Here’s the next part of my proposed definition of a worship leader. An effective corporate worship leader is aided and led by the Holy Spirit.
Every leader of congregational worship will acknowledge that biblical worship is impossible apart from the activity of the Holy Spirit. This is at least part of what Jesus meant when he told the Samaritan woman in John 4John 4
[4:1]Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard
that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than
John [2](although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only
his disciples), [3]he left Judea and departed again for
Galilee. [4]And he had to pass through Samaria. [5]So he
came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field
that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. [6]Jacob's well was
there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was
sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.
[7]A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said
to her, "Give me a drink." [8](For his disciples had gone
away into the city to buy food.) [9]The Samaritan woman
said to him, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink
from me, a woman of Samaria?" (For Jews have no dealings
with Samaritans.) [10]Jesus answered her, "If you knew the
gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me
a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given
you living water." [11]The woman said to him, "Sir, you
have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep.
Where do you get that living water? [12]Are you greater
than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from
it himself, as did his sons and his livestock." [13]Jesus
said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be
thirsty again, [14]but whoever drinks of the water that I
will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I
will give him will become in him a spring of water welling
up to eternal life." [15]The woman said to him, "Sir, give
me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to
come here to draw water."
[16]Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come
here." [17]The woman answered him, "I have no husband."
Jesus said to her, "You are right in saying, 'I have no
husband'; [18]for you have had five husbands, and the one
you now have is not your husband. What you have said is
true." [19]The woman said to him, "Sir, I perceive that you
are a prophet. [20]Our fathers worshiped on this mountain,
but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people
ought to worship." [21]Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe
me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in
Jerusalem will you worship the Father. [22]You worship what
you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is
from the Jews. [23]But the hour is coming, and is now here,
when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit
and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship
him. [24]God is spirit, and those who worship him must
worship in spirit and truth." [25]The woman said to him, "I
know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When
he comes, he will tell us all things." [26]Jesus said to
her, "I who speak to you am he."
[27]Just then his disciples came back. They marveled
that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, "What do
you seek?" or, "Why are you talking with her?" [28]So the
woman left her water jar and went away into town and said
to the people, [29]"Come, see a man who told me all that I
ever did. Can this be the Christ?" [30]They went out of the
town and were coming to him.
[31]Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying,
"Rabbi, eat." [32]But he said to them, "I have food to eat
that you do not know about." [33]So the disciples said to
one another, "Has anyone brought him something to eat?"
[34]Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of him
who sent me and to accomplish his work. [35]Do you not say,
'There are yet four months, then comes the harvest'? Look,
I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are
white for harvest. [36]Already the one who reaps is
receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so
that sower and reaper may rejoice together. [37]For here
the saying holds true, 'One sows and another reaps.' [38]I
sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others
have labored, and you have entered into their labor."
[39]Many Samaritans from that town believed in him
because of the woman's testimony, "He told me all that I
ever did." [40]So when the Samaritans came to him, they
asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days.
[41]And many more believed because of his word. [42]They
said to the woman, "It is no longer because of what you
said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and
we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world."
[43]After the two days he departed for Galilee. [44](For
Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in
his own hometown.) [45]So when he came to Galilee, the
Galileans welcomed him, having seen all that he had done in
Jerusalem at the feast. For they too had gone to the feast.
[46]So he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had
made the water wine. And at Capernaum there was an official
whose son was ill. [47]When this man heard that Jesus had
come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and asked him to
come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of
death. [48]So Jesus said to him, "Unless you see signs and
wonders you will not believe." [49]The official said to
him, "Sir, come down before my child dies." [50]Jesus said
to him, "Go; your son will live." The man believed the word
that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way. [51]As he was
going down, his servants met him and told him that his son
was recovering. [52]So he asked them the hour when he began
to get better, and they said to him, "Yesterday at the
seventh hour the fever left him." [53]The father knew that
was the hour when Jesus had said to him, "Your son will
live." And he himself believed, and all his household.
[54]This was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had
come from Judea to Galilee. (ESV)
that the Father seeks worshipers who worship Him in spirit and truth. Paul also tells us in Philippians 3:3Philippians 3:3
[3]For we are the circumcision, who worship by the
Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no
confidence in the flesh-- (ESV)
, “For we are the real circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.” (See also Eph. 2:18Ephesians 2:18
[18]For through him we both have access in one Spirit to
the Father. (ESV)
, Eph. 5:18-21Ephesians 5:18-21
[18]And do not get drunk with wine, for that is
debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, [19]addressing
one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart,
[20]giving thanks always and for everything to God the
Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, [21]submitting
to one another out of reverence for Christ. (ESV)
, and 1 Cor. 12:31 Corinthians 12:3
[3]Therefore I want you to understand that no one
speaking in the Spirit of God ever says "Jesus is
accursed!" and no one can say "Jesus is Lord" except in the
Holy Spirit. (ESV)
, and 2 Cor. 3:182 Corinthians 3:18
[18]And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory
of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from
one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the
Lord who is the Spirit. (ESV)
)
But what does it mean for a worship leader to be …
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