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Taste of Heaven
We’re going to build up the worship service as much as much as possible this year so that all of us can come and truly experience true worship. But also so God may be glorified. And during this retreat, I’m going to talk about worship a lot, for two lectures we’re going to do that. I hope that many of you can come without understanding what worship is. Giving true meaningful worship is hard if not impossible. So I hope that, I know you’re busy, but take some time out and please come and start the new year with a prayer for heart, and also next week when we have the town hall meeting, please give us your feedback so that we can choreograph this worship service as meaningfully as possible for everyone who worships here at St. Timothy.
Today’s the first Sunday of 2018. I pray that God’s grace may be with you and with your families this year. God is good and God is faithful. God works beyond our imagination and God deserves our worship. And this year’s theme is healing through worship. And then that is a passage that, that’s John 4, 24. I don’t know why there’s no English one. That’s strange. Is there an English one? I know, but there’s no word in English. I mean, last year we had it right? Strange. Anyway, that 4, 24 we’re going to, we’re ready today. So that is our theme passage. We had a KSM prayer retreat last Friday and Saturday we had a wonderful time together.
What happened was like a taste of heaven. We cried together and we laughed together and most of all we worshiped together in the purest form, purest form. After they learned about worship, the way they gave worse was so beautiful. Friday we had a lecture and then next morning, Saturday morning, we had a worship together. It was one of the most beautiful worship that I experienced. They were really into worshiping God. We experienced that the worship brings healing, but worship is for God, not for us, not even for our benefits. Absolutely, worship is for God, for no one else only God needs to be glorified and only God should be at the center of our worship. We all hide behind the shadow of the cross.
Our Purpose
Worship is our purpose in life. Worship is the very reason for us to live. We live to worship God. That’s Christian belief. We live to worship God. Our ultimate purpose is to glorify God and we glorify God through worship. And last year’s theme was serving is living, and this year living is worship. That’s what we want to practice this year. God delivered us from the bondage and made us free so that we may be able to worship. That’s why the choir anthem was so beautiful. God lifts up our soul so that my spirit may be free when my spirit is free. Then with that freedom. We worship God.
When the Israelites were freed from the bondage of Egyptians, God sent Moses to deliver them from that oppression and bondage and made them free so that they could worship God. That was what Moses said. Let us hear, I’ll be with you and this shall be the sign for you. Oh, sorry. Yeah, you read the scripture. Sorry. Yeah. Okay. Oh, my goodness. This a phobia, man. Okay. This part, “I’ll be with you and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you. When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain.” The whole purpose of the exodus was for them to worship God. Today we read the story of the Samaritan woman. We didn’t read the whole story because I didn’t want to focus on a woman is herself. I want to focus on the meaning of worship that was revealed in the story. We all know the Samaritan woman very well.
Worship in Spirit and Truth
She was a woman who had many problems among them, the greatest problem was that was the fact that she was completely alienated from people you know. It is a terrible experience to be completely alienated from people. That’s why bullying is so hard to take. When you are completely alienated from people that is hard to bear, you become lonely, you become angry and sometimes sad and you feel so worthless and you believe that you are unlovable. She felt judged by the people all the time she lived with this deep wound. Hurt was there and Jesus came to her and she just knew exactly what her problem was, and then write at that moment during the conversation, Jesus completely brought her, out of the bondage and oppression of alienation. Jesus restored her. Jesus lifted up her soul, so that her spirit may be free, and Jesus made sure that she knew that you are a precious child. Precious daughter of God and you are lovable and you’re worthy. Jesus wanted to make sure that she knew that when she experienced the salvation, the first thing she did was to go back to the village and met people who alienated her. That’s amazing. I mean they’re the reason she felt so worthless and unlovable, unloved, but when she was restored by Jesus, she went back to the people who alienated them. She was able to embrace them. In other words, she had enough empowerment to be able to embrace them. She was healed. She was freed.
That’s why she was able to go back and meet those people, but before she went back to the village, there is one question. She asked I wonder why she asked that question. During the conversation, she was going back and forth. She didn’t say much, but one at one point, something was happening within her and the one question rose from her consciousness. You know what that question was? This was the question, our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem. Her question was where should I worship mountain or in Jerusalem? In other words, what is the best way to worship? That question arose from her conscious, from the depth of her soul. This question came up, what is the best way to worship? Did something happen during her conversation with Jesus? She was experiencing the freedom and when she experienced the freedom, the desire to worship arose from within her heart. That’s what it does. That’s what happens when you experience the freedom, the desire to worship arises from within. Where should I worship? she asked. Mountain or Jerusalem? That was important to her. Jesus’ response was this, Jesus said to her “woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the father, neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem, but the hour is coming and is nowhere. When the true worshipers will worship the father in spirit and in truth, for the father seeks the such as those to worship him.” God is a spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. That’s what it is.
Healing
God is a spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. The important thing about worship is not where you worship. The important thing about worship is where is your heart? Where is your heart in the worship? You worship with your heart. You don’t worship in the sanctuary. You worship in your heart because worship is not physical activity. You all the physical activity, but that is self is not worship. Worship. You can only worship from the heart in heart. When you have God in your heart, then you can worship God in spirit and truth. Worship is not about what you do, worship is about your spirit meeting God’s spirit. That’s what worship is. Our Spirit meets God spirit. The place of worship is not the sanctuary. The place of worship is your heart. God looks for those who worship God.
The father seeks such as these to worship him. God is calling us to worship God and you all responded to that calling, some of your friends, even some of your family members might not have responded to that calling, leaving them behind at home. We came to worship because God called us to worship him. Let us worship God from the depth of our heart. What we need in worship is an inspiration. Not Emotion. Emotion is at the surface, but inspiration comes from the depth of your soul. What we need is an inspiration, not emotion. This year, I hope that we all learn what it means to worship God and through your worship, I pray that we all so experience healing and restoration. When you give true worship to God, wonderful things will happen in your lives.
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