If you wouldn't open your Bibles
with me to Genesis chapter 32. Genesis chapter 32. We'll begin
our reading in verse one. And Jacob went on his way and
the angels of God met him. And when Jacob saw them, he said,
this is God's host. And he called the name of that
place Mayanaim. And Jacob sent messengers before
him to Esau his brother, under the land of Seir, the country
of Edom. And he commanded them, saying,
Thus shall you speak unto my lord Esau. Thy servant Jacob
saith thus, I have sojourned with Laban and stayed there until
now. I have oxen and asses, flocks, and men's servants and women's
servants, and I have sent to tell my lord that I may find
grace in thy sight. And the messengers returned to
Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother Esau, and also he cometh
to meet thee, and four hundred men with him. Then Jacob was
greatly afraid and distressed, and he divided the people that
was with him, and the flocks, and the herds, and the camels,
into two bands, and said, If Esau come to one company and
smite it, then the other company which is left shall escape. And
Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father
Isaac. The Lord which settest unto me,
return unto thy country and to thy kindred, and I will deal
well with thee. I am not worthy of the least
of all the mercies and of all the truth, which thou showed
unto thy servant. For with my staff I passed over
this Jordan, and now I am become two bands. Deliver me, I pray
thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I
fear lest he will come and smite me and the mother with the children.
And thou saidest, I will surely do thee good and make thy seed
as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude. We'll end our reading there.
Let's bow before our Lord together. Our great God, our holy, sovereign
and merciful Heavenly Father, We bow in your presence this
evening. Father, we come before you as
your children. We're empty. We need that you
would fill us with thy word, with thy gospel, that you'd fill
our hearts with the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, enable us tonight
to worship thee in spirit and in truth. Don't let us just go
through the motions of religion, but Father, as we open your word,
I pray that you would Speak to each heart here that you'd apply
the word to the hearts of your people that we might believe
and rest in our Lord Jesus Christ. Father, we're thankful for the
good report we've had on Nofi and Earl. Father's other who
are still in deep waters. Father, we pray for them. We
pray you'd be with them, that you continue to heal and comfort
and strengthen your people. Father, we thank you for All
these little ones that you've given to us as they continue
to grow and mature, Father, we pray that you'd be with them
in a special way, that you'd protect them from this evil generation
in which they grow up. And Father, above all, that you
might be merciful to their souls. Father, we pray for our country.
This is such a dark and difficult time. Father, we pray that you
would Be with our leaders, give them wisdom. We pray that you
turn their heart for the good of our country, for the good
of your people, that we might continue to live in a land of
peace and prosperity. Father, all these things we ask
in that name which is above every name, the name of Christ our
Savior, amen. I've titled the message this
evening, Prayer for Deliverance. If you're a believer, I'm sure
that you have prayed in private, you said amen, and then you thought,
how can a person who's so blessed of God, and a person who's truly
thankful for all of God's blessings and mercies to me, how can that
person end up asking for so much more from God? Isn't that the life experience
of a believer? We are so blessed of God. I mean, just we are blessed
beyond measure. We couldn't even begin to count
up God's blessings to us. But this is also true. We're
still a poor and a needy people. We're completely dependent upon
our God to open his hand and give us what we need. So we end
up asking the Lord for so many things because we're dependent
on it. We won't have it if he doesn't give it to us. Now, I
have no doubt that my personal prayers should contain less asking,
and they should contain more thanksgiving and more praising.
But you know, part of our prayers has to be petition, has to be
asking our God for the things that we need, because he's the
only one who can provide them. Plus, that's the way our Lord
taught us to pray. and the disciples' prairie taught
us to pray. Give us this day our daily bread. What I need
daily. Now if you look at Philippians
chapter four, the apostle Paul says the same thing. Philippians
chapter four. In verse six. Be careful for
nothing. That word careful is anxious.
Don't be overly anxious about anything, but in everything by
prayer. and supplication with thanksgiving,
let your requests be made known unto God. We make our requests
to God. And we do it with thanksgiving,
don't we? We thank God for his blessings, his mercies of the
past. But I tell you, I need help now.
I thank God for his help in the past. I need help now. I thank
God for how he's healed his people in the past, how he's healed
me in the past. But I need healing now. We've got some folks who
need healing right now. I thank God how He's comforted
my heart in the past. It's just, it's amazing. But
I need comfort now, don't you? I thank God for His past mercies,
but I'm a mercy beggar right now. I need mercy right now.
I need mercy every day, every hour, every minute, every second.
We're mercy beggars. You know, the Lord has delivered
me. from my enemies in the past. He's delivered me from my trials
in the past. Most importantly, he's delivered
me from myself in the past. But you know, I still need the
Lord to deliver me today. Look over at 2 Corinthians 1.
2 Corinthians 1. Verse 9. But we have the sentence of death
in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in
God, which raiseth the dead, who delivered us from so great
a death, and doth deliver, in whom we trust that he will yet
deliver us. Paul said God's delivered us in the past, he doth deliver,
he's delivering right now, and I sure do trust he'll deliver
in the future. That's what we needed. Now over in our, back
over here in our text, Genesis chapter 32. Jacob prays for deliverance
today. Now the Lord's brought him safe
thus far. Jacob's thankful, but he also
needs to be delivered today. Esau's coming with 400 men. He figures he needs to be delivered
today. And in Jacob's prayer here, I
see five keys that really should be in every prayer, but especially
in a prayer for deliverance. When we're praying that the Lord
would deliver us. look at the beginning of the
chapters, read up and see to what, what brought Jacob to this
prayer. Verse one and Jacob went on his
way and the angels of God met him. And when Jacob saw them,
he said, this is God's host. And he called the name of the,
that place may name. And that word means two hosts.
Now Jacob saw these two angels. There are these two camps of
angels camped around about him. One is in front of him and one
was behind him. Now, you know, the Word of God
says angels are all around God's people. We can't see them, but
they're there. You remember when Elisha and
his servant, they were, I forget what city it was in, but they
were, they woke up in the morning and they were surrounded by the
Assyrians. And Elisha's servant was so afraid. He just knew we're
going to be destroyed. There's no way out of this. The
city's just encircled by the Assyrians, the bloodthirsty soldiers. And Elisha wasn't worried a bit.
And Elisha prayed and said, Lord, open his eyes that he might see
there's more with us than within. And the Lord opened that servant's
eyes. Here's a city. Here's the Syrians all around
them. But you know who was all around those Syrians? The hills
were full of fiery angels, angels. Just there was more with them
than against them. And that's what the Lord did
for Jacob. He opened his eyes so he could
see these angels. Yeah. Esau's coming with 400
men, but there's more with you than with Esau. These angels
are there. The Lord promised Jacob, I'll bring you home safely. Could be he's letting him see
this angel, these two camps of angels. So Jacob knows how, what
method, what tool, what means the Lord is going to use to keep
him safe, to kind of comfort his heart a little bit. Then
verse three, Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau, his brother,
under the land of Seir, the country of Edom. And he commanded them,
saying, Thus shall you speak unto my lord Esau. Thy servant
Jacob saith thus, I've sojourned with Laban and stayed there until
now. I have oxen and asses, flocks
and men's servants and women's servants, and I have sent to
tell my lord that I may find grace in thy sight. And the messengers
returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother Esau, and
also he cometh to meet thee, and 400 men with him. Then Jacob
was greatly afraid and distressed, and he divided the people that
was with him, and the flocks and the herds and the camels
into two banes. He said if he saw come to one
company and smite it, then the other company which is left shall
escape. Now a lot of people are very
hard on Jacob. A lot of the writers I read here,
very hard on Jacob, saying this is such a lack of faith on Jacob's
part. And they said, you know, if he
really believed God that he was gonna deal well with him, you know,
he wouldn't have divided his family, you know, like this,
trying to at least keep one of them, one of the two safe. They
said if Jacob really believed God, he wouldn't have thought
he'd have to do something himself to protect his family. Now me
personally, I don't see it that way. I think Jacob is just being
prudent, just being wise. You know, we pray, don't we?
and we trust the Lord. We do. I mean, I know you trust
the Lord, but that should not make us fatalistic. No, we do
what the Lord has enabled us to do because God uses means
to accomplish his will. I'll give you a couple of examples.
You know, we don't say, well, now God elected a people and
scripture says those people shall be saved. Well, we don't say,
well then, Doesn't matter what I do, whatever will be will be,
you know, I just do nothing. No, we go preach the gospel and
we pray God bless his word because God is pleased to use the means
of preaching to reveal Christ to his people. See, God uses
means. God's promised to provide for
his people. Now the Lord will provide. I know that's true. But we don't
say, whatever will be will be. I'm looking forward to sleeping
in tomorrow. No, Wayne, you're going to have to crack it on
and go to work, aren't you? That's the means that the Lord uses
to provide for your family. You've got to work. We say, well,
God can... He'll protect me from all germs.
I don't have to worry about that. But I'll tell you what, a person
who doesn't wash his hands with soap and water is going to get
sick. The Lord uses means. And that's what Jacob's doing
here, at least that's the way I see it. He didn't say, well,
whatever will be will be. You'll notice that the Lord never
did promise Jacob, your whole family will be safe. I mean,
it could be the Lord brings Jacob back home safe, but some of them
could get killed, some of them, whatever. The Lord did not promise
Jacob, at least is what's recorded in scripture, you won't lose
one. Now, if the Lord promised Jacob, you go back home, you'll
not lose a hair nor hoof. Well, then Jacob would be wrong
in dividing the family, wouldn't he? But the Lord didn't promise
Jacob that. Jacob trusted the Lord, but he
also acted with some wisdom and some prudence that God gave him.
And that's how every believer ought to live our lives. You
know, we just act with the wisdom and prudence that God's given
us. You know, that could be the means God uses to bless you. And there's another way I see
it. Jacob acted in some wisdom here. Very unlike our day. Jacob used some tact. He used
some soft, respectful words with his brother Esau. Jacob didn't
send any servants ahead of him. and say, when you find Esau,
you tell him I'm coming home and I got the birthright and
Esau better be prepared to show me some respect. He didn't do
that, did he? Jacob used some respectful language,
the way he talked to his brother. This is what the wise man said
in Proverbs chapter 15, verse one. A soft answer turneth away
wrath, but grievous words stir up anger. Jacob had God's promise
to protect him, but he still didn't go poking the bear. He
used some kind words and some soft words. He used some wisdom
there. And all of us could use a good dose of that. All right,
now here we come up to this prayer of Jacob's here. He's so frightened
that he saw, I mean, boy, especially when somebody's done you wrong,
people got long memories. He'd been gone for 20 years.
But he just knows Esau's got a long memory. He just knows
Esau's coming to seek revenge. And he offers up this prayer
for deliverance to God. And number one, here's the first
mark of a prayer of deliverance. A prayer of deliverance has reverence
toward God. Verse nine, and Jacob said, O
God, of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, the Lord
which settest unto me, return unto thy country, to thy kindred,
and I will deal well with thee." And you notice how Jacob began
this prayer. He didn't rush headlong into the presence of God. No,
he came carefully. He came reverently. He said,
oh God, oh God, with a sense of awe and amazement. Oh God,
like his grandfather Abraham said, now I'm taken upon me,
I'm just but dust. I'm taken upon me to speak unto
God Almighty. He, oh God, would you hear my
prayer? This is just so amazing. Oh God,
would you let me come into your presence? The way Jacob says
this, he's acknowledging the Lord, he's God. He rules over
me and he has every right to rule over me. He has the right
to be king over me. He has the right to expect my
obedience and he's the Lord. He's the one that is orchestrating
this whole thing. He's the Lord. He's the one that
told me to leave Laban's house and return back to my kindred.
Now, Lord, I've returned and here I am getting ready to face
Esau's wrath. And he's saying, Lord, I'm here
where you put me. Now help me. Now that's reverence. You know, anytime we would come
to God in prayer, There must be reverence. We're not coming and talking
to a peer. We're a creature of dust, speaking
to God Almighty. I mean, you think of that. There's
reverence involved there. Throughout scripture, when someone
really sees who they are, and they see the Lord Jesus Christ,
He's the only manifestation of God we'll ever see. When they
see Christ, you always find them bowing at His feet. They get
in the dust at His feet. The Apostle John, the beloved
apostle. I mean, he had a close relationship
with the Lord. He's the one who leaned his head
on the Lord's breast there as they were eating that dinner.
On the Isle of Patmos, when he saw the Lord, what did he say
he did? He said, I fell at His feet as a dead man. There's reverence,
reverence involved in this matter of prayer. Right, number two,
a prayer for deliverance is directed toward the covenant God. You
notice Jacob said, oh God of my father Abraham, and God of
my father Isaac. Jacob is praying to the covenant
God. This is the God who made promise to Abraham. He renewed
that promise with Isaac, and now he's renewed that promise
with Jacob. This is the covenant God. The God who does what he's
promised to do. Human time, all human time is,
is God doing what he promised to do before he created anything.
That's what it is. God is doing what he promised,
what he purposed to do. God is never reacting to what
men do. Like, oh, you know, men have
figured out this. Well, I better do this, you know,
to keep them from destroying my plan. No, God's not reacting
to what you and I do. He's doing what he purposed to
do before he created anything. What you and I are doing, that's
what God purposed for us to do before he created anything. That's why God doesn't have to
react to what we're doing. We're doing what he determined
before to be done. And you know, that's the only
God that there is. The only way God can be God is
if he's sovereign and he's doing what he purposed to do before
he created anything. Anything else is an idol. The
only way God can be God, if he's the one doing his will in the
armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and
nobody can stay his hand, and nobody can ask him, what are
you doing? Now, if we're gonna pray, we've gotta pray to God.
God. Well, if we pray to someone other
than the covenant God, we're wasting our time, because we're
praying to an idol. The only way we can truly pray is to bring
our praise, our thanksgiving, and our petitions to the covenant
God, who always does what he promises to do. And that brings
me to the third point. A prayer for deliverance pleads
the word and promises of God. In verse nine, Jacob says, the
Lord which said unto me, return unto thy country and to thy kindred,
and I will deal well with thee. Now Jacob pleads the word of
God and he pleads the promises of God. He said, Lord, you said
return home and I'll deal kindly with you. Now Lord, I'm returning
home. Would you deal kindly with me?
Now that's not presumption on Jacob's part, is it? No, you
can't say, how dare Jacob ask such a thing? No, this is not
presumption. This is a request of faith. Lord,
you said, and I'll deal well with you. Now Lord, would you
do that for me? Would you deal well with me?
And we would be very wise to copy Jacob here. Whenever we
pray, to always plead God's word and God's promises to him. Let me give you a few examples.
Our Lord said, ask and it shall be given thee. Then we should
cry in prayer, Lord, I'm asking. I'm asking for what I need. I'm
asking for mercy. I'm asking for grace. Would you
give it to me? Lord, I need, this is what I need, my daily
bread, whatever it is I need to survive today. Lord, you said,
ask and it shall be given. I'm asking. I'm asking. Our Savior
said, knock and it shall be opened to you. Lord, I'm knocking. I'm knocking on the door of grace.
I'm knocking on the door of mercy. I'm knocking on the door that
you might open it and I can see your face. Lord, I'm knocking. Our Lord said, seek and ye shall
find. Now don't just hunt around for
a few minutes and quit. I do that sometimes. I'll look
around for something around the house and say, well, it must
not be here. And Janet tells me, you look like a man. You
know, you got to look, you know, you got to put some effort. Just
look till you find something. Don't just look for a few minutes.
Don't just call on God once and quit. Our Lord said, in the day
that you seek me with all your heart, all your heart, in that
very day, you shall find me. Lord, I'm seeking. I'm seeking
your face. I'm seeking mercy from you. I'm
seeking life from you. I'm seeking forgiveness from
you. Lord, help me. I'm seeking. Our Lord said, He will supply
all of our need. We can just cry, Lord, I'm in
need here. I'm in need. You know the need. Lord, I'm
in need. This is one of my favorites.
The Lord said, my grace is sufficient for thee. He hasn't promised
to heal us of every sickness. He hasn't promised to give us
everything that we want. He hasn't promised to deliver
us from every trial. but he has promised grace that's
sufficient for each one of those things. Then we ought to be praying,
Lord, I'm in trouble. Lord, you know the trial, I'm
in trouble. Lord, would you give me grace that's sufficient to
meet this heartache? Would you give me grace that's
sufficient to meet this trial? Would you give me grace sufficient
to save my sorry soul? Lord, you promised you would,
Would you give me grace? Lord, you promised. This is another
one of my favorites. Lord, you promised. I will never
leave or forsake my people. Lord, I know you haven't forsaken
me. But this is pretty dark. This is pretty scary. Lord, please
don't leave me now. I know you haven't left me, but
Lord, Would you comfort my heart with a sense of your presence?
Give me a sense of your presence and that will comfort my heart.
Now God's gonna answer that prayer. You know why? Because it's pleading
his own promise and his own word and he'll always keep his promise.
He'll not let one word of this book fall to the ground. Oh,
we'd be wise to plead with God and ask him to do what he promised
to do. Because that's who he is. Here's
another one. The Lord said, whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Well, Lord, I'm
a whosoever. I'm just one of Adam's race. I'm calling. I'm calling on you. I'm begging you for mercy. Now,
I'm not bargaining with the Lord. I'm not saying, Lord, I'll do
this if you'll do this. Lord, I'm begging. I'm calling upon
you, would you save me? I'm begging you to save me by
your mercy and by your grace. That's pleading God's word. And
that brings me to the fourth mark. A prayer for deliverance
is a cry for mercy, not merit. In verse 10, Jacob says, I'm
not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth
which thou showed under thy service. For with my staff I passed over
this Jordan, and now I'm become two bands." Now, this is a true statement.
No one is ever gonna receive mercy from the Lord until we
can truly say with Jacob here, I'm not worthy of the least of
thy mercies. Nobody's gonna receive mercy
till we can sit before God like King David and say, who am I? What is my house that you deal
thus with me? I'm not worthy of the least of
thy mercies. You know, we never want to ask the Lord to give
us what we deserve, because what we deserve for the very best
things we've ever done is damnation. That's what we deserve. Sinners
are mercy beggars, constantly begging mercy from God, constantly
begging He not give me what I deserve. Now notice what Jacob says here.
I'm not worthy of the least of thy mercies, and I'm not worthy
of thy truth either. I'm not worthy of your mercy
or your truth. God's mercy is always given in truth. Everything God does is true and
right. Wherever you find God's mercy,
you find his truth. Mercy and truth always go together. See, if God's gonna save sinners
like us, It's gonna be by His mercy, isn't it? That's just
obvious. Of course, if God saves a sinner,
He's gonna save us by His mercy. He's not gonna give us what we
deserve. But when God gives that mercy, it's got to be in truth.
I'm not worthy of your mercy or your truth. This is what makes
God's mercy so magnificent. If the Father is gonna show mercy
to you and me, here's how He does it in truth. The Father
doesn't give His people what their sin deserves because he
gave his son the death and the punishment that our sin deserves.
Punishing Christ as our substitute, making him sin for his people
and then punishing him fully for that sin, that's the only
way that the father can show mercy and truth. Mercy and truth
have to go together. And even after the Lord saves
us by his mercy, Aren't we still in constant need of God's mercy?
Oh, we are. I need God's mercy to keep me
because I don't deserve to be kept. I need God's mercy to lead
me and not leave me to myself because I deserve God to lead
me and to lead me to myself. Even physically, we don't deserve
the least of God's mercies. I mean, God has blessed this
congregation so richly. It's so humbling to think how
God's blessed us. And that's what Jacob's saying
here. He said freely, everything I have, God gave me. Everything. The last time I was here crossing
this river, Jacob said, I'd have anything but the clothes on my
back and a staff in my hand. Now I'm coming back because the
Lord told me, come back this way, come back home. I got this
large family with all this livestock, these wives, these children,
these servants, They're so big, I had to divide them into two
companies. I mean, my family, the people that travel in my
household are so big, I can divide them into two mains. Now, I don't
deserve that. But that's what God's done for
me. It's His mercy to me. It's just these physical blessings.
And Jacob is freely admitting, I don't deserve it. But God gave
every bit of it to me. That's what he told his wives
when they were still back at Laban's and said, we're leaving. He said, I'm leaving with all
these cattle. And he meant the sheep and the rams and everything,
because God gave them to me. They were your fathers and God
gave them to me. I didn't hurt them. God gave them to me. It's
everything that we have is because of God's mercies. I mean, you
can break that down to the most basic, basic things. I do not
deserve to breathe God's air. I mean, God put air oxygen to
breathe in His creation. And I'm such a sinful, vile man. I don't deserve to be drawn on
God's air. But I sure do need it. He gives
it freely. I don't deserve to eat God's
food. I don't deserve to drink God's water. But I sure do need
it. And He gives it freely. I need clothes to wear. I need
a place to sleep. I need a helpmate, a companion.
I don't deserve those things, but God gave them. I tell you,
if you had plead with God, whatever it is that you need and whatever
strength that you're in, if you had plead with God, plead his
mercy. Because God delights to show
mercy to sinners, undeserving sinners. Everyone here has a loved one
who does not know the Lord. More than likely, they're on
your heart every single day. And I can tell you, if you're
like me, I plead with God for him every day. And there's no better plea with
God. I mean, there's no better plea. than saying, Lord, would
you be merciful? Because he delights to show mercy
to sinners. What a plea to have. And then
lastly, a prayer for deliverance pleads for God's glory. In verse
11, Jacob says, deliver me, I pray thee from the hand of my brother,
from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, lest he will come and smite
me and the mother with the children. And thou saidest, I will surely
do thee good. and make thy seed as the sand
of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude." Now, first off,
Jacob comes back here to pleading the promise of God. Lord, you
said, come home and I'll protect you. You said, come home and
I'll deal well with you. And Lord, you also promised to make
of me a great nation. You promised to make my descendants
as the sand of the seashore. There's gonna be so many of them,
you can't count them. Well, now Jacob pleads for the
glory of God. What he's saying here is, Lord, get glory to yourself
by doing what you promised to do. If you let Esau kill me,
kill my wives, kill my children, how's there gonna be a generation
come after me? This is my descendants. These
are the heads of the 12 tribes of Israel. How are those tribes
gonna ever exist if Esau comes and kills all my boys? Lord,
people will think. You can't do what you promised
to do. You lose your glory. Years later, Moses is going to
plead the same thing over and over with the Lord. Remember,
the Lord told Moses, no, Moses, you just step aside here. I'm
going to destroy this people. I'm going to start a new nation
from you. That'd be a lot of honor for
Moses, wouldn't it? Pretty good deal. Instead of being called
the children of Israel, maybe they'll be called the children
of Moses. He'll really be somebody now. And Moses said, Lord, please
spare them. The Egyptians will say, if you
destroy them, you destroyed them because you couldn't bring them
to the land that you promised. Lord, for your glory's sake,
spare the people. And God spared them, didn't He?
Jacob's praying the very same thing. I think it's important
to note Jacob didn't tell the Lord how to deliver him, did
he? I bet you Jacob's best plan would
have been, let Esau come kill one, one of the camps and spare
the other. And Lord, if you just spare this
one over here with Joseph in it, because he's my favorite
son. That would have been, sounds like that's Jacob's best plan,
isn't it? God's purpose is to spare all of us. and to make
them all thrive. We make a very big mistake telling
the Lord how he can deliver us because he's able to do far greater
than we ever think or think or imagine. Jacob didn't tell how
the Lord would deliver him. He just said, Lord, help me.
Lord, would you deliver me? See, that's part of the humility
and reverence that should be in all of our prayers. Let's
make sure we don't start out our prayers in reverence, and
then start going off over here off the reservation, telling
the Lord, okay, here's how you can do it. That's not very reverent,
is it? Jacob just said, Lord, I need
to be delivered. Would you deliver me? And do it for your glory, so
people know you do what you said you'd do, what you promised to
do. And here's the best way that I can think of for me to ask
God to save me. Lord, would you save me? Save
me by your grace. Lord, call me. Lord, reveal yourself
to me. Lord, save me because you'd get
so much glory if you did. Lord, your grace and your mercy
would be magnified if you'd save such a vile wretch, such a rebel
as I am. Well, if you'd saved me, you'd
get so much glory. People would say, oh, look how
gracious God is. Look at the power of his mercy
that he'd say that you would save an undeserving wretch like
me. That's pleading God's glory. I know this, whatever it is God
does, he's going to do to glorify his son. That's what heaven's
going to be all about, the glory of Christ, who saved his people
from their sins. Can you think of a better way
to ask the Lord for mercy? That Lord, you give so much glory
to your son. If you'd save me. That's a good
prayer for deliverance. Oh, I hope the Lord bless that
to you. Let's bow together. Our father, we thank you for
your word, this precious portion of your word. For our brother
Jacob showed us Our cry, we don't deserve the least of Your mercies.
And Lord, we thank You. We thank You for Your mercy.
We thank You for Your grace. We thank You how richly You have
provided for this congregation. And Lord, we cry unto Thee that
You bless Your Word again tonight. Bless it to the hearts of Your
people that we might see the glory of Christ our Savior and
find our rest and peace and hope and confidence It's in his precious
name. For his sake, we pray.