We encourage you to read and reflect on these scriptures, songs, notes, and prayers as we look forward to our time of worship together this coming Sunday.

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Please print this guide or have it handy in digital format for use during the service.

And don’t forget to join us Sunday immediately following the service in our virtual foyer for a group video chat! It’s easy to join! Just click here.

CALL TO WORSHIP

Please join in on the bolded lines.

Come and worship, everyone on earth, everywhere the sun shines,
Let’s praise God together!
For listening when we call, hearing our prayers, forgiving our mistakes, and providing what we need:
Let’s praise God together!
Come and worship, everyone on earth, everywhere the sun shines,
Let’s praise God together!

MUSIC: REJOICE

CCLI #7004663 | Dustin Kensrue and Stuart Townend ©2013
Performed by Emmaus Road Worship Team

CONFESSIONAL PRAYER

Please join in on the bolded lines.

Father, we confess that our hearts are often not steadfast toward You.
Truth be told, our allegiances are divided and we are half-hearted creatures.
Jesus, find us in our slumbering ways and awaken our sleepy affections.
Open our eyes to see Your beauty and grace with a new freshness.
Spirit, shine a spotlight on any wayward way in our lives.
Plant boldness and courage and strength to love and follow You.
(Psalm 108)

ASSURANCE OF FORGIVENESS

You are invited to hold your hands out, palm-up as we receive His grace.

We no longer need to live as slaves to our sinful natures.
Sin has no claim on us anymore,
because through the power of the Holy Spirit,
we have put to death our old ways of acting and thinking.
We have been given new life as God’s own children.
So be at peace: your sins are forgiven!
Thanks be to God!
(Inspired by Romans 8:12-14)

All: Thanks be to God

MUSIC: TREMBLE

CCLI #7065049 | Andres Figueroa, Hank Bentley, Mariah McManus, and Mia Fieldes © 2016
Performed by Emmaus Road Worship Team

WORD

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God At Work

Sermon Scripture:
Romans 8:9-13 (NTE)

RECAP

We are working our way backward through Romans 8. We began with vss. 28-30 where we learned that God works in the midst of all things….with us….for the good. 

Glory, when applied to humanity, is an elevation of status or authority. Creation is waiting for the children of God to be glorified (take their rightful place as co-rulers over new creation). 

Christian hope is not the same as optimism or escape, but is rooted in resurrection. When the world was headed toward death, God intervened in the person of Jesus Christ, so that new creation and resurrection has begun right in our midst.  

BODY OF DEATH, SPIRIT OF LIFE

In the middle section of Romans 8 (vss. 5-11), Paul makes a couple of comparisons. He contrasts the flesh and the spirit as well as sin and the Spirit. Take a look at verse 10, “the body is indeed dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of covenant justice.” (NTE) 

There are sinful actions, but there is also the reality of the power of sin. Sin as a power is the intangible thing that draws us to sin actions. This, Paul says, has consequences for creation (vss. 19-21) and our bodies (vs. 10).  

But, Paul goes on to say in verse 11, the spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead lives within you, the one who raised the Messiah will give life to your moral bodies through that spirit. 

This leaves us with quite a conundrum. What does it mean to have a body of death and yet live with the spirit of life? 

Martin Luther used a Latin phrase to describe this inner tension: Simul justus et peccator, which means “at once righteous yet a sinner.” 

New Testament scholar John Barclay suggests this latin phrase: Simul mortuus et vivens, which means “at once dead yet alive.”  

Our bodies bear the marks of the old order of things and have become subject to death.

BUT, Paul says, the Spirit inside of us is a downpayment of the new order of things. Our bodies are subjected to the old creation, but the Spirit inside of us bears witness to the new creation that is yet to come!

So, we are dead (we live in a body that has been subjected to death because of sin as a power) and yet alive (the same Spirit that raised Christ lives in us).  

SO WHAT?

Verse 12-13, “So then, my dear family, we are in debt – but not to human flesh, to live our life in that way. if you live in accordance with the flesh, you will die; but if, by the spirit, you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”  

It used to be that we had a bent toward sin and things that lead to death and it appeared we had no choice but to live according to the old sinful ways. But now, because of the Spirit, we have a new obligation to Christ and his Spirit within us. 

Think of it this way: It used to be that the highway of our lives was a one-way highway. The only choice was to go in the way of old creation, the old order. Now, through the Spirit who lives in us, another lane has opened up and we can go in another direction! We don’t have to go in the direction of the old order, the old way, we can now move in the direction of new creation. Our lives now have a new trajectory.  

And we have a role to play and a choice to make. Do we live in accordance with the first order which results in death. Or do we live according to the Spirit of life? 

TABLE

Prepare the elements of “bread” and “wine” for use as we gather around The Lord’s Table. These can be any items convenient around the home that symbolize these for you. 

CONFESSION OF THE MYSTERY OF FAITH

Christ has died.
Christ is risen. 
Christ will come again.

PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE

As we pray together, we invite you to share your own requests and testimonies with us this week. If you have a request you can share it live in our video stream chat, or you may email us at emmausroadfc@gmail.com

THE LORD’S PRAYER

Our Father in heaven,
        hallowed be your Name,
        your kingdom come,
        your will be done,
        on earth as in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our sins
        as we forgive those
        who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation, 
        and deliver us from evil.
For yours is the kingdom, 
        and the power,
        and the glory for ever and ever.
Amen.

BENEDICTION

You are invited to hold your hands out, palm-up as we receive this benediction.

As you go from here, remember this:
the same Spirit of God who raised Jesus Christ from the dead,
also lives in you,
breathing new life and freedom into your hearts and minds.
So go from here with joy and confidence,
knowing that God Is at work within you.
(Inspired by Romans 8:10-11)