Gracious heavenly Father, we come to you in the name of Jesus Christ. We praise you for the breadth and length and height and depth of you love shown to us in him. As we have confessed our sins, we now draw near to you through Christ. For as far as the east is from the west, so far is your forgiveness to us because of Jesus. We rejoice that in his death sin was defeated. We rejoice that in his resurrection true live is given.

Holy Spirit cause us to rejoice in our forgiveness and to pursue holiness; cause us to rejoice in being reconciled with our Father in heaven. Give us an unquenchable desire to read the life-giving, soul-shaping Word that we might behold the fullness of God in all that he is and all that he has done. We thank you Lord for all that you’re doing here at Restoration Church; and we ask that you would continue to give us the grace to make disciples that delight in the supremacy of Jesus Christ.

We thank you for Restoration Kids. As they learn about Israel in the wilderness this morning, show them their need for Christ. We praise you for all the members who serve our children. This morning we pray for Haigh and Page and Chris and Tessa and Mike and Liz and Whitney and Isabel and Jodie as they serve the children this morning.

Strengthen us with your grace, Lord. Help us to build each other up in Christ being eager to encourage one another; help us to be quick to forgive each other and extend grace to one another. May we extend mercy to those who are hurting and suffering. Cause us to be a people who enter into each other’s suffering that we might care for each other in the most difficult times. We praise you for the way the Holy Spirit is bearing fruit in our midst, among the people of our church. Give us the grace to continue to love one another sacrificially and treat each other better than ourselves. Help us not to fight for our own personal preferences, but to constantly rejoice in the gospel. Let us put away all bitterness and anger and slander, along with all malice. Cause us to be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ has forgiven us. Use our church to be a visible representation of the gospel displaying your manifold wisdom and glory.

Lord, we thank you that we get to labor among many other healthy churches here in DC. Pour out your grace on The District Church and Redemption Hill and Capitol Hill Baptist and Grace DC and Washington International Church and All Nations DC. Give the pastors of these churches much grace and wisdom and delight in Christ. Use them to faithfully shepherd and equip the saints for the work of ministry.

As we think about the events of the past several weeks, we are reminded of how broken our world is, Lord. We long for Jesus to return. Come Lord Jesus come. We long for the Day of no more hate crimes, no more natural disasters (Ecuador, Japan), no more terrorist attacks, no more death, no more waiting for hope to be fulfilled. Father, we rejoice in hope because of Jesus’ empty tomb; we will be patient in tribulation because Jesus has overcome evil; we will be constant in prayer because Jesus is on the throne of heaven.

Father, we’re mindful this morning that for our good you have appointed public rulers and government authorities. Give the lawmakers and law-enforcers of this land a sense of justice and wisdom. We pray for those in all levels of government – congress, mayors, governors, the president. Have them to be men and women of integrity and honesty in all their dealings; let wisdom enter their hearts, and let knowledge be pleasant to them; make their hearts and ears attentive to godly counsel. Give all world-wide leaders and rulers a spirit of unity, a spirit that longs for best interest of the people as a whole that humanity might flourish.

Holy Lord, we praise you for the hope of the gospel. We pray this gospel message would spread among the Behdini Kurds (Bible Translation) and among Haitian pastors and churches. We pray this gospel message would take root among the Spanish speakers in Columbia Heights. We pray for our brother Alejandro and his family this morning. We praise you that our prayer for a visa has been heard and granted. Give us wisdom to work out all the details of their move to DC. Providentially work that your name might be increasingly hallowed in Columbia Heights.

We pray all of this in the strong, grace-giving name of Jesus. Amen.