 Okay. Okay. I hope you all are doing well. I hope the stretch has helped a little bit. Let's pray. Father, we thank you. We honor you. We love you in this place, Jesus. We acknowledge your presence. We are thankful and grateful for who are in our lives. We thank you for your mercy that upholds us. We thank you for your faithfulness that sustains us and provides for us. We thank you for your presence that gives us life and protects us. It gives you all the glory. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Okay. So we moved to chapter 4 today. We've completed chapter 3. We went through the foundations of praise in detail from where we get the word praise, from the name of Judah and from the life of Leah and Rachel and how God honors Leah eventually. And different Hebrew words for praise. Why are we called to praise Him? Why are we encouraged to praise? When should we praise? Where should we praise? How should we praise all of that? And so in this chapter, we learn a little bit about the power of praise. Okay. Everybody say power. You can say power a little bit more powerfully. Okay. Say power. Yeah. There's hardly any life in books. Say power. Power. Yeah. Right. So we learned a little bit about the power of praise in the last class. As in we spoke about how God is enthroned, isn't it? So our praise is so powerful that it builds a throne for God to be seated. And that one point should be enough for us to understand that our praise is powerful. Okay. And I keep saying this again and again. Forgive me for sounding redundant, but the devil knows the power in your praise. He knows the power in your praise. He's afraid of your praise. If there's anything that scares the devil is your praise. When you begin to praise God, he starts running. Right. He's just very scared. And so that's what we try and learn a little bit from two different characters or scriptures today. So in your Bible, let's go to 2 Chronicles chapter 20. 2 Chronicles, not Corinthians. Yeah, Joseph. Chronicles. It's after Genesis and before Revelation somewhere there. Yeah. After 2 Kings. It's 1 Chronicles. After 1 Chronicles, it's 2 Chronicles. How many of you have had the chance to read this chapter before or go through this chapter before? Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. It's okay if you haven't. It's fine. You've been forgiven already, so it's okay. Anyone online have gone through this chapter before? Just read it before. Okay. 2 Chronicles chapter 20. The entire chapter is one of the most popular and a powerful chapter in the context of praise and worship. Right. In just one chapter, there are so many things you can learn about. You can learn about praise. You can learn about worship. You can learn about obedience. You can learn in the power of prayer. You can learn about leadership. So there are very so many different topics that can be addressed from just one chapter. Okay. So can we go through that? Are you ready? Yes. No. Maybe. Yes. Sir. I beg your pardon. Verse 1. Correct. Correct. Yeah. So in your course content, there's only one verse, but I want us to go through the entire chapter. Yeah. Is that okay? Verse 20 is like the climax, so we'll get to that. Okay. So this is how the story begins. 2 Chronicles chapter 20. Just so we know during this time, the king of Judah is, the name goes by Jehoshaphat. Okay. So he is the king of Judah at this time. So let's start reading verse 1. 2 Chronicles chapter 20 verse 1. It happened after this that the people of Moab, with the people of Ammon and others with them besides the Ammonites came to battle against Jehoshaphat. Verse 2. Then some came and told Jehoshaphat saying, a great multitude is coming against you from beyond the sea, from Syria, and they are in Hazazon Tamar, which is Engedi. Okay. You can underline Engedi. You can learn it later. Engedi is a place of a stream where all the deers and other wildlife will come to drink from. It's like a valley, a small stream of water. Engedi. Okay. So they've been, they're coming from a valley where there's water. Verse 3. And Jehoshaphat feared and set himself to seek the Lord and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. So Judah gathered together to ask help from the Lord and from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord. Verse 5. Then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem in the house of the Lord before the new court. Okay. So we'll stop. We'll read a few scriptures here and there. We'll stop. We'll try to understand what is happening. Okay. So from verse 1 to 5, we've just read verse 1 to 5. What is happening? What have you understood from verse 1 to 5? Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. A wall. Yeah. So how many nations are coming to attack Judah? Moab, Ammon and other multitudes. So at least three countries we can say for now. Okay. I'm saying at least three. Okay. So what else is happening? Sorry. It's okay. Alright. So neighboring countries are coming to attack Jehoshaphat. Right. Judah. And some people come and tell Jehoshaphat. It's like, hey, you know, Moab, Ammon and all these countries are coming against us. They are there in the valley. So Jehoshaphat is alarmed. Right. He's worried. But then what's the first thing he does? Yeah. Okay. So awesome. Isn't it? Verse 3, Jehoshaphat feared. And verse 3, it said, he said, he set himself to seek the Lord. That's the first thing he does. Right. He set himself to seek him. That means to pray, to find out, okay, Lord, what do I do? Okay. Give me strength. So he sets himself to seek the Lord. And the second thing, his leadership comes into play. He proclaimed a fast. Right. He calls everyone what everyone is who? Not just one family or two family, but all of Judah. Right. The whole country of Judah, he's saying, come let's fast. We are going to be enemies coming to attack us. We're going to seek. But when we seek, we're going to fast and pray. Verse 4, so Judah gathered together to ask help from the Lord. And from all the cities of Judah, they came to seek the Lord. And Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem in the house of the Lord before the new court. Okay. Verse 6, everybody there together? Yeah. We're in verse 6. Okay. Stay together, guys. All right. This chapter is one of those chapters, like Christopher Nolan's movie. If you get lost, you'll get lost. Okay. Verse 6. Oh, no, no, sir. How can you talk about movies? This is Bible college. Deal with it, guys. Okay. Verse 6. And said, Oh Lord God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? And do you not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations? And in your hand, is there not power and might so that one is able to withstand you? So that no one is able to withstand you. Verse 7. Are you not our God who drove out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and gave it to the descendants of Abraham, your friend forever? And they dwell in it and have built you a sanctuary in it for your name saying, if disaster comes upon us, sword, judgment, pestilence or famine, we will stand before this temple and in your presence for your name is in this temple and cry out to you in our affliction and you will hear and save. Okay. So from verse 6 to verse 8. What's happening? Verse 6 to verse 8. Just a little loudly, please, if you're... Sorry. They're praying. Okay. Who's praying? Jehoshaphat. All right. What else? What else? Talk to me. They're standing in the congregation and speaking to God. Okay. Who is? And the works he has done. Sorry, Gertrude. He has done. He's reminding God that who God is and what works he has done in the nations. Yes. So Jehoshaphat is also, he's declaring again. He's not reminding God of who he is, but then he's declaring everything that he's done so the people will also know. He's saying, are you not the God who brought us out of Egypt? Are you not the God who delivered us? Are you not the God who gave us this land, the descendants of your son Abraham to live here, to dwell in it? Okay. So that's the context. So he's declaring in the midst of the whole congregation, he's just reminding himself and the people of Judah of who this God is. Isn't it? Right? So that's what's happening. People, nations are attacking Judah. Jehoshaphat is alarmed. He calls for the fast. He seeks the Lord. The entire nation is on a fast. Let that sink in. Okay. The entire nation, people from every city and tribe came to seek the Lord. There's a revival that is happening. They haven't realized it yet, but that's what's happening. Okay. All right, let's go on. Let's go to verse 10. Okay. And now here are, again, Jehoshaphat is continuing in his prayer. He's saying, and now here are the people of Ammon, Moab and Mount Sire, whom you would not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them and did not destroy them. So this verse is very important. Okay, guys, pay attention. Verse 10. Now what he's saying is, God tells the people of Israel, when they enter the land of Canaan, they are to chase everyone out. Yes? They are to chase all the Canaanites out of the land. But Israel, the people of Israel did not do that. Are you with me? They let the enemy stay with them in the land. It's very important. I can't stress how important this is. They let the enemy stay with them in the land. They compromised. They ignored the command of the Lord. Okay. And they say, it's okay. They're compromised. Now, because they compromised and let the enemy stay, they came at a time where the enemy began to oppress them. That's exactly what Jehoshaphat is saying here is, we let them live, but now they're attacking us. Okay, there's a spiritual lesson here for us, is that if we compromise with the devil, you give him a foothold, he'll come inside and put one tent and reside in you. Okay, so that's another very spiritual lesson right there. Okay, let's go on. Verse 11, Jehoshaphat is continuing. He says, here they are rewarding us by coming to throw us out of your possession, which you have given us to inherit. Verse 12, O our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us. Nor do we know what to do. I love this line. He says, we do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you. Wow, that's such a beautiful and a powerful prayer. He says, all these enemies are coming. I don't have power. We as a nation do not have the power to stand against them. Imagine a leader, a king of the land, the king of the land. And all the people are there. They can see him. If I know that someone is a king in my head, okay, the king will know what to do because he has the power. He's brave. He's supposed to be powerful. But you see how Jehoshaphat humbles himself before the Lord and making himself vulnerable in the presence of everyone. Lord, we don't have the power. I don't know what to do, but my eyes are on you. Are you with me? So the answer to winning the battle begins right here. It's reminding us of who God is and fixing a gaze on him. Are you with me? David cries out in Psalm 27. Psalm 27 verse 4. He says, one thing have I desired of the Lord and that will I seek that I may dwell in the house of the Lord for all the days of my life and that I may gaze upon the beauty of the Lord, that I may fix my eyes on you. Psalm 27 verse 4. It's beautiful. Okay, so let's inverse. Oh boy, where was I? Christopher Nolan. Okay, verse 2. All right, we do not know what to do, but my eyes are on you. Verse 13. Now all Judah, that means the entire country, the nation, with their little ones, their babies, their wives, and their children stood before the Lord. Then the spirit of the Lord came upon Jehaziel, the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaniah, the son of Jehiel, the son of Mathaniah, a Levite, the sons of Asaph, in the midst of the assembly. Does anybody love that verse? I love it. It just doesn't say that the spirit of the Lord came. It says the spirit of the Lord came on an individual, Jehaziel. Okay, prophecy from Joel chapter 2. On the last days, I will pour out my spirit on all guitars, on all flesh. Isn't it, right? People. And so the spirit of the Lord came upon a man, right? On a prophet, Jehaziel. Where was I? Verse 14. And then it goes on to give a bunch of names. We can't ignore those names, right? If your name was there, you would read it. Yes or no? I always tell anybody, I teach... Chronicles. Chronology, right? It's very important. If your name was there, you would read it. There was a time, and this is just a side note. I was in, I think, 6th standard or 7th standard. I used to watch Test Match. Test Match Cricket as an event. Does anybody watch Cricket? This is okay. So there was a bowler. India was playing Pakistan. There's a bowler called Anil Kumble. Anybody remembers? So in one innings, he took 10 wickets. He was the only second person to do that in the history of the game. In the 50s, there was an England player called Jim Laker who did it. So it was a big deal back then, okay? To take 10 wickets in one innings. And so the newspaper company came up with this thing saying, okay, you can wish Anil Kumble. Call on this number and your message will come in the newspaper. So I called. I congratulated Anil Kumble. And the next day the newspaper came. First thing what I do is I start, I open, I go to the sports section. Sports section is always at the end, right? And then there I saw. There are like some 100 names of people who congratulated Anil Kumble. I don't give up. I start searching for my name. I found it. Roshan Jonas. In the midst of, I don't know, hundreds of people's names. My name was there. Daddy, see, my name is in the newspaper for all the right reasons. For all the good reasons. But I didn't stop there. You know what I did? Can you guess? There was no picture, photo and all to take those days. No, I took the entire newspaper and went to school. I went to school. See, my name is in the newspaper. My name is in the newspaper. What are you laughing? If your name was there, you will do the same. No, the importance of a name in the midst of hundreds of names was important to me as an individual, isn't it? And in God's word, if there are names mentioned in a single verse, there are four names mentioned. It's important, right? So that's my small gyan about the importance of the names. But don't ignore the names, okay? So study them. So verse five. So the spirit of the Lord came. The son of Zechariah, okay? Verse 15. And he said, listen, all you of Judah and your inhabitants of Jerusalem you King Jechoshaphat, thus says the Lord, do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God's. Do not be afraid nor dismayed. So verse 16. Tomorrow, go down against them. They will surely come up by the ascent of Zez and you will find them at the end of the brook before the wilderness of Jeruel. Okay. You have to love God's humor. God is saying, okay, don't worry. Don't be discouraged. Don't worry. The battle is not yours. So tomorrow, go. They will also come. You also go. Say, if it was me, I'd be like, okay, do you want me to go? Sure. That's what's happening. Verse 17. You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord who is with you. O Judah and Jerusalem, do not fear or be dismayed. Tomorrow, go out against them for the Lord is with you. That means his presence is going to be with you. Okay. So let's pause again. So everybody's okay. Are you with me? Okay. So what has happened? The spirit of the Lord comes upon this person called Jehazil, the son of Zechariah. He gives a word saying, thus says the Lord, don't be afraid. Don't be discouraged. Go into the valley. Meet with them. But you will not have to fight. The battle belongs to the Lord. Yes. That's what's happened so far. Has the fighting began? Have they won the battle? Not yet. Isn't it? Because tomorrow is the battle. Today only God is saying, don't worry, I'm with you. The battle is not yours. I will fight. God has just given the word. They haven't even entered the battle. They haven't even tasted victory yet. But God's word was enough for Jehoshaphat. Because in the next verse, see his response, verse 18. And Jehoshaphat bowed his head. Parak or Shah with his face to the ground. Remember that? And all of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem bowed before the Lord, worshipping the Lord. So even before they got the victory, just because God said, don't worry, the response was they fall down, they fell down in worship. Verse 19. Then the Levites of the children of the Kohathites, stood up to praise the Lord, God of Israel, with the voices loud and high. Okay, verse 19. Again, a small Bible study there is, it says the Levites who were the children of Kohathites and of the children of the Kohathites. So again, names. We know why Levites. Another thing what we need to know or we need to study about is that Levi had three sons. Kohath, Gashom and Merari. So there were three clans from the tribe of Levites and each clan had their own responsibility. So among the three clans, the Kohathites were responsible in carrying the Ark of the Lord. Not anybody else from another clan. Only the priests from the clan of the Kohathites were responsible with the Holy of Holy duties. Okay, so that's why their names are mentioned there. It's simply not there for a joke. So the Kohathites stood and they praised the Lord, God of Israel, with the voices loud and high. Shabbat and Halal and Yata and everything is happening in this verse. Again, it's very important for us to remember they have not entered the battle. The victory, they haven't even tasted it yet. But just God said, the victory is yours. You don't have to fight. They are worshiping with a loud voice. They are celebrating. And verse 20. So they rose early in the morning. This is the next day and went out into the wilderness of Tekoa. And as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah and your inhabitants of Jerusalem. Believe in the Lord your God and you shall be established. Believe his prophets and you shall prosper. Verse 21. And when they had consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing through the Lord and who should raise the beauty of holiness. As they went out before the army, they were saying praise the Lord for his mercy and yours forever. Okay. How many of you have seen a war movie? War movies? Fighting war movies. You've seen it, right? Yeah. So, okay, in any of those movies, in how many movies do you see musicians in the front of an army? You're saying musicians in front of an army. Is it? Which army is that? It's like a bunch of musicians. Okay, but I haven't seen one. It's very strange for me to even imagine there's an enemy in the front who wants to kill you, not just want to shake your hands. Like, oh, hey, hi, let me introduce yourself. I'm going to kill you now. No. There's an enemy that wants to destroy you completely, like you never even existed. And then the king says, hold on. Where is my worship team? Worship team? You're going to go in the front with the guitars, with bass guitars. Go in the front and sing praise and worship. And they did that. But look at verse 22. Verse 22 says, now, when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab and Mount Sire, who had come against Judah and they were defeated. For the people of Ammon and Moab stood up against inhabitants of Mount Sire to utterly kill and destroy them. And when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Sire, they had to destroy one another. The enemies, the three countries that attacked Jehoshaphat, the Judah, they killed each other. They didn't even have to fight. Isn't that amazing? Right? I mean, that's just an example of the power of praise is I really, really hope that we understand the power of praise. This is not just a story for us to read and feel nice. Look, oh, wow, what a story. What a story. You know, it's mass-full, you know? No, but this is for us to be encouraged. You know, when we face something impossible or any trials, any problems, we are encouraged to seek the Lord. Right? We're encouraged to go after who he is, his presence. Remind ourselves of who he is. Are you not the God who provided for me all these years? Are you not the God who saved me from, you know, and kept me all these years? All fine? So far? Okay, let's go to another story and learn about another power of praise. I want to encourage you, when you have the time in your free time, go back and reread this chapter. Okay? When you can, just go ahead and reread this chapter. Read it slowly. Don't be in a hurry when you can. All right, let's learn about another example, another story of the power of praise. We'll go to the Book of Acts. We'll go to the New Testament now. I'm just going to put this. I'm just going to share the screen for us in just a minute. Everyone online, see the screen that I'm sharing? Yeah? Okay, cool. All right. Now we are in Acts chapter 16. Let's go to verse, let's say, okay, let's read from verse 16. Okay? Acts chapter 16, verse 16 onwards. Everybody's there, right? Okay? Acts chapter 16, verse 16. And now it happened as we went to prayer that a certain slave girl possessed with the spirit of divination metas who brought her master's much profit by fortune-telling. Verse 17, this girl followed Paul and us, Silas, and cried out saying, these men are the servants of the Most High, God, who proclaimed to us the way of salvation. Verse 18, and this she did for many days, but Paul greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her, and he came out that very hour. Verse 19, but when her master saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas. Okay, the story is getting interesting from now. Verse 19, they seized Paul and Silas. That means they captured them. They dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities. Okay, underline drag if you haven't or any word in your translation. They dragged them. Verse 20, and they brought them to the magistrates and said, these men being Jews exceedingly trouble our city. And they teach customs which are not lawful for us, being Romans to receive or observe. Verse 22, then the multitude rose up together against them and the magistrates tore off their clothes and commanded them to be beaten with rods. And when they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into the prison, commanding the jailer to keep them safe. Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison to be beaten in the stops. Okay, so we all know the story. It's one of the Sunday school story. We know about Paul and Silas. Okay, so Paul and Silas are captured by the city officials, by the government officials. They are dragged, that means hold you by the cloth. They drag you through the mud and everything. Throw you in front of the city officials. Who would you feel if you were dragged? Okay, you will not feel like I'm going to praise you. I'm going to praise you. So Paul and Silas was dragged. They were stripped. Okay, they were stripped. They were literally made naked. And then it says they were beaten with rods. First beating. They were beaten with rods. Now we don't know how many times they were beaten. After they were beaten, they were given 40 minus one lashes, stripes. 40 minus one, that is 39 lashes. Jati, right? What is it? Oh, that's what it's called. Okay. So, and that punishment, right, that 39 lashes, it was called as grace. Why? Because the 40th strike will kill you. So they will hit you so much that they will leave you on the border of death, but they will not kill you. Okay. So they've been dragged. They've been stripped naked. Imagine the embarrassment. They've been beaten with rods and given 39 lashes. Now this is just a painting drawing from Google. They still look very clean. Imagine after beating with the rods and 39 lashes, they will have more blood. But one thing I never understood in this from the story is Paul, the Bible says was a Roman citizen. Paul was a Roman citizen, but he's been accused that he's a Jew. Yes, he is, but he was a Roman citizen. Now, no Roman citizen could be punished, should be punished like this. According to the law of the land, they should be taken to court and just be put in prison. No Roman citizen can be beaten or be stripped like how Paul was. I never understood why Paul didn't say, Hey, you can't do this to me because I'm a Roman citizen. He could have said that, but I don't know why he didn't say it. It's a point for us to ponder or study deeper because I've pondered about it. But let's come back to the story. They've been dragged, been stripped. Just imagine the mental effect and everything been beaten with rods and then being lashed 39 times, just one before death. And as if that was not enough, then their legs and the hands were tied to the stock. Now you see this wooden block, right? That's called a stock. Now, you see their legs are closed, right? Their two legs are closed, isn't it? Now this is just an imagination drawing. The historians say sometimes the gap between two legs would be wide. They would spread their legs. So it's not as closed as easy as it is. Are you with me? And they say that their hands were not free like this. Their hands were tied to their legs. Okay? Their hands were tied. Now, being an adult man, you can't reach your leg easily. Yeah? Fine. See, I sit. I can't reach my leg easily, isn't it? Now my legs are closed up. Imagine my legs were wide spread. They've been beaten almost to death. Their legs would be separated. Their hands, because it can't reach, they pull. And so when they do that, their shoulder is dislocated. Okay? Their shoulder is dislocated. So now we all understand the context. Yeah? In the midst of all this, 100% guarantee that you can be the best singer in the world. You will not feel like singing. You can be the best musician or whatever, but you will not feel like singing. Are you with me? After going through so much of shame and pain and embarrassment, physically abused, mentally you've been affected because you've been stripped naked. Everybody is seeing. Imagine the shame and whatnot. And then finally put in prison where their shoulders being dislocated. In verse 25, now we say, at midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God. And the prisoners that were listening, there were other prisoners in the jail who could hear them sing and pray. Suddenly there was a great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chain were loosed. That's a very important verse. I keep saying this. Sorry, every verse is important. So what is happening? They start praying. They start singing hymns. They start worshiping God. Suddenly an earthquake. The prison doors are broken. Their chains are broken. Now there's a very important line there. It says in verse 26, all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were loosed. Very important. It just doesn't say only Paul and Silas's doors were opened. Does it say that? Does anybody else's Bible say anything? Only Paul and Silas's doors were opened. It says all the doors. That means the doors of every other prisoners were also opened and every other prisoner's chain was also set free. Let's stop. You see, the power in your praise is not just for you. Are you with me? The victory of your praise is not just for you. Paul and Silas, they were praising. They were set free. But because of their praise, the other people were also set free. Are you with me? And so when we come together, say during supernatural hour or during in church corporate worship, your praise can set someone else free. Are you with me? The power and the victory of your praise is not just for you. Are you with me? And so that is the power of praise is when we praise, we receive the victory. We experience it. But all the others who are oppressed are also set free. Amen. That is such a powerful lesson for us to learn from about the power of praise. And there are so many stories like that in the Bible, which I would encourage you to go through. But we'll stop here for today with that point. Okay. Everybody online, are you doing okay? Hope you were able to follow along. Yep. Awesome. Awesome. Well, God bless you. Thanks for joining in. Please go ahead and re-meditate on the chapter, both the chapters, 2 Chronicles 20 and Acts chapter 16. I'll let the Holy Spirit speak to you, the minister to you. All right. God bless you. I'll see you next week. Have a good one. Thank you. God bless you. You're welcome, guys.