 Good morning, everyone. Welcome. Thank you for joining. Good to see you. Good to see you. Hi, Thomas. Hi. Hello, Kannan. Nesidharth. Thanks for joining. Hope you're doing well. Great. Let's quickly pray and we get started. Father, we submit this time into your hands. Lord, we ask for you to come and lead us, guide us, teach us, help us to be sensitive to the leading of your Holy Spirit. I pray. I submit the next two hours into your hands. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen. OK. So, we finished with page 51 in the last session. In Chapter 4, the Worship Ministry, the organizational aspect of it. In your notes, we've concluded the last session with page 51. So, let's just do a quick recap of just that one page. Page 51, if you can use your notes. We serve to establish God's blueprint for APC as a local church. We serve to establish God's blueprint. And what was that blueprint is mentioned in the image below? God's blueprint for the local church. We are called to be the bride. We are called to be a house of prayer and worship. A temple of God, the vine and the branches. The lamp stand. The body of Christ, the family of God, the pillar of truth. God's chosen people. And finally, we are called to be an army of the Lord. Amen. So, that's what we concluded with. I just want to quickly put my phone in silent mode. All right. Now, let's continue to on to the next page, page 52, page 52 of Chapter 4, Worship Ministry, the organizational aspect of it. I'll go ahead and share the screen. But actually, before I go ahead and do that, we're going to be talking about commitment to the local church. Requirements for of a worship team member at APC. The point, the first one is commitment to the local church, right? I hope you all in your notes can see that. I'll go ahead and share my notes. But before that, I want us to look at another document. OK, so there's this APC publication called The Power of Commitment that you can download for free. And that's what I want to look at. But if I were to ask you, what do you what is your understanding of the word commitment? What does it mean to you? What does commitment mean to you? Dedicated. Dedicated, OK. Dedicated to something, someone, all right. What else? Commitment, committed. What does it mean to you, Siddhartha Kiran, Kanan? You guys can hear me, right? All right, I see the chance action. OK. Kanan, what does commitment mean to you? Kanan, can you hear me? You guys can hear me, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yes, yes. OK, OK. Commitment means giving assurance to something. Yeah, thanks, Kanan. Thomas, what do you make of it? Commitment means if you are you're agreed to do something or if you're agreed to be regular or something, you have to keep the word, what we've given the word or what we are agreed to do, we have to commit it to those things. So, you have to make sure that you you have to commit it to those things. Right. I don't know how to put it in the sentence. Yeah. Yeah, but yeah, thanks. I mean, I think we all get the gist of it from dedication to giving your assurance like Kanan was saying and and and just doing what you said you will do, isn't it? Keeping the word, Siddhartha says, keeping the word or doing constantly on what we have promised. Yeah, I mean, they're all correct answers. Yeah, so what I want to do is let me just quickly share and I'd like to just glance at this. This publication, OK, because there's some before we go ahead and understand what is, you know, commitment to the local church really means we need to understand the power of commitment, isn't it? And it is our responsibility as leaders to teach worship team members in this context of this course on the power of commitment. You know, everything that happens when you are a committed person. OK, so it's a it's like 20 pages long. That's it. So let's just glance through it. OK, some of you are like, oh, he's going to make me read the whole thing. Let's see. OK, so it starts off by saying, commitment is a virtue that is hard to come across these days, both in the secular world and in the church. Most of us want to do what is convenient and finding people who are committed becomes increasingly difficult. And so what does it mean to be committed? It means to be faithful and loyal to a certain cause. It means that we have a sense of responsibility. We are committed when we make a deliberate and unchangeable choice about something and stick to it. If we decide on it and we stick to it, to be committed is to express our diligence towards something. A very nicely put across across it, isn't it? As always, OK, simply means to be faithful and loyal to a certain cause. It means that we have a sense of responsibility, accountability and sense of ownership and stewardship, isn't it? So that's what commitment is highlighted here as. OK, let's just go on. Let's look at the first chapter. It says the characteristics of a committed person. Now, if you think that you are a committed person, this will be your characteristics. OK, if I were to ask you a question, hey, Siddharth, are you a committed person? And you say yes, then this will be the characteristics that will be expected of you or this will be the characteristics that will be seen in you, right? So how can we tell if we are really committed to something? OK, the first point, the highlighted there is willingness to pay any price. Willingness to pay any price. The Bible, the scriptures quoted there is and they overcame him, the devil by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony. And they did not love their lives to the death. That's from Revelation, chapter 12, verse 11. So these people, the day that is mentioned, right, they overcame that these people were so committed to the Lord Jesus Christ that they were willing to lay down their lives. So if we are committed to the Lord Jesus Christ, there is no price too great to pay. OK, so one of the first characteristics we see is you are willing to pay any price. OK, next, willingness to overcome all obstacles, all hindrances, all challenges, right? You are willing to overcome them all. So person who is committed is willing to overcome all obstacles to keep that commitment, right? We make, we do everything in our power to reach the airport on time, so we will not miss the flight. But do we do the same for everything else? Are you committed, you know, or do we just say use the excuses too much traffic or, etc., etc. But are we willing to overcome all of those challenges or obstacles just to be committed, right? And then the next point there goes on to say ability to stay focused on the commitment. Saying that you're committed is one thing and then being focused on that is a completely different all game, isn't it? Now, when a person is committed, he will be focused and not easily distracted. So a committed person is not easily distracted. This is another third characteristic, but the one who is committed to anything will just drift along and go where it is convenient. But the one who is sorry, not committed to anything will just go wherever the wind takes them, as they say, right? This passage from Luke, we nicely mentioned where people say, I will follow you and telling Jesus, I will follow you wherever you go and whatnot, but when the time comes, they say, okay, I will follow you Lord, but first let me go and bury my father. Okay, let me just go and take care of certain family business and then I'll do that. So they want to be committed, but then you see that they are kind of easily distracted and that's the passage coded here, okay? So a recap of this first three points, the characteristics of, sorry guys, characteristics of a committed person is, one, they're willing to pay any price. Two, they're willing to overcome obstacles. Three, they're able to stay focused and not easily distracted. Okay, let's move on to the next chapter. The value of being committed, the value of being committed. What is the value of being committed? When everyone is doing what is convenient, why should you and I be different and become people of commitment? What are the benefits of being committed? What is the value of being committed when everybody is choosing convenience? So being a committed brings a degree of strength, stability and uncertainty into our lives that will make us unshakable during difficult times that we may go through. Okay, three things, being committed brings in these three things, strength, stability and certainty, okay? James 1-8 says he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. He's distracted, he's not able to overcome any obstacles. He's not willing to pay any price, a double-minded person. So another word for a person who is not committed is a double-minded person. Okay, they just don't know where to be. They just, you know, what not. So, sorry, we're just discussing about the value of being committed, isn't it? Let's move on. I don't want to go into much detail here. Sorry, guys. Yeah, actually, let's just go to the... I'll share this PDF with you and you can also download it for free. I'm just going through a quick glance that will help us. Step three is all about some questions that we can ask ourselves. Are you committed? Okay, if someone were to question our commitment, we will probably be quick to answer that saying we are committed. And so, how can you ask yourself and know that you are committed? You can ask the following questions. Are we people of commitment or do we live by convenience? What does that mean? Are we people of commitment or do we live by convenience? Or in other words, you know, are you committed to a church, to your church because you want to be committed or are you committed to your church so that you can gain some of the benefits of being part of the church? Okay, you know, my wedding can't get solemnized if I'm not part of the church. I can't, I will not get legal rights to conduct, to bury the dead in a cemetery if I'm not part, if I don't get a letter from the church, et cetera, et cetera, things like that. That is all convenience, isn't it? So, you know, okay, I'm going to be part of a church because if I am, I get all these benefits. It's convenient for me. Or are you part of a church because you want to serve the church? That's just an example of, you know, between commitment and convenience, right? Another question is, are we committed to doing what is right? Are we committed to righteousness, doing what is right all the time, everywhere in every situation? Or are we committed to the Lord Jesus Christ? Are we committed to our local church, to the body of Christ? Are we committed to the promises we make? Are we committed to our place of work, to our boss, our coworkers, our friends? Are we committed to spending time with God, et cetera, et cetera? Okay, so this, I stopped sharing this document now, but I wanted us to go through that, you know, just so we understood what the word commitment really means, you know, before we just go ahead and went ahead and looked into commitment to the local church, right? So we need to understand what a committed person looks like and the characteristics of a committed person. So that's why I wanted to share the document, all right? Now I'll go ahead and share the lecture notes, okay? So now we see that one of the requirements of, see that. So one of the requirements of a worship team member at APC is that a commitment to the local church. Okay, commitment to the local church. Can someone quickly read Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 10, verse 24 and 25, please. Hebrews chapter 10, verse 24 and 25. Hebrews chapter 10 and 24 and 25. And let us consider one another in order to stay up low and good works. Not for seeking assembling of ourselves together as is the manner of some, but exerting one another and so much the more as you see the approaching. Thank you, Kiran, okay? So I want to read the same scripture in the message version, okay? Hebrews 10, 24, 25 in the message translation. It was a little interesting and I based that in the chat section, okay? So let's do it full of belief, confident that we are presentable inside and out. Let's keep a firm grip on the promises that keeps us going. He always keeps his word, see commitment. He always keeps his word. He's committed to keeping his word. Let's see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshipping together as some do, but spurring each other on, especially as we see as the big day approaching, okay? Let's say, don't avoid worshipping together, okay? And there's another translation that says, don't neglect of meeting together. Don't neglect it, okay? So that's the thing. So commitment to the local church is we should not neglect the meeting of one another. And so a couple of points mentioned there is we must first be committed to APC as a local church before we can be part of APC's worship ministry, okay? We've highlighted this point before is that before an individual can join a worship team, they will have to be committed to the APC as a church first before they can start serving in the worship team, okay? And that is the exception part. And all the other teams, there are other teams that like the ushering team or a team that helps with the parking teams that helps with the first time visitors and all of that. They can kind of pretty much join those teams pretty much immediately, as in at least, we'll observe them for a month, ask them if they've been attending APC for at least a month or two. But for when it comes to the worship ministry, that person must be attending APC for at least six months, right? That's when we take that call. So commitment to the local church means that APC is our church family. If we are committed to growing in this church family, receiving nurture and care and in turn nurturing and caring for others in the family while we grow to be spiritual fathers or mothers in the house, okay? Commitment to the local church means APC is our church family, okay? What does family do? We support one another. We encourage one another, right? We fight with each other. We stand with that person. We intercede for that person. We stand in the gap, isn't it? There's so many things we help. We go that extra mile and we go, like the first point, the characteristic is mentioned that was mentioned in APC publication is that we are willing to pay the price. We are willing to help that person overcome any obstacles. Okay, that's what a family does, isn't it? So they help us to overcome certain challenges, certain obstacles in our lives. And so we are committed to growing in this church family, receiving nurture and care and there's a transaction happening and in turn nurturing and caring for others in the family while growing to be spiritual fathers, right? One of the greatest scriptures or passages ever written on love, let me just read that for us. One of the greatest passages, right? Chapters ever written on love is first Corinthians 13. Isn't it? Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud, it is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. This chapter was written in the context of a church. So Paul, when he wrote this wonderful chapter on love, he's just not writing to an individual. He's addressing it to a church. And so here we see that commitment, when we are committed to a local church as part of a family, all of this is released in the context of the church. That's wonderful, isn't it? Yeah. Let's move to the second point that I mentioned there is commitment to the local church means that APC is our church body. APC is our church body, okay? Can we quickly go to another epistels or Ephesians, please? Book of Ephesians chapter one, Ephesians chapter one was 22 and 23. Can someone read that, please? God plays all things Sunday, Christ's rule. He appointed him to be ruler over everything for the church. The church is Christ's body. It is filled by Christ. He fills everything in every way. Thank you, Aaron. Okay, and God placed all things, okay? Not one or two things, not a few things. Not a few things here and there, but he says, and God placed all things under his feet and appointed him, Jesus, he head over everything for the church, which is the body, okay? So church is the body of Christ, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. Okay, the significance of church as the body of Christ. So when you say that you are committed to local church, which is, you're just saying that you are committed to the body of Christ, right? So we are committed members of this body. We find our place and fulfill our role and function in this body, drawing spiritually from this body and contributing to this body with the grace, gifts and anointing God has placed in our lives, amen? And serving, just being available to serve in your church, in your local church and being committed to the team that you are serving in goes such a long way. Just something very interesting happened last week is I was having a conversation with one of the person from the setup team, you know, the APC, we have a setup team that helps in setting up the equipments before the service starts, you know, setting up the speakers, some of you have helped in that, right? You know, rolling the cables, fixing the mixer, the sound and everything. And this person, you know, very casually, very casually said, I asked the person, like, hey, are you tired? Are you okay? And the response was amazing. You know, this person said, I'm fine. I'm absolutely fine. I love doing this, you know? And then he went on to say, we don't get to do this. We will not get a chance to serve like this in heaven. It was such a beautiful, you know, thought, you know? Like, hey, yeah, I mean, we are giving God something on earth that we cannot give him in heaven. I mean, we're not going to be lifting speakers and setting up the cables and cleaning the chairs and the bathrooms and whatnot. And that really touched my heart, isn't it? And then I was immediately reminded of this woman in the Gospel of Luke where she breaks that alabaster jar at the feet of Jesus. And then the Bible says that she wet his feet with her tears and wiped it with her hair. And I was wondering, why is it, why such details are recorded? Why small details like that is recorded in the Bible? And then there's a psalm that says, he collects our tears in a bottle, isn't it? He collects our tears in a bottle. I'm like, okay, what's so special about tears, Lord? Why would you collect something salty? You know, it comes out of our eyes in a bottle. Why, what's so precious about it? And again, the Holy Spirit, so beautifully reminds us, like, hey, when you worship him with your pain and through your tears, you are worshiping and giving him something you cannot give him in heaven. Because in the book of Revelation, it says one day, the day is coming that there will be no sorrow, no pain, no shame in the heaven. He's gonna wipe away our tears forever. And so the day is coming where we will not be able to worship him with our tears. But when we worship him with our tears, when we do certain things like setting up the chairs, cleaning the chairs and, you know, pews and serving the church, you know, in so many ways, you are, we are really worshiping him in a way that we cannot worship him in heaven. And I think that's just amazingly beautiful, right? So being committed to the local church means there's so much more than just a definition. It is a privilege. It is an honor to be part of the local church, to serve the church, to serve the body of Christ. It's just an incredible honor, isn't it guys? Okay, we go to the third point. See, commitment to the local church means that we are committed to the leadership God has placed at APC and we are 100% aligned to APC's statement of faith, the vision, values and culture of APC. Gets a self-explanatory point. You know, you humble yourself and submit yourself for under the leadership of the pastors that God has placed in the church, okay? And then finally, commitment to the local church means that we receive what God is releasing to us as a local church. And we flow with, join in and actively participate in the work God is releasing through us as a local church body. A very important point, okay? Commitment to the local church means that we receive what God is releasing to us, okay? You come in agreement, you say amen to what God is doing in the church as a local church. If we flow, we flow with what God is doing, okay? We actively participate. You're not just a spectator. It's like, okay, I will come Sunday and I'll just go back. I don't care what everything else that's happening. But you actively participate, you partner with what God is doing, okay? We are partnering with what God is doing in the church. So that is another perspective of being committed to the local church. Are you guys with me so far? Yes, brother. Okay, super. Our commitment to the local church is expressed by the following things. That's the next section, right? How do we express our commitment to the local church? How is it seen? Our commitment to the local church is expressed by one, our attendance at all Sunday services. To worship God with the body, to receive the ministry of the word and the spirit being released to the body and to fellowship with other believers in the local church body. Now we understand that at times you may miss attending a Sunday service due to work or travel or health challenges. You're not well, et cetera, et cetera. That is all understandable, valid and genuine. Legitimate reasons, right? However, for the Sunday you miss attending the service, we request you to download and listen to the sermon preached and to stay connected and be in sync with what is happening in the church. Okay, if you've missed a Sunday church, we expect is like, hey, you know, yeah, it's cool. But then try and catch up, see what happened in the last Sunday service because you were not able, now everything is available online. So we encourage them to do that, right? Another thing why we emphasize this to our worship team members is attending all Sunday services in the second chapter, we looked at the band mentality and the worship team mentality, isn't it, if you remember the second chapter? And it is possible for worship team members to think of themselves as an elite group of people. Okay, hey, I'm part of the worship team. I'm entitled for you to serve me, you know, you see the band mentality kind of a thing. And because of that, it's like, okay, I will come to church only on the Sundays I'm leading worship or playing an instrument. Every other Sunday that I am not playing, I'm not going to come to church. Okay, simple question guys, is that a right attitude? It's not a picky question, isn't it? Yeah, I mean, it's not a right attitude, isn't it? It's nothing right about it. So that's what we expect, you know, we encourage our team members to do is like, you know, hey, on the Sundays you were not serving, you can still come to church. Okay, and be part of the fellowship. Second is connecting with the rest of the church family by fellowshiping with other believers through life groups, personal meetings, and other events held at ABC. Okay, connecting, okay, wherever you are, okay, with your mics muted, say connecting. Thank you. Okay, connecting with the rest of the church family by fellowshiping with other believers through life groups, personal meetings, and other events. Guys, I cannot emphasize or stress enough on the importance of this. I'm sorry, guys, there seems to be some kind of a distance. Okay, sorry. Now, there is a sense of community, okay, that is important here. And I'm very often, I mean, we will find people that says there is no sense of community, you know, here. And we need to have a sense of community. And some time ago, we did a series saying, community starts with you, okay, community starts with you. So if you are a part of a church and if you think, okay, there is this lack of community, there is this lack of fellowship. And the question should arise, okay, so what are you going to do about it? Are you just going to sit there and complain and not be happy about it? Or are you going to initiate something? Because community or connecting with the rest of the church family is also your responsibility. It's not just the church's responsibility, right? Are you guys with me? Okay, one of my favorite preachers, he said the church is like a Noah's Ark. Okay, the church is like what? It's like a Noah's Ark. He said, Noah's Ark was not like a five-star cruise ship. Like everything is beautiful with a swimming pool on top and it just looks immaculate. Everything is clean and spotless, amazing food and whatnot. Noah's Ark was not like a five-star cruise ship. You know, it was, it hit the Ark, that ship was filled with animals, right? Animals of all kinds. And with the animals, it also comes their smell and also their dung, you know, their waste. And so it was, it is not a very pleasant, it would not smell very good, I would imagine, right? And then he goes on to say, yeah, you know, Noah's Ark is like a church. It might not be, you know, the most pleasant thing all the time and, you know, but it was the safest place on earth and that struck me home, you know? So how often do we expect our churches to be perfect, right? How often do we expect our churches to be perfect? We search for churches. We want the perfect church. Yes, we need to find a church that is Bible believing with the right doctrine, with the sound theology. All of that is very important. And that does not mean, you know, they can necessarily be perfect. That is different, isn't it? But the church is the safest place on earth. So connecting with the rest of the church family by fellowshiping with each other, with personal meetings with life groups, you will be empowered, you know, to take on life. You will have the help to overcome the obstacles and whatnot, right? And finally, being involved in ministries at APC where we can serve as part of the worship ministry or in other ways. Some of these includes the secret place, the five days of prayer, youth services, conferences, missions, et cetera, et cetera. There are always platforms in the church for you to serve. Always, always, you can always serve somewhere. You can always help somewhere. Okay, being involved in the ministries of APC is just a wonderful thing to be. And I see how teams grow, help, you know, with the media team, with the sound team, with the setup team, et cetera, et cetera. So we encourage our worship team members who also serve in one of the other ministry teams that they can help with, okay? So that's just the first point, guys. Commitment to the local church. We must first be committed to APC as our local church. What does that mean? Commitment to the local church means APC is a church family, APC is a church body, okay? And you come in agreement with the leadership and the APC's statement of faith and you are not just a spectator, but you actively participate. And how do you show that you are committed is that you show up on Sundays, not only on the Sundays that you play an instrument or lead worship, but you also show up on the Sundays that you don't play an instrument or lead worship. And we expect you to get connected to the life groups, be part of the youth meetings or whatever, right? Women's ministry, men's ministry, and being part of other ministries in the church that you can help. So all of that is just the first point, okay? Requirements of a worship team member at APC. Okay, we will continue with the second point in the next section, all right? So I'll stop sharing the screen now and I'll stop the recording. We will take a break and I'll see you after break time. Can we ask any questions? Oh, yes, please. Of course, sorry, yeah. Namaskar. When you say committed, as you said, and nobody's, we hardly see it to the committed people. Yeah. So Hong Kong was a pastor. It's, you know, to see those people, it's quite hard. I know, I have a question for you. As a pastor, if a person says, see, I have a band, I have a worship band. So I cannot commit 100% to the church even I cannot be come to church on every Sunday. But whatever the possible way, I will help. Yeah. And this person, not any under the spiritual authority or any under local part of the local church, but he connected to God and he listened word and he has a worship and team and he do the worship ministry. So how can we say you have to be in a local church or committed to the church? Yeah. Sure. I mean, if this person is just a random, you know, like a musician who is just talented and says that, you know, I will come only whenever I'm free and whatnot, but I'm not part, I'm not connected to any of the church ministries like, for example, life groups or men's ministry. You'll get what I'm saying. Right. So if there's no connection with any of these fellowships that's happening in the church, that means the person is really not connected to the church. And so it is, I wouldn't, this is just my thing. I would not have a person like that on my team. You know, however, if there is an individual who is, you know, who is part of a music band and we've had so many like that, you see, who is a professional musician? Let's say that, right? You know, I showed you that message that I sent out when I prepared the roster, right? So I sent it out to that individuals as well. And so they will tell is like, hey, I'm free on this Sunday and I will roster them. So I understand where they are and I let them be on the team because they're not just part of the worship team. They are connected somewhere and somehow to the other ministries of the church, like they are connected to a life group. You know, they serve in other ministries. They are available, you know, when the church needs them for the video shoots, for the recordings of a church songs and church albums, they are available for all of that. So that gives me a sense of confidence to know, OK, that person can be trusted and is committed and if they said something, they will do it. So that's when I will allow that person to be part of the worship team. But if the person is just not connected to any ministries of the church, I would not have them part of the team. No matter how good the musician they are. Because the burden for the souls, because when I see a person if not committed to the local church, part of the local church, but I do want to individual ministry means that's not, I personally feel that's not a right, you know, right thing for me. So how can we encourage them to be a part of some local church or grow and do your things as together? Yeah, yeah, that is, I mean, so look, there's a lot to do with the communication there and communication with maturity for me, Thomas, in a sense that I know of a lot of ministries, a lot of, say, missionaries or evangelists, right, who have their own ministry, not necessarily pastors, but who are also part of a local church, you know, they are accountable to the senior pastor of the local church. So I know of a lot of leaders and that is healthy and it is also healthy for the pastor to recognize the call on that individual's life, okay? Like, okay, you know, if that person comes, if they are accountable to you and saying, okay, pastor, this is what's happening in my ministry, this is what it is doing, and then you also see that they are committed, they are accountable to you as a pastor. So you let their fruits, right, the fruits of their life and their ministry speak for itself. So having a healthy conversation and an honest conversation, a conversation of maturity will always help, instead of coming to a conclusion thinking or under assumption, like, okay, you know, there's always going to be misunderstanding, which is not healthy, which is not healthy. Thank you, Master. Yeah, I'm not sure if I helped Thomas, but it's... I want to have a little chat with you more in any possible way if you can help and contact you. Yeah, sure, sure. You know, let me just stop the recording and take a break and I'll share my details with you. That would be great, Master. I'll see you, yeah.