Come, Worship!!

Awakened Worship

Psalm 95:6–7

John 4:23–24

February 22, 2026

Let me ask this question . . . if you were to assess your own personal wake up meter, kind of like a spiritual wake up thermometer . . . . what would it be?

I mean, are you here physically, but that’s it? If you’re worshiping online, are you distracted? Are we thinking about lunch?

Another way to ask it would be - - - - are you totally invested in worship today? Are you focused, with your heart, soul, mind and body?

We’ve been looking at what it means to be one united body of believers, growing strong in Christ so we can be the message and change the world.

To do that, we’ve been talking about awakening — awakening our hearts, awakening our faith, awakening together as the people of God.

One of the things, I’ve realized is that awakening is not the final step. There’s always something that comes after an awakening. And what we do with that next step matters.

Think about it . . . the alarm goes off in the morning and the first thing we do is hit snooze . . . again and again. We wake up groggy, not ready for the day. We drive to work or go to school . . . still half asleep. We haven’t woken up. And we may go through those motions until we go back to sleep, and then do it all again.

Awakening is never the final step. Awakening always leads to a response.

When you wake up in the morning, the goal isn’t simply to open your eyes. The goal is to engage with the day. To be fully alive. This thought occurred to me and it’s going to sound like a strange word pairing, but it’s to wake up and live awake.

That’s a strange phrase . . . . I think I invented. You know what I mean? We live life, but are we really alive? Are we embracing the words of Jesus in John 10:10 - - - -

10 I came to give you life and give it to you more abundantly. - John 10:10

The phrase more abundantly comes from a Greek root word which means — — superabundant, exceeding abundantly or beyond measure.

That’s the life we’re supposed to be living. It’s a life given to us by God. We all want this, don’t we? I mean, who wouldn’t want to live the super abundant life offered by Jesus, Himself?

And at the same time, I know that we go through tough seasons of life. Times when feeling the super abundant life seems to be an oxymoron. There’s nothing overwhelmingly great about it. Life is blah, depressing and disheartening. So, yes, I get it. We’ve all been there. Yet, the goal isn’t to get stuck there.

And how do we get out of the rut and live that fully alive life? I’ve been pondering that question. Because it’s not easy on our own. It takes trust, faith, and belief in God.

And if we want to be individually alive in Christ and alive as a church, then one of the ingredients to help us attain that vision is worship!!

Awakening should lead us to worship. Not louder worship. Not trendier or more hip worship. Not more emotional worship. But true worship. Worship which is rooted in the power and presence of Jesus.

In John 4, Jesus had and interaction with a women at a well. As he challenged her, He told the women - - - -

23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship Him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” - John 4:23-24

I’m not going to get into a huge exposition of this passage, that would be an entire sermon in itself. Jesus was telling this woman, and telling us that we worship with our spirits the truth of who Jesus is.

Jesus’ declaration that God is Spirit is important because we come to understand that God cannot be confined. He is more! He is Spirit and it’s about to be revelatory later in John when Jesus tells the disciples that the Spirit will come to be with them.

You see, spirit and truth are inseparable. Our worship is empowered by the Spirit of God in our spirits because we believe in the revelation of Jesus as the Way and the Truth and the Life.

And the true worshiper will be able to more than acknowledge this. As a true worshiper, we believe in Jesus as the Truth and live our lives accordingly. And this is the build up to the culmination of this story when Jesus declares to the woman in verse 26 - - - -