Our help is in the name of the Lord who has made heaven and earth, who keepeth truth forever, and who never forsaketh the works of his own hands. Grace be unto you and peace from him which is, and which was, and which is to come, and from the seven spirits which are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Amen. The scripture reading this morning is from First Chronicles, Chapter 4, verses 1 through 20. First Chronicles, Chapter 4, beginning at verse 1, let us hear the word of God. sons of Judah, Phares, Hezron and Carmi, and Her and Shobel. And Reaiah the son of Shobel begat Jahath, and Jahath begat Ahumai and Lahad. These are the families of the Zorothites. And these were of the father of Itam, Jezreel and Ishmael, and Id-Bash, and the name of their sister was Hazel el-Ponai, and Penuel the father of Ghidor, and Ezor the father of Hushah. These are the sons of Hur, the firstborn of Ephrata, the father of Bethlehem. And Asher the father of Tekoa had two wives, Hela and Nayera. And Nayera bare him a Huzam and Hefer, and Timanai and Heahashterai. These were the sons of Nayara, and the sons of Hila were Zereth and Jezowar and Ethnan, and Khosbegat-Ainab and Zobiba, and the families of Aharhal the son of Haram. And Jabez was more honorable than his brethren, and his mother called his name Jebez, saying, Because I bear him with sorrow. And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, O that thou wouldst bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldst keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me. And God granted him that which he requested. And Caleb the brother of Shua begat Neher, which was the father of Ashton. And Ashton begat Bethraphah, and Passiah, and Tehinnah, the father of Ernehash, these are the men of Rekah. And the sons of Kenaz, Othniel, and Saraiah, and the sons of Othniel, Haithath, and Neanothai begat Ophrah, and Saraiah begat Joab, the father of the valley of Qarashim, for they were craftsmen. And the sons of Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, Iru, Elah, and Nahum. and the sons of Ila, even Kinas, and the sons of Jehaliel, Ziph, and Ziphah, Teraiah, and Azariel. And the sons of Ezra were Jether, and Mered, and Epher, and Jalon, and she bear Miriam, and Shammai, and Ishba, the father of Ashtomoah. And his wife, Jehudijah, bear Jared, the father of Ghidor, and Heber, the father of Soko, and Jakuthiel, the father of Zenoah. And these are the sons of Bithiah, the daughter of Pharaoh, which Merod took. And the sons of his wife Hodiah, the sister of Nahum, the father of Kailah, the Carmite, and Eshtumelah, the Miakathite. And the sons of Shimon were Amnon and Rinnah, Benhanan and Tilon, and the sons of Ishai were Zoheth Thus far, the reading of God's holy word. Dear congregation and children, when we began reading 1 Chronicles chapter 4, maybe you were wondering, why would we read a chapter like this with all those names? Hard to pronounce, really don't mean a whole lot. Certainly we can't learn anything from a chapter that is only names. And maybe at home, at the supper table, you've even asked your dad, like I did once, can't we just skip this chapter? But that would be a great mistake, to skip any single chapter of the Bible. Especially a chapter that contains all those names. Because the Lord inspired the writer of these books to write those names in the Bible. So those names are very meaningful to the Lord God. Should we then skip over them? No, all these names are special. All these names show the covenant faithfulness of God. And sometimes, in the middle of a chapter, that seems to have only names, you suddenly are surprised by what you read there. That happens in this chapter too, if you were following along in your Bible, and you were listening carefully, you would have noticed it. As we were reading, in verse 7, the sons of Helah were Zareth and Jezor and Ethnan, And cause begat Anab and Zubiba and the families of Aharhel, the son of Herem. And then suddenly, in the middle of that long list of names, you read this, and Jabez was more honorable than his brethren. And his mother called his name Jabez, saying, because I bear him with sorrow. And suddenly we are faced there with a man. And we are told something about him. That he was more honorable than his brethren. We're not even told who his brothers were. And that's not important. What is important is what God has told us about Jabez. And that is this. His mother called his name Jabez because, she said, I bear him with sorrow. And the Hebrew word for Jabez means sorrowful. And as she was giving birth to Jabez, he caused her much sorrow. And every time she saw her child from that day forward and called him by his name, she would be reminded, this child is called sorrowful because of his birth. And it shouldn't have surprised anyone because the Lord already said in Genesis 3, unto the woman, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception, in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children. And this child, this Jabez, was exceptionally difficult in childbirth, caused her sorrow. You have more examples like that in the Old Testament of mothers naming their children because of special circumstances. I'll give you just two examples from Jacob's wife Leah in Genesis 29. Verse 33, Leah says, Because the Lord has heard, therefore gave me this son also, and she called his name Simeon. And Simeon means hearing. Because the Lord has heard. And every time she saw Simeon, and every time she said his name, she would be reminded, because the Lord has heard. And then she had another son. And she said, now I will praise the Lord. Therefore, she called his name Judah. And the Hebrew name Judah means praise. So every time she saw Judah, every time she said his name, she would be reminded, I will praise the Lord because he gave me this son too. This morning we're going to look at the words of Jabez. The only words recorded in the Bible that he spoke, and they are the words of a prayer. His name is Sorrowful, and that very name should remind us of another man. A man of whom the Bible says he was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And it is only because of the man of sorrows, the Lord Jesus Christ, that Jabez can pray his prayer and that the Lord answers his prayer. So this morning I ask your attention for 1 Chronicles 4 Verse 10. 1 Chronicles 4, verse 10. And Jabez, or Sorrowful, called on the God of Israel, saying, O that thou mightest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thy hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me. And God granted him that which he requested. So with the help of the Lord we want to consider this under the heading, The Prayer of Sorrowful. That's what his name is. Sorrowful. And we will hear first of all, to whom he prays. And secondly, for what he prays. And then thirdly, how God answers his prayer. The Prayer of Sorrowful. To whom he prays. for what he prays and how God answers his prayer. And Jabez, sorrowful, called on the Lord God of Israel. When it says that he called on the Lord God of Israel, the word is he cried out to the Lord God of Israel. And when we hear that of Jabez, we should stop right away and ask ourselves, did we, this morning, cry out to the God of Israel? Has He heard from you, children, this morning, and parents, and grandparents? Have you already cried out to the God of Israel? The God of Israel, that's using language, that's covenantal language. Jehovah is the God of Israel. And over a hundred times he is called the Lord God of Israel. And God's people throughout all ages have always been calling on the Lord, on the God of Israel. You read it of Samson, Judges 15, verse 18. When he was sore of thirst, he called on the Lord. You read it of Samuel. He called unto the Lord. It began already way back with the first family in the beginning. Then began men to call upon the name of the Lord in the days of Enoch. And ever since then, millions and millions of people have been calling on the name of the Lord They have read in scripture what the Lord says in Psalm 50, Call upon me in the day of trouble, I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me. And they have done it. And the Lord has heard. And he has delivered. And they have glorified. The Lord keeps his promise. For example, Psalm 91, He shall call upon me, and I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him. I will honor him. He called on the God of Israel, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, the triune God. He called on the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. He called children on the God of your baptism. That God who, when you were baptized, allowed his holy name to be placed on you. His name is on you. You may call on this God even today. And then I read in the New Testament of the man of sorrows, the Lord Jesus Christ. When He was on this earth and He Himself is God, then you read of Him in Mark 6, He departed into a mountain to pray. And in Luke 6, He continued all night in prayer to God, to the same God that Jabez called on. That God is the God to whom the Lord Jesus Christ prayed. And then I read what the Apostle Paul calls the Church. In 1 Corinthians 1 verse 2, the Church of God, which is at Corinth, with all that in every place call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. So you see the line from the Old Testament, Jabez, through the New Testament, the Lord Jesus, and now in the New Testament church. Those that call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, and then in Romans 10 verse 13 you read this beautiful promise, whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. So are you calling on that name? Even today on prayer day? Because is that not our greatest need? That we all may be saved? Well, he says, call upon me and you shall be saved. Well, what does Jabez pray for? What is this prayer of sorrow for? What does he say to the Lord? And how can we learn to pray like this? Why did the Lord give us this prayer in his word so that we can read it today and we can begin to pray like this? Because this is a prayer that is for the glory and the honor of God, first of all. You see it as we go through it. Oh, that thou wouldest bless me indeed, he says. Oh, that thou would do this for me. Whenever you read that in scripture, that is an expression of the deepest longings and desires of the person's heart. Isaiah said it like this in 64 verse 1, O that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence. Job said, O that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his seat. I need this. This is extremely important, absolutely necessary for me. Oh, that thou wouldest bless me indeed. You have similar expressions. Jacob, when he's wrestling with the angel, he says, I will not let thee go unless thou bless me. And what does it mean when we ask the Lord to bless us? Well, then we are asking him that he would give us his favor. that we may receive the favor of God, that he would make us truly happy. Oh, that thou would bless me. Oh, if in blessing thou will bless me. The same language is used in Hebrew in Genesis 22. And the Lord says to Abraham, in blessing I will bless thee. And when the Lord blesses us, then we are the richest people in the whole world. That's what Solomon says in Proverbs 10, the blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich and he addeth no sorrow with it. There's a reminder again of who is praying here. Sorrowful. We see in the New Testament, the Lord Jesus Christ in the Beatitudes. He says, blessed are they who are poor in spirit. Blessed are they who mourn. Blessed, truly blessed with spiritual Blessings. The Lord Jesus said to Thomas, Thomas, because thou has seen me, thou has believed, blessed are they which have not seen and yet have believed. You see how we have such a great need for the blessing of the Lord today and all year long. We need his blessing. Every one of us. from the oldest person to the very youngest. O Lord, bless me indeed. I need spiritual blessings. First and foremost, I need His blessing for my soul, but also for everything else. For whatever the Lord brings into our lives this year, we need Him to bless it. Because even prosperity without the Lord's blessing is going to turn into a curse for us. And so, parents, on prayer day, we need to teach our children to ask the Lord to provide all what is necessary, physical needs. We need His provisions daily. And yet, even when we receive all the necessary things, without God's blessing, It will not profit us, it will not be to His glory. I think too, as a congregation, how we are to be praying, O Lord, that Thou would bless us indeed this year, because we can have these doors open every single Lord's Day, and on prayer days, and other special days, and you can take your place in the worship service, and you can hear sound preaching from this pulpit, and yet without God's blessing on it. it will be a curse to you. And so we need the blessing of His Holy Spirit to bring it home to our hearts every single time. And the greatest blessing we could receive this year is the gift of grace in Christ Jesus. And the greatest blessing we can receive when we have received that gift of grace is that we may grow in grace and in knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Paul expressed his desire like this, he says, that I may win Christ and be found in Him, that I may know Him. Oh, that Thou would bless me indeed, and oh, that Thou would enlarge my coast. Here, Jabez is asking for an increase He's asking the Lord to expand his coast, his borders, his territory, his property lines. Yes, he's asking that the Lord would increase his territory's boundaries. He's asking for the Lord to prosper him, even financially. We may do so too. The Lord promised To people like James in Deuteronomy 19, the Lord thy God shall enlarge thy coast. And he's praying for growth and increase and multiplication of his possessions. And he realizes where it's going to come from. He knows it's not going to come from his own hands. So he calls on the God of Israel. Oh, that thou would enlarge my coast. Thou art the one who owns the cattle on a thousand hills. And that means for us as individuals, too, that we must be praying day by day that God would give the increase on our work, that God would prosper our business endeavors or in our farms or at school. God governs. He rules everything. Also, the increase in our territory. And we are reminded, are we not, that we are 100 percent dependent on God. Without Him, we cannot make a single stalk of corn to grow. Without Him, we cannot raise our cattle. It is all in His hand. As a matter of fact, without Him, we do not even live or move or have any being. We cannot even raise a single finger to work unless the Lord will do it for us. And think then, as a congregation, How we need the Lord to enlarge our coasts, spiritually too. I read in 1 Corinthians 5 of Paul and Apollos, that they are only ministers. And then Paul says, I have planted and Apollos has watered, but God gave the increase. God gave the enlargement, and that's true in school life, in church life, and at home too. We need to be planting, we need to be watering those plants, and yet always be mindful that it is the Lord who gives the increase, that it is the Lord who must bless our work. Yes, man must work. but always under the recognition that God gives the increase. And I read also in Acts 12, the Word of God grew and multiplied. There's that idea of enlargement again. God works, even today, through His Word. He gives increase. The Word multiplies because God gives the increase. So, parents, and teachers and preachers, we need to plant and water. But it is God who gives the increase. Let us then pray fervently, day by day, O that Thou would enlarge our coast. The disciples had the right idea, too, when they said to the Lord Jesus one day, Increase our faith. That coast needs to be enlarged too. The faith of the Lord's people. So fickle so many times. So many times wavering and feeble. And we need that faith. That's what unites us with the Lord Jesus Christ so that we may draw all our life out of Him. We need to be, as it were, knitted together with Him, as it says in Colossians 2 verse 19. Because when that happens, then we will increase and grow with the increase of God, says Paul, flowing through the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, that thou wouldst bless me indeed, that thou would enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me. Children, God is a spirit. So he doesn't have hands like we do. And yet in his holy word he gives us this kind of wording so we may know something about him. And God, as it were, by his hand rules and controls everything. And so Jabez says, that thy hand may be upon me. The psalmist in Psalm 119 says, let thine hand help me. And at Psalm 144 verse 7, send thy hand from above and deliver me. In all these cases, God is said to have a hand so that we can have an understanding with our finite little human minds, some understanding of how God works. Let thy hand be upon me. Lift up thy hand for me, Lord. Let that hand be open. filling us with good, guarding us before and behind. You know what Ezra, what is said of Ezra? That the good hand of his God was upon him. And Nehemiah says, the good hand of my God was upon me. And when the Lord's hand is upon us, that is His blessing. Because the opposite is that his hand would be against us. And that would be terrible. Because then I read in Psalm 106, Therefore he lifted up his hand against them to overthrow them in the wilderness. And in Jeremiah 15, I will stretch out my hand against thee and destroy thee. Oh, how we need to pray then that thy hand may be with us and not against us. Because that will be a curse. Think then, how as individuals we need the Lord's hand to be with us at all times. Because if the Lord's hand is against us, we may have a tough time here in this world. But if the Lord's hand is against us eternally, we are facing a terrible eternity. Let us pray then, day by day, O that thy hand might be with us. And let's be very careful, too, that we don't misread Providence. Sometimes when things are tough in life, then people think, Oh, the Lord's hand is against me. That's what Jacob thought, too. In Genesis 42, he said, all these things are against me. But the reality was that all of these things were for him. The Lord's hand was with him, not against him. In our families, parents, we need to constantly hold this before our children. We need to see God's hand. In all the leadings of our lives, in all His dealings with us, all things come, not by chance, but we confess by His fatherly hand, so that when we have our bread before us, And we need to remind ourselves and our children this comes from our Father's hand. When we arrive safely somewhere, even safely home from church, even if you only have to drive a very little ways, or even if you're walking, the Lord's hand was with us, brought us home safely. And believers, when we receive chastisements, That is the Lord's tender, caring hand of love upon us, because whom He loves, He chastens. And then Peter says, Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time. And as a congregation, we need to be so alert So alert when God's word is brought that we may know the Lord's hand is near, but we need that hand upon us. Individually, we read of John the Baptist, what manner of child shall this be? And the hand of the Lord was with him. And that's what you and I need. The hand of the Lord with us, to bring us to himself, to lead us through Christ Jesus to God himself. I read in Acts 11, the hand of the Lord was with them. And the result was a great number believed and turned unto the Lord. And those of you here this morning who are believers, I ask you, what was it that finally made you believe the gospel? What was it that made you surrender? You know what that was? The hand of the Lord was with you. Through the workings of His Spirit, the hand of the Lord was with you. What means did the Lord use then? To bring His hand and to place His hand upon you. Well, you read it here in Acts 11, when they were come to Antioch, preaching the Lord Jesus, and the hand of the Lord was with them. That's the hand of the Lord. The preaching of the Lord Jesus, blessed, and a great number believed, and turned to the Lord. So in the preaching of the Lord Jesus, the Lord lays his hand on sinners. And so, congregation, be much in prayer for the hand of the Lord to be with your pastor, that he may preach boldly no other gospel but Christ Jesus and him crucified. And pray much for every soul of this church that the hand of the Lord may be with you. Because when that happens, when that happens here too, many shall believe and turn to the Lord. What a blessed congregation you will be when all would believe. and turn to the Lord. It's not impossible for Him. Oh, that Thy hand might be with us. We are considering the prayer of a man called Sorrowful. And it should remind us of what we read in the New Testament of godly sorrow. That works repentance. Never to be regretted. Children, what a blessing it would be if you would be known as a child called Sorrowful, who called on the God of Israel, that you would pray the prayer that this man, this Sorrowful prayed. He continues, that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that thou would protect me from the evil that others would do to me. When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed be the Lord. He has kept his servant from evil. He has protected me. He has kept me safe. And Paul writes in 2 Thessalonians, The Lord shall keep you from evil. And then it has another meaning there, not only to be protected from evil, but even to keep you from doing evil. Solomon says, A wise man feareth and departeth from evil. So we may pray, O Lord, if that is true, then keep me from evil. And the Lord Jesus Christ taught us to pray. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. And in each case, it is the Lord who protects, the Lord who delivers, the Lord who keeps. So we may know again that for each of us, individually, we need the Lord's constant watch over us to keep us from evil, to keep us from the evil one, to keep us from the wiles of Satan who is out to destroy us, and from the world that is out to ensnare us, and from our own wicked heart that is out to deceive us. That's why we need to pray, keep me from evil. We need the Lord's constant care to keep us from being involved in evil things. To keep us from our own hearts that are also prone towards evil. And this prayer needs to be matched with fast fleeing from evil. You cannot seriously pray, keep me from evil and then purposely bring evil into your home or purposely go seek evil in other places. That doesn't go together. Keep me from evil. Give me grace with every temptation. To take that way of escape, because the Lord provides that way of escape. Let us pray, Lord, keep us from evil as families. In the March break time, keep our family from evil. We are surrounded these days by evil influences from every direction. Keep it far away from our home, oh Lord. And sometimes when we are far away from home, on vacation, for example, And we think, well, nobody knows us here. Oh, then especially we need to be praying, keep us from evil. Keep us from evil. And as a congregation, how you need to pray, how every congregation needs to pray, Oh Lord, keep this congregation from evil. Keep us from the evil of a watered down gospel. Keep us from the evil of world conformity. Keep us from the evil of liberal theology. Keep us from the evil of unbelief. Keep us from the evil of staying away from the only hope, Christ Jesus the Lord. Keep us from the evil of false doctrine. Keep us from the evil of Arminianism. Keep us from the evil of Hyper-Kelvinism. Bless us with a Berean attitude, always everyone searching the scriptures to see if these things are so. Oh, that thou would keep me from evil, that thou would keep me safe. And dear believers, when you pray this, the Lord already has given you an answer in His Word. He says in Isaiah 49, Behold, I have it graven thee upon the palms of my hands. He will keep you. He will keep you. The Lord Jesus said, I give unto them eternal life. They shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. Oh, that thou wouldst keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me. The word grief here means to make me very sorrowful. And sorrowful is praying. Keep me from evil, that it may not bring me more sorrow than my name already implies. And the kind of sorrow and grief that is spoken of here, you read about in Isaiah 54. The Lord has called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit. and a wife of youth when thou wast refused. It is like a new bride who has been forsaken. Forsaken and refused by her husband. That kind of grief. That kind of sorrow. That's what evil does. The end result is it will grieve us. Keep us from evil. That it may not grieve me. Keep us from bringing such grief upon ourselves, for that is what we do. O God, keep us from sinning. Stop us as we are on the way, purposely, to sin. Take away our evil desires. Take away our lusting after sin. Keep me from evil. Remove the opportunity to sin and the occasion for sin and give me strength to flee sin. Children, do you think if Peter would have been praying this on the night that he denied the Lord Jesus, that he would have gone through and denied him? If Peter would have been on his knees there in that hall, Begging God, O God, that thou would bless me indeed, that thou would keep me from evil, that thou would not grieve me. Had he been doing that, he would not have denied his Lord. Had he been doing that, we wouldn't read this verse. Peter remembered the word of Jesus which said to him, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out and he wept bitterly. Peter grieving because of his own You see the implications for us as individuals. Spare me. Spare me from the end result of sin by keeping me from evil. The evil that I have brought shame on the Lord's name. That's what grieves believers. Not so much that they have brought shame on their own name, but to bring shame on the Lord's name through my sin, O that thou would keep me from evil. And as families, O God, grant, grant that we need not grieve because of the evil committed by parents or the evil committed by children. Brings grief into families and as a congregation too. O Lord, let not the result of sin This grieving be our lot as a congregation. Lord, help us to deal with sin as the Word of God tells us to. Keep us from evil, that it may not grieve us. And then I read in Isaiah 53, verse 3, He was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows. and acquainted with grief. And dear believers, you know for whose evil that was, don't you? That was for the evil that we committed. The Lord Jesus, it says, when He came near Jerusalem and beheld the city, He wept over it. When the Lord Jesus beholds the congregation of Burgessville, Will it say the same? That he wept over it. See how we need to pray? Keep us from evil, because we cannot keep ourselves from evil. Keep us from evil, that it may not grieve us. Our third thought is how God answered his prayer. You see it in the last part of verse 10. God granted him that which he requested. Jabez called on the God of Israel, and every petition he prays would be to the glory of God. That Thou would bless me indeed brings glory to God. That Thou would enlarge my coast coming from the Lord will bless the Lord. Thy hand would be with me. That brings glory to God. That I will be kept from evil. That brings glory to God. And God answered his prayer, granted him what he requested. And the word for granted is a very beautiful word because it's also translated in 2nd Kings 19 verse 25, this way, now I have brought it to pass. So it's not just a matter of God at a great distance giving something, but God being actually involved in bringing things to pass. Not just causing something to happen from far away. But working out every detail, the Almighty God of Israel brought to pass everything that Jabez requested. God blessed him indeed. God enlarged his coast. God had his hand with him. God kept him from evil so it did not grieve him. gave it all and was actively involved in bringing all those things to pass. God ruled and overruled in all the circumstances of Jabez's life. To make it happen as he had asked, God's hand children, as it were, took all the puzzle pieces of Jabez's life and put them in the right order. He granted him what he Each petition of this prayer is grounded in scripture, pleading the promises of God. This prayer, we may pray for God's honor, can be used for God's glory. Is it not true that when God blesses us, also financially, that is for His glory? That is so we can give more for the cause of His Kingdom. And when God gives us increased graces and growth in knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, that is for His honor, that is so we can speak more freely and more often and more lovingly of Him. So we can tell our family members and those with whom we come into contact of the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ for wicked sinners. When the Lord has kept us from evil. And has spared us from serious illnesses or injuries. When he has kept us from breaking out into open sin. When He has been working His work of sanctification in you, dear believers, then you can speak of the hand of the Lord being with us. That's what we need. Today and every day of this year. Oh, that Thou would bless us indeed. In blessing, Thou would bless us. Oh, let us pray this prayer. God granted Him. that which He requested. Let us pray it for the glory of Christ Jesus the Lord, so His name may be honored and exalted and praised. Let us pray it for the salvation of all of our souls. Let us pray it for the preservation and the extension of God's kingdom, not only here, but throughout the whole world, and Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, O that thou wouldst bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldst keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me. And God granted him that which he requested. Amen. O Lord God of Israel, in thy holy word thou hast given us the prayers of thy people. And Lord, we may bring this back to thee. We may know from this thy holy word that thou did grant to Jabez, to this man called Sorrowful, what he requested. And Lord, would Thou always give us that grace that whatever we request, we may request it for the glory of Thy name and the salvation of our souls. Help us, Lord, as individuals, as families, as a church family, that we may always be mindful of the fact that we need the blessing of the Lord in all that we do. Lord, wilt thou fill us with thy Holy Spirit. Bring this thy word home to our hearts, that we may take it to heart and put it into practice, that we would not only be hearers of the word, but doers also. Bless this congregation. with thy presence and thy blessing. Pardon our many sins. Blot them out, we pray, in the precious blood of the Lamb of God. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Receive now the blessing of the Lord and go in peace. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all. Amen.