The Westminster Shorter Catechism, The Westminster Confession of Faith and The Westminster Larger Catechism are three documents that are considered by many Protestants to be the grandest doctrinal statements to come out of the English Reformation. It was completed in 1647; and it was presented before Parliament in 1648. The purpose and intent of the Westminster Shorter Catechism was and is to educate laypersons in the matters of faith and belief. The catechism, in and of itself, contains and consists of 107 questions and answers.
The most famous of the questions is the first:
Q. What is the chief end of man?
A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.
It is the chief aim of every human being to worship God. What God desires out of every human more than anything is your worship.
- More than your money/materials is your worship.
The truth of the matter is you and I were CREATED to worship and glorify God. Everything that was made, in some form or fashion, worships God. ‘When I consider the stars in the heaven which thou hast ordained; oh Lord our God how excellent is thy name in ALL the earth’.
• To worship God is, in your living, to declare the isness of God. The other thing that I have discovered is that worship is not based upon religion; it is based on relationship. Because you can be in religion or religious backdrop and never worship God.
- Religion is about coming to church; relationship is about worshipping while you are AT church. Because you can come to church and never worship. Because worship is not an EVENT, worship is an ENCOUNTER. And a whole lot of folk come to the EVENT but never have an ENCOUNTER.
The truth of the matter is that if worship is an encounter and not an event, I don’t have to be IN church to have worship. Because I can have an encounter with God without having an event.
Brothers and sisters, the truth of the matter is that whenever I have an encounter with God, it BECOMES an event. I don’t have to have an event for it to be an encounter. When I have an encounter it BECOMES an event.
- Which means that sometimes I have an event in my shower.
- Sometimes I have an event in my kitchen/riding in car.
And the beauty of the events that I have with God is that I ain’t got to invite nobody to it. It’s an event with nobody but me and God.
• Because an encounter with God can become an event.
To be totally and completely and transparent—I’ve been to some events called church but never had an encounter.
• Ain’t nothing worse than coming to church and sitting on the pulpit and nobody has an encounter with the most High God.
• I don’t want to be a preacher who just so happens to be in worship; I want to be a worshipper who just so happens to be on to proclaim the message for the hour.
- You ought never want to be a choir member whose just there to do your thing; but you ought have a desire to be a worshipper who participates in singing during the worship.
- You ought never want to just be a spectator who sits and watches us do our thing; but you ought to be sitting there having your own encounter with God; having your OWN event AT an event. Which means it ought not matter whose sitting next to you/what their doing/their sucking their teethe/rolling their eyes/acting like they don’t want you sitting next to them and their row.
Because what they fail to realize is that you aren’t at THIS event, you are at your OWN event having your OWN encounter.
• And Brothers and Sisters, that is why I stopped worrying about what people think about me when I come to church. I used to have an inferior complex, worrying about whether or not the girl I liked would think I was effeminate if I bowed in worship or if somebody would be offended if I ran around the building or screamed in the middle of the message; but then I realized how they didn’t shed their blood for me/didn’t die for me/didn’t give their life for me.
Can I tell you the other thing I discovered, something that I never gathered in my study. We have often heard it said that you can have praise and not have worship; but I discovered that theologically that is not correct. I read and I read and studied for the past several days and discovered an astonishing truth; and that is that you cannot have praise until you first have worship. The reality is that you can not have praise until after you’ve HAD worship.
- Praise is recognizing the things that God has done.
- And you can not recognize the things that God has done until you’ve recognized God is the One Who’s done the things.
- You can not recognize that God is the One Who’s done the things until you’ve recognized that God is God.
- You don’t recognize that God is God until you’ve had worship; because worship is when you recognize God for Who God is.
Well if praise is recognizing God for what God does; and if worship is recognizing God for Who God is….I’ve got to have worship to recognize God for Who God is, before I can have praise to recognize God for what God does.
- So that before I can shout in praise I’ve got to BOW in worship.
You’ve got to HAVE WORSHIP. And God WANTS YOUR WORSHIP!
I’m not necessarily talking about your running up and down the isle; I’m talking about your RECOGNITION of WHO He is. And this text says that HE SEEKS WORSHIPPERS!!! But you can’t do it any kind of way. If you are going to step to God, you’ve got to ‘come correct’. That’s what Jesus said.
Jesus said that if you are going to come to go in worship, there are two things you’ve got to have: SPIRIT AND TRUTH.
- We’re living in a day in time of worship where we’ve got a whole lot of Spirit but don’t have any Truth.
- We have a whole lot of enthusiasm but no a whole lot of edification.
And Jesus says that you need to understand that there is a need for both Spirit AND for Truth.
• We’ve got a whole lot of churches that are good on BURNING but short on LEARNING.
• You’ve got some other churches that are good on LEARNING but short on BURNING.
And the Bible declares that there must be a BALANCE of the two if you are going to have ACCEPTABLE ACCESS TO GOD.
- If you don’t have truth, all of the Spirit you possess is not going to get you to God.
- You can shout all day long, but if all you’ve got is truth (and don’t have any Spirit); all of your intellectual, biblical knowledge ain’t gone get you to God.
There must be both; there must be a cohesive, synergistic balance in your life. And I am very disturbed because we’re living in this charismatic day that exalts FEELING over truth and EXPERIENCE over truth; and I want to make an announcement: just because you FEEL something doesn’t mean it’s from God!
• Just because you feel it in church doesn’t mean God moved it.
We’re living in this day in time where we are big on spirit manifestations; the shouting and the tongues and the praying in the spirit; the slaying in the Spirit. We are big on the manifestation. And I’m not against it—I am about as non-baptistic as they come. I believe in the manifestation of the Spirit; but what I am against is the idolatry and the exaltation of the manifestation.
• Because when I CASTRATE truth to the exaltation of manifestation and at the BEHEST of biblical integrity, it becomes heresy.
• Truth is the balance I NEED to JUDGE the experience I FEEL; because I FEEL it but don’t have TRUTH to discern it—I am dishonoring a Holy and Righteous God who demands the purity of my worship.
Let’s be honest:
- Many of us have gotten in trouble in the past because we moved into some stuff on what you FELT; but didn’t judge it on the basis of truth.
o He made you FEEL good; but because you did not judge him against some TRUTH.
o She had it tight and right with the right shape and you FELT good; but because you did not dissect her through your spiritual eye through the lens of TRUTH.
First Corinthians 14:29 instructs us to ‘judge prophecy’. The very implication of that is that prophecy might be wrong. Which means I must have DISCERNMENT to properly DISCERN even the stuff I’m feeling. I can not automatically assume that just because it gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling that it’s from God.
“I felt good when I left that interview”. That doesn’t mean it’s from God. You felt good because it was 30 thousand dollars more than you making right now.
“He just made me feel good.” No…he made you feel good because he picked you up and paid for your meal and you ain’t had that in a long time.
SPIRIT AND TRUTH. You have to be able to DISCERN what’s going on AROUND you as to whether or not what you are FEELING is ACCURATE or not. Something is not VALIDATED just because you FELT strongly about it.
• It doesn’t matter how you felt about a certain thing/how it made you feel. You have to have a Spirit GOVERNED by TRUTH; and (watch this) that truth is found in the Word of God.
- That truth ain’t your silly prayer partners.
- That truth ain’t some prophetess or prophet
- That truth ain’t Oprah or Doctor Phil.
That truth is the WORD of GOD. That truth is in God’s Word. And you’ve got to GOVERN what you feel. Why? Because the DEVIL knows how to make you FEEL stuff.
One of the reasons why we’ve got so many nuts in the Spirit-filled church is because every is walking around here exalting feeling and emotion and Spirit over truth.
• We have this new church now where we are like children going to a Candy store; and all we’re doing are developing spiritual brats who don’t have a taste for sound doctrine but who just want biblical lollipops.
• And we’ve got a bunch of sorry preachers who are like little candy men or candy women only giving you candy sermons to make you shout all over the place, but are not helping you grow on nothing.
• And somebody’s going to walk away today (it’s the enemy playing with your mind) either saying you didn’t have church or saying ‘somebody made Rev. mad’. When the truth of the matter is ain’t nobody made nobody mad, I’m as happy as a lark; but because you are too immature to know that sometimes pastor can’t preach to make you SHOUT; sometimes pastor has to preach to make you CHANGE!!!
• And that is why we come to church in bondage week after week, Sunday after Sunday and live in Spiritual defeat—because you want the preacher to put a lollipop in your mouth; it’s time to go deeper….suck on this lemon today!
• You can’t grow on candy all the time. You need meat and vegetables and fruit.
• Spirit AND Truth.
We’re developing churches that are good at shouting/dancing/running/feeling good…but don’t know how to handle nothing.
- Can’t handle struggle/pain/strife/disappointment/temptation/NOTHING.
God has blessed me to have been preaching faithfully in Christian ministry over half of my life; and to have proclaimed the message of Jesus Christ throughout the world and I have discovered ONE thing to be true. Some of the very folk that run up and down; screaming and shouting; do the most hollering are typically the ones to give the least, fight the most and are conspicuously absent when it’s time to serve. Because they got Spirit but don’t want to hear no truth.
If they just shut up shouting for fives minutes and get some WORD in them. They talk to much. God can’t even talk because you shout so much.
MATURITY
The church has been in infancy too long where we only do what we do because somebody tells us; or we only because what we believe because somebody tells us to believe it. Because when we were children, we believed what we believe because mama and daddy told us to believe it. But as you got older and matured, you started believing what you’ve believed because you believed it for yourself.
And in the spiritual life when maturity comes, ain’t nobody got to tell you to lift your hands/pray/trust in the Lord/give to God. As you mature nobody has to tell you anything; because as you mature you can’t pray for yourself/you can lift your OWN hands/you can lay hands on yourself/preach to yourself/prophecy to yourself/encourage yourself.
Is there anybody in here who knows that you are maturing as a worshipper because can testify, “I don’t need a preacher to tell me when to lift my hands/praise team/choir/call a prayer line. I can get in my closet, get on my knees, lift my hands, and open my mouth and say, ‘Spirit of the living God fall fresh on me!!!’
• Maturity does not need the approval of anyone to believe something.
o If nobody else agrees with it that’s alright.
o You’ll leave mama and daddy’s church because you are not growing there; and you’ll go somewhere that you can go and you’ll take their disappointment and handle it
Why? Because TRUTH does not need anybody’s vote to exist.
What? Because TRUTH does not have to be invented; TRUTH is discovered. And truth is discovered as you MATURE.
And the reason why some of us never learn more truth than we already know is because truth is revealed; and it is only revealed as you MATURE. You’re not mature enough to handle some truth; so God has to keep it COVERED until you’re mature enough to handle it!
Now what that means is that spiritual manifestations are not necessarily as sign of spiritual maturity.
- The person who dances the hardest/quakes the longest/lays out the longest is not always the most mature. Sometimes their they’re the nuttiest/sometimes the most consistent manifestors are the ones you need to watch the most; because sometimes you have people that are addicted to ecstasy and not to God. They are addicted to a feeling. They are like crack junkies. And they come to church to get a high; and so they run and jump on everything. And those are the people you need to watch; because it won’t be long before they will try anything just to get that feeling; because they not committed to God, they’re addicted to their buzz. So they DRESS to get they dance on; they come EXPECTING to fall out.
• Every Sunday is not a fall out Sunday
• Every Sunday is not a dance Sunday
• Every Sunday is not a RUN Sunday.
And people I see falling, dancing and running EVERY Sunday are folk I need to watch; and you better watch them too!
• The Bible never equates manifestation with maturity, because you cannot live your life based on stimulation.
• But the flip of the script is neither can you live your life just on truth. Because if all you’ve got is Spirit and no truth…you’re cold, boring, dull, lifeless, angry, mad, judgmental, gossipy.
o It’s about policy and not about people.
o It’s about your system and not about the Savior
o It’s about your labels and not about liberation
It’s like the woman in this text. Homegirl in this text was a ‘truth’ person. She’s a Samaritan. And Samaritans and Jews don’t have anything to do with each other. And so she has a problem with Jesus because, first, He’s a Jew. Then He starts talking to her about worship. And the truth of the matter is—they worship on different mountains. So truth is—even when the Messiah comes, there will be no connection between us, because TRUTH will keep us separated.
• Folk who have truth and no spirit will always life their life in a box of labels and definitions; and will always be limited to what God can do for them.
o Can ONLY be Baptist.
o Mad because the preacher’s chair is not in the pulpit.
o Mad because the pastor’s wife….
o ‘That ain’t Baptist!’
• Truth without Spirit will keep us a dead church; and I don’t want a dead church. I don’t want to pastor a dead church. I want to pastor a LIBERATED church. A church that’s multi-cultural/racial/talented/gifted/dimensional/manifestations of the Spirit.
• I don’t want to be apart of a church that’s just truth; I want a church that’s Spirit AND Truth.
• I want people to walk in here and walk out saying, ‘now I thought that was a Baptist church’.
You need BOTH. Because when they partner together, truth will set you free. When you are impregnated by truth you give birth to freedom. And when freedom hooks up with Spirit, it will give you a feeling that things are alright inspite of facts that say that things are NOT alright.
• When life is based on truth partnering with spirit, you can have facts stacked against you and still know that everything is going to be alright.
- The FACT is that you had lent balls in your pocket; but the truth is God shall supply all my needs…
- The FACT is that you can’t get any sleep; but the truth is that He’ll give you peace that passes ALL understanding.
- The FACTS are that your friends are few; but the truth is that He’s a friend to the friendless/He’s the joy of your salvation.
• You may have some facts; but when you walk by truth that’s hooked up with Spirit…everything is going to be alright.
What happens when Spirit and Truth hook up?
I. YOU DO AWAY WITH SUBSTITUTES
We always talk about how she runs to the city and tells them, ‘come see a man….’
The text says that she left her waterpot. That’s what got me; because when she came to the well, she came to the well to get water in her waterpot. The waterpot is what she brings at noon trying to hide from the other women who know her dirt. She doesn’t want to face her demons, so she comes at highest, hottest time of the day to avoid being seen. Her waterpot is the symbolic representation of the insecurity that she feels and the crutch she leans on because of her history.
And the Bible says…she left her waterpot. She came to get water because she needed water to make it. If I could have flagged her down I would have said, ‘hey…you’re forgot your water’. But the Holy Spirit arrested me and said, ‘no she didn’t!...verse 10 Jesus said that he would giving her a living water to where she would never have to thirst again or fill her pot again. Because she is going to be full the rest of her life’.
• When you meet Him, the stuff you’ve been trying to use to fill up your life, He will rid you of…so that He can fill you with Himself.
• But what I really like is that she left her pots at the feet of Jesus.
Leave your issues/attitude/insecurity/homosexuality/anger/unforgiveness at the feet of Jesus.
• Put your waterpot down and pick up Jesus.
• I came to Jesus just as I was, weary, worn and sad…I found in Him a resting place and He has made me glad.
• LEAVE IT!
• DON’T LOOK BACK!
II. YOU LEAVE YOUR FEELINGS AND START LIVING IN FAITH
In the text, when Jesus gets ready to drop some knowledge on her and speak into her life, Jesus knows that He’s dealing with a woman who has major insecurities and issues; because she’s got five husbands and she’s living with one who is NOT her man.
• So Jesus is about to speak into her life; but Jesus knows that this woman has insecurity to the extent that any man who shows care or concern, she latches onto.
• So that at the beginning of this conversation, Jesus has to clarify to this woman that He ain’t tring to holla’; and He has to do that because—one of the top two ways you bond with people is through touch or talk. It is a bonding mechanism; and that is why if you know you’re weak, be strong enough to say, ‘don’t touch me’.
• So Jesus says, ‘let me clarify…go get your husband.’ She said, ‘I ain’t got one’. He says, ‘the truth of the matter is that not only do you not have a husband, but you decided to downgrade yourself from wife material to concubine living.’
• She’s been going from man to man…looking for a feeling.
How many spiritual things to WE bypass...because we’re looking for a feeling?
• Addicted to a feeling; and whenever you are living for a feeling you will forever be frustrated you will never be satisfied. But when she met Jesus!
Watch what happens when you meet Jesus, you make yourself available to be used by the Master. Watch what she does, she goes to the city and goes to the five that she had been with and tells them about Jesus. And I just believe that in the crowd, were not only 5 men, but also some ex-lovers.
But she doesn’t care about what they say or what they may think. But this time she says (VERSE 29, ‘Come see a REAL man. I know ya’ll thought ya’ll were men. And for about 5 minutes and thought ya’ll were men; but COME see a REAL man…who didn’t touch me. But all he did was talk to me; and I stopped living for a feeling; but started walking by faith.
• It is time for you to come out the closet; and do whatever you have to do to give God your all!!!
• What a wonderful change in my life has been wrought……
III. HE KNOWS YOU AND HE STILL LOVES YOU
Other folks know you…and walked away from you/turned their backs on you/talked about you/act like they don’t want you.
But since you met Jesus….he knows your secret thoughts/sins.
God I thank you that with everything I’ve done/failures/thoughts/bad choices/bad decisions/mistakes/sin/everything I did wrong/history/bad stuff….you still love me!!!
Amazing Grace shall always be my song of praise
For it was grace that sought my liberty
I shall forever lift mine eyes towards Calvary
And view the hill where Jesus died for me
How marvelous is grace that sought my falling soul
He looked beyond all my faults and saw my need.
