); 1 Kings 18:36-39 (“God of Abraham”); 1 John 4:1-6 (Testing the spirits) (New Life Version)
Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
God—the King of the Earth
47 Show your happiness, all peoples! Call out to God with the voice of joy! 2 For the Lord Most High is to be feared. He is a great King over all the earth. 3 He sets people under us, and nations under our feet. 4 He chooses for us what is to be ours, the pride of Jacob, whom He loves.
5 God has gone up with a loud voice, the Lord with the sound of a horn. 6 Sing praises to God. Sing praises. Sing praises to our King. Sing praises. 7 For God is the King of all the earth. Sing praises with a well written song. 8 God rules over the nations. God sits on His holy throne. 9 The rulers of the people have gathered together as the people of the God of Abraham. For the powers of the earth belong to God. He is much honored.
36 Then the time came for giving the evening gift. Elijah the man who spoke for God came near and said, “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that You are God in Israel. Let it be known that I am Your servant, and have done all these things at Your word. 37 Answer me, O Lord. Answer me so these people may know that You, O Lord, are God. Turn their hearts to You again.” 38 Then the fire of the Lord fell. It burned up the burnt gift, the wood, the stones and the dust. And it picked up the water that was in the ditch. 39 All the people fell on their faces when they saw it. They said, “The Lord, He is God. The Lord, He is God.”
The Spirits Must Be Tested
4 Dear Christian friends, do not believe every spirit. But test the spirits to see if they are from God for there are many false preachers in the world. 2 You can tell if the spirit is from God in this way: Every spirit that says Jesus Christ has come in a human body is from God. 3 And every spirit that does not say Jesus has come in a human body is not from God. It is the teaching of the false-christ. You have heard that this teaching is coming. It is already here in the world. 4 My children, you are a part of God’s family. You have stood against these false preachers and had power over them. You had power over them because the One Who lives in you is stronger than the one who is in the world. 5 Those false teachers are a part of the world. They speak about the things of the world. The world listens to them. 6 We are a part of God’s family. The person who knows God will listen to us. The person who is not a part of God’s family will not listen to us. In this way, we can tell what is the spirit of truth and what is the spirit of false teaching.
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