In the sermon 'Deliberate and Purposeful Parenting' by Mike Davenport, Psalm 127 is used to explore the roles of God, fathers, and children within the family structure. The sermon emphasizes the importance of viewing God as both the builder and guardian of our lives and homes, highlighting the futility of efforts without His guidance. Davenport likens children to arrows in the hands of a warrior, urging parents to see their role as crafting these arrows with care and intention, using the analogy of longbows to stress the need for skill and dedication in parenting. The sermon calls for a deep trust in God as our sole dependence, warning against the arrogance of self-reliance and the neglect of spiritual duties. It underscores the cultural war against family values, urging parents to rely on God's teachings and discipline to guide their children. The sermon concludes with a reflection on the importance of spiritual readiness and the need to embrace God's shaping of our lives, encouraging believers to be active participants in God's plans.

Psalm 127. Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. Unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows, for so he gives his beloved sleep. Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord.

The fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them. They shall not be ashamed, but shall speak with their enemies in the gate." Let's look to the Lord in prayer. Oh gracious God, we just sang those words that our homes are yours forever.

Lord, make it to be more than just words upon our lips. Make it the very heart of all that we do in our homes to honor you in all things. Oh Lord, may Christ be magnified. May He be Lord and Master, not just here within these walls, but even the walls of our own homes when we leave this place. Make it to be so for your glory and for our good.

We pray in Christ's holy name. Amen. You may be seated. Well you may notice that the beginning of this Psalm that we're in this morning, Psalm 127, it's a song of ascent. And our brother Scott just shared with us something of songs of ascent, those songs that would be sung as the people made their way to Jerusalem several times a year for the feasts and the gathering of public worship to God.

So these songs were well-known and often quoted or sung. These Psalms cover a vast experience of God's people in this world. This Psalm, Psalm 127, and the one following it focus on the blessings of God upon family life and the overflow of that blessing upon the nation. Such a blessing comes when we follow the commands of God, and as we have seen In our study of the fifth commandment, God calls fathers, mothers, and children to specific duties in the home. And I trust this psalm will help us grasp those duties more fully by setting before us this marvelous vision.

The title of the message is, Arrows in the Hand of a Warrior. Arrows in the hand of a warrior. And I hope to cover this text under the following three headings. The Lord as builder and guardian, the Lord as builder and guardian, secondly the father as warrior, the father as warrior, and then thirdly, the children as arrows. The children as arrows.

So first, the Lord as builder and guardian, verses 1 and 2. Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. Unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows, for so he gives his beloved sleep." Well, the words and the repetition of certain words are meant to grab our attention. Unless the Lord, unless the Lord, vain, vain, vain.

Oh, that we would allow these words to shape our thoughts, our words, and our actions throughout the day, every day. Apart from the Lord, every act of building is in vain. Apart from the Lord every attempt at watchfulness is vain. Apart from the Lord all of our efforts, all of them are in vain. He must build.

He must guard. He must maintain." In his commentary on the Psalms, William Plummer wrote this most penetrating perspective, quote, in every undertaking God is not merely our chief dependence, merely our chief dependence, but our sole dependence, S-O-L-E, our whole, our total, our sole dependence. Can I ask you a question? To answer it truthfully, it may take some discernment on your part, some soul-searching, some digging. Is God merely your chief Is God merely your chief dependence?

Is he simply, as the license plate puts it, your co-pilot? Is he merely the one who you turn to when the going gets tough, when things seem to be beyond your control? Or can you truthfully say that He is your sole dependence, the one apart from whom you dare not do anything." Well, I believe the Lord has given us in Psalms 127 and 128 both didactic teaching and the result of the receiving and the implementation of that teaching, what it looks like in real life. In many ways, Psalm 128 is a living picture of the embracing of the teaching of Psalm 127. And so we read in the opening verse of the very next Psalm and what does it declare?

That the man is blessed who fears Jehovah and who walks in his ways. Who fears Jehovah and walks in his ways. The Lord is at work building and guarding when you are fearing him and when you're walking in his ways. In so doing, God is at the center of everything you're doing and everything you're saying. He becomes your sole dependence.

Here are portions of the prayer that we lifted to God in song just a few moments ago. Oh give us homes built firm upon the Savior where Christ is head and counselor and guide. O give us homes with godly fathers and mothers who always always place their hope and trust in him. Oh give us homes where Christ is Lord and master, where prayer comes first, not only in times of disaster, but in peace as well as disaster, where Christ sufficient is for old and young. O Lord our God, our homes are thine forever.

We trust to thee their problems toil and care. Be thou the center of our least endeavor." That's the words that came across your mouth in a prayer, in song to God. In his commentary, Plummer goes on to write, quote, all human plans fall without him. In man is no inherent efficiency. Forsaken by God, the bravest become cowards, the strongest are weak as water, the most careful fail, and the wise are fools.

Those do therefore sadly sin against God who ascribe their success or prosperity to human wit, power, or perseverance. Man is a worm. Man is a fool. Man is a sinner. Nor do those less er who claim to rely on God and yet neglect or slight the means he has ordained for our success.

The true Christian, he says, works as if he believed not and believes as if he worked not." End quote. Well, verse two also sheds light on what it means for us if we acknowledge God as both the builder and the guardian. It means that as we go about our daily activities, that we embrace our humanity, that we embrace our weaknesses, that we embrace our limitations. It means that as we go about those activities, we also embrace the ever present reality of what God is and who God is and what he has pledged to us as people. Here are helpful comments once again from Plummer.

Quote, God does not require us to kill ourselves or fret ourselves to death, but only to use lawful industry and then, then with quiet confidence in His providence to lie down and sleep. The divine blessing and not our foresight secure success. God is as merciful in giving us sleep as He is righteous in requiring labor, and He shows His care for us by causing our crops to grow and our affairs to prosper even while we sleep." End quote. Brothers and sisters, Our God, our God is the one who provided an entire nation fresh manna every morning for decades. He's the one who drew water out of a rock.

He is the one who had the ravens, not just any bird, the ravens who will eat by the way any and everything, yet God used them to bring food to His prophet. And then He was the one who calls there to be fresh oil every morning in that jar in the widow's house. He's the one who turned water into wine, the one who multiplied bread and fish for the multitudes. Do you really think the meeting of your needs really lies upon you? Do you recall from our study in Ecclesiastes some years ago, another conclusion that Solomon came to in chapter 5 verses 18 to 20?

He writes, here is what I have seen, it is good and fitting, it is good and fitting for one to eat and drink and to enjoy the good of all his labor in which he toils under the sun all the days of his life, which God gives him. For it is his heritage, as for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth and given him power to eat of it to receive his heritage and rejoice in his labor. This is the gift of God. Listen, for he, this man, he will not dwell unduly on the days of his life because God keeps him busy with the joy of his heart. The psalmist declares to us that if God is building and God is guarding then we can pillow our heads each and every night.

If we acknowledge His presence and His activity during the day, then Certainly the one who neither slumbers nor sleeps will act on our behalf through the night." An article appeared on the BBC website in the spring of 2014 entitled Arrogance of Ignoring Need for Sleep The article goes on to describe the discovery of leading scientists that we are sleeping between one and two hours less per night than those did 60 or so years ago. And they say it's having a devastating impact upon every part of our lives. Interestingly, these are scientists, these are not pastors. They conclude that cutting out sleep is the height of arrogance. In his book, reset, living a grace-paced life in a burnout culture, author and pastor David Murray states, few things are as theological as sleep.

Show me your sleep patterns and I'll show you your theology because we all preach a sermon in and by our sleep. He then goes on to list five declarations we make if we pride ourselves on getting by with little sleep. First, I don't trust God with my work, my church, or my family. Secondly, I don't respect how my Creator has made me with the need for sleep. Thirdly, I don't believe that the soul and body are linked, that I can do without sleep and not suffer in other areas.

Fourth, I don't need to demonstrate my rest in Christ, to demonstrate my rest from the heavy laden labor that Christ calls me from. And fifth, I worship idols. Something else besides God and what he has for me has my affections, it has my attention. So what should we be thinking as we contemplate these truths? Well consider with me these two points.

First, activity does not necessarily indicate God is at work. Activity or busyness does not necessarily indicate that God is at work. All men are active. Man is building. He is watching.

My friend, you are active, but your activity may be like the rich young ruler who declared that he had kept all the commandments from his youth up. Well your activity may be like the rich fool who was very industrious planting and bringing in a harvest and planting and bringing in a harvest such that he needed bigger barns. He toiled and toiled with little rest. Oh, he planned some rest. He planned some enjoyment, but he toiled with little of it in order to have that season of rest and enjoyment.

But God says, you were not rich toward me. Is that you? Busily active, but God's not at work. Secondly, without Christ, your activity is all in vain. Without Christ, your activity is all in vain.

The Lord says in Proverbs, even the plowing of the wicked is sin. If God is not at work in your labor, then you are merely building sandcastles, and you're building them at the water's edge at low tide. And even the most magnificent, massive, intricate, detailed castle you build will not withstand the pounding of the returning waves. If you recall our series on Ecclesiastes again, that final conclusion that he comes to in the end was what? It's the very thing that we see in Psalm 128.

Fear God and keep His commandments for this is man's all. It's his Adam. It's what he is to be. It's what he was created to be. Fear God and keep his commandments for this is literally man.

Well, Having seen the Lord as builder and guardian consider secondly from the text the father as warrior the father as warrior verses 3 through 5a behold Children are a heritage from the Lord The fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them." I think I can make the following statements without you so much as lifting an eyebrow in surprise. Our culture is at war against God. Our culture is at war against the family.

Our culture is at war against God. Our culture is at war against the family. Our culture is at war against manhood and womanhood. Our culture is at war with the church, the bride of Christ. Brothers and sisters, we are at war.

We're at war. God says, God says that children are a heritage, that children are a reward. God says that children are a bestowed heritage given by His own hand and to be received as gifts from Him. God declares here that the man who is thinking biblically, the man who is thinking rightly, the man who is aligned with the will and the mind and the purposes of God will be happy with the blessing of many such rewards. Such a man will understand that this is God's way of building and guarding what he has entrusted to us.

Brothers and sisters, let God be true and every man a liar. Don't listen to what the culture has to say, what has God said. Are you thinking biblically? Or has the influence of the world begun to blur your view of God's view? You know, it's the devil who comes alongside in order to cast doubt.

He's done it from the very beginning. Has God indeed said? Has God indeed said? I look around this church and I bless God for the many demonstrations of His rich rewards. Olive plants seated around your table.

But dear ones, What shall we do? What shall we do having received such a rich heritage, having received such rewards? Well, our cultural calendar has labeled today as Father's Day. Today, fathers across the nation may receive tokens of their wives' and their children's appreciation. There may be gifts given that define who those dads are.

There's dad the golfer, dad the griller, dad the coffee drinker, dad the sports lover, dad the automobile guru, dad the outdoorsman, dad the filled in the blank. Outdoorsman, dad the...filled in the blank. But our passage does not describe or define fathers in any of those terms. We come to verse 4 and find the Word of God describing fathers, defining them as warriors. Warriors.

You fathers here today, is that how you see yourself? Is that how you define yourself? Do you see yourself this morning as a warrior? As the hymn writer accurately noted, being a follower of the Lamb makes one, it makes one automatically a soldier of the cross. There are foes for you to face.

There is a flood that you must stem. This vile world is not a friend to grace to help you on to God. It's not. We're in a battle. You Christian men are called to be a warrior.

And the text pictures a warrior equipped with bow and arrows. And we'll speak more about these arrows in the next point, but note that the text places these arrows in your hand. These arrows are in your hand. What warrior in his right mind is content to go out to battle with one or two arrows? Will he not desire a quiver fool, a heritage from God, if God should so give him such.

But dear ones, the arrows are not intended to stay in the quiver. They're not intended to stay in the quiver. It is the young warrior who is to take up these arrows, these children into his hands. And he is first to fashion those arrows. He is to fashion those arrows as ones to be sent out, and then secondly to actually pull back and let fly.

Well, our culture is no longer knowledgeable about bows. Now, maybe the hunters among us have some knowledge, maybe extensive knowledge, but such knowledge is usually of compound bows. That's what we're used to in our days if we're used to bows at all. But consider with me a moment the English long bow, the English long bow. It's been often called the machine gun of the medieval era.

This is some of the things that I found when studying it out. A six-foot bow made of yew wood, the English long bow, had a draw weight of between 80 and 150 pounds, and an effective range up to 350 yards. This, coupled with the fact that an experienced archer could loose up to six arrows per minute meant that a force of expert archers could shower their adversaries with a storm of thousands of deadly projectiles in mere minutes. While the effectiveness of the longbow as a weapon is beyond dispute, One major disadvantage of it was that it required years of training and practice to become an effective long bowman. You couldn't just pick it up and master it.

This was in contrast to the much simpler crossbow, which could be mastered in a few weeks, even by inexperienced peasants. This was why English monarchs made laws requiring all able-bodied men to practice with longbows constantly. They needed them ready and trained for times of war so that they could be mustered quickly. The power of the English long bow, almost double the draw weight of modern hunting bows, required the archer to possess both physical strength and well-honed technique. Drawing one of these heavy bows was not all brute strength though.

Contemporary accounts from the medieval period describe the English technique of pressing one's body into the bow rather than simply using one's right arm to pull the string back. And obviously such a technique would have taken years to master. However, learning such a skill turned a man, they say, into a very effective killing machine. The heavy war arrows used by English long bowmen were able to penetrate leather and cloth armor, chainmail armor, iron plate armor, and even some types of steel plate armor with only the very best steel armor being impervious to their deadly arrowheads. And if you study it out, there were very few who could afford such armor.

It is often said that the age of gunpowder rendered the longbow obsolete. While this is largely true, it is not. It is not because early muskets were superior weapons. Rather, it is because like crossbows, they could be mastered with far less training and technique than was required for a long bow. There's even story of a man in World War II, a British man killing a German soldier with a bow and arrow in World War II.

You fathers, Like these English long bowmen, our king has made laws requiring us to practice with our bows. And not just to be ready if a war breaks out, but because there is war, there is war. There's been war since the Garden of Eden. Men, we must take up these bows that God has given us. Spiritual strength and well-honed technique are required.

If we're not constantly, yea daily, working with these bows when it comes time to send out arrows into the world, we will not be effective. We will lack the strength necessary and the accuracy required. And although, as we shall see in the next point, the fashioning of the arrow is of great importance, the handling of the bow, and the accuracy of the warrior are of extreme importance as well. The reluctance to remove the arrow from the quiver, the inability to fully pull back the string, the result of a poorly seated arrow or a poorly released string, and the effects of bad aim will produce failure even if, even if the arrows have been fashioned perfectly. Well having considered this warrior dad, consider thirdly from the text and finally the children as arrows.

The children as arrows. Verse 4 and 5B. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth. They shall not be ashamed, but shall speak with their enemies in the gate." I did quite a bit of research as well in respect to the making of arrows for use with a longbow. It's quite fascinating in and of itself, but when studied in conjunction with the imagery of our passage, it's even more amazing.

Consider with me the following facts. First, the fashioning of the arrow has to be done with the knowledge of the bow. The fashioning of the arrow has to be done with the knowledge of the bow. One modern longbow maker and instructor has said, arrows have to match the bow. You can't just get some sticks out of the woods like you did when you were a child playing cowboys and Indians.

There was one Indian in the past that said, any old stick will make a bow, not so with arrows. Just as the arrow has to be fashioned according to the bow from which it will be sent, our children need to be fashioned according to the bow God has equipped us with. What has God given to us for the sending forth of our children into the world? And though there may be differences among our families, I believe the Bible teaches us that our bows are the same. God places in our hand the same bow that he placed in Abraham's hand.

God declares in Genesis 18-19, for I have known Abraham in order that, In order that. Why have I known Abraham? In order that so that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has spoken to him. But not only must the fashioning of the arrow be done with the knowledge of the bow, the fashioning of the arrow is extremely intricate and extremely important. It's extremely intricate and extremely important.

You see, it's not the bow that hits the target. It's the arrow that hits the target. And no two arrows are alike. None are alike. And when we're talking about this and I'm explaining this, we have to hit rewind.

We can't think of our modern context of mass production, off-the-shelf items that we find so in our day. There are differences in the circumference of the shaft of the arrow. There are differences in the lengths of the arrows. For the fashioning of an arrow, one has to consider at least four things, the spine, the pile, the fletching, and the knock. Now consider these again outside of a context of this mass production off-the-shelf item.

First the spine. The spine is the arrows bendiness. It has a little bit of deflection as you hold it in your hand. Obviously you wouldn't want one that just kind of bends all around in a horseshoe shape, but neither do you want one that's so stiff it will not bend. Since they use a familiar word to us, consider our own spines.

Just like our spines, all arrows have bends to them, and they must. In a slow motion video, as an arrow is released, surprisingly you will see that arrow bend and curve and in that split second you wonder how in the world it's going to make it to the target. I mean it just contorts and bends, But it must. It must. You see, an arrow needs to be able to bend that way because of the poundage built up in the pull of the bow string that's released on that arrow that is simply at rest.

The spine is also necessary for the arrow to bend around the actual bow itself. It releases from the string and must go around the bow. The bend, bendiness of that arrow is necessary to get past the bow. It's also interesting to note that the spine of the arrow must increase the longer the arrow. The longer it is, the more bendy it needs to be.

So that's the spine. Then you've got the pile. The pile. This is a term that simply refers to the type of point on the arrow. The choice of pile must consider the target that is intended as well as the intention of the arrow.

You see, the weight of the pile chosen affects the spine. It affects the bendiness because you're adding weight to the end of it, and therefore it must be considered in the fashioning of the arrow. The metal head of the pile, like the round hollow point of the head, not the point at the end, but the point that goes on to the shaft, it has to be forged individually for every arrow. Those working, those blacksmiths working could not just simply mass produce these and expect them to fit on these arrows because each of the arrows were being carved and he had to put each one and match it to that shaft. This was a pains-taking effort, pains-taking effort.

The pile itself had to undergo extreme heat and the hammer for both proper form and balance as well as the obvious need for maintaining the actual point in any edge. The fletching, the fletching, this is simply the feathers that are placed at the end of the shaft. At the time that longbows were prominent, they couldn't use glue for this, for there was no glue that was waterproof. And so you would go out into battle and if it was rain, like we can hear outside right now, you were in trouble. So they couldn't use glue.

The fletching was applied by an intricate weaving all through the midst. They would work the string through the midst of the feather down to where it's in the shaft, and they would wrap it and coil it around and around and tie it in a very intricate matter on the back end. And this was, this also was a painstaking effort and required much patience. And the arrow was often put into a vice for these things to be attached. The accuracy of the flight of the arrow was dependent on well-placed fletching which provided a steadying effect because you want it to steady out as that bendingness ends after it gets past the bow.

And so it was for providing a steadying effect as well as creating spin on that arrow, a concept that's used in present-day rifling. And then you had the knock. The knock is something of a U-shaped piece that was located at the back end of the arrow shaft and it was used to place the arrow on the bow string. And then a specific taper tool was used. Kids, you can almost imagine your handheld pencil sharpener, and they would take specific ones and they would, different sizes for the front end and the back end to put the pile on the front and the knock on the back, and they would taper each of those individually as they put the pile and the knock on.

The knock is necessary because the arrow needs to be placed on the bow string securely so that it is guided by the bow string, and yet it had to be on there loosely to not negatively affect the way it came off the string. Now, the result of these arrows in our passage, the result of these shot forth is described in the closing verse as simply, they shall not be ashamed, but shall speak with their enemies in the gate." You see, it describes the activity of a sure defense of justice and truth. It speaks of the ability to unashamedly and unapologetically speak with those who would bring charges against you, and some commentators say even charges against your father and your mother. Well-equipped, well-fashioned, and highly effective, And the setting of this engagement with the enemy is taking place in the most prominent place in social life in that day. The place where justice was taken into consideration and where policy was often made and established.

You fathers and mothers, God has placed these arrows in our quivers. God has equipped us with everything we need for fashioning our children into arrows that will one day be sent out from our house into the world. He's given us His truth to instruct them. He's given His promises to encourage them. He's given His discipline to correct them.

And he's given his church to build them up. We cannot fail in the means and methods God has provided. If we bring in our own means and methods, we should not expect those arrows to hit their targets. But if we're using God's means, they will prove effective. And in these means and methods, we must require of our children honor and obedience.

We must see to it that the arrows are fashioned as God would have them be fashioned. Dear ones, Think of the brevity of the time for arrow crafting that Samuel's parents had, of Moses' parents, of Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. And dear ones, every single one of these stood before kings. They stood before kings. Moses said, Pharaoh, you'll let my people go.

Samuel said the Lord would rather have obedience than your sacrifice, O King. God's going to rend This nation from your hands and your your sons will not reign on the throne and Daniel and his friends Will not bow down to the image nor will we stop praying to our God. They stood not only in the gates of the city, they stood in the gates of the palace, unashamed, declaring the truth of God. In light of these examples, may I ask you a soul-searching question? If the labor of your hands in these endeavors were to end today, What sort of shape would the arrows be leaving your house?

Would they be ready to face the world out there? Now not all gathered here today are called to be a warrior at present, but every single one of you is an arrow because every single one of you is a child, whether in the quiver, just sent out, or sent out some time ago. Some of you are being fashioned in a good manner and you're being prepared to be sent out into the world and to make that desired impact. Some of you, they've already been pulled from the quiver and sent out into the world. My question for you is, are you hitting that intended target?

Are you hitting it? Think back to the recent days of your being in your mom and dad's house and the fashioning that went on and the target that they desire to hit. Are you still on course? Are you hitting that target? Or have you found your own direction and your own purpose?

There may be others still and for you there was very little fashioning that took place in your childhood. Maybe you were sent out into the world with absolutely no aim and no goal intended. Maybe for you your dad was no warrior at all. Maybe you even grew up without a dad present in your life. Does that mean there's no target for you?

Does that mean your life has no specific purpose? Absolutely not. Our Father in heaven is the ultimate warrior and he is about the business of adopting into his family sons and daughters and his quiver is being filled every day. Can I ask you a question? Are you in that quiver?

Are you in that quiver? Do you know the God of all the earth as your Father in heaven? Have you come to Jesus Christ in faith? Have you repented of your sins and believed in the finished work of Jesus Christ? If you have, then you are an adopted son or daughter, and you've been placed into his quiver.

And in the wonderful language of Psalm 2 and Isaiah 53 it declares to us, his adopted children, that we are His reward. We are His heritage. He's not asking for us as parents to look at it any differently than He does. He saw the travail of His soul, and as we heard just last week, we were the joy set before him through which he endured the cross, despising the shame and his sat down at the right hand of his father. We are his heritage.

We are His reward. And He sends us as His arrows. He fashions us according to His will. And He sends us as His sons and daughters out into the world to hit the target that he has for us. And so you, my brother, my sister, you are an arrow in the hands of this mighty warrior.

Are you undergoing his fashioning of you in a humble and receptive manner? You see, he's fashioning you. Everything he brings into your life, he's fashioning you. Are you receiving that from the hand of God humbly and in a receptive manner? Or do you find fault with the blade that you feel carving you into that straight shaft?

Does the blade hurt And do you rebel against that blade? Do you find fault with the heat of the flame and the pounding of the hammer that fashions the pile? Do you find fault with at times the vice that hold you into place, while the fletching and the knock can be secured properly? My friend, are you content for Him to draw you out of His quiver at the proper time? Are you content for Him to draw the string back and for him to determine how he would send you out into the world.

And will you go straight for the target in the strength and in the power with which he sends you? Will you complain of wanting to be fashioned like another arrow? Oh, if I had those colorful feathers, if my point didn't seem so blunt, if only I were a broadhead instead of just the point alone. Oh, if the pressure of the release of that string was not so great upon my weakness, upon my spine. Will you secretly long for a different trajectory, for a different target, for a different calling.

Dear ones, build, defend, labor, and fight, but in all those endeavors be sure God is building. God is defending and He is laboring and He is fighting. Apart from Him, All of these endeavors will end up in vanity. Oh Lord, let Your work appear to Your servants and Your glory to their children. And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us and establish the work of our hands for us.

Yes, establish the work of our hands. Let us pray. Oh Lord, our hearts and our homes are thine forever. Oh Lord, may we Smile, may we look with happiness upon this heritage, these rewards you have given us. Lord, may we be at work fashioning them for your glory, your glory, according to the means you've given us, sending them forth with the bow that you have placed in our hands.

And Lord, for all of us who are yours, Lord, may we be the arrows of your fashioning And may we go out into the world hitting the target that you desire and accomplishing the purposes that you have for us. Oh Lord, build, guard, labor, and defend and help us in all of these things to look to you, to fear you, and to walk in your ways. In Christ's holy name we pray, amen. Thanks for watching!