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 21:1-7 The king rejoices in your strength, Lord. How great is his joy in the victories you give! 2 You have granted him his heart’s desire and have not withheld the request of his lips. 3 You came to greet him with rich blessings and placed a crown of pure gold on his head. 4 He asked you for life, and you gave it to him— length of days, for ever and ever. 5 Through the victories you gave, his glory is great; you have bestowed on him splendor and majesty. 6 Surely you have granted him unending blessings and made him glad with the joy of your presence. 7 For the king trusts in the Lord; through the unfailing love of the Most High he will not be shaken.
Read the Entire Psalm
The Lord Blesses the King. Look at all the ways the Lord blesses the King. The Lord grants his requests, gives him life, victories, and makes him glad. What are other ways that the Lord blesses the king? Now look to verse seven. What gives the King confidence? Armies? Wealth? Land? Fortress? The king is not shaken because of the Lord’s unfailing love. Praise God for His faithful love.
SCRIPTURE READING:
John 7:1-24 – Christian Standard Bible
The Unbelief of Jesus’s Brothers
7 After this, Jesus traveled in Galilee, since he did not want to travel in Judea because the Jews were trying to kill him. 2 The Jewish Festival of Shelters was near. 3 So his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea so that your disciples can see your works that you are doing. 4 For no one does anything in secret while he’s seeking public recognition. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.” 5 (For not even his brothers believed in him.)
6 Jesus told them, “My time has not yet arrived, but your time is always at hand. 7 The world cannot hate you, but it does hate me because I testify about it—that its works are evil. 8 Go up to the festival yourselves. I’m not going up to this festival, because my time has not yet fully come.” 9 After he had said these things, he stayed in Galilee.
Jesus at the Festival of Shelters
10 After his brothers had gone up to the festival, then he also went up, not openly but secretly. 11 The Jews were looking for him at the festival and saying, “Where is he?” 12 And there was a lot of murmuring about him among the crowds. Some were saying, “He’s a good man.” Others were saying, “No, on the contrary, he’s deceiving the people.” 13 Still, nobody was talking publicly about him for fear of the Jews.
14 When the festival was already half over, Jesus went up into the temple and began to teach. 15 Then the Jews were amazed and said, “How is this man so learned, since he hasn’t been trained?”
16 Jesus answered them, “My teaching isn’t mine but is from the one who sent me. 17 If anyone wants to do his will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own. 18 The one who speaks on his own seeks his own glory; but he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is true, and there is no unrighteousness in him. 19 Didn’t Moses give you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why are you trying to kill me?”
20 “You have a demon!” the crowd responded. “Who is trying to kill you?”
21 “I performed one work, and you are all amazed,” Jesus answered. 22 “This is why Moses has given you circumcision —not that it comes from Moses but from the fathers —and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. 23 If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses won’t be broken, are you angry at me because I made a man entirely well on the Sabbath? 24 Stop judging according to outward appearances; rather judge according to righteous judgment.”
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 our missions teams. There is a youth team just completing their trip and two Onelink Teams from WSU.
Living as God’s People by applying the Bible
Scripture Reflection from the Sermon
Yesterday we read about the thinking fallacy called “appeal to authority.” Another common fallacy is “circular reasoning.” This fallacy is self-explanatory. It is when an argument is given that goes round in circles. At first glance what Jesus said can look like a case of circular reasoning, but it is not. Jesus answered them, “My teaching isn’t mine but is from the one who sent me. If anyone wants to do his will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own. Jesus is not saying, “You can trust my teaching because it is from God, and since it is from God you can trust my teaching.” He has given physical evidence that he is from God. In addition, his teaching clearly comes with authority. Ultimately, he is saying that the truth is self-authenticating. The one who is surrendered to the will of God will discover for themselves that the teaching of Jesus is the Word of God. The test of a true seeker is whether they are addicted to seeking or whether they actually want to discover truth or not. To move from seeker to finder is a work of God and a choice we are to make. We are not to wait for something to “happen” before we obey the gospel. We don’t wait for a feeling or movement of God in our lives before we make the choices that are given to us to make. Jesus simply says, “If anyone wants to do God’s will…” Do you want to do God’s will? The choice is yours to make. If you make that choice, more and more you will find the truth of Scripture to be self-validating in your life.