 Okay. It's recording. So in our publication here, right after the chapter on the family of God, we have the subject on the church being the pillar of truth. Okay. But we will take this up next week. I'm going to skip this chapter and go straight to the next chapter here, which is about the church being an army. So these are all the various facets we said that the church, it should have various characteristics as described in God's Word. And that's really interesting. How can you talk about the church being a family on the one hand and then also talk about the church being an army? An army is so different from the way a family is. But God says that these are all the characteristics that he wants in his people, in his body. And we are trying to understand this more from the perspective of the local church as well. So the local church as an army is what we are going to consider for learning now. So the local church as an army, we've already, when we talked about the mission of the church, we said that Jesus said that, you know, I give you the keys of the kingdom and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. So we find that the local church has been bestowed with power and influence very similar to what you see a militant force like the army have. Because if the gates of hell will not prevail against it, you know, we are talking about a very powerful entity. So the church of Jesus Christ, it's not a weak entity, but it's a powerful entity which can engage the powers of darkness and overthrow the powers of darkness. So that is why it's okay to look at the church as the army of God. And rightly so, we find that Paul encourages the believer to put on the full armor of God. So we are engaged in spiritual battle. Are we, when do we engage in spiritual battle? It's a 24 bar 7 thing. And every believer, as long as we're living here on the earth, we are on the mission field 24 bar 7. And there is an enemy against us 24 bar 7. So while we are the family of God, we are also the army of God that should know how to overcome the evil one. Now Jesus has already expressed his intention and given us this mandate of victory. And he said that the gates of hell will not prevail against the church of Jesus Christ. So now it is for us to live this out as God's people and to see the victory against the works of darkness. Now in the writings of Paul, you will find that he uses this kind of war or army language quite often. So Philippians 2, he says he talks to Epaphroditus and he calls this person a fellow soldier along with calling him a brother and fellow worker and other terms. So he calls him a fellow soldier while writing to Timothy. Now he tells Timothy that I want you to wage a good warfare. So with the implication that in the world we have an enemy and we're constantly faced by attacks, challenges that this enemy hurls at us. Who is this enemy? So we've talked about Satan, who is the deceiver. He's the accuser. He's the opposer. He's the intruder. He's the adversary. He is the father of all lies. We've seen the description of Satan and all the things that he can come up with to attack a believer. And the church, however, we just need to be aware of who this enemy is, what his tactics are and at the same time our position of authority and our position of victory. And when we know that the way Paul wrote to Timothy and asked him to wage a good warfare, we will also be able to wage a good warfare. Okay. Yes. Some other terms that Paul uses, he says, fight the good fight of faith. You know, if living as a believer was a cakewalk, you wouldn't use terms like this. There is an enemy to fight. So he's using terminology and reminding us that we are in battle. Fight the good fight of faith. Again, writing to Timothy, he says, end your hardship as a good soldier. Okay. And it reminds us that we need to be committed to the cause that God has called us to and also lead our lives intentionally with focus, with Godly goals and be prepared to face anything that may be heard at us by the enemy. Okay. And while writing to Timothy towards the end of his own life and second Timothy, Paul acknowledges and he says, I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. Okay. So even Paul had this experience of battling it out till the end and who are we fighting against? Paul is quite clear. He says, look, it's not flesh and blood that we are trying to fight, but we are fighting against spiritual forces of wickedness and Satan and his powers of darkness. They are the enemies. So the church has to live with a sense of spiritual militancy. Spiritual militancy is that resolve where we are passionate about overcoming the enemy and we are passionate about being victorious over every scheme of the enemy. We are passionate about resisting the devil. One Peter 5. Peter talks about resist. Be sober. Be vigilant. That's how an army person is or somebody in the defense forces, they are constantly on high alert. Be sober. Be vigilant. Okay. Or have a very, you know, be sober simply means that you're in your right mind. Okay. You're not drunk with wine. Or, you know, you're not in a place where you're not able to make decisions, but be sober. Be in your right mind. Be on high alert. Be vigilant because your adversary, the devil walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. That talks about how proactive the enemy is against the believers and against, you know, the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. So that Peter says, resist him. Okay. Resist him. So that is something that we have to learn to do as believers. And if believers don't understand this, right, we will just let the enemy walk all over us and be complaining and saying, oh, you know, this is so sad. The devil is doing this to me. The devil is doing that to me. But a believer who has understood what the Lord Jesus has done on the cross for him or her will walk with a spiritual militancy. So every time you observe some kind of an intrusion, you will know, okay, be sober, be vigilant, resist the devil. We will know how to go against the schemes of the evil one. Right. And that's what we are called to do. And in living this life, you know, carefully and alertly, we are also reminded by Paul, he says, give no place to the devil. So we live our lives in such a way that the enemy has no hold over our lives. Okay, so we have the spiritual armor on. We are alert. We are also told in 2nd Corinthians 211, do not be ignorant of the enemy's devices. Listen, not to say that we have to have an unhealthy curiosity for what Satan does and his schemes are, but just an awareness. Do not be ignorant of the devices of the evil one. So you understand those things and then you know how to resist it. And we know how to fight the spiritual battle because all these enemies are spiritual. So we wrestle against principalities, powers, rulers of darkness, of this age, spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. So that's how that is the focus for our spiritual battle. Now, does the enemy want to bring us down, no believer or the church as a whole? Definitely. The enemy's trying his best to get maximum damage, okay, done to the body of Christ. And one of the ways in which he can accomplish that is by attacking shepherds or leaders in the body of Christ. Why? Because you know scripture tells us in Zechariah 13 and verse 7 that if the enemy can strike a shepherd or cause some failure in the life of the shepherd and if one shepherd falls, all the sheep whom he or she were leading, they all get scattered. So he is very strategic in that sense. How can we get maximum damage done to the body of Christ? So he will try to attack in different ways. We as believers, we can be prepared and we can have our guard up and know how to respond or react when certain things happen. So that's more like a response kind of a preparation that you have in place. Even otherwise, you know, you just shield yourself, don't let yourself get into situations where there can be trouble. So in this manner, we can live very, very carefully. Okay. So in addition to that, when we talk about living with spiritual militancy, this chapter here, I'm on page 73, a section that it also talks about how the Great Commission has to do with battling spiritually for souls. Okay. So one is to live sober, live vigilant to resist the works of the devil, to overcome the works of the devil. And when it comes to the Great Commission or winning souls for the kingdom of God, the church has to be spiritually militant, meaning you go after the paths of darkness. You know how to battle against these spiritual forces. And you know, through our prayers, through our worship, we've seen this, you know, how all these things affect the spiritual realm. We can take charge, you know, we can overthrow the paths of darkness and there will be a greater freedom for the gospel to be preached, people's hearts will be more open. So we will be able to take the gospel far and wide. So that's also something the church has to be aware of and use spiritual militancy in order to proclaim the gospel to various people. Okay. Now coming to the next section here, it talks about training believers in this form of spiritual warfare. Obviously, for us to live as a soldier, we need to be told, okay, the awareness has to come in first. And secondly, equipping. So training the believer in spiritual warfare is important. So we have to engage in these things. And as we do that, you know, believers will be in a position where they can put on the whole armor of God. Okay. And whatever be the vials of the wicked one, right. And it's different at different times in our lives for, you know, different people, the challenges are different, right, based on, you know, one second. Sorry. Yeah. So what I'm saying is to be aware of oneself in such a way that you're prepared for whatever the enemy holds at you. And that's not just true for an individual, but also for a local body. Okay. So we understand the schemes of the devil, but we also understand ourselves really well. And that's the way in which we can overcome. Okay. Sorry, Kennedy. I didn't realize you have a question. I just thought it got unmuted by mistake. So that's why I'm muted you. But yeah, I'm reading your question here. It says, how can a local church call for civil disobedience when they're not in the right standing of God's word now that we are an army like in the case of Daniel. Okay. A church call for civil disobedience. Okay. I didn't quite get that, Kennedy. Can we take this question up towards the end if you don't mind? Yes, Kennedy. You're unmuted. Okay. Okay. Fine. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you so much. Okay. So we'll continue then. So yes, equipping believers, training them for spiritual warfare. So that would mean awareness of the enemy, awareness of oneself. And also helping them grow. When Abraham asked that question, I said, okay, we need to trade. We need to equip. So think that prayer, worship. Not everybody will know how to engage. Not everybody will know from the start how to receive answers to prayer or how to engage in spiritual warfare. What results can be sought from that. But when we create that atmosphere, when we provide opportunities in the local church to engage in these things, the people come, they pray, they learn from what is going on and they realize, oh yeah, the power of prayer is working. The power of worship is working. Okay. This is how we pray. This is how we battle the enemy. So just one small example that I want to share is, you know, in the area where I serve, several times we've gone out on these prayer walks and then having times in people's homes where we gather together just for a time of worship, just for a time of intercession, knowing that these are the things that break spiritual strongholds in that territory. So as believers join us for things like this, they are being equipped. They understand, oh, okay, fine. This is how we engage in spiritual warfare cooperatively to share the gospel in the region. Now, in this manner, we can equip them for all other areas. Okay. How to resist the devil? Okay. If this happens, then you go by spiritual weapons that God is giving you, use the word of God. It is written. So equipping of a believer. How do you equip a believer to move with spiritual authority? These are all ways. I'm giving some examples here and we can do that as pastors, as leaders, as mentors. Help believers, help the local church to understand spiritual warfare and use the weapons of warfare. So then they are prepared. They're prepared for daily life. They're prepared for, you know, whatever God is placing on the heart of the local body. Okay. So let's consider the fact that the church, right? The church is supposed to be armed and dangerous. So, you know, Paul again, he talks about the weapons, the weapons of our warfare. And I just mentioned the word of God as one of the weapons, but there are others listed in scripture for us. We can use the name of Jesus, right? We go against the powers of darkness in the name of Jesus. Now, you would recall in Acts 19, when the name of Jesus is used, Paul uses that name to cast out demons and the sons of Sceva. They also try to do the same thing, but it doesn't work. Okay. But the name of Jesus is a weapon given to the body of Christ. It's given to the believer and we can use the name of Jesus for spiritual warfare. Go against the powers of darkness and we will see God's work being accomplished. We can use the word of God. Did Jesus use that when he was being tempted by the devil? The blood of Jesus, right? Overcome by the blood of the Lamb. So what does the blood do for us? I'm redeemed. Every time you affirm what the blood has done, the enemy loses his hold on our life. So we use the blood of Jesus. We speak about the completed work of the cross. We understand that we are playing in our lives. Our position in Christ Jesus is also our understanding of that and application of that is a weapon that we can carry. Prayer and intercession is something we can use in warfare. We can use praise and worship, also repentance and righteousness. So there are all these spiritual weapons that we can use to destroy the works of darkness and also to bring freedom in our own lives and in the lives of the people around us. So in all these ways, we engage in battle. Obviously, as believers, we may not wake up every day thinking, oh, I am a warrior or I am a soldier or I am in the army. We may not consciously think of it all the time, but what we are saying here is, see, whether we like it or not, we are carrying that authority. And as in when applicable, we can rise up, we can use that authority and we can see the power of God being demonstrated through our lives. So we are engaged in spiritual warfare and we must train believers to move in spiritual warfare. We are anointed for battle. We have talked about how the anointing of the Holy Spirit breaks the yoke. So what brings freedom? It's the power of the Spirit. We are anointing of the Holy Spirit and we are carrying that power as believers. So we must remember that we can function through it and we can see God's kingdom established. And the section here talks about how the local church must intentionally go against the gates of hell. We touched on this also earlier and we said that there are many strongholds. Gates of hell refers to strongholds in the world. These can be strongholds of corruption or they can be strongholds of injustice. They can be strongholds of poverty. They can be strongholds of whatever, some form of biases in the society. So whatever strongholds we observe, we are already equipped with the truth of God's word and we are equipped with the anointing of the Holy Spirit on our lives. We are equipped with weapons of warfare. We are equipped with authority, dominion. So we are everything that is required to go against the power of darkness. And we have also seen how a lot of these things in the society have their roots in the spiritual. You have demonic powers instigating several things in our region or in our community. So as believers, we can also intentionally go against whatever God is putting on our hearts. Maybe there is a stronghold of suicide over a city. So how does a believer or a local church engage in this? You might just want to prey on that subject as a community and say, God, we want to see a breakthrough. We do not want to see people committing suicide. We take authority and we go against that spirit of suicide which is working in the lives of the people. We find it in Jesus name, we cast it out in Jesus name. So you are engaging in spiritual warfare, spiritual battle and you are in a spiritual way going against the gates of hell. So what is the target? What is the target gate of hell there? Suicide, the spirit of suicide which is operating in the region. And the church militantly is going against it. There is another way of responding which is, if something happens then we will react. But that is not being militant. The church of Jesus Christ can go against the gates of hell because the gates are stationary. Remember we said that. So the mobile entity is the church and the church will go to the gates and destroy the gates. So similarly, if it is a matter of addiction, if it is a matter of some form of crime, it could be a matter of drug abuse. Whatever has a spiritual root to it, as God's people we can engage. We can see those strongholds breaking, getting shattered in the name of Jesus. And that is a privilege that we have as God's people. So we can advance against the gates of hell. Now this is not to say that we don't do things practically. We can also engage in some practical ways of resisting the devil. What about counseling? At the end of the day what is happening? You are taking the truth of God's word in the most simplified way and you are imparting that into people's lives. As you are counseling, you are giving people that compassion of Christ or that understanding. They just want to be heard. It is from the character of God. We are releasing that to the people and that is making a difference. So in practical ways, through spiritual warfare, in different ways we can actually go against the gates of hell. But at the end of the day, the church is engaged in warfare and the church is victorious. So we must never be afraid. God puts something on our hearts and says, I wanted to do something about this area. It might look very daunting. But we are equipped spiritually to take on a spiritual enemy and we must not be afraid. We can engage in a spiritual battle. That is something we must understand. Now talking about the army, we would all agree that the army or the defence forces are about discipline. They are about order. They are about ranks. In a similar way, when it comes to doing life as a church, let's break it down and apply it to the local church. There must be some order. There must be some form of following rank in the body of Christ. Now again when we are saying this, we are not saying go create an hierarchy, a very rigid one and someone is on top and everyone else is under them. That's again not the point. Basically it's order. There are people who are leading and then there are others who are following. There is no rebellion or division or strife in the body of Christ. Things like that. Following rank and order in the prophecy of Joel, Joel talks about how the people of God, they run like mighty men. They climb the wall like men of war. Everyone marches in formation and they do not break ranks. They do not push one another. Everyone marches in his own column. Though they lunge between the weapons, they are not cut down. Joel 2 versus 7 and 8. This is how an army can function effectively. If people are all competing for the position of the commander and nobody is willing to listen, then how will the army take on the enemy? But when there is rank and order, we know so and so is leading. That's chief. They give the instructions. We follow the instructions. There is that discipline and effectiveness in the way things are done. Similarly, even in the local church, if we follow that divine order, there is a blessing in it. There is always a blessing in following divine order. Now again, while we talk about submission, we just want to reiterate that our ultimate submission is to the Lord. We are not advocating some kind of control or dictatorship like an army in the local church. That is not the meaning of what is being said, discipline and divine order. Ultimately, our submission is to the Lord and the way scripture tells us in James 4, we are to submit to God. Then when we resist the devil, he will flee from us. A little more has been added here about being the local church, being the army of God. One is to carry that military mindset. Military mindset is just to be alert. Just to be alert. Every time we notice some intrusion, we go after it. We are like, you can't do this. Enemy, you can't do this. We will not take it sitting down. We will fight against you. We know who we are, we are well-equipped, we are well-trained and you can't do this. Basically, you carry that mindset. Maybe in our regular life, we just go about doing things normally, but as and when attacks come or you hear of a brother or a sister who is going through something, you just move into that mindset and you say, okay devil, I'm not going to leave this. I come against you in the name of Jesus, I resist you. You do engage in battle. Carry that military mindset, but an alert mindset. Military lifestyle is some focus, basically. So Paul, he wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2, verses 3 and 4, he said, end your hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ and no one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life. That he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. So what is Paul telling Timothy? Paul is telling Timothy you need to know that you are born from above and there is a calling on your life. You're living for a mission. Yes, life is happening, everything is there, but we are committed to that lifestyle. We are keeping the focus. We don't entangle ourselves. When you're born from above, you're in the world, but you've never become off the world. We know how to live military lifestyle. Live with focus for the kingdom of God. We continue to serve God while we discharge all the other required duties here. The military discipline, this has to do with not giving the devil any foothold. So whether it is in the area of our spirit maintaining strength of spirit personal strength of the spirit maintaining personal strength of the soul or personal strength of the body in every area. We maintain that the spirit. Why? Because we're told that the adversary he's like a roaring lion. He's just waiting. What's the weakness of the soul? Is there an area of weakness? In some other way, let me get it. When he is so proactive, every believer must recognize that we must give absolutely no place for the devil and at the same time maintain that internal strength as an individual so that we can always be victorious over the enemy. This is applicable even to the church. Everything that I said. The local church keeps rank and order. The local church maintains a military mindset. The local church maintains a military lifestyle and the local church also maintains military discipline. The local church as an army can be very strategic. Since we're talking about warfare and enemy and all that, this strategy is important because we are dealing with a very intelligent enemy. Even the church must be very strategic in the way it overcomes the evil one. Another thought that has been added here in this section is that when the church functions as an army we must remember that not in an army or when war is going on some people get injured. The army generally never lets go of them but they take care of the injured the wounded and most of the times even if there is a prisoner of war somebody has been taken away the army will see how to get that person back. That should also be a part of how we function as a team or a community because when you keep saying army it feels very hard rigid where there's no compassion for anybody. Everybody just gets the job done everybody wins the battle. That's why you are here that is what you are called for but at the same time we do understand that people are growing people are at different levels of maturity within the local body so just the way in an army the wounded are not left behind we must be sensitive and careful to take care of the needs of everyone who is a part of the community. This is about spiritual authority it's about being an army it's about taking on the strongholds of the evil one in the world outside So two challenges to be prepared for whenever we talk about spiritual authority and demons Satan the intention is to create awareness that people can become demon conscious so when that happens we might have to bring them back on track and say no you will be more authority conscious you will be more dominion conscious. Yes demons exist but we have already been equipped with what we need for victory so that can happen people might lose the focus so sometimes it's weird people can become spooky spiritual everything has a demon behind it everything has a spiritual reason behind it but we would need to teach them and say it's not like that give it the right amount of potential then engaging incorrectly so whichever way people are doing that we would correct that so I am just coming back to the chat section over here and Rupa says Victor's mindset true as an army of God we must have Victor's mindset so I will just leave this open for some comments and discussions any thoughts? any questions? Prabhakar has a question here this is with regard to the previous section is it okay that the mentee can be older than the mentor? if the mentee is willing to receive from the mentor that's the most important thing open heart the mentee is older I think it's okay Prabhakar yes sure that's great alright any other questions? Rupa please go ahead it's not a question I wanted to add a small yes yes please go ahead mentorship I think it is not something very formal it happens very informally and it's a connection between two people where each other respect and it's a flow of life from one person to the other it's something not maybe we can make it formal but it's mostly informal I think it's where the mentee accepts the mentor first that person should accept you then the flow of imparting or guiding will happen God has blessed me with many mentors really cherish those relationships it's very beautiful taking that from them that's what I wanted to add and one more thing about being the church the local church being this battle mindset so I just wanted to add we should be always mindful that we are already victors and we are only standing on the promises of God and claiming the victory which is already ours so with that mindset and with God's strength it is easy to win a battle than thinking that we are doing something and striving to gain the victory that's what I learnt I just wanted to add thank you for sharing and it's very encouraging that you have many mentors and it's been a blessing to you just coming back to the chat here Kennedy is reminding us of this question we will take this app civil disobedience yes you are audible I am saying in the case where things are not being taught right or the government is not giving the right direction or they are gaining the truth so how would you advise them both believers and non-believers to resist or to act again is what is being propagated see how would you advise believers and non-believers we can answer that from the word of God we will struggle but the civil disobedience part I didn't get Kennedy this is a case where you are calling for mass action in the case of Daniel they have to refuse eating so how would you how the local church organize that in case of operations for the young ones or for the widows see the local church can instruct its own people to do as the Holy Spirit is leading them to do but I don't think we are here to call for civil disobedience of any sort we can proclaim the truth and if that causes some movement to take place then that's a separate thing it's not like the church is calling people to go against the government yes sure Kennedy thank you I am just reminded of this perhaps sometimes here Charles says shed more light on how to care for the wounded so Charles this is just going back to the family concept of the body of Christ where you understand people's weaknesses and you take care of them in their needs so that's what it means and it's already 1050 so quickly a Christopher says civil disobedience also called passive resistance so I will share my thoughts with you on this I just wanted to say that I am reminded of what is that the Martin Luther movement civil rights movement of the US it was based on a right principle like you don't judge people on the way Martin Luther put it you don't judge people on the colour of his skin but on the content of the character so based on that they just started talking about what is right and then it created the entire movement in the US so the church has such calling people to go against the government I don't see anything working like that because we are instructed in fact we need to honour authority and government but when we speak the truth when we preach the truth and it causes a transformation in people's hearts the civil rights movement is an example the movement just took place because they were fighting for justice that's my understanding and with that we will stop because we have run out of time maybe we can talk about it later in our class thank you everyone God bless you meet again next week so we will just wrap up now maybe Samuel could you just say a word of prayer before we end the class yes thank you heavenly father we come to your presence we take this time to thank you remember you and bless you everything that you have done and you are doing for us we are grateful that you have chosen us to be a part of your great big family we are grateful that you have chosen us you have given us a calling you have orchestrated this day for us where we could come together online and learn about your house about the church about your wish about the power that you have given to the church we thank you for everything that you are doing for us we thank you and we bless person Nancy and her ministry we thank you for her life we dedicate her to you fill her with your spirit as she leads us equips us to be your ministers we thank you for everyone who has been able to attend this call attend today's class bless each and every family here equip us Lord this and everything else we ask you to precious name of Lord Jesus amen amen thank you so much Samuel thank you everyone God bless you have a blessed day bye thank you ma'am thank you thank you bye