At my funeral or memorial, don’t glorify me; I was not among the wonderful and I was not among the awesome or amazing. Remind people what a wretch I was and it was only God’s grace which brought out any good in me and gave me any hope of glory.
Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin. Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. [Rom 7:24-8:2].
LORD, You will establish peace for us, since You have also performed for us all our works. [Isa 26:12].
Remind the people I had a rebellious heart. God regenerated my heart and caused me to seek Him. I was not saved by any effort of my own; it was God who sustained me to the end.
who will also confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. [1Co 1:8-9].
Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. [Jud 24-25].
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it
Prone to leave the God I love
Here’s my heart, oh, take and seal it
Seal it for Thy courts above
[from the song, Come Thou Fount].
Remind people it is God who is glorified in our salvation and I take no credit for my own. He does all things for His glory.
What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory. [Rom 9:22-24].
For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God. But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, “LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD.” [1Co 1:26-31].
also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will. [Eph 1:11].
Don’t say I went to be with God to help Him run things or that heaven has gained any benefit that I am there. Remind people I go to God to be with Him and praise Him forever and now I am able to praise Him in righteousness, free from my sin. I can gaze into His holiness with a righteous, sinless heart.
. . .and the LORD alone will be exalted in that day. [Isa 2:11].
Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created. [Rev 4:11].
Don’t use any worldly wisdom to describe my life. Remind the people I lived for worldly wisdom until God rescued me. He gave me His wisdom and I left the world behind.
But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. [1Co 2:14].
Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude. See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. [Col 2:6-8].
And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. [1Jo 5:20].
Preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Disclaim the easy-believism gospel. Call on people to repent and to follow Christ in obedience; to serve Him as their Lord, their King, their Master.
If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself? [Luk 9:23-25].
Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? [Luk 14:27-28].
He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. [Joh 3:36].
I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. [Joh 15:1-6].
Declare the sovereignty of God. He does all things for His purposes.
The LORD of hosts has sworn saying, “Surely, just as I have intended so it has happened, and just as I have planned so it will stand. [Isa 14:24].
O LORD, You are my God; I will exalt You, I will give thanks to Your name; For You have worked wonders, Plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness. [Isa 25:1].
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.” [Isa 55:8-9].
But now, O LORD, You are our Father, we are the clay, and You our potter; and all of us are the work of Your hand. [Isa 64:8].
Many plans are in a man’s heart, but the counsel of the LORD will stand. [Pro 19:21].
Who is there who speaks and it comes to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it? [Lam 3:37].
You, O LORD, rule forever; Your throne is from generation to generation. [Lam 5:19].
My greatest desire was to know the Lord. It was my prayer that my brothers and sisters and all my friends and family would have this zeal for God.
Please show me Your ways, so I may know You and find favor in Your sight. [Exo 33:13].
Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord. [Hos 6:3].
O Lord! I have heard of Your fame; I stand in awe and fear of Your deeds. In the midst of our years, renew Your work; in the midst of our years, make Yourself known. In Your wrath, remember Your mercy. [Hab 3:2].
Remind the people, our walk with Christ is not about relationship, which can be so frivolous. We already have relationship: If we are saved, we have eternal life; if we disobey, we remain under God’s wrath.
He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. [Joh 3:36].
Remind the people to follow Christ, we leave our life behind; we fear Him and we seek to please Him. We are called to worship Him with pure hearts and if we love Him, we will obey Him. This is religion; pure and simple religion; the only true religion.
Restore us to Yourself, O Lord, that we may be restored. Renew our days, unless You have utterly rejected us. [Lam 5:21-22]
This is my will, /s/ Dean Jared Isaacson
Favorite hymns:
O Worship the King – read Psalm 104
Immortal, Invisible
O Come, O Come Emmanuel
This Is My Father’s World
The Love of God
