 Hi guys, welcome back once again to this week's course session on the local church. I hope you all are doing well. Hope you all are able to learn something from the course, at least with what we've covered so far. Before we continue, one of the things that I wanted to encourage us from doing is, so I know everybody has the course material. We all have the PDF and whatnot. And I'm sure you're highlighting it, you know, whichever stands out. All that is great, but I will also encourage you to whichever point kind of stands out. You can have a separate document per se to just copy and paste these pointers. So I mean, that way, when you want to refer back to something on this very specific subject, you don't have to go through all, you know, 250 pages of this PDF to see, okay, where was that point? Where was the point? That kind of is will help you in the long run. So I think you can do that with all the subjects that has that's very deep in content. I think this course is pretty deep in content. Yeah, so cool. So let's just do a quick recap of chapter three, what we've covered in the last classes. We cover through the entire section of chapter three, that is the government and the structure of the local church. A governing thing simply is understood as, you know, they ought to take care of something, right? So that's what it is. And we very briefly and also in depth actually, we saw how the first local church, you know, were governed and we see from the first century church, which was born on the day of Pentecost, from the time 120 people were filled with baptism of Holy Spirit. We see how the church kept growing. And as the scripture says, every day God kept adding new people to the church. And it's not until Acts chapter six where we see that the deacons were being added. But until then it was the apostles who took care of everything, even though there were thousands of people being added to the church. It took them a feedback, sort of say, for them to come over these ideas that I think we need, you know, deacons. Basically, we saw the word deacon comes from the Greek word diaconos, which means a helper, servant, attendant, etc. And after deacons we saw and as the church kept growing, we saw elders being added to the church, right? And that's in approximately Acts chapter 11. Now, as the churches were growing, the new people from a different background of faith being added to the church. So, and like I mentioned that the term or the word elders was being chosen for certain group of people who were old and age, but new in faith or young in faith, right? Okay, so for example, like a 60 year old person getting to know about Jesus, he's an elder. And so, you know, but then he's very young in faith. So people of that sort were added to the team. And then we see that they were part of one team, they functioned as one team, apostles, deacons, elders. They were united, right? So a lot of things we covered in chapter three and different types of churches, the house church, local church, the cell church, the elder system, the independent, the clerical systems. And so we went through a different systems of churches, mega churches, multi-site churches, etc., etc. But in conclusion, we saw that, you know, whatever, regardless of the structure or affiliation of local churches, what is important is that we continue to preach Christ crucified. You know, we ask this question, are they truly part of God's kingdom and walking in him, regardless of the system that they are following, etc., etc. And that's what we are called to encourage each other as well. And knowing that, okay, the church is God's idea, we are to follow his blueprint, not our own ways, not do whatever we feel like doing, etc., etc., right? So yeah, that was like a quick recap, a summary of chapter three. And does anybody have any questions regarding the church or whatever we've covered so far, or not necessarily what we've covered, but then, yeah, anything? Speak now or for, we'll have all your peace. Okay, so yeah, if there are no questions to start off, we will now go into chapter four. It's in page 28 of your PDF, The House of God. So chapter four is titled, Stages of Growth and Development. Okay, so in this chapter, we are going to just look at one, how the early church grew in maturity and also in number and how they were developed and how we are to develop the local church. Okay, so that's what this chapter is going to cover. Okay, so what's the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the word growth? Growth. Growth in number. Okay, yeah, growth in number, okay. Growth generally is increase, something increase, it says growing. Okay, increase, thank you. Yeah, Isaac, you were saying something. I say growth generally refers to increase. Increase, okay. Look at the point of increase, when something increase, we say it's growing. Even when the child is growing, it's increasing. Right, right. Thanks, Isaac. Loubago, were you saying something? Yes, pastor, to me, I think growth might mean in the number of individuals at the same time in number of your presence in areas. Maybe it might mean, let me give you an example. Right. If I have a hundred members and maybe by goodness grace, they become 200, that's growth in number of individuals. Right. And if I have one church say, and then God blesses us and we open up branches in this and that area, I also call that one growth. Thank you, pastor. Awesome. Yeah, thank you for sharing that, guys. Yeah, what else comes to your mind when you hear the word growth, you know, in general? Feel free to unmute and speak. Maybe when we start having branches in churches, that's the real growth because we have a lot of branches reaching a lot of people. Okay. All right. Thanks. Spiritual growth of individuals. Spiritual growth of individuals. Okay. Yeah. Spiritual growth. Okay. What else? Georgia, Zalatoli, Rosalind, Anita. Go ahead. Go ahead. Even I would like to say about growth spiritually from baby Christians to mature Christians. Right. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. JP, have you seen something? Yeah. Sorry. Okay. That's fine. Multiplication of church members. Yeah. Okay. I still want to hear some more. Georgia, anybody else? Paul, Leah, crazy. Talk to me, guys. Growth. It's really not. Yeah. Can I say something again? Sure, Isaac. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like the bigger set of someone said it can be also growth can be also identified in the quality or the substance of the knowledge gained in something. Like for example, when the church started in Jerusalem, the quality, the zeal of the early members of the early church increase. So that's why they were able to improve their spirit and got the zeal to establish an increase in number. That's growth. Thanks, Isaac. Thank you. Okay. Just one more person. One more. One more. All right, guys. Yeah. Thank you for sharing who shared appreciate all your answers, your responses. Yeah. Yeah. And as in any time I ask a question, it's not that there is a right answer or a wrong answer. It's just that, you know, we are all different people. We have different perspective, different experiences, exposure. And now we have Sid. Okay, Sid. Yeah. Sid, I saw you raising your hand. Do you have a question or is there something to add? Or was that by mistake? Faster growth is also expansion. Okay. Yeah. Thank you, Russell. And growth is also expansion. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. I mean, a lot of things comes to mind, right? When you think of growth, anything, I mean, the first natural thing is a human life, you know, from just a dot of a cell to, you know, how the baby in the womb grows and then, you know, baby is born and then the toddler grows, the teenager stays, the youth stays, the younger adults, the adults goes on. So that's growth, right? We grow physically. And also that's for me, when I think of growth, it's something about it's so deeply, you know, rooted in God's view of life as in everything about him is growth. You know, everything, you know, like the physical growth and then he wants us to grow spiritually, you know, and every little things that we do when we work out our muscles grow, there's also growth, isn't it? And how many of you put your money in, you know, investment mutual funds or stocks or whatever, why do they do that so that their money grows, you know, and prosperity is as another part of growth as well, you know, God blesses us, you prosper. So you've grown in blessings and wealth and it's a good thing, isn't it? So that's all of that is growth. And like most of you also shared is now with the context of what we've been talking about in terms of the church, the local church, the church also grew, isn't it? So we're going to do a very quick case study of the two churches. We're going to go point by point. Before that, since we've been talking so much from the book of Acts, right? I thought it'd be like interesting, at least for me, just to have like a timeline of, you know, what happened when, because I'm more of a visual person. I learned a little better when I actually see things. So let me just share this tab and see if it helps you guys also in some way as an overview. Okay. This is just an overview for our understanding. So, yeah, just going to see. Okay. Cool. So Acts chapter one, I mean, it was written about 30 AD. So you can see everything that is happening. In Acts chapter two, did you open the course and whatnot? By Acts chapter three, we are here one year later. What happens? Interesting. Peter heals a crippled man in temple 32, 33 acts. This is the year 32 and 33 acts four to chapter five. It's amazing how much of how many things have happened in two years and it's just put in condensed into less than a chapter and a half. Joseph Barnabas sells a field to you and then chapter 33 and 34. This is, by the way, is year. Okay. Let's go back here. Okay. So you see this thing here? It's year 30. So it gets interesting from here. 33 34 acts chapter six was one in seven. The number of disciples was increasing. There's a growth happening, right? Seven men who were full of the spirit chosen as deacons. Do you remember that? We just what we covered last class. And then from year 34, hero arrives. Saul arrives to Jerusalem and it's, it's like the beginning of the persecution stage from verse eight onwards and all the way to eight chapter eight verse 40. You know, Saul arrives in Jerusalem because there were people in Jerusalem. It's very interesting. You know, one of the, that Jesus said to the disciples, wait till you're filled with the Holy spirit, right? On the day of Pentecost. And it's very interesting to see that even after the day of Pentecost, they had not really gone out. This is, and that is what almost six to seven years later they were still and what caused the scattering. So the season of scattering as they called it from Acts chapter six, but the persecution caused that. Right? So they come down. And I mean, we're just going to skim through this thing. And if you want it, you can let me know. I'll share this PDF with you. The period of organized mission from Acts chapter 12. So cool, isn't it? With the maps and whatnot. See the first church after the church of Jerusalem is Antioch. You see where Antioch is. Asia, Galatia. Right? So this is 47. Remember, we started in the year 30. And by Acts 13, just 13 chapters later, we are already in the year 47. So 17 years has gone by already. Acts 14, 15. Okay. So what's happening here? Paul revisits the cities he had been. Returns to Antioch, Syria. It's talking more about Paul now. So you talk about the growth of the church. It's phenomenal, isn't it? By Acts chapter 15 or 15 years later, you see how much of church has expanded and mission strips happening, new local church being planted, et cetera, et cetera. So, well, we've come to year 57. It's still happening. The church is still growing. Paul arrives in Jerusalem, meets with James and Elders Jerusalem what God has done among the Gentiles. Okay. Acts 28, last chapter of the book of Acts, 62, almost 32 years. Yes. So what you're reading, when you read the book of Acts, all the 28 chapters is you're reading the stories of people. You're reading the story, the history of the church. The 32 years of their life being condensed to 28 chapters. And it's just remarkable. I think this is just understanding the timeline kind of gives you sets a different perspective to the way you would approach reading the book of Acts. And like I mentioned, this is helpful for me because I understand history, okay? And this is how it happens. And now I have a visual and it helps me study it a little differently. So, yeah, yeah, sure, sure. I'll share the PDF. I'll put it on the stream section once the class is done. Enjoy it. Okay. Where will we now? All right. Okay, chapter four. Great. So let's do a quick, this is a summary of a case study of the church, of the Jerusalem church. The first church, okay? So I'm going to go point after point, and I feel like it's really important for us to do that, even though it may seem a little redundant. Just, you know, stay with me here as we go point for point, okay? So the case study, the Jerusalem church, I was born during the Feast of Pentecost, started in a powerful way, grew very quickly through science and wonders, focus was on small group meetings in houses, and they also met together in the temple, okay? They had small groups and they also had, you know, temples. So all of this is key points, guys. Everything in the church was initially handled by the apostles. Everything, right? Even though there were thousands in the local church, deacons were appointed later, right? Until we don't read, we read about deacons until chapter six, Acts chapter six, like what we just saw, to handle food administration. These deacons also were strong in the spirit of food administration. I think that's a cool way to, you know, if you want hiring people, not hiring, asking volunteers for your church to come in, be part of the food serving team. It's like, hey, do you want to be part of the food administrative team? This one makes its own very portion cool all of a sudden, isn't it? It's like, wow. Yeah, I want to be part of that, all right? And so after that, we see the multiplication came about because of persecution. Like, you know, like we saw on the timeline, it's from Acts chapter six verse eight onwards, from the time Saul arrives to Jerusalem to inspect, to kind of analyze what's been happening, what's this new faith that, you know, this news that's being spread about this Jesus, and he was born again. You know, he was rose from the dead. Who are these Christians? So he comes in and then, you know, the persecution kind of take, goes to a new level. You know, Stephen gets stoned, Stephen debates with the Jews. Saul, he's just unleashing persecution on the Christians and he's going from town to town and dragging them out of their houses, putting them in jail, even being killed. So multiplication came about because of persecution. Okay. Initially, the apostles remained in Jerusalem, although other believers and the deacons dispersed. The original founding members of the church, they remained in Jerusalem. They did not go much on mission strip up until much later. Okay. Some of the expansion was directly orchestrated by the Holy Spirit. That is very key. Okay. Some of the expansion, Rosalind said, growth is also expansion, isn't it? So some of the growth, in other words, was directly orchestrated by the Holy Spirit. How much more do we need to pray for growth and expansion in our churches? Right. After some years, the Jerusalem church had elders who were part of the leadership. You know, we know the whole story of that. Prophetic ministry teams were sent from the Jerusalem church to minister at other locations. So now mission strip is happening. Prophetic ministry teams were sent, seemed to cope well with the rapid growth initially. They used small group meetings effectively. Here's the point that I feel like it's very important. Maintained a good balance between mighty manifestations and strong teaching to establish believers. How many churches can we think of today that has that really good balance of the signs and wonders of, you know, that's going, pursuing the mighty manifestations and also sound doctrine and theology. We need a lot of churches that has this balance, isn't it? So the church of Jerusalem had this beautiful balance. They were following, they were seeing signs and wonders, you know, sick being healed and whatnot, but then also emphasis on the teaching of the word, right? Established a strong sense of community and sharing of things. Established a strong sense of community. That means should our churches also kind of emulate that should show a strong sense of community or does your church show that it has a strong sense of community? If it does not, what are you going to do about it? Some of the pointers as we do this case study is also to ask yourself these questions as well. Resolved internal conflicts well. Resolving conflicts is one thing. If those conflicts ended well or not well is another thing, but seem to have done it again. Pretty good church, this church. Resolved internal conflicts well. I'm sorry, I'm laughing. I've just seen too many things. Apostles remained in Jerusalem to keep the primary base strong. Apostles and elders resolved doctrinal issues well. It's another beautiful thing. That means there were doctrinal issues. That's one thing. Just like any other church or any people, there were issues. It's not like they were perfect. The founding fathers or members of the early church, we clearly know that. But when they were confronted with the issues that they disagreed upon, they just did not put it under the rug or ignore it. That's one thing they could have done. Or the other thing is they could have just bantered each other saying, you are wrong. I am right. You have to follow this, blah, blah, blah. But instead, they chose to handle it like adults. Ideally, how adults should handle things is when they are confronted with something that they're disagreeing on, sit down, get a cup of tea, big bread and hummus or whatever. And let's discuss about it. And they sorted it. They sorted the issues well. It seemed a little slow to raise up second and third lines of leadership. Perhaps too focused on key leadership. Apostles did not seem to get involved with new churches directly. They would send out, you know, deacons and elders and missions team. So that is a very quick case study of the church of Jerusalem and how they were set, the challenges they had just, you know, in their own way. Any thoughts, guys? Anything that you want to share that you observed that kind of stood out to you? Like some of the points stood out to me? I wonder how the apostles took care of it. Took care of, yeah, yeah. The large group, it's hard. But I wonder how they did it. Yeah. I mean, this is crazy, isn't it? So it took them to chapter six. That is like, at least three or four years in the timeline. And I mean, if you've organized camps, whatever meetings you know, the administrative planning that goes on behind that, just planning a youth camp for 130 people, 50 people is like, all right, when is this three days of camp finishing types? But yeah, just to know that it's had a lot of grace and wisdom and anything else, guys? Yes, can I say something? Yes, I'm sure. Yeah, this administration and the Jerusalem church, I think there is much we can learn for our local churches today. Because what I'm seeing for now in our local churches, especially young pastors when they are ordained, instead of working together in one accord, most of them are at each other's truth. One is trying to supersede another. I think in the process, they are not planting the seed for better growth in the church because it's like they are trying to portray or pursue their own image. I think one of the things we can learn from this Jerusalem church is how to handle this kind of situation when it exists in our church. Thank you. Thanks, Isaac. Paul, you're trying to share as well? Anything else? Anybody? Before we move on. As we discussed about serving, the part of food administration, I think it was like an interview just in our youth spirit field. Yeah. Yeah. Actually, I'm not going to reveal the name obviously, but I know this friend of mine, so he was in my team, core team with the youth. So, an alliance came where he was going to meet this, going to get married to this girl and what not, so meeting her for the first time. So the first thing that he asks or the second thing is, do you speak in tongues? I'm like, dude, okay, that's the pastor right there. And yeah, the man was on fire, but anyways, that's cool. Let's move to the second page, page 29 to the next section. We'll do another quick case study on the Church of Antioch. The Church of Antioch. So started by believers who were scattered from Jerusalem due to persecution. Established through supernatural demonstrations, received the leader Barnabas, sent from Jerusalem to strengthen them. To strengthen them. Barnabas became the first pastor of the church in Antioch. Okay, you remember the progression of the growth of the government and the structure in the church, right? So from the deacons to the elders, you know, and like the elders were like a group of people who were taking care of the church and then they felt the need that it's better to have one person who's like an overseer of the entire church and then everybody else would come under the supervision of this overseer, like the deacons and elders and whatnot, right? And I think I'm just guessing, but it is possible that they would have seen how it was organized. Let's say, for example, David's Tabernacle, how it was organized and when you read 1 Chronicles, Chapter 25, it's pretty interesting 1 Chronicles, Chapter 25. I mean, I might read this a lot even next year for you guys, but then okay, let me just, if you can just go to 1 Chronicles 25. It's pretty neat how it was, how David kind of organized this whole thing. Okay, if you're there for 1 Chronicles, Chapter 25 verse 2, it says 1 Chronicles, Chapter 25, verse 2, it has a bunch of names from the sons of Asaph, Zacuchus, Joseph, Anathanaia, Asarella, the sons of Asaph, under the supervision of Asaph who prophesied under the king's supervision. Okay, so there are these bunch of guys under the supervision of Asaph, and then Asaph was under the supervision of the king, and then as of Gerritan and his list of sons, it says the same thing under the supervision of their father, Gerritan who prophesied using the harp in thanking and praising the Lord, and then you have the son of He-Man from his sons, all a bunch of names, and all these were sons of He-Man, the king's seer. Okay, let's come down to verse 6, 1 Chronicles 25, 6, it says all these men okay, all these men were under the supervision of their fathers for the music of the temple of the Lord with symbols, lies and harps for the ministry at the house of God. Okay, church, that's what we're talking about, isn't it? At the house of God, Asaph, Gerritan and He-Man were under the supervision of the king. Okay, so interestingly, we see the house of God, the tabernacle of David is referred to the house of God, like what we are talking about and their worship ministry is, that's when we're going to actually talk about it next year, next semester at least is, but you're kind of getting a sneak peek of it. It is organized pretty much the same way like how we are looking at it, just that we have Greek words in the New Testament, deacons and elders and whatnot. So it's pretty cool the way it's organized and I'm sure they would have had something to learn from the Old Testament. Okay. Point four in the case study of the church of Antioch is Barnabas welcomed another leader who steps into the scene, Paul brought in by Barnabas to strengthen them. Barnabas brings him in. That's a very important point to note. New believers were discipled through teaching. They were equipped, they were empowered, they were discipled. Identified with Christ, believers were first called Christians in Antioch. So until then they were called as believers. They were first called Christians in Antioch and then received prophetic ministry. Remember in the previous church study that we did, prophetic ministry teams went out. It's what it says. Here we see in Agabus, a person and you'll read it in Acts 21 verse 10. He was a prophet from Judea. That's what the verse says. Acts 21 10, you'll see that he was a person who was functioning in the office of a prophet. Okay, the five-fold ministry. So he was a prophet. They allowed to come into the church and impart into the life of the church. They were involved in social work. This church, which was born after the persecution after the church of Jerusalem, these guys were sending relief to their mother church so to speak. Their senior church or whatever. When the church in Jerusalem were in need, the church in Antioch wasn't them a relief. You can read all about it in Acts 11, 28, 29 onwards. Acts 11, 28, 29. They saw the emergence of more leaders and development ministry teams in two years. They saw the emergence. I'd like to think that emergence also was another alternative word for growth. Right? They saw the emergence of more leaders and development growth of ministry teams in about two years. The leaders were in fellowship with one another and ministered to the Lord. They were involved in missions, sent out apostolic teams to pioneer new churches. Remember that word pioneer. We're going to look at that a little later. They were involved in missions. They sent out apostolic teams. They're pretty much doing what initially happened with the first church, the church of Jerusalem. The founding members did not go on ministry teams. Everybody else were involved mission strip and they sent out apostolic teams, prophetic teams and the same pattern is being followed by the church in Antioch which became an apostolic mission base for apostles and prophets. You know what a base is, right? That's the place from where everything goes out and comes. That's where you come to get restored, reformed, refreshed, what not. That's what a base is. It's so good to see that the second church, the church in Antioch was the base. It was an apostolic mission base for apostles and prophets and missionary teams. If they wanted to go anywhere else it's like they would come here first and then they would go out. It's so wonderful to see a church being so effective that way, isn't it? But it's all not flowers and roses. At this point, the disagreement between the two key leaders, Paul and Barnabas caused these leaders not only to part company but perhaps even distance themselves from the Antioch church. We do not hear of them returning for any length of time to Antioch until Paul visits much later in Acts 18. Okay, now again notice the references Acts 18 and the issue the disagreement is in Acts 15. For us, when we look at it, it's just three chapters. But there's quite a lot of time gap between those three chapters. That's why having a timeline kind of makes sense. The church seemed to have continued but without its two main leaders. Remember, Barnabas was their first pastor. Not much is mentioned about the Antioch church after that. It's a sad ending, but the church kept going. They kept doing what they were what they should be doing. Even though the Bible just doesn't say much about what happened between Paul and Barnabas after, I hope it ended well for them. So that's the case study of the church of Antioch. Anything else from this case study that stands out? What is your key take away from this summary of your case study? Any key point that stood out to you from this case study? Yes, LaBega, please go ahead. Mine is a personal pastor. What do you think? Your voice is breaking, LaBega. Sorry. No, there's still a lot of static. Let me try again. Yeah, it's better now. Am I not clear? Yes. My question was, or is still, why do you think are the reasons behind the disappearance of the Antioch church as they continue writing the scriptures? I mean, like I mentioned, I mean, the scriptures speak a lot more about the church after and I quite honestly don't know of the church Antioch. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know. Yeah. Sorry, I don't have a better answer, LaBega, but it's what, yeah, I don't know. Thank you, Pastor. Anything else? And at the key take away for you, I mean, something that stood out a significant point in this case study. I liked how they went on mission trips without staying in one place in the process they stayed in Jerusalem, but they wanted to reach people. Yeah. And can you also explain about the prophetic ministry and get that point? Prophetic ministry. Okay, yeah, so, you know the name mentioned there, Agabus is the name of a person who was a prophet from Judea. It's written about him in Acts chapter 21 verse 10. So he was a prophet from Jerusalem and when you read that scripture it says that he was a prophet from Judea, right? So he went there as a mission as well to minister to the church in prophetic ministry. He was a person who was functioning in the office of a prophet like the 5-fold ministry that we talk about, right? Yeah. Thank you, Pastor. Anything else, guys? Yes. Yes, Pastor. Yeah, my take is the organization here in the church from Jerusalem you can also explain about Antioch that the organization and the unity was one of the paramount bases for the group and I think that can be taken and implied into our churches for today because if we are well organized there is strength in unity. So that's my take. Yeah, thank you, Pastor. That's my take. You know, also Lubeika's question is keeping me making me think as in would the story would have ended any differently if Paul and Barnabas had sorted their issues out there in the church? As in what tells me something is ministry is important but relationships are in my opinion are more important because ministries are built on relationships, isn't it? So and I think going an extra mile to resolve conflict in relationships is good for the ministry and also people involved in the ministry and the people that you are taking care of or under your supervision that was one of the key things because I mean I was thinking about it and preparing for it as well because but another thing is the point that says they saw the emergence of more leaders you know that we talk about more a little later so more leaders were emerging that means there was growth happening and anytime I think there are more leaders being immersed in a church that means a church is growing ministry is growing that's my perspective my opinion Can I add a little bit of that? Yes This is like still another factor for growth though of course looking at it from another perspective maybe the elders should have resolved the issue between Barnabas and Paul but what you think about this parcel of seeds when the seeds are scattered they grow again in different places so like you are saying new leaders we are growing so the older ones should go out elsewhere and grow better, thank you that's my opinion Thanks Isaac, thanks for sharing that We'll pause here and we'll take a break and we'll resume after the break Thanks Enjoy your break