Tommy Lynn McGarry Memorial Service

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Tommy Lynn McGarry Memorial Service March 3, 1951 - July 15 2021

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♪ Stand please.
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Thank you, you may be seated.
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I was reminded this morning by Diane, this is the day that the
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Lord has made. So good morning and welcome to Sunnyside.
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We want to thank you for your attendance this morning and showing support and encouragement and love to the family.
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It is deeply appreciated. And we want to begin this morning with a prayer.
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So if you would bow and pray with me. Thank you
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Lord for our brother in Christ. Tommy's life and his testimony bore witness to a heart of stone made into a heart of flesh.
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Thank you for Tommy's love of you, of his family, of his friends, and the lost.
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His compassion towards others and his passion for your word brought you praise and honor.
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And we desire to remember how you redeemed Tommy's soul for eternity.
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May all who say and do this morning bring glory to your name.
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And all God's people said, Amen. May this journey bring a blessing.
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May I rise on wings of faith.
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And at the end of my heart's testing.
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With your likeness, let me awake.
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Jesus, guide me through the tempest.
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Keep my spirit state and sure.
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When the midnight meets the morning.
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Let me love you even more.
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May this journey bring a blessing.
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May I rise on wings of faith.
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And at the end of my heart's testing.
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With your likeness, let me awake.
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The treasures of in me as I go.
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And at the end of passage, let me leave them at your throne.
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May this journey bring a blessing.
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May I rise on wings of faith.
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And at the end of my heart's testing.
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With your likeness, let me awake.
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Good morning, family, church, brothers, sisters.
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Thank you for allowing me this. I keep trying to clean my glasses, but I've decided it's not my glasses.
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It's my eyes. They keep filling up with water and I can't see through the lenses.
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Tommy Lynn McGarry of Oklahoma City. He was born in Wellington, Texas on March 3, 1951.
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To Thomas Everett McGarry and Una Maxine Orton on Thursday, July 15, 2021.
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Tommy left this world to join his Lord and Savior in his father's house at the age of 70 years young.
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Tommy was a hard worker who dedicated his life to his family, his friends and his church.
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He worked as an electrician for 27 years. During that time, he went back for further education and he finished his career as an electrical draftsman.
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He and his wife, Marilyn Diane McGarry Glass, married on October 24, 1975 at the
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Will Rogers Rose Garden of Oklahoma City. They would spend the next 46 years together building their lives and raising the family.
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Tommy was an avid OU fan and a proud member. Let me restate that.
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He was a really proud member of the 1969 NEO National Championship football team.
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A longtime member of the Ronnie McGee deer camp, he loved hunting, fishing and anything outdoors.
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Both he and Diane were members of the Sunnyside Baptist Church of Oklahoma City. While Tommy loved to cook, smoke and grill for friends and family, he always made time to go eat with his
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Capitol Hill Grill on the Hill lunch buddies. I'd like to meet some of them folks.
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His favorite pastime, though, was playing and spending time with family and his grandchildren.
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Tommy was preceded in death by his father, Thomas McGarry, and friend,
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George Zellmer. He is survived by his son, Josh McGarry, and his wife,
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Amanda Rook. Daughter, Angela Cummings. Daughter, Rebecca Durham.
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And her husband, Michael Durham. Grandkids, Hayden Cummings, Lucas Cummings, Benjamin Durham, Sophia Durham, Abigail Durham, Emmet Durham, Tobias Durham, and Clementine McGarry.
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Mother, Maxine McGarry. Sister, Pat Ellis and her husband,
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Mark. Sister, Gwen Dunn and her husband, Ricky. Brother -in -law and sister -in -law,
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Ronnie and Sherry Ward. Numerous nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, cousins, and untold numbers of friends.
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Tommy was a big hugger. He liked hugging.
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And Tommy liked praying. And Tommy loved his time in the
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Scripture. And when a passage of Scripture would fit a particular thing that was going on in his personal life, whether it be family or work or church, whatever, he would always get a word from God, out of God's Word, for that particular thing.
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He would call me from time to time and he'd say, Brother Donnie, I've got to share something with you.
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And he'd quote a passage of Scripture, and then he would testify to the meaning of that Scripture in his life at that time.
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What an encourager. What a man of God that we honor here today in this memorial service.
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And I would like to read for you this morning, from the book of Romans in chapter 8, a passage of Scripture that Tommy loved.
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And we know that all things work together for good to them that love
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God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
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Moreover, whom he predestinated, them he also called, and whom he called, them he also justified.
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And whom he justified, them he also glorified. What shall we then say to these things?
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If God be for us, who can be against us?
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He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all. How shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
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Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? Shall God that justifieth? Who is he that condemneth?
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Shall Christ that died, yea rather, that he is risen again? Who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us?
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What shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
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As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long.
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We are counted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
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For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creation shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our
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Lord. Would you join me in singing a few hymns of praise and thanksgiving and remembrance of our
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Lord? Tommy liked to sing as well, so let's lift our voices. Father, I adore you.
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Father, I adore you.
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I lay my life before you.
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How I love you.
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Jesus, I adore you.
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I lay my life before you. How I love you.
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Spirit, I adore you.
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I lay my life before you. How I love you.
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On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross, the emblem of suffering and shame.
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And I love that old cross where the dearest and best for a world of lost sinners was slain.
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So I'll cherish the old rugged cross till my trophies at last
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I lay down. I will cling to the old rugged cross and exchange it someday for a crown.
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Oh, the old rugged cross, so despised by the world, has a wondrous attraction for me.
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For the dear Lamb of God left His glory above to bear its sins o 'er
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Calvary. So I'll cherish the old rugged cross till my trophies at last
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I lay down. I will cling to the old rugged cross and exchange it someday for a crown.
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In the old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine, a wondrous beauty
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I see. For t 'was on that old cross
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Jesus suffered and died to pardon and sanctify me.
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So I'll cherish the old rugged cross till my trophies at last
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I lay down. I will cling to the old rugged cross and exchange it someday for a crown.
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To the old rugged cross
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I will ever be true, its shame and reproach gladly bear.
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Then you'll call me someday to a home far away where His glory forever
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I'll share. So I'll cherish the old rugged cross till my trophies at last
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I lay down. I will cling to the old rugged cross and exchange it someday for a crown.
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Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. What a foretaste of glory divine.
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Heir of salvation, purchase of God. Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.
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This is my story, this is my song, praising my
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Savior all the day long. This is my story, this is my song, praising my
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Savior all the day long. Perfect summation, perfect delight, visions of rapture now burst on my sight.
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Angels descending, bring from above echoes of mercy, whispers of love.
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This is my story, this is my song, praising my
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Savior all the day long. This is my story, this is my song, praising my
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Savior all the day long. Perfect summation, all is at rest.
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I am my Savior, I'm happy and blessed. Watching and waiting, looking above, filled with His goodness, lost in His love.
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This is my story, this is my song, praising my
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Savior all the day long. This is my story, this is my song, praising my
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Savior all the day long.
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Amen. You can almost hear
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His voice, singing those hymns that He knew so well. What a joy early on, getting to know
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Him and sitting with the family in church on the same pew and singing and hearing His voice.
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Anyone who knew Tommy McGarry could expect a couple of things upon initial greeting.
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A massive hug. A big, strong, enveloping hug that seemed to wash away all the troubles of the week.
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And then after that, you pull back a little bit and you'd ask
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Him how He was. And with a little twinkle in His eye, He'd say, better than I deserve.
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Better than I deserve. That wasn't some trite talk.
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That was His testimony. That was His testimony. If there was ever an epitaph to be engraved over the life of Tommy McGarry, it is that.
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Better than I deserve. Many of you knew Tommy for a handful of years.
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Many of you knew Tommy for a handful of decades. Either case, you are in position to weigh that claim.
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Better than I deserve. There are many stories that could come to mind that would leave us with the question of, really?
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Did he really deserve what happened? Some of the stories are ensconced in the hushed tones of family, inner family discussion.
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You know, some of the really, really tough stories. Some of the stories are well known and obvious.
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But how could he say, with all that, how are you doing?
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Better than I deserve. Didn't a bright young husband deserve better than to lose his father so early?
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Didn't a hardworking young father deserve better than to get injured on the job and be out of work for years?
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And didn't a doting grandfather with many dandy boys and darling girls, didn't he deserve better than a cascade of health failures in his retirement years?
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How can it be that he was better off? How can it be that he was far more so than what he actually deserved?
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At the graveside a week ago, we shared honoring words with one another about Tommy. Things were said like these.
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He was virtuous. He was giving, hospitable, joyful, loyal, righteous, loving, friendly, faithful, and kind.
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Heard that a lot. Kind. Surely, the question perhaps hidden deep down, perhaps convulsing into some tears, the question is really, shouldn't he have deserved more or better?
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I want to share with you what Dad would have told you if this is a riddle for you.
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What do you mean you're better than you deserve? He would readily confess to you,
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I'm a sinner saved by grace. I'm a sinner saved by grace. That doesn't mean much to some, because it can be a little confusing.
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We don't talk about sin very much anymore. God doesn't keep it a mystery.
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He just says it right plain. Sin is lawlessness. He defines it for us.
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It doesn't have to be a mystery. It means breaking God's law. You see,
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God is the one who determines right and wrong, holy and unholy. And He's made us.
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He's our maker. He made us in His image. Some people think that we're an accidental monkey mutation.
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Well, they are going to have their superstitions, and that's what they're going to do. But I'm here to tell you, on the authority of the
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Word of God, we are made in the image of God. What that means is that He has made us to so mediate
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His goodness that we manifest His glory. He's made us for relationship with Him and with one another, and responsible for this entire creation that He's made.
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And He's made us in His image, which means that we wear a certain uniform, whether we like it or not. And sin is when we are not living according to that uniform.
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We're not living according to the glory of God, but we're falling short of the glory of God, and that's called sin.
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Living in opposition to God. Romans 6 .23 says, The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus our
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Lord. Adam and Eve knew the punishment for sin, death, relational death, spiritual death, eventually physical death.
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And yet, God did not leave them hopeless. He promised them that one would come.
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He promised them the Savior. He promised them Christ. When Dad would say, better than I deserve, what he means was,
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I deserve the just punishment from God for my sins. Well, he was a good man.
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Well, there's two things about that. One, he'd say, not really, but only because of Christ.
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The Apostle Paul said it this way, I am what I am by the grace of God, and that's all that I am. I'm not taking credit for any of this.
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He also said in Galatians 2 .20, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me, and the life that I now live in the flesh,
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I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. How was
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Tommy doing when we knew him well, and enjoyed his hugs, and rejoiced at his hospitality?
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He was better than he deserved. And even now, absent from the body, present with the
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Lord, he is better than he deserves. And in the coming glorious days, when
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Jesus returns and raises the dead, and Tommy stands glorified in a new and perfect body, even then, he will be better than he deserves.
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That is the testimony. That is the testimony, and that is the hope of the gospel.
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What we deserve, what we deserve, is laid out very clearly. We deserve the judgment of God.
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As sinners, those who fall short of God's glory, not our standards, God's standards. Our standards keep changing by the minute.
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God doesn't change. What we deserve is death, spiritual death, relational death, physical death, even eternal death.
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That we have life at all. That we have breath at all. That we have family, that we have friends, that we have food and enjoyment, that we enjoy the bright sun.
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These are undeserved gifts of the Holy God, but there's even more. Anybody would ever know
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God as Heavenly Father, through the good news of Jesus Christ, His Son, by the ministry of the
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Holy Spirit, that we would have life eternal, life spiritual. That is grace upon grace upon grace.
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If you're wondering how I'm doing, well, better than I deserve.
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It's not trite, it's a testimony. Family, I don't want you to grieve as those who have no hope, so I encourage you to turn to Christ, to know the comfort of God's promises.
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As Brother Don read for us earlier, God works all things together for the good of those who love
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Him and who are called according to His purpose. And nothing, not even disappointment, broken dreams, interrupted plans, grief, bereavement, not even death, can separate us from the love of God, which is through Jesus Christ, our
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Lord. And I am counseling myself, finding comfort in these things as I speak to you.
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2 Corinthians 4, 16 -18 Therefore we do not lose heart, I don't want you to lose heart, we do not lose heart, even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day, for our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen,
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I want you to hear that, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.
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For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
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I want you to know that Tommy never lost heart. He never lost heart, even as his outward man decayed and perished, his inner man was being renewed by the
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Holy Spirit day by day. Day by day is the blessings of Christ, the grace of God enlivened his soul, and the sorrow and the suffering and the sickness that Tommy sometimes knew in his life, in the ultimate scheme of things, was all light affliction.
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It was momentary, and it was nothing compared to the weight of abundant and everlasting glory.
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When you pulled back from his embrace, and you asked him how he was, there would be a twinkle in his eye.
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What was he looking at? What was he looking at? Nothing anyone could see.
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With his eyes on the eternal truth of the gospel, with his eyes of faith fixed upon Christ, conviction and joy warmed his simple reply, better than I deserve.
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Let me pray for us. Father, I thank you for those who have come today. Work this testimony of your servant,
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Tommy McGarry, into our lives. This reminder, this simple reminder of your grace.
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May we also so rejoice. May we also be filled with gratitude.
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Gratitude to you for all the blessings that you pour out into our lives.
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And may we with warm conviction and joy in our lives, even if we don't say it, that you would bring it to our mind when anyone asks how you're doing.
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That indeed, because of you, because of Jesus, we are better than we deserve.
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We thank you again for your servant, Tommy McGarry, who has finished the race, who has fought the good fight, and is now among the cloud of witnesses at rest.
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Praise be to you. Amen. I was a seeker for light in a dark world.
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I looked for truth but settled for lies.
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I had been blinded. I couldn't see till a star in Bethlehem's sky opened my eyes.
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I have seen the light shining in the darkness, bursting through the shadows, delivering the dawn.
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I have seen the light who's holding in with Jesus.
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His kingdom is forever. He reigns on heaven's throne.
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There in a manger an innocent baby who could believe that he was the one.
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I can believe it. I know it's true.
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He is the light. He is God's Son. I have seen the light shining in the darkness, bursting through the shadows, delivering the dawn.
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I have seen the light who's holding in with Jesus.
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His kingdom is forever. He reigns on heaven's throne.
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We must tell the world we've seen today in Bethlehem.
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He's the promised King. We bow down in worship
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Him. We will worship Christ the
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King. I have seen the light shining in the darkness, bursting through the shadows, delivering the dawn.
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I have seen the light who's holding in with Jesus.
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His kingdom is forever. He reigns on heaven's throne.
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I have seen the light of Jesus. I have seen the light of the
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Lord. I have seen the light of Jesus.
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I have seen the light. I have seen the light of the
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Lord. As we close today,
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I'd like to invite you to sing again another great hymn. It is Well With My Soul.
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♪ When peace like a river ascended 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.
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It is well with my soul.
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It is well, it is well with my soul.
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Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come, let these blessed assurance control that Christ has regarded my helpless estate and hath shed his own blood for my soul.
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It is well with my soul.
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It is well, it is well with my soul.
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My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought.
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My sin, not in part, but the whole, is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more.
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Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul.
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It is well with my soul.
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It is well, it is well with my soul.
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Let's stay on this last verse. And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight.
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The clouds be rolled back as a scrawny sound.
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The clouds shall descend even so.
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It is well with my soul.
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It is well with my soul.
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It is well, it is well with my soul.
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Thank you so much for coming. There is a reception back in the fellowship hall for all of us to spend some time together around the memories and the blessings of Tommy.
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You know how he liked the fellowship. And so you are invited to spend time with the family and with one another back in the fellowship hall after the benediction.
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And now may God bless you and keep you. May he cause his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you.
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May he lift up his countenance upon you and grant you peace. We are dismissed.