We'll turn to the Acts of the Apostles. The chapter's the chapter number nine. You'll know the chapter well. It is a chapter that conveys, relates to us the historical account of Saul's conversion there on the Damascus road. And we're coming into the chapter, the verse number 19, and we're commencing our reading in the middle of that verse. So it's Acts chapter nine. And we're commencing in the middle of the verse number 19. Let's hear God's word. Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus. And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues that he is the Son of God. All that heard him were amazed and said, Is not this he that destroyed them, which called this name in Jerusalem, and came hither for that intent that he might bring them bound unto the chief priests? But Saul increased the Moor in strength, and confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is very Christ. And after many days were fulfilled, the Jews took counsel to kill him. But their lying wait was known of Saul, and they watched the gates day and night to kill him. Then the disciples took him by night and led him down by the wall in a basket. And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he assayed to join himself to the disciples, but they were all afraid of him and believed not that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared unto them, how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that he had spoken unto him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. And he was with them coming in and going out at Jerusalem. And he spake boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus, and disputed against the Grecians, but they went about to slay him. Which when the brethren knew, they brought him down to Caesarea, and sent him forth to Tarsus. Then had the churches rest throughout all Judea, and Galilee, and Samaria, and were edified, and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied. We'll end our reading at verse 31. Let's just briefly engage in a short word of prayer. Loving Father, We come now to preach the word. I cry for the infilling of God the Holy Ghost. How dare any preacher ever think that what he has prepared is sufficient for the hour? Lord, I understand my great deficiency, but we thank Thee that, Lord, when we understand that, we understand that our sufficiency is not of ourselves, then we can enter into the great expanse of the sufficiency that is in Christ himself. Our sufficiency is of God. Lord, come, therefore, I pray, guide these lips of mine, and may our hearts run out after thee. Give us heartburn, spiritual heartburn, and may we gladly run after our God. So answer prayer, minister to every heart, and deal with our lives, and handle us as the great potter we pray. We pray these, our prayers, in and through the Savior's glorious name. Amen and amen. In recent weeks, there has been much interest in reported revivals that have been supposedly breaking out on university campuses in the United States of America. Those in charge of such Christian places of education have been cautious as to call such events revivals. They have spoken of them as times of renewal. times of outpouring. They have spoken of them as awakenings. As to the genuineness of such revivals, I will leave it to time to be the judge of that. But saying all that, you wouldn't be a Christian if you didn't long to see God revive his work again in the midst of the years. How that happens and how that comes about, many have their ideas. Many suggest that holiness conferences are required in order for revival to break out in the church of Jesus Christ. Others try to organize to imitate what happens elsewhere in the hope that God will send revival. But let me share with you how I believe God will send revival to his church It isn't by us working ourselves up into some kind of spiritual frenzy. It isn't by organizing revival conferences or by listening to endless messages on the subject of revival. Revival will come about when God's people walk as they are directed to walk in Holy Scripture. Revival will come whenever God's people live. as God directs them to live in this world. In actual fact, that is revival. When God's people get real with God, and God's people actually start walking as God directs them to walk in Holy Scripture. You see, brethren and sisters, we can listen to sermons about revival until the cows come home. But unless we are willing, unless we are willing to live as we ought to live as Christians and walk as we ought to walk as believers, then revival will never come to the work of God. If God's people only started walking as God intended them to walk, God would maybe send revival or at least his blessing upon the true church of Jesus Christ. And really that is one reason why I've been dealing with this subject matter about with regard to our walk with God over the last number of months. It is that God would bring us to a place where God again would show us his favor and favor us again with his blessing. God cannot bless. God cannot bless those who are walking contrary to his word. And thus we need to be reminded how we ought to conduct our lives as those who bear the name of Jesus Christ in this world. And so today we consider a 15th way. in which we are to walk. Such is the broad and such is the immense importance of our walk with God that we have considered 15 different ways in which the child of God is to walk in this world. And today we come to consider how we are to walk, that the Christian is to walk in the fear of the Lord. The Christian is to walk in the fear of the Lord. If you look down there at Acts chapter 9 in the verse 31, the concluding verse that we read in our Bible reading, we read these words, Then had the churches rest throughout all Judea, and Galilee, and Samaria, and were edified, and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied. Did you see that? Did you see how it came about, this multiplication? Did you notice that it didn't say that there was addition? Not addition to the work of God, but something more than addition. Multiplication. And how does it come about? How does it come about? Well, look what it says. They walked in the fear of the Lord. They were edified, they walked in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, and the by-product of it was a multiplication within the church of Jesus Christ. This, brethren and sisters, is God's way. This is God's way and how he revives and how he causes his work to go fast on. And surely then we want to follow God's direction. We want to follow God's pattern. not how we think revival should come not how others say revival comes but how god says revival comes do you want to see the church multiplied well then walk in the fear of god and in the comfort of the holy ghost and then thank god god he will multiply his work and sort of lay a biblical foundation to the message i want to just direct you to a number of verses of scripture in which we find the fear of God, the fear of the Lord, and our wall closely associated with each other. Let me read to you a number of verses where we find these two thoughts married together by God, the Holy Spirit. In Deuteronomy chapter eight and the verse number six, we read, therefore, We have a walking of us in the ways of God and then a fearing of God. Deuteronomy chapter 10 and the verse 11 is another verse. Deuteronomy chapter 10 and verse 12, sorry. And now Israel, what does the Lord thy God require of thee but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord with all thy heart and with all thy soul? Deuteronomy 13 and the verse number 4. you shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice and you shall serve him and cleave on to him. Nehemiah chapter 5 and the verse 9 also I said it is not good that ye do ought ye not to walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the heathen of our enemies. Psalm 128 verse 1, And here we have five verses that really bring together and marry together this thought of the fear of God and our walk with God. It seems to be that our walk with God comes fast on the heels of this matter of fearing the Lord. And that isn't a coincidence, brethren and sisters, because what should motivate you and I, what should motivate us and inspire us to walk in the ways of God is the fact that we fear God. Why are people who profess faith in Jesus Christ, why are they not walking as God intended them to walk? Why are they walking so loosely, so carelessly? Why are they walking in such a worldly manner? It is because they do not fear God. There is no fear. There is little fear within the church of Jesus Christ. And this is why we have such careless walking among God's people, because there is a lack of the fear of the Lord. Brethren and sisters, if you and I feared the Lord as we ought to, Well then we would walk in a manner that is pleasing to God. Whenever we don't fear God, we just walk and we just conduct our lives in any kind of way we desire. We do that which is right in our own eyes. And as long as we're not caught on by the spiritual oversight or by some other believer, then we simply continue to walk in such a way. But if you and I lived our lives under the fear of God, then I believe that we would walk more carefully. We would walk more prayerfully. We would walk in holiness. We would walk in a way that is pleasing to the Lord. We thought about this, the fear of the Lord, last week. I drew your attention to a little verse over there in Proverbs 14, verse 2. You see, the individual that lives just as they want, they despise God. They say concerning God, no. I will live as I please, I will do as I want to do, and all of your commandments and your statutes and your laws that are placed there for the benefit of man, because God is our creator, he knows what is best for us, his creatures, yet the sinner takes those laws and lives contrary to them. That brings you into conflict with God. That brings you into a state of enmity with God. That brings you as a sinner on a collision course with God. And you need to repent of your sin and believe the gospel. Well, here's a man that walketh in the uprightness. The man who walketh in his uprightness feareth the Lord. Now normally the word fear, when we're talking now about walking in the fear of the Lord, whenever you mention that word fear, you think about dread. Another word that might come into your mind is that of terror. Another word that might come into your mind is that of alarm. And certainly whenever you read through the Bible, you do note that a certain amount of dread and alarm did arise in the hearts of those who personally encountered God. Let me give you a number of examples. Remember Moses, Mount Sinai, God coming down upon the mount, the cloud and the lightnings and the voice. We read about the emotion that Moses felt on that occasion. We don't read it as much there in the book of Exodus, but in Hebrews chapter 12, verse 21, we read these words. And so terrible was the sight that Moses said, I exceeding fear and quake. And through years, God's servant, and there is this alarm, this terror, this dread as God manifests His power and His glory and His holiness on Mount Sinai with the lightnings and the cloud and the voice of thunderings. Here's a man who's exceeding afraid. Isaiah feared greatly when he encountered God there in the temple in the year that King Uzziah died. He would say, woe is me, for I am undone. I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Do you remember whenever Jesus himself walked upon the stormy billows towards the boat that was carrying his disciples over there in Matthew chapter 14? The emotion that those disciples felt on that occasion was that of fear. And when the disciples saw him walking in the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit. And they cried out for fear. When we think about those women that came early to the sepulchre on resurrection morning, and they meet the risen Christ, and they encounter him, and he speaks to them, and we're told by Matthew, no less, that they left the sepulchre in fear. Matthew 28 verse 8, And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and with great joy, and did run to bring his disciples words. And so when sinners and when even believers meet God and encounter God, there is this sense of dread, terror, fear. But is this what is spoken about whenever we're speaking about walking in the fear of the Lord? Well, let me say before we deal with that, repeatedly in Scripture, the Christian is exhorted to fear the Lord. Psalm 34 verse 9, Oh, fear the Lord, ye his saints, for there is no want to them that fear him. Fear the Lord, ye his saints. Psalm 89 verse 7, God, is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him. Ecclesiastes 12 verse 13, let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God and keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man. First Peter verse 14 or 17, honor all men, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king. And so repeatedly the Christian, the believer is exhorted to fear God to fear the Lord. But what then does this fearing of God, what does it mean? Do we dread God? Are we terrorized by God? When the Word of God speaks of the fear of God, it's speaking about having veneration for God, being in awe of God, being in those that revere God, those who have reverence for God. We have that thought there in Psalm 89 verse 7. God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him. Reverential fear. This is what it's speaking about. a reverential fear, and this reverential fear, it can be cultivated. It can be enhanced in our lives. How is that done? Well, it's enhanced and cultivated when we come to think, to dwell, to meditate upon the transcendent majesty and the glorious attributes and the magnificent glory of our God. It's enhanced as we consider the revelation that we have of God in his words. We come to fear God as we read of him in scriptures. We think of his attributes. God is infinitely holy. God is infinitely wise. God is infinitely just. God is infinitely good. God is infinitely merciful. Attributes of God, we come in to fear God. We think of His great and glorious names. He is Jehovah, the great I am, the first and the last, the Alpha and the Omega. He is the eternal God. He is the most wise God. He is the one who is immortal, invisible, God only, wise. We come to see him in his compound names, Jehovah Jireh, the Lord will provide. Jehovah Shammah, the Lord is there. Jehovah Shabbat, Jehovah Sikhenu, Jehovah Nisai, the names of our God. And then we think of his works, his works of creation. We stand in awe of God. We see him as he works. in creative power. We see him as he speaks all things into existence by the word of his power. He comes to create man from dust in the ground, and he forms and he fashions man, and creates him, and he crowns him, and makes him, as it were, the very pinnacle, the very crown of his creative act, so much so that the psalmist will say, what is man? that thou wert mindful of him, the Son of man, that thou shouldest visit him. We see his creative or we see his power. We come to fear God as we come to understand his works of providence, the falling out of all things to his glory. the arranging of the affairs of the nations under the control and superintendence of Almighty God, working so much so in history that the very place where Jesus Christ is born is so arranged that even a Roman ungodly governor, an emperor, will send out a decree that every man has to return in Israel to the place of home birth. God and providence, God's is to be feared when we consider salvation, the work of salvation, that God in His good mercy did not leave us to die in our sin, but God sent to mankind a Redeemer in the person of His own dear Son. That dear Son would live on our behalf. fulfill all the terms of the covenant of works on our behalf. He himself would uphold and honor and satisfy the law for us. And then he would die a cruel death on a cross outside the city walls of Jerusalem. They gave him the middle tree. in order to declare to all he passed by in their estimation that he was the most guilty of the three. Well, in fact, he was the most innocent because he was the sinless, faultless, flawless, impeccable son of the living God. And then he would die and rise again from the dead. He's to be feared. He's to be feared. He's to be feared with regard to judgment, his work of judgment. What did Jesus Christ say? He said, fear not him that can kill the body, but rather fear him that can destroy both body and soul in hell. Fear God. as we see him working in the work of judgment itself. And so we come to revere him. We come to stand in awe. Society fears not God. That's why society has gone the way it has gone. It no longer fears God. Why? Because God's people do not fear God. God's people have forgotten what it is to fear God, to fear him, to realize that I must stand before him and give an account of my life and all of my actions and every word that I have uttered to stand before God at the judgment bar. We no longer fear God, do we? We have lived so carelessly. We have lived so early because we no longer fear Martin Luther, the Protestant reformer, he made the distinction between two fears. He spoke first of all of what is known as servile fear, and then he spoke of fallilial fear or sonship fear. That's how I'll call it. There is servile fear. He describes servile fear as the fear that is the fear of a prisoner that he has for his torturer. But sonship fear is the fear of a son who loves his father and doesn't want to offend him or to let him down. It's a fear that is born out of respect. A fear that is born out of respect. When the Bible calls us to fear God, it is issuing a call for us to have a fear for God that is born out of reverence, out of awe, that is born out of adoration for God. And therefore, to walk in the fear of God implies that we live in a way that is appropriate for one who claims to reverence and to fear God. Now, in Acts 9, verse 31, we've got there, We read about a group of churches in Judea and Galilee and Samaria, and they come to walk in the fear of the Lord. Now how that came about was quite miraculous. The unexpected conversion of Saul of Tarsus there in the Damascus road saw to a temporary cessation to the persecution in the New Testament church. It really allowed the work of God to flourish at that particular time. This new era of tranquility that has come about because the persecutor has now become a Christian and has now joined ranks with those in the New Testament church. This time of tranquility allows The work of God to go on without hindrance. It enables those within the spiritual oversight to concentrate on ministering the Word of God. And as they minister the Word of God, God's people are edified. They're built up in their holy faith. And that edification, it leads to a multiplication with regard to new converts and adherence to the faith. How does that come about? We'll consider that. You see, we come to learn from the details of this verse that God can use times of rest and tranquility just as much as he can use times of rage and persecution to see to the building of the church. You know, some people have a very strange idea that revival only comes in times of persecution. Not so. Because here we find a time of rest. That's what it says. They had rest. Rest from what? Rest from persecution. But God used that time of rest to see God's people built up, and because they were built up, and they were stirred up, and they were walking with God, others were joined to their ranks. And so God can use times of rest, tranquility, in the work of God, and surely that's what we want at times. We don't want people to be fighting with each other within the work of God. We want to see God's people unified. and to see God's people loving one another. And in such times, God can come and bless just as much as he can bless in times of persecution and times of tribulation. And so as the word was preached, the members of these churches, they were edified, they were built up, and there came from them a twofold response. We'll look at them in reverse order. Notice, first of all, that they walked in the comfort of the Holy Ghost. It says that they were edified and their response in that as they were edified they walked in the comfort of the Holy Ghost. The comfort of the Holy Ghost is obviously the comfort that comes to us from the Spirit of God. He is described by Jesus Christ as the comforter. Because of sin within us, the world without us, Satan trying to distress us, we need a divine comforter to console and to cheer our hearts. And such, thank God, is found in God the Holy Ghost. We're comforted by his presence. He now lives within us. You're a new Christian. You remember this. God the Holy Spirit has come to live within you. He'll help you to live the Christian life. Maybe you're not a Christian and you think, how could I ever be a Christian? Well, in and of yourself, you can never be a Christian. I'd feel. I'd feel. But thank God, God now lives within me. His Spirit helps me to live the Christian life, and so we're comforted by His presence. We're comforted by the ministry that He leads and that He directs us towards Christ. We're comforted by the Scriptures. The Holy Spirit is the author of the Scriptures, and so we find comfort in the Scriptures. I wonder, are you walking today in the comfort of the Holy Ghost? If you're not, you pray that God will bring you there. But they not only walked in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, they also walked in the fear of the Lord. And really, you'll only ever walk in the comfort of the Holy Ghost if you walk in the fear of the Lord. The order is most important. You'll never walk in the comfort of the Holy Ghost if you don't walk in the fear of the Lord. You see, Christians are to be men and women and boys and girls who walk in the fear of the Lord. Now, we're not cowering in fear. some kind of slavish dread of God. We can't speak to him, that we can't talk to him, that we can't speak about him. We're not carrying fear because God in some way is angry with us or he's going to some way disinherit us or punish us because of sin. As I said to people there recently who've trusted in Christ, whenever you feel Your heavenly father isn't going to kick you down the road and say you're no longer my child. Just the same way as whenever your child fears you don't disinherit them. You don't tell them to get out of the house. Now you rebuke them and you're chasing them as a loving father and loving mother, but you don't disinherit them. God will not disinherit his child. We're not to fear that in some way we're going to be saved today and lost tomorrow. We're not going to be disinherited by God. He's not going, as it were, be vengeful against us. Whenever he chastens us, he does it always in love. Faith in Jesus Christ removes slavish fear. When we come to fear the Lord and we then walk in that fear, then we will want to just live a life that is pleasing to Him, fearing, fearing to do anything that would grieve or dishonor the Lord. And so for the children here today, those boys and girls who are Christians, when you walk in the fear of the Lord, you're going to obey and you're going to honor your mother and your father because such is well-pleasing to Him. To be a disobedient child, to be a son or daughter who dishonors their parents by their speech or behavior is to evidence that you're not walking in the fear of the Lord. Because if you're walking in the fear of the Lord, you're going to obey the Lord. You'll want to honor the Lord. You'll not want to grieve the Lord. Christian teenagers and young people, whenever you walk in the fear of the Lord, you'll make sure that you don't form relationships with those who are not from the same spiritual family as you. The unequal yoke, that relationship between a saved and an unsaved person will be avoided by the young person who walks in the fear of the Lord, because they know that God has spoken against that. And therefore, to walk in God's fear, I'm not going to disobey the Lord. I'm walking in His fear. I honor him, I reverence him, I respect him, and I'm going to obey the Lord in this particular matter. Christian adults, when you walk in the fear of the Lord, you'll seek to obey in all the commandments and ordinance of God, in marital life, in business life, in church life, in civil life, both privately and publicly. I've used the example so many times, but Joseph was a young man who walked in the fear of the Lord. Especially when it came to the issue of morality. Joseph refused the approaches of a married wife, a married woman, someone else's wife. As she approached him, he refused her approaches because why he walked in the fear of the Lord. How then, he said, can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? He feared grieving God. He feared disobeying God. You see, the problem that we come up with in our lives is that there is a competing fear that often overrides the fear of the Lord, and that is the fear of man. The fear of man, as John Bunyan put it, he said, is the fear of losing man's favor, man's love, man's goodwill, man's help, man's friendship. This is how the fear of man often plays out, we're aware. We're aware of what God wants us to do, but then we begin to fear what our fellow man is going to think about us. And so we do what they want us to do, which is contrary to the word of God. And so the fear of man overrides the fear of God. We follow human advice, we ignore God's counsel, and we end up in a mess because we fear man rather than God. There's no doubt that the words of Proverbs 29 verse 25 are true. The fear of man bringeth a snare. Sinners aren't saved because they fear man rather than God. That's why you're not a Christian. You fear man more than God. You fear what your workmates would say. You fear what your family would say, what the neighbors would say. You fear man rather than God. That's the reason why backsliders stay in their backslidden state, because they fear man rather than God. If they would admit that they were a backslider, what would people in the church think? And so they stay in a backslidden state. And Christians, Christians, they fear men rather than God. But as you grow in the fear of the Lord, you automatically decrease in your fear of man. The greater fear displaces the lesser. And so the counsel to you is to fear God. It is the secret of Christian courage and boldness to fear God rather than men. Daniel feared God rather than men. and thus he was unable to stand for God. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego feared God rather than men, and thus were unable to stand for God. The martyrs feared God rather than men. The covenanters feared God rather than men. The apostles feared God rather than men. The church fathers feared God rather than men. Do we fear men? I confess at times I fear men. I struggle with this very matter. Well, we are to walk in the fear of the Lord simply because that's what God demands of us. God gives us incentives to encourage us to fear and to walk in God's fear. And with these, I'll quickly bring to a conclusion this message. I want to bring you just a few verses in the book of Psalms. Psalm 12. We'll go through these very quickly. I want you just to see the blessings that are reserved for those who fear the Lord. Psalm 25, verse 12. What man is he that feareth the Lord? Him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose. God guides the one who walks in his fear, teaching them in the way that they should go. Look at verse 14 of the same chapter. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him, and he will show them his covenant. God holds communion, fellowship with those who fear him. And as he does, so he begins to open up his will to them. The secret of the Lord, the will of God is made known to those who fear God. Psalm 31, and the verse number 19. Psalm 31, verse 19. Oh, how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee. The word laid up suggests that this goodness is yet future. Now we thank God for His goodness in salvation, but this goodness is laid for us in heaven itself. A future goodness laid up for those who fear God. Psalm 34 and the verse number 7. The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them. Defence and deliverance from God is promised to those who fear God. Psalm 103 and the verse 13, As a father pitieth his children. So the Lord pitieth them that fear Him. God has a fatherly compassion to those who fear Him. Psalm 147 and the verse 11. Psalm 147 and the verse 11. The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear Him and in those that hope in His mercy. God is pleased with those who fear God. Surely that's what we want to simply do, to please our God. One last verse from Proverbs 22, 14, or four, I'll read it to you. By humility and the fear of the Lord, our richest honor in life. Now this isn't some kind of prosperity gospel. If you fear God, you're going to become a multimillionaire. What are these riches? These are spiritual riches. The riches that are in Christ Jesus. And to you who comes to fear God, those riches are bestowed, given over to you, and honor, and life. What's this life? This is eternal life. Do you fear God? The fear of God. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Do you fear Him enough? to give up your sin. Do you fear him enough to become a Christian, to be reconciled to God? Do you fear him enough? The theologian John Murray, he said, the fear of God is the soul of godliness. We should live in light of this fear. God knows all things about me. He knows what I say. He knows what I do. He knows what I think. And in light of that, I'm going to walk as God would have me to walk. The verse in Acts chapter 9. Could I suggest to you the reason why there was multiplication in the church of Jesus Christ was because those outside the church looked at those inside the church who profess faith in Jesus Christ, and they saw the reality They saw the reality of something that was genuine. Something that was real. They saw God's people walking as they were meant to walk. And that attracted them. That drew them. That, as it were, appealed to them. Because they live in fantasy land. That's where sinners live. Fantasy land. But really, there's reality. There's a lack of reality. But whenever the ungodly see God as real, and we live as we're meant to live, then I believe that others are attracted to the church and, first of all, to Christ himself. And so our prayer should be like this. Lord, make us like these churches. Lord, make this church like these churches. Help us to be edified, built up. Help us to walk in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost. And then, Lord, may there be a multiplication, a multiplication among us. Let us be that church, and let us walk in the fear of the Lord. May the Lord be pleased to bless His word. Let's bow our heads in prayer together. Our loving Father, our gracious God, We commit now the preaching of the word to thee. I pray that I might walk in the fear of God. I pray that I'll come to fear thee more and more. Lord, that I will not want to grieve the Holy Spirit. Lord, that I'll not want to do that which dishonors the Lord. Lord, that I'll fear thee more than I fear my fellow man. And grant, dear God, boldness and courage in these days we cry to thee. And every day until Christ comes or calls, we pray for those who are still in their sin because they fear man. Cowards. Cowards is what they are. Lord, we cry, O God, for men to become men. Lord, to, as it were, get a grip of themselves and get a hold of themselves and come to that understanding that if they died as they were, they would be lost. forevermore. We pray that they might run to Calvary and find that God is ready to receive them. Lord bless us around the table, grant thy blessing among us. We pray this in Jesus.