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 42:5-8 Why, my soul, are you so dejected? Why are you in such turmoil?
Put your hope in God, for I will still praise him, my Savior and my God.
6 I am deeply depressed; therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan
and the peaks of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.
7 Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your breakers and your billows have swept over me.
8 The Lord will send his faithful love by day; his song will be with me in the night—
a prayer to the God of my life.
Read the Entire Psalm
Why? It’s not a bad question. Why do I feel this way? Why the turmoil? If we receive the answer, what will we do with the answer? If I feel dejected or in turmoil, does that change who God is and what he can do? No! I can still praise Him. I can still hope in Him. Even if I’m deeply depressed as David says, I can remember Him. Lord let us see and remember your faithful love this day and lead us always to sing your praise.
Scripture Reading
1 John 1:5-2:2 – English Standard Version
5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
2 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
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 Wichita. Ask God to reveal Himself to these people seeking to make a new home in Wichita.
Living as God’s People by applying the Bible
Scripture Reflection from the Sermon
John spends a great deal of time combatting the claims of the false teachers trying to influence the church. In this passage he addresses three distinct heresies, all related to sin. The first was the false claim that we can live in sin and still have relationship with God. It is important to distinguish between the sin that we commit as we try to walk with Christ and the sin that is a pattern of persistent and unrepentant rebellion towards God. The idea that we can carelessly live in the darkness of sin and believe that God doesn’t care is to believe a lie. These false teachers were lying to people about this, and the results were and are devastating. John writes to combat this lie, saying that if we walk in the light of God’s truth and holiness, then we are going to experience increasing sweetness and goodness in our relationships with others. In addition, we are going to experience the ongoing forgiveness of sins from Jesus. It is unlikely that you would believe that your sins don’t impact your relationship with God. The folks who believe that probably aren’t reading this. However, we can all be prone to accepting certain sin actions or attitudes as being less important to God than the “big” items. The truth is that as we grow in our maturity as Christians, we ought to be less prone to feeling guilty but more attuned to sin in our hearts, mouths, and lives. We must not fail to remember that God is light, and in him is not darkness at all. The same cannot be said about us, so we must constantly confess our sins and move back into his light.