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Worship in Spirit & Truth Part 3 - "Corporate Worship"


"John 4:23 - 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."

In the Bible we really don't see a lot of examples of Corporate Worship or Congregational Worship. In most cases worship was personal, it was between one man and God. We especially see examples of Corporate Worship in cases where the Israelites had won battles or before going into battle. But to me that was more Thanksgiving and Praise than it was worship. And what they use to do before battles or during battles was mostly doing a battle or war cry. In 2Cro 5:12-14 there's a good example of corporate worship, where the presence of God came in the form of a cloud into the temple. That was an unforgettable day, because the Word says they couldn't continue because of the presence of the cloud. What a wonderful experience this must have been. So as a group of people together they knew how to give praise and thanks to God. Praise is something that you do in the open, and you do it loud and clear so that everybody can see. In praise you basically advertise God, you tell people out loud about the goodness and strength of God. You boast about God and testify about His goodness. In doing that you encourage other people that are going through tough times in their lives to put their trust in Jesus. Praise is so contagious that when you praise God with gladness and joy it will infect and affect others around you. So even when somebody is feeling down, the spirit of praise can lift him up when he sees others praise God with all their might.
Corporate worship is good, but personal worship is much more deeper, because you feel so much closer to God. We are normally challenged when we have to worship on our own, because there's no other voices, but your own, there's no worship leader or singers that can usher you into God's presence. Personal worship gives us discipline, and helps us to really focus on God and God alone.

WLC 2009 - Chris Booise