http://al.lunneberg.com Sermons and Rumenations Sun, 25 Jul 2010 16:51:43 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 Copyright © 2010 Allen Lunneberg alunneberg@comcast.net () alunneberg@comcast.net () posts 1440 Sermons and more from my site. alunneberg@comcast.net No no http://al.lunneberg.com/wp-content/plugins/podpress/images/powered_by_podpress.jpg http://al.lunneberg.com 144 144 http://al.lunneberg.com/2009/06/16/ron-smith-funeral/ http://al.lunneberg.com/2009/06/16/ron-smith-funeral/#comments Tue, 16 Jun 2009 11:58:47 +0000 alunneberg http://al.lunneberg.com/?p=314 http://al.lunneberg.com/2009/06/16/ron-smith-funeral/feed/ 0 00:01:01 Date: 6/15/09 St. John Lutheran Church, Fraser, MI Dear Christian friends, friends and acquaintances of Ron Smith, Pastor Merrill, Pastor Fischer, and especially you Diane, Pastor Bradley ... Date: 6/15/09 St. John Lutheran Church, Fraser, MI Dear Christian friends, friends and acquaintances of Ron Smith, Pastor Merrill, Pastor Fischer, and especially you Diane, Pastor Bradley and Judy, Corey and Alison, Nathan, and you Tim, Jacob, Ian and Lauren: Peace be to you, and grace, from Him who freed us from our sins (Rev. 1:4-5). In the Name of the Father and of the  Son and of the Holy Spirit. We are gathered here today to commend our beloved brother, husband, father, grandfather and dear fellow Christian friend Ronald Smith to the safe-keeping of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who said, ldquo;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 alsordquo; (Jn. 14:3). We do this with great faith and confidence that Ronrsquo;s faith and confidence was always in that certain Word and promise of Christ. A faithful, confessing member of the Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, he has been walking with us accompanied by Godrsquo;s Word every step of the way. As such we take Godrsquo;s Word with us from Sunday to live it out in the days and the weeks following. And it is because of our connection with Godrsquo;s Word in the lectionary from Sunday to Sunday that I would like to draw your attention to that Word which we have heard even as our dear Ron has departed to be with the Lord. That Word is the little parable of the growing seed. Jesus said, ldquo;The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has comerdquo; (Mark 4:26-29). This little parable means to emphasize nothing more than that the Kingdom of God and the gift of faith grows almost mysteriously, all on its own. So we ought to have great confidence in Godrsquo;s Word as the instrument of Godrsquo;s own activity of producing true repentance and faith in the heart of sinners who simply hear the Word, and thus giving them the gift of salvation in His Son, Jesus. The great thing that recommends these words for our meditation today is the little detail that this parable is told by Jesus for the sake of the promised harvest, as He says, ldquo;when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.rdquo; The kingdom of God is like seed scattered on the ground because ldquo;God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal liferdquo; (Jn. 3:16), that is, the gift of salvation and eternal life is for all people of the whole world. It is the love of God that motivated and drove Him to reach out, to be involved, to redeem, to save and win back his fallen world, alienated by the rebellion of sin, opposed and taken hostage by the devil. It was nothing but love that made God send His Son into this hostile environment, ldquo;God incarnate,rdquo; that is, taking on the very form and flesh and blood and bone of created man, earning for everyone the right to be called ldquo;children of Godrdquo; by His own obedience, in our flesh, His own bloody payment for the sin of the world on the cross in our flesh. and His disarming of the devil and of death itself in our flesh. Now by faith in the crucified and risen Lord Jesus Christ, all men, everywhere can turn to Him and be saved. Because the Word works mysteriously, ldquo;automaticallyrdquo; as Jesus says, all on its own power, we can have the confidence that the faith our dear Ron professed was indeed the work and gift of God. In the wisdom and love of God alone, this past Thursday, Godrsquo;s child, Ronald Archie Smith came to the wide open, welcoming gates of the harvest of God at the age of only 69 years, 9 months and 30 days. Born to Archie and Beulah Smith in Bay Port, Michiga... Funeral,Sermons alunneberg@comcast.net no No