After Pentecost | Thursday 13 Nov 2025
+ In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen
Opening prayer:
O God,
whose blessed Son came into the world
that he might destroy the works of the devil
and make us children of God and heirs of eternal life:
Grant that, having this hope,
we may purify ourselves as he is pure;
that, when he comes again with power and great glory,
we may be made like him in his eternal and glorious kingdom;
where he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven
against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men,
who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.”
(Romans 1:18-25)
__________
OT Hymn: Isaiah 12 – “Great is the Holy One of Israel” (NKJV) | Esther Mui
__________
OT Reading: Isaiah 57:14-21 (ESV)
“Build up, build up, prepare the way,
remove every obstruction from my people’s way.”
+ For thus says the One who is high and lifted up,
who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:
“I dwell in the high and holy place,
and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit,
to revive the spirit of the lowly,
and to revive the heart of the contrite.
+ For I will not contend forever,
nor will I always be angry;
for the spirit would grow faint before me,
and the breath of life that I made.
+ Because of the iniquity of his unjust gain I was angry,
I struck him; I hid my face and was angry,
but he went on backsliding in the way of his own heart.
+ I have seen his ways, but I will heal him;
I will lead him and restore comfort to him and his mourners,
creating the fruit of the lips.
+ Peace, peace, to the far and to the near,” says the Lord,
“and I will heal him.
+ But the wicked are like the tossing sea;
for it cannot be quiet,
and its waters toss up mire and dirt.
+ There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.”
__________
No Rest for the Wicked | Anointed Family
__________
NT Reading: Romans 1:18-25 (ESV)
God’s Wrath on Unrighteousness
1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
1:24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
__________
Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise | Steve Green / Abounding Joy
__________
Merciful God, you desire not the death of sinners, but rather that they should turn to you and live; and through your only Son you have revealed yourself as the God who pardons iniquity. Have mercy on the unrepentant and those who do not believe. Awaken in them, by your Word and Holy Spirit, a deep sense of their sinfulness and peril. Take from them all ignorance, hardness of heart, and contempt of your Word. Grant them to know and believe that there is no other Name under heaven given among men by which they must be saved, but only the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so bring them home and number them among your children, that they may be yours for ever; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.
Almighty God, we pray for the peace of Jerusalem: Thank you for your intervention in the deliverance of the hostages from captivity; restore the souls of the living and comfort those who mourn the loss of the dead. Protect your people from the machinations of the evil one; and, as events unfold, grant Israel’s leaders your heavenly wisdom, and the courage to do what’s right in your sight. Unite all your people around the common goal of restoration and peace, that they might return to you – the one true God – through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Heavenly Father, you have promised to hear what we ask in the Name of your Son: Accept and fulfill our petitions, we pray, not as we ask in our ignorance, nor as we deserve in our sinfulness, but as you know and love us in your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Closing: FaithandWorship.com | John Birch
The Lord bless us, and preserve us from all evil,
and keep us in eternal life.
+ In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
And now I ask you, dear lady—not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning—that we love one another. And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it. For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward. Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.
1:16 For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
20:34 And Jesus said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, for they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed, in the passage about the bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to him.”