← ArchiveSunday, February 26, 2017DateFebruary 26, 2017Speaker—TextJohn 4Passages in this sermonJohn 42:01John 4:193:44Acts 8:112:27Acts 8:312:32Acts 1112:36Acts 1212:40Acts 1412:43Matthew 1123:52Romans 12:134:48Galatians 2:2036:11TranscriptMachine transcribed. Click any line to jump there.0:00Church is not a building, though a building can be used by a church. Church is not a denomination, though a set of beliefs should be important to a church. Church is not about Sunday, though a church should not forsake meeting together. Church is not about one person or personality, though every church should be pastored. And church is not about size or growth, though every church is called to make disciples.0:29So don't think of church as an address or a location, but rather think of church as mobile and on the move. Don't think of church as something built or planted, but rather think of church as something deployed. Don't think of church as where you are for an hour each week, but rather what you are every day of the week. Because the church is the hands and feet of Jesus Christ. Feet shouldn't sit still. Hands shouldn't be idle.0:58Feet go. Hands do. This is the church. Church isn't what you're sitting through right now, because you are the church. Now go and be the church.1:26And the next several weeks we will begin a series today and that will carry us through, hopefully three or four weeks from now, looking at this is church. So what is that and what does that mean for us? And we're going to look at the DNA of Bethel Baptist Church. And I believe the DNA of any church should be worship, community and service. If you are worshiping regularly, if you are in a small group where you are doing life with someone in some group, and if you are serving, you will grow in your faith. If you are not doing any of those, you are missing out on the joy that Christ has for you.1:56So I invite you to turn this morning to John chapter 4. John chapter 4. And we are going to look at a woman and a man sitting at a well. And in that discussion, we will lead into what is worship for our lives. John chapter 4 and verse 19. If you missed any of the last several weeks, I've been preaching through with the help of Brad, the book of Hosea, which is not necessarily an easy passage to study.2:19If you missed any of those, all of our sermons are online with all of the sermon notes. And you have more notes than you could ever hope for. I think we give like 10 to 12 notes per sermon. So if you want to go back, the videos are online. If you have a question about Hosea, we welcome you to go to the website and see that. I've had a lot of questions, which we should have, about Hosea and what that looks like and how we live that out.2:48So we invite you to go work back through Hosea and God's Word. So what does Christ say about worship, if anything? Why is it important? And how does worship shape my life? These are the questions that are going to drive the sermon this morning, drive our time together. What is worship? Why should I worship? How does it impact my life?3:18And then we need to ask this for our group and evaluate what we do. Are we worshiping in a way that glorifies God? We assume that we are, but often assumptions are not always correct. So we need to ask the Lord, Father, are we as a church worshiping in a way that glorifies you? And am I, as a person, worshiping in a way that honors you in my life? So John chapter 4, verse 19. And go home and read the entirety of John chapter 4.3:48This is an odd recap to this conversation. That this conversation ends on worship is an odd ending to this scene at the well. So go home and read the entire chapter for you. Verse 19. The woman said to him. So the Samaritan woman said to Jesus Christ, Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Now let me stop there. If you're here on Wednesday night, I gave you a precursor to the sermon.4:17So the Samaritans did not believe in a Messiah, the one who was to come. The Samaritans believed that God's word stopped with Moses, so the Pentateuch. So the Samaritans believed in a prophet to come. They did not believe in a Messiah to come. So the woman is now beginning to show her tradition. She's talking church. I know that we will have a prophet to come, and so, sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.4:44Verse 20. Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where we ought to worship. Jesus said to her, Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the Father. You worship what you do not know.5:12We worship what we do know. For the salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth. The woman said to Him, I know that Messiah is coming. So you see what's happened. She didn't start this conversation believing in the Messiah.5:41Now she is saying, Well, I know that Messiah is coming who is called Christ. When He comes, He will tell us all things. And Jesus said to her, I who speak to you am He. What a wonderful conclusion to that conversation. It was as if we walk into church and we say, Lord, I know you're here. And the Lord shows up and says, The one you're talking to am He. Let's pray.6:11Let's pray. Father, open our hearts. Open our minds to worship. Lord, and if tradition, if preference, if a mountain is getting in our way of worshiping you in spirit and truth, Lord, we proclaim that you are the one who can move mountains. So, Father, move in our hearts that we may seek you earnestly, that we may not do church, that we would be the church as you have called us to, the bride of Christ who has been redeemed by the Lamb of God,6:38who takes away the sins of the world. Lord, open our minds, open our hearts to know you more. And I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen and amen. I've already mentioned this is a strange conclusion to this conversation. Often in the Bible, weddings take place at wells. So that in this well, we have Jacob and Isaac. And if you walk through the Old Testament, a lot of romance is happening at the wells.7:07And here's a woman that has had five husbands. And Jesus points out to her, you've had five husbands, and the man you are now cohabitating with is not number six. He's a half. And so this conversation, so Jesus speaks, he basically speaks her life to her. And she says, you know what? I think you might be a prophet. And Jesus works in our heart in a way that she comes and says, I know the Messiah is coming.7:35And he says, I am he. Now, if you go back, you realize that they're at a well and she's worried about water. And Jesus says, if you would drink of the living water, you will never thirst again. So there's a lot of spiritual truth in this passage. And then the lady opens up and asks about church as often as we do. So here's our first guideline for worship this morning. And verse 19. The woman said to him, sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.8:04And then she says, our fathers, our fathers worshiped on this mountain. And you Jews say that in Jerusalem. Here's what scripture says about worship. Here's what scripture says about worship. First, our father's tradition is not near as important as the father. So we're going to see in worship that tradition always is trumped by truth. Because we should worship in spirit and not in tradition.8:31We should worship in spirit and in truth. Now, do not mishear me. I'm not saying tradition is bad, but I am saying that tradition that blinds us to the truth of Jesus Christ will send us to hell. That's what this woman is grappling with. And in this passage, Jesus, it says, has to pass through Samaria. Jesus is a Jew. And the Jews would actually go around Samaria to get to their location, even if it meant rerouting and spending extra time on their journey.9:01You see, Jesus is not your typical person. Jesus is not the typical Jew. And he sits with this woman and he speaks and he spends time with her. And Christ reminds her in verse 20, that the truth is greater than tradition. Because we are often as a generation and as a culture, we are often gravitating towards tradition rather than the truth.9:27This is how the conversation begins, isn't it? Lord, you're a prophet. So our father's worship. So she wants a spiritual answer to a church question. We're going to see how this works out in our life later. But Jesus speaks right to her heart. So often Jesus speaks past our traditions and he speaks directly to our heart. That's what we need. We need a savior that bypasses all of our preferences and traditions and speaks to our heart.9:54You see, what we find in this woman's life is that she had a partial view of salvation. The Samaritans did not believe in the entire Old Testament. They did not believe in all the prophets. So the Samaritan woman would not have been here to listen to Hosea because she does not believe or would not have believed that Hosea was a prophet of the Lord. Here's what John, what we call the Yohannine literature, tells us.10:23That an incomplete view of salvation is a wrong view of salvation. An incomplete view of salvation is a wrong view of salvation. And that is led into our worship. See, often in our lives, it is easier for us to talk church than invite someone to Jesus Christ. This is what the woman wanted. Verse 19, she is sitting with, just remind me,10:53by the way, who is this woman sitting with? She is sitting with the Son of God. And this is exactly what most of us would do. Where if we sit down with Jesus, you hear those questions, if you could sit with anyone in your life, if you could go back through history, if you could have lunch with anyone, who would you have? Now, because you're in church today, most of you are going to say Jesus. If we were at a church, some would say Michael Jordan or Nick Saban or whoever might be on your Mount Rushmore,11:20you know, the president, George Washington. But because we're in church, you would say Jesus. And if we were sitting at lunch with Jesus Christ at a well, here is our natural desire. We would start talking church to Jesus. And we wonder, why would we do that? Because often we get caught up with tradition. We want to talk church. And Jesus is telling the lady, I'm not interested in your tradition. I'm interested in your soul.11:50I'm interested in your heart. So we have to ask ourselves, why is it easier to invite someone to church than invite them to Christ? Why is it easier to invite someone to church and not invite them to Christ? I'm beginning to pray over this Lord. Why is it easy for me as a pastor to invite someone to church? And then this question dawned on me as I was studying and praying. Do we see that in scripture? Do we see it in scripture of anyone12:19inviting someone to church? Now you can go back and search yourself. Here's what I found out about the church in scripture. Acts 8.1. Persecution breaks out against the church. Acts 8.3. Saul is ravaging the church. Acts 11. We find the church sending out missionaries. In Acts 12. We find the church praying for Peter. In Acts 14. We find the church singing and fasting. In Colossians. We see the church welcoming the apostles.12:47That they are being strengthened in faith. They have as its head Jesus Christ. They are testing to the truth of Christ who is the root of David, the bright and morning star. That's what we see the church in scripture doing. Now some of you are wondering, so did the pastor just tell me I don't have to invite anyone to church? No, that's not what I'm saying. What I am saying is that we cannot physically, spiritually invite someone to church.13:17to church. Only Jesus Christ can do that. Because if we, the church, are the bride of Christ, I don't have the power to save any man, any woman. I don't have the power to redeem anyone. That is only through the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Jesus. So why should we invite people here to see what we do? We should invite people to see us worship. That way they would see us worshiping our king and that way they would see our king. That is why what we do matters.13:47Because what we do is so much greater than our traditions. And as I began praying over this truth, I asked, why are we tempted to talk tradition and getting sidetracked from the truth of our worship? Why are we so often sidetracked by what is important in our lives? And I'm not preaching this sermon. Let me give a preemptor to this. I'm not preaching because we're about to change everything14:16and I want to get your hearts right before we change everything. That's not what I feel like is my job as pastor. My job as pastor is to open God's word and not tell God's word what to preach. I open God's word and say, Lord, you show me what I need changing in my life and I'll relay the message. So this is not that we're about to change everything, every tradition we have is bad. No, this is God just reminding us, look at what you're doing. Is it from my glory? Is it from my honor?14:46Or is it about you? And if it's about me, it needs to go away. Because this church is not about me as pastor. And you're going to see later, it is not about you. And so I ask you this. Are what we imparting to our kids in our future generations, when they come behind us and we are all dead and gone, are they going to say, look at what our fathers did?15:16Or are they going to say, look at our heavenly father? Because if my two kids, if all they know are my tradition, I have failed them spiritually as a dad and as a pastor. I want to push them into God's word and say, we do what we do that we may see our heavenly father and see how good he is and see how much he loves us and see how much he redeems sinners of whom we are the foremost. The truth of Jesus Christ15:47is greater than our traditions. Second principle of worship. Verse 20. Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, she says. And you, Jews, now just by the way, anytime you point your finger at Jesus and say you, I don't think it will end well. It just, look how the world crucified him and mocked him and cursed him. How did that end for Rome? They're no longer even a16:17dot on the map. And how does that end for us if we point our fingers at Christ and say, I don't believe you are who you say you are? I will live an eternity away from him if I do not believe. And she says, you worship here, so what is the answer? And Jesus, verse 21, says, So we have in two verses here16:40five places or the word place mentioned. Right? This mountain or that mountain. This place in Samaria or in Jerusalem. And what is Jesus, what is his answer to her question? Is the answer Jerusalem or is the answer Samaria? He doesn't give her an answer. She's asking for a place and he doesn't take the bait.17:10Because I believe Jesus is reminding us that we do not worship a place, but we worship the person of Jesus Christ. We don't worship at a place or in a place. We worship Jesus Christ. You see, Jesus directs the conversation from tradition now to location, now to heaven. Our worship should be heavenward. In the ancient Near East, they emphasized holy sites.17:38So much so that if the invading army came and they destroyed Moody, Odinville, that they would build another church on top of this church. They would keep it as a religious site, but they would kind of show us, look, you can still worship here, but we want to remind you who's in power. Because the world knows that we gravitate towards places. Some of you, when you go to Tuscaloosa or when you go to Auburn18:07or when I go to Starkville, that almost feels like a semi-religious site. Something within me, when I walk in Starkville, like when I see the Starkville city limits, something inside me changes. There's a natural response. For some of you, it's other locations. Why? Because I love that place. Why is home home? Because I love that place. And if we're not careful, that idea of loving places and things will gravitate and spill over to our worship.18:35And so this is also true of the ancient world, even more so with the Jews that many believed that certain locations made prayers more likely to be heard than others. So that the Jews would go to places and worship and pray at places because they believed that their prayers were heard more often. So let me debunk a myth for you. Some believe, I've had in my life, some will believe that if they come and ask me to pray as pastor, that God hears my prayers more.19:03It's almost like God has an email inbox. Some prayers go in the trash. Some prayers go in spam. And some just go right to the inbox. So some believe that when pastors pray, we skip the trash and the spam and we go right to the inbox. Here's the truth of Scripture. We are all priests in Him. So my prayers are not any more important or powerful than you. I don't pick up a special telephone19:33and say, God, it's me again. Here's my prayer. And we don't go to places and pray that are more powerful than others. Now we do train ourselves for godliness and righteousness. And Jesus is reminding us, look, it's not the place that you worship. It's who? It's the person. It's not the place. It is the person of Jesus Christ. And if we're not careful in our lives, we will begin to erect or raise spiritual mountains. That we will say,20:04now, if we don't worship here, it can't be worship. Now, that's not just a Baptist distinctive. That's been throughout history. This is 2,000 years ago and they're struggling, right? So if, do we pray on Samaria's mountain or do we pray on Jerusalem's mountain? Jesus, you are, you're a prophet. You answer the question. The pre-Christian Jewish tradition accepted four holy mountains. Two in the east,20:34Sinai and then Zion. Mount Zion has eschatological ramifications. The Samaritans regarded Mount Gerizim as the holiest of mountains. They believed it was so holy that they stopped their scriptures at the Pentateuch after Deuteronomy and across the valley was Mount Ebal. And Mount Ebal was taller than Mount Gerizim. But if you ask the Samaritans which mountain was taller, guess what they would say? Mount Gerizim.21:04Mount Gerizim. Why? Because that was their place of worship. They had, they had manipulated scripture in a way and they had erected this mountain to say if we don't do this, we cannot worship. Now, let's get more personal. If this is true 2,000 years ago, then how much more true is it in our lives? You know, we all have mountains that we have put in place and that we say, God, if we don't worship with this, we can't worship. Right? Lord, if we don't sing a hymn,21:33it's not really worship. And there's others that their mountain is praise songs. If we don't sing the brand new songs, then it's not worship. For some, it's, I've heard this, if we don't sit in pews, it's not worship. And for some, if we don't have a modern facility where we are in movie seat with a cup holder, it's not worship. For some, if we don't have an organ, it is not worship.22:03For some, if we don't have an electric guitar, it's not worship. For me, it's if we don't have percussion, because I'm a drummer, it's not worship. Now, go back and look through Scripture. This is why Keith and I play the drums. There's a lot of percussion in Scripture. To God be the glory. Right? But what is your mountain? We all have those mountains, don't we? For some of us, as if, you know what, if we don't have our Sunday best, we don't have a suit and tie on. Some of you are22:33uncomfortable right now because I don't have a tie on. It'll be okay. We'll still honor the Lord. Some of you are uncomfortable because I have a suit on. You're thinking, man, that's a little stuffy. What is your mountain that you've erected, that you've built? There's traditions that we build up and say, if we don't have this, we can't worship. Here's my heart as a pastor. If this place burns down and every single stitch of clothes that we have is burned to the ground23:02and we have nothing, that we gather here together in this place and we say, Lord, we don't have anything but we have the person of Jesus Christ and our worship will not be hindered by any mountain that we have built. And really, my heart is this. If what we see is keeping us from worship, it's not worth it. It is not worth our souls. It is not worth a wall preventing us from worship. That we say,23:32Lord, it's more about you than it is about me. And if you have a mountain in your life, if I have said something that has made you completely uncomfortable or maybe I haven't said something and the Holy Spirit is working in you right now, I say one good. God is still speaking and moving. But we worship the Savior that says this. In Matthew 11, I assure you, if anyone says to this mountain, be lifted up and thrown into the sea and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says24:01will happen, it will be done. So that if we have these mountains of worship in our lives that we are prevented from worshiping because of this, we can say to those mountains, Christ has defeated you, be gone. And oh, I thank God that he is greater than any mountain that we have raised that prevents us. Christ never answers the question because he points us to deeper truths in our life. Truth is greater than your traditions. Christ,24:31Christ, the person of Christ, is greater than any place of worship in my life. we also see this, that the person of Christ is greater than my personal preferences. That the person of Christ is greater than my preferences in worship. Verse 20 and 21 again, Our fathers worshipped on this mountain. You Jews say in Jerusalem is the place where we ought to worship. Jesus said to her, Woman, believe me that the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain25:00nor in Jerusalem worship the Father. So what is Jesus saying here? Jesus is saying that there will be a day where it won't even matter. There will be a day where we don't even have preferences. And what happens on the day when our preferences are gone? Worship remains. You know, preference is nothing but a greater liking for something over another. Some of you are going to go to a restaurant25:30after church today because you have a greater preference for Hispanic food than for hamburgers. And there's nothing wrong with that. But if we begin to make our worship about what I want, we have failed. If this church makes worship about what I want as pastor, we have failed. Because if we're honest, there are times that we wake up on Monday and what we want on Monday is different than what we woke up with today. And I thank God25:59that the person of Jesus Christ is greater than our preferences. Here's what Jesus reminds us. That God is not existing to entertain us. Worship is not about me. Worship is not about you. And you say, well, where is this going? What is worship? Wait till the end. But we are not created to entertain God. We don't get here and say, Lord, if we just sing loud enough or do well enough,26:29you will accept us and we're going to entertain you. If God wants entertainment, he's going to go watch the sunset that he created. He's going to look at the solar system and tell the Milky Way to dance. He doesn't need us to entertain. We're poor entertainment. When it comes to creation and everything that's going on in creation, we are poor entertainment. We're not even the matinee. We're not even the cheap show. And it's good for our soul to hear, we're not created to entertain God.26:58And the reverse is true. In our worship, God is not created to entertain us. That is not worship. This is why the scriptures reinforce that we should do nothing out of rivalry or conceit, but in humility consider others more important than yourselves. Everyone should look out not for his own interest, not for his own preferences, but for the interest of others.27:28What would our worship look like if my sole question was, one, how can I honor God in this? And how can we worship in a way that makes you see Christ? And what would our worship look like if you were asking, what would our worship look like if we were honoring God first and foremost, and if our worship drove me to the cross or our worship pushed our neighbors deeper into his grace27:57and his mercy? What would it look like if we said, worship's not about us, but it's about the world seeing the majesty of Jesus Christ? Oh, may we long for that day that we say worship is not about me, but it is about you. See, Jesus responds to our preferences and says, there is a day coming where you will not have any. I want you to listen to this scripture. This is at the very end28:26very end of the Bible, Revelation, and it's speaking about a time where there will be no mountain for us to worship on. And this is what John, the same writer of the gospel, hears. Verse 1 of chapter 14 of Revelation, listen to this. What happens when our preferences end? I looked and there on Mount Zion stood the Lamb. Man, that's Jesus Christ, by the way. And with him were 144,00028:56were 144,000 who had his name and his father's name written on their foreheads. And I heard a sound from heaven like the sound of cascading waters, like the rumbling of loud thunder. So John is not even seen inside the worship gathering yet. He sees the Lamb of God as though slain standing and he hears a sound louder than Niagara Falls. And here is29:28what happened. The sound I heard also was like harpists playing their harps and they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. But no one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. The ones who had been martyred for their faith. The ones that said it's better for me to die for Christ than live for myself. So what happens when our preferences29:58end? There is a sound cascading from heaven of worship that my preferences can stop today and yet my worship continue for eternity because of Christ Jesus. The person of Christ is greater than our preferences and some of you are thinking hmm I don't like that. You know how I know you're thinking that because Wednesday when I was preparing my sermon that's what I thought. Lord I don't like that. Lord I don't like my life not being30:27about me and yet Christ reminds us that he is greater than who we are. This is worship. So what then if this is what worship is not what is worship? Verse 23 and we will end together. Jesus says the hour is coming and now is when true worshipers now highlight that because if there are true worshipers then logically there are false worshipers. They will worship30:57the Father in spirit and in truth for the Father is seeking such to worship him. So God is seeking people to worship him. Not that he needs us to worship him but he is seeking us to worship him. I love that. Lord that you want me to worship you? How awesome is that? Lord if I worship in spirit and truth that you are seeking me. That when I sing for the glory of God whether I can sing well or not it pleases him. I love that thought that our worship could be pleasing to the Savior.31:27Well so what is our worship today? First God calls us to worship this way. True worship is in spirit and in truth. Verse 24. So what is spirit? Some would say well this means that God wants us to worship passionately. That God says you need to worship with all of your might with all of your soul with all of your strength. God then would say worship in your spirit. That's not what he's saying. This is the same word in Revelation that John says31:56I was called up in the spirit. So this is not you're worshiping in your spirit. We are called to worship with the spirit of the living God. But God calls us to worship spiritually. Why is that important? Because I believe if we do not worship spiritually then we will worship with no emotion in our lives. Which is not good. On the other end though we can worship in a way that it's only about making me feel good.32:26So if we are overly emotional or only about the spirit then we worship emotionally and we now have worshiped in vanity. We worship in a way that says worship that makes me feel good. We've already seen in scripture worship is not about us. Worship is not about giving us as our youth would say the feels. We can do a lot of things that give us the feels. We do a lot of things that don't glorify God that gives us goosebumps.32:54It's not honoring him. But we are called to worship in the spirit of God. Now hold on to that we're going to come back to that. So worship is not emotive only but worship has to be in the spirit. But we are called to worship not only in the spirit but also in truth. So secondly God calls us to worship in truth. You see proper worship is predicated on a right understanding of Jesus Christ. This is what Jesus says33:25to the Samaritan woman. He says woman and men don't go home and try that by the way. Don't go home and when your wife asks you woman I told you you're not Jesus. Okay. It's not going to end well for you. But this is a sign of respect there that Jesus is calling her. A sign of authority in her life as they would say teacher, rabbi. He's saying woman listen to what I have to say. Jesus tells her33:54that you are worshiping you try to worship what you do not know. So if we have come here today and we are not worshiping in truth our worship is not it is not honoring God. So then how can we worship? If we are worshiping in truth only and not with the spirit it is idolatry. We're saying let us worship mentally. We are going to ground ourselves in what we know but we're not going to worship in the spirit God would say we are not worshiping.34:23We are trying to intellectually ascend and we cannot do that. So how do we worship in spirit and in truth then? I think we see this in scripture that worship is not a lifestyle. Now you say well I've heard it is so what are you saying pastor? Worship is not a lifestyle it is a life. Romans 12 1 which you've already read therefore brothers by the mercies of God34:52present yourselves as living sacrifices holy and pleasing to God this is your spiritual act of worship. And sometimes we read that and we're emboldened and we say Lord I want to be a living sacrifice to you holy and pleasing this will be my lifestyle of worship but we should reflect on the thought that a sacrifice has to die. So a living sacrifice is an oxymoron. In Revelation we see35:22behold John looks at the lamb he said I saw a lamb as though slain standing. That's an oxymoron. How can a dead lamb stand? It can't unless his name is Jesus Christ. So I say this because scripture pushes us deeper that worship is not a lifestyle worship is a life. Worship is us saying to die is gain but to live is Christ. Worship is saying I can't worship until I have died to myself.35:51to myself. That I am dying to myself and I am raised in newness of Jesus Christ. That's why we are called to get baptized to publicly show our faith. That's why it's such a powerful sign of our testimony. Are you worshiping in spirit and in truth? This is why Paul can say in Galatians 2.20 It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me. The life I now live in the body I live by the faith of the Son of God36:20who loved me and gave himself for me. So how then do we respond? If worship is about a person and not a place. If the Father is greater than our fathers. If the person of Christ transcends my preferences then how do we worship? We see in this woman really the first model of what a true worshiper in Jesus Christ36:50should look like. We see in this woman a woman with five husbands. A woman at a well that Jesus shouldn't even been at. A good Jew would have gone around Samaria and he sure would not have sat in the middle of the day at noon around this well with a lady that had this reputation. But you see Jesus is not a good Jew. He's the Son of God. And Jesus sat down with a woman who wanted to talk37:20to talk about church. And Jesus said you know what let's talk about your heart. And Jesus spoke truth into her heart and said this. Woman said no one can come to the Father unless they are drawn by the Son. And you are worshiping something you do not know. Because this mountain is not going to be here one day and where's your worship then? Bethel this church is not going to be here one day. And where's your worship then? Person your body37:49your body is not going to be here one day. Where is our worship then? And God comforts us and says this. If you believe in your heart that he is who he says he is and if you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord you will be saved. And that one day when our preferences end that there will be a great cascading thunder from heaven where worship continues. So how then can we worship him if we are not38:19are not worshiping the spirit and truth? If you have never given your life for the one who gave his for you? If you have never turned from your sin and turned to Jesus Christ you are today you have worshipped someone you do not know. You say well why would you say that to me? Because I want you to find Jesus Christ. I'd rather you be upset at me and find Christ than you be happy with me and then you walk down the road of destruction. And the truth of the scripture38:49the scripture is that God loved us so much that he sent his only son that whoever believes and I thank God that I'm a whoever that whoever believes in him will not perish but have ever everlasting life. So if you have come in today by obligation you've come in today because it's a church or a Sunday and this is what you do I pray that Christ would penetrate your heart and that you today would say Lord I have done this all wrong I've tried to worship in my strength and it's not39:19about me and that today you would confess him as Lord that you would turn from your sin and yourself and that you would turn to Jesus Christ as the only answer and if you do his promise to you is that he will save you he will give you new life behold the old things will pass away and new will come maybe you're here today and you have put your faith in Jesus and yet you have made church about you you're aggravated because it's 7339:48it's 73 degrees in here and not 70 like you like it maybe you came in here and someone sat in your seat and you got upset you know it's better for you to seek the Lord and that person get saved in your seat than anything else and maybe we should spend some time this morning saying Lord help us respond in a way that our worship is not about us but it's about you and your throne and your majesty and if that happens hold on40:17hold on because God is going to move in a way that we have never seen and he will move in us in a way that we will be uncomfortable but that the spirit would lead and the truth of God would send us forth and that this world will be changed for the gospel of Jesus Christ this is why as a church we want to sing the gospel the good news that when we pray we want to pray the gospel and that when we preach we want to preach and say Lord we stand upon the gospel of Jesus40:46of Jesus Christ I am not ashamed because it is the power of God unto salvation let's pray Father Father.More sermons on John →
