Hearing God’s Voice from His Word
James 4:8 says, “Come near to God and he will come near to you.”
Take a moment and turn your attention to God. Tell God that you desire to trust and obey Him. Ask God to speak to you from His word.
Psalm of the Day
Psalm 50:1 The Mighty One, God, the Lord, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to where it sets.
Read the entire Psalm
The Lord Speaks. Thank God for this reality. He is Mighty. He is God. He is the Lord. Rather than being distant or “too good for us” in some snobbish way, He speaks. Rather than ignore us, He speaks. We don’t have to wonder what He is thinking because He speaks. Praise the God who speaks.
SCRIPTURE READING:
1 Peter 1:10-12 – The Message
10-12 The prophets who told us this was coming asked a lot of questions about this gift of life God was preparing. The Messiah’s Spirit let them in on some of it—that the Messiah would experience suffering, followed by glory. They clamored to know who and when. All they were told was that they were serving you, you who by orders from heaven have now heard for yourselves—through the Holy Spirit—the Message of those prophecies fulfilled. Do you realize how fortunate you are? Angels would have given anything to be in on this!
1 Peter 1:24-25 – The Message
22-25 Now that you’ve cleaned up your lives by following the truth, love one another as if your lives depended on it. Your new life is not like your old life. Your old birth came from mortal sperm; your new birth comes from God’s living Word. Just think: a life conceived by God himself! That’s why the prophet said,
The old life is a grass life,
its beauty as short-lived as wildflowers;
Grass dries up, flowers wilt,
God’s Word goes on and on forever.
This is the Word that conceived the new life in you.
Having God’s Ear through Prayer
- Express thanksgiving to God.
- Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal sin to you.
- Confess your sin to Him and receive forgiveness.
(1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sin He is faithful and just and will forgive our sins.”) - Bring your personal requests to God.
(Psalm 62:8 “Pour out your heart before God”) - Pray for someone in your small group.
- Join with others from River and pray for Christian Challenge as they meet tonight at River.
Living as God’s People by applying the Bible
Scripture Reflection from the Sermon
We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty….Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
2 Peter 1:16, 20-21
There were hundreds of eyewitnesses to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Peter of course was one of them. In fact, he had a front row seat to all of Jesus’ ministry life. He was a reliable eyewitness to Christ. Notice what he said he was an eyewitness to: the “majesty” of Jesus. His majesty refers to his status as King. He is the promised King of the Old Testament. He is the King over all creation. He is the coming King who will return in justice. Now, he is to be the King of our hearts and lives. When you live in a kingdom, you do what the king wants done. If the king is a despot, this means you will suffer. If the king is a good king, then doing what he wants done leads to a thriving life. Our King has spoken; he has revealed who he is and what he wants through his spokesmen. However, the Bible’s origin is not in the will of those men but in the will of God. We can know the mind of God because God has made his mind known in his word. This is a thing to marvel at. The being who has made the cosmos has spoken to us in his word. He ensured that his will and ways were written down and preserved.
Application: What could you do to become a better “student” of the Word of God? What extra time, or effort, or thought could you give to grow in understanding the Bible? It doesn’t have to be much. Think of this: 5 extra minutes a day to study or memorize the Bible is over 30 hours of study in a year. Think if you kept that up for 20 years. Over 600 hours of time spent knowing God’s word by adding 5 minutes a day. What could you do over those 600 hours to get a handle on God’s word, or for God’s word to get a handle on you?