Transcription downloaded from https://sermonarchive.gfcbremen.com/sermons/98343/a-worship-seminar-at-the-well/.

Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions.
Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt.


[0:00] So John chapter 4, we'll begin reading at verse 1. We're going to read the first 30 verses, and then we're going to skip to verse 39 and read! The Pharisees heard that Jesus was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John.

[0:24] Although, in fact, it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. When the Lord learned of this, he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.

[0:36] Now he had to go through Samaria. So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well.

[0:53] It was about the sixth hour. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, Will you give me a drink? His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.

[1:06] The Samaritan woman said to him, You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink? For Jews do not associate with Samaritans. And Jesus answered her, If you knew the gift of God and who it is to ask you for a drink, You would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.

[1:26] Sir, the woman said, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?

[1:42] Jesus answered, Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst.

[1:54] Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water, welling up to eternal life. The woman said to him, Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.

[2:08] And he told her, Go call your husband and come back. I have no husband, she replied. Jesus said to her, You are right when you say you have no husband.

[2:21] The fact is you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true. Sir, the woman said, I can see that you are a prophet.

[2:36] Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem. Jesus declared, Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father, neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.

[2:49] You Samaritans worship what you do not know. We worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming, and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks.

[3:07] God is spirit, and his worshippers must worship him in spirit and in truth. The woman said, I know that Messiah, called Christ, is coming.

[3:20] When he comes, he will explain everything to us. Then Jesus declared, I who speak to you am he. Just then, his disciples returned, and were surprised to find him talking with a woman.

[3:34] But no one asked, What do you want? Or, why are you talking with her? Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town, and said to the people, Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did.

[3:50] Could this be the Christ? They came out of the town, and made their way toward him. And then verse 39. Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony.

[4:06] He told me everything I ever did. So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. And because of his words, many more became believers.

[4:17] They said to the woman, We no longer believe just because of what you said. Now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.

[4:32] The Son of God is determined to build his church. I will build my church, he says. That's what brought him out of heaven. That's what brought him to the cross.

[4:44] From heaven, he came to seek and to save his bride. With his own bloody border, and for her life he died. But before that, he spent three years of his life teaching and training a dozen men through whom he would lay the foundation of his church.

[5:06] And just before he left them, he gave them his last instructions on how to build it. He said to them, Make disciples from all the nations. Baptize them, and teach them to obey everything I've commanded you.

[5:21] And then in the book of Acts, we see just what the apostles did with that instruction from Jesus. They made disciples of Jesus Christ by preaching the gospel and calling men and women, boys and girls, to turn from their sin and to trust only in Jesus Christ.

[5:41] They became followers, learners, disciples of Jesus who would do whatever he taught them. They made disciples. And then secondly, they baptized them into organized local churches.

[5:56] Churches that had identifiable memberships and organized appointed leaders. They were baptized into these local churches and added to their number.

[6:12] And then thirdly, the church proceeded to teach them to obey everything that Christ had commanded. So the apostles did exactly what their Lord had told them to do in building the church.

[6:27] And that carries important ramifications for us. Did Jesus organize local churches for the good of his disciples and gather converts into them?

[6:40] Then if I am one of his disciples, I should be baptized and joined to one of his churches, added to their number, and then become a lifetime learner of all that Christ has commanded in that church.

[6:58] Christ wants no disciple of him out from under the care of his appointed shepherds and churches. Now that's all review from last week in our series that we've begun on the church.

[7:13] We come this morning to study the purpose of the church. Why did the Lord Jesus go to the trouble of all of this? Why did he build and organize his churches?

[7:24] Why does the church even exist? Christ? And what are we as a church at Grace Fellowship, what are we to be doing as a church?

[7:36] Well, let's begin with the chief end of man. What is the chief end and purpose of man's existence? We know it's to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.

[7:48] So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 1 Corinthians 10, 31. That's the great aim. That's the goal.

[7:59] That's the purpose. Why we drew breath this morning. Why we got out of bed. Why we've come. Whatever we do, we're to do it for the glory of God. To see him honored, praised, and adored.

[8:12] And what is true of the individual Christian is also true of local churches that are made up of gathered individual Christians. So that the goal, the chief end, the purpose of any local church is nothing less than to glorify God.

[8:33] You know, in many places on the earth, God is not being thought well of. And it's the longing and purpose of a church to see God honored. To see people give him the praise that he deserves.

[8:47] That's the purpose of the church. That was the cry of the Apostle Paul right in the middle of his letter to the church at Ephesus. He says, To him, that is to God, be glory.

[9:00] Where? In the church. To God be glory in the church. That's the reason the church exists. For the glory of God. Now this is important enough that we included this statement in our Constitution 31 years ago.

[9:18] Page 1, article 2, The purpose of this church is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. To this end, we are committed to three things.

[9:29] To minister to God through public worship. To minister to one another. And to minister to the world. It's a three-fold purpose of the church.

[9:43] Up, in, and out. We exist to worship God. To minister to one another. And to minister to the world.

[9:56] This morning we're looking it up. We exist and our purpose is to glorify God through the public worship of God. Now this is no fringe concern of the church.

[10:10] It's front and center for why we exist. The Bible says that worship is something that God wants us to do together. Isn't that interesting?

[10:21] I wonder if we get that. Worship is something God wants us to do together. Now we are to worship God alone in private, aren't we?

[10:33] We're to shut our door and to pray to our Father in secret. We are to worship God in our homes, in family worship. We're to worship God in our jobs, in whatever we do. We are to make it an act of worship to the Lord, doing it for Him, unto Him.

[10:48] But now we are speaking, and the Bible indeed speaks, of a special calling of the church to come together for the corporate worship of God. To worship Him together as His people.

[11:01] Psalm 34, 3 says, glorify the Lord with me. Let us exalt His name together. God wants His people to worship Him together.

[11:16] Psalm 68, praise God in the great congregation, praise the Lord in the assembly of Israel. Many other texts could be quoted. Indeed, many of the titles to the Psalms remind us that that biggest book in our Bible was written as hymns for use in the public worship of the gathered people of God.

[11:40] We also remember that this public worship of the gathered people was made possible by the Sabbath day that God instituted. In the Old Testament, a Sabbath was always two things.

[11:53] A day of rest and a day of sacred assembly. Those two things came together. They rested from their ordinary work in order that they might gather together and worship as an assembly.

[12:07] Now, that's not the only purpose for the day of rest, but those two things were always found in a Sabbath, whether the weekly Sabbath or a special Sabbath that was called.

[12:18] And the same thing is true in the New Testament with the Christian Sabbath. The Lord's Day, the first day of the week, is the day for public worship, for the saints to assemble for praise and worship.

[12:32] We see this as well in the very word that God chose to refer to his people. The word for church, ecclesia in the Greek in the New Testament, was used of soldiers who were called together into an army to go to war.

[12:49] Or it was used of citizens who were called together to have a town meeting. That's the word that God used for his people. The church is the people who have been called together for worship.

[13:08] And so, we have been called from the worship of this vain world to worship the living and the true God. This is important to God.

[13:18] This term marks his churches as worshiping assemblies. Now, we have much in the scriptures about the worship of God.

[13:29] And I've just chosen to go to John 4 this morning where we have this worship seminar taught by the head of the church, Jesus Christ.

[13:40] But the shocking thing is he's not teaching it to his 12 disciples. He's not speaking to an auditorium full of future church leaders. No, it's just one immoral Samaritan woman who was fetching water from the well.

[13:59] And with her, Jesus launches into a worship seminar. Know the lessons for us that we find in his words. You've, we've just read the context, you know, how Jesus meets her and how he's offering to her living water.

[14:18] The living water of salvation that he has. Spiritual life that wells up to eternal life. And she can't bust out of the idea that, well, he's just talking about physical water.

[14:29] Water in this well. That's what he's talking about. And Jesus is, it keeps pointing her to the fact, no, I'm talking about spiritual water that I have to give to you.

[14:42] She doesn't see a need for anything other than physical water. And so Jesus wants her to feel her need. And so he says, go call your husband. Oh, I don't have a husband.

[14:58] Well, you're right when you say you have no husband. The fact is you've had five and the man you now have is not your husband and what you said, you spoke truthfully. And now he's hitting close to home.

[15:11] She's been found out. If he knows that about me, then he knows everything that I've ever done. This stranger never met before in my life.

[15:23] How does he know that? Must be a prophet. Prophet had direct revelation from God. He knows things that no one else could know. You must be a prophet.

[15:35] Sir, I see you're a prophet and as a prophet who has knowledge about religious things, I've got a question for you. Our fathers worshipped on this mountain.

[15:46] They were in Samaria and there was Mount Gerizim. But you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem. Now, which is it? Here or there?

[15:59] It seems like she's changing the subject, isn't it? Doesn't it? Like she's trying to deflect Jesus' attention away from her embarrassing marital status. But did you notice that Jesus does not dismiss her question as if it's a useless rabbit trail?

[16:16] But he rather takes up her question and takes the opportunity to teach her the truth about worship. Because you see, her problem really was a worship problem, wasn't it?

[16:31] These men functioned in her life as substitutes for the living God. They were idols. taking God's place in her heart so unable to satisfy her as her five broken marriages showed.

[16:46] But her heart was thirsty. And thirsty for more than physical water. Thirsty for love that was far deeper than her thirst for water. But she's been drinking from wells that could not satisfy.

[17:02] That only left her thirsty again and again and again. Jesus had the living water of salvation of life to give to her which if she would take she would never be thirsty again.

[17:22] The Lord answers her question and sets before us several lessons on true worship. First of all the Lord Jesus himself brings a change in the place of true worship.

[17:33] The place of true worship. She's hung up on the outward things isn't she? The place of worship. Is it here on Mount Gerizim as us Samaritans hold or is it in Jerusalem as you Jews believe?

[17:45] Well her greater problem was that she was not worshiping the living God at all in any place. And yet she's concerned about the outward forms of worship. Is it here or there?

[17:57] As if being in the right place at the right time with the right people doing the right things is what God was looking for. How many are like her today and they boast about having been to their Baptist church or their Presbyterian church or their Lutheran church as if being there and being in that building and participating with the others there doing the right things was what God was after.

[18:26] They stood and sang they knelt and prayed they read the Bible they listened to the sermon they gave their money but what was missing was living contact with the living God.

[18:39] They did not meet with God. Mere outward forms that's this woman and so Jesus says believe me woman a time is coming when you will worship the father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem you see a change Jesus is signaling a major shift in the way that the place of worship is to be viewed in the new covenant and this place this change takes place because of his own work of salvation now you remember in the Old Testament the place of worship was very important God had stipulated that he wants to be worshipped only in those places where he had put his name where he manifested his presence his special presence to Israel in the tabernacle in the wilderness and later in the temple in Jerusalem where the cloud of his glory dwelt in the holy of holies in that inner sanctum of the temple only at the temple were sacrifices to be made not on the high hills as they often fell into and three times a year the men were to appear where in

[19:52] Jerusalem with their sacrifices nowhere else the temple in Jerusalem was the acceptable place where God met with men and received their worship but now Jesus is saying a time is coming and indeed has come it's come with him in Christ and with his finished work all of this was to change you see Jesus Christ is building his church and he's not building it in just one place he's not just building it in Palestine anymore around Jerusalem he told his disciples go and make disciples of all nations go to the uttermost parts of the earth and so no longer will the place of worship at Jerusalem be suited to this new worldwide church think if we had to go to Jerusalem every time we wanted to worship think if we had to go over there three times a year think of doing that 200 years ago do you see the place of worship in

[21:01] Jerusalem is no longer suited to the universal church that Jesus is building and so God's worship is not to be tied to a geographical place but to his people wherever they meet in his name so after Christ ascended into heaven he poured out his holy spirit as the as the gift to his church on the day of Pentecost a one time event the holy spirit was sent from heaven to inhabit his church so that now the holy spirit mediates the presence of God the son and God the father to the church the church as the gathered people of God is the temple where God now resides by his spirit and uniquely displays his glory on the earth where in the church his temple you know don't you that the holy spirit indwells you if you're a

[22:01] Christian individual you Paul says you're not a Christian if the spirit of Christ doesn't dwell in you but there's more than just the spirit dwelling in you individually the Bible says that you together as the church are the temple of God inhabited by his spirit 1 Corinthians 3 16 and 17 Paul writes to the local church at Corinth just like a local church in Bremen and he says to them as a church don't you know that you yourselves plural are God's temple and that God's spirit lives in you plural if anyone destroys God's temple God will destroy him for God's temple is sacred and you plural are that temple or say the memory verse together with me from 2 Corinthians 6 16 a what agreement is there between the temple of

[23:06] God and idols for we are the temple of the living God we are together the corporate people of God are the temple of the living God and that makes any place they gather to meet in Christ's name a holy place for worship Jesus said to his church in Matthew 18 20 he promises his church where two or three are gathered in my name there I am in the midst of them that's the gathered church and wherever they meet whether they be two three or two or three thousand he is there and so it is an acceptable place of worship whether the church is meeting in Solomon's Colonnée or in the house of Priscilla and Aquila or in a storefront over in Warsaw or in a beautiful cathedral in Europe or in this place

[24:07] Jesus Christ is present by his spirit and wherever God's people meet while they are there in that place it is a holy place for God himself draws near by his spirit most of you know that the first three years of Grace Fellowship Church of our existence we worshipped in the high school music room nothing particularly holy about that place was there except for this that for three to four hours every week the living God drew near and inhabited his people as they gathered together to worship him this beautiful building here that we enjoy it's just concrete and brick and mortar shingle and paint and carpet wood but while the church of

[25:09] Jesus Christ meets here it's holy ground because this is the temple and the spirit of God dwells in it just as he did in the holy of holies in the temple of the Old Testament here is the Lord dwelling in the midst of his gathered church you know 500 years ago in the time of the Protestant Reformation people attach special holiness to places and buildings you may still see that on television the movies I saw it in the Philippines in the Roman Catholic churches you often find the doors wide open and people just walking in and out and you can come in and pray light a candle and pray it's just always open for business as it well there's nothing wrong with having a place available to pray but there is something wrong when the people are made to believe that there is something special about that place and praying in that place as if it were a literal sanctuary a physical sanctuary in which

[26:22] God dwelt that because there in that building is the altar and because there in that building is the eternal flame and the host the communion bread which to them represents the physical presence of Christ this is a holier place to pray than out there that's why after worship the reformers shut and locked the doors into the church buildings until the next time of worship they didn't want people coming to pray there because until the body of Christ met there it was just another building nothing more it's the gathering of the people of God they are the church the gathered people of God in which

[27:23] Christ's presence dwells not a building and they sought to make that clear by shooing them out once the people the true temple had gone home you know there's nothing more sacred about this building in between worship services than your house or your barnyard it's when the people of God are gathered in Christ's name that it becomes a temple where Christ dwells by his spirit Christ is specially present with his gathered church well the second point on your outline and really the point that we're seeing then this morning is that the most important reality in true worship is that God is here God is here it's not the place anymore but it's the one it's the person present and realizing that one fact by faith will revolutionize every aspect of worship we'll sing differently we'll listen to the word read and preach differently we'll pray differently we'll give differently nothing in worship is the same when we're aware of the presence of

[28:35] God in our midst the special presence of the living God and this is why thirdly true worship must be God centered this is why we must fight with all of our hearts against any inward desire or outward pressure to put man at the center of our worship gatherings and so we're really not interested in surveys asking people what they want more of in worship services no we have different questions and they're pointed at what does God want us to do in the worship of himself if he's here then he's to be treated as the guest of honor the head the bridegroom the Lord and Savior of his church and so brothers and sisters fight against anything that takes him out of your focus during the worship service anything that brings attention to man instead of to him he must increase we must decrease true worship must be

[29:50] God centered fourthly true worship must be a priority the Lord Jesus has a weekly meeting with his family he's coming to meet us to bless us to receive our worship he'll be here will you he's promised to be here as we gather in his name and if you believe he is here you won't want to be anywhere else better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere you remember for some reason Thomas wasn't at that first worship service to see and meet with the resurrected Christ as he came on that first day of the week and met with his church his gathered apostles revealed himself to Thomas wasn't there oh what he missed what a sad week Thomas had because he didn't make it to the family meeting but he was there the next week on the first day of the week the Lord's day the day of worship for the

[30:51] New Testament church he was there and Jesus drew near physically and you see that's the thing that we must learn by faith that though we do not see him we believe in him and we believe his word when he says I am in the midst of you where is this mysterious person in Romans or Revelations chapter one there's the seven churches the local churches in Asia where is he found in the midst of the golden candlesticks you see he's with his people as they worship he comes to receive their worship to meet and bless true worship must be a priority guard the meeting times of the gathered church of Jesus Christ don't neglect the assembling of yourselves together as some are in the habit of doing is the word from our Lord true worship then must be a priority if

[31:54] God is present there's nothing more important fifthly true worship must be reverent after all it is a meeting with the living God how could it be anything less than reverent remember kids when Moses turned aside to see why that burning bush wasn't burnt up and consumed he drew near to it and he soon found out why because God was speaking to him from that bush you remember what he said take off your sandals Moses because the place where you're standing is holy ground what made that spot in the desert holy ground why it was the fact that the almighty God came there to meet with Moses and any meeting with the living God demands our reverence take off your shoes take off your sandals he's here and oh that we had those spiritual eyes to see in our situation as the church gathers for worship he promises his special present to be here he's here it's holy ground do we put off our sandals do we put off our other worldly thoughts do we come and listen with all our attention is there a holy hush upon our spirit as we anticipate meeting him you know the sad thing as we look at the church today is it seems like they're in a hurry to remove reverence from the worship service something's wrong with that are we meeting with the living

[33:42] God or not if we are it cannot be anything but reverent it may be many other things but it will always be reverent it seems like we're trying to dress in the most extremely casual dress using flippant words humorous atmosphere entertaining music creating an ethos that says just sit back and relax nothing really different happening here God the king is here he's come to speak to his people remember he's God we're not remember he's great we're not he's sinless we're not therefore since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken let us be thankful and worship God acceptably with reverence and awe for our

[34:42] God is a consuming fire true worship must be reverent I don't need to spend much time on the sixth point as our pastor in leading the worship also showed us that true worship must be joyful of course the living Christ comes to meet with us and in his presence is fullness of joy the bridegroom comes to speak with his beloved bride what joyful anticipation that should bring us to the house of God with joy a lover of our souls has come to pour out his love in our hearts and what happens after we've worshipped God in this way don't we leave saying we were made for this don't we have that sense about us this is what we were made for yes true worship is a joyful thing the Samaritan woman joyfully left her water pot and ran to the town to tell them about

[35:44] Jesus well Jesus says to her in this passage that God the Father is seeking worshippers and he's seeking a special kind of worshipper do you see that in John chapter 4 verses 23 and 24 yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth for they are the kind of worshippers!

[36:14] the Father seeks! Well he must make them such because by nature none of us are born worshippers of God are we our hearts are idol factories as Calvin said and so we're all idolaters by birth and every believer here is a recovering idolater we're prone to make God out to be in our own minds what we want him to be instead of what he reveals himself to be and so God seeks!

[36:46] and he makes his own worshippers do you know that's why Christ was at the well of Sychar at high noon when this immoral woman would be there he's out to seek to make of her a true worshipper well the last two points about a true worshipper!

[37:08] true worship number seven is in spirit you see that in John 4 24 God is spirit and his worshippers must worship in spirit and in truth notice who God is determines how we worship him God is spirit therefore we must worship him in spirit right theology informs and governs right worship God is a spiritual being kids that means he doesn't have a body like man he's pure spirit and so if there's to be any connection with this God who is true spirit it must be more than outward physical actions that will connect with him you must worship him in spirit with that inner spiritual part of you so that it is spirit to spirit connection it is not enough to drag our bodies out of bed and into a place of worship as if our physical presence here alone is what

[38:21] God wants no we must worship him not just with our bodies but with our spirit it is not enough that we use our vocal chords our physical vocal chords to sing his praise no we must sing with understanding we must sing with our mind and our hearts without our hearts being engaged to stand with the one who leads us and even to say amen to his prayer if we're not making his prayer our prayer and praying along with him in our spirit God is spirit and so in worshiping him we must engage him with that spiritual part of us and so the psalmist says in Psalm 103 1 praise the Lord oh my soul he's just giving his soul a good talking to praise the Lord oh my soul all my inmost being praise his holy name you see God is spirit spirit soul inmost being praise his holy name spirit to spirit heart to heart dealings with the living

[39:28] God that's true worship without it you just have the husk of outward forms without the kernel of meeting and dealings with the living God their worship of me is in vain for their hearts are far from me their what their hearts the inner part of them their spirit far from me the part of man that communes with God do you get your heart near to God in worship do you listen to him do you speak to him who is invisible you know only God knows who's really worshiping him this morning because only he can read the heart the spirit of a man and knows who is worshiping from within and yes the Holy Spirit dwells in us and helps our spirit and he helps us to pray so it's right for us to pray

[40:31] Holy Spirit move my spirit to worship as I ought who are we we are those who worship God by the spirit Philippians 3 3 by the spirit of God he stirs our spirit to worship that is true worship in spirit and lastly true worship is in truth for his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth verses 23 and 24 he says it twice for emphasis in spirit and in truth in other words his worshipers are not free to worship him any way they please but only according to God's truth now these Samaritans had turned away from the truth the truth said worship in Jerusalem and they set aside God's truth and decided to worship in Mount Gerizum that was will worship that's man made man invented worship it's not worship in truth and

[41:35] Jesus is telling this woman you Samaritans are in the wrong you're worshiping in the wrong place God never authorized worship at Mount Gerizum like you Samaritans are doing and in turning to will worship and man made worship they turned away from the one true God notice verse 22 you Samaritans worship what you do not know we we Jews worship what we do know for salvation is from the Jews these Samaritans did not know the true God their worship was something invented and man made worship leads people to worship man a man made God these Samaritans did not worship the true and living God and how today's church needs to heed Jesus teaching when we walk away from the light of scripture truth what are we left with we're left with the darkness of our own minds the mind that is an idol factory ever spinning out those false ideas about

[42:40] God it is in our minds brethren that we most often break the second commandment and make idols create gods of our own making reducing God you know God always comes out on the short end of the deal in our man-made worship whatever men claim I think that this idol would help us to see just how strong God is but in the end God comes out on the short end God is reduced God is shrunk God has thought less of it lowers him as we exchange the truth of God for a lie and we worship the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forever we exchange the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal men beasts and creeping things no true worshipers must worship him in truth and God's own word of truth sets forth the only right and safe way to worship

[43:41] God so we come to his word and we let him tell us what he's like and we let him tell us who we are and how we can be right with him through the worship in truth that's why the Bible must be the script for our worship we must read the Bible pray the Bible preach the Bible sing the Bible that's worship in truth so a few summarizing thoughts there's reason then to pause isn't there as we come to worship and having greeted our brothers and sisters and any visitors with us let us greet our Savior let us treasure the presence of Christ in the midst of his gathered temple let's never forget he is here whose presence changes everything we do in worship so let's have let's go for spirit to spirit dealings with

[44:52] Christ from the very beginning of the service and call to worship to the last amen Christ in you the Holy Spirit in you the father and you having spirit to spirit dealings you receiving from him you giving back to him and let's let the truth of God's word shape and direct all we do in worship isn't it something what a question from this immoral Samaritan woman turned up in terms of teaching on what's important to God about worship and so how is it that Jesus can offer her everlasting life living water as immoral as she is how can he do that was because of where he was going he was going to the cross wasn't he and there he would pay for the sins of this immoral woman pay them in full so there would be nothing more for her to pay he'd live on this world in this on this earth for 33 years that he might obey for her and provide a perfect obedience without any immorality and any disobedience to God's love so he would have a life to offer her a righteousness to offer a death to offer her that if she would just receive this salvation the gift of eternal life that he brings she too would never thirst again but this life would well up within her satisfying her being not only in time but for all eternity what a savior turns aside for one woman a needy woman are you that one have you been trying to fill that thirst and need in your soul the greatest need you have is to be right with God have you been trying to fill that with other people other things you're drinking from the wrong wells you're drinking from the wells that will leave you thirsty for all eternity and then hell there's not a drop to be placed upon the tongue but if you would come to Jesus today he would fill you with himself which is a drink that would never end come to this savior taste and see just how good eternal life is and worship him the rest of your life here and for all of eternity let's pray father in heaven forgive us for all of the unworthy worship that we've offered to you today and in our lifetime we find ourselves like this woman many times just concerned about outward places and things and outward forms we see in your words

[48:01]  Lord Jesus how you you want our hearts you want our spirit you want us worshiping truly so forgive us and wash and cleanse us in that blood of yours that cleanses white as snow thank you Lord that you seek and make worshipers out of the likes of this immoral Samaritan woman you've done it with us you've given us a taste of it oh give us to taste more give us to realize your presence with us each time we gather and change forever the way we worship in your presence that you might receive father son and holy spirit glory in the church world without end amen