 All right. Welcome back. My students are so good. They came and sat down before the break itself got over. All right. So we'll start off with the doctrine of the church. This is some of one doctrine that we are all very familiar with because we all sincerely attend church. We are all actively involved in our churches. So in fact, this doctrine should be very easy to understand because we are already practicing the things which are taught in this doctrine. So what exactly does that word church where it is used in the New Testament? What does it mean? It's the Greek word ecclesia and it refers to a gathering of people. This is a term which was used in the Roman cities of that time where people who had citizenship rights would gather together in a political assembly. They would all gather together in a hall to decide matters of administration, to decide regarding election of leaders. So those who have citizenship rights, such people would gather together in an ecclesia, in an assembly and they would take important decisions in that ecclesia gathering. So the New Testament apostles took that term and they began to use it for the gathering of the believers. It's quite interesting, isn't it? I mean, the ecclesia of that time back in that society referred to people who are important. The guy walking down the road would never be allowed inside the ecclesia gathering. He's just somebody, he's a nobody. It's the important people, those with status. They are the ones who would come together in a gathering and the gathering would be called an assembly or an ecclesia and important decisions would be taken there. That is what the church is when it comes to the spiritual realm. We are not just somebody walking down the road. We are God's chosen people. You know, we came across that verse a little earlier in our previous session. We are His chosen people, a royal generation. So that is who we are. So we come together, we gather together as an assembly, as an ecclesia and there are divine things which happen in our gatherings. It's not just at least the ecclesia of that time was just a human gathering where humans would give their ideas and the outcome would be human. But here in these gatherings that we gather in, that we believers gather in as God's royal chosen people the things which take place can change heaven and earth. It can have great impact in the spiritual realm. So let us not take the gathering of believers lightly. Of course, I mean, most of us do treat going to church as something honorable but sometimes we don't take our little cell groups very seriously. That too is an ecclesia. It's a gathering of believers and if you are sincere in the way you run your cell group, great things can be achieved. You can make an actual difference in the spiritual realm because you are not just a gathering of random people. You are a gathering of God's chosen people and God is among you and God will work through you. So any gathering of believers can be very powerful. Sometimes when we have our prayer meetings and you literally have three people who come for the meeting. I mean, you've been announcing the meeting for one month. Finally on that day when the prayer meeting takes place, you just have three people coming. But remember, this is an ecclesia. It's a gathering of God's people and there is great power when God's people gather together to talk about his works, to talk about his word and to take decisions regarding his kingdom. So this great power, let us never forget what the ecclesia is. It's not just some place that you go to attend, you know, the church service on Sunday. It's much more than that. It is the assembly of believers. So there are four main functions which God has given to the church, to this assembly of believers. So there are four responsibilities that God has given to the ecclesia. The first one of course, you know, if I were to ask you to guess, you would obviously know it, evangelism. So one of the main important functions which has been given to us is evangelism. We are the ecclesia. We are expected to go out and make disciples. And we have been given, you know, divine assistance in doing this. God has given us those nine gifts of the Spirit. Of course, there are some gifts which we can only use inside the church, such as maybe speaking in tongues. But the other gifts, you know, we can use them to go out and make disciples. So what are the nine gifts which we find in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 verses 7 to 11? It talks about message of wisdom. It talks about message of knowledge. It talks about gifts of healing, prophecy, distinguishing between spirits. These are the gifts which are being talked about. And you can actually use these in going out and making disciples. For instance, if you know someone who is not well, you know, in your apartment and you know that person personally, you can say, you know, in our church we believe very strongly in the power of prayer. So can I come to your place and, you know, just spend some time with you and then, you know, we can pray to God and we can claim what Jesus has offered us healing. So you would not use any spiritual words, but you would just say, you know, that Jesus is offering healing to those who require healing because of what He did on the cross. So I want to come to your house and claim that for you. Something as simple as that, you know. And so you would be using a gift to help that person see that Jesus is a living God. I'm reminded of a recent example, you know, which one of my friends was giving. She went to the parlor to have a haircut. So they were just chatting about this and that. There were no other people in the parlor and she kept sensing in her heart that this person is going through very, very painful and distressing times. So finally she opened her mouth and she said, you know, I'm just sensing that you're actually going through a lot of difficult things. I'm a Christian. So, you know, I would like to stay in touch with you because when I go home, I want to just spend some time praying for you and I know God will help. So you just told that and then they began to talk about some of the issues which that person was going through. And now she's in regular touch with that person. So you see, she used a word of knowledge which God had impressed upon her heart. She did not know that lady was going through serious issues, but God put that knowledge in her heart and she shared that with that lady. And now that lady is now open to hearing about the gospel. So a word of prophecy. You know, these are things that we can use to go out and make disciples. So this is a function. This is a duty, a responsibility that is given to everyone in the Ecclesia, in the assembly of believers. We are all expected to use these gifts and go out and make disciples. The second function, the second role is edification. The church is supposed to edify the believers who are attending that church so that everyone in that church can become Christ-like. Because it says, you know, in that Matthew 28 Great Commission, it says, go and make disciples of all nations, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. So it's not enough to just simply share the gospel message. We are also supposed to teach them everything, not just, you know, a little bit about miracles and healings, but everything. We are supposed to teach them everything that Jesus has commanded so that they will become true followers of Jesus. So edification is something that we are supposed to do for all the people in the congregation. And this is not the responsibility of just the pastor or just the main leaders. You know, last semester, you guys did a detailed course on the Holy Spirit. So I'm assuming at that time you would have covered these things in great detail. So this is just a reminder. You cannot sit back and say, oh, okay, then let the leaders edify the believers. It is also your personal responsibility to participate in that edification process. You have to use your giftings, whatever has been given to you for the benefit of the rest of the congregation. So it may not be possible for you to do that during the Sunday service, but in the cell groups, it is possible for us to minister to one another and edify one another. So when you were covering that course on the Holy Spirit, you would have talked about the three kinds of gifts which are available. So we talked, you know, just a little while ago about the nine gifts. Those are called your common gifts which are given to every single believer. Every single believer will have these nine gifts. They are the common gifts of the Spirit and they are written down in 1 Corinthians 12 verses 7 to 11. But there's another kind of gifts which will be your role or function gifts. God has a specific role for you in His Ecclesia. You know, when you go to that assembly of believers, you're not supposed to sit over there as audience. You also have something to contribute. God has a role for you. So there'll be certain giftings which He has bestowed upon you, which you will be really good at. Others may not be as good at those particular gifts as you. So you use whatever gifts God has given you specifically to benefit the entire church. That is your contribution towards God, that is your contribution towards the church and towards the believers so that they will be blessed in some way or the other. So the membership gifts, you know, the role and function gifts which we have, that is outlined in Romans chapter 12 verses 6 to 8. Maybe we can actually read out some of those verses. Romans chapter 12, if you could read out all the way from verse 4 up to verse 8. Romans 12, 4 to 8, if someone could read out please. For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function. So we, being many, are one body in Christ and individually members of one another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them. If prophecy, it is prophesied in proportion to our faith. Or ministry, let us use it in our ministry. He who teaches in teaching, he who exhorts in exhortation, he who gives with liberality, he who leads with diligence, he who shows mercy with cheerfulness. So here just some of the membership gifts are mentioned. This is not a very detailed list. There are so many gifts which God gives his people. So some of us are really good when it comes to administrative tasks. So we can actually use those administrative giftings to maybe help the church in some way or the other. Some of us have this gift of mercy. I mean all of us as believers are supposed to be merciful and kind, but some people have this compassionate heart. They really care for those who are struggling. The heart goes out to them. They can really use their giftings to be such a blessing to edify those people who are in a time of need. So for somebody they're gifting maybe a gifting of hospitality. They can use this gifting which they have to invite people to their home, help them to have a good time and maybe even talk about the gospel. Share a little bit about the gospel. So whatever giftings have been used, have been given to you personally, you choose to use those giftings to edify people, to build up people. So it's not just the pastor's responsibility or the main leader's responsibility to edify the believers. Every one of us has got something to contribute. So when we sit in the main Sunday service, it's very easy to forget. So we just kind of think, okay, the people on the stage, it is their responsibility. They are the ones who have to edify all of us. And yes, to an extent, it's true. I mean, in the sense on a Sunday during the service, there's not much that you can do, except maybe say hi to the person sitting next to you. But when we meet informally in smaller gatherings, never ever forget. You have not gone there to that assembly as an audience. You are going over there to contribute something to the others because it says in Romans chapter 12 verse 7. So in Christ we though many form one body and each member belongs to all the others. We have this idea, you know, if I'm going to the cell group, I'm going over there to gain something from the cell group and come home. But no, you belong to all the others. You know, the hand can't have the superior attitude and say, oh, I'm the hand. What do I care about the legs? What do I care about the head, the eyes? That would be a very silly attitude for my hand to take. My hand belongs to the rest of the body. Whatever my hand can do for the rest of the body. It needs to do because the rest of the body is depending on the hand to do its part. So always remember when you go to a smaller gathering, you know, an informal gathering where everyone can have a participation. Always go there with this prayer in your heart saying, Lord, help me to be a blessing to someone in this group today. When you consciously take a step and, you know, go with that attitude, God will create opportunities for you to serve those around you in some way or the other. Because that eagerness is there in your heart, God will satisfy that desire of yours. On the other hand, if you have no interest, then, you know, even the Lord may wait for you to gain interest. So we can be of service to the others. We belong to all the other members and they belong to us. So we are supposed to actively help each other, edify each other and enable each other to grow. It was in a cell group system that I grew up. If I had not gone to a cell group, I probably would have never ever grown in God, ever. It was in that cell group, you know, long ago, very, very long ago. It was in that cell group where, you know, people tried to invest in my life and they encouraged me to start investing in their lives. And I was like, what do I contribute? I mean, I have nothing to contribute. What do I know was my attitude. But they said, no, you go home, you pray this whole week. Next week when you come back to the cell group, God will give you something to offer to the rest of us. You come and you offer that to us. They encouraged me and helped me to realize that even I have certain membership gifts and I can use them to be a blessing to the rest. So we have to be actively aware of this fact that nobody in the Ecclesia is audience. We are all meant to be active participants and we all have something to contribute. There is no believer on this earth to whom God has not given a grace gifting. We all have some kind of a role of functional gift which we can use to benefit others. So in fact, you have these questionnaires. Have you guys ever done that? No, you have these questionnaires where you tick and find out which are your main giftings. You have done that. Yes. So that will help you to become aware of what are the giftings that God has given you. I mean, there may be others also, but at least that will give you a starting point. You will become aware. I am better at these particular gifts and you can start using them to be a blessing to the church. So when the members of the church start exercising their gifts, they are not very experienced. In the beginning when I first tried to exercise my gifts and be a blessing to the other people in the cell group, I didn't always succeed. I didn't have experience. I didn't really know how to do it. And then the leaders sat down with me. They explained to me how I can do it better, how I can change the way I am doing certain things. So they gave me advice, they gave me counsel and that was a big help. So when it talks about the five-fold ministers, which is the third kind of giftings, you have the full-time ministers that is mentioned in Ephesians chapter 4 verses 11 to 13. Yeah, let's read that and then we'll get to our point. If someone could read out for us, Ephesians chapter 4, 11 to 13. Ephesians chapter 4 verse 11, Yes. So of course, this is something that you would have covered in your Holy Spirit course, but just to remind ourselves about this, it says so plainly in Ephesians chapter 4, it says that these full-time ministers have been given these full-time ministry gifts with a purpose. There's a goal why God gave these people these particular giftings. The ones who are full-time apostles, the ones who are full-time prophets, the ones who are full-time evangelists, they have been given this gifting. It says in Ephesians 4, 12 to equip his people for the works of service. And why should these people be equipped for the works of service so that all of us together can become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. So these people who are in full-time ministry cannot approach everyone, cannot disciple everybody, cannot minister to all the believers in the church. They need the help of all the believers participating and contributing and partnering in this work. Otherwise, that entire church will not be able to become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. So these people who are in full-time ministry, they give advice and they give counsel to those who are exercising gifts which are similar to their gift. For instance, if a person in the congregation has a gift of a postal ship. Now that man has not been called to full-time ministry, he's never going to go into all the villages and plant churches over there. He has been called by God, let us say, to be a businessman. So he runs a business. But this is a gifting which he has where he's able to bring people together, share the gospel with them and see them actually get saved. He just has this ability in him. So when a full-time apostle in the church recognizes this church member as having that gifting, he goes up to him and says, brother, I can see this gifting in you. I mean, you called a bunch of people together for Christmas time and now that has grown into a cell group. So if that cell group keeps growing in size, you will have to divide it into two cell groups. So brother, you seem to be having a real gifting of a postal ship. Let me give you some useful tips on how you can develop these people, mentor these people, how you can make your group grow. So this full-time apostle who has got more experience in this field starts equipping this businessman in using his membership gift to really benefit the kingdom of God in the same way. If somebody in the church is really moving very accurately in the gift of prophecy, then someone who is a full-time prophet needs to come to this person and say, you know, brother, I can see that the way you prophesy, it's really from God. There's such accuracy in what you say. I can help you in developing this gift further. There are some things which you can do, spend more time with God. These are some of the things that you can do to develop your gifting, to grow more in God. So that person sits with this member and helps them to develop their membership gifting. So it's the members who are being equipped in different ways to do the work of ministry. The full-time ministers, they can't really approach many people. I mean, because there's only 24 hours in a day. And in fact, we have to sleep for at least seven hours. So many hours get wasted in all of that. So there's very less that the full-time ministers can do on their own. But one thing that they can do is they can keep, they can look at all their members, all their congregation and start recognizing the gifts which these valuable people are carrying and go to them and encourage them and help them to move in their giftings. If people had not personally invested in me in the cell group, I would never have become who I am today. They recognize the gifts that are there in me. They said, see, you're good in these things. You need to start using these things for God. Because of them, I began to change. I began to grow. I actually began to contribute something towards God's Ecclesia. So the full-time ministers, they try to equip the people for works of service so that all the body of Christ can together be built up and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. So the main point that we are trying to make over here is that every single person in the Ecclesia has got functional roles. We all have membership gifts which God is expecting us to use. We can't sit back and say, I am the audience. None of us has been given the right to do that. So the first function of the Ecclesia is evangelism. The second thing, we all are expected to edify one another. We are expected to contribute towards building up the church. A third main function of the church is worship. Now the term worship has been narrowed down so much in our modern times that when we think of the word worship, we only think about people standing, lifting up their hands and singing. But worship is so much more than that. Let's look at some scriptures. 1 Corinthians chapter 14 verse 26. 1 Corinthians 14 verse 26. 1 Corinthians verse 14 verse 26. How is it then, brethren, whenever you come together, each of you has a sham, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation, let all things be done for edification. So worship happens when this Ecclesia, this assembly of people come together, of assembly of God's people come together and they start ministering to each other under God's divine direction. So actually there's worship happening over there. They may sing a few songs, but they are ministering in so many other ways. There's one person who is reminding everyone about a hymn, which talks about maybe some aspect of God. So everyone listens to the hymn, they meditate on the hymn, they sing it together and everyone comes up with a word of instruction. They say, you know what the Lord seems is really impressing this upon my heart. I think we as a group need to be doing this. We lack in this area and God is saying that we need to, you know, back up in this area. We need to, you know, change our ways. Another person may have a revelation. They may say, you know, God is laying on my heart that, you know, this is probably going to happen in the near future. We need to prepare ourselves as a church for this thing which is going to take place. How prepared are we? What steps can we take? Another person may have may have a tongue or an interpretation. So even as all these believers start ministering to each other in this informal setting, worship is taking place. That is worship. So yes, singing to the Lord is worship. Meditating on the words of the song, even as you're singing, that is worship. But this is also worship because in the early church, worship was not, you know, singing to a band. They did sing, but they did so many other things as well, all of which were part of their worship. So we see the same thing being repeated again in Ephesians chapter 5 verse 19. Someone could read out for us. Ephesians 5 verse 19. Ephesians chapter 5 verse 19. Yeah. So over here, I mean, this is something that we've touched upon, I think in one of our previous classes. In those days, just to be able to remember things better, they used to take spiritual teachings, spiritual truths and compose them into a poem or compose them into a song. So it could be easier to memorize. It could be easier to remember. So when the people gather together, they sing these songs to each other. They sing these teachings to each other. You know, they would quote these things to each other. So together they're reflecting upon what God has said, what God has done and together they are worshiping Him. So this is another form of worship which can take place in an informal setting. And when people gather together and worship in this manner, where they are, you know, deliberately trying to edify one another and help one another and glorify God in the process, God does something, things happen. An example that we see is in Acts chapter 13 verses 2 to 3. If someone could read out, Acts chapter 13 verses 2 to 3. Acts chapter 13 verse 2, As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, Now, separate to me, burn us and soul for the work to which I have called them, then having fasted and prayed and laid hands on them, they sent them away. Now look here in this particular chapter. They had not gathered together to have a missions talk. It is not a missions planning committee. They had just simply gathered together to worship God, to minister to Him, to fast and pray. And while they were doing that, God spoke to them and said, You know what? I have a plan in mind. Please set apart these two persons and there's a mission trip that you guys need to do. When an Ecclesia, a gathering of believers, gathers together and focuses on God and honoring Him and focuses on ministering to one another and edifying one another, when that process is going on, God will move that group to take certain actions. He will show them what they need to do, the steps that He wants them to take. So God acts in an environment of worship where people are focusing on Him, on honoring Him and also focusing on building each other up in the Lord. So God is honored and in that environment, God comes forward and shows that group what they can do for Him, what they can achieve for Him. So these are all things that we can actually try out in our informal small groups. So we talked about three functions of the Ecclesia. There's a fourth function and that would be the function of social concern. The church is not supposed to be selfish, self-focused and self-centered. We are supposed to be others focused. So we see many examples of this in the Book of Acts. In the Book of Acts, the people were never really just thinking about themselves and their church. They were always trying to serve someone, help someone, assist someone. So we have lots of examples of that. In Acts chapter 6 verse 1, which is more the more familiar example, they were trying to help the widows by providing them with food. So this is something that they were actively doing. They were showing social concern by having this food grocery, maybe grocery distribution project probably. They would give out certain amount of groceries to widows who have absolutely no other form of support. So this was something that they were doing. Another example would be this lady, Tabitha, in Acts chapter 9. The widows, they say to Peter that this person, this lady, has always been stitching clothes for them, has been helping them. It says in Acts 9, 36, she was always doing good and helping the poor. So one very, very important function of the church is that we should be serving the community in some way or the other, where we are a blessing and where we are salt and light for the people around us. They are living a very dark life. They are living under the slavery of sin and Satan. So we can be like light. We are meant to be the salt, which can brighten up their lives in some way based on how our God guides us. So that's another example. And of course we have Jesus' own words in Matthew 25, 35 to 36, where he says that if somebody is hungry, then we should give them something to eat because that will be equal to giving him something to eat. And if someone is thirsty and if you give them something to drink, it's like as if you're giving God himself that food or that water. So by being nice to people, you're in fact showing your love for God himself. So that is why in Matthew 25, 45, Jesus says that he would reply and say, truly I tell you, whatever you did, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me. So we are meant to be serving others so that God is glorified and you are good deeds. So those are the four functions of the Ecclesia. Let's look at some of the sacraments of the church. That's just a fancy word which means what are some basic practices which Jesus commanded that the church should always do. So there are two main practices which Jesus said we must observe those two practices. One of course is baptism and the other is the Lord's Supper. So let's look at, you know, I mean we are very, very familiar of course with these concepts but just let's look at a few scriptures which talk about these things. So first maybe we can talk about baptism and then we will look at the Lord's Supper. The reason that Jesus asked us to observe these two practices is so that what Jesus has achieved on the cross for us the power which, you know, has been released on the cross for us it can become ours that power can become ours when we participate in these practices. So we are not doing these practices just for the fun of it. We are doing these practices so that by doing these practices we can access the power of the cross. So it's very meaningful. We are not just simply doing these practices because you know it's a good thing to do though of course we are doing it out of obedience. We are also doing these two practices but because by doing these practices we are able to gain access to the power of the cross. We are able to gain access to what Christ has done on the cross for us. So these are two very meaningful practices. So coming to water baptism some three points are there I think in your notes regarding this. Alright, so fine. Let's look at Matthew chapter 3 verses 5 to 6 which will give us some background actually. Matthew 3, 5 to 6. Matthew chapter 3, 5 to 6. Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the reason about the Jordan were going out to him and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan confessing their sins. That should be enough. It says here in Matthew chapter 3 verse 6 confessing their sins they were baptized by John the Baptist. So one reason that baptism is done is so that you can publicly declare and say I am now repenting of my past. No longer will I be living in the way I used to live in sin. So now I am turning my back on all of that. So it's like a public confession. So baptism one aspect of water baptism is that we do it so that we can publicly declare and say I am a follower of Jesus. I have turned my back on the past. I have repented of those sins. I will no longer walk in them. So it's like a public declaration that you're making and you're repenting of your sins. Another aspect of baptism is that we do it out of obedience and the example that we're always given regarding this is the example of Jesus getting baptized. So Matthew chapter 3 verses 13 to 15 if someone could read out. Matthew 3, 13 to 15. Matthew chapter 3, 13 to 15. Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John to be baptized by him. John word have prevented him saying I need to be baptized by you and do you came to me but Jesus answered him let it be so now for those it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness then he considered. All right. So here in Matthew chapter 3 verses 13 to 15 Jesus comes to John the Baptist. You know the people from all over the Judea are coming here to John the Baptist to get baptized. So one day Jesus also comes to get baptized. So John says to him you know how on earth can I baptize you? You're the one who should be baptizing me and Jesus replies to him and says let it be so now it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness. So this is an act of righteousness is an act of obedience. So in the same way everyone else is undergoing this water baptism ceremony. God requires me also to be doing this. So it is proper for me to fulfill even this particular work of righteousness. And so when Jesus explains that to John the Baptist John the Baptist agrees to baptize him. So we do it as an act of obedience. We also do it to demonstrate our repentance. A third thing that we need to remember regarding water baptism that would be act chapter 2 verse 38. Someone could read out acts 238. Acts chapter 2 verse 38. Then Peter said to them depend and let everyone of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remissions of sins and you shall receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Yeah, so the third principle would be that water baptism is always done in the name of Jesus Christ. That basically means by the authority of Jesus Christ in his name by his authority you're doing the baptizing. So therefore the pastor or the leader who is doing the baptism these are the wordings that they generally use. You know they say in Jesus name I baptize you. So they're basically saying by the authority which Jesus has given I am now formally baptizing you. So baptism is always done in the name of Jesus in the sense by the authority which that name carries because he has authorized it that person is now doing the baptism ceremony for one of the believers. And the other aspect which we very strongly hold on to is that baptism has to be immersion baptism in water. Acts chapter 8 verses 36 to 38 if someone could read out acts 8 36 to 38. Now as they went down the road they came to some water and the Inuk said see here is water what hinders me from being baptized. Then Philip said if you believe with all your heart you may. And he answered and said I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. So he commanded the chariot to stand still and both Philip and the Inuk went down into the water and he baptized them. So when Philip says to the Inuk let's go down to the water and you need to get baptized. The Inuk is not surprised or shocked or anything because I am in this whole ceremony of baptism was something very familiar that they were very familiar with in those days because usually a rabbi a teacher who is teaching people spiritual truths he would disciple them for some time and then those people they would say we are willing to get baptized. So then that rabbi the teacher he would basically baptize them and it would be like a public declaration in front of everyone saying this person has now decided to choose the spiritual path. And so now this person is going to start learning how to honor God under the leadership of this rabbi of this teacher. So you had a lot of people in those days doing this the baptism ceremony was not something very new it was something that they were very familiar with. So now when Philip says to this Inuk you need to get baptized the Inuk would have understood what Philip is saying Philip is basically saying now onwards you're going to be making a public declaration and saying that no longer will I be living the way I used to live earlier publicly I'm repenting of my past of my sins and I'm willing to place myself not under a human rabbi under Jesus the ultimate rabbi. So because up to them you know people got baptized to become disciples of a human teacher and that teacher would teach them the things of God and that person would teach them how to honor God and it was done that way. But now you have the ultimate teacher who has come and that is Jesus the rabbi. So this Inuk now realizes that by doing this baptism ceremony he's not just going to become the disciple of Philip he's going to become the disciple of Jesus and so you know it would have involved some effort I mean he would have had to take off his outer clothes and get into the water along with Philip and the baptism is done and so then that that time onwards publicly has declared that he is now a follower of Jesus. Yeah, you go ahead. Now some of us also have this child baptism now so that also has significance or it should be like you have to be baptized only when you are an adult. Like what about this? Yeah, I mean these are things which were first introduced in the Roman Catholic Church and then later even the Protestant Church I mean kind of took it up from there for them three things are very very important one is the the wafer and the the grape juice so that is something that they would need to have the second is penance and the third is infant baptism. So these three things make you part of the family of God that was the belief system that they had and so then later when many people came out of the Catholic Church and they joined Martin Luther and Calvin and all of these reformers and they became Protestants some of them continued those practices which is how through the generations those systems and customs have come down to us today but basically if you are saying that by child baptism you are becoming a child of God that does not make sense doctrinally because we know according to the scriptures that something very divine happens that person is old enough to make a decision and they say I will no longer be in sin and so that sinful fallen spirit being gets transformed in that moment into a new living spirit that does not happen when somebody sprinkles water on a baby there's no divine transformation happening inside because the child doesn't even know what's going on so it can be done maybe as a custom but it will not hold any spiritual significance so those three things of taking the wafer and the wine and penance and the third one of child baptism the Roman Catholic Church of that day declared and said that if you do those three things under the direction of some ordained person then you become a part of God's family but there's no doctrinal backing for that so today we would say that it has no spiritual significance say if a baby is baptized there's no spiritual significance to it but if you're just doing it as a custom because that's there as part of your church system it's just a nice system maybe you can consider it a kind of dedication saying the parents are dedicating their child to the Lord but then later they would have to tell that child how exactly to gain salvation that sprinkling of the water by itself has not made any spiritual change inside the child so yeah question that arises is because in an instance where there is a child death or an infant death before the baptism or before he convinces the Jesus's Lord and things so yeah so we talked about that when you were looking at that age of accountability until that child is old enough to understand what is right or wrong you know that child is covered by the work of Jesus on the cross so because the child is still not old enough to understand what is right and wrong and make a commitment and say oh I have been sinning so now I'm going to change the child is not even old enough to understand that he or she is sinning so all such children would come under the covering of the work of Jesus Christ so this human ceremony of water being sprinkled on them will not have a spiritual significance in that sense alright so the bell has gone off so we need to conclude we will continue and complete the sacraments of the church next class so let's close with the word of prayer but we just thank you so much for the things that we could learn today both regarding sanctification and regarding our role in the church we pray that you would help us to continue to constantly throw away the things which are displeasing and grow in you so that Lord we can also be actively involved in your church and become a blessing to the people around us and by doing that we will be able to fulfill the goal and the plan which you have for our lives help us a lot to live in this manner thank you Lord in Jesus name amen