SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON

October 11, 2026
Topic: To Worship Irrespective of Denomination or Creed
Subject: Dad is Looking for Church Members

“But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him” (John 4:23).

Scripture: John 4:20–26
20 Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.
21 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.
22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.
23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
25 The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things.
26 Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.
 

Point of Focus
1. What distinguishes a Church member of the House of Prayer from a regular member who is not a member of the Church?
2. What motivation does a true worshiper require to serve the Lord faithfully?
3. Union job members are required to pay dues and attend meetings to maintain their union membership. What obligations, sacrifices, and spiritual activities does one maintain to sustain their status as a member of the Church?

Glossary:
This Mountain (Mount Gerizim): The mountain where the Samaritans built their temple to rival the temple in Jerusalem. The Samaritans held that Gerizim-not Jerusalem-was the sacred site designated by God for sacrifice. 

Historically designated as the location of the "House of Prayer for All People" (Isaiah 56:7), Jerusalem and Mount Zion stood under the Old Covenant as God's ordained center for ceremonial praise and sacrificial worship. While Jesus stated the spiritual nature of the physical temple by defending it as "my Father’s house" (John 2:13–22), He simultaneously prophesied a profound transformation in how humanity would encounter God's presence whether in the physical location of Jerusalem or other places. The

physical temple’s limited access -and its ultimate destruction- demonstrated that its underlying purpose would be revealed through Christ’s body, the Church, as a community of spiritual worshippers. Consequently, authentic worship is no longer restricted to Jerusalem; rather, it manifests itself within the true believers are led by the Spirit of Truth. As Jesus promised His disciples, "I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth... for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you" (John 14:16–17).

This shift to worshipping "in spirit and in truth" is sometimes misconstrued as rendering physical gatherings obsolete. However, the practice of the early Church directly refutes this claim. Upon receiving the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the first believers did not abandon gathering; instead, they gathered daily in the temple precincts, praising God while the Spirit continually added to their numbers (Acts 2:46). In his letter to the Ephesians, the Apostle Paul explains how believers themselves are transformed into a living sanctuary: 

"Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit." (Ephesians 2:19–22)

This transition represents a fundamental shift in spiritual orientation. During the Babylonian exile, Daniel and the Jewish captives turned westward toward the physical city of Jerusalem to pray. In contrast, the Church, empowered by the Holy Spirit, no longer relies on geographic direction. Instead, believers look upward to the heavenly Jerusalem—a spiritual house constructed by God rather than human hands. 
 

"Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all" (Galatians 4:26), and believers "are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem" (Hebrews 12:22).

This revelation established the scriptural authority for establishing Houses of Prayer across the globe, providing a theological defense for holy gatherings outside of Jerusalem that was impossible under the Old Covenant framework alone. 

To experience the presence of Christ through praise, worship, and sacrifice, the Spirit of Truth must establish the foundation of God’s Word within the community of faith. Upon this Rock, the Church assembles as a living temple for the Holy Spirit. Crucially, Christ emphasized the plural nature of worship when He declared, "the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth" (John 4:23–24). The deliberate use of plural terminology ("worshippers," "they that worship") underscores that worship was never intended to be an isolated endeavor. Even without a centralized earthly temple, true worship functions dynamically through assembly, fulfilling the exhortation in Hebrews 10:25 to not forsake "the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching."

Ultimately, worshipping God in Spirit and Truth does not diminish the necessity of assembly; it elevates every gathering of believers into a holy habitation of the Lord, where the access is given through the Holy Ghost, where the praises is the spiritual inspiration of God, the worship is the spiritual truth of God, and the sacrifices are the worshippers themselves. All of this joined together becomes a habitation of God through the Spirit wherever the may gather for prayer, and to worship the almighty God in Spirit and in Truth.
 

Salvation is from the Jews: The redemptive history, the covenant, the canonical Scriptures, and the promised Savior trace through the Jewish lineage, confirming the biblical place of Judah in God's plan. 

God is Spirit: The declaration in verse 24 asserting God’s essential nature—incorporeal, omnipresent, and personal. Because God is not bound by physical form or locality, true worship cannot be confined solely to a specific physical building or mountain 

Worship in Spirit: Going beyond outward rituals and physical postures, worship in the Spirit is complete submission to the will of God. While praise can be structured through chosen songs, designated settings, or choreography, true worship is dictated by God Himself. It does not end inside the sanctuary; rather, it continues in the believer's daily life as the Holy Spirit guides them as part of the Church, the body of Christ.