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 134
1 Now bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord
who stand in the Lord’s house at night!
2 Lift up your hands in the holy place and bless the Lord!
3 May the Lord, Maker of heaven and earth, bless you from Zion.
Bless the Lord. How do you bless the Lord? He is forever blessed. He needs nothing, and we could not add to His goodness. Giving Him praise, walking in obedience, and offering thanks these are ways to bless the Lord. He will be good and fully satisfied even if you do not bless Him. Thank Him for blessing you. You have eyes to read these words, because of Him. You have a mind to comprehend these words, because of Him. You have a mouth to speak praise, because of Him. You are blessed, because He is generous. Bless Him by saying thank you.
Scripture Reading
2 Peter 2 – New International Version
2 But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. 2 Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. 3 In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.
4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment; 5 if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others; 6 if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; 7 and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless 8 (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)— 9 if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment. 10 This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the flesh and despise authority.
Bold and arrogant, they are not afraid to heap abuse on celestial beings; 11 yet even angels, although they are stronger and more powerful, do not heap abuse on such beings when bringing judgment on them from the Lord. 12 But these people blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like unreasoning animals, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like animals they too will perish.
13 They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you. 14 With eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning; they seduce the unstable; they are experts in greed—an accursed brood! 15 They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Bezer, who loved the wages of wickedness. 16 But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a donkey—an animal without speech—who spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.
17 These people are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. 18 For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of the flesh, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. 19 They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for “people are slaves to whatever has mastered them.” 20 If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. 21 It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. 22 Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,” and, “A sow that is washed returns to her wallowing in the mud.”
Having God’s Ear through Prayer
- Express thanks 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 Amelia. Ask God to encourage her and guide her today.
Living as God’s People by applying the Bible
Scripture Reflection from the Sermon
How can there be justice without judgment? We know intuitively that there cannot be justice if injustice goes unpunished. This is built into our consciences as image bearers of the just God. When we experience or see injustice, our hearts cry out against it. In fact, God is pleased when his people work for justice and against injustice. Here’s the catch. Because we are sinful people, we often want justice done “out there,” but not against us personally. When the speeder goes flying by on the road, we hope they are caught. When we see a police officer up ahead, we hope (pray) that we will experience mercy, not justice. For the Christian, we can be confident that we will experience final mercy and not final justice. This doesn’t mean that our sinful actions now will not result in temporal justice. When we see injustice in the world and our souls are pained by it, we can find solace in the fact that God’s justice is not “sleeping.” He is patient, not wanting anyone to perish. His patience does not mean that he will forever withhold his judgement. This is a sobering reality. This is a reality that some will try to deny, but to do so is not just to deny God’s word, it is to deny what their own hearts tell them.