Homegoing Services of Brother Angelo Rodriguez, Sr.

[Music] walk around here oh [Music] is [Music] me [Music] talk with me [Music] is [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] [Music] oh is [Music] my way [Music] [Music] god [Music] [Music] me [Music] [Music] through trial and tribulations [Music] [Music] and i tried all his will to obey which will enhance all the rapture of heaven i just make that last [Music] out the way of duty [Music] of the day i shall see the great king in history my [Music] [Music] story if i see for his sheets go straight [Music] he will show me if i go [Music] be seated [Music] as we're gathered together on this morning we thank god for being the giver of life we honor god for being the sustainer of life and we respect god for being the one who out of his sovereign will determines the boundaries of our existence on this earth i'm patrick worthy one of the ministers here the greenville avenue church of christ and we're so very thankful to all of you who have come as we have come to celebrate the homegoing of a life well lived the life of our dearly beloved brother in christ brother angelo rodriguez he was a loving husband he was a dutiful father he was a willing worker he was a competent counselor but most of all he was a faithful christian so to sister vanessa on behalf of this congregation and leadership we say to you that we love you and our prayers continue to go out for you to the children pamela april angela and angelo we yours as members of this body our love goes out to you as well and we continue to be mindful of you and prayerful for you and we want to do whatever we can in the future as we go forward to be of any assistance that we can and to all the members of this family this same love goes out to each and every one of you and it's our sincere hope that this service this morning will be a source of encouragement and a way to uplift you and encourage you as you continue to grapple with and embrace this great soldier who has gone on to be with god we will conduct the services as they are written in your booklet brother john bradshaw will come and lead us in a congregational song mansion robe and crown then we'll have our uh scripture old testament scripture read by brother raymond hart and then our new testament scripture will be read by brother otis eidelberg and then we'll have prayer my brother shelton gibbs iii and then at the time i will come back to the roster mansion robe and crown i'm gonna trade my earthly home for a better one bright and fast christ left to prepare a mansion for his children in the air and i'll join him in the land which is not sorrows can be found in i receive my mansion roaring and lord i want a mansion a robin a crowd and there that peace and love will always abound well then let me let me let me wear your drum lord please reserve my mansion rope and cry on the weather then he's always fair there's sunshine day and night and no cold nor rain will fall them or the sun the bride and i need no heavy comments i'll just wrap my robe around when i receive my mansion my rope and crown and lord i want a man a robin a crown in glory there that peace and love will always up forever and let me let me let me wear your throne surround and lord please reserve my mansion robe and crime and my head is bound and bloody now from the work that i try to do but one day i'll be rewarded with the crown so bright and new and i wear a smile so fun there'll be no calls for uh when i receive my mansion my role [Music] their peace and love will always forever and let me let me let me wear your throne surround and lord please reserve my mansion my rope bank around and lord i want a mansion a robe and a cry and there that peace and love will always come forever and let me let me let me wear your throne surround and lord please reserve [Music] my mansion my robe and crown good morning old testament reading will come from psalms 23 23 psalms the lord is my shepherd i shall not want he maketh me to lie down in green pastures he leadeth me beside the still waters he restores my soul he leadeth me in the path of righteousness for his name's sake yea do i walk through the valley of the shadow of death i will fear no evil for thou art with me thy rod and thy staff thy comfort me thou prepare us a table before me in the presence of mine enemies thou none is my head with all my cup runeth over surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and i will dwell in the house of the lord forever amen new testament reading will be from john the 14th chapter verse number one through four jesus says let not your heart be troubled 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 unto myself that where i am you may be also and whether i go you know and the way you know our heavenly father the creator and the sustainer the very savior of all who are in covenant relationship with you it is in times like today in the passing of our beloved angelo rodriguez we praise you for being our god because you are god you are the father of our lord jesus christ your father of compassion the father and god of all comfort you comfort us in all our troubles so that we can comfort those who find themselves in times like this we abundantly share in the sufferings of christ and all of our comfort abounds through christ this comfort de god comes because of what we know you have shared with us that precious in your sight is the death of your saints this morning we pray for vanessa for the children for the greenville avenue church family death is not welcomed by us but we know that it is appointed and we all if you delay the lord's coming we'll face it but we thank you that in the midst of this experience your great mercies your great grace emanates from your great love for us all for vanessa give us strength give us steadfastness perseverance do the same for this family may they continue to trust you knowing that this is not the end we will see angelo again bless brother meyers as he you logistically speaks to the memory of angelo and speaks your words of encouragement to us all may we all remember his life and may it serve as an inspiration that we remain faithful as he has may we recognize that we too will answer this call and we pray to god that in that day we will be able to hear you say well done father bless this service may we never leave your presence for you have promised that you'll never leave us nor forsake us we have this confidence because of the lord and savior jesus christ who said i am the resurrection and the life though man be dead yet shall we live this is the christ that we pray this prayer through amen at this time we'd like to call on sister opal johnson and sis johnson will present a resolution of respect from the greenville avenue church of christ and also one other resolution and then after that we will have special remarks first by brother ron brown also by suzanne satchel saselet and then following by brother charles page september 7 2021 resolution of respect for angelo rodriguez senior precious in the sight of the lord is the death of his saints psalms 116 verse 15. to our family to the family our hearts grieve and we share in your lost we the members of the greenville avenue church of christ extend our deepest sympathy to you today we encourage you to keep your trust and faith in god for he is ever so present even now to our sister vernessa we love you dearly and we are sadly deeply touched by the loss of your loved one your expression of love towards him were surely impressed upon his life while he was with you we are comfort by knowing that your faithfulness and your continued walk with god will contain you contain you sustain you i'm sorry with spiritual strength and guidance in the days to come may the precious memories of your loved one remain in your heart and may the lord continue to watch over your family whereas the passing of angelo rodriguez senior has left us all tearful we acknowledge and accept the will of god therefore be it resolve our spiritual family are here to comfort you in your endeavors to find peace and strength be it further resolve that we the members of greenville avenue church of christ are ready and standing by to assist the family of angelo rodriguez senior in any way we can and we will continue to express our love for them in days ahead humbly submitted your greenville avenue church family elders deacons shelton gibbs the third minister and i heard a voice from heaven saying unto me right blessed are the dead which die in the lord from henceforth ye said the spirit that they may rest from their labors and their works to follow them revelations 14 and 13. whereas god sent an angel to claim his devout servant angelo rodriguez senior and his earthly life shall be no more the family of the far west church of christ shares the loss and are praying without cease for sustaining strength from above our hearts are heavy-laden yet we know that god makes no mistakes and has claimed one of his own to be the recipient of a heavily mentioned prepared just for him be it resolved that we the members of the far west church of christ pray that you will find comfort and consolence in these words cast your burdens upon the lord and he shall sustain thee psalms 55 and 22 remember that earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal during this time of bereavement lift your eyes towards heaven for strength and comfort isaiah 66 and 13 as one whom his mother comfort so will i comfort you and ye shall be comfort in jerusalem be it further resolved that we enter sympathy into the sorrow of the bereaved be build them hope through the master of life that they shall see their love once again angelo will be greatly missed yours in christ brother luke mouse senior and the far west church of christ family thank you imagine your life as a highway as you move along your highway of life people enter onto your on ramp along the way some people you notice entering into your on-ramp you slow down and let them in others you notice entering your life on the on-ramp you not only slow down you move over and let them in and then some people you notice that come into your life on your own ramp you not only speed up put them behind you in your rearview mirror but angelo when you meet angelo and he comes on to the on-ramp of your life you slow down you move over and you even pull over and start visiting with him you want to spend as much time with him as you possibly can that's what i had the opportunity to do with angelo angelo and i didn't grow up together in the neighborhood as lads we didn't get to go to school together our careers didn't bring us together jesus christ brought us together we met right here in this building over 20 years ago we both slowed down moved over pulled over and had conversation after conversation for over 20 years interesting enough those conversations covered three things our sons we both had sons about the same age angelo junior and my son we talked about many of your sons and daughters and how we could help them move along and we had biblical discourse you know angela loved to talk about the scripture that's what we did we visited we laughed we discussed those three things over and over and over again seems like we didn't talk much about anything else but like i said jesus christ brought us together it's quite interesting how people come into your life some people come to your life and they fit just like a puzzle piece i mean that one piece in the pulse is just fit just perfectly that was angelo to me and probably many of you he was a puzzle piece for me we met because he joined one of my bible classes a class that he could have easily taught himself but he sat over in the left corner in the back always sat there always smiling not always but seemingly always working on a piece of gum i didn't say chewing a piece of gun angelo worked on a piece of gum but he was always sharing profound comments and more importantly biblical truth for that class i hate it when he left the class matter of fact i wanted to fail him well you didn't get a grade but i wanted to find some way to keep him there but he moved on our friendship involved many conversations before greenville avenue started the formalized mentoring program angelo was already mentoring a number of young men and young ladies not only here at greenville avenue but in the community as well always trying to help encourage assist young people everywhere that's just who he was that's just what he did i was always struck by angelo's consistency his resolve his strength even during his darkest moments i considered angelo one of the strongest most courageous most faithful brothers and loving brothers that i know if you were to google the definition of a man just maybe angelo's picture might pop up because that's just how great he was to vanessa to the kids to the family angelo's walk you know that walk he had that loud hearty laugh wonderful laugh that million dollar smile and most importantly that massive heart of his he had what we call a big heart that cared for most anybody angelo reminds me of one of my favorite verses it's a verse that speaks of one of the greatest friendships ever recorded many of you know of it friendship between jonathan and david during david's absence from one of the most important events of its day jonathan said to david in first samuel 20 and and 18. first samuel 2018 jonathan said and i'm going to put my version in there jonathan said brother angelo tomorrow is the new moon in your seat you will be missed because your seat will be empty we say to the family thank you for sharing brother angelo with me with us for greenville avenue we thank god for giving us a few years with angelo rodriguez what a joy and a privilege and a blessing to call angela rodriguez my friend and my brother in christ thank you vernessa and the entire rodriguez family for asking me a part of honoring my dear friend i want to share a few reflections scriptures and hopefully words of encouragement to honor angelo angelo rodriguez served and supported the students families and staff at berkner high school for over 23 years his impact on the entire risd community is immeasurable in 2007 when i became a program specialist with student assistance programs for richardson isd i began to hear of angelo i first witnessed that contagious energy enthusiasm and smile at our peer helper retreat and if any of you have ever been on a berkner high school peer helper retreat you'll know angelo is known for oh oh oh oh oh y'all hear me did he ever do that in church i know he definitely did it in school um but you know i didn't really i knew who angelo was and i admired him from afar because i'd heard of all the challenges um and losses that he had faced in his life yet persevered with grace and so i was drawn to that and just admired him like i said as a brother in christ i was encouraged by his example but it wasn't until i had the privilege of actually leading the student assistance programs that i got to witness his character and his integrity as he served and supported students with his care in our sap family as we lovingly are known student assistants programs family [Music] he was the co as loud and as enthusiastic as he was he was also the voice of calm of kindness and of reason he was a he was such an encouragement to me as a new director i had never been in the directorship position before and i wanted so much to do a good job all while realizing that that was one of my ministries as well and i and i wanted to honor the lord and i know angelo prayed for me he encouraged me and for that i'm eternally grateful angela was a man of faith and god's love mercy and grace were evident in his life it's been a blessing for me to see how angelo has waited on god's perfect provision for him in every opportunity and vanessa i know that you were one of god's perfect provisions for angelo i do remember sitting in my office and he was talking about how not compromising but waiting on god's best and how he loved you and his family dearly one of the scriptures that comes to mind when i think of angelo is hebrews 10 23-25 let us hold unswervingly to the hope we pro profess for he who promised is faithful and let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds not giving up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day approaching throughout my friendship with angelo i feel like we were able to do this for each other each time we would share a struggle or a challenge we would always circle back to what is the lord doing through this event how can we grow in our faith as a result of this i feel like angela may be sharing that with us now and i i will just i have notes because y'all those of you who know me know that i have lots of words so i'm trying to reign in my words but it was very um much a blessing we got to go to berkner um after we found out the news of angela's passing and just meet and with some of the students that he had been such a blessing to and i'm really a father figure too in a lot of regards and to hear the words of the students talking about mr rodriguez and what would he have us do now how would he have us encouraging each other you know that those seeds that angelo planted are are taking root in the lives of all of us and many of the young people that he served i'm so grateful for angelo's prayers for me and my family and his encouragement to me as a person and a fellow believer even as angelo faced his final challenges his hope and trust remained firm i just remember the last phone conversation i had with him on august the 4th still we were building him up in his faith and even though i i love the proclamation that we will accept the will of the lord although this is not what i envisioned it would be but i do i do trust the lord and i'm thankful that he is in control and not me another scripture that reminds me of angelo is oh magnify the lord with me and let us exalt his name together psalm 34 3 when i lost my dad in 2016 who was 94 by the way i was blessed to have him that long angelo attended the service to honor my dad's life and at that service i shared a scripture that my dad had given my mom when they got engaged and it was oh magnify the lord with me let us exalt his name together and at that time angelo and vernessa were engaged to be married later that june and he told me that when i shared that scripture it's so encaptured what he wanted for his marriage with frenesa that they would magnify and exalt the lord together and indeed they did as a christ follower angelo knew the power of learning and obeying god's word i want to share a couple of verses where christ was giving instruction and encouragement to his disciples that i believe describes angelo's walk with his savior matthew 5 16 let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven and then again in john 13 34-35 just before christ's face deaths on the cross for our sins he told his disciples a new command i give you love one another as i have loved you so you must love one another by this everyone will know you are my disciples if you love one another if you know angelo you know his life was marked by love and good deeds he loved well he loved his wife and his family his children and his grandchildren well he loved his friends and all the students and families and staff that he served well every time i heard angelo share about his life both good or bad his battles or his blessings he always gave god glory angelo's life friendship have been a true blessing and i would be remiss if i did not honor angelo without honoring his lord and savior jesus christ in philippians 2 1-11 it talks about imitating christ's humility therefore if any encouragement from being united with christ if any comfort from his love if any common sharing in the spirit if enter any tenderness and compassion then let my joy complete then make my joy complete by being like-minded having the same love and being one in spirit and one in mind do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit rather in humility value others above yourselves not looking to your own interest but each of you to the interests of the others in your relationships with one another have the same mindset as christ jesus who being in the very nature did not con of god did not consider equality with god something to be used to his own advantage rather he made himself nothing to take on the very nature of a servant being made in human likeness and being found in appearance as man he humbled himself by being obedient to death even on a cross therefore god exalted him to the highest place and gave him the same name that is above every name that at the name of jesus every knee shall bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue acknowledge that jesus christ is lord to the glory of god the father angela was an imitator of christ he lived his life in humility and service to others the last time i saw angelo on this earth was his last day at bertner high school he had packed up his office and was ready to head out on this new chapter we had an opportunity to share some memories and words of encouragement to each other i expressed my love and appreciation for all that he had meant to me and my family and i remember clearing clearly saying angelo i'm not telling you bye i'm telling you see you later my friend angelo lived his life in service to others and to his lord jesus christ there's only one angelo rodriguez and i am better because i knew him and then i was asked to read something from berkner high school memorial resolution on behalf of angelo l rodriguez senior whereas angelo l rodriguez senior a dedicated counselor at lb burkner high school stem academy in the richardson independent school district died on august 29th 2021 at the age of 67 after battling cancer whereas angelo el rodriguez senior began his career with l.v berkner high school stem academy in richardson independent school district on august the 7th of 1998 and served students and staff for 23 years as a student assistance counselor until his retirement in june of 2021. angelo rodriguez provided the staff and students at lb buckner high school a listening ear problem solving skills sound guidance and advice a hopeful and optimistic outlook a calm and approachable demeanor and a gentle and life-saving spirit angelo el rodriguez senior known affectionately to students as mr rod inspired others with his faith his always positive attitude his infectious smile his genuine kindness and his encouragement to live in the moment thus be it be resolved that lb werkner high school stem academ academy ram family note with great sadness the passing of angelo el rodriguez senior and office offer our deepest sympathies to his family and friends be it further resolve that a copy of this resolution be given to the family and a copy be kept in the counseling office at albie wertner high school stem academy lovingly submitted christy a cage principal alby berkner stem academy numero uno that's the way my brother and i referred to each other for probably about 10 or 15 years it was always numero uno i found out that angelo was fluent in spanish and i said hey you know maybe you can start talking to me in spanish and i can pick up but we never got past numero i'm going to talk to you for a few minutes about angelo's last vacation so my family and i had the honor and the privilege of spending time with angelo this past july as he went on a trip with us and he initially called me on the phone and he said you know we were talking about a bible class that i was teaching and he wanted to exchange some notes so just like brother brown said he was always talking about the word he was always talking about scripture and i said yeah we'll exchange notes and he kind of asked what the kids were doing and i said we're getting ready to go to kentucky to take him to see this noah's ark museum and he said man that sounds like a good trip i want to go i said okay you know just let us know i said we're renting the house so if you guys want to join in feel free so i didn't think anything of it you know people always kind of say they'll do things he called me back the very next week man i talked to vanessa's it's all good we're gonna come i said you know all the kids are gonna be here right we had eight kids on the trip so i have seven myself and then another one uh came with us i said angelo eight kids you know oh man come on we love kids this is all good i said all right just let me know how nutty this man was but really was how much he loved kids him and vanessa both they absolutely loved children so we go on the road trip and we're all heading out and we finally arrive at kentucky they actually beat us there and they were kind of sitting there waiting on us by the time we arrived and we rested and we got up the next day and we went and explored noah's ark and there's this life-size rendition and i'm looking at it and he's looking at it and we're walking and we're talking and all we did was just talk about the scriptures the whole time and how magnificent this whole thing was and then we went to a creation museum and talked about that and all the scripture and how magnificent it was and i was a little jealous because i watched angelo and vanessa walk around and they were holding hands the entire time it shows you the affection they had i said man y'all are six years in still acting like newlyweds you need to pass me the secret but they they were just that loving and angela was just that loving of a person we walked around and we talked about all of god's creation and all the different magnificent things that he's done and we were talking about how we were going to use some of this material when we got back to our classes and todd because he was eager to get back and teach and i was eager to get back and teach and we were going to try to find a way to weave all of this in to our lessons and just watching him in his interaction in that last interaction he treated my kids like they were his own grandchildren him and vanessa both you'll see the pictures and you see them holding our kids and spending time with our children he was just that loving of a person everybody has attested to this so far and they are 100 correct one of the brightest smiles you'll ever meet uh just a wonderful personality and even like to have fun all the time we were going store runs we went on a store run one morning and we're going up and down picking up supplies and i see them just pacing back and forth down the house i kind of walk around get some more stuff and he's still pacing back and forth down the aisles i said angelo what are you looking for he said man you think they sell potpourri here it's a store i'm pretty sure they do say you know i gotta find something cause i'm gonna blow y'all up otherwise he finally found that potpourri [Laughter] but that's just the way we were we talked about you know just the illness and the treatments and the scripture and family all the time just had a good time we laughed we burst out in random singing in the parking lot um just all sorts of stuff they made the trip special and i feel honored and privileged that they joined us i had no idea that would be the last time that i would see my brother on this earth but those were happy memories that was his last vacation although with eight kids i'd hesitate to call it a vacation it was more like a trip but that was the last trip and when we left you know we hugged and and we talked about you know the treatments and he said i'm gonna go home and you know we're gonna and we prayed and you just never know you never know i want each and every one of you to take the memories that you have of our brother angelo and remember him the way that he was the last time that you saw him the joy the smile the laughter whatever it was that he gave you cherish that keep that with you for the rest of your life not only that cherish every moment you have with all of your loved ones because you never know the smiles the laugh the joy take advantage of these moments that god has given us here on earth to love one another while we still can so to the family to vanessa you know that we love you uh angelo lilo as he affectionately calls you and to the rest of the kids know that we have your back we're here with you whatever you need your greenville avenue family is with you whatever you need do not hesitate and i pray that the god of all comfort may continue to be with and bless each and every one of you i want to thank ron and suzanne and charles for the just very beautiful comments again just wonderful tributes to the wonderful life that brother rodriguez lived i was sitting here kind of vacillating whether or not to share my own personal story and i thought i'd go ahead and share it just over a little over a couple of months ago it was a sunday evening and it was one of those evenings that sometimes you you can sometimes feel down and my cell phone rang it was brother rodriguez and he said brother worthy i didn't want anything i was just calling i just wanted to call and let you know that i'm thinking of you and i'm praying for you this was in the midst of all the things that he was going through and i just thought he spoke volumes of the kind of man that he was that even in the midst of his own struggle even in the midst of his own pain physically he thought enough to reach out to someone else and say i'm praying for you that was a measure of man that it was because he was truly as has been said he was truly an optimist when i think about that i think about another loved one who passed away on one occasion that was close to me and she said when i'm gone don't worry about me follow me when i'm gone don't worry about me follow me and i believe that that would be the sentiment of brother rodriguez don't worry about me follow me and i believe this next song is so fitting oh i want to see him i know he was one that looked forward to seeing his savior so i asked as brother bradshaw comes and leads us in this song that we sing it in the spirit of a man who lived his life that wanted to see his savior so brother bradshaw you come and lead the song oh i want to see him and then we will be confident with the words of brother benjamin myers as he performs the eulogy amen as i journey through the land singing as i go i will be pointing souls to campari through the crimson glow oh and me near rose pierce my soul from without within will but said he leads me on and through him i must win we're singing now oh i won't want to see my lord wanna look look upon his face and over there to sing forever ever of his same grace oh went on the streets of glory well just let me lift up my and all of my cares going home at last and ever to rejoice and we this for my long dark maybe the night will but i'll cling more close to him and he will give me life you know that same tenseness may vex my soul and turn my [Music] we're singing that oh i want to see him i just wanna look we'll look upon his face and over there i'm gonna sing forever [Applause] saving grace and you know that on the streets of glory well just let me lift up my horse and all of my cares all past going home at last and if you rejoice and win in that please low i look toward the mountain [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] he is [Music] i want to see [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] let me lift up my and all of these cares all past going home at last to [Music] rejoice and with before me billows they rise from the mighty deep and then my lord directs my and he just said blinky oh away and he leads me gently all through this world below and he's a real friend he's a real good friend to me and oh i love him so and that's why we say oh i want to see him and i just wanna look and look upon his face and over there they're gonna sing forever ever of his saving grace and you know that on the streets of glory well just let let me lift up my voice and all of my cares all past going home [Applause] [Music] and we're singing that oh i don't want i want see [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] and you know that on the street of glory well just [Music] [Applause] going home [Applause] [Music] it is quite an occasion that brings us to this moment know that this dear brother has touched the lives and hearts of a lot of people i have to tell you that sometimes eulogies are hard to come up with because the eulogy is about a speech or a piece of writing that praises someone i'm reminded of a story about an old dog that got hit by a car he laid out in the middle of the road all mangled and the people had a lady in in their community that always looked at the best always had something good to say so they went to her to give a eulogy for the dog because they knew they could trick her she could have nothing to say that was good about this dog and he said ms smith his name just flew from the air looked at the dog and she looked at the frown on her face and she kind of walked around looked again and had a frown on her face and finally there was a big smile came upon her face and he said miss smith what do you see you know what good can you see out of this dog being mangled out in the middle of the street and the smith looked at that dog and said boy you shared some pretty teeth didn't have that issue with the eulogy this morning i thought about the name angelo it's kind of unique but it's an old name goes back into medieval times many nations have laid siege to the name angelo the italians the spanish even the germans englishmen and even the hebrews looked at that name angelo a messenger an angel with the context of god dispatching a messenger if this service was being held in the old testament in a jewish environment we'd be given the eulogy for somebody by the name of malachi because that's the name that malachi represents it's the angel messenger from the lord himself and i'm happy to see that we here at the greenville avenue family have our own malachi our own angelo here's one that was given a message and the message was his life a life that lived in the abundance of all of us the laughter the fun the intensity the silliness all of the above angela had this capacity to to if you know anything about chi town or chicago uh they don't call it a shy rack for nothing it's a tough town it's not just for performers but people that live there you sometimes got chased to school and sometimes you got chased home the chaser was okay so long you didn't get caught shy town the blending of toughness and also tenderness being able to allow those to cohabitate if you will angela had this thing about him tough but not abusive tender but not a pushover that balance of toughness and tenderness and i guess you could call that meekness it's not just power under control but but but meekness has this idea of being strong and yet being supportive and vanessa maybe that's why angelo mentioned that he wanted to have a conversation with moses in his final hours because in numbers 12 moses is portrayed as a very meek man scripture says above all the men which were upon the face of the earth moses was meek power in the control and if you go back and look at that passage in numbers you begin to see that moses is meek in a tough time his brother and sister are rebelling against him israel is is in trouble and yet moses you know maybe some of us will say would have said good riddance to him but on moses moses ends up praying for his sister and his brother meekness power toughness and tenderness all at the same time moses that that one that angela wanted to have a conversation with maybe that's what the conversation would be about moses how in the world could you be so meek in the midst of that and maybe moses will say angela how could you be so meek coming out of chicago we both have conversations you want to have with one another meekness messenger from god someone with a message someone to have something to say to us we're here to say i farewell to him to give comfort to the family but i think angelo leaves a message for us and it's a three-part message from what i can see if angela was here as we read his the legacy that he wrote before us i think one thing that will stand out real clear and that is to be a lover of your family so many have mentioned conversation with angelo when i had a few myself and i remember again both of us growing up in chicago uh we were talking and all of a sudden uh i got i got i got to make a call i said who you called it he said i got to talk to mommy you know i thought there was spanish for something you know but i said you're talking to mommy he said yeah and i said are you sure you from chicago because the chicago we call mommy mama or something like that but after a while i would ask myself how's mommy doing in pablo he had this capacity to embrace his family that trip that brother paige mentioned part of that trip was he wanted to go down to florida see his dad that's how important that's how he loved his family he loved the good the bad and the different he just loved his family he has a legacy of that with the loss of first wife rosemary he has a history of loving his family so much in fact that as uh he said his final goodbyes to her he just didn't think love was in the cards anymore then all of a sudden we used to meet maybe at least once a week have lunch and whatnot and then all of a sudden he started skipping our meetings and say brother you know what's going on you know get 52 weeks in a year okay we'll let you be out of town one week out of the year but uh but now it seemed like every other week where you going i didn't realize the whole scheme that was happening uh tyrion had gone out to lubbock and found something good and and i guess he you know when you bless you want to bless others and so sure enough i finally got word that i had been given up quickly for somebody coming out of lubbock soon met vanessa and and our heart just was open her heart was open and she became a part of our family and we became a part of hers and that mommy turned into mama because she brought into the family not only mangelo's mommy but also her mom and there was not a misstep his children you didn't have to talk to him very long before you hear lilo which meant that that must have been a big o and then you have to try to figure that out but little i want to say that that one of the things that i picked up with angelo right away and that is it's easy for us to say we're proud of our sons but i think it's another step when you say i admire my son and that's what he said about you in fact you would say sometimes they've been he said i believe that a little was more the dad than i am he said he's just he just he got it all together he just so proud of you admire you the man that you've grown in to be the father and husband and all of those kinds of things and and god blessed him when mimi came into your life and and there's nobody here but us right now we had this we've known maybe just right after she came to america that means that we knew in an early age we used to give uh rosemary and angela hart taft when he started dating we said well you know uh mimi uh grew up with our son and her older brother tj and and they fought and she would always want to follow the boys around and they would just try to hide from her and it was just and uh and my wife said well i always thought that maybe gene and and mimi would get married and rosemary would come undone she's marrying lilo and you know what a family you don't you don't acknowledge a weak spot that's the one that keeps getting hit and so uh and i think we had heard about the the wedding and all of a sudden i think with the next week they were married so rosie i didn't want to take any chances but she came to the family and became one of his daughters along with the other daughters uh how's tam we we had our little little little sequence that we went through every time we talked you would give me a history of how the kids were the grandkids in the great grand just the family and siblings and it just went on he loved his family and the message that he would leave us this day is be a lover of your family that doesn't mean that we're going to be over there in the back of chips and we're just the opposite we're human all of us are human right if you if you if you say you haven't done wrong you'll lie about other things the fact of the matter is uh he loved his family he loved his family uh and i have to say that i knew him kind of well uh there was one there was a couple of folk in that family that he didn't get along that well with and mom you can help me with and that was the two dogs right i mean he would he would he would say you know ben and i've done everything to get along with these dogs and they just don't like me and of course again going back to family with angela you didn't realize dogs are a good judge of character and sex and then you would tell me get out of here get out of here and the first time he said they had to apologize for about five minutes i know i'm not supposed to talk to you that way i know yeah come on you know but that was him he loved family he loved family events birthdays and just he was just laughter silliness bombastic some thought it was strange i just thought this is just another something he picked up in chicago and then i found her that maybe might be getting from puerto rico i don't know but it was something that he just loved to laugh and have a good time with family but i think there's another message that he sends with his life being malachi if you will and that is not only be a lover of family but also be a friend i think one of the things that's come come through clear this this morning today and that is the scriptures talk about if you want a friend you must show yourself friendly angelo was never at a loss for friends i mean i remember unless you said when uh garrett cohort came in and see him at the hospital as soon as gary walked in his face just lit up they're friends they go back away he's counseling and all of that friends friends uh then i have a restaurant we need to eat at didn't tell anybody it was our secret you know we used to dart out and go and eat something we weren't supposed to i'm sure but we're friends and i'm so blessed to be counted among those friends as with so many others in this audience that's the message that our malachi leaves for us be a friend be a friend laughter enjoy the moment living in the presence oh i think dr tom peyton drilled that into his head just so graciously uh live in the moment you just ask him uh you'll be concerned about someone's angel where are you he's i'm in the future why don't you come on back to the present you know because we can do something here we can't do anything there was just he was just a fun person to be with always up to something uh we were at a racial recognition uh reconciliation meeting at preston crest and and and gary i think the instructions were for for us to to be like flies and just kind of light at different tables but but we get to our table and not only with all of us there but then all of a sudden folks started joining our table we had i think a state senator and future we just laughed and at first i started the angel would just calm down but no no no no he did he just we just laughed and then all of a sudden people started pulling their chin that was just the charismatic nature of his personality he just loved laughter loved having a good time and having fun especially with with him and the fish fries you know he i think he ate more fish than i did but you know who's counting but yeah but he was a good friend he was a good friend a good friend be a lover family be a friend and be a server he served well his community his church and his christ the messiah when we as a congregation decided several years ago to put together some type of support system for folks that are going through depression and hurt and loss and bereavement and all those kinds of things angelo was on the list i want to be a part of that and he served well but if you look at the obituary behind all of that he has a life of service i mean in the school system and counseling he was a counselor at one of the high schools uh for teenagers can you imagine that that takes a heart of a servant to work with teenagers and boy he would come in with some stories and then he well i have to hold on this week because something's going on at school that was the nature of the service bible classes what whatever you wanted him to serve in the community uh he was there in the church he was there uh as as a single in the singles ministry in the teaching ministry whatever you needed now the only thing is if you ask him to do something so for make a speech you have to give about a six month advance notice we did our summer series this year on emotions and some of the challenges that we have and the first person on the list and uh our communication team was putting pressure on us even we need to know who the the whole who's going to be speaking and and i didn't want to tell them that that i'm waiting for angelo to respond he said well then i'll have to what's your title brother he said what i want to talk about anxiety and faith i said boom you got it and so the communication is okay now who's who's going to be speaking that's what hold on he's coming so he called me said man i'm sorry i won't be able to make it okay no no problem he's about i really want to i know you're the bro i know you do and so all of a sudden he came back and he said uh okay is it too late to put me on the list i know brother your name is already penciled in and because he wasn't able to make it because the lord was calling him home but that was the message of his service he served community church in christ those conversations that many have mentioned about he was always interested in scripture and we started off sometime in our conversation with talking about you know how many angels can sit on the head of a needle you know and and we'll get into more drastic what's your understanding of this passage and they walk and say man have you read this book do you know this author okay man okay you read okay i got it i got it you know but he was definitely wanting to be as special to the christ as he possibly could he loved the lord he really did and there was always this biblical overtone with him and i was a man would you just calm down and just just enjoy your sandwich okay that's what he was how can i please the lord and that strength that faith took him to the point of even when the news came back not favorable he was still standing on that faith he said he sent a message that you know we talk about death all the time we talk about living for the lord we're talking about eternity and all of those kinds of things but you know when we get on the threshold of that we run like scared dogs in the middle of the street but not angelo they began to embrace it and that was a message itself what we talk about what we practice what we preach what we teach is really real you can build your life on it and so vanessa and the rest of the family now words simply this may god continue to comfort your heart paul wrote to the corinthians in second corinthians chapter one the idea of this this need for comfort paul writes passages and you write letters to different congregations and you say the comfort that you got from here from this letter you give it to somebody else we are great needers of comfort because in this world we're going to have tribulation 10 days for a period of time we're going to go through the whackers and the wickers and everything else but it is our lord that in the final day is a great god of comfort and he comforts us with family he comforts us with friends he comforts us through his word and he comforts us through the passing of time well time won't erase angel but it'll put him in a spot that indelibly imprinted upon our hearts and he will never be taken away so think on these things as you go through this moment of final goodbye the hearts are open the hearts are hurting that's okay god lost a son he understand jesus was in all points tempted just like we are yet without sin so god is well familiar with loss he's in the midst of the loss that we smile because we know that death doesn't have the final say our lord does and so crying i know we have a history sometimes and saying we're going to laugh at funerals don't laugh at mine if you want to cry cry i'm giving that permission right now if you want to if you want to cry god didn't just give us happiness he gave us a bunch of emotions and so no apology needed because as larry barbara would say something along the line that bereavement is just another way of grief is just another way of saying i love you i love you and angela has lost mommy lost siblings he was well familiar with it and now he can understand what's on the other side we ourselves will go through laws like this lost big loss big loss big loss my wife and family said man are you all right you're with the lord we're we're fine but my loss fails in comparison to yours to a husband of six years seemed like a lifetime it was a lifetime kindness love fun travel all those and picking up a new mama on the way another brother another sister children grandkid great grandma what a blessing what a blessing what a blessing it is only the lord that can bless us in these moments of pain with strength and joy as we look at all the things that god brings us through so we're here to reach out if you want to if you need to even if you don't want to don't need to reach out anyway we love you we love this family you guys are special to us and i love so many things can be said i told angela one time i said you know growing up in chicago we wouldn't have been friends because i'm i'm from englewood and you're from the other side but it's only in christ that can break down that middle wall of separation not only between jew and gentile but from west side north side and south side the lord can do that in his son jesus may god bless you may god bless this family hold on to his unchanging hand appreciate the the history the lesson the the lesson that malachi has taught us love your family don't expect perfection because you'll be sorely disappointed but love your family anyway and all of that but be a friend this world needs friends well it's a and a friend stickers closer than a brother brothers we don't have a choice my mom you say look you're gonna love each other us i'm gonna whip you friends are there because i choose to be you got a bunch of friends he had a bunch of friends and still are friendly and ultimately keep serving the christ storing up those treasures when malachi wrote his book in the last of the english bible malachi was sent to a point working with nehemiah and it was when israel was going through some dark days and and they were turning their back on god and god sent malachi at a moment when it was easy not to serve god which tells me that even in the darkest day god's word and the message from the lord will always stand even in the face of strong opposition hear his message may god bless you may god keep you i hope the words are comforting encouraging let's listen to the lesson the messages that our brother angelo has left for us let's love our family let's be a friend to somebody and let's continue to serve our community our church and ultimately the christ may god bless you may god keep you in this moment god bless you we thank brother myers for the very beautiful the very fitting and the very encouraging words in that eulogy amen at this time we call on angelo rodriguez jr he has a video that he wants to present and then also have some words that he'd like to share at this time all right i'm angelo junior for those who didn't know my name in hebrew and aramaic in addition to malachi is moloch yahoo which is messenger of yah messenger of god it's a message of healing or destruction and that's what my father represented he healed many so i want to give double honors to our creator the most high the god of abraham isaac and jacob and his son yahusha some pronounce it yeshua others call him jesus double honors to the minister all the ministers of greenville avenue church of christ the elders the deacons those who who serve thank you for serving us our family in this way we truly appreciate you and love you deeply if you ever needed anything for me i'm here for you double honors to my dad the fifth commandment is to honor your father and mother and with that commandment comes a promise which is long life so the opposite of that is a short life span by dishonoring my father and mother i had two mothers rosemary a blooming rose of flower one who could love unconditionally and vivi also a mother of mine i'll always always appreciate you um i'll always honor you because with that keeping that commandment that eternal commandment comes long life so i want to start out by giving honor where honor is due this scripture encapsulates the the life of my father uh first corinthians chapter 13 verse 13. it says and now abide faith hope love these three but the greatest of these is love brother brother meyer said one message that he spoke was love your family it's a hard thing to do it's easier to say than to do many many people they speak with their mouth they say i love you but their heart is far from you my father he he showed true love and he was genuine my father was real what you saw is what you got if you knew my father what you saw is what you got he was authentic he didn't have to fake the funk he was unfiltered he would speak his mind so he would love the greatest two commandments is to love yah and love your neighbor and he showed it he expressed it with his life he was truly a gift to all of us love the word love in greek is agape it's brotherly love it's benevolence it's being a gift so he was a gift to many of us i saw g when i walked in can you stand up i want to give everyone a quick example g where are you so this is one example my my father had four biological children but he has many kids and this is one of them if you don't mind me telling this so my father was a ministering spirit says be careful who you entertained because you could be entertaining a malak a messenger g was full of rage when my father met him he walked into an apartment and she had a 12 gauge pointed at him full of rage the word says to not let your wrath go down before the son he says to be angry and sin not but he had a 12 gauge pointed at my father because he was a a bull a matador he's ready to kill my father so my father talked him out of killing g handed my my father the gun and that rage that generational curse is gone look at what kind of man he's become married got his head on straight educated young man i'm proud of you so i just want you to sit down now i just wanted to show everybody um that's one of thousands of stories um i'm sure several other students from from berkner high school from terrell state hospital and all his workplaces could attest another story we moved here in 87 from chicago illinois we lived in the hood in chicago anybody know about that y'all from beverly hills my father wanted to better himself so he moved here he went to southwestern christian college and he dedicated himself to hamashiach christ so fast forward 93 we moved to dallas uh my father and mother didn't have a lot of money we um terrell texas was some of the best memories of my life because all you do there is is enjoy life it's it's a slower pace you can embrace the moments and that was one of my father's saying embrace the moment embrace the moment but in in dallas uh i got it i got into some trouble we moved to the lavario the hood and i became a byproduct of what i saw uh there was uh you know been shot at twice blah blah blah i just praised the most high for taking me out of the grave but my father he would never judge me in the sense of excommunication cut off he would always push me we lived in the hood but he we would always go to church faithfully uh brother gibbs i can still hear your voice on sundays you would always bring messages of salvation the gospel but i got in trouble got locked up in 99 and my father he never cut me off he never excommunicated me because true agape is unconditional so i dropped out in the ninth grade my father said get an education educate yourself if you want to make something of yourself educate yourself so i earned a ged and then i graduated from unt and i have two college degrees both of them are sitting on a in my office collecting dust i don't use them i'm just bringing out these examples to show you what kind of man my father was he always pushed us that was his message of healing he didn't judge you he didn't cut you off just because you were misunderstood when all it took was a conversation but people are afraid of what they don't understand so i started two companies one of which i had since 2006 and the other in 2013. i'm not saying this to brag and boast i give all glory and honor to the most high i'm just showing you what kind of man he was fast forward i came out of the matrix and i started studying hebrew and greek because to truly understand on a deeper level that's what i was led to do my father he didn't he didn't cut me off he embraced me i learned basic stuff that changed my life um for instance that word agape when you click on the the lexicon one meaning is love feast so to understand what a love feast is you have to go back to leviticus 23. an example would be the feast of passover so we observe that because it's all about christ in this hour we need the blood of the lamb on our doorpost the death plagues um the earth has been cursed we're in the midst of a global pandemic so one love feast would be passover when i read jeremiah chapter 10 the prophets are dead but they still speak to us i stop celebrating christmas um another one would be pentecost we read about it in acts 2. they did this years after the death so i would talk to my father about these things and there were many at that time who didn't understand would say um you're cursed when when the exact opposite is true he embraced us he loved us and i will always honor him for that um i'll always honor him for embracing us for loving us who we are for not excommunicating or or or misjudging because we know ultimately the most high is the judge the best is yet to come was another one of his sayings the best is yet to come retirement so many might question why why did he perish when he was in good shape he was a young man 67 years old he just retired so one might question but job did he question did he curse the most high job did not job's um his wealth was taken his health was taken his children were taken and he never cursed the name he never cursed the real name he never cursed the name but he cursed the day my father he never cursed the name he laid there as brother minister maya said he's laying in his excuse me minister um worthy my father's laying in his on his death bed and he's encouraging others like job he encourages so many and my father is doubly blessed for it so i have to double honor him because he he never cursed his name he knew that i called on the hebraic names and he never judged me for that he embraced me and i will always honor him for that part today we love you that's what i used to call him padre his father in spanish he is and will always be my best friend i want to share this this verse second timothy chapter four verse six and seven says for i am already being poured out as a drink offering so my dad he poured out himself as a drink offering to so many to living waters yahushua he said he called himself living waters my father poured out to so many and the time for my departure is at hand i have fought the fight i have fought the good fight i have finished the race i have kept the faith finally there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness which yahushua the righteous judge will give me on that day and not to me only but also to all who have loved his appearing so i just want to honor him in that way they could take his body but not his crown not his spirit the word tells us to not be afraid of what man can do to the body but to be afraid of the one who who can take life the spirit my father was full of spirit and his spirit lives on so i encourage you family to embrace it uh i didn't get a chance to honor my family i honored the most high the preachers but not my family thank you for coming here from all over florida puerto rico orlando chicago i don't want to call any names because i know i miss i love your family and i want to conclude with a video my father would not want us to be sad he was a very simple man uh the word says except you be as a little child you cannot enter the kingdom it's being willing to being willing to to receive the rod and the staff correction and instruction my father was always a kid that's one thing he taught me i mean the word says that laughter is like medicine to the soul so laugh and love want to play a video and then we can i'll conclude this this message so you can go ahead and play that oh yeah baby that's what i do when i get nervous ah the father's with us oh oh [Laughter] oh [Laughter] [Laughter] this was crazy crazy wow [Laughter] that was crazy boy that baby was going around like wow i punked out i closed my eyes you closed your eyes no way no i'm good man no i'm good so in conclusion the message from a lock is to love it's the two greatest greatest commandments eternal yahushua he said you love the most high and love your neighbor you can find it in exodus 20. the first 10 commandments is to love this the creator the last six is to love your neighbor yahushua said if you hate a man in his heart and you committed murder so you have many people who are murderers they hate in secret my father taught us to agape in hebrew it's called ahaba it's to love is to yearn after in conclusion those who knew my father he when he got excited he would go whoo whoo you know that raise your hand if you know it so in honor of him join me we love you dad the most amazing videos ever shown at a funeral life has his ups and downs and we're thankful for their tribute but we will always be thankful for the wonderful love dedication and faith that brother rodriguez had to the church and to the truth and we continue to remember and embrace that wonderful legacy we're now ready to turn the services back over to the hands of the funeral directors they will comment at this time [Music] well [Music] it's a place where saints can rest and we [Music] ever [Music] [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] thank you jesus hallelujah [Music] so [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] i shall come home [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] here i am [Music] amazing [Music] divine [Music] as you go [Music] is [Music] foreign [Music] i know i know there are ways [Music] you said you will [Music] said you'll always with me [Music] [Music] and here you go is [Music] [Music] what he said [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] yes [Music] from your eyes look at me i [Music] i [Music] if you call me [Music] he'll try my eyes [Music] let me wipe all of your teeth [Music] love he died for me and i owe to him my liberty [Music] as i wait for him i must stay free from sin and keep his trust i can't wait to hear him say him [Music] away from your eyes let me sing [Music] he'll kiss [Music] let me let me please [Music] [Music] let me take you [Music] to my is [Music] yes [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] but i have found [Music] [Music] i know [Music] [Music] [Music] down [Music] but then jesus [Music] [Music] i live for him i know every day [Music] storm clouds may rise [Music] [Music] i found a space [Music] [Music] is [Music] wherever [Music] indeed [Music] the lord is my life [Music] i can hide in jesus [Music] is [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] when my father and my mother forsake me the lord will take me up then i can hide for he's my hiding place [Music] when my father and my mother forsake me the lord will take me up then i can hide for he's my hiding place when my father and my mother forsake me the lord will set then i me hide for he's my hiding place when my father and my mother [Music] my [Music] me [Music] is [Music] that he's my hiding place [Music] hey [Music] [Music] [Music] until the lord [Music] no matter how long [Music] i will [Music] wait until the lord i will wait until the lord [Music] [Music] is [Music] hey [Music] this is [Music] is [Music] [Music] um [Music] [Music] [Music] still you come to my rescue when i call [Music] how it seems upset that lord you give [Music] not what i do but mercy you come to my rescue you come to my rescue you come to my rescue [Music] [Music] you come to my rescue lord to my [Music] [Music] whose boundaries have no end [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] long as i shall so lord oh lord i just want to thank you for coming for coming to my rescue you come [Music] is [Music] gonna let you know [Applause] when i was by [Music] oh [Music] for coming for coming to my rescue [Music] is keep on coming you

Channel: Greenville Avenue Church of Christ

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Keywords: live stream, streaming, covid19, coc, Church of Christ, Christian, Religion, Jesus, God, Christ, Service, church, bible, sunday school, gacc, gacoc, commentary, swcc, southwestern christian college, greenville avenue, greenville ave, dallas, richardson, texas, plano, garland, mckinney, carrollton, stop six, lawrence & marder, billy washington, wf washington, John Bradshaw, Patrick Worthey, Ben Myers, isaac davis, stw gibbs, shelton gibbs, compassion, Elevating Our Service, did you know?

Id: a2lkMl7rx58

Length: 136min 19sec (8179 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 07 2021