Portrait of a Worshiper

Title: Portrait of a Worshiper

Speaker: Sheila LeSure

Main Text: John 4:23

Key Points:

God is seeking not just WORSHIP but WORSHIPERS

Old Testament worshiper: David's relationship with God was so real that he expressed himself openly to God through worship which was an extension of his relationship with God.

Every single gospel recounts the experience of Mary Magdalene and how her life was changed through her worship and devotion to Jesus.

Mary Magdalene was not at the Top of the List when it came to the Who's Who of her Community.

When there is Jesus then there is WORSHIP.

Jesus is the object or should be the OBJECT of all of our Worship, Praise.

In the central story there a few key characters: Simon, Martha, Lazarus, & Mary Magdalene

while they all were in the presence of Jesus all the time ONLY one of the FOUR was a true Worshiper!

Worship as defined by the Speaker: Worship- Great Devotion, Showing Respect & Honor to God.

7 Types of Worship

1. Affirmative- When you affirm that God is the head of your life by YOUR relationship with God which is DEMONSTRATED through your WORSHIP or Praise
2. Act-When you Openly express how you feel towards God 
   
3. Conversation-When the communication that you have with God is expressed through your worship
4. Outcome of Fellowship with God-Meaning that you acknowledge that it is God and God alone who can feel the void in our lives and its demonstrated by our worship
5. Awesome- Acknowledging that God is God because of who He is
6. True Worship defined by the unashamed pouring out of one's self to God
7. Extravagant Love requires EXTREME Obedience

Equation for Grace as applied to the specific story of Mary Magdalene: Worship Encounter (Time of Deliverance) + Jesus + Church Members + Teachers of the Law=GRACE 

True Worshipers Myths UNCOVERED

People who surrender to becoming an instrument of Praise are NOT dressed for Worship in many cases at their first Worship encounter: For example Mary Magdalene when she was cast in front of the feet of Jesus to be stoned something different took place...

True Worshipers know their condition of SIN Very Clearly: Therefore, telling someone like myself something like "You're Going to GO to HELL Wicked Woman for ...." Will have little to NO effect on me. This is because I'm fully aware of the fact that MY life isn't in compliance with my knowledge base. I know that my LIFESTYLE at times is not at ALL in line with God's plan or outline for my life. 

People like myself who know the truth BUT choose to LIVE contrary to that truth have deep emotional inner conflict. It's because while we are trying to assimilate into a non-christian environment we or I try EXTRA hard to quiet the HOLY Spirit! In the past I have tried to DRINK away the voice, DANCE away the voice, LAUGH away the voice BUT the HOLY Spirit won't give up. THEN what's worse is that the entire time I'm trying to quite the urging of the HOLY Spirit people are steadily telling me "Hey Lady, you clearly don't belong here." I think to myself WHAT do I have a SIGN on my forehead or backside that says: I DON'T Belong! I mean because in my mind I've done an EXCELLENT job at looking like I'm a Non-Christian. I've taken GREAT pains to make sure that my attire, accessories, and even speech pattern and content of my conversation is exactly as it needs to be for me to not be considered a fake! But I kid you NOT even with all that preparation... Someone always comes and says, You Don't Belong!

• We as humans control Nothing ONLY God controls and allows things to happen in His infinite WISDOM 
• Jesus when the Mary Magdalene was brought to Him for judgment rather than VERBALLY addressing the "Church Leadership of that Day" Jesus did something Amazing! Jesus STOOPED down TO Save Mary Magdalene by WRITING down the secret sins of the Church Leaders! Side note... Jesus likes to WRITE to address issues or confrontation Just Like ME, Imagine that! Wow, in all my years of hearing this story I had NEVER understood it that way! So I took that to mean that Jesus in His everlasting love for mankind and more specifically MYSELF Jesus is willing to Stoop down TO Save me... This concept BLEW my Mind... I was done after the reality of that point hit home in my mind and heart. I could NO longer resist the moving of the HOLY Spirit. I could No longer act like this whole LOVE thing that people Preach or Teach about didn't apply to me. For the very first time in my life I truly grasped the concept of God's Love for me. And it was in that moment that my heart of ICE or Stone was changed...
• Jesus isn't concerned with condemning ME or anyone else for that matter. It clicked that GOD already knows that I'm a Sinner and even though I feel unworthy of God's LOVE, Mercy, & Grace... I got to see clearly the MIND of God in reference to my constant state of SIN. I got to understand that it's GOD who loves me unconditionally! It's God who knows me, It's God who TRULY understands my inner struggles, It's God who sees my tears, It's God who hears my prayers, It's God who knows my heart, mind, and soul. 
• True Worship is cultivated through a personal relationship with God and is expressed OPENLY because the WORSHIPER knows what it is to be LOST, Depressed, and Isolated from the LOVE and Fellowship of the Church! But the Worshiper has NO regard for others who are looking, others who are judging, others who are staring or pointing. The TRUE Worshiper is able to TUNE out ALL other distractions in that moment of Worship because their EXPERIENCE in SIN was so Painful that they can't help but to Shout, Sing, and Dance and GIVE All Honor and Praise to God. This is because the TRUE Worshiper has been delivered from the dark and lonely PIT of SIN, Depression, and Isolation. SO this person can't simply sing hymns calmly like "Great is thy Faithfulness", or "Blessed Assurance" calmly because they didn't have a gentle encounter with God. They had a MAJOR encounter with God so therefore their worship is proportionate to THEIR EXPERIENCE! 
• We (Humans) ALWAYS respond to God 1 of 2 ways

1. WE either turn Away or
2. WE Turn to God & Worship

• Jesus ALWAYS sees a Worshiper (His Child)--- Jesus didn't look at Mary Magdalene and think look at the pitiful, dirty, woman who is basically naked. NO Jesus sees a Child who is in NEED of Redemption, Grace, and Mercy! *Clearly another WOW moment...

The VERY first worship encounter Mary Magdalene had with Jesus was when she VERBALLY acknowledged Jesus as Lord by responding to the question that Jesus asked when He said, "Mary where are the "Church leaders" who brought you for judgement" My loose interpretation. First of all to truly understand the dialogue you have to understand the context. In my minds eye I see Mary Magdalene down on the ground totally embarrassed by the the fact that she had number one been caught in sexual sin, and number two that she couldn't HIDE her body or Sin in the Dark like she had grown accustomed to doing in years past. The situation was that like me she often felt like she was getting away with something. That some how she was able to fool people by not actually being caught. The thing is people always talked about her so she could care less about this because she thought in her mind , "well they CAN'T PROVE Anything!" But here she was on the ground at the feet of Jesus and there was no where to hid like she had done in years, weeks, and days past. Here she was she knew she deserved to be stoned but rather than being stoned Jesus spoke some LIFE changing words to her, "Neither do I condemn you MY Child!" What, I'm Sure she thought you see in my mind she was poised and ready to met death she was willing to be stoned she knew that for the first time in her life she actually was CAUGHT in the very thing that in that day in age would COST her... her LIFE! Yet Jesus spoke to her in words of LOVE, Affirmation and in a tone of encouragement He said, "Neither do I condemn you My Child, GO and Sin no more." Wow talk about a Worship encounter! This woman knew that she deserved death but she knew to call Jesus Lord because HE had delivered HER when SHE Did not in ANY Way deserve to be SAVED or Redeemed.

• Jesus Loves to Save-Neither do I condemn you My Child
• Go and Sin no more: If you read the Bible at all you will know that Jesus kept telling Mary Magdalene this over and over. Obviously Jesus knew that Mary needed to be Reminded of Her Deliverance. Jesus needed her to claim her gift of Salvation 
• Mary Magdalene was BOTH a Worshiper & guilty of Adultery Simultaneously
• True Worshipers are NOT Perfect they are waiting on God to Transform them

There are more important things than than my physical needs- accessories, shoes, handbags 

Actually my Physical needs are things like food, clothing, shelter the above list is actually my list of WANTS rather than NEEDS... Hm.. What a CONCEPT!

John 11:1-3 Trust God in difficult times

Mary Magdalene in every account of her she is always the last to LEAVE the Presence of Jesus! While others are busy doing other things Mary is ALWAYS lingering at the FEET of Jesus! Why, you might ask well because her Experience wasn't a gentle one, She knew that she deserved to DIE but Jesus Saved and delivered her time and again. Be it from demon possession 7 times and all types of sexual sin situations. However, I want to point out that Mary Magdalene wasn't having SEX alone if that were the case the Bible wouldn't say ADULTERY! Therefore, the VERY one's who were pointing the finger I'm sure were GUILTY to some degree when it came to the sin she kept finding herself in. I mean lets be real the town she was living with was only so big. So those "Church Leaders" who were always damning her to HELL were in my opinion either enabling her by Isolation so she wanted or sought NEGATIVE attention rather than No attention. Or they were the ones who were actually in my opinion were in fact having SEX with her! You do the Math! Anyways... Moving on...

Jesus needed a crowd of witnesses like with Lazarus. Jesus could have taken a shorter more direct rout or He could have simply healed Lazarus from a far. BUT Jesus didn't... He allowed Lazarus to DIE so that others who did NOT believe would have the opportunity to have an Encounter with Him.

In this same way Jesus could have some how used MIND control to insure that Mary Magdalene wouldn't go out and get herself into mess. Think about it when Jesus healed the Blind He didn't partially heal their sight! He didn't just get them to the point that the were Near or Far sighted NO Jesus Healed their Eyes Completely! In this same way every time Mary Magdalene ended up in a sin situation Jesus delivered her TIME and TIME Again Completely. But it was Mary Magdalene who didn't feel worth of her Salvation and it was in my opinion due to the fact that she WAS always ISOLATED or wore the Scarlet Letter of WHORE in the EYES of the CHURCH Community she couldn't help to keep finding herself in problem after problem. Every time in my mind that Mary Magdalene would go to like Martha or Simon and say HEY Jesus Healed me! Martha and Simon would look at each other then at Mary and say... That's Great Mary wonder how long this NEW Salvation or Healing will last. Rather than rejoicing and surrounding her with FAMILY support they always looked down at Mary with disgust because she was bringing down the FAMILY Name! Everyone in the town knew Mary and Everyone knew Mary for the Wrong Reasons. It wasn't because she had long, flowing, tangle free, beautiful, locks of hair. It wasn't because her face was simply beautiful to behold, it wasn't because her eyes were filled with innocence stolen, of because her legs were strong, or because she knew how to coordinate and even HIGHLIGHT her beauty. NO it was because she was so beautiful that MEN and WOMEN alike told her in my mind all you're going to do is use your body to get things. You won't ever just sit down and be a good wife or single person, because you are too beautiful to do anything BUT use your Body for your own selfish desires! So this created a cycle for Mary Magdalene in which she couldn't help but to filled with shame, regret, and depression. BUT every time Mary came in contact with Jesus she Worshiped! 

Bring this point all the way HOME... Jesus needed to show the DEPTH of His LOVE by allowing Mary Magdalene to go through her LIFE Experiences. Jesus used her life to illustrate just HOW much He truly LOVES Us His Children.

• If your Relationship with God is BLAND and you really don't feel or hear anything when you read your Bible or in my case you've been FORCE FED the scripture YOUR ENTIRE life then you need to ask God to soften your heart as He is doing to mine.
• We don't know how to Glorify God until we are at ZERO in most cases because when we have everything we somehow have the misconception of thinking that we somehow are just SUPER smart rather than giving God the Praise for allowing us to be Successful we think its of our Own doing.
• Mary Magdalen gave an EXTRAVAGANT GIFT of the ALABASTER Box because she gave according to her RELATIONSHIP with Jesus, according to the deliverance that Jesus had given her time and time again! 
• The Worship of Mary Magdalen was so EXTRAVAGANT because she experienced an Extravagant Deliverance/ Extravagant Connection/ Extravagant Relationship with Jesus! 
• The One who God forgives the MOST that predicts the amount of Appreciation or Worship that the Individual is able to express through Worship!
• Read Mark 14:9 there you will see that in the Eyes of God Worshipers are Beautiful to Him. Think about it God created special angles for the sole purpose of worship! All they do is CRY out HOLY, HOLY, HOLY, HOLY, HOLY while God appreciates the Praise of the Angles He delights in the Praise of His Earthly Children because we illustrate to the entire Galaxy that YES We serve a God who is indeed fair, just, and sovereign! Yes Our God truly is Awesome! 
• I SING because I have been delivered TIME and TIME and TIME and TIME again! Yet for the first time I understood just how MUCH Jesus loves Me through listening to the account of Mary Magdalene.
• I SING from EXPERIENCE I sing, speak, write, and use sign language to illustrate JUST HOW DEEP my Love and devotion is to God! 
• See the problem is that often the Church highlights the BAD behavior rather than getting to the ROOT of the Problem which in my case is Isolation! People know me and those that do know what I've done or am capable of doing. But rather than supporting me in LOVE some continue to POINT out to ME the fact that well I'm a SINNER! Like I don't know that! Rather than saying, "Sister, Its great to see you at Church." Some have actually given me a TRACT at the door even though they KNOW my Parent and they KNOW me and with a SMILE they say hurtful things like, "Why is your suit so bright, or why is your skirt so tight, or why are you wearing that Bright RED lipstick, or Why are you wearing those Ear Rings You Know what you should be doing Natasha so tell me WHY aren't you doing it? So I feel unwelcome and force myself to sit in church after the encounter just so the individual won't get the satisfaction of seeing me cry or leave in shame. Rather, I suck it up take notes during the sermon and then LEAVE and HEAD for the NEAREST place to eat like Olive Garden! I order my food even though I know I have food at home and then I order a nice chilled GLASS of Red Wine that matches with my Red Lips and I think to myself..."well God you can't say that I didn't try."        

 The woman who delivered the Message was sent to speak directly to Me and I couldn't hide or act like the content of the sermon didn't apply to me. Because to be honest it applied more than I would like to admit... Hence the change of my BLOG from Real talk from the Heart of a Mocha Chick to... Real TALK from the Heart of a Woman Saved by Grace...