your input

[tturt]

A small group was praising and then worshipping the Lord. After a few minutes, a church leader said an offering needed to be collected. Afterwards, we didn't go back to where we were. Not implying offerings shouldn't be collected. Know in some churches folks give as they're leaving. But my question is what could have been done to - how can I put this - reestablish the place where we were.

See the same thing when the church is singing then announcements.

Also, it seems the general order of thanksgiving and praise, then worship whether in private or group settings. "Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name." Psa 100:4 "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” John 4:24 Question - is that what you see?

 

[Sabertooth]

A small group was praising and then worshipping the Lord. After a few minutes, a church leader said an offering needed to be collected. Afterwards, we didn't go back to where we were.

That seems like poor timing; that it quenched the Spirit.
Even if tithing was normally the next order of business, it should have been postponed.

My previous churches had offering boxes so giving/tithing would not disturb the flow of the service.
I do all my tithing/giving through online banking which is even more convenient and easier for my records.

 

[Gregory Thompson]

A small group was praising and then worshipping the Lord. After a few minutes, a church leader said an offering needed to be collected. Afterwards, we didn't go back to where we were. Not implying offerings shouldn't be collected. Know in some churches folks give as they're leaving. But my question is what could have been done to - how can I put this - reestablish the place where we were.

See the same thing when the church is singing then announcements.

Also, it seems the general order of thanksgiving and praise, then worship whether in private or group settings. "Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name." Psa 100:4 "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” John 4:24 Question - is that what you see?

Perhaps as a business man, the pastor is giving a "suggestion" after a "hypnotic activity?"

The early church had a way of collecting the offerings so people didn't feel compelled to give every week. When the giving of offering is visible, it leads to a mob mentality situation. Even if you're giving by Pre-Authorized Payment, it really is your right to give in secret (i.e. none of their business) so the Lord can reward you openly.

I tell you the truth, those who have given offerings to be seen by people already have their reward .. as Jesus said.

 

[pdudgeon]

That seems like poor timing; that it quenched the Spirit.
Even if tithing was normally the next order of business, it should have been postponed.

My previous churches had offering boxes so giving/tithing would not disturb the flow of the service.
I do all my tithing/giving through online banking which is even more convenient and easier for my records.

Agreed. In the church I previously attended, when the congregation was "lost in the Spirit" our pastor would quietly signal the band to stop playing so that we could all appreciate the flow of the Spirit for a moment.
That was heavenly, and we all knew it. Then he would offer a word of thanks to the Holy Spirit, thank the congregation for their worship, and ask us to be seated.
After we were seated, then he would motion the ushers forward, remind us that it was time for us to show our thanks and appreciation to God for all that He has given us, and to give as we were led by the Holy Spirit.
And that helped to tie everything together.

 

[Dave G.]

We have offering boxes just outside the sanctuary now, the service nor the flow of the Spirit is not interrupted with collections. Give on your way in or out, doesn't matter. You can also give online to either the general fund or to missions. I do that monthly in Baltimore our home based church and in a box at a more local church. We are a missions based church though so it might be a bit different than for more traditional churches. All our 779 churches have been known to give freely because it takes money to run missions plus support your own local operational costs and our people understand this since we all are involved in missions in some way.. Through Christ and the power of the Spirit it seems to work. Our whole purpose is to go into all the world and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, to start bible studies that form into small churches then grow.

 

[TobiaAJoshua]

A small group was praising and then worshipping the Lord. After a few minutes, a church leader said an offering needed to be collected. Afterwards, we didn't go back to where we were. Not implying offerings shouldn't be collected. Know in some churches folks give as they're leaving. But my question is what could have been done to - how can I put this - reestablish the place where we were.

See the same thing when the church is singing then announcements.

Also, it seems the general order of thanksgiving and praise, then worship whether in private or group settings. "Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name." Psa 100:4 "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” John 4:24 Question - is that what you see?

I don't know, that is just how some churches does it.

I used attend a church where they would give briefing in the middle of the worship. nobody seemed to mind.

but I do see you point though.

 

[Trusting in Him]

My church never has collections in meetings. It's just not meetings are all about. We give privately instead. "Don't let your right hand know what your left hand is doing". "God who sees your giving in secret, will reward you openly". We do it privately as we are doing it to Him and no one else!

 

[mourningdove~]

A small group was praising and then worshipping the Lord. After a few minutes, a church leader said an offering needed to be collected. Afterwards, we didn't go back to where we were. Not implying offerings shouldn't be collected. Know in some churches folks give as they're leaving. But my question is what could have been done to - how can I put this - reestablish the place where we were.

See the same thing when the church is singing then announcements.

Also, it seems the general order of thanksgiving and praise, then worship whether in private or group settings. "Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name." Psa 100:4 "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” John 4:24 Question - is that what you see?

Yes, I have seen this happen in churches, and even in live-streamed Pentecostal services on television.

I do believe the Order of Service can get 'in the way' of the Spirit.

When I worked in the Assemblies (AOG), each week I typed up what is called the 'Order of Service', and distributed it to the pastors and other staff members in preparation for the upcoming service. This told them the agenda for the service, music selections, etc ...

I understood the reason for having a 'plan' for the service, but did not feel this always made for an unhindered flow of the Spirit.

My thought has been that it would really be neat if there were more of the 'spontaneous' type services ... where there is not so much of a scheduled agenda ... in case the Lord has 'other' plans for the gathering!

 

[tturt]

It's tremendous when that's the approach. We"ve attended a couple of churches that had a plan but would have short pauses periodically to see what direction the Holy Spirit wanted. Even with the pastor explaining, I don't know why a quiet church prayerfully pausing makes a few uncomfortable.

Marie Woodworth Etter mentioned in her diary that sometimes they would pause for 30 min or longer and God would bless them in various ways.

 

[Hidden In Him]

A small group was praising and then worshipping the Lord. After a few minutes, a church leader said an offering needed to be collected. Afterwards, we didn't go back to where we were. Not implying offerings shouldn't be collected. Know in some churches folks give as they're leaving. But my question is what could have been done to - how can I put this - reestablish the place where we were.

See the same thing when the church is singing then announcements.

Also, it seems the general order of thanksgiving and praise, then worship whether in private or group settings. "Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name." Psa 100:4 "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” John 4:24 Question - is that what you see?

If I'm telling the truth, that sounds like opportunism, and a desire to collect whenever they feel they will collect the most; a focus on finances at the expense of the moving of the Holy Spirit.

But in general, the preaching of the word - the spoken word in its entirety coming out of leader's mouths - is often a quenching influence on the Spirit of God these days. I have attended services where the worship was powerful, and very large congregations were getting caught up in the Spirit, and then the preacher took the microphone, and you could almost FEEL the Spirit of God getting extinguished it was so noticeable. It was just awful.

My advice: Encourage more worship, more prayer, and LESS talking period, of any kind. If the teaching and preaching is not with the same anointing and on parr with the worship, the leadership needs to stop disrupting true moves of God until someone can actually utter words that don't destroy a service through worldliness and carnality.

 

[tturt]

Thought of another time this happens. When in the prayer closet, if I answer the phone, I don't go back to where I was. Learned not to go with the interruption or distraction.

 

[tturt]

The second half of the OP was about the pattern of services and times with the Lord. Read this some time ago so hoping I've accurately posted -
---
Thanksgiving is acknowledging God's goodness. First stage in approaching God. (Psa 100:4).

Praise Him at all times with our whole hearts, giving Him a sacrifice of praise for His greatness. His mercy is everlasting and His truth is for all generations.. Thanksgiving and praise are utterances.

Worship is acknowledging God's holiness. Unites us with God. (I Cor 6:17). Not utterances..

Derek Prince

Also, there's lingering "And the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. Moses returned to the camp, but his minister Joshua son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the [temporary prayer] tent." Exo 33:11

"Be still and know I am God." Psa

 

[spiritfilledjm]

A small group was praising and then worshipping the Lord. After a few minutes, a church leader said an offering needed to be collected. Afterwards, we didn't go back to where we were. Not implying offerings shouldn't be collected. Know in some churches folks give as they're leaving. But my question is what could have been done to - how can I put this - reestablish the place where we were.

See the same thing when the church is singing then announcements.

Also, it seems the general order of thanksgiving and praise, then worship whether in private or group settings. "Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name." Psa 100:4 "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” John 4:24 Question - is that what you see?

I'm kind of assuming a few things here, but let's say this was at a church and during worship maybe 5 people were up front, praising God and everything. However, most everyone else had sat down as the worship team continued playing. While the Spirit was still on these people, He had moved on from most everyone else. Therefore, it would be appropriate to move on with the order of service. However, if most of the church was up there on fire, worshipping God, praying and healing, signs and wonders were happening, people were coming to Christ. Just a good ol' move of God over the congregation...but the Pastor just got up and said, ok everyone, we need to move on and collect offering. That would be quenching the Spirit and that would be wrong.

In my experience, the most common order of service is something like this,

1. Welcome and announcements
2. Fast-paced praise and celebration songs.
3. Slow worship songs
4. Offering
5. Sermon
6. Altar-call/dismissal

There have been plenty of times when the Spirit was moving so much that nothing happened other than that, just a full-blown worship service that Sunday. There was no offering, no sermon, nothing but the Spirit ministering. 10-15 years ago, this would have caused an issue with the church receiving their tithe as online giving wasn't quite a thing yet as it is now but a good steward would just give it next week or find a way to ensure the church still got the tithe and offering. However, yes, there has been plenty of times I've seen where only a few people were being ministered to by the Holy Spirit but the service would have to move on. It wouldn't be appropriate to leave the rest of the congregation sitting there while 5 people are being ministered to by the Spirit, imo.

 

[tturt]

Looking at grieving and quenching the Holy Spirit.

Interesting what comes immediately before and after v 19

18 "In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

19 Quench not the Spirit.

20 Despise not prophesyings." I Thess 5