Hope Church LV Sermons
True Worship :: Teddy Johnson
How many of you are WNFR fans? Anybody out here in the couple of two? When I found out the rodeo was in town, I was reminded of the story of this old cowboy and his worship experience. So if you would allow me just for a few minutes to hear me with this story, I'd like to share it with you. There was this old cowboy who entered a church just as services were to begin. And although the old man in his clothes were spotlessly clean, he wore a pair of jeans and a dental shirt and a pair of boots that were very worn and raggedy. And he also carried in his hand this worn out old hat and an equally well-read Bible. But the church that he entered was in a very upscale and exclusive part of the city. And so it was the largest and most beautiful church this old cowboy had ever seen. The people of the congregation were all dressed with expensive clothes and very nice jewelry. And so as the cowboy took a seat, the people began to move away from him. Nobody ever greeted, spoke to or welcomed this old cowboy because they were all appalled at his appearance and they didn't try to hide it. So as the old cowboy was leaving the church, the pastor approached him and asked the cowboy to do him a favor. He said, "Before you come back here again, have a talk with God and ask him what he thinks would be appropriate attire for worship in this church." So the cowboy assured the preacher that he would. The next Sunday, the old cowboy showed back up for services in the same old jeans, same old boots, same old denim shirt and hat. And once again, he was completely shunned and ignored by this congregation. So the preacher said, "I thought I asked you to speak to God before you come back to our church." The old cowboy said, "I did." Well, did he tell you what the proper attire should be for worshiping in this church? The old cowboy said, "Well, sir, God told me he didn't have a clue what I should wear." He said, "He ain't never been in this church before." Well, you see, Vance must have been pretty desperate to let the worship God preach this weekend, so y'all pray for me. Would you open your Bibles to the Gospel of John chapter 4 verses 22 through 24? The Gospel of Saint John chapter 4 verses 22 through 24. Now, y'all can't be quite on me this morning because I'm one of those preachers like Vance that like to hear an occasional amen every now and again. Yeah, y'all just feel free to go ahead and talk back to me. As a matter of fact, I want to have y'all talking to each other every now and then, so I want y'all to get a little bit practicing. So I want you to look at the person next to you, and I want you to say, "Good morning," and I want you to look at somebody else. Let me think, let me think, I want you to just say, "Whassup?" There you go, all right, y'all sound and good, all right. Y'all keep that going, it will be all right because truth is, if y'all don't talk back to me, I'll start talking back to myself and know I'm too far short of a happy meal, so I'm a little crazy. So y'all go ahead and feel free to give me some amen's and talk back, let's keep it warm up in the room, all right. We're going to read John 4 22 through 24 together out loud, okay, so I'm going to be reading from the New American Standard Bible. So if you don't have a Bible or if you don't have that version, direct your attention to the screen so we can read it all out loud together. In beginning in verse 22, 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. What is spirit and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth? Worshiping in spirit and worshiping in truth are the two trademarks of true authentic worshipers. And my prayer for you this morning is that these two trademarks will be registered and stamped on every page of your life and in every part of your heart. So we're going to go back and we're going to look at this story from the very beginning back in verse 3 where Jesus began this encounter with the Samaritan woman to whom he was speaking. So if you go back and look at verse 3, it says he, meaning Jesus, left Judea and went away again into Galilee. And he had to pass through Samaria. Now let me give you a little bit of history behind this. The Jews were despised the Samaritans. The Samaritans on the other hand were very hostile to the Jews. So whenever Jews were traveling from Judea in the south up to Galilee in the north, they would do whatever was necessary to avoid passing through that area known as Samaria. Look at the map on the screen. The Jews would be traveling from Judea here in the south in the southwest and they would travel across the Jordan River. They would go into the area known as Perea. Then they would begin to head north up through the capitalist. Then they would cross the Jordan River again to head back west toward Galilee. And they did all of this just to avoid Samaria because of this controversy that was going on. But verse 4 says Jesus had to pass through Samaria. Now he had to pass through Samaria for two reasons. First of all because the direct route from Judea up to Galilee passing through Samaria was actually three days shorter than if he took that alternate route. But secondly because he had direct orders from headquarters. Jesus was on a divine assignment. He had business to take care of in Samaria. So Jesus had to pass through Samaria. Verse 5 says so he came to a city of Samaria called Saikar near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. And Jacob's well was there. So Jesus being wearied from his journey was sitting thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour which is about 12 o'clock noon. There came a woman of Samaria to drawwater and Jesus said to her give me a drink for his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Now this was awkward not only because of the controversy that was going on between the Samaritans and the Jews. But it was awkward. Jesus speaking to this woman was kind of odd because it was forbidden by law for a rabbi to speak with a woman in public. As a matter of fact a rabbi couldn't even speak to his own wife or daughter or sister in the street. So it was pretty awkward for this woman to imagine her response when he said give me drink. Verse 9 will look at her response. Therefore the Samaritan woman said to him how is it that you being a Jew ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman. For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Verse 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. Now when I moved to New Jersey one of the first things that I learned here in Las Vegas is that there's all kinds of water. See in Las Vegas I don't know maybe I ain't realize it maybe you know it's just me or something but you know Las Vegas has some hard water. It's just weird it's kind of has this dry texture and it's weird because you know when you think water you think wet not dry and it's dry but yet it's weird. So anyway I learned that there's all kinds of water there's hard water there's soft water there's spring water there's polluted water there's clean water there's all kinds of water. So it was interesting to me that in this verse when referencing to himself Jesus introduces us to a new kind of water that he calls living water. Now you've got to understand that water is the only substance on earth that is naturally present in three forms. Water can be a gas it can be a solid it can be a liquid. Look at the screen for a second when water is a gas the molecules are freely moving about and in this phase water is a vapor and it's invisible. When water becomes a solid it's because the molecules have now locked into hexagonal crystals and in this phase they're no longer free to move about and the water becomes visible like ice or snow. Water becomes a solid when those molecules are moving fast enough to break free from the hexagonal crystal structure although they're still attached to each other. Water in this liquid phase is able to fill the shape of any container. Now just like water is naturally present in three forms God exists in three different persons as God the father he's the invisible intangible God. As God the son however he manifested himself in solid form. You see when the invisible God became visible you could see him faith became sight when the intangible God became tangible you could touch him. But then on the day of Pentecost God the spirit came on the scene. In the Bible says the apostles were all together in one place and suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind and it filled the whole house where they were sitting and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit think of it like this. On the day of Pentecost there was a change in the atmosphere and these hexagonal crystals that were once in solid form God the son started moving fast enough to break free from that crystal structure. And took on a whole new different form God the spirit. And that happened because Acts two and one tells us that the people were all together in one place. Tell somebody next to you they were all together. See when all God's children get together what a time what a time what a time we sing that song because you see it's possible for all of us to be in one place. At the same time but yet still not be all together. It's called division but at Pentecost they were unified they were like-minded they were focused on God worshiping with one voice they were together in one accord. I guarantee you in that upper room Pentecost they didn't have Deacon Dreamy over here falling asleep. They didn't have Franny frown a lot over here watching the clock. Come on don't act like you don't know who I'm talking about. They didn't have Usher I annoy only here to steal your joy you know what I'm doing. Phillip folded arms I won't sing this worship song y'all know what I'm talking about come on don't play you know y'all know what I'm talking. See they weren't sitting on the premises they were standing on the promises waiting for the promise of the father. For the Bible says when the day of Pentecost it come they were all together somebody say all together. And we need that kind of change in this atmosphere today to melt ice cold hearts. We need that kind of change in this atmosphere today to invoke the presence of God because we learn from the laws of matter and physics that was just a slight change in the atmosphere. H2O solid becomes H2O liquid hard ice cubes become soft running water and when all the people of God get together worship together all together it changes the atmosphere that's when God the son manifest himself as God the spirit so the laws of matter no longer matter because the laws of the spirit take over and makes everything a completely different matter. And just like H2O in liquid form fills the shape of its container this living water fills the lives of willing vessels fully surrender to him and he doesn't just want to fill you he wants to flow through you so he can overflow out of you. In verses 11 and 12 the Samaritan woman is basically saying this and I paraphrase no offense mister but you don't even have a bucket and this well is way too deep so where you're going to find this living water do you think you're better than Jacob who dug this well himself and drank from it with his family. Police. Verse 13 Jesus answered and said to her everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life. Verse 15 the woman said to him well mister you need to give me some of this everlasting wonder water because you know it just might change my life because I reckon if I never get thirsty well then I guess I'd never have to walk all the way to this old well so just pour it on me. Now by this time Jesus had enough of her sarcastic remarks so he inconspicuously digs right down to her very core look what he says in verse 16 he said to her go call your husband and come here. Now he didn't say that because he really wanted her to go he said that because he wanted to engage her in further conversation about her life. His intention was to build a relationship the life of a Jesus follower is all about relationships that was good I heard that somewhere before I can't quite. You better write that down that was good. He didn't tell her to go call your husband and come back here because he actually assumed that she was married or because he thought that she would really go. He simply desired to know her and to be known by her he was building a relationship. Verse 17 the woman answered and said I have no husband. Jesus said to her you have correctly said I have no husband for you have had five husbands and the one whom you now have is your baby daddy. No, no, sorry. The one whom you now have is not your husband. This you have said truly. Now of course by now she was choking on every one of those sarcastic remarks. So now I want you to just push the pause button on that thought for a minute and let me change gears for a few minutes. It's important here to note that from Genesis to Revelation the number seven has always had special significance in scripture. It has been traditionally recognized as a symbol of completion. Take for example Genesis two and two by the seventh day God completed his work which he had done and he rested on the seventh day. Of course this is the premise of the fourth commandment let's look at the fourth commandment on the screen. It says remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy six days you shall labor and do all your work but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall not do any work for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth the sea and all that is in them and rested on the seventh day. For the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. Now to all of us on staff here at Hope that fourth commandment is kind of hilarious cause when we read it it sounds a little bit more like this. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy six days you shall labor and do all your work then the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall transform the gymnasium organized volunteers set up the chairs assemble the stage hang the lights position the mites check the sound system. Park the cars greet the guests operate the media check in the kids care for the kids teach the kids try not to kill the kids lead the people in worship play the instruments preach the word. Pray the prayer give the invitation collect the offering make the announcement dismiss the service give out the gifts go home crawl in the bed and wake up Sunday morning to do it all over again twice. Now I'm not complaining because I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to dwell on the tens of wickedness I would rather be no other place than Hope Baptist Church. But nevertheless the scripture is saturated with the number seven there were seven lambs required to conclude a peace treaty there was the sevenfold sprinkling of blood to be cleansed. There were Samson seven locks of consecration there was revelation seven candlesticks seven churches seven seals seven trumpets seven thunder seven place and the list goes on and on and on. Unpause now go back and reverse sixteen again. Jesus said to her go call your husband and come here the woman answered and said I have no husband Jesus said to her you have correctly said I have no husband for you have had five husbands. Now I believe what Jesus was thinking but never actually said was since you previously had five husbands that makes baby daddy the six man in your life and places me right where I was always predestined to be at number seven. You see I've come to complete you I've come to fulfill you I've come to renew and restore you and all those other men left you defeated depressed and discouraged but I've come to empower elevate and encourage everyone who drinks from Jacobs well will thirst again but you my dear shall never thirst for I am the living water. Somebody just say live in water just in case your neighbors sleep and nudge him and tell him to wake up and take a drink. Verse nineteen the woman said to him sir I perceive perceive that you are a prophet you think. Verse twenty our fathers worshiped in this mountain and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship now first of all I've just got to take this opportunity to point out to you that this verse. It's solid proof that Jesus wasn't raised in the hood. He might have been poor but he didn't grow up in the projects see y'all got to understand I'm from Camden New Jersey and where I come from they were some fighting words. Now I know you missed it so let me help you out. If that was me she was talking to I'd have got all up in my flesh and been like you people. You I got to you people right here with you. You hear that cuz you people. And thank heaven she wasn't talking to my wife Pam because if she was talking to my wife Pam Pam would have been like oh no she didn't. No you you what. Thank God for the blood thank you for the blood Jesus thank you thank you Lord for the. Let's reverse twenty again our fathers worshiped in this mountain and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Now I know it looks like she's making a statement but really she's asking a question. She's asking where is the appropriate place to worship. Is it acceptable to God if we worship here at Mount Garazim or do we need to go to Mount Mariah in Jerusalem to worship where is the appropriate place to worship. Now I know this sounds like a silly question to you and I but this controversy over where to worship was the primary issue that caused such strong hatred between the Samaritans in their Jewish relatives. You've got to understand this dispute had been going on for over three hundred years until Christ came on the scene and addressed it in this very conversation where is the acceptable place to worship. I know it sounds ridiculous but the truth is many people are still asking that same question today. Should I worship here? Should I worship there? Should I go to this church? Should I go to that church? Should I be Baptist or Methodist? Should I be Presbyterian? Should I be Pentecostal? Should I be like Pastor Mike Lauren and go to Mount Charleston or should I be like Pastor Vance and go to the Hilton? That'll hit you all later on. I'm still trying to figure that one out to tell you the truth. Verse 21, 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. Listen to me, true worship has nothing to do with a location, but it has everything to do with relation." Look at verse 21. Notice that Jesus called God Father. Neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. Jesus was revealing his relationship with God. It's the object of our worship that makes the difference. And God is omnipresent. So worship has nothing to do with the location. It's all about the relationship. Then he said, "We worship what we know for to truly worship him. You've got to truly know him." Take a look at this quote by Clyde Cranford, "A life focused on God. This is true worship. Thus God is pleased with our public worship only if the pursuit of holy living is part of our daily experience. The great preparation for corporate worship is private worship. We should be breathing and living in fellowship with the Holy Spirit moment by moment all day, every day. I will, remember, I will bless the Lord. When? At all times. I will bless the Lord. When? I don't know if y'all are tracking with me this morning. I will bless the Lord. And his praise shall continually be in my mouth. Rejoice in the Lord. When? Should we be just rejoicing when we get the good doctors report, the doctors, everything? Rejoice in the Lord. Always, always. Not just when I feel good. Not just when I feel like it. Not just when things are going well. Not when I'm happy. Not when I get my paycheck. Not on Sunday mornings when I'm in church. Rejoice in the Lord. Always. And again I say. And again I say. And again I say. You see, we ought to be meeting with him on Monday and talking with him on Tuesday, walking with him on Wednesday, just thrilled with him on Thursday, fascinated with him on Friday, so that by the time the weekend rolls around, we're not dragging in here all weary, worn out, depressed and disgusted, but we're entering his gates with thanksgiving and we're entering his course with praise because he is God. The truth is, if we can't worship in the supermarket, we can't worship in the sanctuary. If you can't worship in the kitchen, you can't worship in the choir. We can't truly worship anywhere until we first learn to worship everywhere. True worship has nothing to do with the location. It has everything to do with relation. The Bible says that my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. I am a portable sanctuary. And if I'm worshiping in spirit and in truth, I take my sanctuary with me everywhere I go. Do you remember that song? Lord, prepare me to be a sanctuary pure and holy, true and true, and with thanksgiving. I'll be our living sanctuary for you. Look at this quote on the screen by James Gills. He said, "Worship means to practice the presence of God in everything we do, every time we do it." I want you to just tell somebody next year, I want you to say this. I can't really worship anywhere until I learn to worship everywhere. Tell them that. The Greek word in these verses that we're studying, the Greek word for worship is proskonejo. And proskonejo literally means to kiss. The image is like a dog licking his master's hand. It means to adore or to show reverence to, to lay prostrate on your face in a horizontal position. And our English word, worship, simply means worth ship, worth ship, meaning he is worthy. Now there are three truths about worship that I want to point out. First of all, worship is an attitude. It's an attitude with which we come before the Lord. It's an attitude of adoration. Lord, I adore you. Lord, I love you. Not just saying it, but really having that attitude in our heart, in our soul. It's an attitude of adoration. God, I want to be more like you. God mold me, shape me, an attitude of adoration. Also, an attitude of appreciation. We've got to have an attitude of gratitude. Come before the Lord with thankfulness in our hearts. In spite of what's going on, in spite of the circumstances, we will bless the Lord at all times. We will rejoice in the Lord always, an attitude of being grateful of God for what He's given us and for where we are and who He's created us to be. Secondly, worship is an action. Praising God, giving Him glory, bowing down before Him, lifting our hands before Him as we praise Him. Sometimes we lift our hands like this in the attitude of surrender. And sometimes we lift our hands like this to receive what God has for us. But whatever it is, whether it's bowing or laying before Him or dancing before Him, singing and celebrating, praising God is an action. Also serving in our daily work as we serve other people. We're not really serving the people. We're serving the Lord. When we do somebody a favor, when we think of somebody else and place them before ourselves, we're really worshiping. So it's not only an attitude, but it's also an action. Look at this quote by A.W. Tozer. I love this quote. It says, "Some people believe they are worshiping when they are making a lot of noise and chatter and racket. They can never worship God without noise and commotion." Religious noise and worship do not necessarily mean the same thing. On the other side, I want to warn you cultured, quiet, self-possessed, poised, sophisticated people so sure of yourself that it embarrasses you if anybody says amen out loud in a church meeting. Throughout history, the people of God have always been a little bit noisy. I didn't say it. A.W. Tozer said it, "Get mad at him." The third truth about worship is that worship is an affair. Worship is a romance with God. It is love responding to love. Now, there's a great misconception, I think, that has played the church in America, and for a big part it has played hope after this church in some ways, but there's this misconception that God is the prompter. We, meaning myself in our vocal team, in our band, in our choir, the folks on stage here, that we are the worshipers, and that you are the audience. That's wrong. That's Iranian thinking. Incorrect. Couldn't be further from the truth. The reality is that we Teddy, Pastor Vance, Pastor Mike, whoever's up here, Pastor Travis, the vocal team that's up here singing, the band playing, the choir that's up here. We are the promptors. You are the worshipers, and God is the audience. How many of you know we serve in audience of one? Now, I know some folks don't want to hear that. I hate to bust your bubble hurt your feelings. That's not my intention. Believe me. But the truth is, sometimes we come to church with this attitude that it's all about me. Sing my song the day. Preach to me, preacher. Come on. We make it about us. We sit there and we look, I want to oh, they sound so beautiful. Look at them. It's not about us. We are here to encourage you so that we together can join in one big choir. You know, what we doing down here, this is just a rehearsal. When we get to heaven, we gonna really sing. And if y'all are part of the hope choir, y'all know y'all got to get it right in rehearsal. We got to get it right in rehearsal. Because this is just a rehearsal. When we get to heaven, we gonna really sing. True worship is a life that experiences daily metamorphomy. That means metamorphosis. That's where we get that English word from. 2 Corinthians 3-18 says, "But we all with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed metamorphomy or metamorphosis. We're being transformed into the same image from glory to glory just as by the spirit of the Lord." And this is what that looks like. That 2 Corinthians 3-18 looks like this, "God shines his glory upon us." And his shekinah is so powerful, it's so overwhelming that we can't contain it. And the truth is, if we try, if we try to keep it to ourself, it will literally consume us. So like mirrors, we reflect it. Picture this, he shines his glory on us. We glorify him. He blesses us. We bless him back. He lifts us up. We lift him up from glory to glory to glory to glory to glory to glory to glory to glory even as by the spirit of God. Remember when Moses worshiped and Mount Sinai, he had to put a veil over his face just so he could return to the people back at the camp. So the truth is when basking in the presence of God, true worshipers reflect the glory of God. Verse 23, "But an hour is coming and now is when 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." Now I want you to take your pens out and if your Bible translation says must worship as the NASB does, I want you to underline that word must. Or if your translation says will worship, I know some of them, some of the translation says will worship. Underline that word will. Must worship or will worship in spirit and truth. I want you to circle that word spirit after that so must worship in spirit. Circle the word spirit. Then I want you to circle the word truth. I want you to remember every time you read that verse that worshiping in spirit and worshiping in truth are the two trademarks of true authentic worshipers. So we're going to spend our last few moments together this morning trying to grasp what it really means to worship in spirit and to worship in truth. First of all to worship in spirit, this is worship as led by the Holy Spirit within. If it's not directed by the Holy Spirit, it's not true worship. Secondly, worshiping in spirit involves the whole person. It's worshiping with the whole heart, whole body, soul, mind, strength, feelings, emotions. So often we want to leave out the fields and oh no I don't want to get that attached. No, we kind of depart ourselves. No, it's bringing all of who we are, the whole person to God, our whole being. But now let me tell you what worship is not. Worship is not a high energy display of emotionalism. Hear me out. It's not emotionalism. It's not led by the emotion. It's led by the spirit. But nor is it stiff and artificial with no semblance of life. This trademark worshiping in spirit represents an overwhelming passion of being in the presence of a holy God. So worship is why we were born. Worship is why we were born again. God is a spirit and we have been born by the Spirit. So we must worship in spirit because only the Holy Spirit knows how to worship God acceptably. Romans 12 says that we brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God. For this is your spiritual act of worship. For this is your reasonable service. Living sacrifice is not a corpse. Anything dead ought to be buried. But the problem with the living sacrifice is that it can crawl off the altar. So where are you today? Are you still on the altar? Let's look at what it means to worship in truth. Worshiping in truth. This refers to worship in harmony with God's fully revealed truth through his word. If it's not submitted to or submerged in truth, it's not true worship. Worship that is acceptable to God is based on knowing God and knowing the nature of God. This means to worship with the whole mind in accordance to God's word. Worshiping in truth does not involve controversies, ceremonies, rituals, old testament offerings. That's not worshiping in truth. I remember this story about this lady who was at a worship in prayer meeting who began to publicly pray that God would help her husband mend his wicked ways and correct his numerous sins. Then she proceeded in the prayer to describe his wicked ways and name his numerous sins while her husband was sitting right next to her. Though her words may have been true, they were not born of the spirit. Because the first fruit of the spirit is love. And 1 Corinthians 13 teaches us that love keeps no record of wrongs. And according to 1 Peter 4, 8, love covers a multitude of sins. So therefore it's necessary to worship both in spirit and in truth. Look at this final quote on the screen by Henry Richard Blackaby. "The quality of our worship is not based on our activities, but on our character. Churches can mistakenly assume that the better the music, the more impressive the building, and the more eloquent the preaching, the more worshipful the experience will be. You and worship, however, originates from within our hearts. Today we tend to look to external things to enhance our worship. The true quality of our worship, however, rests within us. If we have not allowed God to purify us first, our worship will be void of his presence. If we do not have a pure heart, we may give offerings, but they will be unacceptable to God. Attending a service will not automatically ensure and encounter with God. If you are not satisfied with the quality of your worship, don't be too quick to blame your environment. Look first to your own heart. My youngest daughter, Judea, turned six this Tuesday. We had a birthday party for her and we invited family and friends to come and to celebrate, and it was such a joy as we all gathered together to focus all our attention on that little girl for her special day. We brought gifts and we sang to her, and of course we had some cake and ice cream. That experience reminded me of a birthday party that I attended some time ago where I couldn't help but notice that there was someone there who didn't really want to be there or so it seemed. They had a gift to bring but they didn't really want to give it. They refused to sing and celebrate. And I think that they somewhat selfishly disregarded the fact that they were there for someone else and that it wasn't really supposed to be about them. And I sat there and I thought, why they even come to the party? Well, you know every weekend, I hope after this church we have a party. And we invite family and friends to come and to celebrate, and it's such a joy as we gather together with family and friends and focus all our attention on God. We bring gifts, we sing to Him, and instead of ice cream and cake we feast on the word. But you know every weekend I can't help but notice there's just a few folks that don't really want to be here or so it seems. You have gifts but you don't want to use them. You refuse to sing and celebrate. And I think we sometimes disregard the fact that we're here for God and it was never really supposed to be about us. So I often wonder why even come to the party? I'm a prompter. You're the worshipper. God is the audience of one. But you can't really worship anywhere until you learn how to worship everywhere. Let Christ in Christ alone be the aim of your attitude, your action, and your affair. For God is the spirit. Those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth because these are the trademarks of true authentic worshipers. Let's pray. Heavenly Father I thank you that you allow us to be in relationship with you. That as we bask in your presence you transform us that every moment of every day we have the opportunity to experience metamorphosis to be more like you and to reflect your glory. So I pray that these two trademarks worshiping in spirit and worshiping in truth will be registered and stamped on every page of every life and in every part of every heart in this room. And I ask it in Jesus name. Amen. 2000 years ago Jesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit. He was born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate. He was crucified, dead, and buried. But on the third day he rose from the dead he ascended into heaven and now he seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. Somebody here today that has a God-shaped void in your heart and in your life. So often we think before I come to Christ, before I surrender my heart, before I accept him into my heart, before I fully surrender I got some things I need to get in order. Got to straighten some stuff out and then I'll come. Let me tell you that's a lie from the devil because you can't do it. That's why we come to Christ because we need him to fix us. We just don't have the power. We don't have the strength. We don't have the ability in and of ourselves. So I encourage you today. We have some pastors that are here in the front. I'm going to come down here to the front and we want to pray with you. If you know you need Jesus in your life. Now is the acceptable time. Don't wait till tomorrow cause tomorrow's not promised. Anything could happen when you walk out of these doors. Don't hold off tomorrow what you need today. Why don't you let us pray with you. Maybe you say well Pastor Teddy I already have Christ in my life. I'm already saved. I know I'm a believer. But I'm just going through a rough time right now. And I know God has brought me through stuff before but I don't know how I'm going to get through this one. Maybe it's healing in your body. Maybe it's some type of financial stress. Maybe it's just discord in your family. Whatever it is won't you come let us pray with you. We have pastors. We have some lay leaders that are ready and willing. I'm going to just draw you back into the presence of God. Jesus Jordan in our team is singing a hymn. Don't wait. Come on and let us pray with you.