 Hello everybody, welcome once again. Thank you all for joining in Hey, can I request? Hey Divya, do you mind opening us opening with the word of prayer, please? Divya Pardon? Do you mind starting us off with a prayer, please? Yeah, sure. Sure. Thank you father. Thank you for this Beautiful day father lot that you have given to each one of us father. Thank you lot for Helping us father lot to join lot come together Lord and learn from your word father lot to How you intend us a lot to praise you to worship you lot to glorify you father lot Help us father that we Gain insights for the Lord that we may worship you in spirit and in truth for the Lord I pray father that whatever we are learning for the Lord. Let it let it be Father Rooted and grounded in our hearts for the Lord help us be able to apply We are asked the help of the Holy Spirit Lord, especially committing That's the Russian into your loving hands for the Lord You equip and empower him father lot the all the words father lot may you give him father lot that Lord let your grace be upon him father. I pray for each and every one join father and who are yet to join I pray Lord Lord that you help each one father that will be edified Lord will be Encourage father lot and we'll be a blessing for the wherever you are placed is Committing all these and the name of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Amen And thank you Divya. Thank you Guys, I hope everybody is doing well Thank you for joining This is continue from where we left off last week In your notes page 21 That's where we ended Okay from chapter 5 page 21. Let's do a quick recap of everything that we've covered in chapter 5 Okay, so just for follow along with me page 18. I will do a quick recap a couple of two minutes to recap and okay, so the four points Added to The definition of what is worship in our understanding of what is worship the first one is worship is the recognition of who God is And we saw that in depth and worship is the reverence for God It is the communion with God and worship is a response to an encounter with God On the side note, we kind of studied a little bit on the topic of encounter itself, right? What encounter means to us what it means to have an encounter with God? And we did that in the second session last class. So I I shared the PDF for the notes I hope you were able to download that for your reference for future references. Okay So we looked so the fourth point there is worship is our response to an encounter with God, okay? and then We move into page 20 where we see worship defies definition and then we go into John chapter 4 was 23 and 24 Where it talks about the father is seeking worshipers true worshipers who will worship him in spirit and in truth And spirit simply means it is the Holy Spirit that empowers and enables us to worship him in this spirit Right, that's why it says by the power of the Holy Spirit that abides in Us by the power of the Holy Spirit that abides in us, okay? And there's what interesting Greek word that is mentioned in your notes called sebumi Which means devout religious worship having the right form words pious action, but no heart Okay, so that is mentioned there because after worshiping him in spirit We are also commanded to worship him in truth, right because father is not only just seeking worshipers He's seeking true worshipers, okay? So if there are true worshipers there are also that means there are also false worshipers, okay? So it's just giving us that warning that caution is okay You can do all the rituals you want to do and you know do all your daily activities that is involved with ministry And whatnot, but then if you're not if your heart is not inclined, you know, then it's pointless. It's useless, okay? So in truth, what does that mean? To to worship him in truth. It simply means worshiping him according to the revealed word of God Okay, John 17 17. It says sanctify them by your truth because your word is truth All right So we saw that and we were coming down to page 21 Sorry guys Just put my phone on airplane mode. Okay Right in conclusion, we see that in truth We fail to worship when we don't have a revelation of what we are singing Okay, that is ignorant worship versus intelligent worship We need to involve our minds and our hearts Okay, the more we exert our minds in worship the more meaningful our worship is likely to be and John chapter 4 was 22 before Jesus says in verse 23 and 24 of what the father's desires is that the father is seeking worshipers What what he says before that is very interesting. He says you Samaritans do not know Or in other words, they just don't have the revelation, right? They do not know what you are worshiping You worship something that you do not comprehend you don't know We know what we are worshiping Jesus says we worship what we have knowledge of and understand So it's very important and one of the you know One of the points there for us to worship God in spirit and in truth Is that we need to have a revelation and that revelation comes with an encounter? Okay, that's why We studied, you know the importance of an encounter with God And one kind one encounter is all it takes for us to be changed and marked by his presence and his name, right? So that's where we paused You know, that's where we ended and concluded the last session with okay now Let's continue in page 21 of the section that says what happens when we worship God, okay, what happens when we worship God The first point there states that worship transforms or changes us Okay, can I say that again worship transforms or changes us, okay, what or whom we worship Influences who we are and what we will become Okay, let me read that one more time. What or whom? We worship influences who we are and what we will become Okay, having said that can we go to Psalm 115 please Stomping to some 115 Okay, can I request someone to read from verse 4 to 8 please? Their idols are silver and gold The work of man's hand. They have mouths, but they cannot speak They have eyes, but they cannot see they have ears, but they cannot hear they have noses But they cannot smell they have hands, but they cannot feel they have feet But they cannot walk they cannot make a sound with their throat Those who make them will become like them everyone who trusts in them It's a very powerful verse isn't it that verse 8 those who make them will become like them Just some time ago we did a series on idols in for the youth APC Now In this day and age We Christians or you know When we say we mention the word idols the one of the first immediate thing that comes to our mind is statues Right? We can see it everywhere in India at least But all statues are idols But not all idols are statues Okay, all statues are idols But not all idols are statues Okay, the modern-day idolatry. It looks very different. We don't have a golden calf Or you know a wooden Stages made up of wood and whatnot a modern idolatry can look like career or money Something or someone and whatnot, right? And God wants is of idolatry and God's been warning Israel of idolatry, you know, even before they enter the promised land Right so those who make them I don't want to go too deep into idols because we maybe might be here for an entire session Okay, even later if we have a time I'd like to play a song You know, just it's just a beautiful song that's impacted my life But anyways, so it says here those who make them will be like them that means When you give all your affection all your strength your energy your wisdom and your ideas into That goes into making an idol that goes into just thinking about this day and night Bible says you become like that You become like something that's lifeless Right an idol or a statue by itself does not have any power by itself But the moment when you bow down before that idol you give that idol authority over your life Right, so that's That that that that that is very scary and that is very important for us to remember. Okay, you become like the one you worship Okay, and I just want to share a very personal example and again a couple of you might have already heard this but And there was a time in my life You know for a solid Nine months out of 12 months in a year Okay, out of the nine months out of 12 months in a year all I thought or Or dreamt of or all my affection and everything was was pushed or focused towards a guitar Yes, that's right. Okay, not this one. Okay Yeah, not not that one. Okay you know like you The artists or musicians or any field that you're in you have something I mean, we tend to have something called that's my dream guitar. That's my dream car. That's my dream house That's my dream job. That's my dream career. That's my dream paycheck Etc. Etc. Isn't it? Yeah, you kind of relate to that right so Similarly, I have I have a dream guitar And I'm not very proud about you know about what I'm sharing but just for my personal experience is For nine months guys, I mean like in that nine months I learned everything I could about acoustic guitars about the wood they use why they use certain woods and And in how many how long does it take in building a guitar? So at that point in in life, like if you wanted an advice on which guitar to buy or you know what not People would ask me and what so okay So I learned everything that there could be that there is to be learned about the guitar in the process of just thinking about this Guitar researching about this guitar. How many years I should save to buy that guitar, you know Financial management and whatnot. So what I'm trying to say is a guitar is just so innocent, isn't it? It's just a beautiful instrument right It's it is so harmless and similarly like that. It's so many of of our things or someone that They are not they don't necessarily have to be bad But we but when we can't when we are consumed and obsessed by our love by our affection our devotion That every second of our life every fiber of your being is only thinking about that someone or something That's exactly what worship is right So yeah, I mean like I've been saying it's Almost three fourth of a year. I wasted a three-fourth of a year giving my worship to a thing That doesn't give me back anything right is When it's all by itself, it doesn't even make any noise, you know But that was just a powerful powerful And again God in his mercy reminded me, you know, he didn't give up on me You know just like how it was Aaron who built who who was a chief architect of building the golden calf Right it was Aaron who built it, but then God chooses Aaron and His lineage to be the a generation of high priests to serve before him and That's how merciful he is. That's how beautiful our God is that in his great mercy He didn't just let me go He came after me, you know, and he reminded me of his love for me and of his grace and of his mercy and then you know Refocus, you know, it's like hey, it's not about this thing. It's not about You know all these Equipments per se, but it's about the one it's about Jesus, right? So worship changes us you become like the one you worship right the notes say In Hebrews chapter 12 verse 29 as mentioned in your notes. It simply says our God is a consuming fire And now when we think about okay when we worship the one Who is consuming fire we become like him, right? So let's just let's look at that scripture that's mentioned there in Exodus chapter 34 verse 27 to 30 Exodus chapter 34. It's mentioned in the notes at the bottom of page 21 Then it said then the Lord said to Moses Okay, the Lord said to Moses write these words For according to the tenor of these words, I have made a covenant with you and with israel Okay, so now they are the people of the covenant. We should remember that right so and then Verse 28 says so he was there with the Lord 40 days and 40 nights Okay, 40 days 40 nights. He neither ate bread nor drank water And he wrote on the tablets of the words of the covenant the ten commandments Verse 29 now it was so when Moses came down from Mount Sinai And the two tablets of the testimony were in moses hands When he came down from the mountain That moses did not know that the skin of his face shown while he talked with him What a beautiful sight, isn't it? He became like the one he was in the presence of He did not know that the skin of his face shown While he talked with him So when adin and all the children of israel saw moses Behold the skin of his face shown and they were afraid to come near him The glory of god's presence was radiating on on the face of moses Right and there's a psalm. I forget the psalm but uh, you know I mean I just forget the reference, but if you know you can just put it in the chat It says those who look on him were radiant To the thom 34 or some 37. I'm sorry. I'm confused Okay, those who looked on him were radiant And that's exactly what was happening in moses's life and his encounter with the lord and for being there in his presence for 40 days and 40 nights His face was radiating right But the interesting part is Uh moses is not the benchmark Thanks john. That's yeah, some 34 was five It says those who looked on him and their faces were radiant right as I was saying Moses was not the benchmark Our benchmark is jesus Isn't it so with that in mind? Let's go to second quarantines chapter three Uh, there are only two verses I mentioned, but then I want to read just a little bit more Okay, so just go with me to second quarantines chapter three Okay, um, I want to read for us from verse 12 Second quarantines chapter three verse 12 onwards therefore Since we have such a hope We are very bold Okay, uh, I would encourage you to read the previous verses from verse 7 to 11 Okay, because uh, that's like the pretext to why paul is saying therefore So every time you see therefore you need to ask why is it therefore? Okay Um, so therefore since we have such a hope we are very bold We are not like moses Who put on a veil over his face to keep the israelites from gazing at it While the radiance was fading away But their minds were made dull For to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read It has not been removed because only in christ is it taken away Verse 15 even to this day when moses is read a veil covers their hearts But whenever anyone turns to the lord Okay, there's another translation that says the moment someone turns to the lord, okay Whenever anyone turns to the lord the veil is taken away Now the now the lord is the spirit and where the spirit of the lord is there is freedom And we who with unveiled faces all reflect the lord's glory Okay Let me just read that line again and we that means you and I Okay, who with unveiled faces all reflect the lord's glory Are being transformed into his likeness With ever increasing glory which comes from the lord who is the spirit Amen, it says that we are being transformed into his likeness All right, that's wonderful, isn't it so In other words as we surrender to god in worship There is a marked change in our thoughts motives Speech and action as we seek and behold the glory of the lord We become more christlike in our thinking speaking and behaving Right. We are we are changed. We are transformed into his likeness And so that's what that's what happens in worship. Worship transforms or changes us Just being in the very presence of the lord just rubs off on us Amen great Let's move to the second point Next it says In worship we experience god's presence. Okay, we are in page 22 point b In worship we experience god's presence In worship we become more aware of and experience his presence and it is in worship knowledge becomes experience So the scriptures mentioned there is James chapter 4 verse 8 Draw near to god And he will draw near to you Yeah Cleanse your hands you sinners and purify your hearts You're double-minded Okay, so there's an invitation here. Okay draw near to him and he will draw near to you. Okay Can you imagine how beautiful it is when When someone like a being Eternal being comes closer and closer. He is not like any other being Like we've discussed so many times, right? He's just not another individual person Or or a thing But this is the lord of hosts. We are talking about But this is the everlasting father our prince of peace our alpha and the omega And it was the beginning and the end From everlasting to everlasting, you know, he is god Right And this god says As we draw near to him He draws near to us, right? So a couple of things that happens, uh, you know When he draws near to near to us you can make a note of it is when god draws near He speaks He leads He directs He empowers And he heals Okay, I'll say that again He speaks He leads He directs He empowers And he heals Right and there's much more than that happens. I'm sure but these are a few things that happens when he draws near to us And as we draw near to him Okay, Deuteronomy chapter four verse 29 says but if from there you seek the lord your god You will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul That is just another verse of saying draw near to him Means just seek him with all your heart Don't you up don't stop All right, um, this is a beautiful passage. I'm reminded of and again exodus chapter 33 Uh, it says Moses took his tent and pitched it outside the camp of israel If moses took his tent and pitched it outside the camp of israel he went out. He disconnected. He he put it out there to seek him Right and the most beautiful thing that happens actually we can talking about that we can go to exodus 33 exodus 33 verse 7 Okay, exodus chapter 33 verse 7 It says now moses used to take a tent And pitch it outside the camp some distance away Calling it the tent of meeting Anyone inquiring of the lord would go to the tent of meeting outside the camp And whenever moses listen to this guys verse 8 And whenever It means whenever. Okay. I don't know what your bible translation says But whenever moses went out to the tent All the people rose And stood at the entrance to their tents Watching moses until he entered the tent some verse 9 check this out As moses went into the tent Okay, as moses is drawing near The pillar of cloud would come down And stay at the entrance while the lord spoke with moses Okay, beautiful, isn't it? It's just another version of james chapter 4 verse 8 As moses drew near the lord drew near Right whenever moses went into the tent of meeting a pillar of cloud would come And see what the worst 10 says there When whenever the people saw the pillar of clouds standing at the entrance of the tent They all stood and worshiped each at the entrance of his tent And verse 11 The lord would speak to moses face to face as a man speaks with his friend You know that verse messed me up for many many years What? How how is that possible? I want that But I mean for something like that to be recorded and it's once again recorded in numbers chapter 12 Right when god himself testifies of moses That to to my prophets I speak to them in dreams and visions But not so with my servant moses with my servant I speak face to face you can read that in numbers chapter 12 But that's the beauty of it, isn't it? Is you take as you draw near to him you draw and he he will draw near to us Right. Um, so I pray that from this point that we would be encouraged to seek him Encourage to just go after him and not be satisfied and not be and not to easily give up It's like, oh, you know, it's I tried I tried I tried But nothing's happening. Just continue to seek him until you find him right And and like we saw we read in song of song chapter three in the last class that I will search for the one my heart loves I will not rest until I find the one my heart loves and when I find I will cling on to him And we saw that in John chapter 20 where Mary Magdalene. She waited She waited when John and Peter came they saw the empty tomb and they went back but Mary persisted Until she found him She continued to sort him. She stood outside the tomb. We're crying Right. So persistence. There's always a god always responds to desperation god always responds to hunger Um, right All right, are you guys with me? Yeah Yeah, I hope so So that is the second point right in worship. We experience god's presence That leads us to the third point worship empowers us to rule and reign Okay, I'll say that again worship empowers us to rule and reign Okay revelation chapter one verse five to six It says and from Jesus christ the faithful witness the first born from the dead and the ruler over the kings of the earth To him who loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood And has made us kings and priests to his god and father To him be glory and dominion forever and ever okay If there's something that we need to know about the heart of god for us humanity Is that we would serve before him as priests We were made to worship And that is the calling of a priest is to continually serve before the lord and minister unto him that is worship Right and again from you will see that from the beginning of the bible Genesis all the way to revelation you will find another line That's repeated time and time again. It says I will be your god and you will be my people I will be your god. You will be my people or you will be my people and I will be your god And then when you read exodus chapter 19, right when god brings israelites out of egypt Actually, this is sorry guys. I mentioned a chapter and then I feel like we need to go there Apologies Can we go to exodus chapter 19, please? Okay, I hope you're all there, but I believe you are there. Okay exodus chapter 19 verse 4 It says you yourselves have seen what I did to egypt Right you yourselves have seen what I did to egypt and how I carried you on eagles wings And brought you to myself, right? I brought you to myself I didn't bring you out for the sake of bringing you out Okay, uh, you are now free not for the sake of just being free You are not set apart for the sake of being set apart You are set apart to me Right. I brought you to myself Okay, you are free In me right. That's what god is saying. I brought you to myself Verse five now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant Then out of all nations You will be my treasured possession Although the whole earth is mine Verse six You Will be for me a kingdom of priests And a holy nation These are the words you want to speak to the israelites. Okay So you see that heart as you see god's heart in verse six This is now very specifically in the old covenant god is telling The israelites, okay You will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation So when god brought israel out of egypt He wanted the entire nation of israel to serve before him as priests It was not just the levites Okay, but then when you read the whole chapter of 19 and 20 which I I don't really want to do that But then let's quickly go to the next chapter verse chapter 20 and go to verse 18. Okay Chapter 20 verse 18 Exodus chapter 20 verse 18. I hope you're with me. It says When the people saw the thunder and lightnings and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke They trembled with fear Okay, they stayed at a distance I are you seeing that? Okay, they are distancing themselves. They are not drawing near Okay, they are not drawing near this they're staying at a distance They said at a distance and said to moses speak to us yourself moses and we will listen They were lying that They because they did not listen to moses. All right Speak to us yourself and we will listen But do not have god speak to us Or we will die Okay, now just to give these people a little credit Uh, you know, they've been in captivity or as as slaves in egypt for 400 years Right 400 years. Historians say is an equivalent of 10 generations Okay, 10 generations. That's a lot of people. You can lose a lot of theology In 10 generations, right? So all these people who are exposed to all the new worst that there there is a god And they knew him as a god of abraham isaac and jacob And that one day a deliverer is going to come. That's all they knew And for 400 years generations after generations after generations for 10 generations They are only exposed to the idols of egypt to the cultures of egypt to the practices the idol practice worship practice of egypt They are only used to seeing fake gods Gods in lower case small g They are they were only used to seeing the the way egyptians worshiped They were only used to seeing the way egyptians ate and celebrated life Okay but They have never encountered Someone this grand this this scary this terrifying or whatnot But then look at this. I mean, they just did not get god the lord's heart. Isn't it that in just saw an exodus chapter 19 Is that he wanted the entire nation of israel to be unto him a kingdom of priests A holy nation and then people distant say he's like no, you know, moses you go speak with him You come and speak with us and whatnot and then later we know how the story goes They build a golden calf and when moses says, uh, you know Everyone who's on the lord's side come this side The bible says only the lewites came Okay, so this The beginning of god using the tribe of uh levi This kind of starts there Okay, and then you all know, you know, it's Until you know until jesus came and died on the cross It was that the the priests were all from the tribe of lewites But in the new covenant as we just read in revelation chapter 1 verse 5 and 6 Because of the blood of jesus and because of what jesus has done And through him he has made us kings and priests Amen And if you see that it being repeated in first peter chapter 2 verse 9 It says you are a chosen generation a royal priesthood A holy nation His own special people that you may proclaim the praises of him You see how that's connected to worship, right priesthood a holy nation. We are holy. We are set apart We are chosen by god unto himself Why that we may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness Who shed his blood who redeemed us? Darkness into his marvelous light Amen Worship empowers us to uh rule and Rain let's look at a couple more scriptures. Okay, it's it's powerful Let's read matthew chapter 4 verse 8 and 10 see Okay, can someone read Okay, I put this in the chat and we can Yeah Is it matthew chapter 4 8 to 10? Yes, please. Yeah Again the devil took him up on an exceedingly high mountain And showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory And he said to him all these things I'll give you If you will fall down and worship me Then jesus said to him away with you satan for it is written You shall worship the lord your god and him only you shall serve Amen. Thank you. Yeah, right It's interesting. So this the one that I Shared on the chat section is from the amplified version. It's amplified classic edition Right says again the devil took him upon a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms Right king kingdoms Of the world and the glory the splendor the magnificence the permanence and excellence of them And he said to them these things that means the kingdoms of the world I will give to you Just bow before me and worship me I will make you a king Right all the lives of the devil all the lives of the world Right the lust of the flesh the pride of the eyes everything is in this context here But it is only in jesus that we have legitimate true royalty Amen, it is in jesus that we have true royalty. Okay So that is john Matthew chapter 4 verse 8 to 10 The devil knows the power of worship And he will use that against us like in the form of idol worship and just Make false promises I will give you all of this. I will you will have so and so Just worship me Okay Another scripture for us to read is roman chapter 5 verse 17 roman chapter 5 verse 17 um In the chat section Just read it for us it says for if because of one man's trespass or laps offense Death reigned through that one Much more surely will those who receive god's overflowing grace unmerited favor and the free gift of righteousness Putting them into right standing with himself Reign as kings In life through the man one man jesus christ Once again, you know the emphasis is through jesus Because of what he did he has made it possible for us to reign with him as kings Amen, uh, I also like the nlt version. It's uh slightly A little bit more simpler, right It's the nlt version of the same verse romans 5 17 says for the sin of this one man adam cause death to rule over many But even greater is god's wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness For all who receive it will triumph over sin and death through this one man jesus christ amen And finally just let's read one last scripture. That's roman chapter 8 verse 17 Romans chapter 8 verse 17 It says and since we are his children We are his hairs In fact together with christ we are the heirs of god's glory And if we are to share his glory we must also share his suffering Okay, amen, so that's that's the end of this section. The third point is worship empowers us to rule and reign Because through jesus and what jesus has done for us on the cross and by the shedding of his blood He has made us a kings and priests unto god the father. We are now his royal priesthood a holy nation Amen, I love this quote by bill johnson And I want you to write it down. Okay, it says Wait, what is the quote? We rule with the heart of a servant and we serve with the heart of a king Can I say that again? okay we rule with the heart of a servant And serve with the heart of a king and That's what a royal priesthood looks like, isn't it? And this court has actually stayed with me for a long time now. I've Just motivates and and has encouraged me and And that's what worship does true worship does is it will empower us to rule and reign But we rule with the heart of a servant And we reign and serve with the heart of a king Amen, so let that sink in. Okay, uh, so that's the end of this section We will resume from the next section on worshiping god in difficult times and continue from there. Okay So we take a short break and see you back in 10 minutes All right. Take it guys