 Alright, welcome back everybody. Hope you had a good break. Let's resume with our second session and do a quick recap of what we've covered so far, right? So from page two, the introduction of defining praise and worship, we started, you know, with just understanding the context of what worship really is. We are designed to worship, we are made to worship, we have the capacity and the ability to worship anything or anyone, because that's in our DNA and how we've misunderstood worship in a way, in a sense that we thought that we are the recipients of worship. We are the center of the worship universe when it's not, and it's Jesus who's at the center of it all, isn't it? And we went through a few quotes by a few people of their understanding of worship. And we are now in page four, one of the last quotes on worship. So I hope you're all there. Quote number six by Bob Coughlin. Let me read that for us again. Christian worship is the response of God's redeemed people to his self revelation that exalts God's glory in Christ in our minds, affections and wills in the power of the Holy Spirit. Okay, I just want us to, you know, break that court and really try and understand what Bob, Mr. Bob is actually trying to say. Okay, so here we go. Christian worship, what does that mean? Christian worship is different from every kind of worship because it has been made possible through Jesus Christ. Amen? Christian worship is different from every other kind of worship because it has been made possible through Jesus Christ. So can someone please read to me, read as Revelation chapter five, verse nine and 10, please. Keep your Bibles handy, please, and all your phones. And they signed a new song saying, you are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals because you were slain. And with your blood, you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God and they will reign on the earth. Amen. John, do you mind reading us again, please? So Revelation chapter five, verse nine and 10, and they sang a new song saying, you are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals because you were slain and with your blood, you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God and they will reign on the earth. Amen. Thanks. Thanks, JP. Here's the thing I'd like to do. Can we read the scripture in another language in a couple of different languages also? Any language, Canada, Tamil, Hindi, one of the African languages is also cool. And then I want you to read it out loud for us. That'll be great. Who I was reading, any language? Aradhana, if you're reading, your mic is on mute. I'm not able to hear you. Okay, Aradhana, go first and then Abu, go next. Go ahead, Aradhana. Thank you. Thank you. Abu Bakr, please go ahead. Alice, why don't you go ahead? Yeah, so I'm reading it in Oriya. Thank you, Alice. Pema, Taddu? Yes, go ahead and read it for us. Just go ahead. Sorry, there seems to be some disconnection with the line. Ebenezer, you want to go ahead and read for us, please? Yes, Pastor. I praise God from Telugu-reading people. Amen. Thank you, Ebenezer. Thank you so much. Thank you everybody for reading. I just wanted us to do that and I want to keep doing this as we go ahead. But it's so beautiful in a way that what we did is from verse 9, it says, Every tribe and language and people. Every tribe, every language and people. He purchased us with his blood. Jesus purchased us with his blood. Every tribe, every language and people and every nation. And he have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve God. Amen. It is wonderful. So that is a gist in a way of Christian worship. Okay, Christian worship is so different from every kind of worship because it's been made possible through Jesus Christ and that's what we just read. The second part is Christian worship is the response. And what is the response? And I'm going to request someone to be ready with Acts chapter 17 verse 24 to 31. God has already done something outside of us and inside of us that enables us to worship. We are not the initiators of worship. God is. Okay, if you remember the court that we read by David Peterson, Court number four says worship of the living God and true God is essentially an engagement with him on the terms that he proposes means he's initiating it. Okay, can someone read Acts 17 24 to 31 please. At 17 verse 24, the God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands as if he needed anything because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else from one man. He made every nation of men that they should inhabit the whole earth. And he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him. Though he is not far from each one of us for in him will live and move and have our being. As some of your own poets have said, we are his offspring. Therefore, since we are God's offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone. An image made by man's design and skill. In the past, God overlooked such ignorance, but how he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead. Thank you. Thank you. This is a response. This is what happened and then the next passage tells us how we ought to respond. So this entails that God has already done something outside of us and instead of us that enables us to worship him. And we just read through that passage and we are not the initiators of worship. God is. So Christian worship is the response of God's redeemed people. Just as God delivered the nation of Israel from Egypt to worship him. So he has redeemed us as a holy nation to declare his praises. 1 Peter 2 verse 9. We read the same thing that's mentioned in Revelation 5 verse 10. He's made us a kingdom of a royal priesthood, a holy nation. Isn't it? So of God's redeemed people. So that means we are the God's redeemed people. So Christian worship is the response of us, the God's redeemed people. What next? To his self-revelation. We can't know God apart from him revealing himself to us. And he has shown himself to us in creation in his word and through his Son ultimately. And we see that in Romans chapter 1 verse 20. Okay. Quickly. And let's just, because we are there next, let's go to the next book. Romans chapter 1 verse 20. And see what it says. Romans chapter 1 verses 20. For since the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities, His external power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made. So that men are without excuse. Right. Thank you. Okay. So to his self-revelation. So we see that he has revealed himself through his word, through his creation. That's exactly what Romans 1 20 says. To his self-revelation of water that exalts the essence of worship is exalting, raising up, lifting high, submitting to magnifying, making much of honoring, reverencing, celebrating the triune God. And one of the words that kind of stood out, you know, in the passage that exalts is magnifying. What does magnifying mean? What does it mean? What does magnifying mean? So to enlarge something and seeing it. Okay. To make something that is small look big or big look bigger. Okay. Small thing looking bigger. Right. Okay. And have you, has anyone used a magnifying glass? Okay. So that's the purpose of magnification. Magnifying magnification is that you, you make something look small, look big or big, look bigger, et cetera, you know. But the question is how do you magnify God who's already, I mean, he's eternal. He's eternal. Right. And when, when David says magnify the Lord, oh my soul, and Hannah cries out the same thing, you know, magnify, magnify his name. And what I believe happens is that he becomes big in us. Isn't it? When we exalt him, when we praise him, when we lift him up, when we honor him, when we praise him, when we honor him, when we magnify, he becomes big in our lives. Isn't it? He shows himself bigger in our lives. But that exalts. Okay. So Christian worship is the response of God's redeemed people to his self-revelation that exalts that worships. Right. God's glory in Christ. God's glory in Christ. Moses asked God to show him his glory and God passed before him and proclaimed his nature. And we read that in Exodus 34. And God has enabled us to see his glory in the face of Jesus Christ. Can we go to second Corinthians chapter four verse six, please. And read and read what Paul writes there. Second Corinthians chapter four. Verse six. For God who said, let light shine out of darkness. Made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. Amen. Amen. So that's God's glory in Christ. And then the quote goes on to say in our minds, that goes to say worship involves thinking, meditating, reflecting, processing, evaluating, understanding what God has revealed to us of himself. And then affections. True worship involves the heart as well as the head. We worship what we love and value the most. And we see that in Matthew chapter 22 verse 37 and 38. This is what we see in the Bible. And we see that in Matthew chapter 22 verse 37 and 38. This is quickly actually go to Matthew 22, 37, 38 and see what it says. Jesus replied, love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. Amen. Thank you. Okay. All our affections, a true worship involves the heart as well as the head with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. Amen. And then finally wills, our minds, affections and wills. Okay. If we are truly worshipping God, we will truly be transformed. Our choices will reflect our profession that the God is supreme in our lives. Everything that we do and say some of you actually said in the beginning of the class that worship is a lifestyle, right? And your will, your actions will show, you know, who your God really is. And then in conclusion, he says, in the power of the Holy Spirit, we are those who worship by the spirit of God and depend on his leading and enabling. Okay. So God is the spirit being and we worship him in spirit and truth because the Father seeks true worship, who worship him in spirit and in truth. Okay. So with all of these understanding, I know there's a lot of content this, but one of my requests is guys, when you go back, just go through this court and go through this breakdown of that court once again when you can. Okay. So with everything that we've covered just now in that light, I want to read that quote again. It says, Christian worship is the response of God's redeemed people to his self-revelation that exalts God's glory in Christ in our moments, affection and wills. So something about Christian worship, you know, we should be able to respond in a way because of his self-revelation, that maybe worship and magnify in our minds affection and our hearts through the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen. So that kind of concludes just the brief definitions for worship. And in conclusion, what we can take away from all of that, what we just finished is true worship is centered around Jesus. True worship is centered around Jesus. He is the goal of our worship. It is in Jesus, through Jesus, through Jesus and for Jesus. He is the name above everything, our Alpha and Omega are beginning and the end. The one our worshiping universe should revolve around. Amen. Is there anything that you would like to add in this? Anybody would like to add from what we've covered so far? Did you go ahead? Yeah, as we were telling about this definition of worship, what was coming to my mind was the woman with the alabaster jar. Yeah, so I love her response to Jesus Christ as, you know, he forgave her of all her sins and out of her gratitude towards him, she's worshiping and she just forgets about whoever is around. She forgets about, you know, what she is, you know, the focus is only on Jesus and the others are focusing on the expense of the perfume. But, you know, that would be our responsive, you know, our focus is on him and we turn our eyes on Jesus. Yeah, I just want to add, thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. We are going to touch on the topic of the woman with the alabaster jar in the chapters to come. It's people who know me know it's one of my favorite passages in the Bible and we're definitely going to look at that. But thank you for sharing that. Okay, there's nothing else. Anybody else would like to share what you kind of took away from what we've covered so far? Okay. Okay, sure. Ebenezer, go ahead. Ebenezer, did you raise your hands? Asbestos, asbestos. Okay. Sure. Go ahead and share. Just I want to add from Mika chapter six verse seven and eight. God is not expecting something from us that which we cannot give or something like this material thing, but he's asking from us to listen to his word, to have compassion, to love, humbleness. This one only God is asking. He says, I just want to add that. Thank you, Ebenezer. Thank you. Yeah, it says, he has showed you, oh man, what is good and what does God, the Lord require of you to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. That's wonderful. Yes, thank you for sharing that. And Lubega, see you've raised your hand. Please go ahead. I have learned two things among many. One is the contradicting words like disconnecting and connecting. You see, when you worship, you're like disconnecting yourself from the realm of the world and you are connecting to this power, to this nature. Number two, I have learned that God, when we are worshiping, we are putting Jesus to be inside our box and at the same time outside our box. So thank you, Pastor. You're welcome. Awesome. Amazing. Okay. All right, guys. So we'll continue on now to page number five. And we'll see a few definitions of praise. Okay. So we've covered a little bit on the definitions of worship. We'll learn a little bit about praise. And as we progress from chapter to chapter, we'll go deeper and deeper into the subject of praise and worship. Okay. So page five, what is praise? So before I continue reading from the text, I want to play for us one of the most amazing songs I've ever heard. Okay. Are you all ready? It's the best song I've ever heard. I've been listening to two and a half years of my life now. Get ready. I just thought I'd play for us. Isn't that amazing? Okay, you all have to know I have a three-year-old at home and I've been playing this song for a long time. And one of the things that really struck me is praise. What's that? It's a yuppie yahoo way to go God. I mean, it's so simple, isn't it? We adults tend to complicate it, isn't it? But that's just so simple. Just become childlike. And how would we explain praise to a child? We can't really go to the dictionary and say, okay, praise is to commend, to applaud. I'm sorry, what? What do you mean? The praise is yuppie yahoo way to go God. It's the gay God. That's it. Isn't that awesome? But now that we've joined Bible College and we are all adults, let's just look at a little bit of the dictionary definitions as well. Okay, so, hey, I'll enjoy that song. John, get ready to have a playlist of those songs. Okay, so let's go. What is praise? To commend, to applaud, to express approval or admiration. That's what the dictionary says. To commend, to applaud, to express approval or admiration. Praise is the verbal declaration of adoration and thanksgiving. Everybody with your mic's mute say verbal. Praise is the verbal declaration of adoration and thanksgiving. That means you can't really keep quiet and say I'm praising. It's a verbal declaration. It's a very powerful declaration. It's an anthemic. And thanks adoration and thanksgiving for what God has done and for what he has promised to do. It focuses on his character and his wondrous acts. Okay, so that's the basic definition of praise. And we see praise is the spiritual sacrifice that we offer to God. Praise is the spiritual sacrifice that we offer to God. A couple of definitions there. Sacrifice. I've mentioned these two points there. But before we get to that, what is your understanding of sacrifice? Sacrifice of praise. What do you make of it? Sir, it's in Hindi, it's Balidan. Okay, then sacrifice of praise. How is that connected? What do you understand of it? Anybody, feel free. Giving up something for God. Okay, sure. Thank you, George. If I'm sharing the gospel and bringing people to the Lord, that is best sacrifice in Christian worship. Okay, what else? What more? There are about 27 of us. Go ahead. I believe your sacrifice is something that you give, but it costs you as an individual as you give it to someone. So it becomes a sacrifice if you give it at a price. If you give it at a price, that's a very important line. We're going to remember that. Praise becomes a sacrifice if it's given at a price. Let's remember that. What else? Even when times are difficult, thank God. Come on, guys. Praising God even when it feels hard. Anything in worshiping God? Yeah. So here on your notes, it says, sacrifice involves giving up something that we have a right to. Or sometimes sacrifice can also mean taking on something, taking on a responsibility or something that we don't necessarily have to. Okay. Somebody raised their hands just a second ago. I'm sorry I missed that. Okay. Yes. Go ahead. I'm saying to me, it actually means when we're studying economics some years ago, like 20 years ago when I was in secondary, it is like a value of a foregone alternative. There would be something you would be doing, but that value of that foregone alternative is what we call sacrifice. Okay. Thank you. Thank you for sharing that. Jaffina, I saw you raise your hand as well. I believe sacrifice is something like giving the best that we can show God from ourself and giving whatever he asks for. It could be anything, but without a doubt, God, say, oh God, I will give this to you. That's the biggest sacrifice of all. Right. Awesome. Thank you. Thank you for sharing that. Sikidna, go ahead. So for me, sacrifice means giving up something that you love the most and you wanted the most and exchanging it with your praise and worship or the thing you desired the most. You want it extremely, but still you are keeping it. You are separating it and you are going for the God's purpose. This is what I mean. Okay. All right. Thanks, guys. Okay. Thanks everybody for sharing that. Okay. I mean, everybody's on point. Giving up something that we may have a right to or taking on something that we don't have necessarily have to. Okay. That's one of the things. Can we also go to Hebrews chapter 13 verse 15, please? Hebrews chapter 13 verse 15. Thank you. Right. So it says, through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise. The fruit of lips that openly professes his name. New King James version says this. Therefore, by him, let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God. That is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. So what do we make of that verse? How is sacrifice of praise the fruit of our lips? Come on, somebody. Like what we say should honor God. Sacrifices the fruit of our lips. So like James also says, right? What we speak is important. Right. Thanks, Josh. Right. Sometime ago, Mulongo, he said that the sacrifice of praise is when we praise someone that costs us. But very often than not, our praise doesn't really cost us that much, isn't it? I mean, in our day-to-day life, we praise our dogs for going and fetching the stick. You know, we praise our friends. It's like, hey, good job. It's like, oh, dude, that was awesome. What you did, we do that or not? Yes or no? Okay. If I have to get more local about it, you have to say some of them are amazing. You know, too good, brilliant, right? Those are all praise in a way, but that doesn't really cost me anything. The thing is it makes me, in some way it makes me feel better than me praising that person. It's very weirdly. But, you know, and I think in the context of our Christian worship, Christian response, and this is, again, my understanding of it, is when everything is going well, it's easy to praise God. It's like, I praise you, Lord. I got this month's salary. Everything is going well. It's amazing. Thank you, and you're awesome and whatnot. But then, like some of you have already expressed, worshipping him in difficult times, that's when, on our bad days, not just bad days, but now worse days, where the season of darkness just doesn't seem to end. You know, the medical reports coming, you know, not in your favor, your spouse is not treating you well, you're not being treated well by your parents. You're just going through a very, very bad time in life in general. And in times like those, I don't know about you. I don't really feel that the first thing that doesn't, that comes to my mind is not praise God. I'm being very honest. But it is in those moments, you know, it's, you're not feeling right. You know, it's, you don't feel like worshipping or singing or praising, but it's at those moments when you lift up those, you know, say, father, I don't know what, you know, what's happening around me. I don't understand it, but I choose to praise you, verbal act, anyways. That is the fruit of our lips. That's kind of costing you something, isn't it? And then David says, you know, I will not give God something that doesn't cost me anything. Isn't it? That's a beautiful way to look at it, isn't it? So that's, you know, it's the spiritual sacrifice that we are talking about. And that's what praise in a way is when Hebrews 13, 15 is also asking us to do. And another definition or understanding of praise or sacrifice is also death. Death to comfort, self-pity, fleshly desires, pride, jealousy, ego, lust, anger, et cetera, et cetera, whatever it is. You know, death to self, you know, it's not only about me, me, me, me. Everything has to be around me, me. You know, we build a mini-me temple for all of us. You know, but dying to that. And that's when, you know, Romans 12 comes into the picture. You know, offer your body as living sacrifices. Right, makes sense. So that is praise. And we'll conclude this chapter with just understanding this little differences between praise and worship. God does not need our praise. We need to praise Him. One of the lines my, one of my youth pastors used in early 2000s, he said, God doesn't need you, but He wants you. Actually, he said, God wants you, but He doesn't need you. That stuck with me for till now. And, you know, He wants us, but He doesn't really need us to go about doing, you know, the stuff that He wants to do. But He wants, He enjoys partnering with us. And similarly, God doesn't need our praise. You know, when, before there was anything, I, you know, I'd like to think, He created everything and He said it is good. It's like He praised Himself. He's like, hey, good job. That's good. You know, He created the sun, the moon, the stars, the seas and everything. He said, it's good. You know, so God doesn't need our praise. He's self-sufficient. He's all-sufficient. You know, but we need to praise Him. And one of the psalms says, praise looks good on us. When we praise Him, it looks good on us. Okay, so God commanded us to praise, not because of what it does for Him, but because of the changes it brings us. The second point there is, praise can sometimes be distant. The heart of man need not be near to God for praise to occur. It is possible for even rocks to praise. But worship is intimate. Relationship is a requirement for worship. Okay, second point. So praise can sometimes be distant. What is it? Again, you know, we can, like I said, we praise our dogs. We praise this movie actor. We praise this sportsman. You know, all of India is praising that guy who won the gold medal. That doesn't necessarily mean I know the guy. Right? So you can praise someone from a distance. So praise can sometimes be distant. And, you know, just as the scripture says, if we don't praise, the rocks will cry out. No big deal. Creation that has no breath will cry out. I can teach a parrot to sing a song. It doesn't mean it has any connection. It understands everything about praise. Right? But worship is more intimate. It's a relationship. You go deeper and deeper. You get to know the person. You spend time with the person. You begin to understand the likes and dislikes of the person. And you begin to fall in love. You begin to, you know, express your affection, your adoration, your love and everything towards the person. And point three is praise is always obvious. Either seen or heard, but worship is not always evident to an observer. And sometimes it may be visible, but not always. And again, just going back to some of the definitions, you know, we looked at earlier. We, as humans, we tend to gauge with what we see, isn't it? And for example, if a person is expression, full on lifting their hands and praising, waving left and right and whatnot, versus a person who's very quietly sitting, we come to, very fast come to a conclusion saying, okay, the person who is sitting and not doing anything is not worshiping, but the person who is lifting their hands up and doing everything is the worshiper. But it can be so tricky, isn't it? So that's the third point there is praise is always obvious, either seen or heard, but worship is not necessarily evident. It's not always evident to an observer. And actually it doesn't have to be because I'm not the recipient. So first of all, I shouldn't be looking at people around and then finally praise is mostly horizontal in its purpose. We speak to one another, we invite, we encourage is, hey, someone says, come, let us go to the house of the Lord, come, let us bow together in worship, come. So this is invitation, okay? It's like, hey, come, let us go. This is invitation for community. Let's just go in hundreds and thousands and praise Him, okay? Whereas worship is so much, again, more vertical. It's just direct connection. It's so private. It's so secret. So there's just a few differences between praise and worship for understanding, okay? I just want to pause here and there's some notes that you can go through at the end of it. But guys, just think with me or imagine with me. We said, Christian worship is about Jesus, amen? I mean, it should do something to us every time, every time. We say the name Jesus or the beautiful name of Jesus. And when we have His face before us, expressing our love and gratitude doesn't become hard. Worship doesn't become complicated as we have made it. Are you guys with me? Every time you just say the name Jesus, and you just behold the beauty of our King, that beautiful King who took our place on the cross, that beautiful King who had to be taught to walk, who needed help when he was born, who had to sleep, this God who never slumbers nor sleeps. He came down because he loved us. And this is the God that we are talking about when we say that He deserves our worship and that you do something, isn't it? Iman, are you all with me so far? Yes, sir. So we choose to praise and worship Him. As it's mentioned in the notes, when we feel like it or not, we choose to praise Him. We choose to worship Him. Just a few examples from the Bible is Abraham from Genesis 22. We know what happens there in Job chapter 1 verse 20, and David in 2 Samuel 20, when he loses his son, he wakes up, he cleanses himself, and then he goes and worships. Our situation, our circumstances change for the good and for the bad, one day up and down. Today is good, tomorrow is bad. Our situations, our circumstances will change, but the worth of Jesus never changes. His worth never changes, isn't it? And which is why it is important that every time we worship that Jesus is the focus, we magnify Him, we exalt Him, we adore Him, we honor Him and Him alone. No other name, no other rival throne, nothing else should matter. Iman? So, we've come to a close now. Would someone like to pray and close the session, please? Anybody? Can I pray in Hindi? Yes please, go ahead. Sir Roshan was kept between us, so that God can make us know better about your knowledge. Today we have learned a lot about Aradhana. We thank all the brothers and sisters here. They are learning. I pray to all of them, God bless them. May God help you in making Aradhana. We pray for our next class, God bless you. Thank you for your good class and your teachings. All the blessings are on you. Pray for your life, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Thank you everybody for joining in for today's session. Let's stop the recording. Thank you sir.