); 1 Kings 18:36-39 (“God of Abraham”); 1 John 4:1-6 (Testing the spirits) (Common English Bible)
Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 47
For the music leader. A psalm of the Korahites.
47 Clap your hands, all you people!
Shout joyfully to God with a joyous shout!
2 Because the Lord Most High is awesome,
he is the great king of the whole world.
3 He subdues the nations under us,
subdues all people beneath our feet.
4 He chooses our inheritance for us:
the heights of Jacob, which he loves. Selah
5 God has gone up with a joyous shout—
the Lord with the blast of the ram’s horn.
6 Sing praises to God! Sing praises!
Sing praises to our king! Sing praises
7 because God is king of the whole world!
Sing praises with a song of instruction![a]
8 God is king over the nations.
God sits on his holy throne.
9 The leaders of all people are gathered
with the people of Abraham’s God
because the earth’s guardians belong to God;
God is exalted beyond all.
36 At the time of the evening offering, the prophet Elijah drew near and prayed: “Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant. I have done all these things at your instructions. 37 Answer me, Lord! Answer me so that this people will know that you, Lord, are the real God and that you can change their hearts.”[a] 38 Then the Lord’s fire fell; it consumed the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, and the dust. It even licked up the water in the trench!
39 All the people saw this and fell on their faces. “The Lord is the real God! The Lord is the real God!” they exclaimed.
Testing the spirits
4 Dear friends, don’t believe every spirit. Test the spirits to see if they are from God because many false prophets have gone into the world. 2 This is how you know if a spirit comes from God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come as a human[a] is from God, 3 and every spirit that doesn’t confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and is now already in the world. 4 You are from God, little children, and you have defeated these people because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 5 They are from the world. So they speak from the world’s point of view and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God. The person who knows God listens to us. Whoever is not from God doesn’t listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible