In Spirit, and in TRUTH...The Wayfarer 8/8/17

In Spirit, and in TRUTH
8/8/17

^{John 4:19-24 KJV}

¹⁹ The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.

²⁰ Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.

²¹ Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.

²² Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.

²³ But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.

²⁴ God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

Jesus, sitting at a well, in a country despised by his own people, speaking to someone from that country, who was of a people despised by his own people, worse still, a WOMAN of that people, deemed unworthy of being spoken to by both peoples,  yet worse still than that, a woman, whose past, and current situation proclaimed sinfulness to both peoples, requested assistance in slaking an earthly thirst while offering to slake the eternal thirst experienced by both peoples.

Both nations worshipped the same God, proclaimed the same progenitor that founded both nation and faith, neither recognizing the validity of the other.

Each established for themselves a place of worship, each recognized the laws given Moses, each laid claim to the blessing of God, seeking that blessing in the manner deemed appropriate for them by others of their own kind, claiming an elitism above the other.

Neither had considered that validity in context with the message He came to deliver.

Jesus stated that the Samaritans knew not what they worshipped, but that salvation " is of the Jews"

Still, it was that very salvation, sought by both nations, that was brought by Him to all nations despite differences in means and place of worship.

The divisions of Samaritan and Jew were bridged by that salvation, once each came to the understanding of what worship, true worship entailed.

The requirement was not in WHERE worship took place, but in WHETHER that worship was real, based on SPIRIT and TRUTH!

God seeks worship in spirit and truth from any and ALL who would seek Him.

2 Peter 3:9 KJV

⁹The LORD is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

The gospel of Christ is not limited to any one nation, any one people, any one division, any one denomination, delivering salvation to ANY willing to hear and heed the message He brought us, a message that held no hatred, but instead held LOVE for those willing to accept that love.

Those who hear and heed that message are only open to worship when they approach God in the SPIRIT and TRUTH demanded by that message, any other message that blurs the power and truth of that message, being refuted for the false gospel attempting to replace Spirit and Truth that it is.

Throughout the ministry of Christ Jesus, He delivered warning along with the promise He delivered.

The warnings were given in spirit and in truth, as was the promise.

Any "worship" that is not done in SPIRIT and in TRUTH is an affront to God, a mockery of both, and a continuation to attempt to provide some other way, some substitution of truth, and in fact an attempt to rob God of what is His alone.

These attempts will fail, as have all attempts to mock or rob God of HIS power and HIS glory.

Malachi 3:8-18

King James Version (KJV)

⁸ Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.

⁹ Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.

¹⁰ Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

¹¹ And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts.

¹² And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts.

¹³ Your words have been stout against me, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against thee?

¹⁴ Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of hosts?

¹⁵ And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered.

¹⁶ Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name.

¹⁷ And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.

¹⁸ Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.

Tithes offerings, and all taken for GOD, belong to God to be used for HIS purposes.

More importantly, attempts to take the focus off of the SOULS that belong to God are an attempt to rob him of those souls as well.

Ezekiel 18:4

King James Version (KJV)

⁴ Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.

Worship in SPIRIT and in TRUTH is centered on that soul, each his own, and as well centered on the concern for that of those others who can be reached only through that SPIRIT AND TRUTH.

Galatians 6:7 KJV

⁷Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

What is sown, is sewn, either in Spirit and in Truth, or is sewn in an attempt to divert from Spirit and Truth.

Still God is not mocked nor shall He be!

Deviation from the Way, deviation from the TRUTH, leads only to deviation from the LIFE!

1 Corinthians 1:18-31King James Version (KJV)

¹⁸ For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

¹⁹ For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.

²⁰ Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

²¹ For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

²² For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:

²³ But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;

²⁴ But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.

²⁵ Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

²⁶ For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:

²⁷ But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;

²⁸ And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:

²⁹ That no flesh should glory in his presence.

³⁰ But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:

³¹ That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

When worshiping in Spirit and in Truth, ALL glory belongs to the Lord, Christ Jesus.

That SPIRIT and that TRUTH glorifies Him, glorifies HIS righteousness, glorifies the WAY, TRUTH and LIFE of the promise and accepts the message of redemption through repentance first required to see the WAY, TRUTH, and LIFE.

Focus on Spirit and TRUTH rather than the deviation that remains in denial of both.

2 Timothy 1:12
¹²For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

Amen and Amen

The Wayfarer