Great and amazing are you deeds O Lord God Almighty! Just and true are your ways O King of nations! Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God. Hallelujah! The Lord God Almighty reigns. To the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. May grace and peace be multiplied to us, according to the foreknowledge of the Father, in the sanctification of the Holy Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ.

Whom do we have in heaven, but you, O great triune God? And there is nothing on earth that we desire besides you. Our flesh and our heart will fail, but Lord God, you are the strength of our heart and our portion forever. Yes Lord, you are our chosen portion. The lines have fallen for us in pleasant places; indeed we have a beautiful inheritance in Christ, all to the praise of your glory; and we have been sealed with the promised Holy Spirit until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of your glory. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him.

Father of glory, give us a spirit of wisdom, enlightening the eyes of our hearts, that we may know what is the hope to which you have called us. Give us grace to advance the gospel being bold to speak the truth of Christ without fear. Give us full courage that Christ will be honored in our body, whether by life or by death. Let our manner of life be worthy of the gospel and our conduct in step with the gospel. Give us grace to stand firm in one spirit with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel.

We pray that you would give grace to our brother John Edwards and his wife, Alaina, as they seek to plant DC Fellowship in Georgetown. For the glory of your name, give them fruit in making disciples that make disciples. And we pray for our brother Rob Stephens as he seeks to plant Aletheia Church in College Park. Bring him another qualified man to serve as an elder beside him. Grant them generational diversity and self-sustainability. Do this for the glory of Christ Jesus, we pray.

And cause the glory of Christ to reign supreme here at Restoration Church. Cause Jesus to be our greatest and deepest and most satisfying delight. We thank you for the life and ministry of S and C; we praise you the way they long to know Christ and share their home for the sake of the gospel. Give them wisdom and patience as they raise S in the instruction and discipline of the Lord. We also praise you for E; thank you for the many ways she serves our church. Give her a sweet delight in your word this week; cause your word to be sweet to her, sweeter than honey from the comb. And we pray for our brother M. Give him a great zeal to know Christ and relentless resolve to make Christ known. This week as he goes to work give him grace to work unto the Lord and glorify you even in the day-to-day.

Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. We pray for your name to be hallowed among the nations. Start right here in Columbia Heights by granting us favor in planting a Spanish speaking church. Hallow your name through X and X as they labor among the Tatar people. Hallow your name through Noah  as he labors among Haitian. Hallow your name by bring the gospel to the unreached Jat people in Pakistan and the Bairagi in India and the Ansari in Bangladesh. For the glory of your name raise up men and women from this church to devote their lives to bringing the gospel to an unreached people group. Yes, Lord, use our little church to send people out with the gospel all over this globe that you might receive the worship you are due.

And as we think about taking the gospel outward, we must first look inward; we look into our own hearts, our own lives. And we see sin. We see the ways we have rebelled against you in the past, and we see ways the weeds of sin still entangle our hearts and motivations and actions. We confess our sin to you; we confess that we have committed sexual immoral acts, we have practiced idolatry, we have committed adultery, we have acted pride and greed; we have gossiped and harbored bitterness; we have lied and slandered. We confess these things to you; and we rely not on our works, not on trying to repay you, but only on the person and work of Jesus to cleanse us. We praise you we have been sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit. We praise you that there is therefore now no condemnation for those trusting in Christ, but there is reconciliation to you, our greatest joy. So it’s in the precious, mighty, majestic name of Christ we pray. Amen.