Robert Nichols Memorial Service

God’s Power in Thunder, Rain, and the Cross

Thank you all for coming today. Bob Nichols is dearly loved, and do you hear the sound of that thunder? Whenever we hear thunder, we see the rain, we are reminded of the power of God. There is a God that waters the earth and provides life and rejuvenates the earth.

This is all a gift of God, and when we see these kinds of things, we're reminded of his power, but his power is to save. The God of the universe, who thunders and sends lightning in the world, displays his power most perfectly in the cross of Jesus Christ.

The sacrifice of the Son of God to pay for sinners like us, and as sure as we hear that thunder, right on time, we know that God has resurrected the spirit of Bob Nichols, and he is in the presence of the Lord.

So while we are here to mourn the loss of our loved one, we are also reminded of the power of God to save, to bring sinners like us into his presence. And Bob, as we celebrate here, cannot see us. He is with the Lord.

He is worshiping, and we remember him. For our sake, we are gathered. God is with us in this place. And he's reminding us of that presence. Let's go to him in prayer and devote this time to the Lord Jesus Christ, that he would move powerfully in our midst while we gather.

Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for who you are. The God who gives rain and thunder to the earth, reminding us that you are the one who gives life, and you gave the wonderful life of Bob Nichols to those of us who knew him.

We were touched deeply by his life. But we want to thank you, first of all, God, that you saved him. You granted him faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and Bob is now enjoying eternal life in your presence.

And now, Lord, as we grieve this loss, we pray that you would comfort Susan and the family, Lord, and all of us, the friends, the brothers, Lord, that you would grant us peace in our hearts, and you would comfort us.

And Lord, we are reminded of your great faithfulness. You are so faithful. And so, Lord, remind us further. Great is your faithfulness. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. So now, let's remain seated and listen to the song, Great is Thy Faithfulness, as a reminder of who God is.

Bob Nichols as a Consistent Christian

Great is. Thy Faithfulness speaks to being consistent. And if ever there was a consistent Christian, it was Bob Nichols.

Many of you who have been around him and have known him for a long time would testify that he's been the same way forever, it seems. Always, it's easy to give a kind word here and there, or to do something nice for someone from time to time.

It's far more difficult to do so again and again, day after day, week after week, month after month. And as I began to think about how would I characterize and describe the life of Bob Nichols, the word that came to me was consistent.

A consistent, dependable, faithful Christian. So I found it not surprising when Carol Griffith wrote me a text message this week, and here's what she said. With Bob and Susan having been friends for over 40 years, I can attest and give thanks and praise to our God that Bob was consistent with loving and serving Jesus with compassion for all, Colossians 3 .23.

Colossians 3 .23 says, whatever you do, work heartily as for the Lord and not for man. Bob Nichols worked heartily for the Lord and not for man. Whatever he did, whether it was at RCA or at L3 in his work, if it was his golf game, he worked heartily as unto the Lord.

Everything he did was hearty, and he gave his best to it. Consistently so. And I began to pray about what verse would best resonate to share at Bob's funeral, at his memorial service. Now, when I preach on a Sunday morning, you can anticipate 45 minutes to an hour, but at a memorial service, it's more like 15 minutes or less, so you can take a breath.

But I wanted some verse that would just stick in our minds and change us forever. Because I've experienced this with the Word of God, that there can be one short verse that when you hear it, you're never the same.

And I believe the Lord gave me that verse from Hebrews chapter 13 verse 8, and by this word, anybody here believing can be just as consistent in your life as Bob was in his. Bob can become this model for us, and Hebrews 13 8 says this, let it stick in your brain and never forget it, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

You can say amen to that, if you believe it. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. And as this passage goes on, it explains three ways in which that's relevant in the context of what was being said.

The first two verses to follow, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever, is this, do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings. For it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them.

We have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat. Now somebody got hungry when I said foods, but what does food have to do with this passage, and who is devoted to food? If you devote yourself to food, you are less benefited by it, the more devoted you become.

The more you devote yourself to food, the less benefit it gives us, but of course food does strengthen us. So what is the author of Hebrews referring to in this case? Well, at this point in time, the year was about 65 AD.

Jesus was crucified in either 30 or 33 AD, depending on which scholar you follow. But in either case, it's been 30 years and many people have become Christians by believing in Jesus. But at this point in time, what is called a diverse and strange teaching began to enter the church.

Some who used to be Jewish began to go back to Judaism as a way to be saved. They began to go back to the temple where sacrifices were offered, and those sacrifices often were then eaten as a way to be justified before God.

There was also a whole set of religious rules surrounding what is acceptable food, kosher food, versus what is considered unclean food. And Christians got into this message believing they needed to do more than simply believe in Christ.

They moved past grace and began to devote themselves to foods. In other words, some of them were becoming Jewish. They were leaving Christianity for Judaism. And it seemed plausible in 65 AD because the sacrifices were still being offered in the temple.

Little did they know that the test of time would show the folly of this idea. Within five years, in 70 AD, the entire temple would be thrown down and to this day there are no more animal sacrifices to be eaten.

This diverse teaching did not stand the test of time. I want to tell you what stands the test of time. It's what kept Bob for 50 some years believing in Christ and not changing. I don't know what year he was saved.

But according to Carol, it was at least 40 years that he walked this Christian path. He remained devoted, not to foods or any other religious thing, but to grace, to believing that God the Father gave Jesus Christ as a sacrifice for sins.

So that whoever comes to him believing will be forgiven of sin because everybody in this room has something in common. And it's not how good we are. It's how desperately we need saving. Grace means unmerited favor.

Bob came to understand that it wasn't him that was good and righteous before God, but God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes will not perish but have eternal life.

And Bob stayed put right there. Bob had a habit of giving me an article every Sunday morning. And I loved it. I wouldn't read it on Sunday. I'd put it in in my office and save it for Monday morning reading.

But it would usually have something to do with artificial intelligence and the new impact that has on the church or a new teaching that's come out of this corner of the world or that corner. And it was always interesting.

It was always diverse and strange. But what Bob understood is this is something that needed to be refuted. He gave me the article because he wanted me to say something about it in a coming Sunday. That was his agenda.

Many of you probably got these articles as well. But what was the motive behind that? It's because he had the same grace. He was camped right there. Jesus Christ and him crucified. Now there's a second thing in the passage.

The first was same grace. That's how you remain consistent. You have the same grace as Jesus Christ who is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The second thing is you're willing to bear the same reproach.

Now this is not popular. Because some teachers say if you become a Christian, it's all sunshine and roses. Nothing will go wrong. Everything will be great. But the wise Christian who's read this understands that there is often a cost.

And we ought to count that cost and be willing to bear reproach. You see Bob was willing to be a fool for Christ. One of the things that he liked to do is share the gospel. One time I went to him with him to a place called The Fuge.

Anybody ever been there in Philly? It's like this old centrifuge that they've now converted into a museum and a place for speakers to come. And you have little hors d 'oeuvres and you listen to people.

Well in this case it was Dennis Prager and all these conservative speakers. And I'm sitting there with Bob. But Bob has an agenda again. This time he had a book about the prophecies of Jesus Christ that were written in the Old Testament.

And he wanted to give the book to Dennis Prager. But somehow Prager was ushered in and ushered out. But think about the bravado. The greatest conservative culture warrior in our country. And Bob had something to tell him.

Bob was trying to evangelize him even if he would bear reproach. Now listen to what the Bible says. This sounds odd, but pay attention. For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp.

They would take the sacrificial offerings and they'd go burn the bodies outside of the gates of Jerusalem. That's in in Exodus 29. So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood.

Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. What is the author of Hebrews saying? To be identified with Christ means to be put outside the gate and to be willing to be rejected in this world.

What the Bible teaches is not popular in this country and never has been in the countries of this world. There is a reproach that comes with identifying with Jesus Christ. The blood of Jesus indicates that the world rejected him.

They crucified him. They took him outside of Jerusalem to a hill called Golgotha, the skull, and there on the hill they rejected him. Crucified him. The most horrible form of death known to man. And why did they do this?

They wanted nothing of him. They rejected him. So to become a Christian means to meet Jesus there outside the gate. When a person comes to that point in their life where they're willing to bear reproach, then reproach doesn't knock you off your wagon.

How was Bob so consistent? He had the same grace that Jesus offered. He had the same reproach, willing to suffer. He's not gonna tuck tail and run when the time gets tough. He's gonna continue going expecting that this is part of Christianity.

And lastly, one more verse. The same city. For here we have no lasting city. But we seek the city that is to come. Bob wasn't living for this world. And so he wasn't shaken by this world's sorrows. Cancer did take his body, but it didn't take his spirit.

It didn't break his soul. I spoke to him just days before he passed and he sounded like the same Bob. And so many of you would testify to the same thing. The greatest event in Bob's life was invisible to us.

But you remember what you told me Susan? After you saw him, after he passed, he had a grin on his face. A smile. And I think in that moment as he passed, he glimpsed eternity and now he sees that city.

You see, Jesus was rejected by this world, shed his blood for sinners like us, and then entered into glory. And he is seated at the right hand of the Father. Jesus is there and Bob is there. Bob was living his whole life here for there.

He wasn't living for this world. That's the secret of his consistency. The same grace, willing to bear the same reproach, and looking forward to the same city. And he would want you to know that the secret that he found was not in himself.

I know many of us look up to Bob. I do. As someone who just regularly, day in and day out, had the joy of the Lord. Kindness exuded from him. Good works, sharing with those who are in need, looking to help, just constantly good.

How could this be? This passage ends this way. Through him, referring to Christ, then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God. That is the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

How did he continually do this? It's because he had the same grace, willing to bear the same reproach, looking for the same city. And so I taught you a verse by grace. Many of you remember it already.

Say it in your mind. Don't say it out loud. That would be distracting. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. That speaks to his immutability, his unchangeable character, his divinity.

Because only God is perfectly unchanging, immutable. Grace. And Bob would want you to know that that grace is for you, too. It doesn't require you jumping through the hoops of religion, of what foods are kosher and not.

It doesn't require certain religious days and ceremonies or even coming to church and listening to a guy like me. It requires faith in the Son of God, because in grace Jesus was sent as a sacrifice for our sins, for those who believe in him.

And the great promise is our sins are washed away when we believe in Jesus. That's grace. If you think you don't need it, you think you're good enough, then you go through life making it on your own as best you can.

But what do you do with your sin? How do you pay for your own sin? How do you get forgiveness from God? God has made a way for you that you couldn't make for yourself. That's grace. The Son of God, Jesus Christ, was crucified not for his own sins, but for the sins of those who will believe in him.

A substitute. He laid down his life on the cross. Greater love has no one than this, the one who lays down his life for his friends. This is what Bob believed. This is the simple message of grace. It survived beyond that first 30 years of Christianity.

Here we are 2 ,000 years later, and the world is still making up all kinds of diverse and strange teachings. You can print an article every week, but something hasn't changed. The true message of God.

That God sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to pay for the sins of those who believe in him. Do you believe? Better news yet. He rose from the dead, and having risen from the dead, he can bring you up also. This is the great hope and the great truth of the gospel.

So, at this time I've had my opportunity to preach. I wish I could go on for another 30 minutes. You know I would, but this is all about remembering Bob. This is a memorial service. I think he would want the gospel preached at his memorial service, which is what we've done, and he would also want to hear from family.

He would want to hear words of remembrance, and let's do that now. Let's turn and give honor to Bob Nichols. At this time, we're going to hear from some family members, beginning with Bob and Susan's beloved daughter, Cheryl.

So, if you would come.

Cheryl’s Tribute and the Best of Us

Definitely need to decrease the height of this. Thank you all for coming. First of all, I think it's a testament to the legacy of my dad by the fact that we have a packed-out house today. So, thank you all.

As Bob's oldest and, quite frankly, his favorite child, I'm going to start it off. So, as I was thinking about what to say today, I came across a poem that just spoke to the life that he left my brother, Jeff, and I.

See if I can get through this. It's called, The Best of Us. Dad, you know we'll miss you than any words could say, but we know that you're with us each minute of the day. That's because we carry you within our mind and heart.

Our love keeps us together. Death cannot make us part. You're living here within us with every selfless deed, like when we show compassion or help a friend in need. Your spirit's shining through us each time we rise above, and when we take a moment to show our strength with love.

Those days we act with honor or share a joyful smile, we remind the world that you have been here the whole while. Thank you for your legacy, for all you chose to do. We hope you know that we know the best of us is you.

Thank you. I'm going to have my children, Bob's grandchildren, come up and share a verse.

This is Matthew chapter 11, verses 28 through 30. Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

We love you, Pop Pop.

Jeff’s Memories of His Father

Hi, everyone. I'm Jeff. I'm Bob's son. Getting thrown under the bus here by my sister. Doing the eulogy. I'm just saying, you know, it's a heavier lift. Anyway, thanks everyone for taking the time to come out today to pay respects.

It has been such a whirlwind of emotions with the sudden passing of my father. As you've seen, everyone's just in shock over this last week. We've been processing just by getting this together, so the weeks ahead are going to be challenging for sure.

I want to first thank also my wife, Shia. You got to wave your hand. I'm going to embarrass you real quick. There she is right there. We just got married in March, and she has been the rock this last week with some hard nights and never-ending support and just a lot of love through this time.

She's a great wife already for a few months in. So now about my dad, the tough part. I'm going to try to keep it together up here. A communications engineer, a Christian, a golfer, photographer, handyman, a lover of classic rock music, sports fan, a multiple coupon restaurant check payer, really stretching that one-at-a-time-use thing.

As Pastor Jeff said, a news article printer and sharer. Just send us the web link, Dad. Why are you wasting the printer paper? We get it. But more importantly, a devoted husband, a dependable father, a goofy Uncle Bob, and an adoring pop-pop.

Bob Nichols, my dad, admittedly wasn't someone that said the words, I love you much. In fact, he didn't vocally share what he was feeling, his emotions, how he was maybe feeling much at all. But my sister and I, Cheryl, know that he loved us, and we absolutely loved him, too.

Our dad just had a different love language. While some fathers show their loves with words of affirmation, our dad's love language was simply in his unwavering acts of service and desire to be present with us.

He was the kind of father that it made it to every soccer game, every dance recital, every marching band performance, every school play. He was always there to help with our homework, and he would always catch us when we fell, although his bank account might sometimes take a hit for it.

He was reliable, as Pastor Jeff said. He was selfless and was always determined to fully document our events with a camera in hand, be it video or photo, oftentimes putting himself in embarrassingly close proximity to us in order to get the good shot.

And that's probably a trait I took from him afterwards, but he did it first. More importantly, he wanted to be at the events for his kids by doing that, and he wanted to remember it. And that meant so much to my sister and I growing up.

So Bob grew up in Braintree, Massachusetts, and was the oldest of three kids, with his brother Bill, who's here with us in the front row, his wife Ellen, and his sister Carol. Bob's early Massachusetts accent would almost disappear by the time he met his wife Susan.

They had my sister and I, and then they taught us how to speak. So let's just say bullet dodged. Sorry, Uncle Bill. Yeah. So Bobby, Billy, and Carol had their usual sibling rivalries, misadventures, and testing of their mother Mary's Roman rule, and their father William's patience growing up.

But the three Nichols kids were best friends to each other, and they went through it all and into their adulthood. When Bob graduated from Lowell Tech, Massachusetts, and moved to the Philadelphia area to follow his career path as a communications engineer, Bob, Bill, and Carol would take every opportunity to visit each other when they could, frequently making that six-hour trek from Philadelphia up to Massachusetts and likewise back.

So it was during the move to Philly that Bob would meet the woman he was to marry and spend the rest of his life together with, Susan Bradford, Mom. Susan, an energetic, organized, and thoughtful red-headed gal from the Philly suburbs, was the perfect balance for Bob.

And so they laid they laid down their roots in Delaware Valley area and started their family with my sister Cheryl and me, alongside the growing family tree of Bradford cousins nearby. It was also during this chapter that Bob would have to reconcile his love and support of both the New England Patriots from where he grew up and the Philadelphia Eagles of his new home.

So he had to choose his hats wisely depending on the game while at work. So as a communications engineer, Bob came to work for RCA at the iconic Nipper Building in Camden, New Jersey, of which a lot of his co-workers introduced themselves here today, and they're here.

There's a whole sign with all their signatures. Just such an amazing kind of New Jersey dynasty there. He would later come to work for other companies such as GE, Martin Marietta, Lockheed Martin, before eventually retiring as a manager at L3 Communications, still in Camden right at the foot of the Nipper Building that used to be RCA there.

So although retiring from his career world, his work at home as a husband, father, and now grandfather, continued with the arrival of Cheryl's children, Brooke and Gavin, who you just met up here. Where his hobby of photo, video, documenting important family events could be further developed while being present with these new loves of his life, his grandkids.

Pop-Pop would pick up Brooke and Gavin after school and treat them to ice cream at the Meadows in Delran, so frequently that a photo of him was even featured on the company's Facebook page as a frequent customer.

So there's another photo for the scrapbook for our family documentary, of course, but this one was being taken of him, of course. With Gavin, he would spend quality time with his grandson on summer break, taking him to half-off golf at Topgolf and loading him up on injectable donut holes.

Yeah. This was three of dad's favorite things. Quality family time, sweets, and good deal savings with the half-off price. So his passion for the inexpensive things went a step further many years ago when dollar store gifts became a much-beloved family tradition at Christmas time.

Yeah. So, wrapped in newspaper and pulled out in a large black trash bag of mystery, each dollar store acquired gift was guaranteed to get a bunch of laughs. One of our favorites was for my sister who gets motion sickness.

It was a keychain that said, I throw up easily. Very appropriate. A lot of laughs. So, yeah, there's a lot of thought between all of those gifts that he would find, and it had to be from the one store.

And we're going to miss that about him. Humor was at the heart of my dad, frequently quoting Monty Python around the house. He loved to laugh, sing, and look on the bright side of life. But he also wasn't one for long, overindulgent conversations.

Maybe it's the engineering mindset. I don't know. He was logical and pragmatic, and phone calls with dad were quickly down to business. He wanted to take care of each challenge we may have as quickly as we could.

As quickly as he could. So we could all get back to living. It was just another part of his love language. On to the next thing. So, when Bob was at the hospital and learned of the news of his terminal condition, came to understand what it meant, and passed so shortly after, it was almost like his pragmatic, down-to-business view of problem solving, and having his family get back to living as quickly as possible was on his mind, regardless of what we wanted.

In fact, and it's okay to laugh at this next part, it's in his final conversation with my sister at the hospital before he passed, his priority was to let her know where all of the expiring soon coupons and gift cards were located in the house.

It's darkly funny, and classic dad, but as much as that was him, it was a selfless act of service, and his love for his family. It's such a juxtaposition there. But one of his countless gestures he had made, it was one of his countless gestures he had made before as a son, brother, husband, father, uncle, and grandfather.

So, and we're still dealing with, you know, kind of just processing what went on, but when his pulse finally stopped, and we continued to hold the hand of our father, whom we love so much, by his bedside, it's my sister, her husband, and my wife, my new wife, the four of us there.

Unfortunately, my mom had just left the hospital. I'll spare the details. Some of you may already know, but we are glad we were there. So when that happened, Cheryl had asked, should we play a song for him?

And the answer was yes. And it had to be from the band Chicago, his favorite. The perfect song popped into my head from all the long car rides together over the years where my dad and I would sing Chicago songs in unison, trying to one-up each other on like who could imitate the song more accurately.

You know, it gets more difficult when the solos of trumpets and, you know, kind of all that stuff gets into play. But it's a song that reminds me of what our dad did mean to us in our life. He took care of my sister and I, and his wife.

And he made us smile. He guided us. He loved us. He colored our world. And as we listen to this song, I want to remind everyone that, be it through acts of service, words of affirmation, or other ways, show the ones in your life that they are loved as often and as much as possible, because we never do know how much time we will have with them here.

Dad, as you relax with a much-deserved round on the great golf course in the sky, we want to thank you for all you've done for us. You were a great dad. We miss you, and we love you. Thank you.

Closing Prayer, Final Exhortation, and Reception Information

God gives signs of his grace. Little tokens. Did you notice that the thunder clapped at just the right moment earlier? God gave a token, a sign of his providence and his grace. And Jeff, that was just a beautiful tribute to your father.

But just in the fact that Bob got to pray, Shia, and your wedding. Just after they were married, Bob was still here and got to say the blessing. And that's a blessing. That's a sign of God's favor and his grace.

It's my privilege now to close us in a word of prayer. And then I'll invite Jeff to kind of share information about the banquet and introduce a last song. But my final word of exhortation is just where we began, that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

He is the hope of this world, and if you don't know him yet, let this be your opportunity to invite him into your heart. So as I pray, why don't you pray? Quietly, in your own heart, you don't have to speak out loud, but you talk to the God of thunder, the God of rain, the God who made this world and who gave his one and only son.

Let's pray. Father, we thank you for Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever. Thank you for your faithfulness. Your word is true and is always true. And Father, here tonight, we say that we trust you.

We believe in you. We see signs everywhere that you are good and you are faithful. We believe that Jesus died on a cross and rose from the dead. And we thank you for the grace for sinners like us. We don't deserve it, but you freely give your love.

You sacrificed your son for sinners like us. So we turn from our sin and we turn to you, and we are reminded by Bob's life what it looks like to be a consistent Christian. And Lord, we do thank you for this precious time that you've given us here to celebrate Bob's life.

Thank you for the tributes given, the verses, and the poem, the beautiful poem that was read. Thank you for the family and the friends, and how you brought so many people together to celebrate Bob's life.

Thank you, God. This is all your grace toward us. A token, a sign of your love. And so we want to say thank you, give you all the praise. We thank you for Bob's life, and help us now to live like that.

In Jesus' name, amen. Would you come introduce the last song? Thank you, Jeff.

Yeah, I shouldn't have sat down. I just immediately started crying. So finally, to close out the service. Again, thank you for everyone for coming here. Bob would want us all to get down to business with healing.

Remember the good times, get back to good times, start making new good times. And in that spirit, we want to close out our service today. And thank you, Pastor Jeff, for having us, of course, here and allowing us to have this service here and having him as part of the congregation.

So again, in the spirit of my dad, we want to close out the service today with another more upbeat song by Chicago that we think would make Bob smile. And we hope to see everyone over at the reception.

There is directions. If they're not in your program already, they're in the back. It's about five to seven minutes away. Just a quick, easy drive over there at the clubhouse at my mom's complex where she lives over there.

So we hope, let us know if you have any questions, but pretty self-explanatory. And thank you again, everyone, for coming today.