 Hello everyone. Welcome back. We had a good break extended break. Okay Right, let's get started from where we left off We move into the next section What are some of the lessons that we can learn from David's worship team and as to how he went about You know setting setting it up Yep, let's go to first chronicles 25 First chronicles chapter 25 Okay first chronicles chapter 25 verse 1 onwards it says David Together with the commanders of the army set apart Some of the sons of asaf he manned and jerethen for the ministry of prophesying accompanied by harps liars and symbols Let's pause there. Okay The first thing that you see there is David together with the commanders of the army Okay When's the last time you see military army putting together a worship team But here David is doing it. Okay, the commanders of the army in first thing he set apart Okay set apart That is the root word for holy Okay Like very rootwood is from that's where we get them word Holy in the Hebrew root word simply means set apart we cut aside Right and so we as people in worship ministry. We are called to be set apart To have nothing to do with the world so to speak, right? But for us to understand what it is to be set apart. We need to understand the one who is set apart and That is our God right our father He is holy. There is no one like him Right and we can read tons of scriptures is just for us to understand You know about the holiness of God Only when we understand and get a glimpse and a revelation of his holiness We will understand the importance of the calling of Why we are called to be set apart Right. Can we just go a little deeper in that? Sam 22 verse 3 it says But you are holy and thrown in the praises of Israel Exodus chapter 15 verse 11 Exodus chapter 15 Verse 11 it says who among the God is like you Lord Who is like you? Majestic in holiness awesome in glory working wonders right Job 15 verse 15 Job 15 verse 15 And if God places no trust in his holy ones if even the heavens are not pure in his eyes Okay Then Job 25 Job 25 verse 5 if even the moon is not bright and the stars are not pure in his eyes Is all of this is to say that he alone is holy that means there is no one like him That is the ultimate statement when we say that God is holy It simply means that there is no one like our God Right talk to me. Are you with me? Yes Okay, just some of the quotes This is a lovely quote by Sam Storms He says the holiness of God Only secondarily refers to his moral purity his righteousness of character now When we talk to each other about holiness, right? the first thing that would come to our mind is Righteousness or sinlessness or moral purity, right? I will not lie. I will not cheat. I will not steal You know all those things That is our understanding of holiness is actually righteousness or moral purity that I will live my life You know without any sexual immorality or any morality for that matter Moral purity is Me understanding of what holiness is and that's what Sam Storms is saying. So the holiness of God only secondarily Refers to his moral purity his righteousness of character. It primarily points to his infinite otherness to say that God is holy is to say that he is transcendently separate Set apart Holiness is not one attribute among many It is not like grace or power or knowledge or wrath Everything about God is holy each attribute part takes of his divine holiness Right, this is so beautifully put as a side note Pastor Ashish has a sermon series. He's done it like five years ago. I think on the holiness of God It's a three-part series. I would encourage you to listen to it. It's awesome and also you can read this book By R. C. Sproul. He's the author His book called the holiness of God It's brilliant Okay another court Like this is by Charles Spurgeon This in holiness God is more clearly seen than anything else One goes guys. I hope you don't mind. I just hang in there. Okay Yes, because I Really like all of these quotes This God's holiness means he is separate from sin But holiness in God also means wholeness God's holiness is his Godness it is his being God and all that it means from him to be God to meet God in his holiness Therefore it is to be altogether Overwhelmed by the discovery that he is God and not man How do these guys write so well This is the last quote by the way, okay By Jerry Bridges. He also has another book. I think it's called the pursuit of holiness if I'm not sure I read it long back. I forget the title of it of holiness You should check that out as well. He says holiness is the perfection of all God's other attributes His power is holy power. His mercy is holy mercy. His wisdom is holy wisdom It is his holiness more than any other attribute that makes him worthy of our praise it is his Holiness more than any other attribute that makes him worthy of our praise Right, isn't that awesome? Our God is holy it's He's talking about his holiness is like I'm scared to even draw a comparison or give an example. He's okay. You take a diamond. Okay It take a piece of diamond and you lift it up to the light And you can see the different lights that will fill the room Isn't it? And that's it's still a man-made thing. It's it's still a thing. It's still an earthly perishable thing And think about his holiness. This is go to Psalm 89 Psalm 89 with me if you will please Okay Psalm 89 Verse five onwards Okay, if you're there just give me a Yes, just so I'm not rushing it. Okay All right, Psalm 89 verse five. It says the heavens praise your wonders, oh lord Your faithfulness to in the assembly of the holy ones For who in the skies above can compare with the Lord? Who is like the Lord among the heavenly beings? Listen to that line right who? In the skies above can compare with the Lord who is like the Lord among the heavenly beings That means the angels and the seraphs and the cherubims and the seraphims the living creatures in revelation 4 that we read In the council of the holy ones God is greatly feared. He is more awesome than all who surround him By the way the root word for awesome, uh We use awesome for everything. Oh man, that place is awesome. This thing is awesome The root meaning of awesome simply means terror Terrifying, you know Uh He's more awesome than all who surround him Oh lord god almighty who is like you You are mighty. Oh lord and your faithfulness surrounds you But who is like you is a rhetorical question And so it's been asked mentioned so many times in the scripture Who is like you oh lord in the heavens on the earth the answer simply being there is no one like him He stands alone has god all by himself. He is holy Right Ken is it it does anyone have a another language Say tamil or canada or anyone from Any of the language from africa and just read those scriptures hindi also is fine Um if possible, I just thought it'd be nice sam 89 verse Um 5 to 8 Yes, please go ahead Yeah, I think you're a mute if you're reading it. Yes. Yes, pastor bhajan sahita 89 verse 5 to Eight eight Oh Thanks This is what the english translation is saying, right? But I like the choice of words any other interesting choice of words there that you felt That stood out apart from english Are you speaking? I think you're still one you have any you can hear me, right? He's faster. We can hear you. Okay. No, I was asking so is it was there any other Interesting choice of words in the hindi version besides Besides the one that's mentioned in the english translation Pastor, sorry. Are you you mean to say any other language? Uh, no, I was asking so from the hindi version that you just read a hindi translation So is there any other like interesting choice of words that is that kind of stood out to you? Like what we read from the english Uh, I think we the word yahua that comes it's a hebrew word yahweh, which is uh in hindi called yahua So they have used that word to explain the grandeur of his name of his present and Right, right. Okay. Those who understand hindi You know, go go go. Yeah. Yeah. Thanks. Yeah. Uh, any other language guys, uh, canada anybody or tamil Can I read in malayalam? Sure, sure. Yes Yeah, thank you Yahweh Yes, one more language is one more anybody from Africa. Okay, great. Yeah, so it's so important for us to understand the holiness of God to have a revelation of His holiness for us to understand the weight of the calling to be set apart because that's what David that's the first thing that he does, right? He's set apart. That means the Levites, the people that were set apart, they were set apart for the ministry unto the Lord, right? And the notes, if you see, that was a caution that was constantly given to the Israelites is that, hey, don't compromise with the canonites, right? When you get into the promised land, don't compromise your ways of worship with their ways of worship with your way of living to their ways of living. Don't compromise to their immoral lifestyle. But that's what it's challenging us nowadays, isn't it, from all age groups is, what do I say? It's like we have this chaltahey attitude. Chaltahey, it's okay. Just this, no problem. It's just one time. It's just a small thing. It's just a small whatever, whatever, right? Compromising with the ways of God, with the world of God, to the ways of the world will kill our spirit for more of Him. It will not make us want more of God because we've compromised. He says, in James, he says, don't have anything to do with the world. You know, you're living in it, but you're not off it. Be mindful of it, right? John 15.19 says, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of this world. I have chosen you out of this world. He's called me out, right? He's called you out. He's set you apart. And I've mentioned this so many times, and forgive me if I'm saying this again, from Genesis to Revelation, the heart of God is that I will be your God, you will be my people, right? I have set you apart. I will be your God, you will be my people. Exodus 19, right? It says, you yourself saw how I brought you out of Egypt and on eagle's wings. Out of all the nations of the earth, although the whole world is mine, I have chosen you to be my treasured possession, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, right? That's his heart. It's like, I will have, I want you for myself. I am not willing to share you with anybody else because that is how much I love you, right? Because God is so zealously in love with us that he wants us only for him. He's a jealous lover, so to speak, right? So to say that he does not want to share you with the world. He wants all of you, all of you, only for himself. It's such a beautiful image, isn't it? And so in our journey as worshippers, it is a, let it be a constant reminder is that our God is holy and we are called to be holy, right? We see that have mentioned, being mentioned again in 1 Peter or 2 Peter, that we are, we are set apart. We are now a royal priesthood. We are, each one of us are priests, just like how a priest minister unto the Lord in the tabernacle of Moses. The tabernacle, we are to minister unto him, right? So that's the first thing, set apart. And the second thing we see is, they were set apart for some of the sons of Asaph, he managed for the ministry of prophesying, ministry of prophesying. So very simply, we are learning about worship ministry and we've learned quite deeply about worship from the first year and here a little bit. The root meaning for ministry simply means a cup bearer, a server, a waiter, right? And so when you take worship and put ministry to it, it's all about just bringing these two things, serving and with a heart of worship and just serving before, serving our God and serving His people and that's simply what worship ministry is. Right? In John chapter 13, we see that Jesus stooping down to wash the feet of His disciples, right? Just the previous section, we see how, you know, how God is holy, His magnificent. He's set apart. There is no one like Him. In His holiness, He is humble, right? They're like the two sides of the same coin, the holiness and His humility. In His humility, He stooped down, right? Second Samuel, that you can check it out, Samuel 22, 36, the second part of it, it says He stooped down to make me great. I think it's also in Psalm 18 verse 56 or something, I'm not sure, but He stooped down in His holiness, leaving all His glory as we read in Philippians chapter 2, right? He left the glory of heaven and walked down and He stooped down to make me great. And that's what ministry is all about is, and which is related to the next point, submission in the notes. So they were set apart for the ministry, that means to serve. Okay, I know it's been mentioned out there quite many times, but then we have to be very careful as ministers not to feel entitled and not get, not let any titles or positions or whatnot get to our head and saying, okay, you know, or become over familiar because over familiarity or familiarity even is quite, it's the danger zone, right? In ministry, as soon as you become, as soon as you think you become familiar with God, you're kind of losing track. And so always leaning on His heart, leaning to see what He has to say, that all of that is a posture of humility, right? So in humbleness, in humility, we go before Him in every season of life, in every stage, at every age in ministry, we constantly need to lean on Him, on His understanding to serve Him and to serve His people better. And then we see all the sons of Asaph, I'm not going to read their names. Okay, let's just read their names. So the sons of Asaph, Zako, Joseph, Nathanaia, Asarela, the sons of Asaph were under the supervision. Okay, you can underline that if you have a hard copy of the Bible. They were under the supervision of Asaph who prophesied, underline this, under the king's supervision. As for Jiruthin, from his sons, Ghedalaya, Zeri, Jashahaya, Shemai, Hashabaya, and Matathaya, six in all, under the supervision of their father Jiruthin, who prophesied using the harp in thanking and praising the Lord. And He-Man and his sons, verse five, all these were sons of He-Man, the king's seer. They were given Him through the promises of God to exalt Him. God gave He-Man 14 sons and three daughters, verse six. This is an important case. All these men were under the supervision of their fathers for the music of the temple of the Lord. With symbols and liars and harps for the ministry at the house of God. Asaph, Jiruthin, and He-Man were under the supervision of the king. Okay, Christopher has a question here. Please expand with examples on being over familiar with God. Examples. I can probably see about getting some right examples. I hopefully find that here. Give me a second, Christopher. I'm just looking at this. Okay, let's go to the previous chapter as in first Chronicles 14. Okay, first Chronicles 14, verse eight onwards. I just want to read the passage for us. So Christopher is asking a question. So please expand with examples on being over familiar with God. But I'm using a different example, Christopher. So we hit first Chronicles 14 verse eight onwards. It says, when the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over all Israel, they went up in full force to search for him. But David heard about it and went out to meet them. Now the Philistines had come and rated the value of Rafa Hameen. So David inquired of God. Okay, if you want to, you can underline that David inquired of God. Shall I go and attack the Philistines? Will you hand them over to me? The lots answered him, go, I will hand them over to you. So David and his men went up to Baal Perazim and there he defeated them. He said, as waters break out, God has broken out against my enemies by my hand. So the place was called Baal Perazim. Verse 12, the Philistines had abandoned their gods there and David gave orders to burn them in the fire. Verse 13, once more the Philistines raided the valley. And so David inquired of God again and God answered him, do not go straight up, but circle around them and attack them in front of the balsam trees. As soon as you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, move out to battle because that will mean God has gone out in front of you to strike the Philistine army. So there are a lot of things that's happening in this passage. For me, what again stands out is the way David is handling, how is he responding? So David has fought enough battles by now and God has been with him and time and time again in the scriptures we see that David won this battle because God was with him. And his posture of heart, he inquires of God. He's asking, he's leaning us, okay, Lord, tell me what to do, tell me what to do. And the second time also he asks, he is not responding or is taking matters into his own hands and saying, okay, you know what, last time I went into the battle, this is what God told me to do and let me use that same strategy and go and do the same thing my own way, thinking that God is okay with it. That is like acting out of being familiar, right? That's one example, I hope you get it. Say, yeah, I see your hand being raised. Oh, I just wanted to add another example is that maybe when we started out with God, we were so fervent in his presence, we worshipped, you know, and then over the years we grew in Christ and we just approached God's presence as if it's something we already know as, it just becomes an everyday routine. I think that's an example of being familiar with God whereby we lose our reference for his presence. Yeah, thanks, say, thanks for sharing. And Kennedy, yeah, please go ahead. Thank you. Like in the case, let's just give an example, in the case of Moses, you've been instructed the first thing to do, then when he got familiar with that, he just struck the road instead of talking to it. Thank you. Yeah, thanks for sharing that, Kennedy. Yeah, Christopher, I see your hand raised. Yes, Pastor. Actually, when I met the examples, I was actually looking at it, you know, maybe examples of, you know, in a current sort of situation, not that we want to be judgmental, but, you know, more like, you know, if this could be, you know, construed as, you know, being all familiar with God. So it is more the current sort of examples. And I guess one of the things, you know, not being part of, you know, a worship team or a worship ministry, and just, you know, sometimes just, you know, when singing, you know, in a group, it is a feeling of, you know, a different kind of feeling, you know. And sometimes it could not, it may not be very pleasing to God sometimes. And I mean, if there are any examples that come to mind in a current situation, maybe you can share that here. Okay. So I can't pick one and say, okay, this is, because it can come in any shape or form, Christopher. And one of the things, classic thing is like what Sai, you know, explained, is that, you know, actually, Bobby Connor, he says his best, he says, we've become all too familiar with the God, we hardly know. Because I think, okay, you know, sometimes it might not be intentional, like for example, let me just share from my own experience, this is a bad example, okay, and I'm not very proud about it, but anyway. So I had planned for a camp, a youth camp in 2019. And I remember that was my first year being as a youth pastor, and I was so nervous and afraid. And I didn't know what to do. And I remember asking, you know, just seeking him praying, you know, okay, what do you want me to, you know, what the camp theme to be and whatnot. And so long story short, you know, the camp was awesome, God moved in a beautiful way into 2019, Tarun was there. But then when I started planning for the next youth camp into 2020, and there was this like, okay, you know, we tried this, we did this, and I think we should just go ahead with a very similar kind of a theme and whatnot. And so when I said that, I'm not proud about me sharing this is I did not lean into asking God about what you wanted to do for a new camp in the new year. Instead, I was arrogant and thought, okay, I could lean on my own understanding because of my own experience was good. And I was arrogant enough to think, okay, I've been one year, I've been a youth pastor for a year now. So I think I know what to do. And I didn't feel the need to inquire of God, like what David was constantly doing, his that he constantly inquired of God. And that's a beautiful sign of humility is that we basically, we don't lose the wonder of who this God is. Yeah, I mean, if anybody else wants to share, feel free to unmute and share. Okay. Hello? Yes. Yeah, I think there's a familiar saying that familiarity builds content. So in many occasions, you tend to lean in your own understanding and continue in the way into the humanity. Yeah. Thank you. Thanks. Yeah, that's wonderful. Yeah. Thank you. Yes, Rupa. Once I was invited to share in a women's retreat. So the word the Lord gave me was remembers Lord's wife in the afternoon session. And they were all when I went there and shared in the morning worship afternoon, I saw they were all in a festive mood. And I was thinking in my human understanding, how can I share about Lord's wife. So I had a ready made PPT on my laptop. I thought I would present that about the virtues of a woman. That was the first time I was thinking in my understanding. I always was very careful to lean on to God and faithful to deliver what he wanted me to. But when I opened my computer, it suddenly crashed. Then the fear of the Lord came into my heart. And I was very sorry. And I asked for God's forgiveness and continued with that sermon which God has already given me. So I just wanted to share. Thank you. Thanks Rupa. Thank you for sharing your experience. Yeah. Anybody else? Any thoughts? That's a good question, Christopher. I think it's a much needed question. It's a question that keeps us on the right track. There's a song by Keith Green. I like the bridge of it. Oh Lord, you're beautiful. I think it says, the bridge says, I want to take your word and shine it all around, but first help me just to live it Lord. And the words of the song is always minister to me, is while I can be very busy with doing God's work, ministry and whatnot. It's very easy for me, us to say that. I want to take your word and shine it all around Lord, but first help me just to live it. And that's a posture of humility. And like it says, in 1st Chronicles 25, as we've been reading, is submitting ourselves under Lord's will. Let your will be done. So yeah, that's not have familiarity. The opposite of that is to have a posture of humility. And you can see that in the life of Jesus. This is beautiful book by Andrew Murray. It's called Humility, Lesson in Humility, but something to do with humility, okay? Andrew Murray. And there's a very one interesting chapter, I think chapter three or four, it says Humility in the life of Jesus. It's beautiful. It's a must read, I would say. It's about how in everything that Jesus did, in a time and time again in the Gospel of John itself, we see that he keeps saying, I'm not here to do my own thing or to say what I want to say or to do what I want to do or go where I want to go. Everything that I do is because my father wants me to do. It is his will. It is his will. It is his word. It is his thing. I'm doing what I see my father do. So it's he lived in. The last person on this whole planet to be familiar with God should be Jesus. It's like, yeah, he's my father. Okay, I don't have to keep asking him. You get what I'm saying. But you see his posture and how he constantly submitted himself to the will of the father to the end where in Luke 20 to 42 it says, let not my will but yours be done. That's a posture of humility and not being over familiar. So opposite of submission, guys in point three, that's the next thing we see. All these people, the sons of Asaph, Asaph himself, and Jonathan and He-Man, they were all under the supervision of the king and the supervision means they were under the submission. They submitted themselves. It's a sign of humility. Humility is the world has portrayed it as weakness. But it's not weak. You have to be strong to be humble. You have to be strong to be the first person in a relationship to go and say, sorry, even if it is not your fault. If there is a huge wall that you want to jump across, there are two of you, you need to have a strong person to bend down and give them your back so you can stamp on their back and climb the wall and jump, isn't it? And so you have to be strong to be humble. So humility is a sign of strength and that's in line with submissiveness. So because Bible is very clear about pride and proud, what God thinks about proud people, what He does to them. We've read enough scriptures about it, you know it all. Proverbs chapter 6 itself is enough. Proverbs chapter 6 verse 1 to 6, it says, there are six things that the Lord hates and the seven things in total that He detests. The first in the list is a proud look. James chapter 4 says, He resists the proud. The last thing that we need as worshipers, as worship ministers is that God resisting our worship like He resisted kings. You know, it's not a pleasant scene, isn't it? You think, okay, yeah, I don't want you. I don't care how good you sing, I don't care how skilled you are at your instrument, I don't care how well you look, how well you dress, yada, yada, yada, I don't care, but if there's pride in your heart, I don't need your worship. That's the last thing that you and I as worshipers need God to do. So first three things, we see that they were set apart to ministry, that means to serve. And then three is they were under this supervision. In our worship ministry, I'm under the supervision of my senior pastor, Pastor Ashish Raichur. You know, I have to work with him to understand his vision, his heart for the church and then take the worship ministry in that direction. Just because I'm the worship pastor, I was like, yeah, I'm the worship pastor, I will do whatever I want to do. You know, this is the vision of APC. I'm going to go in this direction because this is what I believe and whatnot. No, I can't do that, right? I'm under the supervision of my senior pastor and I have to lean into him to see, okay, what is his heart? What is his vision for the church and for the city and the nation and the nations, right? You see what I did there? Okay. So they were all under the supervision of the king. And the next thing we see in verse seven, okay, 1 Chronicles chapter 25 verse seven, it says, along with their relatives, all of them trained and skilled in music for the Lord. All of them were trained and skilled in music for the Lord. David just didn't put up a board saying, okay, everybody who wants to be in the worship team, please come on on board. No, I'm sure they've had their way of auditioning people. You know, like we do at APC and most churches, they have an audition to filter out. I'm not going to put a billboard and say, okay, everybody who can sing, just come, we're going, there's a process, there's a procedure, which is an important thing part. So everybody were trained and skilled in music for the Lord. And finally, we see the number 288 young and old alike teacher as well as student cast lots for their duties. Young and old alike, multi-generational worship team was David's worship team. In the next chapter or chapter after, we'll learn a little bit about the difference between a band and a local church worship ministry. But just one point, one feather from that chapter is a band is all exclusive. It's just us. It could be a girl band. It could just be a boy band. It could just be a youth band and us four and no more and whatnot. But worship ministry of a church is not like that. It's open to every age, every generation that wants to serve in the worship ministry. And that's, we see that happening here in David's worship team. Right. So these are the five simple lessons that we can learn from how David set up his worship team. He set them apart, teach your worship teams about the seriousness of living a holy life and not to compromise living a holy life. I would rather have a person's heart whom I can mold and train them in music and in singing rather than have someone who's living an immoral, unholy life serving because I wouldn't want that. So seriousness of set apart because our God is holy and it's all about serving one another. Just because you're part of a worship team doesn't make you entitled to say, I want others to serve me. When I get to the stage, the water bottle should already be there. Why is it not here? We are there to serve. You are not entitled to be served. Right. So that's a very good reminder under the submission, humility, submission of a senior pastor is key. And all of them were trained and skilled. Right. Make sure your team members are trained and skilled emphasize on that and then seek to learn and teach young and old. There's humility written all across all these five points people. So you need to be humble to go to someone and say, teach me. Right. That's why I'm humble that you guys are all here to hear me teach. It's a sign of, it's a beautiful posture of humility to go to someone and say, it's like, Hey, I don't know this. Can you teach me? Right. So instill that in your teams, as I mentioned in David's worship team. And so I hope this helps. Okay. So that's the end of this section. That's the end of section one chapter one. We've covered from the life of Abraham to Moses is tabernacle, David's tabernacle. And here we are finally come to an end. Okay. So I hope you've learned something. I hope you are learning something. Please go back home and meditate on the scriptures, whichever God puts on your heart. Right. I'll see you all again next week. Thanks guys. Take care. Have a great week ahead. Thank you. Bye bye. Thank you.