Time of worship, remembrance, a=
nd
thanksgiving—HELEN JEAN POORE
REASSURANCE—Let not your =
hearts
be troubled..
HOPE—“I am the
resurrection and the life…
CONSOLATION AND CARE—Come=
unto
me..My grace is sufficient for you…
Prayer: “Our Father, which art in heaven….SOLO
The first verse of the hymn describes the awesome wond= er of God’s creation. The last verse speaks of Christ returning with a shout of acclamation. Do you know which hymn it is now?<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'>
Verse one makes me think of the 8th Psalm, = so I turned to this passage in Helen Jean’s Bible. There was a note by the Psalm sayi= ng that I had preached on the passage in 2006, and that Lawrence Webb had done so b= ack in 1995! She had words circle= d and underlined and written notes and references to other Bible passages—a= ll right there in the margin.
So I invite you to listen now to Psalm 8:
1 O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the
earth!
You have set your glory above the
heavens.
2 From the lips of children and infants
you have ordained praise because of
your enemie=
s, to
silence the foe and the avenger. 3 When I co=
nsider
your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
4 what is man that you are mindful of him=
,
the son of man that you care for him? =
5 You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. 6 You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet: 7 all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, 8 the birds of the air, and the fish = of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. 9 O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
What a beautiful description of our Creator God and the wonder and majes= ty of His creation! “O Lor= d, our God, when I in awesome wonder consider all the worlds thy hands have made…”
Then, the last verse of How Great Thou Art says, “When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation…” So I turned to I Thes. 4 and found= that Helen Jean had also highlighted this passage and put a sticky note on the page saying: “Study this.” She took her Bible study seriously, friends! Listen to what it says:
I Thessalonians 4:13-18 Bu= t I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asle= ep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. 14For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Je= sus will God bring with him.
15For
this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and
remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
16For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with t=
he
voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ s=
hall
rise first: 17Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up
together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall=
we
ever be with the Lord. 18Wherefore comfort one another with these wor=
ds.
Solo: How Great Thou Art
O Lord my God, When I in awesome wonder,
Consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made;
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed.
Then sings my soul, My Savior God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.
Then sings my soul, My Savior God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!
When Christ shall come, with shout of acclamatio=
n,
And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart.
Then I shall bow, in humble adoration,
And then proclaim: "My God, how great Thou art!"
I’ve told you how seriously Helen Jean took he= r Bible study. If we looked at all the passages she has underlined and highlighted and annotated in her Bible, we would be here a long time—I promise you...
Instead, I will share with you a couple of great Bib= le promises that have now all been fulfilled for Helen Jean!
1) One of the greatest promises in the Bible is John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave h= is only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
When I looked it up, I found that Helen Jean had not= ed in her Bible that this verse was used at her Father’s funeral on November 16, 1977.
She was thorough, friends! But I know this verse was precious= to Helen Jean long before here father’s funeral …because…
=
· =
in
it Helen Jean personally found life—abundant and eternal life in Jesus
Christ;
=
· =
through
this verse, she always sought to point others to the Savior;
=
· =
by
this verse, she experienced the peace of knowing that her life was in the
Lord’s hands and that God’s love would surround her forever.
She wanted others to share this wonder=
ful
faith. In her Bible, I found
several sketches of a hand that was labeled, “Salvation by
Faith.” On each fingern=
ail,
there’s a letter—F, A, I, T, H.
There is also a word on each finger: R=
epent,
Believe, Receive, Confess, and Obey, along with a verse of Scripture relate=
d to
each of these five instructions.
She wanted others to know the Gospel, to understand it, and accept i=
t so
that her Lord would be central in their lives as well.
Helen Jean knew what she believed, and in whom she believed. She had that blessed assurance that she had placed her life squarely in the hands of God—b= oth for now and for all of eternity.
2) Now let’s reflect on this promise. It’s found in = II Timothy 4:6-8. It&#= 8217;s Paul’s personal testimony as his life draws to a close.
Helen Jean had this passage highlighted in yellow and
every ‘I’ was circled in red—empasizing the personal natu=
re
of this Scripture:
6For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. &nbs= p;7I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:=
8Henceforth (also circled!) there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, b= ut unto all them also that love his appearing.
Helen Jean ran the race of life faithfully to the ve= ry end! Last Sunday, she was rig= ht there in church, sporting a new oxygen pack—I joked with her about go= ing hiking, in fact, with that pack strapped to her.
I also commended her for not letting that Oxygen tan= k keep her away from church. It woul= d take a lot more than that to keep her from coming.
She was at every Wednesday Bible study luncheon as well—so very faithful. For many years, she was a Bible teacher hersel= f, leading the ladies in the Whitt Sunday School Class. They all benefited from her devoti= on to this labor of love. And she s= ang in the choir.
Helen Jean brought that same dedication to her work = as an office manager at the J. Mason Campbell Accounting Firm. And also to her involvement with Z= ONTA, an international service organization for business and professional women.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'>
She believed God placed us on this earth to help oth= ers and she found many outlets for her service—with her family--caring for sick or aging relatives-- with her church, and her community.
Helen Jean knew what was important, the things she v= alued in life, the commitments that mattered most, and she stuck with them…= faithfully.
She was a happy person, and she did much to make us = happy. I looked forward to Helen Jea= n’s smile and her gracious and affirming words every Sunday.
She fought the good fight and kept the faith to the = very end. And now Helen Jean is st= anding in the presence of Jesus.
So often when we come to a service like this, we foc= us on what we have lost. Will you f= ocus just for a moment instead on what Helen Jean has gained?!?
A new body. A new song. New breath, and new= LIFE! Just think of what she has gained!=
We all saw that Helen Jean was growing weaker-- almo= st daily, it seemed. At staff me= eting Monday morning, I shared with the others my concern for her and the obvious struggle she was having.
So her passing doesn’t surprise us, reallyR= 12;but we will miss her. She touched= our lives—and she’s been part of all our lives—immediate fami= ly for some—church family and community family for many others.
We valued her presence and always knew we could coun= t on it. You miss people like that= . We feel diminished in some way by = her absence.
Our loss is significant; but friends, it does not be= gin to compare with Helen Jean’s gain. She is with God for all eternity, and Jesus promises to be with all = of us to comfort us until its time for us to also make the journey home!
So, it’s really a win-win situation. We would not have it any other way= than for this dear Christian lady to be with the Lord.
And so we say as people who share Helen Jean’s= faith and who believe with all our hearts that her hope in Christ Jesus is now fulfilled: “Thanks be to God who gives us this victory through our Lo= rd Jesus Christ!”
Well done, Helen Jean—enter now into the joy o= f the Lord. Amen.
Prayer