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 18:1-3 I love you, Lord, my strength.
2 The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
3 I called to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and I have been saved from my enemies.
Read the Entire Psalm
Read this Psalm again and listen to the personal nature of the Psalm. This is a personal Psalm of thanks and praise for God’s salvation for an individual, King David. If you have trusted Christ you have personally been saved from your enemy Satan. God is your rock. Your refuge. Your personal and real salvation comes from Him. Tell Him, thank you. Tell Him that you love Him.
SCRIPTURE READING:
John 2:13-25 – The Message
Tear Down This Temple . . .
13-14 When the Passover Feast, celebrated each spring by the Jews, was about to take place, Jesus traveled up to Jerusalem. He found the Temple teeming with people selling cattle and sheep and doves. The loan sharks were also there in full strength.
15-17 Jesus put together a whip out of strips of leather and chased them out of the Temple, stampeding the sheep and cattle, upending the tables of the loan sharks, spilling coins left and right. He told the dove merchants, “Get your things out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a shopping mall!” That’s when his disciples remembered the Scripture, “Zeal for your house consumes me.”
18-19 But the Jews were upset. They asked, “What credentials can you present to justify this?” Jesus answered, “Tear down this Temple and in three days I’ll put it back together.”
20-22 They were indignant: “It took forty-six years to build this Temple, and you’re going to rebuild it in three days?” But Jesus was talking about his body as the Temple. Later, after he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered he had said this. They then put two and two together and believed both what was written in Scripture and what Jesus had said.
23-25 During the time he was in Jerusalem, those days of the Passover Feast, many people noticed the signs he was displaying and, seeing they pointed straight to God, entrusted their lives to him. But Jesus didn’t entrust his life to them. He knew them inside and out, knew how untrustworthy they were. He didn’t need any help in seeing right through them.
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 today for Christian Challenge. They will be meeting tonight at the church. Ask God to strengthen the students in their devotion to Jesus.
Living as God’s People by applying the Bible
Scripture Reflection from the Sermon
Do you ever think that if God would just give you a sign, then you would forever be done with doubt? Think again. This is a common misconception, and it is simply not true. What would happen, if God were to condescend to give you some miracle on demand, is that you would almost immediately want another one. Over time, it is likely that the power of that experience would fade, and it would carry less weight in your life than your current state of emotional, relational, or physical well-being. You would become an experience junkie, needing a bigger and bigger “fix.” In addition, that kind of “tame” God, a kind of “Greatest Showmen,” would not prove worthy of your worship. Your heart would not respond to him as to the Lord God Almighty. You would not be compelled to cry out “holy, holy, holy” and “Woe is me, I am undone!” as you stood in his presence. No, you don’t need a sign. You have been given all you need to believe in him and to worship him. We don’t demand from him; he demands from us. He demands supreme loyalty and allegiance. He has the right to demand that we show him a sign. The sign of a heart that is fully and faithfully his.
“There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign overall, does not cry: ‘Mine!’”
Abraham Kuyper