 Welcome everybody. Hope you all are doing well. Thanks for joining in. Hope you had a good first hour class. Great. So before we resume with our session for today, can I request one of us to just start us off with the word of prayer please. Chair Heavenly Father we come to you under the name of Jesus. We thank you for this beautiful day and for the class we are about to have we invite your Holy Spirit to guide us and to fill us with their understanding and wisdom as Pastor Ocean teachers help us to not just listen to it but to apply it in our lives and to do great things for you down here on this earth Jesus I pray for each and every one of my classmates over here I bless them in the name of Jesus and we also pray for a good network connection throughout the class. Be with this and guide us in Jesus name I pray. Amen. Amen. Thanks Raphina. Okay. Hey once again hope you all are doing well guys and hope you've been able to learn something from this course so far. The local church from the beginning of understanding God's vision, his idea, his desire, his heart for the church and knowing that it is his blueprint and the importance of us being able to follow and for us to follow the blueprint is pretty crucial right and so we started with the second section of this whole book on talking about different facets of the house of God so we've been following the one of APC publications the house of God was that course and so we look at chapter nine from the second section of the course from page 55 right the family of God okay so the house of God what we will learn in this chapter is we will look at the house of God as a spiritual house okay and what the Bible has to say about it and what are some of the things that we can learn to see that happen in our own churches and whatnot okay so in several places in scripture we see the term a house of God or household which is being used this is to refer to a corporate body and it's also in line to a spiritual house that's what it means a house of God or household in scriptures refers to God's house as a spiritual house okay so as we see in Galatians chapter 6 verse 10 it says therefore we have as we have opportunity and let us do to let us do good to all especially to those who are of the household of faith okay Ephesians chapter 2 verse 19 says now therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God first Timothy chapter 3 verse 15 but if I am delayed I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God which is the church of the living God okay I really like the way progress is house of God which is the church of the living God household house of God church of the living God a spiritual house right the pillar and ground of the truth and this the next scripture is uh we are in chapter 9 zealot holy age 55 okay you're welcome first Peter chapter 2 verse 5 says you also as living stones are being built up a spiritual house there we go right you also as living stones are being built up a spiritual house a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to go through Jesus Christ there are so many different things that you can take off from that verse and that verse has been used for as a context for in so many different studies for worship and and as as you know people of God having an identity as a holy priesthood and whatnot but in this context in this very chapter we are looking at it and looking at those two specific words there spiritual house okay we are being built up a spiritual house right and so the word house in Greek is oikos which simply means dwelling right a dwelling place oikos right what are the other another example that comes to my mind when I use the word dwelling place is the tabernacle right the tabernacle um simply was simply the meaning of it is the dwelling place the house of God right so it's a sanctuary okay and then we see in John chapter 1 uh the whole thing we see and the word became flesh and dwelt among us made his dwelling among us in other words he tabernacled around us and if you have to go more deeper to the root meaning of it he pitched his tent among us that's what it is um right and so uh here we see that the in the Greek um so the word the word for the house is dwelling right and so we are being built up as a spiritual house we are a family uh the family of God okay we belong to the same family of God and you can see that multiple scriptures I just referred to John chapter 1 verse 12 uh he met you know he pitched his tent he tabernacled with us he made himself one among us he didn't have to but he did right and he communed with us he broke the bread and he you know he had that supper with us and so uh and in all of that as we see that from just just like what we saw from John chapter 1 verse 12 he tabernacled and then we go on to see that of course he did it of course he would do that for us why because he taught in Matthew chapter 10 verse 25 we see that he is the head of the family he or the master of the house right and so it says it is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher or a servant like this master if they have called the master of the house bell zippered how much more will they call uh those of his household okay um so the Greek word there is I could despotist master of the house or the head of the family or the head of the household head of the family basically that's what it is and so we pause there and we see okay by understanding that we are a family of God and the house of God or the local church is the spiritual house right the house of God is a spiritual house and suddenly our perspectives starts changing and it changes even more when we see that okay it's Jesus is the head of the house right and and the whole thing takes a different approach the way we do certain things when we realize okay certain person is the head of your family okay you are always aware of the person's presence of the person's desires of the person's likes and dislikes etc etc right so everything that we do now is all you know keeping that person's presence in mind and here we see that Jesus is the head of the family right so uh uh let's go to the next page page 56 um so I'm just going to skip those last bottom part um but so having understood that we are a spiritual house of family we are God's family right um and then we we look at a couple of things that the three important implications of the local church being a family and what are those three implications now uh every family has uh you know it's certain values cultures etc etc and so we as his family what are some of those things okay so the first thing is uh a proper way to conduct yourself in the family now um every family is different I'm talking about now not the spiritual family I'm talking about the actual families that you know we are part of we are all blessed with um and so having said that you know everybody behaves differently in a certain family and sometimes when we go when we are invited to another person's house as guests we see how that family functions and how they conduct themselves in uh amongst themselves in that house and it's like wow so that's so beautiful I think we should do that too and sometimes it's a shocker it'll be a culture shocker it's like what is happening in this family right now you know so they conduct themselves a little differently uh you know and so um some of the basics thing basic things uh Indian family is Indian you know you leave your footwear out uh and you don't climb on the bed with your shoes and small stuff like that uh you know that's all our simple um expressions or you know of how you conduct right when there are elders in the elders there how do you say it how do you you know and all of that and similarly so Paul writes to Timothy I in Timothy first Timothy chapter three verse 15 say we must learn that means someone is teaching so let's pause there okay we must learn and that means we are being taught and for us right now we are being taught from the word of God right we must learn how to conduct ourselves in the house of God that is as part of the family of God God's people need to be taught right and trained on how to behave as part of the family of God I just a little while ago I used the word tabernacle for the word dwelling that's what that's what tabernacle uh tabernacle meant in the Old Testament is the dwelling place isn't it and in as you read through the book of numbers and leviticus and whatnot you will see um I know the if you if you just magnify and focus towards the levitical priesthood they just couldn't wear anything and go into the house of God isn't it it's like okay this today I feel like wearing this I woke up a little late I forgot to iron my shirt so I'm just gonna it's gonna wear a polo t-shirt and a jeans because the nobody can see the wrinkles in the jeans and and I'm going to walk into the house of God yeah what did I hear a name in no okay it doesn't that it doesn't work like that it didn't work like that isn't it and the Old Testament God was very specific the priests were supposed to wear a certain things a certain way a different certain color right all of that represented demonstrated was an expression of how you conduct right that's just an outward thing and then it goes I mean what Paul is telling Timothy is something beyond the way of how you appear and whatnot right it's it's about everything like you're you are the leader now Timothy your character is being watched your integrity is being watched everything that you you know you what you do is going to be watched right and and and so we have to be very mindful of it isn't it there was this time we had to go on a youth missions JP you know John wasn't there we had to go to Dharampur Orissa so I had took a team of 10 people 10 young people to Dharampur Orissa to minister and we had a briefing session with Pastor Nancy she is the head of the missions you know she was saying hey guys you're going from an urban city from city like Bangalore to your audience is going are going to be a little different they are going you know from the rural areas and whatnot so and she was giving a certain set of instructions to the ladies as to what to wear and you know how to appear and whatnot and and to the men as well and and when we landed there I said okay guys here's the three deal there are about 200 odd young people for that conference right and we are all are the average age group of the team that that we took and went was 23 24 so these guys are also young okay that's the average like 22 23 and I told them that all these 200 young people that they that you see that you will be ministering to they don't know that you are only part of a core team that okay you are volunteering you're coming you know you've taken a day off from work they don't know all that they don't see all that they don't need to but all they know is that you are from APC that means for them there are 10 pastors have come from APC and so you will be under the microscope like the way you sit how often you check your phone everything will be watched observed that means simple terms how you conduct yourself during the time of the seminar will be observed right and so that's the first thing a proper way to conduct yourself in the family it's a very important thing for all of us as leaders some of us are already leaders and you know and whatnot so we got to be mindful of that as Paul is teaching here so there are things we must do and things we must not do I was just reminded you know Amy pastor's wife pastor Ashish's wife she's she's awesome you know so there was a nice play going on in the church and she was sharing this she's like she's asking pastor permission can I take my phone and take a video I found it just so cute and she was saying that so even just using the phone to take a video it was like you know she wanted to make sure it was okay and whatnot so that was just to honor it's such a beautiful thing but all of that also matters isn't it and through the through the service you know some of the leaders especially you know pastor Ashish and now if you look at him nobody will think that he even has a mobile phone because it will not bear any vicinity you know and close to him so you know and how many times we const some of us we constantly check our phones during the services and you know some of the things will be genuine because we have to coordinate a lot of things but then some of the things are just you know time pass I'm just bored you know I don't like the sermon because I'm but I'm going to be reading from the book of lamentations right so our conduct is very important and so remember we are talking about the there's just the three important implications of the local church right so conduct is very important and this is a big one right boundaries between natural and the spiritual okay boundaries between the natural and the spiritual as soon as we say that you need to imagine that there is a spectrum I have a scale thankfully okay so I have this my friend gave me the scale it says Liverpool I don't like Liverpool and he gave this to irritate me this is what I could find but there's a natural end there's a you know the spiritual end of it right so it is possible and it has happened in it can happen in many churches where because of immaturity and whatnot and they will understand okay we are a spiritual family so when can I move into your house brother because we are family right you know there's no boundary isn't it it's like hey we are family right just you know just loan me some money or you know can I stay in your house for like say six months and then one year maybe you know yeah I am your sister in the Lord and therefore I have spiritual claim over your natural inheritances yeah sure you know let me just sign the papers no dangerous okay so if you don't understand the boundaries you know and Paul explains this in in length at 2nd Thessalonians chapter 36 to 16 I would it's in the notes and I would encourage you to go through that whenever you can so you know understanding the boundaries again once again it comes by with the teaching isn't it so I just go back to that verse that Paul uses to Timothy is we must learn and for some of them to learn they must be taught right and so even the boundaries has to be taught it's very important right I am not sure if this I've mentioned this with this class or the other class forgive me if I've already mentioned this is if you're especially leading a team and whatnot you should assume that there is no such thing as common sense there or there is no such thing as over communication for example if I'm leading a team if right if I'm leading a team I'm not going to just assume what might seem what something can seem like a common sense to me will not seem like common sense to everybody in the team and you'll be surprised to know okay how many of them don't get it as common sense and so there is no such thing as there is no such thing as over communication and so what might seem like a proper boundary to you as a leader will definitely not seem like a boundary to anybody else okay so it is very important for us for you as leaders for us as leaders or as ministers to set the boundaries that's one thing and also to communicate that boundaries is another thing and you know for your congregation to be taught for your team to be taught about this so yeah don't just think okay this just because this is common sense to you it's not going to be common sense to the whole thing all right so how many times have you said this this is common sense dude why can't you get it you know because it didn't occur to them as you know so it doesn't occur to people so it's very important right so boundaries very very important especially in the spiritual family it's super important you know don't don't don't let it hold you back by thinking just because you're thinking okay what will this person think if I said this boundary okay that is the first step towards digging your own grave is you not setting your boundaries okay okay so be aware of that and the third thing is a family has culture it has values purposes and dreams right every every family has a certain culture a certain values right it may look like us I mean whatever it's a culture of praying a culture of worship a good culture a bad culture whatever I'm not going to go into the details of it but the point is there is a culture that is being set right if you don't set a culture as a leader culture will be set for you by the people that you lead it could be good or it could be bad but yeah majority of the times it could be bad that's something that you might not like so making that culture is a huge thing and the culture is a big deal guys why do we emphasize on on creating a kingdom culture you know because it's a healthy culture isn't it one of the examples that one person gave was a bad culture for example in a in a good setting in a good environment is like serving good food on a dirty plate okay how many of you would have that I don't know but that's the you know that's what a bad culture is like okay so culture is important because it helps people or it teaches people understand each other and shows what is the accepted way of doing things in a certain environment okay I'm just quoting from of the notes right culture is important because it helps people or it teaches people it reveals to people to understand each other right understanding each other is what what are the other words of understanding each other misunderstanding yeah understanding each other opposite of that is misunderstanding with each other no so what creates misunderstanding miscommunication forget communication miscommunication assumption of it's being understood and whatnot things like that right world war has happened because of miscommunication so a lot of things can go wrong okay the culture is important to say the least okay so the point says that a family has a culture values purpose and dreams similarly a local church has its own distinctive culture okay and how is culture defined it's defined by its values purposes and dreams okay every church every local church has its own distinctive culture defined by its values purposes and dreams values could be anything I mean for some of you it can be a good value bad values doesn't matter but it's there and it defines the culture of a church right so if you're leading a ministry if you're if you're leading a church it all comes down to you what are your values what values do you want to instill in the people that you are leading or you're shepherding etc and the purposes and the dreams etc etc okay some of the cultures are you know values and purposes and dreams at apc if you don't mind just want to go through some of those in the notes this is the values the cultures at apc what is our culture casual contemporary creative everyone is a minister that's what we as one of the things that we keep emphasizing right and there's also emphasized extensively in our last semester's course healing and deliverance that everybody can minister healing and deliverance right so that's one of the things we emphasize it the culture is word-based spirit-led spiritual yet practical see the boundaries that right there spiritual yet practical okay active energetic dynamic etc so that is our culture what is our what are our values integrity in everything that we do excellence in everything that we do we want to be excellent in everything in every and pastor keeps instilling this keeps emphasizing on the importance of this to every team to all the staff every time we have a staff meeting in the importance of you know in every little things that we do it has to be excellent and we have to be excellent in our communication and how we communicate things to our congregation in how we do go how we execute you know how the media team execute stuff to how the worship team leads worship every team you know that's one of the values excellent staying on the leading edge of what god is doing opportunity to for everyone unity and cohesiveness relationships purposes okay I mean so those things you can just go through it when you when you want to okay so you guys with me still alive yeah okay so the this very quickly once again the three important implications of a local church being a family that's conducting yourself in the family knowing the boundaries and also understanding the culture the values the purposes and dreams you know of the church okay and now we move on to the next section in page 58 three important family practices in a local church right three important family practices in a local church just as we spoke about a culture every family has its own culture right I use an example like you know praying together and whatnot there are certain it is also similar to the practices you can use the word culture and you know and when it's expressed you see the practice of it a family may have a meal together family may practice having their devotions together morning or evening family time prayer time whatnot right a family may practice going together every Sunday to church doesn't matter who's late or not right a family may practice making a Sunday lunch together or you know having everyone or having the team over family over whatnot whatever right there are different practices right once again similarly because of the local because the local church is a family there are certain practices that we should pursue consistently right some some of the good practices like I mean praying together as a family is a good practice isn't it having a meal together as a family is another beautiful thing isn't it and so some of the things that just you when you keep doing it it might seem monotonous and or whatnot but then but it's a thing now it's a family thing right so similarly some of the things that we can instill in us in our spiritual house or what the word tells us is one walk in brotherly love okay I can someone read the scripture from the notes mentioned please first Thessalonians chapter four verse nine and ten and someone read that for us first Thessalonians chapter four verse nine and ten but concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you for you yourself are taught by God to love one another and indeed you do so toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia but we urge you that you increase more and more thanks for us amen yeah it's so beautiful right but concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you because you've already been taught okay that means they are learning right about God to love one another right so it's since telling that walk in brotherly love so apostle Paul recognizes that the believers in Thessalonica were indeed walking in brotherly love and he is encouraging them to increase more and more right so we that means we can keep growing in brotherly love you know one another and and some of the ways that you can express as mentioned in the notes on top of the notes page 59 is we walk in brotherly love by being kind to one another and giving preference to one another but we walk in brotherly love by doing good to those of the household of faith household of faith the house of God spiritual house we walk in brotherly love by supporting the weak and restoring the fallen and I've known about you but all of this I mean it just reminds me of the passage of 1 Corinthians 13 about love isn't it love is love is patient love is kind love is this love is that etc etc right so and this is just an extension of what the chapter is talking about and it's encouraging us to continue to walk in brotherly love in spirit in in the spiritual house of God in the house of God right so that's the first thing walk in brotherly love that's a good practice to pursue as a congregation as a as a corporate as a as a family of God right to walk in to be to learn to be kind to one another to be there for one another etc etc again okay all of this keeping in mind the importance of having healthy boundaries right now who said you can't have fun with having healthy boundaries where you can have healthy boundaries and yet have a very healthy relationship okay um walking in brotherly love and then keep the unity and fellowship of the spirit right keep the unity that means maintain the unity of the spirit efficient for three says endeavoring to keep the unity endeavoring to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace okay peace is an expression as is the fruit of unity right when everybody's together united okay they're they're living together in harmony on the day of pentecost before the holy spirit invades the place it says they were all gathered together in one accord in unity right um and time and time again in the old testament you would read what for at least on the book of chronicles uh you know in the temple of god that the Solomon builds you will read that every time they sang in one voice every time they played together in one you know in unity the spirit would the spirit of god would fall over the place and uh and everyone you know could will not be able to stand and whatnot right so uh there is power in unity to say the least right uh and the endeavoring the word the verse that it starts with in the greek it means uh to use speed to use speed that is to make effort be prompt or earnest give diligence or do diligence or be diligent endeavor labor study uh right that's what endeavoring means um so i'll give you a simple one word or almost two words is proactive okay that's what it is to to use speed that is to make effort right that's what proactive is is what what you do you are proactively messaging the other person first you are not being reactive i mean let's say for example if someone uh i mean you're you're angry with someone or whatever right uh you're not waiting for them to apologize and then you react okay that would be reactive but proactive is you taking that initiative to message that person it's like hey you know i think whatever it was not right or whatever it is let's just put this behind us so you are being proactive uh you are being proactive uh about taking uh you know caring for the flock that you are leading that you are shepherding you know you you take the initiative to check with them he's like hey how are you doing uh you know how's your walk with god are you doing all right how is the family doing how's the fam doing uh uh you know so it's all about and something about being proactive uh leads to being united in the spirit it's just keeping keeping a check uh you know with one another leads to unity so make every effort to maintain the unity right uh some of the pointers that's listed out there's cut the gossip grumbling and murmuring about one another uh and all of that you know james chapter five verse nine says do not grumble against one another brother unless you be condemned behold the judge is standing at the door uh right three things that uh was the downfall uh that god hated was uh when the israelites in the wilderness uh was mcg mcg it's a Melbourne cricket ground no no no mcg is mumbling complaints grumbling right uh i was uh i was teaching praise and worship for the first years right we are at the chapter where we talk about uh you know if god is enthroned on our praises who's enthroned on our complaints right if we are entering uh his gates with thanksgiving whose gates are we entering uh you know when we complain and grumble and murmur uh you know it's you know the answers right so uh let's let's cut it out because all of that creates a culture all of that shows the values of a church and and whatnot right so um make every effort to maintain that unity so that's the second thing and the third thing right the third important practice all of the three important family practices in local church first thing everybody walks in brotherly love okay i heard you yeah thank you uh keep the unity and fellowship of this spirit right uh make every effort to maintain uh unity uh harmony rest and peace amongst one another um right and then finally everyone works everyone works okay have you all like done this major house cleaning where everybody in the family was involved in doing something yes no maybe yeah jeffina i see you know in your head yeah anyone else was it fun or painful it's it's yeah so everybody's working right everybody's involved in something right uh where yeah who likes to work right yeah who likes to you know so yeah thanks for being honest for actually both so it's it's good fun and it's yeah most of the times it's at least twice a year christmas time for sure everybody's involved from cleaning the fans uh it's like okay you do the fan okay you do this thing you clean the windows and i'll vacuum the house you mop the floor clean the garage all the unnecessary thing from all the stop things you know the end result is awesome yeah you're right the end result is amazing you know okay now let's make the biryani that also everybody is doing something it's like okay you cut this you could do that you know um you know the concept of too many cooks spoiling the broth is out the window it's like doesn't matter everybody gets a hands dirty uh but it's good fun isn't it um so everyone works uh it's a some something beautiful uh isn't it so once again as we've been drawing parallels from uh like a normal a natural biological family uh similarly in the house of god uh you know all of us are part of the local church family understand that we have something to do that we are all gifted in the certain areas uh you know that that that we can do that we ought to do right um that's where we serve the church we we you know and in in doing so uh you know this is beautiful verse and i don't know which uh people's chapter six verse 10 i'm not sure but if i'm right you can let me know it says that uh when you serve one another we express our love to god you can let me know if if that's right i was just reminded of that verse um when we serve one another uh we express our love to god um and and i might be wrong about which verse it is but but isn't it isn't that beautiful in everything that we are doing uh in the house of god when we are serving in different areas from the parking team to uh you know the front desk desk you know welcoming people the first time visitors ushering uh and whatnot children's church uh you know ministering to the kids when you are serving in the local church you are telling god i love you and and this is so beautiful isn't it and and so in the house of god we all have something to do uh you know and i i tell the team like the worship team or even the setup team and whatnot guys you don't realize what we get to do here in the house of god uh you know from setting the chairs cleaning the rolling the cables and whatnot we will not get to do all of this in heaven and so you know when we do when we do all these things here on earth we are expressing to him that we love him in ways we cannot express it to him in the heavens right we are giving him something here on earth that we cannot give him in heaven and so uh and and that's a beautiful thing isn't it guys when we serve when we when we serve our church it's just beautiful it's not just mundane work thing like oh i have to do this why do i have to clean the toilets and whatnot but then uh i mean when you realize that you know you're expressing your love to him uh in all the small thing that you do it suddenly takes a different shift different perspective right so in galatians chapter six verse two to five i'm just reading this off the notes it says bear one another's burdens wait lord and so fulfill the law of christ for if anyone thinks himself to do something when he is nothing he deceives himself but let each one examine his own work a fertile as an inoccupation and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone and not in another for each one shall bear his own lord task and serves right so uh everyone works we all have something to do right uh hey thanks jeffina there are some areas we are uh to help one another in some areas we are to be responsible for for as individuals we help one another in carrying things that weigh us down these could be challenges in lives struggles difficult situation as it says and such things that anyone of us could face from time to time uh right so just having another person to share with being being available to another person where they can just share these things with you is also another aspect of of this of this point right i all with me so far guys okay any any any extra thoughts that you want to share uh from what we've covered so far any questions okay all right then um so we'll pause here for this session we'll take a break and uh we'll join back with uh we will resume uh for maybe a little okay cool all right yes take care