Yeah. Ž Ž Ž Yeah. ¶¶ ¶¶ so so Yeah. ♪ ♪ ¶¶ ¶¶ ¶. ¶. The End Let's all stand together, we'll
sing hymn number 125. I hear the Savior say Thy strength
indeed is small Child of weakness, watch and pray Find indeed Thine
all in all Jesus paid it all All to Him I owe Sin had left
a crimson stain He washed it white as snow Lord, now indeed I find Thy power
in Thine alone And change the leper's spots And melt the heart
of stone Jesus made it all All to Him I owe Sin had left a crimson
stain He washed it white as snow For nothing good have I whereby
thy grace to claim I'll wash my garments white in the blood
of Calvary's Lamb. Jesus paid All to Him I owe Sin
hath left a crimson stain He washed it white as snow and win before the throne I stand
in him complete Jesus died my soul to save my lips shall still
repeat Jesus made it all I could stand here and say a lot about Bill, Brother Bill, and
every word would be true. Every word would be true. He's such a sweet man, kind man, and he hadn't been a believer
but just a very few years. And that's the most important
thing for a person in this world to have, is the Lord Jesus Christ
as your Savior, as your Redeemer, as your only hope before God
Almighty. There's only one. But I could
say a lot about Him. Him and Fran came down here years
ago, and they have been one of the greatest blessings to this
congregation. One of the greatest blessings
in my life of people that's ever been here. They've just been
such a blessing, such an encouragement. And before they got older, they
was real workers. Nothing they wouldn't do, nothing
needed to be done here, they would do it. Him and Fran both. And I'm sorry for the family
and what they have to go through. It's a hard, hard thing to deal
with, losing somebody that you love. Your father, your husband, it's tough. It's tough. William Richard Kirkpatrick. God brought him into this world
on October the 25th in 1941. in Pontiac, Michigan. And the
Lord called him out of this world, called him home on January the 2nd of 2024. His mother and father was Russell
and Dolores Bowman Kirkpatrick. He retired from Ford Motor Company where he spent 40 years, I guess,
35, 40 years, a long time. And he was also a United States
Navy veteran. You see a picture of him over
there. He was just a kid, just a kid. We all have been that
way, but he was a kid. And he served in the Navy during
the Vietnam War. And him and his wife, as I've
already said, they've been such a blessing, such a blessing to
Lantana Grace Church and the dear, dear saints here, such
a blessing. And Bill was a lifetime member
of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. He left behind, and that's the
only way you can say it, he left behind his wife, Fran, We know
her as Fran, her name's Francine, but left her behind. Of Crossville and two sons, Brad
Henry Kirkpatrick and his wife, Christina, of Lima, Ohio. And
Kevin Wade Kirkpatrick and his wife, Barbara, of Livonia, Michigan. He left behind two sisters, Karen
Durick and her husband, John, and Sandy Johnson, all of Montana,
and grandchildren, Grace, Noel Patrick, Connor Kirkpatrick,
and Brianna Marie Kirkpatrick. He's going to be greatly missed.
And one of the things that always makes me to miss them is everybody
had a certain place that they sat. Everybody had a certain
place where they sat. And when you come to the service
the first time after they're gone, you look where they sat,
and that's when you really miss them. Look right where they sat. So we're gonna sure miss him.
But I wouldn't, not a soul in this building would give 10,000
worlds to bring him back. No, no, not at all. Our Father, in the blessed, glorious
name of our Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for allowing us this
blessed privilege of taking, saying the few words over this
dear man of God, this child of God. And Lord, be a blessing
and hopefully a comfort to his dear family. We know he is greatly
loved, cherished, respected, honored, and will be sorely missed. But
Lord, we're thankful that he left this world with a good hope,
with a good hope through grace because of what our Lord Jesus
Christ did for him. And Lord, bless this message
today and this time today to honor your holy name. Be a blessing
to the Lord's people. and bring great comfort to them
through the gospel. We ask this in our Lord Jesus
Christ's name. Amen. where gates of pearl swing open
wide. And when I pass this valley side, I'll dwell upon the other side. Someday, beyond the reach of
mortal king, Someday God only knows just where
and in the wills of mortals that your love stands still. And I shall go to dwell on Zion's
hill. Someday our neighbors will be
in danger. And all our dreams will come
true. And all life's burdens will be
lifted And we shall smile and we know Someday beyond the reach of mortal
king. Someday God only knows just where
and with the wheels of mortal life. Then I shall go to dwell
on Zion's hill. Someday the dark clouds will
be rifting And I no more as now shall see Don't weep for me, for I'll be
resting in the presence of my Lord. Someday beyond the reach of mortal
man. Someday God only knows just where. ♪ Wings of gold to life shall fly
to thee ♪ And I shall go to dwell on Zion's
trees. Going home, I'm going home. There's nothing to hold me I've
got a glimpse of the Holy One Hymn number 256. 256. When peace like a river attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows
roll Whatever my lot Thou hast taught me to say, It is well,
it is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my
soul It is well, it is well with my soul Though Satan should buffet, Though
trials should come, Let this blest assurance control. that Christ hath regarded my
helpless estate, and hath shed his own blood for my soul. It is well. It is well. With my soul. With my soul. It is well. It is well. With my soul. I see it. I sing of the bliss
of this glorious Lord. I sing not in part, but the whole. praise the lord It is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my
soul. If Lord haste the day when my
face shall be sighed, the clouds be rolled back as a scroll. The trump shall resound, and
the Lord shall descend. Even so, it is well with my soul. It is well with my soul. Well, that's the song Bill requested,
Signs Heal. I'm going to read a couple of
verses from Revelations chapter 14. What's so wonderful is that He
left this world with a body so sick, waved up in glory with
a body that's whole. left this world of old flesh
behind, now lives in a spiritual world. It says here in verse 12 of my
Revelations 14, 12 and 13, let me read it for you. Here is the
patience of the saints. Here are they that keep the commandments
of God and the faith of Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven
saying unto me, Write, blessed are the dead which dine the Lord
from henceforth, yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from
their labors, and their works do follow them." Heard a voice,
John said, I heard a voice, and this voice speaking said, and
it's a voice from heaven, and it said, I want you to write,
What did this voice said? Write, write something down. I want you to write something.
And this is what I want you to write. Write down, blessed are
they, are the dead which die in the Lord. God said, write
that down. And we wrote it down and I can
repeat that today. Blessed are the dead which die
in the Lord. Balaam said this, he said, Let
me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his. Now let me tell you something,
it matters not when death comes. At the hour appointed it is coming.
It matters not how it comes. The truth of the matter is that
you are only blessed When death comes, if you die in the Lord,
that's the only blessing. And that voice said, blessed
are they, blessed are they. And do you know another thing
that these people say before they left this world? Goodness
and mercy followed me all the days of my life. And now they
said, I'll dwell in the house of the Lord forever. dwell in
the house of the Lord forever, and behold the king in his beauty,
and dwell in our Lord's house forever. And oh, and the scriptures
tells us to be absent from the body. To be absent from the body
is to be present with the Lord. Leave this body and immediately
in the presence of Christ. Presence of Christ. And if he
were here, if Bill were here today, I can tell you this, He'd
tell you to follow after Christ. If He were here today, He'd say,
Seek the Lord with all your heart, that you might meet Me at the
right hand of the great Judge of all the earth at His appearing. He'd tell you that today. And
when it says, Blessed are they which die in the Lord, here's
the first thing I want us to understand, being in the Lord. How do you get in the Lord? Well,
you can t will yourself into it, can t work yourself into
it, can t pray yourself into being in the Lord. We get in
the Lord by a NEW BIRTH, by REGENERATION, by the HOLY SPIRIT giving us
a NEW HEART, a NEW WILL, a NEW MIND, a NEW NATURE. And that's
how it does. But I'll tell you how we first
get in the Lord, is by sovereign election. That's exactly how
everybody gets in Christ, gets in the Lord, by sovereign election. All spiritual blessings are in
heavenly places, are in Christ. And then the first blessing,
He said this, Blessed are they that are chosen. We're chosen
in Christ before the foundation of the world. Now that would
mean before God ever done anything in this world, He chose His people. They're chosen in Christ before
the foundation of the world. God said this, who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? No you've not, you've
not chosen me, but I've chosen you. I've chosen you. And oh
my, God chose Him and chose His people knowing everything there
is about Him. I mean, before he ever existed,
God knew everything there'd ever be about this man right here,
everything about him. And you think that kept him from
God choosing him? God don't choose a person on
the basis of who they are or what they did. He choose them
on the basis of his love and his grace and his mercy. Oh my,
oh listen, it was his grace that made this man to differ. He said,
I've loved you with an everlasting love and with cords of loving
kindness, I drew thee. And he said, I've loved you.
He said this, he said, I will love them freely. God loves his
people freely. So the first thing of getting
in the Lord is by sovereign election. God got to do the choosing. God
chose this man. And I tell you, once you ever
find out that God chooses a soul and His election is God choosing
whom He will save, you'll never get over that when you find out
you're one of them. Never get over it. Here's another
thing that makes them blessed or die in the Lord, is they're
in the Lord by effectual redemption. What do I mean by that? I mean
that Christ, we owed a debt. It was a debt of sin. It was
a debt to the law of God. It was a debt that we wasn't
able to pay. Well, so we had somebody that
had to pay our debt and we couldn't pay that debt. So Christ came
and by his shed blood and by his death, he paid the sin debt,
the law debt, and everything that was against his people with
his own blood on the tree. Oh, He said through His redemption,
having the forgiveness of sins. Christ was the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. You know, God had a Savior and
had a Redeemer before there was ever a sin entered into this
world. God had it all done. Christ is that Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. We weren't redeemed by such corruptible
things as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ
as a lamb, without spot and without blemish before Him. Our Lord
said this, He said, I lay down my life for the sheep. I don't lay it down for nobody
but the sheep. He said, my sheep hear my voice,
and I know them, I know my sheep. And I'll tell you, and here's
another thing about this redemption. He was a sinner. He'll tell you
he was a sinner. He was a sinner when he come
into this world. He sinned in his, you know, he
was sinner by birth, sinner by practice. yet before he ever
committed the first sin before he was ever born, Christ stood
as his Redeemer to pay that debt of sin before he ever come into
this world. Oh, what a blessing! Oh, to KNOW
that before you ever come into this world, that s what the gospel
teaches us. We didn t know that until the
gospel taught that to us. that before we ever come into
this world, Christ stood as a Lamb slain so God could have mercy
upon us and God could look upon us and preserve us till the day
He redeemed us by His blood. He redeemed us before we ever
existed! And I tell you what, he don't
try to pay off somebody's debt. And that debt don't depend up
on your obedience in any way. Christ paid the debt before the
world was ever began. He was the lamb slain. Bless
his holy name. And I tell you, beloved, he bore
his sin. He bore his sin, my sin, your
sin, if you're one of God's elect, in his own body on the tree. Christ is the sinner's substitute. What do you need a substitute
for? Somebody's got to face God for you. Somebody's got to be
in your stead before God. Somebody's got to answer for
your sins before God. Somebody's got to answer for
your rebellion before God. Somebody's got to answer for
your hatred before God. And there ain't but one person
can do that, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. And somebody has
to satisfy God to where you can't never satisfy Him. And who can
only one can satisfy God is God Himself. And God came down in
the person of His blessed Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And oh,
God said, I saw the travail of His soul and I was satisfied. I satisfied. I tell you what,
when you understand that God satisfied everything that God
required of you, everything that God required of you, Christ satisfied
on your behalf. Satisfied. He by himself purged
our sins and sat down on the right hand of the emergency on
high. He entered once into the holy place with his own blood
and obtained eternal redemption for us. He appeared once in the end of
the world to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Oh,
bless His name. So I tell you, we're in the Lord
by sovereign election. That's how He got in the Lord.
Got in the Lord by effectual redemption. When He pays a debt,
the debt's paid. You don't have to come up with
no other payment. And then we was in the Lord by
effectual calling. How do you know you're going
where you're one of God's elect? He tells you. How does He tell
you? He calls you. He said, my sheep, what they
do? Hear my voice. What do they do? They come. And all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. and him that cometh to me, I
shall in no wise cast him out. Oh my. You know, our Lord Jesus
Christ said, I, my sheep hear my voice, and I know my sheep
and have known of mine. And he said, I give unto them
eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no man shall
take them out of my hand. You know, Affectual calling has
to do with God calling a person, and they LISTEN. They come. They come. So many instances
of affectual calling in the Bible. Zacchaeus was a little bitty
man of little stature. He couldn't see over the crowd
that was following the Lord Jesus Christ, so he climbed up in a
sycamore tree. And he probably got on one of
the limbs, he was sitting out there holding on one of the limbs
up probably around the trunk of the tree. Christ came by,
big crowd around him, Zacchaeus the little bitty fella. Our Lord
walked by and looked up at him and said, Zacchaeus come down.
You know why? Today, today I must abide at
your house. Today salvation is coming to
your house. Now that's what we call effectual
calling. Oh, blessed is the man, blessed
is the man whom thou choosest, whom thou choosest, and listen
to this, and causes, causes to approach unto thee. I heard a
preacher say, and this is exactly right, when he talks about BEING
DRAWN, THE FATHER DRAWS US TO CHRIST, THAT MEANS THAT HE'LL
GET YOU BY THE NECK OR COLLAR, WHICHEVER WAY YOU WANT TO CALL
IT, AND HE DRAGS YOU, HE BRINGS YOU. AND YOU WON'T COME KICKING
AND YOU WON'T COME SCREAMING. YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'LL DO IN THE
DAY OF HIS POWER? YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'LL DO? I'M
WILLING! I'M WILLING! AND LORD, AND HERE'S THE THING
ABOUT YOU SAY, LORD DON'T NEVER TURN LOOSE OF ME. Don't never
ever turn loose on me. Huh? That's what this man believed
here. Oh my, that's how he got in the
Lord. And then, oh my, we get in the Lord by grace through
faith. Oh, I love this subject of grace. For by grace are you saved. And you know what the next line
said? It's not of yourself. It's not of works, it's the gift
of God. Not of works, because if it was
work, a man would boast something about it, he'd brag about it.
But oh my, this man, this dear, dear brother, and you and I,
you all know the story of Simeon. He was an old, old man. And the
Lord Jesus Christ had been born, and He was eight days old, and
they went to dedicate Him to the Lord, went into the temple
to dedicate Him to the Lord. And there was an old man in there,
and this old man the Lord had told him by the Holy Ghost, revealed
to him by the Holy Spirit. that the Lord Jesus Christ, the
Savior, God the Savior, would be born, and He would be in this
particular place at this particular time. Well, that old man walked
in there, and there was Mary and Joseph with
an eight-day-old baby. Oh, listen, there s no telling
how many babies was in there, but he walked over, this old
man walked over, and God done told him, He said, When you see
My salvation said, I'm gonna let you die. I'm gonna let you
go home. I'm gonna let you leave this
world in peace. Well, he went over and picked up that little
eight day old baby, looked at it, held it. He said, now mine eyes have seen
thy salvation. What was he looking at? An eight
day old baby. He said, now, he had that baby
back to his mother, says, Lord, now, now, right now, let me leave
this world and let me leave in peace. Oh my, now that's the reality. This is our reality, beloved.
The Holy Ghost revealed to this man and reveals to all his people,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace chose him. Grace bought
him. Grace sought him. Grace sustained
him. Grace carried him safely home. Grace did that. And then, oh,
here's the most blessed thing. To die in the Lord. Sovereign
election. Factual redemption. Factual calling. Salvation by grace through faith. and then to die in the Lord.
You know, you know how you die in the Lord? Because of what
the Lord did for you, for him, not what he did for the Lord.
You know, this is the thing about it. Everybody wants to do something
for the Lord, but the Lord's got to do something for us. The
Lord's got to do something for us. I remember on a Wednesday
night, this is one of the mysteries of life to me, that this man,
I've known him for years and years, and he loved to go to
meetings, loved to be around believers, loved to listen to
gospel, went to conferences all over the country with his wife,
but he never made a profession. and ask him one time what the
problem was. So one night on a Wednesday night,
our priest told him, Can you believe what God says? Can you
believe what God says? Can you believe God s Word? This is God saying this! That
s why he said, Write! Write! Write it down! And he
went home on Wednesday night and he said to himself, said,
Yes, I do. I believe what God says. Call
me the next morning. He said, Lord, save me. That's what it amounts to. Do
you believe what God says? Do you believe what God says? Oh, my. And I tell you, he believed
what God said, every bit of it. And after that, he went, oh,
bless, bless the Lord. I don't know how many times he
sat there and weep over the message. I don't know how many, he'd be
one of the first ones to come up here and hug me and say, thank
you, thank you, thank you. And when he first got sick, you
know how many times every time I'd go see him, He'd tell me,
thank you for preaching the truth to me. Thank you for preaching
the truth to me. Thank you so much for preaching
the truth to me. He's grateful for the gospel.
You can leave this world. He left this world without any
fear, without any trepidation. The only thing that bothered
him was leaving that little old lady right there behind. That's
the only thing that troubled him. He wasn't afraid of leaving
this world. But he said, I don't want to
leave my wife behind. But oh my, he died in the Lord. What a wonderful way to die.
Oh my. He's in the presence of the Lord
right now. Right now. On what basis can
I say that? Was he a good man? Yes. I loved
him. But his goodness had nothing
to do with it. It has nothing to do with him
being there. His badness had nothing to do
with keeping him out. It says there that his works,
their labors follow them and their works follow them. Works
don't go before us to commend us and to give us rewards. Works come after us. Works follow
us. They come there and the only
work that we're interested in in this world is the work of
Christ. And the one that's gonna follow
us into glory is the same work that saved us here, the work
of Christ. Huh? That follows us. The work
of Christ. Has somebody take you home? Thanks
be unto God for His unspeakable, unspeakable gift. He died in
the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. Had a good, good hope. Not based
upon anything He did. He trusted in God Almighty. and saw the travail of the Son
of God and was satisfied. This man will never know another
fear, never shed another tear, never feel another thing. He
never heard a word I said. If you're gonna love somebody,
love them here. If you're gonna do something
for somebody, do it here. Never ever have a conversation
with somebody on the phone that you love. Never ever let them
leave the house and go somewhere without saying, I love you. Because it may be the last time
you ever speak to them. When you're on the phone, before
you hang up, I love you. Hang up. When you leave the house,
I love you. When you come in, I love you. because there'll be a time like
this. Don't leave no regrets. Don't
leave no regrets. Our Father, oh, blessed be your
holy name, I thank you for this dear man's testimony. Thank you
for his life. Thank you for the love that he
showed to his family, the love he showed to the Lord Jesus Christ,
the faith and commitment he showed to Christ and his gospel. Thankful
for the love and faithfulness he showed to his family, his
sons, his wives, his grandchildren. Oh, how faithful he was to them,
to love them, care for them, take care of them, teach them,
instruct them. And Lord, I thank you for this
family. Thank you for this congregation. Lord, he'll be missed, but oh
Lord, thank you for taking him home, saving him from this old
body of death, taking him to be with our Lord Jesus Christ.
We bless your holy name. Thank you for this time to preach
the gospel. to the living, for Christ's sake,
I praise you. Amen, amen. When these sang,
our service will be over, but remember this, after the service
is over and you go by and see Bill, they got some food back
here for you, so you all wait till they call you back. There is coming a day when nobody's
spoken, no more clouds What a day. What a day that will be! What a day that will be! When my Jesus I shall see, And
I look upon His face, The water safely by His grace, When he
takes me by the hand and leads me through the promised land,
what a day, glorious day, that will be. Be close to me. No more sickness, no pain. No more whining over there. Then forever I shall be with
the one who died for me. What a day that will be. What a day that will be. The one who saved me by his grace. When he takes me by the hand. And leads me through the promised
land. What a day, glorious day, that
will be. Peace, peace, wonderful peace
coming down from my Father above. Sweep over my spirit. Forever, I pray, in fathomless
billows of love. What a day, glorious day. Samantha, come and put your jaw
down. ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ Yeah. ♪ ♪ Yeah.