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Well, I want us to go to the Book of John, chapter number four. I want to read a few verses starting at verse 19. I teach in series. That means I take a book of the Bible, a character from the Bible, or a theme in a Bible, and we explore what the Bible has to say about that. Sometimes the teaching is always exegetical meaning, draw a meaning out of Scripture. So sometimes it's verse by verse, and sometimes it's verse with verse and both biblical preaching. As long as you're preaching the Bible, right? Okay, so John chapter four is where we're going to start today. This series is Goaded Volume four. But this series is called Alterations. And Jesus has an interesting encounter in John 4. It says verse 19 captures this Samaritan woman, saying, sir, I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain. But you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem. Woman, Jesus replied, the 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. Stop the reading of scripture there. And I want to tag to the. To this text a title. The subject of today's sermon is a question. The question is simple. What did I miss? Clap your hands. You know this. 12:30. Let's just. Let's just make it official. This is the 12:30. Amen. That way we can be excellent. 12:30. Amen. We'll change on the website and everything. 12:30. My God. All right. Excellence. 12:30. One of the core values of our church is a core value of honesty. And for us, when we say honesty, we do not mean simply the absence of deception. We mean the presence of authenticity. It means that we refuse to. To be paralyzed by the religious norm of pretension. Acting as if I am somewhere I'm not and someone I'm not doing so is actually the biblical, not cultural, but biblical definition of hypocrisy. When Jesus uses the word hypocrite, the Greek word he uses, and he spoke the common man's Greek, koine, the Greek word that he uses. Are, y'. All. Here is a word that was. That was used for those who engaged in theater, who wore masks. So for Jesus, the hypocrite is not the imperfect individual. For Jesus, the hypocrite is the imperfect Individual who acts like they are perfect hypocrisy for Jesus is in the mask. And until God's people get free from the religious social norm of pretension, they won't be able to honestly admit where they actually are in their spiritual journey. And until you acknowledge where you actually are in your spiritual journey, you can never actually get to where you want to be. And very often in religious circles, we create an environment where you feel the pressure to act like what you never actually become. And so I want. Before I even dive into the details of this text, I want to know, am I talking to anybody that will acknowledge and admit I'm in process? Y' all are not talking to me in this section. I am in. I'm committed to the process. I'm sold out to the process. I will not abandon the process. But I am in a process. And if you're honest and open and authentic about your spiritual journey being a process, then you would have to admit that there were situations where you felt like or where you and I assumed we were in seasons and. And then discovered we were in cycles. If we're honest about some processes, if we're honest about the fact that we're in process, we would have to admit that there were some situations where we were wrestling with some imperfections that we thought would come and go, and we realize they come back and stay. Yeah, if we're honest and authentic about our process, we would have to admit that there are some struggles that are more stubborn than others, y'. All. And there are some issues that seem to be a bit more insubordinate. And these patterns and these patterns and these issues are so deeply entrenched into the soul of our hearts that even after I'm going to see my honest crowd now, even after we pray prayers, practiced principles, and made promises to God, yourself, and to other people, we experience seasons of freedom, but not a lifetime of liberation. And so we become free for a season. And then, just like Pharaoh followed Israel out of Egypt, that issue from an old season will follow us into a new season and say, what you doing? Where is my honest church in here today? And if we are really going to dive to deeper levels of authenticity, and I know this kind of candor can make second way Christians feel a bit uncomfortable, but we would have to admit, if we've ever had these experiences, family, we would have to acknowledge it's a confusing conundrum because. Because we have to admit that sometimes we hate what we like and like what we hate, we need to quit what we don't want to stop and don't want to stop what? We need to quit. Y' all aren't talking to me. And when you are serious about your spiritual journey and you're not infected with spiritual spiritual apathy where you just settle for arrested development and spiritual immaturity, when you are passionate about being everything that God wants you to be, you can't be where you are and no, it's not where you're supposed to be and be okay, there's something in you that makes you allergic to settling. And even when you commit to settle, God won't allow you to settle in in places that are less than his best for your life. I want to talk to any somebody in here that's honest enough to admit that when you tried to settle, he wouldn't let you settle. And let me talk to somebody in the room who's been running from righteousness. You might as well come on back because God is not going to let you stay out there long. I don't care how long he let your friends stay outside. You are not your friends. He's to going gonna tap you on the shoulder and say, you don't even look right out here. Come on in here. He said, no, I'm not gonna let you get away with that. Because many are called, but few are chosen. And I got my hand on your life. And every time you forget that I got my hand on your life, I'm a sn snatch you back and remind you you belong to me. And those of us who are serious about our formation journey know that this tension we feel can be discouraging, it can be disheartening, and it can be disappointing. However, I was studying scripture and I stumbled across some good news for God's people. And since it's my first Sunday back, I just want to know, do I have your permission to share with you what I saw in scripture? I have a hypothesis that may be helpful for those of us who are dealing with this dilemma. Just because something has not been changed does not mean it can't be changed. Look at me. Just because you have wrestled with it most of your life does not mean you will have to wrestle with it for the rest of your life. Y' all better come get me, because my God is a cycle breaker. Hey, I don't care how long the cycle has been and how strong the hold the cycle has. My Bible tells me in John 5, a man was in a cycle of sickness for 38 years. My Bible tells me in Luke 18, a woman, a woman in Luke, A woman had a bent over back for 18 years. My Bible tells me in Mark 5, the woman had an issue of blood for 12 years. But when they ran into Jesus, he broke the cycle. And I'm speaking prophetically over somebody in here. He's getting ready to break it over you. Open your mouth and praise them. Now. I don't hear anybody. I said raise your voice and praise Him Now. I got a holy hypothesis that I think may help us. Y' all ready for it? Here it is for my note takers. Some things haven't been altered because there are some things that are only altered by the altar. Did you hear what I just said in this section? I said there are some things that are only altered with an E by the altar with an A. So many individuals are frustrated because we're trying to get the E without the A. And the Father wants us to know that there is something, some progression you can make with effort and with energy and with principles. But there are some issues that we have been wrestling with too long. They are embedded too deep. I'm gonna see my honest section here. And we like it too much to simply walk out of that behavior without supernatural assistance. And so God allows there to be limitation in the alteration of. To expose to us when we are practicing an altarless Christianity. Pastor, what do you mean by an altar? An altar is an instrument we're first introduced to in the Old Testament. Right now, one of the most notable. It's not the first altar that we're introduced to. I don't even have time to deal with some of this, because even when you take the word, let's say, like, some of the names of God that we ascribe to God, like Jehovah Jireh. If you actually read the narrative, Abraham called the place. Am I right about it? He called the place Jehovah Jireh. And every time I come to this place, this place reminds me he will provide. Y' all not talking to me. When some of you leave this building and get in your car, you ought to get in your car and say Jireh. And when you pull up to your place of residence, you ought to walk in the door, Jireh. And when the doctor said you can have children, you ought to look at your babies and say Jireh. Somebody praise Jireh in the house so that. So. So there are altars before this one. But. But the most notable altar is an altar that is positioned outside of the tabernacle, which was a portable tent that God had Moses construct. This this. This altar, my team, they should have an. An example of what this altar looked like. This altar and I do not have time. But boy, if I had time. This altar was positioned in what's called the outer courts, not the holy place, not the holies of holies. It's positioned in the outer courts because Moses's tabernacle is a pattern for worship and the way the father has to be approached. Because not only was there altar, but if I had time, I would tell you. There was a brazen laver that was filled with water where the priests would have to clean their hands before they went into the presence. Are you hearing what I'm saying? It was positioned outside in the outer courts. Speaking to the strategic role that the altar plays in accessing divine presence. Come on here. The. The altar was the place of alterations. The altar was the place of alterations. The altar was the place of alterations. The altar was the place. Alterations. It doesn't matter what something was before it got on the altar. Once it was put on the altar, it became something different. A regular goat was just a goat off the altar. But when you put the goat on the altar, it becomes what's called a scapegoat. And the priest, before putting the scapegoat on. On the altar, would lay hands on the goat as a sign of the sins of the people being transferred to the goat. And so the goat became a scapegoat and was sacrificed instead of the people, on behalf of the people, for the benefit of the people. It was a regular goat on the altar, but a off the altar, but a scapegoat on the altar. A sheep was just the sheep off the altar. But when you put the sheep on the altar, it became a substitutionary sacrifice for the propitiation of my sins. It is the divine appeasement of the wrath of God. That the wrath of God has been settled, that he's not mad at me now. He is madly in love with me. Hallelujah. Because he's been appeased by the sacrifice. Come on here. A bull was just the bull off the altar. But when you put a bull on the altar, it became a burnt offering. Sweet smelling savior. The smoke that came up from the burnt offering was a metaphor of the prayers and the praises of God's people ascending to God. See, I don't praise him because because I've been good to him. I praise him because he's been good to me. Every time I praise Him, I'm sending up a burnt offering. Every time I give him glory, I'm Sending up a burnt offering. Somebody send up some smoke right now. The altar was the place of alterations. And when we experience limitations in our alterations, it's evidence that we're practicing an altar list Christianity. Now, here's the question, Pastor, you said that's you showed us Old Testament altar. But we're in a New Testament dispensation. And in a New Testament dispensation, we shouldn't be subject to Old Testament regulations. Okay? So don't, don't, don't, don't, don't. Don't tune me out yet. The New Testament. Watch. This does not remove the importance of the altar. It just changes the place of the altar. There's another piece of furniture that was the ultimate altar. And that good God Almighty, that altar was on a hill called Calvary. That altar was at the place of the skull, Golgotha. And the ultimate sacrifice, Jesus went to that altar and he was be ultimate expression of alter theology. So now. So, so now. And don't y' all tear this church up. I feel it over in this section right here. Here it is. So now, the altar is not limited to a geographical location. Wherever me and Jesus are, it's up. Catch me in my kitchen, it's up. Catch me in my car, it's up. Catch me in the living room, it's up. When I think of the goodness of Jesus and all he's done for me, my soul. Therefore, in the New Testament. I got eight minutes. Y' all good. In the New Testament, we do not build altars with wood. We build them with worship. Cause your altar is your meeting place with God. Did you hear what I just said? It's the meeting place with God. Listen to this. Listen to this family. And this is the essence of what's missing. What did I miss? This is the essence of what's missing in the life of many modern believers. Regular encounters with the manifest presence of God. We have been such robust content consumers. We have overdosed on principles. But we are anemic with power. Come on in here now. A form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. We have not properly distinguish between the omnipresence of God. He's everywhere at the same time, versus the manifest presence of God, which is when he shows up in a way that the Old Testament uses the word kabod. Hey. Which means heavy. That's the Old Testament word for glory. It means heavy. Somebody say it's heavy in here. It's heavy in here. It's when God manifests, there is this sense of something different I know he's everywhere at the same time, but when he show up, it get heavy. I'm getting ready to pray this over you. I pray it get heavy in your house this week that when your kids start acting strange, it get heavy in their bedroom. And the pathway to the manifest presence of God. Listen to me. Not getting something from God, but being with God, right, is the spiritual discipline of worship. So this means not relegating worship to a Sunday corporate communal experience. Did you hear what I just said? Yes. This is important. This is necessary. The Bible tells us don't forsake assembling. I get that. But many people's understanding of worship is what we're doing on Sunday. I'm talking about worship as a spiritual discipline that you do privately on Monday. Y' all aren't talking to me. Just like I pray on Monday, just like I study scripture on Monday, just like I fast regularly. Worship as a spiritual discipline. And many have confused and conflated worship as a spiritual discipline with listening to worship music. So we think because we listen to worship music on Monday, we're worshiping. Listening to worship music is reflection. Did you hear what I just said? Listening to worship music is reflection. Because when. When music is written, there are all types of worship music that. That. That come from different places. Some worship music is confessional. I am. I am confessing or declaring something about God. Some is testimonial. I'm testifying of my experience. Did you hear what I just said? Trouble in my way, I have to cry sometime. Trouble in my way. I have to cry sometime. I lay awake at night. See? See, that's testimonial. I'm testifying. But then some music is prophetic. I lay awake at night, but that's all right. Here's a prophetic. Because I know Jesus. He will fix it after a while. So when I'm listening to worship music, listening to their testimony, I'm listening to what they believe about God to be true. I'm listening to them through song prophesying regarding how they believe God's going to intervene in the affairs of their life. That's reflection. Even if I'm singing it. Singing is only worship when you mean the lyrics. Did you hear what I just said? But worship as a spiritual discipline becomes a meeting place with God that leads to alterations. I'm done. This the text. I preached the text. The text has been preached. This is homiletical hovering, preaching the text without explicitly connecting what you're preaching to the text. See, because in the text, here's what we see. We see a woman in John chapter number four. Don't miss this. We see a woman in John chapter number four who has this encounter with Jesus that leads to an alteration. We see a woman whose well becomes an altar. Gosh. The well was the meeting place with God. The text. Text in John 4 opens up with the writer letting us know Jesus and the disciples are heading to Galilee. I believe. And the Bible says that Jesus says, I need to go through Samaria. And the disciples are a bit perplexed because there's historic hostility between Samaritans. This is why when Jesus tells the parable of the Good Samaritan, it is so powerful to those in that context. Because the Good Samaritan does to a people for a. Something for somebody that. That somebody probably wouldn't do for him because of the hostility historically between these two people groups. And so the Jews were so set during this time period of not even interacting with Samaritans, even though if they're going from Galilee to Jerusalem or Jerusalem to Galilee, the shortest route might be through Samaria. They would go all the way around. But I don't have time to deal with that. But Jesus said, I'm not going around. I'm going through. Because sometimes you got to get to the point where you stop adding distance, trying to avoid drama. How long we gonna keep going around this? When we gonna talk about what's really going? I'm tired of going around. He goes to Samaria. He gets to a well first and then sits down. It's the power of the pause. We don't even know why he's sitting down till the Bible says later. A woman comes to the well to get water out of the well. Because sometimes God will sit you down and make you wait on an explanation regarding why sometimes he sent you down. It's a pregnant pause, a supernatural pause, when God says, I'm going to press pause not because you did something wrong, but something's coming. And I'm gonna press pause because I. I want you to wait on what you'll miss if you move too soon. Am I talking to anybody that heard that with prophetic ears? You may be wondering, why aren't things moving and why aren't things progressing? Sometimes God will press pause and make you sit down, not because you did something wrong, but somebody's coming. Listen to this. So this woman comes to the well just to get some water. I'm just trying to get some water. Just leave me alone. I'm trying to go into Kroger. I'M trying to go in publix. I got on my Crocs and my sweats. Leave me alone. She go to the well and hear Jesus just sitting there. She don't know who he is. So from her perspective, he a single man sitting at a well. Tell the story. I'm preaching the text from her perspective. I'm just trying to get some water. And he say, give me some water. And I love her. I love her honesty. I love her honesty. See, here's what I respect about first way. They. They real. You understand what I'm saying? It's like first. So she first way right now. She this woman first way. She say, first of all, you know, Jews and Samaritans don't like each other. Why we even? Why we even? You just come on. What we doing, y'? All. We worship over here at Mount Garrison. You worship over there like we Jesus. Jesus says to her, if you knew who you were talking to, you would be asking me for something that this water can't give you. Cuz I know what you really thirsty for. I use what you think you thirsty for to show you what you really thirsty for. I use what you think you thirsty for to show you what you really thirsty for. You think you're thirsty for water. Well, let me ask you a question, because I know where your real thirst is. Where your husband. I don't. I lost my whole church. Jesus said, I know where you're really seeking satisfaction. I want to expose that. Where your husband. She says, I don't have one. Jesus said, I know, I know. You've had five. And the one you can got now, he's not yours. That's the text. Jesus has never met this woman, so how does he know this? Jesus gives what the apostle Paul calls in First Corinthians 12, 8 a logos gnosis, a word of knowledge. It is a spirit imparted truth or insight that the recipient would not otherwise know, given to enable effective ministry, usually in a pastoral or an evangelistic context. John Piper, who was not charismatic, but charismatically open, says it is a supernaturally given fact that may use to comfort, convict or guide. It is when God lets somebody know something that they wouldn't know, should know, and couldn't know unless God made them know. I'm done. Here it is when he gives her this word of knowledge. This is where we pick up in the text. She says, sir, you a prophet. She thought he was a man until a regular man until he gave her the word of knowledge. Then she said, you a prophet. She I mean, he told her what was going on with her, and she told him who he was. He told her what was going on with her, and then she turned around and started telling him who he is. He told her what was going on with her, then she turned around and started telling him who he is. You're not just a person. You're a prophet. I had one sense of who you were at the beginning of this exchange. Now, I got a revelation, and I responded to the revelation I have by telling you who you are. But I can't tell you who you are if I don't have a revelation. Y' all missing this. So when she tells him who he is, she's worshiping him because worship is telling him who he is, testifying of how great he is. But she was only able to worship because she had a revelation. And here's the problem. In church, we're trying to get you to worship beyond your revelation. So we're trying to. We're trying to sing you into belief you don't have yet. But this woman had a revelation, and she responded in worship, and look what happens. Text says she left her water pot. I'm done. She left her water pot. Left a jar is what the text says. She went back into the town and told him, come. Come see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah? Did you hear what I just said? She. She said, come see a man that told me everything I ever did. Cause this could. Okay, y' all missed it. Do you see the progressive revelation? First she calls him a prophet. By the time she gets back home, he's the Messiah. I called him a healer yesterday. But between yesterday and today, I see he's a deliverer. He's a provider. He's a way maker. He's a hard fixer. So don't you judge my worship. Cause you don't know my revelation. Don't you love look at me strange when I begin to give God glory? Because you don't know, like I know what the Lord has done for me. Is there anybody here that can look back over your life and say, when I look back over my life, I can truly, truly say that I've been blessed. I got a testimony. He blessed me, kept me, healed me, and delivered me. I gotta get out of here. Change. But is there anybody here that feels a thank you down in your soul? Got a reason to give him glory. Got a reason to give him praise. Somebody in the balcony, give him praise. Somebody on the left? Give him praise. Somebody in the center giving praise. Somebody on the right, give him praise. Let everything. I'm done. Listen. And this woman had this encounter, and she wasn't in church. She was at a. Well. It wasn't corporate. It wasn't communal. It was individual. It speaks to worship as a private spiritual discipline. And today, I believe the Holy Spirit is laying a foundation for a conversation he wants to have with us over the next few weeks, and that is making space for the altar. Making sure that we are not so occupied with what we have from him that we don't make space for Him. You are carrying too much not to carry his presence daily. When she left the water pot, her jar, it doesn't mean she didn't want him. It didn't mean she didn't want water. Mean she want him more. She found something so much better than what she had. She was willing to leave where she thought she couldn't live without. See, some of you are waiting to stop liking some stuff before you leave it. And sometimes you got to put it down and walk away. Not because you want to put it down, but you found somebody you want more. I just want you more. And you're carrying too much not to carry him. A presence, conscience, life. I need him. And I'm getting ready to pray. This is going to be our dismissal. If you've never given your life to Jesus.