 Please go ahead. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for this wonderful morning. We thank you for your love for us. But most importantly, we, as a body of believers, the Church, you Bride, whom you are preparing to come and take. Lord, as we study these, Lord, I pray that we shall understand it with the honest understanding the way you wanted it to be understood, the way you wanted us to know it, that, Lord, we shall know it without exemptions. And that, Lord, Jesus will be able to abide in your Word, whereas we grow as the local Church, whereas we grow as the body of Christ. We will be one and be able to remain in your Word and serve you for the growth of your name and for our good Jesus' name, amen. Amen, amen. Thank you, thank you, Charles, for leading us in that word of prayer. We will continue with our publication here on the House of God. And in the last class, we took time to learn about the Church being the pillar of truth. And there were so many questions that we had. So we kind of dwelt on that. And today we will move forward. We will touch on chapter 12, which is about the local Church as the bride of Christ. So what is it that we can learn about the way God deals with the Church? And as ministers of God, how does that affect the ministry that we engage in? So that is the perspective with which we are going to study about the Church being the bride of Christ. Now, among all the pictures, so far we've seen the Church being the body of Christ, the family of God, the army, and the pillar of truth. Among all these, and we will touch on a few more pictures as well, we could say that probably this is one of the most wonderful pictures of the Church being the bride of Christ. And where do we get this idea of the Church being the bride of Christ? As we look at the Old Covenant and also God's dealings with the Church in the New Covenant, we see that God has a way of dealing with his people. And that is a way of grace. So we observe that, and we look at certain scriptures also where God himself addresses the Church as his bride. So that's where we get this understanding from. Now, some of the differences in the Old Covenant and the New Covenant that we observe is that in the Old Covenant, things were based on the law. But if the New Covenant things are, of course, it's not that Jesus wanted to dismiss the law, but grace is something that is introduced in the New Covenant. And under the Old Covenant, we observe that there are only some people who could experience the powerful work of the Holy Spirit. But under the New Covenant, the Holy Spirit indwells every believer, and the Holy Spirit can empower every believer. It's not just a certain select people who are called for special works, but every believer can experience the empowering of the Holy Spirit. So these are the differences. But the common or the similarities that we observe in both the Covenants is that God treats his people as the chosen people. And these chosen people are supposed to be a blessing to all the nations. So we are called to all the nations. We are called to bring many people to the kingdom of God and lead them into experiencing the love of Jesus Christ. So that is something. We are a chosen people in the Old Covenant, as well as in the New Covenant. And we, as God's people, we're also known as the royal priesthood, or people who can minister to God. People look at minister to God. And as I've been saying, the way God deals with the Church, it's very tender and filled with love. And God calls the Church his bride. So let's look at a couple of Old Testament instances where the Church is called as the bride. In fact, we find that prophets like Jeremiah, Hosea, and Isaiah, they have prophesied. And there are quite a few scriptures where the conversation is as if God is speaking to his bride. So in Jeremiah 2, verses 2 to 3, again, can somebody please read this passage? It is on page 79 of our notes. Jeremiah chapter 2, verse 2 to 3. Go and cry in the hearing of Jerusalem, saying, this is the Lord. I remember you, the kindness of your youth, the love of your best brother. When you went after me in the wilderness in an unknown zone, Israel was holiness to the Lord. The first fruits of his increase, all that devour him will offend. Disaster will come upon them, says the Lord. Amen. Amen. Thank you. Thank you, Charles. So we've seen a word betrothed there. God talks about Israel or his own people, his chosen people, being betrothed to him. Betrothed is engagement. And in certain cultures, they use the term betrothed. And there are some guidelines that come with that. But betrothed is in the Jewish culture. So what God is essentially saying is that the relationship of his people, Israel, with him was such as betrothed. So he talks about the kindness, the love, the demonstration of Israel's pursuit of God, and the fact that the nation was like a holy nation dedicated unto God. And it was like a relationship of betrothed. And even later, we know that Jeremiah is the weeping prophet who prophesied to call a wayward people back to God. So even when the people of Israel backslided, they had this commitment with God, but they went their own ways. They did not keep themselves for God. Even at that time, God was not someone who chose to abandon them. So there are words of prophecy over the children of Israel which say that, I will bring you back. So Jeremiah 3, 14, where God says, return or backsliding children, says the Lord, for I am married to you. I will take you one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion. So it's as if God is being merciful. God is being long suffering in the face of Israel's betrayal and vagueness. So God calls his people back. And he uses the term, married, which is to demonstrate his commitment. We talk about God's covenant with us. Covenant is the promise of God, which cannot be broken. Because he is true, and he has made that commitment with us. So God is talking about how he treated his people with such kindness and mercy, even at a time when they went away from God. And that is the kind of commitment that God has towards his people. Now, there are several other passages. I won't be able to read every passage which is given in our notes, but I would encourage us to go back and read it. Maybe I'll read one passage here from Jeremiah 31, verses 3 and 4. The Lord has appeared of all to me saying, yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness, I have drawn you. Again, I will build you, and you shall be rebuilt. O Virgin of Israel, you shall again be adorned with your pangorines, and shall go forth in the dances of those who rejoice. So God is revealing himself as a restorer. And his promise of love to his people is one that will last. So we see that he's promising his everlasting love to his people. And he draws back even the wavered children of Israel when they had gone their own ways. It's as if he is drawing back his bride to himself with the promise of rebuilding and restoration. So that's the kind of attitude. That's what God demonstrates as he also uses the word husband. You shall call me your husband. So we see that in the book of Hosea, where God says to his children, and it shall be in that day, says the Lord, that you will call me my husband, and no longer me my master. For I will take from your mouth the names of the bales, and they shall be remembered by their name no more. So basically, this is emulating one of the most beautiful relationships that we can see in mankind, the relationship between a husband and a wife. And God is providing that kind of a commitment to the Church. So what comes out of this? We just read the passage from Hosea, where God says, OK, you shall call me my husband. So as we look at the way he's related to his people, there are some things that we can understand. What God does is he calls his people his forever. You are mine forever. So you see that in a marriage relationship, it's a covenant between a man and a woman in the with God at the center of it. So we see here in the same manner where this covenant or this commitment between a man and a wife is a lasting covenant, lasts as long as their lifetime. But we know that we serve an everlasting God. So when God makes a commitment with his people, what he is saying is that he is saying that my commitment towards you is forever. And you are mine forever. And we see that God in this relationship is drawing his people to himself in righteousness. So what is it based on? The relationship is based on righteousness. It's based on holiness. It's based on purity, which kind of steps from God. But that marks the relationship between God and his people. Now, we also find that God is one who grants that commitment and one of protection. So he promises his people justice. I haven't read all the scriptures from where I'm making these points, but I encourage us to please go back and read those verses. So he promises justice to his people. So through that, every form of oppression, injustice, whatever we may be facing, we can always see God for his deliverance upon our lives. God extends his loving kindness. And we just saw the kind of love that he promises to us. It is an everlasting love. God grants his mercy. So Israel was wavered. We talked about it. So they were the people who experienced failures. But in the midst of those failures, in the midst of the weaknesses which they carried, God is a God who extended his mercy and said, OK, fine. I am great and I choose to forgive you. I choose to continue to lead you. So he extends his mercy towards his people. And in the commitment, in the marriage relationship, we understand that it's about faithfulness. It's about faithfulness. So God is committing that faithful love to the church. And he's saying that I will continue to carry you. I will continue to be there for you. And that's the kind of love that he extends towards his people. And of course, God promises intimacy, meaning the opportunity for us to know him in a deeper way, for us to know him in a greater manner. So God promises this kind of relationship with his people and assuring his people that, again, there are passages that we can look at. We looked at some passages from Jeremiah. We looked at some from Hosea. Now, if we touch upon some passages from Isaiah, there again, the prophet prophesies to tell God's people that they are God's beloved. And again, God speaks over them. And he says, for your maker is your husband. So God is the one who is proposing this kind of a commitment to his people. And we're able to understand, even when we look at the New Testament, the passage about husbands and wives and how they are meant to relate to one another in Ephesians chapter 5, we see that there is that entire description, husbands love your wives and all of that. But later Paul adds, and he says, but I'm talking about Christ and his church. So God and the church is that primary example from where we can learn what this entire relationship is all about. So God terms himself in Isaiah chapter 54 and verse 5. He says, for your maker is your husband. The Lord, of course, is his name. And your redeemer is the holy one of Israel. So again, God is basically promising his unending love and faithfulness towards his people. And we continue to see Isaiah 62, where it's like a bridegroom rejoicing over his bride. This is what the passage says. I will read it for us from verses 4 to 7. I'm on page 80 in our notes. You shall no longer be termed forsaken. Nor shall your land any more be termed desolate. But you shall be called Hepsiva and your land Bula for the Lord delights in you and your land shall be married. For as a young man marries a virgin, so shall your sons marry you. And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you. So in God's calculation, we find that the church is not a burden for God. It's not a project. It's not something that God is trying to drag with him and think that I have to extend my mercy to these people. I have to be kind to them. They are always going away from me. They are so stiff-necked. That's not the kind of response that God has towards his people. We can see very clearly the terms that are used here. God speaks to his people and he says, you are Hepsiva, meaning you are my delight. That's translated for the Hebrew. It means delight. So God's people are his delight. It's never a joke for him to be ministering to his people, to be taking care of his people, to be there for his people. God delights in loving his people. And viola means marriage. Again, that picture of commitment, that picture of God's everlasting, faithful love towards his people, God's mercy. All of that comes into play. So how does God relate to the church? We understand that God has this love welling up in him which is overflowing, which is poured out on his church, the bride. So God delights in his people. Now, when we understand this, how does it really matter to us? One of the reasons why we must know about this relationship that God has with the church is because when we serve people, we are all talking about being kingdom builders and especially in this course, we are talking about the church and dealing with the church and building the church and relating with the church as ministers of God. Now, we may all not be positioned as pastors, but in our own capacity, we must realize that we are not here to force a people to follow a set of rules. No, that's not what we are doing. But here is a chosen people, God's own people in whom he delights. And so when we are ministering to God's people, our attitude, our attitude in the way we serve his people now has to be right. And this truth of understanding the fact that the people of God are his bride. They are the delight of God. Now, it helps us value people in that way. We don't kind of lord over them or boss over them or misuse our authority over them because we understand God finds these people precious and he has showered his love upon them. And we are here just to aid in that loving work that God is extending over the lives of his people. So we look at God's people as his delight, as his bride, and as a people over whom the Lord rejoices. So we as ministers of God must also rejoice over God's people and the attitude with which we serve them must be a loving attitude. So let's see what else we can understand and what else we can learn from God's relating to the church as a bridegroom. Now, there are other passages as well that we will look at. We see that there is the parable of the 10 virgins. The 10 virgins. So what can we get out of that parable? This is in Matthew chapter 25, verses 1 through 13. Here, Jesus gives the illustration of Jewish wedding. And we know that Jewish unlike weddings in other parts of the world, it extended over several days. So there was a wait for the groom to come. And during that time, the bride and the friends of the bride needed to get themselves ready. So Jesus used this parable to teach us about preparedness, about readiness, about expectation, about endurance. Because we know that the bridegroom is going to return. And Jesus used this illustration to tell us that he is going to come back. The church is supposed to be waiting for the return of Jesus Christ. So when we look at the church, we talked about so many different aspects. We said that the church is the family of God. So based on that, we relate to one another with brotherly love. We carry one another's burdens. We serve one another. We all of that. So that's how it's kind of in practicality. It is seen in the church. So now that we are the bride of Christ and we are awaiting the return of the Lord Jesus Christ, how should the church be? In other words, how should every believer be in the church eagerly awaiting the return of Christ? Now if the believers are not eagerly awaiting the return of the bridegroom, something is wrong in the way we understand God, the way we understand the second coming, the way we understand our preparation for the second coming. Now if you look at the early church, they did not realize that it would take 2,000-plus years for Christ to return. So when you read the epistles, when you read the apostles writing to the churches, they were very earnest. And they always wrote things like, be ready. Christ is coming. So the first century church, they trusted and believed that Christ would return. They didn't know the time, but they lived as if it's now. It's right away. So that eagerness, even when Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, that's how he writes. And he says, come on. You need to have an earnest expectation. And be joyfully ready for the return of the bridegroom. So that teaches us that we must impart this truth to the body of Christ. And we must see the body of Christ waiting upon the bridegroom God in that manner. If we are waiting for the bridegroom God, it's like, yeah, OK, he's coming. We've missed it. We've really missed it. But if we are expectant and joyful to weigh the 10 virgins, we see those 10 virgins. Among them, five of them, they were eagerly waiting with the oil, meaning they had some level of preparation in their lives, and they were expecting any time the bridegroom is going to come. So the church is supposed to be like that. And that is how we have to groove or we must impart the truth to the church. Now, let's look at a couple of other aspects. A chaste virgin. So when Paul writes to the Corinthians, he's very zealous for the church. And he makes a statement, 2 Corinthians 11, 2. He says, for I am jealous for you with godly jealousy, for I have betrothed you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. So what does he say? Basically, he's saying that the church must be protected and preserved the way Paul had served the church and he had invested in the body of believers. And at that time, we know that there were so many other temptations, erroneous teachings that were going on, false prophets were around. So Paul is very protective of the church in that way. Now, he's not trying to be controlling, but what he's saying is the work which has been done in all of you, it was his desire to make sure that the people don't lose it. And even when Christ returns, he wanted to see the people chaste virgin. Meaning, it's talking about somebody who's committed and who's waiting for her groom. So in that manner, the church is waiting only for her groom, which is the Lord Jesus Christ. So we as God's ministers, we see here that Paul, he takes his position as the friend of the groom. And he says, who's the bridegroom? He says, I have betrothed you to one husband, which obviously it is the Lord Jesus Christ. So we are, he prepared the bride. Paul prepared the bride and we know that everyone, the responsibility of the ministers of God is to prepare the bride as one chaste bride for the bridegroom who is returning. So that's what our ministry should bring about. We are preparing the bride for the return of Christ. And we also see that the bride is the church. And the church of God's people, what kind of a bride is the Lord Jesus going to return for? So the passage in Ephesians chapter five, verses 22 to 32, that's a very good description of the kind of bride that the Lord Jesus is going to return for. So I'm not gonna read the entire passage here, but we see that he is coming back for a glorious, a glorious church. He's coming back for a church without blemish, a church which is perfect in holiness. Okay, so that is the expectation. Now, when we talk about the preparation for the return of Christ, what kind of preparation is required because our intimacy with God is something that matters, intimacy of the church as a body and every believer individually, their intimacy with God is important, but at the same time, the preparation in terms of holiness, in terms of the terms that I use just without blemish, and that simply means not being tainted by sin, not being tainted by sin, but consecrating ourselves, dedicating ourselves unto the Lord and being in that position of being dedicated to God. But that's the kind of church that the Lord Jesus is going to return for a church which is pure. And we also see that it is a glorious church, or filled with the glory of God, which represents, which represents, which shines the person of God to the world around it. And again, as ministers of God, this is the preparation. This is the investment that we are making into the house of God, into the lives of the people of God, to prepare them in this manner, that every single one of us, that we may walk in that kind of glory, right? Releasing that kind of glory to the world around us. So we are the glorious church that the Lord Jesus is going to return for and a blemishless and a holy, pure church that he's going to return for. And what is the kind of, as part of the relationship of a husband and wife? There are other things also we see in this passage where God promises the church that he is going to sanctify or, in other words, cleanse the church. So what agent, what is he going to use to clean the church? You know, the word of God. The word of God purifies our hearts. We see even Jesus talk about it in John 17, 17, where he says like your word is truth and it's the truth, right? That he uses to cleanse our hearts. So how is God going to prepare our hearts and keep it blemishless by washing us with the water which is the word of God. And that is why the church should be given and committed to the word of God. And again, that is a pointer to us as ministers of God. How do we raise up a holy and a pure church? People who are walking right in the ways of God. We need the power of the word of God. Without that, we will not be able to prepare the bride for the return of the bride group. So we invest in the truth of God's word. We speak the truth of God's word over the hearts and the lives of the people. And we also see once again, you know, the way we saw earlier in the book of Isaiah where God says that you are my delight, okay? We see that in this relationship between the husband and the wife, what God is saying is that the husband nourishes and cherishes his wife. So in the same manner, the Lord Jesus is committed to the growth and the well-being and the fruitfulness of the church, okay? Which is us, which is every single one of us who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. So as ministers of God, you must understand that we are serving as friends of the bride and friends of the group. We are here for the preparation of the bride for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ and that our God delights in his people. He delights in his people, okay? Some more things that we can look at. There is a passage here from Revelation 19 verses six through nine, where we see that the bride makes herself ready. Okay, the bride makes herself ready for the return of the group. You once again, you know, what is this readiness which we are talking about? We've touched on aspects like holiness. We've touched on aspects like intimacy, okay? But the bride makes herself ready and in this passage in the book of Revelation, you also find that the bride is arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. So the clothes of the bride are described and we know as we study about who we are in Christ Jesus that through the work of the cross, the finished work of the cross, every believer has been clothed with righteousness. Every believer has been justified and made righteous. So the garments that we have on as the people of God, we are washed in the blood of the lamb and our garments are, you know, bright and clean and just the way it is described here, the attire of fine linen which the bride is wearing for the marriage. You know, in that manner, it's a walk of righteousness. So here again, as ministers of God, those who are serving the church, it's important for us to help people find the path of righteousness, lead them in the path of righteousness because what is the kind of bride that the groom is going to come back for? Clothed in righteousness, right? So we can't have the clothes painted with sin or you know, rags as the bridegroom returns and our work as ministers of God must be to make sure that the bride is clothed in garments of righteousness, even as the groom returns, okay? So the readiness, the readiness of the bride is important, the readiness in the manner in which the groom expects and we've seen that his expectation is that the bride will be chased, that she will be holy, she will be pure, that she will have the garments of righteousness on her and also be expected for the groom to return. So Revelation 22 verse 17, where it says, and the spirit and the bride say, come. The spirit and the bride say, come. So far we've seen the preparation which can be done through the word of God, the cleansing that comes about in the body of Christ and we've also seen how as ministers of God with the right attitude, we begin to invest, we begin to nurture the body of Christ to prepare herself for the return of the groom. But here, there are two things that we notice. One is the spirit, the spirit says, come or the work of the Holy Spirit in the preparation of the bride. Yes, the word is poured on our lives and so we are being prepared for the return of Christ but at the same time, the Holy Spirit is at work. So as ministers of God, allowing the Holy Spirit to work in the church, inviting the Holy Spirit to work in the hearts of the believers, it's very important because without his work, you know, the preparation will not be complete. So the spirit, it says, so the Holy Spirit is working in the church, preparing her to say, come or return Lord Jesus. So there is a preparation of the Holy Spirit and it also says the bride says, come which means that the bride is desiring for the return of the groom. It's not like, you know, she's saying, oh no, it's, today is my wedding, you know, I never heard anybody say this, things like that, but more so the church, right? Expectant for the return of Christ and a waiting, a waiting joyfully for the return of the bride. So the bride says, come. And again, as I talked about the early church, we see that they were expecting an eager for the return of Christ. And they, you know, there are instructions that the apostles gave them to protect themselves from wrong teachings, to make sure that they hold on to the faith till the end so that they will never stumble, okay? So in the same manner, each one of us, every believer, he must be expected for the return of Christ and have that heart that says, okay, God, I want to be ready, I want to be prepared when you come back. So expectation is important. So we kind of tie everything together and look at some of the takeaways from this picture of the church being the bride. So what have we been saying? We've been saying that the bride, you know, she's supposed to have an attitude of love towards her group. So she is lost in love, admiration, and commitment to her group. And that shows us as the church, you know, that we maintain that kind of an attitude and how does that attitude really show in the church? You know, we could say that an attitude of worship is something that expresses this longing, this waiting, this admiration of our bridegroom, God, our King, right? So our worship unto the Lord. And as part of our worship, even as, you know, we see the days drawing closer to the return of Christ, you know, all around the world, you would find that, you know, the kind of songs that are being written, we are nointing upon worship that we observe, people's hearts are being prepared. It's being kind of, you know, softened towards our bridegroom King. And it has the churches crying out and calling out and understanding the height, the depth, the width of the love of God for us. And we are responding back with the same kind of love towards our God. So, you know, the church must have that kind of a loving attitude towards God. But let's say, for example, it's the opposite. What if the church is dry? What if worship is just, yeah, we're singing some songs, yeah, okay, Jesus is going to come back. You know, we are not preparing the church as the bride because what do we see in scripture? We see that the bridegroom desires the bride and the bride responds, right? With commitment, with admiration, with longing for the return of the groom. So if the church's heart is not prepared in that manner that we're not longing for our God, there's something is wrong with the kind of preparation that we have, okay? Now, since you're talking about all these things, I guess, you know, we must not, you know, there's some pointers over here in the notes which have been given that, you know, we must, whatever we are sharing here, this is to understand the relationship of God with the church, okay? So this does not mean that, you know, it's one or the other, for example, people who are married, it would be wrong for them to say that, oh, okay, because God has committed himself as a spouse, you know? I am completely given to that relationship with God and my ugly relationship with my spouse doesn't matter anymore, no. Because what we are doing is we're kind of, we are giving ourselves to one truth and we are disengaging ourselves from another truth because scripture says, you know, you must honor marriage, marriage is honorable. So it's not to say that, you know, we make our relationship with God the primary thing to discard the human relationship, that's not what it means. And also, you know, this is not meant to be something emotional and all of that, but you know, you get the point, right? It's basically to understand the attitude that God has towards the church and the attitude that the church has towards God and as ministers of God, how should we prepare the church and how should we serve the church? Okay, a couple of other things that we can glean from this picture, the church being the bride is that, you know, the bride adorns herself with the best, okay, for the wedding day. So again, we as God's people, you know, our question should be, okay, what is it that is going to please our God? If righteousness pleases our God, then yes, we walk in the ways of righteousness. So we're constantly asking that question, you know, what is it that will please our God and what is it that we, you know, causes to be ready at His coming? And we just engage ourselves, we give ourselves to that, to make our bridegroom, God, our king happy. Then the bride, because of this relationship that, you know, God has given us as a picture, we realize that God is expressing a closeness. He's expressing a closeness to the church. See, God could have used any picture. We could have had in our notes here, we could have had, you know, the boss and his employee, right? We could have had that picture, okay? Instead of talking about the bride, the employee could have been the picture where we talked of, okay, you know, God entrusts us with responsibility, with authority, with dominion, but God has chosen the picture of the bride. So what comes along with it, you know, the closeness that God is expressing with His people. And that closeness also tells us that we are recipients of His unconditional love. So, you know, the way we relate to God, with the way Jesus, for the first time, Jesus, you know, when He prayed, He taught His disciples to pray. He said, our Father, what an heaven, which was a novelty for people of Jesus's times. But you see, this is like similar. It's kind of mind-boggling, where God says that, you know, I am the bride group and the church is the bride. So what comes along with it? We are recipients of God's unconditional love, affection, gentleness, mercy, faithfulness, justice is enduring love, right? And so much more, and at the same time, the closeness also reveals the sharing, right? The sharing of God's heart. So He is willing to reveal the deeper things of His heart to us. And that is the work of the church. You know, what a privilege. God's not saying that, okay, I'll just tell you what to do and that's about it. But this relationship of intimacy tells us that we can understand the heart of God. We are that close to God as the people of God. And so we can know what is it that God wants for our own lives, as well as when we minister to people, we can move from the heart of God to bless the lives of the people. And we share that kind of closeness with God. So we have access to God's heart. And that is what God is trying to tell us, very close, very close intimate with the groom. Okay, and again, talking about this kind of a relationship, it's quite clear that as God expresses His commitment, He expects that same commitment from the bride. So we as God's people, we have to consecrate. That's where the dedication, the setting apart comes where we say, okay, God, you have committed yourself and you are giving all of yourself to us. We are giving all of ourselves to you for God and we are committing ourselves only to you. We've seen examples of people in the Bible who have lived like that. You've had people like Daniel and his friends and Joseph, you know, in the midst of oppressing pressures, they were still committed. They said, okay, we will not worship, right? We will not worship any other idols or gods, things like that. So our commitment to God must be deep and it must be something very strong. And obviously, the bride keeps herself for the groom and she does not settle for anyone else. So we don't give our commitment to anyone else. And yeah, we've touched on all the other points here. Yeah, so one last point here is that every ministry should flow with the consideration that the church is the bride. And even when we intercede and we intercede and we're praying for the body of Christ, we know that God will respond. If this is the kind of closeness he's expressing to the church, he's a God who will respond to our prayers. So just the practical aspects, I'll touch on it and then maybe we can take a few questions and close or come back and discuss a little bit before we move on to the next topic. So some practical aspects here. We must awaken the body of believers to be passionate lovers of God and worshipers of God. And that is the right way to build the church as the bride of Christ. Okay, and we must teach people that whatever ministry is done, it must be birthed out of love for God and it must be birthed out of love for God's people. It shouldn't be done as, okay, just only correcting the people or doing it as a duty, doing it as an obligation, no. But it's from a place of sincere love for God. It's from a place of sincere love for God's people. And we must understand the kind of love that God has for his people and make sure that our ministry is flowing with that same kind of love. And we must be very sensitive to the moving of the spirit and recognize, we talked about intimacy. I could talk about intimacy. So, God relates very closely with us. Even as we minister, we must come to that place of hearing God closely, knowing His heart in a clear way. And through that, serve the way God is calling us to serve. And from His presence, sort of. And that will bless the hearts and the lives of the people. Maybe it's a prophetic word we are releasing or prophetic songs that are coming through the presence of God or different things. The miracles that God is releasing, the healings that God is releasing, but so close to His heart and so close to His presence and it's coming out of that place. Now, what are some of the challenges with the picture of the bride? It's very nice to receive an invitation from God to come close to Him. So, the invitation says come. Okay? I'm sure all of us as believers at any given stage in our lives, you know, if you are invited to an entire day of worship, you would, you know, pick that wholeheartedly and say, I don't wanna do anything else. I'll just worship, right? And enjoy God's presence. But at the same time, while we are here on the earth, God has given us the great commission. So, the great commission says go. While the invitation for us as a bride is to come and, you know, be in the presence of God and enjoy His love for us, God is, it's the same God who says you go and make the circuits of all nations, right? So, the balance, the balance. Otherwise, what happens? Believers will just stay in the come and never step out to serve the great commission. So, to strike a balance and not to ignore the go. And just because we are going, we are serving, we are striving, we are working hard, it doesn't mean that, you know, we've lost our intimacy with God. So, it's got to be times of being still in His presence, being close to Him and going and serving, doing the work that He has called us to do. Yeah. So, I think that would be kind of the main point here. And of course, we are saying, you know, it's not all this picture of the bride and it's not meant to be something emotional where we think that, oh, you know, Jesus is like this. If I don't have anybody else, okay, only Jesus is there. You know, it's, it gives us an understanding of the way God relates with us. And we must also, at the same time, honor human relationships, honor, you know, the institution of marriage and things like that. So, these are some key takeaways and key points from the chapter on the bride. If you have any questions which you would like to ask right away, we can get into it quickly or we can come back and we can, you know, have a short time of discussion. So, any questions for right away can just maybe, you know, unmute and ask. I think that will be better than typing it in the chat. So, about the church being the bride. Okay. So, seems like everyone needs a break. So, let's do that then. It's 9.55. Let's come back at 10.05. And, you know, if you have anything to discuss, we'll take it up and then we will continue. Okay. So, all right class, let's go for a break then. I'll be back at 10.05. Thank you.