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

Father, we come with confidence this morning to Your throne of grace, where we receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

We come on behalf of one another-each of us who by your providential will, are gathered as members of this local body at this time in history.

We come on behalf of our nation, which was created and has been sustained by Your sovereign hand for so many years.

We come on behalf of our fellow Christians who have faced and will continue to face tribulation with the issues that are at work in our culture

And, we come on behalf of those who deny you as Lord-those whose thinking has become futile and whose hearts are darkened leading to the pursuit of all manner of sin in open rebellion against your created order.

May we be reminded of the apostle Paul’s words concerning the trials he faced in his ministry as he reminded the Ephesian church, that all that happened to him and all that happens to us is in accordance with the eternal purpose which You carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him.

Paul reminds us that we are not to lose heart in tribulations that are suffered on your behalf, because they ultimately are to your glory, Lord.

We bow our knees before you Father and ask that You would grant us, according to the riches of You glory, to be strengthened with power through Your Spirit and that Christ would dwell in our hearts through faith; and that we would be rooted and grounded in love.

Sustain and strengthen those who suffer at the hands of those who willfully pursue sin.

May it be Your will that this nation would continue allowing us the freedom to pursue Christ and His ministry to each other and to a dying world.

Help us remember, each day you give us on this earth, that just as our Lord suffered for us at the Cross, having committed no sin, he nevertheless, while being reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously-Our sovereign God;

With that in mind we ask in the midst of all the turmoil we face and will face on this earth, that you would use us as light in this darkened world-may we be instruments in your hands for the sake of the gospel-sustain us by your mercy and grace, I pray in Christ’s name.