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

Our Father, We thank you with all our hearts. With all that we are, with all that is in us, we give you thanks.

Thanksgiving belongs to you alone for you alone are worthy of praise, for you alone are God.

We thank you for your faithfulness. This year we have been unfaithful, wandering from your Word, wandering from your ways many times. Yet you remain faithful. You have not left us. You have not forsaken us for the sake of your great name. You have kept and will keep every promise you’ve ever made.

We thank you for your steadfast love. Your affection for us is unwavering although we are often unlovely. Your commitment to do us eternal good through Christ does not shift.

We thank you for your righteousness and justice. We thank you that we can rest in your vengeance. We know you will make all things right. You will judge the wicked. You will tread down the Serpent. You will oppose those who oppose us. Christ will return and rule and reign.

Thanksgiving also belongs to you alone for from your gracious hand come all things.

We thank you for You alone have sustained us by your grace this year. Through trials, struggles, sins, temptations, doubts, fears – by your grace you have enabled us to persevere.

We thank you for you alone have brought about salvation in the lives of many here this year. You have opened blind eyes, unstopped deaf ears, resurrected dead hearts, awakened affection for you in the hearts of many.

We thank you for you alone have caused growth in our lives this year. While often imperceptible to us and shaded by our indwelling sin, we have actually experienced growth in Christ likeness this year. By your grace we are more holy, more loving, more thankful, more submissive, more intentional, more word centered, God centered. We thank you for you have healed marriages, comforted the broken hearted, lifted up the downcast, mended broken relationships.

We could thank you for another thousand years for all you are and all you have done for us in Christ and by your grace we will. We look forward to the future – tomorrow, next year, and eternity with hearts filled with thanksgiving.

In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.