Worship in Spirit and Truth - Study 3/21/13
Worship In Spirit and Truth
I recently bought Microsoft Office 2010 software on EBay. It was advertised for $86 and was to ship from Florida within 14 days. I waited and waited for about a month and it finally arrived. I was deceived. The product was shipped from China and it was made in Singapore. I tried to install it and found that the product key was fake and not an authorized official Microsoft product key for activation. I am now working with EBay to get my full refund.
It is now obvious that I was dealing with a different “spirit” and no “truth” whatsoever on this EBay transaction. Have you been duped/deceived before? Religion will deceive you and it is deceiving many today. In John 4, Jesus told the woman at the well, “22 You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
This Samaritan woman has been duped and deceived for years by her religion and men in her past and present. She had been craving and looking for the real all her life and she can now find it in the loving embrace of Jesus Christ, the Messiah. Please read this love story which speaks for the woman and for all of us. What is the spirit and what is truth? Are you and I worshiping God “in spirit and truth”? Are you looking for the truth in your inner most being? Or are you willing to settle for lies and things that only appeal to the eyes and impress others?
It does not matter who we impress and the physical location of where we worship. We better impress God and worship Him only “in spirit and truth”. In order to do that, we must first receive the spirit and truth because both are external and contrary to our human nature. Do you have the Spirit of God and the Truth of God in you? We know one thing for sure that spirit (literally breath) is not physical and it is not something you can see and touch. “God is Spirit”.
God is looking for “true worshippers”; meaning there are false worshippers. Are you are true worshipper of God? Worship in Spirit and Truth.
John 4
5 So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” 8 For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.
9 Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.
10 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
11 The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? 12 Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?”
13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”
15 The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.”
Jesus said to her, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’ 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.” 19 The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.”
21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
25 The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”
Jesus demonstrates his mission he had stated in John 3. He did not come to condemn but to save the world. However, Jesus will lovingly probe into the deepest recess of our lives as he did with this Samaritan woman and reveal the truth to us. “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’ 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband.” Ouch! That is too deep. We can hide from others and fake it but we can’t fake it to Jesus. Note that Jesus did not call her names like a whore and go on to shame her like we humans do. At the same time, this woman did not continue in her sinful lifestyle.
What we do with the revealed truth about our condition of sin determines how Jesus can help us. The woman admitted her sinful life and after that Jesus took over and saved her. If God already knows everything about us why are we faking it to Him and to others? Lets own it.
Jesus was the first racial and prejudice breaker. Jesus a Jew talking to a Samaritan and then a woman for that matter! It is only in Him that we have “true” civil right and equality. People are racist not because of their color but because of their sinful heart. When sin is dealt with at the cross then we can love the others; otherwise all other attempts are just like putting bandage on festering rotten inside wound. Hello, racism and tribalism is not a “white thing” or “black thing”.
The Messiah (the deliverer, the savior) was to come. 25 The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.” Jesus is saying to the lady, I am the Spirit and Truth that you need in order to worship God. You can only worship the God that you know. To know God, “I am He” in the flesh. Don’t kid yourself. If you do not know Jesus, you do not know God and you do not have a relationship with God. Jesus, after He went heaven sent His Spirit in fullness to dwell in those who believe.
God is “seeking those to worship Him in spirit and truth”. Will we answer the call? Worshiping God in spirit is relating to God by faith. For without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrew 12:6). Faith comes by hearing the word (Truth) of God. Do you now believe in Jesus who died, buried and rose again to pay for our sins and restored/secured our relationship with God? This is the Gospel Truth and anything else is false and fake. It is not religion –what you can do. It is a relationship with God who is Spirit. “9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His” (Romans 8:9).
39 “And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all that I ever did.”… 42 Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ,[a] the Savior of the world.” Is this your confession and testimony? Tell your neighbor about the saving grace of Jesus.
I hope to receive refund for my fake software. There is no refund for “eternal life” after we die. Do not wait. Lord, grant me Your Holy Spirit and reveal to me who you are that I may worship you in Spirit and Truth. “The water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”
Lord, thank you for dying on my behalf; forgive me my sins and give me your water that I may drink and live forever. Amen.
I recently bought Microsoft Office 2010 software on EBay. It was advertised for $86 and was to ship from Florida within 14 days. I waited and waited for about a month and it finally arrived. I was deceived. The product was shipped from China and it was made in Singapore. I tried to install it and found that the product key was fake and not an authorized official Microsoft product key for activation. I am now working with EBay to get my full refund.
It is now obvious that I was dealing with a different “spirit” and no “truth” whatsoever on this EBay transaction. Have you been duped/deceived before? Religion will deceive you and it is deceiving many today. In John 4, Jesus told the woman at the well, “22 You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
This Samaritan woman has been duped and deceived for years by her religion and men in her past and present. She had been craving and looking for the real all her life and she can now find it in the loving embrace of Jesus Christ, the Messiah. Please read this love story which speaks for the woman and for all of us. What is the spirit and what is truth? Are you and I worshiping God “in spirit and truth”? Are you looking for the truth in your inner most being? Or are you willing to settle for lies and things that only appeal to the eyes and impress others?
It does not matter who we impress and the physical location of where we worship. We better impress God and worship Him only “in spirit and truth”. In order to do that, we must first receive the spirit and truth because both are external and contrary to our human nature. Do you have the Spirit of God and the Truth of God in you? We know one thing for sure that spirit (literally breath) is not physical and it is not something you can see and touch. “God is Spirit”.
God is looking for “true worshippers”; meaning there are false worshippers. Are you are true worshipper of God? Worship in Spirit and Truth.
John 4
5 So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” 8 For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.
9 Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.
10 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
11 The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? 12 Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?”
13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”
15 The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.”
Jesus said to her, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’ 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.” 19 The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.”
21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
25 The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”
Jesus demonstrates his mission he had stated in John 3. He did not come to condemn but to save the world. However, Jesus will lovingly probe into the deepest recess of our lives as he did with this Samaritan woman and reveal the truth to us. “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’ 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband.” Ouch! That is too deep. We can hide from others and fake it but we can’t fake it to Jesus. Note that Jesus did not call her names like a whore and go on to shame her like we humans do. At the same time, this woman did not continue in her sinful lifestyle.
What we do with the revealed truth about our condition of sin determines how Jesus can help us. The woman admitted her sinful life and after that Jesus took over and saved her. If God already knows everything about us why are we faking it to Him and to others? Lets own it.
Jesus was the first racial and prejudice breaker. Jesus a Jew talking to a Samaritan and then a woman for that matter! It is only in Him that we have “true” civil right and equality. People are racist not because of their color but because of their sinful heart. When sin is dealt with at the cross then we can love the others; otherwise all other attempts are just like putting bandage on festering rotten inside wound. Hello, racism and tribalism is not a “white thing” or “black thing”.
The Messiah (the deliverer, the savior) was to come. 25 The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.” Jesus is saying to the lady, I am the Spirit and Truth that you need in order to worship God. You can only worship the God that you know. To know God, “I am He” in the flesh. Don’t kid yourself. If you do not know Jesus, you do not know God and you do not have a relationship with God. Jesus, after He went heaven sent His Spirit in fullness to dwell in those who believe.
God is “seeking those to worship Him in spirit and truth”. Will we answer the call? Worshiping God in spirit is relating to God by faith. For without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrew 12:6). Faith comes by hearing the word (Truth) of God. Do you now believe in Jesus who died, buried and rose again to pay for our sins and restored/secured our relationship with God? This is the Gospel Truth and anything else is false and fake. It is not religion –what you can do. It is a relationship with God who is Spirit. “9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His” (Romans 8:9).
39 “And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all that I ever did.”… 42 Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ,[a] the Savior of the world.” Is this your confession and testimony? Tell your neighbor about the saving grace of Jesus.
I hope to receive refund for my fake software. There is no refund for “eternal life” after we die. Do not wait. Lord, grant me Your Holy Spirit and reveal to me who you are that I may worship you in Spirit and Truth. “The water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”
Lord, thank you for dying on my behalf; forgive me my sins and give me your water that I may drink and live forever. Amen.
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