Assembly of God: Ways we worship
We welcome and encourage you to worship and praise the Lord with us here of Riverside Church. If you are new to a Pentecostal worship environment you may have some important questions and concerns reguarding what may take place during our worship services. This page is an attempt to address some of the questions you may have! Believers may respond to the presence and influence of the Holy Spirit in a variety of different ways. The following is a list of Biblical responses to God that you will see as you worship at Riverside:
Why do, some clap their hands?
Psalm 47:1 Clap your hands all you nations: shout to God with cries of joy!
Why do some lift their hands?
Psalm 134:2 Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and praise the Lord.
Timothy 2:8 Therefore I want men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or disputing.
Why do some audibly praise God?
Psalm 34:1-3 I will praise the Lord at all times: his praise will always be on my lips. I will glory in the Lord: let the afflicted hear and rejoice. Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt his name together.
Acts 4:24 When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. "Sovereign Lord, they said, you made the heavens and the earth and the sea, and everything in them."
Why do some shout?
1 Samuel 4:5 When the ark of the Lord's covenant came into the camp all Israel raised such a great shout that the ground shook.
Psalm 47:1,5 Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy ... God has ascended amid shouts of joy, the Lord amid the sounding of trumpets.
Why do some dance before the Lord?
Psalm 150:4 Praise Him with timbrel and dancing, praise Him with the strings and pipe.
Why do some pray and/or sing in unknown tongues?
1 Corinthians 14:14-15 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. So what shall do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my understanding: I wil sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my understanding.
Why do some speak with unknown tongues and then interpret those tongues?
1 Corinthians 14:39 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues
1 Corinthians 1:.7-10 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of Knowledge by means of the same spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinquishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues.
Why do some prophecy (speak out in English without speaking in tongues)?
1 Corinthians 14:1 Follow the way of love and eagerly desire the gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy.
1 Corinthians 14:3 The one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening,
encouraging and comfort.
Thessalonians 5: 19-22 Do not quench the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil.
Why do some kneel at the altar or even fall to the floor?
Ezekiel 3:22-23 The hand of the Lord was on me there, and he told me to "get up and go out to the plain, and there I will speak to you." So I got up and went out to the plain. And the glory of the Lord was standing there like the glory I had seen by the Kebar River, and I fell facedown.
Revelation 1:17-18 When I saw him I fell at his feet as though I was dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: "Do not be afrald. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One: I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.
2 Chronicles 29:30 They sang praises with gladness and bowed down and worshiped.
Psalm 95:6 Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.
Why are some very still or solemn?
Psalm 37:7a Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him.
Psalm 46:10 Be still and know that I am God.
Why do some weep?
Ezra 10:10 While Ezra was praying and confessing, weeping and throwing himself down before the house of God, a large crowd of Israelite men, women, and children gathered around him. They too wept bitterly.
Joel 2:12 Even now declares the Lord, 'return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.'
2 Corinthlans 7:10 Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.
Why are some anointed with oil and prayed for?
Mark 6:12 They went out and preached that people should repent. They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.
James 5:14 Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well: the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven.
Why are people called to the altar for prayer at the end of a message?
Matthew 10:32 Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.