All right, good morning everyone. Welcome to BC 308. Thank you for joining the class today. Let's pray and get started. Somebody could lead us in prayer please and then we'll start. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, I come to you under the name of Jesus. I thank you for this day. Thank you for the class we are about to have. God, we thank you for being a God who speaks and you have spoken to us about the later days and so that God, we could prepare ourselves. We could preach the gospel much more boldly. We can understand the need behind it. But I pray that as we learn about the intense and the revelation of God, I pray that you will help us to understand the things as Pastor Ashish teaches that deeper truths in the Bible help us to open our mind and heart and listen to it and be fully convinced in the truth so that we can shine for your kingdom. Give us a good Wi-Fi connection throughout the session and bless all my classmates. We thank you for Pastor Ashish. We give you all the glory and honor in Jesus name I pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you. All right. Today, our plan is to start our study through the book of Revelation. But before we go into the book of Revelation, any questions on Daniel, the chapters that we have seen, any questions that have come to your mind? You're welcome to ask or we'll just go ahead and start with Revelation. All right. Let's just get started with the book of Revelation. And of course, anytime, anytime you have questions on Daniel or Revelation or any of the things we're talking, you're welcome to ask. So I have put out the lecture notes for what we're going to be doing in Revelation. Plus, I've also shared two PDF books, one by John Woolwood and the other one by Jack Van Impe. Both these people are scholars, people who have done a lot of work in studying Revelation. Daniel, Jack Van Impe has delayed Dr. Jack Van Impe. I mean, he's passed on to be with the Lord, but he during his ministry spent, I think almost 60 years, if I'm not mistaken, on teaching on the end time. So it means it is a lifetime Jack Van Impe, Dr. Jack Van Impe spent a lifetime of ministry focused on the end times Bible prophecy. So he has been a well-known authority on these topics. So if you have time, again, these are detailed books, so if you have time, you're welcome to read it. But hopefully as we go through verse power through Revelation, we will learn a lot of things. So let me let's just begin by giving an introduction to the book of Revelation. So we know that the apostle John, who was the last living apostle of the 12, he was quite elderly, so maybe 80 plus years, and he had been banished to the island of Patmos, which is just off the west coast of Turkey, just a little away from Turkey, not too far from the sea port town of Ephesians. So it's been sent away there, basically thinking that, you know, if we move this leader of the church away from the church, you know, things would just die out. But he was on the island of Patmos. And this was around, you know, 80, 90, around 80, 95, somewhere around that time. So we're coming close to the end of the first century. And John, the Lord Jesus gives John this amazing revelation of what is going to come, which then he was instructed to write and John wrote everything down for us to read. So we are talking about almost, you know, a difference of about five to 600 years from Daniel to John. So Daniel was about 500 some years before Jesus, when that revelation was given to Daniel, he wrote it down. Here we come, John is almost 100 years into the other side of the cross, coming to the end of the first century. And John is being given a revelation of the end time. So it's a gap of about 600 years, almost 600 years between these two men in the revelation given to them. Now, some things to keep in mind as we go through the book of Revelation. Okay, let me just share the PDF so you can also see it as I speak. Some things that we need to keep in mind as we study the book of Revelation is there are things in the book of Revelation which can be taken literally. And there are things that are figurative. That means there is a prophetic image being given just like how we saw in the book of Daniel. So for example, just one example, the number seven. There are times when we have to take the number seven literally, for example, seven churches. Yeah, those were seven churches. So you take the number seven literally, seven churches, they were there. We have the names of the seven churches, we have their locations. So they were literally seven churches. Or as God reveals about the future, there are going to be three sets of seven judgments, seven seals, seven trumpets and seven bowls. So here the number seven is literally actually seven seals, seven trumpets, seven boats. So in this case, seven is taken literally. But there are times in the book of Revelation where the number seven must be taken figuratively. Now what is the meaning of the number seven, meaning in prophetic language, what does seven represent? And again, we're not getting into numerology.  But in biblical prophetic language, seven means perfection or completeness. The reason we see that is when we see in the Bible, seven days in a week, that makes one complete week, perfect, complete week. God works on six days, he rests on the seventh. There are seven primary feasts for the people in nature. We see seven primary colors that gives completeness to everything that is about light and color, seven. So using that, we say seven represents perfection or completeness. So we, in certain cases, we have to interpret the number seven as prophetic imagery. So examples, when there are seven spirits, when the Bible talks about seven spirits of God, then so we can't say there are seven Holy Spirits. Now, some, you know, people have preached like that and they've made a mess of things because the Bible says there's only one Holy Spirit, one God, one Holy Spirit. There are not seven spirits. So in this case where if taking that literally contradicts the rest of the Bible or leads into something that's absurd, then we shouldn't take it literally. We should then take it as figurative. So seven spirits cannot be taken literally because it contradicts scripture. There's only one Holy Spirit and it leads to some absurd theology which has happened when people preach that. So we should avoid it and say, hey, yeah, seven is figurative. We're talking about the perfection, completeness of God or the seven attributes of the spirit of God, which we see in Isaiah 11 verse two. You know, he's a spirit of the Lord, wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge and the fear of the Lord, seven attributes. Similarly, when we see talking about Jesus having seven eyes, that's absurd, right? It's not like, but what's he talking about? It's representing omniscience. Eyes means knowledge, what you see, omniscience, omnipresence, he sees everywhere.  So that's when we use seven as to mean to be figurative, not literal, right? So that's one guiding principle we're going to use as we go through the book of Revelation. And we will see other things like when we come to Revelation 12, it talks about the woman. It talks about 12 stars. It talks about the man child. How do we interpret that? Well, you're given in the context and we will look at it. You cross-reference what the Bible said in the Old Testament about Joseph having a dream and who is the man child? So through deduction and through comparison, we can arrive at what this all means, because when it says the man child will rule the nations with a rod of iron, or that language is only used for one person, it's Jesus. He's the one who's going to rule the nations with a rod of iron. So the man child is Jesus. Then who was the woman? Jesus came out of the nation of Israel. So the woman cannot represent the church because the church didn't give birth to Jesus. It was the Israel, the nation of Israel that Jesus came out of. The other thing is the sun, the moon, the eleven stars. Oh, where do we see that? Oh, we see it in the Old Testament. We see Joseph having a dream and his father and mother, son and moon, the twelve stars including him, and his brothers are so clear. Therefore, Revelation 12 is talking about Israel as a nation, and the stars representing the twelve sons of Jacob. So the woman in Revelation 12 definitely represents Israel. The man child represents Jesus. So we use prophetic imagery plus simple deduction to arrive at the interpretation of what that image means. Some people say, oh, the woman represents the church. Then you say, look, look, look, doesn't match, doesn't match. First, the prophetic image doesn't match. The prophetic image is used only of Israel. Second, the deduction. Jesus never came from the woman from the church. He came from Israel. It's Jesus who raised up the church. Not the church give birth to Jesus. So that deduction also makes it very clear that the woman represents Israel, man child represents Jesus. So I'm just giving you some idea here. We'll be looking at all of this in detail. So as we go through the book of Revelation, keep these things in mind. We interpret what we're reading in Revelation in the light of the rest of Scripture. That's another guiding principle. So we have studied Daniel. What we will see when we come into Revelation is as we progress in the book of Revelation, we begin to see some references to the book of Daniel, especially when you come to chapter 11, chapter 12, chapter 13, references to the book of Daniel. Chapter 11, we begin to read about the temple of God being desecrated. So hey, that sounds very similar to what we read in Daniel. Daniel mentioned that the temple of God will be desecrated. We're seeing it here, Revelation 11, Revelation 12. The saints are being persecuted. Hey, we read that in Daniel that this man is going to make war against the saints. Or we're seeing it here, Revelation 13. We read about 10 kings and from there this Antichrist is coming. Let's look back to Daniel. We have studied that in Daniel. So there is that correlation that we can make between Revelation and Daniel. And therefore we are able to interpret Revelation in the light of what we have seen in Daniel. So interpreting Scripture in the light of the rest of Scripture. The other thing I want us to keep in mind is that there are some things we're going to read in the book of Revelation, which is open to interpretation. You say, why do you, what do you mean? That means, so keep, think, already imagine this. Daniel is living around 550, 600 BC. God is showing him things that is going to happen more than 2,500 years into the future. Daniel has no context of those things. So try to imagine this. If Daniel saw an airplane, what would he write down? He will not use language like, oh, there is a big airplane flying. No, to Daniel was living around 600 BC. If God is showing him things, you know, about 2,500 years into the future. You see an airplane. The closest, the context he has is that looks like a big bird is making a lot of noise. And he will write something like that. You know, I see a very big bird, big nose, big, it's got 2 wings on the side. It's got a tail pointing into heaven. And there are other 2 other wings coming from the tail that's going into heaven. Something like that he'll write. To the best that he can, he's going to describe that in the language he has. He will not use the word airplane. He won't have any of those. If God shows Daniel a lot of destruction happening because of nuclear bombs and missiles happening. What will he write? He will say, I'm seeing things flying in the sky. If he sees hundreds of missiles flying, what will he write? He will not use the word missiles. He has no idea. I see lots of things flying. There is smoke coming out from the tail. They have a pointed head or something you would say. And they're going very fast. They're moving very swiftly. And wherever they land, there is dust and smoke and it's sulfur. And he will use colors that he can, you know, language he talks about the color. That's all he will write. So we have to keep that in mind that God is showing Daniel things are going to happen way in the future. But Daniel has no context for it. He can only put it in the language that he has. And those kinds of things when we read, it's open to interpretation because we don't know what God actually showed Daniel. We don't know what God actually showed. We don't know what Daniel actually saw. He only captured it to the best he could in the words and the language he had and in the context he had. And so we will be reading about some of those things as we journey through Revelation. And those kinds of things are open to interpretation, meaning because we don't know exactly what God showed Daniel, what he saw. So we don't fight about it. What we do is we say, okay, this is what he saw. This is what he wrote. And it could be because we're just saying it could be because we don't 100% sure what God actually showed him. So we say in our understanding, maybe these were drones flying in the sky. Maybe these were intercontinental ballistic missiles that were flying in the sky. Or maybe these were nuclear weapons that are causing this kind of what Daniel is saying. Or then Daniel says, I see a mountain that is smoking. Well, maybe it was a volcano erupting. Daniel doesn't have the language of writing volcanoes. He will just say, I saw a mountain that is full of smoke coming out. Maybe God was showing him eruptions of volcanoes during our time. But Daniel didn't have language for volcanoes. So he said, I saw mountains that were smoking up. Coming out smoke was coming out of those mountains. That's what he will say. So that's subject to interpretation. It's open to interpretation. So we will say, well, it's probably this. And keep that in mind. We don't have to fight about it. We'll just say it's probably that. And leave it at that. You're not going to argue on those terms. And the last point that I want to say is that our approach to studying the book of Daniel is the way God told Daniel how he was giving it in Revelation 119. We'll start reading Revelation 1. But in Revelation 119, God tells Daniel, write the things which you have seen, things which are, and things which will take place. Sorry. John, thank you. John, so God is telling John. John, so what was I saying? I'm saying Daniel, Daniel, Daniel. It's John. I changed my thinking now to John. So John wrote whatever he saw in the language that he had. So please correct the last five minutes that I was talking about Daniel. Please correct that I was, it should be John. Anyway, yeah. So John, when he was writing the book of Revelation, which was around 1819, God was showing him things about 2000 years into the future. Sorry, I need to correct myself. God was showing John things 2000 years into the future. So John could only write it in the context that he had. He had no idea about missiles and drones and nuclear weapons and those kinds of things, which we are aware of today. So going to this next point, God, the Lord Jesus tells John, write the things that you have seen, the things which are, things which will take place. So the book of Revelation is broken and is separated into these three things, things which you have seen. Revelation 1, John sees a vision of the Lord Jesus and how he's looking at the churches, things that you've seen. Things which are Revelation chapters 1 and 2, the seven churches existing at that time. Things which will take place. Revelation chapter 4 verse 1 all the way on is things which will take place into the future. So when we read chapter 4 verse 1 on, keep in mind, everything from chapter 4 verse 1 is things which will take place. That means it's in the future. It was not the present in John's time. It was in things like the Lord that had already happened. No, it's in the future. So it's something yet to be fulfilled. And when we read that, we will take it as God gave to John things sequentially in the sequence that they're going to unfold. But while doing that, there are times when there's a flashback Example, Revelation 12 talks about when the dragon was cast out of heaven and he took a third of the stars with him. So it's a flashback. At some point in the past, this old serpent Satan was cast out of heaven and he took a third of the angels with him. So that already happened. Although it's being mentioned in Revelation 12 flashback. Then there are some things which are parenthetical in nature. That means the Lord Jesus is revealing a sequence of events to John. Then there's a pause and saying, Okay, John, he's talking to John specifically. So that's a pause, a parenthetical. John, I'm talking to you. So Revelation 10, there's a pause. God tells John, John, okay, eat this book. So it's a pause and say, John, you eat this book. John eats the book. It's sweet in his mouth. It's very bitter in his stomach. And the angel says, okay, John, you have to prophesy a lot more. Meaning there's more that I'm going to show you. So chapter 10, Revelation 10 is parenthetical. It's a pause. It's just the Lord dealing with John. And then there are some things which are stated in sequence, but it's extended till the end. Meaning Revelation 11, we need about two witnesses, prophets. And in one passage, three and a half years of the ministry is described, start to finish. So you don't find them repeated later on. Just only in Revelation 11. So there will be two witnesses, they will be on the earth and they'll be doing this and they'll do it for three and a half years. That means from that till the end, it's all described in one passage. So it's a fast forward in one passage. So while we say that everything is given to us sequentially, just keep in mind that while those things are being said sequentially, there are places where there is a flashback, there is a pause, or there's a fast forward in that passage itself. And we will point that out. But otherwise, the rest of it, it is going to take it all sequentially. It's given to us as it unfolds. So with that in mind, we will get into it. This chart, which you have seen in a second year, puts the chapter of Revelation. Revelation chapter is 1, 2 and 3. It's here in the church age. That after takes place, Revelation chapter 4 all the way till the end, Revelation 20. Well, end of Revelation 19, Revelation 20 gives us about the Millennium and brings us till the end of the Millennium, which is the statewide throne judgment. And then Revelation 21 and 22, New Heavens and the New World. So book of Revelation, you can map it out like that in relation to the sequence of events that we know about the end times. Yeah, so I said all that. Okay, so any questions before we start reading Revelation chapter 1? Any questions so far? And just the introduction. Yes, Divya, please go ahead. Thank you, Buster. I just wanted to know when you said Dali Shrin is mostly sequential. So is it right to say it is... Can you explain more on that? And is it right to say it's in a chronological order? Yes, so we can say it's given to us chronologically. That means as events would play out in time. So if you look at the timeline, that means it's happening chronologically. One after the other or in a sequence, one after the other, as it would happen in that seven-year period. So literally Revelation 4-1 till the end of Revelation 19 is literally seven years. And we will see Revelation 11-1 is the end of the first three and a half years and the start of the second three and a half years. It's a sequence or chronological record of a statement of events in that seven-year period. And then Revelation... End of Revelation 19 is Battle of Armageddon. Revelation 20 on to the end of 20, chapter 20 is basically 1,000 years. What will happen in that millennium? 21 and 22 is New Heavens in the New World. So it's given to us chronologically with the understanding that at some points there will be a little flashback or there will be a little pause or there will be a little fast forward. But otherwise, and we will point out with those particular instances, but otherwise it's all given to us sequentially. This is how it's going to happen chronologically, one after the other. It's going to happen in time. Thank you. Yes, Sifina, your question. So when we say it's pattern-thetical in nature, do we really like... those things we don't have to take it into context because God is just talking to John. Is that what we mean? We can neglect it. Yeah, so when you say pattern-thetical or a pause, it means that is not part of what is going to happen. It was just God talking to John saying, hello John and he's having a conversation with John. So that happens in between while all this is happening. While all this is happening, by God is revealing things that are going to come. In the middle, he says, John, I'm just having a word with you. That's chapter 10. So chapter 10 is not about what is going to happen or what anything has nothing to do with the end times in that sense. It's more of what God is dealing with John saying, the angel says, John, I want you to eat this book because there's more things to prophesy. Similarly, you see in chapter 14, a little bit, God is having a conversation with John. He says, John, there are going to be four angels. And then, of course, he talks about the four angels, which will happen at that time, in Revelation 14. Okay, fine. So let's get started. Let's start reading verse by verse. We'll read Revelation chapter 1. And then we will take things forward from here. So let's see. Revelation, let's just read the first three verses. Revelation chapter 1 verses 1, 2, and 3. So we could read that. Revelation chapter 1 verses 1 to 3. The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to him to show his servants things which must shortly take place. And he sent angels and signified it by his angel to his servant, John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ and all things that he saw. Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the word of this prophecy and keep those things which are written in it for the timeless name. Okay, so this is the introduction to this book, the entire book of Revelation. And John is saying, this was given by the Lord Jesus Christ, the revelation of Jesus Christ. It was given by the Lord and it's an unveiling that the Lord Jesus gave John about things which must shortly take place. Very interesting. Shortly, but now it's only 2,000 years. So keep in mind, this shortly has to do with his reference of time, not our reference. For our reference, 2,000 years, oh, that's a long time. But for the Lord, we know 1,000 years is like a day. So it's shortly from his perspective because he's the one giving it to John, right? The revelation of Jesus, which the Lord gave of things which must shortly take place. He said and signified by his angel to his servant John. Now that word angel, just to keep this in mind that the Greek word angelos, that angel, it's the same word. It simply means messenger, somebody's carrying a message. But that word angelos is used sometimes to refer to angelic beings when they bring messages from God and so on. It's also used to talk about human beings as messengers of God. So depending on the context, we have to determine that angel is referring to an angelic being or angel is referring to a human being. So in some places, the Bible translators themselves will use the word messengers of the church. That means they recognize this obviously is referring to messengers, human messengers, human beings. In some places where they leave it as angel, they are referring to an angelic being. But what we must keep in mind when we hear John is saying, he's signified by his angel to his servant John. So this angel is a messenger. We see that there are times in the book of Revelation the messenger is an angelic being or the messenger is an elder. An elder speaks to John. So you understand that there are times an elder is speaking to John. There are times a god himself is speaking directly to John. And there are times an angel is talking to John. And the same word angel we will see in Revelation, end of Revelation chapter 1 and in chapters 2 and 3, the Lord is saying unto the angel of this church speak, tell the angel of this church. Now, based on what the Lord has speaking to this angel and what this angel is responsible for, we can conclude that the angel is not an angelic being, but it is a human being. Because an angel is not responsible for what is being taught and preached and what is happening in a community of believers. It is the messenger, the person of God is placed in leadership in that community who is responsible for what is happening. So based on that, we say that in Revelation chapter 2 and 3, when the Lord is giving a message to each church and saying to the angel of the church in Ephesians, to the angel of the church in Smyrna, to the angel of the church in Philadelphia, to the angel of the church in the presence of the place, you say this, that word messenger refers to the human being who is in leadership of that local church community or we would say pastor or leader. Because just based on the context, it has to be a human person who is leading the church and is being held responsible for what is going on in that church. And it is the human person and the community in five out of the seven churches, he says we have to repent. The angel is not going to have to repent. It's the leader and the community who need to repent and correct that whatever the Lord is pointing out. So keep in mind the word angel simply means messenger, angelos. And depending on the context, we have to understand who is speaking. Whether it's an actual angelic being or an elder who is speaking or who is being spoken to that it's the elder or the leader of the church in that place who's being addressed.  The phrase, the testimony of Jesus Christ is interesting phrase. What is it really referring to? It is referring to what the Lord Jesus is saying, the testimony of Jesus Christ. It is also referring to the testimony we give to the Lord Jesus Christ. That phrase, the testimony of Jesus is used in the book of Revelation. Example, if you go with me to Revelation 12 and verse 17. So we just cross referencing that phrase, the testimony of Jesus Christ. Revelation 12.17, it says the dragon was enraged with a woman. He went to make war with the rest of her offspring who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. So it's talking about the people who are believing in the Lord or holding on to the word of God and they have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Revelation 19.11, Revelation 19 and verse 11. It says here, verse 10, Revelation 19.10. It says, and I fell at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, see that you do not do that. I am your fellow servant and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus, worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. So once again, the phrase actually two times, testimony of Jesus. What we read in chapter one, verse two, we are reading it here again, Revelation 19.10, two times. So this elder is telling John, I am your fellow servant and of your brethren. So he could be one of the other apostles who's been killed. Because he's saying I'm your fellow servant. That means I was working with you. I'm your fellow servant. And of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Let me say, I also was somebody giving testimony to Jesus, speaking of the Lord. But he gives us something more. He's telling John, John, you worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. That means us giving testimony is actually inspired by the spirit of God or the spirit of prophecy. For the Holy Spirit is a spirit of prophecy. When we give testimony to Jesus, we are inspired by the spirit of prophecy, by the Holy Spirit. So the testimony of Jesus, it is what the Lord Jesus is speaking. It is what we are speaking by the spirit of God about Jesus. So the phrase, testimony of Jesus used both ways. In Revelation 12, it is referring to what the Lord Jesus is saying. In Revelation 12, 17 and Revelation 19, 10, it's what the believers are saying about the Lord inspired by the Holy Spirit. The very interesting phrase, the testimony of Jesus. Going back to Revelation 1 verse 3. This is one book, Revelation 13, where there is a blessing pronounced on those who read the words and keep it. Now we know this is true about all of scripture, right? We are all blessed when we read all of scripture and keep it. That's a blessing. But in this book, specifically the way the book begins, verse 3, if you read the words of this book and you keep it, you will be blessed. So it's like an incentive, it's a motivation to read the book of Revelation. Now sometimes people say, oh, I don't read the book of Revelation. I'll read the whole New Testament except Revelation because I can't understand it. It's so difficult. It's all some things that I don't understand. Well verse 3 saying at the opening of this book, I bless it as he who reads this prophecy, who hears these words and it keeps these things in it. I mean, read it, hear these words, follow it, you'll be blessed. Of course, we know that's true of all of scripture, but here's very emphasis given. So don't neglect the book of Revelation. Don't avoid it just because it's difficult. Actually, when you read through it, you'll find it's not very difficult. It's very beautiful. It's very clear, very simple in terms of this is what's going to happen. And we will see that there's that blessing in reading it, hearing it and following its instruction. And once again, the time element is there. It says the time is near. And remember, it's the Lord saying it for him. This is going to happen very soon. Time is near. Now, let's read the next verses 4 to 8. So now the Lord is revealing himself to John and he's addressing the churches that are there at that time. Revelation 1, 4 through 8, please. Somebody can read it on. Greetings, the seven churches. John to the seven churches which are in Asia. Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come. And from the seven spirits who are before his throne and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first born from the dead and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To him who loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood and has made us kings and trees to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. The whole, he's coming with clouds and every eye will see him, even they who pierced him and all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of him. Even so, amen. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end says the Lord who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty. Amen. Amen. So, this is a very powerful introduction of who the Lord Jesus is. But I want us to notice verses 4 and 5 carefully because in verse 4 and 5 we see the Godhead, the triune God. Look at it very carefully. He's saying John to the seven churches which are in Asia. That means these are seven churches which actually existed at that time. So, sometimes you might hear preachers say, or they use the seven churches that they're going to read about in chapter 2 as seven church ages. But I feel that's incorrect. Why? Because he's actually referring to seven churches which were there at that time in Asia. He's not referring to seven church ages. He's also referring to seven church periods. You know, these were seven churches that existed at that time. So, we should leave it like that. Now, we can read about these seven churches and learn a lot which we are going to do. Each of these seven churches has a lot of message for us. We can learn a lot definitely from all of the seven churches we can learn. But to interpret each church as a church age is not correct because right here he says verse 4. These are seven churches who were there at that time in Asia. Look at the Godhead revealed in verse 4 and 5. So, he's saying grace to you and peace from him who is, who was and who is to come. So, that's from him who is, who was, who is to come. And from the seven spirits which are before his throne. Are there seven spirits? No. One Holy Spirit. So, here the word seven must not be taken literally. No. There is one Holy Spirit. Seven spirits talking about the seven attributes or the completeness or the perfection of the Holy Spirit who is before the throne. That means he is in the part of the Godhead in the throne room. The seven attributes we know as 11 to spirit of the Lord, spirit of wisdom, understanding council, might knowledge, fear of the Lord. Seven attributes, but seven spirits, not meaning seven different spirits, but one perfect, complete Holy Spirit before the throne and verse 5. And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness. That's the eternal word. So, in verse 4 and 5, in the throne room, we are seeing the Godhead, God the Father, the one who is, who was and who is to come. That's his introduction. God the Holy Spirit, the seven spirits before the throne. He's the spirit who is perfect and completes and the eternal word. Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, first one from the dead, the ruler over the kings of the earth. So, let's pause here. I'll go for a break, come back and continue this. I need to change the headset, the battery is gone, so I'll change that. And we'll come back and continue this after the break. Thank you.


In this video I'm going to be talking about properties of equality, there's four different properties here and there's more on a separate page that I'm going to go over. Addition property of equality, subtraction property of equality, multiplication property of equality and also the division property of equality. Now it's a little bit repetitive with the properties of equality and we're just going over the four that are here. These are the four operation properties, you can call them that. I'm just going to go over kind of in general what they look like and then try to relate them to something that you already know. I'm going to use a conditional statement to say this. Conditional statement is an if-then statement. So if A is equal to B, then A plus C is equal to B plus C. So this addition property of equality, what it means is if I have an equivalent statement, so here's my equal sign, equivalent statement, if I have this statement, then if I add something to one side of the statement, then I have to add that same thing to the other side, notice the plus C and the plus C. Notice that those are there. If I add something to one side, I must add it to the other. Now that should sound really familiar. You hear that all the time from your math teacher when you start solving equations. Whenever I add something to one side of the equal sign, I must add it to the other side. So these are properties that are basically used when we solve equations. So all of these properties we have already seen, what we're doing is we are just taking these properties and writing them down as rules, as properties. We're taking these things that you already know and we're kind of defining them. That's one thing that we do in mathematics, we define everything. Okay, so as you can well imagine, this is the subtraction property of equality. If A is equal to B, then A minus C is equal to B minus C. So again, the subtraction property is that you have to whatever you subtract from one side, you must subtract that same thing from the other side of the equation. Okay, again, something that you've seen when solving equations. Okay, multiplication property, again, so you can well imagine that we're going to multiply if, and if I can, sorry about that, I wrote that down wrong. So if A is equal to B, then if I multiply something on both sides, I can say C times A is equal to C times B. Now notice I put the C out front. It doesn't matter if the C is out front or if it's behind, we can do AC is equal to BC. That also works. Either way, it doesn't matter. But if you multiply something on one side of the equation, you must multiply it on the other side. Okay, so now for the division property of equality, again, using my conditional if then statement, if A is equal to B, then A over C, A divided by C is equal to B divided by C. So notice that C I've been using the entire time is that thing I'm either adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing on each side. Now there is one special rule I have to go over with the division property, and I also have to say that C, little comma here, C cannot equal zero. Now think about that for a moment. C can't equal zero. Now why not? Well, if we look at our then portion, we look at our conclusion. If C is zero, then we are dividing by a negative number, which is a big no-no. You can't divide by a negative number. It doesn't matter what the equations look like. Can't divide by zero. So a lot of times, especially when you get into your higher, higher level of mathematics, you have to have small little rules like this because sometimes you encounter things that you simply can't do. In this case, we've encountered we cannot divide by zero. Okay, so moving on to the next properties. These ones, properties of equality continued. Okay, so now we're going over the reflexive property of equality, symmetric property of equality, transitive property of equality, and also the substitution property of equality. Now these four properties, a little bit more complicated than the first ones, but I'll go over them briefly. Okay, so the reflexive property of equality kind of in the same style as the other ones, a is equal to a. A number is always going to be equal to itself. That's what the reflexive property is. A number is always going to be equal to itself. Pretty simple property. Symmetric property on their hand is when a little bit more complicated. If a is equal to b, then b is equal to a. Okay, so that basically is just switching it around. If we have a equality statement, the one side of the equality statement is equal to the other side, well then the other side is then going to be equal to the first part. Is basically how that kind of reads. Not overly complicated. These are just very, very basic ones, but again, these symmetric properties are really, really useful. Once we start doing algebraic proofs. Okay, so then last or second to last year, transitive property. This one's a little bit more complicated, a little bit more involved. If a is equal to b, and b is equal to c, then a is equal to c. Okay, now in a previous lesson that I did, we talked about the law of syllogism. This is actually very similar to that law of syllogism. Law of syllogism is if a bear is a wild animal, and wild animals are dangerous, then bears are going to be dangerous. That's kind of what we use for the law of syllogism. It's kind of the same thing here, except we're just using this with numbers. Using this with variable expressions instead of story problems. So that's basically what the transitive property is. And then the substitution property. The substitution property. Now, there's a number of different ways to do the substitution property. I can either go over a regular example. I can either go over a regular example, or I can do kind of a formal definition. I think I'm going to do just a little bit of both. I'm going to do a little bit of both. There's a number of different ways to do the substitution property. But I think what I'll do is kind of just a little bit of both using the variables and numbers, and kind of doing a formal definition. What I like to do, use for substitution, is replacing a term with something that is equivalent. Equivalent. Okay, replacing a term with something that's equivalent. So whenever you take something out and then replace it back in, that's the substitution property of equality. You've seen a lot, since you're in this level of mathematics, you've seen a lot of substitution when you solve equations, or when you plug something back into an equation, whatever that is. Whenever you take something out and put something else in, that's the same thing, that's equivalent. That's what we call a substitution. So for example, one thing that I could say is if x is equal to 9, then 3x is equal to, if I take this and kind of plug it in, if x is equal to 9, 3 times 9 is going to be 27. That's kind of one form of the substitution property. If I take this 9 and plug it in here, I will get 27. That's one way to think of it. There's lots of different examples that you can do. Not one example is going to kind of cover them all. All right. Anyway, those are the properties of equalities. I'm hoping that was helpful for you. There's the addition property. Oh, let me go back. Let me go back. We have the addition property of equality, subtraction property of equality, multiplication property of equality, division property of equality, and then we have the reflexive property of equality. Symmetric property of equality, transitive property of equality, and the substitution property of equality. And those are all the properties, a lot of the properties that you're going to use that you're going to be seeing, either in your algebra level courses, maybe algebra two in your geometry level courses.


Okay, this is ThinkTec, we just had a fabulous scene on the street, an event on the street for the 4th of July here on Friday, the Friday before 4th of July, with Chanella Richmond and Sandy. Gorski Bro. Okay, and what, six other people in your group. It was Sing For Life, which is really... Sing For Your Life is a native group, yes. Tell us about Sing For Your Life, Chanella. Well, Sing For Your Life is, we are a group, we rehearse at the Kilauea District Park on Wednesdays starting in September. And we travel, we like to provide, sing-along entertainment for the people that are in the retirement facilities. So we travel all over Hauahu doing these programs and it's a great joy. Our group is fabulous, they're all volunteer singers, they give of their time and their energy and it's very rewarding, it's very fun. I noticed they were fabulous, I noticed that. And those songs, you know, they're patriotic songs, you don't sing them every day really. No.  Yes, I have done that. I'm just wondering why I couldn't sing is because I got choked up a couple of times. Yeah, I understand, it's happened to me many times myself, I know. Yeah, so what does it mean, Fourth of July, what does it mean these songs, what does it mean to express yourself and be free to sing these songs? To me, the Fourth of July, these songs, these patriotic songs, they are the vision, they hold the hope of what can be, it reminds me of the founding fathers, it's our potential of what we can do. So when we look at all what's going on, we get so discouraged and everybody's so bitter and fighting and argumentative, but we have to hold the vision of the greatness of humankind and I believe in my heart of hearts that America has that greatness of all the nations in the world, not to put anybody else down, but America does have that potential for greatness and I believe we can bring this forth because of our ability to express our opinions and our disagreements and there still is within all of us this passion for freedom, everything I do including Fourth of July, but my whole life is about empowering people to experience freedom, vocal freedom, freedom of expressing themselves and we can do that and we can legally do that, sort of, if we have our permits. Well, it was clear in the street today that you guys were singing to the rafters that you were projecting, not to the mall or the building across the way, but the whole world. I really appreciate it and people in the mall appreciate it too. We have to do this again.  We live in a time when people are dissociating from the government and the government in some ways is associating from the people. It used to be, I always used to say, the government is us, we are the government. The country is ours, we are the country. But somehow it's lost in current times and there's a lot of animosity and polarization happening. And somehow, to me, and I'd like your thought about it too, to me singing these songs, having this concert on the Fort Street Mall, somehow is a great statement. Despite all that polarization, despite the controversy, despite the animosity, we can do this and it brings us together, all of us together somehow. Yes, I firmly, strongly believe these songs, and we must wield joy. We must, our only weapon is our ability to control our feelings and to control our joy. So yeah, to radiate and to be joy and to feel joy and to express joy, it literally, we see this in the retirement homes, this, first of all, the act of singing, just to sing you have to breathe. It's atomic.  The words go through your mind, it alleviates depression. So we kind of wield, we wield our joy through song, like a weapon, to annihilate depression, to annihilate anger, to annihilate fear. Just as Martin Luther King did with We Shall Overcome, you know, just as Gandhi, this is like a, to sing and to feel joy in spite, to refuse to be angry, to refuse to feel fear, to take action where we can take action, and this is the way I can take action, is I can help generate joy and generate this feeling and bring, because when we sing, people's hearts open up, they're awakened, regardless of what's going on in their intellect with their thoughts and their feelings and their attitudes, their heart opens up. And when the heart opens up, it's greater than all the garbage that's around us. And this brings in joy, it brings in happiness, it brings in what, and it brings in ideas that we can do to alter things, to help each other so that we as a society can be better. It integrates us. And it integrates us with our community, our society. And the vision, these songs, these songs have the vision. And in preparation for this, we went out and did a little publicity and somebody called you. Can you talk about that? I got an email outraged. Well, how dare you, so what is this, irony is what they said. How dare you have this, what's going on in our country?  Yeah, it was very interesting. What do you say to him? He's out there. He's on camera one. Where's she? What do you say to that person right now? Answer that person. Okay, so the answer to this person, I already did answer him. Look, I invited this person. It really is, the status quo is not patriotism. The status quo is hate in every side. And the real revolution right now is to create a way to feel joy and harmony and to manifest the Dalai Lama's stead. There is nothing in life that is worth losing your sense of peace over. And I agree. I agree totally with him. And so this, our ability to feel peace and to sense peace and to radiate peace is the only place that we can come from if we really want to change things and help people. And it's, well, it's what I'm doing. And so I invited this person. If you want to join the revolution and join the love war, that's the real revolution. Lovely, lovely. So tell us about your singers. Can you name them for us? So we have it on record? Yeah, I also have it on record in my brain. Okay, Pat Sullivan was on the far end. Next came Charles Yara. Next was Amy Kim. Next was Lisa Jordan. Jacob. Sorry, sorry. Lisa Jacobs. Then comes Sandy, Gorski, Brow and me. And then, wonderful. Oh, I was lip-syncing. You can hear my voice, but I didn't even get to open the microphone. That was okay with me. We have other members. Some of them are out of off island and one of our beautiful members, Margie, has got shingles. Oh, she's out for the count. And Vicki was her mom, was in critical condition. So anyway, we have more people. But you keep on trucking, though. We keep on, keep on on. They're built of strong stuff, Shanara. Sandy, what was the experience like for you today? It was good.  We were looking at the crowd. What did you see? What kind of feedback? I saw people walking by, people running by, but also as they're running by the ear cocked, I saw people stopping to join in and enjoy. All sorts of things. But I think people enjoyed it. That's what my takeaway was. Yeah. I want them all to enjoy. We'll play this. We'll play your concert over and over again. Do you dream? Let everybody be free. Free. Well, it was wonderful that you came down and did this, you guys. Thank you for having us. And it was lovely what you did. You're wonderful. And the quality of the scene. What you're doing for the community with this program. We'll have to do it again, you know, the other time soon. I want you guys back. I want to do more concerts in the street. We invented a kind of pattern today. With the permit this time. We have a template going now. We can do this again. So develop your repertoire and we'll do it again. Consider us a resource. Yeah. Okay. Closing remarks. Sandy, closing remarks. What are your listeners with? Oh, thanks so much for listening to us. And I hope you share it in our joy. Thank you, Sandy. Thank you. Thank you very much for inviting us to do this. And God bless you. God bless America and have a happy Fourth of July. Thank you, Shinara. Thank you, Sandy. I'll be less emotional next time. Don't. Be who you are. Your heart is booming.


So the record is on and we begin the class. Can somebody please lead us in a word of prayer, then we can begin. Thank you, Meena for leading us in prayer. In the last class, we looked at praying a prayer of asking and receiving and what are the important aspects or elements of praying such a prayer. We said that one needs to know what they are asking for, one needs to be aware that what they are asking for is part of God's will. Then it becomes a lot easier for us to approach God and to ask in confidence. Then we also pointed out that we've got to have a strong desire to receive that request. There is also persevering in prayer. So it's not like every prayer of asking and receiving is something that will come through right away. So there can be certain prayers which we will have to wait upon the Lord for. For example, I shared with you that we pray corporately as a community, we pray for revival, we pray for certain changes. It might take some time before we actually see the results or the outcome of such prayers. So today what we'll do is we will learn about a pattern for personal prayer. We've talked about the importance of the practice of prayer in one's life. And we looked at different categories. There are so many types of prayers that we can count about. Now how can one pray every day the way Jesus wants us to pray or the way he taught us to pray? So we have what the Lord Jesus taught us in Matthew chapter 16. And we will go through this model prayer and based on those insights, we can have a pattern for our personal time of prayer. Is it necessary to have a pattern for our personal time of prayer? What is your opinion? Okay, so it's easy if you have a pattern. That's one opinion about the others. Do we even need a pattern for prayer? Can we not just pray whatever we like? Pray, isn't it? Sometimes? Okay, so we might miss asking for some important things. Yes, next sentence. So it's better if we know what are all those prayer requests. Okay, so the majority answer here seems to be that it's good to have a pattern. Now there are many different patterns people use. You may have come across some patterns which were taught to you. No harm. You can follow any pattern that you like. There is a pattern. Some people say, maybe you've heard about it, ACTS. So basically each of those words, each of those letters stands for something. A stands for adoration, C stands for confession, T stands for Thanksgiving and S stands for supplication. So remember we said different kinds of prayers. So all those prayers are included in that one pattern. So it's helpful.  As Jesus said, you have to pray for forgiveness. So we ask God for forgiveness. Then Thanksgiving and finally go ahead and ask God for your different needs that we may have. So ACTS is a common pattern which many people use. People also have something known as the tabernacle pattern. Have you heard that tabernacle? So basically when you look at the tabernacle, it has an outer coat. It has the inner coat. And then you have the holy, the innermost chamber which is the holy of holies where the presence of God dwells. So what some people say is the way you get into the tabernacle from the outside to the inside. Outside people will wash. There's a layer of washing. So you need to clean yourself. You need to cleanse yourself. So then there is repentance. There's all of those things that you would do. Then go a little more further in. So your prayers will be more of adoration, worship. Will you come to a place in your prayer where you're encountering the presence of God, where things are happening in the presence of God. So that is deep inside the tabernacle. So some people use that tabernacle pattern of prayer. So it's fine if you try to use any one of these patterns as long as you've had your time of prayer. What is the advantage of having a pattern for a personal prayer? One thing is a mind will not wander. At least we know that I must cover all these points. And if, let's say we are led in our spirits, I want to pray for one hour. Then you know, okay, I will spend 10 minutes on a certain matter, another 10 minutes on a different matter. And in this way cover that one hour of prayer. Otherwise what happens? Very random. You just pray anything, anything, nowhere. You're going nowhere. So it's good to develop a certain pattern. After talking about all these patterns, we might have the question, which is the best pattern that I can use for my prayer. The same way the disciples of Jesus in Matthew chapter 6, they went and asked him, God teaches how to pray. Then he talked to them and he said, when you pray, pray like this or use this pattern when you pray. So we are all familiar with the, we call it the Lord's prayer.  So whichever way you look at it, it's a beautiful structure that will help us accommodate the most of our primary things that we want to bring before the Lord. So how does this prayer go? Matthew 16 versus, I know why I'm saying Matthew 16, Matthew 6, Matthew 6 versus 9 to 13. Jesus said, in this manner, therefore pray, our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and do not lead us into temptation but deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. So Jesus gave this prayer and said, pray like this. The next question which arises is, since we have this prayer given to us, most of us, we are taught this prayer in our family, in our church, in our school and it becomes a common practice to repeat it, isn't it? So, okay, everyone say the Lord's prayer, the whole group will go our Father, what in heaven hallowed be then. So there is nothing wrong because we are approaching God in the way we have been taught by Jesus. But it's possible to say the prayer and not mean it. That would not be correct. As long as we say the prayer and we mean it, then it's useful. So, the way we look at the Lord's prayer is, look at it like a pattern, don't look at it like something to memorize and repeat. In the very lines that Jesus gave us, there are categories that we can pick and pray. So, Matthew 6.9, he began this way, he said, therefore pray our Father in heaven hallowed be your name. So, what does it mean? Jesus introduced a very new way of praying. Till that time, people believed in Jehovah God and Jehovah God for them was a figure whom they feared, a figure whom they were in awe.  But what did Jesus do? He said, pray to God with a relationship in mind. He was the first person, in fact, who started saying our Father and we know that people opposed him. They said, oh, this is blasphemy. How can this man call God his Father? That was one of the accusations against Jesus. So, here is what Jesus was actually saying. He was saying, when we come to God in prayer, don't come like, okay, God, this is a duty or this is an obligation.  No, it's based on relationship. So, the very first few words there are our Father. Isn't it beautiful? So, when I come in personal prayer, it's based on my relationship with God. Okay, that is the first thing. And, you know, you could also say, he says our Father. Our Father means that though it is a time in personal prayer, I recognize that I'm a part of a larger body of believers. So, it's a personal prayer, but it's not necessarily like, you know, I'm an individual and it's just about God and me. But he recognized that you are a part of the body of believers. So, relationship, part of a body of believers and the first aspect here, hallowed be your name. So, this is what Jesus wanted us to do. He wanted us to adore and acknowledge the greatness and the goodness of God.    So, for the person of God, I take some time to worship and adore him.  So, the category of prayers of Thanksgiving, isn't it?  So, that's the way in which our prayer should start. Now, for many of us, we just want to go straight with our request.   So, we go straight into what is known as petitioning or supplication. But that's not the way Jesus taught us to pray. He said, you start with adoration. Acknowledge God for who he is first. Other things can come later. So, the first few minutes or the first portion of our prayer, you just take up time to adore God, worship God. So, that is the beginning of our prayer time. And moving on, Matthew 6.9. Jesus said, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. So, what is Jesus telling us? Your kingdom come, what is the kingdom of God? When we study about the kingdom of God in the New Testament, Jesus had a lot to say about the kingdom of God. But in a nutshell, the kingdom of God is the rule and reign of God, where God's authority is seen, where God's authority is prevalent. When we look at heaven, heaven is a place where God's rule and reign exists without any interference. On the earth, definitely we have an enemy, Satan is an enemy and there is an interference from the enemy. But in heaven, what happens? There's no interference. That's why we read, there's no sickness in heaven, there's no pain in heaven, there's no tears in heaven. There's only joy, there's health, there's peace. All of what God has to offer for us is available up in heaven because there's no interference of sin or Satan. So, what did he teach us in this line? He said, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. So, what Jesus wanted us to pray is, we have to pray God, the way your rule, your reign, your authority is in heaven. Let it come down. Let it come down where? We can take time to pray for every sphere that we are a part of. So, I can pray for my personal life and say, God, let your kingdom come in my heart.  Now, I may want to break that up further and say, God, let it come in my personal decisions. Let it come in my ministry decisions. God, let it come in my family decisions. So, I begin to ask for the kingdom of God, his rule, reign, dominion, authority to be seen in me personally. Now, from there, I might also want to pray for other spheres that concern me. I could pray for my church and I can say, Lord, you said in your word, thy kingdom come, thy will be done. There, the enemy is causing, you know, he wants to come in different ways. We say, no, let your kingdom come, let your rule, reign, authority, dominion, let it come in my church family.  So, we will see later that God gives us a certain direct influence over the family members who we are attached to.  So, in this way, you can take the next section of your prayer time to just ask for this. You may be led by God to pray a little more in detail. So, when we say, your kingdom come, it's very broad.  So, Lord, in my life, let your peace, rule and reign or you might think about your spouse, they are going through depression or some worry and you might pray for them and say, God, let your joy be their strength. So, what are you doing? You're declaring what is part of heaven in their lives. What is what this whole part means? Thy kingdom come means God's dominion in what concerns me and everything that is attached to me. So, we take time to pray for these matters. What next? Verse 10 here. We covered verse 10, I think so. So, what we read just now is verses 9 and 10. So, coming to verse 11, it says, give us this day our daily bread. So, now finally, the part that we usually pray first, Jesus has put it somewhere in between. This is the part where we ask for our needs. Now, is it wrong to ask God for our needs? No, sure. Are you sure? Okay, it's not real wrong to ask God for our needs because we began by saying our Father, Heavenly Father. So, a Father is somebody who will provide for us and so we're saying, God, I have needs. Now, these needs could be, we know that God wants the wholeness of our spirit, soul and body. Isn't it? So, we're quite clear on that. So, these needs could pertain to a spiritual person. They could be regarding our emotional person, our soul part of us or it could even be our body. So, we need things, we need opportunities. We need so many things in our everyday life. So, it's okay to bring it to the Lord and say, God, these are my needs. I know that we will provide for them because Jesus himself told us, he said, you ask God, give us this day our daily bread. And another important thing that you note here is, give us this day our daily bread. So, which means to say that every day we have to rely on God for our needs to be met. And God is faithful. He is faithful to give us what we need, provide in abundance for each and every one of our needs so never feel shy or embarrassed to have us God for needs. It's okay. Bring your need to the Lord, be very specific. I know that I mentioned the other day when we talked about the prayer of asking and praying. There are different stories, testimonies that people share. So, I remember reading this one book, The Fourth Dimension by Yonge Cho. There he writes how he prayed for a cycle because he needed a cycle for his ministry to go house to house and talk to people, meet people, pray with them. He did not have it. And for us, it seems like, what is this need? We are asking for a cycle, but for him it was important. But he talks about how God really taught him about the prayer of asking and receiving when he prayed for his need and a ministry need at that. So, in the same way, whatever be your need, bring it before the Lord and ask him for that. And God is about who will provide. We could also pray for the needs of our family members. When I say needs, need not only be me, but I may think of needs of several other people in my life and pray for them. So, what else did Jesus say? Matthew 612, he says, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. So, there's something very important about a right relationship for an individual, both with God and with others. Sometimes what we do is we say, I have a great relationship with God, you know, I'm strong in the Lord and I know my scriptures, I pray, I fast, it doesn't matter. My relationship with people doesn't work. But you see here, there is something so necessary about right relationships with people. We cannot carry grudges and bitterness in our heart and think that our prayers will be heard. So, no wonder Jesus put this also as part of the structure and he said, forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. So, one is we're asking God to forgive us. And this is what even Apostle John said. He said, if there is some sin in us, we have to confess it. Only then we can receive the forgiveness of God. So, we're not supposed to say that, you know, everything is okay and hide our sin. One is confess our faults and our mistakes before God. Second is forgive others. So, whenever we seek the prayer, we may think of, you know, situations of people or matters that really hurt us. And if we don't deal with it, that will become a hindrance in our prayer, in the effectiveness of our prayer and our relationship with God. So, best thing to do whenever we sit for prayer is to check our hearts and release forgiveness to the people. Now, forgiveness is a completely different topic. You know, you might ask the question, so does it mean that if somebody has done injustice to me and to go back and become their friend? It doesn't mean that. It just means that in your heart, you have let that person go. You have forgiven them. You are not asking for revenge or, you know, you're not going to retaliate. Basically, that's what it means. You have the well-being of that person in your heart. Now, reconciling the relationship or not, it's a completely different topic. But in prayer, at least this much I can do because it's between God and me in that quiet time. So, forgive. Ask for forgiveness and also forgive people. So, we could spend a section in our prayer time, you know, dealing with forgiveness. What happens next? So, once we have done that, in Matthew 6.13, we read and do not lead us into temptation but deliver us from the evil one. So here, what Jesus told us to do is he asked us to pray for protection, for his guard over our lives in what areas? What areas should we pray for God to protect us and guard us? So many different things. It can begin with our thought life. How does the enemy influence us primarily? Through our thoughts, isn't it? So, he'll put an idea in our minds or he will try to distract us. That's how generally he starts taking us away from God. So, we can pray. Lord, help me guard my mind. We could pray and say, God, help me, you know, guard my heart. Help me guard my words and help me guard my actions, my behavior, my lifestyle.  So, you could just say, Lord, protect, let your protection be upon me. Lead us not into temptation or deliver us from evil. So, we're asking that God will protect us from Satan and his tactics to derail us. So, that is the prayer which we will include. Finally, we, in verse 13, we would say something like, yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. So, we began with adoration. We said, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. So, how are we ending the prayer now? Yours is the power. Yours is the glory. The kingdom forever and ever. Amen.  So, what do you do in a sandwich? You have bread on the outside, both sides you have bread and then you put a filler substance inside. Right? So, in the same way, when we come in for prayer, adoring God and Thanksgiving is a very crucial part of our prayer time. So, we start with Thanksgiving, but we also end with Thanksgiving and in between, what are all the categories? We said, God, let your rule and reign come.  Then we said that God, provide for my needs. We also said, God, you know, forgiveness. Forgive me, forgive others who have sinned against me. Let me not be distracted. Let not the enemy be able to put me on the wrong track.  So, this is basically a pattern. So, based on the pattern, we might pray for one hour or we might pray the same pattern for two hours or if you really want, you could even pray the same pattern for eight hours. Okay? So, that is how Jesus wanted that pattern to be for the believers. All right? So, this is something. I don't know how many of you have tried using this pattern of the Lord's Prayer in your prayer time, but you can use it. And let me know how you've been able to cover different aspects. Okay? So, any thoughts? Any questions regarding the Lord's Prayer? Yes. Yes. There is a... This is for you. For you. For you. So, just a moment, I have a question for you. It is... after five minutes, he's been praying for seven days and it's not like he's... you have to pray for one hour. How do you have to pray for seven days and pray for one hour? But, my idea is to cover the Lord's Prayer as fast as possible. I can't pray about the Lord's Prayer. So, there is a lot of pain there. It was a little bit difficult. Okay. So, okay, we have a question here where there is a reference to James chapter five, where we are told to confess our sins one to another and then it talks about the fervent, you know, effectual prayer of a righteous man very much. So, whether this is connected to the Lord's Prayer pattern. So, I would say yes, because in that initial portion, it asks us to deal with our unforgiveness. Okay. So, once we deal with the unforgiveness, then it talks about the effectual prayer of a righteous person. So, very similar to what Jesus actually taught us to do. However, if you are asking whether every time we have to confess our sins to others, you know, how do you have a connection with the Lord? Yeah. Go and tell. So, this confession part, we see that in James five, but when you read about, you know, forgiveness in other place, you don't really find it in a repeated way. So, I think it depends case by case. There could be some circumstances where confessing to the person whom you offended may not be possible. Okay. But that does not invalidate your release of forgiveness for that person. So, my point is, forgiveness is important. Some cases, it may be necessary to find the person, confess to the person, and then only it is effective, but not in all the cases. Yeah. So, if we can confess directly to God, that should be sufficient. Yeah. Great. Great. Good question. Anything else, as you think about the Lord's prayer? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I know. So, again, you would just apply the rules of interpretation. So, the question here is, verse 13 says, lead us not into temptation. However, scriptures tell us that God is not the one who tempts us. So, when we see a standalone passage, which seems to say something, okay, like here, it feels like God is a tempter. But in all other portions, what do we read? We read about, I the Lord, I am holy, be the holy as I am holy. So, he cannot be a tempter. Right? Again, when you read the book of James, there also you see that, how is one tempted? One is tempted because of their own desires. We conceive that in our own hearts, and then we go away from God. So, God cannot tempt is what James says. Titus says, God cannot lie. So, now, based on the repetition, which is in scripture, I would look at this standalone passage. One passage is saying, lead us not into temptation. So, as if God is the one who is leading us into temptation. But, when I look at all other clear passages, they tell us that God cannot tempt. There is no sin in him. He cannot. So then, I will interpret this single verse based on the bright light of what is already been revealed through many other scriptures. So, in the writing, it has come across like this, but it does not mean that God is a tempter. Got it? But, we can take the essence of what Jesus said. Basically, Jesus was saying that I should not go away from the path of God. I should not go away from the purpose of God. Satan should not be able to tempt me and take me away. So, God protect me. It's a prayer of protection and guarding. Okay? So, does that make sense? Okay, sure. Good. Yes. Next question. Okay. So, see, again, no. When you look at the book of Job, the question here is, in the case of Job, in that book, you see that Satan went to ask God to be able to go and tempt Job. So, only after checking with God, he went and played havoc. So, isn't it God who some people use the word allowed or permitted Satan to do all these evil things? So, it's as if, like, see, whether I do the evil or I say, okay, you do it. I'm giving, I'm commissioning that evil. But then again, you know, you have to look at, when you look at the Bible, the literary forms in which it is written. Okay?  So, the book of Job, one other thing you have to keep in mind is, it's one of the earliest books which was Zilton, okay?  It happened in Genesis 3 when man and woman disobeyed God. So, it's nothing new. Satan is doing that to everybody since Genesis 3. So, there's absolutely nothing new about it. It is in this corrupted world. You know, that's something that happens. Satan has access into people's affairs. Okay? So, in that sense, it's not a special permission which God gave Satan. He was already doing it. And he just did it in Job's life. Yeah. That's what I'm saying. See, if you look at what the Bible says, sin has already corrupted the world. The first time he's sinned, Satan already began doing evil things in people's lives. So, it was nothing new, no? He tempted He tempted different people he saw. He tempted so many different people. So, Job was one of them. So, it was just a part of what he does. So, it was not like something special that God commissioned the devil to do. So, that's what I'm saying. Does it make sense? Vimal, are you convinced? Or not really? Okay. Yes, please go ahead. Can you come again? Okay. So, when you study about temptation, I think it's in James chapter one. Okay, I don't carry the Bible here. So, just read out a portion for you and that should give you the answer. The question asked is, what is temptation? Is it from within us or is it something from God? God loves Satan. Okay. So, James chapter one, we will read from verse 13. It says, when tempted, no one should say, God is tempting me. For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone. But, each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin and sin when it is full grown, gives birth to death. So, basically, it is whether a temptation comes to us or not, that we cannot avoid. Everybody is tempted. Even Jesus was tempted. But how you respond to temptation is personal responsibility. That's what this passage is saying. How does temptation happen? But each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Basically, we are saying, okay, temptation has come. I am agreeing with the temptation and I am moving in that direction. Then, sin happens. So, God is not responsible. Just by virtue of the fact that we are living here in the world, temptations are there. The way Job was treated by Satan, that's the way Satan treats everybody. So, it's just part of the world that we live in. So, the point I am making is that special permission as it seems in the book of Job, it's not like God said, okay, I give you permission, go and trouble Job. No. We are all in the world, so was Job by default. It happened. So, that's how it is. We can't blame God and say, if you go to a pool, a swimming pool and if we get wet, it's not the fault of the person who owns the pool. He would say, you knew that before you came into the swimming pool area, it was your decision to put your feet inside the water. If you got wet, it's not my fault. I didn't give permission to make you wet. So, by default, when we are here in the world, temptations happen, attacks of the evening won't happen. These things happen. They are in a sense unavoidable and we should never say that God permitted it, God allowed it because it looks like especially it's being done, whereas that's not really the case. So, I am going to wrap up this call and we shall meet after 10 minutes with online students. If you have any questions, please come back with them.