The Final Word From Fred Server

Fred’s memorial service was quite an event. Held in his church home, people gathered. His siblings, children, step-children and children’s children -four generations account for only forty of the hundreds gathered. Many countries and four continents had representatives there.

It is not a huge church, but modern with two large audio-visual screens used to project hymns instead of using traditional hymnals.

The pastor led the invocation, followed by the choir and audience singing uplifting songs. Fred was reintroduced to those present with a slide show, “This is your life” created for his birthday last year - showing Fred through the years of his life.

The slide show was significant events in his life - his birth, graduation, jobs, children, etc. What it shows is that Fred was a sportsman and family man. It was for Fred a keepsake and for others a kind of ordinary obituary. It did not tell one much about the ‘heart’ of the man.

A few more songs sung. Then nothing - the screens went black, the lights dimmed. Then with a startled gasp from the audience, Fred appeared on the video screen and this is what he had to say:

“Greetings!

I suppose I’m the last person you
expected to hear from today. I just
had to thank you for praying for me.
Almost 5 years ago, you learned I
had cancer. You prayed for my
healing. You watched me lose 5
inches in height; my bones grow too
weak to hold my body up straight-
and you prayed for my healing. You
watched my muscles dissolve and
my flesh disappear. Actually, you
watched the outer man perish and
you prayed for my healing. Thank
you! Thank you. Your prayers have
been answered. I AM HEALED! I
AM HEALED! HALLELUJIAH!
HALLELUJIAH! The pain is gone.
Thank you for praying.

The best part about being here in
heaven is Jesus. Remember He
promised, “I go to prepare a place for
you and if I go I will come again and
receive you unto myself.” He did!
He did! He did! I’ve just seen Jesus
and I tell you He is alive!

I had this hope of coming to heaven
to be with Jesus while I was with
you. I’ll tell you how I KNEW. The
Bible says we can Know, not think
or hope but KNOW. I had just
returned from the navy and was in
my first year of college when I
noticed several students my age that
really impressed me. They all went
to the same church youth group so I
decided to visit. It was there I
learned that God loved me. Me,
Fred Server. I also learned the things
had done wrong separated me from

God. I was fearful of dying and
spending an eternity separated from
God in a place called hell. Do you
know how long eternity is? Forever!
God said my sin demanded a
payment-death. Here is the good
news; God loved me so much He
was willing to do something about
my sin and separation. He sent His
own Son to die in my place. Jesus
Christ died for my sins so He could
bring me to God. No more
separation. I believed this. I asked
Jesus to forgive my sin, come into
my heart, and be the Lord of my life.
He came! I began to read my Bible.
I believed every promise He made.

I know some people think they can
work themselves into heaven. Think
about it. If you could work your way
into heaven then God had His Son
die a horrible death on the cross for
nothing.

Everyone has to decide whether to
believe Jesus or not. There is no
reason for anyone to walk out of this
room and not know that your sins are
forgiven and that you are going to
spend all eternity in heaven. You
can pray this prayer right where you
are sitting. Bow your head and pray,
“Lord, Jesus, please forgive my sin
and come into my heart and be the
Lord of my life. I believe you.
Thank you for coming. Thank you
for giving me eternal life.” If you
prayed that prayer tell our Pastor or
someone about the decision you have
made. Many will rejoice with you
and you can share it with me when
you arrive here in heaven. I’ll be
waiting for you.

Friends please don’t talk about my
spirit being with you. My spirit is
with Jesus. Why would you want
my spirit with you when you have
the Spirit of the Living God living in
you? He will never leave you. The
Holy Spirit will lead you along the
best pathway for your life, to
comfort, encourage, protect, pray for,
teach, enable, and pour out his loving
favor and mercy. You don’t want
my spirit when you can have all that
just by asking Christ into your heart.

My challenge to all of you, family
and friends is to get involved in
telling others about Jesus. Help them
grow. Make an eternal difference in
the lives of other people. Everyone
is going to spend an eternity in
heaven or hell. God will use you to
be a part in their choice. So go tell
the good news.

Bye for now. Jesus is waiting to
welcome each and every one of you.
I’ll be waiting too. Look on my
death just the way Jesus does. He
says, “Precious in the sight of the
Lord is the death of his saints.” You
know why it’s so precious? It’s
because He gets to finally welcome
another one that He came here to die
for, another one who believes Him.
That delights His heart. He calls it
precious. That means you can look
at my death as precious. See you.
Bye for now.” [*]

I do not know about you, but that tells me a lot about the heart of the man it was my privilege to know and call my step-dad. Like someone remarked, “Leave it to Fred to get the last word and that word was the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He died like he lived, sharing the Gospel, a servant of God.”

Fred M. Server
June 15, 1927 - March 14, 2007
The Godliest man I have ever known!
I pray that I can be half the man, the servant of God that he was.

[*] Fred recorded this video a few months ago (January 12, 2007), to ensure that he had the strength to do it well.

- Special thanks to my sister-in-law Robin for putting together the slide show (from all the family’s pictures) and recording and editing Fred’s final message.

Graduated to Glory!

Fred, my step-dad, has ended his fight with cancer. He has died. The conversations we had at New Years were the last face to face in depth conversations that he and I shared. We did talk on the phone during the intervening months and I was able to make it across the country be with him at the end. We (my mom, one of my brothers, and my step-sister) were with him, surrounding him and lifting him in prayer. His long battle ended with a gentle sigh. The last words he spoke in this world were, “I love you (all).”

His obituary as published, is:
--

Fredrick M. Server
Fred Server’s pilgrimage on earth ended Wednesday, March 14, 2007. His Father called him home. A celebration of his life and death will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, March 24, 2007 at Village Baptist Church. In lieu of flowers the family requests that gifts be made to the Village Baptist missions programs.
--
The newspaper uses a whopping eleven lines, four sentences to declare the end of Fred’s life. The obituary before his is 33 lines, the one after is 45 lines for a family-less indigent hospice patient. Some of the obituaries are more than 100 lines.
Why is this important? There have been some ‘complaints’ that Fred’s obituary did not do him ‘justice’. Never mind the fact that Fred wrote it himself. A careful look at his obituary comparatively tells one everything they need to know about Fred.

You see, the other obituaries tell us what jobs the people had, where they lived, where they were born, how they died, who they left behind, who in their families were already gone and a myriad of mundane details.

There is nothing that tells us of the ‘heart’ of the person. Fred’s obituary tells us where his heart was. He knew he was a ‘pilgrim’ (Hebrews 11:13-16, 1 Peter 2:11). This world was not Fred’s home (and home is where the heart is). Fred knew who his Father was (Romans 8:14-16, Galatians 4:4-6). Finally, we know by his request to support missions that Fred continues earnestly to want to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ to everyone.

What more do we need to know about Fred?

Okay, today I will tell you one more thing about Fred.

Fred spent time studying the Word daily (Acts 17:11). He recorded his ‘Quiet Time’ in a journal. He was studying the book of Job – an upright man stricken as a testament to God. The last words Fred wrote, “‘I know that my Redeemer lives... one day I will see him face to face’ [1]– The hand of God has put this cancer upon me. I don’t understand why and I don’t have to. I want to say with Job, ‘Tho he slay me, yet will I trust HIM!’” [2]


[1] Job 19:25-27
[2] Job 13:15

Conversations with Fred cont 4

part 4

“I am truly blessed…”

This again, is coming from a man that knows with certainty he is dying. He knows that it will be a painful and unpleasant death. Why does he feel so blessed?

He started ‘counting his blessings’. [This list is not complete; it is a partial list of the salient points. It is also an incomplete list of verses he quoted supporting each blessing.]

“I have gotten to live the promises of the risen Christ.”

-“Every step of the way I have been comforted.”

John 14:16-18, “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.”

2 Corinthians 1:3-4, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”

-“Every day I have been given the strength to carry on - even when tempted to have a bad attitude, or rail against God, or just give up.”

1 Corinthians 10:13, “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.”

Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

Isaiah 40:31, “But those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.”

-“God has blessed me by giving me the opportunity to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with so many. They see my ‘hope’ and want to know why.”

Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.”

1 Peter 3:15, “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;”

- Fred is a humble man. He had a hard time expressing this blessing. He cried tears of joy as he relates how blessed he feels to know some of the fruit of labor. Fred knows John 4:36-37, “And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’” However, God’s gift to Fred has been to often share in the effects of his ministry. In other words, Fred is constantly told by others how his life, testimony, faith, and his sharing of his faith has affected others positively for Christ.
Back in the beginning of 2006, (Running Out of Time) Fred challenged ‘us’ to reach one person positively for Christ. What Fred never expected was how many people would come to him and tell him how HE had influenced them for Christ. He cries for joy every time someone tells him that - he cries a lot. [Fred understands the eternal implications of just one person coming into the family. In Luke 15:10, Jesus tells us, “Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

What a joy it is to share in that joy with Fred.

-Fred concluded counting his blessings with a passage Loren shared in the comments of “Conversations with Fred part 3”

“For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. 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 the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.” (2 Tim 4:6-8)

Fred’s final thoughts in that conversation were simple.

“While I am here, I will continue in earnest. But, my bags are packed, I am ready to go whenever He calls.”

That is our challenge - Fred’s godly life, Christ-like attitude, commitment to a conviction evidenced by conduct (faith) - are examples we can emulate.

The question we need to ask ourselves is, “Can we make the same claim: ‘While I am here, I will continue in earnest. But, my bags are packed, I am ready to go whenever He calls’?”

Conversations with Fred cont. 3

Part 3

Fred continued with, “The coming days are filled with hope.” Now that is an odd statement for one that has exhausted every medical option and is dying. What on Earth, could Fred possibly be hoping or hopeful about?

Merriam Webster online dictionary defines hope as:

1: to desire with expectation of obtainment

2: to expect with confidence

Jack Terry told us (previously) hope is expectations from experience.

1 Peter 3:15, “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the HOPE that is in you with meekness and fear.” What is this ‘hope’ that Fred has (and we should have)?

Fred looks with the expectation of obtainment and expects with confidence what comes next.

James 1:2-4 says, “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”

Fred expects with confidence that his trials, perseverance, and patience is making him more Christ-like. He knows the ‘good’ has resulted in more names in the book of life because of his testimony.

That is not the end of Fred’s hope. He expects deliverance from a cancer ridden body. No, he does expect a miraculous cure. Fred’s conduct shows his commitment to the unshakeable faith he has that the promises of the Bible are true.

How does he know? 1 John 5:11-13, “And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life…”

Fred KNOWS he has eternal life and more, 1 Corinthians 15:52-54 tells him, “…the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.””

Fred knows that he will be, in that moment changed. His body corrupted by cancer, will change into a body that will never know sickness, will never know cancer, and will never again know death. Fred expects with confidence - Hopes - for that day. He has faith.

He is committed to the conviction that he will one day be removed from this world into a place where he will NEVER experience those things he lives with everyday, again.

Fred finished our conversation with one more gem, “I am truly blessed.”