COVENANT
ORIENTATION
2010 Revised Edition
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APPENDICES
A. Participants Handouts
B. Worship Workshop Outline
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CHAPTER 1
C. OBJECTIVES
The Covenant Orientation aims to achieve the following goals:
1. Learn and understand the covenant of a CFC Youth for Christ member.
2. Renew and deepen our commitment with Christ by understanding and following our
covenant with Him.
3. Develop a sense of identity and responsibility in our role as a believer of faith, a
member of our church, our family, our community and our country.
4. Inspire the youth as they mature in their Christian life through YFC.
5. Live out the covenant of YFC through the pastoral formation and activities.
D. SUGGESTED SCHEDULE
8:00am 8:30
8:30 8:40
8:40 - 9:00
9:00 - 9:45
9:45 10:20
10:20 10:30
10:30 10:40
10:40 10:50
10:50 - 11:35
11:35 12:05pm
12:05 1:00
1:00 1:30
1:30 1:45
1:45 2:30
2:30 3:15
3:15 4:00
4:00 4:45
4:45 4:55
4:55 5:00
Arrival/ Registration
Opening prayer
Orientation/Energize
Talk 1: Loving, Honoring and Serving God
Worship Workshop
Worship Proper
Snacks
Gathering
Talk 2: Loving, Honoring and Serving our Family
Group discussion for talks 1 and 2
Lunch break
Gathering / Opening Prayer
Icebreaker
Talk 3: Loving, Honoring& Serving Our Brothers & Sisters in YFC
Activity: Affirmation Exercise
Amazing race if needed (If theres no GK site, find other activities
that would fit the 4th talk)
Talk 4: Loving, Honoring and Serving Our Country
Commitment Ceremony
Closing Worship
3. MATERIALS NEEDED
It is suggested that the team should prepare the following materials for the
Covenant Orientation:
a. Expanded outlines for the speakers and sharers
b. Sound system
c. Instruments for the music ministry
d. LCD projector
e. Laptop
f. Registration sheets
g. Participants Handout
h. Covenant Cards
i. Song sheets
j. First-aid kit
k. Other needs for the talks. (Talk 1-Timer and Whistle; Talk 4- GK Audio
Visual Presentation)
l. Invitation Letter to the CFC Leaders (CFC Cluster and Chapter Heads)
4. REMINDERS TO THE SERVICE TEAM
a. It is very important that the team should take time and plan out for this
event. The Covenant Orientation is very important, as this would guide the
YFC member in living his/her life as a true follower of Christ through YFC.
b. Also, a recollection and story conference (briefing of the activity, schedule,
basic content, etc.) is very helpful for the whole team. This is one of the
things that the team leader has to make sure will happen. It would really be
very helpful that as the team prepares for the event; their hearts are also set
for it.
c. It is advised that the team leader should talk and give a briefing to the
speakers and sharers about their talk and/or sharing, also of what is
expected from them to deliver.
d. On the Covenant Orientation Day itself, set a call time for the whole team.
Have service team worship. Give reminders to the whole team.
e. Before the first talk, give a short orientation about the activity.
Give the short talk on Covenant. (See the talk below.)
Run down the schedule for the day. (Refer to schedule.)
Introduce the speakers.
f. Make sure that as a team leader, you are able to connect the talks to each
other, recalling the previous sessions and stressing the importance of each.
g. Take this opportunity to help those new members grow in worship - many of
them still havent raised their hands, clapped, danced as an expression of
love for God or have spoken out words of prophecies in faith. Encourage
them to do so.
ORIENTATION TALK
YFC COVENANT ORIENTATION
EXPANDED TALK OUTLINE
I. INTRODUCTION
In the fifth talk of our youth camp, Growing in the Holy Spirit, we heard and
learned how we could deepen our relationship with the Lord and where we were
introduced to a special relationship and a special covenant with our God.
At birth, when we were baptized by the Spirit, this covenant already started. In
the youth camp, it was rekindled. We were again reminded of what this covenant is
about. This session will refresh us of what it truly is. More so, re-live that moment when
we stood to signify our commitment to the Lord, to this community, and to discover our
identity as Youth for Christ and ultimately as sons and daughters of God.
We need to understand more about our covenant. The heart of where we are
right now. There is a need to appreciate the concrete situation which allows us to live
out our covenant and here in YFC we believe through God, our family, our brothers and
sisters and our country.
II. What is a COVENANT?
A COVENANT is a solemn agreement between two parties/persons. It
establishes a significant family-like relationship between the parties. It is not just an
ordinary promise - especially since our covenant is a covenant with God. It involves two
important things: commitment and sacrifice to remain faithful to the covenant.
The two types of covenant relationships:
1. Covenants between parties equal in power and position.
(Note to the team leader: Please take time to read the following verses to have a
better understanding and explanation for this point.)
Genesis 21:22-32. Abraham and Abimelech
1 Samuel 18:1-4. David and Jonathan
2. Covenants between parties unequal in power and position.
(Note to the team leader: Please take time to read the following verses to have a
better understanding and explanation for this point.)
Genesis15. God with Abraham
Genesis 31:44-54. Laban and Jacob
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We should learn about Him and study His teachings to gain wisdom. We can
achieve this by reading and reflecting on Scripture and/or other Christian books.
We are blessed to have in our community a scripture companion (scripture
journal), In His Steps, that could be very helpful. We are encouraged to write our
reflections on the readings of the day for us to develop a deeper relationship with
God and understanding of His love. We must learn how to witness to other people
how the Lord is working in our lives.
- Being single-minded for the Lord.
- Consulting him on what He wants us to do.
III. THERE WILL BE TIMES WHEN OUR LOVE FOR GOD WILL BE TESTED
A. When we experience sufferings, trials and doubts.
In all things, we should realize that loving God is not based on feelings but on
solid commitment. We should believe and be faithful to Him no matter what happens in
our lives, because amidst all our challenges, we should remember that the Lord is
faithful.
B. When we sin.
We feel guilty to come back to the Lord because we feel unworthy. This
dampens our love for God.
Solution: Go to confession and ask for Gods mercy and forgiveness. He will not
only be happy to see you come back to Him, but He will even embrace you. (The Parable
of the Lost Son could be cited.)
C. When we experience dryness in prayer or we become impatient when our prayers
remain unanswered, the Lord is testing our faithfulness. The more we pray to Him in
times like these, all the more He will be pleased with us and will reward us.
IV. CONCLUSION
God is our Creator and our Father. He cares for us. He wants to see us happy
and live fruitful lives. He loves us and He considers us special. Lets acknowledge this
and respond to Him by telling Him how special He is in our lives. Let us love Him will all
our heart, soul and mind.
(Note to the speaker: At this point, the speaker shall conduct a worship
workshop. Refer to the attached worship talk outline)
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We now want to strengthen and put into expression the ideas we have heard
and learned in this session. What a better way to express our love for God with all our
heart, mind and soul, but through Worship.
(After the worship workshop, divide the group into their households and process
the worship workshop experience.)
DISCUSSION STARTERS:
(Gather as a group. Do not forget to start and end the group discussion with a prayer.)
1. How is my relationship with God after the youth camp?
2. What more can I do to express my love for God with all my heart, soul and mind?
(Choose one concrete example in your life where you can grow in your love for God.)
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I. INTRODUCTION
There are no such thing as coincidence only providence. In the Youth Camp, we
realized that God has a purpose of bringing us into YFC. That is because He wants us to
know and feel His love for us through this community. We did feel His love that
weekend, we experienced a change in our lives and we saw things differently. People
started to see the change in us and the first to witness this change are the people
closest to us our family.
In the first talk we embraced the commitment to love, honor and serve God. This
leads us to making greater and bolder improvements in our life. Today we will face
another challenge that is to be witnesses to our family, to honor our special covenant
with them.
II. THE FAMILY
There are two things that we should realize about the family:
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1. Show them their importance to us (e.g. stand up to greet them, pleasing our
parents; surprise them on their birthdays and anniversaries.)
2. Valuing them by saying I love you or kissing and hugging them.
3. Attitude of gratitude: Express our appreciation. (E.g. saying thank you and Im
sorry. Or po and opo or any other words that show respect.), gestures of
respect mano or bless by hand.
4. Speak well of them/Avoid speaking negatively about our parents. Explain things
with respect to them.
5. Obedience (Eph 6:1)/ Accept direction / listen to advice: Our parents are Gods
stewards on earth.
6. Accept correction (Prov.13:1 A wise son pays attention when his father corrects
him, but an arrogant person never admits he is wrong)
7. Serve our parents (joyfully doing our household chores, doing well in our
studies.)
8. Spending quality time with them.
B. Relating with Our Brothers and Sisters in Our Families
1. Seeing our families (even our brothers and sisters) as Gods gift to us.
2. Expressing to them their importance to us and appreciating them. (e.g. Checking
up on them thru texts, thanking them)
3. Respecting and listening to what they have to say-even if they are younger.
4. Lovingly correcting them. (E.g. when they use your stuff without permission
dont yell or be angry instantly, ask and remind them gently to ask permission
from your first.)
5. Finding opportunities to share. We are friends with them.
6. Spend quality time together.
- enjoying in helping one another out homework, school projects of
brothers/ sisters.
- know and be interested in their personal lives / love life.
C. We are called to be Instruments of Healing.
Learning that we have received Gods healing during our youth camp, it is
about time that we ourselves become Gods instrument of healing to the person/s
dearest/nearest to us.
a. Loving - (Mt.22) loving your neighbor is the direct result/ effect of loving God.
Our closest neighbors are our families. According to 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 the
type of love that we should practice:
1. Love is patient and kind.
2. Love that is not jealous nor conceited nor proud.
3. Love that is not ill-mannered nor selfish nor irritable.
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IV. CONCLUSION
How can we refer to God as Father if we do not have a good relationship with
our parents? Having a good relationship with our family defines our relationship with
our God.
There is an attack on the family. As YFC members, we need to take a stand to
protect and build the family become witnesses and a hope to other families and take
our part in our vision of Families in the Holy Spirit renewing the face of the earth.
DISCUSSION STARTERS:
1. How can I grow in my relationship with my parents?
2. How can I grow in my relationship with my brothers and sisters?
3. What concrete steps can I do to improve my relationship with my family?
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4. Being good examples to our classmates (by not cheating, respecting school
authorities and property, participating in nation building activities).
B. Evangelistic
1. Inviting our classmates to youth camps.
2. Sharing our faith/service in YFC to our classmates.
3. Helping establish/sustain YFC in your school.
V. CONCLUSION
If we love God, then it follows that we should love one another (1 John 4:20). As
Gods family, each of us is called to love, honor and serve one another, building up
Gods community as a witness to all.
(Note to the team leader: In lieu of the discussion group, the activity below could
be used.)
AFFIRMATION EXERCISE
(To be given after the talk)
Dynamics:
1. After the talk, the speaker shall instruct the group to divide themselves into households.
The Affirmation Exercise shall be introduced.
2. They will be asked to form two lines [line 1 and line 2] facing each other.
3. At the sound of the whistle, each line makes a step line 1 to the right, line 2 steps to the
left.
4. Facing partners, each will have a minute to honor and share an area of accountability to
the person in front of him.
5. The speaker claps his hand to signal the reversal of roles, it is the others turn now to
honor and share for a minute.
6. At the sound of the whistle, both lines must move one step line 1 to the right and line 2
to the left.
7. Repeat until everyone gets to honor and share an area of accountability to each other.
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see
I. INTRODUCTION
As Christians, we dont believe in coincidences. We know that God has a
purpose for everything. God has placed us where we are, for a purpose.
Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, before you were born I set you
apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations. (Jeremiah 1:5)
God calls us to be a light to the nations. We should be able to do that wherever
it is that He has placed us - our own countries.
II. TO LOVE, HONOR AND SERVE OUR COUNTRY
Our love for God is shown by the way we love our country. We can do this by
how we show our love, honor and respect to it. As citizens of our country we are called
to do the following:
A. TO PROTECT. Ensuring the continuity of Gods creation.
1. God entrusted to us the place where we are living right now.
2. It is our responsibility as stewards of His creation to take care of our
environment and our countrys resources.
3. Taking care of our mountains, trees, river and seas by not throwing garbage
and cleaning up our own area.
4. We help in clean up drive and tree planting activities in our area.
5. Let us not litter - as if we can flush down our dirt in our surroundings.
6. We dont vandalize.
B. ADVOCATE. Taking pride in our heritage.
1. Take pride in national symbols (flag, national anthem).
2. Learn about your heritage (If your parents migrated, learn about the country
they migrated from. Keep positive aspects of that culture)
C. PROMOTE. Take a positive attitude about our country.
1. We avoid jokes or negative comments about our country, culture, and
government.
2. We patronize local products, local talents and tourist spots.
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the path of peace, love, sacrifice, humility and hard work. As advocates of our work
we live out our love for the poor by:
1. Living a simple lifestyle. (Less for self, more for others, enough for all)
2. Sharing our resources to help the poor help themselves.
3. Spending at least 4 hours in a month to serve in a GK site or other work with the
poor program (GK Build, Social Ministries, etc.).
4. Sharing my love for the poor with my family, friends and areas of influence.
Our love for all those that God loves, namely our country should give us a
greater desire to evangelize. (Mt. 28:18-20)
IV. CONCLUSION (Mt. 22: 15)
God has placed us where we are, according to His purposes, so that we can use
the circumstances that surround us to be witnesses for Him. As we do this, we also
become witnesses to the nations, by giving to our country the love, honor and respect it
deserves, as responsible citizens, and giving to God our whole lives as true children of
God.
When we honor our country, we must honor the poor, when we honor the poor
we honored our purpose. Helping the poor people is helping this country to the first
world. It is written in the bible that Faith without action is dead. As we believe in God
we must also do His will. It is not enough that we pray. What a better way to live a
Christ-like life but to be Jesus to other people. Share our lives to them. Share our time,
talent and treasure to them. We must allow our faith to be expressed in the way we live
our lives.
DISCUSSION STARTERS:
1. What are the things am I doing that is showing dishonor/disrespect for the country that
God has placed me in? How can I correct these?
2. What concrete decision can I make that will help me love, honor and serve my country
better?
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CHAPTER 3
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I.5.PARTICIPANTS
HANDOUTS
God has a special
purpose in allowing me to be born and to live in this country.
* I commit to love and serve my country with all my heart.
* I will respect our culture, our traditions and our values.
* I will give the best of myself to bring out the best in my countrymen.
* I commit to being a champion of the poor and inspire my family, friends and areas of
influence to be the same.
* I will strive to preserve and protect the environment.
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II. God is so special to us that He enables us to love Him more than anything else.
(Mt. 22:37)
A. Loving God with all our heart
1. Heart means core. We love the Lord with the core of our being
- Includes our ideals and principles, and decision
2. Loving God entails sacrifice
B. ...with all our soul
1. Our souls long for God (Ps. 84: 1-2)
2. Practicing the sacraments express our soul longing for God
3. Eagerness to serve
C. ...With all our mind
1. Includes our thoughts, intentions and learning
2. We should grow in our knowledge of Scripture/books about the Lord
3. We must learn how to witness to others about the Lords work in our lives.
III. We will go through times of testing.
A. Sufferings, trials and doubts
B. Sin will make us feel guilty
C. We will experience dryness in prayer
Discussion Starters:
1. How is your relationship with God after the youth camp?
2. What more can I do to express my love for God with all my heart, soul and mind?
Memory Verse:
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your
mind. (Mt. 22:37)
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Memory Verse:
How good and pleasant it is when brothers live in unity.
(Ps. 133:1)
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Discussion Starters:
1. What are the things that am I doing that shows dishonor or disrespect to the country
that God has placed me in? How can I correct these?
2. What concrete decision can I make that will help me love, honor and serve my country
better?
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APPENDIX
WORSHIP WORKSHOP
I. INTRODUCTION
Start the session with just a simple prayer after practicing some songs.
Choose a slow worshipful song for this activity. Make sure its a song that people
know well enough or is easy enough for people to sing without looking at the words.
(Note: Slow songs make it easier for people to feel the presence of God more and as
such are more effective for this activity).
Explain the words of the song / Help people understand what it means and
encourage them to pray the song as they sing it. In order to help participants focus
even more, ask them to close their eyes. Worship, in a sense, transports people into
Gods presence into His courts if we may refer it in that way encourage people
to take note of how they perceive that in the vision that they will see in their minds.
Sing the song (For the speaker, make sure that you yourself are praying the song)
Get feedback. Find out what images they saw in their minds. Was the Lord present
in the picture of their minds eye? Where were they? Were they standing, seated,
kneeling, hands outstretched or clasped?
Sing the song one more time, this time challenging the participants to allow their
physical bodies to express what they see themselves doing in their minds. Help them
realize that their whole bodies want to pray also, and that if they intend to give their
lives to the Lord, at the very least, it begins with surrendering their bodies as
expressed by a raised hand, outstretched arms or bended knees.
Feel free to sing in the spirit or in tongues or sing a second song, as the Spirit leads.
Get feedback on what they experienced. Find out if some may have received
prophecies or visions.
II. UNDERSTANDING WORSHIP
A. Worship is the central point of our gatherings
1. Its supposed to be inspiring and should build up the body. Worship should be
nourishing and spirit-filled.
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2. Recently, however, much of our worship has been dry and sometimes
perceived as a waste of time. This is so because many times, our worship
leaders are unable to lead people to worship. Many times our worship is not
worship at all.
B. Worship is being able to honestly say You are God and I am not, and THAT IS
GREAT!!!
NJB Psalms 150:1-6
1. Alleluia! Praise God in His holy place, praise Him in the heavenly vault of his
power, 2. Praise him for His mighty deeds, praise Him for all His greatness. 3.
Praise Him with fanfare of trumpet, praise Him with harp and lyre, 4. Praise Him
with tambourines and dancing, praise Him with strings and pipes, 5. Praise Him
with the clamour of cymbals, praise Him with triumphant cymbals, 6. Let
everything that breathes praise Yahweh. Alleluia!
1. Just as we experienced at the start of this talk, worship is being able to come
into that loving, healing and mighty presence of God and being able to
acknowledge that HE ALONE IS GOD loving, healing and mighty!
At the same time, we are blessed by the healing grace of His presence and by the
mere fact that this same GOD holds us as special and in spite of our sins and
imperfections sees us as the gem of His creation.
2. Worship is paying homage to our true King and Captain. In the same way
that subjects in ancient times have to regularly visit their ruler and pay tribute
or homage or tax (in more modern terms). We come to pay homage
admitting that everything we have is His. At the same time, we are grateful that
HE gives all of these our bodies, our minds, our money, our property for us to
freely use, and that He never punishes us as we deserve whenever we misuse
these things which are rightfully HIS.
3. Worship is one of the very few times when we are able to have a taste of how
it was and a foretaste of how it will. Its the time when we in our fallen sinful
- human natures are able to connect to God in spirit the way it was meant to be
before our sin made it impossible for us to continually be in Gods presence (as
Adam and Eve were). It allows us a foretaste of the kind of relationship we will
have with God when we are made perfect in heaven.
4. There are three levels that we usually go through when we really worship:
a. The first is when we start speaking words of PRAISE or what we might be
liken to as introductions in any audience. This is where we honor God and
acknowledge His greatness.
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b. The second is WORSHIP this is when we start saying how we feel and when
we begin to truly realize Gods greatness. In this level, people start to offer
themselves to God saying I belong to youmy life is yours.
c. The third is GLORY this is when we actually come into the holy presence of
God. It is at this level that God speaks, we listen then we respond. This is
where we receive prophecies, visions, where we cry at the realization of
Gods love and mercy, where emotional and physical healing takes place.
Sadly, most worship leaders are not aware of this nor do they strive to reach
these levels of worship. We sing a lot of songs, we say a lot of words that
include the word Lord and Amen but few of these are able to make actual
worship take place. Maybe, this is why there are less and less of the spiritual
gifts (tongues, prophecies, visions etc.) during our worships and activities.
Every worship, whether it is alone in your own prayer time, a household
meeting, a teaching, assembly or Praisefest should reach this third level. Any
worship leader who does not have this as their goal for worship misses the
whole point, and may have not actually lead people to worship.
Before we start to think that leading worship is next to impossible, we need to
realize that the effort is almost totally out of our hands and in the very capable
hands of God Himself. God wants us to connect to Him much more than we
want for ourselves and for our members. This takes a huge pressure off of our
shoulders because worship then does not depend on our eloquence or on the
dynamics or tone of our voices but rather depends on and simply begins with an
honest desire to be in Gods presence.
III. SOME IMPORTANT ATTITUDES REGARDING WORSHIP
A. Every worship should start with an exhortation.
Exhortation is giving people reason to worship. It should be able to inspire them to
come before the Lord in jubilant praise. It can either be a personal sharing, a story or
a bible verse. An exhortation need not be long but should be encouraging and
acknowledges Gods greatness in our lives.
B. You need to worship in order to lead worship
Avoid just singing songs. Enter into Gods Holy presence, raise your hands and
mean it. Pray in tongues. Listen to God.
Dont be too conscious of the words you will use, just speak exactly what is in your
heart. Talk to the Lord as if He were in front of you, because He is. Avoid making
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your prayer a well-rehearsed speech with words Lord at the beginning and
Amen at the end.
C. Worship is an expression of your life
Worship is very important, but is only an expression of the even more important
reality you are living. Be careful in saying words like Lord Jesus We Enthrone You
or Refiners fire, my hearts one desire is to be holy if its not true in your life, if you
do only what you want in your life in other words you are calling the shots.
Worship - especially leading worship is difficult if there is serious unrighteousness
in your life (e.g. premarital sex, cheating, gambling, stealing etc.)
This doesnt mean that you should choose not to worship or decline from leading
worship since after all, none of us are worthy because all of us are sinful. Rather,
its in always having a genuine repentant attitude. Come before Gods presence and
humbly ask for His mercy.
Be Real and Honest. Come before God in total humility. Surrender and allow Gods
spirit to flow through you. Never fake it.
Be knowledgeable. Know the songs by heart. Know their meaning, the right tune
and know how to lead people into singing in the spirit.
D. Avoid anything that distracts
Avoid anything that distracts you or the people you are leading from focusing on
God who after all is the object of our worship.
Dont use action songs during the worship proper.
Try to make everything clear announce song titles and numbers. Announce where
the song is headed (next line or verse).
IV. CONCLUSION
NJB Exodus 34:29-33
29. When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Testimony in
his hands, as he was coming down the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his
face was radiant because he had been talking to Him 33. Once Moses had finished
speaking to them, he put a veil over his face.
NJB 2 Corinthians 3:18
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18. And all of us, with our unveiled faces like mirrors reflecting the glory of the Lord, are
being transformed into the image that we reflect in brighter and brighter glory; this is
the working of the Lord who is the Spirit.
Like Moses, when people are brought into Gods presence, they are changed from
one degree of glory to the next. This is the privilege we have - to help people
experience the pure joy and ecstasy of Gods presence in worship. It should be our
intention to always bring people into this level of communion and reconciliation with
Jesus in spirit and our own joy to see them somehow changed.
Note: End the session by leading the whole group into worship. Encourage them to
express themselves freely as they worship in spirit and truth. Encourage them to
raise their hands, to kneel down, to clap, to pray in tongues and any other means
they feel they will be able to truly worship and enter in the presence of God.
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