Thank you. th th is is I'll break apart, I'll break down. What I am, what I'm still not seeing. It's time to go, it's time to take a break. I'm on the cross, and I look to that very evening light. To weigh my sin, it seems my soul, my Savior brought to me a great power, a great power. My Savior God, to Thee! How great Thou art! How great Thou art! That saved my soul! My Savior God, to Thee! Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I come to the garden alone While the dew is still on the roses And the voice I hear Falling on my ear The Son of God discloses And he walks with me, and he talks with me, and he tells me I am his own. And the joy we share as we tarry there, none other has ever known. He speaks and the sound of his voice is so sweet, the birds match their singing. And the melody that he gave to me within my heart is ringing. And he walks with me and he talks with me and he tells me I am his own and the joy we share as we tarry there none other has ever known I'd stay in the garden with him though the night around me be falling. But he bids me go through the voice of all. His voice to me is calling. And he walks with me, and he talks with me. He tells me I am his own, and the joy we share as we tarry there, none other has ever known. Welcome. It's good to have each one of you with us here on this day that God has given us to together say goodbye to a friend, and an uncle, and a great-uncle, a brother in the Lord, a gentleman, a farmer, a hard-working man, a man of few words, quiet, a man who was respected by all and loved by all who knew him. That's not just eulogizing, that's the truth about one of the saints that God had on the earth for the time that we were privileged to be with him. As we listened to that previous song, we sang a song and heard the song that would have typified Verl's personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. That he was a man who knew God, He didn't just know about God, but he knew God, as we are created in order to walk with Jesus, to talk with God the Father. That's one of the blessings of being a human being, separating us from all other creatures. Burl modeled that, and his light shone. Would you bow your heads with me for a word of prayer? Father God, as we are gathered here in this church, where your servant Verl Mulder lived his life, where he learned the gospel truths, where he as a child, as a young person, believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and served the saints throughout the decades that he was with us. We are thankful for the life of Verl. We're thankful for his love for you. We're thankful for his love for his wife. We're thankful for his love for his family, the special love that he had for his brothers, his sister, his parents, his nephews and nieces, and all those who are a part of his extended family. God, help us to say goodbye today to our friend and your son, Burl Mulder. Comfort us in our grief and glorify I have with me today, the family was nice enough to let me borrow it, the Bible that Burl had been using most lately. And you'll notice that this Bible is very much like what you would expect Burl's Bible to look like. It's falling apart because it's been well used. In fact, the last book here in this Bible is not the book of Revelation, but the book of James. The rest of it has fallen off somewhere. But Verl, being who he is, he didn't want to go out and buy a new one. There was still good life left in this Bible. And as I thumped through it and looked through it, I noticed that the books of Psalms and Proverbs in particularly were well used. And so I wanted to read for you the scripture reading today from Verl's Bible to the page that he had his bookmark in as we found it on his dining room table this week. The page is open to Psalm 146. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, I tell myself. I will praise the Lord as long as I live. I will sing praises to my God, even with my dying breath. Don't put your confidence in powerful people. There's no help for you there. When their breathing stops, they return to the earth. And in a moment, all their plans come to an end. But happy are those who have the God of Israel as their helper, whose hope is in the Lord their God. He is the one who made heaven and earth, the sea and everything in them. He is the one who keeps every promise forever, who gives justice to the oppressed and food to the hungry. The Lord frees the prisoners. The Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts the burdens of those bent beneath their loads. The Lord loves the righteous. The Lord protects the foreigners among us. He cares for the orphans and widows, and he frustrates the plans of the wicked. The Lord will reign forever. Oh, Jerusalem, your God is king in every generation. Praise the Lord. Let us pray. You, O Lord, are king in every generation. I thank you for the generation that has come before us, the generation that we are in the midst of saying goodbye to, the generation that Verl was a part of, a great generation, a generation of strength, a generation of nobility, a generation that is an example for us in the younger generation to emulate their character and their qualities. Thank you that you, O Lord, are the one who loves the righteous. We confess, Lord God, that there are none righteous before you in and of ourselves, but that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. But we thank you that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. And that in saving sinners, he not only saves us from the penalty of our sin, but he saves us from the power of sin, freeing us to be able to live lives of righteousness. And that light that is shining in the world, the spirit of Jesus Christ in the heart of those who believe, does shine brightly. And we thank you for the light that we received from the life of Verl, a believer, a man who loved the word of God, a man who loved the Lord Jesus Christ and who loved his neighbor as himself. We give you thanks through Jesus Christ for Verrill's salvation. For apart from Jesus Christ, Verrill would have been lost. He would have been bound by sin. But you, O Lord, set him free. Adam's going to come and sing for us one of Earl's favorite hymns, 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 Saviour God, to Thee How great Thou art! How great Thou art! Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee How great Thou art! How great Thou art! ♪ When Christ shall come ♪ ♪ With shout of acclamation ♪ ♪ And take me home ♪ ♪ What joy shall fill my heart ♪ ♪ Then I shall bow ♪ ♪ In humble adoration ♪ ♪ And there proclaim ♪ ♪ My God how great thou art ♪ Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee How great Thou art! How great Thou art! Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee How great Thou art! How great Thou art there it lies. Born on June 4, 1937, on a family farm near Firth, Burl Mulder was the youngest of five siblings. Ralph and Elsie, Burl's parents, must have received much joy from their children and their life together on their farm I wish I had some great stories to share about Verle's childhood, but perhaps we can just imagine the days in the fields and the evenings in the farmhouse around the table with home-cooked meals. In 1955, Verle graduated from Fern High School. Eight years after his graduation, Verle was drafted into the United States Army, serving from August 1963 until October 1966. His three years in service were all here in the United States. Returning home, Wuerl won the heart of Marlene Hesser, who had grown up in the Pella Reforms Church. So, when Wuerl was 28, he married Marlene on December 3rd, 1965. They moved into the same house that they lived in their whole life together. Five decades of married love followed. obvious to everyone who observed Merle and Marlene together. When I talked with Marlene's family at her funeral five years ago, one of them recalled, to listen to Marlene speak, you would think that she was a young newlywed still in the blissful romantic stage of that relationship. Even last winter when I spoke with her on their 50th anniversary, asking her about her wedding day, what a gift it was to hear her voice instantly click into that soft voice of love as she shared detail after detail. Verle farmed with his brother, Ray, and with his nephew, Roy, while Marlene was employed for 45 years at the Farmers Mutual Insurance Company in Lincoln. After a day out in the field and Marlene coming home You might find Marlene cross-stitching embroidery or cooking, always looking to serve others. And Verl, he was only in the house if he was eating or sleeping. The rest of the time, he would find something productive to do outdoors. Now Verl always loved the church. This church has had many names over the years. When Verl was growing up here, it was probably First Presbyterian Church. Then it was Firth Community Church, the Evangelical Free Church of Firth, and just recently we've become Firth Bible Church, but I don't think Burroughs was too concerned about the various names of the congregation. What he loved was the people who were here and the Word of God that was preached. I was very privileged. And I'm not just saying that. To be Burrell's pastor for his last 13 years in this congregation, he gave me a strong connection to the history of this family of God. Marlene also is a very special part of this family of God. And I'm glad that me and my children got to know her in those final years of her service in Awana Cubbies and Sunday School. Verl showed his love for the old ways of doing things. That's why he was a member of the Blue Valley Antique Club. Though he didn't travel far and often, he would take trips to Jamesport, Missouri, or Pawnee City, to visit the Amish. And for their ways, he had a deep respect. Verl also loved working with horses and mules. He loved building things, like the bobsled that he constructed out of flooring planks from an old farmhouse. He would pull that sled behind a horse for anyone, anytime there was some snow. Burrow was a working man, a quiet man, a man who received his happiness from serving others any way that he could. As his nephew Roy told me, he would give you anything and wouldn't take anything in return. In fact, Burrow loved to give so much it was hard for him to receive anything. Now, in eulogies, there's always a danger of overpraise, but I don't think I'm in danger of that here today. That's not to say that Verl didn't have an ordinary side to him. Maybe not all of you have seen it, but Verl could surprise you at times with some harmless fun. What many of us here remember are the hayrack rides that Verl and Marlene would host. They'd work hard all day to prepare, and then they would enjoy serving others all night. and Burl would crank that homemade ice cream maker forever. From 1993 until his passing, Burl worked for BAB Construction in Adams, driving that dozer. After a little over 50 years of marriage, his beloved Marlene departed this life five years ago, when she was 74. His last five years were lonelier without her, but he always loved his family, and his family I've received some written notes to add to the eulogy that I've prepared. Former pastor in our church, Paul and Janet Harkness, his wife, remember Beryl and Marlene, and as I was visiting with Paul and Janet yesterday, they said, we've been around to a lot of different churches, this one being the first one they pastored after seminary. They said Verl and Marlene were the couple that we wished that we could take with us to all the other churches that we went to. So this is what former pastor Paul has to say. There are really so many wonderful things to recall about Verl and Marlene Mulder. Always on site when there was work to be done. They were truly folks with the spiritual gift of house. Here's the first story I recall of seeing that gift in action. Paul and Janet moved to Firth in May of 1986 to begin their ministry at what is known as Firth Community Church. The fall was very wet, and so the cinder blocks of their old house, the Leopard Ink House, began to bulge inward. Water was seeping in through the cracks between the blocks. It was an indoor water feature. We didn't know what to do about it, and soon the wall would have collapsed, but some of the men of the church came up with a plan. One day, several of the men showed up ready to work. The plan was to install six four-inch I-beams into the concrete floor and attach them to the ceiling joists above, straightening out the wall. Working alongside the men, of course, they were all having a good time joking and teasing one another as jackhammers, saws, drills, and other tools were doing their work. Verl turned to Virgil and Brad Oldenmeyer and said, you know, I've always wanted to destroy the pastor's house. Paul says, I've never known a more gentle man than Burl Mulder, so to hear him say that gave us all a great laugh. We are so grateful to the Lord that his servant has now entered into his rest. We will miss him greatly. Also, I received this email from his nephew, Roy. So many memories to share. As a kid, I would ride on tractors for hours with Burl and Ray. They taught me so very much. One of the first things was how to work together. I never heard a crossword between them. They taught me the love of the land and livestock. My earliest memories with Burl are riding on the back of the ear corn wagon while he ran the picker. He stopped once in a while and would come back to see if I was okay. And he would grab an ear of corn saying he needed something to chew on. As I got a little older, he taught me to buck hay to him while he put it in the stack. While riding on the tractor cultivating milo, he would catch me daydreaming and bang his pipe on the tractor fender. That brought me out of my daydream. And he said, you need to pay attention. You might get to drive before long. Eventually, I did get to drive. Memories of the days when they chopped corn silage, the mountain of a pile he made with his D4 cat. The many hours spent in the shop building or fixing things. Burl could build and fix anything. Many of the things he built are still around and usable. His skill of running the cat. He built miles of terraces, took trees out, cleaned up farmsteads, building paths and driveways. He always made it look easy. Burl was a patient man. That really showed when it came to the cattle. He was so good with cattle and any livestock. Cutting wood for many winters, we cut firewood for three homes and two tank heaters. He loved to cut firewood. Picnics in the park he and Marlene would host, the hay rack rides, the sleigh rack rides in the snow. After being colder than we could remember, we'd go on the porch by the fire and eat soup to warm up. But then you have to have some of the famous homemade ice cream to cool back down again. Verrill taught me many things, how to get along with everyone. I never heard him say anything bad about anyone. His work ethic. Don't be afraid of hard work. Give to others and help out in the time of need. If anyone needed anything, he was always eager to help any way that he could. Most important, have Christ in your life. He not only said that, he lived it. We are all going to miss that man. But we need to be happy for him. He is now with the family that went before him. Most of all, Marlene. He missed her so very much. These are just a few of the memories I have of a girl, writes Roy. I feel so fortunate to have grown up and worked with such a wonderful uncle with so many positive influences. I'm sure we all have memories of him. He is in a much better place. It's not just something we say to make ourselves feel better. It's the word of God. And if we believe in Christ as he did, we will all reunite one day. Thank you for joining us in celebrating and reflecting on Earl's life. I would like you to join with us in another one of Burl's favorite songs. This one is one that he would have learned as a child, and there are hymnals in the pews. You can pull them out, open up to page number 185. The 185th song in the Celebration Hymnal, Jesus Loves Me, This I Know. We'll sing all three verses together. Please stand. Jesus loves me, this I know, For the Bible tells me so. Little ones to Him belong, They are weak, but He is strong. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. The Bible tells me so. Jesus loves me, this I know, as he loved so long ago. Taking children on his knee, saying, let them come to me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. The Bible tells me so. ♪ Jesus loves me he will say ♪ ♪ Close beside me all the way ♪ ♪ He's prepared a home for me ♪ ♪ And someday his face I'll see ♪ ♪ Yes Jesus loves me ♪ ♪ Yes Jesus loves me ♪ ♪ Yes Jesus loves me ♪ Thank you for your singing. You may be seated. Years ago, standing out in the field, Burl told one of his relatives, A verse I often share on occasions like this comes from Solomon. In his wisdom, millennia ago, he wrote, it is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, because this is the end of every man, and the living take it to heart. We are mortal, every one of us. We have this life for a while, and then it fades, and sometimes unexpectedly ends early. We're thankful that Earl lived a full life. But as we think about our mortality, we realize that we need wisdom. We need a word from God that will help us to understand what is the nature of death. What is it to really live? And is there a answer for the sorrow that sin and death have brought into the world? God has not left us without that word. The Bible tells us what we need to understand. On a day like today, it's good for us to take it to heart. Though we all die, I want us to understand this. that death is not part of God's original creation. It was not part of God's good plan, but that death is an enemy that God is overcoming. The Bible tells us that sin entered into the world, and through sin, death. Romans says, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And the wages of sin is death. So, death being the result of sin means that if we had not fallen away from God through disobedience and rebellion, then there would be no death, nor any of the pain, the sickness, the separation, or the sorrow that goes along with it. Though some may tell you that death is just a natural part of life, don't believe it. Life and death are opposites, not a part of one another. It's not good to have to say goodbye to loved ones. And God did not create our lives to end this way. God's word reveals that the enemy that is death has been overcome and will be completely overcome by the Lord Jesus Christ, God's son. Listen to what Paul wrote concerning this in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. But now, Christ has been raised from the dead. Here we are, so close to celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ in just a few weeks. Christ has been raised from the dead, a historical fact. The first fruits of those who are asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For Christ must reign until he has put all things in subjection under his feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death. God is going to abolish death. So you see that God is not untouched by our sorrows and our suffering that sin has brought into our world. God's love went so far as to give his own beloved son to die. That's why the cross is at the front of this church and so many churches, the symbol of the love of God, Christ dying on our behalf. It's a symbol of God's compassion, of his grace towards us. Christ died in order to defeat death. and He rose again to give us eternal life. Jesus Christ defeated death by bearing the penalty for our sins on that Roman instrument of execution. As the scriptures say, God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ a sin offering that satisfied the wrath of God against our transgressions. That is why Jesus Christ is a living Savior. Having been raised from the dead, God has shown that Christ paid the price once and for all, and He is now alive and well for all who call upon Him. But we face ourselves with a question today. How is this resurrection power, how is this hope of the gospel manifest among us on a day like today? For the world would look at Burl and say, well, here is a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ who was supposed to have received eternal life, and he, just like the rest of mankind, has died. Death is still the experience of those who have trusted in Jesus Christ for salvation. How is the victory of Christ over death evident today? The answer lies in Jesus' words in the Gospel of John. One of Jesus' dear friends had gotten sick and died untimely at a young age. Jesus traveled to see the family after his death and told his sister these remarkable words. I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me shall live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die. In saying this, Jesus wants us to understand that even though the world's body has died, that His Spirit has not died, We have parts of us. Fingers, hands, eyes, brain, body, spirit, soul. I can lose a hair or a fingernail and still be me. There is an essential self which goes beyond even physical death. That's what Jesus was talking about when he said, everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. There's a part of Verl that can never die, that has not died, that will not die, that has a life that is eternal. That's why this message of the gospel is called the gospel. The word means good news. We need to understand the good news, not just so that we can be comforted and understand where Verl is today. His body, is dead, but his spirit is alive. But it's not only important that we understand it for Veril's sake, but we have to understand it also for our own sake. That's why we have ministers of the gospel on days like today. Think about what Jesus Christ said once more with me. He said, everyone who believes and lives in me shall never die. That's Jesus' explanation of what he meant when he said, I am the life. Jesus Christ is the life. The life that was with the Father. The life that is eternal. Jesus Christ said in John chapter 17, verse three, this is eternal life. Do you wanna know what life is? What is life? Jesus said, eternal life is knowing God. and Jesus Christ whom He has sent. There's one true God, there's one living God. You were created to know Him. You were created to have fellowship with Him, to be friends with the Almighty, the Creator. That is the remarkable nobility of the human creature, created in the image and likeness of God. You were not created to be orphans. You were not created to be alone in this world. You were created to have a walking, talking relationship with the Almighty. but sin has separated you from God. Sin leads to death. You don't have life in yourself. Your life will terminate, both your body and your spirit, if you are separated from God. Jesus Christ came to restore us to God, to bring us back to God, to bring us back into that proper relationship with God, so that we can truly live. You truly live when you know God. And so, God gives eternal life to our spirits when we receive Him by faith. At this very moment, Verl's spirit is more alive than it's ever been. He is not gone to seek a great perhaps, in the words of the skeptic, but the prophetic word of God. the very Word that predicted the coming of Jesus Christ, that told us of the death of Christ and the significance of His death, that prophesied of the resurrection of Christ, that sure Word of God gives us the assurance of these things. I'm not preaching to you my hopes and my dreams. I'm not preaching to you optimism. I'm preaching to you truth that comes from the God who created the sky and the earth, the stars, the universe, and mankind. Jesus also said this, remember, he said that he is the resurrection. So, everyone who believes in me shall live even if he dies. Burl has died, his body has died, but his body is going to live again. Jesus is the resurrection. We don't just go to heaven when we die as a spirit, as wonderful Christ is coming back, and that when He returns, He is going to raise from the dead every body that has fallen asleep in Christ. That we'll be reunited with a resurrection body like His. That we'll have a glorified body. That's what Burl's hope is. And God has provided this salvation for everyone. It is available to whosoever will. It doesn't matter who you are or what you have done. The best of us need this salvation. The worst of us have no other way of being saved. And I want to give you this exhortation. Understand this. No one is saved automatically by going to a Christian church growing up in a Christian family or living in a Christian nation. Each of you, individually, must receive the grace of God. Each of you must repent of sin and turn toward God, believing that Jesus Christ is the unique Son of God who bore your sins in His body on the cross. You are saved by that faith and that faith alone. The scripture says in Romans chapter 10, Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. How shall they call upon Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And so faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ. You've heard the word of Christ today. You've heard that He is the resurrection and the life. If you believe it, you will live with a life that is eternal. It's my privilege to speak at a funeral service like this for a believer like Earl. Somebody who I don't think, maybe, hopefully, he was a believer. But somebody by the fruit of his life you know that his faith was genuine and we have a certainty about his salvation. And so we grieve, but we grieve with comfort and hope. I am certain. that Veril's prayer for each one of us here is that Christ will be in our life. That's what you were created for. That's why Jesus Christ came. Let's pray. Father God, Where would we be without the gospel of Jesus Christ? Where would we find hope? Where would we look to in dark times to find the light? We thank you for the light of the world. We thank you that the good news of Jesus Christ has come here now, that it came to Vero, and that you saved him. And that it has come to each one of us, his friends and his family, continue to do your work of salvation. For all who are here, who have received the Lord Jesus Christ as their own personal Savior, may we rejoice in the hope that we have in light of that comforting message. And Lord, if there are any family and friends of Earl who do not turn them around, show them the light of the gospel in Jesus Christ, the hope for victory over sin, evil, and death. He is the Savior, and it's in his name we pray these things and give you praise. Amen. As we come to the end of our service, I would like to invite each one of you to join us for the ladies of our church have put together. We have a good-sized crowd here today, and so we're not going to be hosting the luncheon downstairs here, but we're gonna go to the community center. It's just down the street here. You can walk to it if you like. The sun is out. And we'll be ready for you shortly, following the close of this service here, so you can step outside or greet one another, and then make your way over to the community center. We want you all to join us, if possible. In conclusion then, I leave you with this benediction. Now, may the God of Pope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. May the peace of God, which is beyond all understanding, Keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God, and in His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. an oath and