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All right, good morning everybody. Thank you so much for being here and I just wanted to welcome
you to our church, our Church of Church Foundation Baptist Church and we're here to remember Ricky
Cotton Jr. and once again I just wanted to thank you and extend our condolences to your family.
And so we're gonna have a traditional service here and we're gonna sing some songs and we're
gonna watch a slideshow and you can remember some memories and we'll have a eulogy where the family
and friends can speak. I'm going to preach a short sermon and I'll have a gospel presentation
and then there'll be refreshments to follow and then there'll be a graveside service which is
going to be at two o'clock and that is at Southwest Cherry Park in Southwest Hensley
Road in Troutville, Oregon. So it is about a 25-minute drive with no traffic so we need to
keep in mind that I should probably leave here about 1, 1 15-ish if you're planning on going to
the graveside service. And just some basic instructions about our church. We do have
restrooms that are located around the corner and there's two over there and then there's actually
a third one around the corner back there and for if there's children that are upset and crying or
whatever we do have a mother-baby room which is right back there and then there's a dad-baby room
where you can take your dad can take his child in there. So those rooms have where you can still
hear everything and there's a video monitor in there then you can actually watch through that
window right there if so needed. So with that being said we're going to start our service with
a hymn and it's going to be hymn number 41 by this this is called the Suite by and by and we'll have
our song leader come up here and lead us. There should be hymn books close to you and underneath
the seats. Song number 41 in your green hymnal suite by and by page number 41.
Page 41 in your green hymnal suite by and by. Singing out loud on that first verse.
There's a land that is fairer than day and by faith we can see it afar
for the father waits over the way to prepare us a dwelling place there in the suite by and by
and by we shall meet on that beautiful shore in the suite by and by
we shall meet on that beautiful shore on the second we shall sing on that beautiful shore
the melody of songs of the blessed and our spirit shall sorrow no more
not a sigh for the blessing of rest in the suite by and by
we shall meet on that beautiful shore in the suite by and by
we shall meet on that beautiful shore on the last to our bountiful father above
we will offer our tribute a praise for the glorious gift of his love
and the blessings that hallow our days in the suite by and by
we shall meet on that beautiful shore in the suite by and by we shall meet on that beautiful
i just want to open everything up with a word of prayer let's go to the to god and prayers bow our
heads together heavenly father we thank you lord so much that there are so many people that have
come to remember ricky cotton jr and lord we know that he's with you in your everlasting arms and
lord i just pray that you would comfort the family lord they're mourning the sudden death of ricky
and just pray lord that you would just help us as church members here to minister to the people that
have come here and might not know us or know our church let's pray that lord you would that you
would comfort them and keep them and bless them and that you bless the services now in jesus
name we pray amen all right we're going to sing one more song before we do the bible reading and
then we'll have a picture slideshow after that come on up brandon and sing does jesus care him number
89 all right turn to page 89 we'll sing does jesus care page 89
does jesus care page 89
in on the first does jesus care when my heart is pain too deeply for earth and song
as the burdens press and the cares distress and the way grows weary
long oh yes he cares i know he cares his heart is touched with my grief
when the days are weary the long nights dreary i know my savior cares
on the second does jesus care when my way is dark with the nameless dread in fear
as the day light fades into deep night shades does he care enough to be near
oh yes he cares i know he cares his heart is touched with my grief
when the days are weary the long nights dreary
me
does jesus care when i tried and failed to resist some temptation strong
when for my deep grief i find no relief though my tears
flow all the night long oh yes he cares i know he cares his heart is touched with my grief
me
does jesus care and i've said goodbye to the dearest
and my sad heart aches till it nearly breaks it is odd to him does he see
oh yes he cares i know he cares his heart is touched with my grief
me
all right if you guys could turn to john chapter 14
if you'd like to follow along and you raise your hand one of the ushers can bring you a bible
john chapter 14 will be verses one through six
and then we'll go to a second scripture in first corinthians right after that first corinthians 15
so john 14 verse 1 says let not your heart be troubled you believed in god believe also in me
and 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 and if i go and prepare a place for you i will come again and receive you unto
myself that where i am there ye may also be and whether i go you know and the way you know thomas
sayeth unto him lord we know not whether thou goest and how can we know the way jesus sayeth
unto him i am the way the truth and the life no man cometh unto the father but by me now we're
going to go ahead and turn to first corinthians chapter 15 will be in verse 51 through 57
first corinthians 15 51 through 57
the bible reads in 50 verse 51 behold i show you a mystery we shall not all sleep but we shall all
be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump for the trumpet shall sound and
the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed for this corruptible must put
on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality so when this corruptible shall have
put on incorruption and this mortal shall have put on immortality then shall be brought to pass
the saying that is written death is swallowed up in victory oh death where is thy sting oh grave
where is thy victory the sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is law but thanks be to god
which giveth which giveth us the victory through our lord jesus christ
all right now we're going to have the picture slideshow
well that was a great video and i don't know if i introduced myself but i'm pastor thompson i'm the
pastor of this church and we have several members of ricky's family that go here and attend on a
regular basis miss sheila of course his mom uh she's i've known her for about eight years now
and she is a wonderful church member and um maybe the sheila you knew in the past is a little bit
different but uh the sheila i know is a born again saved christian and uh so is uh her family
some of her family members that come here miss sierra and ethan and uh you know it's my pleasure
to be their pastor and it wouldn't be a baptist funeral without having a sermon and so i'm gonna
invite you to follow along with me in first thessalonians chapter number four and i want
to preach to you a short sermon that's not going to be super long like usually i preach for about
an hour the bible says we're surrounded by a cloud of many witnesses in the book of hebrews
and right now i know that ricky's looking down from heaven and i know that ricky's in heaven
because i know that he had a clear testimony of salvation and he actually got saved
if you look on your program it says born again april 14th 2021 and born again means that you're
spiritually into god's family and i'm sure you've heard the term born again christian well
ricky professed faith in jesus christ on that date and we have the person actually here
visiting with us that actually got to present the gospel to him and uh and he was saved gloriously
and so that's how i know that ricky's looking down from heaven upon his family right now and
one thing i know about anybody that's saved that's in heaven they want their family members
to be saved and also go to heaven but i also want to in the sermon this morning i want to comfort
those people who are saved in this room and have professed a belief in jesus christ and i want to
give you some comfort from the book of first thessalonians chapter number four and one thing
i know ricky's looking at right now is that or one thing i know that he's thinking
is that he forgives miss sheila for wearing a cowboy shirt in his presence
because it looked to me like he liked the pittsburgh steelers a little bit
okay and i'm sorry if i didn't get a chance to shake all the family members hand and meet
everybody but uh i hope after the services are over that you would uh or i would get a
chance to speak with the family members i i can see some a couple things about ricky in that
slideshow i can see that he was all smiles you know unless he's like doing a thug life
type picture or whatever but uh he seemed like he was a pretty happy guy and he had
a smile on his face looks like he loved his family and uh and i know that he's loved by
many people in this room and you know it's okay to weep it's okay to cry it's okay to feel sad
because this is the day that you would do that and at the graveside service that'll be the time
when we commend his life or his body excuse me into the grave and you get to say your final
goodbyes to him but it's good for family to get together and and you know i know in a mixed group
like this people haven't seen each other in many years and you know what's good to do is to lay
aside any any issues you have with each other and just we're here for ricky and to remember him
and i hope that that's the spirit that's amongst the family and friends today let me read for you
in i'm in the wrong chapter first thessalonians chapter four if you if you want a bible we can
have one of the ushers bring you a bible if you just want to read along with me if does anybody
want a bible in the in the family anybody well then i'll just uh if you if you don't want one
i'll just ask that you listen and so in first thessalonians chapter four the bible says but
i would not have you to be ignorant brethren concerning them which are asleep that you sorrow
not even as others which have no hope for if we believe that jesus died and rose again even so
them also which sleep in jesus will god bring with him for this we say unto you by the word
of the lord that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the lord shall not prevent
them which are asleep for the lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of
the archangel and with the trump of god and the dead in christ shall rise first then we which are
alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the lord in the air and
so shall we ever be with the lord wherefore comfort one another with these words let's have a word of
prayer heavenly father we thank you lord so much for the life of ricky cotton jr and i just pray
lord that uh anybody under the sound of my voice would just stop what they're doing and just pay
attention to the word of god for just a little while this morning and lord even the gospel
presentation afterward i pray lord that you fill me with your spirit as i preach your word and i
pray that that you would lord speak to the people that are here through your word in jesus name we
pray amen all right so
again we are gathered in honor and memory of ricky cotton jr and he passed away
in a way that nobody probably expected and i'm not going to bring up the details about that but
it's a very sad thing because life was cut short and um you know it's just it is a terrible thing
what happened and just know this that the person whether they're caught or not will will receive
a punishment for that and so don't think that just because even if they never catch the person that
did what they did that there is a recompense that god is a just judge and he's not going to just
allow someone to escape scot-free for something that they did whether it be now or whether it
be the life to come god will judge and he's a righteous judge and he judges right every single
time and so i didn't really know ricky i didn't i didn't i met him one time and we hung out one
time and we shot some guns together and it was a good time he had his nephew ethan with him and
we you know that was the only time i got to meet him but one thing i do know is that we prayed for
ricky for many years just like we've prayed for many of of ricky's family members for many years
and are still praying and one of the things that we were praying about ricky is that he would get
saved and guess what he did and so god does answer prayers god does answer the you know he
you know and obviously we have free will to do whatever we want we could either choose to be
saved or choose not to be saved but that's our choice that is called free will and ricky chose
a of his own free will to believe on jesus christ now his life as a christian didn't last very long
but you know the funny thing is though is that even though the bodies that are mortal bodies
that we have you know those bodies die he's in heaven today and he's with god and so the bible
says we will ever be with the lord so it's not eternal life is just that it's eternal life that
lasts forever and so you could either have eternal life or eternal death according to what the bible
says and uh let's uh i want to you know just by way of introduction just say that in this time
that we feel such heartache and pain and loss you know the scripture does offer us comfort it does
and encouragement and victory it seems that in writing to the thessalonian believers that paul
knew of some church members who had recently lost lost some loved ones and he lost those people
lost loved ones and they were concerned about what happened to them and so to those who are
hurting and grieving he offers a reason for us to hope number one and i only have two points in the
sermon i want to i want to look at the fact that christians should have a different reaction when
people pass away that are saved in verse number 13 paul specifically addresses those in the church
who have lost friends family or loved ones he tells them that what what the way we should react
is different than those that have no hope and what does it mean to have no hope it means those
persons that are those people that are not saved and so two things those are two things to keep in
mind this morning and you know one of those things is um our our morning is natural it's normal to be
bereaved it's normal to be upset when we lose somebody and especially uh in a time of uh you
know it's something that's tragic like what happened to ricky you know paul is not saying
that we should not be sad when our loved ones die in psalms 116 verse 15 it says precious in the
sight of the lord is the death of his saints god does you know it's important to him when one of
his saints passed away now i know that probably when you think of saints you think of someone with
a halo on their head and you might not think that about ricky okay but it does you know a
saint is just someone that's saved that's all it means it doesn't mean that they are like mother
teresa and or something like that that they've evolved into some sainthood or something but
saints literally just means someone that's saved and and it says precious in the death or excuse
me precious in the sight of the lord is the death of his saints and so god looks at it like what do
you think of when you think of precious you know precious gold precious silver you know when god
has someone that that believes in him he looks at them like they are precious like gold like
silver like a precious thing and the lord does his work on earth through his people so it doesn't
make sense if their death isn't costly to him because you know and even though we don't
understand the reasons why and what happened exactly with ricky we do know that god looked
at it as something that was precious because he was taken early you know and people will say at
times like these you know they'll blame god for what happened but you know god again once again
is a god that allows us to have free will and in a world where there's free will and in a world
where there's sin people will do the most horrible things to each other and so is it god's fault that
ricky passed on i don't believe it is god's fault because he didn't have that he doesn't
choose what everybody does he's not a puppet master that controls everything we do he allows
free will and unfortunately you know people choose to do wicked things with that free will
but he knows our loss because he experienced it with us when you think of the death of lazarus
in the bible if you remember that story he knew that lazarus would would raise from the dead he
knew he was going to raise lazarus from the dead and when he saw the sad faces and the people that
were crying and weeping over lazarus in that sealed tomb he felt the loss of the loved ones
that were standing around and the bible says that jesus wept shortest verse in the whole bible jesus
wept and so even though jesus christ is god manifest in the flesh even though he's the
creator of the whole heaven and earth and he created mankind you know the the world fell
the world fell by adam and eve and satan deceiving them and you know he but that doesn't mean that
he doesn't care for us that doesn't mean that he doesn't he can't get down on our level he
literally got down on our level and became a man so that he could die and suffer for our sins
so that we could be saved and so when he saw those sad faces the bible says that jesus wept
and we know that departed believers will be resurrected because that's what the bible teaches
and at this church we do believe the bible and you know but being apart from your loved ones does
cause natural pain and grief and that's something that's normal it's natural and it's and sometimes
mourning can last a long time and sometimes uh you know it's very painful for a long period of time
but you know our rejoicing is supernatural paul explains that we are to react differently than
those that have no hope as christians as a saved person in here we are to react differently because
we know where ricky is and we believe we're that that ricky is saved and he's with god
for all eternity and one day if you're saved also you'll get to spend time with ricky once again
and even though i don't know ricky now and i didn't really know him that well in life
i'll get to know him you know when i when i see him i'll walk up and shake his hand again
say hey you know what's going on ricky let me get to know you and that's a great promise from
god that it's not we don't a lot of people say that there's just life on this earth and that's it
well that's that's pretty miserable you know what's a great promise of god is that we can
have everlasting life and one we we were all granted life at some point every every person
this room was born and we have the gift of life but what are you doing with that gift
and the gift of god is eternal life and so god makes that promise and our rejoicing
should be supernatural because you know paul explains to us that we are not to grieve like
those that have no hope as believers we have comfort and hope in the future and we know that
our departed loved ones who are fellow believers are now with the lord at second corinthians
chapter 5 verse 8 says scripture even calls them blessed i heard a voice from heaven saying unto me
blessed are the dead which die in the lord from henceforth yea sayeth the spirit that they may
rest from their labors and their works do follow them revelation chapter 14 verse number 13 number
two this morning is that we have to understand an important reality let's look back in first
thessalonians chapter 14 through verse 17 verse 14 through 17 it says for if we believe that
jesus died and rose again even so them also which sleep in jesus will god bring with him
and so the bible teaches that when someone dies and they're saved they're just asleep
their bodies asleep it's asleep in the ground and no matter what happens to that body
when christ comes back he's going to change those bodies into a body that can never die
and those bodies will be resurrected from the dead to to the point where they can never
perish again and that's the way he is now because jesus christ died on the cross he was
buried and rose again the third day and when he appeared to people he had a new body that could
never die and that is the promise of the resurrection it says for if we believe that
jesus died and rose again even so them also which sleep in jesus will god bring with him for this
we say unto you by the word of the lord that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of
the lord shall not prevent them which are asleep so the people that have died first they're going
to raise first they get the first that first initial resurrection and it says for the lord
himself shall descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the archangel and with the trump
of god and the dead in christ shall rise first then we which are alive and remain shall be caught
up together with them in the clouds to meet the lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the
lord and so the bible teaches very clearly that we will forever be with the lord there is a day
that he's coming back and people will say well you know where's the promise of his coming well
god wants as many people to be saved as possible we don't know when that time is going to come no
man knows the day or the hour when he will return but i i'm telling you this the bible is true and
jesus christ is going to come back someday and he's going to claim his uh the people that believe
and unfortunately for those that will not believe there's there's not there's not good things coming
to those people but i don't want to get too much into that at this point
but uh it's a privilege there's a privilege of saints that are deceased when christ returns he
will bring the deceased believers with him while we grieve their loss surely they rejoice and
anticipate the day that they will be the first to see the resurrected christ for return for his
people and um the there's a triumphant return of christ see before christ was killed and crucified
and it looked like all hope was lost and he resurrect he was resurrected and appeared to
his disciples but the rest of the world didn't see him see it takes faith to you know you have
to have faith and and that's the only thing that's going to please god so yeah i can't put god in a
test tube for you this morning and prove to you that he's that he's real the bible says that we
have to believe by faith for salvation and christ is going to return though like he said and we are
told that the lord himself will descend with a shout and with the voice of the archangel with
the trump of god and the dead in christ shall rise first when christ comes for the second time will
not be in a manger wrapped in swaddling clothes announced by a single star to wise men or an angel
or to shepherds he will come wrapped in glory and splendor and with an earth-shaking shout
of an archangel and with the trumpet of god himself and he will be the first to see these
things is the dead in christ so ricky will get to see first he's gonna his body's gonna raise up
first you know with all the other believers that have died in christ before and uh right now the
bible says to be absent from the body is to be present with the lord so you know there's no such
thing as purgatory or baptist here we don't believe in that so and because the bible doesn't say that
it doesn't teach it there's heaven or hell and that's all there is so it says um also there's
going to be a triumphant reunion after the deceased saints are resurrected to be with christ in his
glory then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with him to meet in the clouds
to meet the lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the lord verse 17 says we'll be
reunited with our fellow believers whom we have lost and all together will be united with with
christ and all his glory for the rest of eternity so in conclusion today you know we're naturally
grieved and that's that's a normal thing but we also have reason for great comfort i encourage
you to put a bookmark here in first thessalonians chapter 4 and maybe revisit this it's it's it's a
it's a very encouraging passage and when you feel your deepest pain you can read this passage
and surely this will engage you to the deepest anticipation of christ's return
paul said about these verses wherefore comfort one another with these words these are verses of
comfort to say hey when someone dies and they're saved we know that they're with god we know that
they're safe we know where we're going you know many years ago i was at a memorial service and
it was a little different than this one but i was at a memorial service and it made me wonder
like my friend died in a tragic accident and uh he was killed really early in life he was only
20 years old and uh it made me think like what's gonna happen to me when i die and that that's what
put me on the path to being saved and so it took some time for me to understand that but sometimes
you know even though death is tragic it can also make you look inward and say where am i at where
am i gonna go what's gonna happen with me where am i gonna go when i die and that's that's one of
the great questions of humanity where'd we come from where are we gonna go when we die and many
people in the world want to know that and i'll just say this that the bible does give you that
assurance christianity gives you that assurance so as we leave today let's remind each other
in our grief that our friend ricky will be one of the first to see the magnificent return of the
lord jesus christ and we shall one day see our friend and brother ricky again and we'll meet him
up in the clouds so you know if we're alive and we remain we're all going to be together
again someday and matthew chapter 5 verse 4 it says blessed are they that mourn for they shall
be comforted and that's one of the beatitudes of christ now miss sheila asked me if i would read a
poem and after i read the poem i'm going to give a presentation of the gospel and i just hope that
you'll be patient with me i i know that maybe some of you aren't necessarily religious but
sheila asked me to do this and you know she's a great church member of mine and i love her
dearly and our whole church family loves her and i want to respect her wishes precious memories is
the name of the poem it says we weren't prepared that day when god called you away so many tears
we cried longing to keep you at our side how we loved and missed you so and weren't ready to let
you go but it gives us comfort to know within the twinkling of our eyes you entered into paradise
a place with beauty beyond measure eternal happiness and treasure where you have no more
pain and tears no sorry excuse me no sorrow worries and fears although for now we are apart
your precious memories live in our heart until god calls us each to heaven's door where we will be
reunited forevermore those precious memories now when it comes to the gospel the gospel means
the good news i'm sure you've heard people say have you heard the good news
well the gospel is good news because you know the bible teaches that we can be saved
and we can know for 100 surety that we are but there's about i'm just going to go through five
things we must believe in order to be saved okay now try to go through it fairly quickly but i
want you to understand and even if you don't get it today you maybe you're just not you know your
minds and your heart's not ready to hear this i mean i pray that some of the things that i say
to you or all the things i say to you would sink down into your ears and into your heart
and that you would trust christ as your savior if it's not today than some other day but it
didn't happen to me on the day of my friend's funeral but it happened pretty soon after that
about a month later and i was searching for answers and i found him and i'm glad that god
you know the bible says if you knock he's going to open the door for you
the first thing you have to admit is that you're a sinner and so the bible teaches that all
have sinned for all have sinned and come short of the glory of god so none of us is good enough
to get to heaven on our own none of us can earn our way to heaven because we've all sinned if you
send one sin that makes you a sinner if you've lied one time it makes you a liar right well if
you send one time it makes you a sinner and i think everybody in this room would admit that
they've probably committed one sin and you know if you're not a liar you probably admit you've
committed a lot more sins than just one right so all have sinned to come short of the glory of god
and the second thing you have to understand is that there's a penalty for that sin
so the penalty for sin the bible says in romans 6 23 is the wages for the wages of sin is death
now when the bible talks about death in this way it's not talking about it's not talking about just
a physical death it's talking about a spiritual death also and so ultimately death only comes
upon those that are um die unsaved the bible says to be you know um for the well it's well it says
in revelation 20 verse 14 it says in death and hell were cast into the lake of fire this is the
second death so there's two deaths there's the death of a body and the second death is the death
of the soul but that death isn't just you know it blinks and it's over that second death just
like eternal life it's eternal death so god made adam to be a living soul and so that soul lives
on whether it's in heaven or whether it's in hell verse 15 in romans chat or excuse me revelation
chapter 20 says and whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the
lake of fire at this church and i think many other churches believe that hell is a literal place
the bible says it's in the heart of the earth that's where jesus went for three days and three
nights the heart of the earth revelation 21 verse 8 says but the fearful and unbelieving
and the abominable and murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars shall
have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone which is the second death
and so there's a you you saw there's a lot of uh you know you might not be a murderer you might not
be a whoremonger or a sorcerer an idolater but everybody could probably admit i hope that you've
lied and so if the bible says all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire
and brimstone which is the second death that means we're all in deep trouble right and so revelation
14 verse 11 says and the smoke of their torment ascended up forever and ever and they have no rest
day or night who worship the beast in his image and whosoever received the mark of his name so
there is a penalty for sin and it's being you know punished forever and that's not something
you know obviously i have to get the bad news to you first that we're all sinners and we all
deserve to go to hell whether you admit that or not it doesn't matter you know you can believe
that uh you know that guns won't kill you but they will you can believe things whatever you
believe that's opposite of reality it doesn't matter reality is still reality and so it says
for without are dogs and sorcerers and whoremongers and murderers and idolaters and whosoever loveth
and maketh a lie and when it says a lie that's just one right so the bible teaches that you know
one sin is enough to get anybody into hell but you know obviously i'm not here to just tell you hey
everybody's going to hell and you know have a good day that's not a good day the good news is that
jesus christ number three you have to believe in jesus christ along for salvation that might not be
good news for you because you might not believe in him right now but it's good news for millions
of people that have lived on this planet and it says in romans 5 8 but god commended his love
toward us and that while we were yet sinners christ died for us so even though we're sinners
even though we deserve to go to hell even though god is angry with the wicked every day christ did
die for us and first john chapter 2 verse 2 it says and he is the propitiation that means the
appeasement of god's wrath he is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but also for
the sins of the whole world so the bible clearly teaches that jesus died for the sins of the whole
world and so the whole world isn't in this room right now but every single person is in this world
and so every single person in this world christ died for you on the cross he he lived a perfect
life that we can't live he did everything right he cleaned his his room when his parents told him
to do it every single time you know imagine a world where everybody did that but anyway
christ paid for all of our sins from the time that you were that you did the first thing your
first infraction to the time you die the day you die he paid for all those sins okay and he's the
propitiation for those things which means the appeasement of god hebrew chapter 4 verse 15 says
for we have not an high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities
but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin so christ the bible teaches that he
did not sin and so he was tempted in all points like we are we're tempted every day to do things
wrong aren't we and you know if you just be honest with yourself for a second and you looked in the
mirror when you woke up in the morning and you're like i'm going to do everything right today
i guarantee you that you cannot do that you can't do it you can't think every thought purely
you can't do everything perfectly right but jesus did that every day he was on this earth but we
can't do that and that's why we need a savior we can't save ourselves we can't be good enough
we've all you know i can't die for your sins because i have sins of my own someone had to pay
the price it was jesus christ and the bible says he was tempted like we are he feels our infirmities
that's why he could be at the funeral of lazarus and say and and it says jesus wept because he
feels what we feel he made us he knows everything about us he knows us better than we know ourselves
first corinthians chapter 15 verse 3 says for i delivered unto you first of all that which i also
received how that christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and he was buried
and he rose again the third day according to the scriptures the bible teaches that christ died
according to what the bible said was going to happen it prophesied in the old testament of a
messiah that was going to come and pay for our sins for us and so you know anybody that thinks
that they can get to heaven on their own that you're fooling yourself because you weren't
perfect and you're not good enough but somebody was good enough for you so that you could get in
anyway and so it's like if you're in if you're in front of a judge and you have like a hundred
thousand dollar fine nobody in this room could probably pay that it's like as if jesus stepped
in and said you know what i got i got you i paid for it any sin that you've done he paid for it
so he got he got your back right and it says in john 3 16 it's the most famous verse in the
whole bible people wear it underneath their eyes you know at football games and they make all signs
you know everybody i'm sure once i start to read the scripture you're going to know it
for god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish but have everlasting life and i'll read this to people when i'm out sharing the
gospel with people and i'll read this verse and people still don't understand but it says that
he gave his only begotten son that's a gift isn't it that whosoever that means anybody doesn't it
doesn't whosoever mean anybody whosoever believeth doesn't say whosoever goes to church
whosoever puts money in the offering plate whosoever is religious whosoever walks an
old lady across the street with her groceries it doesn't say any of that whosoever is a good person
doesn't say that says whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life
what does everlasting life mean it means a life that never ends that's a promise from
god it's a life that never ends and and is it so for some people believing that is hard
but you know god didn't make it hard to be saved he made it easy because all everybody has faith
in this room you're all sitting in chairs did you have faith that when you sat in that chair
that it was going to hold you up you did we have faith in all kinds of things you have faith that
your car is going to get you to the grocery store i mean just just think about the things that takes
faith to do so faith isn't hard but see depending on someone else to get us into heaven for for some
people that's hard because pride gets in the way pride of well i'm who are you to judge me
you know that's the kind but it's god it's not me it's god that's judging and so and we judge
every day people say hey judge not but here's the thing about that is that you judge how far away
the car next car is in front of you you judge people for judging you you know i mean people
are filled with judgment they just don't like it when when it's god's word judging them and so some
people you know just can't handle that but the bible teaches it's very easy to be saved all you
have to do is put all your faith in jesus and he gives you the gift of everlasting life i'll get
into that in just a second john 336 says he that believeth on the sun hath everlasting life that
means you have it once you believe you have it and he that believeth not the sun shall not see
life but the wrath of god abideth on him there's two types of people in this world those that
believe and those that believe not christians aren't better than everybody else that's that's
you know people say well you're supposed to be a christian yeah hey listen everybody's a sinner
the only difference between someone saved and not saved is someone had faith in jesus and someone
else didn't that's what it says john 14 6 says jesus saith unto him i am the way the truth and
the life no man cometh unto the father but by me jesus is also exclusive he doesn't say i'm
a way i'm a truth i'm a life no he says i'm the way the truth and the life and he says no man
cometh unto the father but by me that's an exclusive club people don't like that either
well what are you saying that these other religions are wrong yeah that's exactly what
i'm saying because that's the truth so if i didn't believe that then i wouldn't be believing the
bible this in acts 16 30 it says and brought them out and said sirs what must i do to be saved this
question is only asked once in the bible what must i do to be saved and they said believe on
the lord jesus christ and thou shalt be saved at thy house it didn't say you know all those other
things be a good person but that's what people believe most of the time when i ask someone do
you know for sure that you're going to heaven when they die they say yes they know what they
and i say well how do you know that for sure and they say the number one answer that i always get
because i'm a good person but that's just not possible we can do good things we're capable
of doing good i know i know everybody in this room is capable of doing good they're capable
of forgiveness but not everybody in this room is perfect and that's what it takes we fall short
of the glory of god number four you must believe salvation is a free gift and that it's eternal
it's not something you can lose it is a gift and you can say well i could give a gift back
or i could just you know i could give the gift back or i could lose it no this is not that type
of gift this is a gift that's free and it's eternal so how do you lose something that's
eternal you can't roman 6 23 where i kind of started out the second scripture says for the
wages of sin is death but the gift of god is eternal life through jesus christ our lord so
it's a gift and this is something that people have a hard time grasping to if i gave you this
microphone and said this microphone is yours for free but you got to go wash my car is that a gift
it's not a gift because it's something that you're doing to get the microphone right if i said hey
you know i'm gonna give you this as a free gift it's only a dollar is that a gift it's not a gift
because i'm asking you for a dollar even though i paid more than a dollar for this it's still it's
a good deal but it's not a free gift or if i said hey i'm gonna give you this free microphone it's
yours for free but you have to sing every time we're in church with this microphone or i'm going
to take it away from you is that a gift it's not it's strings attached see there's not strings
attached to a gift a gift is either free or it's not a gift anything you have to work for is you're
not getting that for free there's a lot of men in this room or and ladies too that have worked
for money you know you don't work nobody wants to work for free right so work you know when you work
you expect something in exchange for that so but with salvation it's a gift and the gift of God is
eternal life and it's through Jesus Christ our Lord Ephesians chapter 2 verse number 8 says for
by grace are you saved through faith and not of yourselves that is the gift of God not of works
lest any man should boast i just want to unpackage this verse a couple verses for you real quick
grace means something you don't deserve everybody in this room has probably paid rent before right
who's paid rent before in this room yeah and and when you pay when you have to pay rent do you
always have to pay on the first or you're kicked out automatically or do you have what's called a
grace period a couple days or maybe five days where you don't have to pay rent that's called
a grace period i'm sure everybody's seen that in their rental clause at some point you get a grace
period well grace is something you know you don't we don't deserve to stay there for five days for
free without paying rent but they just do it out of the kindness of their heart God forgives us
by his grace even though we deserve to go to hell even though we've sinned he saves us through faith
believing faith trust belief it's not just you know belief in a fact it's you have faith in
that thing you have faith that that that that Christ is going to save you and he's going to
take you to heaven when you die it's everlasting life and it says and that not of yourselves it
is the gift of God so once again here's another verse that says it's the gift of God it's not
of yourselves you can't do enough work to to earn it on your own it's not a balancing of justice hey
i did more good than i did bad it's faith alone or it's nothing that's what the bible teaches
it's not of works lest any man should boast you can't be good enough to get it and you know it
says less any man should boast because you could there's people out there that would say i'm good
enough i'm going to heaven but then isn't that you boasting isn't that you saying well hey i'm
good enough to get to heaven God doesn't want that because he sent Christ to pay for our sins
he sent Christ to be the propitiation for our sins and so he's not going to let you just get
in any way you want it's his way or the highway john 10 27 says my sheep hear my voice and i know
them and they follow me and i give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish neither
shall any man pluck them out of my hand my father which gave them me is greater than all and no man
is able to pluck them out of my father's hand so that that concept of eternal life it's like they
will never perish you're never going to die and neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand
and i could just i could do a demonstration i'm not going to do it but one of the the children
here if i grab one of these little children by the hand and they try to get away from me do you
think they're going to be able to escape from my hand i mean you see how big i am right they're
not going to be able to escape that's what the bible is saying here is that they shall never
perish neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand so if nobody can pluck you out of God's hand
that means you can't pluck yourself out of God's hand because you're a man or a woman or whatever
you can't do it once he has you you're secure you're safe you're saved and it says no man is
able to pluck them out of my father's hand and first john 5 10 you know says he that believeth
on the son of God hath to witness in himself he that believeth not God hath made him a liar
because he believeth not the record that God gave of his son
so God's going to tell us what this record is and there's people that call God a liar they say well
i'm saved but i think you could lose your salvation i think you could you could lose the gift you
could give it back but what's the bible said you're not you're not believing the record and
why do i know that because in verse 11 it says and this is the record that God hath given to us
eternal life and this life is in his son he that hath the son of son hath life and he that hath
not the son of God hath not life and so it's the bible is very clear the record is that God's given
us eternal life so and that's not something you can lose because it's eternal it logically does
not make sense if something lasts forever you know you can't say well you know i lost it doesn't make
sense because it's something that lasts forever right titus 1 2 says in hope of eternal life which
God who that cannot lie promised before the world began so God isn't even capable of lying he's not
we're not the same as him God is not a man that he should be a sinner or that he should repent
God is perfect righteous just and holy always makes the right decision always makes the right
judgment is good and we can't understand that because we're not it's hard for us to fathom that
so the last thing here is in romans chapter 10 verse 9 you must call upon the name of the Lord
to be saved romans 10 9 says that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shall
believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved it doesn't say
you might be it says you shall be so if you believe in your heart you confess with your mouth
thou shalt be saved it's a promise for what the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with
the mouth confession is made unto salvation and verse 13 says for whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved if you call upon him you know if you're calling upon a God that
you've never seen before in your life nobody hears seen God nobody hears seen Jesus but if
you believe in him by faith and you call upon him that means you do believe in him doesn't it
and so if you call upon him he will save you it's a promise and instantly he gives you that gift
that's eternal life a gift that you can never lose and so that's a that's a pretty good deal
all you have to do is have faith isn't that a lot easier than i have to do all this religious stuff
isn't that easier than i have to go to church every week isn't that easier than i have to give
tithes in the offering plate isn't that easier than i have to do a whole bunch of good stuff
in order to get there and hope that at the last day the good outweighs the bad isn't that a lot
easier and you're like well i want to do things the hard way well that's prideful it's prideful
and there is no other way it's either all jesus or it's nothing and you might not agree with that
you might not believe that but that is what the bible teaches and the bible teaches that if you
believe in jesus you'll have everlasting life and you'll never lose it and you know what
ricky believed that ricky believed that i have a testimony of ricky's faith he did believe that
you know what he's looking down and he wants you to be saved too you know why because he wants you
to be there with him anybody that's saved wants their family members saved too so that's why i
took the time to go over that with you now if you believe that truth i'm going to just lead
a prayer at the end and obviously you can follow along with that prayer you can pray that prayer
in your heart you can pray it out loud if you want to if you believe in jesus and you want to
trust them as your savior today right now then you can do that maybe you just want to wait for
a little while and and see whether i'm what i'm saying is true that's okay too but i'm going to
lead a prayer and if you pray that prayer and you believe in your heart you will be saved okay it's
not the prayer necessarily that saves you it's the fact that you have faith in jesus and that
you're trusting in him alone for your salvation so i'm going to have everybody bow our heads
together and i'm just going to pray and if you want to be saved go ahead and pray with me
dear heavenly father dear jesus
i trust you lord i believe in you and i'm asking you to save me please take me to heaven when i die
please grant me the gift of everlasting life i'm only trusting in you jesus not my good works
and i believe that it's eternal and that you'll do it because i've asked lord please save me now
lord please save me now in jesus name i pray amen
if you believed in christ the bible says you are saved and never let anybody take that away from
you your faith has made you whole and i want to turn it over now to the family i know this is
going to be hard for some of you and if if you stand up here and blubber that's okay we're not
going to make fun of you but i want to take a time where the family can get up here and i'm
actually if you want me to i'll turn the microphone on i'm not giving it to you i'm just letting you
use it for a little while i'm going to let you use it if you would prefer to speak where you're
at that's fine if you want to come up here you're welcome to and just uh if you just want to share
a memory about ricky or you just want to say something and that's what i just would ask that
you kind of keep it g-rated you know we are in a church and uh i don't know y'all so i don't know
but uh i just want to make sure that we just keep it you know family friendly and you know if you
want to come up and say something about ricky you're more than welcome to if you raise your
hand then i'll just uh i'll bring the microphone to you otherwise you can just walk up and speak
okay all right um i'm gonna go ahead and is there anybody that wants to come up and say something
first okay come on up hello my name is ken i'm rick's stepdad when i first met his mom he was
like three months old and uh i i just uh i wasn't sure about having a three-month-old kid especially
that wasn't mine but as time went on i found myself starting to love this kid and then it
just started loving him more and more and more and um he came to me when he needed when he
needed things and i he always was there but i didn't see him for a while because as you get
older you kind of you tend to you know kind of you know he's got his own things he's doing
but then his sister his sister called me about i don't know about a year ago and told me dad
we're gonna come stay with you he said okay i go yeah he can come he goes he's gonna stay a week
or two i think he's gonna come out here to oregon and uh i said okay so he came to stay with me and
you know i told him you know that's fine and he came and we talked and everything was good then
one one night he mentioned he goes well you know i went and seen my dad i go really he goes yeah
he goes i went out to texas seen my dad and uh you know it was nice i had a good time out there well
i don't know why but it hurt inside me when he said that my dad you know because i felt like
i'm your dad you know and we had a few words and uh he ended up leaving and uh when he left he
told me no dad i really do love you and i just thought yeah yeah yeah yeah but then he came out
here and uh i just felt bad and alone you know that this was gonna happen guys i wouldn't let
him go you know
so
he loves you so much i know that but just one little note don't ever think that that man can't
love you because i'm living proof i love that kid like like it i know now the reason it hurts
so bad is because i thought when he told me that is because i i realized how much i love that kid
you know but uh about him knowing i would have never let him go you know lisa you guys are
unseparable when you guys were younger and i know that it means a lot for you to be here
and everybody else uh rick's dad is here
sir i loved your son like he was my own and uh i feel for your loss oh i really do um
anybody else's family i loved that kid man i loved that kid and i know it just hurt when he told me
that hey i seen my dad i shouldn't have took it the way i did but you know i just that kid was
he was he was a good kid man and i loved him and i told i tried to tell him look ricky you need to
come out here to oregon because that's where you need to come because he wasn't doing too good in
vegas you know i didn't i didn't see him for a while because he was he was out doing his own
thing but um i tried to tell him he had this firebird he didn't want to leave his firebird
i told him look at ricky i'll fix your firebird and then as soon as i get it running real good
and everything you come back and get it and you go back and try to bargain you know but for some
reason when he he told me he came to see you and i seen my dad i don't know why but it just i took
it the wrong way and it hurt you know we kind of had a few words but man i loved your son so much
i really did and that i known i would have never let him go
no sorry
some of you don't know me i'm sheila's brother and i was ricky's uncle and
it changed me to say that i missed a lot of all y'all's lives because of the way i lived
and uh i want to say for all you that still have a chance stay away from drugs and alcohol
they'll ruin your life and i know ricky had his battles with it too
i was there when he was born uh not when he was born actually when he was born but when he was
little um me and me and my wife malady and ricky ricky and sheila we all lived together when uh
when he was a baby um kenny you're just as much as his dad as ricky is you know um
for you for those of you i didn't meet uh i love ricky with all my heart he's got blood
he's got my blood in him too and i'm sorry i'm so sorry for all the years that i missed
with ricky and with the rest of you serena and sierra uh i mean uh my sister's got other kids
too that i've never even met you know um families get separated through states you know life choices
what have you and uh i just want all you to know that i love ricky with all my heart
and i love each and every one of you and i'm truly sorry for the years that i missed
just in peace
sometimes tragedy brings you guys all back together i just want to let this whole family
know how much rick loved everybody he would take the shirt off of his back for anybody and
everybody he loved his son more than anything in the entire world and i'm so grateful that you guys
are all here and i'm grateful everybody can put our stuff aside and come up and just love each
other just love each other at the end of the day that's what this is about so when you walk away
from here today i hope that you call that person you haven't talked to in a really long time and
just love each other unconditionally forever and ever because you don't know how short life is
and i hope that aaron you know you're so loved you're so loved by the people in this room and
you're gonna be okay
you know i want to say thank you to everybody here for you know you guys when whoever set up
the go fund me i want to say thank you very much for that i mean you guys have shown the support
and without this without you none of this would have been possible so i want to say thank you to
everybody who helped do this and put it together thank you and me and my family we thank you
i don't do well with public speaking at the best of times
um my name is serina i'm one of ricky's sisters and i really did have the best big brother growing up
because he was always there for me just like he was there for everybody
and he had nothing but love in his heart for everybody and everything
i can't remember one bad thing ricky would ever say about anybody because he wouldn't
and i know i've been so angry about this because i think just why my brother
but i know my brother and i know that he would have taken that over anybody else
because he was the most selfless person ever and i think i miss him more than anything
he was the best dad for aaron and i know he loves you he's so proud of you because you were all he
all he ever talked about was just how proud he was of you
he was the best uncle he was there for me when my daughter was born and he named her off of a show
one tree hill and he just he was just the most just genuine just kind loving person and there's
not one person that he didn't meet that he wouldn't have made them feel good and impact
their lives i'm just gonna miss them like i know so many people are
but it's hard to accept but we really do carry him with us wherever we go until we can see him again
and i can't wait for the day that i see him again because i won't be scared for what happens to me
i know i'll see my brother and that's all i want right now but i just want to thank everybody for
putting everything together the time the money the energy to help either for our family
and the support of you all has really carried us all through this
and i can't thank you enough and even though my brother maybe didn't know some of you guys
personally he would have just given you the biggest hug and made me feel like he was your
brother and i just i really thank you all i'm gonna go
um i don't really know what to say i'm his son as you might know and um
he was the best dad i could ever ask
he taught me everything i know he taught me to be the man i am
and i was so proud of him and i wish i just called him one more time
i know he's grateful all of you are here and i couldn't be more grateful
he was truly the best person ever
you were everything and more that ricky
i know
i just want to thank everybody for coming you all know i'm ricky's mom
i want to take my church family you guys are so wonderful
my family i love you guys so much everybody um ricky made me a mom
he was a light all the time even when he was down he made people feel better and
had nothing but nice wonderful things to say about people i don't recall him ever really ever
saying talking down about anybody it didn't even matter who it was somebody could have
wronged him and he would even just say well you know circumstances and things happen and
he adored his sisters
he was such a big brother to you guys sometimes overbearing in a way i know but he was just such
a protector and he wanted to make sure that his sisters were were okay you know and aaron
your dad just adored you he everything was about aaron everything and he came up to oregon
to get his life together he got a job he got saved first and he came up to oregon and
i just want to thank uh miss bobby my friend over there in the salmon colored shirt who led my son
to the lord and that means everything to me everything and i know his loved ones here he's
wanting you all to get saved and be with him someday and it's so easy to be saved like pastor
was saying what the bible says it's like taking a drink of water it's like walking through a door
just ask him to save you believe in your heart and then you will see him again you will see him again
all of you will see him again you just have to call upon the name of the lord and believe in
your heart that he died for you it was buried and rose again and it's everlasting life simple
it's a gift gift that you can never lose it will last forever
and you know this is kind of like the time where you
contemplate where we go when we die right
i just hope and pray and i've been praying for years for all of you to call upon the
name of lord and be saved and now that we know that ricky's in heaven i know that's all he wants
that's all he wants is for all of you to be in heaven with him someday okay and uh again i just
want to thank everybody for coming and uh let's not forget that ricky loved to make people laugh
he was that was his favorite thing to do he always had the jokes he always i mean he came
to serena's wedding okay he came to serena's wedding in a prison jumpsuit
he he thought that was the funniest thing and you know we all did too
and you know we all did too um my husband and i joked that i could have worn one here
here i know yes yes um but that's ricky ricky was he was an uplifter and you all that know him know
that he was always wanting everybody to smile to laugh to be happy and uh again i just want
to thank everybody for coming and um please be saved
i'm i'm gonna try to keep it pg i promise i promise so rick and i were probably
inseparable for over a decade people probably thought we were gonna get married and have a
nice life he wasn't my type he just wasn't my type um two of my best friends from high
school and junior high got married it was like a picture perfect world and they had my little baby a
who gosh i had him every almost every day for the first three four years of your life
with your mom and dad i got to share a lot of your early times growing up and
me and rick went down a separate ways after a while but i do remember running into him at work
and you know just talking to him and his love for aaron never changed he loved you so much you were
the most prideful proud thing that he you were his little trophy that he would carry around and
he loved you so much and i'm sure your aunts were probably happy when you were born because a lot of
a lot of rick probably came off of them and they were probably able to have a boyfriend or
something now in their lives that doesn't always say he was more afraid of ricky than my dad yeah
he he loved you and i mean i spent lots of years with ricky and ken and and you girls prior to
tiffany and he loved you guys so much just as a family and he did always try to make everybody
laugh he called me every morning to wake me up are we going to school today yeah i'll see you
there um but like i said i remember running into him you know years down the road after we didn't
talk for a few years and i just asked him how he was doing and i asked him about aaron and and tiff
as well and he was happy he was happy that he knew that you guys didn't work out you know and
he was happy for you and steve and you probably couldn't ask for a better guy to to be here for
ask for a better guy to to be here for you other than your dad i mean your dad was a great guy and
these two guys are really alike and i think that's why i love steve so much just like your dad
they were great people great guys and they cared about everybody else more than themselves and put
everybody first and that's what rick did he cared for everybody else and put everybody first and i
love him for that and i miss the years that we missed out on but i know there will be another
time
when my mom told me that um ricky was gonna first move down here
i was so excited because when i when i used to know him well because i don't i spent a lot of
time with him when he moved down here i don't really remember the time i spent with him when
i was in vegas or when i visited him that much but i i always knew that he always wanted the
best for me and everybody he he couldn't be more grateful for anybody here and um when he when he
first came down here it was like i was i was so happy to see him because i knew that coming down
here would help him so much and just looking at him it helped me living with him he would do
anything for anybody he helped me he got me stuff for school we played basketball together we we
always hung out together he helped me with stuff he he always he always talked about seeing you
erin he always wanted to see you he was such a loving and funny person we would always
go to the hot tub make he would always make jokes no matter what kind of situation it was
he would make everybody smile and he was he was just a cheerful guy he couldn't there was nothing
i could say that was bad about him that he would do to anybody like like i forgot who said it i
can't really think right now but even people who wronged him he would still have you know
something good to say about him just he can only find the best he could only be the best he's the
best uncle i could ever ask for because he was such a role model for me he was such a he just
wanted the best for everybody for me he tried he tried to do the best for me tried to make me the
best i can be
is there anybody else give you a few seconds here
well thanks everybody for sharing
and uh once again i'd like to appreciate everybody for coming and please make sure that you
offer your condolences to the family and we really do appreciate miss sheila and her family
miss sierra and ethan our church members here and we're happy to do it we're happy to
uh to provide the services for ricky so i'm going to have brannon come up and we're going
to sing one more hymn before we go and then i'll close in prayer and just remember the
refreshments are to follow but we don't have a lot of time for the graveside service i i think
that if we got to be there on time right i know that nobody else is on time for that
yeah
yeah we we like to to joke and say that we're always late baptist church so we almost named
our church that but we we do need to be there on time and and look the graveside service isn't
going to be long so it's just going to be uh i'm going to it's going to be a lot faster than what
my preaching was okay so um but it'll be a short time and then obviously you can say your final
goodbyes but after the song i'm going to come up and pray and then we're going to have refreshments
and then you know it probably took like i said 25 minute drive with no traffic i don't know what
the traffic situation is right now but make sure that you plug in the coordinates on your
gps or phone or whatever however you're going to get there and uh there's a driveway i guess it's
not really a road that you turned out once you get to that address right there's a driveway
okay
okay so as a driver is it a dirt road or a paved road
okay so okay who's planning on going to the graveside service could you just give me a raise
of hands okay i figured most of the family would be there and then okay all right so i just don't
want to start without everybody being there so like if you're running late or you can't find it
please like do you have they have all the way of contacting you michela okay all right well brandon
come on up and sing a song we'll sing a song one last song together and then i'll come up and pray
and we'll have our refreshments all right if you like to sing along with us turn to page 396
we'll sing our last song before we pray out page 396 in your green hymnal we're gonna sing so little
time so little time sing it out on that first verse so little time the harvest will be over
are we being done
report our word to jesus lord of harvest and hope he'll smile in that he'll say well done
me
oh then to save some dear ones from the burning today we'll go to bring some sinner
in how many times i should have strongly pleaded how often did i feel too strictly
worn the spirit moved oh had i pled for jesus the grain is fallen lost ones not reborn
warm today we reap warmness our golden harvest today is given us lost souls to win
oh then to save some dear ones from the burning today we'll go to bring some sinner
in despite the heat the ceaseless toil the hardship the broken heart or those we cannot win
misunderstood because we're all peculiar still no regrets we'll have but for our sin
today we read or miss our golden harvest today is given us lost souls to win
oh then to save some dear ones from the burning today we'll go to bring some sinner
in a day of pleasure or a feast of friendship a house or car or garments fair or fame
we'll all be trashed when souls are brought to heaven and then how sad to face the slackers
play today we'll read or miss our golden harvest today is given us lost souls to win
oh then to save some dear ones from the burning today we'll go to bring some sinner
in on the last ones the harvest wide with reapers few is wasting and many souls will die and never
know the love of christ the joy of sins forgiven oh let us weep in love and pray and go
oh today we reap or miss our golden harvest today is given us lost souls to win
oh then to save some dear ones from the burning today we'll go to bring some sinner in
all right well we're going to close the services in a word of prayer dear heavenly father lord we
thank you so much for your blessings and your mercy and your grace lord we ask that you would
comfort the hearts of the family that are here lord help them to lord to just grieve and uh
and to get past this and lord but never forget ricky lord we know that he's with you in heaven
and i just pray that you would bless each and every person that came here and maybe there's
someone here that doesn't know you lord i pray that they would make that decision before it's
too late eternally and uh let's pray that you'd bless the food and the fellowship to
fall in the graveside service in jesus name we pray amen
and ye now therefore have sorrow but i will see you again and your heart shall rejoice
and your joy no man taketh from you
glorious
is
what a day
no more sickness
one who died for me
his grace
and leads me through the promised land
takes me by the hand and leads me through the promised land
is
but i would not have you to be ignorant brethren concerning them which are asleep
you sorrow not even as others which have no hope
it is well with my soul
so
is
with my soul
so
is
with my soul
so
with my soul
so
no light in the darkness to see
so
look for me
however will go strangely dear in the
lungs of his glory and
his words
so
turn your eyes upon
the land of the free and the home of the brave and the home of the brave.
The light in the darkness to see, there's a light for a look at the Savior,
and life more abundant and free.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face,
and the things of love will grow strangely dear in the light of his glory and grace.
In the lungs of his glory and grace.