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 140:6-8 I say to the Lord, “You are my God.” Hear, Lord, my cry for mercy.
Sovereign Lord, my strong deliverer, you shield my head in the day of battle.
Do not grant the wicked their desires, Lord; do not let their plans succeed.
Read the entire Psalm
You are my God. God is God whether you acknowledge Him as God or not. His place and position is secure. Take a moment now and acknowledge Him as God over all space and time. Tell Him again that you want Him to be your God. Praise Him for His sovereignty, His mercy, and His strength.
Scripture Reading
1 John 5:1-13 – New International Version
5 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. 2 This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. 3 In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, 4 for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
6 This is the one who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. 7 For there are three that testify: 8 the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement. 9 We accept human testimony, but God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son. 10 Whoever believes in the Son of God accepts this testimony. Whoever does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because they have not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. 11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.
Having God’s Ear through Prayer
- Express thanks 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 Austin and Jenni and their family. Ask God to encourage them and guide them as they are in the states.
Living as God’s People by applying the Bible
Scripture Reflection from the Sermon
“In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.”
If you are a Christian, you have been born again. What does it mean to be born? It means you become alive. Of course, life begins at conception, but the idea behind the Lord’s comment is “alive again.” This means that before being born again, we were not alive. Scripture says that we were dead in our sins. When we trust Christ, we are now alive in him. For some who have been born again, the change is externally dramatic. They were trapped in all manner of sinful, destructive life patterns. For some, they were a child with no dramatic evidence of being dead in sin before coming to Christ. Some were adults and “decent” people; again, no overt evidence of being dead in sin. What is going on here? Being dead in sin doesn’t mean that we are monsters, living in crime and dissipation. It means that we are spiritually dead, separated from God because of sin. A person can have cancer that has overtaken their body and is visibly evident, or they can have cancer that is currently invisible and yet, if not dealt with, equally deadly. This week of Thanksgiving we are going to focus on being thankful for the gospel. We have much to be thankful for, but nothing more important than the reality that we have been born again.