Please stand. Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Please be seated. I want to give you a very sincere and warm welcome this afternoon for coming along to this Thanksgiving service. Notice it's not a funeral service, it's a Thanksgiving service for the life of Elizabeth, better known to us as Betty, surely, Saunders. For me it's a great privilege to welcome you on behalf of the family, to actually have been asked to oversee this particular service today. It is a privilege and it's a responsibility as we shall see presently as we go along through the service. Betty, you see, gave me detailed instructions, or rather Jane passed them on to me. Detailed instructions from Betty. And those of you who knew Betty well will know that she was a stickler for detail. I think I was given six pages of instructions of what was to happen today, how things were to be arranged. She specifically asked that there would be nothing too much said about herself. No eulogies, no tributes. Well, if she's looking down on us, she's going to be a little bit disappointed. Because how could we pass up an occasion like this without remembering the lovely person who was Betty Saunders? So there will be a few notes about her as we go through. You see, for her, for Betty, she would have lived out entirely Paul's instructions to the Philippians when he said, for to me to live is Christ. That was Betty, wasn't it? Her whole life was dedicated to following the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul gave me some notes, her son Paul gave me some notes of her early life and I'll just read those now as Paul gave them to me. Betty was born on the 1st of November 1929 in Cricklewood, North West London. Her Welsh father, an active Freemason, was the owner of a shop selling leather goods and shoes. Her mother was a nurse. Nearby Hampstead and Hampstead Heath played an important part in her childhood, and in her old age she often recalled fond memories of walks on Hampstead Heath with her father. Probably the beautiful open landscape and the Heath began in her early lifelong love of nature, especially for the trees and the birds. In her teens, she studied secretarial skills, including shorthand, which was often useful in her later life, when running the Waiter Life office. Her first job was with a bank in the city, to which she commuted each day on the tube. She became less and less happy with her life in London, and longed to experience life in the countryside. She made her escape in 1947. When, against her father's wishes, she joined the Women's Land Army and was posted to East Sussex, first to Mayfield and then to Hailsham, to work for Knight's Nurseries. It was here that she met and fell in love with Dick Saunders, and they were married in 1950 and remained so for 68 happy years. That then, a brief summary of Betty's early life. Presently, we shall come to a testimony that she has written out for us. But before we do that, let's sing our first hymn together, shall we? These hymns, all the hymns, all the readings were chosen by Betty. So we have a fair number of hymns, which pleases me greatly. I'm reckoning on about eight or nine at my funeral. And they change fairly regularly as I learn new ones. Anyway, we're going to sing together. Stand and sing after the introduction. Like a river glorious is God's perfect peace over all victorious in its bright increase. Thank you, Steve. ♪ We thank trust in holy ♪ ♪ All for us to do ♪ ♪ Thank you trust in holy ♪ ♪ Find him holy true ♪ ♪ Take us one dear homeward ♪ ♪ As our glory blessed ♪ God give as he promised perfect peace and rest. Father God, into your presence we come this afternoon with this great hymn of praise upon our lips. We thank you that we're here today to celebrate the life of one who lived for others, one who lived close to the Lord Jesus Christ throughout her days. And each and every one of us would have memories and have been touched by the love that Betty showed to us. And so this afternoon, we long to rejoice in the memories that we have of her. But greater far our Father, we would rejoice in the fact that though we have her mortal remains before us here today, we recognise that her soul and spirit are there today, face to face with the Saviour whom she loved and served, reunited with her husband Dick. And so, Our Father, we pray that we might be much encouraged as we're here today. Through this service, Our Father, we pray that you will bring much comfort to the family particularly, those who were so close to her and who mourn the loss of a mother, of a mother-in-law, of a granddaughter. We just pray, Our Father, for the family this afternoon, that they might gain much encouragement and much strength through being together with us here to celebrate this wonderful lady's life. So be with us today our Father we pray for we ask it in the name of the Lord Jesus and for his sake. Amen. The first reading that Betty has chosen is from the book of Romans chapter 5 and verses 1 to 8. Paul writing says this, therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access by faith into his grace, wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulation also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly, For scarcity for a righteous man will one die, Yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love towards us, In that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. As I've said, there was to be no eulogies today, no tributes. Betty wanted it to be all about her Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. But in the last few weeks or so, certain tributes have come along, and we feel that perhaps we should share, if not all of them, some of them, part of them, with you this afternoon. So this first one is from Paul, name's gone, Jane? Barnes, sorry, Paul Barnes, who was associated with the work at Way to Life Radio, that tremendous work that Dick was involved in for so many years. And he says simply this, Betty Saunders had a great love for the Lord Jesus Christ. This was seen in her loyalty to her late husband Dick, her diligent and faithful service in managing the office of the Way to Life ministry over many years, and her leadership of the Ladies' Meeting for many years at Gordon Road Church, Hailsham, where she had the joy of seeing some come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Her husband Dick became Britain's most famous evangelist, yet they served alongside each other as husband and wife. Letters from the Way to Life ministry were often signed, Dick and Betty. Although she was hardworking, Betty always had time for people. With a mailing list at one time of over 30,000, Betty always found time to talk to people. She especially loved talking about the Lord and his work. Her personal letters to people who were reached through the Way to Life ministry were an encouragement to many. For several years, a column of the Way to Life link up was devoted to Betty's bulletin. In one of her bulletin columns, she wrote, it is such a wonderful fact that through all our difficulties and troubles, God is available to us at all times. There is a promise of God suitable for our need in every situation. May we avail ourselves of this provision for us. But as we have just read, although they had many problems and difficulties over the years, the trial of her faith worked out the patience, and Christ will be glorified in the believer's patience, suffering, and endurance. In later years of their service together, Dick and Betty wrote in 2005, we are both nearer 80 than 70 and still extremely busy and do wonder at times how long we can keep up the pace. However, we know the answer to that is in our Lord's hands. So as long as he gives us daily health and strength, it is our desire to keep active serving him whom we love. Thank you, Paul, for that appreciation of Betty's work in the ministry. As I said, I had six pages of notes, at least six, and another six arrived today, which I had to quickly go through and see if I could... We won't blame Jane for that, but it is her fault. But there we are. Betty wrote an awful lot of notes about her funeral, or rather her thanksgiving service. It was all planned. And we've read Paul's description of her early years, but what about those 68 years afterwards? What about her coming to faith in the Lord Jesus? This is what Betty wrote, and I read it exactly as she wrote it. When Dick and I were courting, she says, we attempted a Baptist church in Eastbourne, where the people were very welcoming and friendly. We were very happy there. One evening we had a visiting speaker, and I was not listening very well, thinking about other things. We all suffered that a bit at times, haven't we, when we've been listening to preaching. She wasn't listening very carefully to what the preacher was saying. When he said that we were all sinners, I couldn't believe my ears. How dare he say that? I'm a very good person and never done anyone any harm. However, I began to think about my past. My dear mother had always been so kind and loving and sought the very best for me in every way. Thinking back, I realized that I had been very selfish and ungrateful and had taken it all for granted. My dear father too had spent money on my education and I didn't remember ever thanking him. I can still remember how upset he was when I told him I was leaving my secretarial position in London and that I was volunteering with the Women's Land Army. He said, I have spent a lot of money on you and now you are throwing it all away. I love the beauty, she says, of God's creation but I had never thanked him for it. Then I thought, well, there's lots of people far worse than me anyway. I decided to dismiss the whole message and put it to the back of my mind. However, the message had been based on Romans 5 verse 8, the verse which we read just now. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Unbeknown to me, this verse spoke to Dick as he sat in the pew. And there and then he asked the Lord to forgive him and become his saviour. When I got back to my lodgings, I couldn't get to sleep, tossing and turning in bed for hours. I was reasoning with myself and a great conflict was going on. I'm a very good person. But no, the speaker said, you are a sinner and you need God's forgiveness. You need to have the Lord Jesus as your own and personal saviour. Finally, I got out of bed, knelt by the chair and said something like this. Dear God, I really don't understand very much at all, but I know I am a sinner. I ask you to forgive me and thank you for dying on the cross for me. I ask you to come into my life as my saviour. I got back into bed and went fast asleep. We continued to attend church where we were baptised and came into membership. Later we were married there too. When the children began to arrive we could no longer go to Eastbourne so we settled in Hailsham. There have been many ups and downs along the way through these many years, but our dear Lord has remained faithful, true, merciful and kind throughout. That then is Betty's testimony. That is her testimony for the long life she lived in fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ as her Saviour. Let's sing our second hymn together, shall we? Another hymn chosen by Betty. Someday the silver cord will break, and I no more as now shall sing, but oh the joy when I shall wake. And she's woken there now within the palace of the King. Thank you, Steve. Let's start to sing. ♪ Some day a cellar door will break ♪ ♪ And I will walk as now to sleep ♪ ♪ But what a joy when I shall break ♪ ♪ Within the palace of love ♪ And I shall see Him face to face, and tell the story, say, by grace. And I shall see Him face to face, and tell the story, say, by grace. Someday my earthly house will fall, I cannot tell how soon it will be. But this I know, my holy wall, Has now a place in heaven for me. And I shall see Him face to face, And tell the story, say, by grace. And I shall see Him face to face, And tell the story, say, by grace. Someday when face the golden sun, Beneath the hosies in the grass, My blessed Lord will send a dove, And I shall enter into rest. And I shall see Him face to face, And tell the story, saying, Thy grace. And I shall see Him face to face, And tell the story, saying, Thy grace. Someday, till then, I'll watch and wait, My apple trimmed and burning bright, But when my Saviour opens the gate, My song to Him may take its light. And I shall sing Him praise to praise, And tell the story said of my grace. And I shall sing Him praise to praise, The second reading that Betty has chosen is from the Old Testament this time, from Isaiah chapter 53. We'll read a few verses from that chapter. Who has believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For he, this is prophetically talking about the Lord Jesus, for he, the Lord Jesus, shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of a dry ground. He hath no form nor comeliness, and we shall see him. There is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men. a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. We hid, as it were, our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him. and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned every one to his own way. The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and he was afflicted. So reads God's precious word and he will bless that to us. Sing a third hymn now. love divine or loves excelling, joy of heaven to earth come down. Thank you. O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming? And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Filled to the brim with Thy salvation, left down every trembling heart. We will bring thy loving spirit into every troubled breast. Let us all in thee inherit. Let us find thy promised rest. ♪ O say can you see, by the dawn's early light, ♪ Almighty to deliver, let us all thy grace receive. Silently return, and never of all thy temples be. Here we would be always blessing, serving ♪ May I praise Thee without ceasing ♪ ♪ Glory in Thy perfect love ♪ ♪ Finish then, my new creation ♪ ♪ Pure and spotless may we be ♪ ♪ Let us see thy great salvation ♪ ♪ Perfectly restored in thee ♪ ♪ Changed from glory into glory ♪ ♪ Failing them we take our place ♪ ♪ Till we cross the cross before thee ♪ ♪ Lost in wonder, love, and praise ♪ I don't think I should have sung that hymn quite so enthusiastically. I hope my voice lasts for another few minutes. Betty's notes. They've ruled my life for the last few days. I've studied them carefully, read them, and I'm desperately trying to adhere to them. There was one sentence in there and it said simply this, I would like someone to take my service who will speak well of and uplift the Lord Jesus and to present clearly the gospel message. So no pressure there then. I feel very humbled to be standing here today. Some years ago, having preached here on Sunday morning, we were gathered out the front of the church, chatting as we used to, and Betty came to me and she said, I want to speak to you. So I said, yes. I thought she was going to perhaps criticize the message I brought on that morning, but no, she said, I'd like you to take my funeral service, my Thanksgiving service for me. I'd like you to do that for me. Dick was standing very close by and he heard what she said. And he turned around immediately and he said, that won't be necessary. I should be doing that. Little did he know that he would pre-decease her by some five years. So here I am. Dick's not able to be here to take the service. And I said, yes, I would do it. But I'm very conscious, as I was standing here just now singing the hymns with you, of the fact that Dick, of course, was a tremendous preacher, a wonderful, wonderful preacher. He knew his Bible back to front, inside out, upside down. As with Betty, for him to live was Christ. And he occupied this platform on many, many occasions. And we, and some of you, would have sat there and listened to the wonderful ministry. And now I have to stand here. So as I say, I'm very humbled to think that Betty asked me to do this. One of the favorite questions they seem to ask people these days, and think about it yourself, describe yourself in three words. Would you describe yourself in three words, I wonder? What would they be? It causes us to think very carefully and look very carefully at who we really are, and perhaps to take into consideration something of what other people might think about us. On the other hand, I wonder what, if we were to ask each other to describe us in three words, what they would say. I'm seriously thinking of having a practice Thanksgiving service, because I'd really like to hear what people say about me. But on the other hand, I probably wouldn't, would I? And you're probably, some of you sitting there now, my wife Margaret certainly is thinking I could describe him in three words. Three words to describe ourselves. I wonder, I wonder what they would be. Paul gave us that lovely description of Betty's early life. But what about those next 68 years? What was her life like for those 68 years? She had the children, she had the grandchildren, great-grandchildren. She spent 68 years supporting Dick faithfully in his evangelistic campaigns, in the Way to Life radio work, And in correspondence, we've read something of that in Paul's writings, she was dedicated to serving her husband and her family. A life of dedication to others. And I suppose, as I thought about it preparing for this service, if I were to write one word over the life of Betty, it would simply be this, others. You see, that's what motivated Betty, was the care and concern for other people, whether it be close family members, and you will have experienced it, all of you, I know, or whether it was the fellowship here, through the ladies' work and every other facet of the work, whether it was the thousands of people she wrote to in the Way to Life radio. She was always concerned for others. That was her life. I wonder why she was like that. Why was she always concerned about others? What motivated that? What made her go on and on, right almost to the last days of her life, concerned for others? You see, we're encouraged today to have a role model, aren't we? Somebody we look up to. Somebody who encourages us to live a life the way that they live their life. And sadly, as we look at human lives and we try to emulate them, we find that they are always flawed. There's always a problem. But Betty followed a pattern in her life. And that pattern that Betty followed was the Lord Jesus Christ. The life of the Lord Jesus Christ, we read about it in the four Gospels in the Bible, in the New Testament. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John give us an insight into the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. And as you read through those Gospels, go home and read through them and marvel at the way in which the Lord Jesus Christ always moved at the need of others. Whether it be a woman with a disease, a child who had died, whether it be 5,000 people with nothing to eat, whether it be the disciples in a storm on the lake of Galilee, he was always moved by the needs of others. So he became the role model for Betty as we read in her testimony. She was moved by the needs of others. A truly remarkable lady who touched for good, dare I say, all of us here present today, in some way, for good. Just a second. Okay, Betty, I'm just getting to it. We'll stop talking about you, Betty, now, and we'll talk about the Lord Jesus. I'll do as you asked me. Tossing and turning in her bed, we read that she confronted God's assessment of her. And what was God's assessment of her? His three words for Betty. I wonder what they were. If we go to Ephesians, actually there are seven words. Seven words that Betty probably turned over in her mind that spoke to her of how God saw her. And how did God see her? He saw her as dead. He saw her as depraved, deluded, disobedient, defiled, darkened, doomed. He saw her dead in sins, depraved through sins, deluded by Satan, disobedient to God, defiled by sin, darkened in her mind, doomed because of sin. Listen to the words. And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. among whom also we all had our conversation in times past, in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath even as others." That is God's seven words, if you like, describing human mankind, describing you, describing me. It's not very pleasant, is it? when we really think about what God thinks of us, the words that he would use to describe us, that that's the truth of it. And so Betty was turning in her bed concerned that she wasn't right with God, that there were things that were wrong in her life that needed to be put right. That's how God saw her. That's how God sees every one of us in our natural human state. And we all try to do something about it, don't we? We don't want to be recognized as people who live out those particular facets, those particular characteristics in our life. You imagine going for a job And you take with you your CV, as they call it. And you write it and you present it to the employer. And he reads it. It's not going to say that you're dead, depraved, deluded, disobedient, defiled, darkened, doomed. You wouldn't get the job, would you? You know, the fact of the matter is that if you and I want, when we pass from this life, as Betty has done recently, if we want to go to the place where Betty has gone, if we want to be in heaven in the next life, then we've got to have something done about those particular characteristics. For God will not have us in heaven in that particular state. She admits, Betty, in her bed, that she doesn't have all the answers. I don't understand it all, she says. I can't possibly understand it all. Well, I can tell you this. A few years ago, she did have most of the answers. No, we never have all of the answers, but she did have most of them. She could tell you all about the way of salvation. She could tell you how you should be living your life to please God. She could tell you about the scriptures. She'd learnt it all as she went along, revealed to her by the Holy Spirit. You might not understand it all. Do any of us? Do we understand the true meaning of life? Do we accept that we don't know it all? It's difficult. But Betty didn't understand it all. But she heard that verse in Romans 5, verse 8. And it's going round and round in her head as she lies there in her bed. God commendeth his love towards us. God loves me, she says. Even though he sees me with all those terrible characteristics, God loves me. Well, it's absolutely true, he does. Commendeth his love toward, in that while we were yet sinners, yes, she says I'm a sinner. Christ died for us. Back to Ephesians chapter two. We've read those three verses at the beginning of that chapter. Horrifying verses to us, surely. painting a dreadful picture of how God sees you, sees me. And we find in verse four, but God. Love the buts of scripture, don't you? But God. He's listed all these terrible characteristics. And then it says, but God who is rich in mercy, for his great love where which he loved us, even when we were dead in sins. hath quickened us, hath made us alive together with Christ, by grace are ye saved. That's the answer to God's condemnation of us in our sinful, selfish state. Verse 8 says this, for by grace are ye saved. You may be thinking to yourself, well, okay, I don't understand it all, how do I go about it? Verse 8 says, for by grace are ye saved through faith, that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Grace is undeserved favor. Grace is God giving us something that we just do not deserve. We deserve eternal punishment for our sinful natures. But God shows grace to us. He shows, grace is simply love. undeserved, that is shown towards us. And that was shown in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, the sending of his beloved son to die on the cross at Calvary. It says that we have to move in faith. Faith is a difficult concept. Faith means believing the unbelievable. Faith for me is belief in action. You might believe something. But until you put that belief into action, you don't show faith. I didn't carefully watch you all come into the church this afternoon. Could have done, but I didn't. But those I did notice coming in, I didn't see anybody. Pick up a chair and have a look at it and give it a good old wobble and see if it was going to take your weight. You see, you believed it would take your weight. So you sat on it, you put faith, you put that belief into action, you put faith in that chair. I don't know how aeroplanes fly, I can't imagine how they stay in the air, but they do. But you know I can stand there looking at an aeroplane for days on end and I can believe that it will fly me to my destination. But until I put faith in the people who built it and the pilot who's going to fly it and get on that plane, I don't demonstrate that faith. And that's like believing in the Lord Jesus. That faith is putting faith into Him, believing that He will save you from your sins, that He did die on the cross for you, and putting that faith into, that belief into action by faith. And it says there, not of our own efforts, However hard we try to live good lives, as Betty realized it laying there in her bed, however hard we try to live good lives, we will never be good enough for God. You see, the standard God has set is the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that life was absolutely perfect. He never sinned. There was no sin in him at all. You and I know that we do those things that are wrong, wrong thoughts, wrong actions. It's natural to us. We are born in sin, shaped in iniquity, as the psalmist said. And so we know that we are sinful and there's nothing we can do about it. We can turn over a new leaf. We come to the beginning of another year and we make all these special promises that we're going to do better, we're going to be better. but we know that we break them as soon as they look at us. So it's not of our own efforts. The verse tells us it's the gift of God, given to us by God, a gift of God, a God who looks upon us in the condition as we've already thought, and yet he's prepared to forgive us. He was prepared to send the Lord Jesus Christ as that perfect sacrifice for sins. Betty comes to that realization. She gets out of her bed and she puts her faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith and trust that motivated her throughout her life to live a life for others. Live a life that knew that when she passed from it, she would pass into the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, there to be forever. And from that day forward then, she dedicates her whole life to promoting the Lord Jesus Christ to others. She dedicates her whole life by following the pattern set by Jesus. So how God sees sinners? it's pretty frightening how he sees us. Ephesians 2.10 gives us an altogether different picture. Drop down that chapter and look at verse 10. What does it say? It says, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works. Each and every one of us here today who put faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, have had that terrible condemnation removed from us of that first three verses. It's removed from us. And God now looks upon us, and as Paul says here, he looks upon us as if we are God's workmanship. Go back to the original Greek text, and there you'll find that that word, workmanship, means simply this, work of art. It's the word that they used in those days for a masterpiece. Now that's staggering, isn't it? That we can get from God looking at us as if we were absolutely bound for hell itself, and yet when we put faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, He looks upon us as if we were a masterpiece, a work of art. Now most of us are perhaps are prepared to say that we don't feel anything like God's masterpiece, God's work of art. We know what we're like. We still sin, we still do those things that are wrong. But that's how God sees us. If you go over to Romans chapter 8, you'll read there that God sees us as though we were already in heaven itself. And throughout those 68 years, God looked upon Betty as though she were already in heaven, perfected, absolutely perfect. If Betty were here today, she would commend the love of God to each and every one of us. Those of us who knew her, and I guess all of us in this room did in one way or another, perhaps would know completely that she would want to commend the love of God. You were very seldom in her presence without she would start talking about the Lord Jesus. These last few years have been particularly difficult for her. But she loved the Lord Jesus and her objective was to share Him with each and every one of us. And her joy today would be that everybody who walks from this place goes in the knowledge that their sins have been forgiven and that one day She will meet you all in heaven itself. Only you know whether that's true or not in your life. God longs to make you into a masterpiece, into a work of God. But we have to have first of all an acknowledgement that we are sinful. And then we have to recognize that there is only one way to get those sins dealt with, and that is by putting faith and trust in the Lord Jesus, who gave that absolutely perfect life on the cross at Calvary for sins. You see, way back in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve fell into sin. A man fell into sin, and God declared that a man had to die for sin, but he had to be a perfect man, until the Lord Jesus Christ came and walked this earth in absolute perfection. That man did not exist, but he did. He came and he died a perfect death for you and for me. We need to put that faith and trust in him. They say in the world that there are two absolute certainties. One is death. Well, we would agree with that, wouldn't we? We're all going to die. The other is taxation. You're going to know something about that in the next few weeks, aren't you? Because taxes are going up, I promise you. Death and taxation too. I believe there's a third certainty. And that third certainty is that we will all meet God one day when we pass from this life. We will all meet God. And he will only, he will only have one question for you and for me. Did you put faith and trust in my son, the Lord Jesus Christ? Did you have your sins forgiven by his death on that cross at Calvary? And it's a yes or a no. There's no prevarication. It's a yes or a no. Either we did or we didn't. It's a sobering thought, isn't it? But Betty laid this responsibility upon me to preach the Gospel to you, to tell you about how God sees us, how he can see us, if we have those sins forgiven. I hope I've dispensed that knowledge to you this afternoon and been faithful to Betty's request. We'll turn to our service sheets now and we'll sing a final hymn together. This hymn is Abide With Me that Betty chose and as I said I was given some more notes of Betty's today and one of them said this about this hymn. It says that Betty's grandfather requested this hymn at his funeral service. That was held at Hampstead Parish Church, where he attended regularly for 40 years. So that's Betty's connection with this hymn, that it was used by her grandfather at his funeral. The last verse says, hold thou thy cross before my closing eyes. Shine through the gloom, point me to the skies. Heaven's morning breaks, earth's faint shadows flee in life, in death. O Lord, abide with me. That's Betty's testimony today. She's there in heaven with her Saviour. Let's sing this lovely hymn together then. We'll stand after the introduction. Abide with me, fast falls the even tide. Shine with me as those e'en have shined. Let darkness give way, Lord, with me abide. Where'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming? Helm of the helpless, O abide with me. Slip to its close, lens of my scythe, O day. As joys pervade, His glories pass away, Change and decay. ♪ In all around I see thee ♪ ♪ Thou who changest not abide with me ♪ ♪ I need thy presence every passing hour ♪ All that thy grace can for the tempest howl. Through life and myself, my guide and strength have been. Through cloud and sunshine, Lord, abide with me. Bind me, O Lord, with Thee, and have to pass. Pillows have no weight, and tears no bitterness. Where is the sea, where break thy victory? I triumph still, if thou abide with me. Oh, now thy cross before my closing eyes shine through the dew and towards me to the skies as morning breaks Thank you, sir. As you see from the Order of Service 30, those who wish Please come down to the cemetery just along the way here, where Fetch's mortal remains will be placed in the urn. Those who wish to stay for refreshments, please stay here until we return from the cemetery, when we shall have refreshments here together. But if you have to go, then we understand. Thank you all for coming today to support the family. Let's just pray. Mother God, we thank you for this time spent together today, inciting before you the love that we have for this lovely lady, Betty Saunders. We do pray, Our Father, that everything that has been done and said in this place today might have been to the honour of the Lord Jesus Christ, whom she sought to serve and live for. And so, Our Father, we pray that the family might be much comforted in their particular sorrow as they lay this dear one to rest. that we pray our Father that they might be encouraged in the knowledge that today the dear one gazes upon the face of the Lord Jesus Christ whom she loved. So our Father we pray to take us from this place rejoicing this afternoon in your goodness to us. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen. I'd like to stand please. My youth, that I shall never live, And may Jesus stand, may He stand as the Lord, the King of all the earth. I know that I really believe that he shall stay. I will never leave my lover's side. I'm going to the hospital. Good old grandma. It's nice to see you. We've been asking about you. If it's not YouTube now. It's been a long time. It's been ages. Yeah, it's been a long time. That was an interesting place, we probably only bought a glimpse of it. I don't know, I think we're lost. Too far to walk.