Living Ready: Faith that Works to the Finish
STEADFAST LIKE THE PROPHETS: Learning Endurance
James 5:10-12
Intro: Sometimes endurance feels impossible. Have you ever thought, I can’t take another day of this? Maybe it’s the stress of a marriage stretched thin, the pressure of raising kids, the frustration of finances, or the ache of prayers that don’t seem answered. Sometimes faith feels fragile, like you’re just hanging on by a thread. James steps in with a word of encouragement: endurance is not about perfection. It’s not about smiling through the storm or pretending everything is fine. It’s about refusing to quit on God. And James points us to three examples: the prophets, Job, and even our own daily speech.
- WILL YOU KEEP SPEAKING FOR GOD EVEN WHEN IT COSTS YOU?
James 5:10 “My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience.”
James begins with the prophets.
Their suffering wasn't punishment for failure—it was the price of faithfulness. They “spoke in the name of the Lord,” and that brought them trouble.
Jeremiah spoke God's truth to a hard-hearted nation. He was beaten, thrown into prison, and even lowered into a muddy cistern to die (Jer. 38:6). Yet he still declared:
Jer 20:9 “His word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it back, and I could not.”
Jeremiah endured because God's word was stronger than his weariness.
God had warned Jeremiah from the beginning that faithfulness would not make life easier.
Jer 1:18-19 “For behold, I have made you this day a fortified city and an iron pillar, and bronze walls against the whole land... They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you. For I am with you,” says the LORD, “to deliver you.”
Sometimes faithfulness attracts opposition precisely because it is faithfulness.
Elijah stood alone on Mount Carmel against hundreds of false prophets. He prayed, and fire fell from heaven (1 Kings 18).
But immediately afterward, he was hunted by Queen Jezebel, fleeing for his life into the wilderness. Under a broom tree he prayed:
1 Kings 19:4 “It is enough! Now, Lord, take my life!”
And yet God met him in his despair and strengthened him.
Elijah's story also reminds us that great victories do not exempt us from deep discouragement.
One day he was standing boldly before hundreds of false prophets. The next day he was hiding under a tree asking God to take his life. Moments of discouragement do not erase years of faithfulness.
Hosea lived out one of the hardest prophetic callings: he married a wife who repeatedly broke his heart with unfaithfulness. And God told him to keep loving her as a picture of His love for Israel.
Hos 3:1 “Go again, love a woman who is loved by a lover and is committing adultery, just like the love of the LORD for the children of Israel.”
Hosea endured because God's covenant love is stronger than human betrayal.
Daniel continued praying when the king's decree made prayer illegal. He wasn't in the lions' den because he disobeyed God. He was there specifically because he obeyed.
Repeatedly, Scripture shows the same pattern: God's people often suffer not because they are off track, but because they are moving toward God’s best for them.
These prophets are not superhuman statues—they are weary, battered men who refused to quit on God.
James says they are “an example of suffering and patience.”
And the word he uses for “patience” is vivid: makrothymia – it means “long-fuse living.”
In Scripture, patience isn't passive, it is active endurance. It is active expectation, not resigned waiting.
Matt 5:12 “For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
Suffering is not a strange detour; it's the well-worn road of the faithful.
If the prophets endured with courage, then parents, employees, and students today can endure with courage too.
2 Tim 3:12 “…all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.”
The prophets weren't suffering because they failed God. They were suffering because they faithfully represented Him.
James echoes the message of Psalm 37.
Psalm 37:7 “Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways.”
Don't measure God's faithfulness by what you see today.
Stay faithful. Stay patient. Stay the course.
Spurgeon quipped, “By perseverance, the snail reached the ark.” Even slow endurance reaches God's destination.
J.C. Ryle observed, “The Christian is a man who can stand on his feet in the storm and not be blown away.”
The prophets model that kind of rock-solid stability.
Eugene Peterson called discipleship “a long obedience in the same direction.”
That's exactly what James is describing—steady faith in the same direction no matter the cost.
- WILL YOU KEEP CLINGING TO GOD EVEN WHEN YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND?
James 5:11 “Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord—that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.”
James now turns to Job. Did you notice that he doesn't call Job “patient?”
Job was raw. He argued, lamented, and even cursed the day he was born.
But James highlights Job's perseverance. Job wrestled, questioned, even shouted—but he never walked away.
Job 1:21 “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”
Even in loss, he worshiped.
Job 19:25 “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth.”
Even in confusion, Job anchored himself to hope.
Job 13:15 “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.”
What a statement. Job didn't understand God's plan. He didn't know how the story would end. But he knew God was worth trusting.
Job 23:10 “But He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.”
Job believed that even his suffering was not random. God was accomplishing something through it.
William Barclay – “Job's is no groveling, passive, unquestioning submission; Job struggled and questioned, and sometimes even defied, but the flame of faith was never extinguished in his heart.”
That's important because James does not praise Job's patience. He praises Job's perseverance.
Job wasn't always calm. Job wasn't always composed. Job wasn't always quiet. But he never walked away from the Lord.
James isn't holding Job up as a man who never struggled. James is holding him up as a man who never quit.
And what was the “end intended by the Lord”? Restoration.
The greatest lesson of Job's story isn't that Job eventually got his possessions back.
The greatest lesson is that Job discovered what God is like.
God's goal was not only to restore Job. He also intended to reveal Himself to Job. “The Lord is very compassionate and merciful.”
The Father doesn't just tolerate our endurance. He is moved with compassion toward His people
Lamentations 3:22-23 “Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.”
God’s compassion doesn't dry up. It refills daily.
Psalm 103:13 “As a father pities his children, so the LORD pities those who fear Him.”
God is not watching you suffer from a distance. He is compassionate. He is merciful. He is moved by the struggles of His people.
A.W. Tozer – “It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until He has hurt him deeply.”
Job's pain was great, but so was the blessing on the other side.
- WILL YOU KEEP MEANING WHAT YOU SAY?
James 5:12 “But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No,’ lest you fall into judgment.”
At first this verse feels disconnected.
James has been talking about prophets, suffering, and Job. Then suddenly he starts talking about oaths.
But James understands something important:
Endurance is tested not only in life's biggest moments but also in its smallest conversations.
When pressure increases, integrity is often the first casualty.
“Above all” doesn't mean swearing is worse than other sins. It means this is especially urgent for believers under pressure.
In James's day, people swore by heaven, by earth, by Jerusalem, or even by their own head to make promises sound binding. Their promises sounded impressive, but their words could not always be trusted.
James says believers should be different. Live so honestly that you don't need verbal decorations. James is saying: “No games. No loopholes. Just mean what you say.”
Perseverance in speech (letting yes be yes) is as much a sign of maturity as perseverance in suffering.
James unites the “big trials” and “small words” under the same banner of endurance.
Matt 5:37 “But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.”
James is echoing his older brother Jesus. Honest speech is a mark of true discipleship.
The swearing issue is not about profanity. The issue is about reliability.
Can people trust your word? Do your commitments mean something? Does your speech reflect the character of the God you follow?
When we break someone’s trust, words do not repair the breach. Only future actions and the passing of time will prove us trustworthy again.
Ecclesiastes 5:5 “Better not to vow than to vow and not pay.”
God values simple honesty over impressive promises.
illus: Remember when a handshake was used to seal a deal? You didn't need paperwork or lawyers because a man's word was his bond. James says Christians should live like that: no loopholes, no exaggerations, no “I swear I mean it.” Just a steady life of honesty.
Our bare word should be as utterly trustworthy as a signed document, legally correct and complete.
Everyday honesty is the test of endurance when no one else sees.
Conclusion – James paints three portraits of endurance:
- The prophets endured because they spoke for God when it cost them.
- Job endured by clinging to God when life didn't make sense.
- Believers endure in daily life by keeping their word honest and simple.
James began this letter by teaching believers how to endure trials. Now near the end of the letter he returns to the same theme.
The prophets show us how to endure when people oppose us. Job shows us how to endure when circumstances confuse us. Honest speech shows us how to endure in everyday life when nobody is watching.
Responsive Prayer – Applying James 5:10–12
Pastor: Lord, You gave us the prophets as examples of faith under fire.
Congregation: Help us endure with the same courage and patience.
Pastor: You showed compassion and mercy to Job when he clung to You.
Congregation: Teach us to hold on even when life doesn't make sense.
Pastor: You call us to let our ‘yes’ be yes and our ‘no’ be no.
Congregation: Make us people of integrity, whose words reflect our faith in You.
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Find James Chapter five in your Bibles today. James chapter five. It is the chapter we're in this summer, verse by verse, teaching through God's word, letting God feed his sheep. And that's how we're doing.
I'm excited about this. This is part three of this summer series called Living Ready Faith that works to the finish. Today I want to preach a message to you that I call steadfast like the prophets, learning, endurance and our text is James chapter five. Just three verses, 10, 11 and 12 and they read this way. Indeed we count them blessed who endure.
You have heard of the perseverance. Excuse me, Let me start at verse 10. My brethren, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord as an example of suffering and patience. Indeed, we count them blessed to endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord.
That the Lord is very compassionate and merciful. But above all, my brethren, do not swear either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath, but let your yes be yes and your no no, lest you fall into judgment. My brothers and my sisters, the word of the Lord.
Sometimes endurance feels downright impossible. Have you ever thought, I can't take another day of this? Maybe it's the stress of a marriage that's been stretched thin, or maybe it's the pressure of raising children, if you've walked through that. Or maybe there is some frustration in your finances right now, or that little ache on the inside for prayers that seem to go unanswered. Do you ever feel like you're just hanging on by a thread?
Well, if you have, or if you are, right now, James steps in with a word of encouragement. He says, endurance in the Lord is not about perfection. Aren't you glad it's not about smiling through the storm and pretending everything is fine? It's about refusing to quit on God. And James points to us to three examples in our text today.
The prophets, some guy named Job that spells his name Job, and even our own daily speech. Three verses in our text. In our text, ask us, the readers, three questions. That's my outline today. Question number one.
Will you keep speaking for God even when it costs you?
This is James 5, 10. My brethren, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord as an example of suffering and patience. In our text, James begins with those Old Testament guys called prophets. And if you read about them, you find out that their ministries were filled with suffering. And they didn't suffer because they were being punished for failing.
They were suffering because that's sometimes just the price for faithfulness. They spoke in the name of the Lord. The verse says, when you speak for God, you invite targets on you and your family. They spoke in the name of the Lord and that brought them trouble. Let me give you three examples.
Let's start with Elijah. The prophet Elijah stood alone, Mount Carmel. And he faced hundreds, eight hundred and fifty of them, by the way. 850 false prophets of Baal. This is in First Kings 18.
There hadn't been a drop of rain in three and a half years, Elijah prayed and fire fell from heaven and consumed his sacrifice that he offered. And it was an astonishing victory. And you think that guy could go for months about what God just did in his life, that he can walk around going, did you see what God used me to do? Well, that's chapter 18. Immediately in chapter 19, he was hunted by Queen Jezebel, and he flees for his life into the wilderness.
And under something called a broom tree, he prays for God to kill him first. Kings 19:4. It is enough now. Lord, take my life. Now.
Look, I've got a recommendation for Elijah. If you wanted to die, just go back to Jezebel and see what she might do for you.
But when we're depressed, we say crazy things and things we don't really think through. And yet, even in all of that, God met Elijah in his despair and made him stronger. What does that teach us? Listen very carefully. Moments of discouragement do not erase years of faithfulness.
Sit with that for a second.
Now, let's talk about a prophet you may not know all that much about. His name was Hosea. Hosea lived out one of the most difficult prophetic callings in all the Bible. He married a wife who repeatedly broke his heart and cheated on him with other men. And if that wasn't enough, God told him, you keep loving her because you're my illustration of my love for the children of Israel.
If you don't believe me, Hosea, chapter three, verse one. God says to him, go again. Love a woman who is loved by a lover and is committing adultery. Just like the love of the Lord for the children of Israel. And as promiscuous and as unfaithful as Hosea's wife Gomer was, Israel was worse to God.
Hosea endured because God's covenant love is stronger than human betrayal.
So that's Elijah and Hosea. Now let's talk about Daniel. Daniel. The famous story is Daniel in the lion's den. Daniel continued praying when the king's edict made prayer illegal for 30 days.
Daniel was not in the lion's den because he disobeyed God. He was in the lion's den specifically because he obeyed God repeatedly. Scripture shows the same pattern. God's people often suffer not because they're off track. They suffer because they're moving towards God's best for them.
Daniel came out of the lion's den pretty okay, didn't he? Kind of worked out. God was good to him. Look, I don't want you to think that these prophets were Superhuman statues that we're supposed to look at and go, wouldn't it be nice? Instead they are wearied, battered men who refuse to quit on God.
Will you keep speaking for God even when it cost you? James says they are an example of suffering and patience. If you never add patience to your suffering, you won't meet God there.
And the word he uses for patience is vivid. Pastor Andy showed us this verse last week when he taught the verses before this. It's macrothumia. It means long fuse living. If you have this kind of patience, you have a long fuse and it takes a long time for you to explode and give up.
That's what the patience of macrothumia means. And then I want to remind you of what Jesus said. This is not everybody's favorite verse in the Sermon on the Mount, but it's in there and it's true. Matthew, chapter 5, verse 12. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
So Jesus says, look, you're at my most famous sermon. How's life going? Oh, it's not going so great. Oh, you want to walk with God? Yes.
Why are troubles coming in your life? And he says, remember the ones who went before they persecuted the prophets before you. Those who walk by faith. You can look in the past and see what happens to people who walk by faith and watch God bring you through the trial. Watch God bring you through the difficulty.
And then you look back and you go, look how he made me like Jesus. If that hadn't happened, I would have never had this weakness shaved off of me. You see, suffering is not a strange detour for the people of God. It's the well worn road of God's faithful ones.
So here's James implication. Listen to me very carefully. If the prophets endured with courage, then parents and employees and students today can endure with courage too. They are our examples. They're not super Christians that we can never be like.
In fact, later in this same chapter, James is going to say that Elijah was a man just like us. Another verse we don't believe.
Second Timothy, chapter 3, verse 12. Paul echoes this. All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.
You need to thank God today that you live in the United States, not because our 250th birthday of our nation is coming up. That's good. You need to thank God because you don't face nearly the persecution for being a Christian that our brothers and sisters on the Eastern hemisphere suffer. See, your baptism didn't cost you anything. For some of you, your Baptism don't bring you back to church more than twice a month, but our brothers and sisters on the other side, just in the Eastern hemisphere, I saw a questionnaire for a potential baptizee of a church in one of the Middle Eastern nations.
And it asks you, if we baptize you, are you willing to never see your family again? If we baptize you, are you willing to never have a job that you went to school to have again? If we baptize you, are you willing to give up your life for Jesus? Because that's the reality of people that don't live in here, that love God, but don't live here. So you need to be thankful today.
Yes, we need to read this and go. Thank you, God, that you've given me the better road. James echoes the message of Psalm 37. In Psalm 37. 7, the Bible says, be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him.
Do not fret when people succeed in their ways.
Hey, can I tell you, don't measure God's faithfulness to you by what you see around you today. Stay faithful, stay patient, stay the course, Run with perseverance, a race marked out for you. Spurgeon quipped. This is my favorite Spurgeon quote. It's the funniest one.
He said, by perseverance, the snail reached the ark.
Even slow endurance reaches God's destination. Eugene Peterson called discipleship following Jesus a long obedience in the same direction. That's exactly what James is describing. Steady faith in the same direction, no matter the cost.
Will you keep speaking for God even when it costs you?
Question number two. Will you keep clinging to God even when you don't understand James? Five, 11, indeed, we count them blessed to endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord. That the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.
Raise your hand if you've ever read Job, chapter one, anybody. Isn't it terrible? I mean, in one day, Job has the worst day anybody ever has. All of his family are killed except for his wife, and she's nagging him.
He loses all of his stuff and then his body is just overwhelmed with these boils that hurt. And he just loses his family, his riches and his health all in one day. James now turns to this guy Job, and did you notice that James doesn't call Job patient? Because if you read the whole epic of Job, he is not a patient man. He's not blessed with that because he's suffering.
Job was raw. He argued and he lamented and he Even cursed the day he was born, said, I wish I'd never been born. But James highlights Job's not his patience, but his perseverance. You've heard of the perseverance of Job. Job wrestled and he questioned and he.
And he even shouted at everybody. Listen to me. But he never walked away.
Let me give you like four of the most famous verses in Job. Job 1:21. On that horrible day, Job said, the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Do you understand that even in loss, Job worshiped Job 19:25.
He declares, I know that my redeemer lives, and he shall stand at last on the earth. I think this is Job getting by the spirit of God a look into the future of the future Lord Jesus. And even in confusion, Job anchors himself to hope that in the end my God triumphs. He shall stand at last on the earth. The verse.
I can't believe this guy was able to say job 1315. He says, though he slay me, yet will I trust him. I just wrote in my notes, what a statement.
Job did not understand God's plan. God, why would you wreck everything in my life? Why would you allow that? He didn't know how the story would end. We know how it ends.
God restores Job, gets him a new family, gets his riches back, and he. And he stays with the Lord and all of that. But Job didn't know this. In Job chapter 13, here's what he did know. He knew that God was worth trusting no matter how bad it got.
And then job 2310, he follows that up with some faith. But he knows the way that I take. And when he has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.
Do you understand that Job believed that even his suffering wasn't random.
Hey, if he's going to slay me, it's a test. On the other side of that test, I'll be better than I was before. God was accomplishing something through it. And I'm wondering if you're suffering today, but you're forgetting that on the other side of the test, you can actually be glad you went through that terrible thing and you kept your eyes on the Lord the whole time. The Bible commentator William Barclay wrote, job's is no groveling, passive, unquestioning submission.
Job struggled and questioned and sometimes even defied. But the flame of faith was never extinguished in his heart.
That's important. Listen. It's important because James doesn't praise Job's patience. He praises his perseverance. James is not holding Job up as some man who never struggled.
He's holding Job up as a man who never quit.
The greatest lesson of the story of Job isn't that Job eventually got his family and his possessions back. The greatest lesson is that Job discovered what God is like.
You see, God's goal was not only to restore Job. He does do that. He also intended to reveal himself to Job. How did he do it? He says, well, the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.
At the end of the book of Job, Job concurs with that statement. No matter what happened to me, God is the one who's good, and he's worthy to be praised. See, the Father doesn't just tolerate our endurance. He's moved with compassion toward his people. Psalm 103, 13.
As a father on Father's Day, As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear him. Hey, look at me. God's not watching you suffer from a distance. He's compassionate, he's merciful, and he is moved by the struggles of his people.
That old pastor A.W. tozer wrote, it's doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until he's hurt him deeply. Job's pain may have been great, but the blessing on the other side was even greater. Will you keep clinging to God even when you don't understand? That's what Job did, and he's held up as an example for us.
And finally today, number three. Will you keep meaning what you say?
This is James 5:12.
But above all, my brethren, do not swear. That doesn't mean don't say a cuss word. You shouldn't. But that's not what swear means here. It means don't take an oath.
Don't swear either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath, but let your yes be yes and your no no, lest you fall into judgment. I have to be honest with you. As I was reading these three verses, studying for them, gonna preach them to you. I thought that verse 12 feels a little disconnected from verses 10 and 11 until I looked a little closer. So far, James has been talking about prophets and Job and suffering.
And then suddenly he starts talking about oaths. But James understands something very important. Listen, friends, endurance is tested not only in life's biggest moments, but also endurance is tested in its smallest conversations.
Do you understand in life that when pressure increases on you, integrity is often the first casualty? It's one of the first things that goes in James Day. People swore these oaths by weird things. They swore by heaven, they swore by earth, they swore by the city of Jerusalem. They even swore by their own head to make their promises sound binding.
James says believers should be different and we should avoid that altogether. In other words, listen live so honestly that you don't need verbal decorations.
You don't need to say, man. Yeah. James is saying, no games, no loopholes. Just mean what you say.
Do you understand that perseverance in speech, letting your yes be yes, is as much a sign of maturity as perseverance and suffering is. That's why James puts them together. James unites big trials in your life over here and small words under this same banner of endurance. And where did he get this from? Also the sermon on the mount.
Matthew, chapter 5, verse 37. But let your yes be yes and your no, no, for whatever is more than these is from the evil one. Jesus said that. Let me put that together. James is echoing his older brother here.
His older brother was Jesus. Honest speech is a mark of true discipleship. Did you see the categories Jesus gives you? There's yes and there's no. Did you see what was missing?
There's no ignore. There's no ghosting people.
Do you know the new term ghosting? It's when somebody calls you and leaves you a voicemail or they text you and you show so much of the love of God that you just don't even answer.
Is that too much? Now, if you're a yes yes or a no, no person, and you have Jesus Christ living in you, you don't have the freedom just to ignore folks. Do you understand this? Well, I don't know what to say. Well, Jesus told you what to say.
It's yes, yes, and it's no, no. But it is Godless to claim Jesus to be baptized and to just shut people out and rudely not answer them.
Amen.
Look, this is why we preach verse by verse through the Bible. So whatever just comes up, if it steps on your toes, it's because it just came up. Does that make sense? It's because God wanted you to hear that today. Look, we gladly interact with people because that's how we can live.
To love and show them that Jesus loves them. And so we don't just ignore. We don't just cut folks off. We don't just excuse ourselves and saying, I'm not going to have that difficult conversation or I'm not even going to have a conversation at all. Can people trust your word?
Do your commitments mean something?
Does your speech reflect the character of the God you follow? And let me say something also. When we break someone's trust. When we really mess it up, Words do not repair the breach. Well, I said I was sorry.
Yeah. Magic words don't really exist. Only future actions and the passing of time when they follow the right words and apologies will ever prove us trustworthy again. Did you follow that?
That's why the preacher says in Ecclesiastes, chapter 5, verse 5, better not to vow than to vow and not pay.
In other words, God values simple honesty over impressive promises. But above all, my brethren, do not swear either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath, but let your yes be yes and your no no, lest you fall into judgment. Hey, do you. Any of you guys old enough? Any gals old enough to remember when a handshake was used to seal a deal?
You didn't need paperwork, you didn't need a lawyer because a man's word was his. What bond? James says Christians should live like that. No loopholes, no exaggerations. No, I swear.
I mean, it's just a steady life of honesty. In conclusion, today, in these three verses, James has painted for us three portraits of endurance. Number one, the prophets endured because they spoke for God when it cost them. Number two, Job endured by clinging to God when life didn't make sense. And number three, believers endure in daily life by keeping their words honest and simple.
Do you receive this teaching today, Church? Well, let's stand together and let's make a responsive reading. Together, let's declare these announcements to God and our faithfulness as a church. There's going to be something on the screen. There's going to be one that says pastor.
Don't read the pastor one. Let me do that. Then there's going to be one that says congregation. And then you guys read it. And I mean, do it with gusto.
Are you everybody ready? We're going to end this service on a high note. Here we go. First part pastor, part Lord. You gave us the prophets as examples of faith under fire.
Good. You showed compassion and mercy to Job when he clung to you.
And you call us to let our yes be yes and our no be no.
See, I. I hooked you in. Now you confessed all that in public forum, and God heard it. Prayer team, if you'll come to the front.
Let them get here. We. We. We had prayer ministry already, but some need more, and we're going to. We're going to open our prayer lines after I adjourn the service.
Jesus is Lord, and he's risen from the dead, and I'm banking my whole life on that. And I'm glad you are too. Love you guys. The prayer lines are open. We are dismissed.
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