Eric Thebner's life Celebration service

8/10/25

Welcome family and friends of eric thebner Let's  open in prayer…

Baruch atah Adonai elohaynu Melech  ha'olam…..blessed are you o lord our god king of the universe  " we gather today with heavy hearts, yet we give you thanks for the life of Eric Thebner who is now in your loving presence. We ask for your comfort and peace to wash over us, and that your ruach ha Kodesh your Holy Spirit guide our remembrance of him. May we find solace in shared memories and in the hope of eternal life through our messiah yeshua. Amen

Today we are celebrating an amazing man of god the life Eric Thebner. Who is known in Israel as Yisrael the son of benyamin Thebner . Sue and eric have been a huge part of our lives. When my beloved toni left the earth 16 months ago sue and eric were by our side in prayer and encouragement all the way through the journey  This may be heavens gain but certainly our loss.  Sue, sons Jordan & zach, sister michele grandchildren, friends and family  I feel your loss and my heart and prayers are with you….we are in it together

I had the honor of dedicating Jordan and kelsy's children which of course are eric and sue's grand children as well as their grandson's brit milah service.

I believe all of us feel the same way…. clearly it's all surreal we have spent a lot of time together and have so many wonderful memories…20 plus years .

When I think about erics life I think of so many amazing attributes of a very special man of god..…not only a godly man of deep faith who loved the lord. he was a devoted husband, father . and grandfather. he was a brilliant strategist , he had to be to be a partner in the largest accounting firm in the world . Eric was a man of integrity, a man of biblical morals a man after Gods heart as David was…..

in the bible  as cripture that  describe eric so well:  It opens up with a question….

Proverbs 20:6  Most men will proclaim each his own goodness, But who can find a faithful man?  God had found that man and so have we…if I was to describe eric  with one word it would faithful….

He had such a zeal for truth.  He wanted everyone one to understand the roots of the

biblical Hebraic  faith . His heart was to reach out to the Jewish community and teach and show how Yeshua jesus was who he said he was  the messiah.

He had such a zeal to bring to the gentile church their true identity, the truth of the Hebraic roots and revelation which isn't any religion. He loved the teachings of Dr Booker., which are truly powerful life changing truths.

I prayed with eric the night before the surgery  so when Sue texted me that …. Eric was now with the lord.  My heart sank…like all of us

but once again how we simply just never know when our time has come,  to leave this earth and meet our maker…age, status, education, wealth ,religious affiliations, None of it determines that time…

The bible says to be absent from the body is to be present with the lord.  it may sound strange to some but this moment in time  is really a celebration….We always hear this saying may they rest in peace… but in reality eric is dancing in glory…no pain, no sorrow, no heart issues, no meds, and no suffering anymore… it's called perfect peace…a peace that surpasses our understanding!

in the bible there is a book called ecclesiastes written by the wisest man as well as probably the wealthiest man that ever lived. His name was solomon the son of David…

in chapter 3 he said to everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die.

there is one thing that we all know, but we don't really think about it or ponder it very much…but nonetheless it is inevitable. And it is this: that each one of us in these fleshly bodies has a date an appointed time to leave this body. it is everyone's destiny, whether it is at 71 like eric or it's 101, 85, 75, 55, 35, 25  15, 5 or earlier… It happens to all ages, it does not discriminate, no one can escape it,

it is a fact and not one of us knows the day, time , or hour.. let alone how.

But we all have a date with this thing called death. We don't understand it, yet it happens regardless. Although our flesh dies our spirit never dies….we are eternal beings. Yeshua/Jesus said I am the resurrection and life he that believes in me, though he were dead yet shall he live….

I always think of john kennedy Jr's life.  38 years old…can you picture it, this handsome wealthy famous man with a beautiful wife and his whole life yet to live. Can you picture that day… come on honey, we'll fly over to the Vineyard, go to the wedding than we'll fly back,  we have a full week coming up.

We all know that his plans were not for him and his wife to end up strapped into their airplane seats at the bottom of the ocean.  What a tragedy! Who knew???

A time to die….

we may not know our time or how we leave but we need to know our destination.

For most of my life without knowing it, I was heading on the wrong highway. I thought that I was a good person. It's pretty easy to make yourself look good as long as you compare yourself with someone worse than you. compared to  ben laden I am an angel. I was totally ignorant of who god really was and totally ignorant of what he had to say. Even though as a jew I tried to go to synagogue twice a year.

The bible teaches us that there is a way that seems right, it seems right to man, but that way

leads to death. For me it took some real difficult situations in my life for me to get to a point of really needing god and crying out to him.

I got to the end of myself and thanks be to god in his awesome love and mercy that he opened my eyes and I saw who I really wasn't and who he really is!

Do you remember the song I did it my way…that was me!

Well, I came to the realization that those words were a joke and a deception…I found that there is a whole lot more. Eric also came to this place…. God's heart is that we would come to know him not just know about him but know him. he created us for that exact reason that we would commune with him. but man in his pride, selfishness, rebellion  and sin was separated from god and man came up with his own answer "religion"

And That religion goes like this… let us make god in our image and put him in our own box of understanding.

We'll fit him in somehow in our busy lives…maybe…this is not what God desires for us…

so, this same very very wealthy solomon, who by todays standards would make even Bill gates look small in comparison. This man had it all, wisdom, money, fame, power success to the max.. and at the end of his life he writes something so profound, so powerful….this is what he states…

He says Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter, in other words let's us hear the bottom line of life and really what it is all about…the conclusion of it all: fear god and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. for god will bring every work into judgment including every secret thing whether it is good or evil.

these bodies are only houses that hold our spirit. when we step out of these natural bodies we step into the supernatural realm called eternity. Where eric is right now. Unlike this realm there is no time in eternity. This natural flesh body dies but the spirit the real us never dies. It lives forever, but where does it live is our choice. I believe that There is heaven and there is hell.

We choose it and you need to ask yourself where would I go if I died tomorrow or next week or next year.

Where is eric right now?  My answer is that because he accepted his redeemer, his savior, his messiah I know that he is in heaven. his  name is indeed written in the sefer chaim book of life…Yeshua/ jesus said it very clearly "I am the way, the truth and the life no one comes to the father but by me…."

think about this…What if God allowed  eric to suddenly appear and speak to us.  Could you Imagine if god said eric I will give you two minutes to speak at your own service…what do you think he would say. I think the first thing he would say is how deeply he loves and appreciates his  faithful wife susan . he would say how much he loves his  family .  …he would say how precious his  friends are and how much he loves each of you…

but knowing eric and his heart to share the lord with everyone I believe he would be crying out to all those who don't know god or have their own private opinion about god and he would say that god loves you and there is only one way to enter heaven and it has absolutely nothing to do with the religion you grew up in or how often you go to church or synagogue, it has absolutely nothing to do with how good you think you are compared to bad people. It has absolutely nothing to do with your opinion or worldview or what sounds or feels good.

I believe he would say God is really real and that the bible is his word to us and that it is true. Jesus/yeshua is who he said he is and all that he said is true. Please, please all of my precious family and friends. I want to see you all again with me here in heaven. Please, please listen to what I am saying and please listen to what you are hearing today…

And get right with god…

I think he would say please don't ignore god, please don't think he is interested in religion…he is real, heaven is real, turn your hearts toward him. I love you all so much and I am here because of his great love and mercy because I don't deserve to be here. the bible is real, Jesus is real. All of our opinions don't mean anything.  Get close to him. receive his gift of salvation. He is the way to eternal life. Turn your hearts to know god. that's what I believe his words to us would be…

I believe God weeps over the state that so many are in. the bible says that there is a way that seems right to a person but that way leads to death….god himself wants us to know his way. In his love and according to what Is written he went as far as sending yeshua/jesus who was god himself to take upon himself the punishment that we deserve. He took upon himself our sin, our uncleanness, our rebellion, our hurts and pain.

What is so amazing is that It was all written and spelled out hundreds of years before it ever took place …it was foretold…..why?

So that we would be reconciled back to god, in Isaiah it says that our sin has separated us from God and he wants us back. the wages of sin is death. We have all sinned and sin has its wages.

I know some of you don't like or don't agree with what I am saying but this is his way, not mine, not anyone's idea but god's way…whether or not we like it, whether or not we believe it…it doesn't change it. it is like gravity, it doesn't matter what our opinions are. if you don't believe in gravity and jump off a building on your way down your opinion doesn't mean anything. It won't change the truth.

I am not talking about religion but about relationship with the one true living God. this is what eric believed, this is what sue believes and this is what I many others here believe.

All our loving creator wants is for us to come to him as eric did….he desires to come into your heart and dwell with you. So that you will become one with your god.

and your eternal destination is sealed.

I know eric  well enough to that he would want me to share this good news  and to ask that if  you believe that there is a god but you do not know him or you need to get right with him because you know that you have sinned against him

if you want forgiveness today, if you want your life changed today… than all you have to do is come to him. he says "COME". I love you….COMe to me. COMe to me all of you are heavy laden and I will give you rest…he has come that we would have life and life more abundantly…

the savior, the messiah of god, jesus/yeshua cries out to all both jew and gentile and says come unto me…I am the way, I am the truth and I am the life…no one comes to the father but by me…

God's heart is that none should perish but that all would come to him. he is the author of life, creator and king…..

close in prayer… eric can certainly  say  \what 2 tim. 4 says  I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith….and our beloved eric can say amen..it is finished

so keep eric in front of you not in back of you

cause we will see him again…

Prayer & thanking god for Eric's life and faith, and his example … "Almighty God, we rejoice in your promise of love, joy, and peace. And eternal life…. In your mercy, turn the darkness of death into the dawn of new life, and the sorrow of parting into the joy of heaven; through our messiah, who died, rose

Again, and lives for evermore.  Amen."

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Closing traditional scriptures

Psalm 121:1-2

I lift up my eyes to the mountains — where does my

Help come from?

My help comes from Adonai who made heaven and

Earth.

Psalm 118:14

Adonai is my strength and song;

You have become my salvation.

Psalm 30:12

=

You turned my mourning into dancing.

You have taken off my sackcloth and clothed me

With joy.

Psalm 23

12

ADONAI is my shepherd, I shall not want.

2 He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters.

3 He restores my soul.

He guides me in paths of righteousness

For His Name's sake.

4 Even though I walk through the valley of the

Shadow of death,

I will fear no evil, for you are with me:

Your rod and your staff comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of

My enemies.

You have anointed my head with oil, my cup

Overflows.

6 Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the

Days of my life,

And I will dwell in the House of ADONAI forever.

Mourners caddish is a fascinating traditional

Jewish prayer that has nothing to do with death

But it's a prayer the gives god all the glory and

Honor

I won't do it all in Hebrew except the first line

Then I will read it in English so you all will

Understand it….Yitgadal v'yitkadash sh'mei raba

balm di Vera chir'utei;

13

Translation:

Magnified and sanctified is the great name of God

throughout the world, which was created

according to Divine will. May the rule of peace be

established speedily in our time, unto us and unto

the entire household of Israel. And let us say:

Amen.

May God's great name be praised throughout all

eternity. Glorified and celebrated, lauded and

praised, acclaimed and honored, extolled and

exalted ever be the name of thy Holy One, far

beyond all song and psalm, beyond all hymns of

glory which mortals can offer. And let us say:

Amen.

May there be abundant peace from heaven, with

life's goodness for us and for all thy people Israel.

And let us say: Amen.

May the One who brings peace to the universe

bring peace to us and to all the people Israel. And

let us say: Amen.

One rabbi said:  love never dies,,,people do

But Yeshua  also said in John 11:25 a very

powerful statement in truth

"I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes

in Me, though he may die, he shall live.

Remember is Eric is alive in the spirit he has just

relocatedJ