Worship through Prayer
God of steadfast love, abundant mercy, and loving kindness, we come to you this morning with thankful hearts. Thank you for your grace to us in Jesus Christ. Thank you for the indwelling Holy Spirit that convicts us of sin and changes us, degree by degree in holiness. Thank you for the Bible, for the gift of music, for the fellowship of the saints. Thank you for the sun, clear blue skies, for rain, for snow, for the changing colors of leaves, for different seasons. Thank you for children and for laughter. Thank you for food and clothing. Thank you for the hope of heaven and the promise of world restored back to perfection.
We praise you this morning. We praise you that you are God and we are not. We praise you for your glory and grace, for your majesty and mercy. We praise you for you are worthy of all adoration – all dominion, authority, and power are yours before all time and now and forever.
We gather as your people this morning to remember and rehearse the good news of Jesus Christ. We rejoice in the hope of our salvation – that you have saved us not because of our good works and religious deeds, but through the perfect life, sin-paying death, and Satan-crushing resurrection of Jesus.
We confess our sin. We confess that we have rebelled against you in word, thought, and deed; in what we have done and what we have left undone. We confess using our words not to build up but tear down. We repent. Forgive us, O Lord. We confess the greed in our hearts that longs to receive more than to give. We confess our immorality – by looking at screens and physically engaging in acts dishonoring to you. We repent. Forgive us, O Lord. We confess disobeying our parents and being mean to our siblings. We confess discipling our children out of anger and using harsh words. We repent. Forgive us, O Lord. We confess holding grudges and bitterness toward fellow church members. We confess loving our prideful personal preferences more than the clarity and proclamation of the gospel. We repent. Forgive us, O Lord. We confess our own prejudices that causes us to think we are better than others because of our ethnicity or race. We confess our dullness toward evil not hating what you hate and loving what you love. We repent, O Lord. Forgive us, we pray.
And we rejoice, that none of this defines us. We rest in the truth of who we are in Jesus Christ. Redeemed. Declared righteous. Pure. Holy. Blameless. Adopted sons and daughters. Father, in heaven, “Abba, Father” we come to you resting assured that in Christ Jesus we are loved and cherished and nothing – not the stain of sin, not the power of Satan, not the circumstances of life – nothing can separate us from your love.
We pray for those of us who are struggling. For those who are weary and want to give up on following Jesus. For those who feel alone and isolated. Father, grant us tangible reminders of your grace. Encourage us with timely words from a fellow church member. Bring to mind a specific Scripture that warms our soul. We pray for those of us struggling from the shame and guilt and feelings of unworthiness because of how we have been violated and taken advantage of. Heal us, O Lord. Holy Spirit, minister to our souls and remind us that we are washed clean in Christ – that he bore our shame on the cross that we might be pure and holy. Give us tender words to speak to one another that we might bring the healing hope of the gospel to each other in times of vulnerability. Use our church, O Lord, as a place of hope and healing for the marginalized and hurting. We pray for those of us secretly struggling with chronic patterns of sin – substance abuse, habitual lying, financial deceit, pursuing immoral relationships, physically or virtually – bring us people who will lovingly and patiently walk alongside of us as we battle the desires of the flesh with the truth of the gospel.
We pray that you would use us to bring the gospel to our neighbors and the nations. Give us opportunities to share the hope of the gospel with our friends, co-workers and classmates. Lord, for the glory of your name, use us to bring people to faith in Jesus Christ. Holy Spirit use Campus Outreach, FCA, our ministries at Friendship Terrace, Iglesia Biblica Sublime Gracia to make disciples that delight in the supremacy of Jesus. We pray for the spread of the gospel in the Middle East. Grant R, E, J, J, K and L faithfulness and perseverance as they seek to advance the gospel among the unreached. Magnify your name in us and through us, O Lord. Give us holy boldness that proclaims the gospel and radical generosity that supports the spread of the gospel. Make us jealous for the glory of your name.
Do this while reminding us this world, as it is, is not our home. Give us the grace to journey alongside one another as we sojourn toward heaven together, where we’ll enjoy you together with all your people, forever and ever. Amen.
Worship through Prayer
Loving Lord, we come to you this morning trusting fully and only in the name of Jesus Christ. We come rejoicing in the glorious grace of the gospel. We come longing for heaven, for the restoration of all things. We come in our weakness that we might find strength in you.
We praise you for all that you are doing in our church body. We praise you for the gospel unity we have. We praise you for the many ways the gospel bounces from one person’s lips to another's ears. We praise you for all the Community Group Leaders and Hosts that tirelessly prepare and lead and serve the members of this church.
For the glory of your name, triune God, continue to grant us the grace to be honest and vulnerable with each other. Give us the grace to openly talk about our struggles and sins. Give us the grace to carefully and humbly speak the hope of Jesus to each other. Give us the grace to weep with those who weep. Give us the grace to rejoice with those who rejoice. Root out any self-righteousness and jealously and bitterness among us. Holy Spirit, help us walk alongside each other humbly, intentionally serving and caring for one another.
Father, in the name of Jesus, we pray for those who are especially weary and downcast; we pray for those battling anxiety and hopelessness. Holy Spirit, in your unthinkable mercy bring the balm of the gospel to wounded, aching souls this morning. Remind those who have been abused or grievously sinned against that they have good Father in heaven through Christ Jesus, and in him they are loved and secure and cherished. Remind those who face illness and circumstantial hardship that because the tomb is empty hope is always before us; darkness gives rise to light; suffering always comes before glory. Remind those who have sinned grievously and are struggling to forgive themselves that there is no condemnation for those trusting in Christ Jesus. Make the gospel real to us this morning Lord. Grant us gospel refreshment; and grant us repentance, Lord, reminding us the truly good life is the life treasuring Christ and joyfully obeying all that he has commanded.
We praise you for other gospel churches in and around DC. Use the ministry of Redeemer Arlington, Falls Church Anglican, Fourth Presbyterian, and the Well to magnify Christ Jesus. We pray for Redeemer City and Christ our Shepherd and Church of the Resurrection and Capitol Hill Baptist and Waterfront Church. Use these brothers and sisters to proclaim the wonders of your word.
And as we turn our hearts toward you word this morning, work in us. Meet with us. Holy Spirit, use the word to soften our hearts, to shape our thoughts and affections that we might love our God supremely and each other sacrificially. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.
Advent Book Recommendations for Families
Here are some recommended books and devotionals for families to read over the Advent season! Click any of the titles below for more information.
Advent family devotional—
Counting the Days, Lighting the Candles
By: Elyse Fitzpatrick & Jessica Thompson
Advent calendar, family devotional, and book—
By: Scott James
Book for PreK children—
By: Alison Mitchell & Catalina Echeverri
Book for early elementary children—
Song of the Stars: A Christmas Story
By: Sally Lloyd-Jones
Book for questions about St. Nicholas/Santa—
By: Annie Kratzsch
Christmas activity book (with the Christmas story as well as coloring pages, word searches, etc.)—
By: Matthias Media
Worship through Prayer
Adoration
Father, we come to you to be with you. You are high and lifted up, but you are also the God who was slain for us.
- You always have been, and always will be, but you are with us now.
- We praise you that you are a pursuing God. You did not wait for us to find you; you came all the way to where we were to find us.
- Your love even extended to the least worthy of sinners.
- You sent your Word through Jonah to the evil city Nineveh, and today you are pursuing people from every corner of the world.
- We praise you that you are the healer--you have not left us where you found us, but you have worked in our hearts. Your healing is the healing we seek, Jesus, as we want to be made holy, as only you are holy.
Confession
But while you have offered healing that fills our hearts with you, we often sought to fill our hearts with lesser treasures. We confess that we have not wanted to follow you this week. We have not said “yes, Lord, Here I am” right away.
- You told us to obey our mom and dad, and we argued with them.
- You asked us to care for the poor, and we have worried about how we look before the rich and powerful.
- You reminded us that we can trust you to provide, as you care for the sparrows, but our minds have raced, as we’ve considered the ways in which our desires might not be met.
- Lord, help us confess the following sins to you now: Lust, prayerlessness, gluttony, sloth at work, slandering, bragging, money loving, and coveting.
- Lord, would you please show us the goodness of your commands, how your way is the best way for us right now, that we might run in your path?
We thank you that you happily forgive us with certainty.
Thanksgiving
And Because you don’t hold our sins against us, we happily come to you to give you thanks.
- We thank you that we are free in Christ.
- We are no longer in debt because you have paid it off in full with a single payment. We are free to live abundantly.
- We are not losers because you have defeated death and guaranteed victory. We are free to live with nothing to lose.
- We thank you for members you have brought to Restoration.
- We thank you for CH&FH, and we pray that they would be a light for you in their neighborhood.
- We praise you for blessing us with JW and AZ.
- And we thank you for our children you have entrust our church with. You know I, W, L, and S; A, M and Z. We thank you for the ones who are on their way whom you already know fully.
- We give thanks for the many ways people here are serving others through fully applying themselves at work.
- We praise you for those in legal professions, and how they protect a key fabric of our society.
- And we thank you for accountants, and how they bring order and accountability to our world.
- We thank you for those who do research in the medical field.
Supplication
Lord, You have given us so many reasons to be thankful, but we know you are generous, so we bring even more requests to you.
- We pray for those in our church.
- The S family and the S family. We pray that you would bless their marriages.
- We pray for those couples who have challenging job schedules that limit the amount of time they spend with one another
- For N and M, and others here, who may be looking for employment.
- We pray for relationships in our congregation.
- We pray that it would not take until heaven for us to realize what we have here today in this church.
- Help us to treasure our sisters and our brothers.
- Open our eyes to the imperfect beauty of the church around us, that we may treasure each other as you love us.
- Give us hearts to hurt with those who are hurting and to rejoice with those who are rejoicing, even when we ourselves are facing trials.
- And we pray that our time commitment to the people in this church would reflect your value of this church.
Lord, we also pray for our world.
- We pray for the rebuilding of devastated cities in the Middle East. We pray for the start of new churches, as these cities start to move forward.
- We pray for migrant workers who often live on the edge of society.
- This morning, we pray for the tens of millions of migrant workers who move from poor countries to other developing countries.
- We pray that these migrants would be not be preyed upon in these countries.
- And we pray you that you would give world leaders wisdom on how to connect people born in poor countries with better job opportunities.
- We pray for victims of sexual assault.
- We pray for healing for the many here today, and the multitudes in our city who have been victims of sexual assault, and we mourn with them.
- We thank you that our society is increasingly bringing this sin to light, and we pray that as the dirtiness of humanity is exposed, more victims and perpetrators would seek a Savior.
- And we pray for the Ends of the Earth: there are over 1 million Songhai people in Niger.
- As we have thanked you last month with how you granted your people access to the Scriptures through the Reformation, we praise you that this people group received the Scriptures in 2014.
- Would you make your Word go viral in this Muslim people group, for your name’s sake?
Finally, we come back to this church. Would you please move through us this morning as you bless us with the preaching of your Word?
In Jesus' Name we pray, Amen.
Worship through Prayer
Father, your glory urges us to praise you! You are exceedingly holy, and your goodness is without bounds. You are just, and you are truth. You were before the world was, and you will be after the world as we know it will be no longer.
Father, we praise you because in the Gospel you accomplished justice. We are evil and rebellious from our mothers’ wombs. Even though we know the truth about your glory, we turn away and give that glory to created images. And that rightly offends you, and that rightly cries out for justice. And in the Gospel you accomplished justice in that Jesus bore the punishment for your people’s sins.
Father, we praise you because in the Gospel you loved. You loved us enough to give your one and only Son for us. We were not of the same nature, nor did we like you; we actually hated you because we weren’t like you and because you wouldn’t give us what we wanted. And yet, you loved us! You sent your Son to bear our punishment so that we may share in your glory.
Father, we praise you because in the Gospel you defeated evil through good and because you used what we despise as weakness to shame the powers of this world and to raise Jesus from the dead and seat him to his rightful place.
And how amazing is Jesus! He left His throne above to live the life of a servant, be rejected and died the death we deserved. “Worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.” (Rev 5:12)
We confess that we didn’t want to see your glory, that we didn’t seek it and that when we sought it we did so for our own purposes. Father, your glory is difficult for us to see and bear because it offends our own ambitions for greatness, especially in a city like ours.
Your glory is too weak for us, too gentle, too patient and too much about things other than us. We replaced your glory by man-made glory – educational degrees, prize spouses, prize children, bank accounts, clothing, cars, jobs, houses, big contracts we worked on, intelligence, and abilities. We didn’t take pride in you, the giver of life, but in your gifts. We suppressed the truth about who you are and who we are into a lie and created false “realities” in our image, illusions and delusions in which our importance, our role and our selves are magnified.
Father, forgive us in our neglecting your people, the church, to promote the glory of human kings and queens. The Son of Man is going to come on the clouds of heaven and we have spent time building up human kingdoms! Have mercy on us!
Father forgive us for our rebellion and transform our hearts to long for your glory.
And we thank you for your forgiveness and grace. You have given us awareness of sin, faith to repent, and forgiveness in Jesus. You have given us the Word to transform us. You are constantly at work in our hearts and in the world to advance your kingdom. We thank you for the Reformation, and we thank you for your Word which we can read in our own languages. We thank you for all the good things we have received over the last five hundred years in terms of theology and church polity.
Father, we ask for faith and eyes to see your glory for what it is. Help us not be allured by the glory of man, but be constantly thirsting for your glory. Help us live with the hope of seeing and enjoying your glory rather than human illusions of what a good life looks life.
We pray that we would remember your past works and the great cloud of witnesses that surrounds us. Help us “lay aside every encumbrance and the sin that so easily entangles us and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb 12:1-2).
To your Name alone be glory, now and forever, Amen.