And we meet again. In a little while, we won't do this anymore. And I'll be glad when I never do another one. But until then, I'm gonna read a portion of scriptures, a scripture to you that Bonnie picked out. She picked out the scriptures to be read. And what was interesting, Two of those scriptures are the ones that I chose to preach from. I'd never preached from them before, but she had asked that I preach from them. And here's one portion of scripture in 2 Corinthians chapter 5.

For we know, this is something we know, that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God and house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan earnestly, desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven. If so be that being clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened, not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon. that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing as God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.

Therefore we are always confident, knowing that whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Let's go to prayer and make sure your cell phones are turned off.

Our Father, first we thank you for your Word. It is in your Word that we find the foundation of our hope. It's in Your Word that we find the Lord Jesus Christ, our hope. It's in Your Word that we find salvation. It's in Your Word that we find comfort. For You said in Your Word, comfort one another with these words. It's Your Word that comforts us.

And our Father, I pray, I pray for the family that You would be merciful to them. And I pray that You would enable us this hour to give unto you the glory and the honor due unto your name, as I know that our sister would have us to do. Help us, Father. Help us to glorify your name. Help us to worship you in spirit and in truth. Help me to preach the gospel once again. Father, in Jesus Christ's name we pray, and amen. Be still, my soul, the Lord is on thy side. Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain.

Leave to thy God to order and provide. In every change, ye faithful will remain. Be still, my soul, thy best, thy heavenly friend. Through thorny ways, leads to a joyful end. Be still, my soul, thy God doth undertake to guide the future as He has the past, Thy hope, thy God, guidance let nothing shake. O now, mystic, thou shalt be bright at last. Be still, my soul, The waves and winds still know His voice who ruled them while He dwelt below Be still, my soul, the hour is hastening on when we shall be forever with the Lord.

When disappointment, creep, and fear are gone, sorrow for God, love's purest joys restored, Be still, my soul, when change and tears are past. All safe and blessed we shall meet at last. Good afternoon. Thank you all for being here. The Lord God Almighty has truly blessed me and my family.

To have a good mother is a wonderful thing, but God gave me a double portion. Two great mothers. My first mother, Shirley, was with me for the first 27 years of my life. And my second mother, Bonnie, was with me for the past 27 years. Both ladies had a right fear of God, and they both put all of their trust and hope only in the Lord Jesus Christ. My first mother raised my sister Rhonda and me from birth. She gave us shelter, food, clothing, and everything else we needed to survive. She taught us and prepared us to become productive members of society And then at the age of 50, the Lord called her home.

At the same time, Bonnie was also raising her family. A family very similar to ours. Two children, a boy and a girl. Guy was the same age as my sister Rhonda, and Renee was the same age as me. And Bonnie gave her children shelter, food, clothing, and everything else they needed to survive. And she taught them and prepared them to also become productive members of society.

Now Rhonda and I went into careers that kept us close to home. We were each soon married and started our families here. But Guy and Renee went into careers that took them away from home. Guy joined the military, where he had a distinguished career, spending much of his time in Washington, DC and Northern Virginia. He married and started raising a family there.

And I know Bonnie was extremely proud of his service to our country. Now Renee, she became what we call a Georgia peach. She moved to Georgia and started her career there. And I believe I'm not wrong in saying she's been with the same company for almost 40 years or maybe more. She married and started raising her family in Georgia.

And I know Bonnie was extremely proud of her and her accomplishments also. Now Guy and Renee's families gave Bonnie her grandchildren and her great-grandchildren. Bonnie loved these grandchildren immensely. Her eyes lit up anytime she talked about her babies. Anytime she received new pictures of them, she could not wait to show me. She loved you all, she really did.

Now after my mother died, my father was alone for a few years. And around the same time, Bonnie had divorced and she was alone also. She visited her children as much as possible, but usually that was only once or twice a year. Now my family had known Bonnie and her family pretty much all our lives, from attending church here and from school. We were classmates with Bonnie's children. So in God's providence, he brought Bonnie and Earl together. Dad and Bonnie started dating, and in 1999, they were married. They had many wonderful years together.

Now, this union was a blessing to me and Rhonda also, as I'm sure it was for Guy and Renee, because they being together and taking care of each other's needs, it relieved us from worrying about them all the time. We could focus on raising our own families. We knew if Bonnie and Earl needed us, they would call. But otherwise, we knew they were OK.

And when they married, Bonnie immediately gained additional grandchildren, and most recently, a new great-grandson. She loved them equally with her own grandchildren. That was a little history of our family dynamics and how we came together. So now I want to talk to you about some of the attributes of Bonnie that she impressed upon me. And those of you that knew her, I'm sure you can relate to these.

Smart. Bonnie was extremely intelligent. She earned a master's degree, and she taught school for many years. She had a positive impact on not only students, but also junior teachers who looked up to her for guidance. Timeliness. Bonnie was always on time, never late.

She had a paper calendar where she would write down everything she had coming up. Doctor's appointments for her and Earl, bowling matches, various meetings, birthdays, and more. Everything she needed to remember was written in that calendar. Now, sometimes her timeliness caused issues.

For example, every Christmas morning we meet at Rhonda's house, my sister. for a late breakfast around 10 o'clock. Rhonda would tell us to be there at 10 o'clock for breakfast. Bonnie and Earl would show up at 9 o'clock. Rhonda hadn't even started cooking yet. And Bonnie said, well, we didn't want to be late. So after a few years, we figured out to tell Bonnie and Earl we were starting at 11. We told everybody else to be there at 10. And that way, we knew everybody would arrive around the same time.

Next thing that Bonnie impacted me with was her cooking. Now, I love good food, and I'm sure you can tell that. And I know a lot of good cooks. But when I speak about great cooks, I'm talking about people who have cooked many meals for me over many years. To mention a few, my grandmother Eloise Rainer, my Aunt Shelby, who's here, and my neighbor growing up, Virginia Shaw, the three best cooks I ever knew. But I put Bonnie right up there with them. Bonnie was a great cook.

Her specialty was making something out of almost nothing. She could take leftovers from earlier meals that she had frozen and put in her freezer. She could pull those out. Somehow she put it all together and seasoned it up. And she would make a meal that was better than the original. And she also had legendary Sunday dinners. She would cook for us and our family whenever someone in the family had a birthday, anniversary, or on holidays. My daughter Emily would often ask me who had the next birthday coming up. Because she was looking forward to when she could eat at Bonnie's again. Now, Bonnie was frugal. For you young folks, that means she was tight. Bonnie did not waste things.

And I guess this comes from her growing up when times were hard. You know, that generation before us had very little during their childhood. And they learned to save and make do with what little they had. Much different than today's throwaway generation. where we see waste everywhere. She didn't care for flashy or expensive things.

Her and dad rarely ate out at restaurants or places like that. They'd rather eat at home. And with her good cooking, I don't blame them. Now, let me say they would go out and eat free dinners. Johnny and I always picked on them. Because whether it was the South Electric membership dinner or the Farm Bureau annual dinner, or the AARP meeting, they could always find a free meal.

And I'm sure Bonnie had those dinners noted in her calendar so she wouldn't forget them. The next one is active. Bonnie stayed active up until the very end, both physically and mentally. On the physical side, she walked daily up to five miles a day. She walked laps around her house. She walked so much, she created a sandy path where her feet had killed the grass. In the summertime, instead of walking, she would swim in her pool. She would swim slowly from one end to the other, back and forth, back and forth, for one to two hours each morning. And she and dad have also bowled in a weekly league for many years. Some of her bowling friends are here today.

And she tracked all her activities in a notebook. The miles she walked, her swimming times, calories burned, everything was documented. And speaking of documentation, just a couple nights ago, Emily was over at Bonnie's house, and she found a notebook where Bonnie tracked her weight daily. Now, she's tracked her weight daily since 1997. You think about that. That's almost 7,000 entries in a notebook. It's just amazing.

Now on the mental side, she stayed active by keeping a journal or diary of her daily life. Every day she wrote notes about her experiences, her concerns, and her prayers. She also had a notebook here at church, and during John's and previously Rupert's sermons, she was constantly writing notes. And she told me this helped her understand better when she wrote things down instead of just hearing them. Plus she could go back and read them again later. Now we also have to talk about this.

Bonnie was set in her ways. And for you young folks, that means she was stubborn. Bonnie did not like change. She was content with what she had. Now, those of you that are my age, if you remember when the internet first started becoming popular, you had to use AOL, and your computer would dial a phone number, a modem, and you'd hear some bells and whistles and crazy sounds for about 10 seconds before it finally connected. It was very slow and cumbersome. Well, Bonnie had this AOL, and she did not want to change. You know, despite me explaining to her that there were newer and faster ways to connect, she did not care.

She was happy with what she had, and she was not changing. She may have been the last person in this area on dial-up. Finally, AOL stopped providing that service, and she was forced to change. Another example is her cell phone. Bonnie had an old flip phone, and she would turn it on when she needed to make a call, And then she would turn it off. Now, I don't mean turn the screen off. She would power the phone down to save her battery. And I said, Bonnie, if it's turned off, nobody can call you. She said, that's fine. Nobody needs to call me anyway. Now, eventually that phone broke, and she got her first smartphone.

And now once you push Bonnie over the edge to actually try something new, she really embraced it, and she did her best to learn it. And she really loved it. With her smartphone, she could easily send group texts to her friends. And most importantly, she could send and receive pictures of her grandchildren instantly. Now, overall, Bonnie was kind and loving. She was kind and loving to her family and her friends. She put others' needs before herself, seeking to make others happy first. She was a wonderful wife, mother, grandmother, sister, and friend.

Now, for the last few minutes, I've been talking about what Bonnie was, and I did that on purpose. Things I describe that Bonnie was relate to her earthly life. That earthly life is now over. There's one more thing that Bonnie was. and you and I still are today. This is the most important thing I want you to hear.

Bonnie was a sinner, just as I'm a sinner, and just as you all here are sinners. By nature, we are sinners from head to toe. Now when compared to others on this earth, Bonnie was a great person, that's no doubt. But when compared to the holy and sovereign God who is perfect, Bonnie was altogether insufficient. as we are. The Bible says when speaking of natural man, there is none good, no not one.

Now Bonnie understood this. And Bonnie knew that in order to meet the holy sovereign God, she must not bring anything of her own. No good words, no good deeds, no good life lived. Bonnie counted all those things as nothing. And Bonnie put her trust and hope in the Lord Jesus Christ alone. knowing that that was her only path to salvation.

If I had any doubts about Bonnie's salvation, which I didn't, but if I did, reading her journals just confirmed to me where her hope was. Bonnie prayed that the Lord would heal her physically, which we all can understand, man, we prayed that too. But then she always wrote in her journal, nevertheless, thy will be done. See, she knew that God would either heal her physically temporarily here on earth, or he would heal her permanently in death.

So now, based on that, I'm confident that I can tell you what Bonnie is today. No longer what Bonnie was, but what Bonnie is. Three things. Number one, Bonnie is free from this earthly body. This body of sickness, sin, and shame is no more. It's dead and gone.

Number two, Bonnie is a new creation, clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ the Lord. She's now perfect, just as Jesus Christ is perfect. And number three, Bonnie is now, right now, sitting at the feet of Jesus Christ. And for the first time, without sin, she is truly worshiping her Lord and Savior.

Thank you. You would stand? Page number 256. It is well with my soul. 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 with my soul. It is well, it is well with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trial should come, let this blessed assurance control. that Christ hath regarded my helpless estate, and hath shed his own blood for my soul. It is well with my soul It is well, it is well with my soul. My sin, O the bliss of this glorious thought. My sin, not in part, but the whole. is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more.

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul, it is well. with my soul. It is well, it is well with my soul. And Lord, haste the day when my face shall beside the clouds be rolled back as a scroll. The trump shall resound, and the world shall descend. Even so, it is well with my soul. It is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my soul. Always.

When I'm about to do the service, the funeral service of a believer, the congregation here that I know real well, there's usually a thought that strikes me about them. And Bonnie, the thought that struck me concerning Bonnie was faithful. It just struck faithful. She was a faithful servant of our Lord. She was always faithful. Her and Earl was always faithful to be here. I know this as a pastor. It is so comforting when you know that certain people are going to show up. You've prepared a message. You've worked on it. You've prayed. You've asked the Lord to give you a message and help you to deliver it.

And there's always, there's always that core that's going to show up. And Bonnie and Earl was always here. She was always here early. Earl was the last one to come in. I always knew when it was time to start because Earl would come through the door and I knew it was time to start. But Bonnie would be over in that seat over there waiting on him.

Faithful, she faithfully supported the gospel here for many years, long before I came here. You know, it's written in the scripture, it is required of a steward that they be found faithful. That's one of the first requirements, that they be found faithful, and she was, and we will greatly miss her.

Bonnie was very thorough. She made her funeral arrangements. I was so glad when, and this was encouraging to me as a pastor. She made the funeral arrangements. She had every song picked out, solid as can be. She had a list of preachers. If this one can't do it, this one can't do it. I mean, she had a list of preachers. And I made the list. And I'm telling you, here's what was amazing to me. She put me in some high cotton.

I mean, those preachers that she had picked, they're solid. I mean, they're, There's no weakness in the gospel in their preaching at all. And she had me among those men. But the men she picked were just solid gospel preachers. And I tell you, that was just such an encouragement to me. Such an encouragement.

And I know this about our sister. And that's exactly who she is. She's our sister. Big family! I've told this congregation, and I'm talking about those who believe, we have a big family. Not just here, but all over this world and in heaven. We have a big family. And we haven't lost her.

She's just gone for a little while. I don't like to use that word. My pastor said this one time concerning a husband that had died. and passed away. The Lord took him, and his wife was grieving over it. He said, He's just around the corner. She's just around the corner.

But I'll tell you this, I thought of this. This generation, this is a tough generation. Tough generation. You go back to that World War II generation and this generation. She told me her and Earl was over for lunch just a few weeks ago. She said when she was a little girl growing up, that their floor was dirt. It was a dirt floor. That's tough. That's tough. And I thought this morning, when a nation loses its experience like this, it loses itself. This toughness, boy, I tell you, you just can't replace that.

But here's the message I want to bring in honor of our sister and one that I know she would agree with. She would wholeheartedly agree with this, as I know every believer here will. I titled this message, THIS MUST HAPPEN. THIS MUST HAPPEN. Every believer understands that this matter of dying THIS MATTER OF DEATH MUST HAPPEN. IT MUST HAPPEN.

But know this, that the Scripture never speaks of the believer's death as death. It speaks of it as sleep. It speaks of it as sleep. In 1 Corinthians 15, verse 51, Paul writes, Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep. He's writing to the church at Corinth. He said, We shall not all sleep. And in 1 Thessalonians 4, he speaks of this, Then which sleep in Jesus shall God bring with Him. The believer now, the believer never tastes death. Never tastes death. Christ said, He that believes in Me shall never walk. He said this, and I believe what He said. He that believes in Me shall never DIE. That's what the Lord said. Our body will die, but we shall never taste of death. Never. And for the child of God, death is not a tragedy. This is not a tragedy. Not a tragedy. It's not the end.

It is rest without laboring to rest. You know, we're told to labor to rest in Hebrews. Well, now she can rest without laboring to rest. That's what this is. I'll tell you something else it is. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. It's to be present, right there in glory, right now. Right now.

I'll tell you something else about death. For the believer, it is the end of dying. I'm dying. Paul said, this outer man is perishing. That's what Paul wrote. This outer man is perishing. You see me, I'm aging. You're aging. You know what's happening? Sin is taking its effect on your body. You're dying. You're dying. But he said the inward man is renewed day by day. That new man that is created in Christ Jesus in righteousness and holiness, that new man is never dying. He's eternal. He's never dying. So death is the end of dying for the believer.

But still knowing this, listen, knowing this, we feel the weight of this. We feel the separation. I know we do. We sorrow, but not as those who have no hope, but we do sorrow. We're not hard-hearted. We feel the pain of separation, but it's with hope. It's with great hope. Great hope. We have great hope. Now, let me give you a few reasons why this must happen. This has to happen. It has to. Here's the first reason it has to happen. God appointed it. God appointed this hour. God appointed this.

Ecclesiastes 3, verses 1 and 2 tells us, To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven. There's not one thing under heaven that God hasn't purposed. He didn't create this, wind it, and then just let it go like a top. God has created everything on purpose and for a purpose, and the eternal end of that purpose is to glorify Jesus Christ. That's what it's for. To everything there is a season and a time to every person under heaven, a time to be born and a time to die.

Psalm 3115 declares this, My times, there is a time to be born, time to die, but My times are in Thy hand. They're in Thy hand. My time to be born, My time of happiness. Now listen, My time of happiness is God's child. My time of sorrow is ordered of God. My time of health and My time of sickness. My time of poverty in my time of wealth. My time to die and leave this world is absolutely in the hands of God. Now could my times be in any better hands? No, absolutely not. Absolutely not.

And then it says this in Hebrews chapter 9 verse 27-28, now listen, It is appointed unto men once to die, But after this, the judgment. And I thank God that sentence, that verse, does not end with a period where we'd all be in trouble. It ends with a semicolon.

There's more to come. It's appointed unto men once to die, but after this, the judgment. So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many. And I can tell you the many WHOSE SINS HE BORE AND PUT AWAY. I CAN TELL YOU WHO THEY ARE BECAUSE IT'S WRITTEN IN THE VERSE. AND UNTO THEM THAT LOOK FOR HIM SHALL HE APPEAR THE SECOND TIME WITHOUT SIN UNTO SALVATION. They're looking for Him. Bonnie was looking for Him. I'm looking for the Lord Jesus Christ to return.

This book is not mythology, this is the Word of God. It's the Word of God. Now the day for Bonnie was appointed by her Heavenly Father. Her time was appointed, I mean right to the second, by God Almighty, just as mine and yours is. And God keeps His appointments. You think Bonnie is always on time? God is really on time. Our time can be hindered, His time can't.

We do not merely die from something. I want you to get a hold of this. We die by appointment. It may seem accidental to us, it may come through illness or accident, but it is never an accident with God that we die. It's an appointment. This must happen because God appointed it. And then secondly, this must happen because all things are ordained of God.

So it says in 2 Corinthians 5.18, All things are of God. This was ordained of God. The Word of God tells us that all things are of God and that actually means all things. I don't know why we have a problem understanding such simple language. It means all things.

Luke 12.7, this is what the Scripture says about God's children. The Lord says this, even the very hairs of our head are numbered. That's how minutely connected God is to His children. I don't know how many hairs are on the head of my two sons or my grandchildren. God does. He knows how many hairs are on the head of His children. Nothing happens to them that He doesn't allow. NOTHING ESCAPES HIS NOTICE, AND NOTHING IS OUTSIDE OF HIS CONTROL.

Satan himself had to receive PERMISSION to touch Job. He couldn't touch him. Even Satan said, YOU PUT A HEDGE ABOUT HIM. She had a hedge about her until it was time for God to take her, and He took her in the way that He had purposed to take her. That's the truth. Bonnie's cancer, and I believe I can say it like this, Bonnie's cancer had to receive permission to touch her body. It had to receive permission. Ain't nothing gonna touch me unless God permits it to. Nothing. Cancer could not touch her, her body. It couldn't touch her life. It could touch her body. It did that. But now listen, it couldn't touch her life. You know why?

Because it says in Colossians 3.3 that our life is hid with Christ in God. Her life, my life, the life of every believer cannot be touched. The body can be touched but not the life. Because Jesus Christ is my life. He didn't just give me life. He is my life. Without Him I don't have it. I don't have it without Him. He is my life.

And our sister is alive and well. She wasn't too, I don't want to say too happy, but she wasn't feeling too good last time I saw her. She's happy now. She's happy now. You know, when I was getting ready to leave the room, I was almost afraid to touch her because I was afraid of her. And she came up out of there and grabbed me and she gave me one of those Florence hugs. I mean, that's one of those hugs that they hug you with their soul. I mean, it wasn't just a hug, it was like, you're my pastor. But our sister, she's with the one who lived for her.

You know, Jesus Christ not only died for me, you know, He had to live for me. He had to work out a righteousness as a man that God could accept, and He did it! And He did it for everyone He'll save. He did it for every one of them. He had to live for her, He died for her, rose again for her, ascended on high for her, and now she's with Him.

Now listen here to John 14, this is one of my favorite verses. Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of them. It's kind of hard to say, but in John 14, 2, 3, In 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.

Not an actual house, but a place of acceptance. We lost our place in Adam. I lost my acceptance in Adam, I gained my acceptance in Christ. He hath made us accepted in the Beloved, says in Ephesians 1. And he said, I go and prepare a place for you. And if I go prepare a place for you, I'll come again, receive you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also. That's what happened Monday. The Lord went, He had gone back 2,000 years ago. Prepare a place for her. And he came Monday and he took her to that place. You know what that place is called?

Paradise. That's why he said to that thief, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise. Today. Our sister is in a perfect worship service now. No pain, no weakness, no sorrow. Just joy in the presence of her Lord. And this must happen. This must happen because God ordained it. And then thirdly, and I'll start winding this up, this must happen because flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. That's what the Lord said.

1 Corinthians 15.50 declares, Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, neither does corruption inherit incorruption. And Paul continues as he writes to believers here, he says this, We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of the eye, the dead shall be raised incorruptible.

You don't want to go over there and dig that cemetery up. You don't want to see what's in it or any cemetery. You don't want to see what's in it. but all there is coming today when the body of God's saints are coming out of that ground, and they are coming out incorruptible, incorruptible.

It's not optional, it's a must. The Kingdom of God is a spiritual kingdom, and these sinful, mortal bodies, weak, frail, subject to sickness and decay, are not fitted for that world. And I'm glad because I don't want to take this with me. I do not want to take this raggedy old body with me. I look in the mirror and I want to do that less and less. It's not too complimentary anymore. Oh, it's weak and frail. But listen, 1 Corinthians 15 verses 42-44 explains this change beautifully.

It says this, It is sown in corruption. We're burying a dead body, frail, eaten up by cancer. We're burying a dead body. But it's sown in corruption. But now listen, I thought of this when I was looking at this a while ago. This corruption was sown, it was sown in corruption. It was sown in corruption in my conception.

David said, I was conceived in sin and in iniquity. I was brought forth. He's not saying the act was sinful. He's saying the seed by which I was begotten is sinful. That's what's sinful. That's how I ended up with a sinful nature. The seed was sinful. My father, then his father, and you just keep on going back to Adam. But it's raised in incorruption. That seed, the gospel seed by which we are begotten, is not a corruptible seed. We are raised in incorruption, no sin.

I can't even imagine that. All I've ever known is sin. It's sown in dishonor. This sin has ravaged his body, but it's raised in glory. It is sown in weakness. David said, Lord, teach me how frail I am. I ain't none of us as strong as we think we are. A little old microscopic germ will take us right out. But it's raised in power. Now here, listen, it sown a NATURAL BODY, it has raised a SPIRITUAL BODY. That s what s coming out of the grave, a body just like the body of our Lord Jesus Christ. POWERFUL, POWERFUL BODY!

Can t even explain it, can t put it into words. And then fourthly, why must this happen? And these verses I'm going over here, this is the second set of verses Bonnie wanted read. And I've never preached from them before at a funeral. But here's the fourth reason.

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. And this can't happen till we die, But death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, the strength of sin is the law, but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. The grave can't keep us. Because of Jesus Christ, death is not defeat, it's victory. This is a day of victory.

And here's what I know, going back to 2 Corinthians chapter 5 that I read to you. Paul calls this body, as I read to you, a tabernacle. That means a tent. You realize you're living in a tent? That's exactly what you're living in, a tent. God's children are pilgrims here. This is not home. This is not home. My pastor said many times, don't grow your roots too deep here. This is not home. This is not home.

And we must die to experience this victory. We've got to die to experience it. But here's what our sister experienced. 2 Corinthians 5.4 So that mortality might be swallowed up of life. That's what happened. Her mortality was swallowed up of life. Like stepping into the ocean and being swallowed up by its vastness. She stepped out of this frail tent into eternal life. No less alive. No less alive. But more alive than evermore.

Listen to what our Lord said in John 10.10. I'm getting ready to close here. I come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly. We really don't know what abundant life is yet. There's so much we don't know. Paul said we look through a glass darkly. Darkly. We know some things.

God has let us know some things. But oh my, my. what that day will be like. And for that we say, Thank you, Lord, for saving my soul. Thank you, Lord, for saving her soul. And I can tell everybody here, our relationship to Christ is all that matters in this hour.

The Word of God says that a man's glory will not descend after him. It does not matter what you have achieved in this life, it's not going with you. No U-Haul is going to follow the hearse to the grave. It ain't going with you. Your glory is not going with you.

But I tell you what will go with me? My relationship to Christ. That's what will go with me. All right. As the casket is taken out, everybody stand. After we sing a song, after we sing a song. I'm getting ahead of myself. Go ahead and stand anyway. Page number 287. This is the last song that Bonnie had picked out for her funeral. 287, Like a River Glorious.

Like a river glorious is God's perfect peace, Over all victorious in its frightening crease. Perfect yet it floweth fuller every day, Perfect yet it groweth, deeper all the way. Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blessed, Finding as He promised, perfect peace and rest. Hidden in the hollow of His blessed hand, Never poke and follow, never trade or stand. Not a surge of worry, not a shade of care Not a blast of hurry, touch the spirit there hearts are fully blessed finding as he promised perfect peace and rest every joy or trial falleth from above Traced upon our dial by the Son of Love. We may trust Him wholly, all for us to do. They who trust Him wholly, find Him wholly true. Upstaid upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blessed, Binding as He promised, perfect peace and rest. I don't know.