• We thank you for those who serve in the more hidden ways; those who set up and tear down; those who look after and disciple our children; those who work on many administrative tasks necessary to run a church.

• We thank you for N and J and their wives, for their example of faith and love in coming to this city to plant a church in the first place. We thank you for their and K’s ongoing service for the sake of the gospel.

• We thank you for O, S, L and H as they invest their lives in AU and the schools in the city for the sake of Christ and his Gospel. Bless their efforts with fruit.

• And we thank you for the K family – for their sacrificial service among an unreached people group in the Middle East. Encourage them as they spend time in DC over the next few months.

We ask this morning that you would fill us afresh with your Spirit that we might know you better.

Give us a growing and deepening spiritual sightedness that our knowledge and understanding of the things that are ours in Christ would be more and more clear to us.

• May the future life to which you have called us be something that we think about regularly.

• May our hope be set on the abundance of life that will be ours when Jesus is revealed to all creation.

• May we understand better what true riches are and may our hearts be delighted by the prospect of the eternal wealth that awaits us.

• And may we be confident in your power to accomplish all of this – knowing that your power at work in us is the same as the power that raised Jesus from the dead.

Forgive us Father for the times that we have chosen to look to the things of the present for our hope and purpose, rather than the things of your future kingdom.

• We confess that we are easily enchanted by the promises of this world that surround us.

• Rather than take hold of the life that is truly life, we so often put our hope in and pursue worldly comforts, security and wealth.

• Forgive us for the times that we have not been generous with our money and possessions.

• Forgive us when we have not trusted you with our time and have poured it into worldly pursuits and neglected your word, prayer, accountability and serving others.

• Forgive us when we have been impatient with our spouses/ children and brothers and sisters forgetting that humbly, gently bearing with one another is what you have called us to.

Father though we fail often, we know that your promises of forgiveness are richer and vaster than our failures. In Christ we have redemption, through his blood, the forgiveness of our sins. As we believe this gospel and repent of our sin, you promise us that we are your sons and daughters and that we can call you Father.

Thank you for all that is ours in Christ. Amen.