Great are you Lord. We gather to proclaim your worth and rejoice in your lavish love for us. We praise you that you are completely happy in yourself. Father, Son, and Spirit enjoying eternal fellowship with each other – needing nothing and no one. Your love is bountiful. And it overflows into creation. We praise you that you are the Creator. You put the stars in their place, and set the boundaries for the oceans. We praise you for your creativity – for the simplistic beauty of daisies, for the taste of coffee, for the joy of laughter, for the goofiness of duck-bill platypuses, for the silliness of squirrels, for the unsearchable depths of space and physics. We praise you because you are the Covenant Maker – you not only create things, you created a people for yourself. We praise you because you are the Covenant Keeper – you’re fulfilling every promise in Christ Jesus.

This morning, we praise you for your sovereign, steadfast love shown to us at Restoration Church. Thank you for sustaining our ministry another year, another week. We rejoice in the many ways you use the radical generosity of our members to advance the gospel locally and globally. Give us the grace to keep making disciples, keep planting churches, to get the gospel to the B’s by going, sending and supporting. Bless x and x as they travel back to Central Asia. Give them grace upon grace as they settle back into life in a foreign land. Make it feel more and more like home even as they navigate unfamiliar culture in a language they’re still learning to speak. For the glory of Christ, raise up men and women from this congregation to labor alongside the gospel workers in xx and in other unreached places.

Thank you for your grace that’s so evident in the ways our members care for each other physically and spiritually. Thank you, Lord, for the text message and emails and phones call that were exchanged just this past week as members mutually cared for and encouraged one another. As members meet in the coming weeks to share life, read the Bible together, discuss good books with each other, build our faith. Holy Spirit, make Jesus more and more precious to us. Give us the eyes to see and savor Jesus for who he truly is – our sufficient Savior, our resurrected Lord, our gracious King, our faithful Friend, our Bridegroom.

This week bless C, J&C, and E. For the glory of Jesus, bring unwavering gospel joy to D&P, to W&L, W, Beth, and A&K. Use these brothers and sisters to spur all of us on all the more that our joy in Jesus might be full and we might be fully convinced of his enduring, unending love for us.

We pray this morning that your grace would be upon the Ks. Even as they gather with another church in Florida at this very moment, astound them with your grace. Holy Spirit, settle their souls. Give them a deep, abiding rest. Refresh them in Christ. Solidify N&A’s identity as your son and daughter, not as church planter and planter’s wife; not as pastor and homeschooler. Give them sweet family memories during this sabbatical that they might increasingly look forward to heaven, enjoying the entire family of God forever.

As we gather and worship you this morning, O Lord, we rejoice that we do so in the universal gospel bond with other local churches in this city and around the globe. Bless the saints at Waterfront Church, Pillar DC, Redeemer City, Anacostia River Church. Pour out your grace upon Capitol Hill Baptist, 4^thPresbyterian, Temple Baptist, Washington International Church. Continue to use Iglesia Biblical Sublime Gracia to spread the gospel to Spanish speakers in Columbia Heights. We pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters at Early Rain Church in Chendgu. Give them grace and use even their oppression to advance the good news of the risen Jesus Christ. We pray for the countless Christians around the globe suffering for the name of Jesus. Encourage them. Holy Spirt, grant them the grace to be like Moses who suffering for Christ a greater wealth than the treasures of this world.

Father, your word commands us to pray “for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.” Grant wisdom and a sense of justice to all leaders around the world who are charged with serving people made in your image.

We also pray for the leaders of this country. Grant all elected officials wisdom and a divine sense of justice. May these leaders pursue not just personal gain or political agendas, but that which will help all your image bearers flourish. We pray for president Donald Trump, for all Senators and Representatives. Bend hearts toward true justice and righteousness for all people. End the divisiveness in this country. Surround these men and women with people who give wise counsel that promotes the dignity and equality of all people.

Even as we pray for the government, we do not hope in it. Let us, Lord, let us as Christians be a light of hope and happiness. We praise you that King Jesus is on the throne right now and forever more. We praise you that he is reigning and he is soon returning to restore all things back to perfection. We pray rejoicing and resting in his name, the name of Jesus. Amen.