It's a great privilege to be able to study God's Word together. Last week was an amazing time to see the forgiveness that God gave to Joseph, to his family. It was tremendous. It was a challenge and conviction to my heart. And God did some work in me there. You know, arrests, imprisonment, a whole array of threats from the most powerful man in the nation of Egypt. have finally passed over these brothers, these men of Judah. The sons of Jacob were changed men. After selling their younger brother Joseph into slavery 20 years earlier, Judah in particular, the one whose idea was to sell Joseph in the slave market, chose to leave his self-love. Can we identify with that? He chose to leave his self-love and love his father. and to love his brother Benjamin. So much so that he was willing to offer his own life to save his brother from slavery and to spare his father death from a broken heart. And watching this unfold we have Joseph, the tester, the king essentially. The brother who has been elevated to ruler of Egypt. And now at this moment he sees these brothers and what is going on and he reveals himself to them. And at the same time he demonstrates a God-like heart of complete forgiveness towards these brothers and he begins to restore their relationships. And his goal now as we left last week is to try to bring the families back to Egypt out of Canaan where they're starving underneath this devastating famine but before taking his son Joseph up on this life-saving invitation Judah does something very wise and something we skip over so often he seeks God now this morning we look at how did he do that how did he seek God why did he do that And what happened when he sought his God? May the Lord God show us these things as we look into his word this morning and try to grasp what just happened in the life of Jacob as he sought after God. Let's pray. Heavenly Father we come to you this morning and we need you. I need you desperately. Not just today, every moment. And I so rarely grasp that Lord. But we ask that you would speak to us this morning. You spoke to Jacob so clearly. We ask you, Lord, to speak through your word just as clearly to our lives. Lord, we don't want anything less. We want to hear you. We want to understand you. And we want to be moved to love you and follow you. Lord, you know, we have many distractions. that can pull us away from you and hearing you this morning. You know that I have many weaknesses and inabilities that could make it ineffective. But we know that your Holy Spirit can move in our hearts and can speak, can speak when it seems impossible. So Lord, we ask you this morning to visit us and to show us who you are through the word. Guide us this morning. In your name I pray, amen. See, this is a tremendously weighty encounter of God with men. One of the things I hadn't realized, I read this one writer, he says, he gives a sobering introduction. This vision occurs not simply at a turning point in Jacob's life. It is also the last time God is recorded as speaking to the patriarchs. God's next recorded revelation to any man takes place 400 years later to Moses. So this is a tremendously important time, not only in the life of Jacob, but in the life of all of God's people and of all of mankind. They will not hear God speak again for several centuries. This morning's passage is all about God. This is God's event this morning. He has a purpose for His nation. And Jacob begins in verse 1 to pursue his God. So Israel, or Jacob, took his journey with all that he had and he came to Beersheba and offered sacrifices to the God of his father, Isaac. Beersheba. We've read about that as we've been going through Genesis. It's about 25 miles south of Hebron. But what it actually is, is the furthest southern point in all of Canaan. Later, after the people of God conquered and obtained the promised land, they would use this phrase, from Dan to Beersheba, meaning from the furthest point north in Israel to the furthest point south, Beersheba, meaning that covers everything, from Dan to Beersheba. It's the southernmost point. Abraham himself, Abraham had spent time in Beersheba. We read in Genesis 21, Thus they made a covenant at Beersheba. So Abimelech rose with Phicol, the commander of his army, and they returned to the land of the Philistines. Then Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there called on the name of the Lord, the everlasting God. Abraham has been to Beersheba. Isaac dwelt in Beersheba. Genesis 26 verse 23 then he went up from there to Beersheba and the Lord appeared to him the same night and said I am the God of your father Abraham do not fear for I am with you I will bless you and multiply your descendants for my servant Abraham's sake so he built an altar there and called on the name of the Lord and he pitched his tent there and there Isaac's servants dug a well So we have some history with Beersheba. Now once Jacob arrives in Beersheba, what's the first thing that he does? His first order of business is what? He offers a sacrifice. And why does he do this? Well, we've got a couple of different reasons. One is it's an offering, a sacrifice of thanksgiving. We sang that this morning. An offering of sacrifice, or a sacrifice thanksgiving. What was he thankful about? Well, the son whom he thought was dead for 20 years has in a sense been brought back to life to him he thought he would never see him again and I don't know but I would doubt that a day hardly went by that he didn't in some way think about that son that was his beloved son his special son from his special loved wife that he had And he'd been gone for 20 years, now he has him back. And he doesn't get him back simply as a bedraggled, kind of worn out survivor who escaped from some sort of prison camp. He gets him back and he is the top ruler of the civilized world at that time, right underneath Pharaoh. So he is rejoicing. He is in thanksgiving. And not only that, but he also now will escape out of this famine. His family who looked like they were destined to destruction, to starvation because of this devastating famine. They're now heading to Egypt where they will not only survive, but they will thrive under those conditions. So Jacob has much to be thankful for. But again, but in addition to thanksgiving, He also makes a request for God. It's a sacrifice of request. And he asks God for a continued presence with him in the journey ahead. He wants God to be with him, be beside him. He doesn't want to go this in any way on his own. And then he asks God to lead him as to whether to go or not to go into Egypt. Then God speaks. Then God spoke to Israel in the visions of the night and said, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, Here I am. Now Jacob has a history of some amazing night visions. Jacob's night visions. The first time this occurred was when Jacob was alone. Remember, he's young, he's a rascal, he's done all sorts of foolish things, he's lied, he's impersonated, he's stolen. And now he is fleeing for his life away from his brother Esau, headed to Haran to stay with his uncle. And he's covered quite a bit of distance, perhaps 50 miles or so that first day. And he is exhausted and he lays down and he begins to sleep. And behold, it says in Genesis 28, the Lord stood above it and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham, your father, and the God of Isaac. the land on which you lie, I will give to you and your descendants. Also, your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south. And in you and in your seed, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you." All of that is very impressive, but far more so when you realize this is a single guy running for his life, and now he's being told essentially, this is going to belong to you, and your seed, and all of these other great promises being heaped upon this man who is quivering in fear, running for his life, and God makes this commitment to him. Many years later now, he has a growing household. And now he's heading back toward his brother, whom he still fears. He took them and set them over the brook. This is putting his family out ahead of him, Jacob, so that they can make it across here. And then he goes back. And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. Now when he saw that he did not prevail against him, he touched the socket of his hip, and the socket of Jacob's hip was out of joints as he wrestled with him. He said, Let me go for the day breaks. But he said, I will not let you go unless you bless me. So he said to him, What is your name? He said, Jacob. And he said, Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed. And then Jacob asked, saying, Well, tell me your name, I pray. And he said, why is it that you ask about my name? And he blessed them there. So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, for I have seen God face to face and my life is preserved. Another encounter that Jacob had with God, close, intimate encounter. Genesis 35, then God said to Jacob another time, arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there. and make an altar there to God who appeared to you when you fled from the face of Esau your brother what I'm trying to put together here is that this is not a strange relationship to Jacob he knows this God and this God has been close to him and that song Jesus lover of my soul I think Jacob knew that God loved him even though he would drift and wander from him There's a sense that there's a relationship. And then in Genesis 35, God appeared to Jacob again when he came from Paddan Aram and blessed him. And God said to him, Your name is Jacob. Your name shall not be called Jacob anymore, but Israel shall be your name. So he called his name Israel, and God said to him, I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall proceed from you, and kings shall come from your body. The land which I gave Abraham and Isaac I give to you, and to your descendants after you I give this land. Then God went up from him in the place where he talked with him. Genesis 35. Now this morning, what do we hear? Jacob, Jacob calls God. though God had named him Israel it appears and perhaps in some sense he is reminding Jacob slash Israel who he was where he had come from and he's saying Jacob, Jacob he's calling him out and then Jacob's response there's Jacob's readiness to obey And if we want to learn something this morning from Jacob, as much as anything, is look at his readiness. He is ready to give with this. He says, Here I am. Jacob was available for whatever God desired, not simply to go, but to obey, go or stay. Jacob replied much like Isaiah did in chapter 6, verse 8 of the book of Isaiah. Also, I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send? and who will go for us? Then I, Isaiah said, here am I, send me. Can you say that? Will you say that to God? Here am I, send me. then God confirms Jacob in verse 3 so he said I am God the God of your father do not fear to go down to Egypt for I will make of you a great nation there I will go down with you to Egypt and I will also surely bring you up again and Joseph will put his hand on your eyes those three those two verses are just so packed with depth and I will hope we can dig some of that out here he begins with I am God I am El I am Elohim the God Almighty of your father Abraham and Isaac Jacob you must understand this is much bigger than you This is about my name and my covenant. This is about promises I made with your father and your grandfather many, many, many years ago before you were even conceived. That is a great relief, I believe for us. That this is not about Josiah or Tim or Emma. This life is not about you. This is not about Ken at all. This is about God. Even what I'm doing this morning, trying to preach this, is not about me. This is about God and who He is. And the events of our life are about God. And He is saying to Jacob, this is far more than just you. To me, that is a great relief. You see, we often get so self-introspective about God's will, and especially God's will for my own personal life, we forget this life that I'm living is not about me. This is about Him. What will glorify the Creator of the Universe? What will bring praise to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords? What will that be out of this brief little speck of a life that I live? What will bring praise? If you are His and you are His son or His daughter, you have the great privilege of carrying out the purpose of God during that brief span of life that He gives you. That is your purpose. to bring glory to this God, to fulfill His will, not so that you live this best life now. It's not about that. It's how can we give the greatest glory to God whether we go up in flames or we disappear into obscurity. This is about Him. And He says, do not fear to go down to Egypt. One thing we have seen in Jacob's life is that he is a man who is often gripped with fear. His long journeys often were saturated with fear. And this time, it's Egypt. Egypt presents a lot of doubt and a lot of threats for Jacob. First of all, he was old. He's 130 years old. Votive Bachman made this comment, he said, Serving God is not a young man's game where senior saints sit on the sidelines reminiscing about the good old days. This is a full participation sport where as long as there is blood coursing throughout our veins and air in our lungs, we must stand at the ready. As Jesus reminds us, we must work the works of Him who sent me while it is day. The night is coming when no one can work. Amen? The adventures of Jacob's younger life, they would not be so easy at 130 years of age. Secondly, there's a fear of the unknown. Between Beersheba and Egypt lay a vast expanse of unknown territory for Jacob. He had never ventured beyond Beersheba. There lay a rugged, dry, and desolate wasteland to cross. Jacob was moving way out of his comfort zone. Thirdly, Egypt was a very powerful and captivating place. All the attractions the world could offer awaited him and his sons there. One author described it this way, Egypt had been around as long as humanity could remember. And during the long centuries of its history, it had developed a super understanding of mathematics, architecture, astronomy, agriculture, and medicine. It was the most highly developed and most civilized nation on earth at this time. You see Jacob's grandfather Abraham, think about his experience in Egypt. He had failed miserably. He had almost lost his wife who was the mother of the promised son to the harem of Pharaoh. Jacob's father Isaac had been expressly forbidden even to go into Egypt by God. Would his family survive the seduction of the world? Then there was the echoing ominous words of God's covenant. the covenant he had made with his grandfather Abraham Genesis 15 verse 12 now when the sun was going down a deep sleep fell upon Abram and behold horror and great darkness fell upon him and then God said to Abram know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs and will serve them and they will afflict them 400 years Would this foray into Egypt be the beginning of the promised 400 years of affliction? 400 years of affliction in another land. Would this begin all that? But, but God. God then declares to him a multifaceted promise of massive and powerful proportions. God begins. He says, I will. And what does that tell you? Who is moving this along? God is. God is taking the initiative. God says, I will. He says it three times in these two verses. This is God's idea. It is God empowered. It is designed by God and it will be accomplished by God. It will happen because how many times does God fail? Never. And it will happen. And he says, I will make of you a great nation. Our God, your God, my God, this Elohim, this Yahweh that we serve is a covenant-keeping God. This idea of the great nation has been the central treasure of God's promise all along. He is creating a nation from one very insignificant man who grew up in the home of an idol-worshipping family. and they will become a nation that will be known as the people of God and it is for His glory it is for His glory and there's one more little word in that first sentence and it is the word there and it's very important because the nation creating work of God is going to take place somewhere and it is now going to take place in the nation of Egypt, Egypt will be In other words, an incubator for a period of astonishing growth. And we're going to look at the growth here in just a little bit. But Egypt is like this incubator, a greenhouse in which the people of God are now moving into. And there will be things that happen there that are mind boggling as this nation begins to grow. And he also goes on to say, I will go down with you. Now this is the assurance that Jacob needed, and that we all need. If we are to go, go without fear, and remain there until God does His work, we must know that God is with us, and God promises that He is with us. We know that. It was quoted in Hebrews chapter 13 from the Old Testament, so we see it in both Testaments, where it says, For He Himself has said, that's God has said, I will never leave you. nor forsake you I will never forsake you I will not so we may boldly say the Lord is my helper I will not fear what can man do to me any any suggestions on what man can do to me if God is with me and God is for me nothing we are safe in his hands And then he goes on to say, and I will also surely bring you up again. You see, he's ready to leave Canaan. Your hopes for this promised land here in Canaan, the land you are now about to leave, Jacob, they are not dashed upon the rocks of failure or a plan B. You will return to the promised land in time, but it will be my time, not your time. Isaiah 55, For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts and your thoughts. You will be back, but it will be in my time and in my way. And then the last bit of that promise is really precious. It's so personal. It says, Here we have the personal comfort of Joseph. Joseph, whom you have mourned over for 20 years, and he's now brought back from the dead, as it were, he will live on at your side. Says he will put his hands on your eyes. ESV said Joseph's hands shall close your eyes. It's really the honor given to the one most directly related to the deceased. Upon the departure of life from the body that Joseph will close the eyes of Jacob. The end of the chapter. What a promise he gives. And then we read in verse 5. Jacob, understandably, rises up. Jacob arose, it says, from Beersheba. And the sons of Israel carried their father, Jacob, their little ones, and their wives in the carts which Pharaoh had sent to carry him. That word arose has with it a sense of energy. He's up. He's going. He has purpose now. And he has strength, vigor that he had not had. God's promise has renewed him. May God's promises renew us. We must be here to see them and let them feed us in those times of difficulty and weakness, in times of prosperity and success. Feed off the Word of God and His promises and what He has said and then rise up and go forth and do His will. So they took their livestock and their goods, which they had acquired in the land of Canaan. and went to Egypt, Jacob and all his descendants with him, his sons and his sons' sons, his daughters and his sons' daughters, and all his descendants he brought with him to Egypt." Now in those five verses, or excuse me, three verses, five, six, and seven, what do you see as a priority? Look at them. What is the priority there? It's something that's repeated. I like to do that, make you dig a little bit. The sons and daughters and wives and little ones, or in other words, all the descendants. That is really expressly said three times, and it gives us a sense that this is the priority. Now they're bringing all the stuff that they had acquired. That's true. But what is the priority? It's the families. It's the people. It's those whom God loves and knows by name. The rest can be replaced. But He knows people by name. And now we're going to look at those names. Verses 8 through really 25, 24. And I will tell you, we're going to race through these. We're going to go pretty quickly through those. It would merit taking more time, but I wanted to focus on the promise. So we're going to go through these and make a few highlights here. Verse 8. Now these were the names of the children of Israel, Jacob and his sons, who went to Egypt. Reuben was Jacob's firstborn. The sons of Reuben were Hanak, Palu, Hezron, and Carmi. The sons of Simeon were Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman. There, I remember of Simeon, he was the prisoner who was kept back while the rest of the brothers went back to see their father. And he languished there, and I wondered if he thought, I know these guys, they're not coming back for me. But they did. God had changed the hearts and the minds and God worked through the testing and the events of all that time. But Simeon was there, but there's also sort of what might be termed a nasty comment about him at the end. All the commentators said this was kind of driven out there to show that Simeon was kind of wild. Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman. It goes on to say in verse 11, The sons of Levi were Gershon and Kohath and Merari. The sons of Judah were Ere, Onan, Shelah, Perez and Zerah. But Ere and Onan died in the land of Canaan. The sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul. And we could not just fly by this. This is Judah. He's the seller turned substitute. It was his idea. Let's sell this guy. Let's sell Joseph. And what happens 20 years later? He's willing to basically lay his life down for Joseph's younger brother, Benjamin. Substitute himself primarily so his father doesn't die of a broken heart. Tremendous change of a man. I love that story. And then we see what's even more captivating there is we have from Judah was born Perez and Zerah. Grandsons are mentioned here. And from Perez, Hezron. So we have Judah, Perez, and Hezron. And you find their names where? In the New Testament. Matthew chapter 1, verse 3, in the line of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. So those are very, very significant names. Verse 13, The sons of Issachar were Tola, Ampuva, Job, and Shimron. The sons of Zebulun were Sered, Elon, and Jaleel. These were the sons of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob in Paddan-aram with his daughter Dinah. All the persons, his sons and his daughters were 33. And Leah blessed essentially 33 sons and daughters to Jacob. And my heart kind of goes out to Leah as we've studied her. She was never really seen as a loved wife. She was the first wife. She kind of lived on the side, it seems like. And and yet from her, God chose to bring his only begotten son eventually through that line and appreciate that. But she kind of lived a life with with a little love, it seems, expressed to her. Then we go to chapter, or excuse me, verse 16, and here we have the sons of Jacob's gift to his daughter Leah. So if you think Leah was kind of on the sideline, these Zilpah and Bilhah, they're just the gifts that Jacob gave to his daughters. But God used them, and they were very significant. The sons of Gad were Ziphion, Haggai, Shunni, Hezbon, Eredi, and Ereli. The sons of Asher were Jimna, Eshua, Esui, Beriah, Sarai, their sister. And the sons of Beriah were Heber and Malchiel. These were the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah, his daughter. And these she bore to Jacob, sixteen persons. Verse 19, the sons of Rachel, Jacob's wife. Jacob's wife were Joseph and Benjamin. She's the one of the four, though she only bore a few children. She is seen as the one he loved as his wife. You see, we look at Jacob and the scriptures are true to real life. They don't paint a picture of some sort of superhero where we can barely find the flaws. We see flaws and we see the way Jacob was as a father and some things that we think, oh, I see that in me and I see his weaknesses and the devastations but God still works and He works mightily again because I said earlier it's not about Jacob it is about God and He works through us. And to Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphar, priest of On, bore to him. The sons of Benjamin were Vila and Becher, and Ashbel and Gerah, and Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Mupim, and Hupim, and Ard. These were the sons of Rachel, who were born to Jacob, fourteen persons in all. Verse 23, The son of Dan was Hushim, the sons of Naphtali were Jazeel, Guni, Jerza, and Shalem. These were the sons of Bilhah whom Laban gave to Rachel his daughter, and she bore these to Jacob, seven persons in all. we have a fledgling nation beginning and some of the statistics here are amazing verse 26 all the persons who went with Jacob to Egypt who came from his body besides Jacob's sons wives were 66 persons in all and the sons of Joseph who were born to him in Egypt were two persons all the persons of the house of Jacob who went to Egypt were 70 You know, we've got numbers floating around here. We have 66 persons or 70 or more. There are some discrepancies between the totals given here and also found in other portions of Scripture regarding this historical event. Now, I read many of those and I think there are several good explanations. that seem adequate. There's questions regarding rounding the numbers, what is included in total calculation, whether the total given here is supposed to be a total of the individual names that are given. So there's a lot of things that can be considered here. But what is the main point? The main point is that this is a very, very small band of people coming out of Canaan into Egypt. look back Abraham was 86 when he had his first son Ishmael he was a hundred years old when he had Isaac the promised son Isaac was 60 when Rebecca gave birth to his two sons Jacob and Esau you still have just a handful and even Jacob was getting on in age when he began to have children but now now he has a family of 70 as they leave Canaan for Egypt One commentator stated that this was 215 years, this event, after God had first promised Abraham he would make him into a great nation. 70 souls would hardly qualify in anyone's book as a great nation. However, 430 years after this journey into Egypt, The children of Israel would have exploded into a nation of an estimated 2 million people. First 215 years, we end up with about 70. 430 years, twice that, we end up with over 2 million people. God has truly kept His promise. It has become a great nation. A few closing thoughts here to conclude with. And I really essentially just put down some quotes that I appreciated this week. For the believing old, and classify yourself wherever you want to in that. Even old people, said Matthew Henry, who think of no other removal than that to the grave, which Jacob had much upon his heart, sometimes live to see great changes in their family. It is good to be ready not only for the grave, but for whatever may happen betwixt us and the grave. There may be things that you haven't even dreamed of, old men and women, myself included in that, that lay in the future. Things that you couldn't even have even thought to pray for. There may be tragedies. There may be successes. There may be things, understandings that God gives you. But God has given you breath. Live for Him. Seek Him. Look forward to the days ahead. Secondly, for the unbelieving young. It is wonderful to come from a believing family. So you can say, my God is the God of my father and mother and of their fathers and mothers before them. The benefits of a pious upbringing are not to be despised. Still wonderful as this is, the important thing is whether God is your God and whether you are known by him personally. Is God your God? Has he ever called you personally? That is crucial. Then, for the ones ready to obey and follow God, and I put ready in there because of the readiness of Jacob, ready to go, saying, here I am. First of all, seek God. Seek God first and with all your heart. Spend much heart and soul and time in this. Immerse yourself in this. This is step one, but it's like the step. You must seek Him and know Him and wait upon Him. Secondly, like God said to Jacob, do not be afraid. Do not be afraid. It is not about you. Remember that. It is about God. He is responsible for you. It is not about you. Thirdly, be ready to obey, to go or to stay. here or there, now or later, but be ready to obey. Put that before God. Fourth, know that God is with you and will never leave or forsake you. Never, never. It doesn't matter whether you're in some alley in Turkey with a gun at your head, or whether you're in a bed in the hospital, deathly sick, or walking the hallways at school, or spending late hours finishing up taxes, whatever it will be, God will never leave you or forsake you. walk with Him, stay with Him. And fifthly, and I think this is really important, His ways will likely not be your ways in bringing about His purpose in your life. Little would Jacob have anticipated that the way God is going to make this into a great nation is to throw us down into this nation of Egypt for 400 years. It wouldn't have made sense to him. So go for it. Seek Him. Follow Him. but realize it probably won't be quite like you thought it was gonna be. And then the last point I'd like to raise here is for all who believe, Boyce said, often we have a small view of what God is doing, but it will calm our fears if we can see our work as part of his large plan and know that one day we will be part of the great company. Revelation chapter 5 verses 9 and 10 says, And they sang a new song, saying, You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals. You were slain and have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us kings and priests to our God. Then we shall reign on the earth. That whole multitude sprouted from this Jacob. A man of fear, a man struggling, a man who was a rascal, but a man whom God loved and had chosen. And he's seeking him. And someday this great multitude out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation will be before the Lamb of God. And we will sing praise for eternity. Seek God. Do the little part that He has given to you with all your heart. You don't know to what degree, to what effect it may have, but He is powerful and He will use you. And make sure you keep it in mind. This is all about Him. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I thank You for what a great and kind and forgiving and long-suffering God that You are to us. Father, I owe you everything, as does each man and woman here. Lord, I pray that more and more of those here will be brought into your kingdom, saved and worshiping you. Lord, please save those who are lost. Please give them repentant hearts, but a great trust in you who are such a great God. For you are sufficient. Your grace is sufficient. And Father, I pray that you will help us, Father, to see you as you are and that we would not be afraid and we will be ready to obey. And Lord, we would seek you and carry out our portion of this eternal matter of souls of men and women with all the zeal and vigor we can. resting upon you, trusting upon you. Lord, I pray for our church that we will be men and women, a body of Christ called into this community to make you known. Lord, there are many who are dying and as was mentioned earlier, perishing and going to an eternal hell of torment. And we pray that you would use us to declare the gospel so that many could become sons and daughters of the living God. In Your name we pray, Amen.