 Good morning everybody. Thank you for joining and we're at week 11 of our course and of our class. We've been looking at many elements of Christian marriage and family and we're going to be just focusing on the last aspect of it. We've looked at very many different aspects of a healthy marriage and elements that make a healthy marriage. And today we're going to focus again on one of the most important elements of a Christian marriage, which is the family altar, the spiritual nurturance of family. So today we're going to, like I did mention, we're not going in chronological order in the book. So we picked up elements so that we can club them together to have some structure to it. So if you are following through in your notes or in your books, and on chapter 17, which is page 177 on the books and also on the notes, it's the same, it's page 177. So we will be learning chapter 17 and in the next hour we look at chapter 16 as well. So if you're following through, please go ahead and look through the notes as we are learning about this. So the spiritual part of a family is a very important part of that unit. And it is necessary for the family, members of the family to nurture one another in their spiritual growth, spiritual maturity, in their spiritual life. So some part of it is what we are going to discuss and some of it we will look at in the chapter that we're doing next hour. So how does a family develop an understanding of spiritual practices, disciplines, the importance of being in, what a church means to the family as a smaller unit to a greater, to the family of God. What does it mean to serve the church? So all of this understanding comes from the family. So what we're doing is to help families develop an understanding of what spiritual disciplines mean, of what is the importance of being part of a larger family of God, the understanding of a local church community. And how do we nurture the family to understand what the kingdom of God means and how the family can further themselves in accomplishing things for the kingdom of God. So one of the ways in which that is done is to be a part of a church, to be a part of a church that roots itself on the word that is centered around the faith that we have in Christ Jesus and also a church that is filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. So we nurture the family in understanding what it means to be in a local church by being a part of a church that believes in the word of God, that believes as its doctrines, the faith that they have is in Jesus. And the central part of our belief is Jesus and also where a church manifests the presence of the Holy Spirit. So as a family it is important to be in, planted or to be established in the house of God. And it is essential just like when we put children to school, it's always good that children don't move from school to school because you're not establishing the child in a certain foundation of learning or a principle of certain education practices. So it's important for the family to as best as possible to stay in one church community rather than keeping on moving from place to place where it makes it difficult for you to establish relationships, establish connection, establish accountability to the body. So it is recommended that the family stay and be planted in one community, in one church community rather than hopping around different churches. So what are you doing? What would you do to nurture a family in the practice of being in a community? So one of the first things is to establish the practice of being in church every Sunday. So when we look at the early church, we see that the early church met regularly and this was generally at that point of time they would have probably met together in some house or in some common place. And so just at the early church when they made that practice of meeting often, there a new setup was established, the church was established. The church is just a body of believers rather than it being a building. And if you look at in Acts, it says they made it a practice to meet one day, first day of the week. They made it that practice. So just like that, we establish the practice of being in church together with those who know the Lord, with those who believe, with other believers so that we can come together to pray, to worship, to meditate on God's word, to live life together, to encourage, to pray, to comfort one another. When we look at Hebrews chapter 10 verse 24 to 25, the author talks about this. It says Hebrews 10, 24 and 25, it's written, let us be concerned for one another to help one another to show love and to do good. Let us not give up the habit of meeting together as some are doing. Instead, let us encourage one another all the more since you see that the day of the Lord is coming nearer. So it's something that you practice and making it happen week after week, making it a norm. And because through that, you're growing, you're also part of a larger community. Now it can be true that there may be some points of time that you may not be able to make it to church because of some kind of a challenge in your setting of work or where you're studying. But as a practice to ensure that you do it on a regular basis, to establish that practice, to make that a commitment to be in church. So it doesn't matter which day you're meeting, just as long as you're meeting together because in some parts of the world they don't meet on a Sunday, they meet on a different day. It is to come together with your family together in church so that there is a time for worship and prayer together. So the importance of that discipline, importance of that practice, not as a ritual but as something that establishes us in our faith, in our growth, in our work with God, in our maturity, in our love for one another. It establishes that. The next one is to belong to the family of God. Now we should keep away from the notion that church is just a place where we go to attend a service. But when we look at the family of God, it's called God's household. As Timothy 315 says, this letter will let you know how we should conduct ourselves in God's household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth. So the church is God's family, is his home. And we need to understand and nurture and ensure with our families that we belong to a certain church family, which is the family of God. So being in a family, just talking about being in a family, you know that there are, you develop relationships with people, you share, you encourage, you support, you love, you bless, you uphold. So these are things that happens in a family. So similarly, we are to belong to the family of God, where we are experiencing these meaningful relationships and growing together in a community together. So the importance of establishing with the family that it is necessary to belong to a family of God, to a specific church. Another part of nurturing spiritual growth is the ability to serve. Now, each of us have been given a gift. We've been given certain graces, certain gifting that God has put into our lives so that we can use it for the benefit of others. We'll read 1 Peter chapter 4, verses 10 to 11. Can somebody read that please? 1 Peter chapter 4, verses 10 to 11. Anyone? 1 Peter chapter 4, verses 10 to 11. Am I audible to everybody? Is that you, yourself? Yes, yes. Each one has received a gift, minister it to one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do as with the ability which God supplies that in all things, God may be glorified through Jesus Christ in whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. Thank you, Jackman. So, as I was saying, each of us, God has endured and gifted each one of us with different graces or different giftings, which we are to use for the benefit and for the glory of God. So, it is not meant for us to keep it to ourselves or neither is it meant for us to showcase our talents or our skills, but it is used to serve God and it is used to glorify God. So, no matter what gifting you may have, it may be and there is no big or small gifting. Each of us have something that's given to us that God desires that we make use of. So, it may be those who speak the word, those who may be worshipping, those who may be cleaning the chairs and putting things in order, those who may be maybe greeting people, those who may be making coffee. All of that are different graces that is given to us and we do it with the very one purpose of serving God and glorifying him through what he has put in us, through the gifting that he has put in us. So, in our families, each member needs to encourage and especially parents encouraging children to engage in serving their church, serving that local church, either through their efforts, through their time or skills or any kind of gifting that's given them, so that the ministry, so that the work of God can be accomplished. So, no work is menial, no work is small, no work is looked down upon, everything is something that we are offering as a service to God and his people and his kingdom. So, to encourage even children as they're growing up to do something to sow into the community, sow into the church community. As part of being in church, one of the important things about belonging to a church community is what we call as mentorship or mentoring, where you are nurturing younger people. If you read Titus chapter 2 verses 3 and 4, it says, in the same way, instruct the older women to behave as women should who live a holy life. They must not be slanderers or slaves to wine, they must teach what is good in order to train the younger women to love their husbands and children. So, when we belong, think about this, when you belong to a human family or to a natural family, you have the older generation, you have the middle generation, you have the younger generation. And what are you doing here? The older people instruct or train or nurture the younger people in different things concerning life, concerning the home, concerning the family. And so also, when we're looking at the family of God, this is what Paul instructs and says, I know the entire verse looks as if the instruction is for older women to train the younger women. But we can infer that even the older men would need to engage with the younger men in different things of their living. So, Paul has been encouraging the church to live in such a way that the older people are setting an example to the younger ones. Or there are people who are modeling what it means to live life to the other believers or what it is to be a disciple or to be children of God to those who are younger. So, the older mentoring the younger happens in human natural families and that's what Paul encourages and says, you know, this is another thing that we should be doing to encourage, to mentor those who are younger. And this can be through different issues or walks of life. It's one is spiritual mentoring, but there can be other forms of mentoring as well, maybe older people help younger people, younger homes on parenting or on issues with marriage or on maintaining finances or on probably job concerns or job issues. So that as a family, we encourage and help one another. Okay, so one of the things that Paul tells Timothy in Timothy infest Timothy 412 is do not let anyone look down on you because you are young, but be an example for the believers in your speech, in your conduct, your love, your faith and your purity. So it is nurturing others, one another by modeling a behavior. Now this Paul was talking to Timothy as he was a young man and he was leading that church at that point of time, but we can take the principle out of it. Be an example for the other believers in your speech, in your conduct, in your love, in your faith and your purity. So whatever we are doing or however we live or however we behave, we remember that we are being watched or we are being looked at. So model a certain behavior, model a behavior that is true to the calling that we have. So giving ourselves in this way to the community that we are in. Another important part of nurturing the family spiritually is life groups, is to have smaller groups that smaller groups from the larger family of God who meet together in a home or in some place so that they can build relationships. They could also have fellowship, they can also grow in spiritual fellowship and also grow together in God's word and following God together. So discipling one another in smaller groups called as life groups. And we see that this is something that also took place at the early church, two verses here, Acts 2, 46 and Acts 5, 42. Acts 2, 46 reads, so continuing daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart. And Acts 5 verse 42 and daily in the temple and in every house they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ. So the life groups, there are basically two or three objectives that it has. One is there are deeper relationships that take place, which sometimes may not take place in a huge church family because there are so many people. So when there are smaller groups, there is a lot of relationships that grow and that are nurtured there. And secondly, it is where discipleship takes place. So it is important because this is where these two things, the relationships and the discipleships happen. So this is and to doing it regularly is the idea of being able to do it regularly to come together in worship or prayer or reading the word together. Next, we will move into the next one, which is missions. Another place where nurturing takes place is nurturing takes place in the impersonal spiritual growth and spiritual maturity is to being involved in missions. So what does it mean to be involved in missions? It's to just be to engage in some way to bring about the gospel to others or it is one way to fulfill the commission that Jesus had spoken about to make disciples of all nations. Now this, what does it involve? It involves speaking and preaching, sharing God's word, the gospel to those who are lost and keeping them, bringing them to a place of discipleship as they grow in Christ. So for those in families, as parents, it's important to have that intended commitment to being missioner with the children so that they also understand that it is not just the responsibility of the leaders in the church or those adults, but it is each one of our responsibilities because the commission has been given to each one of us. And so for the children to understand that it is an important part of our spiritual dreams or spiritual growth. So a way to do this is to take children for those outreaches so that they are also, they experience, they are also involved in working for the kingdom of God. Either by preaching or by sharing the gospel or by discipling or even doing things that will help in the larger kingdom of God. So it's only when they see the family members do that that it becomes like a thing to do, a commitment to do. And they will catch on to that when parents or when the older people in a family engage in this practice of missions. The next part of being part of a family is to be generous, to be able to show kindness and to show generosity, to share our time to the local church. 2 Corinthians chapter 9 verses 6 to 8 it reads, but this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound towards you that you always have having all sufficiency in all things may have an abundance for every good work. So as families, we ensure that we nurture our children in generosity in doing in being kind to one another in doing good to one another, as well as to tied to the local church. And for this, we bring about what scripture says as an example of how to do good, how to help others in need and how to be able to type and scripture talks about that. So one way of doing that especially with children is to, as you may be giving allowances to your children to encourage them to keep aside a minimum of 10% of what they are getting so that they give to the Lord. So that they also sense that their contribution, they are alongside with others in the church contributing to the work of God s Kingdom. So helping them to do that and establishing that as a principle or as something that is commonly done. And the last one is to develop a Kingdom mindset or to be Kingdom focused. So we do that when we live our lives communicating that everything we do, everything that we offer is focused with the Kingdom in mind. Whether it is what we're doing in our daily lives, the way that we speak, the choices that we make, the places that we go, whatever we do, the focus is on seeking the Kingdom of God first. And as we do that to help understand that everything else would be added. Sometimes the priority shifts or our priority changes where there may be many things that comes before seeking God, seeking his will, coming to him, spending time with him, all of that falls way down into the priority. But when we are Kingdom focused or having a Kingdom mindset, we're doing things in a way that will ensure that we keep God at the center of everything that we do. Where his rule is what takes place or is established in our everyday lives and everything that we do. So we do that only maybe as families or as parents, we have that set of a Kingdom mindset or being absolutely Kingdom focused. Alright, we've completed with chapter 17. I'll just take a five minute pause to check if there are any questions or any thoughts. If not, we will move right away into chapter 16. Any thoughts or any questions that you may have? You can hear me? Yes, yes, Anand. Okay, I'm Francis. Francis, yes Francis. Okay, my question is this man, we can encourage people or children like us, but once they've grown up, they're living in this world, they're looking and they're hearing from a lot of people. So I had an experience like this, he's a son of a pastor. So what happened is because of a lot of problems instead of the church, he's saying he doesn't want to be a Christian, what is this ministry? And also how we can handle such situations of the children's man? Okay, so again, I do see that this can be a problem in many Christian homes and there is no judgment on anyone, anybody as we discussed this answer. Nevertheless, I think there are certain important things which we're also going to be looking at when we are going to be learning nurturing children in faith and we will, these are following chapters that will come. But one of the important things as Christian families is to be able to establish a good, establish a relationship with children. Often, I think, you know, at homes, we lose the ability to have real relationships with the children. And everything becomes about how, you know, everything becomes very spiritual, right? And so what happens is when children do experience that the home is so stuck with only things that are spiritual and there isn't anything that a family does or creates that can be engaging, that can be fun. That can be enjoyable. The minute that, you know, they experience something outside in the world where there are so many things that gratifies, it seems that, you know, it's easily moved. The shifting happens very, very quickly. And so it is a responsibility for parents to be authentic and to be true to the way that they nurture the children. The spiritual faith is absolutely foundational and necessary. Alongside with that, you're also building connections with the children, living life, you know, even when children come back. And we're going to be talking a lot about this in the next few chapters, but living life, like, for example, young people at this point of time go through so many challenges in the world that they're living in, right? Because they're bombarded with many ideas and philosophies at the tip of their fingers. And this causes confusion and causes questions. But when they come home, there isn't a place to discuss this because every time a question is bought, it is retorted with, you know, don't do that. This is what God wants you to do without a proper discussion. What the parents are saying is right, but nevertheless without engaging and deliberating a conversation. And so what happens is a lot of these things are spoken outside. You know, there are many, many young people or many people who want to share about, want to accept you for whatever you're believing in or for whatever, you know, you may have questions about and they gravitate to people who may have acceptance. So, so within a family and especially Christian family or especially families where there is, where there are leadership in the spiritual leaders that's there. It's also important to build genuine connections with children where they're also living life and understanding that life in itself brings challenges and it is through the light of scripture that you can guide people by being very real and authentic and and building connections. So that's, that's something that's extremely important. A lot of people or a lot of young people move away because they do not have this connection. They do not have a place where they can deliberate and talk and receive with acceptance or are being received in acceptance and love, but they are shunned for what they think of or what they believe. So to come for families to nurture the younger ones in their homes, genuinely, you know, knowing that there are pressures, knowing that there are struggles, not always dismissing it as, you know, you're not walking with God and that's why you're in things like this. And that in itself could put people up. So it's not a one point answer that you can change in a day. This happens over years. It's a connection that is being built over over years. It's that relationship which parents build with children that helps them to see the love of God. It helps them also to deliberate with their parents, maybe things or ideas that they see very differently. So it's through connection that these changes can be made. Francis, I hope I answered your question. Yes, ma'am, but this situation is like the situation has happened on this pastor is a leader. So because of that situation he faced that that is the reason the boy who talked with me. He said, okay, ministry is hard, Christian life is hard. You don't want to be a Christian or something like that. So like I don't got any answer to share at that time. So I'm asking about that. He's a pastor son or a leader son. How do you handle it? So even if it is a pastor son or a church going person son, it's the same principle, right? Being a pastor son doesn't make it any different. The pastor is still a father. The pastor is still a human father who needs to establish a relationship with his son to answer questions or answer whatever issues that's happened in the ministry that has made this child go away to address and talk about it and discuss it and make conversations about it. It still remains the same. Whether it's the leader or whether it's just, you know, whether it's, it's, it's someone who's not a leader. As a parent, your responsibility towards your children is to build conversations, even about things in the ministry or even about things that may have gone wrong. So one of the things that we should remember is that people are flawed. People can make mistakes. People can go wrong. But that does not minimize at all God, what he desires of us, what his word is. So people can go completely off course. And that's where we established that we're all flawed. We're all, we're all sinners, and we are, we can make many, many mistakes, but it is the grace of God, it is the love of God that brings us back. So just like the way God sees us, we as believers also see others who have been flawed. So if this young man has been offended because of something, because of something that's happening in the ministry to understand that that doesn't mean God and his word. And his work is minimized. People flaw. People make mistakes. And it is to build up people, build them back into, into that state of repentance and redemption. So that's, that's what it is. And these can happen only through conversations, Francis. It's not like I said, it's not a one-off thing. So even a pastor needs to talk to his children about things that they may have been offended in the ministry and have a right perspective of it. So again, it's not, not always do our things sorted out well enough. Maybe there is a certain time that children stray, especially pastors children, they stray and then they may come back. But nevertheless, as a community, we're all responsible to encourage and build others in the faith. Okay. All right, we'll move. I'll just start with an introduction on chapter 16, which is on page 171 in the book and page and page 169. 169 in the book, in the, in the soft copy. Okay. So here we are looking at the family altar and intercession. Okay. So we looked initially at building spiritual growth. We looked at the church first, but we're going to really focus on what it means for a family to come together. In praying together in building a family altar, in interceding for one another, what is the significance of it? So to start with, maybe I'll just open up this question for a discussion. What do you think is the significance of having family prayer or the family altar? What is the significance? Pastor, can you hear me? Yes, I can. Yes. Yeah. So I mean, the power of family prayer, I feel like that it's more effective. Okay. Sorry. Did you say the full sentence? The power of family prayer is to be effective. Rin, can you repeat that please? Pastor, I said it will be more effective. What is more effective? The power of family prayer. When everyone gathers together. Is that what you said? Okay. All right. So okay. So I said what is the significance? What happens when you come together as family? So yeah. Okay. Rin said it's more effective when a lot of people in the family come together in one accord, it is more effective. Okay. What are the, what is the other significance? It also brings us closer to God and one another. We can be open before God because at that point in time, like even if we are not forgiven someone, we just have to forgive and God brings about that unity and closeness. And there might be some things that we might have ignored because of our closeness, but when we pray together, then God will remind us, pray specifically for that and develops as the family. Okay. All right. So he brings people together. Differences are ironed out there. God may remind the entire family over things that may have been overlooked. All right. Okay. So now additional to what Jack in and Rin also said, when, when you honour the family altar, you're also bringing down the glory of God. You know, the presence of God is there when you gather together. It says when to, yeah, okay, I think Anthony has written that when two or three are gathered, God is in their midst. That's absolutely right. So the glory of God ascends to a home which honours family, family prayer. Okay. And what happens the more of God's glory that is there upon a home, the less habitable it becomes for the powers of darkness. Right. When there is light, there is the less chances of the powers of darkness being manifested there. So the glory of God shines forth at a home where there is a family altar and it becomes less habitable for the evil power, for the powers of darkness to operate. Okay. I think even Rin said there's a stronger bond is built because there will be repentance or edification. Yes. So because of repentance, things are cleared out a lot more faster. They build each one another up in the faith. They build each one and one another up in other things of life. So that's what takes place. And that's what is the significance of the family prayer. Okay. So when we focus on building faith in the family, what we're doing is to have the children experience what it means to grow in faith, grow in maturity. So what would happen in a family altar is we may read the word, we may pray, we may worship the work of the Holy Spirit is manifested there. We do all of this to ensure that all members of the family are growing in their spirituality. So it's something that requires effort. It requires intention and it requires consistency. Okay. So it is really necessary to want to see your family, the parents or children or whoever is involved to mature in their faith by engaging in prayer together. Because a lot of times with the kind of challenges every person faces, these things can be one only when we come to God in prayer than in any other way. Okay. So the importance of that family prayer and we're going to be looking at different areas of how a family can intercede for one another. Okay. So through using scripture in itself, what are some ways that a family can intercede or members of the family can intercede for one another. We will look at that in the next one hour. Okay. Let's take a break for 10 minutes and we will come back at 11 o'clock. Right.