JESUS REIGNS 2Sample

THE FOCUS OF OUR WORSHIP In John 4, Jesus and his disciples went on a trip from Judea to Galilee but Jesus decided to take a different route not used by the Jews: Samaria. Their journey took them to Sychar and they rested at the place where Jacob's well was located. Jesus' disciples went to the city to buy food when a Samaritan woman came to the well to draw water. Jesus asked from her a drink. The woman was probably surprised by Jesus' request. Jews were not supposed to speak to a Samaritans for they were half-breeds and treated with contempt by Jews. Besides, Jesus was a Jewish teacher and it is unusual for a Jewish rabbi to talk to a woman in public. As Jesus conversed with her, the woman perceived Jesus as a prophet and challenged him as to the proper place of worship. Jesus’ response to her inquiry made perfectly clear the proper focus for worship. First, the place of worship is not the focus of worship, rather the person who is being worshipped. Jesus replied that true worshippers worship the father. Second, Jesus made it clear that outside forms were no longer the focus of true worship ratehr the inward focus of spirit and truth. Though our houses of worship are useful they are not to be worshipped in the place of God, nor can they produce true worship. Our methods of worship are not to be the focus of our worship but the overflow of our heart that worshipping the Father in spirit and in truth. Are you a true worshipper? Is the Father the focus of your worship? Has spirit and truth replaced rituals and traditions as the focus of your worship? Ask the Father to remove anything in your life that keeps him from being the focus of your worship!