“Forever with the Lord”, those were Conrad’s words about his father Alvin when he passed in 1971. I heard him say it in a sermon, “forever with the Lord”; and now it applies to him. – Mack Tomlinson
(Note: In order to shorten the video and avoid copyright infringements, the singing is not included.)
Mack Tomlinson: We welcome you to this special occasion, this special moment, as we come to give thanks to God for the life of Herbert Conrad Murrell of Bentley, Louisiana. He was born December 15th, 1928 in Bentley and went to be with his Lord February 23rd, 2018 at the age of 89 years, 2 months, and 8 days. He’s survived by his children Timothy Murrell and his wife Shirley, James Murrell and Cherry, Kenneth Murrell and Sylvia, William Murrell and Brenda, and Pamela Johnson and Dale. Step-children, Gary Gatch and Lynn, David Gatch and Melissa, Julia Cogan and Christopher, and Stephanie Holliday; 17 grandchildren, 17 great-grandchildren, a sister Glenda Landry and a host of other family members and friends. He was preceded in death by his first wife Eunice, his second wife, Grace Owens Gatch Murrell, his daughter-in-law, Kay Malone Murrell; his parents Alvin and Era Thompson Murrell, brothers Kerwin, Fred, and Waynon Murrell, and a sister, Lila Gayle Willingham.
“Forever with the Lord.” Those were Conrad’s words about his father Alvin when he passed in 1971. I heard him say it in a sermon joyfully, powerfully – “forever with the Lord.” And now it applies to him. To his father and his mother and his first wife Eunice and his second wife Grace, and now Conrad himself, forever with the Lord. “And I heard a voice from heaven saying, ‘write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. From now on, blessed indeed, says the Lord, that they may rest from their labors and their works do follow them.'” “A good name is to be chosen as better than precious ointment.”
So how can one describe Conrad Murrell? How would you describe what he was to you? Perhaps a beloved father or grandfather? A father in the faith? The greatest influence in your life? The deepest thinker and preacher you ever heard? A faithful brother and a true friend? Or, just a godly, humble man? He was one who carried the mark and fragrance of Christlikeness for over 65 years as a Christian. Mark LaCour, on his first trip to Bentley to meet his preacher he had heard of, said this, “I drove to nowhere to meet a man no one knew, who would become my father in the faith. That day changed everything. Who I would marry, what work I would do, the brethren I would come to love, how I would minister, and who this great God is that I would come to know more fully because of Conrad Murrell.” (Incomplete thought)
We could stay here till the end of March sharing memories. What single greatest memory do you have of Conrad’s life or ministry? Well, the first time I heard him preach was 1977 on a cassette tape. A friend gave me a cassette series called “Faith Cometh.” I was forever changed. First time I heard him in person was in Weatherford, Texas, in 1980. And then the last time I heard him preach was in St. Louis at his beloved friend Holmes Morris’ conference in April 2013. I, like many of you, remember many particular sermons that were life-changing. The Ruth series; the Sin of Jeroboam; the Passover series on redemption from Exodus; “Paul, a Pattern of Conversion,” Acts 26; the Mysteries of the Kingdom on the parables. Don Johnson said God gave His church a great gift when He gave us Conrad Murrell, with his unique ability to show us the difference between truth and popular error. I remember personal times in our home and his kindness and prayers for our children. And I remember him distinctly saying how children grow up too quickly and are soon gone. I remember a two-mile walk with him one morning when he was 84 over here at his house. He was walking so briskly, I could hardly keep up with him. I remember conversations on theology and sharing some of my views, hoping he would be impressed, or at least that he might agree. He wasn’t impressed. But he would begin graciously sharing the truth with me more, and insight and wisdom would flow, and I realized I had not seen as much as I had thought I’d seen. I remember his love for all his churches. Your churches. And many others he loved over the years. He always had his churches on his heart, and in his mind, and in his prayers.
We all remember how wonderfully he led the Bentley camps, and those afternoon Q&A’s. He would try to get you to ask questions and very few would ask questions, because they knew he was going to sum up at the end the things that we had said that were incorrect. In two sentences, he could just distill the gold from the moment. I, like so many many, greatly benefitted from his great wisdom and discernment, and his ability in giving out counsel. I once sought his counsel on a major decision in 2017. Several people affirmed my considering this choice. He alone said to me, ‘Don’t do it. I don’t think God’s in it.’ And he was right. I was spared a great mistake. I remember his humility. His simplicity of life. His honesty. His no sense of self-importance. His godliness, his sense of humor, his love for his wife, his children, his grandchildren. And, of course, I remember the power and the authority of his preaching.
Gary Gatch said this: “I remember vividly how his messages fed my soul. I had never experienced that before, but I had longed for it. I remember thinking that is what preaching should be – the heavenly power, the solid doctrinal content, the experiential reality, the accurate, deep theological understanding, coming under the anointing of the Holy Spirit like an irresistible force of awesome truth. When you heard Conrad preach regularly, it would hit you, it would slap you, it would startle you, surprise you, rattle you, even confuse you for a while. You’d go away saying now wait a minute. I thought I knew. I thought that… I’ve always believed… I’ve never heard such things before. That’s what his ministry would do to you. But in the coming days, a metamorphosis happened supernaturally in your life. You start being changed by the truth. You’re freed. You’re transformed. You begin to love the Bible more. You begin to have clarity on doctrines that you never were clear on before. You begin to love God’s people more. You begin to see salvation in a way never seen before. You begin to see this is a much bigger and bigger God and more glorious Christ than you’ve ever realized. And you even joyfully begin to realize the Holy Spirit is real and wonderful. Conrad’s ministry did that to hundreds, perhaps thousands. The force of truths by the Spirit through a man from Bentley. Unknown and yet well known.
Conrad and his friend Leonard Ravenhill stood alone in power in preaching above all others, in my opinion. And time fails us to share all that we remember and treasure, but an old Christian said of a godly friend of his who passed away, whose example and life was powerful. He said this. And I thought this applies to Conrad Murrell. “In a day of hustle and bustle and busy activity, it would do us well to study the life of one who stood in the midst of this world, but was not of this world, was never drawn into it and spent his life drawing others out of it into the joy which he himself so fully knew. In an age of false ideas and shallow hero worship, it is good to have seen one who took at his model the Son of God, and he knew above most what intimacy with God means in producing a true and fragrant life.” His dear friend Holmes Morris said of Brother Murrell, “Conrad saw and felt deeply that which was wrong with modern churches, and was not afraid to take a stand against error.” Well, that’s kind of an understatement. He writes a tract: “Mourn. God may hate you.”
Or I could mention others. “He was not afraid to take a stand against error. A man has to have the power of the Spirit of God upon him to have such a ministry for years.” Holmes Morris says, “I believe he had special gifts and anointing which became the key to his entire ministry. It has been said when a giant tree finally falls, it leaves an empty space in the sky. When God finally takes Conrad Murrell home to glory, it will certainly leave a huge empty space in our sky.” In the early years of his ministry, Conrad wrote a weekly column in the Colfax Chronicle called “Bread from the Book.” It was just devotional commentary on Psalms. And on Psalm 42, Conrad said this: “It is a terrifying experience to look around you and find yourself alone without anyone on earth to rescue you from peril, but it is a most wonderful and blessed reality when you lift your eyes above the land of the living, all of whom shall very soon die. It’s a blessed thing to lift your eyes to the eternal God whoever lives and to find Him to be your everlasting refuge.” Praise God for our dear brother.
Lynn Gatch: To the children: Herbert Conrad Murrell. Do you know him? Tell me. His name they did mention. Among the saints he did labor. With boisterous voice, he spoke His favor. I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live. He stood firm. His life the Lord did sieve. You’ve heard the power in which he did speak. Christ in His glory, and yet this man weak. No great man in his own stature. His Lord, his only pasture. Tell me you’ve heard. He didn’t speak his own name. The faith of the Son of God his only fame. A man remembered for his God. A testimony of where our Savior trod. Tell me they’ve told you about his great King. Tell me they’ve told you His praise to sing. Tell me they’ve told you about the kingdom he’ll inherit. Tell me they’ve told you, it’s not by his merit. Tell me they’ve told you, it should be yours. Tell me they’ve told you, Christ would open the doors. Tell me they’ve told you why he did preach. He could not contain the love he had for each. Tell me you’ve heard of the great God he should soon behold. Tell me you’ve heard of the riches he’s told. For his telling is past, but yours is not. Abound in what you’ve heard. Let it not rot. Children, speak. Love others to the end. For our great God a Savior did send. Tell me they’ve told you the power of obedience and humility. Tell me they’ve told you his peace and victory.
William Murrell: I am the youngest of five children. I was the baby. I was kind of apart from my brothers and sisters growing up. And I just wanted to share some of the things that I observed of my dad. You may not know. These are little things; small things. My dad had a little room. It was no larger than a small closet. He could barely fit the little desk in it. He had some homemade bookshelves. His library was in that bookshelf. Spurgeon. Wesley. Brainard. Josephus. See, those are some of the books I remember reading. Some of the scholarly, some of the sermons – Spurgeon’s sermons, he studied those very, very deeply. He was a big fan of the Reformation. That was the strongest part of his drive; formed in what occurred during the Reformation. A lot of the truths that he discovered, that God showed him, came from the teachings of these great preachers that taught during these times. But he would get up in the morning, and you wouldn’t see him. He would go to that room. He would not come out. You could hear him pray. You could hear him talk to God. That’s how he started his day every single day. On Monday’s, he didn’t eat. Monday was his fast day.
For most ministers that I’ve seen, their focus is on Sunday and Wednesday night, and maybe some business meetings in the church, but dad’s – what I saw was daily. I never saw him get mad at something that he shouldn’t have gotten mad at. He’s gotten mad at me. He got mad at a lot of things. But I never saw him get mad at a lot of things that we would have gotten mad at. Case in point: We lived on Hanley Loop. He stuck his hand underneath the lawn mower. And it split his fingers. And his vernacular was not extreme. What he said was not extreme. He very calmly called me over. I was seven years old. Called me over and said, “Billy, go get your mama.” That was it. Go get your mama. He knew he needed help. There was no point in saying anything else. His humor – he was a pragmatist. He was a sneaky, sneaky pragmatist when it came to work. Now, as a young man, I didn’t like to work too much. I worked very hard because my dad made me work, and I learned to work. He taught me to work. I remember this one particular time that I had discovered a few games at school, and one of them was pick-up-sticks. You remember pick-up-sticks? He said, “you want to play pick-up-sticks?” Yeah! We all know what happened next. I’m in the backyard or in the pasture picking up sticks. So, his humor was amazing.
He made up words. He made up words. But the one word that sticks with me is “stickability.” Stickability is your ability to finish whatever you start. That’s meant a lot to me in my life. I’d like to close with this one thing that I remember from one of his sermons. He said as an analogy to make people realize how small and insignificant we are in this world; he said the next time you start thinking yourself high and mighty; next time you start thinking well about yourself, go get a bucket. Fill it with water. Stick your arm in the bucket. Slosh that water around as much as you want to for as long as you want to. And when you pull your arm out of that bucket, the hole that you leave in that bucket is the impact that you left on this world when you leave. That’s the truth. My dad’s impact was not of his own doing. It was because he made himself an instrument. That’s all. Thank you.
Kelley (granddaughter): I haven’t had the honor of sitting under as many of my papa’s sermons as many of you have. I’ve sat through some. But, that is an honor. Because of papa, my dad was always a pastor. I do remember when I was young going to some of his revivals and camp meetings from time to time. Dad would bring us. When I was four years old, the very first song I ever sang in church was “He’s Still Working On Me.” And I know that I never went to any of my Papa’s camp meetings or revivals that he didn’t request that I sing that song. And at the time, it was just a childhood song. I’m not going to say it didn’t mean anything to me. It did. But, you know, you think of it kind of like, “This Little Light of Mine,” or just a childhood song. But through the years, it has grown to mean more and more to me. And I find that the lyrics are applicable to any age no matter how young or old. Because we are a work in progress always. There’s always more growing that we can do in the Lord.
And I know that that was part of my Papa’s message to all that he shared Jesus with. And there was never a time – not one – even as recent as Christmas day when we sat at the dinner table and Papa sat to my left at the head of the table. He would always say, “He’s still working on me, is He still working on you?” Always. Always. And that was the last time that he said it to me. And today, the song, though it began as just a childhood song means more to me than it ever has before, and I know that it always will. I’m not sure of the date, but it was the day after Christmas when he was put into the hospital. In the weeks following, we went to visit him in the hospital, and he slept the whole time. He didn’t wake up to visit. And we were getting ready to go. Pam was there. My dad was there. My husband, Kevin, and myself were there. And we stayed and visited for a little while, and before we left, I just felt led to lean over and to sing it into his ear. And I asked which was his good ear and I leaned over and I sang it in his ear. And he started kind of moving around in the bed. And he opened his eyes and they filled up with tears. Because I think we were questioning if he was responsive or hearing us. But he definitely heard it and he opened his eyes and they welled up with tears. And he started moaning as if to say it. He couldn’t get the words out, but I know that they were there.
So, Kaylee and I are going to sing it today. If you know it, sing along with us. I wanted to read a Scripture. Philippians 1:6 “Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” Praise the Lord. On February 23rd, Papa drew his last breath. And he was complete. But up until that moment, he chose to allow Jesus to continue to work on him throughout his whole life. And so I challenge all of us, I know if he was here and could say one more thing to me, he would say, “He’s finished with me, but is He still working on you?”
Mack Tomlinson: Let’s join our hearts in prayer. Our gracious God and Father in heaven, we praise Thy holy name. And we are very thankful today for the grace of God that came to Conrad Murrell in saving him as a young adult, so suddenly, so powerfully; and for calling him into the ministry of the gospel of the grace of God. Lord, thank You for the grace that’s come to him and through him, to his family and to so many. We’re grateful for the life and ministry of your servant. Lord, many of us could say in our own lives, there’s not arisen in all our lives a prophet like this Moses, whom the Lord knew so closely. Or like Elisha, a holy man who passed by our lives continually. Like a David who served his own generation in the will of God. And now has died in a good old age, full of days, riches, and honor. Full of faith and the Holy Spirit. And like Simeon has now departed in peace. Father, Your Word says the day of death is better than the day of one’s birth. Better to go to the house of mourning than the house of feasting. And the living take it to heart. Far better, said Paul, to depart and be with Christ, because that is gain. So, Lord, today comfort every heart here. We feel like there will be a deep hole in our water bucket for a long time. It’s there. A big space in our sky. This one who’s now with You. Thank You for the fruit that abides. Thank You for the legacy, for the memories. Lord, Your Word says the name of the wicked will rot, but the memory of the righteous is blessed. So comfort every heart. Strengthen every soul. Touch every tear. Make us all more faithful Christians, not only because we had Conrad touch us in our journey. Make us more faithful now in his death, more like him, and ultimately, Lord, more like our Savior. We thank You, Lord, for that pure river of the water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. Lord, in the midst of the street on either side of the tree of life. And Lord, we thank You there, there will be no more curse, but the throne of God and the Lamb shall be in it, and Your servants will serve You. And they shall see Your face. And Your name will be on their foreheads. And there’s no night there. No need for candle or light of the sun, for the Lord God giveth them light, and they shall reign forever and ever. And He said these sayings are faithful and true. Behold, I come quickly. Blessed is he who keeps the sayings of the prophecy of this book. Lord, we bless Your name this day. We worship You in this hour. And we’re very, very grateful from our hearts for all Your mercies that You’ve shed abroad through such a life. In the sure and mighty name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.
Mark LaCour: There’s an old saying that God buries His workers, but doesn’t bury His work. But a work that is never buried works off of the memory of the workers that are. And one of those such workers is H. Conrad Murrell. In Ecclesiastes 7, we’ve referred to it a few times already, it says in v. 1, “A good name is better than a good ointment, and the day of one’s death is better than the day of one’s birth. It is better to go to a house of mourning, (here) than to go to a house of feasting because that is the end of every man and the living takes it to heart. Sorrow is better than laughter, for when a face is sad, a heart may be happy. The mind of the wise is in the house of mourning, while the mind of fools is in the house of pleasure.” Verse 1 of Ecclesiastes 7 talks about a good name, and how a good name is better than a precious ointment. And of course, you kind of wonder why there’s a comparison between an ointment and a good name. And of course, back in the day, when a baby was born, depending on the wealth of the family, they would anoint the baby with ointment. And so, as he’s making this comparison – Solomon here writing Ecclesiastes – he’s drawing these contrasts when it comes to wisdom it isn’t always found in the conventional kind of way. Many times, it’s found in contrasts where you have a good name – a good name – not just a name you’re given at birth, but a good name. And it’s better than that ointment that you were given at birth. And that’s why he says a little bit later on in v. 1 that a good name translates also into pleasant expiration dates. They go together.
So December 15th, 1928 was the day Conrad was born. According to Ecclesiastes 7, February 23rd, 2018 is a better day. In fact, he celebrated that birthday 89 times and that one day in February is worth all the more than that one day in December combined. Because that’s what the text says. They don’t compare in value. So what makes the day of one’s death a better day? You’ve got to be asking the question to yourself as you sit here in the classroom, God says, in Ecclesiastes 7, which is the house of mourning. Will my day of death be better than my birthday? Really, the only way you can answer that question is the first part of the verse: Do I have a good name? We don’t really care about the ointment you might be having in your storage pantry. It’s the good name.
So what makes February 23rd, 2018 a better day than December 15th, 1928? Well, there’s a few things according to the text. For starters, not everybody has a better day on the day of their death. I think you know that. On that day in December, when Conrad was given his name by his mom and dad, Adolf Hitler was given a name on the day of his birth. Everything being equal, on the day of their deaths, something has taken a shift, hasn’t it? Because your name identifies you with your character and what you have done or what you haven’t done. A good name isn’t a catchy name.
You’ve got people today that try to name their kids in such a way that they stand out. Like Mr. and Mrs. Aire who named their son “Billion.” We want our son to stand out. We’re going to name him Billion. Oh, he’ll stand out all right. So it’s not just a catchy name. But it’s not even a great name. He doesn’t say “a great name.” He says, “a good name.” You’ve got a lot of great names out there that won’t be found in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Thomas Edison had a great name. In fact, he was called “America’s inventor.” The greatest inventor America had. But he was a naturalist. Einstein. Everybody knows who Einstein is. And he worshiped the god of Spinosa the philosopher. He doesn’t have a good name. A great one among men. Among scientists. Among philosophers. But the day of his death is not better than the day of his birth. Because it’s not a good name.
Proverbs 10:7 says, “The memory of the righteous is a blessing.” It’s a blessing to us. Knowing who Conrad was, reading his books, listening to his sermons, seeing pictures, telling stories – they’re meant to encourage us. And they do. As they all focus toward that name above every name, Jesus Christ. See, if your name doesn’t dovetail into that direction, you don’t have a good name. And it’s not going to be a good day when the expiration date comes for you. Now, this is just what the text says. Do you ever wonder why you’re even given a name in the first place? A name identifies you. It makes you part of a society. It tells the community around you that you exist and you’re an individual. You give babies names. They don’t want you naming fetuses, because that would make them valuable. That would make them a person. That would give them rights. That would somehow elevate them into the community. But we’re all given names. We’re given names for a reason. And God calls us by name. The very essence of what it means to be human means that we have this naming function that we see in Adam in the garden, for example. He names the animals. He names them because that’s what they are and God says, “name the animals.” Because God’s given him a name. That’s how he can name Eve and say who she is. Not just a proper name, “Eve,” but her function and her identity. We do that. It’s called dominion. And you have a name. But the question this morning is will it be a good name? We celebrate Conrad’s life because he had a good name. His name’s found in the Lamb’s Book of Life. There are many names, names that you know, that will not be found in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Well, if you need an example, Caitlin Jenner will not be found in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Bruce Jenner might be. That’s just an example. It’s not a good name. You can change it. You can nickname it. You can make it catchy. You can do something among men and be great, but if it isn’t good, and the righteous are blessed by it, and Christ is glorified in it, it’s not a good name. And the day of one’s death is not going to be better than the day of one’s birth.
So how is this day, February 23rd, a better day than the day of Conrad’s birth celebrated 89 times? Well, the most obvious way it’s better – it’s better for Conrad. Think about what that day meant for him. It wasn’t like a birthday party and celebrating and blowing out candles and opening up a few presents. Think about how Conrad entered the world on the day of his birth. Let’s compare the two days. On December 15th, he entered the world under the wrath of God according to Ephesians 2. He entered heaven under the grace of God in nothing but praise and worship to the Lamb. I think that’s a better day. He comes in crying. He goes out praising. Surrounded by sinners and a world of demons and depravity, and according to Romans 8, futility. And he enters a world of completion, inheritance. That work, we heard sung, in Philippians 1:6 is done. It’s completed. He’s complete. He’s entered into his inheritance. That’s a good day. The book he writes, “Faith Cometh,” it’s sight cometh. There’s no more salvation when, it’s salvation now. These are realities that our brother not just has experienced on that day, but that’s for all of us who have a good name. His fight ended. His race concluded. His cross exchanged. A name that was written on the Savior’s hand – Isaiah 49:16. Inscribed in the palm of His hand it says. Inscribed in the Lamb’s Book of Life. He’s now one with the name above all names. He’s one with his Savior.
So it’s not only better for Conrad, it’s also better for us. Better for us. Wait a minute. That doesn’t make a lot of sense. I mean, I thought we were praying that he would live on. You pray for your loved ones. You don’t want to see them die and leave and depart from you, but it’s better. Even for us left behind. How is it better for us? Being sad isn’t the same thing as being worse off. The heart can be sad, it says, and there can be laughter in the heart. We don’t mourn like the world who has no hope. It’s better for us because, as it says in Hebrews 13, we can follow his conduct, imitate his faith – leaders among us, the writer tells us. Observe their conduct. Imitate their faith. Well, his conduct all the way till the day he died was faithfulness. You need to imitate that kind of faith. That’s better for us. He didn’t back out at the last hundred yards of the marathon. That’s a testimony for us. It’s a testimony knowing that God can take a man made out of clay like us, same frailties and weakness, and bring him across Jordan. That’s a good thing. He can turn around and say I’m about to die. You watch me die and you follow my example. You need me to die, so you can follow my example. Now that’s a leader. Reminds me of Bob Jennings making his own coffin. Constructing it. Who does that? Leaders saying I’m ready to go. You watch me make this. You learn from me. Like Paul would say, “follow my example.” We need leaders like that who can face death; that have no fear of death, as it says. We’re not enslaved as it says in Romans 8. You cry, “Abba, Father;” you can’t cry “scary, scary” when it comes to death. No. That’s the testimony. So it’s better for us that Conrad leaves us richer because of these things. Remember his legacy of how he freely gave. How he judiciously spoke. Sometimes you couldn’t pry a word out of him. Sometimes. But that’s a testimony that he leaves behind. He passionately preached, and he unconditionally loved.
But lastly, it’s not only a better day for Conrad, and a better day for us, ironically, it’s a better day for God. Wait, how can it be a better day for God? There’s no better and worse for God. He’s perfect, right? Exactly. We know that. But God says in Psalm 116:15, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His godly ones.” God says last Friday, He had a precious moment. Friday. That was God’s precious moment. He says that. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His godly ones. Something changed on the part of God and Conrad last Friday, that will change with you on the day of your death. The intercession of Christ is complete for our brother in the earthly body. He enters into the joy of his Master. Our sympathetic High Priest – there’s no sympathy anymore with Conrad there. He’s perfect and complete. He’s not entering into that type of necessity from the High Priest in the earthly body. It was the testimony of what Christ did on the cross with Conrad’s sins in taking them away and taking away in propitiation the wrath of God, and God making those promises to be faithful to the end, God was vindicated on that day. I was faithful to the end with My own. I kept My own to the end, as Christ prays in John 17. I kept this one till the end. And I am testifying to all the world that I kept him till the end. That was a better day for God. He certifies He’s faithful to His own people for His own purposes and for His own cause. Better for Conrad, better for us, better for God. If you don’t have a good name, I guess you better hope you had a good ointment. Which isn’t going to prove effectual on that day.
Jesus had a name at birth. “You shall call His name Jesus for He will save His people from their sins.” The baby in the manger didn’t save anybody. Not yet. You know how many Jesus’s there were running around in Israel in those days? It was a common name. It’s a derivative of Joshua. Hundreds of Jewish children named Jesus. But at the end of His life, He had a name no one else had: Jesus Christ. The Messiah. He had to learn to become that faithful High Priest. You don’t become that in the manger. You do earn those stripes when you say, “It is finished,” at the cross. That’s a good name. The name above all names. At the name of Jesus Christ, men are saved. They call upon the name of the Lord and are saved. What kind of power does a name like that have? The name of Jesus Christ. That’s a good name. A name that demons fear. A name above every name.
So, I close with this. Do you have a good name? Good names also have good reservations in heaven already made. Made in the Lamb’s Book of Life. If the only place your name is recorded is on your birth certificate, your name will not be found on that day. Because on that day as it says in Revelation 20, “And they looked, and his name was not recorded in the Lamb’s Book of Life.” Or, his name was recorded in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Your name. It identifies who you are. It doesn’t have to be catchy, and it doesn’t have to be great. But it has to be tied and surrounded and dovetailed into the name above all names – Jesus Christ – for it to be a good name. And you know when it’s a good name, it says in Revelation 2, He’ll give you a new name. Imagine that. A new name. And it won’t have a last name that identifies me with the tribe of LaCour, and identifies me specifically out of the tribe of LeCour – Mark. And I’ve got a middle name to make sure in case there’s two Mark’s, I’m Mark Keith LaCour. No, it won’t be like that. It will be a new name. A new name that He gives to His own. His own children. A name that incorporates His name with it. Abram wasn’t always going to stay Abram, right? He was going to be called “Abraham.” And the “-ham” part is part of Yahweh when you pronounce it in the Hebrew. And God says you’re going to take in part of My name. And you’re going to walk the rest of your life – this is what you’re going to be called. No, you’re not going to be called Saul. You’re going to be called Paul. No, Cephas, you’re going to be called Peter. What are they going to call you? What is that new name going to be? Do you have one? You can’t get a new one, unless you have a good one. And good ones are found recorded in the Lamb’s Book of Life by the Lamb. Conrad Murrell had a good name. He wore many hats, but it’s that name. Will that name be remembered? Of course. Will yours be remembered?
Let’s ask the Lord and pray. Father, we ask, help us in this, Lord, in Your Word. We seek to lift up Jesus Christ. We ask Father, that You would bring Your Word to bear. Cause us, Father, to have a good name. Not just simply the names our parents gave us, but the name You give us. One of Your own. One of the Lamb’s elect. He died on the cross for our sins. We love You and we thank You. In Christ’s great name we pray, Amen.
[Unknown speaker]: I want to read a passage out of 2 Timothy. We want to listen close to the words. And as we read this, it is Paul. But I think it’s worthy that Conrad Murrell can say these words. At that time while he was still waiting his time. He says here: “For I am now ready…” I am ready. And he’d want to know, are we ready? Now remember, one time he said, pulled between two – whether to stay or not stay, it’d be better to be there than here, but he stayed because God still wanted him here. We should be content with the will of God to be here as long as God wants us. And Brother Conrad was still blessing my heart even when he could hardly get out of the house. Why? God didn’t leave him here just for a trophy. He left him here still a treasure that is rich if you could sit at his feet and just begin to listen to his few words. He would embrace you with the love and grace of God.
Alright, now. “I’m now ready to be offered.” Now this is a continuing thing here. (unintelligible) Many times rejected by some. But loved by the many that are here on this day now. He says, “the time is at hand, I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course.” Not somebody else’s. He didn’t come off an assembly line. But from the throne and the heart of God, to minister to you and I. “I have kept the faith. Henceforth, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness.” One thing we see that is missing in the language – it’s not really missing, but it’s not there. He’s ready to be offered. He didn’t say or use the word “death.” Do we get it? That’s right. It’s not in that passage. Though it was in knowing it would be so, and I wasn’t there at the death with the rest of the family, but I don’t think he had a fear of death. (unintelligible) It’s been conquered in Christ. And his life was to the end, the Apostle Paul, was to be offered. He was still going on. (unintelligible) He said have those bring my cloak. He didn’t know when, but he knew it was at hand. And our brother knew his was at hand, and he was ready to be offered. And I would say you never heard him in fear of death, did you? No. We misunderstand sometimes like the disciples. Lord, if Lazarus is just asleep… He said I’m going to have to speak on your level, your terms – he’s dead. But here the Apostle Paul and our brother Conrad, he didn’t talk about these things. Men, for each of us, the greatest fear on the face of this earth is death. Just rest in the Lord. Just trust Him. Nothing to fear.
[Unknown speaker] Before my wife sings this song that Conrad always loved and wanted to hear her sing, I’ve been thinking about some words that Conrad penned – first preached and then penned in his book “Faith Cometh.” He said, “Faith is not a state of mind. Faith is not conviction. It is not assurance. Faith is something you do in light of who God is and what God has said.” And I saw that in our dear brother, an abiding faith and just a rest in Christ. And this song, I think, captured that restfulness of his spirit in the Lord. No matter what the Lord gave, it was alright with our brother and should be alright with us. Our God is good. He would really shout loud too. Consider the lilies, they don’t toil, nor spin. And there’s not a king with more splendor than them.
