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 17:6-9
I call on you, God,
because you will answer me;
listen closely to me; hear what I say.
7 Display the wonders of your faithful love,
Savior of all who seek refuge
from those who rebel against your right hand.
8 Protect me as the pupil of your eye;
hide me in the shadow of your wings
9 from the wicked who treat me violently,
my deadly enemies who surround me.
Read the Entire Psalm
Display the wonders of your faithful love. What is the wonder of God’s faithful love? The wonder is that God would make his faithful love available to humanity. We are completely undeserving of his love. The wonder of his faithful love is that he would allow humanity to seek refuge in him. His faithful love is on display on the cross. He is a refuge from sin and destruction. Praise him. Turn to him and trust his faithful love.
SCRIPTURE READING:
John 2:13-25 – New Living Translation
Jesus Clears the Temple
13 It was nearly time for the Jewish Passover celebration, so Jesus went to Jerusalem. 14 In the Temple area he saw merchants selling cattle, sheep, and doves for sacrifices; he also saw dealers at tables exchanging foreign money. 15 Jesus made a whip from some ropes and chased them all out of the Temple. He drove out the sheep and cattle, scattered the money changers’ coins over the floor, and turned over their tables. 16 Then, going over to the people who sold doves, he told them, “Get these things out of here. Stop turning my Father’s house into a marketplace!”
17 Then his disciples remembered this prophecy from the Scriptures: “Passion for God’s house will consume me.”
18 But the Jewish leaders demanded, “What are you doing? If God gave you authority to do this, show us a miraculous sign to prove it.”
19 “All right,” Jesus replied. “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
20 “What!” they exclaimed. “It has taken forty-six years to build this Temple, and you can rebuild it in three days?” 21 But when Jesus said “this temple,” he meant his own body. 22 After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered he had said this, and they believed both the Scriptures and what Jesus had said.
Jesus and Nicodemus
23 Because of the miraculous signs Jesus did in Jerusalem at the Passover celebration, many began to trust in him. 24 But Jesus didn’t trust them, because he knew all about people. 25 No one needed to tell him about human nature, for he knew what was in each person’s heart.
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 those who do not know God. Ask God to help you see the lost people around you and have compassion for them. Ask God for opportunities to build trust. Ask God to give you opportunities to have gospel conversations.
Living as God’s People by applying the Bible
Scripture Reflection from the Sermon
The sign that Jesus gave when asked for his credentials to clear the temple courts was a kind of riddle. “Destroy this temple and I will raise it up in three days.” Only after his resurrection did the disciples understand his point here. Some who heard that day never understood it. They were impressed with the Temple complex that took forty-six years to complete. They should have been impressed that they were standing in the presence of the one for whom the whole Temple system was designed as a place of worship. This was his house. Even more than that, the Temple system was planned by God to point forward to the Lord Jesus. He was now the place where God and mankind could meet. It would be impossible for a mere human to build a Temple in three days, but that would have been child’s play for the one who made the cosmos. We know, of course, that the physical Temple was never the point. The point was Jesus, and the greatest of all miracles was his resurrection from the dead. Contemplate as you move through your day that the God who has planned all of this from eternity past has his eye on you. This can be a fact that brings great comfort or great discomfort. On most days it should bring us both. We should find comfort that nothing can thwart the will of God; he is in control. We should find discomfort when our hearts, minds, and actions stray from his will. He sees us, and our ways are never hidden from him.