Garnett Peake's Funeral: The Resurrection and Life

You can find this sermon at ChurchAges.net

1 ... I would not have you ... ignorant, brethren, concerning those which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them that sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them that are asleep.
For the Lord himself shall descend from the heaven with a shout, and the voice of the archangel, and the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together ... in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: ... so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

2 I was reading from I Thessalonians, the 4th chapter. I shall read now from the book of Job, the 14th chapter of Job.
Man that is born of a woman is of a few days, and full of trouble.
He cometh forth like a flower, he's cut down: and he fleeth away as a shadow, and continueth not.
... does thou open thine eyes upon such a one, and bring me into judgment with thee?
Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.
Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass;
Turn from him, that he may rest, till he has accomplished, as a hireling, his days.
For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, ... it will sprout again, and that the tender branches thereof may not cease.
Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stalk thereof dies in the ground;
Yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant.
But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, ... giveth up the ghost, and where is he?
As the waters fail from the seas, and the floods decay and dry up:
So man lieth down, and he raises not: till ... heavens be no more, then shall he not awake, or be raised out of his sleep.
O that thou would hide me in the grave, that thou would appoint me a secret place, till thy wrath be past, ... thou would appoint me a ... time, and remember me!
If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change comes.
Thou shalt call, ... I will answer thee: thou will have a desire to do a work of thine hands.
... now thou numberest my steps: does thou not watch over my sins?
My transgression is sealed up in a bag, ... thou sewest up mine iniquity.
... surely the mountains fall and cometh to nought, ... the rocks move out of their place.
The waters wear away the stones: thou washest away the things which grow out of the dust of the earth; and thou destroyest the hope of man.
Thou prevailest for ever against him, and he passeth: thou changest his countenance, and sends him away.
His sons come to honour him, and ... knoweth it not; ... they are brought low, but ... perceive it not...
But his flesh upon him shall have pain, but his soul within him shall mourn.
Concluding the 14th chapter of the book of Job.

3 We have here this afternoon something that's not welcome anywhere at any time. No matter how prepared we are for it, it's always an unwelcomed guest that's sure to come to every home. And it's heartless. I'm sure if I'd been the death, I don't think I would have wanted to come to a home that this death has come to, this young Christian that we have his body laying here before us, as we know him, as our Brother Garnett.
And we're here today, assembled to pay the last respects to this young, gallant Christian. It's the last things that we can do for him upon earth, though he does not hear us. But we're thinking about those who has this before them yet. It must be taken care of some day. We've got to meet it. Young or old, sooner or later, it will come to all of us.

4 No matter what I would say about Garnett as I knew him, it wouldn't change our opinion. His life, and his testimony, speaks among you all louder than anything I could say.
I'm ... my personal acquaintance with him was through his mother. One night, while service was over, at the ... my church, she come to me, and she had a son that was dying with polio. I think they'd given up hopes that he could live any longer. Well, many of those calls ... we have them. They're just a regular routine. But when I went to see this young fellow, he was in an iron lung. There was something about him. As I laid my eyes upon him the first time, I loved him. I love him until today, as I look at him now, and always will.
He was a gallant young fellow. And he seemed like he had something in life that meant more than just an ordinary boy, of a teenager just passing through. He had a ... more of a clear understanding of things.
I prayed for him that he would not die.

5 Finally, they'd taken him from the iron lung, and he was brought home, and was put in some kind of a rocking bed where they kept him breathing.
I come to see Garnett. And what a sweet Christian that life had developed into, a boy that any parent would be proud of.
After all, that's our journey here on earth. That's what it's for, is to prepare for leaving. And Garnett had certainly made this preparation beyond any shadow of doubt--the gallant young man, full of Spirit and life of Christ, that reflected right through him. And...

6 I live in Tucson, Arizona. Some time ago, the young lad got sick, and was very sick. And the expression of his faith to call long distance and... When I finally got into my home and prayed for the little boy on the phone, why, the grace of God came to him, and he got over it. Time after time, when he would have something wrong, he'd call. Together, we would pray by the medium of the telephone. And I don't think our heavenly Father ever turned him down at any time, but what he got over what he had.

7 Last fall, I was down here visiting friends. One day--last time I seen Garnett in this life--we stepped in unexpectedly into the ... his lovely little home. He was staying with his people. And what did we find but... It would be a real example for any Christian minister to see this. He was sitting up, and out of the rocking bed, had his arms in a little sling. And as we walked to the house, as we was always so welcome, there was Garnett. And before him was the Bible. And the little lady that was taking care of him was sitting over on a little duofold affair, and they were having Bible study.
And I looked at him, and my heart just melted.

8 And I said to him ... asked him a question. I said, "Garnett, perhaps ... what if this had never happened to you?" And I said, "You'd ... I was called, say, up here tonight, and there'd been a young boy by the name of Garnett Peakes had just got killed out here on the highway with his car; and the boy was drunk, and his soul had gone on to meet God. Or would you just rather keep the scene the way it is?"
He said, "Just let it be the way it is. As long as I know Jesus the way that I know Him now," he said, "it's more than life--even though I have to stay here all my life, in this condition. But," he said, "I want to show you, Brother Branham, I'm much better."
He could move his arms, and so forth. With great anticipation, he was looking forward to the time that he would be well so he could walk around.
I'm an old man. I've seen much in my days. I don't believe I ever met a more gallant-spirited boy than Garnett. Great hopes for him.

9 A few nights ago, I'm told that he took ... taken something like intestinal flu. And it ... when he realized that he was going, well, he called for me. And he didn't know at that time I was in New York, at the Arena. And when I got out of the Arena, the telegram message was given to me. I rushed quickly to a phone and called. But the lovely brother that was taking care of him said, "Brother Branham, Garnett went to meet Jesus at six o'clock."

10 He's gone from us. We realize that. But I wonder if, really, there is such a thing as this being the end of it. We're all conscious that the boy is gone from us, his life. But let's think what's next. Is there anything that we could say? Could we ever see him again? Is this the last we're going to see of Garnett?
That's what I want to talk to you about for the next few minutes. Can you be sure that we're going to see him again? Job asked this question, the oldest book in the Bible. He said, "If a man dies, shall he live again?" Is there any proof then that this is so? Could we have any physical proof that this resurrection is so? Yes, I would think so.
If we notice that we are serving the Creator, we realize that we could not be here unless there was something that made us. We cannot just be our ... like we are without ... just happening to be, no more than my watch could be a ... just as it is with all the jewels and the timing. There's some mastermind behind it that made that watch. And just think of what a human being is that makes the watch. How impossible it would be for the watch to just to happen; and how much more impossible it is that we just happened.

11 Being a missionary, and traveling around the world, I've been acquainted now with ... seven times around the world. And thinking of seeing the different religions of the world and each one of their philosophies, and what they think (and many of them believe in reincarnation and so forth). But the Christian religion is the only religion that has truth, because all creation speaks of Christianity.
Job said, "If a tree dies, there's hopes that it will live again. And if a flower dies, there's hopes that it'll live again. But," he said, "man layeth down, and he giveth up the ghost, and where is he?" Job was a man of ... a renowned man. He was a great philosopher of his day, and a believer, and he had much wisdom. And Satan had desired to sift him and try him. And all Christian believers are tried. Every son that cometh to God must be tried and chastened.

12 So, Job knowing that the Creator made all of his creation, he noticed that in the creation that there was a resurrection of botany life and so forth. But he said, "A man layeth down, he giveth up the ghost, he wastes away, and where is he?" What happened to him?
And then, he saw by a vision, the coming of the just One. He knew he was a sinner, and there... The reason a man had to lay down and not rise up, there was nothing could speak for him. He knew that the flower had done nothing. It was brought here for a purpose, and it served God's purpose. And therefore, when the flower died, it could raise again.

13 But a man had sinned. And there was no way for him to ever rise in the presence of his maker. And so, in this condition, he was permitted by God to see the just One coming; a man, who could put his hands on a sinful man and a holy God, and bridge the way--the Son of God.
Then, when the Spirit was on the prophet, he cried out, "I know my redeemer liveth, and at the last days he'll stand upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroys my body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: ... for myself, mine eyes shall behold, and not another."

14 All Christianity is based upon resurrection. That's our hopes. Now, let's find out why. The Creator has so set it in order, if we did not even have a Bible, we would still know that Christianity was right.
Now, resurrection is not replacement. Resurrection is bringing the same thing up that went down. If I should drop the Bible from the stand on the floor, and catch some ... another Bible and replace it, that's replacement. But resurrection is bring the same Bible up that went down. And that's what resurrection means--to be raised up.

15 And God, the great creator, who's expressed Hisself through all of his creation... And we are a part of his creation, just as those flowers are, just as the trees are, all other nature. We are part of his creation.
Now, God is a God of variety. He doesn't have everything just the same. He doesn't have just all mountains. He has deserts, plains, grassy fields. And He has yellow flowers, white, blue, pink, different colors. He has large men, small men, and dark-headed, brown-headed, red-headed. He's the God of variety, for everything is to serve his purpose. He's got everything to serve his purpose. And everything that does serve his purpose correctly, there is a resurrection to it.

16 Now, that might be hard to think or to comprehend at once. But let's think of it, being that we got this here before us this afternoon.
Now, here's the flowers. They're expressing what they come here on earth for, to help cheer the weary room this afternoon, where this lovely young brother lays asleep. And those flowers, we notice...
Like you women here in Kentucky... I'm from here myself. And, I notice you plant your flowers around your house. And the summertime, they bloom up so pretty and brighten up your home. And then, maybe in the fall of the year, all of a sudden a frost hits them. That's death. Now, whether they're ... already the petals are dropping, or whether they're young flowers, or whatever they are--when frost strikes, it takes them all. That's death. It's no respect of person, ability, age. It just strikes. And where it hits, it takes. Then, we notice, the petals drop from the little flower then. And out of the flower drops a little black seed.
And now, this may seem juvenile, but that's the way you find God, is in the simple things; not the complicated things. God has made it simple, if we just could see it.

17 Now, God has a funeral procession for that flower. Seems strange. But the little seed's laying on the ground. Then the fall rains come like tears dropping from the skies, and pats down upon this little seed until it buries it. Then, along comes the cold winter. Now the petals are gone, the stalk's gone, the bulb in the ground, the roots is dried up, it's old. The seed ... when the winter freeze ... it freezes the seed, it bursts the seed open. The pulp runs out. Now we're getting along February or March. There's no petal, no stalk, no seed, no pulp, no nothing.

18 Is that the end of that flower? Not by no means. There's a little germ of life somewhere within that seed that... You might get the dirt in your hands, and take it to the laboratory, and let the scientist examine it back and forth, and he'll never find that germ of life. God hid it.
But just as soon as the world rocks around in the solar system, until it gets around to where the sun begins to strike the earth again, you could not hide that life. If you laid a concrete walk down through your yard on top of the grass, where's your ... next ... most... ? Next summer, where's the most grass at? Right around the sides of the walk. Why? It's that life that was laying beneath that concrete. And when it comes springtime, though a rock laying on it, it will not hide it. That life will weed its way right through. That's what makes so much grass around the edge of the walk.
You cannot hide life. It has to come up, because God has put the sun, s-u-n, over this ... the botany life, and it controls botany life.

19 Well, if He put the s-u-n over botany life, then He put his S-o-n over eternal life. So, if there is a resurrection for the flower because it served God's purpose, how much more has He made a way for a man? There's a way for a man. He must come forth, too.
When it comes time for the S-o-n of God... Not the s-u-n. It brings forth the botany life, because it controls that. You cannot hide it. It must come up. And there is a S-o-n of God that's controlling human life, eternal life. And if we are serving God's purpose as sons and daughters of God, then when the time has shaped up for the S-o-n of God to come, you could not hide that life. All nature speaks for it.

20 We're here in the fall of the year now here in Kentucky, where the beautiful trees that this year have put forth their leaves. And then, before we even had any frost or anything... Did you notice in your yards and around, how that the leaves begin to drop way back in the first of August? Why? What made those leaves drop? It's because that the life went out of the leaf. And where did it go? Down into the root of the tree. What intelligence made that life leave the leaf and go down into the ground? because, if it stayed up here it would kill the tree. It went down to the root of the tree, to hide until the winter's past. Next spring, it brings back life again, and puts forth another leaf.
Now, there's got to be some intelligence doing that. The tree has no intelligence. It's just merely a botany life. But some great intelligence says to that tree before any frost strikes it, to the life that's in there, "Go down into the root of the tree and hide there!" And then, when the sun begins to move back... How does that leaf know that the sun is moving away and winter's coming on? It's an intelligence that tells it that. It's God.

21 What a symbol! What do we see there? There's things that we see in the flower: the life, death, burial, resurrection. And even God makes the ... puts the flowers out, that the leaves turn brown, and make a bouquet upon the breast of the earth as soon as them flowers die. The red, and green, and colors, just like this is here this afternoon.
God is not complicated. People sometimes want to make Him complicated. But God is known in simplicity. We look over the top of Him trying to find Him. He's so simple. Makes Hisself that way. That's what makes Him so great.

22 Now, notice in this, this life that was in the tree, that served its purpose, went down into the grave, to stay until springtime. Now, some intelligence has to bring it back up again, come back with the apples and whatevermore the tree bears, its leaves and so forth. It comes back up again.
Now Job said here, "O that thou would appoint me a time and hide me in the grave, until thy wrath be past." See what the Scripture said? We are hid in the grave until the wrath is past, and then comes back up again.

23 "I know my redeemer liveth, and at the last days he'll stand upon the earth: though after the skin worms destroys this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God."
He seen the resurrection would be brought about by man someday, and the sin question would be settled when that righteous One, the Son of God came to die for sinners. There was no man on earth at that time, or no man since, that could ever bridge the way between a holy God and a sinful man. But Job here, four thousand years before his coming, saw his death, burial, and his resurrection; and his justification that come by the resurrection, and the absolute guarantee of the resurrection of the believer. What a comfort it is, to know that those things are true. It's not a fiction story.

24 Look out here. Look at the sun. The sun comes up of a morning. It's a baby born. God sent it up. It's to serve God's purpose. And at nine o'clock in the morning it goes to school. It's a teenager. And then at twelve o'clock it becomes fully matured. After twelve o'clock fifty years is passed, it's half done --and it starts going down, gets weaker, older. It's getting stronger until this time; then it starts getting weaker, just as we do. We start out strong, and get... As we come to our full maturity, we get stronger. Then at a certain age, we're at our best. Then we start weakening, all the time going down.
Finally, after awhile, it sets over the western horizon--a beautiful light. It served God's purpose. It dies. The earth cools, cools off, gets cold over the night. Now, is that the end of that sun? Is that the last time you'll ever see it? No. The next morning she rises up again, in the resurrection. God, every day, testifying to us--that there is a life, death, burial, resurrection.

25 Everything that you look at speaks the same way: life, death, burial, and resurrection. That is, if it serves his purpose.
Now, there would be a time that this flower could be a flower, and would never live again. There's the point that I wish... And if Garnett could speak to me this afternoon, here would be what he'd want me to say, 'cause he's in the presence of God. If that seed...
Many of you men here this afternoon are farmers, or live around here where you see the farms, and see nature. If the seed is planted, no matter how nice that seed looks, if that seed is not germitized, it will not live. It'll go into the ground, and will rot, and that's the end of it. There's no way at all ... there's nothing there to come back to life. That seed has to be in the pollen with the mate, or it will not rise again.
And there is what makes our assurance of the resurrection again. As Jesus told us, "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." We're placed here to make a choice.

26 And now, that beautiful flower--no matter how pretty it is, and how nice and round the seed is... Like a hybrid corn. We can plant hybrid corn. It'll do nothing. It's a nice seed, but without life. Its life is perverted. And any perverted life from God cannot live again. We must be borned again. But as surely as that seed is germitized, it's ... then it rises again. There's no way to keep it from rising again. It's got to, because it's germitized, and its botany life is in it.
Now, a believer has the life of Christ within him, who rose up first for our justification, to prove there is resurrection of a human life, human bodies, that we live again, because we've been germitized--in other words, borned again of the Holy Spirit.

27 And everything that we could see in nature...
I stand here, and got many things written on a piece of paper here, that I would like to speak to you about. But that ought to be sufficient to let you know that you cannot look out without seeing the evidence of death, burial, and resurrection. Wherever you go, whatever you look at, it's impossible to pass over: death, burial, resurrection.
And then again we find out, that resurrection only comes when it serves God's purpose. If it doesn't serve God's purpose, no matter how beautiful it is, how pretty it looks, and how much better it might look than some other seed that is germitized, it'll never rise. It lives this and that settles it. But if it's germitized, it must rise again.
So is it, my friends, we here, this afternoon, to see what death has done to our brother.
It's got to be germitized. We might belong to church. We might be fine people. We might be a good character in the neighborhood, a fine father, mother, son, daughter. But unless we are germitized with the Spirit of God, we'll never rise in the resurrection. It's finished.

28 It speaks to us of these things. Nature calls out day by day. The sun rises and sets, the moon and stars come out, the same thing. Everything in nature revolves in one thing: death, burial, resurrection; death, burial, resurrection. Every day of our life, something's testifying to us: death, burial, resurrection. We walk over the top of it many times. Let's not do that. That's not why it was set here, and the world set in order like that. It's for eternal life, that we know. And seeing upon the seeds, if they're not germitized and serve the purpose of God, it cannot rise. Neither will we rise, though we be good people, though we be church members, though we be gallant neighbors, fine people, educated, smart.
Science tells what has been. Science can't give life.

29 Life belongs to God alone, and He's the only one that handles life. So we must come to that place to be germitized by the Word of God, or we will never rise again. Our life is totally finished when we finish this life here. That does it altogether if we're not germitized by the Word of God, by the life of God.

30 Now, this little cold frame laying here... None of us can say but what he's part of this great economy of God's creation. He is part of God's creation. He's a man, a human being that God created. He lays sleeping now. Now the thing of it is, if he served God's purpose in his life, then there's got to be a resurrection for Garnett. There's no way of getting around it. This is not the end of Garnett. Why, we've all got to take this route through life. We come in from the darkness, and enter the same way. And every one of us, some way or other, are going through the valley of the shadows of death. But the thing we're put here for, there is ...

31 light the world.
Jesus said, "You cannot serve God and mammon." Mammon is the world. Can't serve God and the world at the same time. We have our choice. We can be germitized by God, by his Holy Spirit, and we have eternal life. If we don't, when we die, that's it. We're ready for the judgment then, why we didn't do it; then the punishment that follows that for rejecting it.
But I am so happy, as far as I know within the reach of my understanding, by the Word of God and by the witness of the Holy Spirit, this boy met that condition. He was borned of the Spirit of God, a changed man. The Spirit of God was upon the little fellow. He was a staunch Christian. He served God's purpose.
Maybe it was for a short time,

32 but God sometimes trains man for years to get a few days of service out of him. John the Baptist was thirty years by himself in the wilderness for six months of service. Jesus Christ was thirty years old for three years of service, for the crucifixion. God trains men, brings them up. It's his purpose. Time is with man; eternity is with God.
I believe that God brought this little boy here on the earth for a purpose. And if you notice, right in the time of his sickness and things, this struck him for a purpose. God could've made the boy sound and well. But what did He do? Instead of taking his life, He let him get up, just where he wasn't going to die. Neither did polio kill him. He didn't die by polio. No other disease killed him that we prayed over, he and I and the rest of the Christians here around Campbellsville that prayed for him. It never ... that never did it. See, it was Garnett's time to go. He must ... he'd served his purpose. He'd come to Christ, been germitized.
What if he would've died before this time? Polio drove him to God. He was to be a tobacco auctioneer, what he had in his mind. That wasn't his purpose at all. We knew that. His purpose was to be a Christian.

33 Now, a tobacco auctioneer... Somebody said, maybe seventy-five years from today, if the world should stand that long, "Garnett ... he was a great auctioneer." Maybe that's all a minister could have said at his funeral. He was a great auctioneer. But what can we say today? He's a Christian. As an auctioneer without the germ of life, just the memory of that generation, he'd be gone among a few men. Now he's amongst the immortals. He's got to come forth in the resurrection. There's no way to keep him from it. He has to come, for he served his purpose.
He was germitized with the Holy Spirit of God of eternal life, that laid within the boy, insomuch that if he said, "If I knowed..." The last time I spoke to him, he said "If I knew that I had ... could be well ... strong like these other boys, running up and down the roads here with my hot rod, running up and down the road, and drinking, and would not know this that I know," he said, "I wouldn't swap this for ten thousand lives like that."
A young eighteen-year-old boy, fine handsome-looking young man, would probably been a regular target for the devil.

34 But God had to throw him in that stage, to get out of him to serve the purpose. Look at his patience, his testimonies among you neighbors. Look what he was, how his little life has spoke to many of you, that at the day of judgment, without that, his life will testify right back against you. He was an example of what God wanted with him. He served God's purpose.

35 Now, if he served God's purpose, and been germitized, as all nature has to be germitized, with a promise that he will rise again, how could we ever doubt the resurrection of seeing Garnett again? Why it would be totally insane to say that he cannot come up.
If Garnett doesn't come up, there never was a sun ever rose and set, and come up again. If Garnett doesn't come up, the flower never dies and lives again. It met God's purpose. It served God's purpose. It was germitized with life, and it come up again.
Well, it would be a horrible thing, a rashal thing, to say there's no resurrection, when we look right out and see the purpose of resurrection, and what we must be to have a resurrection.

36 Garnett will live again. He's alive now. He's in another world. And he'll rise again just as sure as the flower rises again. He'll rise just as sure as the moon, sun, or stars rise again. He'll rise.
But see, they only rise to another mortal life, to give testimony to another age. When he rises, it'll be at the end of the age. There'll be no more testimony. He has eternal life; that has perpetual life. It must be germitized with perpetual life to make it rise again for perpetual life. He's germitized with eternal life, and when he rises again, there's no more death. He lives forevermore.

37 I've preached thousands of funerals in my day around the world. I wish I could say over many funerals that I've preached, I would ... I wish I could say the words that I could say about Garnett; and the hopes that I have in Garnett, and knowing that God will raise him up, because he met every requirement that I know of that God required. And his life showed the flower of the Holy Spirit within him, that God lived within him. That boy was a changed boy. There's no doubt at all. His life bore record of it. He was changed.
Now, if we would say that there's no more resurrection, and this is the end of Garnett, all we'll ever see is when we cover him up out there this afternoon, then what speaks for him? If someone would say, "Oh, I don't know about that. I don't know. Now, I've never seen it done!" Certainly. The end of time hasn't come yet. But when you say that, the first thing you'll have to do...

38 The Word of God is testifying for Garnett. The Word of God said, "We that are alive and remain to the coming of the Lord shall not prevent [or hinder] those which are asleep. For the trumpet of God shall sound and the dead in Christ shall rise first: and we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air." "He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live." The scriptures. "I am the resurrection, and life," saith God, see.
You'd have to testify against the Word of God. The Word of God is testifying for this boy. And what's any more sufficient than God's own Word, which He is his Word. The Word is God. And God, Himself, is testifying that Garnett will rise up again. All creation... We'd have to say the sun don't rise. "No, God made a mistake. The sun ... we don't see the sun." See, it'd be an insane thing.

39 The sun says he'll rise again. The flower says he'll rise again. The Word says he'll rise again. Every nature, all creation says he'll rise again. Earth turning says he'll rise again. Everything that you see, even to the Word of God, and your own ... the Holy Spirit within my bosom and other Christian believers here, pulsating now with faith that says he'll rise again. And you'll go over your faith. You'll go over the Word of God. You'll go over creation. You'll go over everything, see, saying he won't rise.
This is not the end of Garnett. This is the end of his purpose in life on earth, but he'll rise again. See, the whole thing ... he will rise again. So what are we ... what's our worry?

40 Of course, we hate to see that young fellow laying there like that, just look like in the prime of life. But, you know, when God... When you pluck a flower out of your flower garden, you don't always take the old ones. Sometimes you have to have a bud. A bud has to serve your purpose in a bouquet. Maybe God wanted a bud. And that's what He picked on here for a bud for his altar in glory with a guarantee, with everything testifying that he will rise again.
Our faith says he'll rise again. The Word says he'll rise again. The moon says he'll rise again. The stars says he'll raise again. The sun, the flowers, the nature, everything says he rises again, because all that knowed Garnett knowed this, that he was a Christian. You couldn't come in his presence without knowing there'd been a change in that boy. He'd been germitized by life.

41 My prayer is that we who are alive this afternoon will see the example of what God does, and will prepare. And if we don't ... do not have this germ of eternal life, knowing that we have to go the same route that he goes, let us get germitized. Let us receive Christ into our hearts and be borned again, because, brother, sister, each one of us faces this. No matter who you are, how much business you're in, how young or how old, you've got to meet it. You've got to meet it. And don't dare try to do it without being first germitized by Christ that you have eternal life.

42 Then death is swallowed up in victory.
Garnett shall rise again. All nature... Now, in the neighborhood everybody knowed that boy. Everybody ever come in contact with him knows that he was a Christian. Now the Word of God and all nature says he'll rise again. His mother, father, all of his relations, whatever it might be, you people here that's looking upon him... As a minister of the gospel, as his brother, I see nothing in the Word of God, or anything in nature...
The reason I chose to say this, maybe someone wouldn't go to church too much and understand it. I thought in this way, it would make everyone understand. Just a little simple way, that you look out here in nature, and see what happens. Garnett met God's specifications. He served God's purpose. He's not dead; he's alive forevermore, just waiting some time, for us to come.
Now, you that had Garnett in life, as father, mother, brother, sisters, and whatever you were, relatives, you knew him. You loved him. You couldn't come in contact with Garnett without loving him, see. You was with him here. Now, what about the life hereafter? Let's prepare, that we too, will meet him in the resurrection. Let's make our lives in such a way that we'll meet him in the resurrection.

43 "If a man dies," said the text, "can he live again? All the appointed days of my life will I wait, till my change comes. I will call, and I will answer." "The trumpet of God shall sound, and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then if we're alive at that time and remain shall be caught up with them, to meet the Lord in the air: and forever be with the Lord." This is a proving ground, a trying time.
Garnett met the specifications that God required. And today, Garnett is not dead. He sleeps with the One that he loved more than anything else in the world, more than he loved... As much as he loved his parents, and loved... Everybody he come in contact with, he loved. Yet, the one that he supremely loved, was Jesus Christ. He's gone to be with Him. May you, who shared his lesser love, may we all prepare to meet him at that great resurrection.
Let us bow our heads just a moment.

44 With our heads bowed... I haven't tried to say too much about Garnett. He's a Christian, his own life tells what he is. But the thing I've tried to tell you, you loved ones, that he shall rise again, prove it to you this is not the end. There's the guarantee, written out by the blood of the Son of God, that he'll rise again. Now let's prepare our hearts now, that when we too are brought to a place like this in some funeral parlor, that our loved ones can remember that we are prepared also to go. And may the father, mother, loved ones of this young boy, the greatest thing...

45 You know, I know how that you're suffering. I just ... give up a child. A little girl. I know how your hearts are bleeding. But, see, if Garnett had been lost, it really would be a terrible time for you. But what a glorious hour it is for you to know that your boy was with Christ. And he had to go some time. And at the end of the road, he still remained with his faith, and God has him today. To you ones who's cousins, and relation to him, just think of what he was. And now, what if he'd went the other way? We have nothing to worry about. Garnett is with Jesus. Let us prepare to go with him too.

46 Gracious God, great eternal Jehovah who moved upon the waters and said, "Let there be light," You who spoke the world into existence by your Word, has promised by that same Word that we shall rise again. Now, we want to offer You, Father, this afternoon, as I was associated with this young brother in life, and how the undying love between he and I...
As long as I live here, I suppose I'll always remember that gallant little soldier, rocking on that bed in a iron lung, between breaths praising the Lord God. He was an example to ... for me, of his patience, never to complain--just the will of God be done. Thou has placed him before us. And now, Thou hast taken him out of our presence. Lord God, may each one of us this afternoon, who are living... And I feel, maybe, that Garnett would want me to say this. If we are not prepared, may we be prepared; and be, as I have stated it, Father, germitized, to meet him, by the same Holy Spirit which he received, the life that was in Christ.

47 Bless this dear mother, and this father, and the parents, and the loved ones, whoever they may be. Let your holy presence be with them, Father.
May this be a time that they'd think more than ever what this little life was lived like this for. It was a testimony as an example to the young men sitting here, that associated with him as a little boy, see what he was before and then, what he was after. May his life be a sermon to them, Father, that too they may prepare to meet with their little friend at the other side, where there'll be no more death or sorrow, no more heartaches. Grant it, Lord.
And we older people, who look down at this young man right in the prime of life, and see him change and come from a dying life unto a living life... Grant it, Lord, that we might see that this afternoon, by the simplicity of using examples of nature, and then placing it back to the Word of God through a promise.
And You said, "The Word of God is a seed and a seed must bring forth its kind." And I pray that You'll bless and comfort these people. Let them know that this little boy was just set here for a sermon. He's preached his sermon; the book is closed. But we shall see him again. Grant, Lord, that we'll all stand there in the beauty of Christ where we have eternal life. Until that time, keep us ever centered in your will. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.