 Okay, good morning. Good to see you. Sorry, there was a little bit of trouble, technical difficulties. But good to see you. Everybody doing good? Yes? I asked a nice question. No, is everybody doing well? Okay, you give me a serious look. Okay, how about everybody online? How are you all doing? This morning, all good? Okay. We are still in the first week of classes, isn't it? Okay. You'll survive the first week and I congratulate you all next week. Awesome. So good to see you all. Let's spray. Can we do that? Yeah. Father, we honor you in this place. We thank you for this privilege that we have, that we can come to your presence just as we are. To learn from you, from your word. Holy Spirit, we humble ourselves. Lord, you are our teacher. I pray that even as we learn from your word, Lord, that you will pour out your wisdom, your knowledge and your understanding. Father, I pray that our spirit would be able to understand everything that you have to teach to us. Lord, I pray that I stop with my tongue, speak to me, speak through me. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Awesome. Great. So in the last class, what we did is we looked at the basic definition of what praise and worship is, or what worship is, isn't it? Can some of you share a few things that we covered in the last class? Like what did we actually look at in the last class? What did we learn in the last class? Just very briefly, at least one point is also good. So one thing that you learned, yes. When we give honor to God, that is worship. What we give, give. Great. Okay. That is worship. Okay. What else did we learn in the last class? Thank you. Worship is not about you and me. It's about God. Okay. Thank you. All right. Shaker says, worth the ship. Okay. Thank you, Shaker. Sanjay says, worship is a lot more than just music or singing songs. Amen. Worship is all about God. Daniel Oliver says, worship is all about God. Okay. Awesome. Thanks, Dan. Shaker again says worship is not a genre. It's not a style of music. It's not jazz, pop, rock, you know, whatever. What else? What else do you remember? Worship is a lifestyle. Yeah. Amen to that. I don't feel shy. Okay, guys. I'm talking to you all here. Okay. It's okay. There's no right answer. Wrong answer. I'll keep saying this. I will not fail you if I don't like your answer. So as long as you keep smiling at me, I will not fail you. Just kidding. Okay. So what else? What else? Come on. Worship is what? Worship is speaking your heart to God. Worship is speaking your heart to God. Thank you. Awesome. Worship is communication with God. All right. Thank you. Worship is communication with God. Okay. Worship is a believer's response. Okay. Someone opened the book and saw it. Thank you. It's awesome. Yeah. Worship is a believer's response. Okay. You respond. Right. If someone calls you by your name, unless you're deaf, you will not respond. Yes. Or if you intentionally want to ignore the person who's called, like you go to some mall, shopping mall, and you see the person, you're like, oh, that person. You start talking, then they call your name. Like Cyril. Cyril. No, you don't. You choose to ignore intentionally or you respond. It's like you turn back and say hi. Right. So worship is a believer's response. Isn't it? Okay. So we look at that a little bit more. All right. Sonia says it's about worshiping in spirit and not about the beauty of the melody of the song. Okay. Thank you, Sonia. What is this? Anything else you want to share? Anything you remember from the last class. It's about God. Okay. Yeah. Lucy is saying worship is fellowship with God. Okay. Thanks, Lucy. Angeline says worship is a lifestyle and not just on stage. It's how we live off stage as well. Okay. Everybody say one big amen to that. Okay. Worship is not how you just act on a stage on a Sunday morning, but how you live off the stage as well. If you're a worship leader and a musician. Okay. Worship gives glory to God. Worship. So Daniel is saying worship gives glory to Roshan. Worship gives glory to Cyril. Yes, sir. Dan. Yeah, Dan. Worship gives glory to me. So I was teaching the third years about worship ministry and I'll just make a point. I will not teach you everything about the third years, but I was telling them how worship ministry now it's become like an industry. When originally worship ministry was planned as a priesthood and not an industry or a star celebrity kind of a thing. Okay. We'll get to third year later. But did you go back and just go through the notes a little bit? 100% I did, sir. I went back home and I went through all the notes because I was not too busy. It's very important. Okay. Cool. So let's just go through quickly. What I like to do in every class is I like to revise what we did in the previous class. So just so it's fresh. Yes. Am I talking too fast? Am I going too fast? If you're not able to follow or understand, please put your hand up and say, can you repeat it? And I'll be very happy to repeat it. Only twice. Okay. So we are still in chapter one. And in the last class, we went through different definitions. That is in your notes, isn't it? I just want to look at one definition again. It's the third definition by Warren Wearsby. It says worship is the believer's response. Right? Like you said, worship is the... Everybody say believer's response. Thank you. Okay. Worship is a believer's response of all that they are. Mind, emotions, will and body. To what God is and says and does. So if I have to convert or translate or interpret that full definition into one word, only one word comes to my mind. That is surrender. So, you know, when you read that third definition, worship is a believer's response to all that they are. So I kind of conclude that whole definition to just one word. It's not just surrender. I'll add another word, absolute surrender. Okay. Absolute surrender. That means you are saying, I don't want to have any control over me. What I think, how I feel, what I want to do, I'm giving you complete control, absolute surrender. Right? One of the stories that comes to my mind from the Bible, when we talk about absolute surrender, is the story of Mary, the biological mother of Jesus. Yes? So what about her is, you know, the angel of God appears to Mary. Everybody's read that story, no? Yes or no? Okay. The highly favored one. So Angel Gabriel says, okay, you are going to bear a child. You will be with child and you will, you shall name him so and so. Right? Now in the Old Testament, there are hundreds of prophecies about Jesus' birth, about Jesus himself, right? The Messiah in the Old Testament, hundreds of prophecies. The plan of Jesus as coming down as a son of God is God's divine plan to redeem mankind. It's the ultimate plan of God. Are you with me? God's ultimate plan was to send his son. Right Jesus? But all of the hundreds of prophecies of the Old Testament and God's divine plan was waiting until Mary said, be it unto me according to your will. Now until Mary said that, nothing really happened. Are you with me? And so worship is in a way as saying, be it unto me according to your will. And so therefore I surrender. I lay everything down at the altar. Are you with me? Right? So let's just go a little bit more deeper. And we looked at one final definition by Bob Coughlin, who says Christian worship is the response of God's redeemed people. Like, you know, we looked at that definition in the notes and we saw how Christian worship is different from every other kind of worship. Isn't it? Yeah, all okay. So let's pause there and we'll continue to the next page. And in today's session, we'll try and understand what praise is. Okay. In the last class, we looked at how you define worship. Today we'll try and understand what is praise. Okay. So how would you define praise? In Hindi you say stutthi, isn't it? Correct? All right. Okay. I'm really bad in Hindi. So few words I remember here and there. Okay. Okay. Stutthi, any other language, praise? Aradhana. Aradhana is also praise or worship? That's worship. Okay. Sorry. Mahima. What is Mahima? Another word for praise? You all have to tell. Okay. I don't know if it's correct or wrong. So present some. Okay, bro. I believe you. Right. Okay. Mahima is glory. Okay. All right. Thanks, Andrew. All right. Great. Again, in your own words or even language, feel free to express it. How would you define praise? How would you define praise? Sorry, bro. Lifting up someone? Okay. Sorry. Honoring and lifting up someone. Okay. I'll be a high person. Okay. Before making it spiritual, we'll just try and understand, you know, like then we'll become spiritual. Okay. Okay. So Andrew says, praises, we are boasting about the things which God has done. We are boasting. Okay. All right. Cool. Thanks, Andrew. To appreciate and honor. All right. Praise. Stuti. Thanksgiving. Okay. You know very soon what I will do. If I see nobody who's sharing, I will point finger at you and make you stand and say, and we will not continue with class until you say something. Deal. I'm slightly different from other teachers. Okay. Okay. Come on. Come on. Just tell me. Yeah. Talk to me. Stuti or praise according to you. How do you define it? Because as Christians, we use these words too much and we use it so much that we don't think about it enough. Praise and worship. Oh, praise and worship. Mindlessly, like, you know, praise and worship. Praise and worship. Praise and worship. But when we ask to say, stop telling me what is praise. Praise is praise. Praise is praise. And worship is worship. Okay. Everybody online. Okay. You guys doing all right? Okay. Where I see three of them in front of the camera and the others are all hidden behind the veil. So I don't really know what's happening, but I trust you all are doing well. Okay. So let's look at your book in the notes. The definition for praise is according to the dictionary. Okay. It says to commend. That means to appreciate and to honor, right? To commend and to applaud. Applaud means you clap, right? In English we say, let's give this person a round of applause. That means we all clap and that's mean we are appreciating or acknowledging. Isn't it? Okay. Everybody say applaud. Everybody say applaud. Did I say everybody? Everybody means what? Everybody means what? Everybody. So everybody in the class physically present say applaud. Applaud. Yeah. Thanks guys. Okay. Thank you for having my back. That's awesome. Okay. So praise means it's to commend, to appreciate or to applaud, right? To your acknowledging someone, right? To express approval or admiration. That's what the dictionary says. And then it goes on to say that praise is the verbal declaration of adoration and thanksgiving. Okay. Praise is the, if you have a pen, marker, underline that highlight it. Okay. It says praise is the verbal declaration. Verbal means what? You are saying it or confessing it with your tongue. Okay. Praise is a verbal declaration. Okay. Once you finish highlighting, look at me. So what it's saying is if you want to praise someone or something, you can't just say, I will praise that person in my heart. I will quietly praise. You know, are you one of those students who say, I read in my mind? Some of them read loudly, you know, the dictionary defines worship as the act of expressing love adoration. Some of them read like that, a study like that. And some of them very quietly just stare at the book. Right. So when you want to express praise, you can't say that I'm expressing praise quietly or with your mouth shut. You have to express it verbally with your tongue. You declare. Are you with me? Right. Yes. One of the definitions for praise is the verbal declaration of adoration. Okay. And thanksgiving for what God has done and for what he has promised to do. Are you with me? Yeah. That is what praises you appreciate someone. Now let's look at the other thing that in your notes, everybody, it says praise is the spiritual sacrifice. That we offer to God. Everybody say praise is the spiritual sacrifice. Praise is the spiritual sacrifice. That we offer to God. Let me offer to God. Awesome. Thank you. Now let's go to Hebrews chapter 13 verse 15 and someone go to Hebrews chapter 13 verse 15. Hebrews chapter 13 verse 15. I'll read it for us. Hebrews is after Genesis and before Revelation. Okay. Okay. Hebrews chapter 13 verse 15. It says through Jesus. If you haven't underlined that, underline that through Jesus. That is the key secret ingredient. Okay. Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise. The fruit of lips that openly profess his name. Okay. The fruit of that lips that openly profess his name. Now let's pause there for a second. Therefore, by him, let us continually offer the praise, the sacrifice of praise to God. Okay guys, someone has your mic on. Please mute it. So it's echoing. Oh. Okay. All right. I'm going to read that verse one more time. So 13, 15 of Hebrews. Therefore, by him, through him, through Jesus, let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God. That is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name and verse 16 as well, but do not forget to do good and to share for with such sacrifices. God is well pleased. Okay. Now, when you read that verse, right, offer sacrifice of praise. It seems like two opposites, sacrifice and praise. What does it really mean? Because the notes says, praise is the spiritual sacrifice that we offer to God. So hold on a second. So when you think about the word sacrifice, what comes to your mind? Sorry. Giving up sacrifice means in Hindi, what is it? Balidhan. Balidhan. There's some extra weight to it, no? Lay down. Sounds better in Hindi. Lay down. To lay down. To lay down. Okay. To lay down. The sacrifice means to lay down. Thank you. Okay. Someone said something, no? Giving up. Giving up. What else? Which you love, you give up. Yeah. Okay. Giving up. Now, in Hindi it says Balidhan, isn't it? Balidhan means what? Death, no. What happens when you sacrifice something? It doesn't die, is it? It's alive. It dies, no. So death. Okay. How many? Who will come very happily to be, you know, when you say sacrifice? Sacrifice. I'm going to be sacrificed. You know, you think about Abraham and Isaac, right? Abraham's taking Isaac and going. Isaac is asking Abraham, father, I see the wood. I see the knife, but where's the lamp? And then Abraham says, God himself will provide for himself a lamp, isn't it? And then it goes on to say that Abraham tied Isaac's hands and legs. He bound him. Now, Bible historians, scholars say that Isaac was at least an 18-year-old teenager. 18, how old? 18-year-old. Now, and Abraham was 100 odd years. A 100-year-old man versus 18-year-old young person. Who will win physically? Who is stronger? An 18-year-old, isn't it? Yes or no? Okay. So what I'm trying to say is sacrifice is associated with laying down, surrendering. Isaac could have easily overpowered Abraham. He's like, what a mad award. What is wrong with your father? I am not going to die and all of that. You'll stab me, it seems. I will sit there quietly, it seems. Okay? Not happening. But Isaac sits very quietly. He lays down. He's giving up his right to live or be alive. Yes or no? He's willing to die. Okay? So all of that is associated with sacrifice. But why does the Hebrew says in 1315 that offer up sacrifice, sacrifice of praise? Like, what does that mean? See, when we praise someone, does it cost us anything? Cost means, what do I say? This is also a question to you online. But when you praise someone, does it cost you anything? Like extra effort and all. How many of you have a dog? Have a dog? Okay. So we very easily praise. It's like, hey doggy, good doggy. You know, you throw a ball, it fetches and comes back, good doggy. We praise the dogs. We praise any person who does a good job. It's like a good job leading worship. I was really blessed. So praise doesn't necessarily cost us anything. Yes or no? As Christians, some of the times we don't even want to give lap offering, which doesn't cost us anything. That is like, in a way the cheapest offering you can give, that also we don't want to give. And so what I'm trying to say is it's very easy for us to praise. Right? As long as you are directly benefiting from that. If you are directly benefiting, that means you are profiting from that. You respond by saying, awesome. Thank you. Yes or no? And that's how it is with God in our lives, is when God blesses you with enough money, when God blesses you with, you know, good job, when God blesses you with good health and everything is like, Lord, I praise you. You're awesome. 10,000 reasons. Yes or no? But what happens when you go through something, you've been praying for a breakthrough, maybe financial breakthrough, breakthrough in your relationships, could be with your parents or with your spouses, with your friends. But God seems far away. Does praise become easy then? No, no. The last thing you want to do when you get some bad report, you don't have a job, there's no money in the bank, there's nothing. Your first response is not to praise. Lord, I praise you because there's no money in the bank. So, are you all with me? Yes? Okay, thank you. Now, we read Hebrews chapter 13 verse 15, isn't it? Verse 15 and 16, we read. Now, this is what we, you know, we call it as a text in English, right? It's a text. Now, in the beginning of the verse, it says therefore, right? Everybody say therefore. Okay, so any time you see therefore in the Bible, you need to ask, why is it therefore? Okay, yeah, something, okay. Right, any time you see therefore in the Bible, you need to ask, okay, why is it therefore? Okay, why is the writer or the author of the, you know, the book saying therefore? So, the Hebrew writer, the author of the book of Hebrews, what he's saying is he's addressing or he's writing to the Christian Jews of the first century. Okay, Christian Jews of the first century where they were being persecuted for being Christians. Okay, what the author of the Hebrews is saying is, hey, I know you are being persecuted. Don't give up your faith in Jesus. Okay, because in those days, in the first century history, if you become a Christian Jew, you do not have access to the temple. Okay, you cannot practice any of those Jewish celebrations or offer, you know, take part in the sacrifices. You can't go to the temple. You don't have a right and then you can't offer up sacrifices. So, the author of Hebrews is saying, don't worry. It's okay if you lose all those rights of going to the temple and offering of sacrifices. Instead, what is better is offer a praise, which is the sacrifice of praise. Sacrifice your right to be the Jew. Are you with me? You sacrifice the right to be the Jew. Sacrifice the right to go to the temple and offer that sacrifices of the Lamb and whatnot. But instead, offer sacrifice of praise. And that is the context. Right? Are you with me? Following? Okay, thank you. So then it goes on to say, very important, verse 15, offer sacrifice of praise to God. That is the fruit of our lips. Okay, everybody say fruit. Okay. So, again, what in Hindi? Correct. Yes. All right. Okay. Hundred out of hundred. Now, fruit is what? What is the fruit? When you think of fruit, what is it? Do you plant a tree with the fruit? Do you plant a tree with the fruit? How many of you have done gardening? Even if you haven't done gardening, you should know this. You saw the seed, isn't it? From the seed, you get the tree. From the tree, it bears the fruit. Yes or no? Okay. Now, here is saying, offer up sacrifice of praise to God. That is the fruit of our lips. That is the fruit of our lips. Now, okay. Let's take the word fruit. Now, a fruit can be raw. Hey guys, fruit can be raw. Yes. Or the fruit can be ripe. Fruit can be raw or ripe. Isn't it? Kai, palom. It can be sweet or rotten, spoiled. No. It can be sweet or rotten. And also the fruit can be seasonal or continual throughout the year available. Yeah. Okay. So now again, let's go back to the verse. Okay. It says the sacrifice of praise. That is the fruit of our lips. Now, think about everything we do with our lips. We speak, no? Okay. So if the fruit can be raw or ripe, let's go to Ephesians chapter 4 verse 29. Go to Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4 verse 29. It says, okay, everybody there? Ephesians chapter 4 verse 29. It says, let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth. But what is good for necessary edification? That it may impart grace to the heroes. All right. So Ephesians 4.29 says, let no corrupt word, like a rotten word. In other words, a raw word. Okay. Because with the same lips and mouth, we used to praise God, isn't it? We'll come to that verse in just a second. Okay. One more verse. Let's go to James chapter 1 verse 26. James chapter 1 verse 26. You have time, right? Okay. James chapter 1 verse 26. If anyone among you thinks he is religious and does not riddle his tongue, but deceives his own art, this one religion is useless. Okay. If anyone among you thinks he is religious and does not riddle his tongue, but deceives his own heart, this one religion is useless. So that means he's saying, if you don't have control over your tongue, what you follow and what you say is useless. Okay. Can we read some more scriptures? Can we read some more? Okay. Same book. James chapter, let's go to James chapter 3. James chapter 3 verse 9, 10 and 11. James chapter 3 verse 9, 10 and 11. It says, with it, what? With what? With the tongue, right? With the mouth, with lips. With it, we bless our God and Father. And with it, we curse men. Not me, Sar. I don't do it. Okay. Who have been made in the similitude of God? Verse 10, out of the same mouth, proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so. It shouldn't be like that. Verse 11, it says, does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter water from the same opening? Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives or a grape wine bear figs? Let's stop there. Okay. So verse 12, it ended with the tree and the fruit. Isn't it? It says, can a fig tree bear olives? But olive is a fruit of the olive tree. Figs is a fruit of the fig tree. So again, we're coming back to that original point or the verse, fruit of our lips. The fruit of your lips can either be raw or ripe, pleasing to one's heart. It can be sweet or it can be rotten. And I also said, the fruit can be seasonal or continual. It can be seasonal or continual. Now let's look at the verse again. Hebrews chapter 13 verse 15. Hebrews chapter 13 verse 15, it says, therefore through Jesus Christ, let us continually, okay? Continually. Now there are some fruits that is available continually throughout the year, like apples, oranges, lemons, coconuts, avocados and bananas. They are not seasonal fruits. They are available throughout the year from January to December. And there are some fruits that are seasonal. But what the writer of the Hebrew or what the Word of God is saying is, let not your praise be seasonal. That means when you're going through good season, I will praise you. Let's read Psalm 34 verse 1 quickly. There's someone. Psalm 34 verse 1. If someone has a Kannada or a Tamil Bible or a Hindi also is fine. I want you to read Psalm 34 verse 1. Okay, I'll read it. Are you there? Psalm 34 verse 1, it says, I will bless the Lord at sometimes good times when I feel like only Sunday morning. I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be on my lips, right? Okay, now in Kannada or Tamil or other language, it says, it's called, That means in every season, your praise will continually be on my lips. Are you with me? Right? And so here's the thing. I know we've read a lot of scriptures. Let's just finish with one last scripture. Let's go to Habakkuk chapter 3 verse 17 and 19. Habakkuk. It's like, sir, where is that book, sir? I'll wait. Okay, Habakkuk chapter 3 verse 17 and 19. Okay, when you're there, say amen. Turn in your Google phones, Android phones too. If that is easy. Okay, how many of your favorite book is Habakkuk in the Bible? Nobody will raise their hands. Dan, don't lie. Okay, Habakkuk chapter 3 verse 17 to 19. It says it's a very famous popular scripture. It says, though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes in the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no ship in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will be joyful in God, my Savior. The sovereign Lord is my strength. He makes my feet like the feet of a deer. He enables me to tread on the heights. Isn't that lovely? And so that verse is saying in the good season or in the bad season, in the good times or in the bad times, I will choose to praise you. Are you with me? Yes. And so that's where I want to kind of leave a pause today. And leave us is we've looked at the definition for praise and worship. Okay, a couple of years ago I did an activity with the youth, with the young people in church. We were doing a series on the power of words. So we split them into teams and I gave them a toothpaste tube, you know, small toothpaste tube. And I said, okay, I'll time you all. Whoever pushes all of the toothpaste out of the tube first is the winner. So I said, on your mark, get set, go and start at the clock. Everybody, you know, they all won. I didn't tell them about the second part of the game. The second part of the game was put all the toothpaste back inside the tube. You'll see who wins. How many of you think they did it? No one did it. Not even one person, obviously. It's impossible, isn't it? And so that was just an activity to kind of talk about. It's very easy to shoot the words off your mouth. And it's not easy to take it back. Once released is released, isn't it? And so when we talk about praise and the fruit of our lips, you know, there's so many things for us to ponder about. How beautiful is your fruit? Does your fruit look acceptable, right? Is it a good offering that is acceptable to God? And so just remember that we looked at worship, we looked at praise, and we choose to praise them in every season of our lives. You know, one of the most beautiful things about praise and worship is the Bible, the Psalms says all of creation, they do not have a choice. The Psalmist says the trees of the field clap their hands in praise. Psalm 19 verse 1 and 2 says the heavens declare the glory of God. Day and night their poor fourth speech. Psalm 95 says the deep sea creatures praise Him. So all of the creation does not have a choice, but they praise. Only you and I have a choice to praise and worship. We can choose to praise and worship. That is why it's very special. Are you with me? Right? See our situations, our circumstance, they keep changing. One day you will have good day, another day you will have very good day, and the third day you will have a very bad day, isn't it? Up and down. Sometimes you're going through amazing season in life. God is, you know, it seems like God is blessing everything you're touching. Everything you touch is turning into gold. And then there's a season in life where everything is dry. You feel like you're going through the valley of the shadow of death. Why I'm saying this is our life, our situations and our circumstances, they change. Good, bad, good, bad, good, bad. But who's the unchanging one? God, His worth, His worth never changes. His worth, regardless if you're going through a good time or bad time, good season or bad season, His worth never changes. Are you with me? He is the same yesterday, today and forever. Right? And so that's why God tells Joshua in Joshua chapter one. He says, as I was with Moses, I will be with you. Like just like how I was with Moses, I will be with you. Moses, your leader might have died and gone. Don't worry. I am still the same. That's more important, isn't it? Okay. So that's what I wanted to leave us with today and before we continue into the next chapter. So if you have any questions or those online, feel free to post it on the stream section. I'd be more than happy to address that. But through the session, I hope you were with me and everything is okay. All right. Thanks for joining in, guys. Lovely seeing you all online. Take care and God bless you. I'll see you next week. Thank you very much, sir. Thank you. God bless. Bye. Amen. Be blessed.