July 12th, Sermon & Ministry Resources
"The Life of the Spirit" (Romans 8:1-11)
Lectionary Readings — Proper10 — July 12, 2026
Genesis 25:19-34; Psalm 119:105-112; Romans 8:1-11; Matthew 13:1-9,18-23
Call to Worship (based on Romans 8:1-11)
Leader: There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
People: We come in from a week that accused us — voices of failure, voices of shame, voices that reminded us of every place we fell short. We come to worship the God who has silenced every one of them.
Leader: The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set us free from the law of sin and death.
People: We were not strong enough to free ourselves. We tried and we know it. Thanks be to God — the freedom we could not earn has been given to us as a gift.
Leader: God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. He condemned sin in the flesh by sending His own Son.
People: What we owed, He paid. What we could not carry, He bore. We worship today not because we have kept our end of any bargain, but because He has kept every promise He ever made.
Leader: To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.
People: Turn our minds, O Lord. We confess how quickly they drift toward worry, toward self, toward the things of this world that cannot satisfy. Set our minds on You. Be our life and our peace in this hour.
Leader: You are not in the flesh — you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you.
People: We do not come to You as strangers hoping to be noticed. We come as those in whom Your Spirit lives. Draw us deeper into that reality today — that we might live from it rather than merely believe it.
Leader: If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.
People: The same power that rolled back the stone and walked out of the tomb is alive in us. We have no reason to live as though death has the final word.
All: We worship You, Father — the God of no condemnation, the God of the giving Spirit, the God of resurrection life. What the law could not do, You did. What death could not hold, You raised. And what we could not become, You are making us. To You alone be glory, now and forever. Amen.
Opening Prayer (based on Psalm 119:105-112)
Let us pray:
Father, we confess that we have tried to find our way in the dark.
We have trusted our own instincts and stumbled. We have followed our own reasoning and ended up in places we never intended to go. We have listened to voices that promised to show us the way, and found ourselves more lost than when we started. And so we come to You this morning with the weariness of people who have been navigating without a light.
Thank You that You have not left us without one.
Your word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. Not a floodlight that illuminates everything at once — but a lamp. Enough light for the next step. Enough clarity for the ground directly beneath us. You have never promised to show us the end of the road from where we are standing. You have promised to show us where to put our feet. Teach us to trust that. Teach us to stop demanding the whole map when You have given us all the light we actually need.
We confess, Father, that we have not always treasured what You have given us. Your word sits on our shelves and on our phones and within arm’s reach at almost every moment of our lives — and still we go days without opening it, without sitting under it, without letting it speak into the places where we are most confused and most afraid. Forgive us for treating as ordinary what is anything but ordinary. Forgive us for reaching for every other source of direction before we reach for Yours.
We come this morning as people who have made vows and struggled to keep them — who have promised to obey Your righteous ordinances and found the resolve harder to hold than we expected. We do not come boasting in our faithfulness. We come leaning on Yours. You are the one who keeps every promise You have ever made, and we are grateful that our standing before You rests on that — and not on ours.
Your testimonies are the joy of our hearts — or they ought to be. Stir that joy in us again this morning. Where familiarity has bred indifference, awaken us. Where discouragement has made the word feel distant, draw us back. Where the noise of this world has drowned out the steady, faithful voice of Scripture, quiet everything else and let Your word be heard.
We incline our hearts to You this morning — not to the end of the road, not to the full resolution of every hard thing we are carrying — but to You, and to the next step You are illuminating. That is enough. You are enough.
Speak to us now through the preaching of Your word. And lead us, one faithful step at a time, all the way home.
In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
[NOTE to Paid subscribers — scroll down for the full manuscript sermon]
Sermon Outline: "THE LIFE OF THE SPIRIT"
Based on Romans 8:1-11
I. The Condemnation That Is Gone (vv. 1–4)
II. The Contrast That Is Clear (vv. 5–8)
III. The Christ Who Is Within (vv. 9–11)
Full Manuscript Sermon Below for Paid Subscribers
