 Great once again. Thank you all for joining in. It's just lovely to see you all especially the boys back in college Lovely lovely to see you guys Yeah, miss being there, but let's go ahead. Hi, Anusha. What's happening? Where are you joining us from? Are you in some operation theater or something? You better focus there Awesome, let's go. So we are in chapter six Chapter six that it's titled becoming a worshipper Becoming a worshipper so In the previous chapter chapter 5 we've looked at understanding worship or what is worship basically and And we've gone through different points from recognizing God's presence to reverence To communication commune communion with God to encounters that leads to Worship and we've learned quite a bit. What happens when we worship? Etc that we experience God's presence. We are empowered to rule and reign and In the last session we extensively looked at hindering at attitudes in worship One of the hindering attitude that we looked in depth was pride so I'll repeat what I said in the last class again today is that If there's one thing that That you don't forget if you forget everything else that you learn in this course is absolutely fine But don't forget the danger and the consequences of pride. Okay, don't let it come anywhere close to you It will absolutely destroy your life. Okay So we learned that and we kind of continue in that same zone going into chapter 6 of becoming a worshipper All right, so we'll first look at spiritual worship Versus fleshly worship and in the next class on Thursday, we learn about extravagant worshipper how to be how can we become an extravagant worshipper and we look at an example from Luke 7 but for today We'll just very quickly understand the differences between spiritual worship and Fleshly worship or false worship Okay, so let's go through a few scriptures right now. Let's go through first Peter chapter 2 verse 5 First Peter chapter 2 verse 5 Let's see if I can paste it on the chat section for us This is actually taking me back to the lockdown days guys Right first Peter chapter 2 verse 5 it says and now you are living stones that are being used to build a spiritual house You are also a group of holy priests. I'm reading from CEV contemporary version. Let me go to ESV You yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to Offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ Okay, so in that entire verse Right from first Peter chapter 2 verse 5 That whole verse What is the most important thing that you kind of captured? That's the most important thing that kind that stands out at those all the students stood out to you Or the most important thing in that entire verse It talks a lot isn't it it says we are we are living stones We are being built as A spiritual house right that are being used to build a spiritual house We are also group of holy priests, okay So Just to move on, you know fast All of all of all of the things that is mentioned in that verse from living stones to spiritual house to holy priesthood All of that is made possible Towards the very end that it says through Jesus Christ So without him Everything else that's mentioned before is not possible Okay, I hope you're paying attention. So all of all of the things that's mentioned in the bus is living stones as Spiritual house as priesthood will not be made possible without Jesus Okay, so it is through him that the ESES Translation says it's been acceptable to God through Jesus Christ And so it is only through Jesus that our worship is being made as a spirit is accepted as a spiritual worship Right offer up spiritual sacrifices Anything any form of worship any expression of worship that is outside of Jesus Will come under false worship or fleshly worship Okay, we need to get that straight or at least more let's go on to some more scriptures Can we read a few more scriptures? Let's go to Hebrews 13 verse 15 Hebrews 13 verse 15 Once again a very famous verse. Yeah, thank you sir. Okay, so therefore by him Let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God that is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name Okay, the sacrifice of which will sacrifice. That's what it's called. Isn't it? So we again at the very beginning of this course, we've looked at this verse very deeply Therefore by him or through him who's that him? That the scripture is referring to is again Jesus Okay through Jesus Christ. Let us continually offer sacrifice of praise to God So again just to reiterate the point that any worship or any form of worship or any Expression of worship that is done outside of Jesus is it will be considered as false worship Okay, so it's a very important question that we need to ask ourselves is is our worship Whatever you're expressing is it going through Jesus Is it something that Jesus would approve? Okay some of scriptures Romans 12 verse 1 and 2 and Sir, if you could also paste a Philippians chapter 3 verse 3, please, it will be great Okay, the Romans chapter 12 verse 1 and 2 Anybody right? So it says I beseech you therefore Brother in by the mercies of God that you present your bodies as living sacrifice Holy Acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. Okay, let's stop there for a second So I beseech you so who's the I? Apostle Paul Apostle Paul. Yeah, so he's the one who's writing this letter to the Romans, isn't it? Thank you. So Paul is saying I beseech you beseech is just a very Old word for beg It sounds very diplomatic and nice. Isn't it I beseech you Sounds very civilized Versus I beg you. That's exactly what Paul is saying now There's one thing that we need to learn know or about Apostle Paul is the biblical scholars and historians say that Paul's educational qualification was equivalent of This day's 20 PhDs That's how intellectual Paul was Apostle Paul was Right they claim that his educational qualification would be equivalent to one person having 20 PhDs Doing one PhD is very hard. Okay, if you didn't know it's very hard. I haven't done it Far away from it, but a person with that kind of intellect is Seeing the words I beg you therefore Once again Anytime you see the word called therefore you need to ask why is it? Therefore Okay, so anytime you see therefore you need to ask why is it there for? So Again, he says I beseech you brethren therefore by the mercies of God That you present your bodies as living sacrifice So he's talking about the mercies of God in the 12th chapter because from chapter 1 till the end of chapter 11 Paul is only talking about the mercy of God from Romans chapter 1 to Romans 11 in different ways in different words He's expressing the mercies of God and Then he's once he's explained about the God's mercies in the 12th chapter He's saying therefore now brethren by the mercies of God now that you've learned so much and from chapter 1 to chapter 11 I'm urging you. I'm begging you that you would offer your bodies as living sacrifice Now we need to remember that a sacrifice is Dead Right, so by the time when a person who's committed a sin will bring an innocent lamb and Give it to the priest. He will place his hand on the head of the lamb And that was a symbol of the sinful person transferring the sin to the innocent animal and then the priest, you know and Then place it on the altar and so by the time the animal is placed on the altar the animal is dead But here Paul is saying that I Want you to offer yourself as living sacrifice. That means I want you to die to yourself every day I want you to die to yourself every day So offer yourself as living sacrifice wholly Acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service Now I like the message version of this verse If I'm Romans chapter 12 verse 1 I've put it in the chat section In the message version it says so here's what I want you to do God helping you take your everyday ordinary life You're sleeping eating going to work and walking around life and place it before God as an offering Embracing what God does for you is the best thing what you can do for him So beautifully put isn't it if you can if you have the access to the message version of the Bible in your Bible app or your version Bible app or any app that you use Please read this verse in the message translation. It's very nice. It gives a more practical insight toward Paul is trying to say and Finally Philippians chapter 3 verse 3 It says for we are the circumcision who worship God in spirit Rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh Rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh Okay, so we worship God in the spirits John chapter 4 says those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth And so if we are to worship in spirit only the Holy Spirit can help us worship him in spirit Okay, so we've learned about all of that and you know one in In first Peter chapter 2 verse 5 it says we are the holy priesthood, isn't it? and In the Old Testament the priest never went empty handed before God Can I say that again in the Old Testament? The high priest never went empty handed before God He always had a sacrifice In his hands when he went before him And so when the Bible says that we are royal priesthood in the new covenant What we are expected like Romans chapter 12 verse 1 it says offer yourself as living sacrifice offer yourself as living sacrifice You know one of the things that we are commanded to do in the Bible is Is live a life of worship, right? You know in again in the Old Testament we saw that Abraham was a man of altars Abraham Built four different altars in his journey of walking with God And all of them signify different things, but we are not going to learn about that now But altars was a very special place. It was It it was a gate between heaven and earth It was a place that symbolized death It was a place of absolute surrender but here We are not only encouraged to build altars But we are asked to be on the altar that we build I'd say that again We are not just asked to build places of worship We are not just asked to build altars, but we are asked to be on the altar that we build Okay, and that is the spiritual worship spiritual aspect of worship is that we offer ourselves as living sacrifice Okay, are you with me or everybody? Okay so far all good any questions Past the spiritual worship is praying in tongues, right? That's one of the aspects of it. Yeah, it's not the only thing. Yeah Then what about the other aspect? So what according to you is spiritual worship? For me according to me is praying in tongues Ha praying in tongues. Okay, so That's one of the aspects of it. So in the very simple definition how that What is worshiping him in spirit is that we worship God with the power of the holy spirit that lives in us Okay, that who is in us and so it can look like praying in tongues It can look like how we treat other people It can just look like how we do life Like what is mentioned in that, uh, you know scripture that I've just pasted in the chat section That take your ordinary everyday life sleeping eating going to work walking basically our lifestyle Right, uh, if if you're doing if you're living life if you're doing life With the power of the holy spirit that is in us the way he wants us to do That is spiritual worship that is worshiping him in spirit Okay, that meant both in understanding and in uh picking in tongues, right? Yes Okay, thank you. You're welcome Anybody else any questions online any thoughts? Okay All right, let's move on then. So we kind of understood what spiritual worship is Now we look at a little extensively at, uh fleshly worship Okay, so if there is uh true worship, there is also false worship, right? And if there is false worship, there's true worship. So Let's take time to understand a little bit about fleshly worship Okay, uh, some of the scriptures that I'd like to read, uh, we we look at a lot of scriptures But uh, let's start with Isaiah 5 verse 12 Isaiah 5 verse 12 and amos chapter 5 verse 23 Isaiah chapter 5 verse 12 And amos chapter 5 verse 23 Amos chapter 5 verse 23 Thank you, Cyril. So Isaiah 5 12 it says the harp and the strings the tambourine and the flute and wine are in their feasts But they do not regard the work of the lord nor consider the operation of his hands Right the esv Version says they have lyre and harp tambourine and flute and wine are their feasts But they do not regard the needs or the works of the lord or see the work of his hands Okay, so if you put it in the modern day context, let's say They have the guitars. They have the drums. They have the cymbals Um, they have great food Amor in their midst, but they do not regard the work of the lord. That means They don't see They have no consideration. They have they treated with respect. They have forgotten Right, they have but they do not regard the work of the lord. There are so many scriptures that come to my mind Uh, you know, for example, one of the things is in judges chapter 2 judges chapter 2 verse 10 Uh, let's see Judges chapter 2 Verse 10 this is this is one of the most saddest Verse in the bible for me Very tragic In judges chapter 2 verse 10, I hope you're all looking at it It says when all that generation had been gathered to their fathers That means when all the gen the previous generation had passed away Another generation arose after them Who did not know the lord? Nor the work which he had done for israel Israel's unfaithfulness. So There came a generation after The pre you know the father's generation who all passed away It says the scripture says They did not know the lord Nor what he had done for israel Now let's just stop for a minute, right and think about everything god had done for israel He brought them out of egypt caused 10 plagues in egypt He parted the red sea And when they complained about food god sent bread from heaven And when that was not enough they asked for meat and they complained about meat When they complained about non-veg god sent meat from heavens And then when this and they started complaining about water There's no water Moses why did you bring us out into this place? You know we could have just stayed in egypt But here you have brought us out to die What what does god do he he brings he gives them water from a rock And then when they came to a place of a place called mara that is bitter waters God Changed the bitter waters into sweet water So they saw this this people Saw everything what god had done for israel But then there came a generation who did not know what god had done for them How he got them out of egypt all the things that he had done And so what does what what does that do? It it creates an ungrateful heart Isn't it so when you look at isaiya 5 verse 12 the scripture that we just read But they did not regard the work of the lord nor consider or see the works of his hands That means seeing what is it seeing talk about It talks about with seeing you get revelation, isn't it like you see And so that means they had no revelation of who this god was And so they just continued to doing you know, whatever they wanted to do They had all their equipments best equipments lights sounds etc etc But they would worship without a revelation of who he is Amos chapter 5 verse 23. Thank you sir. Once again for pasting Posting the scriptures on the chat section. Amos 5 23. It says take away from me the noise of your songs For I will not hear the melody of your stringed instrument Let's read some more scriptures From the same chapter Amos The previous verse is also beautiful Amos 5 verse 22 Amos 5 verse 22 It says even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings. I will not accept them And the peace offerings for you have for of your fattened animals. I will not look upon them And then take away from me the noise of your songs for I will not hear the melody of your stringed instrument because Their worship was not a worship that was filled with spirit and in truth Everything that they did and their expression of worship was just a fleshly act Their hearts was far away from God They had no regard for who he is Or for his works Right. Um, I hope everybody's okay. I hope you're doing well. Um, let let's read one more scripture Isaiah 48 verse 11. Let's read Isaiah 48 verse 11 Can I read pastor? Sure For my own sake for my own sake. I will do it for how should My name be proclaimed and I will not give my glory to another Thank you. I will not give my glory to an other. Um, so When it comes to worship And giving glory God is a jealous God. We know that right. He will not share his glory with no other And so there's something about fleshly worship or idle worship that God absolutely hates He he cannot stand, uh, you know, so and I heard someone say this that idolatry Idolatry in the in the natural is what uh is Sorry idolatry in the spiritual is like what adultery is in the natural So I say that again Right idolatry in the spiritual is what adultery is in the natural So, uh, when when there's idle worship that happens when there's false worship that happens, uh, it is Equivalent to adultery that happens in the natural. That means we are treating on God We are going after an other illegitimate pleasure When the bible says, uh, you know about God that in his right hand are pleasures for eternity our eternal pleasures And uh, and so God takes it very seriously that uh, you know about idle worship and in in in the life or in the history of, uh Israel We see these poor recurring we see this pattern Okay, when you I we just read a scripture from the book of judges So if you read book of judges first and second Samuel first and second kings first and second chronicles There is this pattern Israels do idle worship idle worship is followed by punishment And uh punishment is followed by restoration and forgiveness because they're repented And then they'll go back to uh, idolatry. Okay, so Uh, what what is what is the pattern? I'll put it down here idle worship I'll worship is by punishment and then punishment is followed by repentance Uh repentance, uh, and at least to forgiveness And then idle worship again. So that was the pattern. I'm just pasted something in the chat section Uh, this was the pattern of the Israelites in those in those books even you read through it They would do idle worship and they would they would face the consequences of idle worship. That means they would be punished So where do we read about it? For example, God very specifically told Israelites said when you go into the land of the Canaanites Don't worship their gods Don't don't worship the way they worship don't worship their gods Don't compromise Your lifestyle with their lifestyle. You are a holy nation set apart from me for me So compromise uh is it's like having That chalta hay attitude, right? Ah chalega chalta hay. It's okay. You know, it's fine It's just one cigarette. No problem Uh, it's just one Thing of alcohol or whatever, you know Now this movie has only one nude picture one nude scene. No problem. It's okay chalega chalta hay Compromise will kill our fire for God Compromised living a lifestyle of compromise will absolutely kill our zeal and our fire for God And this is exactly What Israelites did they compromised? And because they compromised they did idle worship And for idle worship there's consequences And then followed by repentance. They would you know ask for give us lord And then again, they'll go back into that cycle It's a crazy pattern that you would read in those books and God has been so patient with them throughout And it's not like we are any better or I am any better. I've come under the same category Right, but it's just living constantly aware of that, you know that he is holy We are called to live a holy life Is so important To offering ourselves as a spiritual sacrifice of worship Guys, I hope you are with me and I hope you're getting the seriousness and the importance of false worship It is absolutely dangerous Okay, it is very dangerous For just for more context, uh, I'm going to read I want to turn in your bibles I said really you don't have to paste this scripture, but uh, I'll just Paste the reference. Let's go to 2nd Kings chapter 17 verse 14 to 20 2nd Kings chapter 17 verse 14 to 20 and I'll read it for us It's in your notes, by the way, uh, uh, or I'm not sure if it's in your notes. Uh, I might have missed it So, okay, never mind forget it Okay, 2nd Kings 17 14 to 20 it says but they would not listen and were as stiff-necked as their ancestors Who did not trust in the law their god? They rejected his decrees and the covenant he made with their ancestors and the statues he wanted them to keep They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless Okay, look at those words. They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless They imitated the nations around them. Although the lord ordered them do not do as they do What does that mean? They copied the nations around them the nations of the canonites Lord told them not to do but what do they do? That's exactly what they did. They copied the ways of the canonites They forsook verse 16. They forsook all the commands of the lord their god And made themselves two idols cast in the shape of calves and an ashera pole They bowed down to all the starry host and they worshiped bal They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire They practiced divination and sought omens and sold themselves to do evil in the eyes of the lord arousing his anger Okay, so idol worship lord is angry. So that leads to punishment consequences So the lord was very angry with israel and removed them from his presence That means he you know, we read in many scriptures where he took his hand Of the israelis right that's simply to say that he you know That they were not under his protection anymore And the scripture goes on to say only the tribe of juda was left And even juda did not keep the commands of the lord their god juda represented praise People of praise and worship even they did not keep the commands They followed the practices israel had introduced Therefore the lord rejected all the people of israel He afflicted them and gave them into the hands of the plunderers Until he thrust them From his presence So idolatry has consequences Say that again idolatry has consequences Now I wish I had the time to go a lot more deeper In the subject but because for time constraint i'm going to move on But here's the thing I'm going to type something in the chat section and I hope you remember that All statues are idols But not all idols are statues Okay, when we think about idol as Indians most of us because we are exposed to You know all of it around us we think only statues are idols Okay All statues are idols that is correct But not all idols are statues What are some of the modern day? idols You know that we can that we tend to worship Right idolatry is not just a pagan issue. It's you know, that's a pagan thing We use those words right pagans It is not just an old testament issue It is a human issue Okay idolatry was not just the problem in the old testament It is a human issue, which is very much rampant even in this day and age And so idolatry can look like Uh, you know, we can worship our careers Right, we can worship money We can worship our boyfriends our girlfriends. We can worship our husbands music movies sports. Yeah all of that Anything which takes priority other than god Anything or anyone Okay, and I say that again anything or anyone that takes the place of god in our lives Is idol. Okay. There's a song called Listen to it's it's called clear the stage by jimmy needham. I've put it in the chat section You can listen to it when you can it's beautifully The song beautifully conveys You know what we are talking about the dangers of idolatry Okay, so what we need to understand Guys is that idolatry is not just an old testament issue. It's not just an issue about a statue It is an issue of the human heart Is god the king of our heart is jesus the king of your heart Because as we read from hebrews 13 15 to first Peter 2 and 5 Everything happens true worship of worship and spirit and truth happens only through jesus And if jesus is not the king of your heart That means your worship is not in is not in spirit. It's not a spiritual worship. It's false worship Okay, so I hope you've understood, uh, you know the seriousness of this topic the importance of this topic Um, and five I just want to leave us with one, uh, one last thing one last scriptures Um, it's colossians chapter 3 verse 5 and 6 Colossians chapter 3 verse 5 and 6 and I'll close with that Okay, it says put to death Therefore whatever belongs to your earthly nature which is Okay, follow along with me. This is very important. All right put to death Whatever belongs to your earthly nature or sinful nature or fleshly nature That is sexual immorality impurity lust evil desires and greed which is Idolatry Interesting, isn't it? So look at all the things that's mentioned there sexual immorality impurity lust evil desires and greed which is idolatry Because of these the wrath of god is coming And that verse starts off by saying put to death. That means it's saying don't negotiate with sin Okay. Oh, hi. How are you sexual immorality? Oh, I know it is wrong But tell me more about this deal Okay, so let's make a deal Just as one day we'll do this the bible says No negotiating put to death Get rid of it. Don't accommodate. Don't compromise Sinful ways in your life Don't compromise Because if you don't kill all these fleshly nature Eventually What you accommodate and compromise will kill you Okay, I'm just talking to everybody here It's a teaching moment and also especially to young people You know, there's something that I learned at a very young age is that don't compromise with sin Don't compromise with idol worship because what you compromise and accommodate now Will absolutely ruin your life eventually Okay, so, uh, I hope that Uh, it seems like I'm ending this session on a very negative note, but It's my Okay, uh, you know, we have the holy spirit who empowers us to live a holy life. His first name is holy That's why we call him the holy spirit isn't it You call someone by their first name and they are very close to you, uh, you know with with uh and so The spirit of the living god his first name is holy And it is the holy spirit who empowers us who gives us the strength and who threw us in us helps us To worship jesus in spirit and in truth We cannot do life. We cannot do anything outside of him It is the holy spirit who helps us see the wonder of who this jesus is he reveals jesus to us The scripture says that he searches the deeper things of god and reveals to us, isn't it? And so, uh, let's lean on holy spirit. He is our helper. He's our teacher. He's our comfort Right. He's he gives us the strength. Uh, he's the spirit of wisdom. He's the spirit of revelation Okay, so let's lean on him, uh, as we as we learn to worship him in spirit on and in truth All right Fantastic, I hope you learned something today from today's class God bless you. Thank you all for joining Uh, have a wonderful rest of the day Okay, take care everybody. Bye. Bye boys back in the hostel. See you