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 37:5-7 Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act,
6 making your righteousness shine like the dawn, your justice like the noonday.
7 Be silent before the Lord and wait expectantly for him;
do not be agitated by one who prospers in his way, by the person who carries out evil plans.
Read the Entire Psalm
Be silent and wait. Those instructions are not easy to follow. If we are silent and wait we are allowing God to act. We are allowing Him (not that He needs our permission) but we are saying I trust you. I won’t try to manipulate with my words and I won’t be busy trying to make something happen. I will commit my ways to you, God and trust you to act.
Take a moment and just be silent. Listen to your breath. You don’t have the power to create oxygen. You cannot by your will sustain life, but God can. Think about your day and the things you have planned today. What would it look like to commit all of your ways to God today? “Let” Him be God. He is in control.
SCRIPTURE READING:
1 John 1:1-4 – The Message
1 1-2 From the very first day, we were there, taking it all in—we heard it with our own ears, saw it with our own eyes, verified it with our own hands. The Word of Life appeared right before our eyes; we saw it happen! And now we’re telling you in most sober prose that what we witnessed was, incredibly, this: The infinite Life of God himself took shape before us.
3-4 We saw it, we heard it, and now we’re telling you so you can experience it along with us, this experience of communion with the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. Our motive for writing is simply this: We want you to enjoy this, too. Your joy will double our joy!
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
Do you ever feel insecure about your faith in relationship to “science” or the claims of other avenues of our culture? Like the loud pronouncements from the media, the arts, the universities, even from politicians? Sometimes they loudly and proudly make truth claims that defy the truth claims of Christ. Sometimes they are very confident and aggressive. Sometimes things are said that you may not feel like you have a good response to. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, truth is true whether you can defend it or not. What is not true is not true even if believed by an overly confident and intelligent person. Science is a word that is sometimes weaponized against faith. Science has its foundations in Christianity. There are many leading scientists, past and present, who are committed believers. If Nobel prize winning scientists (or just a high school science teacher with expertise) are believers then it gives lie to the belief that science is opposed to faith. Science is a word given to the pursuit of humans to understand the world that God has made. It has been hijacked and made to be the pursuit of understanding the world with no reference to God allowed. If, in fact, God made the world, then how could you possibly understand it without reference to God? Of course, you could not. John, like Peter, does not advocate for “fideism”; this is belief without evidence. He advocates for faith: a personal confidence in God based on the facts. John writes that the facts are clear. Because the gospel is true, we can, and we must be confident.