 Yes, and I request one of you all to lead us in prayer as we begin the session. Yes, Jeffina, please go ahead. Jai heavenly father, we come to you under the name of Jesus. We thank you for this beautiful day and for the beautiful class we're about to have. God, we invite your Holy Spirit to guide you through everything that we learn. Help us to open our mind and heart and listen to it and to follow it throughout our life, not just listening to the class right now, but keeping it in our heart and remembering the things that we learn each and every day so that we can live like you down here on this earth, Jesus. Be with us and guide us, fill us with the knowledge, understanding, and wisdom that we need throughout this class. I place each and every one of my classmates in your hand, give them the good network connection that they need and the health that they need and the right mind to listen to the class and to do great things for you. In Jesus name, I pray. Amen. Thank you, Jeffina, for leading us into a time of prayer. Well, as we begin the session on Christian history and missions, what are the things that we have covered so far? Can we look into it? What did we cover so far? What did we learn from the session till now, so far? Book of Acts, Life of All, His Missionary Journey. Yes, we went through what is revival to start up with as we are going through, studying through this book, Revival Visitation in Moves of God. We see what is revival and we understand that revival is something that is bringing what has been dead, bringing something that is dead back to life and we also see time and again how the Lord is raising people and reviving them and how this fire of revival been caught up from one place to the other. And also we see the main requirement for the revival to be birthed in a person is the urge or the quest that a person has. That a person could carry. Just give me a minute, please. Thank you. Sorry. So when we say the thirst or a quest should be within us is this is what something that is needed where we can see God more of Him in us so that we can have the Christ likeness in us and we can pray like how the psalmist says in Psalms 856 like will you not revive us again, Lord? Revive us again. That thirst should be in each of us and with that we moved on to different seasons of revival and we saw how time and again the Spirit of the Lord moves on people and we see people being convicted of these things coming to the knowledge of God, understanding who God is, His holiness and repenting of their sin and turning to God. We see more of that in the book of Acts. That is when we started to see how the Lord moves among the people and what happens exactly the time of revival. What can we expect in revival? So what we can expect? There were a few points that we shared in this. Anyone from the class, what happens or what can we expect from revival? A great revelation of who God is has been revealed to the people. Then we see the revelation of the spiritual truth has become real to us. It's no more, it's in glory or word but then God makes His presence so tangible to us and then He increases the passion, the zeal over people of God towards the spiritual things. We also see there's a gathering of the unsaved people coming to the knowledge of Christ and we also saw the supernatural manifestation becomes real. There's a great mighty one science wonders and miracles that happen during the time of revival and we also see a large mass of people being transformed or the community or city or state being transformed and they come to the knowledge of Christ. Lastly, we also see there's an equipping of the word equipping the saints of God, the ministers of God and we see new ministries being birthed, churches been planted and this revival fire has been carried out from one place to the other. Now you may wonder why are we repeating all these? There are new joinees with us. People have joined during this past week online e-learning and on campus so that is why we are just refreshing all those and we see there's a great and urgent need of the church in our life because the power of the Lord is working in and through us. So here we are not looking at a specific method or the things that need to be improved but then we are allowing the spirit of the Lord to move in and through us because in each revival we see the spirit of the Lord work in a unique manner. We cannot put God into a box and expect him to walk or move only in that way but then your God has different ways through which he moves. Then in chapter two we covered last class on the journey through the book of Acts like how in Acts chapter two we see a group of people of about 120 people along with these Mary the mother of Jesus and disciples and other apostles were gathered together and these people were normal uneducated people who after the death of Jesus they were filled with so much of fear some of them want to get back to their work get back to their business they don't want to do anything with Jesus but then they all come together with one chord in mind and pray in that upper room so what happens what happens when they prayed with one chord and mind and there was a continuous prayer something happens there the power of the Lord moves in that place it comes as a rushing wind that's what we read in Acts chapter two there's an there's an outpouring of a spirit in that place and we see there are two key ingredients that is that is needed for this outpouring of the spirit that took place in the book of Acts chapter one and two we see that the people were with one chord and mind they were unity they were united with one heart and mind and they were praying there was a second point was they were continuous in a collective prayer when they prayed the spirit of the Lord the word of God says the spirit of the Lord came like a rushing wind first there was a sound and then they could experience the rushing wind and then they saw the tongues of fire resting upon each one of them who were present in that room and then later we see in chapter two verse 12 we see they were these normal uneducated people trying to do something that amazed the people who were there everyone when they looked at them or they heard the way they spoke amazed them they were perplexed some of them were shocked to know what was happening there or to see what was happening there so what happened in Acts chapter two what was all about that sound of a rushing wind or what is to do with that tongues of fire descending from heaven upon each disciples what happened to them what was the outcome of this effect anyone from the class what was the outcome of this the outcome was people were ministered Peter was filled with boldness and he spoke to them about Jesus what amazed us in one day three thousand people received Jesus as their Lord and Savior and something very amazing happened there that each one could understand what Peter shared each one could understand their own language we see the Spirit of God move their spirit of understanding that each one could understand what Peter was sharing in their own language and they convicted of sins they could receive Jesus whom they mocked and they crucified on the cross now they could receive him as their Lord and Savior they could accept him that yes he is the true he is the true Son of God so the purpose of our study is to know the Holy Spirit will do as he desires in each outpouring of a spirit or in each revival so what we need to do is expand ourselves create that urge within us where we can look up to him and ask God I need more of you and me increase that urge and increase that question me just like how the disciples yearned for more of you I want to yearn I I don't want to be satisfied in the place where I am but I want more of you so the more we look at that as we study the book of Acts I think this urge will only develop or this urge will only increase within us none of us wherever we are despite our situation and circumstances we are not going to be satisfied the place where we are or with what we are doing for God and for us people in the ministry we're going to step up step into much greater things what God has in store with us growing in the Lord is a process there is no time that God can say like okay you've reached your place you can settle down now no God wants us to upgrade us and upscale us and grow more deeper and deeper in intimacy with him and do much more for God what is expected from him because this is what Jesus did through his disciples the great commission is all about doing God's well caring the fire caring the gospel of God to the ends of the earth this is what the scripture says the harvest is huge and the laborers are few now God is talking to each of us each of his laborers just like has our we call the piazzaia is calling us can you do something more than what you are doing right now each of us here and not by chance we have been called and we are here for a purpose as we all studied in the first year fulfilling God's purpose yes there is a call there's a purpose God wants to fulfill that his desire you're in and through us God is ready but here are we ready the question is are we ready if you're ready see God expect much more from him we should be like his disciples we should be like them that they were never rested every step they grew much closer to God and they had this desire Lord what is next what is that I need to do for you what is my next assignment not being comfortable with where we are but increasing ourselves upgrading ourselves moving out of a comfort zone and asking God seeking him what we need to do so as we prepare ourselves to see God we need to just pray like what the psalmist prays Lord revive me that I can be set for the revival so as we pray let's journey through the book of acts here we see the book of acts has been divided in three sections the first eight years highlights the outpouring of the spirit of what brought a change in a community and we also understand that how the church looked like how the church was birthed first in the Antioch and how this church was revived and how through the Antioch the were first called as Christians and how the the neighboring cities of the towns were impacted by the spirit and how the church was birthed in the neighboring cities with that the second section is what happened in the next 10 years so in next 10 years we see that how this one community that was sparked with the revival fire how it went out and raised other several communities and churches and brought a revival in them we also see how this revival fire spread across the city and country now the third section is we're going to look into the next 20 years as it gives us a great insight into a life of a man called Paul we're at an encounter on the way to Damascus by Jesus himself and how he was revived and how we carried this revival fire so those who are new as you can download the book download the notes that is available online and also for the e-learning students you can download the notes and we are on page 10 and then we see the first eight years how the church was birthed through the individuals and how it was impacted the neighboring places and towns of Antioch and then next 10 years what happened the revival fire spreads we covered from acts 8 till acts 13 there we saw how God raised the believers to be strong in the word and spirit and this revival fire was so contagious that it carried from one place to the other and now we are on page 14 the next 20 years talks about Paul was encountered on the way to Damascus so the timeline for this may be AD 48 to 68 AD and it covers from the book of acts acts 13 to acts 28 so the book of acts focuses here on Paul the man was persecuting the Christians and he was on the way to Damascus to kill the Christians he had this great mission and he was so much focused in doing what he was doing so what happened Paul encountered Jesus on the way to Damascus so maybe he was around 29 to 33 years of age and this one encounter of Paul changed him inside out the passion that he carried he was so zealous to kill the Christians it became the opposite now now he's become zealous to share the word of God just one encounter one encounter yes it may be the dramatic encounter of him but that one encounter he heard the voice of Jesus he heard the voice of Jesus the scripture does not tell us about anything else but here he had one encounter which transformed him the man who was stubborn the man who was so violent here is submissive he's been directed to the prophet Ananias and here he's been restored a site has been restored back and here he's become a new man a new creation in Christ and he did not stop for that whatever the encounter that he had the revelation that he had at that moment he started to preach we see that in Acts chapter 9 we see that Paul preached in the synagogue of Damascus for a short time he shared his testimony shared his tangible experience that he had with God this is what even the disciples did the gospels were written whatever experience that the disciples had with Jesus they started sharing it later with everyone the same thing Paul is doing it right now so what do we learn from here start with your experience your encounter with God share it with others the spark of that revival that was birthed into Saul or Paul did not stop him did not stop him to know and understand the complete theology of God for him to go step out and share he just shared what he know what he could understand what he experienced and that had power that had power because it is God and man together the encounter was there and he shared that and that had the power you and I I'm sure we have many encounters with God share it with others that could spark the fire to another person to seek God then later we see how Paul went to Arabia for a short time and then you see again you see how he started to preach to the Gentiles Paul returned to Damascus for the rest of the three years period he continued to preach in the synagogue there one more thing that we need to notice here is whichever place Paul went he first went into a synagogue to share the word when he was refused and sent out of synagogue for many reasons he carried that gospel and went to the Gentiles and here the Gentiles received the word when Paul shared during the time of preaching for when Paul was preaching there were a lot of persecution that he encountered but what we can learn from his life is he never stopped he never stopped sharing the gospel he never stopped preaching or he never stopped demonstrating the power of God his preaching was always like word and the power of God demonstration of the power of God accompanied him wherever he went so there were a lot of people against him like Jews and others were against him they also stoned him to death but nothing stopped him whenever he saw a door being closed in one place he moved on to another city he moved on to another city and that's how the missionary journeys were birthed so what happened when Paul encountered he immediately shared his testimony with his disciples and other people then he faced a persecution for which he had to go back to Jerusalem and he stayed there for a few years three years and then after that he goes back to Arabia and there is a silent here we don't know what happened to Paul in his life it may be um there's no uh exact time period where he was very silent the scholars say that it may be six to ten years that he was quiet there is no reference of what Paul did during this time but later what happens when the church in Antioch that is in Syria grew and Barnabas was leading this church and he needed help and all of a sudden he was remembered about Paul of Tarsus so what happens Barnabas goes to Tarsus finds Paul and brings him back to Antioch to minister along with him in the church that was growing so they served together for about over a year and then we see what happens in Paul's life from different perspective we don't get to see in the New Testament more about the other leaders but then we get to see about Paul because he had this revelation from God and he had written letters to to different places where he planted the church through his missionary journeys and through those letters we can we get to know the different perspective of Paul Paul as a leader as an apostle so we look at Paul from the perspective of being the carrier of God's spirit a carrier of revival so what can we learn from Paul's life and his ministry how the spirit of the Lord can move through an ordinary person like him one encounter with God changed Paul's life and that can be the same with you and me just at one encounter if God can change our life we may not understand what God is doing through our life or we may not know our end plan but we need to be assured that God knows our end from the beginning we can trust God with our life just like how Paul trusted God reveals to us step by step as we trust and as we journey with him God reveals this plan the vision that God gives to us can only expand and get better here we see Paul moving from the Antioch church became as his home church Antioch in Syria has become a home church for Paul now and here we see in the book of Acts that Paul takes three missionary journeys and all the three journeys we started from Antioch of Syria so we learn about Paul's first missionary journey from Acts 13 to 14 we see how Paul takes this journey through different places starts from Antioch in Syria and he goes up to another Antioch that is in Bisedia here we see some of the history given of that place Paul's first missionary journey lasted for about two years where he traveled about 1200 miles and we also see Barnabas and John Mark his cousin that is Barnabas nephew John Mark accompanied Paul in the first missionary journey so what happened so from Antioch they traveled about 16 miles through the seaport and ministered to people there and then they moved on to different places from Antioch Syria to the went to Seleucia from Seleucia they went to Salamis from Salamis they went to Paphis and from Paphis they went to Perga again from Perga to Antioch of Bisedia and then you know they went on to different places from Antioch of Bisedia to Iconium they traveled about 18 miles from there to Lystra what happened as they traveled from one place to the other there are some incidents that happen in few places like the at Perga the Jews who built they were few they were okay there is the Jew they were when Paul preached there were few Jews who believed in this word and they were they went along with Paul's teaching but there were others who did not believe in the gospel word that Paul was teaching so they came against Paul so they started to persecute Paul and Barnabas and they expelled them out of the city and we see Paul and Barnabas go to a different place called Antioch of Bisedia and there they started to preach as they shared the gospel there even there they faced a lot of persecution and they moved on to Lystra and Lystra there was a crippled man a man who was lame from birth was healed and there were many who believed through this one incident many believed on what Paul was teaching now what happened the Jews who did not believe in Antioch in Bisedia and in Iconium they formed a gang together they came all the way to Lystra and they stoned Paul to death and they dragged him out of the city okay so we see that in the book of Acts chapter 14 when we come down to 20 and 21 so what happened they were good in stoning in those days so they know that is the person dead or alive but what the scripture says is the scripture says that the disciples gathered around him and they prayed and next day morning Paul got up and went into Derby to share the word so what would have strengthened Paul he's still in the human nature he's not in the glorious body if somebody is stoned to death sure there were a lot of bruises on him but what strengthened him within to get up and move on is still in the human body I'm sure he would have gone through the pain what you and I could go through when we are being hurt the pain would be the same but the fire that he carried within him the very encounter that he had with God the revelation that he's been receiving from God was much greater than the pain and the weakness and the hurt that his physical body could bear or endure so there was a much greater strength was in a spirit so what you and I should look in here we need to ask God God enlarge our spirit that we may grow stronger in our spirit where a spirit man becomes stronger than a physical body a physical man so what no matter what happens to our body but a spirit man is so stronger that he gives strength to our physical man we need to ask God if God could do that to Paul he can do it to you and me of you and I as we journey together with God as we walk with him we need to ask God God the fire the passion that Paul had in him I need it I need it it's not that Paul did not have any weakness it was not that oh he studied under the leadership of Camaliel and he was the wisest then no that knowledge did not help Paul to do a great ministry but the revelation that he received from the Lord the intimate relationship that he had with Christ is what is enabling him to do what he did to write the revelation that he received the New Testament and to birth churches and all these places it was not the work of a man it was the work of God through a man if God can do it through this one man Paul God can do it through you and me one thing that God is expecting from us as we go through this session on revival ask God revive me that I can expand myself I can go beyond my ability and capability I can step out of my comfort zone Lord strengthen me there is yes I agree that this is the one life that we have but in this one life God is God has given us a call and there is a purpose and we need to fulfill this call we need to fulfill this purpose how when we have a relationship with God it is a covenant relationship where we agree God here I partner with you to do what you have called me to do nothing should stop us now the gender the color the strength the talents the skill the language nothing should stop us nothing stopped Paul if God could minister through Paul he can minister through each of us so we see when we go through the book of acts we see how Paul and his team were ministered by the power of the Holy Spirit and they went doing signs and wonders and miracles and shared the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Jews and to the Gentiles the people who believed in Jesus the people unbelievers they just went and reached the unreached so today God is asking us to do the same thing can you go and share the gospel reach the unreached love the unloved we need to encourage ourselves we need to get that spark of revival within us and we need to we need to kindle that fire within us that we may step out and this fire should be contagious we see this revival fire been contagious and Paul Paul raised leaders like Titus Timothy and through them many other leaders were raised and they shared the love of God they helped Paul and planting churches and nurturing them and nourishing them and making the church grow stronger and word and in spirit that we will move on to Paul's second missionary journey which covers the time period of AD 49 to 52 and in the book of acts we see that from acts 15 verse 36 till acts 18 verse 22 so we see the conflict between Paul and Barnabas because of his nephew John Mark when Barnabas wanted John Mark to join in the second missionary journey there for which Paul is not for it because he discontinued the journey with Paul and Barnabas in the first missionary journey and because there was a dispute between them so Barnabas takes John Mark and goes the other way and we see Paul take up Silas and he leaves from Antioch and he goes to Cilicia to strengthen the churches that he visited so from Syria he goes to Cilicia then he goes to Derby the other places where he visited and now when he comes to Derby and Lystra here he finds Timothy and Timothy must be in a young man was very young 17 years of age when he met Paul Timothy's father was a Greek and his mother was a Jew Paul had Paul had to get Timothy circumcised because to raise him as a leader among the Jews a leader Timothy must be circumcised only then the Jewish people will accept his leadership so it was easy for Timothy to be circumcised because his mum was a Jewish believer and Timothy grew in the word from a very young age through the help of his grandmother so with that we see you know so Timothy serves alongside of Paul and he learns the word and he learns how to grow in the word and also in the leadership of Paul and we see Paul moved to different places from there not going into detail because we will be covering this in the third year in detail the book of Acts we will cover it in detail and then we see how Paul goes to different places and he comes to the city of Ephesias which was an important city in Asia Minor and one of the first of the greatest metropolis in Asia where there were about 225,000 of population there and this place was very famous for the temple of Diana in Ephesias this was the largest building and there were many people who are coming there as it was also a business center and here we see Paul preached in the synagogue of Ephesias but he did not stay very long at Ephesias at this time because he had planned to reach Jerusalem but what happened he met Akilah and Priscilla he shared the word with them they were almost prepared by the Lord and you know when Paul shared the gospel with them they received with the receptor art so Paul could train Akilah and Priscilla and he started a small community there and he left Akilah and Priscilla at Ephesias and he moved ahead to Jerusalem so what happened now Akilah and Priscilla met Paul as another leader at Ephesias and taught him the things of Lord Jesus and later sent Apollos to Corinth recommending him to the believers there you see how the revival fire has been catch caught by other people and the leaders are been raised now what happened did Apollos stop there Apollos was a great blessing to the believers at Corinth so Paul came back so Paul came back to Ephesias later and he accomplished some very important things there and then we will move on to Paul's third missionary journey which covers the time period of AD 53 to AD 58 and from the book of Acts chapter 18 to Acts 21 so in Paul's third missionary journey it lasted for about four years approximate and he covered he traveled about 2500 miles and on the first two journeys we see Paul reached two new areas Paul reached not two they were like new areas where he preached the gospel and he planted the church but on the third journey Paul did not go to any new areas but he revisited the places which was covered in the first and second missionary journey to strengthen the believers and establish the church and raise leaders and and build them strong so this is what Paul did in the third missionary journey so what we can learn from this is first and two Paul had the spire of revival so he faced a persecution nothing stopped him he went throughout the Mediterranean Sea the port and he started building community of people sharing the gospel and he moved on and nothing stopped him no persecution could stop him from sharing what God had put in his heart and in the second missionary journey he went to some of the new places where he again established the communities there and in the third journey he covered almost all the places what he visited in the first and second established the church appointed the leaders and now he's building and he's strengthening the leaders so that the church can grow and be birthed into many places now what happened in AD 58 to 60 Paul visits to Jerusalem and it turned out to be a difficult time for him so Yuri's been arrested he's been arrested and Luke went to Jerusalem with Paul at the end of the third missionary journey where when Paul was arrested in Jerusalem and he was imprisoned we see Luke visiting him and he writes a different experience whatever Paul I shared is writing at his journey he's making a journal for Paul through the book of Acts and then he reveals to us how Paul's journey was to Rome and what happens in the Roman imprisonment and we see Paul's final years that is from AD 63 to 67 in the last few chapters of Acts and in Acts 28 30 we see that Paul's last episode what happened at the Roman imprisonment and last days and the martyrdom has been revealed to us and we also see in 2 Timothy chapter 4 verse 6 to 22 we see Paul saying for I am already been poured out as a drink offering and the time of my departure is at hand and he very clearly says he gets to know this is the end and he says that I have fought a good fight and I've finished the race and I've kept the faith and finally there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous judge will give to me on that day and not to me only but also to all who have loved us appearing so here we see even at this moment Paul is encouraging each of us as a leader he's encouraging us saying do not give up move on till the end and even in the end he's saying be diligent to come to me quickly he's saying there is a righteous judge there's a crown of righteousness there's a reward that is waiting for you from God so don't give up in the process and go ahead and in AD 66 and 68 we see that Paul was martyred but then the gospel did not end there the gospel just carried the work of God was just carried the fire of God was spreading the leaders who were raised by Paul carried the word to the other post parts of the earth the summary of Paul the carrier of the Moe of God the Apostle Paul ministered from 44 AD to 68 AD approximately about 20 to 24 years of ministry in his life and he achieved greater thanks for God by the power of the Holy Spirit so today God is asking us this one encounter of Paul which birthed revival which revived him and sparked a revival everywhere he went if he was able to impact across the culture creed and do it even in and through us Paul impacted many cities the marketplaces the people in the high place nothing stopped him there was a kind of boldness and courage that he carried and today God is asking the same spirit of God that made Paul to go beyond his ability the same spirit of God is saying that I am with you I'm enabling you move with the fire of God impact the world for him Paul has written many episodes for us why to strengthen us if the Lord could use Paul was completely sold out for God in a very powerful way same thing the same spirit of God can use you and me just that we need to be available we need to surrender ourselves we need to make ourselves available and God can do this again through you and me God does not look at the outer appearance of a man that God looks at the heart of a man he looks at the heart where no word can explain the heart of a man God knows God looks at the heart and he calls you so let that heart be pleasing to God let our thoughts be pleasing to God let this be a prayer Lord give us a pure heart the heart that yearns for more of you more of your spirit keep that heart open keep that spirit open let us we can ask God God press in for the revival fire within me and let's get ourselves prepared to welcome the mighty outboring of God's spirit in us can we ask Lord prepare me to minister to community to transform city state and people can I can I carry that spirit Lord that can saturate people saturate people be saturated for God without let's end this class with a word of prayer dear God I lift up each one in the class Lord all the students of father on campus online and e-learning Lord I pray that you will help us to have this encounter which Paul had Lord encounter in a in a way that each of us can understand and experience your power that this spark of revival can spark us revive us so that we are the carrier of that revival fire and we carry and move to different parts of this place Lord help us be the people who are saturated for God Lord help us to carry the fire of God in and through us thank you Lord I ask this in the name of Jesus Amen thank you so much for joining in today's session God bless thank you