Online Worship

ORDER OF WORSHIP

(This Online Worship will be updated each Sunday by the afternoon. This is offered for those who may be shut-ins or for those who are unable to physically attend an in-person worship or as a supplemental blessing... but is not a replacement for regularly attending congregational worship service.)

OCTOBER 26, 2025

REFORMATION SUNDAY 

CALL TO WORSHIP & INVOCATION

 

HYMN OF PRAISE A Mighty Fortress Is Our God - David Wesley

THE WISDOM KEEPING +         Deacon Tanya Norwood

A time of sharing biblical wisdom with our children

A SPECIAL REFORMATION DAY RESPONSIVE READING *  From Ephesians 2:1–10; Romans 1:17 (ESV)

Leader: And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience

People: Among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 

Leader: But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 

People: So that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 

Leader: For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 

People: For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Leader: As it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

People: We are saved by Grace Alone, through Faith Alone, in Christ Alone, in accordance with the Scriptures Alone, to the Glory of God Alone!

PRAYER - (Modified from “A Prayer of Thanks for the Reformation and its Reformers” at  https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/erik-raymond/prayer-thanks-reformation-reformers/anneroftruth.org/us/devotional/openness/  

Dear heavenly Father, we praise your name this Lord’s Day morning. We are indebted to you for preserving us for this glorious privilege of assembling together in obedience to your Word. We thank you for your everlasting covenant love. Dear Lord Jesus, we are indebted to you for our redemption; for dying for our sins. Oh, Holy Spirit, we are filled with gratitude for your convicting us of our sins when all we deserved was eternal judgment; thank you for turning our hardened heart of stone into a heart of flesh; for granting us repentance and faith, and for daily sanctifying us through your Word. Lord, we are eternally grateful to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. We thank you for that providential and courageous and monumental hour in history and that we are reaping its triumphant benefits to this very day. We thank you for the unflinching audacity of those who would not back down from Pope, prelate or the devil himself. We are grateful for the five Solas that set in stone a renewed foundation for the church. We thank you for Sola scriptura: “Scripture alone” – without the inspired, inerrant, infallible, all-sufficient Word of God we would be lost in a maze of the traditions and schemes of men. We thank you for Sola fide: “faith alone” – that wonderful gift granted to us through no merit of our own. And we rejoice that Sola fide is closely knit to Sola gratia: “grace alone” the banner that was raised high destroying the damnable doctrine of salvation by works by which no one could ever hope to be saved. For by grace we are saved through faith and not of works, but by that glorious free gift of God. Thank you for delivering us from legalism. Oh Lord, where is boasting when as we ponder that great reformation cry Solus Christus: “Christ alone” – the Lamb of God that bore the wrath of God for undeserving sinners condemned by God. We are humbled today that in Christ alone we have been given a righteousness that is not our own.  Well did Luther sing: Did we in our own strength confide, Our striving would be losing; Were not the right Man on our side, The Man of God’s own choosing. Together we cry with our fellow reformers, Soli Deo gloria: “to the glory of God alone.”  Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness! (Psa 115:1) We thank you for the Luthers, the Calvins, the Zwinglis and so many more who stood in the face of Rome and brought great light out of darkness, hope from oppression, truth out of error, liberty from tyranny, sanity to sheer madness. Oh Lord, give us the backbone and determination to stand as they did; We hear their calls, and hunger for the day When with [them and] Christ we stand in Glory. Amen

MINISTRY OF MUSIC    In Christ Alone - David Wesley

THE SERMON  The Rev. Dr. J. R. Norwood,  “Reasons to Rejoice and not Fear”

Sermon Focal Text -  Matthew 5:11-16 (ESV)

A CALL TO REPENTANCE 

BLESSING OF TITHES AND OFFERINGS 

CLOSING BLESSING (Numbers. 6:24-26) “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.” 

 

Whom Shall I Fear (The God of Angel Armies) - David Wesley

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This Week's Devotional Scripture Readings

October’s Theme: “Pursuing Peace and Justice”

November’s Theme: “Offering God Thanks and Praise”

Sunday: Micah 2:1–13

Monday: Micah 3:1–12

Tuesday: Micah 4:1—5:1

Wednesday: Micah 5:2–15

Thursday: Micah 6:1–16

Friday: Micah 7:1–20       

Saturday: Psalm 8

Next Sunday’s Children’s Bible Memory Verse

Proverbs 16:3