so so You. you you you you You. so You may be seated. On behalf of the family, I want to thank each of you for being here today. Your presence means so much. There's been a real outpouring of love and support for Bill and the boys and the family. And it's a testimony of how much Phyllis was loved and the influence that she had, not only in her family, but here in our church and in the community. We're here to celebrate her life, but we're also here to worship the Lord, the God who gave Phyllis life and saved her by His grace and blessed her the way He did. We confess that these are not easy times. The elders have talked among ourselves recently of the number of saints God has called away from us. The challenge that that brings to the church, the sorrowing and the grieving, and the lessons that God has for us in those home goings. But there's another aspect to it that's special in concern as far as elders. There's a number of men here that are pastors. of churches, missionaries, so that they would understand this. Paul, writing to the elders, the Ephesian elders, said, take heed over the flock of God, the shepherd, the church of God, which he purchased with his blood. Well, Phyllis was one of God's sheep, purchased by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And she was given to us as a charge to take care of her, to feed her, protect her. And we loved this sister, loved her fellowship, loved what she added to our church. But it's a burden as an under shepherd to be faithful to that charge. And to know that we have cared for her, and fed her, and protected her, and she is now in God's sheepfold safely in heaven. There's some relief to that. Because that's what we desire for all of the sheep that God has entrusted to us. And her being one of them. We need the Lord. We need His help today. And He's promised to be with us. And we need to look to Him. So I'll ask every believing heart to join me around the throne of grace as we ask God's help and presence here today. Father, we thank you for the life of Phyllis Kephart. We love this dear sister. We thank you for what you have shown us through her life as she endured suffering. And the sweetness in which she carried herself for her love for Christ and her love for the church and her love for family. And Lord, we do confess that we already miss her, but we rejoice that she is with you and that her suffering is behind her. And those things that she embraced by faith on this earth have now been enjoyed and realized in your presence. And we thank you that to be absent from the body is indeed to be present with the Lord. And Lord, we also confess that There's an admixture of emotion for the joy we have for where she is and for the gladness that fills our hearts to know that she is where she has longed to be and where every born-again, blood-bought child of God longs to be. And yet with that, gladness comes a separation from earthly loved ones of husband and sons and daughter-in-laws and sisters and brothers and parents and that's just difficult for us and we confess that and we ask that you would minister to us in our sorrowing and our grieving and we thank you even as we're going to sing in a moment about Peace. Peace that can fill our hearts. Peace that passes understanding can be granted to us even in the midst of sea billows rolling and tempests and storms. So Lord, as we sing together in worship to you and affirm truths that we know and believe and were precious to Phyllis, use those things to minister grace to us and to minister comfort to us. And Lord, as words are shared here, family remembrances and scriptures are read and a message is brought that you would use all of those things for our good and for your glory. Hear us, we pray, for Jesus' sake. Amen. Take your hymnal, if you would, in front of you and turn to 371. 371. And stand with me as we sing this together. you With my soul. It is well. It is well. With my soul. With my soul. It is well. It is well. In His name, in His name, in His name, in His name. From this glorious song I sing and glorify God the Lord. It is well in my soul, in my soul. It is well, it is well in my soul. Lord, listen here, and my faith shall It is well with my soul. It is well. It is well. With my soul. With my soul. It is well. It is well. With my soul. You may be seated. Part of my responsibilities at Beacon is to visit folks in the hospital and shut-ins. And when you do that on a consistent basis, you come to learn more about the people. You come to love them in a special way. And I certainly learned to love Phyllis in a special way. When I asked Dr. Kephart if there was anything in particular that he'd like me to share with you today, he told me to share some of my personal experiences with Phyllis. The long, drawn-out drama that has unfolded before our eyes in the Kephart family has impacted all who knew them and know them. We've seen the steady faithfulness of Bill and the perseverance of Phyllis through occasional mountaintops and increasingly more valleys. Their journey has been instructive and it's been inspirational for us all. Did they struggle privately during the many hospital stays and rounds of rehab? To be sure, they did, like all of us would. But anyone at Beacon who observed Bill and the boys bringing Phyllis to church whenever she could come, had to be prompted to praise God for their testimony. When I told Phyllis this, she responded, do you really think so? Yes, indeed, Phyllis, I really think so. Bill, like Phyllis, you and your family are to be commended for your faithfulness. It's our prayer that you're resting in the assurance that your dear wife is beyond the struggles Beyond the uncertainties and the fears, she's rejoicing in the presence of Christ. Psalm 61 was written by David, and I've shared it with Phyllis on numerous occasions. David wrote, hear my cry, oh God, attend to my prayer. From the end of the earth, I will cry to you. When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For you have been a shelter for me. a strong tower from the enemy. I will abide in your tabernacle forever. I will trust in the shelter of your wings, Selah. For you, O God, have heard my vows. You have given me the heritage of those who fear your name." Folks, there can be no doubt that Phyllis found her stability in her relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. And yet she needed the sense of God's abiding presence every day as all Christians do. When I reflect back on the times that I visited her at the hospital or in rehab, the thought of ocean waves comes to my mind. There were desperate times when the waves of MS crashed hard against her and Phyllis ended up in intensive care, either unresponsive or overwhelmed. There were other times at rehab when the ebb and flow of MS seemed less threatening, but it seemed endless by her own admission. During those times, she fought being despondent. She would greet me with a faint smile that seemed to say, here we go again. In times like those, every Christian experiences the truth of Romans 8, 26. Likewise, the spirit also helps in our weaknesses, for we do not know what we should pray for as we ought. But the spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. it all comes down to clinging to the rock Christ Jesus. Henry March beautifully described the ebb and flow of God's providence in a way that I believe was true of Phyllis. Deep to deep, incessant calling, tossed by furious tempest roll, endless waves and billows falling, overwhelm my feigning soul. Yet, I see a power presiding amidst the tumult of the storm, ever ruling, ever guiding, love's intentions to perform. Yes, mid sorrows most distressing, faith considers thy design, humbly bowing and confessing all the waves and billows thine. The homegoing of believers who have suffered long can seem like a severe mercy. On the one hand, there's sorrow of temporary separation. But on the other hand, there's the gratitude and relief of knowing that our loved one is free from all worry and pain. Bill, family members, to be sure if Phyllis can sing as never before, it is well, it is well with my soul. We're going to hear some family remembrances, first from Bill and Phyllis' oldest son, Bill Kephart III, and then Phyllis' brother, Roger Parrott. who was a missionary to Hong Kong. He will come and share some remembrances, but first we'll hear from Bill. Well, I appreciate modern medicine and its ability to give us more time with my mom. One of the unfortunate side effects of it is that it tends to draw out what may have previously only lasted a few months or days over years. And that had a severe effect on my mom and my family. We watched her systematically lose all of her physical abilities, almost all of them. And in the later years, some of her mental ability as well. She went through the last portion of her life, sometimes in a sleepy haze, cycling in and out of lucidity. And although we are sad to see her go, I think we can all agree that it's better that she's not suffering anymore. Even though we can let her disease completely define her, that was only a major part of the last years of her life. There was a lot more to my mom than that disease. I watched her in my younger years. be a servant. That was her role to our family. She served the family. She supported us in everything we did. Any success that I have had or will have is at least in large part due to my mom. She made me who I am, for better or worse. I remember so many times when she saved me from the impending consequences of my own forgetfulness. And I'd call her at school and say, hey mom, I forgot my trombone for band. Can you bring it to me? Hey mom, I forgot my lunch. Can you bring it to me? Hey mom, I forgot my homework. And she was never upset. She'd say, Billy, why do you always do this? But she was never upset to help me or any of her sons. That's what she enjoyed doing. It was her greatest joy in life to see us succeed. And she definitely made that happen. I thought about what I was going to say today, and there's no way I could adequately cover an entire life in three to five minutes, so I'm just going to try to share a few good memories. It's in no way going to completely give her what she deserves. This will probably say more about me than it does anyone else, but I remember, I'm not sure if Dad remembers this, We were talking over dinner about solving a system of equations that I had for a math bonus problem in Algebra 1. And we had gone through it in every way that we could possibly think of for about half an hour. And suddenly my mom chimes in with the answer. At first, my response was outright denial. No, there's no way that you could have figured out what my dad just spent all this time going over. But as I thought about it, I realized she was right. And I went into class the next day and turned in the answer and everyone was amazed. I was the only person in the class to get it right. And that was when I realized my mom was really smart too. I remember her bringing us to school every day. I remember her coming to my soccer games. I remember her coming to all the extracurriculars that all of me and my brothers did, driving us nonstop. it was a pain to see her lose the ability to do what she had joy doing. Because she loved being there for us. She loved serving us. She loved helping us succeed. And she had to go from being the backbone of the entire family to being the one that had to rely on everyone for support. And that was really difficult for her. But I will give her, I respect her very much for never, I never heard her renounce her faith, even question it. I never heard her waver. She never questioned God and that is That blows my mind. That's amazing to me. So whatever I may believe, I certainly respect that. Like I said, there's no way I can give her justice. So I just would like to leave everyone with the impression that she made me who I am. And I thank her for everything she did for me. I'm going to try to give some memories from an earlier time. Because Phyllis was the one in my family that was closest in age to me, obviously one year apart to the very day. And so kind of everybody assumes that you're going to be really close when that's the case, you know. Sad to say, growing up, that wasn't the case. We kind of fought a lot. I thought of saying we were kind of like cats and dogs, but I think it was more like two cats in a bag. We didn't get along very well for many, many years. And then something changed, and that was that the Lord came. When my sister and my older brother got saved and my brother came and led me to Christ, God changed my heart toward my sister. And to be honest, the first thing I thought of was I got to go talk to her after I got saved. I suppose I was stupid enough just to think that that's all it would take, because that was all it took. I went and talked with her and told her what I had learned from my brother. We had grown up in a church that didn't believe the Bible, and thinking that, like most churches like that, all we had to do was just try to be good. And as long as we were good, and we were in church trying to follow the whatever the church did and making sure we were involved in everything that that was good enough and we could hope our way into heaven we hoped and I talked with her and told her that you know found out that's just not from the Bible you know it's not by works of righteousness that we're saved but by his mercy and shared with her the gospel, and God changed her heart too, and she got saved. And the thing that happened after that is that all of a sudden, we decided we liked each other. I enjoyed hanging around with her. That final year in my high school, I enjoyed hanging around with her and her boyfriend and my girlfriend. We were kind of a foursome for a while. It wasn't Bill, sorry to say, Bill. It was another guy, but he dropped away before she came to college. I went off to college at BJU the first year and missed her. And then she came the second year and that was kind of neat. Getting to know my sister, we got to do a lot of things together at the beginning of the year. And then there was this stinker of a guy that came along named Bill that took her away right about that time toward the middle of her freshman year, I think is when you guys met, if I remember right. I think that's right, at a dinner table. And I happened to be there and see it happen. I said, oh no, I know what's going on. And after that, she wasn't interested in being with me. And when she went places, she wanted to be with him. And whenever I did see her, all she could talk about is Bill, Bill, Bill. That was it. That's just the way it was. And I couldn't get her to give me an intelligent conversation after that. I felt like that was it, Bill. But it was kind of a neat thing to see how God brought them together. and brought them to love each other. We didn't expect that so early in her time at Bob Jones, I can tell you that. So it was kind of a neat thing that God did. Because of the fact that I was involved in talking with her getting to know her after she got saved and sharing the gospel with her when she got saved, I just felt like, you know, as I found out the morning after she passed away, my mom called me and I had just gotten in the car to drive to a mission conference up near Hampton, Virginia with my son and my daughter. All the way there, I'm thinking about, you know, about my sister. One of the things that occurred to me, you know, is that because I know she was saved, I saw her get saved, and talked with her and knew how much she loved the Lord. I thought over and over again, you know, yeah, she died, but for us, death is not so bad as for some people. For us, as Christians, it's just a temporary parting. Because the Lord's coming back and we'll see her again. And we'll be with her forever. And that's something I look forward to. And I also thought, you know, death is, the Bible says precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of one of his saints. It's a precious home going. She's not, um, She's not sad that she's not here. I know that. We're sad, but she's not sad at all because she's home. And last thing I thought of, and it's been said already, is the sense that her death is, I think, a blessed release. from all the pain and suffering, difficulty she went through, because the Bible says now, she has a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. And she has a body that's not racked with pain like it was. I know, I think, as her brother, I feel a need to speak for her. You know, the Bible, there's only one story in the Bible that Jesus told in which we see people in heaven and people in hell. And in that story, it's interesting, they're both are very interested in seeing the people back on earth saved in that story. And they're talking about how they can get saved. And I thought, I think I need to talk for my sister here, because I'm sure that's what she's concerned about right now. She's not concerned about herself, she's concerned about us. And I know Phyllis's heart was to see all her family, all her relatives, all her friends come to know the Lord. And I think that, I'll just say this, I've already shared a little bit about how we were brought to Christ and we realized that all our works were filthy rags and weren't worth even talking about and getting saved and that we needed to trust in the Lord. And I just want to say this, that if you're not saved, I think I speak for her. I can say for sure, the best gift you could give her is to believe in the Lord and get saved. I'd like for you, if you have your Bible, to turn to the book of Job. Job chapter 19. I want to look at just three verses there. This passage, I think, helps answer a question. And that question is, what gave purpose and meaning and stability to Phyllis in the uncertainties of life, in the throes of her daily battle with MS, and the challenges and the limitations the disease brought upon her. In part, 2 Timothy 1 and verse 12 helps us to know how she did endure and how she did that so well, how she maintained a consistency, a faithfulness. Paul writes, for this reason, I also suffer these things. Nevertheless, I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep what I have committed to him until that day." God kept Phyllis Kephart in the faith. He sustained her through the ebbs and flows of life and through some very challenging times. As we look at Job chapter 19, verses 25, 26, and 27, I want to speak to you about four aspects of God honoring faith. Four aspects of God honoring faith. And we have a definition from the writer of Hebrews of faith, that faith is the substance of things hoped for. So faith isn't just a leap in the dark. There's substance to our faith. It's the substance of things hoped for. And not hoped for like we hope it doesn't rain in a little while when we go to the cemetery or I hope it doesn't, this happened to spoil this plan or that plan I have. Biblical hope is defined this way. It is a confident, assurance or expectation of an absolute certain future reality. There's no wishful thinking tied to biblical hope. Faith is a substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Our faith stands up to scrutiny. It can be examined, and when it's examined, there is evidence that supports it. One of the strongest evidences, in my opinion, concerning Phyllis's life is something that was brought out in John Newton. Some of our folks are reading Jewels of John Newton. It's a devotional book. And on Thursday, John Newton said this, He's referring to Philippians chapter one and verse 27. To you it is given not only to believe in Jesus, but to suffer for his sake. And that was true of Phyllis. He goes on to say, when he enables us to bear affliction with due submission and patience, he is glorified. Then his grace and power are manifested in us. It provides a proof that our religion is not merely notional, but that there is power and reality in it. And the Lord's people are encouraged by what they see of his faithfulness to others. And this church benefited from Phyllis's suffering more than she knows. God manifested His grace in her life and we're the beneficiaries of it. But back to Job chapter 19, four aspects of God honoring faith. I want to show you the certainty of faith, the possession of faith, the foundation of faith, and the expectation of faith. The certainty of faith. Job says, in verse 25, Job says, in verse 25, Job says, in verse 25, Job says, in verse 25, Job says, in verse 25, Job says, in verse 25, Job says, in verse 25, Job says, in verse 25, Job says, in verse 25, Job says, in verse 25, Job says, in verse 25, Job says, in verse 25, Job says, in verse 25, Job says, in verse 25, Job says, in verse 25, Job says, in verse 25, Job says, in verse 25, Job says, in verse 25, Job says, in verse 25, Job says, in verse 25, Job says, in verse 25, Job says, in verse 25, Job says, in verse 25, Job says, in verse 25, Job says, in verse 25, Job says, in verse 25, Job says, in verse 25, Job says, in verse 25, Job says, in verse 25, Job says, in verse 25, Job says, in verse 25, Job says, in verse 25, And what did he know? He knew in the midst of all of his confusion, of trying to make sense of his life, that the only place to make sense of life is having a vertical orientation. Job is a fascinating study. God said some things about him that you'll be hard-pressed to find him saying about anybody else. God said this about Job as he confronted Satan and said, "'Have you considered My servant Job, "'that there is none like him on the earth, "'a blameless and an upright man, "'one who fears God and shuns evil?' Now, no man said that about this man, Job. God Himself said that about this man, Job. Therefore, what God said about him had to be true. But despite the fact that God said that about him, What do we see going on in Job's life as the result of losing what? Family, and fortune, and friends, and then his health. Friends come to console him and to minister to him, and through those friends, he sustains harsh criticism and false accusation. Job chapter 19 and verse 6, Job says, God has wronged me. Verse 8, he says, He has set darkness in my paths. Verse 10, he says, My hope He has uprooted like a tree. He has also kindled His wrath against me. Verse 13 he says, He has removed my brothers far from me, and my acquaintances are completely estranged from me. Verse 14 he says, My relatives have failed, and my close friends have forgotten me. He says in verse 19, All my close friends abhor me, and those who I love have turned against me. Verse 20 he says, My bones cling to my skin and to my flesh, and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth. He says in verse 21, O you, my friends, for the hand of God has struck me, why do you persecute me as God does? Now, we may have a hard time reconciling those words of Job with what God said about him in chapter 1. That's the same man. The Bible gives some raw honesty about the challenges that come to our faith. And Job's faith was being sorely tested. But in spite of everything that he says, he comes to this conclusion. There's a certainty about his faith. I know one thing. I know God. I know Him and He knows me. And I may not understand what's happening to me. In fact, I can't make sense out of what's happening to me. But I don't need to know except to know that He knows. And that's what he says over in Job chapter 23 and verse 10. But he knows the way that I take. When he has tested me, I shall come forth as gold. And that's why there was a certainty about his faith, because his faith wasn't dependent on him knowing why God was doing what he was doing. He bowed to God's sovereign rule and right. And even though he doesn't say it this way, we see in his life, he was basically saying whatever the Lord ordains is right. I bow, I submit, I surrender, I yield. It's a great confession of faith that he makes there in chapter 23 and verse 10. He knows the way that I take. He knows what's happening to me. I don't need to know what's happening to me. I want to know what's happening to me, but I don't know, but He does know. And not only does He know what's happening to me, Job says, when He has tested me. God has planned what's happening to me. Now, I may not understand that either. But God knows what's happening to me. God has planned what's happening to me. And number three, He says God has a sanctifying purpose in what's happening to me. When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold. Gold. So what helped Job? Why did he have a certainty about his faith? Because he had a vertical orientation. He yielded to God. And we saw this wonderfully demonstrated and manifested in Phyllis's life. I marvel just how God manifested that last Lord's Day. Bill and some of his family went to Florida on vacation, drove down there, drove back, spent a long week in Florida. For any of us, that's tiring. Sunday morning, Phyllis is right down here. Sunday school, she's in her place. Sunday night, she's right here. There was a certainty about her faith. She wasn't shaken. Sure, she had questions. Sure, she wondered from time to time. Sure, there was dark clouds that engulfed her from time to time. But there was a certainty about her faith. But not only do I see a certainty about Job's faith, and speaking of Phyllis' faith as well, but I see the possession of faith. Notice what Job says. He says, for I know that my Redeemer lives. My Redeemer. Job didn't say, I know my wife's Redeemer lives, my parents' Redeemer lives, my grandfather's Redeemer lives. No, I know that my redeemer lives. We love to sing here, I am his and he is mine. There's no greater assurance. There is nothing that will stay us in our earthly pilgrimage like that to know that he is my redeemer. He's redeemed me at the cost of the blood of His own Son. Therefore, my life does not belong to me. My life belongs to Him. And it's not for me to tell God what my life should look like, but for me to surrender to His sovereign script. And that's what Phyllis did without complaint, without bitterness. Martin Luther said the meat of the gospel is found in the pronouns. My redeemer, my redeemer. I must stop and ask this question. Are you a possessor? Or are you a professor? Or maybe not even a professor. The benefits of Christ are for his redeemed. Can you say that this afternoon or this morning? Is he your Redeemer? Can you say, my Redeemer? That was the bedrock of Phyllis' faith. There was a certainty about her faith. There was a possession about her faith. But not only that, what else do we see? We see the foundation of faith. What is the foundation of faith? For I know that my Redeemer does what? He lives! He lives! And were it not for that fact, if it were not for the resurrection, our faith would be meaningless. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15 verse 14, if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and our faith is also empty. Verse 17 of that same chapter, he says, if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Verse 19, he says, if in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men to be saved. Pitied. No, the foundation of our faith is that Christ lives. And because He lives, we shall live also. Phyllis, her life didn't end. She just changed addresses. She's more alive today than she's ever been. And only because her faith was in a risen Redeemer who conquered sin, death, and the grave. So the certainty of faith, and the possession of faith, and the foundation of faith. But there's more. There is the expectation of faith. Listen to what Job says. He says, For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth. And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and not my eye, and my eye shall behold, and not another. There was an expectation about Job's faith. And we say, well, how is that even possible? The book of Job is one of the earliest books given to us. Job lived many, many, many, many, many years before Christ coming to this earth. And he's talking about a Redeemer that had not yet come. Well, he's speaking of faith on the promises of God. There was promises of a Redeemer all the way back in Genesis, and Job laid hold of that. Obviously God revealed this to him, and God granted him faith to believe it. But if Job, who lived on that side of Calvary in redemptive history, and those of us who live on this side, who not only are looking and hoping for a Redeemer to come, we're looking back at a Redeemer who did come, who lived the life we didn't live, who died the death we deserve to die, and rose victorious over the grave, and has ascended. He's risen. And there's this hope that the believer has. It's an expectant hope. and expectant faith. Last Saturday in this very place, as we gathered to worship the Lord and remember the life of Jerry Jarrell, we sang a song congregationally together of his choosing, face to face, and the words say this, face to face with Christ my Savior, face to face what will it be? When with rapture I behold him, Jesus Christ who died for me. What will it be? What will it be? Oh, if we could ask Phyllis. Not a hope to her. It's a reality to her. Oh, Phyllis, what is it like? Oh, to look into the one who bought you, redeemed you, saved you by his grace. what rejoicing in his presence, when are banished grief and pain, when the crooked ways are straightened and the dark things shall be plain. Face to face, I shall behold him far beyond the starry sky, face to face in all his glory. I shall see him by and by." Of all the reasons why Phyllis wouldn't want to come back, there it is right there. She is enthralled. She is engulfed. She is preoccupied with her Redeemer, whom she longed to see with believing eye and faith. Faith has given way to sight. So from Job we learn about the certainty of faith and the possession of faith and the foundation of faith and the expectation of faith. And may God cause these words to linger with us and to bear fruit in our hearts and lives as those of us who are redeemed and knew our sister as a sister in Christ. We're longing to be where she is. She has finished the race. She finished it a bit ahead of some of us. All of us, really. She finished ahead of all of us. Some of us aren't too far behind her. But God was with her all the way. And there's uncertainty, isn't there? I think of how fragile our faith can be at times. And particularly when the path that God has laid out for us involves struggle and suffering and difficulty like the last third of her life has been. When you realize God has us bookend, what do I mean by that? Well, we sing John Newton's famous hymn, Amazing Grace. Time to think of the stanza. Through many dangers, toils and snares, we have already come. Tis what? Grace. has led me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home." So we have grace that has led us and will lead us. And then David could say in Psalm 23, in the very last, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of our life. Now think about that. We're heading to glory. How are we going to get there? What confidence do we have we're going to get there? Well, grace is leading us. Grace has led us all the way through every trial, through every difficulty. And goodness and mercy are following us. How are you going to get lost? Phyllis didn't get lost. The Lord led her all the way, didn't he? We sang on a Wednesday night here just a week or so ago. And this song was sung from this very podium within the last week. In shady green pastures, so rich and so sweet, God leads his dear children along and says, that's what I want. I want green pastures. I want rich and I want it sweet. That's what I want. Where the water's cool flow bays the weary one's feet, sounds like paradise to me. Now, stanza two says, sometimes on the mount where the sun shines so bright, God leads his dear children along. Sometimes in the valley, in darkest of night, God leads his dear children along. And then the refrain, some through the waters, some through the flood, some through the fire, but all through the blood, some through great sorrows, but God gives a song. God gives a song. There was a song in Phyllis' heart when she gathered with the saints. She'd be down here, joining her voice with the voices of her brothers and sisters, singing the songs of Zion, affirming her faith, confessing her faith in God and in Christ. And she has taken her place with her Redeemer. And we are very, very happy for her. Shall we pray? Our Father today, we are thankful for Phyllis May Parrott Kephart. We're grateful for her testimony of believing faith We thank you that she had a certain faith, that she had a possessing faith and a faith with foundation, and she had an expectant faith. And that faith that was a consistent witness manifested through a godly life. We thank you for her influence upon her family, upon her friends, upon this church and upon all who knew her. And Lord, we rejoice at her gain and we grieve our loss. We ask that every grieving heart might know your comforting presence today, that we would know your perfect peace. We thank you for promises that you have made, that you will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusteth in thee. Lord, today we are reminded of the brevity of life. Help us to live each day with gratitude for your blessings. With deep commitment to Jesus Christ and with vibrant hope of eternal life through faith in him. Help us today in our sorrowing and in our sadness. And help us to remember that weeping may endure for a night. but joy comes in the morning. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. I guess we want to sing another hymn before we close. If you'll look with me, What's the hymn, brother? 462? 462. 462, let's stand and sing. you ♪ And I will be God ♪ ♪ And as I hear the poor man's empty praise ♪ ♪ How I hear their praises loud and o'er the air ♪ ♪ O my vict'ry cry ♪ ♪ May I meet heaven's eyes ♪ ♪ On my death's side ♪ ♪ God of my own heart ♪ ♪ I am your equal ♪ ♪ Still be my vision ♪ ♪ My hope and my guide ♪ Shall we pray? Now may goodness and mercy follow us the remainder of this day, next week, next month, yea, all the days of our life. And may, by your good pleasure, gather us all together to dwell with you forever and ever, I pray in Jesus' name, amen. and and so