which he reminded me. I bet when I saw all that tonight, th th I don't know what the other person
does, but that's what they need to know. th th th th th th th th Thank you. th th th Okay. I'll be glad to give that to
Sarah. There you go. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks for having me. But I'm going on the show to
her. And I'm sorry, he says, y'all are terrible. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Just one hand down. Come up and
do it like that. It's just very hard for me to
build it. I'm working on it since March. It's been years. It's been years.
It's been years since I've done it. But, I can't say I'm going
to do it twice this year. I have a ton of work to do. I
have a ton of work. with plumbing and electricity. And he is patient with us. He's trying to get us to the
snowman. He's very patient. You OK? I
told you I'm going to finish this in a week or so. Yeah, I
was going to say that. I was going to say it. I was
going to say it. I was going to say it. I was
going to say it. I was going to say it. Oh, yeah. I didn't know his name. I'm sorry, I don't know what
you're talking about. She said, don't come down here,
it's your meal. I'm so sorry. All right. All right. I don't know if you can see,
but it's kind of weird. Do you need a hand? I did. I thought her name was
Grace. Yeah, I think it's too, I think
it's way too close. I thought, I thought I might
start writing her account. Yeah, but Joni's driving her
around. She's my best friend. I feel
a little nervous. I know him so well. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you. Here, I'll slide down
for you. Are you all right? I love you baby. I love you so. And I can't believe that you're
still with me. I can't believe that you're still with me. of you, baby. I was never certain of the day. But I know, I know, they never spared
my heart. Sixty-ish feet are in the snow. Tell the river what's new. It's summer and it's coming through. She said she'd find a tree to
hang on to. I'm just trying to think of a
great idea. Johnny, Johnny. We were just
talking about a great idea this whole way here. Yeah. But I couldn't
think of anything. Just sit down? Yeah, I understand that. Good afternoon. My name is Bruce
Workman, and I've been a friend of Adan's for a very, very long
time. And this has been a week of remembering,
remembering times and things that we did together. The enjoyment we've had in the past
with different situations, places we went, and things we did. So
if you're here, we all knew Don. I knew him for over 40 years.
We met Don and Johnny and Vernon and Jeannie and their families
at church when Scott was about three years old. And I hadn't
seen Don in a while, though Don moved to this side of the state
and we stayed over by the Mississippi. We live over near Cape Girardeau.
But there's one thing I didn't know about Don. After all those
years, I didn't know his middle name was Paul. All that time,
you would have thought I'd known. But Don was such a good, good
friend. He would do anything for anyone.
And as an old saying goes, if you had an ox in a ditch, Don
would be there to help you pull that ox out. The thing about
Don is, is he always liked to have fun, so he would tell you
forever that he'd done it and pester you about it. But he would
be there every time to do it and help you out. We used to
have a church bus when we lived over there, and when it was either
our turn to drive, the other one would hop in on Sunday and
ride along. It was just a great time for
us to be together. We had a lot of good talks and
done a lot of solving problems. We just really enjoyed being
together. Like I said, this is a time that we just remember
things that you did, things that you remember you did. Many Sundays,
Don and Johnny would put their feet under our table for a meal.
Of course, we've eaten Johnny's cooking, too, and it was good. But one time, Don got a piece
of eggshell of something my wife cooked. Of course, if you know
Don, he didn't politely let that go by. Oh, no, not Don. He made the biggest production
out of that. And with all the comments and all the things that
were said, we just laughed and laughed and laughed. But it must
have made quite an impact, because our daughter wrote an essay about
it for a school class. He loved a good joke. And another
thing, he called Johnny and my wife, Johnny and Jackie, two
match mules. Of course, we knew about mules because
we were all old enough to know what two good working mules was
about. One time, Don, I had leg surgery, and he went over to
our house because we were adding on. And it needed wiring done
and insulation installed, so he helped my wife do it, because
I couldn't do anything. And he never said a word. This
is the way he was. He wouldn't stay for supper.
You couldn't get ahead of him. He would always help you more
than you could ever help him. He was a hard worker. He loved
to laugh with the best of them. Don was also very honest and
very trustworthy. One time we took a trip to the
Grand Walker together, Johnny and Don, Jackie and I, and we
had a great time. This was so long ago. So many
memories of good times together. He was like a brother to me,
truly my other brother. There was things that we could
discuss anything, our troubles, or just general talk. We were
all comfortable together. I'm not mourning Don like I thought
I would. I don't miss him, but I'm so
very thankful that God saw fit to bring us together and save
us both. to save our families and to bring us here today to
testify of God's love, love of God and his mercies and free
grace that we can see played out in Don's life. Don was a
believer and you could sure tell it. The joy that we had in loving
Don here on earth was a lovely gift, but it will be nothing
like when we see the face of our Lord as Don does this day.
and I hope we can take comfort in that. Our Heavenly Father,
we thank you for this day. For this is the day that you
made that we would come together and remember Don and all that
he did and how he affected our lives. You brought him into our
lives and made him a brother in Christ. We're so thankful
for that. Lord, we Pray for Scott and Johnny
and all of our friends here. We're not the fact that Don is
gone, but the fact that we're going to miss him. We're going
to have times when we miss him and we're going to really need
help getting through those times. Lord, we just pray that. Always
say and do that you be glorified here this day and we're so thankful
Lord will get to hear the gospel preached one more time. So Lord,
we thank you for your mercy. and your grace that you shed
upon us all the time. We just pray in Jesus' name,
amen. Amazing grace, how sweet the
sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm
found. Was blind, but now I see. was grace that taught my heart
to fear. And grace my fear relieved. How precious did that grace appear. dangers, toils, and snares. I have already come. Disgrace has brought me safe
thus far. And grace will lead me home. When we've been there 10,000
years, bright shining We've no less days to sing God's
praise than when we first begun. Amazing grace, how sweet the
sound. that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm
found. Was blind, but now I see. My name is Eric Lutter, and I'll
be bringing the message this afternoon. Johnny asked me if
I would read Don's obituary before I begin, so I'm gonna do that
now. Donald Paul Cross passed away in his home on July 22nd,
2020, at the age of 75 in Springfield, Missouri, surrounded by his family. He was born in Concord, Missouri,
on September 21, 1944, to Mary Martha Crossley Cross and Luther
Paul Cross. He is survived by his wife of
51 years, Johnny Chilton Cross, and his son, Scott Chilton Cross. One sister, Shirley Cross Pritchard,
one special cousin and friend, Vernon Cross, nephews Kendall
Hampton, Kerry Pritchard, and Paul Jonacek, two nieces Terry
Pritchard Graff, Michelle Walker, and brother-in-law Larry Hampton.
He was preceded in death by his parents, sister Carolyn Hampton,
sister-in-law Demetra Franklin, cousin Jeannie Cross, and nephew
Mark Jonacek. Don graduated from Haiti High
School in Haiti, Missouri in 1962 and received his Bachelor
of Science degree from Southeast Missouri State University in
Cape Girardeau in 1972. He was a distribution center
manager for the most of his life and retired from AmCon Distributing
distributing in Springfield, Missouri in 2006. He enjoyed
golf, football, John Wayne movies, and spending time with his family.
He loved the true and sovereign God, his family, and country. He was a wonderful husband and
father and will be deeply missed by his friends and family. The
family wishes to express a special thank you to Dr. Kevin Watt of
Buffalo Prairie Care Center and Hospice Campuses. My text this afternoon will largely
come from 1 Corinthians 15 verses 3 and 4, but I'm going to open
with verse 1 of that same chapter. Paul, the Apostle Paul, writes,
Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached
unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand. Now I'm gonna pause just for
a moment to say a few things before we get into the message
here as to why it is that we're gathered here. It's to lay to
rest the body of Donald Cross, who most of you knew as Don. Now I met Don after he became
ill, so I never got to meet the man who is so adored and loved
in the hearts of Johnny and Scott and those of you who knew him
so well. But when they described Don to
me, when they would recount their memory of him, he appeared in
my mind to be a very tall man, a very large man, a man of men,
if you will. And I know that Johnny loved
him dearly as her husband and her friend. And I can tell that
by the way she speaks of him. And I know that Scott loved him
dearly as his father, and he respected him as a man. I can
tell that by the way that he speaks of him. And based on the
memories which they've brought to my attention about him, I
know that he loved them very much. And they want you to know
that, just how much they loved him and how much he love them. But today I want to speak to
you of the hope that this man, Don Cross, had in his Lord and
Savior, Jesus Christ. You see, Don was a believer in
the Lord Jesus Christ. His hope of salvation was fixed
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And the one thing that was emphasized
to me in bringing this message today was that Don's wishes would
be that the gospel of Jesus Christ would be preached to all of you
gathered here together for his funeral service. He wanted you
to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. So if there's anything that you
take away in your memory of this day and laying Don Cross to rest,
I pray and believe that he would have you to seek to know the
Savior that he so loved and adored and so trusted in, his very soul,
that he trusted to Christ, that you would seek to know him, to
know this one in whom Don Cross stood confidently in the faith
which the Lord had given to him. Now, the reason why it's so important
for us to hear the gospel is, believe it or not, few have actually
heard the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, that may sound strange,
but I say that few have heard the gospel of Jesus Christ because
many hear the gospel. of religion. Many hear a lot
in churches about religion. Many hear a lot in their churches
about the importance of the church, the importance of being a member
in the church, the importance of doing good works and supporting
the work of the church. Many hear of the importance of
their good works and doing things to be helpful and kind to others
and to do things for God. Many hear a lot about their will
and what they need to be doing more of and what they need to
be doing less of that they might be pleasing to God. But few have
ever heard of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel of God is that our
God, the God who created every one of us, is the God who sovereignly
chose and elected a people for himself and reveals himself in
power and in grace to them so that they hear the gospel and
are given faith to believe that very gospel. Man-made religion
loves to focus on what you and I need to be doing, what we need
to be doing for God. Man-made religion loves to make
sure that you know that there's more that you can be doing and
what you can do better. but they never seem to get around
to declaring what God has done sovereignly for his people apart
from any works, apart from anything that they have done to contribute
to that salvation. For the scriptures declare repeatedly
throughout what God has done for helpless sinners who have
nothing to recommend themselves or their works to God. The scriptures
declare a God who saves by his grace apart from any works that
we bring to the table. The scriptures declare that God,
for the sake of Jesus Christ and what he has done willingly,
freely of himself for his people, the scriptures declare that that's
why God has mercy and grace on the sinner. Now notice with me
that as we read the scripture here of Paul in 1 Corinthians
15, three and four, the emphasis is upon what Christ has accomplished. Not what you or I have done for
God, but upon what Christ himself has accomplished for his beloved
people. Paul begins by saying, for I
delivered unto you, first of all, that which I also received. So Paul is writing to brethren. He says, you. Now this letter
to the Corinthian church didn't go out indiscriminately to all
people there in Corinth or in the land of Greece. It went to
the church believers who trusted Christ for their hope and their
salvation. And he says, I delivered it to
you. And he speaks of having received
this word. In other words, he didn't earn
or merit this gospel that God had given to him. He received
it according to the mercy and grace of God, who gathers together
his people under the sound of the gospel and gives them an
ear of faith by which they hear what Christ has done for his
people. And the Lord gives them faith
to lay hold of that, to believe it, to trust, not in themselves
or in their works, but to trust that Christ himself has done
everything necessary to put away their sins and to deliver them
from death and hell and to bring them to the arms of their loving
Almighty God and Savior. Now Peter agrees with what Paul
is saying about speaking to the brethren and having received
this word. He says in 2 Peter 1, verse 1
and verse 3, that he's writing to them that have obtained, obtained
like precious faith. That means that it wasn't already
swimming around in their minds, it wasn't in themselves, it wasn't
in their works or in their flesh. They obtained something that
was not there previously. God had given them that faith.
so that they obtained that which God gave to them. He says, to
them that have obtained like precious faith with us, meaning
the apostles themselves had to come into possession of this
faith. They didn't have it until God
gave it to them. And it's through the righteousness
of God, not the righteousness of our works, but the righteousness
of God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. And he tells us of this
faith and salvation that it's according as his divine power
hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness. meaning that even the faith by
which believers trust in Christ and believe him for his work
of salvation, that's obtained, that's given according to God's
own divine power. And so we see right away that
there's a distinction made among us of those that have God-given
faith and those that have their own works, their own faith, and
are trusting what they've done for God to recommend them to
God, and those that have nothing and are trusting that God alone
has given them everything necessary for salvation. and it's all found
in the Lord Jesus Christ. So Paul writes and says to the
brethren, verse three, I delivered unto you first of all that which
I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to
the scriptures and that he was buried and that he rose again
the third day according to the scriptures. Why did Christ die? Why did Christ even come to the
earth in the first place? Why was He here? Well, the scriptures
tell us that God the Father sent His Son, His only Son, and spared
Him not, that He would die in the place of His people those
that He set His love upon, that He would die in their place,
dying their death that was due to them under the wrath of Almighty
God, and that He laid down His life willingly as their substitute,
in their place. You see, the truth is that we
all, myself included, we all are sinners desperately in need
of the grace and mercy of God. The fact that I'm a pastor and
here preaching before you is no work by which I could hang
my hope on that God will have mercy upon me. My works don't
save me and your works don't save you. Anyone who is saved
is saved by the grace and mercy of God found in His Son Jesus
Christ. Paul wrote to us in Romans 3
verse 23 saying, For all have sinned. and come short of the
glory of God." When man hears this, especially those steeped
in religion and trusting in their good works, they think, well,
God's telling me to work harder, that I've got to do better, that
I've got to try just a little bit harder that I could come
up to the glory of God with my own righteousness. But that's
not what the Lord is telling us. He's saying all of us have
sinned and come short of the glory of God. And the Gospel
declares that God's people are justified freely, freely by His
grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ. That's the reason that any of
us are justified before God. That's the reason why any of
us are declared righteous by the true and living God. It's
freely It's free grace according to the redemption of Jesus Christ.
And that word redemption means purchase. Christ has a bride,
a people that he loves, and he purchased them with his own blood. We're told whom God, speaking
of Christ, whom God has set forth a propitiation. And that word,
that fancy word means that Christ was set forth by God as the means
of our forgiveness. He's the very reason why holy
God forgives any sinner. It's by the grace of God in Christ
Jesus. And it's through faith in his
blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that
are passed through the forbearance of God. And that word there,
remission, means that in Christ, those who hope and believe in
him are, remission, are delivered from the penalty of sin by Christ. That's what the word remission
means. It means that we are delivered from the penalty of sin by Christ. And it's to declare, I say at
this time, his righteousness. And that's what's so contrary
to us by nature because we so often look to our own righteousness
and hope that God will see the good works that we've done and
that he'll receive us because of what we've done for him, what
we think is good, and how we've abstained from that which is
bad or what we think is sinful. But that's not at all what the
scripture is saying. The scriptures declare to us
that God is just to forgive his people because of what Christ
has done and Christ's righteousness. Apart from any works that we
ourselves have bring to the table. And so God is just to forgive
and he's the one who is the justifier of him, which believeth in Jesus. So Christ, just as we're told
that Christ died for his people, according to the scriptures,
that's what the Lord's telling us, that Christ did the work
freely of his own will and volition to put away the sins of his people
because they cannot put their sins away by their own works. There's nothing we can do. But
the good news doesn't end there. We're told that Christ was buried. Christ was buried. That means
that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, really did die. And his body was laid in a sepulcher,
and we're told that that sepulcher was in a garden. John 19.41 says,
now in the place where he was crucified, there was a garden.
And in the garden a new supplicant, wherein was never man yet laid,
there laid they Jesus. Now that's a fit location for
Almighty God to be laid in the tomb. For he said that except
a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. Now, many of you who are getting
ready to plant a fall garden know that if you have a packet
of seeds, if you look at that seed and you open it up and you
look at the seeds in there and then close it back up and stick
it in the fridge or the closet, that seed abides alone. Nothing's
going to come of it. But if that seed die, if you
take that seed and you bury it in the ground, because that's
what we do with dead things, we bury it in the ground, then
it brings forth much fruit. much fruit. And he said that
speaking of himself and what he would accomplish in his death,
that he, by his own death, brings forth much fruit, bears much
fruit in the people of God. That is, taking dead sinners
who have no part in God and bringing them into the light and fellowship
of God, where by his power and glory and grace they bear fruit
unto God, some 30, some 60, some 100 fold. But it's also fitting that it
was in the garden because in the garden is where Adam first
rebelled and sinned against holy God. It was in a garden, wasn't
it? And we are told according to
the scriptures that there was no other humans on the earth,
just Adam and Eve, meaning that we were all yet in Adam's loins. There was no one else outside
of Adam and Eve. And so when Adam rebelled and
sinned against God, everything about him, he died spiritually
in that very moment. And everything in him, including
us who are yet in his loins, we all died. So everything in
Adam was corrupted, meaning we all were corrupted. And so now
we come forth from that very moment spiritually dead to the
things of God. desperately in need of the grace
and mercy of God to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. Paul wrote to the Romans saying
that by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin and
so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned. And so here lies Christ in the
grave Yet he's no ordinary man. He's the God-man. And from that
moment, the grave would never be the same again, because in
the very place where sin and death entered, there in the garden,
and it began to rule and reign over the sons of Adam, bearing
that fruit of corruption and enmity in our own hearts against
the true and living God. It was in that very place where
Christ went into the grave, in the garden, and there wrought
eternal salvation for his people. and brought the fruit of righteousness
for his people in himself to bear in them the salvation of
God for his people. So that we who are corrupt in
our minds and we that would have sought for so many years and
for so long to worship God and please God and do things that
are righteous in his sight and to do things that we think are
right in the church, As though we thought God was
like one of us, being moved and impressed with the things that
move and impress us, now we know, according to the gospel and what
Christ has done, that God isn't looking to us for our works of
righteousness, which we've done, but he looks to none other but
the Lord Jesus Christ, so that there in that grave in the garden,
Christ wrought a great deliverance for his people. that in the same
spot where we lost it all in Adam, Christ obtained eternal
redemption for His beloved bride whom He redeemed, purchased with
His own blood. And as a faithful husband, Christ,
our Savior for His people, went before us into the grave so that
we now, who die and pass on and are laid in that grave, know
that our Savior, our God, the Lord, has gone before us to accomplish
our very deliverance from which we could never deliver ourselves.
And He's done that freely of His own will. Paul would say,
O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? Now not only did Christ die for
his people's redemption, and not only was he buried in the
grave for his people's deliverance, but Paul tells us that he rose
again the third day according to the scriptures. And the significance
of Christ's resurrection is very important. Don't ever think that
it doesn't matter if you think whether Christ rose or not. If
Christ didn't rise from the dead, then it doesn't matter what you
and I believe. We're all dead. Our faith is
vain. And we're yet dead in our trespasses and sins ourselves.
But the fact that God rose Christ from the dead declares to us
that God is satisfied with the work that his son did. That's
a great encouragement to you and I who have no hope and no
works and no righteousness of ourselves. God raised him from
the dead to declare to us that there is salvation. You that
are sinners, you that have no hope, you that have nothing to
lay claim to God's favor and mercy and justification, he says,
look to Christ, trust him, believe him, for he alone is the Savior
of my people. Peter in Acts said, Him being
delivered, speaking of Christ, by the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God, ye have taken him by wicked hands, have
crucified and slain, whom God hath raised up, having loosed
the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should
be holden of it. So brethren, Hope not in your
filthy rags, your filthy rag righteousness, which will not
speak well for us before God. Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. Look to him, for that is why
God has provided him, for our confidence and our hope and our
standing in the Lord Jesus Christ. The hope of the believer is not
in our family ties. It doesn't matter whether your
parents believed It doesn't matter whether your friends believed.
Do you believe? It doesn't matter whether you
have many good works and a righteousness that you think highly of. The
Pharisees had a righteousness that they thought highly of,
and they condemned Christ and hated him and cast him off. And
that's exactly what men and women do today. The Pharisees are still
alive and well, and many are trusting in their own works and
looking to what they've done and hoping that they'll stand
before God on that day with their own righteousness and that God
will justify them for their works. But if that was possible, then
Christ would never have come. God would have left us to work
it out ourselves and to do our best to try and please him. But the fact that Christ came
declares to us that none of us are ever, by our own works, going
to be able to do that which is pleasing to God. So that, brethren,
we that believe have a good hope. I'm so thankful that Don Cross
would have that word preached to you, that you would hear the
hope that he had, and to know that though he has departed from
us, he's already now been received by so great a cloud of witnesses. And I know that Scott and Johnny
and those of you that love Don are rejoicing and thankful that
he has no more pain, no more sorrow. He's not even thinking
about us. His eyes and heart is fixed upon
his glorious, beautiful, loving, faithful Savior who laid down
his life that he might have a place to worship him for all eternity
in the joys and gladness of his loving God and Savior. And so
I pray that the Lord would cause you that perhaps we're hoping
and trusting in your works and your goodness or your churchmanship
or just who you are and your birthright or whatever it is
that men trust in, I pray the Lord would cause you to consider
this day the hope that Don Cross had and not only consider it,
but to beg God for mercy and to know this Savior, that God
would reveal Him in light in your hearts. that he would reveal
his salvation in Jesus Christ. I'll close with this scripture
from Paul in Ephesians 1, 18 through 20, which says, the eyes
of your understanding, to the brethren, he's writing, to your
of your understanding being enlightened that ye may know what is the
hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his
inheritance in the saints. And what is the exceeding greatness
of his power to us were it who believe according to the working
of his mighty power. See, he gives that living faith,
which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and
set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places. I pray the Lord will bless that
word to the hearts of those who hear me this day. Let's close in prayer. Our gracious
Lord, we thank you, Father, for your mercy and your grace, which
you show to dead, foolish, corrupt sinners. And Lord, that you don't
look to our works, that you're not impressed with the things
which we have done, but Lord, that you look so only to your
son and are so satisfied with the work that he has done. I
pray that you would turn the hearts of your people here this
day to be satisfied with him, even as you were satisfied with
him, and to trust in him alone. Lord, we pray for Johnny and
Scott and the family and friends of those that love Don. those
that are sick in heart and missing him so. Lord, that you would
be merciful and that you would show yourself to them as the
God of all comfort and that you would give them peace and rest
to know that Don is with you now in your loving arms. Father,
I pray that you would continue to bless the services of this
day and that you would indeed cause us to have a heart one
for another, to be kind and generous to one another, and that your
name be glorified among us. For it's in Christ's name we
pray and give thanks. Amen. I think we're going to be dismissed.
I think we'll just hear from Kent, a few words, and then we'll
be dismissed. Johnny and Scott and family,
we'd like to thank you for taking time out of your weekend to be
here to celebrate the life of Donald.