Pastor Donald Menga preaches a dynamic sermon! In John’s Gospel Chapter 4 verses 23 and 24 we see Jesus talking to a woman by a well and he tells her that the Father seeks true worshipers who will worship Him in spirit and in truth We will look at what this means to be a true worshiper of the Lord; the kind of worshipers God is looking for.
The Best Place To Worship
In John’s Gospel Chapter 4 we find a sinful, broken woman asking the Lord Jesus where the best place to worship is – Jerusalem or Samaria where she lived? We have the account of the Lord Jesus actually passing through Samaria. Tired, he sat down by a well and there he met this woman who had had five husbands ad was now living with a man who was not her husband. Our Lord gently asked her to give him a drink and she wa about to draw water from the well to give to him. Then, The Lord Jesus told her of the living water that he could give (which of course was not physical water, but water from the Spirit of God) and she did not understand this. And then the conversation changed to theology. The woman was asking him where is the correct place to worship. is it in Jerusalem as the Jews were saying or is it in Samaria.
John 4:13 to 19 – Jesus replied, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. 14But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.” 15“Please, sir,” the woman said, “give me this water! Then I’ll never be thirsty again, and I won’t have to come here to get water.” 16“Go and get your husband,” Jesus told her. 17“I don’t have a husband,” the woman replied. Jesus said, “You’re right! You don’t have a husband— 18for you have had five husbands, and you aren’t even married to the man you’re living with now. You certainly spoke the truth!” 19“Sir,” the woman said, “you must be a prophet. 20So tell me, why is it that you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place of worship, while we Samaritans claim it is here at Mount Gerizim, where our ancestors worshiped?”
Is Your Worship Real?
The woman who had come to draw water, felt deeply her sinfulness in the presence of Jesus the mighty prophet and Son of the living God. Like many do when confronted by God’s spirit concerning her need for forgiveness and renewal, she retreated into religion! “ Where do we need to go and worship? Which church will make me Holy? Yes. many people hide behind religion. They try to establish a righteousness of their own by going to a particular church building or they retreat to certain ceremonies. They mistakenly consider religious ceremonies as making them righteous. They are obsessed with externals; trying to establish their own righteousness. Sometimes they even do good works! But God looks not on our actions, but God looks upon our heart first, The Apostle Paul told us in first Corinthians chapter 13 that it is possible to give all our goods to the poor and perhaps we would give our body to be burned and still not have the love of God in our hearts, which we so desperately need religion and the things of religion and the sermon is a faith that based upon Gods Spirit and Gods truth will renew our hearts.
Worship Needs Spirit
Our Lord Jesus then told the woman plainly that it is not about religion that about having the life of God within your heart.
John 4: 21 to 24 – Jesus replied, “Believe me, dear woman, the time is coming when it will no longer matter whether you worship the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem. 22You Samaritans know very little about the one you worship, while we Jews know all about him, for salvation comes through the Jews. 23But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. 24For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.”
Our Lord was telling this broken woman that there are two things that must reside in our heart and spirit. We must worship God in spirit and we must worship God in truth. The Spirit and the word of Truth are indispensable things that must enter our hearts if our worship is to be acceptable to God. Both of these things come to us at the new birth when we give Jesus our lives for him to change us and fill us with himself, ( jOHN 3:3, 5).. The first of these is the Holy Spirit of God that must be within us uniting us with the Lord. The scripture tells us that” he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit within Him”, (First Corinthians 6:17}. We have to have His Spirit within us if our hearts are to be pure.
Worship Needs Truth
Then…. we need His truth to touch us deeply. We need to understand that the concepts and the ideologies of this fallen world are hopeless and doomed and leading men and women to destruction. God’s word of truth in every area tells us what our attitudes and life should be like
The Urgency of Preaching The Gospel
The URGENCY of preaching the gospel is heavy! We today are living in the closing days of history before the second coming of our saviour. We are living in times spoken of by the prophets of times of great shaking, Our Lord Jesus Christ has warned us beforehand of many wars and many rumours of wars, many deadly plagues, much wickedness, much darkness among nations! People are in fear of the things that are coming upon the earth and increasingly the very real threat of nuclear annihilation hangs over men’s hearts. Wickedness abounds, Christ is mocked. The darkness is getting darker and God is calling us to have His Spirit in our hearts. He is calling us to have our lamps burning brightly for him in this dark world and he is calling us to have our hearts solidly filled with his truth that we may stand against the lies and wickedness that’s around us, Never has there been a more important time to stand for Christ because this is the final hour. I believe God is going to do almighty things in this generation because the scripture tells us that we’re sin abounds Grace does even much more abound and I believe God is saving the very best for the last.
Let God Do Something New
Let us not despair but let us allow God to do something new in our lives. He is able to change the tide if we dedicate our lives 100% to his purposes. God can suddenly intervene in any of our lives and we can be ignited with a fresh zealous flame of love and purpose for Him. This happened in the life of Enoch, that man mentioned in Genesis chapter 5 who for the first 65 years of his life seemed to live a fairly normal life, but then after the birth of his son something mighty happened in his heart. For the rest of his life it is said that he walked with God, ( ). He walked so closely with the Lord that God raptured him to Heaven. God took him from the earth and he went into the immediate presence of God without death. Let us allow God do something new and mighty in our lives
Isaiah’s Amazing Encounter
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The Need For Holiness
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