 Okay, welcome back everybody to the second session of the Brasen Worship course. Now let's move into our final chapter, which is Lifestyle of Worship. You know to be having notes, we are in page 13.9. Okay, this is the last chapter of this course, the Lifestyle of Worship. So here we go. Our lives can be at times very well planned, highly regimented and tightly compartmentalized. Even with all our understanding of God and worship, it's possible that we think of worship as something that's sincere, authentic, but reserved for a set time and set place. This is partly correct, right? So this thing we've been talking about this whole course is that we don't put worship in a box and we don't, you know, set aside or understand worship as a set, you know, for a set time and a set place and what it's talking about. But worship is a lifestyle that is a very famous definition of worship worldwide, right? Isn't it? After multiple worship seminars, worship conferences, worship workshops, etc. Everybody who's teaching will ask, what do you mean, what is your understanding of worship? And without a fail, then with all the answers that come in, there will always be this one answer that says worship is a lifestyle. So what does that mean? That's what we're going to look at in this chapter very briefly. Okay, so there are some three key points, but as I always mentioned that it's not limited to only these three points. Okay, when we say worship is a lifestyle and here's three points to it. It doesn't end there, but it's just what's been put together for us to understand a little better. Okay, so worship is a lifestyle. It is something that happens not just in the spiritually charged atmosphere of corporate worship or intimate moments of personal worship, but also in the normal routines of the everyday life of a believer. Okay, everyday normal routines of the everyday life of a believer. So that is also worship, isn't it? Okay, as we go through this, I just want to request someone to have Romans chapter 12 verse one and two. Just keep it ready in the message version. Okay, and I'll ask you to read it when you get there. Someone can just get that ready. Okay, so how do we develop or work on the walk in this lifestyle of worship or live in this lifestyle of worship? The first point is to live a life of kindness and generosity, to live a life of kindness and generosity. The scriptures mentioned there is Hebrews 13, 15, 16 says, Therefore, by him, let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God. That is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name. Verse 16, but do not forget to do good and to share for with such sacrifices, God is wealth. So the Greek word for good is refers to the act of being kind and being generous. Okay, it's interpreted to being kind and being generous. While we continually offer praise to him, while we are giving worship in a set place and a set time in the churches and whatnot, we continue to do that while we continue to offer the fruit of our lips by giving thanks to him. While doing so, don't forget to be kind and generous. This kind of reflects the greatest commandments, isn't it? When Jesus is being asked what's the greatest commandment, he says, Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, might and strength. And then he goes on to say love your neighbor as yourself, isn't it? So it kind of reflects that. Be kind and generous, everybody else around you. Another quick scripture that I want to share with us is Psalm 37. Psalm 37, for the first eight verses, you will see, at least in my version, it says do not fret or do not fear. Over and over, at least four times. And I just read that quickly for Psalm 37. It says do not fret because of even men or be envious of those who do wrong. For like the grass, they will soon with them. Like green plants, they will soon die away. Trust in the Lord and do good. Do good, it's the same language used there. Trust in the Lord. While all of this is happening, trust in him. That's a form of worship. And when you do that, while you're trusting in him, continue to do good. That is continue to be kind, continue to be generous, right? And then it goes on to like yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart, et cetera, et cetera. Okay, so that's the language again used there. Now, every time I speak of generosity, there's one interesting story that I want to share, but I'll do that in just a second. So let's see what it's, what's mentioned there. It is a well pleasing sacrifice offered to God when we are kind to others in our words, right? Speaking the truth, but in love, speaking edifying words that impart grace. Love is patient, love is kind, isn't it? What are some of the ways that you think we can be kind to people in your own words? How would you say? What are different ways that you can be kind? Speak to me, talk to me. In words and in actions. In words and in actions. I think everything else is kind of related to that. Being sensitive. Being sensitive to the other person's needs. Okay, yeah. Appreciate people for what they, whatever they are, right? Yeah. That is being kind, yeah. Sharing both of their happy moments as well as sad moments. Treating them and God. Yeah. Yeah, that's wonderful. Yeah, thanks, Shafina. Standing with them in the good times and in the bad. Yeah. You are being kind, yeah. I've never seen it that way, but it's awesome. Thanks. Hey, buddy, let's go. Let's go. Okay, so the two key things that's mentioned is being kind to one another in words. You know, speaking the truth, when it has to be corrected, you correct, you confront. Bible encourages us to do that in love. I don't always do that. Speaking edifying words that impart grace. Speaking edifying words that impart grace. Speaking edifying that brings comfort that encourages people, right? And I think so many times an encouraging word is like an oxygen to another person. We will never know what they are going through, isn't it? Kind to others in our actions. That seems like a very generalized word, our actions. You just look into deep into it. It's just so vast. It's filled with so many, it's like a mysterious word uses anything. So many things happen. We are constantly moving and doing things. A couple of you said like being sensitive. That means there's a sense of an action involved. So what you're about to do, you're going to do that because you're sensitive to the person around you. So being sensitive, being kind, being generous with our resources. It's not always money, isn't it? Being generous with our time, our talents. When you give your time to the church, to the worshiping, when you're wall and peering, or when you go that extra mile, like Jesus says, if someone asks you to go a distance, you go an extra distance with that person. That is being generous with your resources and with your time, isn't it? But it is in this story of generosity that I want to share one of my favorite stories of all time. And I'm not sure all of that will be pasted in the chat section. I'll paste it bit by bit and read it all together. This is one full story of Alexander the Great. And the story goes, and you can read it in the chat section with me. It says, the story is told that one day a beggar by the roadside asked for arms from Alexander the Great, as he passed by. The man was poor and wretched and had no claim upon the ruler, no right to even lift a socialist hand. Yet the emperor threw him several gold coins. A courtier or the minister was astonished at his generosity and commended, Sir, copper coins would adequately meet a beggar's need. Why give him gold? Alexander responded in royal fashion. I like that. You know, he responded in royal fashion. He says copper coins would suit the beggar's needs, but gold coins suit Alexander's giving. That's an epic story, isn't it guys? There's so many takeaways from them, but one of the key takeaways from that story for me is that Alexander kind of knew his identity. That he was royal and he was a king. He was an emperor. He was a conqueror. And it is out of that identity, he makes that statement saying copper coins would suffice beggar's needs. But gold coins suits my given. So when we are generous, we are encouraged to be generous. And I think we have to live from the identity of that we are the sons and daughters of the king of kings, isn't it? And so we live out of that identity. We are generous of that identity. Everything we do, we do it because we have a royal connection with our Lord. Yeah, that's cool, isn't it? So being generous with our resources and not selfish, but rather share what we have with others. Okay, so that's being kind and generous. Being a cheerful giver, again, we've heard this so many, many times. We've been going to church for a while. We always use it to give tithes and offerings, isn't it? Second Corinthians 9.6-15 says, He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, but 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. It speaks for itself, a cheerful giver gives bountifully, as it says in verse 6. A cheerful giver gives as he purposes in his heart. So even before you act, you've already decided, you've made it up in your heart, this is what I'm going to give. He does not give grudgingly or out of necessity. He gives because he's loved by God. He knows his identity. He experiences the abundant grace of God to have more than enough for every good word. A cheerful giver is enriched to be even more generous. The more you give, the more you are blessed to give more. The cause is God to be glorified. At both ends, I've been blessed by people who have been generous in my life. That has encouraged me to bless people. One of the keys to living a lifestyle of worship is being kind, being generous, being a cheerful giver. When you give, you bring glory to God. When you give, you are mirroring what God is and who he is. He's a generous Father, isn't it? He gave, he gives, he gives, he gives, he gave his only begotten Son for us. Right? He's not a Father who is whom if we ask for a loaf of bread, he's not going to give us a rock or a stone. He's generous. And because he is generous, he is good. And because he is good, he's generous. This is James 1.27. It's pure and undefiled religion before God. And the Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their trouble and to keep oneself unsported from the world. So while we are exhorted to continually offer the sacrifice of praise to our God, the writer of Hebrews says, do not forget to do good and share. So in the same manner, we offer a continual praise to God. We are to remember to continually do good and share. Right? It also means that we have to be moved in the area of justice. We cannot call ourselves worshippers and not move in the area of justice. Right? Or injustice rather. You know, intercede for the weak, intercede for the fatherless, defend the fatherless. One, there is this group of people universally that has absolutely no voice and no defense. And that is the unbought, right? At the rate of abortion that just keeps increasing all over the world is absolutely evil. When was the last time you prayed for it? Are you moved in the area of injustice? Because the Bible says God's throne, the foundations of his throne are righteousness and justice, isn't it? And so yeah, I mean just giving voice to the voiceless, you know, fighting for the defenseless. All of that is attributed to worship, is to doing good and interceding for them. To seek justice, to defend the fatherless and to take up the cause of the widow, to be a voice for the one who is something that's close to the heart of God. Right? When you stand up for the weak, when you stand up for the voiceless, it moves God because that's who he is. He is the father to the fatherless. He is the defender of the weak. He is the husband of the widow, right? He's all of that. And so when you do something like that, you are representing Jesus to the world, right? We're called to be ambassadors of Christ. And so when we do that, we are called to represent Jesus to the world and we have to do that rightly. And when we do that, we are living a lifestyle, a life of worship, right? There's hardly any music involved in there, is it? Some of us are people oriented in our personality and visiting and helping comes naturally, but for others it is a challenge. You know, let's remember that when we step out of our comfort zone and do this, it is a well-pleasing sacrifice to God. As we learned that in the first chapter or in the fourth chapter, I think, when we learned about worship, it talks about worship is also praise and sacrifice. And sacrifice simply means giving up or taking on something that we don't necessarily have to. Giving up something that we have a right to or taking on something that we don't necessarily have to is related with sacrifice. And sacrificing also simply stands for dying to yourself, your comfort. It's just dying to yourself, saying no to the flesh. So all of that is in the first point, guys, is living a life of kindness and generosity. It is saying it's not about you making less of you and more about serving the kingdom of God. It being kind, being generous, sacrificing, taking on something that you don't have to, giving up something that you have all the right to. All comes under the life of kindness and generosity. And then the second point on living a lifestyle of worship is a life of holiness and consecration. A life of holiness and consecration. Does anybody have Romans 12, 1 and 2 in the message version, please? Romans chapter 12, verses 102. So here's what I want you to do, God helping you. Take your everyday, ordinary life, your sleeping, eating, going to work and walking around life. And place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You will be changed from the inside out, readily recognize what he wants from you and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity. God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. Thank you, Jeffrey. So that's from the message version. Just so you all know, I think it's just wonderfully articulates for the modern reader. So everything that we do, do that to him, place it before him in surrender. And then you look at this translation. It says, I beseech you therefore, brother, that I is Apostle Paul. You can do a character study on him. You know who he is. He's the Pharisee of the Pharisees. Then you have that person beseech you. That's another just an old fancy word for begging. I beg you, therefore, brother, and by the mercies of God. The last 11 chapters, you know, Paul is talking about the mercies of God in different various, you know, shape and form for the last 11 chapters. And that's why when he comes to you, he says, therefore, by the mercies of God, from everything what you've heard so far into the last 11 chapters, because of all of that, now you present your bodies, a living sacrifice, that you die at your back, your flesh every day, wholly acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. So the interesting choice of words there in the message translation, it says, you know, don't be influenced by the culture around you, right? Again, during the time when Paul is writing this to the audience in Rome, the people in Rome, their belief system, what their culture stood was for, you know, in modern day we say, one life live with the way what you, you know, you want to do whatever you want to do. That was kind of philosophy back then as well in their culture is, hey, if it's going to give you pleasure, do it. It was all about pleasing your flesh. It was all about pleasure. It didn't matter if it was the right thing to do. It was the filthiest thing to do a what not. But if it gave you pleasure, do it. That was the culture setting of the Romans and that period in that duration. And it is to that people who are living in that culture, Paul is saying, don't be influenced by that culture. Instead, die to your, you know, your fleshly desires, your sinful, your lustful designs. And offer yourself as holy and acceptable to God, right? Living the life of holiness, consecration, it's the call of the hour. It's the need of the hour. It's been, it's been a call of God's heart from the beginning, right? From Genesis to Revelation. He goes on saying, I will be your God. You will be my people. You will be my people. I will be your God. You will be my people. I don't want to share you with the gods of the world, with the other idols or the things of the world. I don't want anything else to have a throne in your heart. I want to be the king seated in the throne of your heart. That's been the cry of God, right? And if you can just very quickly, if you don't mind, go to 1 Chronicles chapter 25. 1 Chronicles chapter 25 with me, please. I hope you guys are there. 1 Chronicles chapter 25. Okay. It says this. I'm reading of the NIV. David, together with the commanders of the army, set apart some of the sons of Asaph, he managed a thing for the ministry of prophesies. Okay. Let's stop there. Set apart. David, set apart. Okay. That is the root word of the word holy, right? When we say God is holy, that is who he is, right? If we are to live a life of holiness, we ought to reflect or gaze upon the one who is holy, right? And so that's the basic root meaning. And if you have to go just more deeply to the very raw form of the word, it simply means to cut. How many of us have worked in the kitchen where you cut something and you just don't leave it there? You cut it and you push it aside. You cut it, you push it aside. Whatever it is, isn't it? So that's what it is. When we say that he is holy, God is set apart. Simply means there is none like him. There is no one like him. There is no comparison. There is no another being, right? Right now, or tomorrow, if a Martian, right, were to come and ask me, who are you? I can point my finger to all the individuals here. I say, I am like him. I am a human being. I'm like that person. I'm like John. I'm like, you know, et cetera, et cetera. But there is not a single creature in heaven or on earth, okay? That you can point your finger at and say, that is who God is like. It doesn't matter the cherubim or the seraphim who is in the very presence of God, or the microorganism that you cannot see. Either one of those creations are not like him. He is set apart. He is holy. When you talk about his holiness, you're talking about his person. That is who he is. And so when we gaze upon him, you know, we understand what holiness really means is that we are now called to be set apart. Just like David said, this doing right there is he set apart some of the sense of ASAP. That means all they had to do, their own, their sole purpose in life was to minister unto the Lord. They were set apart for that. Nothing else, right? We often ask or pray for what God's will for our lives, et cetera, et cetera. For them, they were set apart to ministry, minister unto the Lord day and night. That's what they were called to do. And that's what we are called to do is to offer ourselves as living sacrifices, set apart where we would burn for him in the wilderness, just like John the Baptist would. Come down to Romans chapter six verse 13 and 14, bottom of page 41 says, And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead. And your members are instruments as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you. For you are not under law but under grace. Okay, so what does it mean? Members means all aspects, seeing, handling, thinking, hearing, speaking, moving. Instruments also means weapons. So our right choices are weapons against unrighteousness. Don't unnecessarily expose yourself continuously or yield to unrighteousness, but rather unintentionally, intentionally expose yourself or yield to God and his righteousness. This call to live a life of holiness is more serious than you think, right? And I mentioned this before, it's the need of the hour and it's been the cry of God's heart from the beginning. When the people of God, when Israelites left Egypt, one of the things that God keeps telling is, don't compromise with the ways of the canonites. Don't compromise and start worshipping their gods. Don't compromise. And unfortunately and sadly, that's what's happening in our lives as well. Time and time again, we compromise. One of my mentors says, we happen to have this chalta hai attitude. It's okay. It's okay. This movie has only one new scene, chalta hai. It's okay. It's fine. Compromise will kill our spirit. Compromising ourselves for entertainment's sake and for what not will absolutely kill our spirit in our pursuit of holiness. Right? So therefore Galatians 516 says, walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. And we call him the Holy Spirit, isn't it? His first name is Holy. It is by his help that we get to live a life of holiness. Right? And Ephesians chapter 5 verse 18 says, be filled with the spirit. Don't be drunk with wine, but be filled with the spirit. Those are two statements and those are two commandments. Right? The first commandment is don't be drunk in wine. And if we were to ask all our Christians, we would say, don't be drunk in wine. Yes, yes, brother. I don't drink wine. I don't smell it. I don't touch it. I don't know the brand's name. I am not drunk in wine and what not. Okay. You'll be the first commandment, first half of the commandment. What about the second half? Are you all filled with the spirit? Right? When this vessel is being filled with the spirit, walking in the spirit is the result of it. Right? And Ephesians 5 verse 16 is a result of Ephesians 5 verse 18 is when you are being filled with the spirit, you will walk in the spirit. Okay. And that will empower you to live a life of holiness. So that's the second point on living a lifestyle of worship is there is a call. There is a call on all our lives to live a life of holiness and consecration. We can talk on this over and over, but I'll stop right now and move to the second point. The last point is a life of obedience, a life of obedience. John 14, it's funny enough, I just read this chapter yesterday. It says, if you love me, keep my commandments. He who has my commandments and keeps them. It is he who loves me. Okay. But if you're in your Bible story, let's go to John 14 in the Bible. Yes. Like I said, you know, very interestingly enough, I was reading this chapter yesterday and you know, this modern Bible, it has for every new passage as a heading isn't that kind of gives a gist of what this passage is going to be. Jesus promises the Holy Spirit that is the heading for this whole section. John chapter 14 verse 15 onwards was 15 to the end of that chapter. The whole section is about Jesus promising the Holy Spirit. Again, you see the Holy Spirit. Okay. And then he goes on to say everything that he has to say, if you love me, you will obey what I command and I will ask the father was 15 and 16. I will ask the father and he will give you another counselor to be with you forever. He is the spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me because I live in you also because I live, you also will live. Right. So again, this whole passage is about what Jesus talking about. I'm promising the Holy Spirit is that you're going to live a life of obedience. You're going to live a life of holiness and that's going to happen with the strength of the Holy Spirit because in your own strength, in our own strength, we cannot do. You're going to strive and strive and strive. You're going to try working hard by doing it yourself and you're just going to end up tired and you will find yourself giving up constantly. But you rely on him. It is the Holy Spirit that will empower you to obey his commandments. That is the commandments of Jesus. It's the Holy Spirit who will empower you to love Jesus and walk in his ways. Right. So in worship, we say sing and express our love and adoration for our Lord. It is only when we obey the Lord and His commandments that we truly love the Lord. It is only when we obey the Lord and His commandments that we truly love the Lord. Obedience is the language of intimacy. Right. And for Samuel 1522, popularly known all over it says to obey is better than sacrifice. To obey is better than sacrifice. And if you can quickly go to another chapter, we've read this chapter before for us. I want to read that again for all of us. The last chapter of Exodus. Exodus chapter 40. While you go for Exodus chapter 40, use your other finger to go to First Kings chapter 15 as well. Exodus chapter 40 and First Kings chapter 15. Are you guys with me? Still at the point. Okay. So Exodus chapter 40, you will read, you know, it's the first line starts off by saying, then the Lord said to Moses, set up the tabernacle, the tent of meeting. Okay. Set up the tabernacle, the tent of meeting. Let's come down to verse 16. So there's been a set of instructions given to Moses by the Lord. Verse 16, it says, Moses did everything just as the Lord commanded him. The things Moses obeyed. Come down to verse 19. The Lord commanded him. He took the testimony and placed it in the Ark, verse 20. And come down to verse 21. Once again, as the Lord commanded him, Moses did everything as the Lord commanded him. Moses did everything as the Lord commanded him. So to cut the long story short, verse after verse in that chapter, you will see it says, Moses did as the Lord commanded. Moses did as the Lord commanded. Moses did as the Lord commanded. I don't know how many times. You can count it three or so later. So when you come down to verse 33, Exodus 40 verse 33 says, then Moses set up the courtyard around the tabernacle and altar and put up the curtain at the entrance to the courtyard. And so Moses finished the work. That means he did everything that the Lord had commanded him to do. Then what happens? Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. Obedience is a key to walk in the manifest presence of God in our lives, guys. It is after Moses obeyed and he did everything that the Lord commanded him to do. The Lord would show up, manifest his presence and this glory filled the temple. And Moses himself could not enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled upon it. It is the same guy who was in the very presence of God for 40 days, 40 nights, getting the blueprint for the tabernacle and what not. It is now that he is not able to enter. God will always show up bigger in your life every time we obey him. And another chapter that I wanted us to look at is 1 Kings 15. I hope you guys are all there. 1 Kings chapter 15. What is all to be there as we read this. It says, in the 18th year of the reign of Jeroboam, son of Nibbat Abhija, king of Judah, and he reigned Jerusalem three years. His mother's name was Makha, daughter of Abishalom. He committed all the sins his father had done before him. His heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God. Underline that his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God. As the heart of David, his forefather had been. His heart was not fully devoted to the Lord as his forefather, David's heart has been. Nevertheless, verse 4. For David's sake, the Lord his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem by raising up a son to succeed him and by making Jerusalem strong. This is the key verse of this entire chapter that I wanted us to read. For David had done what was right in the eyes of the Lord and had not failed to keep any of the Lord's commands all the days of his life, except in the case of Uriah the Hittite. Now there's, as I was reading that, right? David had done right, done what was right in the eyes of the Lord and had not failed to keep any of the Lord's commands. I can go through 17 chapters in the book of 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel. Chapter of chapter where I can point out everything wrong that David did. But yet, somehow, it is the same David that God tells Samuel that I have found a man after my own heart. Look at the statement. I have found a man after my own heart while David was still a boy. This God who lives beyond time, outside of time, surely must have seen all the mistakes that David was going to do. And yet he called him that he is a man after my own heart. Why? God must have not only seen his mistakes, but he must have also seen him coming back to repent time and time after again. And that seems to be, in a way, living a life of obedience, isn't it? And one of the most audacious prayer in the Bible is in Psalm 39 it says, Search me and know me and see if there's any wicked ways in me. I think it takes a lot of courage and humility to make that prayer, which empowers us to live a life of obedience. Time and time again, we will fail. And it says in the notes, it says, It delights the heart of God when we obey his voice fully, not partially, but fully. So in conclusion of this chapter, God is calling us to live a life of generosity. He is inviting us to live a life of holiness and consecration. He is calling us to live a life of obedience. He's inviting us to a life of worship. Right? And so with that, we conclude chapter 10. And with that, we also conclude the syllabus portion for the course Praise and Worship, BC 105. Any thoughts, any questions, anything that you want to add? It's almost time now. Okay. Well, in conclusion, I hope there was, there was something that you could take off on this entire course, the duration of this course. From the following week onwards, we will not be having classes, but please use that time to just go through those notes. You know, go through the notes, read some of the books that's been recommended. I'll try and share the PDF on the stream section. So use the next few weeks to, you know, that you invest time to don't just waste time. Okay. And you will have the final assessment assignment scheduled very soon. You will see it in the classroom section. Okay. So until that's it from me, we were not going to be having classes again from the next week. Please don't waste time invest, learn, and you will hear from me for your final assessment. Okay. It's been an absolute pleasure and joy teaching you all. It has been great. Yep. Go ahead and live a life of worship and publish again. Take care. See everybody. Take care. Let's stop recording now. Thank you.