 Hey, good morning once again. Hope you all are doing well. Hey, good morning Karen, Ariella, Riku. Thanks for joining in You want fan? It's gonna yeah Sorry guys, maybe you can put that fan on over there and And I mean for them if you want it you can turn on that one Yeah It's on yeah, it's yes Hi, Surya Thanks for joining. I'm audible right for you those online Are you able to hear me? Okay clearly? Yes. Awesome. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Cool. Cool. Cool Anyways, everyone so serious Great, okay All right, let's pray and we'll get started. Yeah, father. We submit this time into your hands This hour into your hands Lord Even as we once again meditate from your word I pray holy spirit that you would open our eyes to the wonderful things of your word and you are the word Jesus I Pray that they would be in you and a fresh revelation of who you are God today Come holy spirit. We welcome you You'll lead us you speak to us Let the word of God pierce our hearts like a double-edged sword because We honor you in this place father in Jesus name. I pray amen Amen. Amen. Okay All right. Once again, I hope you all are doing well It's been quite a journey in this course at least we've covered five chapters praise and worship chapter 1 to chapter 5 we finished chapter 5 last class and I hope that you've been learning something and I hope it's Been teaching you to you know, I don't know Make your lifestyle as a worshipper better Has it helped anyone so far? This is five more chapters to go. It's a short course. So as this course helped anyone so far. Yes. No, maybe a little bit Awesome. Thank you. I'm glad So we move into chapter 6 now becoming a worshipper Becoming a worshipper We begin this chapter by understanding the difference between Spiritual worship and fleshly worship. Okay, so out of memory who can What what what is one of the things that John chapter 4 was 22 to 24 says what does it say? John chapter 4 was 22 to 24. What does it say? Okay, God is seeking for true worshippers Who worship him in? Spirit and truth truth and spirit what not, right? So God is seeking seeking is what searching he's looking to and fro True worshippers if there is true worshippers that means there is False worship. Yes. So if there is true worship, it is false worship And if there is and then goes on to say that he is looking for Worship true worshippers who will worship him in spirit and truth, okay, so Spirit spiritual worship the opposite of spiritual worship is fleshly worship. It's non-spiritual That simply means a fleshly worship. Okay God is spirit. Yeah, thanks Nina. Yeah, so those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in Truth, okay, everybody say that those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth, okay, so understanding if you have to understand You know either true worship you need to understand what is false worship and if you understand what is false worship you will understand what is true worship, right? It's like These government officials who are trained to find out these counterfeit notes You know this fake currency They don't sit and study all the thousands of fake currencies that's there What they do is they they study the original really well Right, they study the original note 100. We know whichever 2,000 rupees note. I guess they study it really well and Then they're able to find out what the false worship. I mean I mean the false currency is all about right So so there's an opinion is it's very important for us to understand spiritual worship and it will open up our minds About everything what fleshly worship is about. Okay, so let's start off with can someone help me read first Peter chapter 2 verse 5 first Peter chapter 2 was 5 and Thank you. So first Peter chapter 2 was 5 yeah, you also like living stones are being built into a spiritual house To be a holy priesthood offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ, okay. So tell me some of the things Is everybody there first Peter chapter 2 was 5? Yeah Okay So let me read it one more time very slowly for a follow along You can read it in your own language as well. So it says you also like living stones are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ So what are some of the things that stand out in that verse? To you what are some of the Things the key words that is like sticking out to you Acceptable, okay, so okay, so accept it has to be acceptable to God. That's one of the things What else is standing out to you? Holy priesthood, okay Holy priesthood, okay, what else? spiritual house spiritual sacrifices living stones, okay You understood my question Vimal you understood my question What are some of the key things that are standing out in that verse? Like they mentioned, okay, so spiritual house spiritual sacrifice We are being built up as spiritual sacrifices. Yeah, okay Acceptable to God, okay, I'm looking for one more key thing Through Jesus Christ, okay, there we go through Jesus Christ Okay, but that's very important, isn't it through Jesus Christ So in a lot of places in the scriptures in another translation instead of the word through it will the word in accordance According will be used right according to Jesus Christ in accordance with Jesus Christ, right? It simply means a chord in the middle of that word according everybody say according Okay, it's like saying according to him her She's like this according to her, you know, we use that word right according to me It's it looks little dark in here today You know, so the middle of the word according. Yeah, it's kind of blocked In the middle of the word a chord is what the word chord is there We all play a chord some of us play a chord right like three no, it sounds together in harmony, right? And so in harmony with Jesus Christ in other words in one accord with Jesus Christ We are being transformed into a spiritual house So we are into a holy priesthood who will bring spiritual sacrifices, right? Someone read Hebrews chapter 13 verse 15. Please. Thank you, right? So the previous verse first Peter chapter 2 verse 5 Peter ends that verse by saying through Jesus Christ Here the Hebrew writer he starts with Jesus Christ. It says therefore Okay, anytime I always say this right if you see the word therefore You need to ask Why is it therefore? Okay, so you see so you have to go back and read the previous one. But anyways, so therefore by Him who's the him? Sure, fucker. We lock it. Okay Therefore by him or through him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise Stop if we try to offer worship without Jesus If it's not going through him If it's not in accordance or in line with what he has done on the cross for us There's no spiritual worship Are you with me? There is no spiritual worship, but through Jesus Christ. It is through his blood We entered the throne of grace, right? So that is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name Okay, someone very quickly Romans chapter 12 verse 1 and 2 a very famous popular Scripture, right Romans chapter 12 verse 1 and 2 once again this verse begins with therefore therefore by the Mercies of God is that right? I urge you brethren I in other translations says I beseech you So beseech isn't simply another word for It's a very polite word to say beg Okay, so I beg you so who wrote the book of Romans? Well, so he's Paul Okay He was known as the Pharisees of the Pharisees Apostle Paul like that means Some of the scholars say that the Education of Paul or his wisdom and knowledge of Paul is equivalent of having 20 PhDs 20 PhDs in here we are trying to finish a degree Right Paul was highly educated like he was trained by the most finest Pharisee the teacher of the law Apostle Paul And he is coming and saying I beg you Right saying I'm begging you by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice Holy Acceptable to God right again remember from the first Peter chapter 2 It has to be acceptable to God right our worship guys Our worship must be acceptable to God if your worship is not being acceptable Useless throw it don't do anything just pack it and keep it Right Which is your reasonable service Verse 2 it goes on to say do not be conformed to this world Do not be conformed What is it saying it's like okay, don't let the world influence you Okay, just because the world is doing that You don't think okay, I mean chalta here Okay, that chalta here attitude I'm using it correctly nickel. What is chalta? It's just it's like it's okay It's okay. Just one puff It's okay. Just one shot It's just one bad word It's just one nude scene in that movie. Yeah, but the movie story is nice Chalta You get what I'm saying Don't let the world Influence how you lived your life Are you with me? That's the beginning of understanding spiritual worship is you not letting the world influence you Then paul goes on to say what? but be Transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove What is that good and acceptable and perfect will of god? Okay Another recurring thing in the three verses that we've read so far is sacrifice We read spiritual sacrifice in first Peter chapter 2 verse 5 right here. We are seeing living sacrifice Has anybody witnessed? A sacrifice happening like the sacrifice being offered has anybody seen You've seen what sacrifice Head of the goat the goat is still alive. No When they do it Yeah, okay, but the head is separated. That's what they go for no Yeah okay, so Sacrifice offer yourself He's saying offer yourself as a living sacrifice Now for them to offer a sacrifice there was an altar Right, they have to build an altar on which the the offering will be placed. Isn't it? Um There's a beautiful study on Abraham. We learn about that in the third year Abraham is known as the man of altars. He built altars everywhere god took him right? Altar is a sign of surrender. It's a sign of sacrifice again, right? He kept building altars Here paul he's saying don't just be build altars You have to be on the altar Okay, paul is saying don't just build the altar by our Now it's time for you to get on the altar Offer yourself as a living sacrifice Welcome Sean right Sacrifice eventually dies. Isn't it paul is asking us Put your flesh to death Put your flesh to death every day Right, if you don't put your flesh to death You can't say i'm a true worshipper. You can't offer spiritual worship Because god is spirit you have to worship him in spirit And in a truth, okay, all right All right, you guys are still alive, right? Yes Okay, last verse philippians chapter three verse three It says for we are the circumcision who worship god in the spirit Rejoice in christ jesus and have no confidence in the flesh Give me who worship god in the spirit rejoice once again rejoice in paul Rejoice in christ jesus and have no confidence in flesh have no confidence simply means Like don't rely on the flesh Like i hope you all are understanding the seriousness of it The The seriousness of fleshly worship. We haven't even touched that subject yet But just studying about spiritual worship should bring make us aware about the seriousness of the false worship already, okay And the core of it all is is your worship going through jesus christ and that's the point of it all, okay Yeah, everybody. Okay so far Now let's look at fleshly worship. We've kind of briefly understood spiritual worship We've all been transformed being built into a holy priesthood You know, one of the things what priests did The priests in the book in the old testament They never went before god empty-handed Right, they never went before god empty-handed Um, and that kind of sheds When we look at the new covenant a new testament, right? And we look at the life of jesus Why are all these verses and there are more verses by the way in just four verses mentioned in your notes But there are so many verses that says through jesus christ through jesus christ in christ jesus in accordance with him why Jesus was not only our offering He was also the offerer And we see we read that in the book of hebrus, right? He was not only our sacrifice He was also our high priest He is also our high priest We need to understand that okay Jesus is not only our offering or our sacrifice that died on the cross. He is also the offerer Right, he's not only our sacrifice, but he is also our high priest, right So that is a significance of us understanding the beauty of jesus, okay, so now very quickly. Let's look at our fleshly worship um We leave the scriptures mentioned in the notes for a second, but let's look at can someone read for me isiah chapter five Verse 12 is a chapter five verse 12. Can you read it one more time, please? All right But they do not regard the work of the lord nor consider the operation of his hands, right? Is there another translation? I think that's nkjb, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, please But they do not What the lord is doing. Okay, let's present continuous. Okay. Yeah, any other translation? Which one was that shon? News, okay NIV, okay Which one is that which verse is that? Oh, no, no, so I was asking to read of isiah five verse 12 once again as I have five was to No respect for the work of his hands. Okay, so there can be music happening all around Same instruments that we use and whatnot, but still have absolutely no respect For who god is it's a sella moment. You know, it's a sella moment is like this pause It's a thinking moment right there In everything that we we are doing in in our singing in our playing whatnot A question for us again. I'm okay is Am I honoring him? Am I giving him all the respect all the honor that is due his name, right another classic scripture? Let's go to emos chapter five Is in the book that is in the bible Just in case you're wondering emos chapter five. Yes We will go to Let's go to we'll read from verse 22 We'll read from verse 22 and stop at verse 23 Stop though you offer me Burnt offering and your grain offerings I will not accept them. Okay What are some of the things that we kept reading in the previous the spiritual? Worship passages is Acceptable a worship must be acceptable Right if the one who we are worshiping is not accepting your worship. What is the point of it? Right and here god is like, okay Although you're offering, you know offerings are their sign of their way of saying their way of worshiping, isn't it? I will not accept them. Go ahead Continue continue. No Thanks. Uh, right. There's another scripture, which uh Okay, no, that's fine There's one interesting line there from verse 23 says take away from me those uh from the noise of your Songs Okay, for I will not hear the melody of your stringed instruments There's another word there. It's like saying, uh But actually I just want to read the whole thing. Okay. Um, the rest of the thing verse 24 It says but let justice run down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream Okay, like mighty stream. Uh, did you offer me or we read that? Um Verse 26 it says you also carried sick of your king and she on your idols the star of your gods Which may which you made for yourselves. Okay. Um, this is like the beginning of uh, the fleshly worship, right? The downfall of israel in the in the old testament time and time again that you will read is They went back into idolatry Right time and time again They went back into idolatry. Okay. So if you read the book, uh, Say judges And if you haven't read the book of judges, I would encourage you to read it One of the scary chapters in the bible is in for me at least A judges chapter 19, uh, but if you read the book of judges first Samuel second Samuel, um First chronicles second chronicles orders first kings second kings everything. There's one cycle There's one pattern to israelites, uh life how they lived, right? They would do idol worship Followed by punishment followed by repentance And forgiveness god will forgive them and they go back into idol worship One nice cycle circle. Okay and time. Yeah, shan Yeah Sin gets just, you know more creative ways of Right, um And you see that from the beginning god takes Abraham, right? He takes Abraham from this land of Ur He was part of what we call it as a polytheism say polytheism is multiple gods You have many gods poly polytheism, right And he says, okay, I'm going to take you from here And now I'm making you a monotheist Mono means one, right one god So overnight it's like, uh Like I mean How do I explain the god taking a chinese person and say, okay, you're an indian now Just like that only god can do that something right overnight so god takes him and say, okay, and then even in the commandment You will not have any other Gods before me are you with me right exodus chapter 20 verse 3 to 5 i'll just read it for us Exodus 23 to 5 you can turn if you want to exodus exodus Chapter 20 verse 3 to 5 it says you shall have no other gods before me You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or Or on the earth beneath or in the waters below you shall not bow down to them or worship them For I the lord your god am a jealous god Right it starts off by saying you shall have no other gods before me. He's a jealous god. He's an all-consuming fire Uh, do you remember when we read Psalm 115? Verse 4 to 8 let's refresh our memory. Psalm 115 Verse 4 to 8 can Thank you Right those who make them verse 8 will be like them and so will all who trust in them Okay, that's like the key verse for us to understanding idol worship idolatry. So god absolutely hates idolatry Um, how many of you know what adultery is? What is adultery? What is adultery? Oh, this is not just seeing bro this is Adultery, okay. So, um adultery is say a married man, right a married couple, whatever If either one of them is Cheats on the other person by like having sexual relations outside of the marriage with another person That is what adultery is Okay, are you with me? So idolatry Is spiritual adultery? Okay idolatry is Spiritual adultery. It's and god takes this very why does he hate idolatry? It's like god is saying i'm a jealous god. Why jealous god for who am i jealous for i'm jealous for you You are mine. I am yours. I purchased you With my blood, right? You are mine. I am not willing to share you with the world And then we go on say it's like, you know, I don't want you I want everything else, right? Let's what let's read more scriptures. I hope that's okay. Let's go to second kings chapter 17 verse 14 to 20 second kings is after first kings second kings chapter 17 Verse 14 to 20, okay. It says, uh, I hope you're there. Should I repeat second kings chapter 17 Verse 14 to 20 it says But they would not listen And were as stiff necked as their ancestors Who did not trust in the lord their god? They rejected his decrees and the covenant he made with their ancestors and the sit and the statues He had won them to keep They followed Worthless idols I Don't know what language. I mean what words are used, but you should you ought to highlight it. They followed worthless like Useless like, you know, absolute no worth remember the word worship comes from the word latin word worth ship Right. They were giving Worth the ship to something that is absolutely worthless Okay, uh, and themselves became worthless. So look at that line. They followed worthless idols And they themselves became worthless Some 115 verse 8 says they you become like the one you worship they became like the idols that they worship Right verse 16. They foresook all the commands Of the lord their god and made for themselves two idols Cast in the shape of calves and a share a pole They bowed down to all their starry host and they worshiped bal They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire. They practiced divination and sought Omens and sold themselves to the evil They sold To do evil in the eyes of the lord arousing his anger So the lord was very angry with israel and removed them from his presence Only the tribe of juda was left only the tribe of juda was left And even juda did not keep the commands of the lord their god They followed the practices israel had introduced Therefore the lord rejected all the people of israel. He afflicted them and gave them into the hands of plunders Until he thrust them from his presence This is very serious guys This is very very serious Before I talk about the consequences of idolatry. There's one more passage of scriptures that I want to read Uh, I hope that's all right With everyone those online Let's go to numbers chapter 24 Numbers chapter 25. Sorry You guys are alive now Learning something Learning something Nice pants nickel. I told that already Numbers chapter 25 Okay How many of you like the book of numbers? Hey, you know, you know, you can ask this question say hey, which is your favorite book Now no christian would say numbers is my favorite book Right But this is an absolute this chapter No chapter 25 I'm not going to go into the details of it, but it's the turning point in the history of israel Okay, we're not going to study this whole thing, but this chapter numbers chapter 25 What happens before and after Is very very crucial to understanding the history of israel. Okay, but we're not going to get into this So number step 25 verse one onwards While israel was staying in shittim The men began to indulge in Sexual immorality with Moabite women Okay pause Before when god brings them out of exodus god says You guys better be careful. I know i'm bringing you out of egypt Into the land i promised your fathers But they are they are they are worshiping idols. They have different practices. Their culture is different. Everything about them is very different God says very clearly Don't indulge in any of their practices Right. Don't indulge in any of their practices What do israelites do? That is exactly what they do. It's like telling a kid don't do that. I will go do that Don't put your finger in that. You know that electricity hole is like, oh, let me see what happens Have you seen that? It's like You know But that's exactly what happened. Yes It's it's in our nature. You know, it's like rebelliousness But that exactly is what happening here god told them not to do it, but this is exactly what they are doing. Okay um, so First one again when men were there they began to indulge in sexual immorality with moabite women Now, how did they end up over there? Okay Verse two, this is very important before they indulged in sexual immorality. Look at that Who invited them to the sacrifices to their gods? Right who invited them to Sacrifices to their gods what was the first thing it's like Come let's worship our gods It begins there right False worship. I mean every every immorality the consequences of idolatry guys remember the consequences of fleshly worship In other words idolatry It leads to immorality Okay idolatry leads to immorality. So that's exactly what would happen. These men came You know with the honey in their lips and nice makeup and the some spray or whatnot. That's like come let's worship our gods It began with small false worship Before they knew they were indulging in sexual immorality, right? Uh, the people ate and they bow down before these gods. So israel Wow, the israel joined in worshipping the ball of pure and the lord's anger burned against them Um, as I mentioned, I'm not going to go into the details of this entire chapter But god was very very angry Okay, god was very very angry. Uh, let's um Let's look at Actually, I'm going to read this uh quite a bit. Is that okay guys because I feel this is very crucial. Okay. So the lord said to moses Verse four take all the leaders of these people kill them And expose them in broad daylight before the lord so that the lord's fierce anger may turn away from israel So moses said to israel judges each of you put to death those of your men who have joined in worshipping the ball of pure God just doesn't tolerate sin or idolatry Um verse six This is crucial. Okay verse Six then an israelite man brought to his family a midianite woman right before the eyes of moses and the whole assembly of israel while they were Weeping at the entrance of the tent of meeting What is happening? Everybody's wailing is like they're you know, they're like moses their leader is there And this man in broad daylight Is bringing a median a woman into the camp For what? To commit sexual immorality Right and there is a time where it comes where sin will not hide in the night Sin is no longer secret It's wide open in the front of the leaders But then verse seven when fini he has Son of eliezer the son of eran the priest saw this he left the assembly Took a spear in his hand and followed the israelite to into the tent. He drove the spear through both of them He drove the spear. You know what a spear is gharbar types he drove the spear through both of them Through the israelite and into the woman's body then the plague against the israelites was stopped But those who died in the plague number 24,000 was 10 The lord said to moses fini he has son of eliezer son of eran the priest Has turned my anger away from the israelites for he was zealous as i am for my honor amongst them So that in my zeal i did not put an end to them verse 12 therefore Tell him i am making my covenant of peace with him verse 13 he and his descendants will have a covenant of a lasting priesthood Because he was zealous for the honor of his god and made atonement for the israelites The name of israel who was killed that the medianite woman Was zemri and salu the leader of the simonite family and the name of the medianite woman was put to death Was 16 the lord said to moses treat the medianites as enemies and kill them Because they treated you as enemies pause So god is stopping While there is sin that is happening all around us Right, that's what the world that we are living in is is crazy Where the sin is like it's no longer secret. It's like everything is cool one night stand is cool sexual immorality is cool Right using filthy language is cool While all of this is happening just like we read well sin is happening all around us god is saying Is there a finnehaeus? Can I see is Will a finnehaeus rise for me who's zealous for my name? And i'm sure that's exactly how he's looking at y'all is Okay, as my worshipers i use zealous for my honor as i am for my honor But check out the result of finnehaeus's action is god just doesn't bless him God comes and say i'm going to make my covenant not just to him But his entire generation Right, that is the beauty of when you say i'm not gonna do i don't you know i'm not gonna Do any idol worship but then choose god This is how he blesses us now you might i'll all ask is like hey roshan, but I don't i don't bow down to an idol or a statue I don't worship How is this applicable to me? All right Our modern day idolatry can look like money Our modern day idolatry can look like career What else a modern day idolatry can be like Uh Anything that we want whatever like sports whatever shan Yeah, we love someone more than god Self You know this uh, I studied in uh about idolatry in 2017 uh, not because I wanted to It's because god gave a nice little nudge on you know Tap on my shoulder. So I think it was 2017. Um I spent Out of the 12 months in 2017 a solid nine months I was only thinking about One guitar Right i'm a musician, you know musicians will have their dream guitars. I mean like gadgets like others who don't like instruments, you know Out of 12 months i'm i'm not i'm just i'm not proud about that But i'm just sharing this because god in it he was graceful and he was merciful to me, right? So for nine months of the 12 months in that year I researched everything about that guitar I studied a lot about acoustic. I learned a lot. That's another thing right about uh, how the guitar is designed The engineering of the guitar The wood everything about different species of wood which wood is best combination for to make a guitar I learned all of that but 24 seven Week after week after week everybody around me Would know I'm talking about that guitar. My wife was fed up Right uh And then What did that what what was I doing? I just made that guitar my idol My affection my devotion my time my energy my thinking Everything was only about that guitar But eventually someday I might get that guitar, but that's a different story right But then he just reminded me and said You've just built an idol for yourself roshan So I want to bring this class to an end and ask this question to you all Have you built an idol for yourself? Only you can recognize the idol that you have built right Only you can recognize the idol that you have Built for yourself It can be something or someone are you with me? That is fleshly worship And to say that god hates it is an understatement To say that god does not like idolatry or fleshly worship is Is nothing he absolutely cannot stand it And with that same mouth when you come and say I worship you your worship will not be acceptable, isn't it? You can play all the songs the best instrument the best equipments you have Yes, mama Yeah Yeah, yeah Are you asking if you if you did witchcraft? that I don't think that was witchcraft it was like strategically placed intentionally so that he can keep benjamin back In egypt so that he can bring jacob his father to israel. I mean to egypt So it's not witchcraft Yeah, it's it I mean it was an important come for the egyptians But I don't they didn't do any practice on it or what not so it was he just puts it in the sack So that he can keep benjamin back saying that he stole it We'll talk about that. Yeah, okay I don't want to go too much into this but there's a lot more content on this but we'll stop here but I hope you answer that question to yourself as in have you built an idol for yourself? Because only you can recognize your idols and Yeah Cool, so we'll take a break now. We'll pause the recording and we'll come back to a second session and resume from where we left I guess see you all in 10 minutes