Zonas de vegetación predominante

1. The Role of the person chairing a worship service:

a. While the Holy Spirit should be the true worship leader in our worship services, it is obvious that in each service we will also need a person to chair and to lead that service.

b. If the congregation is be lead into true worship in the Spirit, it is essential that that person know how to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Life in the Spirit: Lecture Notes www.ActsInAfrica.org

1) He must remain open and sensitive to the promptings of the Holy Spirit.

2) He must be prepared to flow with the Spirit.

c. Sorge spoke about this responsibility of the worship leader:

Many worship leaders are frustrated because they have not learned to follow the Holy Spirit’s guidance in the context of a worship service. God wants to do specific things in each worship service, and unless we move with him, we can miss his purpose. it becomes vital, then, that we be sensitive to the gentle promptings of the Spirit as the service is in progress.” (Sorge, 77)

2. The role of the Pastor

a. Remain open to the Spirit also

b. It is also necessary that the pastor takes time to teach his congregation how to follow and respond to the leadership of the Spirit.

3. TRANSITION:

a. What can be done to ensure that the Spirit of the Lord is present in our services?

b. How should we respond to His presence?

c. How can we follow His lead?

4. There are two areas to which we must give particular attention if we are to truly worship God in the Spirit:(1) Appropriating the Spirit’s presence, and (2) Responding to the Spirit’s presence:

a. Appropriating the Spirit’s presence. We must begin our worship by taking the necessary steps to ensure that He is present. We can set the stage for the Spirit’s coming in two ways:

1) Prayer.

a) We should pray both before and during the worship service.

b) Before our worship services we should spend time in prayer preparing our hearts for the coming worship experience.

c) During this time of prayer we should make a conscious effort to submit our wills to the will of the Holy Spirit.

I. We should seek direction from Him for this particular service.

ii. We should pray, “Holy Spirit, what is Your will for the service? What do You want to accomplish?”

iii. If necessary, we should repent of any sins or carnal attitudes that might hinder the Spirit’s moving.

d) Such spiritual preparation is especially important for every person who will assume any leadership role in the service.

I. It is important that the pastor, the chairman, the song leader, the worship team, the special singers, and anyone else who will participate in the service come early for a time of prayer and seeking God for his direction.

ii. They should also ask God for a fresh infilling of His Spirit.

e) Prayer should also be offered during the worship service.

I. At the beginning of the service it is good to lead the congregation in a prayer inviting the Holy Spirit to come and have His way in the service.

ii. We can pray, “Come, Holy Spirit.”

iii. Then, we can open our minds and our spirits to receive Him.

iv. As a result of such prayer we can legitimately expect the Holy Spirit to come and manifest His presence in our midst (Mt 18:19, 20).

2) Praise.

a) Praise and adoration helps prepare the way for the manifestation of God’s Spirit.

b) Ps 22:2 (KJV): God dwells in the praises of His people

c) Ac 16:26, Paul and Silas: The Holy Spirit manifested His presence d) We too

b. Responding to His presence.

Once the Spirit comes, it is essential that we properly respond to Him.

We can respond to the Spirit’s presence in three ways:

1) Acknowledging His presence.

a) Respond to coming into our worship service by acknowledging His presence.

b) We would never be guilty of ignoring a guest who came into our home, we should never be guilty of ignoring the Holy Spirit when He comes into our church services.

c) We take time to acknowledges visitors in our service and to properly greet them.

I. We should also take time to acknowledge the presence of our Heavenly Visitor.

ii. We should pray, “Holy Spirit, You are indeed welcome in this place.

iii. Take Your place of honor in our worship service. Be enthroned in our praises!” (Psa. 21:2).

2) Submitting to His will.

a) We should remember that He is sovereign...

I. He has a will for every church service, and ii. He comes to fulfill that will.

b) We must be ready to submit our wills to His will.

c) At times, He will reveal His will to us in our prayer time before the service.

d) On other occasions, He reveals His will to us “en route,” that is, as the worship service proceeds.

e) We should be constantly vigilant and open to His leading.

f) Throughout the service the worship leader and the pastor must constantly pray

I. Lord, what is your will for this service?

ii. What are You wanting to accomplish?

iii. What can we do now to see that Your will is done?”

3) Releasing spiritual gifts.

a) We must being prepared to release spiritual gifts as the Spirit prompts.

b) He will want to work through the Spirit-filled members of the congregation to release spiritual gifts.

I. He has come to give direction through words of knowledge or wisdom.

ii. He has come to speak words of encouragement and edification to the congregation.

iii. And He has come to heal the sick and destroy the works of Satan.

c) This will happen only as God’s people respond to Him and allow Him to use them in the manifestation of spiritual gifts.

Conclusion

Lesson Thirteen