O Lord our God, you are our refuge…our fortress…our strong tower. In you, we place our hope. We do not trust in horses and chariots, cars and houses, pay increases or increased responsibilities. We do not put our hope in our relationship status or our degrees. We don’t place our hope in political administrations or a change of scenery. We don’t hope in vacations, alcohol, the amount of friends we have or how we are perceived by our co-workers or family members. We don’t trust the words of the New York Times, New York Times Best Sellers, the Washington Post, or whatever else is popular in our day and time to be our guide. We trust and place our hope in you, Lord, because with you there is forgiveness, love, joy, peace, patience and kindness. With you there is everlasting acceptance as it is given to us through the work of your Son and the power of the Holy Spirit. You…you, Lord, are our hope, our stay, our portion, forever. We exalt you.

Forgive us for the times our gaze moves off of you and onto those same things I just prayed are not our hope. Forgive us for misplaced hopes. Forgive us for trusting things whose foundations are flimsy and fleeting. Forgive us for trusting words that will pass out of style in a matter of days. Forgive us for allowing our affections to be blown around like those that have not been redeemed. Yes, Lord forgive us for the myriad of ways our lives look just like those that have not been changed by the Gospel. Just this past week some of us got angry at our spouses, our co-workers, friends, neighbors; and, we used words and attitudes that conformed to the patterns of the world. Forgive us for the way our anger controls us and causes us not only to be angry at our neighbors, but forgive us most of all for how we have been angry at you because of some circumstance that has come upon us in a way we didn’t welcome.

Forgive those of us that not only lusted after someone that wasn’t our spouse, but forgive those of us who lusted after someone of the same sex as us. Remove same sex desires and replace them with a Holy ambition to enjoy relationships that reflect the relationship that you enjoy inside your Tri-unity.

Forgive those of us that received money this past Christmas and thought only of ourselves, and our wants and desires. Teach us to be generous, seeking to give more than we receive. Teach us to care for the poor and the needy, the orphan and the widow in their times of need. Let us not consume the world, but let us be people that give to the world with our time, our talents, and our treasures because by your grace, we have come to know the greatest treasure of all. Your son was rich; yet, He became poor so that in him we, who are poor, might become rich. Let that be our hearts’ cry every day. Changed by your love in Christ, we move towards the world in love, seeking to do good, even and especially if that means we are inconvenienced because that’s what you did for us! How could we not trust you to do the same for others?

There are a thousand other things we could confess to you this morning. We are a messy people, and that’s why we are so glad to be here today! We come to celebrate the Grace, the Love, the Mercy, the Forgiveness of Jesus Christ! O Lord, we know we could never be good enough to earn anything from you, especially the Holiness that is required to be in your presence. And so, we stand in wonder that while we could not come to you, you came to us; and, your Son gave His life so that we could then come to you!

Thank you for the gift of Repentance. Thank you for the gift of Faith. We did nothing to deserve these things and everything to deny them and yet you, in your infinite kindness, led us to repentance. How marvelous, how wonderful is your love for us! We join the millions that have gathered this week to praise your glorious grace! Thank you for all the ways you are changing us from one degree of glory to another. God you know, this church, myself especially, we need change; and, again, we’re trusting you for that change. We don’t trust our devotional plans, our good deeds or our ability to explain the Bible. We trust you and you alone to save us. We come with open hands and needy hearts confessing our need for you to work in our lives to bring about the fruit of righteousness by your grace and for your glory. Do it in us, Lord, we pray.

We pray not just for ourselves, Lord. We pray for our brothers and sisters that are suffering for the sake of the Gospel around the world. We pray for our sister J as she continues to recover from being attacked for simply praying for others in Jesus’ name. As people ask her about how she lost her eye in that attack, would you cause her to bear witness to the glories of Christ. Bring peace to the many others that have been attacked for their faith there.

Lord, we praise you for the recent release of Cheng Jie. How encouraging it is to hear how she was willing to be imprisoned for two long years, away from her family simply because she wanted to do what we take for granted every week, teaching small children the Gospel. We praise you that she did not deny the faith but instead gave you the glory as she suffered for the sake of Christ. Grant the release of the many more that are imprisoned there in China for doing nothing more than making disciples and gathering together like we are here to the praise of your Glory. Remove wicked leadership there and replace them with peaceful leaders.

Lord, grant that our leaders here in our city would likewise uphold that which is just. May they maintain the religious freedom we have enjoyed for so long and may they take down those that seek to harm our peaceful gatherings.

We thank you Father, for the privilege of prayer. May we seize upon it more often in this new year. Teach us how to pray, and teach us also to enjoy prayer. Thank you for the privilege of doing this together with the saints here this morning at Restoration. Bless the reading of the word, the singing of the word, and the preaching of the word as our brother J feeds us in a moment. May we respond to our brothers preaching with great joy and thanksgiving as we call to mind that you are our Shepherd. May goodness and mercy follow us all the days of our lives, Lord, Amen.