In Spirit And In Truth!

I am a firm believer that we must preach the truth, we can not share the Word in a way to leave people in their sin. There is another aspect of our relationship with the Lord that we must be truthful in.

John 4:21-24

Jesus *said to her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Read this part of the passage again, “An hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.”

How do you worship the Lord? How do you worship the Father? How do you worship the Holy Spirit?

Why am I asking this? I am asking this because there is so much hype in our churches, there is so much building up of emotions in our church services.

How much of that emotionally charged expression is real? I am concerned that far too many people are being drawn into an emotional wave and we are not true worshipers and we are not worshipping in spirit and truth!

Friends we need to be totally truthful in all aspects of our Christian Life. Our prayer must be heartfelt. Our love of the Lord must be real. Our sharing of the Word must be the Word, the whole Word and nothing but the Word. I have put it that way because Jesus is the Truth and the life, and He is also known as the Word. We must share the truth! We must also worship Him in spirit and truth!

I see church services that are so much like a motivational conference. A meeting where the speaker is there for one sole purpose to rev up the engines, rev up the emotions of people to send them out and sell the widget or gizmo.

That is not what we are to do! We are to be honest and worship the Lord from what is truly in us!

Friends let us all be upright and honest in our Christian life.

When I consider Hymns and Worship music are, we really considering the words of those pieces.

How Great Thou Art, Oh Lord my God When I in awesome wonder Consider all The worlds thy hands have made.

One of my favourite Hymns, considered the words, as you walk through this world are your eyes open to truly consider all the awesomeness of world that the Lord has made. Have you considered the trees, the waters, the wildlife and more that surrounds us?

Joy To The World, Joy to the world, the Lord is come! Let earth receive her King; Let every heart prepare Him room, And Heaven and nature sing,

The Lord has been here, is here have we received Him? Truly received Him. Have we really prepared Him room in our lives, in our heart in our very being? Have we allowed Him to come and make His abode, His home in us? Is it really the Lord who lives in us?

El-Shaddai, El Shaddai, El Shaddai, El-Elyon na Adonai, Age to age you're still the same, By the power of the name. El Shaddai, El Shaddai, Erkamka na Adonai, We will praise and lift you high, El Shaddai.

Do we really recognize that He was and is and will always be? Do we understand the power in the name, how about the power in the blood? Is it really the Lord we praise and lift on high?

As The Deer, As the deer panteth for the water So my soul longs after You
You alone are my hearts desire And I long to worship You
(Chorus) You alone are my strength, my shield To You alone may my spirit yield You alone are my hearts desire And I long to worship You

Does our Soul truly long after the Lord, is He really our hearts desire? Do we recognize that He is our strength and our shield? Are we yielding our spirit only to Him?

This is where we must look at our own worship, are we getting caught up in a wave of emotion, are we caught up in the hype being presented as worship? Are we worshipping in Spirit and in truth?

I am asking us all, Pastors, worship leaders, and all believers to consider that “an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”