I'm going to turn back to Psalm 127, and we're taking verse 1 as our text this morning, where we read the words, except the Lord build the house, the labor in vain that build it, except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. As we come towards the end of the series of messages on marriage and family and home life. I want to speak this morning on the theme of building a godly home. And then, God willing, next Lord's Day, we'll look at the theme of when children go astray. Sometimes we can be endeavoring to build our homes up in the things of God and seek to guide our children. And with all the work that goes in with that and all of the effort that is spent on that matter, Very often, still our children can go astray. And I want to look at that theme then next Lord's Day. How do we deal with that? How do we think of that from a biblical perspective? But this morning we're looking at this theme of building a godly home. And we're taking these words, especially at the start of the verse, except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that buildable. Take that as our our starting point this morning as we come around this subject. So let's seek the Lord together in a word of prayer. Our heavenly Father, we thank thee for thy grace and for thy mercies and thy blessings upon us already. We rejoice in thy goodness toward us and we pray, Lord, as we come to thy word now, that thou would minister to our hearts, that thou would help us, Lord, to glean much for our own benefit, our own spiritual benefit, and the benefit of our families, and the benefit of this congregation, and of thy work, we would glean much for our souls from thy truth this morning. So answer prayer for us and fill me with thy spirit. Give help in the preaching of the word, and in the hearing of this word, we pray this in Jesus' precious name, and for his sake, amen. Anyone who knows anything of the life of David, the king of Israel, will acknowledge that he was a faithful, obedient, and courageous servant of God. Although he wasn't a perfect man, and in the latter part of his life committed some heinous sins, he is nonetheless described in 1 Samuel 13, and again in Acts chapter 13 as a man after God's own heart. That language suggests that David sought to live according to God's word. It suggests that he recognized that while he was the king of Israel, he was ultimately the servant of the Lord of hosts. It also suggests that David longed to know the mind and will of God as he ruled in the affairs of men. He was a man after God's own heart. And from the moment he appears in scripture in person in 1 Samuel 17, he stands out as a man of integrity, a man of courage, a man of faithfulness, and most importantly, a man of God. It's no surprise then to learn that when David was crowned the king of Israel, he longed to build a temple for God's worship. Up until that point, the people of Israel were worshiping God in the tabernacle, a temporary tent for worship. David wanted something permanent. He wanted something that would reflect as best as possible the importance of worship and of coming before God. He wanted something that would be at the heart of the nation, something that would be for the glory and the honor of God's name. That was the burden of David's heart. And so in 2 Samuel 7, He called for Nathan the prophet, and he said to him, see now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwelleth within curtains. In other words, David was saying to the prophet, it is not right that I should dwell in a house of wood, in a house of stone, while the worship of God takes place behind curtains, or in a tent. And Nathan listened to what David the keen was saying, and he responded. He said to David, go and do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you. Nathan gave David the green light to start building a temple for the Lord. But Nathan had been too hasty. He hadn't sought the mind of God. He had spoken out of turn. He didn't know the Lord's will. And during that night, God appeared to Nathan, and he told him that David was not to build the temple, but that work would belong to another person. The message that God gave to Nathan was couched with mercy, for God spoke of a kingdom, he spoke of a throne being established forever, and that mercy would not depart from David's house. It was all really a reference of the coming Messiah to the Lord Jesus Christ, but it was a word for David at that time. And so next day, Nathan returns to David, and he tells David, you're not to build the temple, that will be for your son who follows after you. Undoubtedly, David was gravely disappointed. He was a man after God's own heart, after all, and he was gravely disappointed at not being able to build the temple for the Lord. But being a man of God, he went into the tabernacle and he sat down before God and he submitted himself to God's will. That's what we should do when we find ourselves in situations like that. We should come and worship before God in the midst of the disappointments of life and cast ourselves upon his mercy. Now David continued to reign and he made certain preparations for the temple, but he knew that that great work was going to be carried out by Solomon and Solomon would only complete it after David had died. And I can only imagine As David continued to reign in the nation, I can only imagine that his heart often focused on that great work. He loved the worship of God. He was thrilled to come into the Lord's house. He valued the sacrifices. He valued the praise and the consecration to God. And therefore, it's undoubted that David's mind would very often have turned to think about the temple that was going to be built. And it was with that in mind that he comes to Solomon, and he says in the words of our text, except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. It's a psalm for Solomon. He wanted Solomon to know that in any building work, the Lord needed to be at the heart of it. Now while those words were written for Solomon and had particular reference to the temple that he was going to build, their application is not confined to that. These words are applicable in many different settings of life. They are true of the work of God in his church. It's one thing to have ministers and members. It's one thing to have creeds and confessions and outreach and organization. It's one thing to be reformed and to have the very best of things in place. But when all is said and done, dear believer, except the Lord build this house, we will labor in vain that seek to build it. The church of Christ will only be built as the Lord builds it. and therefore we ought to cry to him and pray to him that he would do such a thing. These words are also true in regard to society. You ever ask yourself the question, why is society falling apart? Why is it lurching from one crisis to another? Why is it that the ungodly seem to be prevailing in their ungodly behavior? Is it not because men have forgotten, except the Lord build the house, except the Lord keep the city? The watchman wake in vain. We need the Lord. We need the influences of his word and the influence on the impact of his gospel to be felt. We need the Lord to move right across our society. But these words are also true in regard to our own homes, in regard to our families. You don't sense it so much here in the English version that we have, our authorized version, but the Hebrew word for house, except the Lord build the house. The word for house comes from the same word that's translated build in verse one. And that word, the Hebrew word banah, is the word that has close connections with the Hebrew word that we translate sons and daughters. And so the building, the house, the sons and daughters, the family, it's all coming from the same Hebrew word. So it's a very clear connection with the family here, the house and the building involves our sons and our daughters. That's really the thought behind the Hebrew verbs. And that's why I say this verse is so applicable to our home life. It gives vital instruction regarding how we are to build our homes and how we are to see our families built up in the things of God. So my theme this morning flows right out of the psalm. For of all the Psalms, this one deals with the subject, building a godly home. And that, of course, should be the desire of every one of us. Three things here. Notice with me, first of all, the Psalm speaks of a great endeavor. A great endeavor. There are many things that people seek to build in life. Some want to build a business empire. Some want to build up their wealth and their possessions. Some want to build a name for themselves in public life. Some want to build a career and reach the top of their particular field of expertise. And in some ways, there's nothing wrong with ambition or striving to do the best you can. Nothing wrong with that, so long as it doesn't become a god in your life. Building in life is important. But there's nothing more important in the Christian home and nothing more important in the Christian family than to build spiritually and to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Building a home that is blessed by God is the greatest endeavor any Christian can be involved in. The word labor in our text, except the Lord build the house, the labor in vain that build it, means to labor to exhaustion. It's an intense word that means to toil or to labor severely. And as such, it emphasizes the value or the worth of this work. And therefore I say to Christian parents who are here, we ought to settle it in our minds that there's hardly anything as important for Christian parents than the building up of our homes in the ways of the Lord. We might have an interest in the political world, or the financial world, or the social world, or the educational world, or the agricultural world around us. And that's fine and good and proper in so many ways. But our greatest interest should be in the greatest of all endeavors here, the spiritual life of our families. Let me say something about that. Think of the responsibility of this great endeavor. the responsibility for it. It's obvious from what follows in this psalm that David makes reference to parents, to mothers and fathers. He talks about children in verses three and four. He speaks of the man who has his quiver full of them in verse five. He's talking about adults, about those who have authority in the home, about those who are no longer children themselves, And the inference is that they are the ones who are to labor and to build a godly home. This comes down to fathers and mothers. And it's our responsibility under God to order our lives in such a way and to bring our children in such a way that they are nurtured in the fear and admonition of the Lord. That's the responsibility of mothers and fathers. It's true, the church has a role to play. Our Sunday school, our Bible class, our children's meetings, our youth fellowship. It's true that other Christian organizations might have a role to play too, but the primary responsibility lies with those to whom God has entrusted the children. They are gifts from God. They are given by him. and therefore they are to be directed towards him. You see that in the Psalm. Look at verse three, low children are an heritage of the Lord and the fruit of the womb is his reward. So our children are given to us by God and we are to direct them to God because verse four says, as arrows are in the hand of a mighty man, so are children of the youth. Why does he speak of children as arrows? Because children are to be directed. they are to be directed. An arrow is of no use unless it's pointed in the right direction. And our children must be pointed in the right direction. This is our responsibility. In Genesis chapter 18 and verse 18, God is speaking to Abraham. And he said of Abraham that he would surely become a great and mighty nation and all the nations of the earth should be blessed in him. And then in verse 19, the Lord goes on to say, for I know him, I know Abraham, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he has spoken of him. I'll make of him a mighty nation, is what the Lord says, for I know him. that he will command his children. And that seems to say to us on the surface that the Lord knows what Abraham is going to do. That's true, the Lord did know. But the sense of those words is that Abraham was chosen by God to command his children in the ways of the Lord. This was God's purpose for him. Believer, building a godly home, is God's will for us. A young couple just married, before they have children, if the Lord blesses them with children, ought to realize that even just the two of them have a responsibility to build a godly home. As they set out in married life together, Christ should be at the center of all that they do. The responsibility for that lies with them. In this great endeavor, Building up a Christian home. The responsibility lies with us. Look at the gravity of this great endeavor. Not only the responsibility of it, the gravity of it. Building a godly home is not easy. In many ways, it's much easier to focus on the physical and material aspect of our families. And for sure, we do have a duty there. We have a duty to look after the physical health of our families as much as possible. We are to care if we have children, we are to care for their educational development, we are to see that their needs are met, we are to ensure that they have food and clothes and a roof over their head, a home to live in, and parents are to provide for their children in all of those areas. But while we take care of those things, we must not neglect the most important thing. They have a soul to be saved. Our children are not just flesh and blood. They have a soul to be saved. They will live forever, either in heaven or in hell. And this is where the seriousness or the gravity of this is seen. For be sure of this, the world and the flesh and the devil will make a bed for our children. Isn't that what's happening right now? Our young people are facing grave temptations, temptations that will spring from within their own hearts because they are born as sinners, and temptations that will be thrown in their way by the world and the devil. They will be tempted to be self-indulgent. They will be tempted to be proud. They will be tempted to be selfish, they will be tempted to be envious and covetous, and they'll be tempted to lie and cover up their sins. They will be tempted to follow the ways of the world and to the drink culture and drug culture and the immorality that's prevailing in our society. They will be tempted, our children, will be tempted to defy God and their godly parents. They'll be tempted to follow their peers into thinking that Christianity is old-fashioned and not for them. It's no easy thing. No easy thing to rear children in the fear and nurture and admonition of God. There are grave pressures from without and there are grave pressures from within. And that's why this word labor is used here. It can be exhausting work. can leave many a Christian parent and has left many a Christian parent feeling weary and worn out. So many challenges to face, so many decisions to make, so many directions to give, so many trials to deal with. It's grave work seeking to build a godly home. Then you have the activity in this great endeavor. Building a godly home doesn't just happen. Any more than building a physical home can just happen. You just don't arrive at a vacant site and sit in your car and expect it to happen. It doesn't work that way. And neither does it work that way in the spiritual realm. That's why the word labor is used. We are to labor. There are things we need to pay attention to. So what is involved in this activity of building a home? prayer. Abraham was a man of prayer. He raised altars. He called upon God as he traveled, as God led him. Abraham was a man of prayer. That's why the Lord says, I know. I know he will command his children and his household after him. How did Abraham do that? He did that by bringing them to God in prayer. Parents, pray for your children. Pray that they will come to know Christ. Pray that they will be kept in the midst of all the temptations that they face. Pray that they will go on with God, that they will live for him, that they will seek his will for their lives. And even when our children perhaps move out of home, we ought not to stop praying for them. Prayer, Bible reading, Training our children up in the nurture and fear of God means bringing them on to the sound of God's word. Numbers chapter six and verses six and seven. This is what the Lord said to the fathers in Israel as they were coming into the promised land. He said, these words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart. They'll be in your own heart. And then he said this, thou shall teach them diligently onto thy children. and thou shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up." So he's saying, talk to your children about these words, the word of God. The word was to be central in the home. The children were brought up under the sound of the word. Then there's the matter of a godly example. We teach our children more by what we do than by what we tell them to do. And therefore we need to lead by godly example. Show them that Christ is everything to you. Show them that prayer is important in your life. Show them that the scriptures are key in your Christian experience. Show them that holy living is crucial. It's not a drudgery, it's a delight. Live out the gospel before them. And then there's the aspect of faithful church attendance. How important it is the world would pull our children away from the things of God. We want them to recognize the importance of public worship and public prayer. And they will see that if that's important to us. These are just some, just some of the necessary components of building a godly home. The activity that's involved, the care that must be taken, and believer, that's the great endeavor that is before us. Let me appeal to the entire congregation here, some whose children are up and away and married, and perhaps now there's grandchildren in the family circle, and perhaps some not married, and some without children, But let me appeal to the entire congregation to pray for the families of the congregation. Pray for the young people. It always thrills my heart and it is a feature of our prayer times when you hear the young people prayed for. Pray for those who are working with our children in Sunday school and Bible class and youth fellowship and children's meetings. Pray for them. Pray the Lord would help them. and pray that we might have influence over more children in this community and over more families in this area, because this is a great endeavor, building a godly home. But not only do I see a great endeavor here, I see a great essential, a great essential. When America was gaining its independence from Britain, The political leaders in America recognized the need to draft the Constitution, a very important document to this day in American life. And so they convened a convention or a conference with the purpose of drafting the Constitution of America. Benjamin Franklin was there. And in that conference or that convention with the idea of drawing this Constitution, Benjamin Franklin rose to his feet and he said this. In the beginning of the contest with Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayers in this room for the divine protection. Our prayers, sir, were heard, and they were graciously answered. And have we now forgotten this powerful friend? Or do we imagine we no longer need his assistance? I have lived for a long time, 81 years, he said, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth, that God governs in the affairs of man. If a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? Benjamin Franklin went on to say this, we have been assured, sir, in the sacred writings that except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. I firmly believe this, and I also believe that without his concurring aid, we shall proceed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel. I therefore beg leave to move that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of heaven and its blessing on our deliberations be held in this assembly every morning before we proceed to business. So at the very drafting of the constitution, there was an acknowledgement that except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain, they'd build it. That was true of a nation. It's also true of a Christian home. We need the Lord to build. That's the truth of this verse. This is not an option. It's not an alternative. It's a necessity. We dare not build without the Lord. For if we do, our building will be in vain. You see that, how often he mentions this. In fact, the word vain appears three times in the first two verses. Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early to set up late. If you do all this without the Lord, it's going to be in vain. That's what he's saying. Solomon, he's talking to Solomon here. As you go about the building of the temple, as you go about the governance of the nation, as you go about the affairs of state and the affairs of the country, remember, it's all going to be in vain if you adventure forward without the Lord's help. And believer, that's true for us. It's true for us as a congregation. It's true for us in our homes. We need the Lord. Here's the great essential in this great work that is before us. We need the Lord to build. How does he do it? What does this mean, except the Lord build the house? Well, he builds by his grace. By his grace. Grace lies at the heart of all God does for his people. He saves us by his grace. He keeps us by his grace. He blesses us by his grace. He builds us up by his grace. It was grace that caused David to become the man of God that he was. It was grace that fashioned the home of Mary and Martha and Lazarus. It was grace that filled Zacharias and Elizabeth and John the Baptist with the spirit of God. It's a remarkable chapter. Luke chapter 1, because you find mother and father and son are all filled with the Spirit of God. That's a happy home. That's a happy home. A Spirit-filled home is by the grace of God. We don't deserve that, but then grace is undeserved favor, isn't it? And God is pleased to build our homes because he's a gracious God. We need his grace. We need his grace and peace multiplied to us in our homes. He builds also by his wisdom, by his wisdom. Proverbs chapter 24 and verse three reminds us that through wisdom is in house built and by understanding it is established. whose wisdom? God's wisdom. But let's face this, we are not able for this work on our own. We make mistakes, we get things wrong, we lack wisdom. Therefore, to take another portion from Proverbs, we must not lean on our own understanding, but in all our ways acknowledge him. and let him direct our paths. Isn't it the case that there are always fresh challenges in home life or family life or the individual Christian's life? Fresh challenges, fresh trials, fresh temptations, fresh decisions to make, fresh issues to deal with. It's the way of life. In the ordinary course of life, we have all these things to deal with, and we're not sufficient for it. James said in James 3, verse 7, but the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Wisdom from above, we need the Lord's wisdom. So when you come to deal with your children, pray for wisdom. And you may find, if you have more than one child, you may find that you have to deal with them differently. You may have to discipline them differently. What may work for one will not work for another. So you've got to pray for wisdom. You've got to pray for wisdom so that the world doesn't encroach into your home. You've got to pray for wisdom, that the Lord would guide you and keep you. You've got to pray for wisdom. The Lord builds our homes by his wisdom and we cry to him for wisdom, for help. We need his power as well. He is the master builder. The Lord can move hearts. I've known parents who are in despair. And I'm thinking of children out here, three and four and five years of age, children who were in despair because it seemed that they could do nothing with them. But the Lord is able to do something. Same when our children get older. We may be in despair, but the Lord can move hearts. The Lord can change lives. The Lord can answer prayer. The Lord can grant mercy. In a word, the Lord can do far more for our families than we can do for our families ourselves. So we need the Lord's power. We need the Lord's power in our homes, in our families. He does so by his spirit, his grace, his wisdom, his power, his spirit. Really, we need Christ at the center of all that we do. When I think of his grace, his wisdom, his power, his spirit, it draws us to Christ. And we need Christ at the heart of our families. Dear believer, don't just suppose that Christ is there. You remember in Luke chapter two where Mary and Joseph have taken the 12-year-old Savior up to the temple in Jerusalem to worship? up for the feasts that were required, and then they travel a day's journey back to Nazareth, and they supposed, and that's the language in Luke 2, they supposed that Christ was in their company. And at the end of that day's journey, they begin to look for the Savior, the 12-year-old Savior, and they discover, having looked for him in the company, that he's not there. They had presumed that Christ was with them. They had made a very dangerous supposition, but Christ wasn't there, and his absence led to three days of great sorrow, because they had to go back to Jerusalem, and when they found the Savior in the temple, talking to the doctors and lawyers, Mary said that they had been seeking him sorrowfully. And they sought him for three days. Four days they were without the Savior. One day they traveled, they didn't realize he wasn't there. And then three days they were conscious of his absence and their hearts were broken because they supposed he was in the company. Do not suppose. Do not suppose he's there, but pray for him to be there. Pray that you would know his presence, that you would know his grace, his power, his help, his spirit. Adam Clark, the commentator, said, now, it is true that unless the good hand of God be upon us, we cannot prosperously build a place of worship for his name. Unless we have his blessing, a dwelling house cannot be comfortably erected. And if his blessing be not on our children, the house may be built up But instead of it being the house of God, it will be the synagogue of Satan. Solemn words. A great essential. Christ at the center of our homes. Maybe, maybe the Lord is rarely mentioned in your home. Dear believer, make this the day when that changes. Resolve to start. Gather your family together. Pray with them. Even if your prayers are stumbling and feeble, you feel better to pray stumbling prayers than not to pray at all. Family altar, family worship. It can be very difficult if someone hasn't done that for some time or perhaps haven't started it ever, but you can start. You can start. We all need the Lord in our own lives, in the lives of our families, in our homes, whatever situation we are in, whatever our circumstances are, we need the Lord. We need the Lord to help us to walk with him, to love him, to serve him. Because except the Lord build the house, we labor in vain to build it. So may God help us. May God help us. A great endeavor, a great essential. There is lastly here a great encouragement. The psalm only deals with a building, but also with a blessing. And that's very important to note. Because as you read down the verses, these five verses, he says, lo, children are an heritage of the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is his reward, as are as are in the hand of a mighty man. So are the children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them. They shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate. So it starts with a building, except the Lord build the house. It ends with a blessing, because verse five has that phrase, happy, or blessed. So there's a blessing. There's an encouragement here. And what the psalmist is emphasizing to Solomon, what David is stressing to Solomon, is that a home built on Christ and built with an eye to God's glory, built on scriptural principles and seeking to know God's blessing, we can then expect and we are encouraged to look for God's blessing. In verse two, there's the thought of calmness, calmness. He said, it's vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows, for so he giveth his beloved sleep. The Lord gives rest to his people, not only physical rest, but physical, spiritual rest mostly. He gives that spiritual rest where the child of God is able to rest in the Lord. He gives a rest there. And he gives a contentment as well. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them. There's happiness in a home where things are ordered according to God's word. Might not always be easy, there may be conflicts, there may be difficulties, but if we do what we can and seek the Lord's blessing, the Lord can teach us the art of divine contentment. And then there's a conquest here as well. There's a sense of victory because he says in verse five, happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them. They shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate. That word speak, if you have a margin in your Bible, you'll see it could also be translated by the word subdue. They shall subdue the enemies in the gate or destroy the enemies in the gate. There's a sense of victory. Oh, we have many enemies. It comes to the things of God with many enemies in our nation against the things of God, with many enemies across the world in regard to the things of God. We have the arch enemy himself, the devil. But here's a verse that reminds us we can be encouraged here. We can have victory over him. We can have victory over the devil in our families. And our children, they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate. They shall overcome. They shall have victory over the enemies. over the councils, the plans, and the purposes of the devil, the Lord is able to give his people victory. Here's the encouragement for us. In this great endeavor that we're called to be engaged in, the great essential we need to take note of, that we need to have the Lord in the midst of all that we do, remember what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3, One plants in other waters, one sows in other waters, it's the Lord that gives the increase. It's the Lord who gives the blessing. It's the Lord who undertakes for our families. It's the Lord who intervenes in our families. It's the Lord who blesses. So believer, let me encourage you today to look to the Lord. We've been singing that God would grant us homes built firm upon the Savior. to have him as our foundation, to have him as the focus of our homes, to be firm in our desires after him, and to trust him. And yet even with all of that, with all of that, there are times, as we'll notice next time, where some children go astray. And that's more common than we perhaps realize. Even in scripture, it's more common than we realize. But there are things there we need to think through from a biblical perspective. And I pray that God would help us and help every family in this congregation. We may take this little verse in Psalm 127 to heart and pray it continually. Lord, grant us grace to build. and build on our homes, build on our own hearts, build on our families, build on our congregation, something that will bring glory and honor to thy name. So may the Lord help us. May the Lord bless us for Jesus' sake. Let's find a wee word of prayer. Let's seek the Lord together. Our Heavenly Father, we draw nigh to thee in our Savior's name. We thank thee for thy word that we've looked at. Today we bless Thee for the instruction here. We ask, Lord, even today that Thou would come and minister to us. Remember every family, every home, every parent, every young person, every child. Lord, we pray that Christ would be at the center of our lives. So grant us Thy blessing. Plant Thy Word into our hearts today. Help us, O God, to lay it up in our heart. We would not sin against thee. We pray for thy richest blessing to be upon us. We thank thee for the Savior. We thank thee for the Savior's interest in families. We rejoice in that. We think of him in the home of Mary and Martha and Lazarus, having an interest in their home life. Lord, we thank thee today for a Savior who is interested in the lives of our children. Save each one of them, Lord, we pray. Bring them to a saving knowledge of Christ. Save them and keep them and bless them. And Lord, we pray that they in turn would then be in their own homes, building Christian homes and Christian units also. That Lord, thy kingdom would come right across this province in a most remarkable way. So answer prayer, part us with thy fear in thy favor, Lord. This morning we ask, In Jesus' precious name.