 Hi everyone, good morning. Hope you're doing well. Hope you're having a good day so far. All good? Okay. How many of you have drank hot water? Coffee also? It's good. I hope those online also got some break. Got yourself some chai or whatever you like. Awesome. Great. Good to see you, Andrew, Sam. Jairam, good to see you. Thanks for joining in. Go through it. Hello, Vicky. Okay. Hold on a second. Awesome, guys. Thanks for joining us. Break quickly and we'll get going. Father, we thank you. We love you. We honor you. We adore you. We pour our affection, all our devotion on you. Jesus, we once again thank you for this opportunity that we have to do your word, to learn from your word and the privilege that you are our teacher. So Holy Spirit, you help us understand your word. You open our eyes to the hidden and the beautiful thing of your word, Lord. We submit and surrender. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Okay. Am I audible? Yeah. Sunny. People at the back, back benches. Okay. It's fine, no? Can you hear me? You can increase the volume if you want to. Okay. Hey, good to see you too, Andrew. Thanks. Okay. Let's do a quick recap of everything that we've covered so far. I like to do a recap. Okay. So what is worship? First thing is worship is recognizing who God is. Yes. Should we have a debate? No. Worship is recognizing who he is and worship is reverence for God. Worship is communion with God and worship is a response to an encounter with God. Okay. And I hope all of these points encourages you to pursue God more of him. Okay. We cannot read about the story of Moses and all the great story and encounters and be satisfied. It's like, oh yeah, it's a nice Bible story. You know, it happened those days. You know, God only loved Moses more. He doesn't love me more like that. No. You know, when we read stories like Moses' encounter or another character in the Bible, we heard of Enoch. Anybody by name Enoch here? No Enoch, right? Okay. What does the Bible have to say about Enoch? It doesn't say much. It just says Enoch walked with God for 300 years and he was no more. When you read something like that the first time when I read something like that, it irritated me in a good way. How can someone have an encounter or a walk with God like this? So I want that. I want that encounter. Numbers chapter 12, God says with prophets I speak in dreams and visions. Okay. Actually, let's go to Numbers chapter 12. This is the story behind Numbers chapter 12 is Moses had two siblings. Aaron was his brother and Miriam was his sister. You know the story? So Moses had a brother and a sister. That's Aaron and Miriam. So they've been talking behind Moses' back and Moses is like this. Moses is like that. He is not a good leader. Who does he think he is? Why should we follow him? So they were complaining about their own brother. They thought nobody else heard. But you know who heard? God heard. And so God is like this principle. Aaron, Miriam, Moses, all three of you come forward and imagine. Okay. Has anybody been to principal's office in school, college time? Very good. I knew you were proud. Yes, sir. I have been. Right? For all the wrong reasons I have been. I have been. So God I'm talking about God, right? The creator of the universe is calling you. Hey, you in my office now. I was like, oh, what did I do? What did I do? What did you do? You know, I didn't do anything. You did everything. You know. And so that's the scenario here is Moses, Miriam and Aaron have been talking ill about Moses. God heard that. And God says come forward. That is the context behind what is happening here. Right? So it says in Numbers chapter 12 verse 1 then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married. For he had married an Ethiopian woman. Okay. Okay. Let's just come down to verse 5. Okay. Let's come down to verse 5. Numbers chapter 12 verse 5 then the Lord came down in the pillar of cloud and stood in the door of the tabernacle. Okay. Okay. This is not some story book. This is not what is this? Fiction or non-fiction. This is the Word of God. Right? Everything that is mentioned happened. It says the Lord came down in the pillar of cloud and stood in the door of the tabernacle and called Aaron Miriam and they both went forward. Can you imagine? Standing like that before him and then he said who? God. Verse 6. Here now my words if there is a prophet among you I the Lord make myself known to him in a vision I speak to him in a dream not so with my servant Moses he is faithful in all my house I speak with him face to face even plainly and not in dark sayings straight to the point and he sees the form of the Lord Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? Wow No, it's one thing you know a friend of yours talks good thing about you okay if you talk if Asaf talks good thing about what's your name Sugand Surat Sugand Sugand Sugand, okay there is no end in it okay cool thank you So let's say if Asaf is talking about Asaf Asaf Asaf, okay Asaf is also faithful So if he is talking about Sugand it's one thing you say Sugand is wonderful he is awesome he is my best friend and so on versus God saying Sugand is my son whom I am well pleased it's very different isn't it here in Numbers chapter 12 God is talking or speaking on behalf of Moses if that doesn't shake you up I don't know what will shake you up God is talking on behalf of Moses and says with every other prophet I speak in visions and dreams but not so with my servant Moses with him I speak face to face he sees the form of the Lord the Bible says and so when it comes to worship we talk about worship is recognizing God worship is a reverence to God worship is communion or worship is a response to an encounter with God when we read passages like this we can't stay calm I don't know how people can stay calm by reading passages like this and not want more of God if Moses experienced this so can you and Moses experienced all of this in the Old Covenant and because of what Jesus did because he died on the cross and he was rose again he tore the veil now we have more access to God than Moses ever had you and I have more access to God you understand what I'm saying and that should make you want to pursue him more and I'm sharing all of this of the points that I've discussed today from chapter 5 itself in the section in your textbook you'll see hindering attitudes in worship but how are you guys online doing all good all okay we're just getting a little warmed up okay if I want to try and club this part the hindering attitudes in worship and the first half of chapter 6 becoming a worshipper if you have time we'll talk about fleshly worship okay in conclusion we in the last chapter we spoke about what happens when we worship when we worship we are transformed worship changes us right we become like the one we worship one of the important scripture we saw was Psalm 115 and then in worship we experience God's presence and worship empowers us to rule and reign so let's well on this topic of hindering attitudes in worship so what is hindering attitude mean what is hindering mean something that is stopping you right so hindering hindering means something that is stopping you okay so some attitudes that are stopping you from worshipping truly okay so we also learned about worshipping him in spirit and in truth isn't it so what are some of the things that you and I come across that will stop you from worshipping him in spirit and in truth okay so the first on the list is what it's okay you don't have to be too proud to say loudly say like no sir I'm I'm very humble to say pride right so the first hindering attitude that will stop you from worshipping truly is pride okay if there is one thing that I want you to remember in this whole course it is an angel speak okay so oh good lord where was I pride yes thank you so if there is one thing that I you know I want you to remember in this entire course if you don't remember anything else I teach you just remember this one thing okay done say yeah just one thing please remember if you don't remember anything else is that pride will destroy your life okay what is pride in Hindi ahankar ahankar correct he's right no he's not right he's kidding correct Joseph pride is ahankar so pride will destroy God's call on your life it will absolutely destroy you okay there's another word synonym with pride is entitlement okay everybody say entitlement one more time entitlement okay Daniel says ghamand what is ghamand same thing no okay same same but different right thanks Dan yeah so another synonym word like say ahankar and ghamand is pride and entitlement okay these attitudes will just not just hinder you from worshipping truly but it will destroy God's call on your life so if you are serious about ministry if you are serious about just being a good human being beware of pride okay I can't stress enough of the dangers that is let's read some of the scriptures just so we understand the seriousness of it okay let's go to Isaiah chapter 14 Isaiah 14 let's read from verse 12 okay verse 12 to 15 Isaiah 14 verse 12 to 15 I will ascend into heaven I will excel my throne above the stars of God I will also sit on the mouth of the congregations on the farthest side of the north I will ascend above the highest of the clouds I will be like the most I let you shall be brought down to the soul the lowest depth of repeat yeah that's enough thanks okay so it's talking about the first worship leader okay the first worship leader had serious problem with pride who's that he had a serious problem with ahankar it got into his heart and that's what chapter 14 is talking about from verse 12 says how you are fallen from heaven O Lucifer son of the morning how you are cut down to the ground you who weakened the nations for you have said in your heart he just thought about it in his heart he didn't even voice it out he's hot but you have said in your heart I will ascend is what ascending is going up right I will ascend into heaven I will exalt my throne above the stars of God I will exalt my throne above the stars of God I will exalt my ministry more than the work of the Lord God's name is not important my name is important I am ministry you know are you following that's what pride says is that you put you above even above God and verse 14 sorry let's read verse 13 again for you have said in your heart I will ascend into heaven I will exalt my throne above the stars of God I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north I will ascend above the heights of the clouds I will be like the most high I will be like the most high let's pray let's read some more scriptures you guys okay is that okay if you can read some more scriptures please yeah okay let's read let's go to Ezekiel Ezekiel 28 Ezekiel 28 Ezekiel 28 let's read okay let's go to verse 15 Ezekiel 28 verse 15 are you all there Ezekiel 28 I'll read verse 15 and then verse 17 okay I will skip actually let's read 16 also okay verse 15 it says you were perfect in your ways from the day you were created till iniquity was found in you okay underline the word iniquity or whichever word is in your Bible okay you are perfect in your ways from the day you were created till iniquity was found in you later we'll see what that iniquity is okay verse 16 by the abundance of your trading you became filled with violence within and you sinned therefore I cast you as a profane thing out of the mountain of God you are covering cherub from the midst of the field okay your heart was lifted up because of your beauty okay so it's a possibility that our hearts can be lifted up because of our gifts our talents like no one can sing like me I have the best voice amen amen then no one can play keyboard like me no chance right no one can preach like me no one can teach like me I am the best who are you what do you know go to school your heart was lifted up because of your beauty you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor splendor is beauty yeah I cast you to the ground I laid you before kings that they might gaze at you okay in just these two scriptures right there's from Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28 did you have the subject in school called moral science you had subject for moral science I remember this in school I think I was in Canada or something there was one chapter called pride has a fall pride pride has a fall so fall is always followed with pride okay pride always leads to fall and you read that we saw that in two scriptures isn't it from Isaiah 14 to in Ezekiel 28 so anytime there's this attitude of pride this is not far away this is fall is not far away you will be put to shame okay arrogance people with entitlement with the fall is not too far away so I mentioned this word called entitlement isn't it isn't it yeah so what does entitlement for example what does it say is say I'm a sorry you're supposed to get it that's what it is yeah I'm entitled to this so I go to church as a guest speaker whatever in my own church say why is there no chair on the stage for me like I sit only on stage so everybody sees I'm entitled where's my apple juice why no one got you know what I'm saying okay I'm supposed to get it where is it I am a pastor I will only travel in luxury Rolls Royce car on the airport I will travel only in first class Arthimindha once again Paul is always followed with it's dangerous let's read some more scriptures okay Daniel chapter 4 verse 37 I'll read it for us Daniel you can make a note of it most of these scriptures are not in your notes so you can make a note of it Daniel chapter 4 verse 37 it says okay I'll give it another minute she reached there Daniel 4 verse 37 that's why I say praise and honour the king who rules from heaven everything he does is honest and fair and he can shatter the power of those who are proud he can shatter the power of those who are proud right those who are you know say I have all the power in the world I have the best army and defeat me that's again arrogance pride isn't it God says I can shatter that okay some more scriptures let's go to Proverbs chapter 16 verse 18 Proverbs 16 and Proverbs talks a lot about pride Proverbs chapter 16 1 6 verse 18 okay so it says here pride goes before destruction what goes before destruction what is destruction destruction is what just bringing something down right have you seen a destruction of a building is the destroy the big huge building can be destroyed it's all coming down right so and what goes before the destruction pride so students my dear students let me give this morning one more time most of us are leaders some of you are going to be leaders in your church you know and you will be leading ministries and so even those online you know I might have not connected with you personally you might already be leading ministries in your church or you might go on to lead ministries that's where you're here right whatever it is don't let this attitude of pride and entitlement creep in be it you or your team members right instill a culture of humility okay each the importance and the beauty of humility okay what is humility in Hindi humble opposite of pride sounds like a girl's name should I be should I be worried worried deen is that right what are you saying Daniel is saying all the right answers you know oh no not this Dan he doesn't know Hindi you don't know Hindi no this is Daniel all over okay if you want to know how bad I was in Hindi okay never mind I don't want to go there I was very bad in Hindi in school oh boy okay that's a discussion for another day okay so 1618 says pride goes before destruction and a hotty spirit before a fall a hotty spirit again it's the same thing it's another word for pride okay the spirit of entitlement I deserve this you know I'm supposed to get this that again goes before fall alright one more scripture let's go actually let's go to probes 11 verse 2 probes chapter 11 verse 2 and I'm talking quite a bit above on this point but it's okay probes chapter 11 verse 2 when pride comes then comes shame but with a humble is wisdom with a humble is wisdom such a beautiful verse isn't it with pride comes shame, shame is another thing of falling down isn't it but with humble is wisdom how many of you prayed for wisdom at least during exam time it's like lord give me wisdom to remember this lord give me wisdom to understand past of oceans class nothing he says I understand give me wisdom lord like you are humble god will answer when pride comes then comes shame right nothing there is no good about being proud guys okay one more scripture probes chapter 6 let's go to probes 6 I love this passage probes chapter 6 verse 16 onwards I think let's see okay yeah probes chapter 6 verse 16 onwards verse 16 to 19 okay so this is what it says it starts off by saying okay did everybody get the verse scriptures probes chapter 6 verse 16 onwards okay this is what it says these six things the lord hates yes seven are an abomination to him okay let's stop who hates it's not bothered about what you hate okay this it just starts off by saying six things the lord hates that means we need to pay extra attention right okay he doesn't like something so let's be careful let's be cautious and seven things and seven are an abomination to him he just can't tolerate it zero tolerance what is the first thing on the list proud look it says I'm using the NKJV version but yeah you might have a hotty look in your version it's all the same so a proud look is on the first most wanted list very bad list right and then it goes on to say a lying tongue hands that shed innocent blood I mean everything is bad isn't it a lying tongue is bad a hands that shed murder is bad innocent is that's what it's saying hands that shed innocent blood a heart that devices wicked plans is bad feet that are swift in running into evil a false witness who speaks lies and one who source discord among brethren all of those are bad things isn't it but the first the number one thing is a proud look it see everything else is associated with doing a lying tongue that means you are saying something you are doing isn't it murder is what yeah so you are doing something and a heart that devices wicked plan a false witness who speaks lies everything is associated with doing but the first thing is just seeing the first on the list a proud look you don't have to do anything you don't have to commit murder you don't have to open your mouth and lie are you all with me yes I can't stress enough on how dangerous this point is I am spending almost 30 minutes of the class on one point we can spend more talking about this because we cannot we cannot worship God with a proud heart right James chapter 4 verse 6 says God resists the proud right but he gives grace to the humble right he gives grace to the humble right he is resisting I think we did this long back he is saying I don't want your worship go away that is God resisting your worship and that is what he did with Cain isn't it in Genesis he is like Cain I don't want your worship he accepted Abel's worship isn't it he came with a heart of entitlement right I need to be blessed so be aware of this attitude in worship or in just day to day life pride is very dangerous and it is very sad to see over the years that I have been in ministry and how churches have a bad name because of this attitude or because of ministers or pastors or evangelists or missionaries or teachers or prophets who has this attitude called pride or entitlement right because of this attitude not Christians don't have a very good name in the world isn't it we are supposed to be known for unconditional love but Christians are really not known for that around the world I'm sorry that is the truth it's like pastor what are you saying like this okay you don't agree with me deal with it move on in life hindering attitudes in worship is pride the second one is irreverence sorry I keep talking about Moses and the encounter but the first thing when Moses encounters the burning bush God tells him to remove your sandals take off your sandals Moses for you the ground that you are standing on is holy ground right it's something about honoring his presence right and so it's very symbolic nowadays it's okay if you wear your shoes and come in and worship that's not a problem but it's symbolic of the posture of your heart right are you coming before him recognizing that he is the lord of the universe he made you he knit you together in your mother's womb and he brought you forth on the day that you have to be born and psalms says all the days of our lives have been ordained by him and so when you recognize that you're standing in the presence of the great I am we can't come in with irreverence we can't come in with an attitude of pride and saying okay you know I do this we do this every day supernatural every day 12 to 1 p.m. okay but I sing some songs no we have this honor to worship our living God how can we not come in with a reverence okay so hindering attitude is worship the second one is irreverence that is again birthed out of pride second one the third one sorry is spectatorism what is being a spectator everybody say a spectator okay so who is called a spectator you know thousands of people in the stadium watching a match sorry one who watches one who watches yeah thank you yeah so we go to football match or cricket match in the stadium there are thousands and thousands of people they are all called what spectators why because they are all watching like you know go to it said they are all watching okay what is happening is the wicket going to happen you know is there a 4 or a 6 that's what spectator is you are just watching so a hindering attitude in worship it's a spectatorism okay who's he what's he doing oh he's lifting his hands up yesterday he didn't lift his hands how come today is lifting his hands Dan is kneeling down today what happened why he didn't kneel yesterday what am I doing I'm just being a spectator while Dan is worshiping while everybody else is worshiping I can just be you know completely disconnected with what's happening and I'm going to just spectate I'm going to just watch that's not going to help you with any encounter right so spectatorism be careful with that and the fourth one is sentimentalism sentiments we as Indians can be very sentimental okay sorry if you are joining us from another country but Indians are very sentimental emotional people the point here says when the music means more to the worshipper than the message of the song overly familiar songs are in danger of becoming sentimental for us so what is sentimental it's it's like oh this song it just makes me cry every time I listen to it you know when I sing the song the hair in the back of the neck stands yeah fine all of that is nice getting connected with it but then you miss out on the message of the song isn't it more and you are more inclined to the emotion of the song and then you lose the message of the song isn't it and so be careful of that see being emotional is fine as in we are emotional beings okay we can't avoid that you can't completely shut off one button say okay I'm not going to be emotional now switch off I'm paying me a lip service paying me a lip service okay let's go to Amos I wanted to read this scripture later but then yeah Amos chapter 5 Amos is after the book of Joel and before the book of Obadiah how many of you have read the book of Obadiah how many of you have read the book of Obadiah just kidding okay Amos chapter 5 was 21 to 23 okay are you there if you are there say amen okay if you are not there say give me time okay alright alright Amos chapter 5 was 21 it says I the lord hate and despise your religious celebration and your times of worship I won't accept your offerings or animal sacrifices not even your very best no more of your noisy songs I won't listen when you play your harps but let justice and fairness flow like a river that never runs dry okay so what's the context of this verse this chapter is so there is a church of people of God who've ignored justice who embraced injustice or you know injustice is happening but they've ignored it right but they want to do service they want they want to have church service God is saying okay hey you're ignoring injustice you're ignoring the innocent people being hurt what not I don't care about your worship you can have the best guitar best gadget, best sound equipment whatever you want I don't care it's just like empty vessels empty vessels make loud noise so that's what he is saying so paying me a lip service they say it's almost like saying lord lord in your name I did this in your name I did that who are you I do not know you away from me isn't it and so it's not being connected to who he is our heart is far away from him and the list the last two points and we close fear of manipulation and resisting change fear of manipulation fear of being controlled by the worship leader why should I do why should I raise my hands because the worship leader is asking me to raise sometimes we treat worship leaders like cheerleaders stotram if you understood you understood we treat worship leaders like they are cheerleaders they are just doing something so the point is fear of manipulation because you are scared and you don't want to do what the worship leader tells you to do you stop yourself from worshiping or expressing your worship beware of that attitude and the final one is resisting change resisting change okay what is that we've never worshiped like this before brother how can you do this first song is always a slow song brother that's how we do this in our church how can you start with jumpy songs these are all true stories okay someone said all this to me so I'm not just making things up so you know through the history of the church initially people have resisted change nowadays people like hymns amazing grace how sweet the song oh so hymn why don't you sing hymns in church but in the early church in the 16th century 17th century the church did not like hymns they said what is this evil worship yeah church in the church of England and all they did not like hymns it was not easily accepted they resisted that change fast forward 1960 drums electric guitar drums in church and devil's instrument all these rock stars musicians they worshiped drums how dare you bring it into church and now you all are asking sir drums sir I'm not resisting it okay I'm just saying I'm not the boss you want you go but resisting change I think as human beings we are scared of change if something happens for the first time we are always scared and so that can hinder us from worshipping God as well so probably next week we learn about becoming a worshipper and we learn a little bit more about how we can worship him with absolute surrender okay so we just discussed about hindering attitudes of worship if you don't remember other points just remember the first point the top one pride that's enough everything else is kind of linked to it okay just different branches of pride so be aware of pride okay um say 10 years from now 15 years from now 20 if you come and tell me that pastor I'm on fire for God you know today I don't really care come and tell me the same thing say 15 years from now 20 years from now I'll be a very proud teacher proud in that context is fine okay all right so yeah that's about it for today thanks for joining in guys I hope you all are still alive behind the cameras and learn something today thanks for joining God bless you have a good one bye