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 85:1-7
Lord, you showed favor to your land;
you restored the fortunes of Jacob.
2 You forgave your people’s guilt;
you covered all their sin.Selah
3 You withdrew all your fury;
you turned from your burning anger.
4 Return to us, God of our salvation,
and abandon your displeasure with us.
5 Will you be angry with us forever?
Will you prolong your anger for all generations?
6 Will you not revive us again
so that your people may rejoice in you?
7 Show us your faithful love, Lord,
and give us your salvation.
Read the Entire Psalm
Read verse 1-3 again and look at the things that God has done. He has shown favor, restored fortunes, forgiven, etc. Look for other action words in verse 1-3. Look at verse 4-7 and look for the things that the writer is asking God to do. Return, relent from anger, revive, etc. Give thanks to God for what he has done. Give thanks to him that you can keep asking him for on-going forgiveness and for him to revive. He has acted and we can be thankful. We can be thankful that he allows us to ask for him to continue to act on our behalf. He is good.
SCRIPTURE READING:
John 3:1-21 – The Message
Born from Above
3 1-2 There was a man of the Pharisee sect, Nicodemus, a prominent leader among the Jews. Late one night he visited Jesus and said, “Rabbi, we all know you’re a teacher straight from God. No one could do all the God-pointing, God-revealing acts you do if God weren’t in on it.”
3 Jesus said, “You’re absolutely right. Take it from me: Unless a person is born from above, it’s not possible to see what I’m pointing to—to God’s kingdom.”
4 “How can anyone,” said Nicodemus, “be born who has already been born and grown up? You can’t re-enter your mother’s womb and be born again. What are you saying with this ‘born-from-above’ talk?”
5-6 Jesus said, “You’re not listening. Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this original creation—the ‘wind-hovering-over-the-water’ creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life—it’s not possible to enter God’s kingdom. When you look at a baby, it’s just that: a body you can look at and touch. But the person who takes shape within is formed by something you can’t see and touch—the Spirit—and becomes a living spirit.
7-8 “So don’t be so surprised when I tell you that you have to be ‘born from above’—out of this world, so to speak. You know well enough how the wind blows this way and that. You hear it rustling through the trees, but you have no idea where it comes from or where it’s headed next. That’s the way it is with everyone ‘born from above’ by the wind of God, the Spirit of God.”
9 Nicodemus asked, “What do you mean by this? How does this happen?”
10-12 Jesus said, “You’re a respected teacher of Israel and you don’t know these basics? Listen carefully. I’m speaking sober truth to you. I speak only of what I know by experience; I give witness only to what I have seen with my own eyes. There is nothing secondhand here, no hearsay. Yet instead of facing the evidence and accepting it, you procrastinate with questions. If I tell you things that are plain as the hand before your face and you don’t believe me, what use is there in telling you of things you can’t see, the things of God?
13-15 “No one has ever gone up into the presence of God except the One who came down from that Presence, the Son of Man. In the same way that Moses lifted the serpent in the desert so people could have something to see and then believe, it is necessary for the Son of Man to be lifted up—and everyone who looks up to him, trusting and expectant, will gain a real life, eternal life.
16-18 “This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.
19-21 “This is the crisis we’re in: God-light streamed into the world, but men and women everywhere ran for the darkness. They went for the darkness because they were not really interested in pleasing God. Everyone who makes a practice of doing evil, addicted to denial and illusion, hates God-light and won’t come near it, fearing a painful exposure. But anyone working and living in truth and reality welcomes God-light so the work can be seen for the God-work it is.”
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
Jesus did not rebuke Nicodemus for not knowing the New Testament; it had not been written yet. Jesus rebuked him for being a lead teacher in Israel, an expert in the Old Testament, and not seeing the gospel there. Some believe that the Old Testament has little to say to Christians. They believe we are a “New Testament” people. They are wrong. The Bible has a single storyline. The story is God’s love shown in God’s mission, the gospel. The Old Testament is about Jesus, just as the New Testament is. The Law, the Prophets, the key events, the structures, all of it pre-figured Jesus. They were, ultimately, about him. This is not allegory or mere symbolism. The events of the Old Testament actually happened, and they had their historical meaning in their own time and place. Those same events had a fuller meaning in the revelation of Jesus Christ. David was a true King in Israel, the greatest of kings. David was a mere placeholder for Jesus, the true and perfect King of Israel. The temple was the place where God met man and man could be forgiven. However, the sacrifices of the temple had to be repeated over and over. Jesus is the final temple, the true meeting place of God and man. His sacrifice is once and for all. It is right that we would marvel at what God has done in history and revealed in Scripture. Truly only God could pull this off. Give thanks to God that you can hold a Bible in your hand and read the story of God’s mission of love spread out through the ages.