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 70:1-5 God, hurry to rescue me. Lord, hurry to help me!
2 Let those who seek to kill me be disgraced and confounded;
let those who wish me harm be turned back and humiliated.
3 Let those who say, “Aha, aha!” retreat because of their shame.
4 Let all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you;
let those who love your salvation continually say, “God is great!”
5 I am oppressed and needy; hurry to me, God.
You are my help and my deliverer; Lord, do not delay.
Hurry! Have you ever asked God to hurry? This Psalm starts and ends with a request for God to hurry and help. Between the requests for God to hurry are two other requests. One is a request for those seeking to kill David to be humiliated and the other is a request for those seeking God to rejoice and be glad in Him. A request for God to hurry shows David’s desperate state. The request also demonstrates David’s dependence. Only God can help David. Praise the God who can help. Come to Him honestly without being His counselor or trying to find the right words. Ask Him for what you want. He will always do what is best.
Scripture Reading
1 John 2:15-17 – English Standard Version
15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
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 FCA. Ask God to use Keith to encourage athletes and coaches in their walk with Christ.
Living as God’s People by applying the Bible
Scripture Reflection from the Sermon
The lust of the flesh
Any time the word “lust” is mentioned, we tend to think it is about sex. In addition, lust has become a word that has positive, not negative connotations in our culture. Lust is “fun,” lust is “life,” lust is “freedom.” Lust is actually none of those things. Desire can be good as long as it is desire for what is good. But lust is unbridled desire. Even “lust” for a good thing will enslave us. Food, sex, possessions… all these things are gifts from God, but when we lust for them, we worship them. What we worship controls us. If we worship God, he is Lord of our lives, and his Lordship is our freedom. If we worship anything other than God, we lose freedom. The “flesh” is human nature in its inclinations to rebel against God. When we allow our flesh to dictate our desires rather than the Spirit of God, then we are living by the lust of the flesh. This life is one of perpetual discontent. How much is enough? “A little more,” is the answer of the flesh. You don’t solve discontent by feeding it. Just as a fire never says, “enough, I’m full,” our flesh always wants more. The way of the Spirit is the way of contentment. There is a plot twist here. When we pursue Christ, we always want more of him. This is a healthy discontent. The difference is that our present experience of Christ is “enough,” and yet we want to know him more and more. This is the single discontent that always leaves us both satisfied and wanting more.