Turn your Bibles to John 14:1-4, 6
Title: She Wants to See Jesus
Theme: Rejoicing in What Christ Has Prepared for Doris Isabel Stump
Series: Pillars of the Local Church (September 30, 2007)
John 14:1-4, 6, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in Me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.” … “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:1-4,6) Let us pray!
Introduction: After doing the funeral of Carol Harshbarger in March 2006 I went by and told my mother-in-law, Doris Stump, about the funeral and about the message the Lord laid upon my heart as I prayerfully studied John 14:1-4,6. Doris was so illuminated with these truths that she shared with me (Pastor Terry Laughlin) how she wanted these truths proclaimed at her funeral. She did not want to be lifted above the truths of Christ, but to have Christ glorified through her physical death. I thank the Lord for enabling me to be a part in fulfilling her vision. This message and the message “Enjoying Christ Epistle Among Us” covering the theme, “Christ Working in and Through Doris Stump” is now in transcript format, on CD and on the websites of SermonCentral and CrossRoads Church. These two messages have also been placed in special binders in the libraries of CrossRoads Church and Long Island Methodist Church, and offered to the children, grand-children, and friends of Doris Stump.
Proposition: I would propose to you that true born again Christians are not to have a worldly eulogy given at their funeral. Eulogies and the messages spoken at their physical death experience are to be reminders for Christians of their future home going and an opportunity for the presentation of the life changing message of Christ. The Bible study, “Created for His Glory” done by Dr. Jim Berg so touched the heart of Doris Stump, she wants no glory given to her, but Christ glorified as doing a work in and through her.
Interrogative Sentence: Just what destiny awaits Doris and everyone else who will live upon this earth? Why are Christians and non-Christians cast into the river of death? What has Christ prepared for those who know Him as personal Savior and Lord? What is in the heart of the child of God who is truly connected to Christ?
Transitional Sentence: The first truth Doris wants taught and presented to all her family and friends is their need to grasp the realization of physical death. Hebrews 9:27 says, “…Inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment.” (Hebrews 9:27 NAS)
It has often been said, “There are two things that are going to be. There will be taxes and there will be death.” There are those who have figured out how to avoid paying taxes, however, no one has figured out how to escape death. As I stand here and as many of you sit here we are faced with the truth of God’s undeniable Word. Your body is going to experience physical death. It is the duty of all Christians to use this common experience to point family members, friends and co-workers to Christ rather than to waste it.
Questions may be asked and I can assure you it does not offend the Lord for anyone to ask questions such as, “Why is there death?
We know that God is not offended by such questions, because He gives such clear answers in His written Word. I am not going to give you a full exposition of why God allowed tragedies, sicknesses and why all of mankind must be thrown into the river of death, for that would take several lengthy messages.
However, Paul gives a quick and to the point answer why all of us here will be pushed into the river of death if the Lord tarries another 120 years or beyond, “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned.” (Roman’s 5:12) The Bible says, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) The Bible also holds this promise, “for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)
Death, even the death of a born again Christian brings sorrow and it can bring weariness on our soul. There is a passage of Scripture that the Holy Spirit illuminated upon the spiritual heart of Doris that comforted her as she faced the uncertainties and possibility of losing her mind as she moved along in years and at the time of the physical death of her husbands. She found her comfort in the very words of Christ, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” (Matthew 5:4)
The whole council of God’s Word and especially the Words of Jesus with regard to His love and care for those who know Him as personal Savior and Lord should be a guide to truth for us all.
For those who have asked the Lord for forgiveness of sin and have invited Jesus Christ to come into their lives to be both Savior and Lord there are four truths to cling to. They are; 1.) Christians do not need to fear death. 2.) Jesus prepares a place for Christians. 3.) Jesus personally receives them. And 4.) Jesus is the only way to enter heaven.
Transitional Sentence: Doris wants everyone to grasp this exhortation, Jesus said clearly, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” (John 14:1) The word “troubled” (tarasso) means not to trouble or stir up your heart that would cause you to nurse and rehearse to the point of causing yourself to become untrusting in God and in Christ.
Jesus is not saying that we can’t mourn or grieve over the death of a loved one. As a matter a fact Christians are to grieve and mourn with those who mourn. Jesus wept with Mary and other Jews at the graveside of Lazarus. (John 11:25) When Christians make the time to mourn with and comfort those who mourn they are offering ministry to both the grieving and to Christ. (Matthew 25:34-40)
Too often Christians look at death in the same way as the people in the world look at death. When this happens, hearts become troubled because they don’t meditate upon what God’s Word says about the death of a child of God. When Christians prayerfully read and study God’s Word, they come to understand completely what happened when Christ died on the Cross and on the third day rose from the dead.
Jesus won victory over the grave and death, therefore, the Christian’s cry of victory is “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? Thanks be to God! He gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”…. (1 Corinthians 15: 55, 56)
There is something else to consider. Christians can become troubled in heart when they look at death as an end instead of the beginning of being with Jesus forever. When Christians see death from a Biblical perspective, they come to fully understand that death for a true believer in Christ is not the house in which they are going to live, but only the porch to the place where they are going to spend eternity. Death is not the goal of a Christian who has suffered long with some dreaded illness, but only the passage to that place where they will be with Jesus Christ forever.
In times when loved ones are facing physical trials that lead to death, Christians are to walk in the light of Jesus’ words, He says, “Trust in God; trust also in Me.”
Doris knows to mourn over her home gathering in heaven is ok, but she does not want people to find their comfort in carnal things and worldly affairs but in God and His Son Jesus Christ. Her heart-felt prayer is that all have genuine faith in Jesus Christ as personal Savior and Lord so they may have the peace that she has.
Transitional Sentence: Doris wants her family and friends to walk in the light of Jesus’ words, “let your hearts not be troubled” because Jesus prepares a place for true believers. The New American Standard Bible has this great translation, “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places.” These “dwelling places” (mone) are places of eternal rest and peace where the Child of God will be in the presence of the Lord.
In this place that Christ has prepared there will be no more sorrow or crying, there will be no more hurts and disappointments, and the frustrations of this life will be replaced with unspeakable joys. In this place there will be no more sin, thus no more consequences.
There will be no parking places for the handicapped, no pharmacies and prescriptions to fill, and no more hospitals, nursing homes or rehabilitation centers. You can bank on it. Christ has made a place in heaven for those who love Him, and that home is as literal and concrete as the house you live in today.
Transitional Sentence: Doris wants her family and friends to know that if they are born again, Jesus will personally receive them. Jesus said; “…I will come back and take you to be with Me that you may be where I am.” (John 14: 3)
In Acts 7:59 we read that Stephen expected the Lord to receive his spirit, for he prayed as they were stoning him “Lord receive my spirit.” The repentant dying thief on the cross was to be with Christ in Paradise. In Luke 23: 42-43 we read of the repentant thief saying, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus’ answer to him was, ‘I tell you the truth, today you will be with Me in paradise.”
The promise made to His disciples is for all who have Jesus as personal Savior and Lord, He will take the Christian unto Himself. Doris has Holy Spirit revelation of this truth. Do you?
Transitional Sentence: Doris not only trusts in Christ to personally receive her but wants all to know that the only way to heaven is through Jesus Christ. In John 14:6, Jesus said; “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” The apostle Peter in his discourse about salvation to the Sanhedrin boldly proclaimed; “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other Name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” (Acts. 4:12)
This goes all the way back to the birth of Jesus and the instructions to Joseph. The angel told Joseph that Mary would give birth to a son and he was to give Him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. (Matthew 1:21)
He is the Savior. That was His name from the very beginning. Peter makes it very clear and I must make it very clear also. There is no other name in which you can be saved.
Jesus said I am the truth. The truth is that the law cannot save you, religion and ceremonies cannot save you. The truth is that a preacher saying nice things, hymns sung at your funeral or the local paper announcing that you are a member of such and such church will not gain you entrance into heaven.
You must be under the Name of Jesus Christ, and this means He must be both Savior and Lord of your life, He must have and be the final authority of your heart and life. That alone is salvation. This is achieved by asking Him to forgive you of your sins, inviting Him into your heart and life, and thus, giving Him full reign over your life.
In Closing: There are the powerful words of Christ, Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in Me will never die.” (John 11:25)
Doris Stump knew the truths of Scripture, therefore, I never knew her to complain about the way God in sovereignty ordains a man’s life in this dispensation. When others are saying that we can’t know or understand why there are tragedies or illness, she understood that since the fall of Adam and Eve God allowed our bodies be weak to tragedies and have sickness. One Greek word that is translated as sickness (astheneia) means weakness, to not have strength to stand against physical trauma, sicknesses or illness. (Sickness, Why? / Healing, How? Spiros Zodhiates, TH.D)
Doris wants all to know about the surety of physical death and to know that Christ is preparing a place for the children of God who trust and live in Him. There is no need to fear death but every reason to look forward to being with Christ at the very moment when the Christian is pushed into the river of death.
Not long before Doris left for Newton, Kansas to live in her new home, Bonnie and I were visiting with her at the Norton Andbe Home. We made it a point not to talk about church, but about Christ and how the Lord is still using her Holy Spirit gifts to encourage and equip the work of the Lord in CrossRoads Church, Long Island Methodist and in different quality ministries that touch many people all around the world. We talked about how great it will be to see family and friends, and most importantly how we will see Jesus face to face. The spirit within her was illuminated with that fact and she was really excited about that time coming soon for her!
Listen to the Words of this song that Doris just loved to hear the Bill Gaither Vocal Band sing, “I Bowed On My Knees and Cried Holy” which was written by Nettie Dudley Washington.
“I dreamed of a city called Glory, So bright and so fair. When I entered the gates ‘I cried Holy.’ The angels all met me there. They carried me from mansion to mansion, And oh the sites I saw. Then I said, ‘I want to see Jesus, The one who died for all.’
Then I bowed on my knees and cried ‘Holy, Holy, I cried Holy.’ I clapped my hands and said ‘Glory, Glory to the Lamb of God. Glory to the Lamb of God.’
As I entered the gates of that city. My loved ones all knew me well. They took me down the streets of Heaven, The scenes too many to tell. I saw Abraham, Jacob and Isaac Mark and Timothy. But then I said, ‘I want to see Jesus, The One who died for me’
Then I bowed on my knees and cried ‘Holy, Holy,’ I cried ‘Holy.’ I clapped my hands and said ‘Glory, Glory,’ I said ‘Glory, Glory.’ I clapped my hand and said ‘Glory, Glory to the Lamb of God’”
Bonnie and I had the privilege to visit with Pastor Carter Conlon of Times Square Church in New York. He shared something very special with us. When Doris Stump heard what he shared she was in agreement with this truth, “It is not how long you live down here, it is the life lived for Christ that counts.” Doris is one of the very few who knows how to live that out and that is why she can pray and request true prayer intercessors to seek the Lord and pray, “Lord take me home before I completely lose my mind.”
Doris’ faith in the Word of God and Christ has always been a huge blessing to those who have a close walk with the Lord. When I pray for her, often I think of the faith of the Centurion in Luke 7:1-9. In this portion of Scripture Jesus is entering Capernaum. A Centurion has sent some elders of the Jews to Christ, to ask Him come heal a servant who was so valuable to him. The Bible says, “When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with Him, ‘This man deserves to have you do this, because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.’” (Luke 7:4-5)
True intercessors can go to Christ and pray because like Doris, they go to Christ in prayer. My plea is like that of the Jewish elders, “Doris deserves your intervention Lord, for she has placed her complete trust in you. She has proved faithful to you in trials and in great blessings. She prayerfully supported your work, in practical ways and sacrificially gave to the spreading of the gospel of Christ in wealth and in poverty. She has exercised all her Holy Spirit given gifts sacrificially for the common good of mankind and especially for the children of God. Lord, all things are possible, you can speak a word of healing into her physical life, even in her present condition you can bring glory to Christ, but Lord, Doris’ heart-felt prayer is, ‘Take me home before I completely lose my mind.’ Father, she wants to see Jesus.”
Bonnie we need you to come forward and stand in for Doris so we can intercede for her in the name of Christ. We have sent this message and information of how Doris exercised her spiritual gifts in Long Island Methodist and CrossRoads Church to Time Square Church and The Brooklyn Tabernacle, inviting them to intercede on behalf of Doris with us in agreement and in a full surrender to the God’s will. Let us pray!!!!
