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
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his faithful love
toward those who fear him.
12 As far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed
our transgressions from us.
13 As a father has compassion on his children,
so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.
14 For he knows what we are made of,
remembering that we are dust.
Read the Entire Psalm
God’s love towards those that fear him is beyond measure. Could you measure the vastness of the heavens? Neither can you measure the vastness of his faithful love. He knows that you are dust. He knows what you are made of. He has compassion and love for you. Thank him and praise him.
Scripture Reading
John 4:31-54 – New International Version
31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.”
32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”
33 Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?”
34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”
Many Samaritans Believe
39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41 And because of his words many more became believers.
42 They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”
Jesus Heals an Official’s Son
43 After the two days he left for Galilee. 44 (Now Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honor in his own country.) 45 When he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, for they also had been there.
46 Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. 47 When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death.
48 “Unless you people see signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.”
49 The royal official said, “Sir, come down before my child dies.”
50 “Go,” Jesus replied, “your son will live.”
The man took Jesus at his word and departed. 51 While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. 52 When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, “Yesterday, at one in the afternoon, the fever left him.”
53 Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” So he and his whole household believed.
54 This was the second sign Jesus performed after coming from Judea to Galilee.
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 Cameron. Ask God to use him as he serves in Japan.
Living as God’s People by applying the Bible
Scripture Reflection from the Sermon
Josh. 24:1-3 Then Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel…. Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your forefathers… lived beyond the River and worshiped other gods. But I took your father Abraham from the land beyond the River and led him throughout Canaan and gave him many descendants.
Joshuah 24:14-15 “Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”
Do you see the balance in that passage? God was the hero of the story; he was the one who rescued them from Egypt and the one who provided a land for them to thrive in. At the same time, they were to throw away idols and choose decisively to follow God alone. The balance, or tension, is that it all depends on God’s grace and they were to live a decided life. This is biblical grace and grit. Fully trust God’s grace and fully make the choices that you need to make to live in relationship with God. Specifically, the three choices they were to make were: 1. Put God first. 2. Do not attempt to serve two masters. 3. Live decided, not deciding. There is a careful tension we must hold in life. We must never simply wait on God to do for us what he has given us to do. We don’t wait to “feel” like we can obey. We are to obey. We don’t wait to feel like we have faith or love, we are to act faithfully and in ways that demonstrate love. At the same time as we live decisively, we must never forget God’s grace is everything. We live decided and dependent. We live proactive lives, full of worship and gratitude. It is not a contradiction, it is reality. We must live lives fully dependent on God’s grace, and full of gritty obedience.