This is a recording made at the funeral
of Brother Austin Sparks on the 19th of
April 1971.
We apologize for the noise on the tape.
After the service, the recorder was taken to
the graveside.
We are sorry that the tape ran out
just before the end of the prayer.
This was followed with the singing of the
chorus, Living He Loved Me.
Shall we look up to our breasts?
I am the Almighty.
I am
what thou seest with
a garment down to the foot, a girdle
bound to the breast, and
I have here
gathered in thy presence at a time when
lovely words are in
the arms of the Father.
In his early teenage years, ye have been
to the world, and
have come to learn, and
what ye got, to
see more of our own to others, that
we could point back to some I
had a.
The world would not, I am
not sure, but many in the Christian world
would.
It is spiritual success to have been able
for one another, we
ourselves, to try and do it.
Some who would know the
eternal reckoning of our own people, none
of us could.
In our age, I remind you of the
next wonderful,
to know the secret,
the bloodiest, from
that that God
has in no light to record, in our
little smaller family meetings here on the Lord's
day, without
being reminded.
No other place is surely
as well from the possibility of our
conscience in
a world which has been, and
much that has happened, many
have reason to thank God for answers present
to our Lord on his throne, the
point to which our brother was led just
now, and one more.
Sometimes it is said of them, I
do, I through, even
to the last, not but 1970,
certainly those who were, and
some of us once, I am not sure
that I know why, but
as far as to give well,
whether that be so or not, we
do know the word
from the one, to all our hearts, of
all his precious, sweetest, brightest, our
thoughts coming
down to us, I
come.
When you say, that
you'll be good, I'll
ask him, oh my God, when I am
old, Christ
our Lord, who shall change the body of
our humiliation, that it may be like unto
the body of his glory, according to the
power whereby he is able, our
gracious God, that all my ways are right,
we thank thee that for so many years
thou didst lead thy servant in thine own
right way, for mercies granted to him, we
praise the Lord, for sustaining grace, for over
ruling providence, for thee daily, hourly, for
all the paths, a rich path, a fruitful
path, for it all we thank the name
of the Lord, and over it we write,
as for God, his way is perfect, and
this his servant would add, he made my
way perfect, we praise thee that we are
gathered here to rejoice in the fact of
our brother being in thy presence, we have
read of the end of these troublesome things
of our poor world, there'll be no more,
no more pain, thank God, brother Sparks will
have no more pain, no more sorrow, no
more night, only blessing, only internal enjoyment of
serving the Lord and seeing his face, oh
how we praise thee, for Lord we feel
the challenge of eternity, oh how we praise
thee, for Lord we feel the challenge of
eternity, coming to our own hearts, as we
stand around this open gravesite, we are made
to remember how frail we are, the fewness
of our days, the nearness of eternity for
each one of us, and our prayer would
be, oh Lord, that thou wouldst lead us
in thine everlasting way, saving us from ways
of grief, and leading us up to that
glorious, holy city of thine, where all is
light, and all is love, we commend to
thee, our mourning friend, thou hast said, blessed
are they that mourn, for they shall be
comforted, and while we thank God for the
comfort and help, until now, we pray for
the days that lie ahead, that goodness and
mercy shall follow and surround them also, all
the days of their life, and we thank
God that they and our brother, and our
dear ones who've gone before, and we here
by thy grace can say, and I shall
dwell in the house of the Lord.
The memorial service for our brother Austin Sparks
was held on Saturday the first of May,
and a large number of people from throughout
Great Britain and the continent were present.