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 12:6-8 The words of the Lord are pure words, like silver refined in an earthen furnace, purified seven times. You, Lord, will guard us; you will protect us from this generation forever. The wicked prowl all around, and what is worthless is exalted by the human race.
Read the entire Psalm
The words of the Lord are pure – Praise God that He has revealed Himself through His word. His words are pure. Thank Him that His words are not watered down or tainted with partial truth.
SCRIPTURE READING:
1 John 2:15-17 – The Message
15-17 Don’t love the world’s ways. Don’t love the world’s goods. Love of the world squeezes out love for the Father. Practically everything that goes on in the world—wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important—has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from him. The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out—but whoever does what God wants is set for eternity.
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. Ask God to speak through the message and the worship time.
Living as God’s People by applying the Bible
Scripture Reflection from the Sermon
The pride in one’s possessions
We don’t just possess “things,” we also possess skills, gifts, relationships and opportunities. There are so many aspects of our lives that we can be tempted to take pride in. Paul wrote in Galatians chapter six that the only legitimate boast is in the cross of Christ. It is through the cross that Paul has died to the things of the world. In Philippians chapter three, he wrote that he counted all things loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ. Paul possessed a great many gifts. He was a man of supreme intelligence, he had grit, but he had learned to count all this as nothing compared to his one legit source of pride, Christ. To take pride in possessions is to put self in the place of Jesus. What do we have that we have not been given, Paul asked rhetorically. If all that we have is a gift, then why would we boast as if we had done something to earn or to deserve what we have? The world loves to boast of what it has. This is common human behavior. It is common to use what God has given us to point others to ourselves. This is wrong in so many ways. It is a sure way to eat of the dust of death rather than to enjoy life in the good Kingdom of God.