When The Music Fades - Week 3

In our series when the music fades that personal worship life, we're gonna spend

a lot of time in John chapter four. Today I told told Jeremy how

many passages of scripture we were going through, and he looked at me,

like, oh, no, we're gonna be here all day, because normally

I give three or four and I'm already long winded. Today we're gonna look

at about twenty six passages of scripture. But I promise I'm gonna have you

out before dinner time. Maybe not lunch, but definitely dinner. Come on

now, John chapter four, starting in verse one, it says, Therefore,

when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized

more disciples than John, though Jesus himself did not baptize but his disciples,

he left Judea and departed again to Galilee. But he needed to go through

Samaria. Let me tell you something. Jesus set a course this morning for

this building. He came here on purpose to meet you for a purpose.

You're not here by accident. He certainly not here by accident. He came

because he wants to do something in you and through you. This morning.

He looked at the father and he said, I need to go to Oakwood,

because you are that valuable verse five. So he came to a city

of Samaria, which has cast the car near the plot of ground that Jacob

gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus, therefore,

being being wearied from his journey, sat thus by the well. It

was about the sixth hour. A one of Samaria came to draw water,

and Jesus said to her, give me a drink. Jesus says, listen,

I want you to minister to me. I am here and I am

waiting. I want you to do something for me. Now we're going to

realize that Jesus is talking to the woman of Samaria. He's talking to this

woman at the well. He's talking to this lady. But he is teaching

us as they are there together at the well. Because the principles he's teaching

she can't yet understand, because she hasn't yet come to know him as Lord

and savior, although she will. So he said, listen, this is

an act of worship. Let me let me tell you how you worship the

Lord. You serve him. Worship is service unto God. Now not listen.

I know that that Laura pours coffee at a very high level. And

when you get that first with of coffee and that first shot of caffeine in

your system, it may feel like worship. But I'm talking about service not

to people, because that is also a requirement from the Lord. But worship

is service unto him, where it's not to people and through people to him.

But worship is a direct act to the Lord. And he said,

give me a drink. I desire that you come into a relationship with me

where you serve me and you minister to me, and there is a direct

connection and a direct interaction between you and me. Worship is a direct interaction

between us and the Father doesn't have to go through somebody else. Come on

something, Come on now, we don't need somebody standing in the gap.

We don't need somebody. As much as I love to pray for you,

you don't need me to pray for you. You can pray for yourself and

it gets there just as fast, probably sometimes faster than as if I pray,

because I think my prayers move about the same speed I do. And

this is it right here. I am wide open this is me all the

time. Slot like that direct interaction where we don't listen. We don't need

a band on a stage, we don't need someone with a microphone. You

don't even need a CD of the Gither band. It's just you and Jesus,

and it's that direct interaction. As a matter of fact, original creation,

the way that He desired for it to be forever. I want you

to realize, this is not the way the Lord intended things to be.

He created us in the garden of Eden to have personal interaction with him on

a level that we don't have it because the world is sick with sin.

He desires to move into those places, those geographical areas that we are,

and he desires to walk with us and have conversation with us and interact with

us, and one day it will be like that He created us for that

personal input and that personal reception. He wants to make individual impartation into our

lives. The woman of Samaria came to draw waters, said to her,

give me a drink, for his disciples had gone away into the city to

buy food. The woman of Samaria said to him, how is it that

you, being a Jew, ask a drink from me a Samaritan woman,

for Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Listen, it even goes further than

that. What is happening here is a violation of the standard social ordering code.

Is what is transpiring at this well as something that a religious person would

never do because it violates the social norms. Let me speak something into your

life. A true life of worship will violate the social norms of society every

time it will. It will cause you to believe that he is who he

says he is, and everything that he says it's true. And as you

fall deeper in love with him, those things manifest more and more out of

your life. Worship changes us more to look like him. When we spend

time with the Father, we leave smelling like the wrong message that's coming in

a couple of weeks, smelling like my daddy. I'd better get ready for

that one, because I just want to smell like my daddy. So he

says, listen, I'm gonna, I'm gonna. She says, why are

you talking to me? And she didn't reveal all her cards here, but

what she was really saying that's, Hey, I'm a Samaritan and you're a

jew and y'all don't really have many dealings with us anyway. But you're not

the same kind of guy that normally waits on me at the well. Oh,

you're not the same kind of guy that's normally here at the well.

Because normally the people waiting at the well for her were the people who wanted

to employ her because she was a hooker. And Jesus says, none of

that matters. It doesn't matter where you've been, It doesn't matter what you've

done. It doesn't matter what you've been through. It doesn't matter your trauma

or your victimization. Your history is irrelevant because God always calls us to his

future. He will call us out of our past, as broken as it

is, and he will call us into his future as good and perfect and

blessed as it is. So he said, listen, the reason we're having

this conversation is because I don't really care about being politically correct. I don't

really care what the customs are. It's all about me having a direct interaction

with you. If you if you care more about what people think than about

what God thinks about you, you will never have a thriving relationship with him.

If you don't invite your friends to come to a Pentecostal church because you're

afraid Barry may whoop and holler. You're never gonna have a thriving relationship with

Jesus because you're embarrassed of what happens in his house. So we need to

get past ourselves and get busy knowing him more. Jesus answered and said to

her, if you knew the gift of God, if you knew the gift

of God and who it 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. He said. The reason you're asking these questions, the reason

you were worried about those interactions, the reason you're worried about what people are

gonna think, is because you don't really know me. Because if you knew

me, you would know that I'm about to change everything. I'm about to

flip it on its head, and you're going to leave here a different person

than you came because that's the exchange. You have direct interaction with me,

and you minister to me, but you leave with more of the exchange than

I get. Because that's the nature of God that he always gives us more

of Him than we give of us. Now, y'all may not have to

go back because I know I'm talking fast and throwing a lot of things.

Just listen. It'll be on Facebook. Go back and listen to it again.

Him. So, if you knew the gift of God, we wouldn't

be having these conversations. You would know that I'm about to give you a

drink of living water. The woman said to him, Sir, you have

nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Jesus, you don't

have a bucket, And the will is that you know, we can learn

a lot through conversations Jesus is having with somebody else. She said, listen,

you you you you don't have the ability to give me what I need

because you don't have a bucket. And the will is said, let me

translate, because you're you're, you're this holy God who don't want to get

wrapped up in my mess. You just want to sit up there and watch

and maybe maybe somewhere in the back of your mind you think that He did

this to you. Maybe somewhere in your mind you think God is punishing you

for something that God is withholding because you didn't do something that's not the way

God works. You know, we used to sing a song. I was

gonna try to sing it, and then I'd have thought better of it,

because what happens when I start singing is the online numbers crash. Y'all don't

leave because it's embarrassing, but they just tune out. So I'm not gonna

sing. Um. But um. It's a conversation from the Book of Job

and and we used to sing this song, and it says the Lord gives

and takes away, The Lord gives and takes away. I came into this

world with nothing, and I'll leave here the same. But I want you

to understand that God didn't say that. God never said he gives and takes

away. Now the Bible does say that. But that was a conversation that

Job was having. And that was a man who said that, not Job,

a man who misunderstood what was happening to him in the first place,

and was full of selfless righteousness, and he was trying to rational Come on,

somebody, he was trying to rationalize what was going on. He said,

well, the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh. Two chapters later,

the Lord speaks to him and fixes that. When the Bible says something,

you need to find out who in the Bible is saying it, because just

because it says it, it doesn't mean God is saying it, and that

it's pointed to you. Because when we get to the end of the Book

of Job, not only to God give back, He gave back multiplied times

over. Now when we lose, when we are, when we are strict,

and when things happen, will God bring us through that and use those

principles we learn a hundred percent of the time. He will take what the

enemy meant for evil and he will do something good out of it. But

God is good. Every good and perfect gift comes from above. If it's

not good, it's not perfect. That's not where it came from. So

he said, hey, listen, you don't have the ability because nobody,

nobody really understands God. I know you say that you would give me living

water, but you just don't really understand my problem. You've never tried to

draw from a well this deep. I'm in a place that nobody else has

ever been. I'm gonna I'm okay, now he already knows the question.

I'm gonna ask you a question raise your hand. If you have ever felt

now I'm not talking about that it was true, but you've ever had that

moment where you think nobody's ever had it as bad as I have it.

At once, we think nobody's ever had it as bad as I have it.

The enemy has isolated us and segregated us away so that he can pick

us off like that little gazelle on the animal planet. Because says, you

don't ever have to be alone, because I desire individual, one on one

interaction with you, even if no body is there. I'm there if you

will just reach to me and understand. It doesn't matter if I have a

bucket, it doesn't matter how deep the well is. All that matters is

I'm sitting here and I've been waiting on you. I said a one,

I'm gonna preach. It's getting away from me. The woman said to him,

sir, you have nothing to draw within the well is deep. Where

then do you get that living water? Boy? And then she really blows

it. Are you greater than our father Jacob? And Jesus is wanting to

say yes, Yes, As a matter of fact, I am. Are

you greater than our father Jacob who gave us the well and drank from it

himself, as well as his sons and his livestock. Jesus answered and said

to her, whoever drinks of this water will thirst again. Whatever it is

that you're having personal interaction with, wherever your worship is. Everybody, close

your eyes right now, everybody in the Bible, to close your eyes right

now, all right, open them. The thing that went through your mind

right then, the first thing that went through your mind when you closed your

eyes and stopped receiving that input and there was no sound going on, something

popped into your mind. There is a good chance that that is what you're

worshiping right now. It's a good it's a good practice to do every day.

Just stop, close your eyes and see what pops into your mind.

Then repent of it and embrace Jesus. Whoever drinks of this water will thirst

again. But whoever drinks of the water that I shall of him will never

thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a

fountain of water springing up into everlasting life. Different kind of water, not

under our own power, not temporal. It doesn't need a filter, It

doesn't need to be it doesn't need to be bold. It just needs to

be consumed. The woman said to him, Sir, give me this water

that I may not thirst nor come here to draw. And then Jesus gets

right to the heart of things. Don't you just love it when you feel

like Jesus is just like snuggling you. You know, it's that warm,

fuzzy We all want to have those warm fuzzies with the Lord, right,

and he's just like it just feels like he's holding us and he's just you

know, and it's just like, oh, this is this is it.

This is what I've wanted. The worships just right, the air conditioners just

right, the seat I said, in the right seat, and the patents

just right. And and Jesus said, I love you, but let's talk

about something. And then he just blows the whole thing because he never wants

us to stay where we are. Jesus said to her, go call your

husband and come here. The woman answered and said, I have no husband.

And Jesus answered to her, said, you have said, well I

have no husband, for you have had five husbands, and the one whom

you now have is not your husband. In that you spoke truly, they

said, listen You've tried it five times, it didn't work out. Now

you've just decided to shack and that ain't working too well either. Just go

get somebody. Just pick somebody, because I appreciate you telling the truth.

Do you realize that she may not have realized what she was doing, but

she just went through the first step of building a relationship with her Lord and

Savior, and that is repentance. She got real and clean and she said,

hey, listen, I don't have a husband, and I really feel

bad about the place I'm in. Here's my story. I had five and

the one that I'm with now and I don't really have a husband, so

I'm I'm just here before you. I believe that repentance is the least practice

church discipline in the Church of America. At least. I believe that we

should practice repentance every single day that we come to the Lord and we repent

of the things that we have done intentionally. And listen, those stumbling blocks

that we have become that we may not even know, And you're like,

well, how can I help it if I don't know it? Repentance is

how we help it. We come to him and say, Lord, I

don't want things to come between you and I. I don't want the chasm

to grow. So so heal me spiritually today in my broken places, so

that I can have communion with you. The woman said to him, Sir,

Sir, I perceive you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this

mountain, and you Jews that in Jerusalem, and and you Jews say that

in Jerusalem is the place where you ought to worship. Jesus said to a

woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this

mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the Father. You worship what you do not know.

We worship. We know what we worship. For salvation is of the

Jews. But the hour is coming. Now he's talking about us, but

he's talking to her. He said, the hour for you is coming where

you're going to understand a principle that I'm about to say. You're not there

yet, but you're really really really really close. You may be here today

and you may be really really really close. You may not fully have grasp

it yet, you may not have fully surrendered everything and completely made him the

lord of your life. But you're really really really really close. He says,

listen, the hour is coming and it's almost here for you. Yeah,

for you. But the hour is coming and now is when the true

worshipers will worship in the Cornerstone Tabernacle. They do, but that's not what

it says. See we have, um, we have and I'm listen,

I'm gonna keep saying this every week, okay, because I need to.

We have turned our faith into an event rather than a lifestyle. See,

we go all week and then on Sunday we go to church. But the

reality is the reason this is a church is because the church assembols here.

Let me say that again. You are the church. You're the church.

You're the church. You're the church. You're the church, You're of the

church. Each individual person is the church. And we call this building the

church because this is the place the church as symbols to celebrate the risen Savior.

The building is a building, we call it a church. But you're

the church. And he says, it's not about the place, because once

you really get to know me and you understand that it's not about a destination

or an of the It's about a lifestyle and a relationship. Listen, we

are one. We are one. Executive order away. I'm not even picking

on this president, any president from him resinding tax exempt status for churches and

religious organizations. And watch what happens the moment that happens, not only does

your contribution not become tax deductible, but we pray we begin to start paying

property taxes on everything that we have. Do you know that the property tax

on this building would be a full time salary? And you know what we

are built to absorb that right now. But there's countless thousands of churches in

our country that are not, and it would close the doors. And if

you don't begin to understand that you are the church and where you are the

churches, and that it's about a relationship and not an event. If you're

in a place where the church that you try to go closes, you need

to be able to meet with him in your home and have a personal relationship

so that your faith can continue to thrive. Because he doesn't care about our

buildings. Ultimately, he cares about your heart and your soul. He says,

Listen, there's there's coming a time where we're true worshipers. True worshippers

will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking

such to worship him. He's looking across the face of creation every moment of

every day, and he's looking for somebody that is worshiping. He's just seeking

you. He's he's looking for you to worship, to worship. He's he's

more desperate for worship than he is praise, because praise is in response to

something. Praise is either us thanking him for something that he's already done,

or us trying him to get him to do something for us. Praise is

like when your kid is back in the back bedroom playing and you're in the

living room trying to watch a ballgame. Come on, somebody put yourself in

that place and they're playing back there, and as far as you know,

everything's okay. And then all of a sudden, you hear and it breaks

the focus you have on the television, and you jump to your feet and

you run back to the bedroom to see what is wrong. That cry,

That sound that arrests the attention of the father. That's praise. But you

get there and your child's hand is stuck in the toy box, and the

toy box is closed across her fingers, and she's now locked and she's pulling

and her fingers won't come out, and she doesn't know how to unlatch the

toy box. And you run over there and you unlatch the toy box and

she reaches up and she grabs you around the neck, and you hug her

and you tell her it's going to be okay. That's when it goes from

praise arresting the attention of the Father to worship just being with him, because

in that moment, it's not about what you need, it's about who he

is. Praise as a response to something we need. Worship is a response

to just who he is, that if things are falling apart around me,

I will want to spend personal time with him just because he's who he is.

For the Father is seeking such to worship. God is spirit, and

those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth. The band can

come and get ready to worship in spirit and in truth. That in our

brokenness, in our trauma and our hurt, and our anger and our loan,

just filling your blank there, whatever, whatever it is, just filling

your particular issue right there. So many times we think we can't worship,

that we can't spend time with God because of something that is wrong with us.

He already knows everybody, look at me, or just give me,

give me, give me five seconds. He already sees your brokenness, and

he desires to be with you. He doesn't say, clean up and come

to me. He says, come to me, Come to me because I

desire communion. I desire interaction with you. It's my my life, my

heartbeat, he says, it's that's what I created you for. I created

you to worship me. Come to him and that truth. But I'm a

broken vessel and I need my father. The woman said to him, I

know that Messiah's coming, who is called Christ. When he comes, he

will tell us all things. And then Jesus drops the atomic bomb on the

situation. Jesus said to her, I who speak to you? Am he

listen. There's some of you here today. But you've been trying to make

ends meet. You keep pulling both ropes, and as hard as you pull,

there's still a gap. You've been trying to get over what he did

to you or she did to you, what they said about you. You

still don't you still don't understand why why they didn't want you, and they

rejected you. You you believe that you're not that you're not good enough because

they told you some time that they that you weren't good enough, that you

were never going to amount to anything. And you live in pain, physical,

emotional, financial, relational, spiritual. You live in this pain and

you've self medicated with everything you can think of. You've self medicated with entertainment,

with indifference, with anger, with substances, alcohol, drugs, people

inappropriate relationships. Tried to make the ends meet by stealing and cheating. But

he, the man who met the woman at the well, he is who

you've been looking for. He's the only one that has the peace for you

to navigate your storm. He's the only one that can speak to that warm

that storm and say peace be still and the waves stop. He's the only

one that can bring the miracle to make the ends meet. He's the only

one that can heal the herd and the pain. He is the only one.

He looked at this woman and he said, in the midst of your

trauma and your brokenness, I am he. So stop searching everywhere and just

embrace for he. He is Jesus, and he's been sitting by the well

of your life, waiting on you to say something. He's been waiting on

you to arrive. And unlike that woman at the well who had to go

there and wrestle through it by herself, you're surrounded by a group of people

right now who love you and will help you make your way to the well

and will stand there with you until He ministers and puts the broken pieces back

together. What are you waiting on? It's time for you to meet him

so that you can go home and worship in spirit and in truth and have

an interaction with him and encounter with him each and every day. Everybody standing

with me all over the building. If you're here today and you're ready to

meet He, you're ready for Jesus to put his arms around you and give

you that living water. You're ready for him to meet you right there at

your point of needs, your brokenness, your hurt, your trauma, your

pain. You're indecision, you're indifference, your lethargy, your physical body,

whatever it is. If you're ready to meet the Lord, you're ready to

ask him to be your savior, to forgive you of your sins and be

the lord of your life. I'm gonna count to three, and when I

get to three, you're gonna step out from where you are. You're gonna

make your way to the front, and you're gonna meet the one who can

change everything, who can start that beautiful worship experience for you, so that

when the music fades around you and you find yourself alone, you're not heard

and vexed with trauma. When the music fades, you find yourself in the

embrace of Jesus. So on the count of three, don't look to see

if anybody else is moving. This is about you and your moment with him.

On the count of three, I want you to step out and I

want you to come car Alter team's gonna come now and make themselves ready.

Listen, we've been praying for you all week for this moment. On the

count of three, I want you to step out, and I want you

to come one, two, three, step out and move right now.

Come on, where are you? Come on? Pastor. I'm I'm tired,

I'm broken, I'm hurt. I don't know why I feel rejected.

I don't know why I feel lonely. I don't know why I'm depressed.

I don't know why I'm I'm just captivated by anxiety. But I want to

meet Jesus today. I want to meet the one who can do it all,

who can put the pieces back together again. Come on, step out

and move right now. Don't leave here like you came. Don't leave here

like you came. Don't leave here carrying that pressure and that pain. Jesus,

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. The altars are all, but when you're

ready to come Mastercally ass