Service for October 5, 2025

Click here to listen to entire service

Prelude

Call to Worship

I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever;

With my mouth will I make known Your faithfulness to all generations.

2 For I have said, “Mercy shall be built up forever;

Your faithfulness You shall establish in the very heavens.”

Psalm 89:1-2

Hymn # 347 The Church’s One Foundation (vs. 1,2.5,6)

1 The church's one foundation

is Jesus Christ, her Lord;

she is his new creation

by water and the Word:

from heav'n he came and sought her

to be his holy bride;

with his own blood he bought her,

and for her life he died.

2 Elect from ev'ry nation,

yet one o'er all the earth,

her charter of salvation

one Lord, one faith, one birth;

one holy name she blesses,

partakes one holy food,

and to one hope she presses,

with ev'ry grace endued.

5 'Mid toil and tribulation,

and tumult of her war,

she waits the consummation

of peace forevermore;

till with the vision glorious

her longing eyes are blest,

and the great church victorious

shall be the church at rest.

6 Yet she on earth hath union

with God the Three in One,

and mystic sweet communion

with those whose rest is won:

O happy ones and holy!

Lord, give us grace that we,

like them, the meek and lowly,

on high may dwell with thee.

Call To Confession

Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.

Romans 12:9–14 (NKJV):

Out of the depths I have cried to You, O Lord;

Lord, hear my voice!

Let Your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.

If You, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?

But there is forgiveness with You that You may be feared.

Psalm 130:1–4 (NKJV)

Confession of Sins

Let us, therefore, confess our sin, saying together:

Merciful Heavenly Father, pardon us our many sins; the sins we know and the sins hidden from our conscience. Cleanse us from wrong motives and forgive us for feeble obedience. By your Spirit renew our hearts to love you, our minds to know you, and our wills to obey you. For we ask this mercy in the name of your Son who shed his blood for us. Amen.

Word of Assurance

God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.

Romans 5:8–9 (NKJV)

Song of Renewal

My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;

I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus’ name.

On Christ the solid rock I stand; all other ground is sinking sand, all other ground is sinking sand.

Trinity Hymnal # 521, stanza 1

Scripture Lessons: Ephesians 5:22-33

22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. 24 Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.

25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. 28 So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. 30 For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. 31 “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. 33 Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

Sermon

Hymn # 535 O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus

1 O the deep, deep love of Jesus!

Vast, unmeasured, boundless, free;

rolling as a mighty ocean

in its fullness over me.

Underneath me, all around me,

is the current of thy love;

leading onward, leading homeward,

to thy glorious rest above.

2 O the deep, deep love of Jesus!

Spread his praise from shore to shore;

how he loveth, ever loveth,

changeth never, nevermore;

how he watches o'er his loved ones,

died to call them all his own;

how for them he intercedeth,

watcheth o'er them from the throne.

3 O the deep, deep love of Jesus!

Love of ev'ry love the best:

'tis an ocean vast of blessing,

'tis a haven sweet of rest.

O the deep, deep love of Jesus!

'tis a heav'n of heav'ns to me;

and it lifts me up to glory,

for it lifts me up to thee.

Prayer of the Church and the Lord’s Prayer

“Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”

The Nicene Creed page 846

We believe in one God, the Father Almighty,

Maker of heaven and earth,

of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God,

begotten of his Father before all worlds,

God of God, Light of Light,

very God of very God,

begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father;

by whom all things were made;

who for us and for our salvation

came down from heaven,

and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary,

and was made man;

and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate;

he suffered and was buried;

and the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures,

and ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father;

and he shall come again, with glory, to judge both the living and the dead;

whose kingdom shall have no end.

And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life,

who proceeds from the Father and the Son;

who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified;

who spoke by the prophets;

and we believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church;

we acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins;

and we look for the resurrection of the dead,

and the life of the world to come. Amen.

Hymn – In Christ Alone (vs.1-3)

1 In Christ alone my hope is found,

He is my light, my strength, my song

This Cornerstone, this solid Ground,

Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.

What heights of love, what depths of peace

When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!

My Comforter, my All in All,

Here in the love of Christ I stand.

2 In Christ alone! - who took on flesh,

Fullness of God in helpless babe!

This gift of love and righteousness,

Scorned by the ones He came to save:

Till on that cross as Jesus died,

The wrath of God was satisfied -

For every sin on Him was laid;

Here in the death of Christ I live.

3 There in the ground His body lay,

Light of the world by darkness slain:

Then bursting forth in glorious day

Up from the grave He rose again!

And as He stands in victory

Sin's curse has lost its grip on me,

For I am His and He is mine-

Bought with the precious blood of Christ

The Lord’s Supper

Hymn – In Christ Alone (vs. 4)

4 No guilt in life, no fear in death,

This is the power of Christ in me;

From life's first cry to final breath,

Jesus commands my destiny.

No power of hell, no scheme of man,

Can ever pluck me from His hand;

Till He returns or calls me home,

Here in the power of Christ I'll stand!

Benediction