord, from Jesus Christ, and we must walk by faith, we must trust in Jesus and the promises that he has given us in his word.

But Samantha, is absent from the body, the earthly body, the flesh, and the moment she took her last breath on this earth on July 10th, she immediately took her first breath in paradise or heaven in the presence of Jesus Christ.

She took her final breath here, and immediately was in the presence of Jesus Christ in heaven, seeing the glory of Jesus and of Heaven.

Here Paul is addressing the Corinthian believers, telling them when you sow a seed it does not grow unless it first dies, and you do not sow a ear of corn, to get a ear of corn, you plant a corneal of corn, that is a corn seed, and then the corn stock grows and produces ears of corn for you to harvest.

When we die on this earth in this physical body, our flesh body is buried, and not all flesh bodies are the same, or body is not the same as a dog, or a bird, or a fish.

Paul says, there are heavenly bodies and then there are earthly bodies.

See when we die, our soul leaves this earthly body which is the flesh and blood, but we will get a heavenly body that is our spiritual body that will know no pain, no sickness, no sadness.

What we are seeing here is that if we have a physical body, that is a earthly body, what Paul is calling the natural body here, we will as Christians, followers of Jesus Christ, we will receive a heavenly or spiritual body.

The spiritual body did not come first, because we are not in heaven first, but on the earth first, so therefore, we have our natural or earthly body first, then we will receive our spiritual or heavenly body.

1 Corinthians 15:50–51 (CSB)

50 What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor can corruption inherit incorruption.

51 Listen, I am telling you a mystery: We will not all fall asleep, but we will all be changed,

Paul tells us, that we cannot inherit the kingdom of God in the flesh and blood, that is we cannot go to heaven in our earthly bodies, we must be changed first, heaven is not meant for earthly bodies, we would not be able to handle heaven in our earthly bodies, therefore, we have to be changed first.

Paul then says, I am telling you a mystery, this mystery is something that God had hidden before now, but is now going to reveal to the people through the apostle Paul.

He says not all will fall asleep, now this is not talking about laying down to go to sleep tonight, but when Jesus would say this person is just asleep, the person was dead, but he was about to bring them back to life.

So what Paul was meaning here is that not everyone will die before going to heaven, he is referring to what we call the rapture.

When Jesus comes to rapture or catch those still alive up into the air, those who are Christians, followers of his that have died, before that point will come with him in the air, at that point their earthly bodies will come up to meet their souls in the air.

As the earthly bodies get ready to join the souls in the air they will be changed in the twinkling of an eye.

Again we cannot go into heaven in our earthly bodies as they are corruptible, we must be incorruptible to go into heaven, as heaven is a perfect place, and there we will know no sin, no pain, no sicknesses, no sadness.

And we will all be reunited together with all of our loved ones that have went on before us, we will see Jesus and worship Him in His direct presence.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 (NKJV)

11 He has made everything beautiful in its time.

That is God has made everything beautiful, God has made Samantha new in heaven with him.

When we leave this earth as believers of Jesus Christ, and take our first breath in eternity in the presence of Jesus Christ we have shed that corruptible body, the flesh and blood, for the incorruptible, our soul, our spiritual body awaits our perfected body, our incorruptible body.

But when we step into Jesus’ presence in eternity we have seen victory over death and over sin, as Jesus has already won that victory when He died on the cross and shed his blood for our sins, and rose the third day from the dead, that we too can have that victory and eternal life with Him.

We are given a glimpse of what heaven will be like for us, and what Samantha is experiencing in Revelation 21:3-4

As followers of Jesus Christ we have victory over death, but we must understand that all people will live for eternity, but there is only two destination that we can live in for eternity, either in heaven with Jesus Christ as a follower of his or in Hell’s damnation if we reject Jesus, that is if we do not decided to follow Him here on earth before we leave this earth.

Jesus told us the way to get to heaven in John 14:1-6

I do not know your heart, only you and God knows your heart, but I do know that with out a relationship with Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of your life, as he said in John there, you cannot cometh unto the Father, that is you cannot make it to heaven, because Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.

From what I am told, Samantha believed that and had that relationship, and therefore, she is in heaven today, and if you want to see her again, then you need to have that relationship also.

I want to share a poem that I pray will help bring comfort to you today:

It’s called: Safe in the Arms of Jesus.

By Fanny J. Crosby

Safe in the arms of Jesus, safe on His gentle breast, there by His love o’ershaded, sweetly my soul shall rest.

Hark! ‘tis the voice of angels, borne in a song to me, over the fields of glory, over the jasper sea.

Safe in the arms of Jesus, safe from corroding care, safe from the world’s temptations, sin cannot harm me there.

Free from the blight of sorrow, free from my doubts and fears; only a few more trials, only a few more tears!

Jesus, my heart’s dear refuge, Jesus has died for me; firm on the rock of ages, ever my trust shall be.

Here let me wait with patience, wait till the night is o’er; wait till I see the morning break on the golden shore.

Safe in the arms of Jesus, safe on His gentle breast, there by His love o’ershaded, sweetly my soul shall rest.

by - Fanny J. Crosby

Samantha love her family, and she has left a whole in your hearts, but she has also left memories that you can always look back and think of the great times you have had with her.

I had someone tell me not to long ago, he said, remember the F-word, and at first I was like what, but he said, remember the F-word, faith, remember to keep the faith, whenever you are going through tough times remember to keep the faith.

I thought wow, that can surely catch you off guard if you are not careful, but it makes you remember too keep the faith too.

Times like this are hard, we struggle, but keep the faith, remember the F-word, keep your eyes on Jesus.

Because with Jesus we have hope for tomorrow, see I do not know what tomorrow will bring, but I know who holds tomorrow, Jesus is the King of kings and the Lord of lords.

I can always put my faith and hope in Him.

Why?

Because he loves me, and the greatest of these three is love, because Love is God and God is love, and God demonstrated His love when He sent Jesus to die for us even when we did not even deserve it.

A saying that I have heard a lot, and it is so true of our loved ones, when we lose them.

If love could have saved you, you would have lived forever.

Samantha may not have lived forever here on this earth, but with here relationship with Jesus Christ, she will live forever in eternity with Jesus in heaven.

You also can live forever with Samantha and Jesus in heaven if you have that same relationship.

Let’s close in a word of prayer.