 Hi everyone, thanks for joining me again. Good to see you. We finished chapter six in the last class. We looked at the sound requirements, sound and technology, the importance of it in the worship ministry, and some of the gadgets and equipments, names that will be helpful for you to know the different kind of microphones to the speakers, et cetera, et cetera. That's what we looked at in the last class. We are coming to the cusp of finishing the course on worship ministry in the last two chapters. So that's what we will look at today from chapter seven and chapter eight. We kind of combine it. Okay, so we will look at chapter seven that says, Developing a local community as worshipping body. Developing the local community as a worshipping body. What can we do to develop such a community or worshipping community and the importance of it and the importance of congregational worship or corporate worship. Okay, and so what we will look at this excerpt is we've studied about this, but we were just re-emphasizing. It's also taken from the foundations of APC publications. The page numbers have been mentioned over there for your reference. Okay, so for us to develop a local community to become a worshipping body, one of the first things that we need to do is encourage participation in congregational worship. Encouraging participation in congregational worship. Now before we look into the importance of congregational worship, can you very quickly tell me why is corporate worship important? Why is it important for the Church of God or the people of God to come together? Why? Because God dwells in the midst of praising people. God dwells in the midst of praising people. Yeah, Psalm 22 verse 3. Thank you. He dwells. That's where he lives. He tabernacles. That's what the word dwells, isn't it? Literally means he's pitched the tent. So he pitches a tent in the midst of these people who are praising him. Okay, and why else is it important? What have we learned from the two years of pandemic? I think it is in the period we kind of learned. It doesn't matter if you were introvert, you did miss people. It's just shaking on them. It's giving them high-fives or shaking hands playing with them. We missed that corporate, we missed that connection, isn't it? The presence. We see, you know, presence is something that's beautiful. Presence is the foundation of human connection. So because we relate to one another's presence, when we are present in person, per se, we begin to understand the significance of God's presence in our lives. So it's kind of interrelated. So presence in general is the foundation for human connection. And that's why the first thing God creates, Adam says it's not good for man to be alone. So that means there needs to be community and the idea of community begins there. And the growth of a family. And we see that Jacob and his family, they went into Egypt as a family, but they came out as a nation. God used that 400 years of oppression as an incubation period for where they would, you know, go in as a family and then come out as a nation. So, and I think that's the idea of the growth of God. And we see that towards the very end, which we will look in just a minute, is how it kind of ends with people from every nation trying to come together in singing and worship. But more about that in just a minute. But something powerful happens when we read that time and time again in the Bible, that when everybody lifted up their voice in one accord, when they played as one, you know, so the idea of unity, unison of one accord has been mentioned many times. And when that happens, when a voice is lifted as one, or when people come together in one accord, and we read that in Acts chapter 2 as well, right? It says they were gathered together in one accord. It simply means in one heart, in the oneness of heart. And so, it's just like, you know, what John mentioned, God dwells. He inhabits the praises of His people. He dwells in the midst of His people. And there's a lot of good things that happens when He dwells in the midst, isn't it? And so, yeah, I think to see that congregational worship is important is an understatement, that corporate worship is important is something to state that, right? Now, we are not trying to differentiate the importance between personal worship and corporate worship. Both are equally important. But we are focusing on congregational worship and how to develop as a community. So it's very important that we encourage participation in congregational worship. Participation is important, right? You say, come, join. You know, this is when you need to come, encouraging them. And that itself, trust me, can be very tiring. It can be very discouraging. Sometimes you'll be like, okay, Pastor, I've followed up with them so many times. So many times I keep telling them to come. They don't turn up. And I agree with you. It can be very discouraging, and tiring, exhausting, whatever you want to add to it. But it is what it is. There is no alternative. We continue to do what we have to do. We continue to encourage people and hoping and praying that they would eventually join and participate. So it's very important that we encourage people to participate. Encourage people to show up on time is another very important thing, isn't it? Thomas doubted because he was not there at the right place at the right time. So encouraging people, see, I grew up in a Christian family. And I've been surrounded by Christians all my life for the most part. You know, church and house and relatives, blah, blah, blah, all of this. And I've heard all kinds of statements of Christianies as we call it. Every Christian thing that can be said in a Christian circle, I've heard them all. One of the most famous things what we Indians are known for is we have our own standard type. We don't fall. Okay, maybe not all, but it's what it is. You know, we say Indian standard type. You know, we look at an invitation, we read 10 a.m. We know it, it says 10 a.m. But what we read it and understand it is 11 a.m. Or even 11 a.m., right? So one of the statements that I've heard, you know, growing up around Christians is the service starts at 8 o'clock. And if we leave at 8 o'clock, by the time worship finishes, by the time the sermon starts, we will reach on time. We will reach the church on time. You look at the call. I'm not making this up. I don't have to, but I have heard people make statements like this, you know. I'm not sure if any one of you can relate to what I'm saying. Or I don't know, it's just me. 8 o'clock the service starts. If we leave at 8 o'clock, you know, we will reach on time by the time the sermon starts. The irony in that statement is hilarious. But, you know, why am I saying this is we have to teach people that, you know, that 45 to 50 minutes of worship or congregation or corporate worship is the only part of the service where we are giving to one. And the remainder of the service is where we are receiving from him. Right? Sure. I mean, we receive encouragement during time of worship as well. But the idea of corporate worship, when people got together, I was glad when they said to me, come let us go to the house of the Lord. And when you read Psalm 120 to Psalm 134, those 14 Psalms, you will see a title called the Songs of Ascent. The Songs of Ascent. I'm sure there were more. And what is recorded is those 14 with the title that says Songs of Ascent means those were the songs that were being sung as people ascended the hill of the Lord. Because the temple of the Lord was on hill. And as they were climbing up, they would sing. And so there is power in congregational worship. There is power in corporate worship. So in congregational worship, we minister to God. Right? It's more vertical. We minister to God. Right? So as a congregation minister to the Lord, not with the ulterior motive of receiving a blessing, but rather with the motive of blessing him, whether he blesses us or not. Go through the passage of scriptures in the Bible. Both old and new. It came to congregational worship. You can almost see the heart of the people that they never went to worship to gain something. It was a time of celebration. It was a time of exuberance of, you know, just ghostfully crying out and saying who their God is, celebrating his faithfulness, his goodness, et cetera. Okay. So why do we need to, why is it important for us to encourage participation in congregational worship? Because in congregational worship, one, we minister to God. This was the responsibility of the priests in the Old Testament. The only responsibility of the priest was to minister unto the Lord, right? Offer up sacrifices, make sure that the oil is always there in the lamp stand, making sure that the bread is always there in the stable of show bread, making sure that there's incense on the order of incense. In doing all of that, they were ministering unto the Lord. And we know the new covenant Peter calls us as the royal priesthood. And as priests, even when you look at the priests in the Old Testament, they never went empty-handed before the Lord, right? They never went empty-handed before the Lord. That means we are encouraged to minister unto the Lord. And then we see that corporate worship brings about a sense of unity within the church. In just a moment, five minutes or so, we will read a scripture from Acts chapter 2. And we just don't understand this point a little better. So corporate worship brings about a sense of unity within the church. Right from different cultures and backgrounds and ideas, the likes and the dislikes and what have now. We need all the sight and we say, we are gathered together in the name of Jesus. And there's power in it. When we say, you know, people from different nations, different states, different backgrounds, different understanding, cultural backgrounds, etc. When all of this, when we come together and we say we love the Lord, we are gathered together in the name of Jesus, it brings a sense of unity within the church. You say, yes, we may come from different backgrounds, etc. But we are one body. We are children of God, right? So there is a sense of unity that is being birthed within the church. And the songs we sing as congregation enable us to learn, teach and reinforce spiritual truth. It's a very important point for us to remember. The songs we sing as a congregation and corporate worship enables us to learn, teach, look at the progression we learn. And that enables us to teach and reinforce spiritual truth. Remind us. Emphasize. It empowers us. Scriptures that's mentioned in your notes are Efficiency 519. We all know this in Colossians 316. It says, speaking to one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. Speaking to one another. And so we began with corporate worship as vertical, right? We minister unto the Lord. That's our first priority. And in the third point, we see that it's become horizontal. We encourage one another. I was glad when they said to me, come, let us go to the house of the Lord. So there's an involvement. There's this encouragement of participation. They say, hey, come. You know, I know Sunday is the only day you get to sleep a little extra, but it's okay. Come. Let's go. That's the beauty of it. A little word of Christ Colossians 316 says, dwell in you richly in all of wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. It's wonderful to see that it's the word of God. Which is at the core of the church erupting in the song. Right. So one of the Hebrew words for praise to erupt in spontaneous song is the healer. If you remember the healer, which means to burst out in a spontaneous song. And for us for our hearts to be able to burst out in a spontaneous song. The word of Christ, the word of God has to dwell in us richer. And so no matter what the situation or circumstances, you know what to use, what scriptures to use and make it into a song. Okay. So the songs we sing as a congregation enable us to learn, teach, reinforce spiritual truth, et cetera. And corporate worship prepares a house and provides the atmosphere for the preaching of the word. Again, in Hosea 10 verse 11, you would have heard this scripture. We've mentioned about this in praise and worship course. The emphasis is on that three words that says Judah shall plow. And some of us might wonder, okay, what are we talking about farming now? What's the big deal Judah shall plow? Why are we learning about plowing? But you get the idea or the imagery that is being painted there. Which is Judah shall plow and Jacob shall break his claws. And so Judah, which stands for praise. So as we praise what is happening is we are preparing our hearts as a church, as one body to receive from the Lord. We are tilling the land for the rains to come. Okay. So corporate worship prepares our hearts and provides the atmosphere for the preaching of the word. The word which comes from the Lord. Right. And finally, it fascinates us to express the feeling of our heart in uninhabited worship. Okay. So how do we develop a local community as a worshiping body? We need to understand that in congregational worship we minister to God. It brings about a sense of unity. It enables us to learn, teach, reinforce spiritual truth. It prepares our hearts to receive from the Lord and it allows us. It facilitates us to express the feelings of our heart in uninhabited worship. That is just letting go of everything. It's almost undignified. And the second half is how do we develop a congregation in spontaneous worship is we create and develop a culture of worship. So in the previous section, we learned the importance of it and partly how we can develop the culture of congregational worship. So here, how do we develop a similar kind of culture of worship for spontaneous worship? Okay. The four words that we need to remember is revelation, conviction, action and destiny. Now, once again, if you've gone through the foundation course, you know what we're talking about. So let's go through the revelation leads to conviction, which leads to action and which leads to destiny, which God has prepared for us. So revelation is the intellectual or spiritual awareness of what you did not have before. That's what a revelation simply means. Revealing or unveiling. We get the word veil or unveiling from the word revelation and vice versa. And so that means you are seeing something new that you have not seen before or you are aware of something now, which you were not aware of. The book of Revelation, it starts off by saying this is the revelation of Jesus Christ. This is a revelation of who he is. So that means you are going to know things about Jesus, which you did not know. And then it goes on to say to John, what you see, right. That's all it says, what you see, right. Okay. That means what is being revealed to you, go ahead and make a note of it. Okay, so revelation, it helps us to understand. If you remember this conversation between Jesus and the Samaritan woman in John chapter 4, Jesus says, you worship what you do not know. But we worship what we do know. What is he saying? That means you have no revelation of what you are worshiping. Yes. And then he makes this famous statement that we all know that Father is seeking worshipers, true worshipers, who worship in spirit and in truth. And we all are aware of that. And so it is the revelation of truth that leads us to become true worshipers. Okay, so when we go through the scripture of Isaiah chapter 6 verse 1 to 8, we all know the famous chapter. Isaiah 6, Isaiah has this incredible encounter in God's throne of this holiness and everything, right. In the year King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated high and lifted high. So there's this revelation that has happened. And the train of the soul was filling the temple. There's one translation that uses the word filling. And I like that because it's present continuous. The translations will say the train of the soul filled the temple. Which is okay. Yeah, I think it's just a personal preference. I forget which translation it says the train of the soul was filling the temple. Now, again, I know I've mentioned this, pardon me if I'm sounding redundant. But Isaiah was known later, was known as a prophet of prophets. He was not just a major prophet. He was one of his prophet who had access to the throne room of the kings. Isaiah was related to the king Uzziah who died. And so he would have access to the throne room. And so he would see the throne room of the earthly kings. Yeah, because he had access. And why is he using the language that the train of his role in those days and during the times of Isaiah. That the longer the train of the road, the greater the reign of the king. Okay, so the length of the road was displaying the greatness of the reign of the king of that type. And so Isaiah is because he has had access to the throne room of the earthly kings. And now he is seeing the throne room of God. He's using the imagery. He's using the tangible to explain the intangibles, so to speak. He's saying the train of his role was filling the temple. That means his reign was sovereign. There is no end to his reign. His reign is great. Right. And so he's having all this beautiful revelation that he's seeing the seraphim crying out. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. The whole earth is filled with his glory. Now seraphim is singular. Seraphim also means burning ones. That's what it is. Seraphim is plural. Now, we don't really know. It's possible that we immediately think that, okay, there are four seraphim, because we think of Ezekiel 1 and Revelation 4 because there were four living creatures. But Isaiah 6 doesn't really say how many seraphim, because seraphim is plural. Seraphim is seraphim. The singular of seraphim is seraphah. So when it says the seraphim cried out to each other, we know that they had six wings. Two they flew, two they covered their face, two they covered their feet. And they're literally known as the burning ones. And so Isaiah is having this incredible revelation and encounter of the throne room of God. And that revelation causes and leads him to conviction. Right? And so he's seeing this heavenly worship, you know, and how the heavenly beings are in awe of who this God is. And they're crying out to one another, holy, holy, holy. And the cause that stirs is something in Isaiah's heart. What does he say? The famous prayer, go unto me for I am a man of unclean lips. It's conviction, isn't it? And then again, you know what happens, the seraphim takes the call and then touches his lips and says that your sins have been atoned for. That is a very interesting statement which I don't want to get into because we might have spent a lot of time on it. Okay, because let's be honest, very tempting, but let's... Okay, so here's the conviction, we know what happens and this conviction will cause action to happen. Who shall I send? I will go. Here I am, sent me. You can't be convicted, we can't be convicted and call ourselves Christians and not do anything about it. Your conviction will always lead to action. I know it sounds very cool and rhyming conviction action, you know, but if you say that you are convicted, you will do something for the Lord. That is, it can simply begin by living a righteous life, a holy life, right? The conviction will cause action and your actions lead you to the destiny that God has prepared for you. He's prepared a destiny for each and every one of us. He has a plan, He has a purpose, He has a destiny for each and every one of us and it is up to us to step into the destiny. Okay, so creating and developing a culture of worship involves all of this, teach about worship in your churches, the importance of it. That causes, when you teach what is happening, is you are imparting knowledge. That means in other words, you are unveiling the topic of worship to your people. Okay, so this is what worship is and that might lead people to conviction and action and then eventually into their destiny. Okay, now how do we develop that culture of worship in our lives? Study the word, pray, exposure. Okay, study the word and pray. Two of the most fundamental things that we've heard since our childhood. Read the Bible, read the Bible, read the Bible, read the Bible. There's nothing, there's no other secret ingredient here. And then to just, to a more practical point, say, expose yourself to different artists, worship music, whatever you want to expose yourself to. And so all of that will develop that culture of worship in our lives. You know, one of the things that's helped me personally is, like I mentioned, the best investments I've made is 10 rupees. Go to OM Books and bought a book called 1000 Places. It was 10 rupees, I don't know how much it is now in India. A thousand phrases is that just you read. You know, there are, you know, it simply says, El Shaddai, I praise you, Jehovah Rafa, I praise you, Jehovah Sin, I thank you, I praise you. Jehovah Lord, my shepherd, I praise you, my provider, I praise you, I protect you, I praise you, and so on and so forth. And like that, there are thousands of you, a thousand phrases. So what is happening in those are all scriptures, isn't it? And you are allowing the scriptures, the word of God, the word of Christ to dwell in your hearts, richly. And so you never know when you have to develop any presence. So that's helped me personally and one of the ways that I like to spend my personal time. So if there are, if there's a six, if I have an hour's time, I would divide that into three sections of 20 minutes, 20 minutes of reading the word, 20 minutes of worshiping God, whatever I would say or listen to or put a worship, you know, work, music video or worship session online. And I worship along with them or I just worship along. And the last 20 minutes of praying in tongues. So that's the way I've done it. Yeah, so that's helping me. Okay, so these are the two important ways of us remembering the importance of congregational worship and how we can develop a community of worshipers. And it's very important. And that is actually leading us into the last chapter, the importance of indigenous and regional language expression. I think this is very important. The importance of ethnic worship, right? So I'll just read the excerpt in the notes. As worship ministers, it is important to understand the geographical location of the church ministry and the demographics of those whom we have been called to minister in the congregation. Simply means you just need to know where you can place where you are and what language is being used in that area, in that region, so that you can cater to them in the language that they understand. You can minister to them in the language that they understand. Why do we have translations sometimes? Is to bless the people. That's what communication is all about, isn't it? A part of it is it's not enough just you communicating but it's very important that you communicate in the language that the other person understands. So it's very important for us to understand the significance of it, the importance of it. We can't, in a rural setting, where a certain language is spoken, say for example Hindi, we cannot go to a region like that in a rural setting like that and try and do all the elevation. It simply wouldn't cut. I'm not questioning the power of God. Nothing is impossible with him. If he chooses to move, he can move. That is different. Versus the importance of us understanding the geographical location of where God has placed us. What is the importance of it? I just want to mention a few points. What is his heart for indigenous or regional languages of expression or ethnic worship? I can look at a few scriptures. Psalm 22 was 27. All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord. And all the families of the nations shall worship before you. All the families of the nations shall worship before you. Some more scripture. Psalm 86 verse 9. You can make a note of it if you want to but I'll post this in the chat section. Psalm 86 verse 9. All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name. Remember, we're just looking at God's heart for ethnic worship. You're saying all the nations you have made shall come and worship before you. It's not just English speaking nations or certain languages speaking nations. All nations. So the important of ethnic worship is that we bring glory to his name. And the other, let's move on. So his priority for ethnic worship, we look at Acts chapter 2. Now, as soon as we mentioned Acts chapter 2, one of the things that we can remember is God pouring out his spirit. That's the authority of Antichrist. All of them spoke in tongues. And one of the frequent questions that we get when we do a Holy Spirit baptism is how do we know what I'm saying? How do I know what I'm speaking in tongues? I don't know. But when you look at this passage, the answer is very clear. Let's read a few verses. Acts chapter 2 verse 8 to 11. It says, And how is it that we hear each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappodacia, Pontus and Asia. Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt, and the parts of Libya belonging to Kyrene and the visitors from Rome. Verse 11, Both the Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians, we hear them telling in our own tongues. This is very important. The mighty works of God. We forget that part all the time. Is that when they were filled with the Holy Spirit, one of the first things that God takes control over was their tongue. And Ephesians 5, 18 says, We filled with the Spirit. And one of the fruits or sons of being filled with the Spirit is a surrendered tongue. Because that's the first thing God took complete control over. And that was used to praise him. And so if anyone asks you this question, and I always say this, it's okay, this is what the scripture says. When they were filled with the Holy Spirit, when they started speaking in tongues, what they were doing is that they were praising God. They were praising, they were declaring the mighty acts of God. And in Revelation 7, 9 to 12, Revelation 7, 9 to 12, one of the last pictures, as I mentioned a little while earlier, which is recorded in the Bible, images that we get in heaven, is that all nations worship Him. Revelation 7, 9 to 12, actually says, All nations and peoples and tongues stood before the Lamb, clothed with white robes and palms in their hands, fell before the throne on their faces and worshiped God. All nations and peoples and tongues. Now, I don't know, I don't know in which language I'll be speaking when I get to heaven. I don't know if I will remember Canada or Tamil. I don't know. Maybe, maybe not. I don't have a clear answer. But the point here is that every nation, people from every nation, tribe and tongue, they worship, it seems like they've worshipped in the language that they mean. And so again, the important God's priority for ethnic worship is emphasized here. And then finally, God's purpose for ethnic worship is that we would all come together in worship and praise Him and bring glory to His name. Let's read one last scripture, Psalm 67. I'll just read a few scriptures from that Psalm here and there. Psalm 67. It says, Let the people praise Thee, O God. Let all the people praise Thee. O let the nations be glad. O let the nations be glad and sing for joy. Let the people praise Thee. O God, let all the people praise Thee. Then shall the earth yield her increase and God, even our God, shall bless us. God shall bless us and all the ends of the earth shall fear Him. And so there's a connection of worship and harvest. And so when all nations praise Him, then it says, Then shall the earth yield her increase is simply talking about harvest, yield is again a farming language which is related to a harvest. That means as we come together in worship, that means souls are being added into His kingdom. We know the Psalm that says, He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord. You see how worship leads to harvest of souls. In our context, the worship of corporate worship and ethnic worship. Okay, so, yeah, there are some practical tips mentioned in the notes for you to go through them when you can. And then, I mean, these are not the only tips that you need to follow. You can see which will work best for you in your context, in your setting and adapt to the situation of harvest. Okay, any thoughts, any questions? All right, then, there is no question. But this is the last chapter of the course. Yeah, we've concluded all the contents. We will not have lectures for the next week. Thank you for joining. I hope this course has been helpful, some sort of an eye-opener. Things that you could take away from the church, to your churches. Okay, I will post your final assignment online, so you will be able to see that. That's about it. Thank you. God bless you. Have a wonderful rest of the semester. See you guys. Bye-bye. Thank you, Master. Thank you. Bye-bye.