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You can be seated. So we. We've got a ceremony, almost a spiritual rites of passage that we'll be doing at the end of our gathering. I wanted to get right up, share the word so that those of you who. Who may need to leave can leave. I still want to get you out of here in a normal amount of time. I don't want to be too disruptive today, but we got people everywhere. We can put a chair. But I believe our spiritual family loves to see men take their rightful place. So we okay being in the overflow one week. Come on. So I want to jump into the word and I want to call your attention to the Gospel of John, chapter four, beginning at verse number 19. John's gospel, chapter four, beginning at verse 19. I'm in a series here. It's called Alterations. I want. Boy, I wish I could just. I wish we were in an age where you could just really say what you need to say. Such a hypersensitive. So I feel like, you know, some people make the connection. The words are not connected. But I do think one affects another. The word disciple and the word discipline. Men who are being disciples should be disciplined men. All kinds of discipline. So here's the point that I'm making this series that I'm on Alterations. It's on what's called a spiritual discipline. What is a spiritual discipline? It is the Apostle Paul uses this word when he writes. I think he's writing to Timothy. He says, exercise yourself into godliness. Is that what he says? He says bodily exercise profiteth little. It doesn't mean that exercising the body is not important. But he says, comparatively speaking, don't go harder on your physical life than you are on your spiritual life. Got me? So this is what he's saying. So he says, okay, so the word exercise there, the word uses English exercise, but it's got connections to a word called gymnasium, from which we get gym. So Paul is telling people, hey, to grow spiritually, you got to do what you would do in the gym. You can't just go to the gym, walk around, clap in the gym and leave and think you're going to get your results. But every Sunday, people come to the gym, clap, walk around, and expect to lead different. Am I making sense? It's not that the gym isn't important, but he says exercise. And so this word exercise speaks to a set of spiritual habits or practices that produce growth. So in the gym, I got natural exercises I do to grow different parts of my body spiritually. There are different exercises that we got to do. And here's what's important. And I'm going to get into this lesson. It's not just doing the exercise, it's doing it right. Right. We've seen people in the gym, right? And so what's the spiritual discipline? What's the spiritual exercise? Prayer is one, right? Study of scripture is one. Here's the way. Here's what we're doing. There's one. You know, there's sometimes, I think most of us who go to gym, we don't like leg day. This series is on leg day. It's on the thing we think we can skip, but it's the thing that holds everything else up. Am I making sense? It's worship not just as a communal corporate exercise on Sunday, but a personal spiritual discipline that helps you live a presence, conscious life where you. Where you, like Jesus, live a life where the dove is on your shoulder and that produces an alteration. So let's go to John, chapter four. Y' all gonna talk back today. John 4, verse 19. Sir, the woman said, I can see that you're a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that place where we must worship is Jerusalem. Woman. Jesus replied, believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father. Neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know. We worship what we do know. For salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and now has come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. Let's talk from this subject in our time together. I'm tagging this title to this text. I don't want that. Clap your hands everywhere if you're ready to receive God's word. I don't want that. I want to start this sermon with a question for your reflection. Have you ever had an experience in a relationship where someone claimed to love you greatly, but they listened to you poorly? If so, then you know this is a very frustrating relational reality because a person's ability to. To love you properly is tied to their willingness to listen to you accurately. Love listens. Why? Because in order for love languages to be met, love languages, first of all must be understood. And so it is difficult to meet needs you don't understand. But you will never understand what the needs are if we don't listen. Love listens. And when individuals don't listen, they live life giving the person they're in relationship with what they think they want and not what they actually need. I wish I had somebody that would at least say amen. Love breeds care, curiosity. Love makes you curious. I wish I could preach this free love will make you say, I want to know love. Love is curious. It is inquisitive. It wants to dwell according to knowledge, not assumption. I don't want to dwell based on what I knew about you. I want to dwell based on what I know about you. Seasons may have changed your love. Languages may have shifted. Before we had children, maybe you wanted flowers. But now after we got children, maybe you want the dishes washed and maybe. Let me go. I'm going to go preach over here. Did you hear what I just said? Yeah. Seasons change and needs change. And love is curious enough to be inquisitive and investigative so that you can explore what the actual need is. So that you can give the person what they actually need, not what you think they should have. And when an individual understands the importance of this, then they would have to recognize that when you give a person what they actually need versus what you want them to have, it not only serves them at the highest level, it serves you at the highest level. It not only blesses them, it blesses you. It not only takes them to another level, it takes the relationship to another level. God, come on in here. Because people show up differently when their needs are met properly. And this is what some people miss in your life. They had no idea the version of you that they miss because they did not know how to properly value you and properly assess what your authentic needs are and give you what you needed, not what they want you to have. I'm not in any way saying love should be transactional. I'm not saying you should go tit for tat and not attempt to give your best because you're not getting their best. I'm just acknowledging that you operate differently when you're in a deficit. You operate differently when you're depleted. But if you ever get full, if you ever get full filled, there's a version of you that shows up that is different and distinct and unique and special. Do I have a witness at the 12:30 somebody? Just say it with conviction. You not saying it to anybody. Just put it in the atmosphere. Just say, listen, listen, listen. Would we agree this is important? I say, would we agree this is important? Would you agree this is important? Well, just like it's important in our relationship with people, it is also important in our relationship with God. It is possible to be in relationship with God operating with assumptions regarding what we think God wants versus what he actually wants. It is possible to think because God is a God of grace. That means God is a God of no standards. Grace doesn't lower standards. Grace just gives you more time and it's power patient with you in order to meet the standards. But God clearly articulates in Scripture what He wants. And unfortunately, many people are assuming that he will accept whatever I offer. And the only person that accepts whatever's offered is a person that doesn't have options. And I need somebody to shout. I'm not that desperate. Yeah. Cause as long as I am in covenant with Yahweh, I'm never without an option. I don't care how many doors you close. I don't care how much gatekeeping you try to do. If he'll split a Red Sea, if he can knock down a Jericho Wall, he'll get me to everything that he has in store for me. I want somebody to just pray, praise God because you have options. Is it possible that we're giving God what we want him to have and not what he actually wants? But God is not hard to read. That's another, that's another conversation. That's another conversation, right? He knows what he needs. And he clearly articulates this in scripture and our text here in John chapter four. It gives us some insight on what I'm trying to articulate. In John chapter four, we get to eavesdrop on this conversation that Jesus is having with with a well intended individual who's made assumptions about what he wants in worship. John chapter 4, verse 20. Jesus is having this conversation. Come on, we explored this last week. Yeah, we just, we in John 4 right now. So last week we explored this conversation with this Samaritan woman. And Jesus has just exposed to this Samaritan woman that she's got needs greater than natural thirst. Got me? So Jesus starts, we talked about this last week. Logos, Gnosis. He gives her a word of knowledge. So it gets a little personal so she get uncomfortable. So when he started dealing with her life, she started talking about doctrine. So she says, our ancestors worship on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place we must worship is in Jerusalem. I want you to see what's happening. She's arguing with God about what God wants. But she's well intended, she's sincere because she's making an argument regarding the place of worship. So what she is doing is she is articulating that what she thinks is important to God is where you worship. Am I in the text? Our ancestors worship on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place we must worship is in Jerusalem. So she is assuming what matters most to God is where you worship. So she has made something a priority and assumes, because she thinks it's a priority for God, that it is actually a priority for God. And so now she's arguing based on her level of understanding. Now, where did she get this understanding from? It's in the text. Ancestors. Come on. We talked about this last week. She's Samaritan. Come on. So the Samaritan people worshiped on a mountain called Mount Gerizim. So when she says we worship on this mountain, she's talking about a mountain called Mount Gerizim. So her religious tradition was a tradition that always worshiped on Mount Gerizim. And she's acting like if you don't worship on Mount Gerizim, then your worship is inaccurate. So she is adamantly arguing something she is incorrect about, but she assumes she's correct because she got inaccurate information from a godly heritage. So her ancestors may have been good people, but they gave her bad doctrine on this. So she's got a whole worldview on where you're supposed to worship based on the way one scripture was interpreted by her religious tradition. I'm ready. I'm ready for this. It's been like this all three services. I'm ready for this. Because when you start touching second way, you start touching sacred religious cows and you start exposing. Come on here. And that religious spirit is more hostile and obstinate and arrogant than a worldly spirit, because at least world knows what they're doing is it's sacred. Religion fights for air, fights for truth when fights for what they think is truth, when it's actually error. She arguing and wrong posting and wrong going live and wrong doing podcasts and wrong got a following. And just as wrong as wrong can be, because one scripture in one place said this. When the Lord your God has brought you into the land you are entering to possess, you are to proclaim on Mount Gerizim, blessings and on Mount Ebal, curses. So they took this one scripture out of context and built a whole belief system on one scripture that was out of context. And I don't have time to share with you some of the dangerous things that have been done in Christian communities with one scripture taken out of context. Women, be silent. Taken out of context. Slaves, obey your masters. Taken out of. Y' all are not talking to me. One scripture taken out of context. Here's the problem. The Samaritans only acknowledge what's called the Pentateuch that's the first five books of the Bible. They ignored the rest of scriptural writings where God clearly designates Jerusalem as the place of worship. So this says this. Her religious tradition handed her a historic interpretation of Scriptures. So she didn't even know. She wasn't as objective as she thought she was because. Are y' all hearing me? Because every time that scripture was read to her, it was read with the insinuation that this is the accurate interpretation. So she thinks she's giving God what he want, and she's sincere because she's doing what the Samaritans taught her. And how many people are living their spiritual life just doing what the Samaritans, the Dom, denomination, the prophet, just. Just doing? It's been tough. Here's what. But Jesus here says, you got this misunderstood. He says, the hour's coming and now is. I just need to know. Am I teaching the book? He says, the hour is coming. Give me the text. The hour is coming and now has come when? Wait a minute. I'm coming back to this. The true worshipers. Did you hear what I just said? Okay, give me verse 21. Verse 21 says, A time is coming where you will worship this the Father, neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. He's not saying that the places where you worship won't matter. But he is saying you won't have to go to a place where worship. Come on here, Right? And then. And then he says. Then he says, you Samaritans worship what you do not know. We worship what we do know. For salvation is of the Jews. Yet a time is coming. And now it's come when the true worshipers. Now, if he uses the word true, if he uses the word true, if there can be true worship, that means it can be an expression of worship. That's not true. So I want you to see. I want you to see something here. He says they will worship the Father miss this in spirit and in truth. So true worshipers need truth to worship. So my ability to worship biblically is tied to my biblical literacy. He says, you worship what you don't know. So the more revelation I have about who God is, the more worship I can express. The more I see he's worth, the more I can express that worth. For some people, he's just a creator and your worship reflects it. But for some of us, he's the creator and the provider. And my praise show it. And the healer and my praise show it. And the deliverer and my praise show it. And the way Maker, and the praise show it. I want somebody whose testimony is, he's everything I need him to be. Just worship him for that. Here's what Jesus does. Are y' all ready for this? He gives her a gift that everybody has to receive who's serious about growth. He gives her the gift of correction. This story. Come on. We were at the end of the story last week where this woman becomes this amazing evangelist, goes into Samaria, is able to reach so many different people. So this story ends the way it ends at the end because she's willing to take correction in the middle. Correction and correction is not an indictment against God's character. It's an expression of God's love. For the Bible says whom the Lord loves, He corrects. Love. Come on here. Is expressed through correction. I'm not gonna sit idly by and let destroy your life and be silent and then act like I love you. Come on here. We should not be concerned when God is correcting us. We should be grateful. You should be concerned when God is not correcting you. Because when he ceases to correct, this means you have demonstrated a degree of abstinence that God in his foreknowledge, knows will never be changed. He has ceased seen enough to know that there's nothing more I can do to convince a heart that has become unconvincable. And since I'm a God that will not violate your free will, I'm going to honor your autonomy and give you over to what you think you want. And the Bible calls that state a reprobate mind. He said so. I'm going to let you be conquered by the consequence that I was trying to protect you from. But this whole story ends the way it ends because a woman was willing to let Jesus correct what she had learned from her religious tradition. I'm getting ready to test the maturity of this service. Yep. Because I know we praise God for a number of different things. I'm giving a testament to it. In this service. I want to know, is there anybody in the room that appraise him? Because he's still correcting you. Hey, that means you haven't given up on me. That's. That means you still got a plan for me. That means you still worshiping, you're still working on me. Somebody thank him for every time he corrected you. You can only grow to the degree to which you're willing to be corrected. The difference between a season and a cycle is correction. Seasons change with time. Cycles change when you do. And sometimes we're like we in a rough season. And God's like this not on me, this on you. This end. Whenever you end some things this changes. Whenever you change some things that should have said. Somebody free up in the balcony. Cause you can make up your mind. It's changed right now. Good God Almighty. You can say it's changed as of this moment. And the spirit of this age has produced traits and tendencies of hypersensitivity and it has made people resistant to correction. It is a spirit of offense. You can't even tell somebody they holding the golf club wrong now without somebody being upset. And if you want to stay stuck and stagnant and plateaued and paralyzed and pitiful, then do you. But if you want God to take you from faith to faith, and if you want God to take you from glory to glory, throw your hands up and tell him, correct me. You know what will shift some marital dynamics, you know what will take you off the borderline into bliss? Is somebody's willingness to be corrected. You know what will take some people from cycles of self sabotaging professional behavior where everybody, everybody hating a willingness to be corrected. And the devil wants to use hypersensitivity to hold your growth hostage. But today he got to let you go. I need somebody over here to act like you just received the word of the Lord. I said today he's got to let you go. All right, I got two minutes. She receives the correction. And Jesus said, the hour's coming. And now is where true worshipers will worship him in spirit and in truth. Give me the text, please. It says, for the Father is seeking. Here's the way. The King James says, the Father seeketh such to worship him. They are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. See, that's what he want. What's that? That's third way worship. Because there's three ways to worship culture's way, which is the worship of self and the worship of stuff. It is the placing of personal priorities, possessions and passions above God with an expectation that God will accept second place and bless what I made first. It is when you put your personal priorities, your possessions and your passions. What I want to do with my life is not yours. I'm not hearing amen now. If I'm teaching truth, I need to hear an amen. You are bought with a price. Watch this. It is an indication that I'm getting ready to run in here. It's an indication that one fails to believe that God has the capacity to satisfy. It's one thing to have faith that he can save you. It's another thing to have Faith that he can satisfy it. Hallelujah. When he's telling the woman you will never thirsty again, he's telling her there's something in you that only what I have will quench. And it doesn't matter how much passion you have and how much money you make and how much you accomplish what's on your dreaming and vision board. There's something on the inside of you that can only be satisfied with me. Do you trust my way or satisfy you? Do you think I know what will make you see? And some people see people be standing. If you're going to stand strong, at least be right. Some people be standing strong, just be wrong. And then people who don't know different amening it blind, leading the blind, you see. Do you know whether that Old Testament, particularly the Hebrew rendition of the Book of Psalms and Jesus Sermon on the Mount. Do you know what the word. Just fact check me. I got receipts. You know what that word blessed me? Happy. It's speaking of divine joy. It's talking about this internal sense of jubilation that rests on the revelation that my welfare and my well being rest securely in the hands of God. And people who mean well, who are just not informed properly will say stuff. God don't want you to be happy. Yeah, happy, like in a hedonistic worldly way. But joy is the fruit of the Spirit. Y' all better come get me today. When you live life the King's way, the kingdom of God is not meat or drink, but righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost Christmas. But when you. I'm done talking. When you stuck first way, you don't trust that his way will satisfy. So there's a worship of stuff and self. Then there's second way Church's way. This way of worship is selective and diskewed. It's a prioritizing of what we like over what God wants. It is the elevation, how worship feels over who worship is for. It values what moves us emotionally over songs that magnify him. Truthfully, now I'm getting ready to deal with a little second way here. Tario, you got to play. We done? I'm going to need some help here, but come on. This is why we're here. Here it is. Here it is. Who is worship for? It means to express worth. Right? I want to show you. This doesn't mean we're. This doesn't mean we're wrong, doesn't mean we're evil. It just means we're growing. But I want to show you second way language. A second Wave mentality. It's when you can only worship if it's a song you like. You just inverted who worship was for. Who's it for? God. You just skewed it and it's. So instead of being obsessed with. Do you like this? I sit on it if I don't like it. So I'm worshiping in emotion now. And I'm worshiping in preference, not in truth. The question is, are the lyrics true? I don't care about. Come on here. So if it's Mississippi Mass Choir or if it's Maverick City, are the lyrics true? But in second way, we can be so caught up in emotion motion that we are moved by melody and not message. Which is why many songs in church we don't know the lyrics to. So how you worship him with that and you don't know what. So I grew up in a context where we sang a lot of hymns and hymns. In my opinion. Just my opinion. Don't fight me over it. But lyrically, there are some of the most. Theo is one of the most theologically rich expressions of worship. The kind of biblical depth that those writers had was different. It's theology all in hymns. And some of these songs, they're based on scriptural narratives. Pass me not O gentle Savior Hear my humble cry wow. On others Thou art calling Savior Sa Wow. Thou lovers Thou are call holy do it hit different when you mean it. Don't pass me by I don't want to miss nothing I want everything you got for me don't pass me by Stay right there. Tario. Just listen to this. Letter me at thy throne of mercy Find sweet relief Kneeling there in deep contrition Help my unbelief See a scripture all in there Throne of mercy Combo to the throne of grace that you might obtain Mercy and grace to help in the time of need Help my Unbelief based on the gospel narrative with the Father who approached Jesus with a son who was dealing with demonic infiltration. And. And the disciples could not cast them out. And the Father said, if you can help me. Jesus said, if I can. If you can believe. And he said, I believe, but help my unbelief. It's not the melody, it's the message. Some of y', all, when we go Maverick City, you need tissue. And then others of you, when we go Mississippi Mass Choir, you need tissue. And that's okay if something lands with you differently. But you need to be conscious and careful that you are not prioritizing the melody and your preference over the message. Jaira you are enough. Y' all missed it. If you've ever lost anything and he stayed, you ought to be shouting right there. If you ever thought that you weren't gonna make it without it or them and God showed you he was enough. I will be content in every circumstance. That's Philippians. I've been abased. I've abounded. But I've learned whatsoever state I'm in to be content. I will be content in every circumstance. Jireh, you are not. That's what he wants. Third way worship. It is. Give me the definition. We done. It is an indication of a heart that has been captured by God's greatness. It is convinced of his goodness and it is compelled to give him what he actually wants. Worship that is anchored in truth and animated by the spirit. It's not emotionalism, void of understanding. I used to grow up in church. I was Baptist. Kojic. That's why I'm Baptist. I don't know what I am. I went to Princeton. S Presbyterian Seminary, Millsaps Colleges, Methodist. I'm everything but Tario. They would dance in the praise at some churches and then they fall asleep during the preaching. It's emotionalism, void of understanding. It's zeal, but it's not anchored in knowledge. Nor is this dry doctrine void of intimacy. It's the kind of worship that Jesus says the Father seeks. God is looking for this. I'm looking for this. I gotta. It's part two next week. I ain't even halfway through the notes because what's this got to do with alterations? You can only get to third way with an altar. Because you gotta take first way and you gotta take second way, and you gotta put that on the altar. And if the Father is seeking. Chris. That kind of worship, we got to go. I got to do this ceremony. Don't y' all tear this church up. But what is he gonna do when he find it if he's looking for that kind of worshiper? Somebody throw your hands up and tell him, here I am. Here I am done.