Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Praise to God, the Ruler of the Earth

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.

³⁶ And it came to pass, at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near and said, “Lord ^(A)God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, ^(B)let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am Your servant, and that ^(C)I have done all these things at Your word. ³⁷ Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that You are the Lord God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You again.”

³⁸ Then ^(D)the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench. ³⁹ Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, ^(E)“The Lord, He is God! The Lord, He is God!”

Love for God and One Another

4 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but ^(A)test the spirits, whether they are of God; because ^(B)many false prophets have gone out into the world. ² By this you know the Spirit of God: ^(C)Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, ³ and every spirit that does not confess ^[a]that Jesus ^[b]Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.

⁴ You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than ^(D)he who is in the world. ^5 (E)They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and ^(F)the world hears them. ⁶ We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. ^(G)By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.