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

You are the God over all, the maker of heaven and earth. You are the source of all glory and honor and wisdom and strength. From your hand comes all justice and all grace and every good and perfect gift.

Everything in life – everything in the past, everything in the present, everything in the future – was and is and will be under your control. Nothing surprises you, nothing is beyond your reach, nothing ever gets away from you.

There is no nation that can defeat your purposes, no ruler that can take your throne, no sin that is greater than your grace.

And we need that grace. Each and every day, we rely on the steadfastness and sufficiency of the grace that you have extended to us. Each and every time we sin and repent, you alone provide what we need to be forgiven.

It is you alone that provided the ransom for our sin. While we were your enemies – hating you, ignoring you, mocking you – you sent your son, Jesus Christ, to live and die in our place and to pay in himself the ransom, the penalty, for our sin. A payment for sin that we could never pay in full, a payment for sin that completely satisfies your wrath against sin.

It is you alone that forgives sin. We each have sinned against you and none of us can make up for our sin. There is no amount of work, no amount of effort, no amount of righteous deeds that we can do to earn your forgiveness. And there is nothing we can do that would require you to forgive us. The complete and full forgiveness of our sins comes only through your grace extended to us through the sufficient work of Jesus Christ.

It is you alone that restores us to and keeps us in a right relationship with you. Your spirit opens our eyes to see and our hears to hear the truth of your word, your spirit who helps us to believe, your spirit who seals us forever as your children. The security of our forgiveness, of our salvation, is not found in us, not found in our works, not found in our character. Our security is only found in your goodness toward us.

So when we fear that we’ve committed too great a sin, or committed too many sins and that it is impossible that you would love us, remind us that your grace, your love, is greater than our sin. Remind us that when we repent and turn from our sin and seek your forgiveness, you will forgive.

When we are tempted to trust in something else to save us or to keep us saved, remind us that you sent Christ to save. There is no greater proof that we cannot save ourselves than the fact that you had to send your perfect son to live and die in our place in order for us to have any hope of salvation from our sins.

And remind us that whatever challenges or threats that we encounter in life, none of those things can separate us from the love that you have for us in Christ Jesus. There is no sin, no ruler, no nation, that can take us out of your hands.

You are the God of our salvation. You are the God who delivers us from our sin. To you belong all praise and honor and glory.

Amen.