John 4:19-26
(sermon outline on Sunday March 15)
Worship occurs when the gathered community experiences and responds to the initiatives of God.
Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth. John 4:23-24 NIV
- Holy expectancy: Our preparation for worship.
- Spiritual encounter: Our experience in worship.
To worship is to quicken the consciousness by the holiness of God, to feed the mind with the truth of God, to purge the imagination by the beauty of God, to open the heart to the love of God, to devote the will to the purpose of God. - William Temple
Possible ways we experience God in worship:
- Inviting us to follow Jesus
- Confronting our sin
- Affirming our identity in Christ
- Equipping us to serve
- Confirming our calling
- Re-enforcing our courage
- Building synergy
- Missional living: Our response to worship.
When you gather with other followers of Jesus to discover, encounter, and offer yourself to God, you are engaging in authentic worship.
Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Hebrew
