Sun. 11/09/25 – 4 PM Adams Village Baptist Church
Sermon Title: “A Time and a Place” (Family Memorial Service) Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, John 14:1-7
Good
afternoon, friends, brothers, and sisters in Christ, and welcome once again to
our annual Memorial Service here at the Adams Village Baptist Church. Today we
remember those loved ones who passed on to glory in Southern Jefferson County.
We specifically remember the names of those folks who have passed on from
October, 2024 through September, 2025. A lot of time and care was taken to
gather all of these names, and chimes will be struck for each name individually
later in the service.
For those
that do not know me, my name is Pastor Paul Winkelman, and I have the pleasure
and the honor of being the newly called pastor here at the Adam’s Village
Baptist Church, as of the first of this month. I most likely do not know many
of you, but I do want you to know what an honor and a privilege it is to be
able to lead this service today to remember and uplift those we love who have
gone on to glory.
I have often
said that when it comes to the people who we love leaving this earth, I can be
very selfish. I can be very selfish, because I do not want those people that I
love to leave. Instead, I want them to be here with me and with others. Yet,
for those who are now with Jesus, if we went to see them where they were for
five minutes, would we really ask them to come back to this earth? As we
continue to grieve and to remember, God is with us, and God has given us each
other, so they we may love and uphold each other.
Whether this
is your first time at this service, like it is for me, or whether you have come
to this service for years, what a privilege it is to honor and remember those
that have went on before us. I have told different churches before that we all,
“Stand in a line of heroes, and stand on the shoulders of giants.” Many who
have gone before us have sacrificed, loved, and have given in so many ways.
When we read their names aloud here in just a bit, we are honoring people made
in God’s image. People like us that were and are loved by God.
I prayerfully
chose a couple of scriptures for this afternoon that I often read when I do
funerals, celebrations of life, or a service like this. The first scripture
that I just read that I want to discuss is where I got part of the title for this
message. This scripture is from the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible Book of
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8. The Book of Ecclesiastes was largely written to remind and
warn us to not place our hope in anything other than God. In Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
we hear of the difficulties of life on this earth. In this scripture, maybe
many of the people that we will remember soon in this service have experienced
many of the things in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8. Once again, as I read a few minutes
ago, once again this scripture says, once again:
Everything Has Its Time
3 For everything there is a
season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
2 a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
3 a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
5 a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones
together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
6 a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to throw away;
7 a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
8 a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace (Eccl.
3:1-8, NRSV).
My best guess is that the names that we will read and have a
chime for here soon, will include soldiers, nurses, teachers, business owners,
and all sorts of vocations, including a stay-at-home parent. My guess is that
these folks have experienced some or many of these “a time” statements.
Further, some of these “a time” statements might seem harsh, like “a time
kill,” or “a time to hate,” or “a time for war.” Since God gives us free will,
I am certain that the God we love does want us to kill, to hate, or go to war
with each other. This world though is so fallen though, and as we seek to love
and serve others like Jesus, humanity often just falls so short. I can image
the stories of the names that we will read here soon, and what they experienced
in their lives. How many of the “a time” statements, once again, did each
person experience, and further, are we not grateful that any of the struggles
or the trappings on this world are not problems for any of these people that
went on to glory.
Since we are
those who are still on this earth but will one day join those who are with
Jesus in heaven, we still have opportunity to make Adams, Adams Center,
Jefferson County, New York State, the United States, and the world even better
than the people we will remember today made it. Imagine a world with no hate,
no war, etc. I do not think we can be fully achieved until Jesus Christ our
Lord returns to earth in glory, but I do think that God can use us to make it
much better than it is right now. I hope and pray that we meet those people who
we remember today, one day in hereafter. I hope that these same people will be
proud of the good things we did and will continue to do in their absence.
The other
scripture that I read a few minutes ago is from the gospel of John in the New
Testament 14:1-7. In this scripture, Jesus is telling his original disciples,
and us, that through him there is no death, but only enteral and victorious
life in Him. John 14:1-7, tells us, once again:
Jesus the Way to the Father
14 ‘Do
not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in
me. 2 In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places.
If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and
will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And
you know the way to the place where I am going.’ 5 Thomas said
to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the
way?’ 6 Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth,
and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If
you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know
him and have seen him’ (Jn. 14:1-7,
NRSV).
In this
scripture, Jesus is saying in heaven, where God is, where God the Father is,
there many, countless places for people to go. Yet, if we know Jesus, He says
that He will make a special place for each and everyone one of us. All we have
to do is turn to Jesus and believe in Him. Put our faith and trust in Him, and
give him our guilt, our shame, and our pain, he will make us into a new
creation. He will give us eternal life, and He will even prepare a special
place for us there.
In our lives
here on earth though, we experience all sorts of things. Our faith can get
tested, we see things, we experience things. We might ask questions about
suffering, and why would God allow this or that. The world we live in is broken
and cracked, but if we call upon Jesus, He can be the rejuvenating the
restorative water though us that flows though the broken and cracked places in
this world. In John 14:6, one of Jesus’ original twelve disciples, Thomas
doubts how to get to this heaven that Jesus speaks of, despite being with Jesus
for three years. During these three years seeing and hearing the amazing things
that Jesus said and did in the gospels. Jesus then reminds us that he is the
way, the truth, and life, and only through Him and Him alone can we saved and
restored.
People have
asked me, “Pastor Paul,” what if you are wrong and there is no heaven with
Jesus? I tell them that I have put all my eggs in that basket. Why? I have done
so because I get to live a spiritually free a life of victory now, believing
fully that I will be reunited with countless others that have gone on before me,
and who knows maybe a couple of the names we read tonight, will approach me in
heaven one day and say, “oh, your that kid that did the annual Memorial Service
at Adams Village Baptist Church when my name was read”.
My best guess
is that for the people on this list that loved Jesus and believed in eternity
with Him, as many of us do, that this believe, this love, and this hope played
a profound part in how they lived their lives. It did so, because if we know
who we are, if we know where we have been, and if we know Jesus, we know the
past, the present, and we have the promise of an eternal future with Him. Since
I believe this so strongly, I believe that we will see those who love Jesus
again, and if we are wrong, which I don’t believe we are, then we can continue
to live lives of hope, love, peace, and victory with an open heart through our
Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ.
So, as Jesus
has promised to prepare places for us, we get the honor and the privilege of
remembering those who have already checked into the Father’s House, knowing that
at some point in the future, Jesus has a room waiting for us all.
Friends, know that you are loved, and know that you are
prayed for, and know we are honored here at the Adams Village Baptist Church to
have this service every year to honor those loves ones like yours, who went
before us. May it be so. Amen.
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