The Order of Worship – February 22, 2026

This is the 53rd Day of 2026.
There are 303 more days remaining in 2025.

Filled with the Holy Spirit,
we are a people of prayer
committed to love one another
and equipped to share Christ’s love
throughout the world.

Prelude:

Welcome & Announcements:

This month’s mission focus is the Arms of Mercy
Bible Study is all new at afaithtalk.com on Tuesday!
Call to Worship: Jesus Walked This Lonesome Valley (F)

Responsive Reading:  Psalm 32
Mercy embraces us

¹ Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
² Happy are those to whom the LORD imputes no iniquity,
and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
³ While I kept silence, my body wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
⁴ For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; 
my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.
⁵ Then I acknowledged my sin to you, 
and I did not hide my iniquity;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,”
and you forgave the guilt of my sin. 
⁶ Therefore let all who are faithful offer prayer to you; 
at a time of distress, the rush of mighty
waters shall not reach them.
⁷ You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; 
you surround me with glad cries of deliverance.
⁸ I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; 
I will counsel you with my eye upon you.
⁹ Do not be like a horse or a mule, without understanding, 
whose temper must be curbed with bit and bridle,
else it will not stay near you.
¹⁰ Many are the torments of the wicked, 
but steadfast love surrounds those who trust in the LORD.
¹¹ Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, O righteous, 
and shout for joy, all you upright in heart.
Praise the Lord!

Opening Hymn: Lord Throughout These 40 Days…#269 (F)
Verse 1

Lord, who throughout these forty days,
For us didst fast and pray,
Teach us with thee to mourn our sins,
And close by thee to stay.

Verse 2 

As thou with Satan didst contend,
and didst the victory win,
O give us strength in thee to fight,
in thee to conquer sin.

Verse 3

As you didst hunger bear and thirst,
so teach us, gracious Lord,
to die to self, and chiefly live
by thy most holy word.

Verse 4 

And through these days of penitence,
and through your Passion-tide,
yea, evermore, in life and death,
Jesus, with us abide.

Verse 5 

Abide with us that so this life
of suffering over past,
an Easter of unending joy
we may attain at last!

Affirmation of Faith:
The Apostle’s Creed..No. 881

I believe in God the Father Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth;
and in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord:
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified,
dead,
and buried;
the third day he rose from the dead;
he ascended into heaven,
and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
from thence he shall come to judge
the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.

Gloria Patri…Page 70

Glory be to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen. Amen.

Praise Song: Woke Up This Morning (E)
Verse 1

I woke up this morning with my mind stayed on Jesus
I woke up this morning with my mind stayed on Jesus
I woke up this morning with my mind stayed on Jesus
Hallelu Hallelu Hallelujah 

Verse 2

I’m walking and talking with my mind stayed on Jesus
I’m walking and talking with my mind stayed on Jesus
I’m walking and talking with my mind stayed on Jesus
Hallelu Hallelu Hallelujah

Verse 3 

Satan don’t want to let your mind stay on Jesus
Satan don’t want to let your mind stay on Jesus
Satan don’t want to let your mind stay on Jesus
Hallelu Hallelu Hallelujah

Verse 4

Everybody ought to let their mind stay on Jesus
Everybody ought to let their mind stay on Jesus
Everybody ought to let their mind stay on Jesus
Hallelu Hallelu Hallelujah

Verse 1

I woke up this morning with my mind stayed on Jesus
I woke up this morning with my mind stayed on Jesus
I woke up this morning with my mind stayed on Jesus
Hallelu Hallelu Hallelujah 
Hallelu Hallelu Hallelujah 

Pastoral Prayer
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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 trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory,
forever. Amen.

Anthem: How Deep the Father’s Love for Us (D)

Offertory

Doxology:

Praise God from whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly hosts;
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen

Children’s Moment
Children’s Song (Ain’t No Rock (Em))
Verse 1

Ain’t no rock gonna cry in my place 
As long as I’m alive I’ll glorify His holy name 
Ain’t no  rock gonna cry in my place 
As long as I’m a live I’ll glorify His holy name 

Chorus

Praise His holy name 
As long as I’m alive I’ll glorify His holy name 
Praise His holy name 
As long as I’m alive 
I’ll glorify His holy name

Verse 2

Ain’t no bird gonna flap his feathers 
As long as I’m alive I’ll glorify His holy name 
Ain’t no bird gonna flap his feathers 
As long as I’m alive I’ll glorify His holy name 

Verse 3

Ain’t no  tree gonna wave its branches 
As long as I’m alive I’ll glorify His holy name 
Ain’t no tree gonna wave its branches 
As long as I’m alive I’ll glorify His holy name 

Prayer for Illumination
Lord, open our hearts and minds by the power of your Holy Spirit, that as the Scriptures are read and your Word is proclaimed, we may hear with joy what you say to us today. Amen.

Old Testament Reading: Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7
Eating of the tree of knowledge

¹⁵ The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it.

¹⁶ And the LORD God commanded the man, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; ¹⁷ but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.”

^3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

² The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; ³ but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.’”

⁴ But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die; ⁵ for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

⁶ So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate.

⁷ Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.
Leader: The Word of God for the people of God
All: Thanks be to God

New Testament Reading: Romans 5:12-19
Death came, life comes

¹² Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death came through sin, and so death spread to all because all have sinned-¹³ sin was indeed in the world before the law, but sin is not reckoned when there is no law.

¹⁴ Yet death exercised dominion from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sins were not like the transgression of Adam, who is a type of the one who was to come.

¹⁵ But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died through the one man’s trespass, much more surely have the grace of God and the free gift in the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abounded for the many.

¹⁶ And the free gift is not like the effect of the one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brings justification.

¹⁷ If, because of the one man’s trespass, death exercised dominion through that one, much more surely will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness exercise dominion in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.

¹⁸ Therefore just as one man’s trespass led to condemnation for all, so one man’s act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all.

¹⁹ For just as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.
Leader: The Word of God for the people of God
All: Thanks be to God 

Sermon Text: Matthew 4:1-11
The temptation of Jesus

¹ Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. ² He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished.

³ The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”

⁴ But he answered, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

⁵ Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, ⁶ saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’”

⁷ Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

⁸ Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; ⁹ and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.”

¹⁰ Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’”

¹¹ Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.
Leader: This is the Word of God for the people of God
All: Thanks be to God

Sermon:  “Forty Days in the Wilderness”

Closing Hymn: O God Our Help in Ages Past…117 (C)
Verse 1

O God, our help in ages past,
our hope for years to come,
our shelter from the stormy blast,
and our eternal home!

Verse 6

O God, our help in ages past,
our hope for years to come;
be thou our guide while life shall last,
and our eternal home.

Filled Up and Poured Out

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