well we started in the evening a series on prayer tonight we come to the section on prayer and what i'd like to do is change this up a little bit i'd like to start now have the message on prayer and then pray can we handle some change that way i think we can do that so i'm going to invite you to turn uh in the scriptures tonight uh to psalm 24 i'm sorry psalm 124 psalm 124 and then please keep open those blue psalter hymnals and we're going to look in the back tonight uh at what it means when the lord taught us to pray hallowed be thy name so uh that's what we're going to consider tonight that petition and again this is psalm 124 the reading tonight of God's Word. And you'll notice the emphasis in verse 8 on the name of the name of the Lord. This is the word of the Lord. If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, let Israel now say, if it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when people rose up against us, then they would have swallowed us up alive. When their anger was kindled against us, then the flood would have swept us away. The torrent would have gone over us, then over us would have gone the raging waters. Blessed be the Lord, who has not given us as prey to their teeth. We have escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowlers. The snare is broken and we have escaped. Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth. And there is the reading of God's Word. And if you have the back of your Blue Psalter hymnal, This is a question and answer tonight that helps us to understand what it means as we pray the first request of the Lord's Prayer. And this is our study in the series on prayer tonight as Christians need help to learn how to pray. And the Lord has given us great guidance. So this is on page 60 in the back of your Blue Psalter hymnal. And I'm going to ask the question and please respond tonight with the answer. what does the first request mean? Hallowed be Thy name means help us to really know You, to bless, worship, and praise You for all Your works and for all that shines forth from them. Your almighty power, wisdom, kindness, justice, mercy, and truth. And it means help us to direct all our living, What we think, say, and do, so that your name would never be blasphemed because of us, but always honored and praised. Well, tonight we begin a study here in the petitions of the Lord's Prayer. We have learned already a lot from the Lord in teaching us how to pray. Remember, this was the disciples' desire to want to know how to pray. I have said in the course of this series, it must have been something to sit and listen to Jesus pray. Can you imagine? To listen to the prayers of Jesus. The effect of that might have been some intimidation, I would think, on the part of the disciples so that they wanted to know how to pray. They were concerned about prayer and Jesus helped them in how to pray. And you know in Matthew 6 and Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gave great instruction and gave that beautiful section of the Lord's prayer that we all say and are able to say because the Lord gave us that form in our prayers. Remember last time I quoted Martin Luther, which was one of my favorite quotes from Luther on prayer where Luther said, nobody really has an excuse not to pray. One of the greatest blessings the Lord has given us is the Lord's prayer. You can say it any time. You can come to the Lord and pray the very words that He taught you to pray. That, of course, has to come with understanding, doesn't it? And that's where we are tonight. We looked at last time how Jesus taught us to address the Father and the special relationship that we have, that Jesus has opened up for us, that we can come directly to our Heavenly Father. That Jesus Himself, when He was on the cross, took the words and said, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me so that He might place on our lips the ability to pray Father as adopted sons by grace. Just beautiful, isn't it? We looked at all that and how fathers, even earthly fathers, affect how we look at the heavenly Father. And the Lord wants us to understand He loves us and that He cares for us. And as a good father in life, cares for His children, so the Lord wants you to know He cares for you. He's going to provide for you. He's going to watch over you. He's going to supply all your needs. You're not going to go without. He's going to care for you all the way in every way that you need and then receive you into glory. That's the beauty of the Christian message of the gospel because of what Jesus has done. Well, tonight we launch into the petitions of the Lord's Prayer. And I think we come to the first petition here and it's probably the one that we misunderstand the most. What are we saying when we say, hallowed be your name as i was thinking about it this week i i stumbled on something that jk van balen once said that i thought was so helpful when he said the spiritual life of most of us is so poorly developed that we find it difficult to realize that hallowed be thy name is actually a petition i thought that was good um what are we asking of the lord when we say that What does it mean? I would have to agree that in the course of my life, looking over prayer and how I've prayed, how central has that petition been in the course of my prayer? Probably not as much as it should be because I haven't really appreciated or understood it the way that I should. They're not really a doxology, are they? These words. It's not the end of prayer. This is the beginning of prayer. This is how prayer is to begin. We've looked at the address, who we are addressing, and now what we begin to ask of the Lord. And isn't it something that the very thing that the Lord first taught us to ask is, hallowed be your name. A beautiful simplicity as we come to the Lord in prayer. So that's the goal tonight with this message, is to think about what that basic petition means in prayer. And there are really three things that we're asking from the Lord when we come to Him this way. There's a lot of things we could ask. You'll notice that what we said in the question and answer tonight is calling us to think about many things. But you could break them down in this way, that we're asking that we would sanctify the Lord in our hearts. Second, that we would recognize His works in our lives. And third, just to be very straight with the last point, that we would not be hypocrites. That we would not be hypocrites. I think those are three ways we could break this down tonight to think about it again, sanctifying the Lord in our hearts, remembering and considering constantly His works, and that we would not be hypocrites in the course of our lives, but that our lives would be set apart to honor Him, to glorify Him. Part of the challenge tonight is simply the word hallow. We don't use it, do we? What does that mean? I don't think I've ever heard any of you talk like that in your speech in common language and discourse, do you? Hallow. Hallow. It sounds like you're saying hello, right? That's not what it is. What does hallow mean? That's what we want to look at tonight. And one of the challenges with prayer that I have rehearsed in this series and that we've talked a little bit about is that often the danger is we use speech that is so lofty, the danger of not even understanding what we're saying. The danger of what Jesus said, don't come to me with vain repetitions, thinking you're going to be heard simply by saying a prayer or holding a rosary. None of that is what the Lord is after and coming before Him. He wants us to come with understanding and true faith, believing. This is what James challenged us to when we pray, not doubting, but believing. So the very form and content of our prayer is important to the Lord. And tonight, as we look at this one first petition where the Lord is teaching us to say, hallowed be your name, the word simply means to be regard God as holy. Maybe a more simple way to say it is holy is your name. See, now that begins to take on some understanding for us, doesn't it? Holy is your name. What does that mean? What are we asking of the Lord? there's a little verse in 1st Peter chapter 3 verse 15 where Peter called Christians to always sanctify the Lord in your hearts listen to it then in that way our father in heaven holy is your name I think right there you um you sense that they have the beautiful sense that you've asked God of something that you may not fully understand and that's what we're after as we pray father would you help us to make your name holy in our lives we're asking that of you we need that we need that help from you that we would regard you as holy in our lives there's always the concern of the lord remember when nadab and abihu sinned and they had come before the lord in worship and they had disregarded the commandments of the lord they had disregarded the Lord's will remember what the Lord said to Moses through Moses Moses then pulled Aaron aside and said after they were struck down he said this is what the Lord said by those who come near me I must be regarded as holy holy set apart this was always the concern of the Lord the Lord has done wonderful things for us and last time i talked about the blessing then of calling god our father having that that adopted son status and being able to do so he wants us to know that he loves us but he also wants us to remember his holiness he also wants us to remember that that he is a holy god a holy father to us i love what the heidelberg says help us to really here's the meaning help us to really know you to bless you to worship you to praise you what is that what is that recognizing is the great danger what is it recognizing that is the great problem that we have in our life that really gets to the heart of it if we can say what is the great danger every single day when we get up or every time we come before worship before the lord what is the very thing the very danger that we're faced with as we begin our day or even come before the presence of the lord well it was israel's danger it's what happened to israel listen to this so you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God walking in his ways and by fearing him for the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land a land of brooks of water of fountains and springs flowing out in the valleys and hills a land of weed and barley of vines and fig trees and pomegranates a land of olive trees and honey a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity in which you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills you can dig copper. And you shall eat and be full. And you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land He has given you. Now, what do you think happens? How much has the Lord blessed us? How much has the Lord provided for us? How much has the Lord cared for us? How many good gifts has the Father given you, His Son? Where could we begin to number all of them? What's the danger? It's this. Take care, lest you forget the Lord your God. Take care, lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments and His rules and His statutes which I command you today. Lest when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them. And when your herds and your flocks multiply and your silver and your gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart will be lifted up and you forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. I believe that captures it, the danger of what goes on as we go through life and as we experience all this blessing from the Lord. How many of you say the Lord has blessed you? the strange thing is is that i often hear amidst all this blessing a singular concern i hear it all the time and i've said it all the time you know what that singular concern is why does the lord seem so distant why is my heart so cold this is the experience it seems of the Christian life and we're always talking about in our songs and we're always talking about in the course of life cold hearts cold hearts cold hearts absolutely cold we're frustrated because of that we're frustrated because of what seems to be a lacking religious experience that we're all in search for there's got to be something more that brings us and connects us to this god because the relationship feels often so distant so far and so cold we're desperately wanting to fix that we're desperately trying to fix that you ever feel god is distant do you struggle with that of course you do typically who do we see as the problem him behind that concern is often a blaming of him that he's not done enough to show his nearness to us remember how we started this series on prayer the very reason the lord calls us to pray is because he is near to us didn't jesus just tell you pray to my father you have direct access to a father who loves you who cares for you who provides for you because of his son his beloved son jesus so the father doesn't refuse us anything if he's not refusing and providing you all the blessings that you have in life you think he's refusing you him of course not of course not he's a god near to us truth be told we're the absent ones we're the absent ones this is what But the first thing in the Garden of Eden, as soon as Adam sinned, he did what? Bolted from God as far as he could get. And tried to do it himself. And found himself in all kinds of misery. And the first question of God was, Adam, where are you? You've run from me, haven't you? You did what I did not, I said you should not do, didn't you? This is the real problem of the even Christian life. That when God blesses us and when God fills us and God saves us and provides for us all kinds of wonderful blessings, that we forget the Lord our God. We describe that as we're forgetting in periods of distance and coldness. You see why you need to pray this? Think about this for a minute. You understand the necessity for you to pray this. What are you asking? Father, help me to always set apart Your name in my life. Let Your name be in front of me always. Let Your name be my pursuit. Let Your worship and Your works be on my mind always. There's one little phrase in Psalm 16 that has always helped me with this. Such a wonderful little phrase. I have always set the Lord before me. In the course of life, all that I do, there's a conscious awareness of the Lord's presence with me and that He is before me. He's the one leading me. You think of Israel in the wilderness where the Lord led them. that awareness that the Lord is with them and the Lord led them. The psalmist is saying, I always ask the Lord and realize I have always set Him before me. Why is that important? You need that help constantly. You need that help constantly. Sanctifying the Lord in your lives. Setting apart the Lord in your lives. God gave us an entire commandment not to take His name in vain. Think about that. The general name of the Lord. You have all these names of God revealed and the general name, the name of the Lord, the name of the Lord that we keep seeing in the Psalms. All that was a revelation of everything that He's ever said about Himself in His Word is given in the name of the Lord. To always have what He has told us of Him always set before us. Jesus told us to use the name Father. So think about the intimacy of that then. Father, I am asking that I would always set You before me. That I would remember that You are a Father unlike any other father. That I belong to You. That I am Your son and daughter. I wonder if the distance that we often experience is because this petition is so absent in prayer. I wonder. i think even the place of this is important you notice it's the first petition what that means is it has a a preparation aspect to everything else we don't talk much about preparation for anything today do we um we come to worship and we're bolting in here you know the last 10 seconds we can get in before the doors close uh this is life we're running around everywhere i i'm i'm just as guilty getting there just on time what is preparation there's something that the lord is teaching us here about a prepared aspect of life that needs to be in place i think he's teaching us something about prepared hearts you know this when it comes to worship if you've not prepared your hearts you know what anxieties can do if we're rushed here and there and nothing's prepared about worship you can sit here for most of the service and tune it out i would submit that that many people can go halfway through a worship service feeling completely disconnected from the whole thing and you could blame me hey it could have been me right but it could have been that you had not prepared your heart at all to come before a holy god of israel isn't that right isn't that a danger half the battle in worship i believe this half the battle of worship when we come and what we're going to receive out of it often is to be able to come and rightly prepare ourselves to do it i was i was reading how christians took the lord's day so seriously years ago and they really i think there was an article in the renewal this week of how they viewed the day of rest that god gave and and seriously all the meals would be prepared on saturday Everything would be ready. There would be even the shaving. Ask the older ladies here. Some of you are laughing. You know your father's even shaved. Some might say that's legalistic. Is it? Or were they really going to come and enjoy the Lord that day and didn't want anything? They wanted the whole day to be focused. Sanctifying the Lord in their hearts. That's not legalism. That's not legalism. Don't you think life should be this way? We get up in the mornings. Is the Lord on our hearts? Do we think about Him? Do we talk to Him? Think about beginning our days. Lord, today, hallowed be Your name. Holy is Your name in my life. I'm asking that I would be conscious and aware of You today. That I would remember I serve the holy God of Israel that you are a father to me and that I've been brought into your kingdom. I'm your child. My status has changed. I belong to you. Help me to live that way. Help me to think that way. I believe that's going to have a lot of effect on the choices you're going to make in the course of the day, isn't it? It's going to give you a heavenly focus. Father in heaven. holy is your name you rule you're my lord imagine if coming out of our mouths is not unto us oh lord but unto your name give glory psalm 115 it's all over the place how do how do unbelievers spend their lives how do unbelievers spend their lives running around anxiously pursuing their own gain living life completely for themselves and we can do the same thing and this petition is given to help us with that that we need help to order our lives correctly right out of the gates even in a prepared kind of way you are so weak i am so weak as a pastor i could spend all of tomorrow without one thought of the lord without one without one recognition that he's the king of my life this petition is helping us to have a spiritual awareness that the lord is sanctified in our lives and that's why the heidelberg says what we're asking is that we would know him the lord said let not the wise man glory in his riches and and all these things let him glory that he knows me and understands me jesus prayed this in the high priestly prayer He prayed that we would know Him in the one that was sent to worship Him, to praise Him. The second aspect to this petition here is having sanctified the Lord in our lives that we would be aware of His works in our lives. I love that. Heidelberg says, all that shines forth from all the works that He has done in the course of our lives and what He has shown us. And look at the list here. His power, His wisdom, His kindness, His justice, His mercy, and His truth. To be aware of this. This is why the Psalms are such a pattern of prayer for us. They're teaching us something important about adoration of the Lord. Notice again, we talked about this somewhat when we looked at the sermon on Philippians. Be anxious for nothing and everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. Make your requests known to God and He'll give you peace. Notice there was what we call a doxological aspect of prayer, that our prayers must be filled with the praise of the Lord. And you praise the Lord not just by saying a hundred times, praise the Lord, praise the Lord, praise the Lord, but by recognizing His works in your life. Recognizing His works in what He's done. I think oftentimes we come to the Lord and all that's on our mind is the pain of this life. We'll be talking about that more later. But this particular petition is helping us to recognize that the Lord's name is always before us as we see what He's doing in the course of this world and being aware of His wonderful power that is being put on display. You realize you can go through life and not even think about these things? I talk all the time, I see surprising providences as a pastor. Some the Lord just gives me that are just for me, that I need for encouragement. surprising providences can't you see them in the course of your life the lord orchestrating and working everything out and you stop and you say that did not happen by chance that did not happen by chance the lord was there the lord was was ordering this and helping and i think that psalm 111 says this very thing that that that we have to be aware of these works great are the works of the lord studied by all who delight in them full of splendor and majesty is his work and his righteousness endures forever he's caused his wonderful works to be remembered the lord is gracious and merciful this is one of the blessings you get in this life is to see the works of the lord i think it was dr horton a few sermons ago who said americans can't don't think that anything is over their roof anymore. That is so true. And I would add, they don't think anything's past their screen anymore. Right? The Bible is constantly calling us to think about these things. Listen to this. The Lord who shuts in the sea with doors, when it bursts forth and issued forth from the womb, when I made the clouds its garment and the thick darkness its swaddling band, when I fixed my limit for it and set bars and doors, When I said, this far you may come, but no farther, and here your proud waves must stop. You ever been down at the ocean and thought, they just stay there. You know why? Because the earth is tilted at an axis of 23 degrees, and because of that, life is sustained, and seasons come. If it were not exactly at that degree, oceans would pile up, the moon, And if the moon were just a little closer, tides from the oceans would cover continents. And yet it's all set just beautifully so that everything functions and we can have life and seasons and all that. The world calls that the great impact theory. What is that? We call that God setting the earth and telling the oceans to stop. Psalm 104, you lay the foundations of the earth so it should not be moved. You covered it with the deep as with a garment. The waters stood above the mountains. At your rebuke, they fled. At the voice of your thunder, they hastened away. They went up over the mountains. They went down into the valleys to the place which you founded for them. You have set a boundary that they may not pass over, that they may not return to cover the earth. My favorite is the ant. Study the ant, you sluggard. You ever study the ant? You have ant farms, kids? You don't, I didn't give you permission to ask your parents for an ant farm, but if you want to ask for an ant farm, that's okay. Do you know that there are 1.4 million known species on the earth? They say that between 10 to 100 million are still yet unknown. What a wonder each one. Take the ant. The Bible says they're not a strong people. Their number is so great, yet not a strong people, their number is so great that they're, listen to this, their combined weight is greater than the combined weight of all humans. I have a hard time believing that. This not-a-strong people can carry 10 to 20 times their body weight. With an extremely heavy things, they move in teams to do it. The ant, in the ant, is a brain that is the largest of all insects in proportion to the body. They say it has the capabilities of a Mac computer. The ant, what do they do? Almost everything we do. Farming, cultivating, they feed their young, they watch over their young. They have nursery care. They have education programs. They teach the younger ants civic duties, probably better than us. They work together on massive projects. They have armed forces. They put together a whole army called the soldier ant. Security measures are in place. Social duties, engineering, creating of tunnels. Watch their tunnels. They even have water control. That's the ant. Lord, help me to be aware of your power everywhere. All of the creation, if you have the eyes to see, is telling you something. It's telling you something. And then you have the greatest work. The greatest work of the Son of God. What a marvel. That God would give His Son. And His Son would come here. And He would take on our rags. And He would die for us. And the whole Bible is given you to tell you the story of your redemption so that you would marvel at His love. How sad to run through life living for this and not acknowledging a God who loves like that in everything we do and say the Lord wants us to think about holy is your name setting the Lord in front of us recognizing his wonderful works and recognizing that he is set apart and that we are set apart to him That we belong to Him. The last thing I said tonight is that we would not be hypocrites in our lives. I think Heidelberg says it so beautifully, doesn't it? And it means help us to direct all our living, what we think, say, or do, so that Your name would never be blasphemed because of us, but always honored and praised. I really like that. People often say to me, well, I can't be a part of the church because the church is full of hypocrites. And I always kind of snark at that and respond, well, we'll take another. That's a cop-out. The church is full of sinners and everyone has a measure of hypocrisy. But the Christian life should be lived without it. Paul had to tell the Jews in Romans 2 that you who condemn everyone else, do you not look at your life and do you not judge yourselves not think about the courses and the things the choices that you're making do you realize he said in romans 2 you can blaspheme god the name of the lord by your living and that's something we all have to take seriously the lord has called us out of darkness the lord's called us to be his people the lord has called us to um to be holy for he is holy and here the lord is challenging us tonight to remember who we are and to remember to consider our living, to consider what kind of life brings the most glory to Him and to not do things that are directly against our confession in what we believe and how we live. We need to ask the Lord for that, you see. That's the point. He's not telling you to pray this because He thinks you can do this on your own. He's telling you to pray these things tonight because he's given you his grace and the holy spirit so that as you come to him he is going to help you and he's going to give you the grace so that you would sanctify the lord in your lives recognize his wonderful works and providence and live more holy lives before him that's what you need and that's why he's inviting you to pray it he's commanding you to pray it He's commanding us to pray it. That He ultimately, in the course of our lives, would be first. That's the heart of this. That He would be first. That your lives would be consecrated to Him so that He would be glorified and His name never blasphemed. I hope you've come to see tonight how glorious and all-important it is to begin our prayers with hallowed be Your name. Holy is Your name. for you're asking that our God and Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, that He would give us what we stand in need of and would above all and through all and in us all give us the grace we need to sanctify Him in our hearts. I'm going to read Psalm 148 and take us right into prayer. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord from the heavens. Praise Him in the heights. Praise Him, all His angels. Praise Him, all His hosts. Praise Him, sun and moon. Praise Him, all you stars of light. Praise Him, you heavens of heavens. And you waters above the heavens. Let them praise the name of the Lord. For He commanded and they were created. He also established them forever and ever. He made a decree which shall not pass away. Praise the Lord from the earth. You great sea creatures in all depths. Fire and hail. Snow and clouds. stormy wind fulfilling his word mountains and all hills fruitful trees and all cedars beasts and all cattle creeping things and flying fowl kings of the earth and all peoples princes and all judges of the earth both young men maidens old men and children let them praise the name of the lord for his name alone is exalted his glory is above heaven and earth and he has exhorted exalted the horn of his people the praise of all his saints of the children of israel a people near to him praise the lord our father in heaven we come to you tonight and are so grateful that you have given us such instruction on prayer you are worthy oh lord of all praise you have been so wonderful to us and kind to us calling us out of darkness and into this light and now we can see and we were taught to pray so beautifully tonight and as we should pray lord holy be your name in our lives let us always sanctify and remember that the lord is near to us that we've been brought into the family that we belong in body and soul in life and in death to our faithful Savior Jesus Christ and have all the rights as adopted sons and daughters and so then Father as we go through life would we constantly acknowledge You would we remember whom we serve that when we rise in the mornings we would begin our day saying holy is the Lord and sanctifying your name in our lives. That worship would have a great place in us. That we would love to come and gather together with your people, preparing our hearts to come, to sing and to praise you, acknowledging your great salvation, that salvation is of the Lord. And that in the course of our lives, Lord, we would see your wonderful works. If we would stand back and just open our eyes, we would see your wonderful providence and the kind workings of Your providence in our lives everywhere. Yes, You've showered us with good gifts. You've helped us every time we've called out to You. You've strengthened us. And then Your protection and Your mercies are new every morning. As we see cloud formations in the skies, the psalmist remind us to remember Your mercies are new to us every morning. Let us see them. Let us acknowledge Your wonderful works. And Father, keep us from forgetting You. It's so sad that we have to pray that. But that's how weak we are, Lord. We are like Israel. We've had so much You've blessed us with, that You've provided for us, that You've loved us and given. And we so easily forget You and in a spirit of independence, try to live this life and do it on our own and then find ourselves in all kinds of stress and anxiety and worry. may we more and more learn how to depend upon You, acknowledging Your power in our lives, Your goodness and everything that flows from Your mighty works. And then, as we live before You, would we, Lord, remember that we are a people set apart and the sins that so easily ensnare us and the ways that we stumble, You always invite us to come back to the throne of grace and to confess our sins, and You tell us that You are faithful and just to forgive us all our sins and to cleanse us. from all unrighteousness. And Father, may we constantly be at the throne of grace, coming, confessing, repenting, and leading lives worthy of the great calling that You've given to us. Being holy, for You are holy, as You call us to be. Help us, Lord, we're that weak. We need Your help in this way. And as we were taught this morning, and there's much more to the prayer You taught us to pray, advance Your kingdom. We saw the gospel go out to the ends of the earth this morning in the book of Acts. You saving all ready in that book in our study to Ethiopia. And we have great hearts to see your work, your salvation, your gospel, your love to be announced to the ends of the earth. Bless your word. Make your word again central here in this place and around the world that people would hunger and thirst for it. That they would live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord. and seek your word and make again, in so many ways, Father, the things that we heard tonight were illustrated and demonstrated in the Ethiopian eunuch, a heart prepared to receive that word. So make us like him, a people prepared to receive the word every week and raise up a people, Lord, who are asking the right questions again, who are thinking about the most important things in life, who are asking about salvation, For we live in a world ripped apart by every sadness right now under the sun and there are no answers. And a world groping around trying to figure this all out and you've given the answer in the person and the work of Jesus. So make His praise glorious. And to the ends of the earth, may all the nations here and come. Bless that word, Lord, as it goes out. As we go out into another week, may we love our neighbors. May we have opportunities to invite our neighbors, to talk to them. And we think of those tonight, Lord, among us. We continue to pray for members who are weak and struggling. We particularly lift up tonight James Lund, who was hospitalized this morning for irregular heart as they're running stress tests. We pray, Lord, that You would sustain this brother's life and calm Emily and the family. That You would keep him, watch over him, and allow the doctors to determine what is happening, and that You would, Lord, use this to bring great glory to Your name in strengthening Him. But thank You that we can pray and You hear and we ask for deliverance for Him. We pray continually for those who are so weak. Again, some we didn't mention this morning like Ernie Dykstra. So weak in life and so many trials, would You give her daily help. Continue to help Betty Verhoeven in her recovery. For the widows and the widowers who mourn the loss of loved ones, please Lord continue to bless them and help them as they return some to empty homes and feel the pain of loss would you fill that void would you surround them with peace and would they know that you are a husband and father to all who call on the name of the Lord thank you for such care in the course of our lives please be with our leaders and those who make decisions that they make good and right decisions our president those around us those in our community father please help them to do what is right and honorable the justice and peace would be preserved and thank you father for hearing us tonight and receiving our prayers we don't deserve you to hear but thank you that you hear us because you love your son and you have given us in him life and access and hope and joy and all these kind benefits. We bless the name of the Lord tonight and pray all these things in confidence, knowing that You will do everything perfect and right in its time. May we be patient and wait upon the Lord and be of good courage, for You have promised that You will cheer our hearts. We wait, Lord, upon You. In Jesus' name, we pray these things and all of God's people said, Amen.