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 121:1-4 I lift my eyes toward the mountains. Where will my help come from?
2 My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.
3 He will not allow your foot to slip; your Protector will not slumber.
4 Indeed, the Protector of Israel does not slumber or sleep.
Read the Entire Psalm
God does not sleep or slumber. He is always God. He is always protector. He is always ready to help. He never needs to recover from a long day. He does not need to recharge. He is always the Lord. Praise Him because He needs no sleep or slumber.
Scripture Reading
John 7:53-8:11 – New International Version
[The earliest manuscripts and many other ancient witnesses do not have John 7:53—8:11. A few manuscripts include these verses, wholly or in part, after John 7:36, John 21:25, Luke 21:38 or Luke 24:53.]
53 Then they all went home, 8 1 but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
2 At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 6 They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.
But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
11 “No one, sir,” she said.
“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
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 encourage him and use him as he serves in Japan.
Living as God’s People by applying the Bible
Scripture Reflection from the Sermon
Our passage this week is not in the earliest manuscripts of John. This raises questions like, can you trust the Bible? Perhaps you’ve never wrestled much with that question, but many of people have. How do I know the Bible is true and trustworthy? Various religions and worldviews seek to discredit our confidence and trust in the Bible. Islamic tradition, for example, argues that the Bible has been corrupted and changed. Similarly, agnostic and/or atheistic New Testament scholars argue the same. “The Bible was changed over a period of years by men in the church who wanted to hold on to political power.” (That’s the popular caricature put forward in works like Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code). If you’ve wrestled with these intellectual questions, you should know that there are very good resources to address these questions. More than likely, if you’re reading this devotional, you are convinced the Bible is true and trustworthy. Take heart in this. The Bible is totally true and trustworthy. God is there and God has spoken. God is a God who speaks, and who speaks in a truthful way. God is a God who reveals himself to us and has given us the Bible so that we can know and love him. Thank God for giving us his true and trustworthy Word!