February 22, 2026
New Britain · 10 a.m.
South Windsor · 12:00 p.m.
Newington · 2:00 p.m.
Hymn
Blessed Assurance
Fanny Crosby
Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
O, what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long;
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long.
Perfect submission, perfect delight,
Visions of rapture now burst on my sight;
Angels descending, bring from above
Echoes of mercy, whispers of love. Refrain
Perfect submission, all is at rest,
I in my Savior am happy and blest;
Watching and waiting, looking above,
Filled with His goodness, lost in His love. Refrain
Scripture Reading
Genesis 3:8-24
Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
14 So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,
“Cursed are you above all livestock
and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust
all the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel.”
16 To the woman he said,
“I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;
with painful labor you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you.”
17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’
“Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat food from it
all the days of your life.
18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return.”
20 Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living.
21 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. 22 And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” 23 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.
Message
The State of Those Who Have Left God
No hero, king, or intellectual has ever been successful while separated from God. Even if they achieved worldly success, they had no peace; and because they were not children of God, they could not enter His embrace. This is why there have been more than 16,000 wars in history, including two Great World Wars. Even today, true peace is absent from this world. People try everything within their power to find joy, yet it is all in vain. They find themselves in greater suffering, sinking deeper into this corrupted world.
1. People live their lives in guilt.
1) Mankind hid among the trees of the garden, away from the Lord (Genesis 3:8).2) They were afraid because they were naked (Genesis 3:10).
3) They felt shame and humiliation (Genesis 3:11).
2. Mankind lives life without knowing the cause of failure.
1) God called Adam and asked where he was (Genesis 3:9).
2) He did not realize how fearsome sin could be (Genesis 3:11).
3) He gave excuses for his own wrongdoing (Genesis 3:12).
4) She passed the responsibility for her sin to others (Genesis 3:13).
3. Those who are separated from God live within curses.
1) The serpent received a curse worse than the other livestock and animals (Genesis 3:14).
2) The pain in childbearing became severe, and the husband was to rule over the wife (Genesis 3:16).
3) The land was cursed, yielding only through painful toil (Genesis 3:17).
4) The land had lost its original value (Genesis 3:18).
4. God gave the Gospel (Genesis 3:15).
Knowing that mankind could not solve their problems, God promised to send the offspring of the woman to crush the head of the serpent.
5. God gave them an opportunity (Genesis 3:22-24).
Conclusion. We have been saved through grace (Ephesians 2:8). To those of us who have received salvation, God has given the blessings of 24, 25, and eternity. If we enjoy these blessings from now on, God will grant us a ‘300%’ blessing—the filling of the Holy Spirit. He will raise us up as witnesses to save others.
1. Three Concentrations: 24
Concentrating three times a day—morning, afternoon, and night—is the practice of “24”.
2. Three Settings: 25
When we do this, the things of the Throne—platform, watchtower, and antenna— are set within us. This manifestation of God’s power is “25”.
3. Three Answers: Eternity
God will grant us answers that remain forever. These—answer (problems), renewal (conflicts), and opportunity (crises)—are the things of Eternity that transcend time and space.
Forum and Prayer