Richard E. Eaton Memorial Service

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I just see before my eyes, let it take my breath, and angels fall, face down on the floor, all to echo holy is the
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Lord. Mine are days that God has numbered, yet I look to seek the
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Lord. Mine is hope in my reach, His love is sure, for Christ has paid for it.
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Mine are tears in times of sorrow, darkness not yet undone.
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Through the vine is peace that flows from Him, the strength in times of need.
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Christ completes His work in me.
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He is here as a stranger, pilgrim, nature for His.
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His armor for this battle, strong enough to last the war.
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I set me safely to the keys to Zion's city, where beside the
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King I hold His treasure.
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Rejoice now, O my soul, for His love is gone, and hope is sure,
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Christ is mine. Rejoice now,
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O my soul, for His love is gone, and hope is sure.
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Rejoice now, O my soul, for His love is gone, and hope is sure.
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Rejoice now, O my soul, for His love is gone, and hope is sure.
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I can only imagine what it will be like when
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I walk by Your side. I can only imagine what my eyes will see when
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Your face is before me. I can only imagine, yeah.
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Surrounded by Your glory, what will my heart feel?
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Will I dance for You, Jesus, or in awe of You be still?
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Will I stand in Your presence, or to my knees will
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I fall? Will I sing hallelujah, will I be able to speak at all?
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I can only imagine. I can only imagine.
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I can only imagine when that day comes and I find myself standing in the sun.
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It's forever. I can only imagine.
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Surrounded by Your glory, will I dance for You, Jesus, or in awe of You be still?
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Will I stand in Your presence, or to my knees will I fall?
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Will I sing hallelujah, will I be able to speak at all?
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I can only imagine. I can only imagine.
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Surrounded by Your glory, will I dance for You, Jesus, or in awe of You be still?
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Will I stand in Your presence, or to my knees will I fall? Will I sing hallelujah, will
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I be able to speak at all? A wretch like me.
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I once was lost, but now
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I'm found. Was blind, but now
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I see. T 'was grace that taught my fears relief.
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How precious did that grace appear.
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The hour I first believed.
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My chains are gone. I've got myself a life.
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His mercy reigns. Amazing grace.
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Has promised good to me.
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His word, my hope secure. He will my shame as long as life endures.
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My chains are gone. Set free.
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I've got myself a life.
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His mercy reigns. Unending. Amazing grace.
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My chains are gone. Set free.
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Amazing grace. The earth shall soon dissolve like snow.
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The sun forbear to shine.
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But God will be forever.
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Will be forever. Forever. Bless the
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Lord, oh, my soul. Oh, my soul.
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Worship his holy name. Sin like never before.
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Worship your hope. The sun comes up.
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It's a new day dawn. It's time to sing your song as before.
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Bless the Lord, oh, my soul. Worship his sin like never before.
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Worship your hope. You're rich in love.
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And you're slow to anger. Your name is great.
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And your heart is kind. For oldness,
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I will keep on singing. 10 ,000 reasons for my heart to find.
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Bless the Lord, oh, my soul. Worship his holy sin like never before.
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Worship your hope. Yes, you Lord. The years fade.
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The end draws near. And my time has come.
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Still my soul will sing your praise unending.
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10 ,000 years and then forever. Bless the
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Lord, oh, my soul. My soul.
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His holy name. Worship your holy soul.
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Worship your hope. Yes, I will.
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Worship your hope. Sing like never before.
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Worship your holy name. Jesus, I will.
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Worship your holy name. Worship your hope.
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In the darkness we were waiting. Without hope, without light.
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Fulfill the law and promise. To a virgin came the world.
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This glory to a cradle in. Praise the
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Father. Praise the Son. Praise the
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Spirit. Three in. God is forever to the.
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To reveal the kingdom coming. And to wreck, despise the cross.
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For suffering you sought to the other side.
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Knowing this was our salvation. Jesus for our sake you died.
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Praise the
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Spirit. Three in. Great is thy faithfulness.
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Oh, God my. There is no shadow of.
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Turning with thee. Thou changes not.
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Thy compassions. May fail not.
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As thou has been. Thou forever will.
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Great is thy faithfulness. Great is thy faithfulness.
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Morning. I see.
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All is thy faithfulness.
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Lord unto thee. Summer and winter.
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And springtime. And heart. Sun, moon and stars.
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In their courses. Above. Join with all.
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Nature in. Manifold witness.
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To thy. First. Great is thy faithfulness.
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Great is thy faithfulness. Morning. I see.
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All of this.
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Lord unto. Pardon.
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For sin. And. Peace. Door. Thy.
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Presence. To. God. Strength.
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Day. And. Right. Hope. For. To. Blessings.
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With. Ten. Thousand. Be. Side. Great. Is.
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Thy. Faithfulness. Great. Is. Thy.
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Faithfulness. Morning. Mercy.
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I see. All. Great. Thy.
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Faithfulness. Lord. Let's pray together once more.
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Lord. You. Have brought us to this place. You know. That. Under these circumstances.
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That our hearts. And Lord. We know.
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That. In. Scripture. David. Was. Troubled. Many. Times.
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But. He. Looked. To. You. The. Lord. Of. All. Creation. He. Looked.
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To. You. The. Faithful. Father. That. Hearts.
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Will. Be. Lifted. Lifted. To. You. And. You. Alone. Because. You. Are. Sovereign.
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Over. Everything. You. Are. Sovereign. Over. This. Earth. Over. What's. Happening.
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Here. And. Even. Jesus. Name.
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Amen. Sing. With. There. Is. Strength.
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Within. The. Sorrow. There. Is.
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Beauty. In. Our. Tears. And.
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You. Meet. Us. In. The. Morning. With.
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A. Love. That. Casts. Out. Fear. You. Are.
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Working. Waiting. You. Are.
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Sanctifying. Us. When.
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Beyond. Our. Understanding. You. Are.
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Us. To. Trust. Your. Plans.
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Are. Still. To. Prosper. You. Have. Not. Forgotten. You. Are.
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Faithful. Perfect. Love.
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You. Are. Sovereign. Oh. You. Are.
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Wisdom. Unimagined. Understand.
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Your. Way. Reigning. High.
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Above. The. Heaven. You. Are. Perfect.
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Perfect. You. Are. Perfect.
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You. Are. Sovereign.
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Your. Plans. Still. Prosper. You. Have. Not. Forgotten. Us.
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You. Are. With. Us. In. The. Fire. At. The. Flood. You.
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Are. Faithful. Perfect. In. Love.
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You. Are. Sovereign. Oh. You. Are.
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Sovereign. Oh. You. Are.
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Sovereign. Oh. You. Are.
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Sovereign. Oh. You. Sovereign.
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Sovereign. Oh. You. Are. Sovereign. Oh.
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You. Are. Oh. Sovereign.
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Sovereign. Oh. Sovereign. You. Are. Sovereign.
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You. Are. Supermarch. memories of my childhood are fuzzy.
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I don't really know how many people really remember too much of their childhood, but I know that he would take his time to play with us as kids.
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Sorry. After looking through what seemed to be thousands of photographs of us as young kids,
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I could see the pure joy in his face of his family. As an adult, he was there for us through all of our issues.
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He was there to celebrate our weddings. He was there to help us through the hard times. One of my most fondest memories of my dad was the last time
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I saw him when I had to instruct my son that what he was doing was not proper behavior.
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He was being disobedient, basically. One of my fondest memories, though, was that after I corrected my son, my dad was watching and he said to me that I'm a good father and that he was very proud of me.
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One of the last text messages my dad told me was to love Jesus. I'm going to try to honor him every day that I can and love
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Jesus and hold him dear for me and to help spread his love. Something that my father would have loved to know is that everybody here, whether you know the
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Lord or not, you have the opportunity to do so. If you don't, I just ask that you find someone that you can talk to and learn about the joy and the love that my father had.
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Thank you. Hi. My name is
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Jennifer. I'm Richard's oldest daughter and this is my sister, Joy. I wrote a little bit about Richard.
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It's called Who Was Richard? Richard was a son to Richard and Jean Eaton. He loved his father and mother dearly.
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As a child, I remember spending many weekends at my grandparents' house, visiting and sharing meals together.
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My father loved playing chess and listening to music with his father. Richard was a brother to Scott and to Cheryl.
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While going through some of my dad's old things, I found a handmade card for Cheryl for Christmas and Cheryl, you were his gift that year.
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Scott, you were his little brother and I found pictures of you and he and Bella playing in the backyard and I know so much he loved you so dearly.
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Richard was a husband. He loved his wife,
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Janet, dearly for 40 years. My parents were committed to their marriage in both highs and lows.
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My father remained faithful in his love for my mother, much like Christ would remain faithful to us.
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He cherished her. He cherished her laugh, her smile.
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He cherished her devotion to the Lord and he loved her. Richard was a father, first to Josh, his first and only son.
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My father shared his love of chess with him and then to meet Jennifer, his first daughter. I loved to dance to the music he played and spent many nights dancing around in circles in the living room.
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Then to Joy, the cherry on the cake. Joy was full of life that was always sure to bring a smile to his face.
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Richard was a grandfather. He loved and delighted in all of his grandchildren. He prayed for them daily.
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He kept a journal of prayers for them and he prayed that they would walk with God. Richard loved nature.
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He loved cool nights in the mountains. I remember the sweet smell of tobacco in the air as my dad puffed on his pipe.
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He would say, you don't breathe it in, you just puff it. And he would just puff little rings in the air.
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Richard loved birthday parties. He always had handmade cards or a banner waiting for us when we would wake up in the morning strung up somewhere.
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Richard was a lover of the arts, especially music. We grew up watching musicals, almost all of them.
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He always had a new piece of music to share with us or with a friend. Richard had such a deep love and devotion for his
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Lord. He was a blessing to those around him. He was a blessing to us in our life. Richard often reminded us to turn our eyes to the sovereign king and that's what we're going to be doing until we get to go see him again.
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Richard was also a friend to many people in this room. He was kind and compassionate and loved you all very dearly.
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At this time, I'd like to welcome anyone who would like to share any more about Richard. Good morning, everybody.
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I'm Scott and Richard's brother. Could I do my best to get through this? Figured if Josh can get up here,
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I can. There's an old Bill Cosby album called My Brother Russell Whom I Slept With.
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It was a very funny album about two brothers having to share an old crib as a bed, which are way too small for them to be in, and the trouble that would ensue during the night, including water fights, jumping up and down on the bed until it broke, and the father coming in to tell him to stop fooling around and go to sleep.
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We would laugh and imitate it all the time. We did share a bed growing up and we would lie there at night listening to this album, as well as Cheech and Chong records, music from the 70s, or just talking about whatever came to mind.
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When my sister moved out after getting married, I finally had my own room and I'm sure Richard was glad to have a bed to his own at last.
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We had these old -style hook and latch locks on the doors and whenever I was driving Richard crazy, he would lock me in my room.
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Luckily for me, my sister had her own telephone line, so I would call my mom on the phone to be set free. She'd yell at him and I'd go watch
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TV. I was always trying to tag along after him. I even hid in the backseat of his car once when he was going to the beach with his friends.
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Unfortunately, I was spotted and let's just say my brother wasn't all that happy with me. I was the epitome of annoying little brother being 10 years younger than him, which later in life
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I would remind him of that fact often as possible. When he moved to Rutgers, I was very upset.
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The only great part about it is now I had my own big bedroom and queen -size bed to myself. I remember lying there in bed listening to the song
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Photograph by Ringo Starr and missing him very much. I would on occasion go to visit him at the dorms, living on corn flakes, but it was so cool to hang out with my big college campus brother.
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Then along came the girlfriend, Janet. I was, of course, jealous because, hey, that's my big brother and you can't have him, but being an insane hyperactive 10 -year -old,
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I'm sure I made a great impression on her as well. I do remember the day that they got married and my father putting on the song
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There Is Love while Richard and Janet danced in our stereo room for their first dance. It was a very romantic gesture and I thought it was wonderful.
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As they moved from apartment to apartment, home to home, I was always excited to go visit and spend the night. We'd play games or go to the movies.
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I remember seeing The Wrath of Khan and Star Wars with them dozens of times. Eventually, I married as well and started my adult life with my beautiful wife,
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Jennifer. I wasn't just a little brother anymore. We became great friends as well. Sadly, tragedy struck a year later when we lost our father to leukemia at just 65 years of age.
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He had retired only to have it cut short by this terrible cancer. It was a tough time for all of our family and I know my brother
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Richard took it the hardest. As the years went by, I looked to Rich as not only a big brother and a friend, but a bit of a father figure as well.
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I eventually followed him to Cardone, escaping the wear and tear of McDonald's management and began my career in sales with the automotive aftermarket.
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We ended up working together on various projects throughout the years. What I admired the most is that he had such an incredible reputation as being one of the best people in the company, showing great leadership, development, and an incredible skill for lean manufacturing.
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He would be invited to every meeting for his valued input. Anytime I would introduce myself to someone there, they would ask, oh, are you related to Rich Eaton?
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I would say, yes, and state he is my much older brother. Sadly, Cardone fell ahead to hard times financially and both of us were let go.
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Richard, after 30 years plus, moved on to NFI to become a world -class project leader, even training others as he was training himself, creating new processes and using his talents in lean manufacturing to help improve customer relations and overall logistics solutions.
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He was a natural with stuff like this, but he got that from me, of course. As I was seeking to find a job, my brother would call me almost daily to see how
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I was doing. It was my brother who happened to notice the Dormer Products ad on LinkedIn, stating that they were hiring and doing well during the pandemic.
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He called to let me know about it. I immediately checked it out and found the position that I'm in today, which is actually going to be a year next week, and I couldn't be happier.
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Big brother looking out for me once again, always there supporting me, checking to see how I was and never missing a birthday email or phone call.
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He was famous for that with everybody. This past week, I've had so many people reaching out via text, email, or social media saying how sad they were to hear he passed, and they'll never forget how he remembered their birthday every year, no matter where they were now and how much that meant to them.
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Rich, you are a son, a father, a mentor, and a leader. Out of all these, the best thing you are to me was my big brother.
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Dear friend, I miss you so much, big brother.
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I know you're still looking out for me. Thank you. Hello, my name is
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Noelle, and my mom, Donna and Tim Radimer, were
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BFFs with Janet and Rich, and Rich was not just a friend's dad.
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Rich was our uncle, because we were so close, we were like cousins in ancient
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Itzharian. Rich is our uncle, and I just remember my earliest memories,
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I always thought of Uncle Rich and Tim Burton together.
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Because Uncle Rich, I remember just going into the Eaton's house and seeing
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Nightmare Before Christmas on, and those are my earliest memories.
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And Uncle Rich, he always treated us like we were friends, but he treated us like we were his nieces at the time, and then
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I had brothers later on, and he treated them like nephews. And he just, he was a joyful guy.
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And I remember just the way he treated us, like we were a part of his family, and that will forever be a part of my, in my heart.
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And yeah, I love you guys. Unlike most of you,
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I only knew Rich for a couple months. My first interaction with Rich was that I was thinking about going to,
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I was debating whether to go to the once a month men's breakfast, and I didn't buy the book.
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It was called Tactics, and it was all about how to talk to people and bring people to Christ and different techniques that we would use.
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And because of everything that was going on in the country and everything, and my wife kind of convinced me, you know, don't go to the meeting.
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And I said, I'm, about five weeks, about five months into the meeting, they were probably on Chapter 13 of the book was half over, and I said,
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I'm going to go to the meetings. I got to see the men. And that's when
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I met Rich for the first time. And he saw that I didn't have a book because I didn't think
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I was going to go and do the thing. And he came to me and he said, look,
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I got two books. He said, one I was going to write in and one I was going to just read, but here, take my book.
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And I offered him money for it. He said, no, no. So that's how I got the book, and I went to the class, and that was my first interaction with Rich, just a genuinely nice person.
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And then after that, I kind of, like, when
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I go to these classes, whether it's the men's breakfast or it's the men's
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Monday night thing that they have, I always have a tendency, I talk a little too much.
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But I will say this, that any time Rich spoke, I made sure
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I was quiet because he spoke such wisdom. He was unbelievable. And I took everything he said to heart.
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It was just, there was a certain countenance about him.
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And so I don't really have all the reward of knowing him for as long as all you folks have.
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Probably knew him for three months. But things that he did, like one of the men's breakfasts, okay, he actually said, you know, he handed out a piece of paper, and he said that, tell me, fill out your skills, because if I need an electrician or if I need a plumber or if somebody in the church needs to network with somebody, we should have a list of people that were either retired, former plumbers, former electrician, and then we could use people from our church.
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And I thought, wow, this is great. Somebody new coming in, they're thinking outside the box, and they're thinking of something
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I haven't thought of before. And I thought, this is great. You know, he came in so, of course, when it got to me,
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I said I have no skills. But he did, but there were people that do.
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And, you know, also it was a way of finding out what people did for a living.
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It was very interesting to me. Like, I found out that Rich was a project manager.
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And, you know, I looked at the way he did everything. He was a project manager even in his
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Christianity, okay? He really was. And, you know, he said in our group one day that, you know, one day he didn't feel like getting up and reading the
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Bible. And then he thought, no, I need to do that. And he was just somebody that made me think about my own relationship with Christ because he would talk about his flaws and how he was working on that.
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And that really made me question my own faith and how devoted am
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I? So, you know, I love the fact that he had this list and people signed it and they said what they did for a living before.
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And I found out that John Detolte did certain things. And I thought, wow, this is such a great resource.
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And not only that, like, he took everything really seriously. Like, we have this men's group at night that was 6 o 'clock every
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Monday. And, again, I missed a lot of them. And one that I went to, we were listening to a podcast on how to be a man in today's society because a lot of what you see in the media and so forth kind of diminish and blur the lines between the roles of men and women.
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And there are definite roles between men and women and what we should have. And not that any is better than the other.
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We all just have different roles. And our society has blurred those roles.
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And so we were working with Drew Deegan, who runs the class.
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And we were in this class together. And I noticed before the class that not only would
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Rich listen to the podcast, which we were all, as part of the class, supposed to do, and then we would discuss the podcast at the
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Monday night meeting, but he made notes, and he sent all his notes to everybody that was in the class.
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Okay? I mean, this guy, like I say, he approached his
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Christianity like a project manager. I mean, and I'll tell you,
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I wish I got to know him longer than I did. I only knew him for three months.
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But I'm going to miss him. He was a big part of this church. Even though he was here three months, he had such an impact on a lot of people, including myself.
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And I'm grateful to God for that. Thank you. I just wanted to follow up,
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Dave, because what he said was so perfect. But Rich also gave me a book. I went to the men's breakfast one morning.
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It was perfect. And showed up, didn't have a book. He gave me a book. He was awesome. God bless.
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One of Joy's friends.
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We are a military family, so we rely very heavily on our friends in the area and their families.
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The Eaton family wrapped their arms around us. One of the times that we were there for a holiday,
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I lost my husband. He went MIA. Come to find out, he was upstairs in the office with Rich.
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They talked about God for about an hour and a half. My husband got in the car that night, and he was shining.
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Just the amount of love and knowledge and wisdom that Rich has will forever be in my husband's heart.
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He just has this light about him that we'll forever be thankful for.
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Good morning, everyone. My name is Bill. I worked with Rich at Cardone, and I had a lot of great bosses over the years, and Rich was certainly one of them.
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Rich, you heard a lot about his talents at Cardone. He was a project manager. He taught me so much.
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He was like a mentor and a good friend. He loved the Lord dearly.
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He loved music. He loved so many things. He loved his family, but you just couldn't walk away from Rich to know how much he loved the
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Lord. That's always a striking impression with me, and I'll miss him.
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I thank the Lord in his providence that I was able to see Rich one last time in July, and it was really a blessing to see him.
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Would anybody else like to come share before I preach? All right.
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Yes, please come. Thank you.
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Any others? Let's pray. So, Father, we now come to that point in the service where we open the
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Scripture, and we know that this is the time where you yourself speak, not through the poor words of the preacher, but through the very words of your text.
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We pray that it would be alive and active to us, sharper than a two -edged sword, dividing the thoughts and intentions of our heart.
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God, speak to us, especially at a time like this. We need you. We need to hear your voice. In Jesus' name, amen.
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We were unable to get to Rich during the last couple of weeks because the hospital would not allow a pastoral visit.
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However, a hospital chaplain, not in this hospital, but a hospital chaplain in Arizona, once shared what he found would make a difference as he comforted the dying.
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He would hear other people come in and speak of God, and very often they would assert that God has nothing to do with this suffering.
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This is not God. This is not God's character. God has nothing to do with this.
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However, this chaplain knew the word of God, and he comforted the dying with something the doctors and the others could not, and that is the will of God.
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The will of God. The doctrine of the sovereignty of God states that God works all things according to the counsel of his will.
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Ephesians 111. It's a big statement. The idea that God works all things, not just the good things, but all things according to the counsel of his will.
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Now, if the will of God is being done, even in human suffering, then there is purpose.
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Purpose even in the suffering. There is meaning. These afflictions are achieving something, namely an eternal weight of glory, in the words of 2
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Corinthians 4 .17. That verse also says that these sufferings are light and momentary, but in the midst of our suffering, it doesn't feel light and momentary.
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How could suffering so great be described that way by almighty God in his word?
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Well, only because it is achieving something eternal. What is temporary cannot compare to what goes on and on forever and ever and ever.
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Rich Eaton had the highest view of God imaginable. I was part of a
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Thursday night group with him, and Rich was not shy to interject thoughts as the study went along, and it almost always had to do with this doctrine of the sovereignty of God.
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He always spoke of the will of God, purpose in God's counsel.
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He was stuck on it, but for a good reason. The will of the Father is to be trusted, even above our own will.
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So as we go to John 6, if you have the Bible, you can follow along. Otherwise, you do fine to just listen.
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You can also look that up on a smartphone or device. In John 6, you'll be familiar. You'll remember the story.
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Jesus feeds 5 ,000 people with just a few loaves and some fish. It's a miracle.
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He feeds the people. And then, because so many people are gathering, the disciples get on a boat and cross to the other side of the lake, and you know how
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Jesus catches up with them, right? He walks on water and then joins them in the boat, and miraculously, they quickly appear at the other side of the lake.
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Well, eventually, this crowd of people catches up with them, and the interaction that happens at that point in time is very instructive.
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It teaches us about the will of God. So we see in John 6, 35, what
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Jesus says to this group who have chased him down. He says to them, in John 6, 35,
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I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger.
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Whoever believes in me shall never thirst. See, they were after something of this earth. They liked being fed.
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You don't have to work for the food that Jesus just multiplies. You don't have to go out on a boat to go fishing.
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He provides it, and they wanted that. But Jesus said something far more important.
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He said, I am the bread of life. He is the one that can feed them, not just for a moment, and then you grow hungry again.
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He is the drink that doesn't just satisfy thirst, and then you get thirsty again.
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He is the one who satisfies eternally. Life eternal comes from him, and so he is the bread of life.
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But see, this bread must be broken. Jesus would say the night before he was betrayed, this is my body, broken for you.
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And taking bread, he broke it. And he spoke many times in his ministry about the breaking of his body.
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And by this, he meant his crucifixion on the cross. Well, what does that have to do with the will of the father?
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Did Satan triumph? Did sin win? Or was it the will of the father to crush his only son?
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According to Isaiah 53, verse 10, it was the will of the father to crush him.
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He has put him to grief. And after he makes his life a sacrifice for sins, he will see the light of life and be satisfied.
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What satisfied the father was that Jesus would be crucified. Because in the dying of Jesus, we are given life.
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He died a death that we deserve. The father saw that the world of men was full of sin.
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And each of us who die in our sin would depart from him. But God made a way to bridge that gap between sinners like us and his holy person.
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And that is in the person of Christ, fully God, fully man. He came and dwelt among us. He lived a perfect life.
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And then he died on the cross, not by accident, not by the triumph of evil, but by the will of the father.
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God sacrificed him to punish his own son instead of us. Jesus took our place saying, no one takes my life,
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I give it willingly. It was the will of the father. And the son chose to do the father's will.
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Secondly, of three points, in John 6, 36 and 37,
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Jesus goes on to say, what answers a question that they did not have.
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They simply didn't believe that he was the son of God. They were chasing him for food.
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And yet he says to them, but I said to you that you have seen me, and yet do not believe.
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All that the father gives me will come to me. And whoever comes to me, I will never cast out.
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Now this is an interesting interaction. He sees the unbelief of those who are following him
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He knows their hearts because he's God. And he says to them, you have seen me and yet you do not believe.
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To what does he describe that? Well, in verse 37, he teaches us that those coming and believing are a gift of the father to the son.
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Those who would believe in him do so because they are drawn of the father as he goes on to explain.
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He says, all that the father gives me will come to me. And whoever comes to me,
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I will never cast out. Well, if this is true, if Jesus is right, then his will is sovereign over all.
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Even those who would come to him in faith. This is a big teaching. But in John 17, 9, he doubles down on it saying,
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I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world, but those whom you have given me, for they are yours.
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Jesus teaches that the father gives a particular people to him. And in Ephesians 1, 3 -5, we read,
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Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.
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In love, he predestined us for adoption. Well, that's a hard, hard teaching.
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That God's will is even over this kind of decision. But Paul answers that objection in Romans 9, 14 -16 saying,
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What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part?
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By no means. For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom
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I have compassion. So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy.
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You see, we are sinners and we deserve the wrath of God. But in love, God chooses to have mercy on us.
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In fact, in the Greek, mercy is a verb in that text. He mercies whom he will, whom he wills to mercy.
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This is the teaching of Scripture regarding sovereignty. But there is a last point.
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In John 3, verse 38 -40 of the sixth chapter, we read, For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.
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And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.
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Jesus is saying he will have his people. They will come! He goes on to say, For this is the will of the
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Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
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And so we read in that verse that this is not some hard determinism where a genuine offer of salvation isn't given.
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Rather, what's told to us here is that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
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There is a mystery involved here in that God, being sovereign over all things, is able to accomplish his will, which is why the focus of the text is the will of the
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Father. In verse 38, Jesus says, I come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.
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Jesus always did the Father's will, and so the will of God is in view here. And in verse 39,
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This is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me.
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It is certain that those given from the Father to the Son, drawn of the Father, will come.
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And yet it is also true that the instrument by which he does this drawing is the preaching of the cross.
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By the word of God, the message of what Christ has done is issued forth, and a genuine offer is given to all who hear.
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If you will come believing, you will be saved.
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You will be among the elect. And these things are compatible, somehow, the will of God and this genuine call to faith.
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In fact, when he calls himself the bread of life, he says, Whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
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There is an offer given to us in these words, to come, to believe, and this is the work of God.
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Not that you would move mountains by faith, not that you would change the world by your activism, but the work of God is this, to believe in the one that he has sent, to believe in Jesus.
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Come to him, believe in him, says the Bible, and you will be saved. Those who come to trust in him and all he says are free indeed.
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And so what can we make of all of this teaching? John 6, well, it's the words of God, and you kind of wonder, how did the people receive that?
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We all picture the 5 ,000, besides women and children, coming to Jesus and being fed, throngs of people gathering around him, but how did they react when he said,
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I am the bread of life? And then he goes on to say, you must eat my body and drink my blood, or else you have no part in me.
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By the end of John 6, we find that none but the 12 were willing to stomach what he had to say.
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Jesus was not one of these megachurch pastors, not all megachurches are bad, but the ones that tickle ears to say whatever it is that people want to hear.
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They can gather a crowd, but if that was Jesus' aim, he did the exact opposite.
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By the end of chapter 6, no one is left but the disciples. After this, many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.
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His teaching was too harsh, it drove them away. They esteemed their own will more than that.
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They didn't like John 6, 44, where he said, no one can come to me unless the Father draws him.
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And so they left. And Jesus said to the 12, do you want to go away as well?
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Simon Peter answered, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed and have come to know that you are the
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Holy One of God. Did you hear Peter's answer? You have the words of life.
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To whom else will we go? And they rallied to him, and they believed on him, and so they were saved.
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So what is the application then of this passage? John chapter 6, why am
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I preaching this at Richard's funeral? First of all, I know from much time in our
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Thursday night group that this is precisely the doctrine he would want preached at his funeral.
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And how does it apply? Listen, accept the will of the Father. Even when our limited human understanding would have willed something different, accept the will of the
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Father. It was the Father's will to take rich home earlier than we wanted.
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But could it be that this was ordained by God in order that some here today would take the bread of life?
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That bread is offered to you. It's a free gift. Come and take it. Let all of us who have come to Christ in faith look death straight in the face and say,
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O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? Let the death of a loved one who trusted completely in the will of the
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Father be a turning point in each of our lives.
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Many of us here have come in already believing, already coming, believing, taking the bread of life.
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But could rich in his life and now in his death be sent by God to teach us about God's sovereignty, the will of the
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Father, that we would come to rest in him? There is a rest offered to the people of God.
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When you come to believe in the will of the Father, that he works all things after the counsel of his will, there is rest, there is comfort, there is purpose, even in suffering.
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God has a plan for it. He is achieving something by it. And in this maturity of Christian doctrine, you will find yourself strong in him and able to withstand the storms that will come.
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They're promised by Jesus. In this world you will have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world.
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When you come to a mature understanding of providence, sovereignty, the plan of God, the purpose of God, the will of God, you can endure all things in him.
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Let us submit to the unchangeable will of God. Well, Rich wasn't a prophet or a son of a prophet, but the last sermon he ever gave me, he gave books and he gave me sermons, because I was the preacher.
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So he would give me Spurgeon sermons. And the very last one he gave me,
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I had set aside on my desk, I hadn't read it yet. It was from Hebrews 12, which I happened to preach this Sunday, so I had it set apart to preach.
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But after Rich passed, I picked this up and I was shocked by the providence of God.
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It was prophetic in a sense. It was God encouraging us by what
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Spurgeon said and what Rich would now encourage us with. Charles Spurgeon, that great preacher from England, the
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Prince of Preachers, says, keep on looking and running till you are with him.
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Oh, I talk to you now about being with him, but how soon this may be realized in the most literal sense.
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During my ministry in this place, it has occurred two or three times that when the services ended, dear friends had attempted to go to their homes, but they have died in this house of prayer.
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What must it be to go from this congregation to the assembly above?
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What a change from the poor talk of the preacher to the voice of the well -beloved. We do not know how near to Jesus on the throne we may now be.
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The sea fog is around our vessel. Could we see before us the white cliffs of our native shores or almost within touch?
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Think not that we are far out at sea. Within the next week, perhaps some of us will see the
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King and his beauty. We may spend next Sunday in heaven. Does anybody shrink from such a prospect?
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No. Each heir of heaven says, amen, so let it be. Then the sweat of the race will be wiped away and the sweet of the triumph will begin.
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Then the fatigue and distress will have ended and the rest and the glory will have commenced.
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I would cheer you with the thought that you are much nearer the winning post than you think.
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How soon you may sit among the blood -washed throng. Amen. We do not know the time, but God has numbered the days of our lives before the foundation of the world.
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And the days of our lives are like a breath, says the author of Ecclesiastes, Solomon, like a vapor here and gone, whereas eternity goes on and on.
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And this day, the Lord has sovereignly brought you to hear this word, to hear that there is bread for you.
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If only you come and believe. This was the will of the Father that you would hear it.
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So come, believe the good news that Jesus was crucified. He was buried. He rose on the third day.
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He is alive. He is seated at the right hand of the Father. And he is offering to you eternal life through belief in his name.
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Let's close in prayer. God, it blows our minds to think of these things.
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They're certainly beyond us. We can never fully wrap our minds around the secret things that belong to you.
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But those things which are revealed belong to us. We have nowhere else to go but to you.
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No one else has the words of life. And so hearing, Lord, we pray that those who hear will believe.
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Give them eyes to see, ears to hear, hearts to understand and trust. God, we pray that through this memorial service that some will come to saving faith and that all of us will come to greater maturity in our faith.
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In the precious and mighty name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen. Let's stand and sing.
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There's a peace I've come to know. Though my heart and flesh may fail, there's an anchor for my soul.
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I can say it is well.
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Jesus has overcome, and the grave is overwhelmed.
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The victory is won. He is risen from the dead, and I will rise.
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He calls my name. No more sorrow, no more pain.
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I've eagle's wings before my
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God. There's a day that's drawing near when this darkness breaks to light and the shadows disappear, and my faith shall be my eyes.
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Jesus has overcome, and the grave is overwhelmed.
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The victory is won.
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He is risen from the dead, and I will rise.
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When he calls my name, no more sorrow, no more pain.
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I will rise on eagle's wings before my
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God. For I hear the voice of many angels sing, worthy is the
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Lamb. And I hear the cry of every longing heart, worthy is the
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Lamb. And I hear the voice of many angels sing, worthy is the
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Lamb. And I hear the cry of every longing heart, worthy is the
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Lamb. Worthy is the
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Lamb. He calls my name.
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No more sorrow, no more pain. Behold, I tell you a mystery.
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We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.
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For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.
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When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory.
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O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of death is the law.
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But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
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Amen. You are dismissed. One in the
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Spirit, three in one. Praise forever to the
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King of kings. To reveal the kingdom coming, and to reconcile the lost.
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To redeem the whole creation, you did not despise the cross.
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For even in your suffering, you sought to the other side.
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Knowing this was our salvation, Jesus for our sake you died.
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The Son, praise the Spirit. Three in one, praise forever.
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But he rose, all of heaven held its breath.
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Till that stone was moved for good, for the Lamb had conquered death.
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And the dead rose from their tombs, and the angels stood in awe.
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For the souls of all who'd come to the Father are restored.
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And the Church of Christ was born. Then the Spirit lit the flame.
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Now there's peace forever to the