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 119:33-40 Teach me, Lord, the meaning of your statutes, and I will always keep them.
34 Help me understand your instruction, and I will obey it and follow it with all my heart.
35 Help me stay on the path of your commands, for I take pleasure in it.
36 Turn my heart to your decrees and not to dishonest profit.
37 Turn my eyes from looking at what is worthless; give me life in your ways.
38 Confirm what you said to your servant, for it produces reverence for you.
39 Turn away the disgrace I dread; indeed, your judgments are good.
40 How I long for your precepts! Give me life through your righteousness.
This section of Psalm 119 like much of Psalm 119 is peppered with prayers. “Teach me” “Help me” “Turn my heart” “Turn my eyes” “Confirm” “Turn away the disgrace” “Give me life” The words of the prayers are important, but the reality of prayer itself is also important. In prayer, the writer is turning to God. He is turning not just to commands, but to YOUR commands. Praying is turning to the personal God who hears and is capable. Ask God from some of the same things the Psalmist prays. Remember you are speaking to a personal being.
Scripture Reading
1 John 3:11-21 – English Standard Version
11 For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. 12 We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous. 13 Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. 15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. 17 But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? 18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.
19 By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; 20 for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. 21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God;
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 Embrace. Ask God to use their work to protect unborn children and to support families in need.
Living as God’s People by applying the Bible
Scripture Reflection from the Sermon
John is writing about things that are not temporary and passing, but things that are permanent. He is reminding them about old truth to combat the theological innovators of his time who were teaching what was not true. Humans have always been prone to disregard what has been, for what now is. Progression, over time, is assumed. Some of this is tied to the misapplication of a misguided theory: evolution. The assumption is that humans are evolving, and that culture is evolving. This evolution is assumed to be positive movement. In the theory of evolution, it is often believed that progress comes through favorable mutations. This may be true in science fiction where a spider bites a young man, and he develops superpowers. In the real world, physical mutations are not good. No one gets excited when the doctor tells them their child has experienced some genetic mutations. This idea of progress, favorable “mutations,” is also applied to theology and general culture. We arrogantly and falsely believe that since we live later in time, we are more intelligent than those who came before us. This is not true at all. It is called chronological snobbery. Jesus was the smartest (not to mention most morally pure) human to ever live. He was the creator of the cosmos incarnate. There is no human progressive thinking that is going to be better or smarter than his. We don’t need new truth; we need new passion and practice of old truth. Don’t be intimidated by the new. Don’t feel like you need to keep up with every trend of thought. Become literate in gospel truth. You will then be permanently, timelessly, relevant.