Triune God – Father, Son and Spirit – all glory and power be unto your name. Majestic Lord, your glory is shining. Marveling, we honor and fear you above all gods. Glorious and mighty, you’re awesome in beauty. Author and giver of life, we worship you. Redeemer and sustainer, we adore you. Father, we praise you for sending your eternal Son Jesus to rescue us and satisfy our souls forever. Holy Spirit, we praise you for opening they taste buds of our souls that we might feast upon the Bread of Life, Jesus Christ.

Jesus, we praise you. Your name is above every name. At your name “every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

We praise you Lord Jesus. On the cross you trampled over death by death. Bearing the wrath of all our sin, you suffered our anguish, and our pardon to win. Death could not hold you. See the stone is rolled way, behold the empty tomb, hallelujah God be praised, Jesus is risen from the grave! Jesus, you are risen, you are risen, indeed!

Lord God Almighty, as we marvel at your splendor, we are humbled by our sin. We confess our selfish motives to exalt our name, not yours. We confess vain conceit seeking to get others to honor us and notice us. We confess finding more joy or hope in a job title than in you. We confess bitterness and resent toward those who have wronged us. We repent, O Lord, forgive us our sin. We confess being harsh with our spouse and impatient with our children. We confess greed gripping our hearts and indulging in romantic immorality physically and virtually. We confess anger toward our roommates and coworkers. We confess lying to protect our reputation. We repent, O Lord, forgive us our sin.

And this Easter morning, we repent of our sins resting assured of our pardon from guilt and peace with you that only comes through faith in Jesus Christ. Our debt is paid, it is paid in full. By the precious blood that Jesus shed. We praise you that there is now no condemnation for those who are trusting in Christ Jesus. Your grace is lavished on us .You are no longer a distant judge, but devoted Father in Heaven. We are not just freed from sin, but adopted into your family. We rejoice remembering who we are and Whose we are.

We pray for those of us here this morning who are hurting. Holy Spirit, take the balm of the gospel and ever-so tenderly apply it to broken hearts and give us words to comfort one another. We pray for those here this morning who are wandering from the faith. Lord Jesus, magnify yourself and bring the wayward back to the path of pleasure, to the delight of doing your will with your people. We pray for those among us who have suffered abuse or been taken advantage of and violated in some way. God of mercy, bring words and thoughts of hope this morning. We pray for those of us who are hiding sin or feel trapped in guilt. Gracious Lord, bring light and freedom and repentance. We pray for those of us who are tired and weary. Everlasting God, renew strength and holy ambition. We pray for those of us who are excited and encouraged and joyfully following Jesus. Father, give us even greater delight in our obedience of loving you and serving others.

Thank you Lord for this church body. We praise you for the many ways our members care for one another, physically and spiritually. Give us the humility to consider each other more significant than ourselves. Give us the meekness to look not only to our own interest, but also to the needs, desires, wants, wishes and interest of our fellow church members. For the glory of your name, use this church to advance the gospel to those who are not trusting in Christ Jesus for eternal life. Holy Spirit, give us a deep, unwavering confidence in Christ that we might speak boldly of him to our friends, family, co-workers, neighbors, and classmates. Give us the wisdom to share the gospel in way that shows the beauty and joy and delight found in a relationship with Jesus. We pray for those here this morning who are not trusting in Christ alone for salvation. Right now, O Lord, right now give the gift of faith that one, two, ten people here this morning would turn from their rebellion and trust in the sin-paying death and heaven-purchasing resurrection of Jesus.

We praise you Lord that we are not alone in this gospel work. We pray for Capitol Hill Baptist and 4th Presbyterian and All Nations DC. Use these churches to magnify Christ. Thank you for the faithful labors of Christ our Shepherd and Church of the Advent and The District Church. We pray for our brothers and sisters laboring among the Kurds in Northern Iraq. For the fame of Jesus among the Behdini, save men and women and start a Behdini church. Grant the Behdini Bible translators wisdom and diligence as they finished up that work. We pray for the 33,000 unreached Guhjali people in Tajikistan and the 3MM Darzi people in India. Get the gospel to the ends of the earth. Raise up people from this very church to go spread the gospel that all tongues, tribes and peoples might know the hope and life and joy that’s found in Jesus.

We praise you Lord that we worship this morning knowing the tomb is empty, that Jesus is reigning and he is returning. Birth in us a deep, unwavering hope in heaven. We come hungry this morning. Feed us. Fill our souls with rich food from your word that we might see and savor our humble exalted Savior, Jesus Christ in whose name we pray.