E I’ll be reading it in its entirety Psalms 23 the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want he maketh me to lie down in Green Pastures he leadth me beside the Still Waters he restores my soul he Lead Me in the path of righteousness for his name’s
Sake yay though I walk through the valley of shadow of death I will fear no evil but thou art with me thy rod and thy sta they comfort me th prepare the table before me in the presence of my enemy thy anointeth my head with oil sure my cup
Runthe goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever This is the 23rd psalm the new the New Testament scripture comes from John 14 veres 1-6 let not your heart be TR trouble you
Believe in God believe also in me in my father’s house are many mansions if it were not so I would have told you I go to prepare a place for you and if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto myself that
Where I am there ye may be also and whether I go ye know and the way you know Thomas says unto him Lord we know with thou goest and how can we know the way Jesus said unto them I am the way the truth and the life no man comes unto
The father but by me God’s word is already blessed let us pray Our Father in heaven we are thankful to come this day being able to call upon you our father this this is a day of heaviness and grief and we ask for your comfort and your mercy and your
Grace and Lord this is also a day of Thanksgiving every day is a day of Thanksgiving and so we just thank you for the gift of life we thank you for Smitty Lord and we just thank you for a husband husband a father a grandfather a friend a sibling a
Coworker and all of the common Grace ways that he has blessed so many we say thank you now we gathered here ask you to comfort this family this dear wife please give Grace Lord and in this time may we reflect on you The Giver of Life in the gift of this season of
Christmas salvation in Christ and so we are thankful to gather together we ask for your comfort and we ask that what we do would honor you in Jesus name we pray amen and amen as you go to your seats go ahead and give God praise we thank him
For the reading of scripture by Deacon Les melin and the uh new Test sister Ashley M and we thank pastor Kevin Smith for the prayer of comfort we will be favored with a selection by Sister Valerie Dawkins praise the Lord this is a day that the Lord has
Made amen and we will rejoice and be glad in it even in our tears how many know we have a reason to rejoice and be glad can we just praise God for the life of brother jul Julius right now can we thank God Hallelujah for the gift that he placed in the earth
Hallelujah I know that death is never easy I lost two brothers in the space of four months this year so my heart goes out to the family I pray my deepest condolences uh extended to you and especially um you sister Gail but thank God that we don’t grieve as the world we
Have a hope Eternal in Christ that says we will see our loved ones again so yes grieve and mourn but hallelujah thank God that we’re all living to live again and we’re going to hold on to that hope in the name of Jesus Amen time is filled with swift Transitions not on Earth unve can stand build your Hope on things ET turn no hold to God’s unchanging hand if you know it you can sing it with me hold to his hands God’s unchanging hand hold to his hand God’s unchanging Hand build your Hope on things ET turn no hold to God’s unchanging hand when your journey is Complet if to God you have been True fair and your home in glory you’re in raptured so will You oh hold to his hand God’s unchanging hand hold to his hand God’s unchanging hand build your heart on things Eternal hold to God’s unchanging hands oh we got to hold to his hands God’s unchanging hands oh to his hand God’s unchanging hand build your hope for things ET
No hold to God’s unchanging hand one more time hold to his hands God’s unchanging hands hold to his hand God’s unchanging hand build your Hope on things Eternal oh to God’s unchanging head Hallelujah Glory Hallelujah we cling to you Lord God Amen Hallelujah what better a hand to hold on
To not just when you’re bered or tired yes but every day hold to God cuz he does not change his word had said he’s the same today yesterday and forever and we can trust him is that right Hallelujah we will now have acknowledgements read by our truste Marie
Catlyn I believe we have received a letter from Mount Carmel Baptist Church and if they are members of Mount Carmel here if you would just stand in solidarity with the reading of your church paper we thank you thank you Mount Caramel Baptist Church December 4th 2023 to the beloved family of Julius
Smith Jr that diate deacons and Deacon Trust ministerial assistants officers and members of the Mount Caramel Baptist Church join us in expressing heartfelt sympathy in the passing of Julius we pray that the Lord will sustain you give you peace strength and courage in the days ahead weeping may endure for a night but
Joy cometh in the morning the Mount Caramel church family was profoundly sadden to hear of your loss Julius was baptized by Reverend Charles W Green in 1996 he was a member of the true and tried Circle and attended Sunday Sunday church school Faithfully we understand that he was
Diligent and deliberate in all of his undertaking and will truly be missed by all who knew him we wish to say to devoted wife Gail son Julius II daughter chenel Duncan Michael and grandchildren Jada and zoy Smith and Harper Duncan that you are never alone when sorrow comes your way that there
Are those whose thoughts and prayers are with you every day we share warm expressions of love and hope that a measure of consolation may be found in these words we cannot know what lies ahead from day to passing day what changes God is Planning his wise and loving way we
Cannot know the reason he allows both Joys and tears why we the precious ones we’ve cherished through the years we cannot know but we can trust and faith can help us find our way to those tomorrows that will bring us peace of M may God hold filled promises being healing to your
Hearts and peace to your souls Barbara pointer Church clerk re Albert Gman Jr interim pastor to the family God bless and God bless you I believe interim pastor Gman is here so if you just stand real quickly let’s give Mount Carmel a great hand thank you so much sir for being
Here I understand that brother Julia has spent over 40 years at the Bureau of census and some of his former co-workers are here so if you knew him worked at the Census Bureau and you’re here today today would you please stand so that we may acknowledge you let the family see
That you’re here if you worked out wow isn’t that beautiful God bless you for being here today thank you so much you may take your seats now at this time you’ll notice in your program the family has selected three persons to offer Reflections it says 2 minutes now I know many of you
Probably have a story that that you might like to tell about Julius is that right just nod your head I’m trained in the Baptist tradition I expect people to say Amen or something so if I asked everybody in here I know everybody would have a story about Julius wouldn’t you amen goes
Right there so I’mma help you because I know you want to you you probably would like to speak is that right now but the family has only picked three people so Dr Austin is going to help you today on the count of three I want you to say the word
Something I’mma count the three one 2 three yes you can leave here today and tell everybody I say it’s something at julius’s service is that right so at this time we’re going to hear from brother Chris Rodman and brother Edward Watkins and then also from his niece Kath Winfrey
Now you know you’ve been given two minutes I’m going help you we keep time at Howland Park we are little orderly here so at about 1:50 uh Dean Johnson going to give you some soft music now that’s not a cue for you to break out in song cuz Valerie’s doing the
Singing that’s a cue for you to start bringing it in cuz at 2 minutes he’s going to take it up sure yes yes and we won’t be able to hear you so we ask that you try not to yell over the Hamond door again come on brother Chris I see you
Ready to jump out the seat we’ll hear from him first look I know it’s been 50 years do the best you can good morning with my brother for five Beta Sigma fraternity Incorporated from Matthew new chapter marily e Shore please stand [Applause] uh I met Julius uh Smith we call him
Juice uh met him in 1974 in my freshman year uh from that time in 1975 we pledged the fraternity of made the sment Fraternity Incorporated and uh I have little preachers here too as well I keep with me as well um and we were inable you saw
Juice you saw me if you didn’t see me you saw juice and um that’s how we wrote uh in 1975 of spring we hung out at his house in his mom basement and we went to different Parks which is one of them as well and uh we just had a good time the
Whole time we was at marily Shore and this picture was taken in 1977 of all of us in the fraternity down on Eastern Shore juice was more than a friend to me he was more than a brother if you look at the definition of brother or friend it would not compare none it
Would not compare jice was just he was just a brother and that’s an understatement in 1978 we graduated we were so happy at that time and we’ve been through a lot but uh we talking about over five Decades of friendship five Decades of Brotherhood it just it
Was just us and he was I was in uh the gro woman in his wedding with Gail and he was also a uh best man in my wedding in 1997 so this was just this hurts right here I I don’t know it hurts right here so um I
Have a whole lot to say but according to time I’m going try to comply through the time and and have a nice day uh good morning indul again to Gail and Charelle and Trey Mike family and loved ones two minutes um so I was going to say with
Since his family already stood but you could raise your hand again for me since his family or federal government family to work with him you see this is a testament to Julius um you know Gail and Charelle and Trey you don’t always know the impact that you
Know you hear stories and stuff you should always know and understand how much of an impact um someone has at their work and this is a testament to Julius he was loved um he was loved uh he led he he always LED with wisdom and professionalism but
Above All Else what kept Him going and what made him so great and effective as a leader was he had this energy he had this Spirit about him it drew people to him he made people he he built relationships he made people want to be
Around him and I can’t think of a bigger compliment to give a leader than that and he was that and then some um he’ll be for ever missed his census he was a giant in census in the economic he he we were best friends we
Were peas and carrot at work we went to lunch every day we talked every day we talked every night we worked late every night we laughed and laughed and had a good time and Kim don’t worry we got some work done too although it might not have always
Seemed like it but Julius believed in working hard and playing hard too and um you know he was such a great friend he great boss a confident God he taught me so much um he believed in me more than I believed in myself I know I got to hurry
Up I told you it was going to be hard um but he was everything to me uh you know he in introduced me to my wife just he was everything to me and um I’m always going to miss him I’m never going to forget him thank you for allowing me to
Speak and God bless him and God bless you all thank you can Winfrey is coming and she is julius’s niece and customarily as we do with family members we give them a little leeway beyond the two minutes of course not 10 or 15 or 20 minutes you can tell by the love shared
Here this SMY was a great son little brother husband dad Papa and friend but I want to tell you about how great of an uncle he was I was the only grandchild for 10 whole years so I was blessed to have two awesome uncles all to myself all to
Myself to spoil me my Uncle Bob and my uncle SM did spelled capital d i d d was the first name I gave Min when I was a baby followed by Uncle pitty when I learned to talk better and then Uncle Smith my children actually call him Uncle
Did his name for me is Nick neque or Nick he even wrote hey Nique in a text message to me the afternoon he passed I was born in sm’s senior year of high school so when I would stay at my grandparents house he and I had to share
Rooms I’m sure sharing a room with his baby niece cramped his style a little but from what I was told and being the little angel I was I was mesmerized with him and would sit or stand in my crib and just watch him sleep once he woke up that’s when I
Would run laughing to the other side and all the fun would begin when I became a todler and started talking he learned to use having a little niece around to his advantage he would use me to wake my grandparents up to get them to cook breakfast for me and of course
Him we made up a song bear with me n n n we want some grub n n n we want some grub and for you all who knew my grandparents of course it worked all the time and of course sweetie got fed as well as a baby and toddler we had our
Own dance called the boie boot where he would pick me up shake me side to side as we dance the Stevie Wonder My Fondest Memories were when he played Santa’s helper every Christmas when I was young he stayed up late helping Santa put together all my toys
And set them under the Christmas Street he would either sleep on our couch in the basement or come back early in the morning just to hide so he could be the first to see my face when I saw my toys and then he would snap a picture and
Scare the mess out of me and this was every year during my Santa years he was extremely supportive from our preschool and kindergarten programs and graduations to ele Elementary School performances visiting me on the weekend at summer camp middle school plays and basketballs games and prom he even
Helped pack up the van to drive me to North Carolina to help me move into my first college dorm Uncle did which is the name my children call him was a loving supportive and fun great uncle as well every summer my kids would come up for a few weeks he would
Take off work so they could take their annual trips to pick berries and plums eat corn at their favorite restaurant visit the homage market and ride in his van where the door would slide open when he said Abracadabra and of course my children believed it he was the one who taught my son
Kendall how to ride a bike as I think back on the influence my uncle Smitty had on my life growing up I saw how caring and fun he was as a husband taking care of the house the yard and keeping the cars clean from thinking he was a slickster by hiding
Gail’s Christmas presentence at our house every year to being her puzzle partner during Co and he was so cute he wore this little light on his head so he can see the colors of the puzzles and I had the pleasure of helping him plan their recent trip to
Vegas for her birthday this October he was a supportive father and constantly involved in both of our children his children’s events school activities and helping them with homework every night I saw how he went from driving the cleanest 300 ZX on the street to probably driving a van so he could be
The parent to drive train his teammates around and he loved every minute of it and of course I wanted a family just like hers two kids girl and a boy threes apart and I had exactly that however I started to think as I started to think deeper I
Realized he was we have some similarities that I’m sure I got from watching him Smitty was the original GPS before we had cell phones with to find a friend app many of you don’t know this but when Charelle went away to college he mapped out the path she walked to each class every
Day you could call him and ask SMY hey where is charel and he knew exactly where she was on campus Hampton so for my daughter and my son who’s watching now you know where I why I know just as much about your college campus and classes you need to take to
Graduate because I watched and learned from my uncle Smitt he was the best thank you amen God bless you we thank God for all of the wonderful statements and Reflections and even even with Chris you can’t tell it all even over 50 years but he had a life
Well lived wonderful man we will now be favored with another selection from Sister Valerie Dawkins and following that we will hear the gospel message by Pastor Kevin Smith before he comes let me first thank our pastor for allowing us to be here today and to host the
Smith family as well as our ushers our greeters our security Ministry as well as all of our team our media M Ministry musicians would you give our church a great hand we are grateful today to be able to host your family so before Pastor Smith comes um we would just like
You to pray for him as he prepares to give us a gospel me message he is the pastor of the Family Church Village he came all the way from Florida with a word from the Lord so as is customary here it hen Park would you just extend
Your hand toward Pastor Smith and repeat after me God bless God bless bless Pastor Smith so after the selection from Sister Dawkins the next voice you will hear will be that of pastor Kevin Smith amen amen you know the Bible says that Jesus was a man acquainted with
Grief and and so um just want to encourage the family that he understands it’s all right to grieve it’s all right to cry it’s all right to be sad but praise God that that he um has not left you comfortless and that he will walk this journey with you Amen why should I Fe discouraged and Why should the Shadows Come why should my heart feel lonely and for heaven heaven and home since Jesus is my Portion a constant friend is he is is on the SP and I know that he watch just me So why should I feel discouraged and why should the Shadows Come why Should my heart feel Lonely and long for heaven though it’s my home since Jesus is my portion A Conant friend is he his I is on the SP and and I Know that he are CH even me so I Sing Because I’m Happy and I sing because I free he is on the SP and I know know that he Watches he watches me so I Sing Because I’m Happy and I see because I Free His his eyes on the SP and I know that he watches I know that he watches I know that he Wases me hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah we have a blessed hope today so I Sing Because I’m happy and I sing because thank God I free oh his ey is all the SP and I know he watches he watches me yeah yeah yeah I Sing Because I’m happy yeah and I
See because thank God I’m free oh he is on the [Applause] SP and I know he watches I know he watches thank God I know he watches he watches me hallelujah hallelujah praise God amen amen what a joy to sing praises and encouragement on this beautiful day and it is a beautiful
Day coming from south Florida I was expecting worse and it is quite Pleasant today I just want to express my appreciation to this church for hosting our family and to Dr Austin particularly for her Hospitality with me and informing me of things as we were preparing for
Today and certainly express my love for Gail and the family in this time I want to go right to the word of God I think when stuff is off or painful or confusing there is no Comfort like the comfort of God’s word his promises his truth and so I want to
Read from John chapter 11 let me give you the setting of what I’m going to read Jesus would often show up at funerals sometimes before sometimes after sometimes right at the funeral and this is one of those episodes where Jesus would show up at a funeral and it
Happens to be the funeral of someone that Jesus knew and loved dearly and I want you to just listen to a little bit of this John 11 verse1 17 says now when Jesus came he found that Lazarus had already been in the Tomb four days Bethany was near Jerusalem about
Two miles off and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother so when Martha heard that Jesus was coming she went and met him but Mary remained seated in the house Martha said to Jesus Lord if you had been here my
Brother would not have died but even now I know that whatever you ask from God God will give you Jesus said to her your brother will rise again Martha said to him I know that he will rise again in the Resurrection on the last day Jesus
Said to her I am the resurrection and the life whoever believes in me though he die yet shall he live and whoever lives and Believes In Me shall never die do you believe this she said to him yes Lord I believe that you are are the Christ the son of
God who is coming into the world when she had said this she went and called her sister Mary saying in private the teacher is here and he’s calling for you and when she heard it she Rose quickly and went to him now Jesus had not yet come into the village
But was still in the place where Martha had met him when the Jews who were with her in the house consoling her saw Mary rise quickly and go out they followed her supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there now when Mary came to where Jesus
Was and saw him she fell at his feet saying to him Lord if you have been here my brother would not have died when Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come with her also weeping he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly
Troubled and he and he said where have you laid him they said to him Lord come and see and then if you’ve ever paid a trivia game and they ask you what was the shortest verse in the Bible John 1135 says Jesus wept Jesus wept had the chance as I was hugging
And enjoying family to just say to Dear Gil that this is just a rough season when I was a kid in southeast and then uh PG County I’d be at funerals and people would try to make it seem good and nice sometimes even ministers would try
To make it seem nice and whether it was my great great grandmother or whether it was my grandmother or grandfather or whoever it was I just never thought it was nice I did think there was something great and wonderful and marvelous about the promises of God I did think there was something
Awesome about the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the fact that he could conquer death but I never thought there was anything nice about death Jesus weeps because Mary and Martha and their friends are Weeping at the death of Lazarus death hurts I ride a motorcycle if someone dies on a
Motorcycle it hurts I passor the young man 29 boom my father had a long illness long illnesses hurt unexpected illnesses hurt there there is no circumstance where death does not hurt it is the result of the curse it is the result of sin death is not like good
In its Origins it’s not like good and it’s execution that that there’s nothing good about death sometimes we try to like smooth things out and it’s fine to try to do that but however you smooth it out when the when the when the high wears off or the drunk wears off and The
Hangover comes you still wake up with the sting of death as a matter of fact in Corin Ian Paul says death can have a sting and the grave can feel like a loss but he also says for those who are in Christ Jesus The Sting of death can
Be removed and the grave can actually feel like a victory so there’s some weird stuff going on with death but there’s one thing consistent about death it hurts it is painful we grieve we weep in the in the Jewish culture there were professional weepers there were people that you would
Hire to weep with you because you understood death to be a painful thing in the midst of that Jesus enters into this moment with Martha and Mary you know I always like to say to my family like there’s no performance necessary there’s no how am I supposed
To be we are supposed to be at a moment of grief we are supposed to be at a time of loss and even Jesus himself entered into this space of T of grief with this particular family but secondly I want you to see not only is death painful and the grief is
Real Jesus is fully aware of all the Dynamics of death death comes about because of sin if you have some rudimentary Bible knowledge you may remember in Genesis chapter 3 way back at the beginning of the Bible Adam and Eve sin and God said in the day that you eat of the forbidden
Fruit you shall surely die and the principle of death entered into time and space and reality if you would track from the beginning of the scripture to our modern day people have lived shorter and and shorter and shorter and shorter lives nobody likes sickness nobody likes disease nobody likes all the challenges
That we go through I don’t like like needing to go to the bathroom more than I did when I was 20 nobody likes anything about getting older but it is a evidence that we are fallen and broken and we in this Earthly Tabernacle that
In many ways and in some kind of way is always decaying when Smitty was a good uncle to my niece to my sister she didn’t have gray hair we are constantly changing and the changes remind us that we do not yet have eternal life My grandmother used to say we know
That this house of this Earthly Tabernacle is decaying but we have another building not made with hands whose maker is god well a funeral and death are really for the living to remind the living that we all won’t all won’t we won’t always be in the land of the
Living and we need to think about what’s going to happen when we’re not in the land of the living that’s right Smitty has lived his days and has borne good fruit you have read this obituary this time is not for Smitty this time is for
Us what do we think when we are reminded that we are not sovereign we are not God we are not in charge we are all subject to the truth of the scripture that is’s a time to be born and then there’s a time to die and then there’s the meeting of
God how are we prepared for that I I love the fact that this church lays it out where it says gospel message a gospel message at a funeral is the reality that Jesus Christ is the only one who says I have conquered death believe in me earlier in our text what
We read she said I know that my brother will rise again in the resurrection at the last day everybody shall be presented before God she’s talking about the general Resurrection and Jesus says yes your brother will rise again and then he asks her do you believe in me
And she says yes I believe that you are the Christ the son of the Living God her belief in who Jesus is and what he is able to do affects how she interprets death her belief about who Jesus is and what he is able to do affects how she interprets
Death death is painful it doesn’t affect whether it’s painful or not missing your brother is missing your brother missing your husband or your wife is missing your husband or wife missing my grandparents is missing my grandparents it doesn’t affect whether it’s painful or not but the reality of who Jesus
Christ is and what he is able to do totally affects how you discern and perceive death but the Bible the Bible say Christians weep all people weep at death unless you’re just a person that never loved anybody the Bible says Christians don’t weep as people who have no
Hope so if you want a picture some people weep and they just weep looking down because there’s nothing but grief and nothing to make them move in any kind of other way but some people weep but they weep with their heads up CU they are looking and we’re going
To say this at the cemetery they’re looking for the general resurrection of the Dead in the last days and the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and they realize that the coffin is a temporary stop on the way somewhere else ah let me do something in three minutes
Before the organ tells me what time it is I I I I don’t have I don’t have any bad feelings I preaching a lot of uh White settings and those brothers and sisters they about that time and the organ has helped me a lot of times so I don’t even have no
Hangups listen to this scil Jesus weeps with her Jesus assures her of a future and she says I believe in that because he ask her a question he doesn’t just say some information and just leaves it out there he says who he is he says what he’s able to do and then he
Ask her do you believe this so I ask you today since this is a gospel message I feel free asking you do you believe that Jesus Christ is able to give eternal life [Applause] I always feel like the holidays are marked for me my dad died in early
December and so I always have that Rhythm of the holidays got a reminder of my calendar it’s it’s like a day but one of the things about a December setting and going into the Christmas season is I have tremendous grief at a time when the world is
Talking about the gift that God has given so I have tremendous grief when the world is talking about we just we’re we’re in the Advent and we go through the seasons through the Advent Sundays I’m in a season of grief when we’re talking about Hope and joy and peace and
Love and so I hope today that when the gospel message says do you believe that Jesus is the Christ the son of the Living God able to conquer death I hope your answer is yes there’s a lot of hype in the world don’t believe the hype hype can’t help you at a
Casket truth can help you at a casket hype can’t help you at a casket when I was an undergrad we uh maybe it was in high school we learned some poems and poetry and one of the poems we learned it was real formative for a lot of
People I am the master of my faith I’m the captain of my my soul well when you live in Florida and they have hurricanes you realize you ain’t the master and cap of nothing cancer reminds us we aren’t the master and captain of anything a unexpected heart attack reminds us we
Aren’t the master and captain of anything but oh the one who is the master is weeping with these two sisters as they grieve the death of their brother and the one who is the master and the captain says I will give eternal life and your brother will live
Again so I just ask you in a gospel message as you drive back to your homes as you go about your week and you say as uh as Dr Austin said and some of y’all said I had the chance to say something at julius’s funeral also want to ask you from julius’s
Funeral do you believe that Jesus is able to give eternal life the most well-known verse in the scripture says God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that Who Shall Believe in him shall not parents would have everlasting life God did not send his
Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved so during this Christmas season please receive this gift this is a painful time but this family is actually giving you a gift a time to sit and consider do I believe in
The gift of eternal life have I received the gift of eternal life I am the resurrection and the life he that liveth and believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live what we see here now is not Julius Smith we see the shell the body that
Julius Smith’s Soul lived in Julius Smith the body says when the saints die we are absent from the B the Bible says excuse me when the saints die we are absent from the body and present with the Lord do we believe that and then he says matter of fact whosoever liveth and
Believeth in me shall never die so Jesus can give you the ability to have to experience the reality of death Jesus can give you the ability to experience the pain and all the things that really come with death but at the same time you walk through it in a
Different kind of way because you realize that death has no power over me and even though I’m human like everybody else and we all have a time to be born and a time to die there’s something different about the folks who are leaning and trusting and depending upon
The Lord Jesus Christ as a matter of fact it’s such a different kind of state that the Bible says blessed are the Dead who die in the Lord dying in the Lord ain’t just dying dying in the Lord we would people say oh well somebody’s gone to a better
Everybody ain’t gone to a better place did God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that Who Shall Believe in him shall not perish and have everlasting life that means that’s a between everlasting life and perishing there is an eternity that is
Forever with God and there also is an eternity that is Forever Without God everybody ain’t going to a better place so again I just got to ask you do you believe in the gift of Christmas which is Jesus Christ and the Salvation he gives I’m in
I I’m an American we live in America I believe in a constitution I’m a Baptist Baptist fought for like free speech freedom of religion I believe in all that but Buddha dead and still dead Muhammad is dead and still dead confusus is dead and still dead Elijah Muhammad
Is dead and still dead even though his boy is still on the corner he dead mhamad all these people are dead Moses The Giver of the law is dead Abraham Isaac and Jacob are dead the only one who looked death in the face conquered the grave and came out Victorious on the
First day morning is the Lord Jesus Christ himself Merry Christmas in my best Chuck Brown voice Merry Christmas baby receive the gift of Jesus [Applause] Christ if you live here in this area don’t let this just pass by you this church is here may be a Bible believing church
Where you live I know this is a Bible believing Church please see someone if you like to talk about the claims of Jesus Christ and I’m not talking about something optional unless the Lord comes again we shall all come this way and so I want to pray for this
Family and we’re going to go to the cemetery be led by the Pastoral staff here and The Undertakers but this family has giving you a gift a chance to consider do you believe in the gift of Christmas eternal life in Jesus Christ father we are thankful for the privilege of
Being recipients of your grace I pray Lord for Comfort right now the Gil and Tre and my mama and my sister and just the entire family and in the midst of their grief yes may they remember that you are the resurrection and the life may some of their friends trust that
Today we commit this time to you in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen can we just give God praise for Pastor Smith in that word today powerful word on today directly from the gospel and as he said if you have any questions you can
See any of us here uh there are others here we can direct you to another church don’t let the gift pass you by Julian had secured his place my pastor always says you can’t get to heaven on a family plan you got to make your own
Plan Trey know Julius I thir known as Trey he works for Verizon with the mobile plan right Wireless you can put a whole family on that can’t you but in Jesus is plan you have to have your own relationship and your own plan so don’t let this opportunity pass you
By uh Pastor has already prayed for you if you don’t know the Lord Jesus Christ today is a good day to get saved so if we could real quickly just every head bowed every eye closed I’m going just pray for somebody this may have been the first time you heard the
Gospel message we’re not in a hurry we going to get where we going but wouldn’t you like to tell somebody I got saved at julius’s service let us pray gracious God our heavenly father Lord in the name of your son Jesus we thank you for the life of
Brother Julius and we thank you for his family we thank you for this church and for being here today Lord God if there is someone Among Us who does not know you we pray for them right now that they would come into relationship with you they need their own plan they have
To know you for themselves it’s not about church membership but it’s about relationship with a God who loves us all for that we thank you and so God in jesus’ name they may not come to this church but direct their path Lord touch their heart that salvation may come to
Them as well especially during this giv season where we receive the gift of your lovely son Jesus we bless you God and as we leave this place but never your presence we pray upon this family Lord blessings we play Pray as we move toward the cemetery God we ask a blessing upon
All who are here today God In The Name Lord Jesus we do pray and we all say amen and amen God bless you all come on put our hands together for a wonderful going home celebration our directors are coming from JB Jenkins we ask right now
If you would just please not leave the sanctuary until the family has exited at this time we would like to ask uh family and friends if you are able uh they would like for you to be flower bearers and number you from the Census Bureau here number of you who are
Members of his fraternity if you are so LED please just come forward and take a flower I ushers will direct you thank you so much if you are able and you feel lad if you would just come family and friends our ushers would direct you right back down this center
Aisle please Miss Linda’s right here this way the center aisle ma’am this way thank you thank You were you blessed today you didn’t didn’t know you were going to be so blessed at a funeral did you God did visit us and it was it was a celebration for a wonderful man how many more we need Mr Ducket how plenty more he says come on you see all
These funeral come on if you’re healthy um if some of our ushers are able uh uh from hland Park if you’re able if you would just take a flower please thank you so much family and friends former co-workers fraternity members whoever’s LED we are grateful for
You thank you so much at this time we’d like our Paul bearers to come meet me right here at the bottom of my steps to the right brother Julius Smith III Robert Smith Jr uh Braden Stewart Michael Duncan Jr and Ryan Cook if you would please come right here you’ll take
Direction from Mr Ducket now if you would all stand please as we prepare to exit We ask all of you to please remain where you are until the family has exited the building thank you some glad morning when this life is over fly away to a land on God Celestial Shore I fly away I fly away all glory I fly away when I die Hallelujah by and by
I fly away just a few more weary days and then I fly away to a land where Joy shall never end I fly away I fly away all glory I fly away when I die Hallelujah by and by i f
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