 Oh yes, we have covered up to John chapter 20 verse 19. So we will be resuming from John chapter 20 verse 20 onwards. But before that, we have a couple of persons who have raised their hand. So yes, you can go ahead please. You are here. Hello pastor. Yeah, I can hear you. Go ahead. Yes, yes, sorry. I was going to ask if there were actually two ascensions. I usually want ascension. I was being was recorded in the Bible. But anyway, I've actually heard some preachers state that Jesus actually showed himself and the blood, the sacrifice. He basically the work of redemption on the cross. He lie here that appeared unto God in heaven. And sometimes they refer to the scripture and psalm that said lift up your gates, lift up your heads, O ye gates and be lifted up here. But last thing don't let the king of glory come in. Who is the king of glory? The Lord who is strong and mighty. Some people attach that scripture to Christ showing up in heaven. You know, as having conquered the enemy, having gotten the key to the authority, the key of authority from the enemy, you know, won the battle basically and retrieved all that the enemy has stolen from us. So I just want clarity that was Jesus appearing unto the Father. Only after the 40 days on earth, after appearing to all the disciples and all the different people who protestified of in first Corinthians that saw him, you know, for that period of 40 days. Was it after that that he went to heaven to appear to the Father? Or was there something that happened in the realm of the spirit, you know, before he showed up physically, physically as per his resurrection basically in a new body, in an immortal body. That's just my clarification I would like to make. Yeah, I am not sure because there are, I mean, doctrinal facts involved here. And so how do we interpret this whole thing? Let's just look at these 102 verses, you know, which are here and then we'll try to grapple with this issue. But I do not have a clear answer. But first let us just look at these, you know, these two, three verses over here and then in the light of these two, three verses. Let us see if we can, you know, reach some conclusion regarding this, though of course no final conclusion is possible. But let us see what we can get out of these two, three verses. So if someone could actually read out John chapter 20, 20 to 23. Yeah. As he spoke, he showed them the words in his hand and his sight. They're filled with joy when they saw the Lord. Again, he said, peace be with you as the Father has sent me. So I am sending you. Then he breathed on them and said, receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone's sins, they're forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they're not forgiven. Okay. So it starts off by saying that, you know, he, you know, because they have not yet believed after different people. Mary Magdalene and the ladies reported and then the two men on the road to Emmaus reported and they refused to believe. So now Jesus is personally giving them assurance. He shows them his hands and his side. And now after having seen that, now they are willing to believe that the same man who was hanging on the cross is this person because they can see the piercings in his hands. They can see the piercings in his side. And so now they are willing to believe that this person is the same as the one whom they had seen on the cross, even though it looks as though his face seems to be different because they don't seem to be able to recognize him immediately. So his face seems to have changed, but the body still bears the wounds which were, you know, wounds of the crucifixion which he bore on the cross. And so coming to this important portion, 22, 23, and with that, yeah, in fact, 21, 21, 22, 23. Again, Jesus said, peace be with you. And then he gives them their great commission. As the Father has sent me, I am sending you. And with that, he breathed on them and said, receive the Holy Spirit. And then he goes on to say, if you forgive anyone since their sins are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven. So one very important thing which Jesus had told them earlier is that it is very good for you that I go away because only when I go away, can I send you the Holy Spirit. And so over here, they are being given the Holy Spirit, which seems to indicate that they was going away. Because he again seems to say the same wording to her, to Mary Magdalene. He says, do not cling to me because I have not yet ascended. So, you know, let me do that. Let me ascend to the Father. And then I know I'll come and interact with all of you. That seems to be the kind of indication. So we get the impression that there seems to have been some kind of going to the Father which has happened. And now he is coming and now he is able to release the Holy Spirit to them, which could not have been done earlier. So it is only now that he is doing this. And he had told earlier that he can only give them the Holy Spirit after he has gone. And so we would have to probably read Hebrews chapter 9 verses 11 to 15 in that light where it talks about the High Priest actually entering into the Holy of Holies, you know, with his own blood. And so maybe, I mean, again, I do not know, this is just a pure assumption. Maybe in spirit, though not bodily, in spirit, he does go to the Father and he does present the blood over there on our behalf so that we can be redeemed. And so once we have been redeemed, once he has gone over there, placed the blood in front of the Father and once that work is done, then he is able to come back and breathe upon the disciples and impart the Holy Spirit to them. Why? Because now they have been made unrighteous. The Holy Spirit cannot be given to someone who is still unclean in their sinfulness. It's impossible. The Holy Spirit can only be given to those who have been made righteous. So if we can, you know, just read out Hebrews chapter 9 verses 11 to 15. And then, you know, we can maybe talk about this a bit further if someone could read out for us Hebrews 9 11 to 15. Hebrews 9 11 to 15 says, But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent not made with hands, that is, not of this creation, he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves, but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a hypha, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Therefore, he is the mediator of a new covenant so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance. Since her death has occurred, that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. So we could say that after Jesus finishes speaking to Mary Magdalene and telling her, don't cling on to me because there's something more that needs to be done. I have to ascend to the Father. Maybe we could say that Hebrews 9, 11 to 15 happens at that time, where in spirit, though not bodily, in spirit he goes. He actually goes to the Father to complete this whole redemption process and he enters into a tabernacle not made with human hands. Because here on earth once a year the high priest would enter into the human tabernacle made by human hands. And once a year he would go inside the holy of holies and he would sprinkle the blood. But here you have Jesus going into the actual tabernacle which is in heaven and he goes over there into God's presence by his own blood. He's not going over there with the blood of animals but he's going with his own blood. Why it says in verse 12, it says to secure eternal redemption. Is he securing the internal redemption for himself? No, because in the very next verse it says, the blood of goats and bulls could not really do much sanctifying. There could be no redemption got through that. But now he has secured eternal redemption which means over here the eternal redemption is referring to the redemption which he has won for us. Earlier we were depending on bulls and goats but now he has secured for us an eternal redemption. And what has happened because of that? It says in verse 14, now our consciences are cleansed from the acts that lead to death. All the sinful acts which we have done as a result of which we should in fact end up in hell. Now we have been cleansed by this blood of these evil acts which we have done. Why so that we may serve the living God? And that is what he's urging the disciples to do. He's saying now I'm sending you out to do the work of God to serve the Lord. And it goes on to say in verse 15, for this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant. So now he has created a new covenant which he is now offering us. And this is the promised eternal inheritance. And why is this possible? Because he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant. So the disciples had committed a lot of sins under the first covenant. They had broken the laws of Moses which they were supposed to keep. And so they were held in bondage because of the crime which they had committed in breaking all of the laws of Moses. And so they were under a judgment of death. But now Jesus who has now obtained a new covenant, he sets them free by offering his blood as a ransom so that they can be set free from the punishment which they are under in the old covenant. Because now he is offering them a new covenant. And in this new covenant they are being set free so that they may serve the living God. And so now he comes to the disciples and he says to them, As the Father has sent me, I am sending you. And he breathes on them and says, receive the Holy Spirit. And immediately after that in the next verse he says, If you forgive any sins, their sins are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven. So now he is saying, you have the Holy Spirit in you. And now because you have God living in you, you have the authority of God now to take decisions in sync with God, led by his leading. Now you can declare certain people innocent and you can declare some people as being condemned for judgment based on whether they accept Jesus and based on whether they reject Jesus. So now because they have the Holy Spirit in them, they now have the divine authority of God to be able to do these things. So when we look at the doctrinal side of this passage, it does seem to indicate that there was some kind of ascension which did take place immediately after the encounter with Mary Magdalene where he has gone to the Father. He has finished the work which needs to be done and now he returns back. But bodily it's true. He only ascends 40 days later after having spoken to a whole number of people. It's all I can say. Am I 100% correct in saying this? No, I have absolutely no idea. All I'm trying to do is figure out exactly when Hebrews 9, 11 to 15 happened. And I'm also kind of looking at this fact that the Holy Spirit was breathed on them. Very clearly when Jesus said earlier it can only happen after I have ascended to the Father. So just based on those few facts, I'm presenting this assumption. But the entire truth and all of the facts I think we'll really know only when we get to heaven. So I just hope that helps. Yeah, I do not have a clear explanation beyond that. Thank you, Pastor. Yeah. So yes, like it says over there in that last verse which we read out. Now it becomes the duty of all of us the church to declare to those who are living in sin that they are under judgment and that they need to take care, that they need to repent. Otherwise they're in great danger. It is our duty now to inform them of that. So we are the ones who now have the right to declare who has been forgiven. And we have the right to declare who is now under judgment. So why are we able to do all of this? Because we have the Holy Spirit in us. And again, this is a reminder of what Jesus had already told earlier. John chapter 16 verses 7 to 11. And maybe we can read that passage to kind of wrap up this whole thing. John chapter 16 verses 7 to 11. Okay, so over here, Jesus is talking about a time when he will go away permanently. Okay, so that has not happened at this moment in this particular narrative. But earlier when John chapter 16, he was talking about a time when he would be going away permanently. And at that time he says, don't worry because the advocate will be with you. The Holy Spirit will be with you. And he is the one who will help the world to understand whether they are on the side of righteousness or whether they're on the side of sin and judgment. Because he's the one who will convict of sin, righteousness and judgment. So now after having breathed upon them the Holy Spirit, he says to them, you will now do this. If you forgive anyone sins, their sins are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven because you see now the Holy Spirit is in them. And now they can actually go ahead and speak to people about sin, righteousness and judgment. And the Holy Spirit who is backing them up will convict the people even as they speak out those words. But of course, he says in another place, do not start this entire process now itself because it's just the breathing upon them of the Holy Spirit alone is not enough. They still need to wait for another step of the Holy Spirit which will take place and then they will be fully ready to start off the commission. But right now he's just giving the initial instructions regarding that. Moving on to verses 24 to 29 where we basically have the account of Thomas. We are very familiar with this but let's just read it again. Carefully observing the reactions and responses of the disciples and Thomas and Jesus who says what, whose reaction is what and whose response is what. Let's just know if one person can read out for us. Let's observe what is being read out. Verses 24 to 29. One of the 12 disciples, Thomas, nicknamed the twin was not with the others. When Jesus came, he told him, we have seen the road. But he replied, I wouldn't believe it unless I see the meal points in his hands. Put my fingers into them and place my hand into the word in his sight. Eight days later, the disciples were together again and this time Thomas was with them. The doors were locked but suddenly as before Jesus was standing among them. Peace be with you, he said. Then he said to Thomas, put your finger here and look at my hands. Put your hand into the word in my sight. Don't be faithless any longer. Believe. My Lord and my God and Thomas exclaimed. And Jesus told him, you believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me. Okay, so everyone says a lot of bad things about Thomas. They criticize him because the man refused to believe. But then he was in the same boat as all the other disciples. They also behaved in the very same way. You have Mary Magdalene and the ladies coming and giving the report. And these are the wordings that you have over there. And there was that Mark 16. It says when they heard that Jesus, okay, Mark 16, 11, when they heard that Jesus was alive and that she had seen him, they did not believe it. Then verse 12, okay, verse 13, it says, these returned the two, you know, these are the two men from Emmaus. These returned and reported it to the rest, but they did not believe them either. And then in verse 14, it says, later Jesus appeared to the 11 as they were eating. He rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen. So he says, how stubbornly you refuse to believe even after eyewitnesses came and told you what they had seen. And you're still stubbornly holding on to your disbelief. And so he rebukes them for their lack of faith and he says that they have been stubborn in their refusal to believe. So the same thing which the other disciples did, you see Thomas also doing. So in no way is Thomas more rotten than the rest. They're all equally bad in their, you know, low level of faith. So here Thomas says to them, you know, it's nice of you to be giving me this eyewitness reports. But then I think if I see with my own eyes, he says, unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, then I will believe I don't, you know, really care for your eyewitness reports. And he has to wait. So he continues waiting for another entire week. And then after one week, then Jesus comes to him and Jesus says, put your finger here. See my hands, reach out your hand and put it into my side. And then Thomas finally believes and then Jesus makes this remarkable statement. He says, because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. So none of us have, you know, inserted our hand into his side and looked at the spear wound over there. None of us have actually physically seen his resurrected hands, which still bear the marks of the crucifixion. None of us have seen that none of us have touched it. And still we believe we believe just on the basis of those eyewitness reports which have been recorded in the scriptures. And God says people who are willing to believe this eyewitness reports without actually having seen with their own eyes and heard with their own ears. Such people are indeed blessed. And so we have a special blessing resting upon us because even though we didn't get the privilege which they did of actually putting their hand over there and touching and seeing. We still have chosen to believe that he did die and that he indeed did rise. And because of that, there is a special blessing that rests upon all of us, you know, who are putting our faith in him. And yeah, then we come to verses 30 and 31. If someone could read out those two verses please. The disciples saw Jesus do many other miracle signs in addition to the ones recorded in this book. But these are written so that he will continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. And by reading him, he will have life in the color of his name. Yeah, so immediately after talking about, you know, how blessed are the people who believe even though they have not seen. Then John goes on to say Jesus performed many other signs, but those are not recorded here. But these particular incidents have been recorded here. Why? Because that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. And that by believing you may have life in his name. So even though we have not personally seen these things with our eyes, we are choosing to believe the eyewitness reports which have been placed in the Bible. And so if we do that, it says we will have life in his name. So these records have been placed in the four Gospels, you know, the record of the events which took place have been collected and placed in the Gospels. So that all of us who read can choose to believe and we will choose not to be like Thomas and the other disciples who only believed after they got to touch and see with their own hands and eyes. So we are not like that. We have chosen to believe the eyewitness reports which have been given. So let's move on to John chapter 21 and if possible we can cover the entire thing. Let's see how it goes. So John chapter 21 versus 1, 2 and 3 if someone could read out. So in some of the versions it will say Sea of Tiberius rather than Sea of Galilee, but they both are basically talking about the same place. The Greek name for the Sea of Galilee is Sea of Tiberius and this is basically the place where you had the 5000 being fed. And why is that significant? Because now Jesus again feeds the disciples with fish. So in the same way the earlier bunch of 5000 had been fed with bread and fish. Now over here on the beach you have the disciples also being fed by Jesus with bread and fish. So that's just the basic connection that you see and it talks about Nathaniel being from Canna in Galilee. So he had said what good can come out of Nazareth. So maybe the people of Canna were better off financially education wise and so maybe they felt that Canna was a better place to be in rather than Nazareth because Nazareth probably was a more poorer place where they would not have had much education and nor would they have much finances. So let's get into this story which is given here. We can maybe just look at verses 4 to 6 first if someone could read out verses 4 to 6. So here in Asha's version verse 5 she says fellows do you have any food? But actually the word over there is literally children. Paidia is the Greek word that is used over there which literally means children. Do you have any food? And of course they say no and then he says cast the net on the right side of the boat. Now the way they did fishing back then the net it seems was always cast on the left side. I'm not sure why but maybe that's just the procedure which they followed. So here Jesus is asking them to do something different. So rather than just casting the net on the left side the way they generally do he says do it on the opposite side and they're actually able to get a lot of fish. And when that happens immediately Peter realizes that this person who is standing there even though he does not look the way Jesus looked earlier because now he is different in appearance he immediately realizes that this is the Lord. And so he takes off his coat and he gets into the water and then the rest of them they follow by boat and they come to the land. And it's written over there in verse 11 they caught 153 fish and although there were so many the net was not broken. So in the earlier miracle that had taken place that would be in Luke chapter 5. When the fish are caught there are so many fish that the nets begin to break. But over here there's an additional miracle not only do they catch a lot of fish but the net does not even get damaged. So we see an additional miracle being performed over here. And so they realize that this is indeed Jesus who is doing this. Now it's interesting because when Jesus actually addresses them and he says children do you have any food? They do not recognize him. So which means when he appeared to them in the room when they were all together on those two three occasions when he appears to them he must have looked different. And now he looks different again. So I mean I don't know what this means. I have no clue what this means regarding resurrected bodies. Whether a person can choose to look different on different occasions and why would a person want to do that? I mean I have no ideas. But it looks like he seems to be looking different every time he meets. So even if they meet him a second time they don't recognize him because he seems to be different from the way he looked the first time. It's what comes through over here. So here and we see the same thing mentioned even in Mark chapter 16 verse 12 where it says afterward Jesus appeared in a different form to two of them. So maybe a resurrected body is one where you can change your appearance. So yeah if you look throughout the book of John there are many many many occasions where you have Jesus eating with people. And there's a lot of eating going on. Not just in the book of John but even in the other gospels. And you know we who are from the modern world may wonder why there is so much emphasis on all this eating. But for them you see in their culture the main way you express fellowship togetherness, friendship and love is through eating. Where people get together they share their food with one another and that is how fellowship is expressed. That is how friendship is expressed. So if someone invites you to their home it means that they're extending a hand of fellowship. They're saying from now on you're one of us. We consider you as part of our community. So in their culture eating had a lot of significance. And so we see Jesus very happily mingling with different kinds of people and eating with them because he's making a point. He's saying you see I'm identifying with you. I'm willing to be part of your community. I'm not considering myself superior to you and keeping myself apart from you. Rather I'm becoming one with all of you by eating with you. So on different occasions Jesus does that even with the people who have been labelled as sinners. The ones who are not following all the pharisec rituals and all of that ceremonial purity rituals. He even eats with them to show that he is willing to have fellowship with them and is willing to consider himself part of their community. So here we again see Jesus eating with his disciples and even though there are people who have betrayed him during the crucifixion time. He does not hold that against them and he is re-establishing his friendship with them. And so we see all of them sitting over here eating together. And then of course we come to this very significant passage where you have the conversation taking place between Jesus and Peter. So if maybe we could read out, okay we still have time. We can do this. If someone could read out just verse 15, let's look at that one verse and then we'll look at the next two verses. So if someone could just read out 15 alone please. Yeah, so here Jesus asks the question, do you love me more than these? And so it most probably refers to the whole phishing and the career which Simon Peter had chosen for himself. It just basically means I mean do you love me more than your work, the things which occupy your time, the material things that you pursue on a day to day basis. Do you love me more than all of these? Now when these disciples went fishing that day, I don't think they were doing anything sinful because that's basically how they earned their living and supported themselves. And it was always a godly thing to earn one's living and not just depending on other people for charity. So I think whenever possible these disciples would go fishing, they would earn money and so I don't think they were doing anything evil by going fishing because that's basically how they earned their livelihood. They did not believe in living like lazy people who just depended on others for money and provision. So here Jesus is asking, it's true that you would be doing all of these things, you have to sustain yourself but do you love me more than all of these? Because we see that even with Paul, right? Paul was a tent maker. He had learnt the skill of making tents which I think must have involved a lot of processes because you would have to dye the material, you should know how to put the material together and then afterwards you would stitch it and a lot of things involved. So that's a skill which he had learnt and on the side he had taught himself the scriptures, he had trained under Gamalyal. So all of that was there, the entire spiritual side of his life was going on. But to earn his livelihood on a day to day basis, he had learnt tent making. In the same way these guys, they didn't really know much about tent making but they were fishermen and so they too had a profession of their own and they were supporting themselves and were working hard, not being lazy, not being dependent on others. So all Jesus is saying is, do you love me more than these things? Because priorities matter. We must sustain ourselves, we must do the work which has been given to us. Depending on the skills that God has given us, we will either work in the secular field or maybe we would work in ministry but when it comes to spiritual things, we are all supposed to be involved in ministry work to some extent or the other. It's just that we may not be in full-time work. So here Jesus asks, do you love me more than these and that's a question which he is posing to all of us, whether we are in secular ministry or whether we are in full-time ministry. What are our priorities? Do the kingdom matters come first or do other things come first? We see that even in the Old Testament where Nehemiah was a secular officer. He worked as a cup bearer in Persia and then later when he comes to Jerusalem, he works as a governor. So he had secular responsibilities. He was not in full-time ministry but where was his heart? When he hears about Jerusalem, he just sits down and he cries. He doesn't just cry. He begins to fast and pray. He doesn't just begin to fast and pray. He says, I need to personally do something about this and he approaches the king about it. So a secular man, where does his heart lie? Nehemiah's heart. He is completely devoted to the things of God and so over here we need to take this verse in that sense where Jesus is asking, do you love me more than these, all of these other things which are necessary for life? But what are your priorities? Will you be willing to place me first? Because if you are willing to do that, there are some things that I want you to do and Jesus goes on to say, you know, feed my lambs. So that's the point that Jesus makes over here and like many commentaries will point out, when Jesus asks the question, do you love me? He uses the word agape. So do you agapao me is what he asks and Peter replies and he says, Lord, you know that I love you. You know that I filayo you. So the word which Peter uses is the word filayo. Agape is one form of love and generally people say that it's the unconditional love where you love a person just for themselves irrespective of whether they're achieving something or not, whether they have status or not, whether they are pleasing you or not. You just love them because you love them because they are worth loving. You just care about them and so you love them. So it's a kind of unconditional love, agape. Filayo on the other hand is expressed more in the sense of friendship. It is closeness to someone where you share things with them where you consider them like family. So it's a family friendship kind of love. And so here when Jesus says, do you love me more than the all of these other things, you know, you're fishing and your material needs and all of that. He says, Lord, you know that I filayo you. So he is saying, Lord, you know I am your friend. So obviously Lord, you come first. You're my friend. I love you. So obviously my priorities are going to be first priority is going to be you. And Jesus is pleased with that answer and Jesus says to him, feed my lambs. We look further into this, of course. I will not just leave it at this because a lot of discussion goes on regarding these phrases. But just to touch upon something else before we move on. You know, in Ezekiel chapter 34 is where Jesus talks about all these unfaithful shepherds who don't care about the sheep. And there are some very, very specific things that he says. So, you know, if you and I are serious about putting God first and we really want to please the Lord and he's asking us, do you love me more than all of these other things which you have going on in your life? And if we are really serious about that, we need to know in what way we should be serving God and serving God's people. Doesn't matter whether we're in full-time ministry or whether we're in the secular field. We are all expected to serve the Lord and serve the church. By church I mean literally the people, the people of God. Because, you know, we are supposed to be servants, right? That's what Jesus says. He says, you know, if I, your master, am willing to serve, then you must be willing to serve each other. So this is not a verse which applies only to full-time ministers. It applies to all believers. If we consider Jesus our master, automatically we are servants and we are meant to serve each other. Now Ezekiel 34 talks very beautifully about these false shepherds and what a true shepherd should be like. So because in one sense, all of us are meant to be serving each other. So what kind of shepherds are we supposed to be? You know, so if we can very quickly go to Ezekiel 34 and if someone could read out verses 1 to 4, we will learn some very important things about how exactly do you go about feeding lambs and sheep. Because feeding lambs and sheep just doesn't mean, you know, standing on the pulpit and sharing the word of God. There's a lot more involved in this commandment, feed my lambs, feed my sheep. There's a whole bunch of stuff involved. So let's just look at that and then we'll get back to the rest of the passage and look at all the things which are there. Okay, yeah, we are kind of running out of time. But yes, if someone could read out Ezekiel 34, 1 to 4. And the word of the Lord came to me saying, Son of man, prophecy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophecy and say to them, Thus says the Lord God to the shepherds. Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves. Should not the shepherds feed the flocks. You eat the fat and clothe yourself with the wool. You slaughter the fatlings, but you do not feed the flock. The weak you are not strengthened. No, have you healed those who were sick. No bound up the broken. No brought back what is driven away. No sought what was lost. But with forge and cruelty, you have ruled them. Okay, so here, you know, Yahweh is talking about the false shepherds who are very, very busy feeding themselves. It says, woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves. Rather than feeding themselves, you know, he says, should not the shepherds feed the flocks. You see, the whole point is you should be feeding the flocks, not too busy feeding yourself. And again, he says, you eat the fat and clothe yourselves. And he says at the end of verse 3, but you do not feed the flock. So in what way are these flocks to be fed? The weak you have not strengthened. So those who are weak, we are meant to reach out to them and strengthen them. It may be weakness in the sense that they have gone through terrible times and they need someone to comfort them to, you know, help them get back on their feet. Or it could mean spiritual weakness where someone has fallen and, you know, which is why, where is it? Can't remember in one of the epistels where it says, you know, when you see someone who has fallen away, you know, reach out to them, help them to come back to the Lord. But be careful that you are not tempted in the same way that they have been tempted, you know, and so we are meant to strengthen those who are weak. That is one way in which we feed the lambs. Second, those who are sick, have you healed them? Now, of course, this can refer to physical healing where you are supposed to pray over people and, you know, bring deliverance for them. It could also refer to people who are spiritually sick and who would need, you know, words of advice and counsel so that they can come out of whatever spiritual weaknesses which are holding them back. It also says, next, you nor have you healed those who were sick nor bound up the broken. So those who are broken, you're meant to restore them nor brought back what was driven away. There are some who have been driven away from the church, from the fold because of unpleasant things which have been done to them. And so it becomes our duty to bring them back into the fold and then it says, nor sought what was lost. So have we gone after those who are lost? Are we bringing them to the Lord? Are we, you know, giving them information about what Jesus can do for them in their lives? So all of these things we are meant to be doing. If we are serious, if we love Jesus more than all of the other things in our lives. Yes, we have Brother Christopher, please go ahead. Yes, my question, Pastor, is about John 21, 15. So Jesus is asking Peter, you know, do you love me? And he's referring to Agape Love. And Peter responds back, as you mentioned, yes, you know, I love you and that, but he's actually coming from a filial type of love, which is, you know, the brotherly love. So I just wanted to ask a question with regards to Agape Love. I mean, as human beings, are we capable of Agape Love? Just really a Godly love. That's the question I had. Yeah, there are verses where we are commanded to love with an Agape Love, love God with an Agape Love. So yes, that command was given to us because we are capable of loving with an Agape Love. And Filio Love is not a failure kind of love because that's the love with which the father loves the son in some verses where it very clearly says that the father filio the son. And so it is most definitely not, and it's a very, very wrong categorization of love. So we would be looking at that entire aspect, which is why I was not very sure whether I could deal with that. So I just dealt with the first verse, verse 15, where we just looked at the missional aspect of what Jesus is trying to say. Okay, and I just wanted to leave it at that because our next class, we can get into the rest of the passage and really look at what Jesus is saying. And if you notice, the first time that Jesus asks him about whether he loves, he very confidently replies, you know, I'm your friend, you know, I filial you, you. You're my friend. And so you are my first priority. And Jesus says to him, yes, yes, feed my lambs. And then the second time also Jesus says something similar, but he uses a different phrase at the end. The commandment that is given is slightly different over there. And then the third time when he says it, that is when Peter gets hurt. So by that time, Peter kind of understands what is being said. And there's a whole lot of stuff going on over there. And I did not want to touch upon that simply because we would not have the time to get into the details. So we will look at all of this in great detail in next class. So just to kind of, you know, conclude, yes, there are verses which we will be looking at next week where we are very clearly told to Agapao. That's the verb that is used to Agapao the Lord. So we are capable of loving God with an Agape love. And there are places where Phileo is used about the relationship of the father with the son and his relationship with us. So Phileo is in no way an inferior form of love. It's just another form, another type of love. So we will look at all of these verses and we will also understand why Peter felt hurt and because you see when they were speaking all of this in their language, they would have caught the words that are being used so easily. Here in our English, everything gets wrapped up in just common words and the actual translation doesn't come out. So if we had been sitting over there with Jesus, I know in that group and when he used those specific words, we would have caught what was being said, but we could not do that now simply because we are not familiar with their culture. So we will look at what exactly was said, what were the words which were used, what was the significance behind the words which were used and finally ultimately what was Jesus trying to say. So all of that we will look into next class and we will also get into an intro of the epistels. 1st John, 2nd John, 3rd John or at least maybe an intro of 1st John alone and then maybe later on we can do an intro of the 2nd and 3rd epistels of John. So those are the things that we would be covering next week. So for now, let's just close with a word of prayer. Lord, we just thank you so much for all the things that we could learn from your scripture today. Thank you, Lord, that we have a chance to prove our friendship to you just like Peter and really put your priorities first. What concerns your heart first? Lord, after you breathed upon the disciples and imparted the Holy Spirit to them, the very first thing that you said to them was that they should do the work of the Father. You wanted them to serve the Father and so, Lord, we pray that we would have hearts like Peter which are willing to say, Lord, you are our friend. You are our first priority and we want to love you. We want to serve you and we want to place your things first in our lives. Help us a lot to have that same attitude which these early disciples did. And Lord, we thank you for all the other learnings. We thank you a lot for Mary Magdalene who would not just walk away but stood over there weeping because she was so broken and because of that brokenness, Lord, most probably you chose to appear to her first. Lord, you look at our hearts more than anything. Help us a lot to have right heart attitudes so that you will be drawn to us so that you will want to do things for us so that, Lord, we can enjoy you more and more. Help us a lot in all of our thoughts, in all of our attitudes, in all of our words and all of our deeds. Thank you, Lord. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Thank you so much for participating in the class and, of course, we'll meet again next class.