Gracious and Merciful Father, 

We come before you to confess our sin as Your redeemed and beloved children. May Your Spirit alone convict us of our sin and remind us of our pardon in Christ through repentance.

We confess that we often fail to love those around us in Christ in the places that You have sovereignly placed us out of Your love for us in Christ. Jeremiah 29:1-14

We confess all of these things before You because You are faithful to forgive us in Christ. Bless us with the assurance of our pardon by Your Holy Spirit in Christ alone by faith alone through Your grace alone from Your Word.

Amen.

Assurance of Pardon

John 10:7-18

⁷ So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. ⁸ All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. ⁹ I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. ¹⁰ The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. ¹¹ I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.¹² He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. ¹³ He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. ¹⁴ I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, ¹⁵ just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. ¹⁶ And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.¹⁷ For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again.¹⁸ No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”