 All right welcome everybody once again. It's really good to see you all This course is about worship ministry BC 3 1 1 from final years. Okay, so In this course worship ministry, we're going to learn about a practical thing as theological aspects of worship and practical aspects of ministry organizational aspects of ministry so in your notes Which I've shared by the way, I hope you've downloaded your notes everybody. Yeah I've shared it in both the classroom section and the stream section So if you can have that handy, there's nothing like it. Okay, so in this course, we will cover Worship ministry in the Bible. We go look at the Old Testament and the New Testament How people in the Bible, you know worship and how their ministry was organized Okay, both in the old and the New Testament. We'll briefly look at how worship was organized in the tabernacle of Moses Again, briefly look at how worship was organized in the tabernacle of David in how Abraham worshiped and And so on and so forth. Okay, so that is worship ministry in the Bible Chapter two is all about worship in the church. We'll go through We'll see how the worship ministry has evolved through the ages Right from the biblical times to the modern era 2020-21. Okay, we'll see how music has evolved worship ministry has evolved and Chapter three is about organizational aspects how we how we can go about organizing our worship ministry, you know And how APC functions how APC has organized The worship ministry Right and then different forms of music methods used in modern music in worship ministry technology that's used we can use and developing a local community and as a worshiping body and worship ministry in regional languages and so on and so forth. So worship ministry is a little bit different to the praise and worship course that we studied in the first year This is more There will be more of a practical topics, you know content and that will be added so so yeah that's about it and Let's get started. Yeah, we'll go look at first chapter worship ministry in the Bible so This chapter is all about I want to start off with talking about altars Abraham's altars and specific but altars in general right In this was before there was a tabernacle of Moses or a tabernacle of David Before there was a temple or anything else This is how the people in the days of the Bible in the very early days Worship is that they built altars. Okay, so all those They have mentioned in your notes, but in generally altars is a is a way to Mark a moment with God You know, it was in a place that God would speak and a person would build all They remind us of where God has shown up in our lives And what he has spoken Okay, it's also a place to mark your commitment in response to God's work So all this was a big deal back in the day and Before they had the tabernacle of Moses That's how people worship and they would build an altar and Abraham Isaac and Jacob They would all build altars and that is how they worship. Okay, so it symbolized a Sacred place of worship. Okay But what comes to your mind when you hear the word altar? You can unmute and speak And you can also share in the chat section. So when you hear the word altars in whatever context What comes to your mind? sacrifice Sacrifice. Yeah, okay surrender Sacrifice surrender. Yes Forgiveness, yes, okay Worship, okay, right? Anybody else? Well Thomas, well, you see there's no right or wrong answers. I just want your thoughts on it That's it. So feel free to share, you know, whatever you want. Nobody's judging Bowing down before God. Okay, it's another place of surrender, right? Actually, where I hear the word altars because I've come from the tradition such the altar, the place of, you know, in CSH is a specific place for the stand and nobody can enter without the Law but after that saved understand certain things about the altar It's always is the present God where comes and meets the people That's what's my mind. When people worship the presence of God comes and That's interesting, isn't it? Thanks for sharing that also Thomas. As in so You know, one of the things that I could think of was I mean, I've heard my Catholic friends also say I'm an altar boy in my church You know, and then you like you also said there are certain Denominations that have altars where only specific people could enter So, I mean all of that also comes to our head, but But ideally when we talk of altar, it's everything what you'll just share It was a place, it was a place of surrender submission. It was a place of worship You know what I'm saying, right? It was a place of forgiveness and in so many other things It was the place where humanity would meet with divinity, you know, that's where what would meet as well so And one of the key verses that's actually not in the Bible not in the notes that I shared But if we can look at Exodus chapter 20 verse 24, okay Exodus chapter 20 verse 24 It says make an altar of earth for me and Sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings your sheep and goats and your cattle Wherever I cause my name to be honored. I will come to you and bless you Okay, wherever I cause my name to be honored. I will come to you and bless you. I'm reading from the NIV I hope that's okay, but it's what we're interesting is an altar was a place of us honoring him Honoring his name honoring who he is and although I found that, you know, super interesting, you know, and And as we study through the life of Abraham, which we will in just a minute we One thing one of the conclusions that I could come out of it was an altar was a place where the old ends and the new begins Okay, I'll say that again in the context of Abraham's lives, which can be applied in our lives is The play the altar was a place where the old ended and new began Okay So having said that Let's just look and you know your notes in page four and on top the four altars of Abraham, okay Yahweh God commanded Abraham to leave his land his relatives and his father's house Abraham obeyed without hesitating and left or Okay Now just for reference sake, can we go to Genesis chapter 12, please? Let's go to Genesis chapter 12 is any any point in time if I'm going too fast Please let me know somebody okay, so The Dave, sorry, I missed your thing. What I was exodus 2024 So this chapter 20 was 24 what we just read and we are and right now we are just going back to Genesis at the 12th So Genesis chapter 12 verse 1 it says The Lord had said to Abram leave your country Your people and your father's household and go to the land. I will show you Okay, so interesting leave your country your people and your father's household and go to the land. I will show you There are so many hard things that God is asking Abraham to do One leave your country. Just go to another country for another land leave your people and And leave your father's household leave your family leave the people that you know leave the country that you are familiar with And go and one of the interesting lines. There is go to the land. I will show you That means God has still not shown the land to Abraham You see what I'm saying, okay, so that is the context, you know, and so it's coming back to our notes God commanded Abraham to leave his land his relatives and his father's house Abraham obeyed Without hesitating and left his country his people his family he left Throughout his journey Abraham built for all those They represent the stages of his experience the growth in faith, you know, his commitment His coming back, you know from going away They show how he behaved himself and how he grew as a person and how his intimacy with God So but one of the important things that we need to remember is that when God called Abraham Abraham Abraham Abraham Abraham, sorry if I go back and forth Was an idol worshiper? Okay, he came from from the land from the people a place where idols were worshiped From polytheistic Okay, the polytheism that's many gods. God was calling him from polytheism to Monotheism one God, okay, that is it and you can't see me It's invisible and God was calling him out of idol worship and Went the Lord called him to leave or off the Chaldeans and began a journey of faith He became a father of faith and a friend of God Okay, but one of the key important lines there Like for you to remember is he began a journey of faith Okay, let me try I want to share a map possible Did you just to show us the journey that you know Abraham took again you all see The map is Yes Okay, cool. So You see this is poor here. Oh, by the way, the red line here is the journey of Abraham ignore the purple blue and the other stuff Okay, just keep an eye on the red Just so we understand a little bit. Okay So this was actually his journey of faith He was supposed to leave this country and come all the way up here and go there And then here then come down Down and down and down You just spend some time here and then come down to Bethel Hebron where Shiva sure and You see that it's it's quite an incredible journey, isn't it? Right, but I found this a phone was amazing, you know One of the most beautiful things again just coming back to that line is that God said Go to the land. I will show you that means when Abraham began He did not know that he was coming to the other side of the land altogether He didn't know Yeah, he was coming from the land of worship. He was familiar his family was here He knew his people his kind of people the race everything You and then God would just you know, choose him and from this day, you are going to be a different nation God calls and Abraham just said, okay, look if you say so He goes on this incredible journey. All right. Let me stop sharing it. Okay another interesting thing that's coming back to your notes is that God records in the book of Hebrews in chapter 11 Four statements about the life of Abraham Which kind of corresponds to these four altars referred in the book of chances. Okay, it's it's so beautiful beautifully put together You know what the Hebrews say about Abraham and his altars that he but right so you guys with me so far Yeah Yeah Okay, so just to sum up what we covered Altars was a place of Worship was a praise of sacrifice like you shared was a place of forgiveness was a place of surrender It was a place where God's name was honored It was a place where God the divinity would meet with humanity. It was a place where worship was accepted So, yeah This is dive a little bit more deeper into understanding, you know, what altars are before we start, you know Going into the altars that Abraham built the word altar in scripture simply means a place of slaughter and Sacrifice where blood was shed and death took place Okay, it was a place where blood was shed and death took place. I want you to remember that line death took place okay, it symbolized acknowledgement of Approach to how you would approach You know an appreciation of God in other isn't simply in other words means worship Okay, it was a place where you would acknowledge who God is. He is good. He's Jehovah Jireh. He's my healer. He's my provider He's my strength my shield. He is my strong tower my mighty fortress You are acknowledging everything about him and then how you would approach you would approach with the place of Reverence knowing that he is almighty. He is the Alpha and he is the Omega. He is the only true God Right and then you would appreciate you be thankful with praise and worship Okay, so that was altar So just a couple of points. I've mentioned in the notes for us point one Primarily an altar was a place of worship Where God was adored for who he is and what he has done Okay, there's a place where God was adored where he was honored for who he is and what he has done Which is very important for us to remember this in if he doesn't do anything else in our lives If he doesn't do another miracle or doesn't another healing That does not make him unworthy That's that's the beauty of this worship a place of coming to this place of worship is that Regardless God is worthy. He was adored if he you know for who he is he is sovereign And for what he has done for what for the price that he's paid for us on the cross Okay And only burnt offerings were offered to him in the days of the patriarchs Since the law of Moses was not yet given Point two and also was a place of testimony to the only true God in the midst of the widespread idolatry Okay, the altar was a place of testimony to the only true God and why I say that is no Other religions back then You know the the canonites or the bar worshipers the idolaters They also built altars, but there was always an idol on that altar that they worship But only the altars that the patriarchs built had nothing else It was just plain altar and a sacrifice would go on it Okay So Abraham built his altars unto the Lord and that there he called upon his name We we look at those scriptures in just a minute as we go on Third point an altar was also a place of communion Between God and the worshipper. It was a place of communication. It was a place where God would make his covenant You know with his people and we see that time and time again So it was a place of communion between God and the worshipper Where instructions were often given by the Lord and received by his so okay, so very quickly as First one The altar was a place of worship It was a place where you would acknowledge and adore and appreciate who God is Right. It was a place of worship second It was a place of testimony to Amongst every other idol idol worship that was happening around Say that he is the only true God and he is worthy of our praise and third point So it was a place of communication. It was a place of communion Okay, community coming together They would come together in unity where God would speak and and the worshipper would make notes Of his instructions, etc. Etc. Okay, so this is what an altar represent And in all of this again, I want to go back to that point in in the beginning of the statement is Right on top The word altar and scriptures simply means it was a place of salt a slaughter and sacrifice Where blood was shed and death took place Okay Yeah Is everybody okay so far Yeah, anything you'd like to what you want to share you want to add to what we discussed so far guys If you can please remember, you know, if if this if I ask a question, you know, I can If I'm asking you to share anything Please don't think twice about sharing the right answer You know, because there is not expecting the right answer all the wrong and there's no right or wrong So if you feel free to share no matter how silly you think it might be or whatever it is Because that's how we will learn. Okay I hope that's all cool Right. So let's move on thing now. We've understood what altars are and we understood we understand a little background of who Abraham was Okay, now We go into studying His four altars In page number five Now In the notes, I've just given, uh, you know a name to these altars the first altar Is called as the altar of obedience and second altar, you know, an altar of intimacy, but uh, you know This is not just these are the points, uh, you know that I I thought I would add and that means it's not exhaustive What I mean by that is This is it nothing else Okay, that's not the point but god might speak to you about something else from the altar, you know Of the first altar that Abraham put but uh, when I was preparing Uh, you know, this is what stood out to me. Okay the first altar Okay, the first altar in your notes page five I'm calling it the altar of obedience so After Abraham arrived in canon The bible tells us that the first place he went to was Shechem Okay in shechem He built an altar Uh, I think what I'd like to do is I'd like to leave that Map on us so that we kind of understand Uh, you know the place of the geography. It's very important for us to understand the geography I hope that's okay. Yeah So the first place so he's come from this place or and he's come all the way to here. This is where shechem is Okay, and uh And that's where he built his first altar. So In shechem he built an altar. It is an altar associated with uh, the proof of obedience Which started in abraham left Or okay in genesis chapter 12 or six and seven Abraham passed through the land To the place of shechem which means shoulder and support Okay, the meaning of that uh, the place shechem means shoulder support Okay, nothing's there by accident guys. There's these meanings Tell us something about god Okay, um, which goes to say that in this journey that abraham started the journey of faith Through it and he reaches the point god has been his shoulder. He could rely on his strength He has been his support And as far as the terribent tree of mora mora means teacher the canonites were in the land Okay, and then the lord appeared to abraham and said To your descendants, I will give you I will give this land And there he built an altar to the lord who had appeared to him Okay, uh, one of the important things now if it was me right and got okay god shows up Uh, you know remember that line? Okay, leave everything and go. I will show you the land. That means abraham didn't know He reached a certain point then god shows up and he says And what does he say to your descendants? I will give this land He doesn't say to you if it was me because he's like whoa, whoa, whoa I came thousands of miles. Okay, and you're not giving me you're giving it to my descendants. What's the point? but uh, abraham abraham doesn't respond when god says that to your descendants, I will give this land There he built an altar to the lord as a response, right? Who had appeared to him Now as a parallel If you have a virus, let's just go to hebrus 11 The scriptures are there in your in the north, but uh, you know, this is for hebrus 11 if you don't mind hebrus 11 verse 8 hebrus chapter 11 verse 8 says by faith abraham When called to go to a place He would later receive as his inheritance obeyed and went Even though he did not know where he was going That's wonderful, isn't it? He obeyed and went without hesitation without thinking twice, uh, you know Okay, where is this land? Does it have clean air? Okay, is there water supply there? You know, what about the food quality? Etc. Etc. What about the quality of life? Is there good schools around for my kids? Etc. Some of the things that we as people would consider, isn't it? You know, when you choose to go to a certain city, you will take all of these factors into consideration Does it have good educational system? Does it have good roads? Which bang will doesn't Does it have good water system? Does this area have water problems? Etc. Etc. We would have all these questions, isn't it? But it feels like here When God called Abraham to go he just left without hesitation without thinking twice whatever it is wherever it is He just took and just left. He left everything his people his family his father's house and he left Simply because God told him to go So the building in you coming back to your notes The building of this altar therefore corresponds to Hebrews 11 8 which we just read which states It was by faith that Abraham obeyed When God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance What I want to stand You know kind of highlight for us as relevance in our context is Not just in worship ministry, but in ministry as general or in life Uh How much are you willing to trust and obey? How much? Because that is the first step Obedience, obedience is better than sacrifice. It's not the scripture says there's nothing more pleasing to God than obedience And I say I use the word pleasing to God right because again the Hebrews says I think Hebrews I'm not sure Give me it says You cannot please without without faith. You cannot please God Without faith You cannot please God And so it is by faith you please him and one of the aspects of that is obedience And obedience pleases him obedience shows that you have faith in God Right. So that's the first altar an altar of obedience All right, let's move on to the second one the second altar Uh, I'm calling it the altar of intimacy and of the pilgrim walk an altar of intimacy and pilgrim walk In Genesis chapter 12 verse 8 And he moved from there to the mountains east of Bethel And he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and AI I on the east Okay Bethel on the west and I on the east There he built an altar to the lord and called on the name of the lord Okay, I've mentioned only Genesis 12 verse 8, but um, I'd like for us to Just read the previous scriptures um Genesis 12 from verse 6 right Genesis chapter 12 verse 6 onwards Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Mora, Ashikam At the time the canonites were in the land The lord appeared to Abraham and said to your offspring I would give this land so he built an altar there to the lord who appeared to him From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent With Bethel on the west and AI on the east there he built an altar to the lord another altar. Okay, so The second place he went to was Bethel and you can look at the map here from Ashikam. It's coming down south Right from shakin. He's coming down south um He goes to Bethel there also he built another altar Then he went and so it was around that he went to uh He went from Egypt to the south and from the south he went back to Bethel Staying in between Bethel and high To the to the place where he built his first altar This altar is associated with the test and the motives of his heart This altar Shows that he is growing in intimacy With the lord an altar of increased familiarity and growth of intimacy By now he's learning that he can you know, you know Depend on his word. And so he continues to build another altar. Okay In this altar corresponds to the statements in Hebrews chapter 11 verse nine It says and even when he reached the land god promised him He lived there by faith For he was like a foreigner living in tents And so did Isaac and Jacob who inherited the same promise Okay, such an important verse this is in the life of Abraham that even after he reached the promised land Okay, he did not he just didn't go start building towers and whatnot because again We have to remember guys. Um Actually this is in in Genesis chapter 11, right? Let me Genesis 11 people were all about building their own cities building Huge monuments. Okay. So in Genesis, uh 11 Genesis 11 verse three Genesis 11 verse three, uh, we all know the stories the it's the origins of the tower of bevel, okay Verse three it says they said to each other come Let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly They used brick instead of stone and tarmata and verse four It says then they said come Let us build ourselves a city With the tower that reaches to the heavens So that we may make a name for ourselves and not this and not to be scattered over the face of the whole earth Okay, verse four just the first line come let us build ourselves a city With the tower that reaches to the heavens. You see this was the culture of the people this was just Just the previous chapter before God speaks with the Abraham but uh, when you when you And when Hebrews chapter 11 was named and you read it. He says, you know, the writer of the Hebrews says Even when Abraham reached the land that God promised him He did not start building towers or building cities Monuments and whatnot. He says he lived there by faith Or he was like a foreigner living in tents Okay, uh people living in tents. No no mats, right? They would Constantly be on the move. Those were the kind of people who would live in a tent so they can pick up the tent packet and go on right so He in acts 7 verse 5 he says he owned not even so much As to set his foot on That's what he thought. Okay. He's the he he's like I don't even own a foot in this land So that's why I'm going to live in the tents In acts 7 verse 5 he says he gave him no inheritance here Not even enough ground to set his foot on but God promised him that he and his descendants After him would possess the land even though at the time Abraham had no child Okay, uh, so his faith is growing by this point His he's just again solely depending on that intimacy intimacy with God that intimate relationship that bond that the communion Is just growing and growing by this point And I I love this poem by Thomas R. Taylor I am but a stranger here Heaven is my home. Earth is the desert Heaven is my home Danger and sorrow stand around me on every hand Heaven is my father land Heaven is my home so This altar should encourage us to to live a pilgrim's life Knowing that we are just passing through You know our life on earth where He calls us for our eyes to be fixed on eternity and Paul writes and fix your eyes on things above And encourages us to live life as a pilgrim by faith just like Abraham lived And that's how our our intimacy Also, you know deepens Okay, uh, any thoughts so far anything you anything you guys would like to add is it's kind of stood out To Yes, no, maybe actually when we About Abraham in the Bible. He's the wealthiest But still Hebrew says that he looking forward Which used to coming to the life. He looked there and lived in it and and lived the life in a simple way That's amazing. How are you? Yeah, about everything Yes Yeah Yeah Yeah, and I think as as ministers of God, especially people, you know chosen to do his work in ministry Um, and I think it is so crucial to have our eyes fixed on eternity on him Uh, you know And when that is clear when that vision I think is clear Everything else becomes easier and uh, and I feel you know And I think that's why it was easy for Abraham But again, that's not to say that Abraham was all perfect He was far from perfect and uh, you know, we We'll see that in in the next two points that we're going to look at. Okay But what I'd like to do now I I'd like to pause because we have uh, you know five minutes to go for our break and pause here we'll take our break and uh, you know, and I'll see you all back in Tenen Is that cool? So stop sharing Yeah Yeah intimacy is beautiful. Yeah, and And the thing again One of the things again that stands out to me is that in that intimate relationship is not born overnight Doesn't happen like that You know microwave results, you know, we expect the men of God to put their hands on us and they're like, okay You know that can't be transferred. So it's it's a journey, isn't it? um, Abraham Just took a long journey and in that journey he began to trust God in that journey They are his intimacy with God deeper and deeper okay, so yeah All right guys, uh, uh, just We pause here for this for this session and we come back after a break and be with you Okay, I'll see you all in 10 minutes Okay. Thank you, sir You