 All right. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to a new spring semester, 2023. Wishing each one of you a blessed and a prosperous new year. May the Lord bless each of you and trust you had a wonderful, refreshing break. So it's wonderful. Let's begin this time with a word of prayer. Maybe one of us can please lead in prayer. Yes, any one of us can please lead. Our Grace is heavenly Father, we thank you for this beautiful day, beautiful time, beautiful season of our life, Lord Jesus. This morning we choose to praise you, worship you, Lord, bringing all the glory and honor to your Lord. As we're starting this new semester, Lord Jesus, we ask you that you lead us, guide us, and teach us, Father God. Give us more grace to understand your word so that Lord Jesus, we will be equipped. Thank you, Lord. We submit Pastor Paul to your mighty hand and all the students to your mighty hand, Jesus. Amen. Amen. Right. Thank you, Abinas. All right. Okay. So the course that we will be doing this semester is, we're going to be talking about discipleship and small groups. Now, I'm sure each one of us has heard these words, discipleship and also small groups. And we're going to look at, in this course, we're going to look at the importance of small groups and how small groups can be an essential tool for discipleship. Right. So our main focus as believers, what did the Lord Jesus tell, exalt us before he left? He said, go and make disciples. And that's what we want to do, right? We grow into maturity, into Christlikeness. And then we disciple others to grow into that same maturity and Christlikeness, right? So this is what we'll be doing through the entirety of this course, talking more about small groups and how you and I, you know, just being part of small groups or even leading small groups can help us in disciple making, right? The notes are available on the stream. So feel free to download them and track along, given as we continue this course. So my sessions will be on Tuesdays, that is today, first hour and the second hour. So let's begin this time. Let me just post the notes. And all right. Everyone can see the page, right? Okay. So this course has three sections, as mentioned here. We look at some general information and guidelines on how to start a small group. Let me look at preparing to become a cell group or a small group leader. And then the third section, which is raising up disciples, reproducing leaders, right? So we'll move into section one. That is general information and guidelines, right? Now, how many of us have been part of a life, of a cell group or you're leading a cell group? Are there people here? You're part of a life group or you're leading a cell group? Anyone? Maybe in your church, you've been attending a cell group or yes, Tarun says yes. Anyone else? You've been part of a cell group or you've also been leading a cell group? Okay. Laisha says, Laisha, you want to say something? Yes. Okay, great. So I think most of us have a generic idea of what a cell group is, right? And of course the cell groups are all across globally. Cell groups, almost every church or every ministry will have a cell group. And we'll talk about, you know, why they have a cell group. Well, let's get into some general guidelines in terms of cell groups. Now, every now and then I may call it life groups, right? Because at ABC, we call it life groups. What I mean is basically the cell group, right? And so many churches choose to transition from a program or an event-based church to becoming a cell church, right? Now, here's something very important. We must understand this. There is a difference between a cell church and a cell group, right? Now, what is that difference? Every church has cell groups, right? Now, apart from the cell groups, they have different kinds of ministries, like, you know, women's ministry, men's ministry, children's ministry, Sunday services, teens' church, you know, they have different other ministries. And among all those ministries, the cell groups is part of the ministry. Now, what is that? That's a church that has cell groups. And there is something called as a cell church, which means a cell church has its life and its ministry. Everything is carried out through the cell groups, right? So I hope we're getting that difference, right? It's very important to understand this. There are churches which have cell groups in different areas of the city, but that's not the only ministry that they have, right? Now, cell church is everything, every other ministry flows out of this cell church, right? Now, let's look at what cell groups is all about, right? I know a lot of this may be familiar to us, but it's very important to, you know, understand this with better clarity, right? So what is a cell group? It's a group of people and we have at APC, something that we follow is 12 people. And we have different kinds of cell groups. So if you go to our church website, you go to apcwo.org, you go to ministries, you have a tab called Life Groups. And under that, you will see we have about 28 life groups right now. But there are different kinds of life groups. For example, there are youth life groups, cell groups. There are family groups. There are only girls, only boys. There's an open life group, which means everyone can attend. And so we have 28. Now, the reason we've kept it to 12 is because in a smaller setting, it is easier to build relationships, to build community, to build each other up, to make disciples, right? So it's not just like, okay, you know, I have 30 people in my cell group, so mine is the best cell group. It doesn't work that way. The whole point of a cell group is to build relationships, edify each other, be there for each other, supporting each other, strengthening each other in the Lord. And so at APC, we've made it 12 people. But if you are planning to start one in your own church, you can choose. You can probably have 10, 12, even 15. But make sure that the group is not too big, that as a leader, you're not bogged down with too much of responsibilities. So it should be free while ministering to people. Right? So a cell group is a microcosm of the kingdom of God, meaning like in a church, you have the things of God, you know, you have, you know, apostles, prophets, teachers, preachers, you have the gifts of the Holy Spirit flowing through the church. The same way, even in a cell group, it is, you know, it is a microcosm of the kingdom of God. So things of the Holy Spirit, things of God can happen even in a small group. It is a small unit of the local church. Now here, this is very important. A cell group is not just like a Bible study, not just a prayer meeting, or not just another church service. Right? So it's very easy to, you know, have like, for example, second and fourth Saturdays, right? We have cell group example, right? So it's not just a time where, okay, the cell group leader opens the Bible, starts preaching, teaching, or you only have prayer points, you pray, or it's not just, okay, there's a flow of, of course, there needs to be an agenda, a flow. But it's not just another church service. What is it? It is a place where you and I are called to make disciples. Right? It's a place for disciple making. Now, for example, you, we go to church, we have, you know, probably a five-part series and, you know, at APC, we've been covering the mind as well, and previous to that, we were covering faith and science. Now, these are complicated topics. These are topics that many of them may have questions. Now, in a church service, I can put up my hand and say, okay, I have a question. Can I please know what the, you know, what the answer to this question is? Very unlikely. You can't do that. But if you're part of a cell group or you're a cell group leader, this is the place where everyone are free to ask questions, right, free to, you know, share their thoughts, open up for discussions, right? So for example, you feel, hey, I didn't understand this about the body, the mind and the soul, you know, the soul, the body and the spirit. I don't understand. I need to get more clarity on that. Our cell groups is a beautiful place where we can ask questions, open up for discussion. So that is why it's not just a Bible study. It's not just a prayer meeting, but it's a place where there is heart-to-heart relationships, right? I'm going to keep teaching. So if you have any questions, you can interrupt me or just raise your hand and we'll be available to, you know, take questions as well, right? So don't stop yourself. Feel free to stop me anytime and ask questions, right? So in every cell group, people can be evangelized. People receive prayer, healing, deliverance. There's fellowship, there's disciple making, there's Bible teaching, edification, there's follow-up, there is discipleship. There's so much that can happen in a small group, right? And anything needed in the body of Christ ought to be found in the cell group, right? So as a cell group leader, it's very important to keep this in mind, you know, because sometimes we may think, oh, it's only 12 people. What can I do with 12 people? I want to, you know, lead in a church where there are 500 people or 1000 people. That's great. That's good to have a vision that way. But remember, Jesus started with the 12, right? 12 disciples. He chose them. He prepared them. He taught them. He taught them to learn from their mistakes. He gave them opportunities, and you see what those 12 disciples did. They turned the whole world upside down, right? They went out, and the very fact that we are speaking about the Lord Jesus, it's because they began a work, right? So you never know who you're ministering to, right? Never look at something and say, okay, this is too small. I love what the book of Zechariah says. It says, never despise meager beginnings, small beginnings, right? So, you know, even if it's people, 10 people who are coming, they are coming with a heart to learn. They're coming with a heart to receive from God. So as a life group leaders or cell group leaders and maybe even attending, be available for them, right? Expect God to move, right? Expect God for healing, for deliverance, for, you know, for the gifts of the Holy Spirit to manifest. Let me give you this example. Somewhere after I became a believer, I always thought, you know, I enjoyed flowing in the prophetic, in the word of knowledge. But sometimes I would think to myself, oh, is this my own thinking, or is it God? And I'm sure all of us have gone through that, right? Is this God telling me, or is it because I am thinking that? So many times I stopped myself. I wouldn't give a prophetic word. I wouldn't give a word of knowledge. And many times even, you know, I felt that, you know, if I pray for this person, this person can get healed. But many, many times I've stopped myself. What if that person doesn't get healed? What is my response to that? Right, so I remember as a young boy, I began to go to a small life group. And when I went to that life group, I realized that, hey, here is a place where I can step out. Nobody's going to be judgmental, nobody's going to criticize you, but I can step out of my comfort zone. And it was there in the cell groups where I began to pray for people. I used to say, if people were sick, I would say, hey, can I pray for you? It was difficult, but it helped me to step out of my comfort zone. What I couldn't do in church, I was able to do it in a cell group. Many times I got a prophetic word and I've shared it. And when I shared it, they said, hey, yes, this is something that I was praying for, or a word of knowledge. Many times they said, no, not really. That's all right. But it's a place where you exercise your gifts, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, exercise the talents that God has given us. Now, why are we talking about cell groups? Is it something that's just random that we're doing? We don't know what to do. We meet on Sundays, so let's meet in the middle of the week. Now, if you look at it, it is a biblical pattern. In the New Testament, we see a lot of ministry, a lot of ministry happen in small groups and in house settings. Jesus did a lot of miracles, a lot of his teachings to thousands of people, but he also ministered in people's homes and in smaller settings. Now, if you tally these two, if you look at it, Jesus was more found in people's homes and in smaller group settings. Apart from the 5,000 and then the 3,000, apart from that, the crowds followed him, but he preferred ministering in smaller settings. The early believers, the early church in the book of Acts, you see that a lot of ministry happened in homes and in small groups. So let's look at a few verses here. I've underlined them here, highlighted them yellow. Acts 2, 46. Now, Acts 2 is the church is just birth, right? So the church in Jerusalem, there are about 10,000 people added into the church. Now, the church is big. What did they do? It's not like they had the Pentecost, they had that one moment, then everyone went and then they would meet every Sunday. No, that's not how it was. What does it say here? And they continuing daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house. They'd eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart. Now, just picture this. There are about 10,000 people in the church. Okay, let's say that many of them went back to their hometowns or from Jerusalem. They were all believers, right? Now, what did they do? They all met daily in one accord in the temple, right? In the temple where we know that it was near Solomon's colony that they would meet and breaking bread from house to house. So probably they had a small group in one house here and maybe 10 minutes away or 20 minutes away. I'm just painting a picture for you. They had another cell group there. They had another cell group there and they were meeting every day, breaking bread, celebrating the Lord's table with gladness and singleness of heart in small groups as well. Right? So we see that it is a biblical approach. Look at Acts 542. And daily in the temple and in every house they seized not to teach and preach Jesus Christ. Right? And in every house, right? Probably they met in 15s or 20 people. We don't know the number but they met in smaller groups. Right? Now, these were not churches. See, the church happened. They met daily in the temple. See, the church basically the once in a week meeting probably happened. But apart from that, they met in every house teaching and preaching Jesus Christ. Look at Acts 20. Now Acts 20 already the church in Antioch is also you know, growing and the church in Antioch also. So you got church in Jerusalem. You got the church in Antioch as well. Let's see what happens there. Acts 20. And when they were and when they were come to him, he said unto them you know from the first day that I came into Asia after what manner I have been with you all at all seasons, serving the Lord with all humility and mind and with many tears and temptations which befell me, mother lying in the weight of the Jews and how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you but I've showed you and have taught you publicly and from house to house. So we see that as leaders they went house to house also teaching and preaching. So you see publicly and from house to house. Acts 28 and Paul 30 and 31 and Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house and received all that came unto him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence no man forbidding him. Now this was, if you see Acts 28, it was towards the end of his ministry. What does Paul do? He takes a hired room he stays there for two years and there he met with people preaching and teaching the kingdom of God and likewise Romans 16 the church, greet the church that meets in their house first Corinthians the first fruits I beseech you brethren in the house of Stefanus that is the first fruits of Akhaya and that they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints right so this is after the first missionary second missionary journey the first fruits of Akhaya then again the churches of Asia solute you Aquila and Priscilla solute you much in the Lord with the church that meets in their house solute the brethren in Colosse and the church that meets in their house Philemon and to our beloved Apia our fellow soldier and the church in the house so we see that lot of the churches were already meeting in houses and apart from that they also had the the cell groups as much so probably we must understand that during those days they would meet especially the Gentile churches they would meet on probably Saturdays or Sundays once a week but during the week they would also meet for fellowship and edification right now the cell church movement emphasizes that the cell is just as important as the Sunday celebration right both are equally important and look at the early church they celebrated together in large places and then they also celebrated from house to house but if we read on later on especially in the book of Acts what happens is because of the persecution many of the churches became house churches itself they couldn't go out and openly preach and teach the gospel so but what we do see is that cell groups and the church have one thing in common they both see they both are the same in the sense they have to have the celebration the Lord's table and all of that the gifts of the Holy Spirit the ministering of the Holy Spirit but in a smaller setting we have a lot more advantages right you can build people up and if you look at the great apostle Paul how is he able to raise up so many leaders he was able to go to places to these small churches and raise up leaders Aquila and Priscilla, Timothy Titus, Philemon who is a leader in the church in the Lossae Stefanus so many people he raised up right now what do we notice here wonderful, wonderful method or way of raising up disciples all through the small groups right so so we need to establish this fact that cell groups life groups, cell groups and the Sunday church both are equally important right because I think now nowadays we live in a day and age where we look at the big and we get excited or we get very happy now it's wonderful that the Lord adds many people to church it's good to have a church with 500,000, 5000, 10,000 people it's wonderful the Lord is building his church he's building, he promised that he will add to the church but it is also important that we grow in maturity and Christlikeness we talked about the church in Corinth last semester we saw the challenges that they were facing they were a famous church well known church probably growing very fast but they were not growing in maturity they were not growing in Christlikeness so cell churches cell groups are very important right alright let's get to the next portion why cells we have about 9 points here but why cell why life groups why can't we just do with the Sunday service and have all the other ministries like children's church, dean church women's ministry, men's ministry family ministry why can't we just have those ministry but what is the cell group going to do right let's look at these points right first one cells provide the most efficient means for pasturing evangelism right is the most efficient means for pasturing and evangelism now what do we mean by that in a cell group for example there are 12 people right it is the most effective place where as a leader you are pasturing or shepherding those 12 people right it's a place where you know those 12 now I just keep using 12 because that's something that we follow you can change the number according to your own you know your own convenience but for example 12 people right those 12 people are under your care you will be pasturing these believers when I say pasturing it simply means shepherding them leading them giving them opportunities guiding them, praying for them right the opportunity to provide personal ministry to all believers now imagine there's a church of 500 people there are two of them in church right who are depressed or they are suicidal and they don't know who to go to because it's a big church 100 people the pastors are busy they can't give their time always and so sometimes they may feel lost even though they are part of the family they are not part of the family but the cell church imagine right this person goes into a cell group and you know first few weeks he just doesn't share anything much but then later he goes to the cell group leader and he shares this is my problem I've been facing thoughts of depression thoughts of suicide what must I do now as a cell group leader here's your wonderful opportunity so you minister minister to the word now I'm not saying that you minister once and the person is alright no over time it's a great opportunity to keep ministering to keep following up with them to keep spending time with them now I know that we all work Monday to Friday but it could just be a call it could just be an additional maybe half an hour with them spending some time maybe just having a cup of tea with them these are things that can really touch a person's life actually I used to think oh man these people who are suicidal or depressed going through challenges in life all they want to do is just talk and there was a time when I was ministering to this young man early 20s he was also suicidal and I would say why don't we just go out for a tea let's go out and have something to eat and he began to open himself up he began to say in the entire week I wait for Wednesdays for life group he doesn't wait for Sunday I wait for Wednesday and when Wednesday come I'm so excited I'd like to come and this person young man young boy he used to keep telling me why do I feel this way life is good I don't have too many challenges but I keep getting these thoughts of suicide why do I want to do this so I just began to casually talk to him this is what the word of God says just simple talks why don't you do something that you like what is it that you are interested in so he was saying I couldn't learn so you choose keep your mind occupied it was just practical things but just being there for this person now I understand that we can't do it always but in a cell group if you are leading a church or a ministry and you have to appoint cell group leaders teach them these things it's a wonderful place for even evangelism there are many times people who come in to church they don't really believe in God they have many questions many many of them that I have spoken to they don't really believe in God but they come why they find some kind of peace or they have friends in church and so when they come it's a wonderful opportunity for evangelism it helps us become more effective leaders so now I want to be very careful we must be wise when we are leading people and we look at some of the pitfalls to avoid in terms of leadership as well cell group leadership we look at that later two is recapturing families right so in church especially believers don't really get involved in ministry many times they may just come to church attend and go back but when we move from a receiving mode just receive every Sunday or every cell group and then they move from that receiving mode into the giving mode more from instead of out of the distribution line into the contribution line right so we keep receiving it's been two years in church five years eight years ten years and many times we feel oh man when can I give something and can I minister to people life groups is a wonderful place I remember recently I was speaking to one of our church folks beautiful very very wonderful man of God he had his own business now he's a consultant and he was always very wise in the decisions that he would make so I remember just talking to him I think it was December early first week of December I said brother why don't you think of starting a cell group your children are all grown up now they're all going to college and working so you have free time and he wasn't working full time so he was more of a consultant he said he said do you think it's a good idea I said yes definitely I'll get people who are young people just starting up their professional life or probably starting up in their careers and you can you can help them you tell them places where you succeeded places where you failed how God helped you through these seasons and I'm sure they'll be able to really be blessed with what you share but he didn't think of it I told him this he said okay I'll think about it he came back he said okay we'll start and now many youth go to his life group and he shares of course he talks about the Sunday sermon but they all also ask him how did you start the business how did you do the challenges you faced and so it's life to life you know it's no more okay I know this person in church no so when they see each other it's like they really you know know each other well there's a relationship right and what happens there's life to life there's discipleship and this brother in church he called me he said thank you so much for giving me this opportunity I never thought at this age I would be able to you know speak into these youth I always thought you know they will have their own way but no it's not true many youth are looking for answers looking for mentors who can lead them right this time so it's a wonderful way of recapturing families touching hearts and lives you know especially within the church community right next one increasing the church now please remember that without a harvest our church can't grow right all our future leaders are out there in the harvest so the more effective if we want the church we must have greater better powerful leaders right now no church can function with one person we may be the pioneer of a church pioneer of a ministry he may have even if he has two or three people under him it's not going to last for long why even if it does the leaders are going to get a burnout it's very important as a church even as we're growing to have many many leaders many many volunteer leaders too now for example we have a church of 100 people I'm just giving you this example 100 people you must have at least 35 to 40 volunteers and leaders 35 to 40 what are we doing we're looking at raising up leaders we're looking at ahead we're looking what it's going to be what if we suddenly in one year become 200 people so what do we do no leaders no volunteers always prepare look at the harvest the harvest is plenty the laborers are few always when you as leaders as people in ministry when you look at people look at what they can do so recently here are some of the things we did in church I said okay let us have all the volunteer leaders meet all the volunteer leaders will grow your own teams so in three months you should have at least three to four new people in your team and of course as a leader I will recommend people I will lead people to your teams but what are we doing we are finding prospective leaders what's going to happen the church is going to grow the church is going to be stronger and then we are also starting new life groups we're getting people to who are just joining church if they committed to church they have decided to continue a church we're getting them to be part of life groups be part of cell groups they are in the cell groups they are learning they are getting opportunities they are probably learning how to pray how to minister healings exercising spiritual gifts doing all of this what's happening future leaders are being raised up it's a wonderful place to do that next one making disciples discipleship of believers is most effective in small groups right so you mentor life to life right you're you're sharing your life with the other person look at the beautiful example the Lord Jesus said for us right thousands of people would follow him but he had that 12 people and what did he do to them he showed them his life right Jesus didn't say okay you come when you come come home at 9 o'clock in the morning and I want you to leave by 5 p.m. 9 to 5 you are with me no he went with them he showed them he showed his life imagine he's walking through Samaria he's going there you think it's easy walking around in the hot sun through those deserts wasn't easy he saw his life they saw him they saw his humanity but they also saw his divinity they saw he's tired he's resting he's sleeping but they also saw that he calmed the storm in his hands they saw that he was probably tired and weary they saw that he was they didn't see him being tempted but they got to know the temptation came to him but they also saw him overcoming those temptations he shared his life he told them people are respecting him so much and here he is washing the disciples feet people are you know pouring out perfume and wiping their feet and wiping Jesus' feet and people are willing to do anything for Jesus and here Jesus is in a smaller setting he's washing his disciples feet do you want to be great be the least right he began to show them his life he didn't act super spiritual he didn't act super great or don't touch me don't come here no no wherever they went he probably had the simple food that they all had slept on those hard surfaces showed them his life mentored them taught them to pray taught them how to overcome taught them how to overcome the temptations and the works of the enemy made strong disciples and you and I as believers if we want to make disciples we need to show it in our lives there's a saying you know we can preach a thousand sermons sometimes people are not going to remember any of those sermons but they will remember our life they will remember oh this is what he did more than what he said they will remember what he did the Lord Jesus even when we read the scriptures we remember what he did of course he said a lot of powerful things but he did such powerful things right so let our life speak to others right now that's not easy right it's not easy but that's that's where making disciples we get an opportunity to speak into other people's lives only if we are taking the effort to be Christ like if we are walking in obedience with God's word people will come and listen I always remember I always had this feeling inside me at a very young age I got into ministry I always used to think you know why people may not come and share their problems or challenges with me because I was too young hey what is this person he doesn't know he's just so young he hasn't seen life yet he hasn't seen the challenges in life and so I was okay with people not coming and especially after church I was okay people don't come and share that's okay let them choose somebody who's maybe especially families who have gone through challenges let them choose them but this really struck me right the Lord Jesus he showed people his life his disciples so I began to just walk in obedience with God's word just being available and suddenly I realized over time people started coming they started sharing I'm going through this problem my children are like this my family is like this what happened they watch our lives and God begins to minister God begins to speak to them and God will give you and I an opportunity God is not looking for people who who know everything from Genesis to revelations you must be able to quote scriptures no he's just looking for lives that are surrendered and dedicated to him and he will use it right so I want to encourage each one of us if you ever thought of becoming a leader but maybe there are things that have stopped you right just overcome that just look at God and say God let me a life speak to people right and I'm sure that God can use each one of us in the ministry let's do the next one and then we'll take a break cell groups is a wonderful place for having true fellowship and edification so we look at that build meaningful relationships it's hard to do it in large gatherings but in small gatherings there's a bond there's a loving relationship that is you know just built over time and what happens it becomes so strong that that bonding spreads it goes from one person to another to another and all of a sudden you see the church is so close knit why because there was true fellowship there's true edification right so let's take a break we'll come back in 10 minutes and we'll start again any questions anybody have any questions questions okay let's take a break we'll come back at 10 o'clock