 morning everybody. All right. So, I would like to request someone to lead us in prayer and then we get into today's lesson. Shall I? Yes, yes, Avani. Please. Thank you Father God Almighty. We just want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for the new morning that has come because of your grace and mercy Father. You lead us Father Lord. You are beautiful. You are merciful. You are graceful. You are slow to anger Father. Rich in mercy, rich in your grace, rich in your words Lord Father. What you say you do Father. We look up to you Father for every need that we have and this morning we need that wisdom to understand your plans and purposes Father as we are learning about the church Father. Father open our hearts, open our minds, open our spirit to receive every word in its fullness Father. Be rooted in it Father. Be able to be guided by it Father. Bless our teacher Father. Bless her with double portion anointing this morning, strength and wisdom your favor and continue to lead her Father as she leads us Father. Fill us all with the power of your Holy Spirit Father and help us to walk as your kingdom ambassadors Father to spread the kingdom and and Lord Father strength in the local church Father. We once again thank you for everything that you've done in our lives beyond measure Lord Father what we can't even think or imagine you're working behind and you're working to make our lives fruitful Father. We thank you that you are with us and you said that you'll never leave us no forsakers. We believe and we receive Lord Father your grace and mercy this morning to go through the day and Father be with us throughout the day. Bless us and keep us in the matchless name of Jesus our Savior. We ask and pray amen. Amen. Amen. Praise God. So let's continue. In the last class I think we have touched on two pictures of the church the vine and the sign the church being signed. So the last picture here which is the 10th one is that of the lamp stand. So we will look at that and then we will proceed and go on to other subjects that concern the local church. So the 10 pictures which we needed to look at we've already looked at nine of them are we looking at the 10th one now. So when we see when we consider the lamp stand now God instructed Moses to construct a tabernacle which is really the picture of the worship of heaven. So the worship of heaven you know the essence of it was uh was sort of uh couldn't say captured but uh God asked Moses to shadow that in the earthly tabernacle. So he constructed the tabernacle he had you know different parts of the tabernacle and one of the uh one of the items that was kept in the holy place is the menorah menorah or you could you call it the golden lamp stand. You know if you've seen a picture of that it is generally the original one is beaten out of one piece of metal and then it you know it has these seven portions where you light the lamp and that provides you know the lamp that provides the light in the holy place. Now this lamp stand you know it has some significance so we will we will try and understand what it means. So it has seven candlesticks so seven candlesticks in the lamp stand. When we look at some scriptures particularly in Revelation we see that the Lord Jesus is walking among the lamp stands. Okay so we will read that passage and then we'll try to understand what it means. This is from Revelation chapter one verses 12, 13 and then verse 20 in our notes this is on page number um 115. So can somebody please read it Revelation one verses 12, 13 and 20. Shall I read ma? Yes yes Amri. Revelation chapter one verses 12 then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me and having turned I saw seven golden lamp stands and in the midst of the seven lamp stands one like the Son of Man clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band. The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand and the seven golden lamp stands the seven stars are the angels of seven church of the seven churches and the seven lamp stands which you saw are the seven churches. Amen. Amen. Thank you Amini and as we see in this passage scripture interprets itself so there is this uh um introduction about a lamp stand and later on John writes that these lamp stands represent the seven churches and we know that you know uh John addresses each church and the the positives of the church as well as uh you know he points out certain things that God is warning them about. So the seven lamp stands actually represent the seven churches so we've understood that. Now again you know when we look at Revelation two similarly we we can see that the lamp stand means a church okay and also in the first passage we saw there is a reference to the stars of the churches that of there is a reference to the stars there is a reference to the angels the angels of the churches obviously we know that really doesn't assign an angel one angel per church so we don't we don't have any other passage that reveals this and therefore we conclude that that word angel really means messenger so that should mean the pastor of the church okay it is just messenger so we we will not interpret that as a heavenly messenger but every church has an angel or a messenger which would be the pastor of that church so the lamp stands are the churches and the angels or the stars are the pastors or the overseers of those churches so we see that in heaven the Lord Jesus is walking among the lamp stands so the lamp stands have a representation up in heaven they have a representation up in heaven so in other words we could say that every local church every local church on the earth it is like a lamp stand in heaven and when we talk about the Lord Jesus walking among the lamp stands basically it means that he is looking observing he is well aware of every local church that exists here on the earth okay so that is our understanding and you know we we also see the way John wrote to the churches you know warning them and asking them in the areas where they were lacking he in fact said that they must repent so I think it is worthwhile to also read the next passage given in our notes here which is Revelation chapter 2 verses 1 and 5 so it follows what Amir read just now so this is on top of page 116 would like to request one other person to please read this passage Revelation 2 verses 1 and 5 please revolutions 2 1 and 5 yes thanks to the angel of the church of Ephesus right these things says he who holds the seven stars in his right hand who walks in the midst of the seven golden lamp stands five remember therefore from where you have fallen repent and do the first works or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lamp stand from its place unless you repent okay thank you thank you son so there's a warning a warning to the messenger or the overseer of every lamp stand in other words every local church this is what God says this is what Jesus says he says that we need to repent okay unless we repent our lamp stand will not continue in God's presence so I'm just going to read that verse 5 again Revelation 2 verse 5 remember therefore from where you have fallen repent and do the first work so this is in the context of the Ephesian church so the John is addressing the seven churches of Asia Minor you know at that time those where some of the prominent churches that existed and John probably knew that you know personally and he had some level of you know like apostolic authority over these churches and the Lord spoke to him about these seven churches so basically he is evaluating every single church and saying okay these things are good about you but then you know there are these other things which God is really not pleased about so the church of Ephesus now he is addressing the church of Ephesus over here and he's saying that Ephesus is not practicing or it's the first love that it had for God okay so it's just become a matter of duty what the the church is doing for God and it's not really out of that initial commitment that the church had so God doesn't like that and so the church is being warned and they're told remember therefore from where you have fallen repent and do the first works or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lamp stand from its place unless you repent okay so remove your lamp stand from its place unless you repent so what God is saying is he's saying that the church will no longer be something in his presence or remember we began by saying that the tabernacle was but a shadow it was a shadow of the true heavenly worship so the lamp stands that we're talking about are in the presence of God so the churches are in the presence of God or you could say in heaven so when God talks about removing the lamp stand from before him it means that in his presence right he he's basically going to disiss that church or he he's saying that you will know you will not matter anymore this local church will not matter anymore because this local church has not depended so that is the understanding now does this mean that the local church will no longer exist on the earth no the local church may continue to exist and continue to function in in the the patterns of worship that it has developed over the years but ultimately the church belongs to the Lord Jesus and we are here to please him and if he is not pleased and if he is going to remove the representation of that local church off of his presence up in heaven how does it matter even if we are functioning here and we are going about our so-called Christian activities okay so that is the understanding there is a warning to every local church and the overseer of every local church and God is saying unless we align ourselves to his direction we will stand the chart we we might lose the opportunity to be in his presence okay in a spiritual sense and obviously that impacts the natural church that exists here on me but so this is really coming as a warning for us where you know we we must fear being removed from the presence of the Lord and that must actually drive us it must drive us to keep you know pursuing the the heart of God and keep checking ourselves assessing ourselves we don't really need to wait for an evaluation the way God has presented for the seven churches of Asia Minor in the book of Revelation but if we are doing a self-check if we are doing an evaluation of ourselves from time to time even the pastor you're going before the Lord and just being open and letting the Lord minister to our hearts what happens is we will be able to pick up there are things in us that are discreet to the Lord so we don't run the risk of losing our representation in God's presence or in heaven so the lampstand should continue to be before God in his presence and that's only possible if we continue aligned to the way God wants us to do church so that is the understanding of the lampstand now the lampstand is also a symbol that represents light and you know Jesus introduced itself is iron the light of the world and then you know you you see other passages where the believers are called as the light you you are salt and light we have the salt and light who need to impact the society or the world around us so let me look at the lampstand this is the second understanding which we have the understanding is about bringing light okay it's about bringing bringing the light of God and what does light do the light dispels the darkness there is darkness in the world but you know we are told that we are the ones who bring the hope of the kingdom we are the ones who you know bring all things of the kingdom here on the thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven so the representatives who will do that is us okay the the children of God so the second understanding of the lampstand is that we as believers we need to be that influence or you know that that yeast that will work through the batch of dough or you could say that the salt that that will preserve the society the communities around us so we are the influence light is basically influence bringing the the the kingdom of God here on the earth I think we can read a passage here that will be really helpful this is Ephesians chapter 8 verse Ephesians chapter 5 verse 8 and then verses 11 to 30 this is at the end of page number 116 so again could somebody please read this passage Ephesians 5 8 11 to the 8 and then 11 to 30 I'll do it yes please for you were once darkness but now you are light in the Lord work as children of light and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather exposed then it is for this shameful it is for it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in the secret but all things that are exposed are made manifest by light whatever makes manifest is light amen amen thank you Kennedy so you know we see that God calls us as children of light so we have to walk as children of the light in other words our standards of living must be more righteous they must be the standards of God so obviously it will be more righteous than the people in the world and we are also called not to have fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but on the other hand to expose them whenever we see something wrong that is that is happening we as God's people know we we are the ones who have to call foul and and do our part right in overcoming that darkness so this is the mandate which is given to God's people we are supposed to shine in this world and again you can go back to so many passages where God promises first of all we are light here we are light and then we're also promised that the glory of the Lord will will rise upon us that God's light will shine upon us in this dark world you know we are here to to receive that light of the kingdom of God and we have to we have to make sure that this light dispels the darkness around us so that is a very theoretical way of putting it but whatever else we talked about you know earlier we talked about the pillar of truth and how the church is supposed to have a positive influence in the the situation circumstances around like you know if there is injustice then we have to be that voice of justice if there's corruption then we have to be that voice of righteousness if there is what else you know just pull out all the things that that we see around us which are disorderly and we have to set that right standard and we are the ones who have to do something about it have a positive influence that changes wrong things and activities that are going on around us so this is this is what we are called to do we are called to be the light we are called to be the example in a fallen and in a dark world so that applies to the church why are we discussing about this so the church as a community as a body must be that light in any given community and the individuals as well so it'll obviously it'll apply to people every individual so I keep being reminded of a particular ministry which I I heard about and this was in this is in Thailand so one of my friends who's also into ministry you know they was the couple or just the husband yeah one of them went to visit Thailand for some ministry work and they were taken around so they were taken to a red light district and in that district apparently in the in the middle of that district there is there is a there is a work the Christian work that is going on which is to to rehabilitate you know women who are caught up in in trafficking and you know women who have lost several years and they have no education they don't know how to take care of their children you know they don't know how to to find a new like they don't know how to develop a new skill so basically this ministry is in the middle of the red light district I don't know how they got the permission to to be there but you know they are helping they're helping women they are rehabilitating them they are rescuing them and you know people are able to have a better life so for me whenever I think about the church being the lamp stand you know the light shines in the darkness some of this example comes back to my mind to to think that you know in a place where there is just such incredible darkness you know the works of the evil one and destruction in the lives of people you can have a child of God or children of God making a difference in making a difference and being known for something completely opposite of what is actually going on in that region so just a very a very sort of a distinct example which stands up but you know you know what this means it is applicable for every local church in their own context so maybe the place where we live that might not be a red light district but there might be other issues other challenges which which are dark but we as God's people as led by God's spirit we can be the light that God wants us to be in that community so two things first we said that the lamp stand is in the presence of God lamp stand represents the church very clearly and God is warning us if we are not aligned to his word his purposes his standards we run the risk of losing our position so that is the first thing about the lamp stand so the practical aspect is that you know as a pastor and as a leader as elders of a church community you know we must not become very satisfied with our own with our own evaluation okay because we would have our standards what are some of the standards we can have we can have some some standards like okay how big is the church how many people attend how many newcomers come every Sunday okay wow you know we are doing better than x y and z so great you know we are doing really well but ultimately it's the evaluation of God so we have to go to God and check okay God what do you have to say about that church so that is that is a very conscious thing that each pastor and each leader needs to do because we need we want to know what God thinks about the church because the church belongs to him and the lamp stand is before him now what what does they use if we are removed from the presence of God and we continue to exist here on earth that would be a pitiable very very sorry state of affairs that no church no local pastor would would want to see happen so we want to continue being in the presence of God in other words we want to continue pleasing God in everything that we do so we must remember that at coming to the second second understanding of the lamp stand you know we we what we do is we continue to do the good works you know we continue to remain in God we continue to bless the world around us now what could be some of the challenges no whenever we talk about good works even when we talk about aspects that concern you know social issues social justice you know what could also happen is that believers can get caught up in doing those works without having any intention of representing Jesus okay I hope I hope you understand what I mean because then you know we are no different we are no different from the unsaved people or the unbelievers because we there are so many unbelievers out there who are also engaged in good works but the intention of a believer in doing the good works should be to represent Christ to bring people into the kingdom of God and to really be you know kingdom focused so our good works are born out of that that intention our good works are based in that intention because we are here to obviously you know if we we are the light that source of the light is the Lord Jesus can we're here to shine his light so when we do our good works let the people know this God okay whom we serve so that must be the intention if we miss that and if you're just caught up in okay I did this good work that good work and just you know just engaging in activities then that might not really make a difference for the kingdom of God yeah all right so at this point okay yes Samuel please Samuel go ahead you have something to add or share you're still a mute I'm sorry can you hear me yes yes now we can hear you yeah it's more like a query ma'am especially I think in terms of church's power in a legal way like does a church have some power to interfere or or even object in the affairs of the state like like for example let's say there's a church and it's based somewhere near a slum and let's say the government decides to get rid of the slum and build I'm giving a hypothetical situation like they want to construct say like a housing colony and the slum lot of some people come to the church and they like and supposing they say they've been promised that they're really allocated but it's not very clear now of that so does like can a church do something you know like like apart from just talking to the authorities does a church have some legal power vested where it can put objections if you knew of any such cases thank you yes yes thank you thank you Samuel so see in our country for that matter I don't think we have any special privileges or special opportunities you know from like if you look at these legal legal activities we're like any other citizen of the country now talking about the influence which we can have you see as individuals we are citizens and we can use the the rights or the powers which have already been given to us so if we want to object the same hypothetical situation if we want to object to you know that the removal of that slum I think we can have a voice now how to make that voice stronger that also can be done in lawful ways so we we may want to connect up with some lawyers okay who have the know-how to to help that slum and you know like other influencers basically other influencers now these influencers could be from our community when I say that I mean the believing community so maybe some believers or they could be like-minded people from other faiths even okay because this is a matter of social you know some social cause so we can we can actually link up with believers or people from other faiths who are working on the same cause and make a voice stronger so there is no special privilege Samuel at least in the Indian context but yeah yeah I mean the church can't go up to the government saying like we we come from this church and we represent them we want to object not really yeah I mean they'll be like how why would they why would they give us a special you know hearing why right now just yeah I would just want to know you know if the church had like like if once a church is like like for example I know that a marriage certificate issued by a church has can be produced as a legal document in so in in that context I was thinking like apart from like few of these things like were there any other like especially when it came to you know impacting the society in some way like the church have any legal power vested like were religious organizations not just church have any vested power in the government yes so I think depending on the cause we have to check right okay if we are if we are a registered religious body then the government gives us certain rights privileges and also there'll be responsibilities so we have to study that and then see whether we have some influence okay all right yeah sure thank you thank you yeah I mean if if you do come across any references pass away which has some insights on what like religious bodies maybe not necessarily church but religious bodies organization in India what are the types of powers given by the government that might be awesome you know the rights of a church in a legal way yeah sure sure sure yeah sure Samuel if I come across I'll say share those links with you yeah right so so just I had a train of thought but I think I lost it oh yes so based on Samuel's question I was reminded of Paul okay Paul on his second missionary journey when he's in the city of Philippi they catch him they put him in the prison and you know wonderful things happen spiritually they're singing hymns to the Lord and the prison is opened up they are set free but they don't run away that gives him an opportunity to minister to the jailer the jailer and his family they come to know Christ and then you know when all of this is done the magistrates or the the leadership of that city they say okay put them away like ask them to leave at that point you know Paul being a Roman citizen he uses his privilege he says no how dare you just put us in and then leave let us go without a fair trial and what is the procedure here what is the process here so he puts his foot down to to kind of threaten the local authorities and they get scared they till that point they don't realize that he's a Roman citizen but when they realize he's a Roman citizen and certain rights are given to the Roman citizen they really get scared like oh okay there are some there are some you know privileges that this man has we are sorry we really didn't know you're a Roman citizen otherwise we would not have done this to you so you know I'm just reminded of how in a way he was very well aware of of his privileges he understood the law of the land and in whatever he did he he tried his best never to override or never to disrespect or dishonor the law never to disrespect another faith like you see him going and preaching in Athens okay and in Athens they have all kinds of philosophies all kinds of beliefs he doesn't put them down he presents his view in a very honorable and a respectful way okay so nobody's able to point a finger or catch him and say look at this guy he has he's done this it's wrong they had yes he is caught later on and he's tried and all of that but that's their own allegations you know which are baseless I mean they keep him in rope for a long time because they're not able to get a handle on you know how to how to get this guy how to how to actually you know get rid of this guy so the point I'm making is see we we need to be aware of the law of the land we need to be aware of our privilege privileges as citizens of you know countries so when we are well aware we can have a voice and how to strengthen that voice you know I just gave some ideas over there if you're a positive influence in a community the people around us will understand I mean I'm just saying let's say that church in the slum area they've done good work over the last 10 years and they try to do something for the people and the the authorities say oh no we are not going to listen to this church the community will stand up for you people influential people around that space maybe some other you know MLAs some other big shots with you know a lot of money and influence they will speak up for us and they'll say we know these people they have done good service you know we are with them we're backing them up so yes you know we must listen to this church so God works in all of these ways also so yeah it's like being the heavenly minded but being earthly wise so we can be aware of the environment the law of the land and all you can work very legally in the right way in every given situation so just wanted to add that yes Kennedy you seem to have a question or a comment please go ahead yes yes I think brother Samuel has raised a very pertinent issue because like you know in our locality there's a there's a new trend right there's so many churches as a match rooming up as in next door there's a church next door there's a church then there's the issue of noise pollution you know it's it's it's has been legislated so what's your take on this because you you tend to find like the time of present worship it becomes very noisy because beyond the acceptable levels of noise then it's within the slums then it's also causing a health issue so what's your take on that yeah so I mean the answer is in the question Kennedy when it's causing noise you're calling him noise pollution so first of all it's noise so I think the church must be sensitive to the people around and if it is you know inconveniencing the neighbors then change the timing or change the like remove the loudspeakers or maybe do some soundproofing something right something to make sure that what we do is not inconveniencing you know another person or another community around us and here we have some rules at least I know Bangalore and where I live there are certain rules like you know after 10 p.m. you must not have you must not have loudspeakers you must not have you know even if it is religious events then you shouldn't be noisy and all that so just go by the the rules of that given place so yeah Kennedy I think the church can do many things to bring down the noise okay you're on mute Kennedy yeah okay thank you thank you yeah sure thank you so that's again interesting so whenever we have this like our outreach churches know when they have to find a new place to put up that church then this is one of the things you know we look for we discuss about all these things okay what is the neighborhood like will it be too noisy will we disturb them so these are all things we have to think about yeah so yeah a good question say anything else to add or yeah so I think and what we've discussed today is quite straightforward we're just saying that God must recognize our work and be pleased with it and as believers we must have Godly standards which are obviously higher than the world standards and whenever there's darkness so there is something that the church is able to do to shine the light of Christ so here in our notes chapter 18 is more of a summary of whatever we have touched on so far we've looked at 10 pictures 10 pictures of the church as given in the bible we said that the church is the body of Christ okay where we we are his hands we are his feet we are here to do the works of God we said that the church is the family of God where you know we are all knit together we are here to care for one another we are here to support one another and stand together we said that the church is the pillar of truth so we stand our ground even against you know ungodly traditions opposing philosophies false religions we continue to stand our ground speak the truth of God's word in every situation then we said that we are the army of God so we are here together with a mission we are here fighting a spiritual battle we are here overthrowing the works of darkness and overcoming any any form of demonic interference we also said that the church is the bride of Christ so we said that we shared this very special relationship with Christ we share a deep love now with our God and that you know we have to live our lives consecrated unto the Lord and you know adoring him and being very expected of his return so that is the picture of the bride of Christ we also said that the church is the house of prayer and worship and it's so important for us to be given to these things and we talked about God's promise of rebuilding the tabernacle of David so that is something that we will see happen in all the churches that spirit of intercession being poured out on us that desire to give ourselves more to worshiping the Lord so the church needs this to be a house of prayer and worship we're also the temple of God so by that we said that God's presence dwells in us and that's what makes us because without God's presence a temple is not a temple so God's presence is essential and we said that wherever God is he manifests his glory so the works of God the power of God being revealed through us you know that must be the norm so we are the temple of God we also said that we are God's people in other words Zion who talked about us being God's people and how we are special we are chosen and we are called to declare his praises among the people so we are different we shouldn't be radically different and we are chosen in that sense then we also looked at the fact that we are the branches of the wine so the importance of being connected to God the importance of having the life of God flow through us the importance of living a fruitful life okay so all of these things we understood when we studied about the church being the branches on the true wine and today we've seen that we are a lamp stand set by God before God and we must maintain our position we must let God assess our life and our devotion and always realign ourselves if there's something wrong repent of it and at the same time we are called to be the light that shines in the midst of darkness so depending on the grace which is given to each and every church I know that every church may not you know engage in the same social action but depending on how the Lord calls each of us and what the needs are around us so we can respond we can respond and we can be that light that represents Christ so these are the 10 aspects now again we must realize that we will not be engaging in a certain certain aspect of what we've talked about a lot right compared to the others for example we might a certain church they might be really strong in praise and worship and prayer and intercession but as far as being a lamp stand is concerned as far as you know maybe addressing the certain issues concern maybe they don't look too much of it they do as and when the Lord leads them to to engage in certain matters they engage but their strength or the grace upon them lies more in the aspect of a house of prayer and worship or the bride of Christ so we must understand every local church in or let's put it this way the way God is called each local church the remember we talked about the vision of the local church the mission of the local church so there is a greater grace in a given area but this doesn't mean that we can oversee we can even let go of other areas we every local church must touch on all the 10 aspects all the 10 aspects and not miss out on these 10 aspects but the way it happens right to what degree all that will be only directed by the spirit of God so we really need to rely on God we really need to rely depend on God and his leading so again that that is one one thing so we're all called in a certain way and we have to understand that the second thing is that there are seasons so any given church will go through its journey and let's say in one season in one season there's a lot of okay let me look at these aspects okay in one season we are we are serving as there's more of the family of God thing happening where people are coming in we are doing more in the area of member care we are doing more in the area of life groups connecting with people you know establishing relationships and all that but as the church moves on and some of those things are in place our focus might move to something slightly different right so maybe we are engaging more in being the pillar of truth in another season it might be a season where a lot of wrong teachings have come in our in our region so stuff like that so it depends also on the season that the church is in so it's not about you know force fitting these aspects onto a local church and it will not work that way so we must really recognize God's grace bestowed on us we must really recognize the season that we are in we must recognize the journey that the believers are making if it's a new church new believers then we take them through that journey we don't try to force them into to revealing one of the aspects that we have discussed so far so I think with this I will stop the session was there anyone who raised your hand because I heard a prompt but I don't see any raised hand here all right so let's let's pause here we'll go for a break we'll come back and we will move on to the next section here about divine order the local church and yeah this will also be interesting okay so let's go for a break class and we'll be back in 10 thank you