Worship Him in Spirit

John 4 (TNIV)

19 "Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem."

    21 "Woman," Jesus replied, "believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth."

Psalm 100 (TNIV)

1 Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.

    2 Worship the LORD with gladness;

       come before him with joyful songs.

    3 Know that the LORD is God.

       It is he who made us, and we are his;

       we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

    4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving

       and his courts with praise;

       give thanks to him and praise his name.

    5 For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;

       his faithfulness continues through all generations.

We Worship Him in Spirit . . .  Have we thought about what that means?  Well, yes, we have probably done at least that.  Maybe a better question would be have you realized, fully realized, what that means?  Not only what it really means to worship, but also what it really means to worship Him?  It this just something we "think" about, or do we fully grasp with all that we are what that means?  Do we just "know" "what" we believe, or do we love the life we are called to?  Or, as Mark Woodson (our guest speaker this morning) puts it, if you give me a person with passion, I can teach them skill, but teaching passion - that is a whole different thing. 

What Pastor Mark invites us to consider this morning is the place, the centrality, of passion in how we respond with our lives to God in worship.  This is what Jesus is getting at in His conversation with the woman at the well when he suggests that perhaps that God is less interested in the arguments about the details of location and style of worship, as He is about the attitude we bring to worship. What does this look like? What might Jesus be trying to get at here?  That is what Pastor Mark invites us to explore further.  So, follow his lead by reflecting on the passages to the right, and think . . . no, realize . . . what that means for you . . . for us. 

If you would like to listen again to what Pastor Mark had to share with us, or if you would like to listen for the first time, you can click here to access our sermon library.