Richard Wood Wood Memorial Service

You may be seated. My name is Ken Smith, and on behalf of Sunnyside Baptist Church, we want to welcome family and friends of Richard Wood to our service this morning, celebrating his life and his faith.

And so we are glad that you're here, grateful for the opportunity that we have to to remember Richard and to celebrate God's grace and goodness in his life. So if you would, would you bow your heads and let's take a moment to pray together.

Thanksgiving for Richard Wood’s Life and God’s Grace

Lord God Almighty, we are grateful for this day, grateful for the sunshine, grateful for the warm temperatures that we anticipate today. All these things are gifts from your hand, and we give you thanks for them.

Lord, this morning, we are especially grateful for the opportunity that we have to gather together in this place, in this building that Richard often was in, and a place that he loved to come to, to worship with his brothers and sisters in Christ.

And so we're grateful that we can gather here today to remember Richard's life and your goodness and mercy upon him throughout all the days of his life. Lord, we pray for your blessing on our time today.

As we remember Richard, we give you thanks for him. But Lord, I know that Richard would not want us to focus only and primarily upon him, although we're grateful for Richard. Lord, we are more thankful, eternally grateful for your grace in Jesus Christ.

And may Christ be exalted. May Christ be praised in our time together here this morning. So we thank you. We give you glory and honor and blessing in Jesus' name. Amen. Richard L. Wood of Oklahoma City went home to be with Jesus on January 29th, 2021, at the age of 92.

Richard was born in Sherman, Texas, on June 4th, 1928. He lived most of his life in Oklahoma City. He joined the United States Navy at the age of 17 and was stationed in the Philippines. He graduated from Central High School after returning from World War II, and we're grateful for his service.

He worked for several oil companies and for Office Products, Inc. before his retirement. At the age of 33, Richard surrendered his life to Jesus Christ as his Savior and Lord. He attended Sunnyside Baptist Church.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Leslie John Wood and X .E. Josephine Wood, his birth mother, Nina Brown, and granddaughter, Chelsea Megan Henson. He is survived by his wife, 52 years, Janice Faye Wood, his sister, Wanda Millsap of Colorado, the daughter, Lana Henson, and husband, Carl Sempner, daughter, Mitzi Smith, and her husband, Steve Smith, granddaughter, Jana Roten, and husband, Phillip Roten, grandsons, Connor Smith and Dylan Smith, and numerous extended family and friends.

It was written of Abraham in Genesis 25, verse 8, that Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his people. The same could be said, I think, of our brother in Christ, Richard.

He loved his wife, Janice. He loved his family. He loved his church family, and he loved his friends. But most significantly, he loved his Lord, Jesus Christ. I will always remember Richard as being a gentleman and a gentle man.

And he was joyful in the Lord, readily testifying of the goodness and mercy of the Lord in his life. Richard was a sharp dresser. I love this picture. And yeah, it's his Jack LaLanne imitation. Richard was a sharp dresser, but he knew that his best and finest clothing was to be covered in the robe of righteousness.

That God provided him by faith in Jesus and his righteousness. Richard has finished his earthly race, running well all the way to the end. And like Paul, I can hear Richard say, I have fought the good fight.

I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. Henceforth, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day. And not only to me, but to all who have loved his appearing.

When I asked Janice if there was any particular passage of scripture that she wanted to have read today, she said that Jesus' words in John 14 had been especially helpful and comforting to her. So I want to read from John 14 this morning, verses that no doubt will be familiar to all of us.

This is the word of the Lord. Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me. In my father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am, you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going. Thomas said to him, Lord, we do not know where you are going.

How can we know the way? Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my father also. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.

I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you yet a little while and the world will see me no more. But you will see me because I live. You also will live. In that day, you will know that I am in my father and you in me and I in you.

Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me and he who loves me will be loved by my father and I will love him and will manifest myself to him. Peace, I leave with you. My peace, I give you.

Not as the world gives, do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled. Let them neither. Let them be afraid. Would you pray with me, Lord, how we thank you for your word and pray that you would bless your word to each heart that is heavy with grief.

This morning, you indeed are faithful and good in all your ways. So, Lord, we look to you this morning and pray that you would glorify your name. In Jesus name, we pray. Amen.

Family Reflections on a Life of Faithfulness

First of all, I just want to say thank you to so many people. Our family, we mom and I couldn't have made it through the last couple of weeks without all your help to come and help us stay with dad and take care of things for us and and our friends as well for bringing more food than we can ever eat.

But that's our way, the Baptist way. But thank you all for your help. I want to thank Sunnyside Baptist Church and everything you've done to for this day to make this possible. And my church, Grace Community Baptist Church and the funeral home has been amazing.

So just thank you to so many people. I feel like the Academy Awards thanking everyone. But as I tried to make some notes last night, I just thought, how do you condense that somebody's life into five or 10 minutes?

It's hard. And then 50 years that I've been with him, even that, how can you condense that? But that little dash that's up there between, you know, June 4th and January 29th, that little big dash contains his whole life.

And there's so much that I could say about that, but I'm going to give it my best to condense it and be short. I'm not going to talk much about his early life because it is literally an unbelievable, one of a kind story.

I don't have time to share it today, but I will tell you that it includes words such as kidnapping, a forged birth certificate and a sister that he didn't know about until he returned from World War II.

So if you're interested, call me. We'll go to coffee. Literally, maybe I'll write a book. I don't know. The first thing I thought of when I was making notes was, mom will remember this. I mean, we've gone to a lot of funerals over the years, as you can imagine.

And he served as pallbearer in many, but I mean, numerous times on the way home from a funeral, he'd say, when I die, I don't want y 'all, everybody saying what a great guy I was. And talking like that, because I'm not, I'm just an average Joe, a sinner that God chose to save.

And if there's anything good about me, it's only because of God. So don't be up there talking about me. Sorry, dad, I'm going to talk about you. But anyway, I will share a little bit about the 50 years that I have been privileged to be with him.

I thought of some words to describe dad. And these were the ones that came, I came up with fun, dependable, affectionate, stable, disciplined, strong, funny, and patriotic, like to the 10th degree. I don't think I know anybody more patriotic than my dad.

So all of those things are true of him. And, and I don't mean just true here at church. I mean, at home, those were the things that are true about my dad. I can see him at home, he walking up and down the hall, wherever he went, he was always humming, singing, whistling.

He was just a happy guy. I remember during my childhood and teen years, he was my buddy. He, we played cowboys and Indians and cops and robbers. And I remember the neighborhood kids coming over and mom will remember this, we, we had this little backyard, but we, you know, the faucet was first base, the doghouse was second base.

And the swing set was third base and all the neighborhood kids would be over there. And mom and dad would be right out there with us, you know, pitching and playing baseball. He was a movie buff. So we went to the movies a lot.

And we watched a lot of movies at home, in particular, old Westerns, John Wayne, and then the corny B Westerns, you know, and he liked to sing those songs. You know, I've been humming happy trails all week because that just makes me think of dad and tumbling tumbleweed and just craziness.

Anyway, good memories, though. We went to carnivals, you know, when I was little, they used to set up little carnivals in shopping center parking lots. And mom said they used to go the other route so that I wouldn't see them because, you know, I've always wanted him to stop.

And I went through a stage of where I wanted to play arcade games. And, you know, you could only play those games then because I'm older at the arcade, you know, or the place at the mall. And dad had absolutely zero interest in video games, but he would take me and patiently wait while I played Galaga and Miss Pac-Man or whatever.

Anyway, so just there's just so many memories, you just cannot possibly talk about them all in a sitting in a setting like this. But then I thought about all the things he taught me. Some of them he taught me in words, but most of it was he taught me by action.

You know, he taught me practical things about managing money. And, you know, one of his favorite things, probably mom and I have heard this five thousand times. You must live below your means. He said that all the time.

You know, don't use credit cards. And I mean, just practical stuff. And he taught me about exercising. He was a he kept a book, which I have of he kept track of which parts of his body he worked out on certain days.

And when he did his cardio and he was just he was a stickler for working out. He taught me how to drive and, you know, and then there were the spiritual lessons that I learned from him. I think probably one of the best memories I have is seeing him read his Bible, which he did every day, no matter what.

And he always encouraged me to do the same. And he kept a little record in the back of his oldest Bible. And I don't know if he may have read it at the end and not marked it off, but I know for sure that he read the entire Bible cover to cover forty two times.

Can you believe that? I just sat there with my mouth hanging open forty two times. Amazing. Same with church attendance. He he thought it was very important. He thought we needed the body of Christ. And so he stressed that that was important.

And he not only stressed it with words, but he faithfully attended this church for over 50 years. I can't remember the exact year, but he was an example to follow. And he always encouraged me to stay close to the Lord and stay in his word.

Many of you have asked me, is there anything I can do? What can I do to help you guys through this? So here's what I want to say. First of all, pray, pray for us. After all the busyness of the of today is over, this is going to hit us.

It's going to hit me probably like a ton of bricks because I've just been so busy, I haven't even really had time to think about it. So pray for us. But the second thing I would like to ask you to do is if you have a special memory of my dad, if you have a something that he encouraged you with or a memory of a conversation you had or knowing dad, a funny nickname that he may have called you.

Please share those things with us. Text it to me, email it to me, write it in a note and snail mail it to me. Several of my friends have texted me this week memories and things that my dad meant to them.

And it has just been such a blessing. So encouraging. More than one person has told me that dad encouraged them to read their Bible through from cover to cover. If he'd encouraged you to do that, tell me that.

What a blessing that will be to us in future days to be able to look at those memories and read them. One of my good friends that she couldn't be here today, she sent me an email that. She said, you know, my dad was not really there for me, especially during my teen years.

And she said, when I met you and met your family, she said, your dad just was like the the example of what a dad should be. And she said, I will carry that with me for the rest of my life. I thought, you know, how meaningful and touching.

And Kyle shared with me that, you know, my dad, he had a memory of being out in the garage with my dad while he was pumping iron. And and just he said it just my dad made him feel like part of the circle of manhood or I don't remember his exact words.

But, you know, I want to hear those things. So that's what you can do for us. Tell us those memories. Share those things with us. So in closing, first, I just want to say thank you, Lord, for saving dad and for doing a work in his life.

If even when I was looking through the pictures, I thought of the verse in, I think I made them out, Second Corinthians 15. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things have become new.

And that is what you can see in my dad in 1961 when he asked the Lord to be his savior. There's a there's a difference in how he lived and how he acted and how he talked. And it makes a difference. So thank you, Lord, for saving dad.

And then, dad, I don't the Bible isn't clear. I don't know if you can hear me, but thank you, dad, for a multitude of great, funny, warm memories for me to cherish. Thank you for being an awesome dad, husband, brother, papa and friend.

So in the words of Roy Rogers, happy trails to you until we meet again.

Grieving in Hope Through Christ’s Resurrection

Thank you for sharing those memories and those pictures with all of us. And that was very meaningful. And what a span of life he lived with so many people that he touched, ministered to, you know, I have known many, even even Christians who who don't even know the blessed nature of what their loved ones experience.

When they when they die and their bodies are laid to rest. And to be absent from the body, to be present with the Lord and what lays ahead for them, their blessed state in the now and the grace that awaits them in the not yet.

I'd like to share that with you. It is right that we grieve. Life is a grace from God. Life is undeserved, unexplained and uncontrolled by men. The Lord gives and the Lord takes at his pleasure and precious in the sight of God or the death of his saints.

It is right that we grieve. And it is right for those here who know God through Christ, as Richard does, that we would grieve in hope. First Thessalonians 4, 13 to 14, Paul comforts the Christians and he says, but I do not want you to be ignorant.

He doesn't want them to be confused or scrambling to fill in the gaps of what it means that their loved ones in Christ have died. I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow, lest you sorrow as those who have no hope.

We are to grieve with hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, God will bring with him those who sleep in Jesus. So I hope you hear there that there is a connection between being informed, knowing what the Bible has to say, what God wants us to know and having hope.

Many suffer the loss of a loved one, even Christians, and they proceed to the rest of their lives unclear as to the blessed state and the gracious future of their dearly departed. I don't want that to be the unhappy case with you.

So I'm going to read First Corinthians 15, verses 20 through 26, because I want us to consider what we do here today in light of Jesus Christ, who is the first fruits of the resurrection. First Corinthians 15, 20 through 26.

But now Christ is risen from the dead and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.

But each one in his own order, Christ the first fruits afterward, those who are Christ's at his coming. Then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom to God, the father, when he puts an end to all rule, to all rule.

And all authority and power, for he must reign until he has put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. I want you to know the hope of the resurrection. Paul states something that is rather bold.

He says, now Christ is risen from the dead and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. He states it as undeniable fact. And the significance of this fact is rendered in two images, one of harvest and one of rest.

How do you know that you're going to have a good harvest? By the first fruits. What comes up first? Christ has been raised from the dead. Absolute proof that those in Christ and with Christ will be raised as well.

Richard will be raised from the dead because Christ has been raised from the dead. Also, the image of rest. He has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. How are we to understand Richard's state right now?

The preacher to the Hebrews says there's a Sabbath rest for those who are in Christ, that the true Yeshua leads, leads his loved ones into rest. He is resting. He is at rest. He labored long. He was faithful.

He did what was right. He stayed steady and now he's resting. And he is at rest with Christ. When we read and Paul say this, Christ is risen from the dead. Many people, of course, find that too hard to believe.

Controversial, to say the least, because it doesn't fit with the way they think the world works. But Paul has already said in verses 12 through 19 of this very same chapter, should their so-called superior worldview prove true, then misery reigns in immutable tyranny.

But it is the fact, a well-attested fact, that Jesus Christ did rise from the dead, seen by hundreds, easily verified in the time that Paul is writing this. Jesus Christ's resurrection from the dead is only raged at by fools in their folly.

It is an undeniable fact. So since that is true, what is the pattern? Verse 21, for since by man came death, by man, capital M, also comes the resurrection of the dead. Why is there suffering and sickness and death?

It's because of the sin of Adam. Death came through Adam, but the resurrection comes through Jesus Christ. You're Richard's family, Richard's church. We are not burying Richard's body as a sign of a final salvation in freedom from a body.

We are burying Richard's body as a seed of hope. A seed of hope, because we are looking forward to a resurrection in glorious form. That's why we bury Richard's body. Verses 42 through 49 of this same chapter.

So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption. It is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor. It is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness. It is raised in power. It is sown a natural body.

It is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, the first man, Adam, became a living being. The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural and afterward the spiritual.

The first man was of the earth, made of dust. The second man is the Lord from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust. And as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are heavenly.

And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly man. What does that mean? It means that Richard, because he was saved by Jesus Christ in his spirit, he was born again.

And he knew resurrection life in his soul and his inner man. But his outer man grew weak, his outer man decayed, his outer man was still in the image of the first Adam. But when Christ returns and raises him from the dead, Richard will be in both spirit and body fully in the image of Christ.

Incorruptible, in glorious form forever and ever. And that is the promise for all who are in Christ. Verse 22, listen to the promise, for as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.

As surely as everyone who is united with Adam in the flesh dies, as certain as death is, so certainly everybody who is united with Christ will be raised from the dead to die no more. And live eternally in the life of God.

There are two indisputable facts in this world, Adam's death and Christ's resurrection. And these are the two facts that we must assess our lives concerning. Have we assessed our lives honestly in the light of our maker's perfect holiness and righteousness?

Richard had to come to a point where he had to do that. When he recognized after living so long on this earth, he had to come to grips with the fact that God had made him, that God had called him to a certain way of life and he was failing miserably.

But Jesus Christ had come and lived in that perfect way that we cannot in our place and for our sake and offers his own righteousness in our stead that we would be acceptable to God. If we would believe the good news, we would repent of our sins and we would repent of ourselves that we would make a pile of all of our good deeds and we would make a pile of all of our bad deeds and run from both for Christ and Christ alone.

And this is what Richard did. And so being united with Christ, he shall be made alive. This is the hope for all who repent of their selves and their sins and trust in Christ. Well, when will this happen?

He's resting now. He's resting with the saints. He's part of that that that cloud of witnesses that goes before someone to remember on All Saints Day coming up this year. Think back on Richard. He is one of the saints.

Think about the significance of his life. Remember that he is part of the cloud of witnesses. But when will Christ raise him from the dead? Verse twenty three. But each one in his own order, Christ, the first fruits afterward, those who are Christ's at his coming.

Then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom to God, the father, when he puts an end to all rule and all authority and power, for he must reign until he has put all enemies under his feet. See, Jesus Christ has a name which is above every name.

He is king of kings and he is lord of lords and all authority has been given to him in heaven on earth. He reigns on the right hand of God, and that is significant because Jesus has promised to raise all of his own from the dead.

Well, who can stop him? What will interrupt his plans? Do we have any fear whatsoever that planting Richard's body as a seed in hope of the resurrection, that that that this seed will not bear fruit? We have no fear at all for Christ rules and he reigns and he will reign until he defeats every enemy.

And the last enemy that he defeats, we read, is death. Verse fifty three of the same chapter. For this for this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption and this mortal has put on immortality, when we are raised from the dead.

Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. Oh, death, where is your sting? Oh, Hades, where is your victory? Sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law, but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

So Jesus will conquer all of his enemies, all of our enemies, including that of death. Which is why we bury Richard as a seed of hope in the ground. We are looking forward to the resurrection. We grieve at the separation.

But we hope because it is temporary. We ache at death's blow. But we do not crumple for death's days are numbered. We will mourn at our last glimpse of Richard's face, but it is not the last. For when the final trumpet sounds, Richard's restful, rejoicing spirit will be reunited with his body now glorified and his face will be aglow with the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Let me pray for you. Father, I thank you for Richard's family. I thank you for Sunnyside. I thank you for all who have come to honor the memory of Richard and to gather as a congregation of hope. Lord, you are good.

Help us to trust you. We ask for your comfort and your peace in our season of grief. And may we grieve in hope of the resurrection of which Jesus Christ is the first fruits. We pray these things in his name.

Amen. I would ask that you would join me now in singing a hymn that was one that Richard himself requested and enjoyed. So we're going to sing, when we all get to heaven, hymn number 542, if you want to use the books, 542.