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 128:1-6 How happy is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways!
2 You will surely eat what your hands have worked for.
You will be happy, and it will go well for you.
3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house,
your children, like young olive trees around your table.
4 In this very way the man who fears the Lord will be blessed.
5 May the Lord bless you from Zion,
so that you will see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life
6 and will see your children’s children! Peace be with Israel.
Fear the Lord – We are invited to experience life in a safe and secure place under the fear of the Lord. Our invitation is not to seek blessing but to live in the fear of the Lord. He is near. He is powerful. He is just. Everything matters. He is all for you living every moment with the awareness that He is and will always be. Ask Him to guide you in living under the fear of the Lord.
Scripture Reading
2 Peter 1:16-21 – English Standard Version
16 For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” 18 we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. 19 And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, 20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. 21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
Having God’s Ear through Prayer
- Give thanks to God for His gifts and His goodness.
- 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 refugees living in our city. Ask God to bring those who don’t know Him into relationship with Him.
Living as God’s People by applying the Bible
Scripture Reflection from the Sermon
You trust some information to make certain decisions. Consider this past week or month; what information have you trusted? Markings on a medicine bottle? Directions from a doctor? A street sign? A news report? We exercise trust (faith) much more often than we think we do. What would happen if you lived with complete doubt about all information? Your life would grind to a miserable stop. If you had to verify everything, how would that even work? What information would you trust to verify the information that you are verifying? Some people live with high and unsustainable levels of distrust, but most of us exercise some reasonable level of “trust management.” In the end, what most of us do is to trust ourselves in deciding what information we will trust. That sounds bad, but it is not all bad. To a degree, what else can we do? We should not hand over complete control to someone else just because it is easier and simpler. That is lazy and can be harmful. On the other hand, trusting self is a dangerous thing to do; we can be easily self-deceived. What are we to do? We must begin with trusting God. He has proven himself trustworthy, especially as evidenced in the sacrifice of Christ. Then, when we rightly conclude that he is trustworthy, we can also rightly conclude that this trustworthy God will speak to us. He will not leave us guessing in the dark. Then we can conclude, when we look closely, that the Bible is God’s trustworthy word to us. Now that we have decided that we can trust his Word, all that remains is to seek to understand it. Now that we have decided we can trust it, we need to learn it so we can apply it. Don’t waste time deciding if God’s word is trustworthy; settle it. Spend your time and energy understanding and applying it.