"Celebrating The Life Of Valarie Evans" September 16, 2021

[Music] god's unchanged is [Music] with us [Music] oh [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] trust in him will not leave you [Music] whatsoever years may breathe [Music] bit not this world's vain riches that so rapidly decay [Music] seek to gain your heavenly treasure [Music] they will never [Music] your pass is [Music] [Music] through his hands god's unchanging [Music] god's unchanging hands [Music] [Music] god [Music] [Music] god's unchanging man [Music] in [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] can somebody help me celebrate the life and legacy of miss valerie evans grady put your hands together let's celebrate her life her love and the legacy she has them come on you can do better than that she was truly loved and she will directly be missed we want to welcome each and every one of you into the fellowship missionary baptist church on behalf of our pastor the deacons the officers of this church we want you to know that we have you in our prayers and we will be praying with you and for you in this difficult season but just know that miss valerie is all right now she's safe in the arms of god and for that we can celebrate and put our hands together knowing that she's safe and secure from all along we want to also let you know that if this is your first time coming into fellowship chicago we have restrooms going down either of the stairwells we also want you to know that during our time here in the sanctuary we ask that you please keep your mask on unless you are actively speaking additionally we want you to know that there are several people who are watching live through our streaming platforms who are also celebrating miss valerie's life along with those who are in the sanctuary the family has prepared a beautiful program and we will follow it as it has been printed first we'll have the musical selection coming from miss diane simmons followed by our scripture readings by elder irvis adams following that we'll have deacon johnny johnson come and pray for us and at that time i shall return let the church say amen [Music] [Music] so [Music] why should i be discouraged [Music] why should my heart be lonely and long for heaven [Music] and [Music] he watches over me see his eye is all the sparrow and i know yes i know he watches he watches over me [Music] let not your heart be troubled is ten the words i hear and resting on his goodness i lose [Music] and feasts though by the path he leaded me one step i may see his eyes and i know he watches he watches me so i sing because i'm happy [Music] because i'm free he is high oh god's eye is on [Music] said i know [Music] he watches he watches [Music] me [Music] old testament scripture psalms 27 verses 1 through 4 the lord is my light and my salvation whom shall i fear the lord is the strength of my life of whom shall i be afraid when the wicked came against me to eat up my flesh my enemies and foes they stumbled and failed though an army may encamp against me my heart shall not fear the war may rise against me in this i will be confident one thing have i desired of the lord that will i seek that i may dwell in the house of the lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the lord and to inquire in his temple new testament scripture comes from john 14 let not your heart be trouble you believe in god believe also in me in my father's house are many mansions if it were not so i would have told you i go to prepare a place for you and if i go and prepare a place for you i will come again and receive you to myself that where i am there you may be also and where i go you know and the way you know and the word of the lord is blessed so let us pray almighty god and to whom all hearts are open all desires known and from whom no secrets ahead or met we pray thee the deepest needs of our lives in this hour of our desolation make us sensitive to the presence of thy divine commentary in accordance with our lord's assurance that we will not be left alone strengthen our gratitude for the companionship the tokens of the esteem and the enrichment experiences which the years have brought in this time of sorrow may we be forever grateful for the many indications of thy favor resting upon us and upon those whom we cherish may meditation and memory renew the divine assurance of thy love which is the same yesterday today and forever grant us we beseech thee the faith of the prophets who could see in approaching the shadows of night the promise of a glorious sunrise we thank you that the psalmist could walk through the valleys of the shadow of death and fear no evil we thank you our lord when facing death could confidentially commit us his life and your spirit will dwell among us so grant us now the faith and the dependability of thy divine faith and thy divine love lord we love you we appreciate you for all that you have done down through the years and lord we ask all these prayers in jesus name let the church say amen [Music] this time we will please ask that you check the ringer on your phone to make sure it's on silent we don't want to be doing the cubicle shuffle today all right we will have acknowledgements of condolences by deacon willie states followed by a resolution from the fellowship missionary baptist church also done by deacon willie states we will then have a tribute from the family by mr andre delano and followed by that we'll have a musical selection is ms rita phillips present thank you so much and after that selection we will have a eulogy done by our senior pastor the reverend reginald wayne sharp jr [Music] good morning acknowledgement on behalf of the family of valerie evans grady wish to extend their sincere gratitude and appreciation for your prayers expressions of love strength support phone calls words of encouragement flowers cards visits and other acts of kindness during this time resolution chicago illinois thursday september 16 2021 there is an ancient african folk tale that reaffirms a very powerful truth the tale explains that an eagle knows when a storm is about to approach long before the storm breaks the eagle will fly to a high spot and wait for the winds to come when the storm hits the bird sets its wings so that the wind will pick it up and lift it high above the storm while the storm rages below the eagle is soaring above the eagle does not escape the storm it simply uses the storm to lift it higher the bird rides on the winds that bring the storm when the storms of life come upon us and all of us will experience them we can rise above them by setting our minds and our belief toward god the storms do not have to overcome us we can allow god's power to lift us above them god enables us to ride the winds of the storms that bring sickness that bring tragedy that bring disappointment and yes even death into our lives we can soar above the storm take care to remember it is not the burdens of life that weigh us down it is how we handle those burdens as you leave this service today take with you isaiah 40 and 31 those who hope in the lord will renew their strength they will soar on wings like eagles it is with this thought in mind that the pastor officers official staff and especially the media ministry of the fellowship missionary baptist church extend our love to our member sister adoration nicole patton and to the entire family of sister valerie evans grady be assured we love you we are praying for you lovingly submitted by the fellowship missionary baptist church the late reverend clay evans founder reverend charles jenkins pastor emeritus reverend fraser l pope iii executive pastor reverend reginald wayne sharp jr senior pastor brother andre delano miss phillips will you come [Music] so [Music] [Music] praise the lord everybody come on let's give god a hand clapping praise hallelujah we thank god for valerie's life 40 years of friendship praise god now this is going to be a quick song so i need all of everybody's help i know valerie loved this song so i'll say to my friend rest in peace [Music] tragedies are commonplace all kinds of diseases people are slipping away the economy's down people can't get no pain as for me all i can say is thank you [Music] [Music] living [Music] [Music] here we go could have been [Music] hey keeping me [Music] with no food [Music] [Music] hey [Music] come on let's praise god thank you thank you thank you [Music] thank you thank [Music] thank you [Music] ain't [Music] nobody thank you [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] nobody [Music] nobody [Music] he woke me [Music] thank you [Music] come on somebody put those hands together and give god some praise come on i said put those hands together and give god some praise it feels like a strange day to say thank you but the bible says in all things give thanks for this is the will of god concerning you in christ jesus i tell you it feels like a strange day to say thank you doesn't it but let me give you one reason why you ought to say thank you one reason we ought to say thank you is because although god did not take her take her sickness away from her god took her away from her sickness yeah let me give you another reason why we should say thank you god has more than one way to heal sometimes he'll heal on this side and sometimes he said come on away from all of that so either way somebody just take 20 seconds and give god a thank you for the way he took care of miss valerie for the way he used miss valerie for the way he healed miss valerie for the way he stuck with her even through her brief sickness for the way he covered her family but the way he made sure the doors were open and the enemy didn't get the last say so somebody ought to say thank you lord for all you've done for me and i know it's a heavy day i know it's a heavy day nicole we feel you today we know you don't want to be here today i see these handsome grandchildren my little friends i know they don't want to be here today i know these siblings don't want to be here today i know the nieces and nephews and friends none of us want to be here today but in spite of our grief in spite of our sorrow even when it doesn't look good we can still say god is still good and he's promised to never leave us and he's promised to never forsake us and i want you to hold on to that i'm going to say something else in a minute but i feel led to just talk to you for a minute he won't leave you that means he won't go far ahead of you and leave you behind and that means he won't forsake you it means he won't let you go ahead of him and he stay behind either way he's chosen to stick right by your side so nicole you don't know right now how am i gonna get through this what i'm gonna do next you don't have to figure all that out each step of the way he'll give you what you need he'll speak to you and then and then and then it makes sense why jesus said hey when you pray don't even ask for next week's bread just say give me this day today today today today give me what i need today and if you just walk with them and if you just talk with him if you just let him be god the steps of a good woman are ordered by the lord can y'all help me celebrate this daughter today come on we love you nicole fellowship loves you your family loves you come on y'all help me celebrate her she has a lot of pressure on her but we want you to feel the love you feel the love today we love you and we're right here with you can't take all the pain away but we're right here with you into our fellowship family all of us know ms valerie was special to us you know it's just some members they're so supportive they show up to everything i i don't care if i was having a cat celebration if i was holding a cat celebration on a thursday night guess who was going to be here with a pastor ms valerie is going to be right here came to church came to refuel supported pastor jenkins supported me and i thank god for her kind of spirit that just was so supportive so loving and she and she was that way with everybody wasn't she if she loved you she loved you and there was nothing you could do about it and i know she loved these grandsons come on let's celebrate these young gentlemen come on these future morehouse men i'm gonna put in an atmosphere you two have a great legacy you're never gonna forget grandma and everything she poured into you i want you to hold on to it all right that's how you honor her legacy hold on to what she poured into you to my fellowship family all of the leaders our musicians our media team our funeral team our planning team our ushers everybody here our executive pastor thank you everybody for being here today there's a quick word that god has given me to share with you and it's found in second timothy chapter four verse six and eight just write it down and go back to it later put it in the notes section of your phone i want you to hold on to this word second timothy chapter four verses six through eight even if you don't go there now go there later first second timothy excuse me second timothy chapter four verses six through eight paul is writing and he says this for i am now ready to be offered in the time of my departures at hand i have fought a good fight i have finished my course i have kept the faith henceforth 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 but unto all of them also who love his appearing i want to talk today from this thought very simply valerie's victory somebody say that with me valerie's victory see when you live well enough people don't have to lie at your funeral when you live well enough the preacher doesn't have to stay up a long time because you your life was the eulogy and miss valerie's live well enough that i don't have to prolong this service and this celebration with a lot of words and a lot of religious jargon i can tell you number one miss valerie was ready oh yeah she was ready she was ready and just like paul he writes i i am ready to be offered paul was incarcerated at this time and he knew that his untimely death was on his way to fruition he knew that that he didn't have much longer on the clock he knew that his time was wrapping up and he said hey y'all i'm ready to be offered and the time of my departure is at hand he tells him i'm ready to be offered he literally paints the picture of a drink that's being poured out being emptied he knew that his conclusion was coming he knew that the finality of his earthly surgeon was coming and paul said i'm ready and that's something to be able to say when you get to the end of your journey to be able to say i'm ready and i need to be clear with you i know miss valerie miss valerie was ready but she might not have been ready am i talking too fast i i know she was ready but i'm not certain if she was ready let me make my point let me argue my case see see you can be ready as far as preparation but not be ready as far as anticipation see when my mother used to tell me i had to go to the doctor she was are you ready now i would say yes because i was dressed but i wasn't ready because i didn't want to go are y'all catching me here i was prepared for the trip but i wasn't anticipating the trip and miss valerie was ready not in the sense she was ready to go home and be away from her family be away from her loved ones but she was ready oh miss valerie was dressed for this she she accepted jesus for this she gave her life to christ for this moment she made sure she was a faithful tither and supporter of every church she was a member of because she was getting ready it's a peaceful thing to come to the end of your journey and be able to say i'm ready maybe not anticipation but at least in preparation do i have any witnesses around here who can testify it's good to be ready and a whole lot of us especially living in a global pandemic you got to stay ready tomorrow is not promised you've got to stay ready that's why you can't waste your time on petty manners you can't waste your time being mad at people who hurt your feelings in 1998 you don't have time to be feuding with people on facebook instagram and twitter because you got to get ready because one day our uh yeah all of us are gonna have a set of reservations that we won't have the privilege of hesitation or cancellation we all got to be ready one day god's gonna call us home and when our name is called i want you to be able to be ready to be able to say like paul i am ready to be offered and the time of my departure is at hand somebody said she was ready but she just wasn't ready she was set she was set she was set i know she was set because the bible says in the next verse paul says i fought a good fight oh yeah i fought a good fight i finished my course i kept the faith i fought my i fought a good fight and i and i finished my course and i kept the faith church folk don't know when they shout i fought a good fight i finished my course and i kept the faith i fought a good fight i finished my course and i kept the faith all that means is she was set she was set she was ready but then she got set how did she get set because she handled her business how did she get sick because she raised her daughter how did she get set because she poured herself into her grandchildren how did she get set she did what she could when she could how did she get set she gave god a yes and gave the devil a no how did she get set she made sure that even though we were in a pandemic she tuned into church air week and made sure she was on the virtual ship to get the word that she needed she fought a good fight and she kept the faith and she and she and she didn't let go of god even when life tried to snatch her grip and that's how you make it nicole you got to learn to hold on to your faith it's some stuff your mama said to you that's going to come back to you in the days and weeks ahead because it's going to build your faith your mama knew that god was a waymaker your mama knew that god was a keeper your mama knew that god could open doors no man can shut and shut doors no man can open if y'all say amen or not i'm gonna preach all of this for my sister today your mama knew your grandmama knew that the lord would make a way somehow your grandmama knew that weeping may endure for a night but joy comes in the morning your grandma knew now unto him who's able to keep me from falling and present me faultless your grandma used to sing a song trouble in my way i had to cry sometimes i lay awake at night but that's all right let your mama and your grandmama and your sister's faith be your faith so you can be set and ready when the time comes do i have some witnesses around here who can admit sometimes when life's trying to shake you up you got to get set and you got to set yourself in a way that the devil knows if he sees you he got to think twice before he makes a move you got to set yourself so you don't let enemies and negativities steal your joy you gotta set yourself so that the word of god is always prominent on your mind and even in a valley you can say the lord is my shepherd and even when you're broke you can say and my god shall supply all of my knees according to his riches in glory even when your enemies all around you getting on your last afrocentric nerve you can say fret not yourself because of evildoers neither be thou envious of workers of iniquity for they shall soon be cut down when people start lying and conniving you've got to set yourself and be able to say no weapon formed against me shall be able to process i'm talking about a woman that has some faith every day wasn't easy but she held on to guard because she got ready she got set and now it was time to go oh what you mean preacher time to go what you mean time to go the bible says henceforth there's laid up for me a crown of righteousness and one of these old days i feel like preaching and i wasn't supposed to get this loud one of these old days when the battle is fought when the road has been driven when the night has been endured when the sickness has passed when our name gets called we're going somewhere well yeah yeah i said she got ready she got set and she was ready to go how so because we all know if you are a believer that death is not the last thing that happens to a christian no no no no no death is a comma not a period yet this is her condition but this ain't her conclusion no no no she did pass but she didn't pass away no she passed but she didn't pass away because she's gone somewhere to get a crown that will honor the victory that she's gained look at somebody around you who doesn't want to talk to you and say you better get ready tell them you better get set because one day you got to go yeah i was trying to figure all this out i was trying to figure all this out this doesn't make sense to me some folks just shouldn't die right now some people just should not be gone good people shouldn't have to die like this from a from a coveted 19 but this is hard to accept because we have to wrestle with the tension that if this had not been a virus and a pandemic that our sister would probably still be here but the truth is none of us know how we're gonna go but we do know we all got to go and i want you to know as you leave this celebration of life just make sure you're ready make sure you stay set and make sure that you are prepared to go when i looked up ms valerie's name y'all my soul got happy i looked up miss valerie name and it comes from french origin and her name means strength well that makes a whole lot of sense doesn't it because she's been strong all her life she's been a strong mama she's been a strong sister she was a strong daughter she was a strong church member she was a strong grandmama do i have a witness don't y'all make me preach it by myself she was a strong friend she was a strong black woman dripping with black girl magic everyday she was strong when she went to the beautician cause that hair was gone before i died and laid to the side she was strong in how she dressed she was strong and confident how she carried herself but at the end of her life she and she experienced some weakness and isn't it good news that even when weakness comes to people who are used to being strong that you got a strong god who will step in and say hey you come with me because you're not going to your conclusion you're about to have more victory that's why i call the eulogy valerie's a victory because today the reason why we call it a celebration of life and not a funeral is because she got victory she's got victory because she was saved she got victory because she overcame her sickness she got victory because she got a new kind of healing she got victory because she's going home to be with the lord somebody who knows you've got somewhere to go park for a moment and give god praise that when the journey is over down here i got somewhere to go going to a place where i don't have to wear a mask because there is no pandemic going to a place where i don't have to call the police because there is no crime going to a place where i don't have to worry about money because there is no rent or bills going to a place where there are no doctors because there is no sickness going to a place where there is no insulin because there is no diabetes going to a place where there is no chemo because there is no cancer going to a place do i have at least five witnesses where there are no schools because there is no ignorance going to a place where there are no tissue because there are no tears going to a place where there are no funeral homes because there is no death going to a place where there's no more preaching because there is no sin so some glad morgan witness life is over i will like miss valerie fly away to a home oh god celestial show somebody just give god ten seconds of a praise that she was ready she got set and now it's time for her to go home somebody turn up right there and thank god for her victory come on i said thank god for her victory that's a patty cake i said thank god for her victory i want you to tell somebody around you life is hard sometimes tell somebody around your life is hard sometimes but you got to get ready you got to get set because one day we all we got to go but it's a beautiful thing when you got to go and at least you have somewhere to go to the other day they tried to bother me at a hotel they said i was late for my checkout i said it's cool you ain't got to rush me i got a home to go to i got a home to go to and i want you to know miss valerie checked out down here but she got a home to go to and the god of her strength will be your strength in the days the weeks and the years ahead if you receive that today give god some praise right there give god some praise right there you know there's a whole song that says bye and by lord when the morning comes all the saints of god will gather at home come on we'll tear [Music] anybody remember that we're going home now singing by and by [Music] we will tear the story we overcome and we'll understand it better put those hands together everybody from his valerie [Music] the story [Music] if you don't mind we want to assist the funeral home we have some flowers here with some of her nieces or some of the guests that are here some ladies or some gentlemen would you come and assist with the flowers please whoever would you come would you come some of her family thank you so much thank you so much thank you so much [Music] everyone standing except the family except the family we will have the internment forest home cemetery in forest park illinois nicole we're walking with you and we want you to know your mama's god is going to give you strength just like she gave her strength let the church say amen our executive pastor and our deacons will lead the family out behind the casket [Music] [Music] of [Music] by and by we are often tossed and driven all the restless seas of time summer skies and howling tempers off succeed a bright sunshine in that land of perfect day when all this shall roll away we will understand it better bye oh all the saints of god will gather at heart [Music] by [Music] we will him [Music] [Music] you

Channel: FellowshipChicago

Views: 1,522

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: Fellowship Chicago

Id: 1-mVLyKF1vw

Length: 68min 10sec (4090 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 16 2021