Lessons Learned in the House of Mourning

This morning one of my partners in ministry, Pastor Sam, called to ask for a sermon outline he heard me share this past year at a funeral for a teenage boy killed tragically in a car accident. Because Pastor Sam has a funeral tomorrow for an 8-year-old little girl who died of cancer, he couldn't get the thoughts I had shared out of his mind. I had forgotten the funeral outline (originally penned by Dave Redick) but quickly realized how essential these thoughts were to me at the time I shared them and how essential these thoughts still are. Here are just a few of the points in the message of mourning:

Lessons Learned in the House of Mourning:

1. Live like tomorrow is uncertain - because it is.
2. Live like life is short - because it is.
3. Live like death is certain - because it is.
4. Live like eternal life is precious - because it is.

Ecclesiastes 7:2-3 (NLT) -- (2) It is better to spend your time at funerals than at festivals. For you are going to die, and you should think about it while there is still time. (3) Sorrow is better than laughter, for sadness has a refining influence on us.

Isaiah 61:3 (NLT) -- To all who mourn... He will give beauty for ashes, joy instead of mourning, praise instead of despair.

Hebrews 4:7 (NIV) says, Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.

Lord, I pray for those who have lost loved ones long before they were ready to say goodbye. I pray especially again for the family of the teenage son who passed earlier this year and for the family of this precious 8-year-old daughter who just passed the line of worlds with cancer now behind her. And give Pastor Sam words of comfort for the family and friends at tomorrow's funeral. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful