The Prodigal Father

GOD CALLS US TO CONFESS OUR SINS

In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it. Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him! —Isaiah 30:15, 18

CORPORATE CONFESSION OF SIN

Forgive us, O Lord, for everything that spoils our home life: For the moodiness and irritability that make us difficult to live with, for the insensitivity that makes us careless of the feelings of others, for the selfishness that makes life harder for others. Forgive us, O Lord, for everything that spoils our witness for you; that we so often deny with our lives what we say with our lips; for the difference between our creed and our conduct, our profession and our practice; for any example that makes it easier for people to criticize your church or for another to sin. When we think of ourselves and of our sin, we thank you for Jesus Christ, our Savior. Grant us the gift of repentance for our sins. At the foot of the cross, may we find our burdens rolled away. Strengthen us by your Spirit so that in the days to come we might be the sweet aroma of the Lord Jesus to others near and far. For Jesus’ sake, Amen.

GOD ASSURES US OF FORGIVEN SIN

I am sending you to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.’

—Acts 26:17b, 18