If you could open God's Word with me to the New Testament, to the Gospel of Luke. The Gospel of Luke in the chapter 11. A familiar portion of God's Word, and it reveals to us the Lord's teaching and the Lord's prayer. And it's really these first 13 verses that I want us to read and consider this morning in this opening reading of God's Word. You're there in the Gospel of Luke chapter 11, commencing our reading at verse 1 we read, And it came to pass that as he was praying in a certain place when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray. As John also taught his disciples, and he said unto him, that is the Lord Jesus Christ, when ye pray, say, Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth. Give us day by day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves. For a friend of mine is in his journey, and has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him. And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not. The door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot rise and give thee. I say unto you, though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity, he will rise and give him as many as he needeth. And I say unto you, ask, and it shall be given you. Seek, and ye shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For everyone that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth. and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly father Give the Holy Spirit to them that ask. And we know the Lord will bless even the public reading of his own word this morning. If you could turn with me again in God's word to that passage that we read earlier in the Gospel of Luke. In the Gospel of Luke, chapter 11. I'm sure you can tell by the last verse, the closing words of that last verse, that hymn we sang, it's really the verse one I want to concentrate on. And that cry from the disciple, Lord, teach us to pray. But we'll read the verse in its entirety, verse 1 of Luke chapter 11 together. There we read, And it came to pass that as he was praying in a certain place when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his. With those words before us, let us bow our heads together and seek the Lord's help as we seek to expound His word. Our Father in heaven, Lord, how we thank Thee for this access we have to Thee by Thy Son. How we thank Thee for these words that Thou hast revealed unto us. Lord, how to teach us and instruct us to pray unto Thee. Lord, we're even thankful that, Lord, Your ear is open to our requests. For Thou art a loving God, a good Father. And so, Lord, we cry to that end, that, Lord, You would fill us now with God the Holy Ghost. That, Lord, I would not depend upon the arm of the flesh, as I seek to take up Thy truth and to minister it. But Lord, I by Thy Spirit and by His aid, that Lord, He be the principal party, Lord, that would strengthen me. Lord, as I seek to minister Thy word, that Lord, You take it. And Lord, you take it even past the mind and right to the heart. Lord, it would challenge us afresh today. And even in our prayer lives and Lord, even when we be challenged or even the Lord, maybe be instructed and strengthened. And Lord, we pray that we could pray more effectively and more trustingly upon thy son. So Lord, help us now, we pray and minister to us for us, these things in Jesus name. Amen. Lord, teach us to pray. This cry was re-echoed again later in church history by quite an unusual character. A character I quite think I'm safe in assuming here this morning that none of us would expect. For in the year 1535, a barber, that's right, a barber by the name of Peter Beskendorf cried out, Dr. Luther, teach me to pray. Over the course of Luther's 34-year stay in Wittenberg, Luther had forged a surprising friendship with his local town barber. He also served as a medieval surgeon back in that period in history. Maybe some of you are sitting here this morning and thinking, well, this Luther fellow is not too slow in making friends with somebody who's going to carry a blade around my throat day and day. And maybe somebody I'm going to depend on someday to commit surgery upon me. And you're probably right. Well, through this friendship, Luther had won Peter's confidence and trust upon spiritual matters. Over the next intervening years in Luther's life there in the town of Wittenberg, Peter started to attend Luther's church there. I think there's even a lesson for us here as believers this morning in how to conduct effective evangelism. Because it was through the friendship of Luther that Luther won this soul for the Lord. And you know, it's the same in our lives. My friend, we need to show and extend the arm of friendship to our neighbors. If we're going to soften their hearts, if we're going to be able to hold their attention, even to present God's good message of the gospel to them. My friend, if we can't win their trust in the physical matters, in the matters of business and employment, and even how we conduct ourselves socially around them. My friend, if we can't win their trust in these things, my friend, how will we ever win their trust in the greater, heavier matters? My friend, the matters of the soul. One day, Peter being so impressed with Luther's prayer life, he asked Dr. Luther while finishing off his shave, Luther, could you teach me to pray? I think Luther's response here is really quite remarkable, because it really reveals the pastor's heart that he had. Instead of pushing this fellow off and saying, sorry Peter, I'm too busy, I've got too much on my plate, why don't you come back to me another time? Instead of pushing him off, we rather find Luther going away in his private time and constructing a 16-page personal letter entitled, A Simple Way to Pray. for a good friend. Now I really do find that quite remarkable because here is probably a man who could probably justifiably use that excuse of being too busy for the first time in history. I know sometimes we like to think that there's nobody busier than me right now. Nobody's facing the pressures that I'm facing. My friend, when we compare our schedules against Luther's schedule, my friend, it really falls down in comparison. Luther was ahead of a movement that was spreading rapidly across Europe. He was a full-time lecturer in Wittenberg. He was a full-time pastor that preached three times on the Lord's Day. He preached once every weekday. He was also an avid author who wrote over hundreds and hundreds of books. And I also find in Luther's biography that he also didn't neglect his responsibilities as a father. And yet Luther still found time in his day. He still set time aside that he could construct this 16-page letter for his barber, teaching him how to pray. My friend, does that not show us this morning the care Luther had for the individual, the love that he had for the individual soul? You know, I wonder this morning, do we have that same care? Do we devote that same time and consideration over the individual? You know, it's very easy when the great denominational efforts come and those outreaches where you're seeking to reach maybe the whole province of Ulster or abroad, it's very easy to get caught up with the enthusiasm and the zeal of others. You can find yourself involved in evangelism. But my friend, can I ask you in the quiet hours, behind those closed doors, In those moments when you're isolated with one other person, one of your workmates, one of your school friends, my friend, do you still take the same time and care and consideration to witness to them, to change and lead that conversation to matters about Christ? My friend, do you still devote that same time in your private time to pray for that soul that the Lord has burdened upon your heart? My friend, do you take the time even to send that simple message to show that you care for them, to show that you have a love and a consideration for them? You know, in Luther's life, I find that he took time. Yes, he was a man who was rapidly busy, yet he still took time over the individual. Matter of fact, this morning I brought a copy of his letter that he wrote to this barber. You can download it for free from the internet. I thought I'd just read to you one paragraph from it, just to let you get the measure off the man. In this paragraph we read, so a good and attentive barber keeps his thoughts, attention, and eyes on the razor and hair, and does not forget how far he has gotten with a shaving or cutting. If he wants to engage in too much conversation or let his mind wander or look somewhere else, he is likely to cut his customer's mouth, nose, or even his throat. How much does prayer call for concentration and singleness of heart if it is to be a good prayer? I find, reading through that book, that Luther was not some highfalutin theologian. He was not some academic who hid away in his ivory tower or preached over the heads of his people. No, I find a man who had a common touch and a heart for the masses. Not only could he articulate the great lofty truths of God's word and of his gospel, but he also had the power of communication to communicate it simply to the simple ordinary. individual. My friend, that's really the challenge for us today in this day and age that we live. My friend, to communicate the gospel in a simple and clear way, to have a sure grip, an understanding of what the gospel contains. You know, I find in my own history and in my own experience, the person I always find who's most able to teach you something is the person who has the greatest depth of understanding on the subject. And it's the same for you in evangelism. You know, we live in a day and age where men are so biblically illiterate. Unfortunately, I find even when I was doing outreach in Belfast, even there's kids, a generation rising up in our land who do not know the simple Bible characters of Adam and Eve. My friend, it's to those people that we have to go out to. It's to those people that we have to communicate the gospel to. And my friend, to do it effectively and simply, my friend, there's a challenge for us to get a firm grasp and favor of what the gospel is and is in its essence. We need to get a deep understanding of the gospel truths. If we are to effectively communicate it simply to the ordinary person, But really this morning, I want us to concentrate on this cry for help there in Luke chapter 11, verse one. And there we read of the disciple crying out for help onto the Lord, just like Luther's barber. Lord, teach us to pray. First of all, when we consider this cry for help, we learn that there was a deficiency, a deficiency. knew his disciple crying out for the Lord and help in regards to the matter of prayer. My friend, what in fact he was acknowledging was this, a deficiency of prayer in the religious world that he lived. Oh, it was not for the lack of prayer in the religious world at that time in the day of Christ. Because the religious world and the Pharisees and the Sadducees, they had prayer. My friend, when we study history, we find that they had ceremonial prayer. They had ritual prayer. They had prayer that would repeat at nine o'clock in the morning and three o'clock in the afternoon. And they also had prayer at nine o'clock in the evening. You know, Scripture states their prayer life was, as it were, spilling out into the street corners. But you know, this disciple crying out pacifically to the Lord to teach him in the matters of prayer, by bypassing the religious leaders and the teachers of his day, going straight to Christ. My friend, he was sending out a clear message that the religious world of his day had a lack or a deficiency in the place of prayer. You see, friend, what the Pharisees and the Sadducees lacked was this, a proper and intimate communion with God the Father. You're turning with me to the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 6. We read there of the other recordings in the Gospels of the Lord's Prayer. Matthew chapter 6 and the verse 5. Here we find the Lord Jesus Christ reemphasizing this point. You're there in the verse 5 of Matthew chapter 6. We read, And when thou prayest, Thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are. And the hypocrites who Christ is identifying here as those Pharisees and Sadducees. That religious world in which he lived in. And Christ saying here, and when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites or like those Pharisees and Sadducees. My friend, Christ was drawing a clear contrast between what true prayer should be against the backdrop of that false, deficient prayer. that the Pharisees and the Sadducees practice. Christ even goes on to say in that verse, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. You see, as I already emphasized earlier, the religious world in the time of Christ, they had prayer. They had ceremonial and ritual prayer, prayer they repeat at multiple intervals throughout their day. But my friend, what I find in Scripture that their prayers not proceeding from the heart, that their prayers not proceeding upon the work and the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ, depending upon themselves. We find that their prayers were empty, they were vain, and they were deficient because they lacked that proper communion with God. Even Christ goes on to say at the end of that verse 5 in Matthew 6, Verily or truly I say unto you, They have their reward. In other words, Christ was saying they have no reward. Because their prayers were dead. They were empty. They were lifeless. My friend, they never reached the ears of the Almighty God. And I knew it was the same in Luther's day. Rome had much prayer. In fact, it was recorded by Roland Banton, a well-known historian and author in Luther, that before Luther's conversion, while he served as a monk there in the Augustinian order in Erdford, that his order would rise at two o'clock in the morning. I'm not too sure if I came around to your house and knocked at your door at two in the morning, you'd be too favorable in getting up to join me in prayer. But here we find in history that that order rose at two in the morning to perform a half hour of prayer. Then they'd rise at four in the morning for an hour's prayer, six in the morning for an hour and a half's prayer, eight for an hour, 12 for an hour, three, six, and even 8 p.m. at night before retiring to bed, they practiced another hour of prayer. My friend, Rome had much prayer. And Rome still has much prayer today. But my friend, for all their prayer, And for all their endeavor, they lack that one essential quality, communion with God. My friend, their prayer is not proceeding upon the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ alone. Their prayers do not reach the ears of God. And maybe, friend, there's somebody here this morning who falls into that camp. Yes, many times you go aside and you pray in your own time. in those late night hours at your bed, in those moments of crisis in your life, you cry unto God. But my friend, not trusting upon Christ as your Savior, not trusting upon His person and upon His work, my friend, your prayers are empty. They are dead. They are vain. My friend, the only prayer that God will regard of you is a sinner's prayer. It's that cry for help, acknowledgement to God that you're a sinner, that you need help, that you need God to intervene supernaturally in your life, that you need the power of God's cleansing blood in your life. My friend, that's the only prayer in your situation that God will regard. And even for the believer this morning, there's a trap that we could fall into in the place of prayer. My friend, this morning as believers, we could be so caught up with the outward formalities That we could be so caught up with trying to please the ears of those around us within the prayer meeting, that we could be so caught up with lip service, that even us as believers could miss out in communion with God. You see, the Lord is not looking empty words in the place of prayer. But my friend, the Lord is looking weighty words in the place of prayer. My friend, God is looking words that proceed upon an earnest heart. The Lord is looking words that reflect the realities of the pressing need that is burdening upon your soul. See, the Lord is looking words that are full of meaning. He's looking words that are full of expression. He's looking words that are born out of a deep consideration of who God is and of our utter need and reliance upon him. You know, John Bunyan put it like this. In prayer, it is better to have a heart without words than words without a heart. In prayer, it is better to have a heart without words than words without a heart. I even find that truth, even when I go back to the beginning of 1 Samuel. There in that picture, we find Hannah in deep earnest distress, crying unto God for a child, feeling that pressing need, that reproach of being barren. She cried with words that were unutterable. Her mouth moved. But no sound came out. You realize, seeing that recordings, he thought that she was drunk. But do you know what does the scriptures tell us there in 1 Samuel 1 and 13? She spake in her heart. She spake in her heart. My friend, that's the prayer that God is looking from us. He's looking that real prayer that reflects the reality of our heart. He's looking that prayer that comes from a deep, burdened soul. a soul that realizes the reality of its situation, of its utter need and dependence upon God. My friend, that's the only prayer that God will regard from us. Not only do we see a deficiency of prayer here in the religious world, we also see a deficiency of prayer in the disciples themselves. We see the use here of the personal pronoun in this cry. In verse one, Lord, teach us, us, to pray. You know, when I look, when I thought about this phenomenon of how the disciples had weakness in the place of prayer, and as I was reflecting upon the New Testament, you know, one thing struck me was this. was the lack of recordings of prayers from the disciples in the gospels themselves. Yes, when we go into the book of Acts, we find many records of the apostles crying unto God. As we move into the epistles, we find great records of the apostle Paul crying unto God. And how the Lord answered their prayers and moved that church rapidly onwards and progressing it in its size and number and spirituality. As you know, when I came to the gospels, I was struck Yes, we find the disciples in the vicinity of prayer, sometimes in the place beside Christ in prayer, but yet there was no record of their utterance in what they prayed. Even that most famous account in Matthew 26, where we find the Lord Jesus Christ taking Peter, James, and John a little further in the Garden of Gethsemane, before that most pressing hour of His crucifixion. You know, Christ returning back to those disciples. What do we find? We find that the disciples, rather than dropping to their knees in prayer, we find that the disciples dropped their eyelids in prayer and sleep. You see, my friend, the Spirit of God not yet being poured out in its fullness upon the disciples, as in the book of Acts, they fell asleep. My friend, does that not teach us the vital principle today that we need something more than human power in the place of prayer? My friend, we need heavenly power in the place of prayer. My friend, we need God the Holy Ghost if we're not to faint in the place of prayer. And the Apostle Paul coming to grips with that truth, we read there in Romans chapter eight and the verse 26. Likewise, the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities. For we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us. with groanings which cannot be uttered." That word, infirmities, is elsewhere translated five times in Scripture as weakness. And the Apostle Paul saying here, this man who was of great spiritual courage, when he said he came to the place of prayer, the Apostle Paul records that he found weakness within himself. My friend, this great spiritual giant, this man who was able to stand against the persecution of the Roman Empire and the Jewish religious world, Yet when he came to the place of prayer, he found his strength soon dwindling within his own soul, and he was unable to persist. When I was thinking again of Martin Luther, I also find a record in his life where he acknowledged weakness in the place of prayer. It was during a time of great difficulty within his family's home. It was during the time where he had lost his young daughter Magdalene to death. Writing to his friend, Justus Honus, he recorded of this hardship that he found in the place of prayer. of how when he, him and his wife would go aside to cry unto God, how they would be overcome with grief. Now in that letter he writes to Eustace, Eustace, pray for my wife and for me in our stead. Cry unto God for us and praise God for all his glory, for all his goodness, and for all his mercy. My friend, if such great heroes of the faith had difficulty in the place of prayer, My friend, how much more will we not find difficulty in the place of prayer? My friend, if we're honest here this morning, what service do we not find the most difficult to get out to? Is it not the place of prayer? Is it not the midweek prayer meeting? Yes, it's easy on a Sunday to get up and to come to the house of God to sing his praises. But when you finally come to that midweek meeting of how the old flesh finds weakness, of how tiredness comes upon your flesh, of how the old excuses of man comes to your mind, and we find weakness in the place of prayer. But my friend, in that instance in your life, remember the words here that the disciple cried. He didn't say, Lord, teach us how to pray. What did he say here? Lord, teach us to pray, to pray. My friend, in that scenario where you find weakness, in that scenario where you find unable to persist in the place of prayer, my friend, this is the prayer to cry. Lord, teach me to pray. Give me your Spirit. Strengthen me that I may cry effectively unto you. You know what I find interesting here? is when that disciple made that cry, when he cried such an utterance onto the Lord, what happened? The Lord gave him the greatest answer that he could ever receive. He gave him the teaching of the Lord's prayer, the greatest teaching that the church has ever received on prayer. You see, this is the prayer that the Lord regards. It's a prayer that is humble, a prayer that is sincere, a prayer that is a confession of the soul. and a prayer that relies or has absolute confidence that Christ will meet it and answer it. My friend, you will find that in your own experience. I can even tell you today, if you're even outside of Christ, you can even see there in verse 10 of this chapter, for everyone that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth. And to him that knocketh, it shall be open. And my friend, when you come to that place of prayer and you cry that humble, sincere prayer unto God, when you come with confidence upon Christ, my friend, God will hear and answer that prayer. If you're outside of Christ and you cry that cry unto him to save you, with that humble and sincerity, with that reliance upon Christ, my friend, he'll answer you, he'll save you. Or believer, maybe there's some pressing need upon your heart, some hardship, some affliction. Well, come with that same sincerity. Come with that trust upon Christ and reveal it unto God the Father. Because my friend, we find here in Scripture that God will more than answer our prayer. You secondly also know there's not only a deficiency, But we also notice here a desire in this cry for help. You're looking there at Luke chapter 11, verse 1. We read, Lord, teach us to pray. Here we find the disciples cry onto the Lord, revealing the desire upon his heart to grow in the place of prayer. It's the same for you, any user or parents. How does a child or the baby reveal its desire to you? It cries. It lets you know, it wakes you up in the middle of the night, it gives a big roar and gets you out of your bed so that you may jump to His desires. That's what the disciple here does. He reveals his desire in this cry unto the Lord. You know, was that not the same in Martin Luther's day? Do we not find that barber being overcome with this desire, watching the life of Luther minutely, seeing a weakness in his own life in matters of prayer? Do we not find in history of how that man cried unto Luther, Luther, teach me to pray. Do I wonder this morning what our motivation is in the place of prayer? Do we have a desire to pray? Are we just content to live in the place of second best? Are we content to sit and go through the motions? Or do we have that desire here in the disciples to improve in the place of prayer? You often, I find, the reason why we're so lacking in the place of prayer is that so many of us, unfortunately and regrettably, look upon prayer as a punishment rather than a privilege, that looks upon prayer as a burden rather than a blessing. My friend, if you turn with me to Luke chapter 18 and verse one, we learn here in Scripture that prayer is a mighty privilege that is given to God's children. You're reading there the last kind of clause of 18 verse 1. The Lord Jesus Christ says to disciples that men ought always to pray and not to faint. The word faint here is carrying the idea of being overcome in the heart, weakness of faith. What Christ is really saying here, if you're found in the place of prayer, you'll have strength of heart, strength of faith. you'll have encouragement within your soul. My friend, prayer was given to the believer to know encouragement. When you find those difficult places in your life, God has given us prayer, an avenue to come on to him, to strengthen the inner man. My friend, also we can know the privilege of it by the cost of it. What cost to open this life gate, this way, to come on to God the Father? My friend, it costs God the Father his own son. It costs the blood of his own son that we may be able to come on to him. What a mighty cost to give to us this awesome privilege of prayer. Thirdly and lastly, we also notice here a declaration. We've seen a deficiency, we've seen a desire, but thirdly, we also see a declaration as cry for help. And what was this disciple declaring? He was declaring to the world that Christ knew how to pray. And how did he come to such a conclusion? Well, over the last weeks and months, watching Christ closely in his ministry, they've seen how the Lord would go aside early in the morning, of how he would go yonder into the mountain to pray all night. My friend, they've seen a Savior who practiced prayer. Anyway, this was not something extraordinary. This was not something unique. But this was something we find in Christ's ministry that he repeated continually and constantly. In fact, many commentators call the gospel of Luke, they call it the gospel of prayer. There's nine different occurrences that records Christ in the place of prayer. You write from chapter three to chapter 22, we find Christ continually praying. And when we really think upon that matter, that phenomenon, You know, when we really think of who Christ is in this person, my friend, Christ was truly God and truly man. And as truly God, my friend, Christ knew complete communion with God the Father throughout all eternity. He knew no break in his communion with God the Father. And yet Christ still went in his humanity. And he still cried on to God. See, Christ found that prayer was not an empty exercise. But Christ found that prayer was an energizing exercise. My friend, if Christ and His humanity prayed, how much more do we not need to pray as Christians? Another interesting thing I should note here, it was also the sight of Christ that stirred the disciples to cry unto Him. It was watching Christ's example that motivated them to cry unto Him and to teach them how to pray effectively unto God. And my friend was in it the same with Luther's barber. You're watching Luther minutely, closely. It even reminds me of that woman as she watched Elijah and she knew he was a man of God by his walk. And there we find this man like Luther's barber watching Luther minutely and seeing something different in that man's life. Seeing a man who had not forsake the place of prayer. He came on to him to teach him how to pray. I even think of my own personal experience. My parents did not need to tell me that I needed to be at the place of prayer, because they left me an example. I knew when they left the house on a Tuesday evening, I knew that if I wanted to go on with God, if I wanted to grow as a Christian, I needed to follow their example. I knew that I had to be at the place of prayer. There's a saying which goes like this, All actions, good and bad, are contagious. I suppose one thing I'm thinking of contagious, one thing us students dread in the college is when somebody gets smitten down with the flu or the cold, especially when he's the person sitting next to you because you're just dreading you're going to be smitten down yourself within the next few days with this flu and you're going to fall behind in your studies. But wouldn't it be a dreadful thing that if people here in God's house dreaded you, dreaded being as it were, being contracted by this contagious disease of a bad testimony, of a bad example. My friend, wouldn't it be utterable horrible to know that such people thought that about you, because you're not following the Lord's example, that they're afraid of contracting that bad action from you. My friend, all actions, good and bad, are contagious. Let us follow that good testimony. Let us set a good example to the world, to our workmates, and to our friends, that they would know that there's something different within our hearts, that there's something different within our lives, that they'll know that you know how to have communion with God, that they'll approach you, that they'll know that you have an authority in spiritual matters. that they will come to you and maybe that one day ask you, how can I pray to God? How can I get right with God? My friend, we need to live an effective testimony before God. In closing, can I just mention this last thing? Notice the time of this cry. When did this disciple cry? He cried when the Lord was near, when the Lord was right at his hand. And, old friend, it's the exact same in regards to salvation. There's no point putting it off. My friend, if that disciple followed that course, if he put it off for another year, my friend, the Lord would have been ascended and left the scene of time. It would have been too late. And, old friend, there's no point you tonight to leave or this morning to leave it off, to leave off this matter of getting right with God. My friend, Christ is near. You felt him speaking to your heart and to your soul. My friend, even now you can cry on to him. That way is open to you. Cry on to him. Throw that burden of sin and guilt at his feet. My friend, he'll roll it away. He'll carry that burden for you and he'll give you a new life, new energy to walk with God. And let's close our eyes and seek the Lord now in a word of prayer. Our Father in heaven, Lord, how we thank Thee for this opportunity this morning to come into Thy house. How we thank Thee, Lord, for that blessed assurance that we've met with Thee afresh today. Lord, we pray that, Lord, You would bid Thy blessing upon us. Lord, You would take us to our homes in safety. And Lord, that Thy blessing would even be upon us as You would bring us back out to Thy house this evening. O Lord, we throw ourselves upon Thee now. For as He sings in Jesus' name, amen.