True Worship

I have a question, and we should know the answer to it. Let's see if we do. It's a very simple question. It's very straightforward, and it's kind of pointed. So I'll ask it. Think about the answer. And again, we ought to know. Can a person who doesn't keep the Sabbath or the Holy Days, who eats pork and participates in the practice of paganism, who believes the law is done away with have God's Spirit? Now, I'm not talking about the issue of God helping somebody. I'm not talking about the issue of God showing mercy to somebody. You know, He's not limited in helping somebody. He's not limited in showing mercy. What I'm talking about, can a person who doesn't keep the Sabbath or the Holy Days, who eats pork and practices paganism, who believes the law is done away with, can God's Spirit abide in them? Can God, through His Spirit, abide in them? We should know the answer, shouldn't we? It's a resounding no. N-O.

And what is the scriptural support for that? Well, let's look at Acts 5.32.

Peter and the apostles were being called on the carpet by the religious leadership.

And it comes down to a fundamental bottom line for Peter and the others, and they point out the bottom line for them. And Acts 5.32, Peter said, we are His witnesses of these things, and so is also the Holy Spirit whom God has given to them that obey Him.

You know, there are scriptures that are very plain and straightforward, black and white. They're not ambiguous. They're not vague. They're not in the gray zone. Now, there are scriptures in the gray zone, but it's the black and white clear ones that set the parameters so that you know what the gray ones mean. This is very straightforward and plain.

The Holy Spirit whom God has given to them that obey Him. Luke 6.46, I'm not going to turn there, just reference it, quote it, but in Luke 6.46, that's the scripture where Christ says, why do you call me Lord, Lord, but won't do the things I say? And you think about that. Any time you see something repeated, it's for emphasis. Lord, Lord, emphasizing that He's boss, master, which is what Lord can also mean, boss or master.

If you work a job and you go in Monday morning and say, boss, what you got for me to do? And the boss says, I got this, this, and this. I'm not going to do it. Don't want to do it. Well, do this, this. I don't want to do it. No, I'm not going to do it. How long do you think you would have the job?

We're here in Acts 2, verse 38. The Day of Pentecost, church begins. And in Acts 2, verse 38, certain ones in that group did respond in a proper way. God was calling and working with certain ones, and they responded, and they asked, what must we do? And notice the very first word that came out of Peter's mouth in response to answering them in verse 38 is repent and be baptized. Every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ. Repent your baptism based on repentance in the name of Jesus Christ, and you're going to be baptized into Christ for the remission or removal of sins. Therefore, you're viewed as a clean vessel in God's sight because you're being cleaned up and cleansed, and you shall. What will follow all of that is you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. So the answer is very obvious, isn't it? The one who doesn't keep the Sabbath of the Holy Days, eats pork, practices paganism, doesn't believe the law is valid, is done away with, cannot and does not have God's Spirit abiding in them. Now again, that's a different issue than the fact that God, as God, can reach out and help whoever He chooses. He's going to call everybody someday. He wants everybody ultimately that will choose it when given that opportunity. He wants them in His kingdom. But we're talking about where does He actually dwell. Let's go to a second question. Is it possible to have the Sabbath, to have the Holy Days, to follow the dietary laws of clean versus unclean, to avoid paganism, and to believe in the validity of the law and still not have God's Holy Spirit? Is that possible?

Yes, that's possible. Leaving proof of that historically recorded for us in the Bible were the Pharisees. They had the Sabbath, they had the Holy Days, they practiced the dietary laws, they avoided paganism. They would die over the fact the law is valid, but they didn't have God's Spirit. They didn't abide in them. See, these truths of God have to be held and exercised in a truly yielded spirit of obedience. That's the formula, and I call it a formula because really in a very true sense it is a spiritual formula. That's the formula that Christ is talking about in John 4, verses 23 and 24. Let's notice there, John 4. You know this famous account of the Samaritan woman at the well and her quizzing Christ and him answering and talking with her. But here in John 4, verses 23 and 24, and answering in verse 23, he says, but the hour comes is coming and now is, actually is upon us, when the true, now notice, he says true worshipers. I'm reading from the King James. There are many good translations of the Bible, but to this day the basic consensus with the authorities is that the King James is still the most accurate translation that's ever been made. It has a few translation mistakes. Basically all translations do, but there's less wiggle room because it is a word-for-word translation, not a phrase-for-phrase. It was a word-for-word translation, therefore it cut out the most in every sense wiggle room, and that's why it's recognized as the most accurate, still to this day, the most accurate translation that's been made.

So it's interesting that Christ says when the true worshipers, which by itself is acknowledging, there are worshipers, but there's distinction between true worshipers and worshipers. He says when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, and notice, for the Father seeks such to worship Him. He extends opportunity, and He looks for response, and He seeks those of those He gives opportunity to worship Him in spirit and in truth. Dontronal truth, without a truly yielded spirit of obedience, is only an academic exercise of the head. The heart is not truly involved, and such is possible to do as the Pharisees more than proved. But that doesn't produce any true growth. What does not get into the heart does not become part of the person. What does not get into the heart does not attach to the core fiber of one's being. What does not get into the heart does not become truly loved and cherished. In spirit, that part of the formula deals with the heart issue. You can tie a number of things into it, yes, but it deals with the heart issue. Truth alone by itself is a head issue.

Academically learning doctrine, or truth, doctrinal truth, that's a head issue. Coming to love that truth and making it a very part of your being, your core, your fiber, that's a heart issue. So in spirit, when you truly yield to God in a spirit of obedience, God's spirit is able to connect and flow in us. God is able to write upon us upon our hearts. Notice 2 Corinthians 3.3.

When Paul wrote to the Corinthians here, in 2 Corinthians, in his second letter, 2 Corinthians 3, in verse 3, he made a point about God's spirit flowing in them and writing in them. And he used an analogy that they all understood. He says, for as much, 2 Corinthians 3.3, for as much as you are manifestly, or that is obviously declared to be the epistle, an epistle is just an old King James word that means letter.

You know, we don't write many letters today. We tweet, we do emails, we do texts. There's very little, at least until you step up in age to a bit of the older generation, there's very few letters that are written. But at one time, you had to dip a quill into ink and put it on the papyrus or lambskin or whatever and write. And of course, today, for those, any time we write a letter, card, note, or anything, we take our pencil or pen or whatever and we put it down on the paper. Have you ever noticed that somebody takes a blank sheet of paper and they put it down the pen or pencil down on it and hold it on it? Nothing gets written if it doesn't move. It's got to move.

Notice again in doing this analogy what Paul points out. He says, to be the epistle or letter of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink. Because this very thing, this letter that would have been read to them, he had to sit down with ink and write it. But he says, not written with ink, but with the spirit of the living God. And just like the pen or the quill has to move and has to flow, so it is with the spirit of the living God. It's got to move and flow, not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart. Well, if it writes things there and our core being, if it writes God there, what's it writing? It's writing his being, it's writing his ways, it's writing his thinking, it's writing his thoughts, his affections, his values, his standards, his motivations. The things of God become deeply encased and ingrained in us and a part of us, a deep part of us, and we do increase in the grace and the knowledge of Jesus Christ. In 2 Peter 3 and verse 18, this verse stands on its own with enough impact and value.

But sometimes when we understand some of the context that something is written in, it adds more emphasis or impact. This verse, this was the last thing that he wrote to the Church of God that we have preserved for us, that we know of. And I think when Peter wrote this, he was probably in his 60s. He knew he was going to be murdered. He knew that his life was about up. He probably knew that this was probably the last thing I'll write to the Church. So it really, really meant even more to him how he would sign off as far as what he would admonish the Church to do. And so he signs up as saying, but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever. Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior. You increase in the grace and knowledge of Christ. As that happens, Philippians 2.5 does take place that Paul spoke of. Philippians 2 and verse 5, where Paul wrote, Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. That does transpire. His mind does become more and more hours. And a process of growing up into him and all things is truly underway in process and progress. If you look at Ephesians 4 verse 15, Ephesians 4 and verse 15, it's a tall order, but it sets a goal and it sets a direction. It says, But speaking the truth and love may grow up. We understand that grow up. Every kid wants to grow up. I don't know about you, but when I was young, in one sense, I couldn't wait to grow up. Most kids can't wait to grow up. You're asking how old they are? Well, I'm five going on six. You know how it goes. They can't wait because once they get to be an adult, they'll get to do all this freedom and get to do all these things that adults get to do that kids don't get to do. And then you get grown one day and realize there's not as much freedom as they thought there would be. But it's natural to want to grow up physically. And God ingrained it in us. But we've got also to want to grow up spiritually. And again, Paul understood what it connotes, even with what we're used to physically, but may grow up, which again is a tall order, into him and all things, which is the head, even Christ. And obviously, that is a lifelong project. But it sets the goal and it sets the direction. And again, to refer to Mr. Armstrong in the last year or two of his life when he said, look, he said, as long as I draw breath, I have to grow. As long as I draw breath, I have to grow.

I'm still growing up spiritually. I long ago grew up physically and don't think I grew up as much as I wanted to. But anyway, I only wanted to be six too, but you know, that's okay. But I'm still growing up in the way that it counts most. But say a fiber deep, a heartfelt, fiber deep formation of Christ does take place. And that's what's supposed to be occurring with us, Galatians 4.19. You think about what Peter said about grace and knowledge. You think about what Paul said about the mind of Christ, about what he said about growing up in him. And guess what does transpire, just like you told the Galatians, over time, my little children, Galatians 4.19.

My little children, of whom I travail in birth again, until Christ be formed in you.

All of that together, and in so many words, speaking of the same need, spiritual need, and admonishment by using in one sense different words. But you put it all together. The formula that allows that, the formula that promotes that, that produces that, that even makes that possible is this one that we find in John 4, verses 23 and 24. Worshiping, true worshipers, worshiping God, in spirit and in truth. Both have to be involved. It's not like, well, I like that in spirit part, but that truth part, well, we can kind of leave that out. Well, no, I tell you, but I tell you what, I don't like the in spirit part so much, but I like the in truth part. I'll go with the in truth part. Both have to be involved. To have one and not have the other is to have a broken equation. It's like you go out there and to drive off in your car and two of the wheels are missing. You're not going anywhere until you get four wheels on that car. Or maybe better yet, you're out upon a motorbike and you go out and there's only one wheel on it. The other one's going. Now, unless you're really, really, really, really, really acrobatic, you can't drive away on that one wheel. Angela and I have a checking account. No surprise. On the checks, it says, Rick M. Orr. That means that she or I can go in alone to the bank and cash a check. She can go in, they'll cash a check for her. Or I can go in and they'll cash a check for me. And that's the way it is on the check. If it says on the check, Rick M. And Angela W. Vame. She can't go in and cash a check without either me being present or my signature on the check. I can't go in and cash a check without either her being present or her signature on the check. If the teller is doing her business, if the teller is paying attention and going strictly legally, if the and is in there, it's a package deal. It's a unit. And that's the way it is with the true worshipers. It's not optional one or the other. It's a package deal.

But to be sincerely wrong doctrinally, truth-wise, that voids true worship. It doesn't mean it voids worship, but it voids true worship. And again, Christ emphasized true worship because there's something in people they want to worship. People have a worshiping approach now, what they may worship can really get wild sometimes. It's a misdirected part of their make-up. I mean, they're misdirecting it. But Christ did emphasize true worship. And to have doctrinal truth and correctness, but no truly yielded spirit of obedience, well again, that voids negates, nullifies true worship. I've heard all of my life that, well, you know, the first three letters in sincere spell sin. Well, so-and-so is just so sincere. Well, yeah. But what's the first three letters in sincere? S-I-N. And I've heard that all of my life. Under the heading of sincerity, a lot of sin is committed. Well, you know, boy, he did so much damage, but he didn't mean to. He sincerely thought he was doing the right thing. He sincerely believed what he was doing. Yeah, but the breakage is really bad, isn't it? Yeah, it's really bad. That's why we have the saying, and I've heard the saying, the road to hell is paved with good intentions, because that's simply the reality of it. And to have doctrinal truth without the heart truly involved, without truly having authentic, yielded spirit of obedience, guess what? That's just academic. That's just intellectual. That's just legalistic. And this summer, I am concluding 40 years of pastoring. I started pastoring when I was 27. I'm 67. I hope God gives me another 10, 15, maybe even 20 years to pastor. And over that course of time, you do deal with an awful lot of situations. I've dealt with people, quote, in the truth who are strictly just academic. I've dealt with people who are just intellectual with it. And the sad thing is that so much of that leads to just true worship is not legalistic. But when people don't capture what Christ says makes for true worship, they can become legalistic. True worship, bona fide worship, does involve. God-pleasing worship does involve both. Now, is knowledge necessary? Absolutely. So let's just take knowledge for a moment. Very necessary, yes. Peter signed off admonishing them to grow in grace and knowledge, didn't he? Hosea 4-6, a very familiar Scripture to us. Hosea 4 and verse 6. The very first part of it states the fundamental principle issue, my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.

Well, he really messed up. He didn't know better. How many times are there damages done because of a lack of knowledge? Our nation, we are losing more and more just basic knowledge of what is right, and we're seeing the damages increase. But doesn't that also apply, can apply with God's people also? That sometimes we can be destroyed or cut off or led astray for lack of knowledge. What it points out is knowledge is important. We can never say that knowledge is not important. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. That alone tells us that knowledge is important. Doctrinal truth is crucial. It's essential. Notice with me Isaiah 8, verse 20.

Isaiah 8 and verse 20. And again, one of those plain scriptures, the very one who inspired this to be written through Isaiah is the very one who came as the word logos made flesh Jesus Christ.

And again, a very plain black and white scripture, Isaiah 8 and verse 20, to the law and to the testimony. If they speak not according to this word, what word? The law and the testimony. If they speak not according to this word, well that old law is done away with, etc., etc. It is because there is no light in them. There's no light in them. It may be nice folks, but there's no light in them to the law, to the testimony. If they speak not according to this word, remember Christ's words in John 1717, your word is truth. If they speak not according to this word, and your word is truth, John 1717, it's because there's no light in them. And again, we're not talking about the issue of God in His mercy, making His decisions whom He will help as an act of mercy, because again, He does love mankind. He doesn't like everything mankind's doing, but He has a very all-encompassing plan of salvation that won't leave anyone out by the time it's totally finished and it steps and stages. And we understand that, but that's a separate issue from whom God dwells in according to His Spirit and through His Spirit. John 1613. John 16 and verse 13. And I'll just read it in the neuter without the pronoun, because if you understand English does allow for a neuter form, if you want to call it pronoun, but Greek and Hebrew and Spanish and a lot of them do put feminine terms or masculine terms on everything. I mean, if I were to take this, this is a pencil, actually, that I carry in my shirt pocket. This is not a pen, it's a pencil. El lapis. El. It's male. El lapis. If you have a pen, that's la pluma. La feminine. El is masculine. That's just the way languages are done. And when they translated this from the Greek, they put it in the masculine pronoun as though it were a person. So I'm just going to read it the way that it should be without putting the masculine feminine on it. How be it when it, the Spirit of truth, because we know the Holy Spirit is not a person. It's God's composition. It's His power. It's His energy. It's His being. How be it when it, the Spirit of truth, is come, it will guide you. Notice, won't force. It will guide you in what direction? And to all truth. It doesn't diminish truth. It enhances truth. The Spirit of truth, God's Holy Spirit, can only flow in and through and with a Spirit of obedience. And this is why Peter, when he answered there in Acts 5.32 where we were previously, when he answered, he acknowledged to them the fundamental understanding and reality that if we don't obey God, He's not going to give us the Spirit. He gives the Spirit to those who obey Him. And again, that same Peter and the others on the day of Pentecost, Acts 2.38, where we read the very first word that came out of his mouth to them when they asked him what they must do, was repent. Repent. Now, there can be different, differing levels of repentance. And there can be such a thing as human repentance where people change and amend their ways and to the degree they do, that's good. We don't fault that. But true, deep repentance that's required by God. No true repentance occurs without and aside from a change in attitude, a change in spirit, it automatically entails a change of heart, it automatically entails a yieldenness, a true yieldenness to the things of God. See, true doctrine can be held in the head without a truly yielded spirit of obedience to God. But true doctrine cannot be held in the heart without a true yieldedness to God in the form of a spirit of obedience. This shows up as a prime difference between two categories. First category, those who have the truth only.

And I'll express what I mean by that. This shows up as a very prime difference between, number one, those who have the truth only and number two, those who have the truth and a love of it with it. And there is a major distinction there between those who have the truth only and those who have a love of the truth along with the truth. It is a very, very significant distinction. Second Thessalonians 2 and verse 10 is a fundamental scripture dealing with that distinction. Without going into all the context, just to say, Paul is talking about the issue of deception here. He's talking about those who didn't stay with the truth. Paul is talking about those who didn't stay with the truth. Many of us in here are old-timers, long-timers. We have lived with and through the powerful winds of apostasy that swept through the church and saw so many leave. And we know the pain and the hurts and the sufferings from that.

And we know how quickly many that we really loved just gave up, quote, the truth.

Notice what it says here, verse 10, chapter 2, 2 Thessalonians, and with all the save-ableness of unrighteousness in them that perish or that are in the process of perishing. And I won't get off into today, but there are two categories when it comes to turning from the, quote, truth. And one's a whole lot more serious than the other, and not everybody falls in that most serious category. In fact, based on what I've seen and known and the scriptures that I know, I think the biggest group will have opportunity in the future. But anyway, that's another subject for another time. But notice what's at stake here, because they received not the love of the truth. Did you ever catch that when you read it? It doesn't say they didn't have the truth. They had the truth. They had it in the head. It's here. It's academic. It's in the head. But they didn't have the love of it. It wasn't in the heart. It didn't go down to the heart.

And it makes a difference. It makes an extreme difference between what is true worship and what is not. The truth is there with both categories, the doctrinal truth, and both have it in their head, in their knowledge, in their intellect. But only one has it both in the head and in the heart, and only one is exercising the full formula of in spirit and in truth. True worshipers, authentic worshipers have both. You know, any number in the past, including the Pharisees, have had the Sabbath and more and not been true worshipers. Any number today. And let me say this. If I'm not on record of saying this, let me make sure that I'm on record.

All of the people of God, and it's like Paul told Timothy. He said, Timothy, the seal of the Lord is this. He knows those who are His. Not all the people of God are in united. And I think we all understand that. I hope we do. And not everybody that's in united has God dwelling in them. And I think and hope we understand that. In the greater church of God today, there are any number today who have the Sabbath and who have more and are not true worshipers. True worshipers must and will fit God's criteria laid out in John 4. I want to go back there and pick it up in verse 19. The woman by the will, the Samaritan woman, Christ having this conversation with her. And in verse 19, John 4 verse 19, the woman said to him, sir, I perceive that you're a prophet. Our fathers worshiped in this mountain. See, they worshiped.

It wasn't true. Worship. Our fathers worshiped in this mountain. And you say that in Jerusalem is the place where we are men ought to worship. Jesus said to her, woman, believe me, the hour comes, is coming, when you shall neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the father. You worship, you know not what? He didn't say you don't worship. He says, you know not what.

We know what we worship for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour comes or is coming, and now actually is, when the true worshipers shall worship the father in spirit and in truth, for the father seeks such to worship him. How can a person be a true worshipper without the truth being involved? John 17, 17 not only says your word is truth, it says set them apart through your word. Your word is true. You can't delete that from the picture, obviously. The truth has to be involved. How can one be involved in falseness, in deception, in false doctrine, and be true in worship? It's an oxymoron. It's oxymoronic. It doesn't ring true because it isn't. It's a contradiction. But doctrinal truth alone by itself still doesn't make one a true worshipper. Again, in spirit and in truth, it's not either or. They're combined. It's a package deal. They go together. And if we go back to Ephesians 4 and verse 15 and pick up on something else there, the truth has to be held in the right spirit. Again, it's a package deal. And it has to be held. You can have the doctrinal truth, and we must have it. But it's got to be held in the right spirit. So we read again in Ephesians 4 and verse 15, but speaking the truth in love or being sincere. Again, I know that too many of us, in years past, too many times used the truth as a war club to clobber somebody over the head. Or we use the truth to try to batter somebody's door down. If somebody's trying to beat your door down, what do you usually do? You barricade the door more. And if you beat somebody over the head, you either knock them out, give them a concussion, or cause them a lot of pain.

And we've all learned lessons, haven't we? And we've all learned more and more what it means to truly speak the truth in love, being very aware of a whole lot more than we once were. We hold greater truth, but we hold it even more greatly in the spirit in which we're supposed to hold it. You know, in the process of becoming and being a true worshipper, and the progression of such taking place, and coming to such a state of existence and operation, there is, again, because we can't short it, the planting of knowledge in the mind and the stimulation of obedience from the heart.

You think about that. It gets planted in the mind, but the stimulation to obey it comes from the heart. Because if it's just an academic exercise only, it's not going to get into the heart and become part of the core being of the person. And it's got to become part of the core being of the person for us to have Christ form Dennis. So they're worked together, and there's a certain unison of the two because they're both needed. Neither alone, by itself, is sufficient.

And that's why Christ mentioned it the way he did. Now, if you haven't figured out what the subject is and need a title, it's true worship. True worship. I better go ahead and give that when I'm thinking of it, lest I get through and somebody says, well, he didn't tell us what the title was. Well, you know what the subject is. Well, the subject serves for the title. True worship. See, in the process and progression of developing a true worshipper, a spirit of obedience must lead the way.

It produces a frame of mind for receiving the knowledge of the truth. It generates receptivity. It makes us reachable and teachable. And it's only in that kind of spirit, that kind of frame of mind, that God can plant his truth, and it bears fruit. I've known people, again, over the course of the ages, I've known people that would say something like this to me, well, yeah, yeah, I know the seventh day is the Sabbath.

I mean, anybody that really looks at the Bible and look at it and see what it says does say the seventh day is the Sabbath. And yeah, I know it was the Catholic Church that changed it to Sunday. Yeah, I know all of that. I know that. But it doesn't matter. You don't have to do it. God doesn't care.

I've known people who would candidly acknowledge points of truth, but they had no spirit of obedience. So it didn't go anywhere. It didn't even become part of their value academically. It simply was an acknowledgement. Yeah, that's true, but so what? What's the big deal? They saw no need to do it. They saw no relevance to it mattering. They couldn't and wouldn't take on the truth. There was no framework of mind produced by the heart that would allow them to do that.

A true spirit of obedience precedes the receiving of the truth. I do mean the receiving of the truth into the mind and the heart. See, when Christ said He seeks those to worship Him in spirit and in truth, when God calls us and there will be others called. I don't know how many God will call in this age yet before He sends Jesus Christ back, before the Great Tribulation and also Christ comes back.

I don't know. None of us do. But I can tell you this. There will be others called, be it fewer many. There will be others called. And when God reaches out and gives opportunity to others and they respond to Him, like on the day of Pentecost, they are exercising a spirit of obedience when they respond. And then He will feed them more.

And as they exercise more of a spirit of obedience, He will feed them more. What do you think God does when He gives opportunity and somebody starts to respond to what He has shown them and He gives them more and they respond more to that. And then He starts to give them more and they shut down and won't respond anymore. Do you think He keeps feeding them? No. He'll just stop it right there. Because why give them more that they'll be held accountable for when they're not going to do anything with it? But when He does call us and we respond, we're exercising a spirit of obedience. And He feeds that spirit with more and more of His knowledge as long as the person keeps responding.

It does require that spirit of obedience for more and more of the knowledge of God's truth to be given and fed to us. And the deeper and deeper and stronger and stronger that spirit of obedience goes and grows in us, then the deeper and deeper and stronger and stronger the truths of God can grow in us.

If we go back to John 16 and verse 13 again, John 16 and verse 13, how be it when it, the spirit of truth, because again, think of it, it's never a spirit of falsehood. It doesn't dwell in falsehood. God doesn't promote falsehood. Only truth is come. It will guide you into all truth. That's the direction it moves in. And in John 14 and verse 26, notice John 14 and verse 26, you know, these scriptures tell us how God operates with us through His Spirit.

And also, it's part of the insights we need to know how we're supposed to be in order to have Him operate with us this way. So John 14 and verse 26, but the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, it shall teach you all things. It makes it possible for us to understand more and more and more, and not just in terms of volume, but more and more in terms of depths, understanding the depths of His truth, the deep things of God more and more. And, encouragingly, as He told the disciples, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said to you, He's telling them, not only will it lead you into all truth, guide you and lead you in all make possible, but it will also stimulate your mind to bring back in your memory banks what you have been taught.

That's like us. We sit down, we feed our mind on the Bible, on the words of God, the Father in Christ recorded for us. It becomes part of us, and then that can be stimulated in our memory to come forth when we need it for answering, as well as at the same time leading us into additional. But the capacity to learn and grow in the things of God as truth is directly related to a spirit of obedience. And again, you're talking about that total package. And it's directly related to action, which with a spirit of obedience there's action. A scripture that I won't turn to this, but you may want to jot it down. It's again a familiar one with us. Psalm 111 verse 10. Psalm 111 verse 10. A good understanding, have all they that do, do is an active verb. It's action. It's obedience. All that do is commandments. The spirit of obedience in action. Also over the years, occasionally, I have run into this kind of approach. Well, I know enough. I don't need to know anymore. I don't want to know anymore. What I've got is good enough. That's enough. That's all I can handle. I just don't want to know anymore. That is a recipe for shutting things down and losing what you have because it fades away. That certainly is false to the spiritual realities of what is healthy. And it does shut down the true bona fide spirit of obedience because once a person were to fall into that kind of approach, they don't have a spirit of obedience anymore. And then I've known those. You know, we live in the day and age of customized religion. Well, I like these doctrinal truths, so I will incorporate these into my way of living. But now these doctrinal truths, I don't like them, so I'll just leave them out of the picture. And so people cherry-pick the truth. God doesn't give me that option. He doesn't give us that option. We're supposed to look and accept whatever truths that His Word, His Scriptures, show us our bona fide truths. And I'm not talking about man's opinions. I'm talking about the Word of God. You've got people who worship and you've got a lot of nice folks. And God loves them all, doesn't like all the ways, and we know God in His love is going to work with everybody in due time.

But He's not dwelling in everybody. When He reaches out to help somebody that we pray for and asks, God, would you be aware of their situation? Could you help them? Would you help them? He can help without dwelling in them with His Spirit. There's criteria that has to be met for God to actually dwell in. Part of that criteria is we have to truly, through repentance and baptism, be in Christ. We have to truly be in Him and therefore be viewed by God as a clean vessel for God the Father to dwell in. But again, those are some aspects of it that we can look at closer later. But by Christ's own words, the reality is there in His Word about what comprises true worshipers. And that formula that He gave is a formula. You can't break it by doing one side and not the other, and it produces the spiritual fruit. It just doesn't work that way. Both elements are required. Both work together. They're mutually interdependent. And the more one realizes that and the more one exercises that, the more one is a true worshipper involved in the true worship of God the Father and Jesus Christ.