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"And it is certain we can carry nothing out. The Lord gave. The Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. You may be seated.

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They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint. [ Music ] [music]

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All our sins to free to bear. What a privilege to carry Everything to God in prayer. Oh, the things we often parted Oh, the days that made me yearn

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♪ All we have we do the very least ♪ ♪ Everything to God is fair ♪ ♪ Every triumph a temptation ♪ ♪ In the light of day ♪

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♪ Peace has no danger ♪ ♪ We shall never be afraid ♪ ♪ Gave it to the Lord in prayer ♪ ♪ God behind the friends of Abraham ♪

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♪ Who with all of sorrow shared ♪ [choir singing] The scripture for today is in Revelation 21, 1 through 4. And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were

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passed away, and there was no more sea. And I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, "Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall

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be his people, and God himself shall be with them and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away. Let us bow our heads in a word of prayer. Jesus our Heavenly

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Father we are thankful that you have given us life in the very midst of death that all around us that there is death and decay but yet you have let our golden moments roll on a while longer and we are very thankful. We pray our Heavenly Father that you would bless the bereaved families. May they know that

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this is just a celebration that we are now getting ready for that great celebration and that getting up morning we don't know when we don't know the circumstances but we know that that time shall come we can rest in the assurance that all of us shall meet together and sing and that great song praising God

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how we got over thank you amen [ Background Sounds ] [ Music ] [ Music ]

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♪ I want to wander ♪ ♪ Consider all ♪ ♪ The world by and of me ♪ ♪ I see the stars ♪

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♪ I hear the rolling thunder ♪ ♪ I now know why the earth, the earth is gray ♪ ♪ In things I've done, I say it all to thee ♪ ♪ How great Thou art, how great Thou art ♪

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♪ Thou break our hearts ♪ ♪ Then sing my song ♪ ♪ For there is God to me ♪ ♪ Thou break our hearts ♪

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♪ Thou break our bones ♪ ♪ In Christ shall come ♪ ♪ With shout of adoration ♪ ♪ Come take me home ♪

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♪ Where joy shall fill my heart ♪ ♪ Then I shall know ♪ ♪ In humble adoration ♪ ♪ And there proclaim ♪

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♪ Thy God of grace above ♪ ♪ In things I know ♪ ♪ My Savior God to be ♪ I'll raise my heart, I'll raise my heart,

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And sing my song, and say it all to Thee. [Music] [ Pause ] >> My Jesus, as thou wilt, though seen through many a tear,

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let not my style hope grow dim or disappear. Since thou on earth hast wept and sorrowed all for long, if I must weep with thee, my Lord, thy will be done. Once again in love and infinite wisdom, God has sent the deaf angel into Ebenezer, this

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time releasing into a new and larger life the genuine spirit of our beloved friend and member, Sister Nalene Tolliver. As we assemble here today to celebrate the life of Sister Tolliver and Ebenezer Baptist Church, we are reminded of her love and devotion, her faithfulness and untiring efforts towards the church and its auxiliaries until her health fails. Sister

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Mrs. Tolliver prepared for life and death at an early age, for she professed her hope in our Lord and Savior. February 3, 1935, under the pastorage of the late Reverend J.C. Lott, she was reared in a Christian home and served as a member of Sunday School, the Senior

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missionary society, the choir, and many activities promoted by the church. She, like Paul, was persuaded that neither life, nor death, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be be able to separate her from the love of God, which is in Jesus Christ our Lord.

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However, because life on earth comes to a close in God's own time, we are faced with the inevitability of death. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth him should not perish but have an everlasting life. Whereas God in his

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infinite wisdom has called for mortality to immortality our friend and co-laborer and whereas we bear humble submission to the will of God and give thanks to him for sharing her life with Ebenezer and the community resolved that we extend our heartfelt sympathy to the members of the bereaved family and commend them to

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the God whose grace is sufficient to sustain them in their sorrow and loss. Resolve further that the date of her demise be noted in the records of the church and the resolution be be given into the hand of a loved one. Humbly submitted, Ebenezer Baptist Church,

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the Reverend Dr. Marvin C. Griffin, pastor, Bavaria C. Phillips, clerk. (soft piano music) [MUSIC PLAYING]

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[ Music ] [music] ♪ Friendly Jesus, hear me please ♪ ♪ Daily walking close to thee ♪

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♪ Let it be, dear Lord, let it be ♪ I am weak but Thou art strong. Jesus, keep me, Thou alone. How this burden is high and tall.

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♪ Where I'm more than he was close to me ♪ ♪ When I feel I belong ♪ ♪ I'm more evil to be alone ♪ ♪ Guide me, tempt me, sway me, Lord ♪

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♪ To thy kingdom come, to thy shore ♪ ♪ Just a blossom, walk with me ♪ ♪ Praising Jesus, if you please ♪ ♪ Daily walking close to thee ♪

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♪ Gladly to be, dear Lord, glad is to be ♪ ♪ Glad is the King ♪ - As we gather to celebrate the life of Sister Nalene Tolliver,

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we come in this way to remember her deeds deeds of love and mercy, we come to receive comfort through God's Word and to be strengthened through the abiding assurance of the hope of the resurrection through our Lord Jesus Christ.

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At such a time as this, we are prone to focus our attention upon the present and upon the past, but I should like for us to think of the future, and there is a word which comes to us through the prophetic vision of John when he was on the Isle of Patmos. The Lord pushed back the curtain and gave him the privilege of peeping

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into eternity. And this is what he said in the record of the Revelation, which we have in the 22nd chapter, the first and second verses. And he showed me the river of the water of life, shining like crystal, coming out from

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the throne of God and of the Lamb in the midst of the city street. And on either side of the river was the tree of life, which produced twelve kinds of fruit, rendering its fruit according to each month. And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations."

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The subject, "The tree on both sides of the river." The tree on both sides of the river. It seems to me that John's vision of the Holy City contains a special message for us in such a time as this, for his vision appears in the midst of suffering, in the midst of

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sorrow, in the midst of oppression and persecution, as well as loneliness. Existence on this planet involves solitary life. It involves learning to travel alone. It's being a lonely traveler on the upward way. We come into this world one by one and we must make our decisions one by one for ourselves

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and we die in the same manner. So to live the Christian life is to have a hard time, but it is a good life, because of the fact there is the tree of life on both sides of the river. John says, first of all, that he showed me the river of the water of life shining like

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a crystal, for life is like a river. A river is always on the move. It's on its way somewhere. Sister Nalene Tolliver's Life is like a River, moving from one stage to another, from infancy childhood, youth, maturity, and then on from this earthly scene to that which is beyond. So like a rivet, as we think of her life, it just keeps on moving. The

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The river John saw is in the holy city. It flows from the throne of God and the land. It is the river of life. The life of the faithful is the life of God.

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The river of life comes forth from the rule of God in human history. The history of Sister Nalene Tolliver is like the story of the movement of God in human affairs. And you see, the river does not serve itself.

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She celebrated her life today because she did not spend her life serving herself. The river, you see, waters the ground. It provides the necessary moisture which is essential to growth. The river John sees is in the holy city above this earthly scene.

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So he sees this as he looks at the human struggle after the battle has been fought, after the victory has been won, after all has been said and done, and he gets a glimpse of the heavenly city, he sees here the river, a river that does not exist for itself alone. So as I said, Sister Taliba's life was not her own.

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She served as a mother in the family. She served as a member of the church, as a member of this choir. And the fact that she identified herself with the family of God here at Ebenezer is significant because the mission of the family of God is to serve others.

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do not exist for ourselves alone, but for others. But here is a another statement that he makes here in this passage as he gives us a description of his vision. He says that there was on either side of the river the tree of life, the tree of life. In other words, The tree of life is on both sides of the river.

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We all know the story of the tree of life that was situated in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve were instructed that they were to eat freely of the fruit from all of the trees, save one. That was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

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tree of life was situated in the midst of the garden. Well a tree bears fruit, and so her life is like a tree in that she has borne fruit, fruit in the life of the family, fruit in the life of the church. But God has provided a life-giving tree on this side of the river.

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There's a story concerning three trees in the forest, and each of the three trees offered up a prayer as to what they would like to happen to them when the time came when they would be cut down and taken away from that forest. One tree prayed that it might be that he would be made, so to speak, into a palace.

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was the prayer of that tree. Another tree prayed that it might be possible to be made into a ship and sail the seven seas. And the third tree prayed that the tree might remain in the forest and point heavenward toward God, each of the three trees prayed their prayers.

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In the course of time, the woodman came into the forest and chopped down the trees. The tree that prayed to be made into a palace was not made into a palace, but was made into a stable in which the babe of the world was born, that Bethlehem babe. And the other tree was not made into a ship as it was hoped to sail the seven seas, but

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a small ship that sailed upon the Sea of Galilee. And there stood a young man upon the deck of that ship as he spoke to the multitudes, saying to them, "I am come that you might have life and that you might have it abundantly. And the third tree was made into a cross, and there men nailed to it that young man

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who is honored as the loveliest personality that the world has ever known. And ever since that time, the cross has been pointing me into God. And so, the tree that is on this side of the river that carries us on the other side is the cross.

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What we experience now in sorrow is a cross. The cross is an emblem of suffering, emblem of sorrow, the cross. And yet somehow it is the means through which God has seemed fit to provide the redemption of the world through the cross.

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It points us to God. It is, you see, through our redemptive suffering that we draw near unto God, and it is through our acceptance of sorrow and suffering in a redemptive way that we come to experience the life of God.

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So that's the tree that is on both sides of the river, the tree of life, God's redeeming grace. His love not only meets us through the cross on this side, but it carries us on the other side.

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on both sides of the river. And he says here that the tree bears all manner of fruit, it produces its fruit for each month, 12 months, and in its leaves there is the healing of the nation, 12 months. And we have our seasons. What I might say to this family here today that this is your winter season, season of death. The

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coldness, the draftness of winter is associated with death, and so this is the winter season. But there is this tree that bears fruit even in the winter season. It bears the fruit that enables us to have comfort and to be strengthened by the love of God even during the winter seasons. It's there. And you have

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the abiding assurance of knowing that if winter comes... [ Silence ]