In this insightful episode of The Flatline, host Rick Hughes dives deep into the necessity of understanding the true essence of worship. Focusing on the biblical perspective, Rick addresses the importance of worshipping God in both spirit and truth, as laid out in John 4:24. With vivid anecdotes such as the encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman, this episode challenges listeners to reflect on their own understanding and practices of worship. Moving beyond traditional rituals, Rick emphasizes the cruciality of being born again to possess a living human spirit capable of worshipping God. He dispels common misconceptions, warns
Welcome to the Flatline with your host, Rick Hughes. For the next 30 minutes, you’ll be inspired, motivated, educated, but never manipulated. Now, your host, Rick Hughes.
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Good morning and welcome to the Flatline. I’m your host, Rick Hughes, and for the next few minutes, please stay with me. Just a short time, 30 minutes of motivation, some inspiration, some education, and as always, no manipulation because we’re not trying to con you. We’re not trying to hustle money. We’re not trying to sell you anything. We’re not going to ask you to join up, fess it up, give it up, nothing like that. We just want you to listen as I try to verify and identify God’s plan for your life. If I can do that, then you have the freedom and the privacy to orient and adjust to the plan. That’s always up to you. Thank you for listening to The Flatline. We now play over 100 cities across America every Sunday morning for compliments of the grace of God. What a wonderful opportunity it is for me. Our website can be easily located at rickhughesministries.org. rickhughesministries.org. There you can find all the material that we have available, such as the many books we’ve written that are free of charge. many DVDs that we offer where I’ve been speaking in public agenda to various churches, and you can order these and get a hold of them. You can also get a hold of our transcripts from 2018, 2019, and 2021. That’s every show we did transcribed, and it’s readable in a book form. So if you’d like to have any of that, don’t hesitate to contact us at rickhughesministries.org or call 800-831-0718. Okay? All right, let’s get started today. We want to talk about the human spirit. We want to talk today about the human spirit. The Bible says in John 4, 24, God is a spirit. Do you hear that? God is a spirit, and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. Right away, we notice the need for proper protocol when we worship God. There must be proper protocol when you worship God. Those who worship him must do so in spirit and in truth, according to John 4, 24. And what does all of that mean? And is it possible that many who think they are worshiping God may actually be doing the right thing, but actually in a wrong way? Let’s start with the word worship. The original Greek New Testament word is proskuneo, proskuneo. This is a compound verb and the root word is from the word pros means face to face and kaneo meaning to kiss. Vine’s New Testament dictionary says it’s the act of homage or reverence. This word was used among the Orientals, the Persians particularly, to fall on the ground and touch their forehead as an expression of profound reverence. Strong’s definition is meaning to kiss or to kiss the master’s hand or to fawn or to crouch or literally or figuratively to prostrate yourself in homage or to reverence or to adore. Our Lord Jesus Christ used this word when confronting the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well in Samaria while on his way to Galilee. And he and his disciples were exhausted from the long day of traveling and arrived at the well around noon. And the disciples had gone into the town of Sychar to purchase some food. I’m sure there was no McDonald’s there. So they went in town to get some kind of food. Our Lord was alone, resting, and a woman of Samaria showed up at the well to collect water. When our Lord saw her, he asked her if she would share some water with him. Of course, she was kind of taken back to this request since she noticed he was a Jew and the Jews hated Samaritans. This conversation led Jesus to reveal to her that he was in fact the Messiah. This is where he directly says he is the Messiah. In John 4, 25 and 26, the woman said to him, I know the Messiah is coming, the one called Christ, and when he comes, he will tell us all things. In verse 26 of John chapter four, here it is, Jesus said to her, I who speak to you am he. There indirectly Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior said, I am the Messiah. This whole confrontation started when Jesus revealed to her that he knew of her past and actually her present actions. In John 4, 16, Jesus said to her, go call your husband and bring him here. The woman answered and said, I don’t have a husband. And Jesus said, that’s right. You’ve said it well. I have no husband. For you’ve had five husbands. And the one with whom you now live is not your husband. And that you do speak truly. Once she realized that he was indeed a man of God who immediately could figure this sort of stuff out, she started talking to him about where she and her fathers worshiped God. Our Lord then made it clear to her that where she worshiped was not the issue. But how she worshiped was the critical important issue. I want to tell you that too. Where you worship is not the issue. The issue is how you worship. In John 4, 22, you worship what you know not. And we know what we worship. For salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming and now is when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. for the Father is seeking such to worship him. Verse 24, our verse we started off with, God is a spirit, and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. Well, what was important to her to understand is also critical for you and I to understand as well. What we notice right off the bat is that God is a spirit, not a local individual. This reveals to us that he is not some individual like we are. He’s, of course, eminent, meaning permanently pervading and sustaining the universe. He’s eminent and he’s transcendent, meaning he exists apart from and not subject to limitations of material universe. He’s eminent, he’s everywhere, and he’s transcendent. If we worship God, if you want to do that, we must have a living human spirit because that’s what he said. Those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. So do you want to worship God? You must have a living human spirit. And you must be infilled and you must be empowered by the Holy Spirit. And this is the first problem we encounter. We are born physically alive, but we are born spiritually dead. In Romans 5, 12, therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world and death through sin, and thus death has spread to all men because all have sinned. It’s for this reason that our Lord Jesus Christ says we must be born again. In John 3, 3, Jesus answered and said to Nicodemus, most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born again, he will not see the kingdom of God. That’s your first dilemma. Have you been born again? Have you been born again? Because without the new birth, you do not have a living human spirit. Church membership does not mean you’ve been born again. This, what I’m talking about, is a supernatural act that occurs the moment you place your faith in what Jesus Christ did for you on the cross through his death, his burial, and obviously his resurrection. You will not see angels or hear harps when you receive Christ as your savior. Not in my case, I didn’t, and I don’t know anybody that did. But if you pray and you ask God to save you, he will answer your prayer. In John 1.12, but as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, to those who believed in his name. Believing in the Lord Jesus Christ is the act of faith required by God for you to be born again. In Ephesians 2.8 and 9, the Bible says, for by grace you’ve been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. So exactly how do you express that faith to God? How do you do that? You want to be born again? You want to have a new life? You want to have a living human spirit, not the dead human spirit? How am I born again? What do I have to do to be born again? Romans 10, 13, whoever calls on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved. Expressing your desire to be saved in a simple prayer to God is the act of salvation. We’ve talked about it many times on this radio show. Many have done this in church services like revivals or even crusades. Some have done it alone, kneeling beside their bed, but all come the same way, by faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ, our Lord and our Savior. When you accept Christ, here’s what happens. god the holy spirit indwells your dead human spirit and he seals you until the day of redemption ephesians 1 13 in him you also trusted after you heard the word of truth the gospel of your salvation in whom also having believed you were sealed with the holy spirit of promise so when you believe in the lord jesus christ you were born again not physically You’re still the same, oh ugly person, not physically, but spiritually. Your dead human spirit, that which died when you were born, you were identified with Adam. Adam’s original sin was imputed to you and you were born spiritually dead, physically alive, and the need to be born again so that you need to have a living human spirit, not a dead human spirit, a living human spirit. And that only comes when God the Holy Spirit indwells you through salvation and makes you alive spiritually. So no human being, no human being can worship God by means of the flesh. No human being can worship God unless he or she has been born again. So you can see, it’s not where you are, but rather who you are. Without a living human spirit, you cannot worship God, regardless of where you’re located, regardless of what church you go to, regardless of how many songs you sing. You will not worship God unless you have a living human spirit. Regardless of the religious atmosphere, regardless of the spiritual songs that may be sang, none of that’s going to get through to God because it’s on a human plane and he is not impressed. Mark 13, one through two. Then as he went out of the temple, one of the disciples came to him and said, teacher, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here? Look at all of this, it’s impressive. And our Lord answered and said to him, do you see these great buildings? Not one stone shall be left upon another. They shall not be thrown, they shall not be thrown down. Jesus also said that we must worship God the Father in spirit and in truth. There’s a second word. In spirit and in truth. In John 14, 6, Jesus Christ our Lord said to Nicodemus, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father unless they come through me. In John 1, 14, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory. the glory as the only begotten Son of the Father, full of grace and full of truth. Truth. The word truth can refer to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ himself, or it could refer to the scriptures. In 3 John 1.4, back over near the book of Revelation, here’s what’s written. John wrote, I have no greater joy than to hear my children walk in truth. It’s obvious that we can walk in truth, if we do, that we may also be able to walk in a lie, or to follow the lie. What does that mean? The lie that Satan promotes is salvation by good works. The idea that man can manufacture his own righteousness, his own salvation, by observing a lifestyle of asceticism. What’s that? It’s a big word, asceticism. It means extreme self-denial. The scriptures, the Bible, however, says just the opposite. In Romans 3.10, as it is written, there are none that are righteous, no, not one. In that letter, Paul is quoting Isaiah 64.6. where it says, but we are all like an unclean thing and all of our righteousnesses are like filthy rags. We all fade as a leaf and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away. The lie that Satan promotes in regards to the Christian life is this, that spirituality is acquired by following church ritual. But you know and I know that ritual without reality is meaningless. One is not spiritual because he attends church. One is not spiritual because he partakes in communion or because he tithes. Spirituality is related to the filling of the Holy Spirit. And the spiritually mature believer has to understand that. Spiritual maturity is related to the perception and the application of the Word of God into your life. The sad truth is this, that many believers think they’re worshiping God by attending church. or by observing some religious ritual. But in reality, they are not, I say again, they are not worshiping God. Unless you understand the protocol plan of God, you will simply do all the right things, you’ll go to church, you’ll sing in the choir, you’ll tithe your money, you’ll dress up on Sunday, you’ll join the nod to God crowd, hello God, goodbye God, see you next Sunday God. all those deeds will wind up being rejected by God at the judgment seat of Christ. In 1 Corinthians 3, 11 through 16, we find the judgment seat of Christ taught by the Apostle Paul. Here’s what he said. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw, each one’s work will become clear, for the day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire. and the fire will test everyone’s work of what sort it is. If anyone’s work which he has built upon endures, he’ll receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so as by fire. If you build a house, you usually put down a concrete foundation. It’s possible you’ve seen it, I’ve seen it, a house burned up, and there’s nothing left but the foundation. In this particular case, as Paul uses this analogy, he’s saying that any believer who produces or manufactures human good will find at the judgment seat of Christ that all of that will be destroyed. Will he be saved? Yes, it says so. He himself will be saved, yet as through fire. So it’s not a matter of your salvation. It’s a matter of what you’ve done to glorify God and worship God. It’s a matter of your rewards and eternity future. So think about that. Are you really worshiping God today when you go to church? Is anybody telling you that, number one, you must be filled with the Holy Spirit to worship God? I’m willing to bet that most pastors don’t even mention it. I’m willing to bet that most pastors never get up and tell their congregation, if you’re here and you have unconfessed sin in your life, you are out of fellowship with God. You have quenched and grieved the Holy Spirit. And it’s impossible for you to worship God regardless of the music, regardless of the atmosphere, regardless of your intent. You must worship God in spirit and in truth. And unless you have a living human spirit, and unless you’re filled with the Holy Spirit, you will never be able to correctly worship God. You must understand that. It’s not taught, it’s not said, it’s not even brought up, it’s not even mentioned in pulpits today. And that’s the sad thing about it. Because many Christians will wind up at the judgment seat of Christ thinking they got a lot of rewards. Many Christians will wind up at the judgment seat of Christ saying, well, you know, I tithed all my life. I never missed Sunday school. I got a pen for being faithful for 25 years. And I never cheated on my wife, and I never cheated on my husband, I never cheated on my income tax, and look what a good person I was, and it’s all wood, hay, and stubble. It’s not rewardable, because it was all done in the energy of the flesh. A Christian can produce good works in the energy of the flesh, and the unbeliever can produce good works in the energy of the flesh. It’s possible sometimes you cannot even tell the difference between the unbeliever and the believer by based on what they do or how they live their life. So if you want to worship God, first thing you must make sure of is you have a living human spirit. And without being born again, you will not have a living human spirit. You must be born twice or you will die twice. The first birth is your physical birth. The second birth is your spiritual birth. The first death is your physical death. The second death is your death when you’re cast into the lake of fire to be tormented forever and forever. So have you been born again? Do you have a living human spirit? Are you in fact filled with the Holy Spirit? Because this is what’s critical for you to understand if you’re going to worship God. Because the issue in glorifying God and worshiping God is that the human good produced in your life from the energy of the flesh is in no way pleasing or even acceptable to God. As you’ve heard, I just read it to you, it’ll be burned up. It will be discarded at the judgment seat of Christ. That simply means that every prayer you prayed, every nickel you gave, every service you attended, Every good deed which you performed in the local assembly or on some mission trip, it will all be recorded and evaluated as productive or non-productive. So think about it. In your life, are you truly worshiping God in spirit and in truth? This is exactly where Satan is winning the battle in our churches today. We hire, listen to this word, see if you’ve heard it before, worship leaders. What in the world is a worship leader? We pay them big bucks, but unfortunately, all the praise, all the worship music could possibly wind up simply being wood, hay, and stubble because it was all done in the energy of the flesh. It might sound good and be worthy of a Hollywood production, but in the end, it’s just noise. Paul the Apostle addressed this in 1 Corinthians 13, one through three, when he said these words, regardless of how spiritual I may sound, regardless of how brilliant I may appear to be, regardless of the suffering that I endure, without love, it’s all just noise. The key word there is love. Why is it a key? Because in 1 Corinthians 13, 4 through 7, the Apostle Paul insists that love must be the motivating factor for the believer and for his service to God. Do you know where that type of love originates? In Galatians 5, 22, the fruit of the Spirit is love. It’s only through the filling of the Holy Spirit that a believer can produce anything worthy of glorifying God, or even get close to worshiping God. In 1 John 4, 16 through 17, and we have known and believed the love that God has for us, that God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. Love has been perfected among us in this, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment. What does that mean? It’s the judgment seat of Christ. Because as he is, that’s God, so are we in this world. We have his righteousness. When we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, remember this, the Bible says there are none that are righteous, no, not one. He who knew no sin was made sin for us, the Bible says, so that we might be made the righteousness of God through him. You cannot worship God in your own manufactured righteousness. Your manufactured righteousness may be called morality. You don’t drink, you don’t smoke, you don’t cuss, you don’t dance, as some people say. You don’t play marbles, you don’t gamble, you don’t do them bad things. That’s not worshiping God. Worshiping God is what God said in the Bible. I’m looking for those people who know me and understand me in Jeremiah chapter nine. Do you understand the gods you worship? Do you understand that God is a God of protocol? And that’s what the Lord Jesus Christ taught this woman. A right thing must be done in a right way. You may be thinking you’re worshiping God and you’re not. You may be going through some religious ritual that’s not worshiping God. Unless you understand the God you know, you will never be able to worship him because you must worship him in spirit and in truth. That means you must be filled with the Holy Spirit, you must have a living human spirit, and you must be taught the truth, not the lie. The truth, not the lie. And what does Satan gain in advantage? Where does he gain that advantage? By distorting the spiritual life for the believer. By having the believer think that if he’s moral, he’s spiritual, and never really teaching what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit. never really making that point effective in a local church or a local assembly before a Sunday morning service or a Wednesday night service or a prayer meeting or a mission trip. Are you filled with the Holy Spirit? Are you in fellowship with God? Or do you have unconfessed sin in your life? Because if you do, if you have unconfessed sin in your life, the Bible says you’ve quenched the Holy Spirit and you’ve grieved the Holy Spirit. And regardless of what you may do, regardless of how good you may look, regardless of where you go, you are not worshiping God. You’re going through a ritual, and it has no reality to it. It’s my prayer you’re listening to this today. I could go on and on and on about it, and I don’t know how much more I can talk about it. But I know there are many of you listening to me today in the various cities across this country, from California to New York, even all the way up to Maine. and this is a revelation to you. The question is what are you gonna do about it? Will you make an adjustment in your mind? Will you make sure you’re filled with the Holy Spirit? Will you make sure, doggone sure, that you have received Christ as your savior and not just gone through some ritual without reality to it? Because unless you’re born again, you will never be able to worship God. Because as our Lord said one more time, those who worship God must worship him in spirit and in truth. It’s critical you understand that. It’s my prayer that I’ve made this plain and clear. Maybe I haven’t. I don’t know. But if you’d like to get the transcript of this message, you can always contact us at 800-831-0718. We’ll be glad to send you a transcript. Or you can go to our website and listen to it. And by the way, we podcast all these messages on Spotify, Apple iPod, Podbean, various podcast platforms like that. And right now we’re getting close to 2 million downloads on those podcast platforms. So I hope you’ve enjoyed the show. I hope you’ve learned something. I hope you’ll come back and be with me next week at the same time on the same channel there in your city. So until then, this is your host, Rick Hughes, saying thank you so very much for listening to The Flatline.
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Thank you for listening to The Floodline with your host, Rick Hughes. If you’d like to contact Rick, please write to him at P.O. Box 100, Cropwell, Alabama, 35054, or online at www.rickhughesministries.org.
