Cindy Lou Nealy, A Cheerful Servant Of Christ- Pastor J D Howell 8-2-2026

That there are several points that have already been touched upon,

and I know that the Lord has divinely ordered our steps.

As we've walked through this celebration of life service this morning,

you will notice that God is orchestrating this service. So

I know that Sister Neely was a prayer warrior, and

there's no doubt she even prayed about the celebration of

life service here and the other celebration of life services

that have taken place elsewhere. So, if you have your Bibles,

will you turn with me to the Book of Matthew,

chapter number twenty five, and may I direct your attention

to verses number thirty one through forty six. Some of

you Bible students will have recognized already that Brother Nathaniel

read a text during his eulogy from these very scriptures. Again,

you will recognize that Brother Nathaniel read from these very scriptures.

Brother Nathaniel and I have not spoken concerning what we

would speak about today, So by divine order and orchestration

of the Holy Ghost, we both have the same golden texts,

the same golden text for the eulogy as the morning message.

I thank the Lord for that. Sister Neely believed in

that she believed that the Lord could speak to his

children specifically and directly. Of course, he speaks to us

generally as a church, but she believed that the Lord

could speak directly to her, and she wanted us to

believe that the Lord could speak directly to us. And

he has done this. And I rejoice greatly in knowing

that the Lord is involved in this service today. I

appreciate that. Don't you appreciate that? Will you stand for

the reading of our scriptures that the Holy Ghost has

given us? Matthew Chapter number twenty five, Beginning in verse

number thirty one, the Bible says, when the Son of

Man shall come in his glory, and all the Holy

angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne

of his glory, and before him shall be gathered all nations,

and he shall separate them one from another, as a

shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats, and he shall

set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats

on the left. Then shall the King say unto them

on his right hand. Come, ye, blessed of my Father

inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of

the world. For I was in hungered and you gave

me meat. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink.

I was a stranger, and you took me in naked,

and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me.

I was in prison, and you came unto me. Then

shall the Righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we

thee and hungered and fed thee, or thirsty and gave

thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, took thee

ind or naked and clothed thee, Or when saw we

thee sick or in prison, and came unto thee. And

the King shall answer and say unto them, verily, I

say unto you, insomuch as ye have done it unto

one of the least of these, my brethren, ye have

done it unto me. Then shall he say also unto

them on the left hand depart from me, ye cursed

into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.

For I was in hungered and you gave me no meat.

I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink. I

was a stranger, and you took me not in naked,

and you clothed me, not sick and in prison, and

you visited me not, Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord,

when saw we thee in hungered or a thirst or

a stranger, a naked or sick, or in prison, and

did not minister unto thee, then shall he answer them, saying, verily,

I say unto you, inasmuch as ye did it not

to one of the least of these, ye did it

not to me? And these shall go away into everlasting punishment,

but the righteous into life eternal. May we pray, Heavenly Father,

we thank you for the opportunity to be here in

the House of the Lord this morning. We thank you

for friends and family and church family, all of these

that loved sister Needley and those whom she loved. We

pray God that you would anoint these words that you

have given me. Lord. I pray that you would help

those that are lost to find their way to you.

We pray that those that are sick would be healed.

We pray that those that are discouraged would be encouraged.

We ask you God that the will of Sister Sindy

Neeley this day would be done. In this special celebration

of life's service, and we give you praise, honor, and

glory in Jesus' name in the church said Amen, I'd

like to talk to you for a little while about

SINDYLO Neeley, a cheerful servant of Christ. Look at your

neighbor and say, hey, neighbor. She was a cheerful servant.

Cindy lu Neely, a cheerful servant of Christ. I will

be following a mental outline as I preached this morning,

and we will consider that she was a Florida Cracker,

that she declared herself to be a spring chicken, that

she was a Christian of unwavering faith, that she was

proudly and humbly a child of God, and that she

was a woman of charity with a very cheerful spirit.

Her legacy is one of caring for others. And because

she was willing to care for others, she is a

person who is very well cherished today. If you are

a person that is caring and one full of charity,

there is no doubt you will be cherished at the

time of your departure from this world. Our precious Lord

Savior Jesus Christ told us that one of the ways

his disciples are known is by their love one for another. Truly,

Sister Cindy loved the children of the Lord. She was

one to treasure her spiritual siblings. Early this morning, the

Holy Gost spoke to me these words. She loved her

spiritual siblings. She also loved her natural siblings. She was

one about family. She had several sisters and a brother

of whom I had the honor to preach to at

various times. Her brother and her sometimes would show up

where we were preaching at many years ago, probably seventeen

to nineteen years ago, if they heard that we were

preaching somewhere, her brother, Nelson and her would show up,

and they were always pleasant people. They were just precious

and pleasant people. And after the service we would go

somewhere and get a bite to eat and reminisce about

the old days. And sister Neeley, whether she was with church,

family or family, she liked to talk about her originality.

She liked to talk about the land of her nativity.

And she would tell everybody that she was a Florida Cracker.

And there's several generations in this building this morning that

may suppose that term a cracker is a racial slur

by one particular racial group, but that is incorrect. When

a true blue, pure vanilla great, a blue ribbon Florida

cracker calls themselves a Florida Cracker, they are referring to

those people that endured tough times and difficult days during

the days of the depression, those that went without, those

that were familiar with the cattlemen of South Florida and

the Indians of South Florida. And they become known as

the Florida Crackers because the cowboys in this region of

which sister Cindy Neely was proudly a resident of, they

would crack their whips. And I remember as a young

boy watching those Florida Crackers gather together simply to just

crack those whips. And you were the best Florida Cracker

in the village, or in the town, or in the

city if you could crack the longest whip. And I

knew some of them, true blue, pure vanilla gray, a

blue ribbon Florida Crackers. I watched a man one time

crack a whip that was two to three times longer

than what other whom considered themselves well experienced Florida crackers.

Was cracking. And there's no doubt that when he got done,

everybody held him as the real Florida Crackers. So again,

if you think that's a racial slur, you're just ignorant,

unlearned concerning some of the ways of the South Floridians.

So a Florida cracker was referred to those that would

have been raised somewhat with farm animals and had experienced

the farm life and had had victory gardens, people that

had endured hard times again the crack of the whip.

And I've heard her say that countless times right here

at the Bethel Holiness Church. I'm a real Florida Cracker.

And I treasured her brother Nelson's fellowship anytime I was

in his presence, because he was a cattleman and he

too was a Florida Cracker. And I thought, what a

great time it would have been to been able to

get Nelson and Sindy together once again. Also, we were

privileged and honored to have served as pastor of Sister

Cindy's sister, some of her nieces, some of her cousins

out in a little community called Ortona for the space

of about two years. God had led us out there

to that community church, and we worked and labored amongst

that community. And when Sister Sendy Nealy heard that we

were there, her hope was resurrected in the fact that

God was doing something once again in this region of

South Florida. She knew that God had blessed from State

Road seventy northward, but for the most part concerning her

lifestyle of holiness, mostly holiness had been obliterated. It had

been done away with. There were a remnant down here

in a few saints that were serious about serving the

Lord in the spirit and beauty of holiness, but not many.

And so when she heard that God had put it

upon a young man and his family to come into

this area and to speak with somebody in the community

about reopening a church that had been closed for some time,

she got excited and she made an appearance, and I

remember her introduction. She introduced herself as a friend of

one of the former pastors and some of the preachers

at that specific location, and she threw some names at me,

and she asked me, she said, do you know any

of these preachers? And she gave me their name. She said,

did you know old brother and sister Lonnie Williams. I said,

I did not know them. She said, did you know

my uncle Streety Durance, brother Streety Durance. I said no,

I do not know him. And she said, did you

know my brother, my friend and the preacher brother, brother J. E. Lowe.

I said, I knew of him, but I never got

to know any of these people. And she said, well,

they were all precious saints of God who labored in

this region, some of which went from Central Florida to

South Florida in order to labor in this part of

the country. Then she asked me about a precious saint

of God name Sister Hagar. I said, no, I did

not know her either, But there's a precious saying of

God sitting up there on the third pew that has

mentioned these various names to me. And she's just as

excited as you are about God resurfacing or resurrecting the

spirit of holiness, not altogether separation from ministry opportunities from

this world, but separation from the spirit of the world

unto God. She's excited about this lifestyle of holiness and

moral purity and all of this. She's just so excited.

Her name's Ethylene Harris. She said, oh, Ethylene, Oh, Ethylene.

I haven't seen her in years, but I know her

and I know her daughter, iris Lynne. I said, we're daughter,

iris Lyne's just right over there too. And she said,

this is really need to see us all reunited, all

of these years later, some thirty thirty five forty years later,

and to seek God doing something wonderful in this part

of the country. She said, did you hear about the

vision that one of those brothers had years ago? I said, no,

I have not yet heard of that. I've heard of

some of these other things you speak of. She said, Well,

there was a mighty oak tree seen by a man

and a prophet of God, and things were going really

good in this part of the country. They had a

year long revival. At one point, they had powerful camp

meetings where cancers were cured, the dead was raised literally

people that had facial cancer, whose facial cancer had ate

out bones, pieces of jaw bones that falled out in

the hand while they were praying. Glorious deliverances and sanctifications

and holy goose baptisms and healings had taken place right

here in this area. And she said, these men of

God believe that this prophet of God had a vision

that was very significant, and nobody understood exactly why the

big mighty tree had to be uned down, But that

big mighty tree had been uned down to where the

stump was level with the face of the earth. And

she said, the Prophet of God, the Man of God,

and his spirit was greatly full of sorrow, greatly saddened

because of the dream or the vision. But as it

progressed after some time, it appeared as though in fast

forward motion time had transpired, and time had went by,

and out of the middle of that trump came forth

a shoot, which turned into a branch, which divided into

another branch, which developed a tree trunk and turned into

a mighty tree that was even greater than the one

that was there before. And she said, I believe this

ministry in this area is the of that vision. And

so she believed in the Bethel Holiness Church in its

infancy as a little shoot in a time when we

needed her most. She was a true Florida cracker that

had a love for the people of God and for

her spiritual siblings and the children of God. And with

great excitement she came in to our Church family and

shared our burden. To be honest with you, at that time,

I really didn't know where she came from, but I

will tell you this, she was a blessing in so

many ways to the Howell family and the Bethel Holiness

Church family. For one, she was a blessing spiritually because

of her consistency and because of her cheerful spirit, and

because of the fact that she was a committed prayer warrior.

But she was also a blessing to us monetarily. In fact,

our church would not have survived those infant years if

it hadn't have been for the likes of Sister Sending

Neeley and brother and Sister Wooton and brother and Sister Platt,

if it hadn't to have been for a few people

that believed in the vision. For you see, pretty much

this lifestyle had been forsaken altogether and traded for other ways.

And we know that the writer that penned the song

that is found in the Red Black Kymnal said there

are many ways, so it is said in this life

to heaven. But the writer wrote and said, there's just

one way to the Pearly Gate. And Sister Sending Neeley

was one of those that believed there are many ways

offered which make up the Broadway, and they run this

way and that way, here and there and everywhere. But

Sister Sending Neeley really believe that the gate is straight,

the narrow is the way, and she believed that there

was few that find it. And so because of this

belief that she held to steadfastly, she was able to

believe in a family and in what appeared to be

a resurrected church that was on the move. So after

some time, the Holy Ghost led us away from that

community church and directed our past to La Belle, and

Sister Sending Neely she accompanied us there and we had

church in a little storefront. And again, because of her

belief in our church family that God had divinely ordained

and orchestrated the events of this resurrection of the spirit

and the beauty of holiness in this region, she came

and she introduced me to a distant relative. His name

was Roy Dampier. Little did we know that was her

brother in law, and she noticed that him and I

favored one another. One day she asked me, she said,

do you happen to have any Dampier blood in you?

I said, do I happen to have any Dampier blood

in me? Most people that know me know that I

highly favor the Dampier. She said, well, I have a

brother in law who lives in Lake Placid whose last

name is Dampier, and I'm convinced that you two must

be knsed. I've told him about the church. And about

a week later or so, I walked into the church

and standing in the vestibule there is this man. I

knew immediately he's a Dampier. I said, do not speak

another word. It's been nice to meet you, amen, but

I know what you're about to say. I'm Roy Dampier.

You're about to emphasize your last name Dampier. I know

you're a Dampier, and I have Dampier blood flowing through

my veins, a lot of it, and it's good to

meet you, cousin. And after talking for a little while,

we found out that my great grandfather was his cousin.

My great grandfather was his cousin. He told me things

about my great grandfather, Percy Dampier, that I knew, and

other things that I had not known, And so I

realized God was doing something wonderful in this area, and

that it was God's doings and it was marvelous in

our sight. Now I just realized God was putting pieces together,

and what a beautiful picture has been put together. And

I thank God for those types of saints of God

that have been part of this work. So she was

one that believed in continuity. She believed in connection, She

believed in culture, holiness, culture, and she believed in community.

She believed that we should not forsake the assembling of

ourselves together as the manner of some is in Both

her and her brother in law, Roy Dampier, drove independently

and separately. They shunned the very appearance of evil. They

drove right at fifty minutes to attend our church for

several years. Again, he was her brother in law, so

he was married to her sister Dorothy Dampers, and sister

Dorothy was not as committed as sister Sindy and brother

Roy was, and so for several years they drove independently

and separately. And finally brother Roy, being aged much older

than she was, he passed on. And one night I

spoke in the flesh. As preachers, we try to speak

through the spirit and by the spirit always, but we

are flesh and blood just like anybody else, and just

trying to have a heart of compassion like she had,

and trying to be considerate. I thought about her being

a single woman making that drive, and there being no

Roy damper on her heels, following her as she went

to church. Whether he was directly behind her or not,

I knew he was on his way. They both carried

cell phones. I knew he could get to her. I

could get to her. But after he passed, I expressed

a concern that I had. I said, Sister Cindy, I

just don't know that it's wise for you, as a

single woman, to be driving down here by yourself late

at night. And I regretted that. So we did not

have her as part of this wonderful work that God

has been doing. It's the Lord's doings. It's not our doings.

It's God that buildeth the house, not us. We haven't

put our hands to it without God's hands being upon

our hands. It's God that has kept the city. It's

God that's put it in our heart to watch and

the labor. But we expressed our concern that sister Neely

needed to be careful and we regretted it. So we spoke,

if you would I had of turned probably, so, brother

Roy Damper's gone. And at this point I'm regretting it,

and I regret it for many many many years. I

mean many, many, many, many long years. But at times

her grandson, Robbie Hicks, he would show up to visit

his grandmother. It seemed like about once a year. And

when he showed up, he would tell her Grandma, I'm

no more comfortable in some of these churches than a

cat is in a dog fight. And he'd tell her,

he said, you know, where should we go? She said, well, Robbie,

I feel like we should go to Pastor Howels. And

so they would show up a lot of times, and

Robbie hadn't given us heart to the Lord. He was

definitely somebody on the run. And when Robbie and sister

Neely would come down our way, Robbie always had fishing

poles in his vehicle. It didn't matter he was a

young man in his early twenties, it didn't matter day

or night where they were going. Robbie had a fishing

pole and fishing tackle. And Robbie got that from his grandmother.

Loved to fish. Nobody loved to fish more than Sister

Sindy Needeley. It hadn't been that long ago that she

was fishing in the Gulf of Mexico. She's caught many

trophy size catfish, bass, nook. So she was a precious,

precious Florida cracker that loved to do the things that

Florida crackers do. And that's cook right, that's fish. She

liked the raw oysters, all of those things she loved

to do. So she was a Florida Cracker. She loved

to fish. So I lived as a minister with regret

for speaking through compassion but without the anoying of God.

And you all do that. We do that as children

of God. Sometimes we do that. So, being full of regret,

I always treasured those times that she would make an

appearance with Robbie, because Robbie would bring her and just

the atmosphere would immediately be permanent, permeated with this cheerful spirit,

this child of God. And I knew immediately following this service,

as Sister Wooton pointed out a little while ago, was

going to be this splendid time of fellowship, of reminiscing

of those times we were together when her sister Ethlene,

sister Woot, and sister Howe, our children, all of us

got together at the Lightzi's restaurant one afternoon and her

sister Ethelene and myself and I believe brother Tyler and

some of my sons ate a few oysters, but Sister Needley,

myself and sister Ethelene Harris literally made them shuck every

oyster they had at that all you can eat raw

oyster fest, and we cleaned house. And that was a

thing that her and I up until she died, we

enjoyed speaking of the time that we cleaned them out

of raw oysters and worked their fingers to the bone.

She knew how to shuck an oyster. That in itself

is an art. You have to have an oyster knife.

There's a lot of people in this building this morning

that know nothing about an oyster knife. And if you

don't have an oyster shucker knife, I'm telling you what,

you're gonna waste a lot of precious time trying to

get in there and get that precious little oyster. And

I never knew any of us to find a pearl.

But what we did find was sister sending Neeley, and

we found a priceless, priceless spirit. And I want to

challenge each one of us today to be that pearl

of great price in the life of other people. So

I never found a pearl in the oyster, but I

found a pearl in Sister Neeley. And so there's no

doubt in anyone's mind that Sister Neeley loved in a

great way. She loved everyone, her family, her church family,

her children, her grandchildren, God's children. She loved everybody. She

knew what the Word to God said, they shall know

that you are my disciples in that ye have love

one toward another. And so Jesus also taught that his

followers would be known by the way that they cared

for others. So we are known as His disciples by

the way we love one another, not ourselves, but by

our servitude. We are not to be selfish, but selfless.

And this describes perfectly the spirit of Sister Sendy Neatley.

She cared for others. In our Golden Text, the Lord

said I was sick, and ye visited me. Sister Cindy

was a very caring person. She felt her personal duty

to show kindness to those in need, and In doing so,

she loved on her master. In doing so, she loved

on her as. One of the last things that Sister

Neely spoke to Sister Howell in the last service that

she was in here, she told Sister Howell about a

person in her community who had suffered a massive stroke,

and she said, this person really can't get along, really

can't do anything for themselves. And she looked at Sister

Howell as she stared into Sister Howell's eyes. She said,

Sister Howell, if I'm not gonna be able to help others,

I do not want to be here, Sister Howell. If

I'm unable to help others or be a blessing to others,

I do not want to be here. I'd rather be

in the presence of the Lord. So Sister sending Neely

was one that did not have to preach in order

to be motivated to help the least, the lost, and

the lone. She was someone who recognized the need and

when she saw it, she met it. If it was

the preacher's son with that curly head, full of life

and full of energy, who could have easily been misdirected

as the pastor tried to pioneer and plan a church

in South Florida. She immediately befriended the pastor's son and

recognized his love for Rce's chocolate and peanut butter, and

began to foster a relationship with that young man and

to invest in him in order to make herself special

to him. And here it is, seventeen and a half

years later, he is speaking at her celebration of life service,

fondly and affectionately concerning her because of that simple gesture

of finding a connection. She was somebody that believed in

continuity and connection. It didn't matter if they were little,

great or small, big, tall, short of stature, greatest stature,

had a lot of money, no money. Sister Needley wanted

to invest in you. So she saw a need and

she met it. Sister Cindy brought comfort to the hurting,

encouragement to the discourage, and kindness to those who were lonely.

I believe she came again to our church about two

years ago. If I'm not mistaken, it was in June

of twenty twenty four, on a Sunday morning, just as

it is today a Sunday morning. I saw her come

through those double glass doors and take her seat between

Sunday School and morning worship. Now, just like some have

said already, immediately the atmosphere in this building change because

of her cheerful spirit, because of her contagious laugh. We

were all glad to see her, and we wondered, why

are you here again. I knew that I had spent

many years in regret of telling her, Hey, I don't

want you, as a single woman, to drive that forty

five miles to our church. I had told Sister Howell

many times. I regret telling her that I could have

got to her just as soon as she started having

vehicle trouble. I could have headed that way and got

to her. I could have called the Highlands County sheriffs deputy,

could have called the Glades County sheriff deputy. Oh what

I would have done, just to keep that woman in

our church. And there she is, making her grand appearance,

and everybody's wondering what she's doing here. Little did I

know that she was seeking out refuge that particular morning.

Immediately after the service the ministry team of whom she

was quite fond of, and I was exiting the back

door during the dismissal prayer to go thirty miles south

of here in Minister in a Mockiley, Florida. She looked

at me, and her and another sister gave us the

double thumbs up, and I took that to me, and

we'll see you again. And after a couple of weeks

we saw her again on a Sunday morning, and a

Sunday night and a Wednesday night. And I knew that

this was a seasoned saying of God, a prayer warrior,

a mother of Israel. I just knew that this wasn't

a hasty decision. I knew this was a well calculated

plan that God had spoken into her heart to come

down here once again. Not long after that, she sent

me a text message and I have a screen shop

of such message, and she said, brother, Howell, I've been

listening to some of these messages on YouTube and some

of these messages on spreaker, and she said, there's one

particular message. I've never heard any preaching like that. She said,

it has greatly moved me. She said, you spoke of

us bowing at the feet of Jesus, and some of

you may remember the title of that message. Do you

know that this morning she knows exactly what it feels

like to be bowing and kneeling at the feet of Jesus.

Can I tell you that sister Neeli is kneeling at

the feet of her Lord's Savior, Jesus Christ. So she

stuck it out with us for a little over two years.

And I remember in a recent service, we were preaching

a message titled Christ Our Compass, and during the altar service,

I noticed that two of our mothers of Israel were praying.

Prayer warriors that always prayed, prayer warriors that bury their

face and handkerchiefs each and every altar service, prayer warriors

that get moved on by the Holy Ghost and shout

most services, definitely shed tears, definitely very spiritual, definitely in

direct connection with the Lord. Never did I had to

preach about them being selfish to them. Never did I

had to preach about them being dead spiritually. Never did

I had to encourage them to keep coming to church.

Never did I had to pump push her prime just

true blue, pure vanilla gray, a blue ribbon, children of God.

But I noticed those two mothers of Israel were praying

in an extraordinary way. And by an extraordinary way, I

mean Saints of God that normally pray effectual, fervent prayers

every service during the altar service and pray for twenty

to thirty minutes fiery, hot, passionate prayers go forth, brother Philip,

but I noticed it. It was just ongoing, ongoing, ongoing, ongoing, ongoing,

and it got on to about forty five minutes to

an hour. She's sitting there and her face is still

buried in that handkerchief, and sometimes she'd pull it down

and her face was beat red. And while standing right

here in this exact location, the Lord spoke something into

my heart, and he said, I'm going to take her

home soon. And I spoke to this people, and I said,

immediately after that service before dismissal, I said, the Lord

has brought to my attention that he's going to take

a couple of our mothers of Israel and elders very soon.

Sister woot and said, well, praise the Lord, and Sister

sending Nealy basically, and as she said that'll be all right,

she gave us that big laugh through that hand up

like she would do with that handkerchief, and praise the Lord.

She was excited about going home. She let me know

that she had two mysterious dreams and visions about two

weeks prior to her death. And if I told you

the details and the specifics of these dreams and visions,

you would be shocked and amaze at just exactly how

accurate spiritually they were, and how they perfectly came to pass.

To make a long story short, the night that I

received the calls, one of them being from her grandson

who was in the state of South Carolina at that time,

that sister Neely had fallen out of her recliner and

appeared to be unconscious. I remember reliving those dreams. She

told me about them, just at the third pew from

the back, and I still to this day remember the

specifics in the details. And you know, sometimes you have

dreams you can't remember the specifics in the details. That's

how spiritual these were. You know. There weren't chilly being dreams.

They weren't just crazy people dreams that somebody's get giving

you for attention. To this day, I know they carried

great spiritual significance. And this woman was a communicator. I

did hear from her quite a bit. In fact, right

before she died, she said, brother Howell I've got a

screenshot of that text message. She said, I regret having

listened to you concerning not making that drive as a

single woman. She said, looking back on it, I should

have stayed with you. I should have stayed put there

at the Bethel Holiness Church, she said, Oh, when I

think about the things I missed out on after being

here for two years, when I think about how I

could have grown and developed and grew in grace and

in the knowledge of the Lord Savior Jesus Christ. Keep

in mind, this is no novice. This is nobody that

came to us struggling. But she told me, she said,

I have grown so much in these last two years.

I wish that I would have just stayed put right

there in my post of duty, in my place. But

now I'm living with regret. You know you can do

that too. You can do that too. You can pick

yourself up and push yourself right out of the center

of God's will. But I'm glad that when this woman

realized that she had got out of the center of

God's will, she was willing to walk right back to

the center of God's will, put herself down smack dab

in the center of God's will and sit in that

pew and occupy a place in a position of a

mother of Israel. So Sister Cindy comforted our door greets.

Sister Cindy comforted our elder saints. One of the last

conversations she had with Sister whoot and his sister Howell

was about old recipes and forgotten on trees and dishes

of yesteryear. I mean, a lot of the people in

this general have no idea what swamp cabbage is. This

was a woman that knew how to cook. She knew

old South Florida country cooking as good as anybody she knew.

Sister Wooton was the queen of it, and she was

a close second. She believed in comfort food. She believed

that you needed fellowship with church people that that brought comfort.

She believed that you needed to crack a joke at

the young people in the church and bring forth a

smile upon their faces. Amen, I really can't think of

a time that I had to preach directly to Sister

Sending Nealy concerning her life. Now that speaks volumes concerning

that precious sister. Because the Bible said God gave us

pastors and teachers and evangelists for the perfecting of the

saints so that we can grow, so that we can

be perfected, so that there could be spiritual development in

our life. But for me to stand here and tell you,

I can't remember of a service where I came to

it expecting to preach directly to Sister Sending Neeley because

of some defect in her life, or because of some

discouragement in her life that might move her position or

change her location. I mean, what a testimony, What a

wonderful thing, What a wonderful thing. And I want to

challenge you today to be more like her. She would

tell you to be more like Jesus, and I want

you to be like Jesus, but I want you to

be more caring. Because of Sister Sendy Neely's example, the

term is endearment. She endeared herself to this church family,

and Sister Cindy, to your credit, it is as though

you never left us. And Sister Whoton expressed to me

right after her death, she said, you know, the little

lady told me and told others she wanted her funeral

to be at the Bethel Holiness Church, and that might

have been an inconvenience for some who lived an hour

or two away. But I'll tell you this, it was

no inconvenience for Sister sending Neely to drive an hour

to church each and every service. So for the past

two years, she said, she grew. And she told me

she began to understand the Word of God in a

way that she had never understood it in about two

weeks prior to her death. In a conversation, and she

was a conversationalist. In a conversationalist, she said, I've always

read my Bible, and I've always prayed, she said, but

in the last year, I have had this insatchable desire

to consume the word of God. She was a consumer.

She consumed the word of God. She consumed the preaching.

She consume. She's soaked up like a sponge that Holy

Ghost charged spiritual atmosphere. She was a consumer. She said,

I have enjoyed reading my Bible. And she said, I

love to sit on my front porch in the house

that God has given me miraculously in the last four

or five months, read my Bible and have a good

cup of coffee. She said, Pastor, I've never felt the

Holy Ghost like I have in the last two years

of my life. You know what the difference was. She

felt like she truly was in total complete surrender and

obedience to the will of God for her life because

Sister Sending Neely was of special significance and most importance

to this special, unique work in South Florida, just as

significant and special as these other mothers of Israel and

these fathers of Israel are. Brother Richard Jacob has been

a brother. Johnny Platte to me, a transplant from Indiana

who six years ago said I just felt like I

needed to move there and be a blessing. But he says,

in me trying to be a blessing of this people,

I have been blessed. How important is it that you

stay in the center of God's will. Brother Gabriel shared

with us a little while ago that he was he

is like Sister Neely in the fact that he's willing

to drive an hour to church each and every service,

including revival services. Sister Cindy Neely was committed, she was consecrated.

It didn't matter if the move of God was ongoing

up until the midnight hour, that Saint may have had

to take a little break once in a while because

of her age seventy nine years of age. But like

Sister Howell said, she would remind us often that she

was a spring chicken and she had no desire whatsoever

to complacent in the House of God. She wanted to

be churchy, she wanted to be spiritual. She wanted to

have power. She wanted to tap into whatever it was

God had for us. That particular night and just two

weeks before death, I watched her pray for sister after

sister after sister actress. She never desired to lie my life.

She never wanted to pulpit. She never wanted to be pastor.

She just knew God has placed me here to be

a parishioner in this pew, and as a lay person

she made a significant difference in the life of every

person here. Today, they tell me there's eighty people right here.

I know a lot of people couldn't make it because

of that hour's drive. I know she's had two different

celebration of life services, one for the locals in Lake

Placid and one for her Bethel Hole and his church family.

I'll say this, Sister Needley was not one for compromise.

She was not a compromiser again, true blue, pure vanilla gray,

a blue ribbon holiness lady. She proclaimed and preached from

the pew that we should follow peace, and that's something

she practiced with all men, and holiness without which no

man shall see the Lord. She'd quote the scripture also,

as much as liath within you lived peaceably with all men.

But she didn't believe in order to maintain the peace compromise.

And when she showed up two years ago, I didn't

ask a whole lot of questions. Due to her age

seventy seven years of age, and her experience in the

House of God, and having not heard from her in

a while, knowing her history, her background, her being a

prayer warrior, I knew there was reason this woman had

made an hour's drive. So I said, listen, it's gonna

be best if I don't ask any questions. I just

want you to know the welcome matt is outside the

double glass doors. If you need to do what you

need to do. I mean, you told me it's the

same thing seventeen and a half years ago. So welcome home,

Welcome home. And her and I never did really just

sit down and have a chit chat. And she was

one for chitchats. She was a communicator, a conversationalist, but

we never did just have a chit chat run people down.

But she knew how she believed, and she stood for

what she believed. And she felt like somebody no longer

stood for the things that she believed that were biblically based.

She would do whatever she could do to remove herself

from that compromising situation. And she would not be for

country music. She wouldn't be for worldly people being on

a platform. That's just how she believed. She wouldn't for

non sanctified people participating in any celebration of life service,

for any holiness person. And may I teach slash coach

every elder saint of God in this building. You need

to make your funeral plans before you pass. It'll save

your family some trouble. It'll save some heartache and confusion.

All you have to do is just text it, put

it in an email, make it plain. As a pastor,

I have been an eyewitness to a lot of confusion

because people failed to just properly prepare for the time

of their death. Speaking of the time of one's death,

the Bible said, in the sight of the Lord that's

a beautiful thing. It is a beautiful thing. We rejoice

at the time of one's birth, don't we. As the

grandfather to seventeen grandchildren, I rejoiced a lot of times

over their birth. But the Lord is telling me today

to rejoice over sister Sendy Neely's homegoing as we celebrate

her life. This is a time of rejoicing. It's a

time of sorrow. We weep with those that weep, we

mourn with those that mourn, but also it's a time

of great rejoicing. His sister Sendy Neely could speak out

of that great cloud of witnesses. She would comfort each

person and say, weep not for me, but rejoice. She

practiced what she preached from that pew. She was a

cheerful person. She was a cheerful person for those that

knew her for a moment or a lifetime. We knew

her to be a cheerful person when we performed the

wedding ceremony of her grandson and his bride to be

who became his bride. She lay there, basically lifeless at

her deathbed. Right beside her, we wed two very special people,

two very special people of hers and brother Nathaniel, I declare,

she looked like an angel of God laying there. I

told some of us that it looks to me like

she's just gonna get up, pull them tubes out of

her body, and walk out of here with us. But

I knew from the moment that grandson called me and said,

it's not good. She's hunched over in the recliner, and

they just took her out of the house and they're

headed to the hospital. I knew from that moment God

was pulling her out of our hands and putting her

in his. I knew God was taking her home. And

they say her last words were these words, old God,

help me. Now the Holy Ghost had spoken to her

concerning a certain medical procedure that would take place. God

gave her assurance that he would be with her, and

he was with her. He took her through that. And

then about a week later, what she had told me

she felt like was coming came and it happened as

Sister Hole and I were turning in for the night

that call came in. I started making my drive to

see Bring, Florida, about an hour away from LaBelle, Florida.

As I communicated with sister in laws and cousins and grandsons,

and my phone just kept blowing up. It's not looking good.

How do you feel about that? Pastor House said, well,

you know what, as a pastor, I want to be

selfish because that's one of my best members. I said,

that's one of my very best members. But I feel

like God is telling me he's going to take her home.

We got to that hospital. As we went to walk

in that hospital, she suffered the massive stroke. They said.

Immediately she went from answering the doctors and the nurses

and even making a comment, I might roll off this

bed if you aren't careful, being Witty's sister Cindy, who

had suffered a mild stroke in and out, but even

answering questions concerning allergies and medication. But when our feet

touched that facility grounds as her pastor's coming through automatic

glass doors, she suffers another stroke, but it's major. And

the nurses in the trauma word they told me they said,

we never see anything like it. She was with us

and then she was gone. Said nothing's been there since folks.

As I walked to her door, member of the emergency

trauma team went in and closed the door and I

stood there. They drew the blinds. I saw the blinds

close on one of our church members. She was a

church member, and she was a good and faithful one.

I saw the blinds close and I said, old girl,

as I put my hand on that door jam I said,

old girl, I promise as you passed her, I'd be

there for you in times like this. And for an

hour and fifteen minutes, I stood out there at that

door as they went in, and they went out, and

I prayed. After an hour and fifteen minutes, Airmed got there.

They opened the door. I walked in first. They said, Reverend,

go ahead. Got there. We prayed for her. The Holy

goos moved. I really feel like God allowed her to

fill spirit, and I feel like the Holy ghost, which

is a person that resided inside of her, quickened and moved.

After praying, Brother, stare and feel in the spirit of God,

the air Med team come in the door, and the

tending doctor come in the door. And as we said

in Jesus' name, Amen, we probably prayed three to four minutes,

which is a long time when you in that situation.

We took our time because I knew this would probably

be the last time I got to pray with somebody

that loved to pray and someone who loved to have

their pastor pray for them. Back seventeen and a half

years ago, she'd call me and she'd say, pray for me, preacher,

or shed text me she says, something doesn't feel right.

I feel like God's about to take me. In fact,

one time, brother Michael Joseph LaRue was suffering terribly in

his body, terribly in his body. He was all but

shut down, and we went to a Chinese restaurant. We

prayed for him, and the power God moved mightily. We

had left Lakeland, Florida, because somebody told me that he

was not doing well. We drove two and a half hours,

met him at a Chinese restaurant. We prayed, and God

gloriously delivered him from some sort of spirit that was

troubling him. This is back in the early days when

we barely knew Michael Joseph Laru In that parking lot,

the Holy Ghost came by gloriously healed and delivered him

from that foul spirit that was troubling him, that anxiety,

all of that that had come along with him when

he come to our church. He got gloriously delivered. On

the way home, Sister Sindy Neely called me and she said,

brother Jeremy, what she called me back then? She said,

I just felt like the Holy Ghost told me to

call you, that you have something to tell me. I said,

Sister Cindy, I've been a person on witness and eye witness.

I have a personal testimony of the power of God,

and I just want to tell you that God is

great enough to move into helping to work in your situation.

And she went to weeping and crying and praying in

the spirit, and for about ten minutes she just rejoiced

in the Lord that he was mindful of Brother LaRue

and her in the same hour. She was low maintenance

as a church member, for sure, but she was precious.

I knew that she was praying for us as much

as we were praying for her. I knew that she

was praying for us as much as we were praying

for her. I want to say that again. I knew

that she was praying for us as much as we

were praying for her. I knew that her presence in

the Beetha Holness Church was meant to comfort me as

much as my presence was meant to comfort her. I

knew that she was a woman on a mission, even

though she felt needy and she felt like she needed

preaching to, She felt like she needed instruction. She felt

like she needed to grow in grace and in the

knowledge of the Lord Savior Jesus Christ. At the age

of seventy seven, I knew too that God had sent

her here to be a blessing to us. She comforted us.

Something about her brightened every room she entered, and the

people left speaking with her, knowing the Lord Jesus cared

about them. She had a personal ministry of compassion. She

raised her grandchildren. Some of y'all don't know that there's

grandmothers in this building this morning who didn't plan as

young women raising their own children to raise their grandchildren.

One day. Sister Sendy Neely had a vital part in

the raising in the rearing of three grandchildren because those

children were in circumstances that were unaway and undesirable. And

she stepped in and stood in the gap and comforted

and cared when nobody else would. That was our sister Cindy,

and she did it with a cheerful spirit, and she

did it with a gentle grace. It's true many lives

have been touched by sermons, but more have been touched

by acts of servitude and with a gentle smile. I

don't know that every sermon that I've preached, or that

these preachers have preached, has been effective in every life,

but I will tell you this, in every service, her

cheerful spirit and gentle smile and sweet laughter was a

blessing that every person every time they were here. Her

words were heartwarming, but her actions even more so. About

four months ago, she was not one to storm the pulpit,

meaning not one to bombard the pastor with every care

of life, and she had her share more than her share.

She was just like sister Woot, just glad to be here,

just glad to sit in up you. She didn't require

a whole lot of attention, but she bombarded this pulpit

that day. She was determined to beat every man that

approaches his pulpit. At the dismissal and she said, brother,

how I just felt like telling you I'd rather hear

I quote. I'd rather hear my Bethel preachers preach than

any other preachers in the world. I've been telling people

that will listen to me. You had to hear my

preachers preach. She wasn't one to trade annoyning for talent.

I remember seventeen and a half years ago she broke

one morning. I preached a message title Beauty for Ashes.

When she showed up around here two years ago, one

of the first things she said, is brother Howell, he's

still giving me beauty for ashes. That woman watched her

own daughter suffer with drug addiction. She watched her own

daughter drive, drive wild. She watched her own daughter run

away from God. She watched her own daughter seemingly lived

the life of the prodigal. But she prayed. She prayed,

she prayed, she prayed as she showed that love of

God with that bright smile, that radiant smile. She came

to our church seventeen years ago with a husband that

was ate up with cancer. We prayed for him. Service

at your service. Sister Sindy Neely had that cheerful spirit.

She was part of the church. She had that holy

ghost culture. She was a woman of God. And you

know what, the spirit of God moved, And before all

was said and done, God moved in her her husband's life.

And we feel like now she has been reunited with

her husband, who had been away from God for many years.

She feels like her daughter prayed on her death bed.

She never gave up on anybody. She's got a grandson

and some granddaughters. Until her last breath, she never gave

up on them. Her number one prayer request was pray

for my grandchildren and their salvation, and that included her

great grandchildren. And here was her heart's desire. I pray

that they will serve the Lord in the beauty of

holiness because it is a beautiful thing, and that they

will treasure and value moral purity, and that they will

separate from the world unto God and be devoted and

consecrated to Christ and his Church. And I pray, brother Howell,

that one day they will make you some beautiful church members.

That was the desires of her heart, brother Philip. There

was never a moment of selfishness. That was always moments

of selflessness. When she heard about Our Hope Ministry, immediately

she started a ministry in Lake Placid and Seabring, reaching

the least and lost and the lonely. She cared and

she comforted. The distance between her and her church family

did not keep her from ministering in her own way.

And one of her recent candidates for salvation is a

lady named Ruby. It's the lady she last ate with,

and while performing Robbie's ceremony wedding ceremony, Robby and Shane's

wedding ceremony, Ruby shid some tears. And after that wedding ceremony,

sister how and I went out in the weight room,

and while we were having some wedding cake, a feeble,

elderly lady came over. She stood there and waited till

I got done speaking, and she said, Preacher, I just

wanted to come over here and tell you. She said

that was a beautiful wedding ceremony. You could feel God,

and that that was wonderful. And she said, listen, I'm

not really a church person. She said. The last time

I went to church here in town, one of the

nominal churches. She said, the preacher just talked about money

and said, all right, all you snowbirds, before you leave,

make sure you put in your annual give them. And

she said that just turned me off to church. She said,

I ain't been back since. She said, I owned several

several successful and prosperous restaurants in Indiana, and I've owned

a couple right here in Lake Placid. She introduced herself

as Miss Ruby. I said, Miss Ruby, well that's good

d Mitya, and I'm glad that she was your friend.

She broke down and she cried, and I could tell

this was a seasoned woman, Brother Jesse, that wasn't easily

moved emotionally, a woman that had lost her husband. And

she said, right now, I'm upset with the Lord. I said,

why are you upsept with the Lord? She said, because

he's taken all my friends. I said, he is. I said, well,

don't you think at your age you need to be

ready to go meet him and meet them and be

reunited with him. She said, yes, sir, but I'm having

a hard time when losing Cindy. She cried some more.

She said, I only knew her a couple months. She said,

her niece, who works at the Golden Crow, told me,

I think I know somebody that can care for you

and comfort you and be there for you and just

be a sounding board encourage your broken spirit. So while

Sister sending neely One was dining in a certain establishment,

the niece made a connection, and this old woman that

was in despair became the friend of Sister Neely, and

Sister Neely would take her to lunch twice a week. Now,

Sister Neely spent her entire life being a caretaker, taking

care of people. That's how she earned a living. In fact,

she told me a few days before her death, she said,

the doctor says I'm in great help. That's why Brother

Samuel wept and cried and said this was totally unexpected.

She said, tell all them slothful young men in your

church that this seventy nine year old spring chicken is

ready to go back to work. It took God taking

her for her not to work. That's the report her

family gave me, one after another. She was a hard worker,

but she always worked for others. She never worked for herself.

So Ruby, she told me, she said, she just helped

me so much. And here's what she said. She said,

I don't know what I'm going to do without Cindy.

And I said, join the club. I said, I don't

know what I'm going to do without Sister Cindy. I said,

listen to Pastor Howe right now, Honey, I don't know

what I'm going to do without Sister Cindy. I don't

know what I'm going to do when I don't see

her come through them double glass doors. I don't know

how I'm going to react when I don't see her

during our altar service with her face buried in a handkerchief,

praying the entire altar service for the salvation of family

and for those that may be struggling within the church,

I don't know what I'm going to do not seeing

her shout in the presence unto the glory of God.

I don't know what I'm going to do, missus Ruby said,

I've only known her a couple of months since that introduction,

but she, without a doubt, is one of my greatest friends,

if not my very best friend. And that's how Sister

Cindy Neely was. If you knew her a day, she

loved you as though she knew you for a lifetime.

Her words were fitly spoken, they were timely, and the

legacy she leaves behind is not merely found in the

seventy nine years she lived, but in the lives of

whom she touched. Her cheerful spirit pointed others directly to Christ.

Look like a Christian. She acted like a Christian, she

walked like a Christian, she talked like a Christian. Truly,

Sister Sindy Neely, with that cheerful spirit, was a Christian.

May her life remind each one that the greatest among

us are those who faithfully serve, and may we do

for the least of these our brethren. As Sister Neely did,

I want to ask you about your head at this time,

as the youth Choir and young Adult Choir comes around,

I want to ask you to pray and say, God,

I need a servant's heart and a cheerful spirit. Would

you do that? Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day, Lord,

and for this celebration of life service, Lord, this homegoing

service of sister Cindy Lou Neeley. We thank you for

the spirit of God that is been present. We thank

you for the lessons of life that she had a

special way of teaching us God. She showed us as

a living example and a testimony as to how Christians

ought to be. We do thank you God for this

example in this testimony, for we are without excuse. And

you said in your word he that knoweth to do

good and doeth it not to him and his sin.

This woman, by her kind acts and great deeds and

gentle smile and warm spirit, has paved a well paid

path to glory. And God, I can't help but wonder

what she's doing in heaven today. We miss her, for

she was predictable in some ways, we could depend on

her to praise You in the House of God. But

at the same time, God, she was unpredictable and just

how she would be used specifically and uniquely amongst the

church and amongst those in this world. And I pray

God that a spirit of servitude, a missionary spirit would

be upon this people God, an unselfish spirit, Lord, a

heart full of gratitude. Lord. We heard of a grievance

that sister Wooton had and a disappointment today, Lord, because

of perhaps a lack of Sister Cindy Neely's determination and spirit.

And we pray God that there would be an unchanging

and unmoving and uncompromising spirit in each and every person

as we try to protect a platform and hold forth

the platform standard that she's so lovingly cherished. We want

to know God that you will honor it as she

believes you would. And we give you praise and honor

and glory in Jesus' name. Hey man, will you stretch

your hands towards heaven and love on Jesus and thanking

for the privilege to know her. Amen, Thank you, Amen.