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

This is our God – three in one. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit.

All of the same character – the same righteousness, the same holiness. All work toward the same goals – primarily in proclaiming the good news of the gospel, which we see in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

As God the father, he looks ahead – he promises that a savior will come, one who will take away the sin of the world. It is God the Father who will strike this savior, who will lay all of our sins on. It is God the Father’s will to crush this savior, to put him to grief. It is God the Father who will provide his only Son as that savior.

As God the Son, he will do and say all that God the Father gives him to do and say, including submitting to death on a cross. It is God the Son who will lay down his life for those he loves. It is God the Son who will take up his life again, he will resurrect from the dead. It is God the Son who makes full and satisfactory payment for sin on the cross. It is God the Son who must ascend to heaven in order that God the Spirit may come.

As God the Spirit, he will bear witness to all that God the Son did. It is God the Spirit who will remind us of all that God the Son taught. It is God the Spirit who will convict us of sin and judgment and who will point us back to the sufficient work of God the Son on the cross to cover that sin by taking God the Father’s judgment on himself. It is the work of God the Spirit that enables us to believe this gospel.

At the cross, God the Father provides the sacrifice required to make atonement for sin. At the cross, it is God the Son who fulfills the requirements of God the Father in order to be the all-sufficient sacrifice for sin. At the cross, it is God the Spirit who will apply the payment for sin made by God the Son to those who believe.

(Prayer)

Father you are all-powerful. You forgive sin, you heal diseases, you redeem our lives from hell, you crown us with your steadfast love and mercy.

You work righteousness and justice for those who trust in you. You are merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

You do not deal with us according to our sins. Because of the work of your son on the cross, you remove our transgressions far from us.  

You are compassionate to your children. Through the work of your spirit you bring us near who had been far away.

Even though we are dust, you remember us. Even though we are like grass that flourishes for a while then is gone, you love us with a steadfast love that will never end.

Thank you for sending your son to live and die in our place. Thank you for offering him as a sacrifice in our place.

Thank you for the work of your spirit that enables us to understand and believe in all that you have done for us. Thank you for your spirit who always lives in those who believe.

Remind us that because of the promises and guarantees that you have made, one day we will see you and will know you more fully and will better understand and appreciate all that you accomplished through the cross.

Amen.