today. I want to especially acknowledge my good friend Jim Wojcik. He drove down from Dallas this morning to be here. Thank you, Jim. Well, we're here today to remember our beloved father and husband, grandfather, great-grandfather, our friend, Lloyd Gregory. So this time is a special time. It's a time of thankful remembrance. It's a time of mourning, and it's a time of serious reflection. So I want us to think about these three things today. First of all, it's a time of thankful remembrance. We're thankful for Daddy's life. James, writing in the New Testament, says in chapter one, verse 17, every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there's no variation or shadow due to change. So God blessed us with Daddy, And he was an example for me and for us in several ways. I want to mention a few of those. First of all, he was a hard worker. He began working hard early in life. He delivered papers on his bicycle from their home on Avondale. He'd get up early in the morning when he was in like junior high school, I think, and go deliver papers. He worked at the local soda fountain One reason he worked there is because he loved ice cream and he got to eat all the ice cream he wanted. When he was a student at the University of Texas on a basketball scholarship, he also worked at the state capitol as a typist. He was a very good typist and he made the astounding salary of five dollars a day, which was very high back in those days. As long as I knew him, he had about three jobs, even as a doctor, going at the same time. So he's a hard worker. Even now, I often get up before 4.30 to prepare my lessons where I teach at the community college in Dallas. Also, Daddy was a man that loved the outdoors. He bought a farm between Belleville and Brown, and we would go there on weekends, and we learned to love the outdoors. When we used to live in Colorado, he and his friend Howard Yates built a cabin in the Arapahoe National Forest where they rented a lot for $25 a year and how we loved to go up in the mountains west of Denver. Daddy taught us honey. He loved agriculture, the farming life. He taught us to be safe with guns and I've still got that Texas farming, ranching blood in me. He had love for his family. I used to drive down from Dallas about every four or five weeks on Friday evening, spend Friday evening and Saturday with them. And I remember it was about, I'd say, a year and a half ago. And I came in my usual time, about 7, 30 or 8, and they had been waiting for me, sitting in their easy chairs, not able to seat themselves. They had to have one of our dear health care ladies help them. And I walked in the door, and both of them, both their arms threw up in the air, and a big smile on their face, welcoming me. They were so glad to see me. Another thing about Daddy is his gratitude. for those who helped him. Even to the end, when Alzheimer's was beginning to take its final toll on his life, when one of our health care workers or one of us would do something for him, when they would feed him or bathe him, he would often say, thank you. I love you. He appreciated what people did for him. And we are very thankful for our loving health care workers who stood by he and mama's side for years. There's Elisa Martinez, Edith Elias, Bersia Valero. Gracias a ustedes. Ustedes son como hermanos a nosotros. That means thank you. They're like sisters to us. And we're thankful for Dr. Elizabeth Boney and for her care over the years. And we're thankful for all the staff here at Hallmark who have been so friendly and helpful. A pleasure to be around. So it's a time of thankful remembrance. But it's also a time of mourning. Death is our great enemy. Death has taken our beloved father. As I looked at my father's emaciated body the last day of his life, it reminded me that sin is the great culprit. Adam's original sin, and our own sin, brings death upon us. Death reigns in this life. Death is our great enemy. Death separates us from those we love. Make no mistake, death is our deadly enemy and we hate it. But when death comes, there's comfort to be found. Jesus said in Matthew 5, 4, Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. And at the burial cave of his friend Lazarus, who had died four days previously, Jesus stood there, and the scripture says in John 11, 35, that Jesus wept. He himself experienced that great separation, that break in relationship that is the result of death. But at that same time, Jesus spoke to Lazarus' two sisters, Mary and Martha, and he said, hear these words. They're some of the most precious words ever uttered. He said, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die yet, shall he live. And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this? I would ask each of you today, do you believe this? And the sister said to Jesus, yes, Lord. I believe that you are the Christ, the son of God, who is coming into the world. In a time of great loss, mourning, suffering, there's comfort in the scriptures. I remember when my grandmother died, Myrtle Gregory. I think I was about 14, and we went to the service, and Jack Lancaster, former pastor at First Presbyterian, he was in my place speaking, and I'll never forget the words. He said, at a time like this, we must turn to the scriptures. Indeed, that is true. I want to read you says, God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear, till the earth give way, though the mountains be moved to the heart of the sea. And at the end of this song, the scripture says, Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress. You know, this term in the scriptures, the God of Jacob, is so comforting because Jacob was a sinner. He was a deceiver. Yet he found salvation in God, and so it is for us also. So this time that we're gathered today is a time of thankful remembrance, a time of mourning. It's also a time of serious reflection. One of us has gone on, one of our fellow humans who suffered the trials and joys of this life has left us. Daddy, our dad, has left time and he's entered eternity. He's come before his maker and our time will come also. Each of us will one day follow him. And at that time that awaits us all, there's only one thing that will matter. It's not our accomplishments. It's not our bank account or our investments. It's not even the weight of our sins. But what will matter is our relationship with Jesus Christ. What have we done with Jesus Christ? How have we treated him? Have we politely tipped our hat to him? and go on with the agenda of our lives? Have we ignored Him? Have we rejected Him? Have we sneered at Him, dismissing the possibility that He really was the Son of God, that He really rose from the dead? Do we just consider Him one of the many roads that lead to Heaven? Hear what Jesus said about Himself in John 14, 6. He said, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Those are words to be considered with the utmost seriousness. And the Apostle Peter, as he stood before the most religious men in ancient Israel at that time, he told them this. He said, there is salvation in no one else, for there's no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. These words also must be considered seriously. How should we relate to Jesus Christ? What should be our relationship to him? We should be like the Roman centurion who stood at the foot of the cross watching Jesus being crucified and he said, surely this man is the Son of God. We should be like the Apostle Thomas who doubted the resurrection of Christ, but when he saw the resurrected Lord standing before him, he fell down and he declared, my Lord and my God. We should be like the Apostle Paul who followed him in loving and grateful service as his own commander and chief. We should love him and embrace him as Mary did in the garden on the day of his resurrection as she grabbed his ankles the ankles of the resurrected Lord, which she held in her hands. He said, do not hold on to me, for I must ascend to my father and your father. And so, how do we relate to Jesus Christ? Every man and woman must consider this question with the utmost seriousness. The scriptures said that we must worship Him. We must give Him worth. We must give Him glory. We must give Him the service of our lives. As we look in the revelation that was given to the Apostle John on the island of Patmos, he saw a vision of the glorified Christ In Revelation chapter 5 it says this, and they sang a new song saying, worthy are you to take the scroll and open its seals for you were slain and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You made them a kingdom and priest to our God and they shall reign on the earth. Twenty-four elders were joining in this song. And then, verse 11, Then I looked, and I heard around the throne, and the living creatures and the elders, the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth, and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea and all that is in them saying to him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb, the Lamb of course is Jesus, to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever. And the four living creatures said, amen, and the elders fell and worshiped. We must join those elders in worship in order to know God, to be saved through his son. Wouldn't you like to be a member of that great crowd of worshippers that John describes? Is there any other place in all of creation that's more important than to be there? To do that, to be there, we have to join in. the worship of Jesus now and acknowledge that he is Lord God and the only Savior. He is the one who bore his people's sins on Calvary's cross and rose in victory over death on the third day by the almighty power of the living God. And then he appeared to his disciples on 10 different occasions that we know of over a period of 40 days, and then he ascended into heaven as the resurrected God-man in his physical body. He ascended to the right hand of God the Father, and as the Apostles' Creed says, from there he will come to judge the living and the dead. Every one of you and me sitting in this room today will face Jesus Christ, I assure you. How can we know Christ? This is the most crucial question that you and I will ever consider. Hear the words of the Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 10. He says, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with a heart one believes and is justified. And with a mouth, one confesses and is saved. For the scripture says, everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame. I urge you today, friends, believe in Jesus Christ, for there is no distinction, says Paul, between Jew and Greek. between black and white, between Hispanic and Asian, I might add, between poor and rich, the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Today, for those of us who knew and loved Lloyd Rayburn, this is a special and unique time of our lives. But every one of us in this room today, God has appointed this hour for each of us. We're here to give thanks for Lord's life and the way he blessed our lives. We're here to mourn his passing and comfort one another, but most of all, to find comfort in the scriptures and in the living God who gave them to us. And I hope that for you this will be a time of serious reflection. Where will you spend eternity? How do you stand with Jesus Christ? It is not too late, if you haven't already done so, to run to Him. His arms are open wide to receive you in the same way mom and daddy's arms were thrown up in the air and they welcomed me as I arrived that night from Houston. So, I encourage you, I urge you, I urge you to bow before Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and he will receive you as your own son or daughter for time and eternity. Amen. Hear now the benediction of the Lord. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face to shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace through Jesus Christ,