Turn with me, please, this morning in your Bibles to 1 Kings, Chapter 8. 1 Kings, Chapter 8. Page 287, if you're using the Bibles in the seats. We're continuing our study of the Old Testament, taking one look in each book, usually a chapter in each book, looking for Christ. Looking for Christ in progress and promises, two Ps. Looking for Christ in types and themes, two Ts. And looking for Christ as we compare and contrast how God has worked throughout history, two Cs. Context of Kings is like Samuel and like Chronicles. It was likely one book written on two scrolls that has become, in our understanding, two separate books. Kings particularly deals with the time from the end of David's reign to the dividing of the kingdom, and eventually the captivity of the northern kingdom, and then finally the Babylonian captivity of Judah because of their sin. The first 11 or so chapters of 1 Kings deal particularly with Solomon and his successful reign, his request for and God granting him wisdom, his reign of prosperity. Chapter 4, we're told of that prosperity where the people of God are numbered as the sand of the sea, as God had promised to Abram. And then chapters five through nine focus on his building of the house of the temple of God. We looked in 2 Samuel at God's promise to David that his son would build God's house. Sadly, if we would read on into chapters 10 and 11, we would read of Solomon's fall, his fall away into sin and away from the Lord. But particularly today, we're looking at the house for God's name. It's a long reading, but I urge you to pay attention. It contains in it a rich prayer, probably the longest prayer listed in the scripture, though I've not tried to verify that, but I encourage you to consider all the things that are spoken here about our God. And even as I read, be listening for things that point to Christ, and then we'll consider the word of God together. This is the very word of God, so give your attention to it, 1 Kings 8. Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the leaders of the fathers' houses of the people of Israel before King Solomon in Jerusalem to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the city of David, which is Zion. And all the men of Israel assembled to King Solomon at the feast in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month. And all the elders of Israel came and the priests took up the ark. And they brought up the ark of the Lord and the tent of meeting and all the holy vessels that were in the tent. The priests and the Levites brought them up. And King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel who had assembled before him were with him, who were with him before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered. Then the priest brought the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord to its place in the inner sanctuary of the house, in the most holy place, underneath the wings of the cherubim. For the cherubim spread out their wings over the place of the Ark so that the cherubim overshadowed the Ark and its poles. And the poles were so long that the ends of the poles were seen from the holy place before the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen from outside, and they are there to this day. And just a comment briefly, it's not for us that they're there this day, but the day in which this was written and in which it was heard by the people of God. There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets of stone that Moses put there at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the people of Israel when they came out of the land of Egypt. And when the priests came out of the holy place, a cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud. For the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord. Then Solomon said, the Lord has said that he would dwell in thick darkness. I have indeed built you an exalted house, a place for you to dwell in forever. Then the king turned around and blessed all the assembly of Israel while all the assembly of Israel stood. And he said, Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who with his hand has fulfilled what he promised with his mouth to David, my father, saying, Since the day that I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel in which to build a house that my name might be there. But I chose David to be over my people Israel. Now it was in the heart of David, my father, to build a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. But the Lord said to David, my father, whereas it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart. Nevertheless, you shall not build the house, but your son who shall be born to you shall build the house for my name. Now the Lord has fulfilled his promise that he made. For I have risen in the place of David, my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised. And I have built the house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. And there I have provided a place for the ark, in which is the covenant of the Lord that he made with our fathers when he brought them out of the land of Egypt. Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven and said, O Lord God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart. You have kept with your servant David, my father, what you declared to him. You spoke with your mouth and with your hand have fulfilled it this day. Now, therefore, O Lord God of Israel, keep for your servant David, my father, what you have promised him, saying, You shall not lack a man to sit before me on the throne of Israel. If only your sons pay close attention to their way, to walk before me as you have walked before me. Now, therefore, O God of Israel, let your word be confirmed which you have spoken to your servant David, my father. But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this house that I have built. Yet have regard to the prayer of your servant and to his plea. O Lord, my God, listening to the cry and to the prayer that your servant prays before you this day, that your eyes may be open night and day toward this house, the place of which you have said, my name shall be there. that you may listen to the prayer that your servant offers toward this place, and listen to the plea of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place, and listen in heaven your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive. If a man sins against his neighbor and is made to take an oath, and comes and swears an oath before your altar in this house, then hear in heaven, and act, and judge your servants, condemning the guilty by bringing his conduct on his own head, and vindicating the righteous by rewarding him according to his righteousness. when your people Israel are defeated before the enemy because they have sinned against you. And if they turn again to you and acknowledge your name and pray and plead with you in this house, then here in heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them again to the land that you gave to their fathers. When heaven is shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, if they pray toward this place and acknowledge your name and turn from their sin when you afflict them, then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel, when you teach them the good way in which they should walk and grant rain upon your land, which you have given to your people as an inheritance. If there is a famine in the land, if there is pestilence, or blight, or mildew, or locusts, or caterpillar, if their enemy besieges them in the land at their gates, whatever plague, whatever sickness there is, whatever prayer, whatever plea is made by any man, or by all your people Israel, each knowing the affliction of his own heart, and stretching out his hands toward this place, then here in heaven, your dwelling place, and forgive, and act, and render to each whose heart you know according to all his ways. For you, you only know the hearts of all the children of mankind. that they may fear you all the days that they live in the land that you gave to their fathers. Likewise, when a foreigner who is not of your people, Israel, comes from a far country for your name's sake, for they shall hear of your great name and your mighty hand and of your outstretched arm. When he comes and prays toward this place, here in heaven, your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to you in order that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you as do your people, Israel, and that they may know that this house that I have built is called by your name. If your people go out to battle against their enemy by whatever way you shall send them, and they pray to the Lord toward the city that you have chosen and the house that I have built for your name, then hear in heaven their prayer and their plea and maintain their cause. if they sin against you for there is no one who does not sin and you are angry with them and give them to an enemy so they're carried away captive to the land of the enemy far off or near yet if they turn their hearts in the land to which they've been carried captive and repent and plead with you in the land of their captors saying we have sinned and have acted perversely and wickedly, that they repent with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies who carried them captive, and pray to you toward their land, which you gave to their fathers, the city that you have chosen, the house that I have built for your name. Then hear in heaven your dwelling place, their prayer and their plea, and maintain their cause, and forgive your people who have sinned against you and all their transgressions that they have committed against you, and grant them compassion in the sight of those who carried them captive, so that they may have compassion on them. For they are your people and your heritage, which you brought out of Egypt from the midst of the iron furnace. Let your eyes be open to the plea of your servant and to the plea of your people, Israel, giving ear to them whenever they call to you. For you separated them from among all the peoples of the earth to be your heritage, as you declared through Moses, your servant, when you brought our fathers out of Egypt. Oh, Lord God. Now Solomon finished offering all this prayer and plea to the Lord. He arose from before the altar of the Lord where he had knelt with hands outstretched toward heaven. And he stood and he blessed all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice saying, Blessed be the Lord who has given rest to his people Israel according to all that he has promised. Not one word has failed of all his good promise which he spoke by Moses his servant. The Lord our God be with us as he was with our fathers. May he not leave us or forsake us that he may incline our hearts to him to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his rules which he commanded our fathers. But these words of mine with which I have pleaded before the Lord be near to the Lord, our God, day and night. And may he maintain the cause of his servant and the cause of his people, Israel, as each day requires that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God. There is no other. Let your heart, therefore, be wholly true to the Lord, our God, walking in his statutes and keeping his commandments as at this day. Then the king and all Israel with him offered sacrifice before the Lord. Solomon offered his peace offerings to the Lord, 22,000 oxen, 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the people of Israel dedicated the house of the Lord. The same day, the king consecrated the middle of the court that was before the house of the Lord. For there he offered the burnt offering and the grain offering and the fat pieces of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar that was before the Lord was too small to receive the burnt offering and the grain offering and the fat pieces of the peace offering. So Solomon held the feast at this time and all Israel with him, a great assembly from Lebo Hamath to the brook of Egypt before the Lord our God seven days. On the eighth day, he sent the people away and they blessed the king and went to their homes joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that the Lord had shown to David, his servant, and Israel, his people. This is the very word of God. Please join me in prayer. Father, we echo Solomon's prayer and ask that you would hear from heaven your dwelling place. and having heard that you would forgive, and having heard that you would guide and direct our thoughts and my words, that we might be pleasing in your sight, we pray in the name of Jesus, amen. This house that was built for the name of God was to point to God. It was not a house that was for its own beauty for its own position in Jerusalem, but was to remind the people of God, who God was, who they were, and what God was doing in their midst. And so I call you as we consider the text before us to consider with joy, that is to rejoice, that in the house for his name God would, and then we're going to look at four things. We could list other things. It seemed to me that these are the essence of what Solomon was getting at in both his prayer and his benediction and the rest of the comments that are made. I have in your bowels and rejoice in the house for his name God would and then in parentheses did. Because God did these things, but for these people, they were things that they were praying that God would do. And we know, in history, that God did these things. And what are these things that I call to your attention? The first is rejoice that in the house for his name, God would dwell with his people. God would dwell with his people. The ark of the presence of God. was brought into the temple. It was brought out of the tabernacle where God had said, I will dwell with you in this tabernacle. He dwelt with them as they sojourned for 40 years in the wilderness. Every time they set camp, the tabernacle was in the middle with three Three tribes to the north, three to the south, three to the east, and three to the west. God literally in their presence. And it was a reminder, and now the artifacts of the tabernacle were brought into the temple to remind them that God would be their God, and that they would be God's people, and that God would dwell with them. It stresses here that the ark of the presence of God was brought in. And when the ark was brought in, The glory of the Lord filled the temple. If the Lord is willing, we'll look in more detail at that glory of the Lord this evening. But notice that the glory of the Lord's presence was so heavy that the priests could not minister, that they had to leave for a time until that cloud of glory dissipated. The temple and the ark were constant, visible reminders to the people of God. Reminders to them that God was in their midst. They were never intended to become what they did to often become idols to the people of God. That ark they treated as a magic box. We can go to war if we take this box with us and we'll win. Well, they found that out in Samuel. No, not necessarily. And this temple of the Lord. became a mantra to them, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, and yet they cared not for the Lord of the temple. This temple and this ark were reminders that God would dwell with his people. Solomon prays in verse 57, may he not leave nor forsake us. That God would continue to be with his people. And so rejoice that in the house for his name, God would dwell with his people. And as God dwelt with his people, that he would remember his covenant. He would remember his covenant. His covenant that was reflected in the ark. Sometimes called the ark of his presence, sometimes called the ark of the covenant. And in this ark were the tablets of the covenant. Those 10 commandments which God had given to Moses, in which God has said, I rescued you from Egypt, therefore, live this way. It was not that if they obeyed the 10 commandments, God would become their God, but because God was their God, because God had chosen them, because God had redeemed them, that he called them to a pattern of life. And in that ark were those covenant pieces to remind them of the presence of God. In that covenant, God's promise to be their people, to be their God and their promise to be God's people. And it was a constant reminder of God's power and God's victory on behalf of his people. In the parallel account to the dedication of the temple in Chronicles, Solomon says this, now therefore arise, Lord God, come to your resting place, you and your powerful ark. May your priests, Lord God, be clothed with salvation and may your faithful people rejoice in goodness. Reflect those same words when we sing from Psalm 68, may God arise, may his enemies be scattered. As the ark was lifted up, the people were reminded of God's covenant promises to them. And so Solomon would pray, God keep us, God bring righteousness, give righteousness, incline our hearts to this God that we might walk with him in faithfulness and holiness all our day. So rejoice that in the house for his name, God would dwell with his people. Rejoice that in the house for his name, God would remember his covenant and rejoice that in the house for his name, God would hear his people's prayer. As I already mentioned, verses 22 to 53, perhaps the longest prayer written in the scripture. And we ought not to read that and think, well, whenever I pray, I ought to pray that long a prayer. But we also ought not to think, I will never pray that long a prayer. For there might be times that your prayer would be longer as you cry out to the Lord. But as you cry out to the Lord, you do it asking that he would hear his people's prayer. We've been reminded of that already in this service. What a great reminder how God blends together in his providence all of these things so that we would be reminded again and again that God hears his people's prayer. And in this prayer, Solomon is a type of Christ. If you kids are trying to keep track of the two T's, two P's, two C's, you got a T there, a type of Christ. Solomon, as one writer put it, has often been regarded as a type of Christ in many ways. His wisdom and his justice are faint glimmers of the wisdom and justice of Christ. The glory of his kingdom must certainly be taken as a foretaste or anticipation. of the glory of Christ's kingdom. But this author says, at no point in his life did Solomon more typify the Lord Jesus Christ than in this prayer. In this prayer, Solomon interceded for his people, just like the Lord Jesus does for us today. And so as you look at this prayer, consider that it is a model prayer, that you can take the principles of this prayer and write them to do with your own circumstances but following the pattern and you would have a good prayer to pray. In fact I might encourage you, it's not a command of God, it's certainly not a command of your pastor, but I might encourage you sometime this afternoon or maybe this week to take these verses 22 to 53 and write out your own prayer mirroring the prayer of Solomon but to your own particular circumstances and needs. And then I'd encourage you, if you do that, to pray that prayer. And it's okay if it's a five or seven or eight minute prayer. God won't get tired of listening. Because what we read over and over in this prayer are the words hear and listen and watch. Hear and listen and watch. You see, if God doesn't hear our prayers, we're just talking to ourselves. And some would say that's all we're doing because they don't understand God. They don't understand the things that God has done. We don't understand that God is real, that we can't see Him with our physical eyes. We can know just as surely as something we can see with our physical eyes that God is real and that God does hear our prayers, that God does listen when we pray, that God does look toward us with favor. And so look at these examples and reminders of that. As Solomon begins, heaven can't contain you, yet listen, God. Listen to the prayer that I pray at this house that I have built for your name. Verse 29, watch day and night for the prayers of your people. I don't suppose I'm the only one who sometimes wakes in the middle of the night. and you're not sure what to do, as your mind maybe is racing and doesn't let you immediately go back to sleep, let me suggest something to do. Pray, pray. And God, who watches his people day and night, will hear your prayers. Verse 30, listen from heaven, your dwelling place, and forgive. It's really an echo, it's a refrain throughout this whole prayer. Verse 32, hear when we sin and discipline us as we need it. Verse 34, hear when we stray and when we face defeat and when we pray, bring us back. Verse 36, hear us when we face difficulties for our sin and forgive us and show us the good way and remove the difficulties. Verse 39, when we face plague or sickness for our sin, show us the plague of our heart and forgive us that we might fear you. Verse 43 would have been shocking to those who heard Solomon pray. We see throughout the rest of the scripture that that idea, especially at Jesus' day and at the time of the apostles in the book of Acts, was shocking to them as well. But had the Jews of Jesus' day and the Jews of Paul and the apostles' day paid attention to the prayer of Solomon, it wouldn't have been shocking to them. Because here in this prayer, Solomon prays that when the unbeliever, when the unbeliever comes in and prays, accept their prayer. The foreigner here, it's not a nationalism, it's not a cultural difference, it's a theological difference. Those who don't know the God of Israel, when they come here, because they've heard of the God of Israel, and when they pray to the God of Israel, hear their prayers and answer their petitions. Verse 45, when your people go to battle against the enemy, hear and maintain their cause. Verse 49, when they're taken captive, and we can think of being taken captive to sin, and yet repent, hear, and forgive, and restore. Verse 52, let your eyes be open to the plea of your people, and hear whenever they call to you. It doesn't have to be in the middle of the night. It can be in the middle of the day. It can be when you first arise in the morning and when you go to bed at night. Here, from heaven, your dwelling place. And if any of you here might be those unbelievers who don't yet know the God of Israel, know that He will hear your prayers if you pray to Him in Jesus' name. Rejoice, then, in the house for his name. God would and God did dwell with his people. Remember his covenant. Hear his people's prayer. And lastly, and again, we could look at more things than this, but I thought these four were emphasized in the text. Make his name known to the whole world. That's one of the reasons that Solomon gives for God hearing the prayer of the foreigner. When the unbeliever comes and they praise, might you hear and answer their prayer so they would know your name? Verses 59 and 60, care for your people so that all the earth may know that the Lord is God and there is no other. We pray similarly today, God bless us so that the world will know that you are God and that there is no other God. God placed his people in the center of the trade routes of that day. And part of God's intention for his people was that as those around the nation of Israel, as they would hear of God, as they would travel through, they would hear more of God, and perhaps some of them would come not only to hear of God, but come to know God. And so rejoice, that in the house for his name, God would and did dwell with his people, remembered his covenant, hear his people's prayer, and make his name known to the whole world. And that's enough to fill us with praise and joy and words of prayer, but God has told us even more. Not only rejoice in what God would do in the house built for his name, but delight even more that in his son, God is doing the same thing. In His Son, God is doing the same thing. And we'll look at four points that mirror the previous four points. And again, those of you that are looking for T's and P's and C's, there's four themes given here. Four themes that are consistent, and we see them in Christ even as we see them in Solomon's prayer. What is it that we delight that God in His Son is doing? He's dwelling with His people. For when Jesus came to this earth, He was named Emmanuel, which means God with us. When Jesus prepared to leave this earth, as he gave his disciples their great commission, telling them to go and make disciples of the nation, teaching them to observe everything that he commanded, he reminded them, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. And how is it that God is with us through Christ? Well, Jesus told his disciples how that would be. It would be through what we've come to understand and call the Holy Spirit. Jesus says this in John 14, I will ask the father and he will give you another counselor to be with you forever. He is the spirit of truth. The world is unable to receive him because it doesn't see him or know him. But you know him because he remains with you and will be with you. In his son, through the spirit given by the father and the son, God dwells with you, his people, forever. If you're not his people, the spirit of God does not dwell with you. But we urge you to confess your sin, to cry out for mercy, that God would hear from heaven, his dwelling place, and having heard he would forgive and that then having forgiven you, he will grant you this same Holy Spirit. so that he is with you, his people. In his son, delight that God is dwelling with his people. In his son, delight that God is remembering his covenant. And here's another letter. P for promises. All the promises of God, those covenant promises, they're fulfilled in Jesus Christ. When John the baptizer's father prayed in Luke chapter one, he prayed this. Blessed is the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has visited and provided redemption for his people. The people of God had been looking, had been watching. Is this the Redeemer? Is this the one? Is this the Messiah? And John's father prophesied at John's birth, John would be the forerunner of this Messiah. And in this one, the Lord Jesus Christ, God had visited and redeemed his people. God, Zachariah went on to pray, has dealt mercifully with our ancestors and remembered his holy covenant. In Christ, God remembers his covenant. Whenever we celebrate the Lord's Supper, we remember the words that Jesus said when he took the cup after they had eaten, and said, this cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. Christ's blood secured the covenant promises of God, and in Christ, in his son, God remembers his covenant. And so every time we come to worship, not merely where we celebrate the Lord's Supper, we come to worship as Hebrews 12 reminds us to the heavenly Jerusalem. and to Jesus, the mediator of that new covenant, and to his sprinkled blood, which says better things than the blood of Abel. The author of Hebrews had told in that list of heroes of faith in chapter 11 of the blood of Abel, that still cries out, but it's in Christ and in his blood that God remembers his covenant. And it's because of that that we're called to worship him. And so delight, delight even more than what God was doing in this Old Testament temple, that in His Son, God is dwelling with His people. In His Son, God is remembering His covenant. In His Son, God is hearing His people's prayer. When you children gather with your families, and perhaps you pray or perhaps your moms and dads pray, God hears your prayers when you offer them in Jesus' name. And for you adults, when you pray, whether it's on your bed, at the table, as you go through your day, when you pray in Jesus' name, God hears your prayers. Jesus told his disciples, anything that you ask the Father in my name, he will give you. And we understand that's not a name it and claim it type of prayer. Because the more we know God, the more we know to pray the things that are pleasing to God. And sometimes God, in hearing our prayer, even a prayer that's legitimate, as was David's desire to build a house for the God, there are times when God says, no, not you, or not yet. But He still hears and He still answers the prayers of His people. And in a sense, in Jesus, we repeat the prayer that we heard refrained over and over and over in Solomon's prayer. Hear us. and forgive. And there's a sense in which we hate to repeat that prayer. God, I need you to forgive me again. God, I need you to forgive me again. Those of us who are in families probably know that in our interpersonal relationships as we have to ask husbands to our wives over and over again, I've sinned against you, will you forgive me? or to our parents, or to our children, I've sinned against you, will you forgive me? But ultimately, our sin is against God, and so we say, God, hear and forgive. There's a sense in which we hate to pray that, and yet there must be a sense in which we delight to pray that. Because God receives our prayers again, and again, and again. And so we say, hear us and forgive, hear us and forgive. God doesn't ever get to the point where he says, I'm tired of hearing you, ask me to forgive you. He will always forgive us in Christ. Hear our prayer, forgive our sin, cause us to walk with you, and be sure that God will hear and will answer in His Son. In fact, we're told, told in Romans and we're told in Hebrews, that the Son intercedes for us, that the Son intercedes for us. In fact, He lives to intercede for us. And so be sure that God hears your prayers because of the Son. We face difficulties, we face hardships, we sin. Hear our prayers, God. Change us where we need to be changed. Discipline us where we need to be disciplined. But because of your son, in your wrath, remember mercy. Hear the prayers of your people. So delight that God and his son dwells with his people. God and his son is remembering his covenant. God and his son is hearing his people's prayers. And God and his son is making his name known to the whole world. When Jesus prayed his high priestly prayer, Probably the longest prayer we have of our Savior in John 17. He said this, and I just read a portion of it. I pray not only for these, those who are his disciples who are with him, but also for those who believe in me through their word. Jesus Christ at that moment was praying for you as you would come to believe through the word and the testimony of the apostles and the prophets of the whole scripture that speaks to Christ and you came to believe it. Jesus was praying for you. He goes on to say, May they be one as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you sent me. I have given them the glory that you have given me so that they may be one as we are one. I am in them and you are in me so that the world may know so that they may be completely one, that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me. Jesus prays for unity among his people, unity among us, so that the world might know that God is God. You were saved not just for you and not even just for you altogether, but you were saved so that the world might know. that God has sent his son to be the savior of the world. And so Jesus would earlier than this in John tell his disciples, love one another as I have loved you. By this, everyone will know that you're my disciples if you love one another. Great encouragement from Solomon, greater encouragement from Jesus that God is at work in his people. This temple, this house for God's name, is a type of Christ. There's another T for those of you that are keeping track. Jesus himself said in John 2, destroy this temple and I will raise it up in three days. But he was talking about the temple of his body. And so even as we rejoice in what Jesus, in what God is doing through his son, remember that in Christ, The particular location of the house for God's name is his church. Let us never disconnect Christ from his body, Christ from his temple, Christ from his house. Are you in his house? Are you in his son? It's the same question. The answer to both must be yes. And if you are in Christ and if you are in the house for his name, then in him, God is dwelling with you. In him, God is remembering his covenant. In him, God is answering your prayers. And in him, God is making himself known to the whole world. Christ is the fulfillment of this temple. And so join me as I pray, mirroring the prayer that Solomon prayed. Let us pray together. Lord God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below who keeps the gracious covenant with your servants, who walk before you with all their heart. You have kept what you promised to your servant, our father in the faith, David. You have promised, and with your hand you have fulfilled it as it is today. Therefore, Lord God, Lord of the church, keep what you promised to your servant. Your son, Jesus. He was the one who sits before you on the throne of Israel. The promise that you made to David and you fulfilled in Jesus. Now, Lord God of Israel, please confirm what you promised to your servant, our Savior, Jesus Christ. Will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heavens cannot contain you. How much less any building ever built, not this church building or even the assembly of the saints. yet give attention to your servant's prayer. And to our plea for mercy, Lord our God, hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying in your presence this day. May your eyes be open toward your church night and day, this place of which you said, my name shall be there, so that you will hear the prayer that your servant prays in Jesus' name. Hear the supplication of your servant and of your people when they pray in Jesus' name. May you hear in your dwelling place in heaven, may you hear and forgive. When anyone wrongs their neighbor and declares their guilt or innocence, hear from heaven and act. Judge between your servants, disciplining the guilty in mercy and bringing them to repentance and assuring them that Jesus has paid for the sin that they have committed and reminding the innocent that their innocence is only by your grace. When your people have been defeated by the evil one because they have sinned against you and when they turn back to you and give praise to your name, praying, and making supplication to you in Jesus' name, then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people and bring them back to close and joyful fellowship in Jesus' church. When natural disasters come because people have sinned against you and when your people pray in Jesus' name and give praise to your name, and turn from their sin because you have afflicted them, then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people. Teach us the right way to live and be gracious in how you control the elements of this world. When disaster or disease may come, when a prayer or plea is made by anyone among your people, being aware of the afflictions of their own hearts and spreading out their hands in Jesus' name, then hear from heaven your dwelling place. Forgive and act. Deal with everyone according to all that they do, since you know our hearts, for you alone know every human heart, so that we will fear you all the time that we live in this world. Lord, if the unbeliever who does not belong to your people has come to hear of you because of your name, for they will hear of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm, when they come and pray in Jesus' name, then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Bring the unbeliever to trust in Jesus and do what he asks of you so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you as do your own people and may know that your church, which Jesus is building, bears your name. Lord, when your people go to war against the evil one in the daily places and circumstances to which you send us and when they pray to you, Lord, in Jesus' name, then hear from heaven their prayer and their plea and uphold their cause. And when we sin against you, for there is no one who does not sin, and you become angry with us and give us over to our sin, which takes us captive for a time, short or long, when we have a change of heart regarding the sin in which we are held captive and repent and plead with you in our sin and say, we have sinned, We have done wrong. We have acted wickedly. If we turn back to you with all our heart and soul and pray to you in heaven, in the name of Jesus, who is building this church for your name, then from heaven, your dwelling place, hear our prayer and our plea and uphold our cause and forgive your people who have sinned against you. Forgive all the offenses that we have committed against you, and show us mercy, for we are your people and your inheritance, and we're brought out of darkness, out of bondage to sin and Satan. May your eyes be open to your servant's plea and to the plea of your people. May you listen to us whenever we cry out to you, for you have set us apart as your inheritance from all the peoples of the earth, just as you declared through your son, Jesus, when you, sovereign Lord, brought us out of bondage to sin and Satan. And so we ask, hear from heaven your dwelling place. Hear and act according to your will. We pray in confidence and in joy. In the name of Jesus, our Savior, your beloved son. Amen.