Worshipping in Spirit and Truth || Victory Church [Book of John #14]

Amen, amen. Was worship not incredible? Listen, that's just the beginning of what the Spirit of the Lord wants to do in this place today. God has been moving, as Pastor Andrews said, in each of our services, and he's not done yet. So when he said that and we opened our hands to receive, I believe that the Spirit of the Lord wants to do even greater things in your life and even in my life. Today, and to mark us, that this day would mark us moving forward, because here's what I've come to know is that where the Spirit of the Lord is, when we invite the Spirit of God in, there is freedom, there is healing, and there's so much more of him that he wants us to experience. So I'm really excited about today. Thank you for your patience and your graciousness, because if you got kids, I know you were trying to get them checked in and you're trying to get them in the parking lot, and you're like, honk, honk, move away, right, you just need your parking space. So thank you for your patience today. But I'm excited, because I do believe the Lord is going to shift and do some things here. So we are in the book of John, right? We've been in the book of John for quite a while now, and this week we are on week three, as we talk about the woman at the well. And last week, my husband dove into verses 14 through,

I'm sorry, verses 16 through 18, and this week we're gonna dive a little bit deeper, because there's so much, so much richness that God has for us in this story of the woman at the well. But before we dive in deeper together, I want us to just remember context and just kind of paint the scene for us, for those of you who might be new and joining us for the first time. So it's noon, and it is hotter than hot on a Georgia humid type summer day. Y'all know that's hot, right? It can be like 80 degrees until like it's 120. You're like walking out and you're, right, you need some water, it's so hot. But it's in Samaria, as Jesus encounters this woman at the well. Now, something specific to note in this time, if you didn't know, Jesus, as he was going up to Jerusalem, typically the Jews would go around, but in this case, Jesus said, no, I'm gonna go straight through, even though culturally, Jews and Samaritans didn't get along. Jesus broke past all of these cultural and gender and racial barriers, and he engages us with this woman who had had five marriages and was currently with a man that wasn't her husband, right? Now, let's be honest.

We're in church. I gotta keep it real. This is the woman that most of us, probably myself included, right, would probably judge or gossip about or be critical of. She'd be the woman like, y'all need to pray for Sister Sally. You know, she done been married five times. She's with another man again. God, let's just pray for her, right? Like, it would be a prayer talk, but in reality, we'd be gossiping, right? But in this moment, y'all are kinda laughing because you know you've been there before. Come on, let's keep it real, right? But it's in this moment, Jesus purposely engages and we went to meet with this woman in a time and a moment where shame and the shade of people followed her, right? It's in this encounter that Jesus addresses the deepest needs of her soul, the cracks, the trauma, the pain, all of these things that she's been looking for, all of these hungers and these thirsts because she'd been going to all these different wells because she was thirsty. Some of y'all got that? For those that, hey. For those of you who didn't,

you can talk to somebody around you later, right? She's thirsty trying to satisfy her needs in these different wells, these different men and Jesus offers her the only thing that will truly satisfy her and that is this living water that comes from him and we talked about this last week with this acronym, ASIP, right? Acceptance, Security, Identity, and Purpose. This is what Jesus has to offer her as he offers us. Yes, he offered her salvation, eternity, so that she could be seated with him and meet him again in heaven but more than that, this word sozo of healing, restoration, and fulfillment just as he offers you and I today and what I love about this encounter with the woman at the well with Jesus is that in this moment, Jesus chooses to have the longest one-on-one conversation in the Gospels with this woman. He didn't choose, right, the person who had the best resume for the job. He didn't choose the picture-perfect family. He didn't choose the person that had everything going for the summa cum laude student or the straight-A student, right? He didn't take this revelation and just give it to her. but to the priests in the temple,

no, he gave it to a broken woman at a well who had been ostracized from her community. And if Jesus loves her and sought her out in that day and age, how much more does he seek us now, today? See, and even in this moment, Jesus didn't stop there because right in the middle of this moment with the woman in this conversation, not only does he offer her healing and restoration, but he reveals the deepest theology of worship and what it means to worship and what kind of worship that pleases God the Father. And that is where we're gonna pick up today. Today, we're gonna first read the overarching text of John 4, verses 19 through 26. We're gonna see what true worship looks like as we land in verses 23 through 24, and we're gonna look at what it means to worship God in spirit and in truth. So let's pick up with our verse, chapter 4, 19 through 26. Sir, the woman said, you must be a prophet, so tell me, why is it that you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place of worship while we Samaritans claim it is here at Mount Gerizim where our ancestors worshiped? Jesus replied, believe me, dear woman. Now, I have believe me underlined, because for me, in the summer version, I feel like Jesus is like, hey, believe me. Believe me, woman.

I need you to understand, right? He's bringing this up. The time is coming when it will no longer matter whether you worship the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem. You Samaritans know very little about the one you worship, while we Jews know all about him, for salvation comes through the Jews. But the time is coming, indeed, it's here now, when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way, for God is spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth. The woman said, I know the Messiah is coming, the one who is called Christ. When he comes, he will explain everything to us. Then Jesus told her, I am the Messiah. Now, there's a few things to note here when we look at this passage of Scripture, because this woman is starting to address this tension of like where to worship, how to worship, and as Johnson mentioned last week, it was known that the Messiah and salvation would come through the Jewish people, but what's key to understand here for historical context is that when she's talking about her ancestors worshiping on Mount Gerizim, both Samaritans and the Jews,

they understood that God had commanded a place to be set aside for worship where his name would be known. This is back in Deuteronomy chapter 12. And so in that, they both knew a place needed to be set aside for worship. But when you have any types of cultures coming together, you got a little disagreement and a few tensions. So here, the Jewish people, King David chose Jerusalem. So that's where the Jewish temple was created, right? But the Samaritans, they're like, nope, we reject that tradition. And they chose the first place where Abraham built an altar at Shem, which was beneath Mount Gerizim. And the other thing with that is the same mountains, the same mountain, Mount Gerizim, is where the Israelites entered Canaan under Joshua's command. The Samaritans are like, no, this makes sense. This is where you worship. The Jews are like, no, this makes sense. This is where you worship, right? But then Jesus approaches her in verse 21, and he says this, believe me, again, believe me, there's gonna come a time we're not gonna worship. You're not gonna be thinking about where you worship. He's essentially saying, hey, this is marginally important. I need you to understand, this is marginally important because soon the temple will be obsolete. Soon these temples will be obsolete.

And then he says in verse 23 and 24, where we're spending our time today, but the time is coming, indeed, it's here now. I need you to look to your neighbor and say, the time is coming. It's here now. When true worshipers, okay, you don't have to keep going, but you can if you want. I mean, we can quote the whole thing together. We'll worship in spirit and in truth. The father is looking for those who will worship him that way, for God is spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth. So up until this point, right, the Jews, the Samaritans, the Jews, the Jews are like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Like they understood this is a location of where to worship, right? They had the truth of God's Word and what the prophets and the teachers of the Old Testament law had said No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. But they had not yet Experienced what it means to worship in spirit and In truth, they had the law, but they didn't have the spirit because the Holy Spirit had not yet come What was on the horizon? And I think it's pretty amazing that today is Pentecost Sunday Today's listen, if you don't know what Pentecost Sunday is Let me just share with you Pentecost Sunday is a day that we celebrate 50 days after Easter after we celebrate Christ's death burial and resurrection And what it is this day is symbolic for today because this is when the Holy Spirit came

The disciples were in the upper room. We started singing that song like the upper room. We wait for you this that the disciples were in the upper room waiting and as they were waiting of Abiding rushing when filled the room and when it filled the room there were tongues of fire that rested upon people's head I don't know that that was literal, but that's what the scripture says So but in that as well the Holy Spirit came and descended on people But then it also filled them to overflowing and they received a new boldness a new prayer language, right? There was something that happened inside of them and they were so filled to overflowing that even as they went out people are like What is wrong with them? Are they drunk? And then Peter's like no, they're just filled with a spirit and I'm Excited and I need you to get excited because just as Jesus was telling this woman at the well of how to come and worship In spirit and truth. I believe today Jesus is extending Invitation to you and to me to understand what it means to worship him in spirit and in truth And to receive an impartation of the Holy Spirit Listen pastor Andrew said it before I got up here. It is not meant to be where there is an ease in This room right now Like there is an ease in the Spirit of God is here But here's what I'll tell you The Holy Spirit is not one and God is not one to just throw himself on your push himself on you But he's here and all he's he's a gentleman if you allow him to come and fill you today And I believe he's here and he's gonna do a great outpouring just like in the day of Pentecost That has been my prayer for this weekend that the Holy Spirit would show up and we would have an outpouring of God's Spirit in this room So what does it mean to worship God in spirit and in truth? What does that mean? I want us to understand the context of the scripture here So I want us to look at three different words when Jesus says worship God in spirit and in truth and the first word I want to look at in the Greek is this word worship and in the Greek. It's this word proskune. Oh proskune. Oh, which means to worship to lay prostrate before To kiss the feet or hem of the garment It signified divine adoration showing awe or respect in other words It was about a heart posture, right? So Jesus was pointing out to this woman Hey true worship is not all about the rituals. It's not all about the things to do

It's not all about if you or I sing the loudest It's not all about if you or I know the the scriptures more one more than the other if I have more memorized all those things Important. Yes, we sing and we worship and we read his word But what Jesus is trying to say here is that at the end of the day true worship is someone who can come before him Lay themselves before the feet of Jesus and say here. I am God It's saying I am nothing without you Jesus. That is true worship. It's saying Jesus I am nothing true worship is this posture of humility and Sincerity, it's this posture of awe and reverence for him see many times I think we will we will say we will praise the Lord with our lips But the scripture says you praise me with your lips, but your hearts are far from me. So when we talk about true worship It's not just about singing the song and raising my hand. Yes, we do those things But what is going on on the inside of me? Our God is a God without mixture He doesn't want you mixing the two different things and he's saying listen Listen I believe today the Spirit of the Lord wants to one of the things he said to me before I came up here said I'm a God without mixture and today I want to pour my spirit out But I cannot pour my spirit out for those who have mixture in them that is not of me because it's gonna take a surrender a Surrender of letting that stuff out and letting him fill because he cannot fill you all the way up when you have other things inside. That is why we did that message last weekend, to allow him to come and heal and restore. All right, the second word is this, it's spirit. And in the Greek, the word spirit is this word pneuma, which means breath, wind. We just talked about it, right? In the book of Acts, when in the upper room, when the disciples were gathered at Pentecost, the wind of God blew in the room and they were filled with the Holy Spirit. So this word has a dual meaning, it means breath and wind,

because the spirit nature of God represents the soul originator of life, right? God created the heavens and the earth. God breathed breath into the life of man's nostrils back in Genesis 2, 7. But when Jesus is referring to the spirit here with the woman at the well, right? This reference is to something more than physical, right? Because yes, when God breathed life into Adam, spirit here is also describing God's essential nature of what God is, because just as God is light, just as God is love, God is spirit. So worship here in spirit, it's not referring to the human spirit, but it's a type of worship that is marked by the Holy Spirit. I like to say this, worshiping in spirit is to be made alive by God through the person of the Holy Spirit, engaging God authentically from the inside out, living a life that is spirit-led, emotionally honest. I think sometimes we think, I can't share it all with you, Jesus, because you just won't understand, or you'll condemn me, or you'll shame me because of what my family has done, or other friends, or even pastors and leaders have done. But Jesus is saying, no, I need you to be emotionally honest. That is worshiping in spirit.

And be open to his voice and his leading. So, excuse me, and then finally, that leads us to the last word, which is truth. We're gonna worship God in spirit and in truth, because we're called to worship God in both. And truth in the Greek is this word, aletheia. Aletheia, which means with sincerity, authenticity, with a love for truth. So again, Jesus is going back. He's like, woman, it's not all about the rituals, right? But it's all about this heart posture. Worshiping God in spirit and truth is basically saying, I come before you, Jesus, right? And I choose to love your word, even the parts that I might not like. I'm gonna choose to love them. I'm gonna choose to serve you. I'm gonna trust in your character. I'm gonna trust in your nature. I'm gonna trust in the authority of God and in the scripture. And I'm gonna lay everything before you with open hands and a pure heart, because I don't want to lift my soul to another. That is what true worship is. Here's something that I think is just key for us to know. When we talk about worshiping God, we have to understand to worship God in truth is to worship God for who he is, and not our preferred perspective of who we want him to be.

We need to worship God for who he is and not our preferred perspective of who we want him to be. So what does that mean? That means I'm gonna take the totality of scripture and worship God for the totality of scripture, not just this part of scripture. Oh, you're talking about sexual sin? Oh, that's not about me. I don't want to receive that part. Oh, okay, you say not to be jealous, but oh, it's okay. You tell me not to hold a grudge. Oh, that's okay, you're okay. You can be righteous, but you can be angry, but sin not, right? No, we have to take the totality of scripture and apply it to our lives. But here's the thing, here's what I know. When we talk about that word spirit, depending on your upbringing, when we talk about worshiping in spirit and in truth, many of us might have a different understanding of what that means or what that looks like. So if you're new to faith, right, or maybe you haven't even heard it like that, sometimes when we think of spirits, it's like, well, yeah, my friend was talking to, went to somebody and her grandma revealed as a spirit who was dead and showed up. We're not talking about that, okay?

We're not talking about familiar spirits, that's demonic. What we're talking about, and we're not talking about little alcohol spirits either, we're not talking about that. We're talking about the Holy Spirit and worshiping God in spirit and in truth. Amen, thank you, yeah. So I just wanna repent to you as a pastor for anybody who's made the Holy, listen, the Holy Spirit isn't weird. Y'all people make it weird, but the Holy Spirit isn't weird So I just want to repent to you for any pastor any leader evangelist prophet apostle anybody in Christian circles who have made the Holy Spirit weird who have tried to push you down Maybe in a service when you're trying to receive an impartation of the Holy Spirit God is not gonna push you down the presence of God might fall on you and you might fall down But the Holy Spirit's not gonna push you down man might try to push you down So I just want to repent to you for that But I do I do want you to understand that when the Holy Spirit comes Scripture tells us that when the Holy Spirit comes to dwell Inside a person right there are things that happens in that God will speak We can hear his voice Listen, I'm up on the platform God speaks to me But just as I have the ability to hear God's voice so to each and every one of you so to each and every one of you and Here's that well, here's how that will show up. He'll give us dreams. He'll give us visions He'll give us audible direction right and when the spirit of believer when you receive the Holy Spirit Sometimes you'll find that your spirit will bear witness with a spirit and someone else, right? And so this is real engagement with the Holy Spirit as a spirit of God engages with us and you can see this This is all biblical. This is all in Scripture and it wasn't just for the time back then it is for now And there's evidence of this you also see the emotional side sometimes in the spirit sometimes that is crying like when and when the spirit of God falls our

Emotions will be moved and we might cry and that's okay Sometimes it's shouting sometimes it's laughter Just this this praise where we just continue to praise praise praise our hands lifted our hearts lifted And so sometimes I understand that that can seem weird But here's what I'll tell you is that the Holy Spirit will move on your emotions In in whether it's to bring peace to bring joy Restoration and those things are biblical too because David dance You see David dance in the scripture Hannah wept Jesus wept So listen, it's not all about I got to hold it all in and not cry or not let my emotions be known to God. No Jesus wants all of you not parts of you. He can handle your emotions and it's okay, right? The psalm shouted all of this this is real engagement with the Spirit of God However, let me say this Worship in spirit and to worship in spirit is to let God's voice move our hearts and not use our expressions to force his hand At the end of the day It's not how much I wiggle and I jiggle and then the Lord's gonna move. It's not all about that It's not about the other pastors come by the courtesy drop right or the shout. Oh Glory as loud as I can. It's not about doing a Jericho run Look at what the Lord has done. Listen, you can do all those things But at the end of the day, it's asking the question am I worshiping from a place of authenticity? Heart connection with the Lord internally I love what John Piper says John Piper says real worship comes from the Spirit within and is based on true views of God requiring both heart and head engaging both Emotions and thought it's not one over the other real connection worshiping. God comes from both John 16 13 says this but when he the Spirit of truth comes he will guide you into all truth He will not speak on his own He will speak only what he hears and he will tell you what is yet to come Listen, the Spirit does not compete with truth

The Spirit should never compete with truth. The purpose of the Spirit is to guide us into truth So worshiping in spirit and truth. It's not an either or it's not one over the other It's not this one's here and this one's here. No, it is a both and and Jesus has called us to embrace both For God is spirit so those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth and here's what I've come to find is that we can so hyperfixate on the spiritual on the moves of God and the Supernatural that we leave no regard for the authority of God's Word or We can be so hyper fixated on the letter of the law You need to show up like this and do things like this that we completely miss the spirit in the heart of the law So the question is so the question is this as we move forward if we are called to worship God in spirit and in truth How do we do that? How do we worship God in spirit and in truth? The first thing we have to understand is this is that God is not bound to location God is not bound to location, right? Amen. Yes We'll go back to the beginning of the text in 420-21. So tell me, why is it that you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place of worship? While we Samaritans claim it's here at Mount Gerizim where our ancestors worshiped, Jesus replied, believe me, dear woman, the time is coming when it will no longer matter whether you worship the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem. So Jesus is like, hey, no, it's not gonna be identified by a place any longer. He's trying to get her to understand it's less about location and more about heart posture. And here's, unfortunately, here's what I've come to understand and just even see in the capital C Church across the nations, right, is that what we have reduced

viewing, we've reduced viewing worship in spirit and in truth to coming in on a Sunday morning and having our three songs, our prayer for healing, and the fog and the digital screens. It's got quiet up in this church. And while the Jews and the Samaritans were fighting over which mountain, right, to worship at, we as the church, what I see is we're no longer fighting over mountains. We're fighting over movements. We're fighting over movements in this day and age. What does that mean, what does that look like? It goes a little something like this. My pastor, my church, oh, that apostle on Instagram, that prophet through IG, they're the only one that can hear God. Listen, church, you gotta be careful who you listen to because if we are not careful, what we start to do is we elevate a man or a woman to God. You are not to bow your knee to any other man or woman but to the Lord God Almighty. You should never kiss the feet. Listen, culturally, I know in some cultures you bow, but you should not feel like you have to go to a pastor or a preacher or an evangelist. I have been in rooms where I've seen people get down and bow down and kiss the feet of someone. No, no, no. You are called to worship the Lord your God only, the Lord your God only.

Otherwise, we get so, Pastor Kervin said this a few weeks ago, we get so infatuated with the vessel that we start to overlook the one the vessel is pointing to. At the end of the day, no man, no woman, apostle, prophet, evangelist, teacher, preacher, none of them are gonna save you. Jesus Christ is the only one who can fully save you. Jesus Christ is the only one that's gonna be with you forever. And this is where I wanna encourage you to belong to one church. Some of you are like, what? Listen, you know why I'm saying that? Because some of you go to one place at nine o'clock and then you show up here at one o'clock. Be planted in one church. Listen, your roots need to be planted in one church. You need to have community. You need to be known, right? The goal isn't to hear five sermons in a week and then just, because here's what I'm telling you. You can listen to things, that's fine. But what I'm saying is when you go to five different places and get fed from five different things, how much of that are you actually gonna be able to digest? You get bits and pieces, but the Lord's like, no, plant your roots down deep in one house with one people, right? Go there, grow there, serve there, give there, lead there.

God changed Johnson and I like 27 years ago. God brought Johnson and I to victory and our lives were forever changed when we got planted at Victory. All that being said, God is not bound to this area and this location and the Spirit of God in us. You know why? He goes with us. He'll show up in the grocery store. He'll show up in our car. He'll show up when we're on a plane. We're in another state, we're in another country because he's not bound to location. Wherever we are, the Spirit of God shows up when we're in partnership with him, led by the Spirit. A few weeks ago, I had decided to take our dogs to the park for a walk. We got a new dog. We'll have to show you a picture someday. He's really cute. His name's Eddie. His name's Eddie. When he's in trouble, we're like, Edward. Come here, Edward. He's a sassy little dachshund, but he's super cute. Anyway, I took Eddie dog and our other dog, Coco dog, to the park and did a walk with him. I had my earbuds in, listening to worship music and just talking with the Lord as I'm going and then my dogs need community too,

so I took them into the dog park, right? So some of you are like, okay, no. So I take them into the dog park so they can socialize. So I go into the dog park and there's a woman and she's sitting down at a table and I'm just trying to discern about her. She's got her phone out. She's got her journal out. She's taking notes and I'm like, all right, Lord. There's something going on and I'm trying to discern what's happening. happening right now, and so she gets up, and we're talking, having a conversation, and she makes some comments that lead me to know, oh, she's a believer in Christ, and I ask her what church she attends locally, and she tells me, and I'm like, okay. I was like, that's a great church. That is a church, they are a house of prayer, like they spend a lot of time in prayer, but I know that pastor preaches the full word of God. He's not one that picks and chooses the words, so I'm like, okay, she's in a church that knows how to worship in spirit and in truth, and so then she just starts telling me. She's like telling her testimony about how she grew up in a very traditional, or I would say a traditional-type church, and she had never been taught about the Holy Spirit, and then at 12 years old, her neighbor invited her to church,

so she goes, and she said at the end of service, it was a spiritful church, she said the pastor said, hey, if you've never been accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, or you've never been water baptized or you've never received the baptism of the Holy Spirit or been filled with the Holy Spirit, I want you to come up front, and she said, and before I knew it, she said, I'm up front, and she said, and in that moment, she said, the Holy Spirit just fell on me, and I received an impartation and a baptism of the Holy Spirit, she's like, I just received my prayer language, she's like, I had never knew what that was. Let me say this, like, man, it is, when we talk about, and you hear, if you've never heard people talk about receiving their prayer language, your prayer language is meant to, which is called speaking in tongues, it's meant when you receive it for your spirit to just commune with the Holy Spirit, to commune with the Lord, it just builds your spirit, man, up, it's not meant to be weird. When Johnson received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, he didn't even ask for it, he was in a place of repentance before the Lord, and the Spirit of God just fell on him. I find it similar with this woman, that she was just in a posture, and the Lord was like, and here you go,

that's how good our Father is. So anyway, she's sharing her testimony, and as soon as she said, before she asked, as soon as she said, the Holy Spirit fell upon her, all of a sudden I felt this, and I'm like, whoa, okay, Lord, and I'm standing there, having to plant my feet down a little bit, because I can feel the presence of God fall, and I'm like, all right, so I'm like this, right? She's like, whoo, oh, yeah, she's like, she starts speaking in tongues, oh, we're in the dark, and I'm like, Eddie, Coco, no, I'm just playing, I wasn't like that, but I'm like, this woman, people are probably like, what the heck is happening right now, because I can feel the Spirit of God in the presence of God, but she's like, she looks drunk, and she, oh my gosh, y'all, I got stories for days, and she's like, the Spirit is strong, there's a strong anointing that you carry, and I was like, this is your Spirit bearing witness with my Spirit, but thank you, she was like, I'm gonna need some of that. I need you to pray for me before you leave. I was like, well, girl, I gotta go in 10 minutes, because I got a lash appointment, so, truth, and I did pray for her. So here's the point, right, we weren't in church, we weren't at this all-night prayer meeting, we're at the dog park, and when you live

a lifestyle of worshiping and partnering with God in Spirit and in truth, living from a place of authenticity and sincerity, I'm, without you, God, I am nothing, oh Lord, remove any pride, I repent of any pride, Lord Jesus, you give grace to the humble, with you I am nothing, when we live from that, the Spirit of God shows up, shows up, because he's not bound to location, a pastor, preacher, anybody, he is not bound, that's who the Spirit, and what the Spirit of God is and does, he is Spirit, and he is truth, and he's called us to worship him in both. So we have to understand, God is not bound to location, but also to worship in Spirit and truth, we have to understand that God is bigger than our limited revelation. God is bigger than our limited revelation. John 4, 22 through 23, you Samaritans know very little about the one you worship, while we Jews know all about him. For salvation comes through the Jews, but the time is coming, indeed it's here now, when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. I love how Jesus sets up this part of the conversation. Because again, he's making it very plain and clear that the Samaritans like, hey, you've got limited revelation on God.

If you didn't know, they rejected parts of the law, so they only had the first five books of the Old Testament, which is Genesis, you call it the Pentateuch, but Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. While the Jews essentially had every revelation given to mankind at this time, so this woman was missing some of the messianic prophecies that Isaiah and Psalms and Ezekiel spoke about. But it's in this moment, Jesus follows up this statement with a big but, right? He's stating that God has a better way to be known and to be shown. And here's what I've come to find, is that all of us, each of us, myself included, we have come to Jesus with a preconceived idea of who he is and who he's not, depending on our upbringing. From what we've been taught, or a lack of what we've been taught, or from what we've seen, maybe healthy or unhealthy, or read or just been exposed to just in the world today. But here's what we need to know, is that revelation, revelation is a starting line. But if we're not careful, our partial revelation can become a wall that hinders our worship. It can become a wall that hinders our worship. And so before Johnson and I found Victory, we grew up in, you would call it two different streams, I guess, two different types of churches. Johnson grew up in a very traditional church. Service started on time, and it lasted exactly an hour.

I don't know that there was much inflection of the voice throughout the entire service. Sister Susie probably played the organ every week. There was no clapping, I tried to clap at one point, I was like, oh, put your hand down, Summer. No raising of the hands, no shouting and no amening. But there was singing of hymns, invocation, there was faith affirmation, doxology, and benediction. It was beautiful. Y'all are laughing. I grew up, I don't think this will surprise you, in a very spirit-filled, non-denominational church. Service pretty much started on time, right? Worship, about 45 minutes, claps, shouts, hands up, look what the Lord has done, freedom, running around the service, running around the church because God was moving. Then you might have Brother Bobby, who received a word of tongues, and he would come on the microphone and say the word of tongues. And then Sister Sally would come up and give an interpretation of the tongues in King James. Thus saith the Lord God Almighty, raining down from heaven to earth, hear me. Listen, Jesus doesn't speak like that. I'm just here to tell you. I mean, he can, but my conversations with the Lord are very just like I'm talking with you right now. So we gotta break out

some of that religious tradition piece. The message, yeah, amen. The message might be like 45 minutes, an hour, followed by an altar call. And let me just say this. The spirit was strong, but the emphasis on truth wasn't always there. And so if you grew up in the church, you might come from one stream or another where it was more traditional, or is very, like mine was heavy in spirit, or it could be just even ritual. You did Father, Son, Holy Spirit, the different things, right? Now here's the thing. When Johnson and I started dating, what we came to understand is that both of us had a partial revelation of who God was and the worship that he deserves, right? I was heavy spirit, he was heavy theology. And it's not that neither one of us was better and neither one of us were wrong, but we had to come to an understanding that when we talk about worshiping God in spirit and in truth, it takes both of those things. That's the whole picture. That's the whole picture. Amen. Because if we come before the Lord, if we have this idea and we approach the Father

in worshiping, thinking if we have this thing already figured out, here's what we have to understand. If we come before him like going, oh no, I got it. You gotta worship this way, or you gotta worship this way, and we put limits on him. What we can do without knowing is we can begin to, well, we won't be able to discover these undiscovered facets of his character that he wants to reveal to us. So there can be a danger when you park in either camp, too strong or too heavy. You can have a spirit of elitism. and spiritual pride, oh, I've been here in the spirit of the Lord, take me up. I have seen the things, and because you haven't, oh, you're less than me. That's spiritual pride. Because I've been saved for 25 years, I know so much more than you. I'm sure there's things that you know, but we have to be careful that our heart posture is not in a way of arrogance, but leading people to Jesus versus away from Jesus. But legalism and religion would say God doesn't move today like he did thousands of years ago. Therefore, healing or movements of his spirit, no, no, that's not for today. And that, when we start operating in religion or legalism, we begin to put God in a box.

See, it's in this moment with the woman at the well that Jesus is offering to give this woman who had had limited revelation, right? Those first five books, the Pentateuch, he's offering to give her the gift of revelation, a greater gift of revelation. John 4, 24, for God is spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth. And so this is where we get to start to celebrate the gift of revelation and what Jesus is about to do. But here's what we have to understand is that Jesus is never gonna drop a full top-to-bottom, inside-out revelation of who he is on any person because if he did, we'd die. I'm telling you right now, we'd die. Y'all might not think so, we would die. There's currently no man, no woman, nobody in the five-fold ministry that has all of the revelation. When I talk about five-fold ministry, that's prophet, pastor, teacher, evangelist, and apostle. That's the five-fold ministry, right? Listen, only Jesus has all the revelation, right? But what we do see is that in Scripture, Jesus will expand people's revelation of him. We see that he gives the gift of revelation. We might have been able to only experience God like this because that's all we knew, but what we see is he wants to give us more.

He wants us to open our eyes. He wants to say, maybe you've just seen this way with God for so long, but here's what I'm here to tell you today. Today, the Lord is saying, look up, my son. Look up, my daughter, for I wanna show you way more than I have for you. In the book, in Exodus 33, what we see with God expanding revelation, Moses was out there in Exodus 33, and God said to Moses, I will make my goodness pass before you, and I will call out my name, Yahweh, but you may not look directly at my face before no one may see me and live. But here's what happened. As God passed by Moses, Moses' limited revelation was expanded on who God is, and he began to understand him as Yahweh, Jehovah, the Lord. In Isaiah chapter six, Isaiah, he had just been going through a time, and he gets before the Lord, and he experiences God's presence through a vision that revealed the majesty and holiness of God. Here's the thing. When God begins to expand our revelation of him, here's what begins to happen. There is this place of worship where you come down and you begin to get on your face

like I talked about before. In Isaiah, Isaiah was like, who am I? A man of unclean lips. There was a seraphim, which is an angel, who began to come and touch his lips because when the Spirit of God comes, when our revelation is expanded, the encounter of God, God's presence is so strong that it will change our perspective, and it changed his perspective as he received a deeper revelation of the power and the holiness of God. And it's in God's loving kindness that he reveals just enough of himself for us to take us into the next step of faith with him. Last thing is this. How do we worship God in spirit and in truth? We have to understand worship transpires through visitation. Worship transpires through visitation. John 4, verses 25 through 26, the woman said, I know the Messiah is coming, the one who is called the Christ, and when he comes, he will explain everything to us. Then Jesus drops the bomb, gives her the revelation. I am the Messiah. I am the Messiah. See, when Jesus shows up, whether you're here in the room or you're at home or you're in your car. or you're at the dog park, or you're at the grocery store. When he visits, he reveals himself as to what you need.

I am that I am. I am Jehovah Rapha, the God who heals. He will show up in your doctor or in your medical procedure. I am Jehovah Shalom, the one, the peace that surpasses all understanding. So even when you're afraid or you feel like you're all alone, he's like, no, I am that peace. He says, I am Jehovah Nisi, the Lord, your banner, the Lord who gives you victory. I am Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord, your righteousness. I am El Shaddai, Lord God Almighty. There is no other name above the name of Jesus. He is Lord God Almighty. I am Jehovah Mekadesh. I am the Lord who sanctifies. That is who he is. Nothing else will sanctify you. Nothing else will cleanse you. Don't be using sage to cleanse your house. Don't be smoking this thing or doing that thing. None of that is gonna cleanse you. Don't go to a healer, go to the healer, Jesus Christ. He is the Messiah. He is the King of Kings. He is the Lord of Lords. He is the great I am. There is no one else like him. Come on, Jesus, listen.

In this moment, with this woman, he drops the biggest revelation, I am the Messiah. Those are the same words he spoke to Moses at the burning bush, but it's in this moment. He's not just confirming her partial revelation. He's completing it. He's not just telling her about the Messiah. He is the Messiah, and he's saying, everything, everything, everything, everything you've been looking for, it's right here and it's right now. Church, everything that you've been looking for, it's right here, it's right now. The Spirit of God is here right now. A few years ago, I was at a conference and a few hundred people in the room, one of my friends with me, she's actually here today. And to be honest with you, I was engaging in the moment. But knowing I've experienced God's presence in many different ways, I wasn't expecting God to show up in a new way, a new visitation like he did for me. I had been struggling with a few things internally, not sharing with a lot of other people, maybe my husband, and of course the Lord knew. But the worship leader gets up, she starts to sing this song, and she begins leading us into a song with these lyrics. Holy God, you are a fire. The reverent fear of your great power fills the air.

Holy God, you're all-consuming. You've come to clear the threshing floor and leave it bare. Your fire comes in clouds of glory, puring every heart for your return. And we go into this course. We wanna be pure, we wanna be holy, we wanna be pure, we wanna be holy. Burn us alive, burn us alive, set alight your bride and make us holy. I didn't sing this in the other services. I felt to sing it here. Because as I was singing even there in that moment, whew, the power and the presence of God began to fall on me. I fell to my knees. It was actually a little more dramatic. It wasn't as eloquent as this, as I'm down on my knees. When the Spirit of God comes and the presence of God comes, the weight of his presence fills the room but falls on you. And in this moment, sometimes you feel like literally it will take you to a time of repentance. For me, all I could begin to say was, holy, holy, holy are you, Lord God Almighty. Holy, holy, holy are you, Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come. God, I repent before you where I placed any other gods before you. God, I surrender to you in this moment. God, I need you, I need you. I just begin to cry out to him.

I just begin to cry out to him. You are the great I am. And it's in this moment, over the next 20 minutes, I am so overcome with the presence of God. I'm so overwhelmed with the Spirit of God that it felt like a fire and a heat come over me. over my body and for 20 minutes, it was like waves as the Lord was purifying, purifying, purifying, purifying, repenting as I repented of pride and insecurity, sadness, fear, inferiority, all these different things. And as I did, the Lord's like, I can use that. I can fill you up when you get rid of these things. I can pour my spirit fully in you and on you in a moment like this, this posture of worship. And I don't say this, please hear me, please hear me. I'm not saying this as a look at me. I say this because what the Lord has done for me, the Lord wants to give to you. He wants to give to you. I couldn't get up for 20 minutes. The Lord was like, I'm not done, I'm not done, I'm not done, I'm not done. And I think so oftentimes we regulate God to five minutes, to 10 minutes, do it here, do it in this time, do it in that time, or we regulate God to just a time of revelation, right, or a specific box of revelation. I had done that. I've had moments of hesitation,

but the Lord's like, I want to show you more. I want to expand your revelation and understanding of me in this moment. And just as he did that for me on that day, I believe he wants to do that for each and every one of us in this room today, if we want it, if we want it, no force. Nobody's gonna come up, put their hand on you and push you down. Nobody's gonna tell you to do anything like preaching tongues or make you repeat after them in a weird way. None of that's happening today. The Spirit of the Lord, the Holy Spirit is gentle. He will move and power, but he's gentle as well. So I want everybody to stand to their feet. I don't believe it's by accident that this message falls or fell in line for Pentecost Sunday. I believe that the Spirit of God is here and is about to break out over the entire room. So here's what I'm asking for you. I'm not asking for you to be super emotional. If God moves on your emotions, then go with it. But don't expect, don't do emotional just to get something in return. But if you want more of the Lord, I've asked the Lord, Lord, would you just let this be like it was in the upper room today here at Victory Church for Pentecost Sunday? If you want an impartation of the Holy Spirit or to be baptized in the Holy Spirit, I wanna invite you to get out of your seat and come forward

because this is just gonna be a time of surrender. We're not gonna make it weird. Nobody's gonna come push you down. Nobody's gonna do any of that stuff. Some of you, I know it can feel, is this gonna be weird? Listen, again, the Holy Spirit's not weird. Holy Spirit's not weird. It's in this moment when we offer surrender. I do believe the Lord is saying we have to be a people who are without mixture. So before there is a receiving in this moment, we will have a moment of repentance and surrendering to Him. And I'm gonna lead you in a prayer. I'm just gonna wait just another minute or two because people are still moving. And let me just say this. I don't say this as like trying to get you to do anything, but I wanna encourage you, if you feel on the inside, you're just kinda like, I wanna go, but I'm not sure. I wanna go, I'm not sure. Don't hesitate. Don't miss out on what the Lord wants to do for you today. I'm gonna lead us in a time of surrender to the Lord, and then I'm gonna lead us in a prayer of the Holy Spirit and inviting the Holy Spirit to come in, and then I'll lead you in that prayer, and then I'm gonna bless you to receive it, and then we'll go into a time of worship. But here's what I wanna explain off the top. Some of you, in this moment, this is what we've seen

actually begin to happen in any other services. Some of you, you might find yourself just crying for no reason. That's okay. The Lord's ministering to some things in the deep wells of your soul. Some of you, you might be, we have had some people, it's gonna cause you to repent. You're gonna feel an overwhelming sense of repentance. Let it all out before the Lord because as you're repenting, get ready, and I'm gonna lead you in a prayer, but you might find yourself doing more. As you empty yourself out, the Lord is going to fill you up in that moment. Sometimes, I've seen people, myself included, I have received joy where I just start laughing and I cannot control it and that is the Lord restoring joy to heal the soul Sometimes we shake when the power of God comes upon us. That's okay. Okay, so we're not trying to make it weird I just want you to understand if you start to feel things that's okay. Don't manufacture anything the Holy Spirit We don't manufacture the Holy Spirit and the move of God's presence We allow God's Spirit to move so we don't make it weird. Amen I'm gonna ask those of you who can If you're up front if you want to in the aisles, you're welcome to you don't have to but I would love for you to Get into that posture of worship like we talked about. I Found that the Lord has just been moving as people have gotten down if you can't that's okay But if you can I would encourage you to do so God knows your heart. So it's not there's no judgment or anything if you can And I'm gonna lead us in the first prayer I want you to say this here I am Lord Here I am at the foot of the cross And I repent Before you

Where I've run to other people to other things to other gods to fill and Satisfy me. I repent Where I've placed My trust and other things and I ask for your forgiveness. I renounce any agreement I came into with the enemy and I revoke any rights that Satan has had over my life and right now I confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord and my Savior and Jesus I invite you to rest Inside me. I want to be led by the Spirit of God I receive the blood of Jesus to wash over me to cleanse me from all unrighteousness so that I can be filled I

Surrender everything to you in this moment God. I Don't want to be a man or a woman with mixture I want to be pure and holy for you I Surrender to you now in Jesus name Now I'm gonna pray I'm gonna have you repeat after me for an impartation of the Holy Spirit and then I will bless you to receive it Jesus I Want to worship you fully in Spirit and in truth I Repent where I have valued one over the other where I was prideful Arrogant or abusing things with limited revelation I asked for your forgiveness and Right now I come out of agreement and renounce any spiritual pride any spirit of religion any spirit of tradition That I've partnered with and I ask you Jesus To come now Fill me Fill me Fill me from the inside I out Let your Holy Spirit Come and rest upon me

Just like you descended on the disciples at the day of Pentecost Come and descend on me now Fill me with your presence Burn away the old Replace it with your spirit. I Choose and desire to receive a fresh fire of your spirit Come and consume my spirit Come and consume Come and consume a fresh wind of your spirit a fresh fire In me and upon me. I choose to receive it now in Jesus name Amen Father I thank you for your sons and your daughters who are in this room God I thank you for every hand lifted every hell-bound every posture of worship It is not by accident that they are here on this weekend, but God I thank you for a Releasing right now of your Holy Spirit a fresh ember partation of your Holy Spirit Lord would you baptize them with fire just like you did at the day of Pentecost Lord would you give them a new boldness Lord to walk in their faith where they are not worried about what people say but Lord God that they would proclaim the praises of you who has set them free Lord God fill them to overflowing God I thank you that in this moment you are giving love where there has been depression where there has been boy there's a new love that's being released as your oil is being poured out over your children the love of God Lord peace that surpasses all understanding Lord and a power Lord God not our minor buyer our power but by your spirit Lord you are releasing your power your power to walk in the ways of you Lord I thank you that you are

riding people in their spirit as they surrender to you you are writing things in people's spirit as they surrender to you and I bless them to receive the Holy Spirit you are not weird God your spirit is not weird I bless them to receive the Holy Spirit and greater measure to overflowing right now come Lord Jesus come Lord Jesus come Lord Jesus come Lord Jesus come Lord Jesus come Lord Jesus come Lord Jesus fill the room fill the room this is your room we set no limits on you fill the room fill the room fill the room fill the room thanks for being a part of Victory Church on the Pando app we hope this content was a blessing to you but we want you to know that you're not done yet because we want to hear from you so send us a letter and tell us things like what God is doing in your life how we can pray for you or even content that you would like to see us create in the future we just want you to know that we see you you're important to us and we'd love to continue to create some things in the future that will bless you so send us a letter and we hope to hear from you soon