Saturday, September 11, 2021 PM

You who are here. It's encouraging to see so many family members of John and friends of John gather here with us at his church family and thank you Sunnysiders, those of you who were able to come for this for this time.

I'm going to pray for us and I'm going to read the obituary and say a couple of things about how we came to know John and what we appreciated about him and then we'll move forward from there. Okay, let's pray together.

Father, I thank you for gathering us together on this day. Lord, we want to stop and thank you for the life of John Edmiston. Lord, we thank you for all the ways in which that you showed that you were faithful and that you were good, that you were true, that you were gracious, and that you were merciful through his life.

I thank you for all those who were encouraged by John, those who have been blessed because they knew him and were loved by him and who loved him. And now during this time, Heavenly Father, you know what we need and we need your grace to walk through this time of memory and mourning and that you would help us to mourn in the right way as those who do have hope.

And we thank you for hearing these prayers and for being our Heavenly Father. We pray these things in the name of Jesus Christ, the one with whom you are well-pleased. Amen. If I forgot to introduce myself, I'm Michael.

Michael Deere. I'm the pastor here at Sunnyside Baptist Church and I enjoyed getting to know John. John Sherman Bundren Edmiston was born to Kenneth Horton Edmiston and Elizabeth Ann Bundren on October 14th, 1958 in Clinton, Oklahoma and departed this life in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on September 8th, 2021 at the age of 62 years, 10 months, and 25 days.

John lived in Missouri, Colorado, Germany, Lawton, Fort Sill, Chickasha, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. John was an Eagle Scout and graduated from Eisenhower High School in 1976 and attended Cameron University in Lawton, Oklahoma.

John owned and operated his own garage and gas station in Lawton before becoming a police officer in Chickasha. He spent the rest of his career working with computers, beginning with DOS and working for ProData for a time before starting his own company, selling and installing computer software.

His son Brandon was his pride and joy. John loved the Lord Jesus Christ and enjoyed being prayed for during his illness and would attend church services as his health allowed. He was preceded in death by his stepfather Ray Williams, paternal grandparents Lewis and Martha Edmiston of Oklahoma City, maternal grandparents John and Mae Bundren.

Survivors include his son Brandon Edmiston and Katie of Oklahoma City, three grandchildren Tyler, Alex, and Olivia Edmiston of Oklahoma City, his parents Ann Williams of Walters, Oklahoma, and Kenneth and Gail Edmiston of Milford, Kansas, one brother Ken Edmiston and Cheryl of Killeen, Texas, two sisters LaDonna Rick and Chester of Sterling, Oklahoma, and Mariah Simpson and Kevin of Walters, Oklahoma, a very special friend Jeannie Ellis of Oklahoma City, and many other nieces, nephews, and friends.

The Lord is good. The Lord is good for men to have that many family members and to have such friends to gather here and to remember and to give thanks to the Lord for the good that we all have received.

John Edmiston was an example to everybody here at Sunnyside of perseverance, of what it means to value Christian fellowship. He was in an enormous amount of pain. He was very debilitated as he fought against cancer and he would drag himself to church even when health did not allow.

He would still come and he showed us the value of Christian fellowship and I was blessed to spend some time with him and to pray with him and to weep with him and to rejoice with him as things turned and twisted and went back and forth in his life, but we all really appreciated John for he had good things to say and he had thanksgivings to offer and he would give a joyful word in the midst of his suffering and even as we all would sit together as a church family on Wednesday nights and have a meal, inevitably some comment would be made by John that would set the whole room to laughing and we are going to greatly miss John.

We're going to greatly miss John and we greatly appreciate what the Lord has done through his life. I think now we're going to listen to a song that John always considered one of his.

Favorites. Our church in Temple, Oklahoma. Chain-smoking, playing cards, and drinking. That's what John did the first night I met him. Now, it would probably behoove you to tell me what he was drinking.

He was drinking coffee. He was chain-smoking cigarettes. We were playing cards. His sister Mariah just happens to be my wife if you don't know. But he was three years older than I am. He was a lot bigger and I was dating his little sister so I kind of gave him a lot of room there, especially when he was young.

As we got older and he got sick, I used to tease him that I thought I could probably take him and he just kind of grinned and said, yeah, you probably could. But it took a long time to get there. I don't ever recall, I thought about this and thought about it, I don't ever recall John ever saying one unkind thing to me.

I do remember one time when Brandon was a big old kid and we were in a restaurant waiting area before we got to go in the restaurant and he and I were wrestling. We always did that all the time. And John said, y 'all quit that.

But he never said anything mean to me. And John could be gripey. I'm not going to sit up here and tell you John was a saint. He was not a saint. He could be a gripey old guy, but I'll tell you what, if he loved you, he loved you.

And I got to witness that on many, many occasions. He grew up, his dad was in the military and so they just traveled all over the country and didn't really, for the first part of their lives, have any place they could really call home.

They were just kind of always on the move. He was the oldest of four kids and as the oldest, he absolutely and completely ran the show. Big John, as we call him, or Big Bad John, wouldn't hesitate to put any of the other three in their place, but no one else was allowed to do it.

Myra always told me he was her fiercest protector. I think about, like I said, he was always so good to me, but he looked after his siblings and cared about them. He'd pick on them, don't get me wrong there, he'd pick on them and give them a hard time.

Nobody else was allowed to do it. More often as they were growing up, John and LaDonna seemed to fight more often than Ken and Myra fought. It was kind of a split deal, I'm told, but LaDonna was an equal opportunity finger breaker.

She caught and slammed the doors on him and Ken both. They were pretty ornery. I'm going to share a story with you all that I don't want to know. I went to work for the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority 35 years ago.

I'd been working out there about a year and I had married Myra and we had Kelly and Bobby and they were four and six. I was mowing down the right of way on an interstate and I was coming up and this guy just whips by me on a car and he stops on the shoulder and he comes to a stop and he gets out and he starts jerking kids out and whipping them and I just mowed right on by and I thought, you know, before I had kids, I'd have stopped and told him how wrong that was.

Once you get them, and Myra shared many times as they were kids, they had no VW bus and Bobby would just pull it over and line them all up out on the side of the road and whip them. He also was an equal opportunity guy.

When John wanted his first car, his dad told him that he had to work on it himself and learn about that so he went to Votek and he learned to do that and that's why he opened his own garage there for a while and LaDonna really enjoyed doing that.

We were talking about some of the kids I mentioned because some of them don't really remember him when he was younger. He was a hoss and he was a big dude, you know what I mean, and grandma told me he once picked up a car engine and that doesn't surprise me at all.

I mean, he was just a big, big old strong guy and he could be kind of intimidating and imposing, I'll be honest with you, and gripey, as I said a while ago, but if he loved you, he loved you and he would do anything in the world for you.

As a young time, he spent more time in Lawton where he owned and operated that garage, but God has always had his hand in protection around him. John was saved when he was young. I was 43 years old before I got saved so I have a little trouble relating to that, but all through his life and when he was in Lawton and pretty young, he was in a very, very horrible car accident that messed him up pretty bad but he did get over it and kind of recovered from it, but I believe the Lord was protecting him from that point forward.

He then did undercover work for the Lawton and Chickasha Police Departments and he moved to Chickasha and became a full-time police officer for a time. He was part of one of the largest drug arrests in Chickasha's history at that time.

He didn't tell me a whole lot about what he did as a cop, but I know he did some time as undercover and if you see the pictures of him as a cop, you could take a uniform off him and he'd have passed for a hippie dude real easy.

He'd have fit right in and they took advantage of that and so he was involved in some pretty big arrests back then. He married and eventually moved on from law enforcement and through that union, Thumper was conceived and I don't know if I got his permission to say that or not, but he can't whip me while I'm up here and I'll run from him later.

He kicked a lot, I guess, when he was in his mama's tummy and I think that's where he got that name. I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that's where it was from. John loved his family and of course, Tyler, Alex, and Olivia, Brandon, and Katie were just precious to him.

He spent a lot of time at our house after he got sick and was on disability and wasn't able to work, so he'd just show up and unfortunately, our house is really conducive to visitors. They kind of have their own wing back there and we loved it and if he was in our house, he'd go to Bat Ball and G Malls in Kansas.

He spent time with them as well. He just enjoyed being with family. He took care of their rental properties for them and he kept the house clean for us. He stayed in the middle bedroom of our house. Like I said, John was saved.

I'm being a pastor and he went to church with us every time the doors were open, but I did cause him to stumble one time. If you didn't know John, he never shut a bedroom door. In fact, he didn't even like it dark.

He always wanted a light or two on somewhere. I don't know why, but for some reason, I reached over there very quietly when I went by and shut his bedroom door and I was sleeping on the couch and I heard a big loud thump and some awful language.

He woke up in the middle of the night and walked slam right into the door and he wasn't very happy with me for that, but he forgave me. John and I had at least four things in common. We both love Mariah.

We love to shoot. We loved eating and we hate taking pictures. Every time these girls get together, they want to take pictures of me and John and always be griping about it. I am glad we take them. I am glad to do that.

I'm still going to complain and so would John if he was here. As I said a while ago, I love to shoot. One time him and Mariah were shooting. We live out in the country and so we have the benefit of shooting whenever we want.

They shot and when I come home, there was this huge silhouette target taped to my back door where we go in and it was very accurate shooting and I figured John did it. He said, no, no, your sister did that and you might want to be careful how you treat her.

He was very close to his Aunt Alice who was only five years older than him, more like a big sister to him. She tells us that whenever she first started, her mom's not here so I can tell she's gone on, sneaking off, dating when she wasn't supposed to be dating and John was old enough to know what she was doing so he conned her into taking him with her or it was under the threat of telling on her if she didn't.

Whenever I was visiting him, he lived here in the city and my job every now and then, I'd pass through the city so I'd spend the night with him. We'd go to dinner and we'd hang out. Mariah said, what are y 'all doing visiting?

He said, no, real men don't visit. They just hang out. So John and I spent a lot of time hanging out. Brandon and John were always together. I was thinking about the song, thinking about my best friend when they were little kids.

Brandon was a little kid growing up. They just spent a lot of time together and it was pretty neat as they grew up but they had a good relationship. He had a really good relationship with his nieces and nephews.

Kelly and Bobby were up here. We had them up here in college for a period as long as we could afford, thankfully, but they would go by and do laundry at his house and he'd check on them and take them out to eat.

Liz and Matt come up and see him here recently and take care of him and Liz would take funny pictures of him and he let her do it and some of them are posted. It's really hilarious and it didn't even bother him which really, really surprised me.

If you know John, like I said, he did not like to take pictures. As he got worse with his illness, I think about much like Brother Michael said here, he would tell us on Wednesday nights he'd ride his little scooter over here to services.

He just loved being with fellow Christians and he loved being around them and I think about how precious that is. John changed. I've known John for 32 plus years. John changed. John used to be kind of hateful.

I'm going to be honest with you. He was scary and he could be kind of hateful. But I got to see a John and the older he got, the sweeter he got, but I think the Lord kind of got a hold of him and mellowed him out.

And you know, he suffered for several years here with this illness and the last year, really, really bad. Really bad. Didn't complain. Didn't complain. I mean, you know, he'd tease you about it all the time, but I mean he just wasn't a complainer and he always had a positive attitude.

Got the benefit of, he would come stay at our house and we were going to church and we were in the kitchen one night doing something and he asked me, he said, so what do I need to do about just kind of making sure I'm right with the Lord?

And so we said, well, that's the start right there. And so we got to pray with him and he just has always loved to be around brothers and sisters in Christ and he loved the Lord. He loved to be prayed for.

Every time around I'd be talking to him, we'd be getting ready to get off and he'd say, okay, pray for me. So we'd pray for him and he loved people to pray for him. And I think to me when I think about what a believer, what an encouragement that is to a believer to know that brothers and sisters out there in Christ are lifting you up and they're supporting you.

But as he got sick, he kind of got to this point where he had a new family. He met a new family. Some of them are here today. They took care of him. Derek and Jeannie are here and I don't know if any others are, but I know these two specifically took very, very good care of him and we always knew he was in good hands with them.

And he could be a pain in the rear. He was very OCD. He wanted his things his way. He hung his shirts up backwards from everybody else and by golly, that's the way they were going to be hung up. I said he didn't complain, but he'd certainly tell you what he thought you needed to do, wouldn't he Jeannie?

And of course, if you know Jeannie, she didn't have any trouble telling him what she's going to do and what she wasn't going to do. Jeannie and Derek will both always be a part of our family and we're kind of like the mob.

Once you get in, you can't get out no matter how bad you want. You're stuck. Our family can never thank you guys enough for loving and caring for him. At six years old, John got saved and he told the preacher he got shaved today.

He had a little bit of a speech impediment. And one time when he was younger, he even thought about going into the ministry. I never did really get to have a conversation with him about what redirected him on that.

And as I said, he spent a lot of years being ornery and kind of, you know, just separated, but he just really... I'll tell you this. John finished well. And you know what? I'm going to talk about that after we hear this next song.

But really, that's all any of us can do. There's a poem called The Dash that talks about what we do between that birth and that death and it's very important what we do with that. And John's going to...

I'm going to share a message with you here in a minute, but he would want to do that. Absolutely. It was about three years ago at our house when he rededicated himself to the Lord and he was just... from that point forward, he just was always all about listening to things about the Lord, going to church with us, coming to church up here with these guys.

And that's another thing. I can't thank you guys here at this church enough for knowing how well taken care of he was here. I spoke with a lady yesterday. I don't know if she was here yesterday. If she's here today, her name is Pat.

But anyhow, she said that she could remember John's great-grandmother playing the organ in this church. So our family ties go way back in this building and it is a privilege for us to get to do this.

Yeah, four generations in this church and I think how precious that is and we just can't thank you guys enough for allowing us to be here doing this memorial for John today. He was a larger-than-life character.

Grappy sometimes. Not to me. Like I said, he was always good to me. He took care of me. He'd tell you how he felt. He didn't have any problem with that. But as I said, I just got to watch him come to a really, really close relationship with the Lord.

We got closer than ever and he loved coming and just spending time with his family. He loved all of you guys. He loved you. And he cared about you. And he's leaving a legacy behind in that. And I'll tell you one of the first things before we hear this song, he would want to know that a legacy of loving the Lord.

Loving the Lord. Because I'm going to be honest with you, that's all that really matters. It just is. We're here celebrating the life of someone who is in a place that I'm going to be brutally honest with y 'all guys.

If we knew how he's doing right now, we wouldn't be content to be here. He is in heaven. He is with those who have preceded him. He is in absolute glory and bliss. No more pain. No more sorrow. No more sin.

He's in a perfect place. And I think if we could grasp that, it would really help us to see this today as a celebration of a life worth living. Did he go too early? Yeah. Absolutely. But he was ready.

And I have no doubt. And folks, I'm going to be honest with you as a pastor, I do quite a bit of these. I have no doubt in my mind where John is as you and I sit here and speak. He's in heaven with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Let's listen to this song. I want to share with you just five things. They're not unimportant and not quick things, but five things. It won't take long. That John would absolutely want you guys to know today.

It's why we're here. And it's what everything hinges on as far as I'm concerned. Number one, heaven. Heaven is a free gift. Romans 6 .23 says, For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This precious gift is not earned or deserved. There's nothing that you and I can do on our own to be there. And John knew that. John trusted in that. And I think about how precious that is. Ephesians 2 .89 says, For by grace you have been saved through faith.

And this is not your own doing. It is a gift of God, not a result of work so that no one may boast. I was having a conversation with a friend of ours the other day, whom I love very, very much, who does not believe in what we at Baptist churches, much like this one, Brother Michael and I had a discussion about this.

So I'm just going to go ahead and say it. We believe that salvation is eternal. You know why? Because Scripture says it is. And eternal says, eternal means forever. And so for us to have this forever relationship with the Lord God, we have to have faith.

But there's a few problems with that. I want to share something with y 'all about that song. John and I, they sprung that on me, that song, and I love it because I grew up listening to it. But there's one sentence in that song that is absolutely wrong.

Norman Greenbaum says, I'm not a sinner. I've never sinned. Well, that is absolutely ludicrous. It's not true. Scripture tells us that you and I are seeped in sin. That on our own, there's nothing that we can do to be right with the Holy God.

We just can't. Matthew 5 .48 says, therefore, you must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. You're not. I'm not. Trust me. I know me. I'm not. And so something has to happen. Something has to take place so that you and I can bridge that gap, much like John did the minute he drew his final breath here.

And that thing is we have to be right with God. Now, God is merciful. He doesn't want to punish us. Some people think that God is just this big taskmaster up there wanting to spank us or take us to court for something we've done wrong.

No, that's not God. God is loving. But He's also just because He's God. He has to have things the way that He planned them. And He planned for a perfect world. He gave us free will enough to turn it and to twist it and distort it.

We knew it happened. Nothing catched Him by surprise. 1 John 4 .8 says, anyone who does not love does not know God because God is love. But He is also just and He must punish sin. Exodus 34 .7 says, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children to the third and fourth generation.

Were it for. And there's only two kinds of beliefs when it comes to salvation and what gets us right with God. Whether or not we're in control of it or whether or not God's in control of it. And folks, that's what eternal security means, that God is in control of it.

We're not. Sinless perfectionism, that's something that they teach sometimes that once you become saved, you become sinless. That is absolutely not true. I love what John MacArthur says, if you could lose your salvation, you would lose your salvation.

And I know, I've seen me do it. So something has to connect us to God. And it can't be based on us. Because we are imperfect human beings. And so God, in His infinite wisdom and love and mercy, gave us the precious gift of His Son, Jesus Christ.

And what Jesus does is He becomes that bridge, if you will, to connect us to the place where John's at today as you and I are sitting here speaking and talking and hanging out. He's in heaven with God because of His faith in Jesus Christ.

He died on the cross and He rose from the dead to pay the penalty for our sins and to purchase a place in heaven for you and I. John 1 .1, I love this. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

1 .14 says,. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory. Glory is the only sign from the Father, full of grace and truth. Isaiah 53 .6 says,. All we like sheep have gone astray.

We have turned every to His own way. And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Mine and your sin, mine and your rottenness, that thing that keeps us from a holy precious God, was nailed to the cross with Jesus Christ 2 ,000 years ago.

You didn't quit sinning. You certainly, sin ought to break your heart. But the only thing that makes you acceptable to God is Jesus Christ. Nothing else. This world that you and I live in today does everything in their power to teach you that truth is relative.

Folks, let me be brutally honest with you. Truth is not relative. Truth is truth. This is a podium. It's not a car. Doesn't matter what you think it is. That's what it is. God's Word is truth. Jesus Christ was the epitome of that truth.

Jesus said, I, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father but through me. Folks, John wants you to know that if you want to follow him, and I want to see him again, because we're going to have a talk.

The only way to do that is through Jesus Christ. The only way to do that, and that's called faith. Now, saving faith is not just head knowledge, nor temporary faith. Saving faith is trusting in Jesus Christ alone for our eternal life.

Acts 16 31, and they said, Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household. Now, when I read that scripture, I think a lot of people think that one person in the house can get saved and everybody else can just ride their coattails.

Wrong. Wrong. The only way you know God, through Jesus Christ, is in a personal, intimate relationship with him. I hear people all the time go, I just don't believe that. I don't want to be blunt, and I don't really want to be too mean up here, but it just doesn't matter what you believe.

Truth is truth, and the Word of God is the absolute truth. John knew that. John wasn't perfect, but John knew the perfect one, and John trusted in him. Folks, if you're here today, and you're not living your life for him, I beg you, think about it.

Think about it. I believe with all my heart, or I wouldn't be up here doing what I do, nor would Pastor Michael, I can assure you, we believe with all our heart that the Word of God is true, that it is proper, and that it is the only way.

John wants you to know that. I'll close with just a little bit more about my brother-in-law, John. I really questioned whether or not I was going to be able to do this, because he wasn't a brother-in-law to me, he was a brother to me.

He took care of me, and I treated him like a brother. He used to come to our house one time and stayed about three weeks, and I said, Brother John, love you to death, but you need to go home for a day or two.

Me and your sister need a little break, and he said, okay, I'll be back later, and you know. I cried for 20 years to give his mother back to him. Mariah used to say, you know, just like Jesus when he looked down on the cross to John, behold your mother.

He wouldn't take her. They had a wonderful relationship. As they both, as John got sick, these two would talk on the phone for hours. They'd fall asleep talking to each other on the phone. So somebody's going to have to take up the slack there for John, and you guys call.

And by the way, you can just call, and then just go ahead, and she'll nod off on you. She probably won't know how long you're on there. Just lay it down and come back later. She'll be there. He loved his mother.

He loved his daddy. He loved his whole family. He loved spending time with you guys. He loved it, and I know that he cherished every moment that he spent with y 'all. And you know, I think about, as I said, when I first met him, boy, that room looked like a bar full of smoke, and everybody was in there smoking and drinking coffee and playing cards.

LaDonna and everybody was over there. We were all over there the first time I met him. And he was imposing. He was kind of a big fella. He was a big old teddy bear, though, once you get to know him. He could have crushed me with one hand, but he didn't.

Many times he told me how thankful he was that I looked after his little sister. And I told him that was a privilege. It's been a good ride for 32 years, and it's still going strong. John was not perfect.

None of us are. But he made the most important decision that any of us can ever make, and that's to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, to make the Lord Jesus Christ the Lord of your life.

Let's pray.

Father God, Lord, I thank you so much for all that you bless us with. So thank you for each and every person here today, Lord. Would you minister to their hearts, God? Just let them feel your love and your presence.

Let them know John is perfectly okay. He's not suffering no more. Perfect health, perfect harmony, Lord. And make sure that each and every one of us here, Lord, examine ourselves and make sure that we are on that path to be with him again someday.

I believe it with all my heart. Lord, you tell us that when we put faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, we have an eternal life with you, and we're going to trust that. So I just thank you for all that you've done, and I thank you for the time that we got to spend with John.

We're going to miss him. It's perfectly normal and natural for us to do that, but much like Paul says, Father, we don't grieve like people that don't have any hope. We grieve because we have hope, Father.

Be with this group of people today, Lord. Minister to their hearts. Give them your peace. Give them your strength and your power, and we ask this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Thank you.

On behalf of Sunnyside, I just want to say it was our honor and our delight that all of you who knew John and were family to him, that you all came up here and spent time with us here at this church house that John loved to come to.

And now may God bless you. May he keep you. May he make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, and may he lift up his countenance upon you and grant you peace. We're dismissed.