Today we join together at Bethesda United Presbyterian Church, Elizabeth at 11:15am for worship. Join us for fellowship at 10:30am prior to the church service.
Worship
Service for August 2, 2026
Prelude
Announcements:
Call to Worship
L: Blessed be the Lord of Hosts, who cleanses
and heals our lives.
P: Praise be to God!
L: Blessed be the Holy One, who brings us
from despair to hope.
P: Praise be to God!
L: Blessed be the Giver of life, who nurtures
and comforts us.
P: Let us praise God with our whole hearts
and souls!
Opening Hymn – My Faith Looks
Up to Thee #383/539 Blue/Brown
Prayer of Confession
Holy God, in the daily grind
of life, we are so often taught to climb the ladder of success by stepping on
each other, focusing only on our own wants and needs. Even as children on a carousel, we were
taught to try to grab the brass ring, and it would fulfill our dreams of glory
and wealth. How we have been corrupted
to think in these terms, O Lord. Our
“dollar for a dream” mentality has gotten us into lots of trouble. We chase after all those false idols that
cannot ever sustain us and bring us peace.
Forgive our stupidity, Lord.
Forgive us when we believe that if we could only win the Lottery,
everything would be OK and we would be happy.
It is only Your Son, Jesus Christ, who leads us in the ways of happiness
and peace, sustaining us with his life-giving water and nourishing bread. Nurture us again, Lord, that we may truly
focus on the ministries and mission You have set before us. (Silent prayers are offered) AMEN.
Assurance of Pardon
L: Jesus Christ is the one eternal Son of
God. Come to Him and know of His great
love for you.
P: We
will find healing in His presence, for God’s love is given to all.
Gloria Patri
Affirmation of Faith/Apostles’
Creed
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 Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under
Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into hell; the
third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on
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 Ghost, the holy catholic Church; the communion of saints, the forgiveness
of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. AMEN
Pastoral Prayer and Lord’s
Prayer
O God of
unity and peace, bind us together as we worship You this day. Strengthen the ties that make us Your
family. Grant us the grace to recognize
our gifts and our place in this body.
Guide us to hear Your calling as You speak to our lives. Encourage us, O Lord, to bravely burst forth
as pastors, teachers, elders, deacons, prophets, and healers, evangelists and
leaders. Dwell in our very hearts, that
we may serve in humility – braided with strength and gentleness, intertwined
with passion, operating out of goodness.
Build us up in love, that we may grow in our knowledge and our love of
You. We ask that You speak Your truth to
our lives, that we may lead lives worthy of Your calling.
Eternal
God, generations have risen and fallen before You. Before the world even began, You were already
God, and from everlasting to everlasting You will always be God. Long ago You poured out Your Spirit on the
leaders of Israel and the church. Today,
we gather to experience your community and Your Spirit anew. Help us, O Lord to be stewards of love and
faithfulness, peace and kindness, gentleness and joy, goodness and hope.
This
morning we lift up to You all those for whom we love who are going through
extraordinary moments in their lives. We
pray for…
In this
time of silence we also pray what is heavy on our hearts…
Through
the love and passion of our dear Savior, we pray together... 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. Forgive us our debts as we forgive our
debtors. And lead us not into
temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. AMEN.
Hymn – Precious Lord, Take My Hand #404/684 Blue/Brown
Scripture Reading:
First Scripture Reading – Genesis 32:22-31
Second Scripture Reading – Romans
8:31-39
Sermon –
Nothing Can Separate Us
Romans 8:31–39
I have read this passage at nearly
every funeral I have ever done. It is
one of those remarkable pieces of scripture and literature wrapped up in just a
few short verses that require us to pay attention. So, this morning I’m going to go through this
text line by line because it’s important for us to fully understand what God,
through Paul, is trying to say to us.
Most of the questions we ask every day
are relatively ordinary. What should we
make for dinner? Will it rain this
afternoon? Did I remember to lock the
door? But every now and then we’re
confronted with questions that reach much deeper, questions that expose our
fears and eventually reveal what we truly believe. Questions like: Why is God silent, has He
forgotten me? When life falls apart, can
I still trust in Him? When I fail, does God
still love me? When suffering comes, is
God punishing me, or has He abandoned me altogether?
Obviously, those are not new
questions. They are as old as faith
itself. Abraham asked them when God
called him to leave everything familiar behind. David asked them while hiding in caves from
Saul. The disciples asked them as the
waves crashed over their boat on the Sea of Galilee. Every generation of believers has wrestled
with those same questions because every generation eventually discovers that
life is unpredictable, and there are moments when circumstances seem to
contradict everything we believe about God.
When Paul wrote to the Roman Church,
he knew that. He spent the first eight
chapters of Romans carefully laying out the good news of the gospel. He spoke of sin and grace, law and faith,
suffering and hope, and the work of the Holy Spirit. Now, as he comes toward the end of this chapter
in his letter, it is almost as though he pauses, looks back over everything he
has written, and asks one final question: "What then are we to say
about these things?"
It’s not a question that actually looks
for new information. It’s an invitation
to stand in awe of everything God has already done. Even though the follow-up statement is in the
form of a question, it is meant to be rhetorical. "If God is for us, who is against
us?"
Paul is not suggesting that
Christians will never face opposition. In
fact, Paul himself experienced almost every kind of opposition imaginable. He was imprisoned, beaten, rejected,
misunderstood, and eventually executed because of his faith. He knew firsthand that following Christ did
not guarantee an easy life.
His point is something much deeper. If the Creator of the universe has claimed us
as His own, then no opposing force, however powerful it may seem, has the
authority to overturn God's purposes. Enemies
may oppose us. Circumstances may
discourage us. Our own doubts may
sometimes overwhelm us. But none of
those things has the final word because God's commitment to His creation is
greater than every obstacle we will ever face.
Paul immediately points us to the
evidence. "He who did not spare
his own Son but gave him up for us all, will he not with him also give us
everything else?" Whenever we
begin to question whether God truly loves us, Paul directs us to the cross
because circumstances are constantly changing. One day life seems full of blessings, and the
next day everything feels uncertain. If
we measure God's love by our circumstances, then our confidence will rise and
fall with every success and every disappointment.
However, Christ’s cross gives us
something far more solid. Whenever we
wonder whether God is still for us, we look first to Calvary. The cross settles forever the question of
God's love because there we see the Father giving His own Son for the salvation
of the entire world. If God has already
given us His greatest gift, why would we believe He has suddenly become
indifferent to our lives now?
From there Paul shifts into the
language of a courtroom. "Who
will bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to
condemn?" Those words would
have resonated deeply in the Roman world, where courts possessed enormous
authority. An accusation could destroy a
person's future. Even today we know the
weight of being accused. But sometimes
the harshest voices are not those around us but the ones inside our own heads. We replay our failures, our regrets, the words
we wish we could take back, and the opportunities we squandered. We become our own prosecutors, constantly
reminding ourselves of everything we have done wrong.
Paul acknowledges that reality but
reminds us that the final verdict has already been rendered. God has justified us in Christ. That does not mean our sins were ignored. It means they were dealt with, from the
foundation of the world, at the cross. Therefore,
the voice that ultimately defines us is not the voice of accusation but the
voice of grace.
Martin Luther once described Satan
as the great accuser who delights in reminding us of our failures. His response was beautifully simple:
"Yes, I have sinned, but Christ has died and risen for me." That is also Paul's confidence. Not confidence in himself. Confidence in Christ.
Then Paul reminds us that the work
of Christ did not end there, but rather with the resurrection. "Christ Jesus...is at the right hand
of God, who indeed intercedes for us."
Sometimes we imagine Jesus completed His work on Good Friday and
Easter morning and then withdrew to heaven, waiting until the end of history. But Paul says something quite different. The risen Christ continues His ministry even
now. Just as the Holy Spirit intercedes
within us, Christ also intercedes for us before the Father. We are never forgotten. We are never neglected. At every moment our lives remain held within
the love and care of the God who created us, within the constant reassurance of
the Holy Spirit, and within the power of the love of the risen Christ.
That truth becomes especially
precious as Paul reaches the emotional climax of this passage. "Who will separate us from the love
of Christ?" Again, notice that
Paul asks the question before answering it. He wants us to think honestly about everything
that threatens our confidence. "Will
hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or
sword?" That list is not
theoretical. Paul had already
experienced many of those hardships personally, and he knew many believers
would experience even worse. Following
Jesus did not shield the early church from suffering. Neither does it shield us today. Our list might sound a little different. Will cancer, depression, the loss of a spouse,
financial uncertainty, a fractured family, an addiction that refuses to loosen
its grip, or the quiet loneliness that so many people carry without anyone else
ever knowing? Those are questions we
might ask today.
These experiences are painfully
real, and the church should never ever minimize them. Faith is not pretending that life is easier
than it really is. Faith is bringing our
whole lives—including our fears and our grief—into the presence of the God who
refuses to let go of us.
I think about mountain climbers who
ascend dangerous cliffs using ropes that are anchored securely above them. Those ropes do not remove the danger of the
climb. The wind still blows. The rocks remain steep. Every step still
requires courage. But the climber moves
differently because he trusts what is holding him. The Christian life is much the same. God never promises a life without steep
climbs. He promises that His love will
never let us fall beyond His grasp.
That is why Paul can make one of the
boldest declarations in all of Scripture.
"No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him
who loved us." We conquer in
the middle of suffering because suffering does not have the power to define the
end of our story. The resurrection has
already rewritten the ending. The worst
thing that could happen to Jesus became the very means through which God
redeemed the world. If God could
transform the cross into the doorway of resurrection, then no sorrow, however
deep, is beyond His redeeming power.
Finally, Paul reaches his
breathtaking conclusion. "For I
am convinced..." Not, "I
hope." Not, "I wish." Not even, "I think." "I am convinced." That conviction was not born from an easy
life. It was forged through shipwrecks,
imprisonments, rejection, and suffering. Paul had tested the faithfulness of God in the
hardest places imaginable, and he had discovered that God's love remained
steadfast every single time.
Then comes the answered list. "Neither death, nor life, nor angels,
nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor
depth, nor anything else in all creation..." Paul searches the entire universe for
anything that might be powerful enough to separate God's people from His love,
and after exhausting every possibility, he finds nothing. Not death.
Not tomorrow's worries. Not
today's failures. Not bullies who tell
you that you do not matter. Not
spiritual powers. Not circumstances
beyond our control. Not even ourselves. Nothing in all creation is stronger than the
love revealed in Jesus Christ. That is
the assurance with which Paul leaves us.
The foundation of our faith is not
the strength of our grip on Christ but the strength of Christ's grip on us. There will be seasons when our faith feels
small. There will be days when our
courage falters and our prayers seem weak. There will even be moments when we wonder how
we will make it through another day. But
our security has never rested on our ability to hold on. It has always rested on God's determination
never to let us go.
So, whatever waits for you this
week—whether it is good news or difficult news, whether it brings joy or
uncertainty—you do not walk into it alone. The Christ who died for you now lives for you.
The Christ who rose for you now
intercedes for you. And the love that
reached out to you before you ever sought God is the same love that will carry
you safely home. Nothing can separate us
from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Amen.
Offertory –
Doxology –
Prayer of Dedication –
Through
these gifts, O God, may we grow in the knowledge of Christ and be strengthened
in the unity of faith. We ask, precious
Lord, that you transform them into the bread of life so that in our giving
others may be fed. And we ask that You
make these gifts into living waters that spring up into eternal life so that in
our giving others may be nurtured and strengthened as children of God. In Your name we pray. AMEN.
Holy
Communion
The Invitation:
Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I
give to you. If you love me, rejoice
because I am going to the Father.”
Today, we are invited to join with Christ at the Table and in so doing
we join one another to be nourished by the one who tells us, “I am the Bread of
Life.” All are invited, so come.
God’s blessings are poured out to us through the life,
death, work, and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ, by whose grace creation
is renewed, by whose love heaven is opened, by whose mercy we offer our
sacrifice of praise. God’s love compels
us to come to the Table. At the Table we
are cleansed and fed with the precious elements of body and blood that God may
live in us and we in him, and that we, with the whole company of Christ may sit
and eat in God’s kingdom.
The Breaking of the Bread and the Pouring of the Cup
On the night before He died he had supper with
his friends and, taking bread, Jesus gave praise to God. He broke the bread, gave it to them and said,
“Take, eat, this is my body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of
me.”
(Bread is distributed)
When supper was ended he took the cup. Again, he gave praise to God and gave it to
them and said, “Drink this, all of you; this is my blood of the new covenant,
which is shed for you and for all for the forgiveness of sins. Do this, as often as you drink it, in
remembrance of me.
(The Cup is distributed)
Prayer after Communion
Lord of all life, help us to work together for
the day when your kingdom comes and justice and mercy will be seen in all the
earth. Look with favor upon us, your
people, gather us in your loving arms and bring us with all the saints to feast
at your Holy Table in heaven. As we
listen to Your word, worship you in majesty, long for your refreshing,
renewing, equipping, and empowering; we wait.
We wait for the day of your return, but we work for the establishment of
the Kingdom of God now. Open our hearts
to the wonder and joy of your Holy Spirit that teaches us anew every day. AMEN.
Closing
Hymn – Amazing Grace #280/343
Blue/Brown
Benediction –
Friends, we
are joined together in Christ in order to share our gifts with the world. Knit together by Christ, we strive for the
goodness God’s Spirit grants us, being convinced that nothing can separate from
Your love. Go in peace to serve the
Lord. AMEN.
Postlude
