Please find below the notes from the Elder's Prayer this past Sunday.

We believe the Lord our God is One
Father, Spirit, Son; This is our God!
We believe forever He will reign
Let the church proclaim: This is our God!
It is our sincere and collective prayer that each in attendance this morning be capable of claiming, “this is our God!”.
Our God is great. He is Holy.
He is worthy of worship. And He demands worship of Himself alone.

And He is gracious. And He is faithful...
The Mighty Maker of the universe and our own personal existence;
His nature beyond our comprehension;
His character, perfectly holy in contrast to our own character;
And He gave us life! And He gave us His life;
Faithful to His own promise to redeem His own children;
For His own glory!
And that, while we were unlovely; in the face of our faults, our failure, our faithfulness and rebellion...
Great is His faithfulness!

Lamentations 3:

The writer laments the sin of Israel and the consequences of sin the nation is experiencing….

1 I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of his wrath;
2 he has driven and brought me into darkness without any light;
3 surely against me he turns his hand again and again the whole day long.
4 He has made my flesh and my skin waste away; he has broken my bones;
5 he has besieged and enveloped me with bitterness and tribulation;
6 he has made me dwell in darkness like the dead of long ago…

9 he has blocked my ways with blocks of stones; he has made my paths crooked.
10 He is a bear lying in wait for me, a lion in hiding;
11 he turned aside my steps and tore me to pieces; he has made me desolate;
12 he bent his bow and set me as a target for his arrow.
13 He drove into my kidneys the arrows of his quiver;
14 I have become the laughingstock of all peoples, the object of their taunts all day long.
15 He has filled me with bitterness; he has sated me with wormwood.
16 He has made my teeth grind on gravel, and made me cower in ashes;
17 my soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is;
18 so I say, "My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the LORD."

21 But this… But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:
22 The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;
23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
24 "The LORD is my portion," says my soul. [The LORD is my portion!] "therefore I will hope in him."
25 The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.
[The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;]
26 It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.
27 It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
[The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;]
28 Let him sit alone in silence when it is laid on him;
29 let him put his mouth in the dust- there may yet be hope;
30 let him give his cheek to the one who strikes, and let him be filled with insults.
31 For the Lord will not cast off forever…

The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness!

(Prayer)

Father, how truly blessed we are with the privileges of forgiveness and repentance.

For our sin is covered. You make yourself blind to our sin. Our sin! Our faithlessness! And you redirect your wrath rather against your own Son, Jesus.

Lord, let us be quick to acknowledge sin, to confess our pride, just as you are quick to forgive our sin. Let us be quick to go to you in prayer, to confide in you. For you are our hiding place, and you preserve us from trouble.

"Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the LORD. Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!" (Psalms 32:10,11)

The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases. His mercies never come to an end; 
they are new every morning.

Great is your faithfulness in Jesus Christ and for your glory!

Amen.