Order of Service for the
funeral of Gary Duane Johnson
Piano Prelude, Marion Bailey
Welcome & Prayer
Matt Black
I want to welcome
you this morning to the celebration of the life of Gary Duane Johnson. The Apostle Paul summarized Gary’s life
well. He said, “for
to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21). We have
lost our brother Gary, but he has gained Christ and all of heaven!
Many family and
friends have gathered today to express their love for Gary and their sorrow at
her passing. We want to say a final
goodbye, and honor the memory of Gary Johnson, and we want to give comfort in
Christ to all who are hurting at this time.
This is the day that
the Lord has made. I believe it would
honor the Lord if we would rejoice and be glad that for Gary, today is
worshipping at the feet of the Lamb.
Death is defeated and Gary Johnson is with His Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ. Will you join me as we begin
with a word of prayer?
Prayer
O Father, we thank
you that your Son is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. We thank you that He has destroyed the power
of death for all those who trust in Him.
We thank you for the manner in which our brother Gary lived and for the
way in which he died, ready to meet you.
His days were shorter than we would have wanted, O Father, but your ways
are perfect, and you make no mistakes. “So teach us to number our
days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom” (Psalm 90:12). Be glorified as we celebrate the life of your
servant Gary Johnson. In Jesus Name we
ask, Amen.
Congregational Hymn
38
How Great Thou Art
I’d ask you to take
your program this morning, where you’ll find the hymn “How Great Thou
Art”. While
friends and family were singing this song in his hospital room, he lifted up
his arms and his heart rate went zero, and he went to worship at His Saviour's feet.
How Great Thou
Art
O Lord my God, When I in awesome wonder,
Consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made;
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed.
Chorus: Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!
And when I think, that God, His Son not sparing;
Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in;
That on the Cross, my burden gladly bearing,
He bled and died to take away my sin.
Chorus
When Christ shall come, with shout of acclamation,
And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart.
Then I shall bow, in humble adoration,
And then proclaim: "My God, how great Thou art!"
Chorus
An Encouraging Word
Pastor Brad Hilgeman, Gary’s
former pastor
At this time, I’d
like to ask Pastor Brad Hilgeman, Gary’s former pastor to come and give a word
of encouragement to us as we consider this great loss in our lives.
Message in Song - “Three Times”
Jon, Rebekah, & David Antonucci
Three of Gary and
Judy’s grandchildren are going to come and bring a message in song called
“Three Times”.
The Life of Gary D. Johnson
In your funeral
program, I am going to story of Gary’s life.
Gary was born on
March 1, 1940 to Marvin and Dola Johnson in Lawrence,
Kansas. Gary turned to Jesus Christ as
his Lord and Saviour in 1949 during a neighborhood Bible study taught by the
wife of an American Indian. He resided
in Topeka until 1952 when the family moved to Prairie Village, Kansas. After graduating from Shawnee Mission High
School in 1958, he studied Business at the University of Kansas. In 1960, at 20 years of age, he met his
sweetheart Judy in a hospital room while they were visiting a mutual
friend. Judy was only 16 years old. They waited two long years and were married
on October 6, 1962. In 1963 their first
child—a boy, James “Jim” Buckley—was born.
In 1965, they were happy to add a girl, Lisa Kay, to the family.
Gary had been working for Interstate Securities as a loan officer since
1961, and he continued climbing the corporate ladder. Around 1973, after studying the Scriptures
for two years, he came to the conviction that he should not be helping people
get into debt by loaning them money, so he changed fields and began to work in
income tax services becoming a personal and business financial consultant. It was at this time that he began attending a
fundamental Bible teaching church. In
1977, Gary left Interstate Securities in Olathe, Kansas and took a job with
Household Finance Corporation in the Chicago area, moving his family to Hanover
Park, Illinois. Gary and Judy enrolled
their children at the nearby Schaumburg Christian School. Both children graduated and went on to study
at Christian colleges.
In 1984, Gary and his family helped in planting the Calvary Baptist
Church under the leadership of Pastor Gerald Goss. They continued there until September 1997
when they joined the Tabernacle Baptist Church of Hanover Park, Illinois. While there, Gary was the Chairman of the
Deacon Board and the Church Treasurer.
Gary was also quite active in the community: at one time hosting a local
television show and just recently served as the Treasurer of the Progress Party
of Hanover Park. Gary was happily
married to his sweetheart Judy for 46 wonderful years. Incidentally, after
first meeting in a hospital room, they also celebrated their 46th
and final anniversary together in a hospital room in Zumarraga, Spain where
they were on a church missions trip. Gary entered into the Lord’s presence at
2:25a.m. on Christmas Eve. While family and friends were singing “How
Great Thou Art”, he lifted up his hands and went into the presence of his
Lord. Gary was the loving father of Jim
(Lydia) Johnson and Lisa (Dante) Antonucci and the loving grandfather of Anna
and Calvin Johnson and Jonathan, Joshua, Caleb, Rebekah, and David
Antonucci.
“Stories about Dad”
I would like to
invite Gary and Judy’s son Jim Johnson and their son-in-law Dante Antonucci to
come and share some stories about their father.
Jim is also going to share his own stories and also his wife Lydia’s. Dante is going read his stories and his wife
Lisa’s.
Jim Johnson
Lydia Johnson (read by Jim)
Dante Antonucci
Lisa Antonucci (read by Dante)
Solo – Finally Home/Glory for Me
Matt Black
When engulfed by the
terror
of tempestuous sea,
Unknown waves before you roll:
At the end of doubt and peril is eternity,
Though fear and conflict seize your soul.
(Chorus) Just think of stepping on shore
And finding it heaven
Of touching a hand and finding it God's
Of breathing new air and finding it celestial
Of waking up in glory and finding it home
(Verse 2)
When surrounded by the blackness
of the darkest night,
O how lonely death can be;
At the end of this long tunnel is a shining light,
For death is swallowed up in victory!
(Chorus) Just think of stepping on
shore
And finding it heaven
Of touching a hand and finding it God's
Of breathing new air and finding it celestial
Of waking up in glory and finding it home
556 Glory for Me
O that will be glory
for me, glory for me, glory for me
When by His grace I
shall look on His face
That will be glory, be
glory for me!
Message, Matt
Black
Wise Solomon said in
Ecclesiastes 7:1-4, “A good name
is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one’s
birth. 2 It is better to go to the house
of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of
all men; and the living will lay it to his heart. 3
Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart
is made better. 4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the
heart of fools is in the house of mirth..”
Solomon was the
wisest man in the world. The Bible tells us that it is better for the human
soul to go to a funeral than to a feast, a bar-b-que.
Why? Because, as Solomon says, death “is the end of all men, and the living
will lay it to heart!”
In other words, ten out of ten people die. Dear friend some of you before the
year is over may die. Your body will be placed in a
casket like this one. But your soul will go somewhere forever.
Today we celebrate
the life of Gary Johnson. He is no
longer with us, but he is more alive today than ever before. We thank God for his wife of 46 years. May we all have such a legacy in our
marriage! But Judy will tell you that
they could not have made it without their Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
What a hard day this
is for all of us, especially Mrs. Judy and Jim, and Lisa and your
families. But this is a wonderful day for
Gary. Gary knew where he was
going when he died. It was not based on
his good works. He did not trust in
anything in himself to save him.
Will the day of your
death be a wonderful day for you? It can
be. At the end of life for the Christian
is the end of pain and the end of sorrow.
There is no sorrow in heaven. Death
is swallowed up in victory! The Lord
shall wipe away all tears from our eyes.
But if you are
without Christ, you will have to pay for your sin forever in the Lake of Fire.
If Gary were here to preach his own funeral, he would tell you that
Jesus Christ conquered death and you don’t have to die eternally. He would tell you that “Jesus Christ came
into this world to save sinners”.
I want to take you
to a funeral that is in Scripture. It is
in John 11.
It was the funeral
of one of Jesus's best friends while he lived on this
earth. His name was Lazarus. Lazarus had two sisters whom he was very
close to—Mary and Martha. Jesus
promised to raise Lazarus from the dead, and Martha doubted Christ’s power.
In John 11:25-26 we
read, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live: 26 And whosoever liveth
and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou
this?”
Jesus promises that
those who trust in him will never die!
That sounds impossible until you realize who said it.
I. WHO
IS IT THAT SAYS THESE THINGS? In verse 25 we have a PERSONAL DESCRIPTION of Jesus
Christ.
Jesus says, "I
am the resurrection and the life." Jesus is the author of life. He created everything that we see. He created you and me! And when the One who is the life comes to
live inside you, it is like being raised from the dead!!
The one who gave us
life is the Lord. He created Betty, and
He created you. He said “I am the Way
the truth and the life” in another place.
So who is the Lord? He is our
Creator. He is the only Way to
heaven.
II. WHAT DID JESUS OFFER? Jesus said, "He that believeth in me,
though he were dead, yet shall he live. And
whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.
" Jesus
offers life. Lazarus, Jesus friend was
DEAD. That is what we all are outside of
Christ. The Bible calls this “dead in
sins”. We need the life of
Christ! We need him to change our hearts
and lives and give us forgiveness.
None of us is
physically dead right now, but the Bible says we are dead in sins. We cannot stop sinning! We need to all turn to Christ today and see
our sins. We need Christ.
Sin is so awful that
God says, the soul that sins it shall die. We cannot be in the presence of God with our
sin.
You cannot escape
death. But, why must we die? The Bible says, “the
wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). We all have an appointment with death that we
will not miss. “And as it is
appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27).
God has given us
something wonderful to show us we need a Saviour. Do you know what God gave us to show us we
need someone to help us as we drown and are dead in our sin? God sent to us a mirror.
Now a mirror is a
good thing if you are a good looking person.
But God sent us a mirror called the Ten Commandments that show us who we
really are before God.
The commandments
tell us about God’s perfect character.
He never condones lying or stealing or lust. Our sins of Pride, jealousy and hatred are
all be taken into account when we stand before
Him.
Have you ever told a
lie? Then you are a liar before
God. Have you ever stolen, then you are
a thief, and you must appear before God on judgment day. God sees everything. He sees our anger, our jealousy and our
hatred.
God is a righteous
and a just God. He will not allow your
sins or mine to slide by. God is good
and righteous and holy, and he must be meticulous and bringing everyone of us into personal account for every word, deed,
and thought. He judges the thoughts and
intentions of the heart.
We cannot pay for
our own sins by doing good works. Your
baptism, church membership, and good deeds will not take away one of your
sins.
The truth of the
matter is, everyone here today needs a Saviour. Without Christ, we are all lost! Jesus said “I am the Way, the Truth, and
the Life. No man cometh unto the
Father but by Me”.
Jesus offers you
life! John 3:16, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotton son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not
perish but have everlasting life”.
But Jesus also
offered something even greater! Jesus
said in verse 26, "And
whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die." For the one who believes in Christ--that
means to place your complete dependence and destiny in Christ--that person will
never see death. Betty’s body died, but
Betty herself is not here with us today in the physical sense. We are all going to live forever somewhere. You will live forever, but where?
III. HOW CAN I HAVE THIS LIFE?
BELIEVE THAT JESUS
IS WHO HE SAID HE WAS! Jesus asked a
question after he gave this great promise:
IV. "BELIEVEST
THOU THIS?"
“He that
believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.
And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.” -The
words of the Lord Jesus, John 11:25
And that day must
come very soon for all of us. As James 4:14, “Whereas ye know not
what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that
appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.”
Jesus Christ came to
die so that you can live. All the wrath
of God was put on Him for the sin of the world!
If you can believe that Jesus Christ died for you personally, you can be
saved. It is that simple. God gives you a free gift. Take His gift. Believe Him.
Turn from your life, and admit to God you’ve wasted it.
Don’t come to God
trying to do good works. He will not
accept you. When Jesus Christ died he
said, “It is finished”. There is nothing
else for you to do. He’s done it
all.
Invitation.
Congregational Hymn
147 Amazing Grace
Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found;
Was blind, but now I see.
’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed!
Through many dangers, toils and snares,
I have already come;
’Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.
When we’ve been
there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we’d first begun.
Closing Prayer
At this time Pastor Brad
Hilgeman will come and close us in
prayer.
Pallbearers
I would like to
recognize the Pallbearers and ask them to come to the front. Dante Antonucci and his sons: Jon, Joshua,
Caleb, David Antonucci. And Jim
Johnson. His son, Calvin Johnson,
was not able to make it from Brazil, but he is an honorary pallbearer.
Announcements
All are invited to
the Interment at Memory Gardens Cemetery in Arlington Heights.
Following the
graveside service, please be our guest in celebrating
Gary’s life at 2pm at Old Country Buffet in Bloomingdale.
Please be sure to
sign the guestbook if you have not already.
Postlude
Marion Bailey